Category Archives: Sewing

August 13, 2010 · 11:09 am

My first Burda Magazine!

My First Burda (Magazine)! (I'm not manic. Really. I'm not. Ok maybe a little.)

Last night a little bird took me to a newsstand in town that actually carries BurdaStyle magazine. For the low, low price of $10 Canadian, I am now the proud owner of the August issue! (And then I got home late and had to go to bed without reading it!)

On the upside, it has lots of cute little jacket patterns that call for about 1.5 m of fabric (the same amount I have of my grey herringbone). On the downside, most of these seem to be in petite sizes. Now, I have a shortish body so I might actually be able to pull off a petite bodice (might)… but how much am I going to have to lengthen the arms? Although some of them look pretty long already…

Cute petite jacket. Are the go-go-gadget arms really long enough?

There’s also this really cute kids jacket my oldest daughter would totally rock:

Totally seeing my 10-year-old in this.

I can’t say any of the pants are especially appealing to me, although they’re probably good basics (and I am still in the market for basic patterns). There are several cute skirts, but we all know how often I wear skirts. There are a few cute tops, but a lot of them are big, floaty blousy things that look lovely on the models and I would feel like a whale in.

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August 12, 2010 · 3:11 pm

Not So Awesome

New Jalie Jeans Capris

But they’ll do.

They’re finished except for the studs (which I won’t put in this time until at least one more wash). Nothing special, but considering my spectacular fail on the pattern front, I’m not going to complain as long as they’re wearable.

I’m still having issues with the waistband gaping at the back (probably not helped at all

Rear View

by the pattern goof), so I think I’ll twiddle with the waistband pattern piece a bit. I’m a little scared of how much worse it will get after I wash them. Also I think I should go back to the original width of the waistband pattern piece (I had shaved it down about 2cm) as I think I actually like the wider waistband better. This one’s wider than my last (I used the same pattern piece but 1/4″ seam allowances instead of 1 cm), so it’s a good width, but wider would be nice, too.

One of these days I’ll do something actually interesting with

Belt loop and pocket detail... OMG is that pocket ripping?

the jeans I make. Maybe for the next black pair. I may go back and put a little slit at the seam in the outer side leg just below the knee, too, if I get ambitious. We’ll see. In the meantime—another boring, not entirely quick piece. Now to pray for good weather in September so I can actually use them for my SSS wardrobe.

Front Fly---good installation, less good topstitching.

OMFG, the back pocket’s ripping loose! Did I remember to tie those topstitching strings or did I… just… cut them. Yup, I think I just cut them. *facepalm*

There’s the fly, which is my first actual proper fly installation. The topstitching’s not so good. I think my buttonholes are getting a wee bit better, although still nothing like the amazing tailored ones I see pictures of. Also a cute 10-year-old invaded the picture.

Well, for my first finished project in two weeks, I’m not going to complain. Any more.

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August 11, 2010 · 6:30 pm

I F#%@ed up

Adjustment intended to raise the centre back of my jeans.

So after the last time I made up the Jalie Jeans, I decided the back really was too low and that I should raise it. So I took my pattern and slashed and pivoted to raise one side.

Observe, please, my adjustment.

Those of you who are keener observers than I will realize that the side I expanded is the side seam, not the centre back seam. Therefore it does nothing to the centre back, and plenty to throw off the side seam. Aren’t I brilliant?

I think I’ll be able to make it work by shaving off the top of the yoke, but man… I am severely choked with myself.

On the other hand, by following Debbie Cook’s tutorial step-by-step, I managed to install my first “perfect” fly. I really don’t do well with video tutorials like the Sandra Betzina one, oddly. I think I find it harder to keep my place in the process, or I miss steps as my mind wanders.

Redemption is a perfect fly?

Unfortunately it’s adorned by some of my least-perfect top-stitching, but ah well.

chalk-transferred pattern

I rather like my pocket design. I don’t have any real transfer paper, so I improvised with sidewalk chalk on a sheet of regular paper. It was rather messy, but worked well enough for my simple pattern, and it seems to have all come out. I also experimented with one of my few fancy stitches.

Embroidered pockets---fancy stitch!

I really like this denim, though—it’s both heavy and stretchy and soft, a good combination, I think. Now if only I hadn’t f#$%ed it up!

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August 11, 2010 · 7:20 am

Girl Wonders

Another pair of capris

Well, I did no sewing yesterday, but I did manage to get another pair of capri jeans cut out. (I only had 1.1m of fabric, about .25m shy of what I need for a full-length pair, I guess, and I didn’t want to patchwork in pieces of my other denim. This does, however, mean that I will still need another pair of full-length jeans for Self-Stitched September, because the wearability of capris in Alberta in September is dubious. Also I did laundry. Mounds and mounds of little-girl laundry.

Poser in pink.

My daughters, on the other hand (aside from passing through the house like a high-pitched whirlwind), did a lot of sewing. In particular, my oldest spent several hours sewing the younger one into a variety of costumes. Ok, perhaps sewing is a bit of a misnomer. There was a bit of lacing

Pink poser, showing back lacing.

involved, but mostly scissors. A lot of scissors. A lot of scraps that started out yesterday reasonably sized are… no longer. But, it kept them occupied and focused the destruction on reasonable targets, right? It says everything you need to know about our personalities that I started sewing for my barbies, while my oldest daughter has started sewing for a person.

This used to be a Lydia...

The pink outfit is, as you may have guessed, made from the last few remnants of the pink poplin I made the twirly dress out of. The white is the most satisfying use of a wadder I can imagine. I had been meaning to try to salvage the bodice part of my Lydia Disaster, but really—watching it shredded by a 10-year-old deconstructionist is much more satisfying.

Also, the 10-year-old was wearing one of my RTW shirts all yesterday. It’s a bit loose on her whereas it’s snug on me, but still.

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August 10, 2010 · 9:17 am

Home

So we got home late last night, and now I’m lying here with a house full of 10 days’ worth of vacation junk (plus all the stuff the kids came home with… I send them out with two suitcases and they come back with two suitcases, three backpacks, and about 6 grocery bags full of stuff (plus one big garbage bag of clothes). WTF?? I think it is time for a wardrobe prune for the little girls.) and all I want to do is SEW. Fortunately for the state of my house, I don’t quite know what I want to sew, but my fingers are definitely itching. Probably another pair of jeans would be the best start. Though the Kasia skirt Seemane suggested sounds fun. I’m just not convinced I’m actually likely to wear a pencil skirt (or if one would even look good on me) and I’m still trying to build wearables for Self-Stitched September. On the other hand, I think the new plaid I picked up would make really nice contrast pockets (although maybe not with the striped denim… maybe the sparkly denim from the girls’ jean jackets would work for that?… oh, the angst of fabric selection!). On consideration, the grey herringbone wool is too heavy for anything but a coat. It’s really heavy. Heavier than the stuff I bought for my winter coat project. What kind of a coat can you make with about 1.5m of fashion fabric? (Probably why it was at Value Village in the first place, no?) . I’d love something like this,

I love this jacket! Unfortunateley, I have no pattern like it.

but I have a feeling it’s too heavy for the sleeves to drape nicely even if they were cut on the bias. And I have nothing like a pattern for it. A short-sleeved coat would be a possibility, but I don’t really like the look (also the pointlessness) of them. I like a cropped or bolero jacket with long sleeves much better (but back to the pattern issue). Apparently I’d rather have a cold tummy than cold arms.

On the Wearability Report, I lost a rivet off my black jeans. 😦 Although this bothers me less than if I’d lost the rivet on RTW, since I can just replace it, it’s still irritating. They’ve been washed about 4 times now (5 by the end of today) and are generally holding up pretty well, though the knees are (inevitably) fading. The hubby’s white voile shirt is holding up well to its numerous washings, as it gets a lot of wear. The fabric is so thin, though, that I imagine I’ll be making a new one sooner than I think. Several of the pretty pearl snaps have popped off the girls’ jean jackets, too (all in places where the fabric was really too thick for them, though, like the cuffs). I like the heavy-duty snaps much better, at least for jackets, and they’re easier to set, too.

In other news, I foresee lots of swayback alteration practice for any fitted clothing for my older daughter. That baby got back.

Wow, that was a lot of babbling for not a lot of sewing. Ok, off to clean my house!

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August 6, 2010 · 4:44 pm

Finds

'vintage' patterns---3 for 99 cents

I did at last manage to drag my sister-in-law to Value Village this morning for a quick trawl. Apologies for the crummy camera-phone pictures, the real camera’s battery is dead at the moment.

Nothing stupendously amazing. A nice sundress pattern with similar detailing to a 30s

A cute sundress with some nice details

nightgown (wonder if I could cut it on the bias and omit the zipper?)

They have this technique where they stuff two ugly patterns in a baggie with one nicer one for 99 cents (the same price as the individual patterns, by the way). So I got this cute 70s empire-waist, princess seam dress and a couple of so-so kids patterns. I really liked the dress, though.

Here’s the kicker. Can you make out what it says in the red writing above the size? Maybe not, the pictures are spectacularly sucky. It says…

Maternity!  I just scored a 70s maternity pattern! (And my mom swears all 70s maternity wear was awful!). Oopsie. Since I have no intention of including any further procreation in my life plan, this is fairly amusing, but hopefully I can just reduce the amount of gathering at that bottom front panel and have a wearable, non-maternity dress. (For the record, I don’t think those girls on the pattern envelope look pregnant at all—or even old enough to be pregnant, for that matter!)

Wool plaid and herringbone, and a 70s maternity pattern!

I also grabbed a couple of smallish pieces of wooly fabric, a lightweight plaid with some pink in it and a heavy grey herringbone. There might just be enough of the plaid for a pencil skirt, or maybe an A-line jumper for one of the kids (assuming I can get them to wear anything scratchy like that!). The herringbone wants to be a jacket but I strongly doubt there’s enough of it there (plus grey is probably not the best colour near my face), but maybe a longer or flaring gored skirt. Something with some girly detail to offset the boring colour.

You will note that neither of these fabrics is even remotely suited to the patterns I picked up. /sigh.

So anyway, that’s the story. We’re off to the lake tonight so I will be incommunicado for a few days and probably have nothing to say for a few more after. What do you think should be the first thing I sew when I get back? I’m thinking the next set of jeans, but there’s also another whack at the Lydia T-shirt pattern, or a skirt. It would be fun to do a skirt. I’ve never done one.

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August 5, 2010 · 8:34 am

The Wearability Report

In other news, since I’m not sewing, I’ll give you a quick “wearability report,” since I have been wearing a lot of my self-stitched clothes. Unfortunately since I’m the only one who ever seems to take pictures, I don’t have photos of my stuff “in action”. The 70s Sundress has gotten the most attention, partly because it’s a showy piece, and (or but) partly because it’s the most “home-sewn” looking of my recent creations. It’s also gotten at least 3 “make me one” requests from relatives… including my cousin who then flatly refused to give me her measurements (since I would have to alter the pattern… she’s a wee bit bustier than I). Seriously… if you can’t deal with the idea of your own measurements, sweetie, don’t even ask about someone sewing you something. The best was a woman on the street at the street festival that’s going on right now (I love our summer vacation home, by the way):

“Where did you get your dress?” she asks. “I love it!”

“Actually, I made it,” I confess.

“Oh!” she says, “Do you sell them?”

I had to say no; she looked very disappointed.

The kids love their jean jackets, although one of the smaller snaps has already come off of one; the older niece, as you can see here, loves her twirly dress (the younger is still pretty much happy to wear whatever, and get it gloriously dirty).

I tried out the black halter top yesterday. I was not really comfortable about the length, but it was a hot, summery, short-shorts day. It garnered instant approval from the kids and hubby, and more day-long complements from the other people we were hanging out with, so I guess it’s a win after all, in all its skanktastic glory. I now have a fabulously even and dark upper-back tan, although my legs are still pretty pasty.

I took the black jeans in one last time (!) and so far they’re wearing deliciously (and not garnering any comments about me making them for someone because everyone assumes they’re RTW). I’ve been wearing the blue tank top a ton (although largely as jammies since I forgot to pack a jammie shirt.) It too flies under the radar. The fabric is going to pill pretty badly, however (which I had heard said of rayon jerseys), but ah well.

You know, I think I’ve almost managed to start my Self-Stitched September early… I’ve been trying to wear at least one self-stitched item each day, because I feel more excited about getting dressed when I do. I actually feel disappointed if I have to wear all RTW. I’d love to step it up to a full Self-Stitched commitment (instead of my current lite, one-self-stitched-piece-a-day level), but I don’t think I have the numbers of pieces, especially since a lot of my summery stuff will be non-useful (especially for work). With any luck there’ll be Do It Yourself December or something.

On that note, I’ll sign off. Maybe I’ll have some thrift store finds to show off later! 🙂

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August 4, 2010 · 8:12 am

Why we sew

Now, why we sew has obviously been the subject of many, many posts. I know why I sew—to have something unique out of my own head. And with long enough sleeves (I still haven’t made a successful garment with long sleeves. Partly because it’s been warm, partly because I think I’ve trained myself away from long sleeves over the years).

But I was chatting with my mother about sewing the other day (I know, wasn’t this blog supposed to exist so I don’t yak her ear off about it?)… and she made a comment that she gave up sewing when she began having to alter the patterns right out of the envelope.

This took me aback a little.

Don’t most people sew expecting to alter their patterns? Isn’t most of the point of sewing for yourself so you CAN alter the pattern before making the garment? I mean, my mother is not particularly oddly-shaped, but she has the same gangling limbs I do, an even shorter waist, and a D-cup… of course she’s going to have to alter the pattern. And that’s without even talking about swaybacks, forward (or backward) shoulders, or any of those other subtler fitting dilemmas. And it’s not as if the ready-to-wear garments from the store have these alterations made to them!

But then I realized that in the era when my mother learnt to sew (the 1960s)… you still sewed for the sake of economy. Or tradition, or because that’s what girls did. And even when I was a child, my home-sewed garments were generally only the things you couldn’t get off the rack—those pioneer dresses I mentioned, for example. (Some of which have fabulous pintucks in the pinafores, by the way. Pintucks terrify me!) Many of her sewing projects were dolls—again, things not available off the rack. When it came to creative wardrobing, my mom far preferred to hunt the thrift stores and garage sales (even in the 80s!) or overstock places like Winners for bargains.

Which is fine, as far as it goes… it’s just a far different “world of sewing” than I am used to.

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August 3, 2010 · 12:14 am

A find!

Mail-order envelope, post-marked 1955. "Poncho, pedal-pushers, shorts, blouse"

Pattern drawing

Pattern drawing. My grandma labeled this pattern as containing "poncho, pedal pushers, shorts, blouse"

My mom let me paw through her small stash of old patterns today. Most of them are not really of interest to me—a lot of little girl (and adult) pioneer dresses and things like that. A number of them are Folkwear patterns, too—I hadn’t realized Folkwear was around that long ago (since at least one of those patterns is for a dress I wore when I was two).

But there was one children’s pattern she had gotten from my grandmother. It’s a mail-order pattern from “The Star Weekly Pattern Department”, post-marked 1955. My mother would have been 2 going on 3, her sister 11 months younger, perfect for this size 2 pattern. Of course, my children are far beyond a size 2, but I do have a couple of two-year-olds I’ve been sewing for, and I could always take a stab at grading it. That poncho is pretty cute.

My first un-printed pattern!

And look! Un-printed pattern paper!

I haven’t gone through to see if all pieces are there, but my grandmother and mother are both borderline hoarders, so I’m betting they are.

Sadly, she’s still hanging on to the button collection. Maybe she’ll let me take some pictures, though.

I am curious about one thing, though—whether size 2 patterns in the 50s were cut for diapers or not. It seems like there was a much bigger press to get your kids potty-trained back than as compared to now (infant potty-trainers aside). Mind you, if I was hand-washing all my kids’ dirty cloth diapers, I’d have had a lot more motivation to get them potty-trained early, too!

Pattern drawing and pieces

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August 2, 2010 · 11:20 am

In action!

I finally got some pictures of these kids IN the stuff I made them (well, some of them). (And wow… everyone really does say you should make them stuff. So far I tell everyone I’ll make them something if they come up to visit for the duration. That shuts ’em up)

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