Tag Archives: in progress

July 7, 2010 · 8:46 am

The One-Day Shirt Challenge

Men's shirt in (not quite) a day

Was flunked. Maybe if I’d started first thing in the morning… maybe if I hadn’t had to go with The Boy to the doctor’s in the afternoon, or “make” (aka heat up) supper. Maybe if I hadn’t had to go out to the store for a new iron (yes, my venerable Value Village iron went to that great laundry room in the sky yesterday… it shall never spot rusty water onto a crisp white fabric again). But as it was, at bedtime I was sewing the first sleeve in, and there was no way it was going to get done without staying up ridiculously late (never good for sewing).

Back gathering

I’m glad I didn’t try to rough it out—tonight I can face the challenge of altering it, since it is still *huge*

mandarin collar

I may or may not have mentioned that the pattern, which I picked up at Value Village for a buck and had never been cut, contained only two sizes: XL and XXL. My sweetie is many things, but an XXL he is not. However, his chest measurement (40″) indicated that he should be a L—so I figured I would try my hand at grading down the pattern, since I was tracing it anyway. Yes, this was all yesterday morning.

I used my vague recollection of the Selfish Seamstress’s tutorial on resizing a pattern to shrink it down. Despite my misgivings this worked remarkably well—aside from a couple of length issues (how did I grade half the sleeve differently from the other half?) which I mostly caught at the pattern stage, everything fit together about as well as patterns usually do, given my limited cutting skills (read: patience). Better than some of the Burda 9610 pieces, actually.

So he tried it on before bed last night (one sleeve only) and… it’s huge. Sleeves too long, shoulders too wide. Actually, one or the other… the sleeve length would be fine if the shoulders weren’t so wide, and vice versa. The yoke is designed to droop over the shoulder… but not, I think, that much. None of this, of course, was obvious until I had finished all the interior seams and attached the sleeve. Grr. So I’m thinking of hacking off about an inch on each side of the body (have to check how this would affect the gathers). This should make the shirt itself less ridiculously bag-like, and shorten the sleeve up a bit, too.  If I’m particularly clever, I’ll even remember to do a french seam on the sideseams this time around, too… On the other hand, the neck is perfect.

Cuff & sleeve placket; a little Becky Home-Ecky.

I didn’t really pay much attention to the instructions, but they seem to be very thorough and aimed at beginning sewists. This may explain the ridiculous amount of ease in the shirt (aren’t “beginner” patterns usually humongous?). The gathers are actually quite soft and subtle—not nearly as ridiculously pouffy as I thought they might be.  The cotton voile is a brat to iron but a dream to sew with—I was event able to  edgestitch the cuffs and front placket down without it looking totally ridiculous on the other side (Fortunately there’s lots left over. The pattern called for up to 4 m of fabric, but I don’t think I used more than 2). The cuff and sleeve placket are fairly “home-sewn-ish”; the cuff’s a bit too narrow and the continuous-lap placket is not quite right for a men’s dress shirt. I will maybe try to change that next time. Yes, there will be a next time. He still wants the shirt out of knit. (shudders)

On the up side, he says he’ll never complain about paying $50 for a shirt again after seeing how much work goes in to one…

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July 6, 2010 · 11:39 am

Hijacked!

McCall's 7123

The Boy (aka Hubby, aka Sweetums, aka Pookie, aka Pain In My Butt) wants his shirt by the end of the day. This after barely mentioning the idea of me making him a shirt at all.

So far the fabric is washed and partly ironed and the pattern is traced and hopefully re-sized properly.

Making the blue and/or white version (gathery with a round collar and no doofy panel in the front) in a white crinkle cotton voile. Though, I didn’t realize from the illustrations, the shirt is not a full button-up. I will be making it into one, however. Wish me luck!

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July 6, 2010 · 9:05 am

Progress

Burda 9610 jacket

On Burda 9610.

Have the body and sleeves mostly constructed; just need to add cuffs, attach sleeves, add the waistband, and of course get a bunch of snaps, since I’ve decided to go with snaps. The trickiest part so far was figuring out how to insert the pockets, as the pattern itself

Inside---showing pocket inserts and Hong Kong bindings on seams

doesn’t have any. However, they are in, mostly correctly. I’m using Gigi’s tutorial on Hong Kong seam bindings to finish the inside seams. I’m not as good at it as she is. I think part of my problem is that I don’t cut my bias strips wide enough. Anyway, Hong Kong binding + topstitching means each seam in this jacket (and there are a lot!) is stitched 4 times! Crazy. I found myself trying to adjust the construction process to minimize number of times I had to re-thread the sewing machine. Oh, I also figured out a workaround to increase my machine’s tension so the topstitching thread isn’t (or is less) loopy on the inside. You know how when you’re winding a bobbin the thread goes from the spool around that little doohickey on the top before it goes to the bobbinator? Well, (at least on my machine) that doohickey has a bit of a spring on it for catching the thread and adding some tension. I found that by winding my thread around that thing before threading it through the rest of the machine, I got a LOT more tension. No more

Front side pocket. On examining my RTW jean jacket, these pocket linigns are cut as part of the jacket pieces, folded to the inside. Not a bad idea. Ah, well---next time.

loopiness underneath! Unfortunately, I didn’t think to try this until I was about two-thirds of the way along, so there’s a lot of loopy topstitching. Ah well. Live and learn. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to use the darker (right) side of the fabric or the lighter, shinier (wrong) side. So I used both! Keeping track of which was which was a bit of a pain, though.

Sleeve seams and bindings

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July 2, 2010 · 1:37 pm

News Flash

Patch pockets for black jeans

My topstitching still sucks.

That is all.

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July 2, 2010 · 8:53 am

Adventures in denim

Kids' Jean Jacket pattern

Kids' Jean Jacket pattern

Last night I traced out Burda 9610  (jacket only) in kids size 7 and 9 (122 and 134 Burda sizes). These may be a bit big (the other stuff I’ve made them has been size 7 and 4, respectively, but I’m not sure that the Burda “equivalent US sizes” are actually equivalent) but I don’t have the kids handy to measure, and I kinda want these jackets to be presents for when we do see them next at the end of July. And yes, I have measured them before and written it all down. And promptly lost the paper. Although that was a few months ago, and the pesky things do tend to keep growing.

So, now I have the patterns traced out (fifteen pieces each for the jacket! That’s a bit different from that cowl-neck top!) and a *bit* more of an insight into how they will eventually go together. My main disappointment at the moment is to realize that they don’t really have pockets. Not only are there no side pockets, that flap is strictly decorative.

I am of course plotting how to change this. Making a pocket bag and an opening underneath the flap shouldn’t be too hard. Leaving a gap in the side of the centre-front/side-front seam and putting a bag behind this should be doable with just a little bit more ingenuity.

Also, I should think about seam bindings. I’ve never done un-lined jackets before (Hmm, now I’m thinking about lining them, maybe in a colourful fleece. Next time, Taran!). Since I can’t just serge everything, I’m thinking a hong-kong finish kinda thing. Best of all, since I’m not going to be fitting these as I go, I can do at least some of the bindings before the seams are sewn. Yay!

Next question: sparkly (under) side of the denim out, or subtler, less-sparkly “right” side of the denim out? Or a mix? Or just make at least the older daughter’s out of my black denim? (But I want the black denim for me!)

Also, while I’m sewing for children, I should whip up some little sundresses or something for my nieces. I hate to do this much unselfish sewing (I’m not as vocal about it as the Selfish Seamstress but I really do have a hard time putting a whole lot of effort into sewing for other people), but my sister-in-law is looking after my kids for the month. So that might fall under Advanced Selfish Seamstressing. I should call her and get their measurements and maybe quiz her on good colours/styles they don’t already have.

And, because I can’t spend all this time just sewing for others, I’m going to lengthen my Jalie capris pattern and get started on some full-length jeans for me! 🙂

Wow, ambitious much?

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June 24, 2010 · 7:41 pm

So close!

Danielle dress---almost finished!

I guess it would be a better strategy to show less progress, save the full dress for the big reveal, right?

Sorry, I don’t have that kind of self-discipline. So here’s the Danielle dress—ALMOST done. So close. It just needs a hem and one shoulder sewn up. I took it to work with me

Danielle dress---back

today, finished the zipper by hand on the train (I sewed the zipper to the lining by machine, but hand-picked the outer layer. At least, I think it was hand-picking. I haven’t actually read any of the numerous wonderful tutorials out there on hand-finishing zippers. It’s not perfect on the inside, but the stitches are damn near invisible on the outside, so I’m not going to complain.

Boy, the dress is SNUG. Not the outer shell, by the way—just the lining. I tried to cut the lining a bit smaller… apparently I succeeded too well. Ah well. I don’t think I’ll be popping seams, but unfortunately it means the outer fabric can’t stretch quite as much, so the bust is looking a bit rugose again. Though if anyone is looking that closely at my chest, they’re looking WAY too close, right?

Side view---a little pouffy in the front.

It’s a tiny bit pouffy at the front, due to my 3rd pleat/insert, I think. I’ll do what I can with ironing, but… ah well. I don’t mind looking 5 months pregnant… I do most of the time, anyway ;).

The hem will come up about 3 inches, I’m thinking, in the hemming.

Did I mention I’m insanely proud of that zipper? It’s the first one I’ve ever done (aside from jeans flies) that doesn’t catch on its surrounding fabric. It’s not invisible (it’s not an invisible zipper), but it’s nice and even and I’m okay with it. 🙂 And it made my 40-minute-each-way train commute much more enjoyable.

Oh, and if it’s a little rumpled… that’s because it spent the day in my backpack! So really, it looks pretty good. 🙂

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June 24, 2010 · 9:40 am

Oopsie

Oopsie... two new fabrics. But they were cheap!

Well, that didn’t last, did it? I bought two pieces of fabric at Value Village yesterday—about 1.5 m of some fairly heavy ivory knit (that comes in a tube! I’d heard of this but never seen it before), and like 5m (by like 60″ wide… there I go mixing my units) of some red, fairly heavy *something* with a bit of a ribbed weave. Interestingly, the mass of red was not much more expensive than the little bit of knit. The knit will of course go towards my “conquer the fear of knits” sewing (whatever form that will take). The red can be the surcote for my mediaeval dress for that fair later this summer. Man, that will be hot. As in, sweating and sticky… but oh well.

A mediaeval sideless surcoat

Here’s a picture of what kind of garment I’m talking about; it’ll go over a long-sleeved long dress I made last fall.

Incidentally… this fair I’m goingto styles itself a “Medieval Faire”… now, I’m not a huge fan of cutesy mis-spellings, but I can just about handle randomly sticking an E on the end of Fair to seem more “period”… but if you’re going to do that, spell it MEDIAEVAL! WAY cooler.  My $.02 🙂

Considerable progress was made last night on the Danielle—I just need to finish putting in the zipper and hem it. Unfortunately, I was working in the “I should go and clean house/feed children/tend family… in one more minute” mindset, which means I kinda barged ahead without really taking the time and care I would like to see myself take. I think it’ll be okay, but I’m a little disappointed with myself. I also took my lined-sleeveless-article shortcut and opened the shoulder seams so I could turn it, and somehow when I do this the shoulders never go back together quite right. I should probably have spent more time reading up on how to do linings, and less time convincing myself that I can figure anything out on my own. On the other hand, I may actually have it ready to go by Saturday. I’ll take more pictures once I get the zipper finished :).

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June 22, 2010 · 12:33 pm

Danielle dress update

Danielle bodice---re-sewn, no longer caving in! Darts remain a little wonky.

Ok, quick post and then back to work!

I ripped and re-sewed the bodice-to-“waist” band seam; in my effort to match the darts in the top with the pleats in the skirt some ease had crept in, which was allowing the centre of the bodice to collapse over my not-so-generous bust. Re-sewing the seam helped, even though it required the sacrifice of my perfectly-aligned darts and pleats. The side seams are now slightly off as well. And y’know what—I don’t care as long as the bust looks great! Which I don’t know if I’ve quite achieved, but it’s a lot better (especially with the bullet-proof bra underneath. If I can get the whole thing snugged in properly with the zip, I think it’ll look fine.

Incidentally, it looks like I’m going to need inch-wide seam allowances on the

Danielle fitting---note the "design element" contrast pleat at centre front. 🙂

centre back to get it to fit snugly across the zipper. Considering I’ve already taken in the dress 1/2″ to 1″ at various places (bodice 1/2″ at each side, skirt 1″ at centre front (due to my cutting booboo, though I adjusted the pleats to gain some of that back), I almost wonder if I could’ve gotten away with a size 34. My measurements suggest a 36, but this is a dress that looks best FITTED (except at the waist, hence my love of the pattern!)

You can just see a peek of my “design feature” at the centre front of the skirt. Like? Also note my complete lack of pattern matching! I can just about wrap my head around trying to match stripes—I’ll give it a go when I use my wool or denim pinstripes—but a pattern like this? Not happening. I wouldn’t’ve had enough fabric anyway, right?

I am tempted to lower the neckline a bit, but if I’m going to wear it over a bra I’d better not.

If I make a dress like this again, I’d be really tempted to use my princess-seamed vest pattern for the bodice. The lines are the same, but the fit is tweaked to be perfect on me, and have I mentioned that I like princess seams? All I’d have to do is switch the opening from front to back and maybe mess with the seam allowances a touch.

What do you think—sleeves or no sleeves?

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June 22, 2010 · 9:07 am

Moratorium

Denim

Denim, denim, knit. The greyish denim is actually slightly sparkly.

might be too big of a word for it, but it’s gotta be almost time to stop buying fabric and start SEWING. Yesterday I bought 3m of sparkly blue, slightly stretchy denim, and 4m of a stained, really fine white knit ($2/m!!! yes it looks like crap, but even if I can’t get the stains out I can use it for muslin/knit-sewing practice without feeling guilty!)

Lovely stains!

The picture also shows a bit of the 1m remnant of dark-blue stretch denim I picked up last week. I think I’m set for denim for a while.

In my own defense, the sparkly denim is for the Burda kids’

Burda kids' jean jacket pattern

jean jacket pattern that I picked up last week. I also grabbed a variety of topstitching and denim thread for upcoming projects. And I still need to find a fabric if I want to make my hubby a shirt for the mediaeval faire later this summer (it’s not until mid-August, though, so that’s not too big a deal). And I wouldn’t mind some white cotton to make me a few more summery blouse/tops…who knows, maybe even a summery white sundress. Ok girl, getting ahead of yourself. Quit justifying. Start sewing.

I did (by dint of some tantrum-throwing) get some work done on the Danielle dress last night, which I will photograph later. Now that it’s sewn to the band, the bust is doing something wonky, so I will a) have to re-sew that seam, and/or b) wear the Cast-Iron Bra* underneath. I still have to cut out the lining, too. I really shouldn’t let myself get this far ahead in the construction before everything’s cut out. I hate linings. Actually, I just hate cutting, so it’s better to get it all out of the way at once, while I’m in that space. But I did the cutting early last week and didn’t get the lining fabric until Friday, so I’m kinda hosed on that front.

*the Cast-Iron Bra is a heavy duty, add-a-cup-size, molded foam bra. Its shape and fullness are lovely and absolutely unrelated to what I happen to have to fill it with. The first time I wore it to work, I kept waiting for someone to call me on it… “c’mon, we saw you yesterday… who do you think you’re fooling?” 😉 )

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June 21, 2010 · 7:57 am

Creeping along…

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.

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