Monthly Archives: September 2011

September 11, 2011 · 12:52 pm

I was good!

Today's Finds

I did not buy the blue and white check coating. Or the purple fleece. Or ANY of the various rib-knits. The fabric selection at my local Value Village was bulging today, and I bought nearly nothing. I was the model of restraint.*

But two patterns.

The top on the left reminds me a tiny bit of Jalie 2794, which everyone seems to love. The Jalie pattern is probably better (and comes in a lot more sizes) but it wasn’t lying around my local thrift store for a buck. Believe me, if I ever run across ANY Jalie pattern there I’ll probably take it home just on principle. Even if it’s a figure-skating one.

And the jacket on the right—well, it’s Claire Schaeffer, and if I’m not mistaken, it’s one of those ones where everyone raves about the amazing instructions being worth the fifteen bucks or whatever even if you don’t like the pattern. And I got it for $0.99. It’s uncut, although I suspect it’s been unfolded and traced.

Maybe I will make myself a proper, awesome blazer this winter… maybe… I could wear it to my ~~execution~~ thesis defense in the spring.

More patterns I don't need

Just for the sake of lengthening the post, here’s a few more thrift store patterns I picked up over the course of the summer. I definitely have a problem with thrift store patterns. The Kwik Sew on the left I already mentioned in this post, although I only used the tee and pretty much changed everything for that one. The middle one has lots of faux-Asian details that I’m a sucker for, and the one on the right… well, I’m not sure what I was thinking. I like some of the necklines, even if they are mostly faced, but it’s probably easier to slap a different neckline on my knit sloper than it would be to fit a new pattern. Ah, well. Tell me about the stupidest pattern-impulse-purchase you’ve ever made. 🙂

*I may also have bought Tyo a hot-pink fishnet shirt. The Force is strong in that one…

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Tagged as patterns, thrift store finds, too much talk

September 9, 2011 · 1:21 pm

The Where’s Waldo Shirt

Where's Waldo? Shirt

Since it appears I can’t escape my clothing’s cartoon references, I guess I’ll embrace it. I am thus proud to dub this the “Where’s Waldo” shirt.

This is one of those fabrics I eyed at Fabricland for quite a while. I thought I liked it, but wasn’t quite sure. Eventually it made its way to the clearance section, and I picked up two metres of each colour—blue and red stripes—for whatever ridiculously low price it was going for.

And I’m glad I did, although I’m also glad I didn’t pay more.

Where's Waldo in the back yard?

This is one of those terribly annoying knits that rolls like crazy. It also doesn’t have much stretch, so it’s fairly easy to cut and sew (aside from the dreaded rolling.

I used some of the blue to make an ill-fated attempt at a cowl-neck top last spring. The cowl was a disaster—this knit hasn’t got the drape—but I really liked the way the rest of the shirt fit, and the “feel”, if you will. So it was only a matter of time before it became other long-sleeved knit tees.

Where's Waldo back

This shirt was also inspired by this Burdastyle pattern from ages back. There are some cute versions on Burdastyle, too. But why would I pay five bucks to download a pattern when I have Lekala 5672 for free? Of course, it doesn’t have the seaming, I (again) skipped the gathering on the front, and the neckline, at least in this fabric, is not quite the signature Burda plunge. But it has stripes and the wide raglan neckline, right?

Fun in the Sun

The fit of knits varies massively depending on the knit itself. This same pattern can be dreadfully loose or scandalously tight depending on the fabric. This is a “tight fitting” fabric, so the armpits ride a little high. That’s all right—better than saggy, which is how my first take on this pattern turned out. I could probably narrow the arms a little bit towards the wrists, but we’ll see.

I decided to go easy on myself and use the self-rolling properties of the fabric as a design feature on the sleeves and hem. For the neckline, I stitched on some clear elastic and turned under twice, stitching with a stretch straight-stitch. I was tempted to let the neckline roll, too, but decided against it. Just barely. I did screw up and keep on turning under past where I should have, so there’s a portion that’s turned under three times and a bit of a kink at the end of it, but picking out the stretch stitch was doing more damage to the fabric than the thread so I am leaving it.

I couldn’t quite resist the obvious combination with the Sailor Shorts for the photos, sorry. I’m sad to say that these shorts haven’t gotten much (any) wear this summer. Partly because these days I only wear shorts for beach-bumming and creek-walking, but mostly because of the fit. The rise is a little high for my taste, and only made higher by the fact that I’ve been a little, ah, chubby most of the summer. It’s only about 5-10 lbs, but my physiology puts it right around my middle, exactly where you don’t want it from a health perspective, and exactly where the shorts waistband falls. Urk.* Anyway, I’ll probably hang onto the shorts through next summer and see if I’m any more into them, but I have a feeling they’re not going to become faves. Too bad, because it really is a cute design.

It was really nice to whip something up quickly. This top took less than an hour, and at least ten minutes of that was finding the pattern. I REALLY need to organize my patterns better. I love it when I can throw together a knit top faster than it would take to shop for it. Plus a store-bought one wouldn’t have long, scrunchy sleeves.

*Incidentally, I try not to complain much about my body on the blog. It’s a pretty good body even if the tummy isn’t what she was a few years ago. But I’m not one of those people whose weight fluctuates a lot, and aside from childbearing I’ve been mostly around my preferred weight all my adult life. The excursions from this ALWAYS coincide with periods where my usual minimally-healthy lifestyle tips over into chips-and-lazing-around. This summer definitely qualifies. Now that the school routine is back on, I will hopefully slip back to where I should be. Provided I can break this chocolate-bar habit.

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Tagged as finished projects, knit, Lekala, raglan-sleeve

September 7, 2011 · 10:16 pm

Happy Birthday to me…

Grecian Sundress---Knee-Length Version

I live in a tree

I look like a…

Hmm, never mind that.

Grecian Sundress Front

So, ehm, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is I have a new dress! The bad news is I underestimated the time it would take me to get the pattern graded—or rather, I significantly underestimated the amount of time I would spend this past weekend traipsing along the creekbed taking photographs of the enormous (insert sarcasm font) fish my family are catching. Given how rare weather like this up here, especially this late in the season, I’m not even going to apologize for it. But anyway.

So, at this exact moment the pattern is still only available in Tanit-size, which is roughly a Burda size 36 or a Big 4 size 10/12. The good news is that this style is REALLY forgiving. There’s plenty of ease, you can adjust the length of the shoulders by adjusting your gathers, and adjust for various bust sizes by altering where you start your shirring.

Either way, you can now find the pattern:

Grecian Sundress Instructions

Grecian Sundress Pattern—US Letter version

Grecian Sundress Pattern—A4 version

And I WILL get it graded, really, really soon.

Grecian Sundress Back

So, what’s there to say about this version of the dress?

The fabric is a print I’ve been eyeing at Fabricland for ages now, but it finally made itself through the marked-down section to the final clearance, which like most things was 50% off this past weekend, so for $2/m I finally bit. It’s a really nice weight for this pattern. I’m not 100% sure the crinkled look was intentional, but I liked it and it also works well with this pattern, so I didn’t go too crazy with the iron. I did do some ironing-down of the pleats, and when I wash it I may even try giving it the full-out broomstick-skirt treatment, which I think would look fun.

I had been planning on another maxi (gee, surprise?) but it turned out that 3m of 150 cm-wide fabric (all that was left on the bolt) is not enough for the maxi length of this dress. Be warned. I could have made it about tea-length, but decided to go with my just-above-knee cutting line for demonstration purposes. And, y’know, it’s a length I like. I’ve also included a tunic-length cutting line as I feel like this would make an interesting tunic. I’ll get around to that one of these days…

Shirring: cute, not so straight

Incidentally, in the instructions I suggest that you use an elastic tied under the bust to mark the location of your top line of shirring. This way you get it in the exact right place, and it’ll look straight when it’s on you. I did NOT do it this way, just marked the line from the pattern and shirred away, and as a result my shirring does not run in a straight line around my body. Lean from my mistakes! 😉

I feel cute.

This version doesn’t have quite the stepped-out-of-a-marble-sculpture elegance of my first version, but I like it, and it feels light and summery and casual, perfect for throwing on to a barbecue (which is what I did today) or even pulling over a bathing suit at the beach. Which means I’ll get exactly three wears out of it before the weather turns, but hey.

It probably SHOULD have a slip or at least a lining in the lower section (maybe attached at the start of the shirring). Partly because the fabric’s a wee bit sheer (and I don’t think this design would work well with a heavy fabric anyway—too much bulk in the gathered shoulders) and partly because it catches on my butt like nobody’s business. You have no idea how many rear shots it took to get one that isn’t hung up on my backside. Mind you, my swayback doesn’t help.

I had meant to hunt down links to some tutorials on shirring and maybe a narrow hem, but it’s late and I want to get this post up tonight, so I’ll do that in the future (or post your own favourite link in the comments 😉 )

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Tagged as dress, finished projects, Grecian Sundress Pattern, patterns, sundress

September 4, 2011 · 2:22 pm

The Last Gasp of Summer Dress (part IV!)

Lonsdale Maxi---Finished

She is finished.

And I must be out of practice taking photos, because I’m having a hard time getting good ones, but these will have to suffice.

So, thoughts…

I don’t regret the length (2″!) I took out of the bodice, although in hindsight I could’ve taken out less and just shortened the straps more. It’s comfortable as it is, though, and the bottom of the waistband sits right on my (ridiculously high) natural waist.

There’s not much more to say about the construction (check out other posts here). Tasia’s instructions are lovely and simple; her sewalong, on the other hand, gives you the super-couture version, and I really like some of the tips she includes like staying the upper edge of the bodice.

Inner waistband, slipstitched down at bottom.

The bodice seams are all enclosed (yay!). For the skirt, I added a light cotton lining, and used French seams for the sideseams and Hong Kong binding for the front and back seams. I bound the CF seam on the skirt before stitching. This was a Bad Idea. For one thing, I hate trying to stitch evenly along already-finished edges. Even if they’re just serged, the edges always try to scoot so they don’t lie directly overtop of each other (my tendency to use pins as little as possible may be a factor here, too), and it was way worse with the binding. For another thing, after carefully stitching and trimming, I realized I managed to put the HK binding on backwards, so the un-finished edge is visible on the inside. *headdesk*

CF seam with backwards binding

After I had the entire dress constructed except for the back seam, I did a fairly thorough pin-fit to figure out where I wanted the zipper seam to fall. I wound up trimming a bit from the CB top, narrowing to nothing at the waist.

CB zip on inside (K-Line, this one

I waited until the zipper was inserted to bind the back seam. This creates a lovely finish of the sort K-Line would (I hope) approve, but when/if I ever have to replace the back zipper (which seems more of a when than an if, given how much trouble the invisible zip has going over the waistband), it will really, really suck.

Bodice side

All right, let’s see. Syo took some photos for me, only half of which came out hopelessly blurry.

Back: nice and smooth, wonky bow.

Some of you may recall that I traced the skirt pattern to the full length of the size 16 (about an inch longer than the 6 I used for the rest of it), and then added another inch or so when I was cutting, plus a little more at the CB of the skirt, to make up for the 2 cm I removed above and below the waistband for swayback adjustment. This was all I could squeeze out of my 5m of 45″-wide fabric (that bodice is a fabric hog) but was still a pretty minimal length (for me), reaching my ankle but not brushing the tops of my feet, which is where I like a maxi to fall.

Hem with facing

For the hem, I wanted to keep as much length as I could, so I made a nice, wide (4″) bias facing. I really like this as a method for hemming A-line and circle skirts. Just iron the bias in a circle first (basically pull on one long edge and shrink in the other, to get it into a curve) and you’re good to go. It also satisfies my tastes for nice, wide, satisfying hems. I think I only lost about 1/2″ of length here. Although that’s still more than I would’ve liked.

The Knot (photography by Syo)

All right, I think I ran out of things to say before I ran out of photos…

Full front (photography by Syo)

So let’s just look at pictures

Pocketses

Hmm, I could’ve sworn I adjusted the exposure on this one. Bleh. I like the picture, though.

So, fall arrived last week: Monday (Aug. 29) the high was 30C, Tuesday it was 13. It’s finally creeping up again and the forecasts (which I trust about as far as I can spit) are promising highs in the upper 20s for later this week, including my birthday on Wednesday. So this dress is truly ready for summer’s last, last gasp.

Note: we are out on the river enjoying summer’s actual last gasp so I’m just going to hit publish! I’ll edit later to finish up links and stuff…

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Tagged as finished projects, Lonsdale Dress

September 2, 2011 · 10:57 am

So Close I Can Taste It…

Almost done!

The zipper is in. I’ve tried it on. All that remains is trimming and binding the back seam and then hemming. I hate to lose any length in the hemming so I will probably do a bias hem facing.

And there’s just no time…

I don’t think Self-Stitched September is going to happen herabouts, either. Two days in and while I’ve dressed self-stitched, no photos have been taken. It’s hard when my main camera is sans battery charger (and a call to my mother-in-law has determined that the charger is NOT where I thought I left it in her basement… 😦 ), not to mention the complete lack of time.

I am liking the piped waistband...

Fall Sewing I would like to get to:

Grecian Sundress pattern/new piece: since this seems to be the winner of the poll, it will be the pattern I put up for my birthday next week. The flutter-sleeved tunic was not far behind, though, so I’ll try and get that one done and up some time this fall.
jeans for me: some of the early pairs, not to mention all of my RTW, are getting ratty, and I have some “heavy duty” stretch denim just waiting to be stitched up…
frock coat for my husband: based on this pattern, sans pockets and lengthened to knee length. I am pretty excited for this one, and now that the weather has turned, I’m feeling more inclined to actually work on a jacket.
sweaters and shrug for me: I’ve been meaning to make another version of my shrug, as I wore the cream one to death over the summer. And I really, really, really need a new hooded sweatshirt to wear this winter.
jeans for my husband. I am totally stoked to try out this semi-vintage men’s jeans pattern ElleC sent me! And I have that denim in stash, too…