Category Archives: Sewing

September 9, 2010 · 9:48 am

All Emo’d up an nowhere to go…

Why so serious?

So yesterday I wrote, and bummed around, and wrote, and did some laundry, and wrote, and wished I was sewing, and wrote some more. Basically I was a good little scholar. What I didn’t do was get motivated to do anything like fix my hair, put on makeup, and take pictures. Anyway, I was wearing the same thing as today, only without the long-sleeved Lydia underneath (it was in the laundry. I better hurry up and make a dozen or so more of these…). We are definitely getting into repeats territory here, folks, and with the weather being crummy I can’t even spice up my photos out-of-doors. Also finding sewing time in the afternoon/evening now that the kids are back in school is getting HARD. It’s like I put them to bed, make lunches for the next day, and all of a sudden it’s time to go to bed myself. Also last night we played Dragon Age: Origins (Witch Hunt), which was technically my birthday present so I couldn’t really ditch to go sew.

Self-Stitched Sept. 9

Contemplating the rain...

But here’s me for today, anyway. The weather has gone craptacular the last couple of days (not that it’s been good for over a week at this point, though no snow yet thankfully), so today’s photos are a reflection of my state of mind. I guess I should really be wearing the black jeans to complete the outfit, but I think all y’all get the idea.

Blue fabric for the Ten Year Old, yellow for the Seven Year Old.

Just to prove that I am still at least thinking about sewing, here’s some fabrics the kids picked out on the weekend. Well, Syo* picked them out, Tyo was home sick, and I’m not sure she’s thrilled about the sparkly blue remnant Tyo picked, but she’s stuck with it. Syo’s yellow is slated to become one of these sundresses (nothing like sewing seasonally, I tell ya), and Tyo wants the top from this outfit. Yes, that is a page from Patrones. No,

Patrones Kids' issue... Tyo* wants this outfit. The whole thing.

I haven’t found a local source for these… this was a another “gift” from Her Selfishness**—two whole, kids-only issues of Patrones magazine. To be fair, the kids have only earmarked about half the patterns for me to make. And I do better muddling through the instructions in Spanish than I would in most other languages (I don’t speak Spanish other than what you pick up from Dora the Explorer, but I do have a bit of French)

And on that note, I had best get back to my work. Thanks again for all the birthday wishes, and also the help from the people who commented on the Lydia fit issues.

Self-Stitched Sept. 9

Now... back to work!

*I’ve decided to knock off Beangirl and start calling my kids Syo (the seven-year-old) and Tyo (the ten year old). It’s not quite as cool as her T-Bo and T-Lo (The Big One and The Little One) but I’m getting tired of writing out “the seven year old” every time. This will work okay until next summer when they turn eight and eleven and are suddenly both ‘Eyo’. Meh.

**Doubtless a calculated attempt to distract my from my own selfish sewing… children’s clothes are no threat to her sewing supremacy, after all.

11 Comments

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as , , ,

September 7, 2010 · 11:17 am

No Sew So

Sorry.

Today is my birthday. On top of that, it’s my thirtieth birthday. Probably I am doing nothing special (except trying to deny its happening), but practically that means there will be no sewing today. Some friends came by with a surprise cake yesterday, too, so there was no sewing yesterday. Also today needs to be full of paper-writing. Lots and lots of paper-writing. But that’s another story.

Cake!

At the risk of starting a tradition of cakes on sewing blogs (I am not a foodie and don’t read cooking blogs for a REASON), here is the cake my friend’s mom made me. Isn’t it awesome? It smells really good, too, but I am trying to save it for tonight.

I still need to do another Lydia version (by the way, for those who have commented on my prolific sewing-rate over the weekend… aside from sewing the hem (done by hand while watching a movie with my kids), the gathered skirt took less than two hours, including a muslin of the yoke, and the Lydia took a similar amount of time. I really am not a sewing machine. The quick projects are sure nice, though.

Also, Self-Stitched September, Day 7.

Since it’s my birthday, I decided to wear my Danielle Dress. Since it’s freakin’ cold again (having my birthday at the beginning of September, I am always hoping for lingering summer weather. I am pretty much always disappointed, too), I am layering it over my black Lydia and Jalie Jeans (again… I warned you there would be repeats!) This fails to hide the poor shoulder-sewing on the Lydia, and the necklines don’t quite match up, but on the whole I like the look. Especially with the boots. Kick-ass boots make almost everything better.

Birthday outfit

Self-Stitched Sept. 7

Birthday Outfit

Self-Stitched Sept. 7

Birthday Outfit---Sorry for the squinting.

19 Comments

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as ,

September 6, 2010 · 1:06 pm

Lydia struggles

Lydia v.3---lightened considerably

I thought I was almost there, folks, I really did. I figured this would be the one.

Instead, here I am (once again) questioning my validity as a sewist and my ability to produce anything resembling a wearable garment.

After the last Lydia, which was really gapy around the neck and seemed to ride up, I took a tuck in the neckline (to reduce gapiness) and altered the side-curve, which was really a little too long for my rather short waist. I also raised the neckline by a good inch. I really thought that would do it, folks. I thought I was there.

Well, this version (which admittedly is out of a different fabric) has the exact same problems! Still bulging in front above the bust (unless I pull it down, but it comes up again as soon as I raise my arms), still too low-cut. (Incidentally, when it rides up to where it seems to want to sit, the neckline is perfect). It feels like the whole front shoulder (between bust and shoulder seam) is too long. Yet when it’s in it’s “comfy position” the bottom of the armscye is way up in my armpit. It’s not uncomfortable (quite the opposite), but it seems unusual.

Here you can see the "bulge" in front of the shoulder best.

I wonder if maybe I’m trying to get this pattern to be something it wasn’t meant to, though. I want a close-fitting shirt I can layer under other stuff (see today’s SSS outfit below)—but the pattern itself seems to have a lot more ease and maybe be intended for a looser kind of garment? I feel like the sleeve cap and armscye are not the right shape for what I’m wanting—it seems to bind and pull up. I’m guessing I need a shorter armscye and shorter (maybe wider?) sleeve-head.

It didn’t help that I experimented with setting the sleeves in before the sideseams, which is a quicker and easier way to install it a) if there isn’t too much sleeve-head ease and b) if you’re better at keeping your stretch tension even than I am. So I’m going to ignore the ripply parts of the shoulder seam as being a problem with my stitching. When it’s “sitting comfy” the shoulder seam is in about the right place (but very loose due to the front pouffing) but when it’s tucked down the shoulder seam seems to fall a bit to the back.

On the other hand, it’s comfy, warm (which I really need today, despite the bright sun in the photos below, it is NIPPY), the sleeves are deliciously over-long (I added a good 3″ in length), and the waist curve seems to sit in a better place than the last one. I think it will be great for layering, assuming I can wrap my head around layering something warm under something chilly (usually I do the other way around). The pictures don’t look too awful, partly because you can hardly see anything ;).

And, I have enough fabric left to give it another go…

Edited to add back view---not that you can see much (crummy black)

Also, I experimented with a different technique for finishing the hems: incorporating a clear elastic. This is supposed to prevent stretching-out and tunnelling of your twin-needle stitches. I am not totally sold. When I tried to attach the elastic first (with a triple zig-zag) and then fold it under and topstitch with the twin needle, it was impossible to get the elastic to feed at the same rate as the shirt fabric (and I’m not up for sandwiching tissue paper into the mix just for a hem finish) When I just tucked the elastic inside a fold and double-stitched, it worked a bit better but I still didn’t have much control of the elastic tension, and there still seems to be a fair bit of tunneling. We’ll see how it holds up after a few washing, but for the most part I don’t think I’ll bother next time.

On the other hand I’m getting almost good at incorporating the elastic into the neck binding, which looks almost store-bought, at least from the outside. 🙂

Self-Stitched September, Day 6:

Self-Stitched September 6

More goofy poses!


Self-Stitched September 6

Messing around. At least it's sunny!

Two pieces that I didn’t have at the beginning of the month!

Now, if I can just make a topper and maybe another pair of jeans… Oh yeah, and that winter coat.

14 Comments

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as , ,

September 5, 2010 · 12:46 pm

Splurgey Splurgertons

It’s almost my birthday. I can justify it. Right?

Fabric!

My favourite was this red sweater knit. It was NOT cheap, but none of the cheaper alternatives had this fabulous colour. But I got two yards; I’m hoping I can get a warm topper and a long-sleeve shirt out of it (I may be overly optimistic). I also got a couple of yards of a much more reasonably priced plain black knit, from which I hope to get a long-sleeved Lydia that could be worn under nearly anything as the weather gets colder, and maybe a better version of one of my cowl-necks. Ichigogirl has a tutorial on Burdastyle for putting cap-sleeves on her cowl neck top, and they look great. What really broke the bank (it is, after all, a very small bank) was the 4m of black Kasha lining I picked up for my Lady Grey (I haven’t picked a fabric yet, but linings were 50% off and black seemed a safe bet for whatever. I want it in red, of course, ideally with a black hem- and cuff-stripe and points across a lapel 🙂 )

Self Stitched September (day 5): Fall Arrives

Sept. 5

Sept. 5

If it weren’t here already, anyway. The forecast daytime high is like 11C.

Top: Cowl Neck Top

Bottoms: Jalie 2908 (black, skinny version)

On the plus side, I finally made some progress on the winter coat!!! And I might even love it after all.

Winter coat!

I don’t think this picture really does it justice… I love how long and full the skirt is! Of course, now I need to get the sleeves on, which is going to be where the fit hits the shan, as I’m using a different sleeve. I cut it with lots of ease in the sleeve cap, so I’m hoping by dint of a lot of basting I can get it working. It would be a lot easier if I had a dress form. I’m really glad I shortened the upper chest of the pattern—the bust fits in a better spot now and I think the armpits won’t look so droopy as they do on the pattern envelope. The waist seems really high but it actually hits at my natural waist, as opposed to an inch below it where most stuff hits.  I also have the lining partly cut out. Now I need to do a no-seam-allowance version of the bodice for the interlining.

But I’m probably going to work on a Lydia instead.

Comments Off on Splurgey Splurgertons

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as , , ,

September 4, 2010 · 10:15 am

WWSSD? (What Would Selfish Seamstress Do?)

Probably not this.

Gathered skirt

Yes, this is the other piece of “nice” fabric Her Selfishness accidentally included with the poly chiffon and fun-fur. (Don’t you worry… we’re getting to the fun fur.) It is apparently a Vera Wang jaquard. This probably makes it the first “designer” fabric I’ve ever had the privilege of mangling. It’s navy/black, variably shiny, with a pattern of concentric circles. It’s crisp to the point of cardboardy and takes a crease very nicely. It would make an extremely elegant coat, ball-gown (if I had, y’know, more than about 3/4 of a metre), or maybe even a sheath-dress for someone with superior fitting skills.

I made a gathered skirt.

In hindsight, it might have been better pleated. Or perhaps I should’ve paid attention to the 2:1 golden rule of gathering, rather than just taking a double-width panel and

Gathered from the back

gathering it all onto my skirt yoke. If I could’ve made it longer I would have—or rather, I’d have made it about the same length but with a wider hem. I think it needs a little bit more weight at the hem… Or something. Anything to reduce that pouf! The pouf does not help with the natural tendency of such skirts to be longer at the front than the back.

Actually, the pictures look pretty good, about what I was going for, so perhaps it’s just that I need a petticoat or bloomers underneath (Madeleine, anyone?) to reduce the feeling of “my bum is hanging out in space” that I get when wearing this. It certainly doesn’t need a crinoline for volume.

This is, however, another item that is not likely to make it into my regular rotation of clothing, and hence not something I should’ve been working on during my precious Self-Stitched September sewing time. I can only conclude that there was some seriously evil mojo infused into that fabric her Selfishness “gave” me.

Pouf!

Or, y’know, that sometimes you just have to make a pouffy skirt.

I used the yoke from the A-Plus A-Line on Burdastyle (graded from a size 4 at the hip to a size 8 at the waist as I didn’t want it sitting at my natural waist), and just gathered the rectangular panels to it. I made my first attempt at a lapped zipper on the side, which turned out awful. If I really want a nice zipper I should really bite the bullet and do it by hand, but I already did the whole hem by hand last night and I didn’t feel like it.

In Self-Stitched September News, Day 4: Are you sick of JJ’s yet?

Self-Stitched September, Day 4

I know I am! (I’m also sick of my usual poses so you can look forward to some doofy ones. This one is called “Oh Noes! I am being Followed!”)

9 Comments

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as , ,

September 3, 2010 · 2:41 pm

The Evil JJ

Is this shirt evil?

Not because the shirt itself has been particularly problematic—after the sheer JJ anything is a cinch—but because I feel rather evil for making it.

You see, as the Selfish Seamstress, with whom I have a passing acquaintance, is, as we all know, moving continents. And, like most people in those circumstances, she is looking to reduce the possessions for the move. This includes, in her case, her fabric stash…

But this is, after all, the Selfish Seamstress. So at our last coffee, she presented me with two bags of fabric and stuff that she felt able to part with.

Folks, if the Selfish Seamstress is letting it go… well, there’s probably a reason.

Nevertheless, I am an unprincipled fabric mooch, so I took it all with good grace. And among the sheer iridescent polyester there are a couple of nice pieces—not fabrics I would’ve picked out myself, but stuff with potential.

I can only assume that Her Selfishness had too much of the given fabric, or perhaps had a sudden lapse of sanity. Anyway, one of these pieces is a white (something) with black polkadots. There was a little under a metre of this stuff, which turned out to be just enough for a ruffle-less JJ.

A ruffle-less JJ? Seriously, how much fun is that? I have one already, thanks. So I scrounged through my scraps and managed to produce a few narrow strips suitable for producing minute ruffles, but nowhere near enough for the front.

Now,  if you are a stalker dedicated reader of Her Selfishness’s blog, as I am, you may recall that she has posted a few times on the unfortunate phenomenon of ruffled sleeves.

It is at this point, I suppose, that the evil took over.

Sleeve ruffle!

Yes, folks, that is a sleeve ruffle. On the JJ puff sleeve. I put sleeve ruffles on a shirt made from the Selfish Seamstress’s own fabric.

Finished

I’m sorry. The polkadots made me do it.

Evil JJ back

Evil JJ front

Evil JJ---Cute?

Whatcha think? Right? Wrong? Unforgivable? Evil?

Evil?

In Self Stitched September news, here’s today’s (unremarkable) outfit:

Today! Bored yet?

At least I got to wear my capris!

11 Comments

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as , ,

September 2, 2010 · 9:24 am

Day 2: Back to School

Self-stitched September, Day 2

Today’s outfit is a triple-slam (or something): Self-stitched jeans, blouse, AND tank-top, because the sheer JJ needs something underneath. I haven’t worn it with the cream tank before; usually I wear it (when I wear it… it’s not an everyday kind of garment, if only because the seams aren’t holding up well at all) with a blue tank top or cami underneath. It looks ok with the cream, though, aside from the belly-flash because the tank isn’t long enough to stay down.

In other news the next JJ is making some progress, though I’m sad to say I may not have enough scraps for the ruffle variation I want to do. I’m sure you’ll see it in a day or two. The Monster’s bag is still MIA, as well.

Oh, and look what I just found:

Now, today was the first day back at school for the kids. I thought (silly me) I had everything organized. Lunches packed (lunchboxes found), new backpacks purchased, everyone has shoes (they need one pair to wear and one to keep at school for indoor shoes… the one wonderful thing about the schools here is they buy all the school supplies, all you have to do is pay them thirty bucks or so in school fees, so I don’t have to worry about those)

Wait, shoes.

Seven-year-old’s shoes are good to go. She’s got three possible pairs to choose from and only needs two.

Ten year old…

wait, what? None of your runners fit anymore?

Well, just the one pair.

Well, where’s the one pair?

I don’t know.

Frantic searching ensues. We end up pulling out one of the old pairs of slightly-outgrown runners for indoors and she wore boots for outdoors. Scrambled out the door, got to the school five minutes late, found them their classrooms, run home, sit down at the computer, and…

Look what’s sitting behind the computer tower?

yes, those are indeed the 10-year-old’s runners.

Where the ten-year-old stashed her shoes.

[insert appropriate blasphemies here]

Anyway, now that I have a child-free zone I should really get to doing some of the real work I have to do. In the meantime—enjoy your Self-Stitched September!

2 Comments

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as

September 1, 2010 · 9:31 am

And so it begins…

Taking my cue from Tasia, I’m going to start my Self-Stitched September with a wardrobe roundup. Why? Why not.

For a recap, I had originally signed up for the Lite version (one self-stitched item per day) but as I have pretty much been doing that for the last month (yay!) I figured I will try and step it up a bit. I am going to start off with SSS Blitz Week: “Main clothing items” self-stitched every day. Sadly this can’t include toppers as I never did get the fabric to make one (yet) except for the poor, maybe-salvageable  jacket.

Now, I will be honest with you. Much as I adore clothes and style, my wardrobe (at least the functional, everyday part of it) has always been limited. There’s been plenty of times when I’ve gotten by with two pairs of jeans and three or four shirts (ok, plus a few bumming-around/will do in a pinch items for at home on the weekends). By this standard, I should have no problem with a full Self-Stitched September. This is true.

When I look at the sheer number of pieces above, I’m fairly impressed. I could totally do the whole month. But…

are my colleagues/labmates going to start noticing the repetitive, odd clothing? Am I never going to want to wear any of it again? Are my self-stitched jeans going to fall apart under that much constant wear? Is it just gross to wear your jeans that many days in a row?

Well, we’ll see how I feel after this week.

Oh, and here’s today’s inaugural outfit:

Sept. 1

Self-Sitched on September 1

And here’s what I will look like to most other people, all month, anyway, because I live in my hoodie:

Typical Me

What people see of what I wear most of the time anyway

11 Comments

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as ,

August 31, 2010 · 11:39 am

Newsflash

Skull Applique for the Monster's bag

I still suck at freehand machine embroidery.

Actually, I probably still suck at all embroidery (I haven’t tried any hand embroidery for a few years, but last time I definitely sucked. Oddly, it was on another piece using this same blue/black coating, too)

The Monster, AKA the ten-year-old, has been working away on her bag. Well, occasionally. When she’s not off camping or having sleepovers or watching her dad play video-games in the evening. Yesterday she managed to topstitch the strap and flap. Today I worked on the applique. I suck at applique.

I feel the need to mention, briefly, my introduction to machine embroidery. Not computerized machine embroidery, which I still have experienced only from afar, but the freehand kind. It begins with my mom’s sewing machine, a gorgeous Pfaff dating from the late sixties. This is the machine I learned on, and in its day, it was the shizznitt. It was an Embroidery Machine. It has settings for about a bajillion different embroidered stitches, all variations of the zig-zag, but every variation you could think of! Scallops, crenelations, triangles, blocks… the list is endless (or at least very long), and there is a large, circular plastic chart you turn to show the stitch you want and all the settings to get it. Width, needle position, number of stitches to motif, all completely adjustable. And the controls were actually far more intuitive than the ones on my much simpler modern Janome. Anyway, in addition to the chart, there was the manual, with extensive examples of things you could do with the embroidery stitches. Monogrammed letters, eyelet lace… I can’t even remember all of their suggestions. It was staggering. Everything was gorgeous.

Of course, nowhere in all of that did it say anywhere how hard it was to get them looking that nice.

Needless to say, I don’t think my poor little skull here would be appearing in that book. Or anyone’s book. But the kid is happy enough, so that’s ok by me. In hindsight I should’ve placed it much further down on the flap (I was

And, the strap, adorned with skull ribbon.

actually going for bottom-to-the-side placement, but the kid wanted it centred, and i moved it up too much when I centred it. So if the bag is full half the skull is going to be on the top. Oh, well.

I also used some of the ribbon from this splurge, finally,  sewing it along the strap. This is actually the first time I’ve adorned anything with ribbon. Not super hard (though I wasn’t particularly scientific about it). I still worry about putting it on clothes, though—would it shrink? Hold up in the wash? I am doubtful. On a bag, though… should be fine.

And that, except for hemming some de-cuffed pyjama bottoms for the ten-year-old (apparently they are totally uncool if they have cuffs, but just fine if they don’t), has been my sewing for the past few days. Bleh. Wasn’t I resolving to sew stuff for me?

4 Comments

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as , , , ,

August 30, 2010 · 7:34 am

One last thing…

Of course, the week that the Selfish Seamstress links to me would be the week that I get next to no sewing done. Sorry, folks, we had company and my sewing machine hasn’t been unbanished from the basement yet. Soon, though.

The days are dwindling. I’m not ready for September for so many reasons (the least of which is my 30th birthday :P). I’m not sick of summer! I need at least a couple of weeks of solidly brutal heat to prepare me for the winter to come. Even though the winters here are fairly pansy-ass compared to what I grew up with, they still bite. I am not mentally equipt for moderate climates. Instead, what we got was a weekend that didn’t get above 20 C the whole time. Yesterday and today won’t get above 15. Brutal!

Anyway, I feel like there’s just time to plan for one last garment before September really begins (I will obviously attempt to keep sewing in September, but it’s going to be limited, and probably focused on my winter coat). So what should it be?

My problem is that what I want to do is fabric shop. I am sick of my (admittedly limited) stash, with the exception of a few pieces that I have garments in mind that I’m not ready for yet. There are all kinds of (comparatively… it is Fabricland, after all) glorious sweater-weight knits at Fabricland that are tempting me, not to mention coating (for the Lady Grey of course). I want to play around with my Lydia pattern more, too, and I don’t have any knits for that. I’d really like some killer denim; I have enough for one more black pair, which is all right, but I’d really prefer a dark indigo wash. Not that there was anything like that at Fabricland last time I checked, mind you. And while you’d think I’d be able to justify some birthday splurging, the always-tight budget is even tighter than usual (still recovering from the summer splurges, and September is always a pricey month with the kids’ school starting). We’ll see. I also need to order the Lady Grey pattern, and if I’m going to do that I might as well order the Ceylon at the same time, right? (I think I’ve talked myself out of Beignet… if I decide I can’t live without it I’ll make up a regular pencil-skirt with a button front instead.)

I did receive some small relief last night in the form of some last-minute hand-me-downs from the Selfish Seamstress. I can see one of the fabrics becoming another JJ. (Because, y’know, I really need another one of those). But I still want sweater knit! I want long sleeves!

Now to reclaim my machine. I have a scheme to set it up on the computer desk, which would be an improvement over the kitchen table where it’s been lurking all summer, and the Monster (aka the 10-year-old) needs to finish her bag… but first I have to do a ton of running around. With no car today, I might add. Argh.

4 Comments

Filed under Sewing

Tagged as , ,