Tag Archives: finished projects

October 2, 2010 · 7:50 am

Frankenpattern

Fun with plaid

So last weekend I “splurged” on this purple plaid-printed knit. One whole yard, costing a whopping $2.50 (I would’ve gotten more but let’s face it, how many outfits in a fabric like that can I get away with? Although, I suppose I could’ve made stuff for the kids). It’s a fairly thick, stable knit, a little too polyester-feeling but not awful, and decent recovery. There’s some kind of flaw in the pattern-printing (doubtless why it’s in the clearance section) but it mostly only shows on the reverse (plain, light purple) side, so I was able to ignore it for the bodice pieces.

But I didn’t want to do just another boring Lydia. The plain, scoop-necked Lydia is great in solid colours I’ll layer under stuff, but for something striking like the plaid I wanted more of a statement pattern, something that would stand on its own. And one of my regrets from Self-Stitched September was not getting much use of my cowl neck tops, due to their sleevelessness*. (Due to the knit, they wouldn’t drape nicely over one of the Lydias, I think.). I considered re-drafting a cowl-necked version of the Lydia (honestly, this would not be hard.)

Then, I threw caution to the wind, re-traced the sleeve from my Lydia, measured the armscye, chopped off the top of the sleeve, and added the sleeve to the Manequim cowl top.

This was… interesting.

I was pretty sure I wasn’t capable of making the cut-off top of my sleeve match with the horizontal “shoulder” of the cowl top, so I

peekaboo shoulder: I bound the top of the sleeve and finished the cowl separately.

kept them separate. In theory that means there’s some potential for cute shoulder peekaboo; in reality, the way the cowl has ended up sitting makes this unlikely. Whatever.

It took a fair amount of mental gymnastics to get the pattern working this well—there are certainly a number of places I could’ve measured better, remembered what my seam-

Purple plaid Manequim

allowances were, etc. Also the original pattern has a lower armscye (typical for sleeveless patterns, I think), and adding sleeves to it really pulls it up and into the armpit oddly. Not uncomfortable, but weird if you think to look for it. On the upside, something about the close fit at the armpit means that so far this top is completely resistant to sliding up onto the shoulder, unlike every other off-the-shoulder top I’ve ever encountered.

Plaid top---rear view

I used the wrong side of the fabric for the contrasting cowl-neck.

The only downside, at the moment, is that the broad, off-the-shoulder cowl neck pretty much negates the added warmth given by the sleeves. I am COLD!

I should add for the sake of the free-pattern-grubbing masses (like myself), that while this pattern is based on the pattern here, I totally messed with the bodice, so really the only relevant piece from the original pattern is the cowl/drape itself. You’ve been warned. I also lengthened the bodice (I had kept the original length the first time) by 3 cm, and it’s better but still a bit short for my liking, especially since I haven’t hemmed it yet. I was about to, but my twin needle decided to break going over the first side-seam. Really, it’s done quite well—none of my previous twin needles have survived more than one or two garments at most before I managed to break them—but it means the shirt won’t be getting hemmed for, oh, another few weeks.

Also, look at that! RTW jeans! And honestly, this is the only pair of the RTW pants I missed, the whole month of Self-Stitched September.

Side view---cowl "up"

*now, historically I have worn plenty of short-sleeved and sleeveless tops all through the winter. Rendered more-or-less invisible by my signature hooded sweater. But having discovered through sewing the wonder of the long (or rather, long-enough) sleeve, I don’t know if I’ll be able to bring myself to do this ever again.

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September 26, 2010 · 5:34 pm

Mellow yellow

Syo's Yellow Sundress

Back around my birthday, when I was feeling splurgy, I let Syo pick out a metre of fabric from the bargain section at Fabricland. She chose a soft, super-stretchy, lycra-y border-print in yellow stripes trimmed in flowers. We got home, and she picked out a pattern, New Look 6195, a kids’ sundress Ip icked up at Value Village. I settled down and traced out a size 7 (length 8)… and there the project sat, although the fabric got plenty of use as a blanket, veil, fairy wings, shawl, cloak, cocoon, and pretty much anything else a creative seven-year-old could do with it.

Dancing

This afternoon, however, Tyo had a friend over, while Syo did not. This (like most of their interactions) was threatening to bring on World War III, so I suggested we make up the dress. This was possibly even better than pissing off her sister, so Syo agreed.

Now, as usual, I am incapable of actually following the instructions (or good sense). The pattern was for a woven. Syo’s fabric is stretchy. VERY stretchy. On top of that, it is one of those pesky border-prints with the border on, y’know, the side. So the only thing to do was have the pieces go crosswise on the fabric. Creating, y’know, maximum vertical stretch. Exactly what you want in a dress.

Nonetheless, we bravely laid it out (man did it shrink a lot in the dryer, too, this took some ingenuity), cut our pieces, ironed interfacing on to the front facing, made the straps (Syo turned them inside out herself. It’s much easier to do in a knit, isn’t it?), and got to work.

It’s a cute sundress pattern. Simple. Not quite sure what purpose

Twirling

the back seam serves… it has a little shape but really, given the overall A-line of the dress, why bother? They have a very nice technique for sewing the side seams and facing all in one move, which gives you a nice finish and means that there’s absolute no chance to adjust the fit of the elastic before it’s sewn in completely. Which, of course, was too loose being designed for a woven (and probably with too much ease in the original pattern, too) and probably a little big for my rather petite seven-year-old at the best of times.

And then, there is the facing.

Now, I’ve heard facings are a bad idea in knits. As a result, I’ve never done them. This time, I decided to follow the pattern. Well, as you can see, the facing is a problem: it’s showing through like crazy. It was also turning out a bit, though you can’t see this in my rather blurry photos. I have since top-stitched it down at 5/8″ in (to match the elastic casing in the back). This should take care of the roll-over, and I will probably trim the bottom of the facing to match

Front with topstitching

It’s a fairly slapdash effort. Aside from the fudged facing, the elastic back was (inevitably) too long so I took a two inch tuck in it at the centre back, which is kinda bulky but can theoretically be released in a year or two when she grows into it. I left the selvedge at the hem, which has a bit of a lettuce-leaf look that I like. If it doesn’t work out, I may actually lettuce-leaf it at some point, but for now it’s fine. I eyeballed the ties, and it shows, but only if you look close ;). The seams are also a bit puckered, but hopefully that’ll soften up with a wash. The back hem tends to sag quite a bit, I think partly due to the halter cut itself, but certainly not helped along by the heavy, drapy fabric.

Nonetheless, her Sevenness is mighty thrilled. She might even get a chance to wear it, as the forecast is

Sundress back, showing tuck in elastic and the Facing of Doom

looking above-seasonal for the first time since August. We may even make it above 20 for much of the week!

In Self-Stitched September news, the weather has me HAPPY. Syo took the pictures, so they’re not full body, but I promise you those are my blue Jalie capris. Yay! I am getting so darned sick of the two other pairs… 😉

Mmmmmm

Top: Mannequim cowl top
Bottoms: Jalie 2908 capris

Sun, sweet sun

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September 25, 2010 · 1:50 pm

Lullabye, and good night…

Bambi nightie

Bambi nightie

So nice to work on something that isn’t massively long and involved and impossible to finish (like the coat).

This is made out of that same black cotton with a woven-texture stripe as the black JJ and the halter-top. I still have a bit left, however. My hope is that the kind of relaxed texture will make the wrinkles not drive me totally crazy like the last cotton nightgown I owned. We’ll see. As this was basically a wearable muslin, I’m not going to complain. Did I mention I cut out the 34? (I am so not a Burda 34). However, due to the stretchy back, it works fine, although it’s pretty snug to wiggle into. But I think that has more to do with the narrowness of the back elasticized panel—a lot of the other people who’ve made it mentioned the same issue.

Bambi nightie

I pretty much followed the instructions for construction (other than my technique for elasticizing the back), and I wish I hadn’t. If I’d had a modicum more forethought, I would’ve been able to finish all the seams on the inside smoothly. As it is I ended up with a seam below the bust that I had to zig-zag and just press down. Not exactly awful (considering half the time I don’t finish my seams at all), but a little irksome when with a minor pattern alteration all that extra could be tucked up inside the bust pieces or something. Something to think about when/if I make this again.

Burda recommends you zig-zag over round elastic for the back panel; several other people have used shirring with good result. I was going to shirr, but realized I have no black elastic thread. So rather than waiting for me to get around to running to Fabricland, I decided to insert several lengths of regular 3/4″ elastic and stitch casings for them. Not a terribly scientific process, but it worked, and the result is not strikingly unattractive.

Bambi nightie

Back view

Downside of a tight black nightie: it gets those awful white shed-skin/deoderant lines on it pretty badly from rubbing against myskin as I pull it on.

Of course, I won’t be able to sleep in it until tonight, which will be the real

Bambi nightie: Elasticized back panel

test :).

In Self-Stitched September news, the weather has actually improved and it’s pretty nice out today, so I wore the capris for one final go. The air is fairly warm but the clouds are keeping it from heating up really fast—the opposite of our usual “the air is cool but the sun is hot” thing. It’s kinda creepy, but I’m not going to complain.

Self-stitched September 25

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September 11, 2010 · 4:19 pm

Cardi-what?

Simplicity 2603 Cari-Wrap

So bright ‘n early this morning I toodled off to Fabricland to score Simplicity 2603, as per (almost) all of the suggestions yesterday. A bit of tracing and layout juggling later, here I am. Despite the pattern calling for 2 3/4 yards for the small, I was able to squeeze it handily out of my 2m of fabric (about 2.2 yards, maybe?). The fact that my fabric was a smidge wider than 60″ helped, but really you can do better than the layout suggested. Other than that it is made up pretty much as directed, including the elastic in the back neck. Except for the sleeves, which I wanted to be full-

Cardi-Wrap Back

length but not with the weird cuff. I used my handy-dandy Lydia sleeve for a length reference, gave it a bit of a bell shape where the cuff would have been, and voila, nice long scooching-over-my-hands sleeves.

Those of you out there who don’t have ape arms, you have no idea how much satisfaction that fabric around my hands gives me. No idea at all.

I have wings!

So here it is, in all its cozy, elegant glory :D. It’s really too thick a fabric for a lot of the fancier wraps (most of which don’t really suit my figure anyway… I think you need to have curves if you’re going to go tying bulky stuff around you and have it look good)… but it’s certainly a step up from my usual bunnyhug, I think.

I’m counting this as my outfit for today cuz it’s so warm and cuddly there’s no way I’m taking it off. 🙂

Also, it probably would look even more awesome with the kick-ass boots, but I was trying to change it up a bit.

I am sneaky!

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September 10, 2010 · 7:17 pm

Tyo’s Creation

Tyo's First Sewing Project

So after more than two weeks of being missing in action, the bag portion of Tyo’s first sewing project resurfaced in the “sewing room” (stuffed at the bottom of the bag with the Selfish Seamstress’s fabric, no less… That woman’s evil pervades everything she touches!). Since all that was needed to finish it off was one, maybe two seams, it really didn’t take long.

The kid, the bag, the cool socks

I wouldn’t really call it an independent sewing project—I did the darts in the bag, theapplique skull, and sewed the ribbon on the strap, but she did most of the rest, including turning the strap. Probably she could’ve done more if I could bear to be a bit more hands-off, but I have issues that way. It’s not good, I know.

But the bag looks pretty cool and she’s pretty stoked about it, so I’d say life is good. Now we just need to find a big skull button 🙂

The inside, fully lined

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September 10, 2010 · 9:50 am

Second verse, same as the first!

Lydia, v. 4

Actually, this is what, version 4? Youch! But—take a look at that. And, since my preferred poses really don’t show the fit, here you go with

Lydia---front view

some straight-on shots.

Lydia, back view

Here’s what I did: Since people were divided on whether I needed less length (petite through the armscye) or less width (narrow shoulder/narrow back), I just went down to basically a 32 (I normally make a Burda 36, though I could probably get away with a 34 sometimes). Then I took a deep breath, had a minor panic-attack, and shortened the front even more. I also shortened the sleeve-cap (while trying to keep as much width as possible. Going down to the 32 took almost an inch off the back armscye, so I left it at that since there wasn’t as much gaping in the back. It looks pretty good now, but I think I could probably petite it even a little bit more; there’s a small amount of horizontal folding still happening along the shoulders at the back. Probably I could’ve kept a little more width in the back, but it’s comfy, anyway. The armpit sits incredibly high, but that’s comfy, too, actually.

My awesome neck binding!

The swayback is obviously still puddling like mad, though it doesn’t actually bother me. I have read a technique for shortening the back without a centre seam—basically you drop the neckline down at the top, squaring off the shoulders in the process—that might or might not help with that… maybe I’ll give it a try some other time. All in all, I am a pretty darn happy camper.

Here’s a closeup of my awesome neck binding! (Ok, not really awesome but I am pretty happy with it.

And now the neckline, which was too low on the last couple of attempts, is too high again. But we’re getting closer!

So—exciting? No. But comfy, and fitting much, much better, so a trimph. And apparently I’m petite from bust to shoulder. Who knew?

Also, how did the red background work out for photographing the black? I still don’t have anywhere inside that has adequate lighting, but I thought the red (which is my sweater knit by the way) might be better than a white wall or a black curtain.

Speaking of the red sweater knit, I’m a touch torn here on what to do with it. I want to make a flowy cardi-wrap. I have several options.

One is this tutorial here, which has the advantage of being free and cutting into the lovely fabric minimally. Another alternative is this Simplicity pattern that has all the rave reviews on PR; Simplicity patterns are on sale at Fabricland right now, which is good because I wouldn’t want to spend the full $15 on it. The third possibility is the Karen Cardigan off Burdastyle, probably with the waist-tie moved up to underbust level. Probably the Karen is my least favourite of the options… I’m wanting the long, long look.

Any thoughts? Anyone tried the tutorial? It seems a little too simple to be true, kind of thing.

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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.

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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!

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August 25, 2010 · 12:30 pm

Fall Re-fashion

Former capris

Is it still a re-fashion if it’s an alteration to a piece you already made, and never fully finished?

These are my first pair of Jalie jeans. I made them capri-length, but never got around to hemming them. But I have since made another pair of capris that I like better, and I had just enough of this denim left to piss me off (without being enough to do anything with unless I want to make another  Kasia with denim hip-inserts 😉 ), so I made panels and sewed them to the bottom and now I have a pair of (hopefully) interestingly-seamed full-length jeans. I may actually have hemmed

Crappy topstitching.

them a little short… we’ll see. I should probably re-do the topstitching (something went wrong with the bobbin-thread), but I may be too lazy too. It’s not like the rest of the jeans are a great piece of work to begin with. There’s a slight difference in colour between the jeans (which have been washed a few times) and the new fabric, but that’ll either fade or not… either way works. But they will be much more useful to me during Self-Stitched September as full-length pants than as capris.

I still want to make another proper full-length pair, though :).

How they would actually look

The back view

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August 20, 2010 · 8:24 am

Lydia… progress

Lydia, v. 2: pulled down

I was actually hoping to title this post “Lydia—Redemption” but… well, we are not quite there yet. However, v. 2 is a world better than v. 1. In case you need the reminder, we’re discussing the Lydia pattern from Burdastyle.com, my only paid downloadable pattern to date. $1, woo big spender.

I cut a straight size 36 (my usual Burda size) this time. I also lowered the neckline quite a chunk, since it’s quite high in the original (especially since I use a bound neckline rather than a facing, so there’s no seam-allowance taken in). My binding isn’t great, by the way, but it looks decent in the photos so it will probably pass muster.

This was a vast improvement of fit, especially in the shoulders. I’m also quite happy with how my cap version of the sleeve

Lydia, v. 2: after moving around. Note the looseness between bust and shoulder.

turned out, since I basically had no idea what I was doing (but no way in hell did I have enough fabric left for another try at the long-sleeve version.) They are a little snug—maybe I could spread the pattern a touch next time.

But—and there’s always a but, isn’t there?—there are still some changes to make. Most seriously, the neckline gapes if not pulled way down: when wearing it the whole thing creeps up until it looks more like the picture on the left. This bring the neckline up to a more comfortable point (yes, I lowered it a wee bit too much, even for my dubious modesty). I am going to try the “cheater” method of just taking a tuck out of the pattern along the neckline to bring it in about 1/2″. Another possibility is that it’s the tightness of the cap-sleeve that’s pulling it up; I really don’t think the entire armscye region needs to be shortened (if the problem is the sleeve cap, I will still need to raise the neckline). The bust-to-waist portion of the shirt does need to be shortened; the narrowest point of the curve is definitely a good inch below my (rather high) narrowest point. This also doesn’t help with the riding up. I also brought in the sides a good

Lydia, v. 2: back

half inch each (for a total of 2″ less around the whole shirt, so that’s another alteration to make.

The back view looks pretty good aside from the usual puddling at my sway-back. I’m not sure it’s actually possible to fix this without doing wonky things like adding back seams, so I’m not going to sweat it in a knit. Every other shirt I’ve worn in the last 10 years does the same thing.

All it needs now is a hem!

By the way, that’s 2 shirts from 1m of this fabric, which cost about $8… even if I include the cost of the Lydia pattern and notions, that’s still less than $5 a shirt.  I’m not going to get much better than that, even at the thrift store. And the time it takes to sew up is not much longer than a shopping trip, either. This one was cut and sewn in about 2 hours before bedtime last night—including piecing together the pattern.

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