Puzzle-Piece Pattern

“It’s not the writing part that’s hard.

What’s hard is sitting down to write.”

-Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

I’m currently re-reading The War of Art and this quote perfectly sums up why my poor blog is so neglected.

It also sort of explains why it took me so long to do this “thing” I wanted to do with my favorite t-shirt pattern. The idea was there, the process only took an hour or so, but STARTING the project? Haha, I should have a PhD in procrastination! Except I’d never sit down to write the thesis - so, yeah.

I wear a lot of t-shirts. I work from home, I sew from home, I live several miles outside of town and need a really compelling reason to leave home, so my wardrobe consists of anything comfortable but with enough polish that I don’t have to change if I do happen to want to be seen in public. So by t-shirts I don’t mean ratty college tees or oversize concert tees left over from the 80’s, both of which I own but don’t wear in public. I mean nice, well-fitting knit tops in a variety of colors and styles so it doesn’t look like I’m wearing the same thing every day, even though I sort of am. I don’t have time to buy every new tee pattern that comes out just so I can have a different neckline, sleeve or hem option because that means fitting every pattern to my not-average body proportions. What I really want is ONE pattern with ALL the options. Not asking for much, am I? I also don’t want an envelope stuffed full of a gazillion pieces which I have to sort through and iron every time I want to make what should be a quick project.

My solution? ONE t-shirt pattern with interchangeable necklines, sleeves, and hems. And because I’m still somewhere in the procrastination stage I’ve only done the neckline, but I’m still so excited about it!

I started with the Basic InstincT by Sasha at Secondo Piano. Hopefully you have a basic tee pattern that you love. I have a long list of ones that don’t fit my body without extensive changes, but it just so happens that Sasha's draft works for my body type. If you want to put the time into making your own “puzzle-piece pattern” start with whatever favorite tee works for you.

And finally… the process:

I folded 2 pieces of 24"x36" manila tagboard in half lenthwise and traced the front on one and the back on the other, with CF and CB on the fold. Sometimes I like to use the pattern on folded fabric and sometimes on a single layer. Folding the pattern like this gives me either option. (This particular pattern in my size fits on a single width, but I could just as easily use half the pattern or tape 2 pieces together.) Then I cut out the pattern pieces. I have an old, worn-out rotary cutter that I use for paper. I cut the straight lines (hem and shoulder) with that and a ruler so the layers wouldn’t shift. Then I rough cut around the curves, clamped the edges together with binder clips, and carefully cut both layers at once. Although now that I think about it, I could have cut the top layer then used that to trace the bottom layer. I’m sure there are many good ways to do it, but the end result should be identical top and bottom layers of the folded pattern pieces. (I'm actually using the back pattern piece in these photos because my front piece was too messy-looking!)

On the front pattern piece I drew a line perpendicular to the center front, well below the lowest neckline I would want, and another line perpendicular to the shoulder, outside of the widest neckline I would want, and extended both lines until they met. I used a Frixion pen so I could iron off any stray marks, but pencil would work as well. With a pen, I made marks in a couple places across the lines for matching purposes, then I cut along the lines (again, making sure both layers are cut the same). And that’s the first neckline “puzzle piece”!

Now for other neckline pieces. I folded a piece of tagboard to fit underneath the open space of the front pattern neckline area, keeping the fold perfectly lined up with the center front fold. I traced the neckline cut lines, extended the shoulder line, and drew my new desired neckline. I marked the neckline piece where the match marks are on the front pattern. Besides the original crew neck of the pattern, I have a shallow v-neck, which uses the same neckline at the shoulder and back, and I have a turtleneck neckline, which is closer to the neck at the back, shoulder, and front. I will possibly add a square neckline and a slightly scooped neckline.

I repeated steps 2 and 3 for the back. I used the front pattern piece to mark where I wanted the back shoulder cut line to start, but it’s really not necessary that they match, or even that they’re perpendicular to the seamline or center line. If you might want to have a deep back neckline be sure to make your cutout big enough.

I labeled all the pieces well. This is something I’m not usually very good at, but it’s super important to know which pieces are used for what and which front and back pieces go together.

Now when I cut out a pattern, I can set whichever neckline I want in place, keep it there with weights or washi tape, trace, and cut.

I plan to add sleeve length options (cap, short, cuffed, long…) all using the same sleeve cap,  and hemline options (straight, curved, split hem, tunic length…) but for now I’m happy with my progress.

Things I’ve learned:

• I should have made my neckline cutout areas bigger. They need to be big enough to allow for lower necklines AND still have enough space to punch a hole in the small neckline patterns so I can hang them. Luckily I can still make that change, I’ll just have to re-trace my neckline pieces.
• Frixion pens are the best! I used a gray pen so the marks were light to begin with, but I used it to trace the original pattern, mark the cut lines, trace the cut lines to the neckline pieces, and draw the new necklines. After everything was cut out a quick swipe of the iron erased any stray marks. 
• I think this is going to clear both paper clutter and mental clutter from my life. I’m playing with the idea of using this for other basic patterns (button-up shirt? jeans?) so I can change some details without having to re-trace a whole pattern.

If you try this and like it, let me know! 

Excuses, Excuses... and a Denim Jacket

Dear Blogger, it's been a long time. I've been busy, and I have a lot of really good reasons for ignoring my blog. Yes, really good reasons. First, my sewing room was a mess and I couldn't take photos until I cleaned it. Then I never really learned to use my new camera. Then my sewing room was too dark for photos. Yep, all my excuses revolve around photos. My goal sometime this year is to find and/or set up a spot in my house where it's convenient to take pictures. In the meantime, let me introduce my latest creation with the best photos I can get under the circumstances.

Here is my new denim jacket, tossed on my sewing room floor:

Four years ago I sewed the Islander Jacket Express. The pattern was drafted well, the instructions were thorough, and the Craftsy class was well worth the money. My jacket turned out well, but I never wear it. It isn't quite "me". The collar is too big, the edges are too round and the fit is too boxy. I decided to use the pattern as a starting point for a more traditional-looking denim jacket. And I'm calling this white jacket an overwhelming success.

Pattern changes:

Narrower, pointed collar

Narrower cuffs with square corners

Reshaped upper pockets and flaps

Narrower sleeves with higher sleeve cap

Removed excess length and width from front

Lengthened jacket and added band at bottom edge

Placed buttons closer together

The fit isn't perfect, but it's loose enough through the back and shoulders that I can move my arms freely and it's fitted enough in front that I'm not swimming in it. The fabric is bull denim from JoAnn Fabrics. It's firm enough to hold the shape of the jacket but soft enough to sew through easily and wear comfortably. I don't usually praise fabric from JoAnns, but this denim was perfect for my jacket! 

A close-up shot of my pointy details (so much more "me" than the round collar and pockets):

I've got a second jacket in the works because I wanted to perfect the fit. It's a different fabric and a whole new set of adventure. More details later... unless I remember all the excuses.

Vogue 9099, The Couture Blazer

I should really call this the Very Imperfect Semi-Couture Blazer.

I was so excited when I bought this pattern. The last time I did any tailoring was in 1984 when I spent the summer working on my 4H project with MUCH help from my mom. I've been wanting a nice blazer for years, but I'm too picky about fit to buy one.

I wasn't intimidated by the pattern. I can sew at an advanced level when I want to and I'm not afraid to try anything. But OH the hand work involved! It wasn't hard, but SO time consuming. I think I watched at least 2 seasons of Gilmore Girls on Netflix while I made this blazer.

Before Christmas (and before the Gilmore Girls marathon) I made a muslin, which was a good thing because I totally slashed across the back to add shape and length, I recut the front with a small bust adjustment, and I tried out two different sizes of sleeves. (Turns out I'm a 14 in the shoulders, waist and hips, and a 10 in the arms. Who knew?) I also narrowed the shoulders, which I have never had to do before, and changed the roll line so I could add a 3rd, higher button at the front.

At first I was stumped by the SBA and how the shoulder dart would work with that. I suppose I could have looked up how to do it but that would take all the fun out of the project, right? Here's what I ended up doing:


























This isn't meant to be a tutorial but I thought it might be helpful to someone in the same situation. Picture #3 shows what the altered pattern piece looked like. #4 is to show the effect of the alteration. I can't say how this would work for someone else, but it was a life-changing revelation for me and I love the fit of the new pattern piece. (And I probably should mention that I had to change the position of the upper pocket, aligning the grain of the pocket welt with the new grainline of the upper chest.)

Besides the fitting, here's what I learned from this project:

1. Hand sewing is not the enemy. Hand basting can be a wonderful thing, and hand stitching in general can be kind of relaxing. That said, I'll skip as much of the hand stitching as possible the next time I make this pattern.

2. I wouldn't use this pocket flap pattern again. I thought the pockets looked wrong on the pattern envelope and I couldn't quite figure it out. I think the problem is that the flaps are rectangles, folded right sides together and stitched up the sides. I tried to make the underneath half of the rectangles smaller, but in the end the flaps didn't want to curve around the body, even after heavy steaming over a pressing ham, and the sides are stiffer than the bottom edges. Next time I'll cut separate flaps and linings and probably round the corners a bit.

3. Hand buttonholes? I didn't even try. My machine makes fairly presentable keyhole buttonholes and I'm sure they look better than anything I could attempt by hand.

4. Next time I'll move the roll line back down and get rid of that top button. I thought it worked better with my shape but after seeing picture I'm not so sure. But then, it's not like I'll really wear it buttoned up...  Also, I chose not to lengthen the pattern for my long torso and I should have. Next time for sure.

5. In the Vogue patterns I've used the sleeve cap seems to be too high with too much ease. Next time I'll see if I can flatten it a little and eliminate most or all of the ease. 

After months of working on this project, I can safely say I don't feel the need to put this much effort into an item of clothing for a very long time.

Bloopers:
Yes, I realize the pocket welts are wrong side out. No, I didn't realize it until after they were sewn on, slashed and turned. I'm just going to say I like the contrast and call it a happy accident, because that's what we do when we sew, right?

A-Frame Skirt

Well, it's been a while!  I've been sewing but not blogging. My quest for a great pair of jeans has caused me a lot of frustration but that's a topic for another post.

In the meantime, some new changes in my life mean I'll be needing a few more skirts. On Wednesday I saw the A-Frame Skirt pattern by Blueprints for Sewing on Pinterest. (Pinned by Indiesew.com - thankyouverymuch!) I've recently decided to do my part in supporting indie pattern designers by buying their patterns so I quickly checked this one out. Not only does the pattern include the really cute pencil skirt that I can't wait to make, but there is also an a-line version for softer, drapier (drapey-er? is this even a word?) fabrics. I just happened to have a few yards of rayon challis sitting in my sewing room waiting to be turned into something... but I couldn't figure out what. Within 30 minutes of seeing that pin, I'd bought the pattern, printed the PDF, and was busy taping it together on my cutting table. I had the skirt cut out and started by that evening.

On Thursday I finished the skirt, today (Friday) I took the pictures (still trying to figure out my new camera and the remote viewfinder on my phone), and here it is! I made a straight size E since this skirt isn't fitted and I think it fits pretty well. Next time I'll make the waistband a little smaller. Also, the center front piece is cut on the bias which hangs really nice and gives it a little stretch across the font, but I feel like the weight of this fabric pulls the piece down a lot and therefore makes it narrower across the belly than it should be. (That's an issue with my fabric and my body, not with the pattern!) It's not even an issue except for when I put my hands in the pockets and it pulls a little across the front. Next time I might try cutting the center front on the straight grain and see what happens.

Oh yes, this skirt has pockets! Not that this fabric will hold anything heavier than a lens cap, but it's nice to have a place to put your hands when you don't know what else to do with them.

I can't wait to make the pencil-skirt version of this pattern!

Sewing Jeans, part 3 - The Finished Product

Yay, the jeans are done!  I sewed the back in part 1, the front in part 2, and now it's time to put it all together.

For the most part this was really easy.  I basted the inseam together, all the way from one ankle to the other, with a long machine stitch.  The thigh area is longer in the front than in the back so I had to stretch the back A LOT.  (Which tested my patience A LOT, but I think the results were worth it.)  I then basted the side seams together with the chain stitch on my cover stitch machine.  I have to say that's a huge time saver when I know I'm going to remove a basting stitch - as long as I can find the right thread to pull the whole seam disappears in a couple seconds!  I tried the jeans on to make sure the fit was good enough, and yes it was!

I whipped out those chain stitches in the side seams, sewed, serged and topstitched the inseam (and left the basting stitches in place), sewed and serged the sideseams, and wow, they look like jeans!

The waistband was a little more time consuming.  I followed the suggestion in Kenneth King's Jean-ius class on Craftsy and cut a straight waistband then steamed it into a curved shape.  It's probably a great idea for someone with a fairly straight waist but I have a lot of curve between my waist and hip so I need a lot of curve in a shaped waistband.  Next time I'll try a contoured waistband so I can compare the results.

Otherwise the waistband went on quickly, except that I somehow made a little mistake on the front edge and forgot to compare the two waistband edges before topstitching, and they are absolutely not the same size.  To make things worse, my sewing machine completely refused to make a buttonhole between all those thick seam allowances.  I finally just cut it, zigzagged around it the best I could, added a few hand stitches, and called it a day.  I know when I'm beat.

I really like the "boyfriend" fit of these jeans when they're rolled up.  Not so much when they're not rolled up.  Then they just look big and sloppy.  But that's ok, these will be great spring and summer jeans. I've learned some things about how jeans fit my body and I'm already halfway into a slimmer fitting pattern. Regardless of style, these are the best fitting jeans I've ever owned and I'm really looking forward to making some more.

Sewing Jeans, part 2

I finished the back of the jeans in part 1.  Now it's on to the front!

The front has lots of pieces.  So many that it's hard to come up with the right names for all of them (since I'm drafting my own pattern and don't have the luxury of pre-named pieces).  Besides the two large front pieces, here's what we have:

Fly facing
Fly shield
Coin pocket
Side front
Pocket
Pocket facing

I cut my pocket and pocket facing out of some leftover quilting fabric, partly to add a fun colorful touch to my jeans but mostly because that's what I had on hand.  I cut the pieces with the lengthwise grain going across the body, and the pockets extend from the side seam all the way into the center front seam allowances.  This should reduce the stretch across my stomach and hold everything in, right?

Of course since I'm not following a pattern I started putting the pockets together in the wrong order.  I should have sewn the coin pocket to the side front, serged the curved edge, then sewn that piece to the pocket.  I ended up sewing the side front to the pocket first, then realized I needed to finish the curved edge so I did using a decorative stitch, then I attached the coin pocket.  Lesson learned.  Next time I'll do it right.

There's my really cute pocket!  Next I stitched the pocket facing to the jeans front along the pocket opening, turned, pressed and topstitched.  I attached the pockets to the pocket facings with a french seam along the bottom edge.  Then I basted the pockets to the fronts along the front edges.  

the WRONG way to offset the seam allowances at center front

I pretty much followed the directions from my basic pants pattern for the center front / fly.  That pattern didn't have jeans-style topstitching so it didn't go as smoothly as I hoped but it worked out in the end.  Of course I didn't take notes on how I SHOULD have done it so I get to figure it out again next time!  One of the tricky parts was getting the center front and center back seams to meet at the crotch.  The center back was between the lines of topstitching and the center front was along the edge of the fly.  I compensated for this by having the center front seam allowances match right below the fly, then offset the seam allowances below that so that at the inseam they were the same as the center back: 3/8" seam allowance for the left side, 7/8" for the right side.  Of course when I worked all that out in my head I had the left and right mixed up.  I even wrote down the wrong directions so I wouldn't get confused, I followed those directions, and I sewed the pieces together wrong.  The above picture is proof.  But it only took a couple minutes to realize my error and correct it.

And here is my finished jeans front!  I'm so excited that it really looks like a pair of jeans!  The finished product is coming soon...

Sewing Jeans, part 1

My desire to make my own jeans began a couple years ago when I wanted to make a pair of pants.  I thought it might be easiest to adjust the fit by comparing a pattern to a pair of pants that already fit.  I rarely wear dress pants so I thought I'd start by looking at some jeans that fit well.  I had several pairs that seemed to fit, but to make sure I decided I better take some pictures from the back.  Yep, I set my camera timer and took some shots of my rear end.  And I decided that day to never wear any of my jeans in public again!

Since then I've worn the offending jeans many times, because, you know, I had to leave the house eventually and a bathrobe just doesn't go over well in the grocery store.  But my quest for custom-fit jeans had begun.  I bought denim.  I bought patterns.  I bought two Craftsy classes (but didn't necessarily watch them).  And then I waited, but other projects got in the way and the jeans never materialized.  Until now, that is.

Because I like to figure things out on my own and not follow someone else's instructions, I decided the best way for me to start was to make a basic pants pattern, get it to fit, and draft a jeans pattern from that.  I used Vogue 1293 for the basic pattern, minus the pockets.  They have a lowered waist and the fit is slim and tapered, a fairly good starting point.

I made my first muslin without any fitting changes.  Then the fun began.  As with ready-to-wear jeans/pants, the front fit fine but the back didn't.  It's really not very fun or easy to fit the back of pants by yourself!  With the help of a tripod, camera timer, pins, trial and error, and a whole lot of patience, I managed to somewhat fit the muslin to my body and altered my pattern accordingly.

Then came muslin #2.  I had to talk myself into making several muslins before I even started this project or I totally would have given up at this point.  I hate making muslins, which is probably why I have so many nearly-completed projects that I know I'll never wear.  #2 didn't look great, but I kept plowing ahead, trying to get a better fit.

One thing that really helped in this process was that when I got stuck I put the project down and walked away.  Usually at night as I was falling asleep I would think of a solution to whatever fitting problem I was having that day.

By muslin #3 I was almost there, so I tweaked that version of the pattern just a little, drafted the yoke, pockets and fly, called the pattern Jeans #4, and cut it out of denim.  For pocket sizes and shapes I sort of measured a few old pairs of jeans and averaged or estimated measurements from there.  It work out fairly well, for the most part.

One thing I learned while measuring my old jeans:  in ready-to-wear the center back is between the rows of topstitching, not along the seamline.  That's the way I always thought it should be but I'd never actually measured before.  I'm not sure how sewing patterns handle this since I've never read the directions for any of the jeans patterns I own, but here's how I handled it:  I laid the back pieces (with yoke already sewn in place and topstitched - and in this case the pockets too but that was unnecessary) right sides together, with the right back seam allowance extending 1/2" past the left back seam allowance, stretching slightly to fit.  I marked a stitching line at 3/8" on the left back seam allowance (which would be 7/8" on the right back) and stitched along that line.

After stitching, I folded the excess seam allowance from the right back over the left back seam allowance and pressed in place.  Then I folded the whole thing toward the left back and topstitched two rows on the outside.  I used my topstitching foot for this, with the first row 4 needle positions to the left of the seamline and the second row 1/4" from the seamline.  It actually looks like jeans! Well, except for the weird grainline on the yoke but that will be fixed in the next version.

And here's the inside.  I serged the seam allowances together where the yoke meets the back and pressed them down.  I could have done a flat felled seam here as well but that would have created a lot of bulk at the point where the yoke and center back seams meet.  I haven't decided for sure how to do it in the future, but for these jeans I'm satisfied with this seam.

Ok, that's enough for now.  More jeans adventures to come soon!

Back to sewing with a cozy flannel shirt

I know, it's been awhile!  It's hard to find time for myself in December and January.  In my real-life (aka paid) job I'm an accountant for our family business.  I won't go into detail, but December and January can get kind of ugly for me.  Throw in some dark, cold days and the craziness of Christmas and it's about all I can do to hold on until February, which fortunately is when my work deadlines are past and we start getting a lot of spring-like days.

I bought some purple and black houndstooth flannel in November and I decided I better get a shirt made out of it while it's still winter.  I'm trying to get a "perfect" button-up shirt pattern and I'm happy to say I'm getting closer.  I started with the pattern I used last spring for a chambray shirt.  I made the shoulders wider, the sleeves narrower, and I redrafted the collar.  I cut the front placket on the bias because otherwise I would have had to match the rows of houndstooth all the way across and that just seemed like too much work.

What I like about this shirt:  It fits fairly well.  I've got full range of motion in my arms and shoulders, which is something I can never find in purchased tops.  The fabric is warm and cozy, perfect for winter.

What I don't like:  The fabric is a little too thick for this type of shirt.  The seams are pretty bulky.  The collar still wants to stick straight out, even though the under-collar is cut smaller.  I'm happy with how the back fits but not how it looks so I'm going to start over on the back piece.  (No pictures - that's how much I hate it.)

I got a tripod for Christmas so I no longer have to balance my camera on furniture.  Unfortunately, my pictures still stink because I can't find a room in my house with both bare walls and good lighting, and my camera has some limitations.  Excuses? Oh yeah, but it gives me some problems to work on solving!

Sewing with Sequins

Maybe the world is coming to an end.  I did something that I never thought I'd do - I made myself a sequined top.  Not all-over sequins or anything like that, but yes, there are sequins on this shirt.  I'm pretty sure I've never worn sequins before, not even for Halloween!  I'm NOT a sequin person.

I really wanted to make another version of my sweatshirt pattern, fix any additional problems that cropped up, and have a final copy of a pattern that I can make again and again.  Does that ever really happen, or am I reaching for an impossible dream?  The other "impossible" part of that dream would be finding fabric at JoAnns that I love.  I looked at several possibilities and kept coming back to this gray knit with lines of black yarns and sequins running through it.  I can't say I loved it, but I was definitely intrigued so I bought it.

The fabric is labeled "66% polyester 34%        ".  Yep, that's a blank.  I took a picture of the bolt end while I was in line waiting for it to be cut but I didn't look at the picture until today so I had no idea I was using a mystery fiber.  I think it's rayon from the way it drapes but it don't actually care enough to try to figure it out for real.  I planned to make the pattern exactly the same as I did last time and I even found some ribbing that I thought would work better than the ponte did.  However, when I hung the fabric over my dressform it told me it wanted to be something a little more drapey.  (That was my fabric talking - not the dressform.  My dressform has never said a word to me.)

So, sweatshirt pattern take 2:  I moved the sleeve edge of the shoulder seam forward 3/4" (basically by cutting a triangle off the front shoulder and adding it to the back shoulder) and raised the neckline by 3/4" at center front and 1/2" at the shoulders and back.  I decided to hem the sleeves and bottom edge instead of using the ribbing so I made those pieces longer.  I also made a design change in the back.  I hate how knit shirts seem to cling to my lower back when I sit down and then get all bunched up at my back waist when I stand up.  I think (but I'm not positive) that it's because there's not enough fabric to fall loosely over my back hips and behind.  Since this shirt seemed to want to be loose and drapey anyway, I cut the original back piece into a back yoke, then added 4" at CB to the lower section for a pleat at center back.

I was a little conflicted about the ribbing at the neckline.  I considered cutting a strip of the body fabric, pulling out the black yarns and sequins, and using it for neck binding.  The neck edge really wanted to be black, though, so I went ahead with the ribbing.  After the shirt was done except for the sleeve and bottom hems I realized I should have done some things differently and I almost threw the whole thing away.  In fact, I planned on finishing it on Friday but I just couldn't face it.  It was one of those feelings of complete failure that for a day or two made me wonder if I should give up sewing.

Here's a list of my failures with this project:
1.  The neck binding should have been black spandex or something else smooth and shiny.  The chunky matte black ribbing (also of unknown fiber content) is too casual compared to the rest of the top.
2.  The drop-shoulder pattern worked well in something thick and with a lot of body, but looks sloppy in this soft, drapey fabric.
3.  While my goal was to make something that looked like higher-end ready to wear (or at least mid-range) I made something that you can buy at Wal-Mart or Kohls for about $10.
4.  Overall, I think I took a fabric with at least a little potential and made something completely frumpy and boring.

After finishing the project, I'm happy to say that I also have a list of successes:
1.  I like the idea of the yoke and pleat in back.  I'm not sure how I'll use that in the future but it definitely has some potential.
2.  My shoulder seams are in the right place.  That part of the pattern is fixed!
3.  This top is really comfortable!  If I decide to never wear it in public, maybe I'll sleep in it.
4.  I kind of like the shirt belted.  It's not my normal style so the belt I'm wearing in the pictures is a really cheap one that came with a skirt I bought, but I think I can pull it off.

 

A couple more funny or interesting things to note:  I have a 6-year-old point and shoot camera that I really loved when it was new.  Now my 2 1/2 year old phone takes better pictures, but only when I'm holding it so I can't use it for most of my blog pictures.  I also don't have a tripod, so today I used my car bumper.  Oh, and I'm wearing sunglasses because I didn't want to put on makeup. Yep, I'm that lazy!

Fall Sewing - Sweatshirt

I'm not a big follower of fashion trends, but have you seen those sweatshirts in the magazines and catalogs made out of something nicer than sweatshirt fleece?  That's a trend that I think would work well for me. I want to be casual and comfy but I don't want to look like I just rolled out of bed.  It's a great project for fall, am I right?

I already had the perfect fabric in my stash, a polyester/rayon "sweater knit" in a black and white tweed. It's really terrycloth, which for some reason I didn't realize when I bought it. I love the look of it (and I already have a skirt made out of it) but I can't completely get over the feeling that I'm wearing a towel. By the way, I'm not sure there is really such a thing as tweed terrycloth, but that's what it looks like so that's what I'm calling it.

What I really needed was a chunky black ribbing to go with it. I found some great ribbing in brown and gray, but no black. I checked all my favorite online fabric sources and still no black.  Plan B turned out to be some black Ponte that I found on sale. I wasn't sure it would work for the neck edge. Would it hold the curved shape of the neckline or would it want to stand straight up? I pondered that problem for a long time, and also formulated plans C and D, before I finally just cut a sample and tested it. It seemed to work well enough so my ribbing problem was solved.

The next challenge was coming up with a pattern. I already have a self-drafted t-shirt pattern so that seemed like a good place to start. I love the raglan-sleeved sweatshirts I've seen in stores but I look terrible in raglan sleeves so that wasn't an option. Dropped shoulders are definitely much better on me so I measured across my shoulders to where I thought I wanted the sleeves to hit and extended the shoulders of my t-shirt pattern by 2 1/4".  I also lowered the sleeve cap by about that amount.

Sweatshirt pattern on top of t-shirt pattern: I extended the shoulder, lowered the underarm, lowered the neckline (but I wish I hadn't), and widened the bodice.  

I really had no idea how much ease I wanted in the sweatshirt so I took a trip to the mall and tried on a couple. I came up with some general measurements (at least 6" of ease, 14" upper sleeves, bottom band around my hipbones) and adjusted my pattern accordingly. The pattern seemed to come together really well. Almost too well. Could it really be that easy? At this point I started to feel a little panic. What if this project didn't turn out? What if I put in all this time and had nothing to show for it? What if I fail? These are the kinds of thoughts that have haunted me all my life and kept me from trying new things. Time to let go of that. For goodness sake, it's just a sweatshirt!

I finished the pattern and cut out the fabric. There was one more detail I wanted to add so it wouldn't be too plain. My plan was to sew a 6mm coverstitch along the shoulder and armscye seams, from the wrong side, with wooly nylon thread in the looper. This would give a thick black line of stitching on the right side to set off those seams. I tested the stitch, adjusted the tension, and kept testing, adjusting and practicing until it gave exactly the effect I wanted. Then I stitched the first shoulder seam. It started out great then something went wrong and the rest of the stitches were all loopy. Back to my test fabric (a piece of the sweatshirt fabric). Everything was great on the sample, but it would not work on the sweatshirt! There was no difference between the test piece and the sweatshirt, but apparently my machine could tell the difference and took great pleasure in thwarting my plans.

Ok, I'm smarter than a machine but I know when to fight for what I want and when to switch gears. Time to save my sanity and try something different. I switched to the narrower 3mm coverstitch, the stitching worked beautifully, and although I still would have preferred the wider stitch I love the finished effect.

The neckband went on easily. I should have cut the piece a little shorter but it's good enough that I'm not about to redo it. The sleeves turned out to be the perfect length.  I pinned the bottom band around my hips, decided where I wanted it to sit, and shortened the sweatshirt to that length. An easy and quick alteration to the original pattern.

The actual sewing time was really fast. Now that I have a pattern I could whip out a whole wardrobe of these things in no time! I learned a couple things that I'll take into account next time: 

1. The shoulder seams aren't quite in the right spot. I didn't notice on my t-shirts but the extended shoulders accentuate the problem. It doesn't bother me that much because a ready-to-wear sweatshirt would be the same or worse, but I'll fix the pattern for next time.  

2. Ponte doesn't make the best ribbing substitute. It's stiff and doesn't stretch a lot even though it contains spandex. If I push the sleeves up to my elbows I might just cut off my circulation. 

Despite the imperfections I love this sweatshirt! I'm looking forward to wearing it and to making a few more like it.

Happy New Year

I thought I should post something at the beginning of the year for no other reason than to hold myself accountable for what I may or may not do this year.  I'm not making any resolutions because that implies changing my life in some way and I pretty much like my life the way it is.  I do, however, have a short to-do list. Or maybe it's really more of a keep-doing list.

1. I'm going to keep exercising. My couch to 5k is going very slowly, but at least it's still going.  After almost 3 months I'm only on week 5 of the program, but that's mostly because I've been repeating weeks, not skipping my workout.  As a reward, if I'm still doing this in 2 weeks I'm going to buy myself a good pair of running shoes.  I thought I'd put my reward in the middle of January to make sure I stay motivated through any winter weather we might have.  There were a couple of below-freezing days in December (or was it November?) and I survived those with a couple extra layers of clothing, but I still haven't decided what I'll do if it rains.

2.  I'm going to keep sewing, although I have no specific plans in place yet.  I have a couple of projects I need to work on for Ashley this month then I'll do something for myself.  I have some vague ideas but I'm not ready to commit to any of them yet.

3.  I'm going to make bread.  Lots of bread.  This was pretty much our dinner last night:



I bought the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and I'm having lots of fun with it.  Now we can have warm bread for dinner almost every night.  Good thing I'm running, to work off some of this bread, right?

4.  I'm going to clean my desk.  Ok, that's a to-do item, not a keep-doing item, but I thought I should put it on here anyway.  Every morning I say I'm going to clean my desk and then I don't do it.  I'm pretty sure I can manage to get it done sometime during 2012.  I want to clean my sewing room too.  And maybe paint it and redecorate a little.  That doesn't get it's own number on the list though because it's more of a wishful-thinking item.  I just thought I'd throw it in here so if I actually do it I can brag a little.

That's it.  That's as big as I'm going to dream this year.  Now I have to end this post because the picture of the bread is making me hungry.  Happy New Year everyone!!

December Skirt

I think I deserve extra credit this month. Not only did I finish my skirt before the end of the month, but I actually wore it to church on Christmas. Even more impressive, I bought a sweater and necklace to go with it so I have a complete outfit.  I think I've pretty much perfected this skirt pattern after using it several times this year.

I still haven't decided on my sewing goals for next year. The next few weeks will be crazy with work and church responsibilities so I may not even think about sewing until the end of January.

This is my first attempt at blogging from my phone so I apologize if things look funny. If I didn't need my computer for work I'd probably hardly ever use it since I can pretty much run my life from my phone.

November skirt

I sort of finished a skirt for November. Here's a bad picture of it.  I'm in a hurry and don't have time to try to get a good picture.  The skirt isn't hemmed so it's technically not finished, but I made the pattern myself and this is sort of a first draft.  I'm not sure I'll ever wear it so I didn't want to go to the bother of hemming it.  I'm trying to decide if it's worth the effort of taking it apart and fixing the things I don't like.  It might just be faster to tweak the pattern and make a whole new skirt.  I'll ponder that next week while I'm laying on the beach in Hawaii.  

October Skirt

Ok, so I'm a few days late.  I should at least get partial credit, right?  Anyway, here's my skirt for October.  It still needs a little tweaking but I could wear it as-is so I'm counting it as finished.  Only two more skirts to go!

September Skirt

Who thought I wouldn't get a skirt done this month?  Besides me?  Honestly this whole skirt project is not as fun as I thought it would be, probably because most months I procrastinate and have to cram the whole project in at the end of the month.  I even took the whole summer off so I shouldn't be complaining now.  Even though it's been challenging at times I'm still working on ideas for next year's projects.  (Hint:  I probably won't be making skirts.)  Here's what 2 hours of effort got me on the last day of the month:

No I didn't make the shirt, only the skirt, but the skirt looked really boring without it.  It actually is kind of boring - dark gray knit with an elastic waist - but I needed something fast (since it's the 30th and all) and something that will pack well and be comfortable to wear all day.

Just for the sake of giving out too much information I'll tell you that the mirror behind the dress form is angled not so you can see the back of the skirt, because obviously you can't, but so my disaster of a sewing room is not reflected in the mirror.  I took some "before" pictures of the room a couple weeks ago which I planned on posting, thinking that would shame me into cleaning things up a little.  It was pretty bad though, so maybe I'll post some pictures after it's all clean and pretty.  Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen!

How much do I love my daughter?

I love her enough to make this for her:

 

Ashley picked out the pattern and fabric. My "only" job was to put it all together. That didn't sound too hard a couple months ago. And it wouldn't have been if the wool fabric weren't so think and bulky, and if there had been a lining pattern, and if the girl at the fabric store hadn't given me the wrong interfacing, and if I hadn't had to come up with something to line the collar with that wouldn't make Ashley's neck itch. 

It all came together pretty well, considering the obstacles, until it was time for the buttons and buttonholes. The coat has 19 buttons. The fabric store doesn't stock more than eight at a time. It took me three trips to get all the buttons. But the worst was yet to come!

My sewing machine has a really nice automatic buttonhole function. I made a couple test buttonholes on a scrap of fabric and they looked awesome! Then I made one on the coat. Not even close to awesome. I ripped it out and made another one. Now ripping out buttonholes is not fun to say the least. It probably took about 15 minutes to take out all those tiny little stitches. Things really went downhill from there. I won't go into great agonizing detail, but in order to get 8 less-than-awesome-but-better-than-hideous buttonholes I ended up ripping out at least 8 unusable ones. There was a point when I actually considered having the coat held shut only with the belt.

This morning I sewed the last button on the last sleeve. It's finished. Parts of the process were even fun. I got to use my handy-dandy new buttonhole cutter (which is really just a sharp chisel). I learned some new things, like if you're going to use an awl to pull the staples connecting the buttons to the card they come on, you should keep your fingers out of the way; and those clear bandaids that come in the variety pack from Costco are waterproof and use some sort of superglue-type adhesive; and it's not a good idea to use rubbing alcohol to try to get that adhesive off your finger when you have an open wound.

I have never been so glad to finish a project. Now with only a couple days left in September I need to start working on a skirt.

May Skirt

I need a more creative title, but I can't think of anything at the moment.

I finished this month's skirt last night.  I used last month's pattern as a base because it pretty much fit, and made a lot of my own changes.  I even wore it today!

Kind of a boring straight skirt from the front, and it's even a boring gray.  I kind of have to stick to neutrals since I have a very limited selection of tops to go with these skirts.

The back is more interesting.  It's not the best picture, but I really like these pleats.  I was really proud of myself for figuring out (or remembering from high school algebra) how to draw an ellipse, but it turned out that was the wrong shape so I had to freehand the curve above the pleats.

I need to make a few minor changes to the pattern in case I ever want to use it again, but overall it's pretty good.

This is what I'm the most proud of - the inside of the zipper.  Ok, so nobody but me will see it, but it looks pretty awesome if I do say so myself, and there was no hand sewing involved.  It's not perfect, but for my first try with this technique I think it's pretty good.



Here's where I'm supposed to put how much it cost, but I kinda forgot to keep track.  It wasn't any great deal but I have a skirt I can wear so I can't complain.

April Skirt

See, I really did finish the skirt.  I had a similar skirt that I bought with this sweater and t-shirt a few years ago, but somehow the skirt got too small for me.  I can't imagine how that happened!  Anyway, this new skirt is made from another skirt I bought a few years ago.  The zipper fell apart and one of the seams ripped out (I don't know why since it was a full skirt and definitely not too tight), so it's been sitting all wadded up in the bottom of my closet for awhile.  I bought the pattern a few months ago and it was fairly easy to make and it fit pretty well with only a minor alteration.  I had to buy a piece of black linen for the waistband, some interfacing (because I needed black - I have plenty of white), and white lining.  I think those few things cost me around $30, but now I have a skirt I'll actually wear.  I like the pattern but the proportions are a little off so I'm going to change the size of some of the pattern pieces before I use it again.  (The center front piece should be wider and the side front pieces narrower - it doesn't show in the picture.)    My other observations on my life based on this picture are that I need to lose some weight and my legs need to get a little sun.  If I'd had more time I would have photoshopped a tan :-)

March Skirt

Oh yeah, I did it!  Of course it kind of looks like a tablecloth on me, which is one of the reasons I photographed it on the dress form.  I broke one of my sewing rules with this skirt, which is don't try to make clothes out of quilt fabric.  Actually it works fine for kids' clothes, but adult clothes are supposed to have a more fluid drape and quilt fabrics are usually made of short fibers which don't drape as well.  This is a better quality quilt fabric so it could be worse, but the skirt has too much flare for this fabric, making it stick out like a bell when I wear it.  Oh well, it looks cute on the dress form so I may just leave it there.  And even if I never wear it, there were some benefits to making this skirt:

1.  I've stuck with my goal for 3 months. Only 9 to go!

2.  I came up with a pattern that fits reasonably well.  I need to tweak the back a little and maybe take out some of the flare, but overall it's pretty good.

3.  I learned a lot about making a really narrow bias trim.  See the strips along the pocket edge and at the bottom of the yoke?  It's some charcoal gray taffeta left over from a skirt I made for Ashley.  It doesn't look that great on the pockets but I didn't have time to redo it.  The yoke looks much better.  When it's only 1/8" wide any uneven stitches really show up.  I got in some good practice and now I'm practically a pro!

For the sake of record-keeping, I used about $10 worth of fabric and everything else was already on hand.  Technically the fabric was already on hand too, since I bought it for another purpose, but since I only bought it last week and I remember how much is was, I might as well count it as a cost.

I have to say that this project would have been much more enjoyable if my sewing room weren't such a disaster area.  I think I should resolve to clean and organize it really well next month and post pictures, but I'm not quite ready to make that commitment.

February Skirt

I did NOT wait until the last day of the month to make this month's skirt!  Actually, my plan was to make a red dress in the spirit of Valentines Day.  The pattern was easy but the fitting turned out to be more than I could finish this month.  I really needed to do a skirt anyway because #1 that's my rule and #2 I needed to try out a pattern for next month's skirt (which is going to take a long time and will hopefully be done next month!).  Here's what I came up with:

Ok, just like last month I took the picture before my skirt is technically done.  The waistband is only basted on, resulting in a little extra ridge right below my waist that I really don't need!  For the record, I did finish the hem in the January skirt before midnight on January 31, and I wore it in public this month.  

Here's the rundown of this month's skirt:  I've had this red knit fabric since before we moved into this house in 1997.  I bought 5 yards of it for something like $2 a yard.  I used less than a yard of it on this skirt, leaving plenty left over to try out the dress pattern I mentioned above.  I've been looking for a good, basic a-line skirt pattern.  On Monday I bought Stitch magazine at Barnes and Noble ($14.99) and one of the projects was a pull-on knit a-line skirt.  It took me more time to download the pattern than it did to make the skirt.  (I downloaded adobe reader 10, found out some pdf files are not compatible with google chrome, finally printed the pattern, read the printing instructions, printed the pattern again...)  The pattern was super easy.  The same pattern piece is used for the front and back.  There's no elastic in the waistband because the knit fabric keeps the skirt up, but I think next time I might add elastic.  I had to lengthen it a couple inches to make it knee-length, but otherwise I didn't alter it.  I made the size large because I didn't want it clinging on my stomach.  I'll definitely use this pattern again.

I bought some dark gray tights on Monday that look good with the skirt, but now I need a gray sweater to match.  The t-shirt I'm wearing in the picture certainly doesn't work with it!  In fact, after looking at the picture I'm thinking I'll give the t-shirt away.  I guess this means I should go shopping tomorrow!