I got the skirt panels for the Danielle dress basted together (that is, fashion fabric basted to underlining, not actually test-fitted together). Considering there were between six and twenty children at my house ALL WEEKEND, that’s an accomplishment. Theoretically it should go much faster now.
Category Archives: Sewing
Sooooo sssslllooooowwww
Danielle Dress Bodice
Progress on the Danielle Dress is SLOW. It’s not helped along by the fact that we’ve been watching our way through Six Feet Under in the evenings, not at all condusive to actually getting any sewing done.
The fashion fabric is some crinkly chiffon-type thing that slips and slithers and would generally drive me nuts if it wasn’t underlined with and hand-basted to the black cotton. Of course, all that hand-basting takes time… (though I can do it while watching Six Feet Under, which renders it marginally more acceptable to my sweetie.) It’s a print (obviously), which is rare for me, especially for a fabric I actually bought. Originally it was for a skirt for my daughter. I also used it as a single layer in a tiered skirt for me. But after all this I had about 3m left that languished in my stash (one of the few full-sized pieces) until now.
But the bodice is at last assembled and fitted. It fit really well, although the back (oddly) was a touch too big… I re-sewed with the rear side-seams about a cm deeper than they were supposed to be (front seam allowance normal) and that seems to have fixed it up nicely. I thought the darts came too high up (they’re supposed to stop an inch or so short of the bust of the apex, right?) but when I shortened them it didn’t work at all, so the darts are basically exactly as the pattern directed. We’ll see how this goes. I kind of have a horror of darts, mostly to do with my inability to locate them correctly (and symmetrically). The next trick will be getting the pleats in the skirt to line up with the darts.
I may have mentioned I screwed up the front of the skirt, cutting what should have been a centre front fold. I think this might actually be the first time I’ve made that particular mistake… anyway, the plan is to make it into another pleat, with an inset of the same fabric as the waistband (incidentally the same fabric as my black JJ 🙂 ). We’ll see how that looks. At the moment I’m still struggling to get the skirt panels basted to their underlinings, which is almost enough to make me tear my hair out all on its own.
On the plus side, I did make it to Fabricland today to get lining. On the negative side, the awesome 2-for-1 sale of last week was done. Linings were on 30% off—which is fine for the cheap lining I got for the dress, but not going to cut it for the six to eight metres of Kasha lining I need. Also they didn’t have any good colours (not even that light grey there was reams of last week… they must’ve put it away in the back somewhere). I did find hair-canvas in the interfacings, which was cool. I’d like to play with that when I make my blazer. I don’t think I need it for the winter coat, though.
Anyway, that was a pretty long post to say I’ve basically got almost nothing done. Oh, and I picked up Burda 9610 for like 4 bucks. So now I can make my kids jean-jackets if I really want to. Which I kinda do. There was some cool non-stretch, slightly sparkly denim. Â Maybe I could make that up while they’re away in July :D. Ooo, I like that thought.
Still didn’t pick up a knit. The nice ones are too expensive, the others all suck. /sigh. I need to get a nice knit pattern so I have some more motivation…
UPDATE: and now one of my underlining pieces has disappeared. Not tragic—if it doesn’t show up by the time I’m done basting the back skirt I can always recut it—but another time-waster.
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Sewing stuff to buy (and other rambles)
Tomorrow is payday. No big splurges, but here’s my list:
- double jeans needle
- 6 m kasha lining for winter coat (assuming linings are still 2-for-1) (depending on how wide the lining is… if it’s narrow I’ll need 8m)
- 2-3 m black lining for the Danielle dress. Have decided I should line as well as underline.
- topstitching thread for jeans (I think something silvery might look nice with the black denim.)
Anything else? Not that I really NEED. (Ok, the only thing on that list that I actually need this pay-period is the black lining for the Danielle. But I hate to miss a sale on the lining, and I’m itching to have the stuff around for the jeans, even if I don’t get around to them for a few more weeks). There are some other fabrics ‘n things on the wish list, though:
- a handkerchief linen or linen blend for a mediaeval-faire shirt for Robin (there’s one at a semi-nearby town in August! Wow!)
- some kind of knit. I yearn to break free of my fear of sewing with knits. And I actually saw some nice ones last time I was at Fabricland (somehow, when I have no money all the fabric looks nicer…)
- some kind of pattern to sew the knits with.
- something red and rich-looking to make a surcote for my mediaeval gown (for the same mediaeval faire) (Alternatively I could wear my turkish dancer pieces and go that route, but I would need to make some outer layers since the ones I have complete class more as “underwear”)
- a blue “metallic”/shiny brocade to make a vest for Robin.
- shirring elastic (just for fun.)
I have the Danielle mostly cut out (aside from a lining). Unfortunately, I just realized that the front skirt (cut on fold) I cut all around. STOOPID! I swear on the pattern the line looked curved, but no… when I went to cut the underlining (and noticed the problem) it is straight indeed. And of course there is not enough left to recut. I am thinking I will try and put a little pleat panel of a contrast fabric (the same that the waistband and sleeves will be made of) at the centre front and hope that that looks cool and intentional.
I also spent some time yesterday when I should have been working playing with the Port Elizabeth shirt pattern off Burdastyle. I think it could be a base for my Sencha-style blouse idea, though by the time I’m done with it I think the resemblance to either pattern will be passing. This is a user-uploaded pattern and I’m not super thrilled with it, but with any luck it will serve my purposes…
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That’s it.
I want a duct-tape double.
Not that I’d scoff at a fully-fledged dress form (most duct-tape doubles are a touch ugly, and not always as accurate as you would hope) but I’d rather spend my money on fabric (speaking of, the linings at Fabricland were on sale buy 1m, get 1 free last week, which is the sale I need to get my lining for my winter coat—and I had no money. Hopefully it will still be ongoing come payday. They don’t have black, but they do have oodles of a light grey that would work. Alternatively I could go for a crazy colour—burgundy, say, or teal—and have an awesome surprise inside my coat. I like that thought, actually).
So, doubles. I want to be able to fit stuff (especially in the back!) and that’s just hard to do on yourself. And I’m going to need something to hang my coat on for hemming—that big skirt is going to have tons of bias stretching out at the hem that will need to be trimmed before hemming. Not hard to do when someone else is wearing the garment, but hard to do yourself. If I make one over a coat-hanger, I can hang it in the closet and keep it out of the way when not in use, too.
Also, I can spend way more time than I can possibly justify reading about tailoring.
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A weekend without sewing :(
What an incredibly crazy-busy weekend. Not bad in anyway, but very busy. The first weekend in at least a month with no sewing done.
Fortunately, I have pictures of the gambeson to post finally. Apparently it is serving its purpose very well, though there are a few places where the outer fabric didn’t get caught properly in the seams, despite my best efforts. All in all, pretty nice though.
Jason's gambeson. With totally-non-period fedora.
There was no pattern for this. The materials consisted of an Ikea curtain, a white twill tablecloth (really nice!) and a gross old polyester duvet for the filler. I took his measurements and had him rip/cut various squares and rectangles for front, back, and sleeves. We tacked these together in their layers, pinned it together, and started fitting. At the beginning, it looked pretty much like he was wearing a large blue pillow. By the end, we had something that actually aproximated the look of a rather boxy shirt-pattern. I guess this is akin to pattern-draping, right? It’s much easier to do on someone else. Maybe I do need to bite the bullet and make a duct-tape double.
Side view. The sleevelets stick out like that when the arms are at the side, but when extended forward are flat. It seemed like the only way to get them to fill the gap and still provide enough freedom of movement. And he thinks they look kinda cool. And we can always change them later.
Once we had the pieces approximately the right shape, I set Jason to marking the quilting on the inside (in pen… you don’t want to see it.) We toyed with the idea of hand-quilting, as I mentioned, but went with machine. Because Jason’s sewing machine skills are limited (as yet) I did most of the quilting. I’ll make him pay for that at some point ;).
There were some glitches. The sleeves wound up being too narrow at the upper arm, so we inserted triangular gussets at the underarm (not padded, fortunately). They also seemed to be about 5″ too long, so we trimmed them down (from the narrow wrist end). He changed his mind and decided the body should be thigh-length rather than hip length, so we added the bottom panel (took some figuring out how to get the back slit attached properly. I’m actually kinda proud of how that part came out. When we got it actually put together, it was revealed that the sleeves were really about two inches too short (one slightly worse than the other). Oopsie. We were already not planning to attach them directly to the body, but we wound up needing the little leather cap-sleeves to bridge the gap and replace the missing length.
The back, showing the rear slit (for riding, theoretically). The lining shows a bit along the edge where the crude quilting leaves a fold of the lining fabric. In my ideal world we'd bind the whole thing in black. Maybe someday.
Despite the general wonkiness and costume-grade-ness, there are a few points I’m quite proud of. The quilting on the collar is a thing of beauty; by dint of pulling the bottom layer and pushing the top I managed to keep the fabrics feeding evenly (though the stitch-lengths are awful). I did a pretty good job on the black binding, which is pre-packaged bias binding; I sewed the first side by machine and hand-finished the other side, which made a very nice, tight effect once I figured out how to do it neatly (the first cuff was a little wonky). Ok, that might be it. Jason did the leather sleevelets all by himself, and the strapping and attaching of the buckles. He’s quite happy with it, and it seems to have served its purpose admirably. Next he wants to make a surcoat. He will be doing a lot more of that by himself, I promise.
I am a little torn, though. I like making something from scratch. It’s the attitude that started me sewing, just looking at pieces of cloth and going ahead and DOING. But, it’s also the antithesis of the kind of precision and craft I’m trying to cultivate toward producing everyday-wearable garments. I’d rather avoid the little glitches than fix them.
I did start cutting out the Danielle dress. Still need to cut out the sleeves and “waist” band (contrast fabric) and underlining. Hopefully make some more progress this week as we have kids’ birthday parties next weekend and I won’t get anything done then, either. And I’d really like to wear it (assuming wadders can be avoided) to my friend’s wedding reception the weekend after.
Oh, and a quick fitting redux: it was finally hot enough here to wear my (still un-hemmed) capris. Yay! And… (surprise, surprise)Â with wear, they’re stretching out. They seem to be doing it more slowly than most of my other stretch jeans (this fabric is so weird) but right now I could happily take them in at least another centimetre on each side. The waistband also stretches more than I would like, but it also seems fairly resilient so it’s not bugging me as much as some of my less-elastic jeans. Next time I do a fitting I just need to remind myself that the jeans whose fit I like, when they’re unstretched, I have to jump up and down to get into.
I really want to make a pair with my new black denim, but I’m holding off until I can pick up a new double needle—denim weight, 1/4″ spread on the needles (I must be a sucker for the double needles) and some more top-stitching thread. I know the top-stitching is tricky enough without the double needles, so maybe that’s just asking for trouble… but although I’m reasonably happy with my manual topstitching on the jeans, it’s just not as crisp as the double needle would be. If, y’know, I can do it without destroying the needle. Or my eye.
I know what I’ll do to bring these ones in a bit in the leg. My daughter’s friend has the coolest detail on the back of a set of her jeans, a fold taken out and topstitched down, with a rivet at the top end. Hers run from below the knee, but on my carpis I could do that from the bottom of the pocket…
Anyway, enough rambling? More sewing!
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What to do?
With 1.5 m of this:
I
It’s a lovely, heavy-weight striped denim. The colour in the photo is crappy—it’s a fairly standard dark-wash indigo between the lighter stripes. I was not bad—a co-worker gave it to me. Cool! It’s not stretch, so it can’t become my next pair of Jalies (too bad, really). I’ve been dreaming of jean-jackets, but aside from lacking a pattern, it’s a little too gorgeous for a casual, slouchy kid jacket (and I already have a perfectly good jean-jacket for myself).
Skirt? tailored blazer out of denim? (that would be nifty, actually… especially with some edges left raw? hmm. It’s only 1.5 m long, but it’s really wide so there’s actually a lot of fabric. Enough extra for a pencil skirt?)
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Ooopsie (Part II)
I went with a friend to Fabricland today, just to nose around.
The stretch denim I’ve been agonizing over ($18/m) was buy 1m, get 1 free.
I walked out with four metres of black stretch denim.
I didn’t really need groceries this week, did I?
I guess I’m set for my Jalies for the fall.
In other news, the cheap, crappy (but only ones they had) jean button just broke off my daughter’s jeans. If this becomes a trend it will suck mightily. 😦
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Self-Stitched September?
I’m thinking about doing it.
Zoe of So, Zo announced Self-Stitched September a week or so ago. I discovered Me-Made-May halfway through last month and it seemed like a really cool challenge. I’m not ready for the full version—no way am I going to have enough self-made stuff by September to wear it exclusively—but I think I could maybe pull off the lite version of one self-made item per day. Especially if I get a couple more pairs of self-made jeans done by then. I can easily rotate the same two pairs of jeans almost indefinitely (and have done, on the several occasions where I only HAD two wearable pairs of jeans to my name… but maybe that’s more about me than you wanted to know), though it’s nice to have a few more for variety especially if I miss a laundry day. But if I had two pairs of full-length Jalies, I could wear those most days, swap in regular jeans with a self-made top every now and then, and the weather might still be amenable to the capris I just made (and haven’t able to wear yet as i’s been $%&%$$#$ COLD and raining here all week… at least no snow this week…) from time to time. But anyway, let’s face it, my typical “everyday” wardrobe consists of 3 pairs of jeans in rotation and about 5-7 tops (plus grubbies/slub wear for the weekend). That’s not that much to come up with, is it?
So, to be ready for Self-Stitched September (also my birthday month… I could make myself clothes for a birthday present!), I would need to make:
Bottoms:
- 2 pairs of Jalie jeans: plain dark jeans, maybe one stovepipe leg pair and one boot cut (since I don’t have any non-trashed boot-cut jeans at the moment… how did I end up with nothing but skinnies? I don’t even like skinnies that much except under boots!).
- Ellen trousers? (I have been thinking of them for this grey wool. Though given I have only 3 yards perhaps a pencil skirt and a blazer would be better? Would I wear a pencil skirt? would I wear any skirt enough to justify making it for Self-Stitched September?) I haven’t had a pair of non-jeans other than camos in… decades. Like, since I stopped wearing the pink corduroy overalls. There was that one pair of black slacks I bought for the job interview that one time, but they were too short and I never wore them again. And yet, a presentable pair of dress-trousers would be a good thing to have, especially for conferences/job interviews (which I will, presumably, be facing at some point in the next few years). Palaeo is a pretty casual science, and I don’t feel like skirts are appropriate for an interview for a job that involves working with pneumatic tools and tromping through the dirt… but jeans are still not really it for a job interview)… so I’d like to have something.
- Skirts??? See above. I like skirts just fine. Especially if they’re ridiculously long or ridiculously short. Neither of which are particularly practical… so they sit in the closet. I try them on once or twice a year to gauge fit—I can track my figure variations by where a skirt is sitting on my hips at any given moment. There was a period early in my Master’s thesis where I was over-dressing and wearing the long ones a lot, and it was fun, but I don’t seem to have that momentum these days. And my desire to show off my undies with the really short ones has waned over the years (though I did wear to death that one with the under-shorts liner… maybe I should make more like that)
Tops (Have to think about these… I think I have enough JJ’s, though I wouldn’t mind a white variation, maybe with a neck bow, though I’m not 100% about these paired with my wide shoulders)
- 3 JJ blouses. Even just the ones I have would be enough to spell the Jalie jeans for a day or two, paired with RTW jeans)
- Something knit? All my tops are currently knits. I’m terrified of sewing with knits… and I never seem to find any good ones in good colours, so I never have any to practice on, so I never get over my fear. Maybe if I can get my serger functioning over the summer? The Lydia pattern at Burdastyle is only a dollar, though I have a feeling I could trace my own off an existing shirt without too much trouble… Or maybe the free Batwing pattern, though it’s not a style I’d normally wear.
- Sencha-style blouse? I’ve been musing over trying to draft a pattern like this myself the last few days. Not that I don’t want to support Colette Patterns but the Ceylon dress and the Beignet skirt and the Lady Grey coat are way higher up the list. Â And the blouse I’m picturing is a bit different… no tucks, just some side bust darts (very plain, actually). It would have to be in a really luxuriously wonderful fabric, too, silk or a really nice rayon. And I’m not sure how it would work with the rest of my wardrobe, since these blouses (IMHO) look best tucked into a waistband at the waist (on people with itty bitty waists who look good in such things). It would go great (in my head) with a Beignet skirt though…
- Danielle dress? I was thinking about the dresses in my closet (trying to justify adding this one), and remembered a certain pattern. A large majority of my dresses are short, spaghetti-strapped, empire-waisted confections. At least one I’ve had since I was 15. Aside from the spaghetti straps, the Danielle dress fits in nicely… and the big plus about these dresses is that they go over jeans well for everyday wear. Well, some of them do. The sparkly grad/bridesmaid ones not so much. Anyway, if I could put a Danielle into regular rotation, it would be a lot more justifiable than just making it for my friend’s wedding reception… depends on my ability to conquer my Fear of the Zipper, I suppose (which is almost as great as my Fear of Knits)
On an unrelated, parental sewing triumph note, my younger daughter wore her vintage A-line dress/shirt to school again today, without me even suggesting it. Considering how picky she is with her clothes, this is a major triumph (she also wore it for spring picture day). The only downside of this little dress/top (it’s really too short to be a dress) is that it needs ironing. I iron LOTS when I sew—and very rarely for anything else. Also the square neckline is fraying a bit at the corners after washing; I clipped too close to the seam when turning it, I guess. I should ask my mom if she has any tips or tricks for square necklines.
Anyway, what was that tag again? Ah, yes, too much talk…
Ok, you’ve talked me into it.
‘I, Taran of Tanit-Isis Sews,, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade item of clothing every day for the duration of September 2010′.
Now off to apply for the flickr group…
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JJ the third
Newest JJ... still slight puddling at the back.
Almost done with this pattern? Well, almost. Sorta. I still haven’t *nailed* it yet, although this version was a lot closer. At least in terms of construction.
Black JJ with silver buttons.
I added 1 cm to each centre front piece this time, in an attempt to avoid the bust gape and get the front princess seam falling in a slightly better place (it tended to fall inside my bust point, which is not quite right). This accomplished my aim, but at the expense of some fit; the side seams were edging back and the whole thing was quite big when I tried it on, and the side-seams were riding a little far back. I took the side-seams in (curving from very little at top and bottom to 1.5 cm at thewaist, and I could have taken it in more… there’s probably still about 2 cm of extra ease. Apparently what I needed wasn’t extra room along the whole front, but just at the bust. So I guess I should take 1 cm off the side front (to match the 1 cm I added to the front) and then do a small full bust adjustment (!!! me!!!). Who’d’a thunk? And probably shorten the waist a cm or 2, which I think would get rid of the last of the back puddling.
Black JJ---Back
Construction-wise, however, this shirt is a thing of beauty. The fabric is 100% cotton with a subtle woven-in stripe that looks like cross-stich up close (I adore it… and I have lots more!) and it was delightful to work with. I actually got the collar attached properly (meeting, not overlapping) at the centre front) and neatly. I made one more slight alteration to the ruffles, tapering them at the ends, and I like the effect very much. I think I could still narrow them slightly… they seemed perfect on the sheer blouse, but a little big still on this one, maybe because the fabric is heavier? I bit the bullet and hand-finished the inside of the collar and sleeve cuffs, and hand-rolled the bottom hem, and if I get really ambitious I’ll overcast the raw edges on the inside. The machine did manage to make a disaster of the bottom buttonhole, but the others are perfect. I adore my little silver buttons.
Work it, work it!
I could spend a lot more time dissecting the shirt,but really, I’m pretty darn happy with it. I can still see myself making one more version of this shirt (in opaque white)… but maybe I’ll have to change it up with the ruffles or something. And then figure out a long-sleeved version for winter…
(An interesting aside… as a smaller-busted girl, I have spent the last ten years or so largely braless aside from nursing and athletics, once I got over the excitement of actually getting to wear a bra and realized that most of them didn’t fit very well and weren’t comfy. This doesn’t bother me in the least… but with the addition of a couple of non-stretch JJ blouses to my wardrobe, I realized something. My usual staple tops are snug knits. These actually provide a bit of support in and of themselves. Not much, but enough to feel… comfortable. Without that, in these woven blouses… well, a bra just feels welcome. Interesting. no?)
Low camera angles courtesy of my mini-tabletop tripod.
Measurements
So it just occurred to me… I am usually about two sizes larger in the waist than in the chest/hips. I am resigned to that. But I’ve been musing about trying to make a vest for my hubby (he likes vests), and I can’t find any free patterns for men’s vests, but there are several for women’s. And then I go to check the sizing, and it dawns on me.
My husband has a 40″ chest and a 32″ waist. This proportion fits much more squarely with women’s sizing than men’s… and much more with women’s than mine.
/sigh.
Damn man.
So maybe he will get a vest made from a woman’s pattern after all ;). As long as I don’t tell him…
PS: I have actually been sewing madly this weekend, just nothing completely finished. The gambeson I am helping a friend make is almost finished (and actually got worn today… aparently it served its purpose well) is almost finished… we’ll get pics once he has all the buckles on it. For something that looked pretty much like a pillow when we started, I’m kinda impressed with how it’s turned out. And I am working on my third JJ, in black cotton this time, which is shaping up nicely and will hopefully be done tomorrow evening. And I want to make jeans. More jeans. (I don’t actually need jeans now. Nor do I have money for fabric. Ok, maybe one pair of dark, “presentable” jeans so I can give the crazy-eighties washes a rest would be nice. And a pair of boot-cuts… everything I have right now that doesn’t have holes in the knees are skinnies. And there might be enough of my stretch-denim left to whip up a pair of short shorts… just to practice my pocket stitching, you understand ) And jean jackets for my kids. But I think I’ll have to actually buy a pattern for that.) And I want to make a Danielle dress up for a friend’s wedding reception at the end of the month, but really I already have LOADS of formalwear that would be appropriate that gets very little use) Anyway, I keep hoping that the sewing bug will wane so I can get back to something else like, oh, cleaning my house… but no luck so far.
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Tanit-Isis Sews 