Category Archives: Sewing

July 23, 2010 · 10:23 pm

Sundress!

70s sundress

Finally, something for me! And it may even be warm enough this weekend that I’l actually want to wear it!

This is the fabulously long version of my new 70s sundress pattern,

Sundress Start

seen on the right. It’s not a brand I am familiar with.

I added the patterned overskirt because I thought it would be pretty; the gauzy patterned cloth, as I mentioned before, was a broomstick skirt I’ve had forever. I like how it looks although it was a pain to cut out (especially since I wasn’t using pins).

The pattern calls for the elastic to run all the way around the ribcage; I preferred to keep it to the back and sides (less tummy pouff) but this had the side-effect of flattening the bust (since it’s designed to be partly pulled in by the elastic). I’m always amazed when I manage to make a pattern too small for my bust (ok, not exactly too small… they fit in fine. The shape is just flatter than would be ideal. The girls are really doing well for having nursed two babies, but they are still a little squishy these days). Other than that I really like the shape of the top—those kind of triangle tops can be really fiddly things, especially for gaping along the bias, and they both cover well and don’t gape, which impresses me. There is supposed to be an elastic inside the back of the neck, as well, which would probably make it more comfy, but I like the look of having it

70s sundress---back

sewn and flat. We’ll see for next time, perhaps. The waist elastic casing is only 1/2″, which looks very nice and delicate

70s sundress

but doesn’t feel terribly secure; I think next time I might try widening it to hold a 1″ elastic.

The instructions (which I read!) were simple but seemed fine. It’s a pretty simple dress.

Also, this amazing length is the pattern’s full length BUT it allowed for a 2″ hem, and I only did a 3/8″ one, as I didn’t think the wide hem would work with the crinkly fabric. So really it should be about two inches shorter. The extra length is fine for me, although we’ll see how impractical it ends up being.

(I’m not sure if you know me, but I tend to be drawn to the extremes. This means I like my skirts either really short, or really long. This has the net effect of making sure I don’t wear skirts very often, since the long ones tend to be too formal and restrictive, and the short ones I spend too much time making sure I’m not flashing people. Anyway, obviously this time I’m indulging in the long)

The gathered back does indeed look rather sack-like; hopefully my luscious and toned upper back will distract people from this.

The only other concern I have about this dress is that the voile is still quite sheer, and it does show all the way up in the front. Probably I would be wise to wear a slip or add an under-layer, but I don’t have much voile left, or anything else that would be suitable.

All in all, though, I am totally stoked to have a sundress again!

Closer view

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July 23, 2010 · 9:31 am

Photodump

The kids’ jean jackets are done! In all their pain-in-the-butt imperfect glory. Be amazed. Be awed. Rejoice (with me) that my fingers survived all that snap-setting.

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July 22, 2010 · 7:44 am

Speaking of impatience…

Sundress Start

Last night when I couldn’t proceed any further on the jean jacket, I pulled out the sundress pattern, read the instructions (!), even  did something approaching a tissue fit, and started cutting. Remember when I said I would make a top-length first, to try it out?

Ah, no.

I have now cut the rest of my white crinkle voile (otherwise known as this shirt) in a full-length version of the dress. The top is self-lined, by the way, so I decided to cut the outer layer of the top out of this print gauze, and add a 3/4 length overskirt of the same gauze.

The gauze, by the way, is a (now) former broomstick skirt I’ve had forever. Ok, since the early nineties. I wore it to my grade-8 grad, and it was not new then. Broomstick skirts no longer do it for me, but I’ve always loved the colour and the pattern. I’m not much of a print person, really, but this one works for me. Hopefully, it will also work for this dress. I’m going to do it as an overskirt, open in the front. I’m hoping it’ll be enough to make the voile non-transparent, but we’ll see. I may have to make a slip or something. Definitely not a dress to wear with black undies.

I did not trace this pattern out. It was already cut, apparently by someone with a lot more cutting skill than me. Also she appears to have used weights. There are no pin-marks. So when cutting mine, I used weights (aka soup cans), too.

I am not real good at that. Also, I think I may need to think about new fabric scissors. Mine are pretty good, but they don’t snip. You know, with the very tips. I have so many memories of my mom cutting out fabric, going *snip, snip* with just the tips of the scissors around the notches, and they would come out perfectly. My scissors cut really well except for the last half-centimetre or so at the tips. This makes snipping around notches really crappy. Especially with weights rather than pins. Especially with precious vintage tissue I don’t want to damage. It would be nice to have some bent shears, as well. The kind where you don’t have to lift the fabric as much to cut.

Anyway, here’s hoping. Stay tuned!

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July 21, 2010 · 8:06 pm

Impatient

Second Kids' Jean Jacket

As usual, I can’t wait until the thing is fully finished. Sorry. Also I ran out of topstitching thread, so I’m not going to be able to finish it until tomorrow.

This project has been such a brat, and it’s all my fault. It’s like my brain was broken; I was incapable of

Second kids' jean jacket---back

thinking logically about the order in which it had to be constructed. Not looking at the instructions didn’t help, but I didn’t really look at them last time and it went much better. I have no excuses. It was simple incompetence, with perhaps a dose of hubris. Hopefully I’ll learn my lesson, o great Sewing Gods.

I figured out my problem with the collar being too big, by the way. I had been trying to fit it on only the jacket part. It is, of course, supposed to extend to the centre front on both sides—that is, about halfway across the front placket. The collar on the JJ blouse is exactly the same (except its button placket is cut on, not sewn on). Heck, pretty much any collar that doesn’t have a stand is done like this.

Inside---pocket linings and bias binding

And it took me two tries to figure this out (too late). In my defense, the illustration shows the inside (facing) so you can’t really tell where the collar should end relative to the band, but still. My bad. My stupid.

Ok, let’s look at the positives. The lace worked out surprisingly well. I might have used a bit more, but I ran out (seriously, I bought two metres. Who could imagine a jean-jacket could use up two metres of lace??). The pearl snaps are very cute, and much easier to put in now I have the proper tools. The topstitching is relatively flawless. The wider bias-binding inside

Snazzy under-collar

worked very nicely, and there’s only one seam I proceeded to fold and topstitch the wrong way (can you spot it?). I like the touch of colour and pattern inside, and on the under-collar (I should probably have interfaced the undercollar, too, rather than just adding a second layer of the seersucker. I am reasonably confident that my seven-year-old will not give a crap at all about my various booboos.

I may still give in and get some crystal iron-ons or something equally twee for both jackets. Even with the lace, this one’s very plain, and the other even more so.

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July 20, 2010 · 10:16 pm

Buttons!

My new Button Stash

Yes, I am weak. I think we’ve established that. Today, I gave in to the lure of the Bag of Mixed Buttons. These things call to me. You see, my mother has a button stash. My grandmother has a button stash (two or three, actually). In fact, a good chunk of my mother’s button stash used to be my great-grandmother’s. Me, I have no button stash. And my forebears are not yet ready to part with theirs (they get real squirrely when I ask, too.)

So today, when I was at Zellers to buy thread, they had big mixed bags for five bucks, and I caved.

Now, this is not the way to acquire a button stash, I know. Ideally one should be accumulated over the years from buttons snipped off of worn-out garments, or at least bought at a garage sale or thrift store from some old lady’s accumulation. Added to here and there with truly magnificent finds, like a fabric stash. Doing what I did is kinda like buying a garbage bag full of random fabrics to create your stash. But I couldn’t resist any longer. I’m sorry. There are lots of fake pearl ones, which I love. A few big funky ones that might be worthy of a Lady Grey coat some day. Some brightly coloured ones that would be good for kids clothes. And some that are just butt-ugly and cheap looking. A fair number of sets of six to twenty matching ones, which was one of my fears of buying a bag like this. I don’t know if this will actually curtail my project-related button buying, but you never know. At least this way any extra buttons I have left over will have company.

On the sewing front, as you may have guessed, I’m struggling along with the jean jacket for my younger daughter. This got off to a really good start last night.

Today, not so much.

I really should read pattern instructions. Even the second time round. It’s not that I don’t know how things are constructed—I just forget steps. Or do them out of order. Like forgetting to attach the front button placket/facing before I sewed the shoulder seam. Or forgetting to leave the gap for the sleeve placket when I stitched the two pieces of the sleeve together. And then topstitched them. And then sewed the lace down over that. Frankly just a lot of stupidity that could have been avoided by actually thinking. Or, failing that, reading the instructions. Also some of the same issues from the first version are occurring—the front yoke was a smidge too wide. I did manage to get the front band/facing fitting right this time, so my issues last time around were presumably user error. And, most distressingly, the collar is too big. This was not such an issue last time; I just shortened one side. The difference isn’t noticeable.

This time, I had lace sandwiched between the upper and under collar, so that its edges would just peek out when it was folded right-side out. No shortening that. I managed to get the undercollar side sewn on (with a few tucks… fortunately, it’s made oft the same seersucker as the pocket linings, so it was much more amenable to easing than the denim would be) and I’ll sew the denim upper side in by hand, which should let me fudge it. Pooey. Possibly this is also user error—I’m not the best at collars—but I haven’t had this much trouble with the other collars I’ve done this year, which is actually at least eight. Eight collars! Wow, I’m a pro!

Anyway, bedliness beckons. Here’s hoping tomorrow brings smooth sailing, or at least smoother sewing. Once I get this one done, I can make something for ME!!!

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July 20, 2010 · 6:03 pm

FML

Do YOU see what's wrong?

I would be less ticked if I hadn’t broken my seam ripper last week, and forgotten to get a new one when I picked up thread this morning.

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July 20, 2010 · 8:52 am

Isn’t it amazing

2nd kids' jean jacket, under way.

how having the right tools at hand makes all the difference? You may (or may not) recall how nuts I went trying to install these pretty pearl snaps on my older daughter’s jean jacket. I never did get any put in that actually functioned. The one at the link above looks cute but doesn’t stay snapped to save its life. I couldn’t get any other ones to even attach properly.

So, last weekend, I put on my big-girl panties and  bought the little tool (along with a bunch more snaps, since they had a colour they hadn’t had before, that I liked better… I know, I know). And last night I cut out and got started on the construction for the younger daughter’s jean jacket.

So far, it’s going well. I like the lace around the pocket flap; hopefully I’ll remember to put it in a couple of other seams so it doesn’t look totally weird.  I get to use up more of that damn seersucker fabric (featured here and here) for the pockets and bias binding. Actually it’s a perfectly good fabric, I just didn’t realize how far 2m would go when it’s not really suitable for anything but clothes for little girls. I made the bias binding much wider this time (a whole 5 cm!) and it’s much easier to sew evenly. I think I’m slowly getting a bit better at cutting bias binding. The amount I have to trim off kills me, though. It’s almost as wide as the entire binding I used in the first jean jacket.

There is one problem, however. When I was purchasing this denim, I didn’t have the envelope with me. I had written down about 1.5 m for each jacket—actually 1 5/8 yards, but of course fabric is sold by the metre. I figured this was a good, if slightly generous, conversion. I forgot that this was the yardage for 45″ wide fabric, and the denim I got is more like 60″. I bought 3m.

Each of these jackets took less than a metre of fabric. I have at least a metre and a half of sparkly denim left over.

I guess I’m going to be sewing more kids’ jeans.

Just not right now.

And, on that note, I should really get to work. Also, I’m out of white thread.

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July 19, 2010 · 8:40 am

The Evil Shirt of Doom

Don't be fooled by its innocent appearance... this is truly the Evil Shirt of Doom

Is finished, and actually doesn’t look as terrible as I had thought it might. The construction is still pretty bad—the worst since the sheer JJ blouse—but it’s basically impossible to take stitches out of this fabric, so it’s just going to have to stay that way. It is very drapey, and hangs quite close to the body compared to the other shirt from this pattern, probably in part due to the narrower yoke, but partly just the different fabric. I do like the wider cuffs. I was worried about the lengthwise stretch, especially beside the button placket, but at least so far it isn’t noticeable. I did a crapload of reinforcing on the shoulder and armscye seams, hence the double rows of double-stitching on the yoke.

Anyway, it’s done. Warts, wrinkles,  wavy seams and all. And, once again, he won’t let me take a picture, so

Doom Shirt---back view. Note the highly uneven hem. Actually, don't.

here it is on a hanger. When worn, it has a much more casual look than the other shirt, which is a tad dressy; I’m not really sure the distinction shows as well on the hanger, though. I don’t think any of us were sure how the gathers would work in a knit, but they are actually not bad (though they were a pain to sew). I guess it helps that my expectations for this shirt were so low, low, low.

I think I need to add a small component to my documenting of my sewing, and that is the Laundering Factor. Sorry to talk about my laundry, folks, but this is an issue: I can make the nicest clothes in the world, but if they don’t survive the laundry, it’s just a big waste. I don’t mind hand-washing some stuff (the sheer JJ has had this treatment several times now, and while its seams continue to pull, they’ve been doing that since five minutes after I first put it on), but the real, heavy-duty, day-to-day stuff has to survive the machine. I’ll do it on delicate in cold water, throw it in a lingerie bag, hang it to dry after—but it has to get through the machine.

So far the other JJ blouses have survived the machine quite nicely, though they could use a bit of pressing, and I hate ironing (other than when I’m sewing). My first cowl top has popped in and out of the wash a couple of times now and aside from a bit of pilling (it’s the same Evil Fabric as the Shirt of Doom, by the way) it’s fine. But the Manequim cowl top came out (of the lingerie bag!!!) with a big hole in the back drape. Seriously? In the bag? I don’t know what happened except maybe it got caught in the bag’s zipper? Anyway, I’m a bit choked over that. It was its first trip through the laundry! But, in the end, the shirt was basically a muslin, and I have no qualms with re-making it in a better fabric at some point. No, what I’m really choked about is the Black Jalie Jeans. These things fit like a dream. I fought with the waistband, had to pulll the twill tape out because it was too tight, tweaked and tugged… and then I washed them.

Now, I never put my stretch jeans in the dryer. This is one of those things that Is Not Done. But I did (in the interests of shrinking things up) put the fabric in the dryer when I pre-washed it. Also I have nowhere to hang 4m of denim to dry. And I made them, and got them fitting wonderfully, and then I washed them again. Hanging to dry.

After hang-drying, they were a good 1/4″ too big on each leg, and the whole waistband was loose and gaping. Seriously, folks, I could’ve screamed.

So this last time when I washed them, I (cringed and) threw them in the dryer. And, of course, they come out fitting beautifully. The waistband is still a little soft—I think a problem with my interfacing, more than anything, and I”ve bought some different stuff to try next time—but the fit is snug where it should be, and the waistband is no longer actively gaping, even if it is a little stretchier than I’d like.

So, here’s my problem. Should I give up pre-washing the stretch denim, on the grounds that the dryer causes more stretching (later) than it prevents shrinking? Should I add a wash to the construction phase, before I put on the waistband (which won’t help with the waistband stretching out part, alas)? Or just continue to (sob) throw them in the dryer, accepting that they’ll die much sooner than they would otherwise (Which, I guess, is a lot easier to do for jeans that cost me $20 of fabric instead of $80 and up). Don’t ask me to give up wearing jeans that look like they’ve been spray-painted on, I’ve been doing that since I was twenty and the hunt for that elusive fit is the main reason I spend so much on RTW jeans. Even then the ratio of jeans I still like after a full day’s wear is not much more than 50/50. I guess we’ll have to see. Play it by ear. Experiment. The biggest problem with sewing with stretch fabrics, I’m concluding, is that they are unpredictable. There’s too many variables—shrinkage, stretch, recovery—that are really hard to fully comprehend before you’re wearing the finished garment. At which point, it’s too late.

Anyway, that’s my whining for the day. Time to get to work.

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July 18, 2010 · 1:16 pm

A quick Sunday afternoon project

Quick shirred sundress for a Very Little Girl

I needed a break from the Knit Shirt of Doom (yes, the Boy is whining about it), and I’ve been meaning to give shirring a try. I want to make myself a shirred tunic top out of the same white crinkle voile as the Boy’s shirt. But I’ve never shirred anything before, certainly not on this machine. And, as is usually the case when I have no idea how something’s going to work, I opted to try the method out on a kid’s garment first.

Now, with shirring, you have to hand-wind the elastic thread around a bobbin; then you sew parallel rows with regular thread in the top and the elastic thread in the bobbin of your machine. Opinions are divided over whether you should stretch the elastic thread as you wind it or not. I suspect it has everything to do with your machine and its bobbin tension. My machine seems to have a fairly high bobbin tension (some day I’ll figure out how to adjust that, too), so I opted for no, or at least very little, stretching as I wound.

As you can see, it worked just fine (or at least well enough). It was a smidge less than a 2:1 gather ratio. The amount of gather is also affected by stitch length, which in turn is affected by how you handle the fabric especially once the scrunching of the other rows of shirring comes into effect. I did about 1/4″ between each of my rows, or rather, the width of one side of my presser foot. I’m getting better at doing parallel rows of stitching, but not that good, especially when one side is trying to ruch up on you. I also ran a 3/8″ elastic through a casing just below the top, to keep the top nice and snug, since that is the part that seems to go first in shirred items, in my experience.

I think this will probably end up a present for the daughter of my kids’ Fairy Gothmother, a lovely and

Skull button flower

intimidating seamstress herself, whose gifts to my children over the years have included a Gothic Princess dress, a spiderweb-print sundress, and numerous other wonders. I’ve always wanted to sew something for her daughter (now two) in return, but have been too intimidated by her awesomeness vs. my own mediocre skillz. Maybe now, though, they’re up to a point where I can attempt to repay the favours?

Doubtful, but anyway… she gave my girls these skull buttons years ago and we never managed to actually put the darling things on anything, and now I can only find the one. But I think it makes a nice centre for a flower, to make the dress a little less plain, right?

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July 17, 2010 · 8:03 pm

At long last

McCall's 7123 front view

The Boy’s first shirt (made by me, anyway). Not the evil knit one, the lovely crinkle cotton voile.  It’s been finished a week, easy, but this was the first time I could tempt (read: coerce) him into letting me take a proper photo. You may recall my previous attempt. Anyway, I love this shirt, and he seems to as well, judging by the number of times he’s worn it already. It is distinctly sheer, so it’s probably at its best with an undershirt, but ah well. It was like pulling teeth just to get these pictures, I wasn’t going to make him go change too…

When/if I make this shirt again (the knit version doesn’t count), I’ll change the cuffs so they are wider, as the narrower width gives it a costumey, home-made look. I’m considering trying to move the neck further back in the yoke, since as is the “front yoke” seam, which is supposed to be a bit in front of the shoulder line, is pretty much right at the top of his shoulder. Alternatively, I suppose I could lengthen the front of the yoke and just shorten the shirt front by a corresponding amount, and leave the back alone. Probably simpler that way…

I think he was wearing a shirt very much like this the first time I spotted him at the goth bar,

McCall's 7123, rear view

more than eleven years ago, now… 😉

Mine is nicer.

Also,  I still can’t post projects on Burdastyle. I can finally see my profile and activity again (after three days without! C’mon, people! The torture!), but no project love. /whine.

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