Tag Archives: finished projects

August 19, 2010 · 1:59 pm

Kasia—Complete

Kasia---view 1

Well, for better or for worse, it’s done. I am going to need some major help styling this… so far the black JJ (pictured) is the best (though it doesn’t show up well at all in the photos). I’m wondering if it would work well with a

Kasia---view 2

Port Elizabeth top—something blousier. I don’t know. This is a foreign concept to me. Also this skirt craves heels. It demands them. For a girl who lives in ballet flats, this could be problematic. I can rock a pair of platforms if necessary, but those wouldn’t be right, either. And I just can’t imagine wearing these pumps all day. I would cry. Maybe with my big kneehigh boots… I could see spending a whole day post just trying on different wardrobe items with this skirt.

Kasia---view 3

I’m not sure if the red buttons are for keeps; they’re the only big-enough ones I had a set of lying around. I do like the colour, but I wonder if something silvery/blue, more in keeping with the colour scheme of the skirt, would be more flexible.

Sorry for the crummy pics; the indoor light isn’t great and

Kasia---view 4

the neighbour was out in his yard so I felt kinda funny clomping around on the deck in my (loud) heels taking pictures in front of him.

In other news, I bought a remnant of ivory tulle at Fabricland yesterday when I picked up the topstitching thread. So fun! I want to use it with the mass of ivory chiffon left over from my sheer JJ blouse to make a crinoline/full petticoat. Y’know, for all those full-circle fifties skirts in my wardrobe.

Well, if I have the petticoat I might make one, right?

This is assuming, of course, that I can get the tulle away from the seven-year-old.

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August 16, 2010 · 11:21 am

We interrupt your regularly scheduled jacket mangling…

To bring you… a tailor’s ham!

Home-made tailor's ham

Based on the Burdastyle tutorial, it is one half wool, one half cotton twill, stuffed with cotton scraps, and a bit funny-shaped and triangular, not to mention lumpy. I’m not convinced the scrap-stuffing is going to be firm enough in the long run… we’ll see. I feel like a rice or barley stuffing might be a good alternative to the sawdust I don’t have ready access too. I’m not sure what the store-bought ones are stuffed with these days (feels light and plasticky, though). However, it was a lot better to try and shape the jacket shoulders than just the edge of the regular ironing board. I’ve been meaning to make one of these for a while (basically ever since I saw the Burdastyle tutorial), as I’m too cheap to buy one. Next on the list will be a sleeve roll…

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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 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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July 29, 2010 · 8:28 pm

Almost.

The front, finished. Still uneven.

Believe it or not, it is actually a different picture than the one I posted this morning. I unpicked the one hem, re-measured it against the other side, re-sewed, put the last three buttons on, and…

Still crooked.

I suspect some of my buttons are spread a little too far apart.

I suspect I will fix this at some point in the future, when it really starts to bug me.

For now… middling success. I trimmed a little too much off the back shirred panel, so it’s a bit snug. I’d like it longer, particularly in the front; that couple of inches of flesh at the bottom of my shirts is something I’m trying to avoid these days. The belly survived two pregnancies with remarkable resilience, but I find that as thirty creeps up some of that damage is reappearing (or maybe it’s just age and my tendency to put any and all weight

Back looks pretty good.

right on my middle).

On the upside, I think the back looks really good. I actually appear to have a waist! (Still no hips, though.) I am always kinda torn about halter tops; sometimes I think they’re good for showcasing (my) broad shoulders, other times I feel like they just make me look like a linebacker.

How about this: use the pattern for the bodice of a full-skirted sundress? Mmm, I like. Of course, by the time I get it made, we’ll be mostly out of summer here…

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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 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 10, 2010 · 11:54 am

Ruffle Dress

Pink ruffle dress---complete!

A long morning’s labour completed. What do you think of the flower? I needed

Flower decoration

something to cover up my uneven ruffle, but I didn’t want something that would stick out too far. Loosely inspired by these.

Ok, I think that’s enough sewing for others. I want something for me now, please.

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July 9, 2010 · 3:37 pm

OK, you get the idea.

Nearly done!

Sorry. Once again, impatience gets the better of me. It’s still missing the decorative snaps, but I’m showing it off anyway. In all its flawed glory. I did not include closeups of the places (cry) where I accidentally snipped the fabric with the scissors while trimming threads.

Kids' jean jacket---back

So… pattern? Nice. The front yoke seemed too wide and the front facing width was a little wonky in its width as well. Perhaps related? Perhaps due to flaws in my tracing or my failure to read the instructions carefully. I didn’t, by the way. Read the instructions, I mean. I’m not really such an advanced sewist that I should skip that, I

Front snaps!

know. It’s a bad habit. Otherwise it all went together very nicely.

As mentioned before, my bias bindiing on the inside is not the greatest. However, it is a nice flash of colour! You can see where I added in the pockets.

Today’s big experiment was the snaps. I went out and picked up two kinds, the plain silver heavy duty ones, and some cute little pearl ones. Unfortunately, I assumed that the hammer/punch tools that came with the heavy duty ones would be adequate to attach the pearl ones. (and if not, I’ve got a bunch of other punch/hammer/dies from grommets—surely something would work). Foolish, foolish me. I did manage to get one

Cute snap! Too bad it's broken!

installed on one of the waistband tabs (after cracking the pearl in two others). It looks good. But it doesn’t snap—it won’t stay shut. And I didn’t

Inside!

have enough of the big silver ones to do the decorative snaps (tabs, pocket flaps). So I’ll have to go back to the store. For more heavy duty snaps, or for the right hammering tools? We’ll see.

The sleeve shoulder topstitching was a pain in the butt.

Ooooh… look at how nicely I managed to get the undersleeve seam to match up to the back yoke seam!:

Back yoke seam matches sleeve underarm seam!

Too bad I didn’t manage to do it on the other side!

I am thinking of entering it (or the second one, which may be a little less imperfect) to the PatternReview children’s sewing contest this month. Exciting, no?

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