Learning About Leather

2013 was supposed to be the year I finally bought myself a "grown-up" purse. I don't know if that means I'm finally admitting I'm an adult or if I'm just becoming self-conscious about the ratty-looking bags I've been carrying around.  Either way, my under $20 pleather purses are long past their life expectancies and I can't bring myself to buy another one.  The thing is though, I'm not ready to be in a long-term committed relationship with a purse and I can't bring myself to plop down hundreds of dollars for something that will be a fleeting infatuation.

Of course, the next logical step in my thought process is "I can make one!"  I really should stop right there, but once my mind becomes attached to an idea I may as well follow through or I will never be free of it.  I knew I was doomed when I first saw the Craftsy class "Making Leather Bags".  Craftsy has become my enabler. Yes, I enrolled in the class.

It just so happens that I had another leather project in mind anyway and the information in the class, even though it's about making a tote bag, has been very helpful. I started a motorcycle-type jacket for my daughter and she thought it would look better with leather sleeves. My husband had an old leather jacket that he donated to the cause.

When I separated the leather from the lining it suddenly transformed from a plain old leather jacket to the most luxurious material I had ever held in my hand! I wanted to wrap myself in it. Can I make a leather blanket?  As much as I hate taking things apart (because usually that means I'm ripping out my mistakes) I actually loved disassembling this jacket.  I felt like I was freeing the leather.  Finally I had some large flat pieces of leather that I could use to cut out the sleeves.

Problem #1: You would think it would be easy to cut size small women's sleeves out of a size large men's jacket, right? Wrong.  I had to do some strategic piecing and add some seams that I wasn't planning on.  In the end it worked out pretty well.  I matched up the seams I added with the existing seams in the leather so it pretty much looks like that's the way I planned it all along.  

Leather is really pretty easy to sew, at least in my limited experience.  My sewing machine has a walking foot so I didn't have problems with the leather dragging under the presser foot.  I ordered some leather tape to stick all the seam allowances in place after they were sewn.  That was a lot more fun than pressing everything into place, but wow is that stuff sticky!  I'm actually a little bit surprised that I'm not permanently adhered to the jacket.  If anyone ever needs some of my DNA they should look on that roll of tape.  The trickiest step with the leather was probably setting in the sleeves with no pins and no second chances.  It wasn't really hard, just nerve-wracking.

And here's the finished product!

I used Simplicity 2056, and while the reviews of this pattern are generally good I have to say I wouldn't make it again.  Maybe that's because I expect too much of patterns though.  For a jacket that you're only going to wear for a short time I guess it's fine, but if you're going to put the time into making a jacket, shouldn't it have a lining?  Also, while I like exposed zippers, I'm not a fan of having the edges of the zipper tape on the outside.  It reminds me of the t-shirts with the seam allowances on the outside, or anything with raw edges showing.  It just doesn't look finished to me.  But since I only paid 99 cents for the pattern I guess it's fair that I had to redraft some of the pieces and make my own lining pattern.  You get what you pay for, right?

I'm not sure a leather bag is next on my list of projects but it's certainly in the top ten.  I'm really looking forward to learning more about buying and using leather.

Making Labels

For years, decades actually, I've been trying to come up with an idea for personalized clothing labels. After all, I put a lot of effort into making and sometimes designing clothing for myself or my family and I should give myself some sort of credit, right? I was once given a gift of some of those pre-woven labels that had my name printed on them. That was at least 15 years ago and I used them in some of the things I made for my kids but they weren't really my style. I have always been drawn to the idea of using my initials (KC) but every time I played around with the letters I ended up with something too close to Calvin Klein's CK logo.

I kept seeing ads for label companies and I just couldn't bring myself to commit to a logo for 100 or more custom labels. What if I hated them? What if I changed my mind before I could use them all?  I couldn't make up my mind but I never stopped playing around with my initials in my head wondering how I could make a logo out of them.

One day I was looking in my closet, wondering just how many years a certain shirt had been hanging there without being worn, and I had a eureka moment. My initials plus the year, and I would have a label that both identifies and dates my work. Form and function, that's my style!

Fortunately there are either more DIY label options now, or at least I'm more aware of them. I briefly toyed around with inkjet printing on fabric, iron-on transfers and even screen printing, but I finally settled (for now) on rubber stamps. There are lots of tutorials online for making these labels so this is far from an original idea, but here's how I do it:

1. Decide on the label material. I think it should be all-cotton but I haven't tested that myself.  It could be fabric cut into rectangles with all edges turned under, but I decided on cotton tape.  I ordered a 36-yard roll of 5/8 inch "fine cotton edge tape" from Wawak and that's what works for me.  I'm also trying some cotton twill tape that's a little wider.

2.  Prewash and dry the fabric or tape.  Get all the sizing and shrinkage out.  I cut sections of the tape a couple feet long and washed them in a lingerie bag so they wouldn't strangle the rest of my laundry.  Here's what it looked like after washing: 

I guess I should add "iron the tape" as part of this step, but I think it's pretty obvious.

3.  You'll need a stamp or stamps.  I found a set of lower-case alphabet stamps, picked out the letters I needed, and stuck them together on the block from a rubber stamp I already had.  I had to cut around the letters so they fit close together.  For the year I used a date stamp from the office supply store.  The numbers were spread a little too far apart so I just nudged them closer together.

4.  I tried a lot of ink and most of it washed out.  Finally I found Tsukineko brand Versa Magic multi-surface chalk ink at Joann's, and it was perfect.  I got a variety pack so I can change colors when I'm bored with one.  

5.  Now stamp whatever you want on the cotton tape or fabric.  Every time I do it I need a lot of practice to get it right so plan on doing a lot of stamping at once.  Or maybe I'm just lacking stamping talent.  I put paper on my work surface so I don't get ink all over everything.  Only about half of my stamped letters look really good, then only about half of those look good after I add the date. Maybe someday I'll get the hang of it.

6.  Now WAIT!! Set your labels aside for at least 24 hours to let the ink set.  Ok, I haven't actually tested it but I'm going to follow that rule anyway.  I wouldn't want to mess up my good labels.  After 24 hours you need to heat-set the ink with an iron.  I always use a press cloth and press from both the front and back.  The ink has never transferred to the press cloth but I always use it anyway.  

7.  Now wait again.  Nope, I haven't tested this either, but I always wait at least 24 hours between pressing and washing.  I don't think it's necessary to wash the heat-set labels before using them but it's my way to make sure they still look good after washing and before I sew them in my clothes. 

Now I have some cute, simple labels in all the clothes I make.  I can't believe it took me this long to decide on labels but now that I've done it I'm more excited to make things to put them on!  

6PAC Summary

Hooray, I did it! I set a goal in May to sew six coordinating garments before the end of July.  There were certainly obstacles in the way, such as difficulties with my vision and multiple vacations, but I did it anyway.  I wouldn't say it was an overwhelming success in giving me great additions to my wardrobe, but the success came in other ways and I have certainly learned a lot.

Here are my six pieces (and links to the individual blog posts):
Navy polka dot skirt, Pink silk skirt, Chambray shirt, White linen shirt, Red jacket and White t-shirt

Some of these pieces will end up working well in my wardrobe and some won't. I love the navy skirt despite it's imperfections and I wear it every chance I get.  The pink skirt and I just don't get along well.  I've worn everything but the t-shirt but I'll be able to salvage it too.  See how big the red jacket makes my dress form look? It does the same thing on me.  I like it though and I'll wear it anyway.

What I have learned:
1.  I work best with a plan and a deadline.
2.  I need to work on defining my style.  Basics are ok, but they shouldn't be boring.
3.  I've got to learn to take pictures of myself. The dressform doesn't show the real results.
4.  Mistakes are not failures, they are learning experiences.

I will certainly do this again.  Probably not for fall because I have some other projects planned, but definitely sometime in the future.

Plain White Tee

It's time for another wardrobe staple. Nothing says summer like a bright white t-shirt, right? This seemed like the fastest, easiest thing I could sew all summer. Plus I bought a cover stitch machine in March to help with all the t-shirts I was sure I was going to make, and as of last week I hadn't yet made one. It was definitely time to put the cover stitch to use.

This project was nearly doomed from the start. I spent months looking for the right fabric. I have a couple t-shirts from the Gap outlet that don't fit very well but they're made from what I think is the near-perfect t-shirt fabric, 95% cotton, 5% spandex in a weight heavy enough to have some body but light enough to wear in summer. It seems like a basic kind of fabric, but as I searched all the online sources I could think of I couldn't find anything like it. Not even anything close! Judging from the reviews, all the white jersey fabrics I could find seemed to be on the sheer side, not at all what I was looking for. By the middle of July I was running out of time and getting desperate. We happened to be in San Francisco for the weekend and I realized our hotel was only a few blocks from Britex. They should have something. Problem solved! And actually they did have the exact fabric I wanted in several different colors. I could make a whole t-shirt wardrobe, except that the fabric was $18 a yard! I think I usually use 1 1/4 yard for a t-shirt and I planned on getting a little extra in case I decided I wanted longer sleeves. No way was I going to spend around $27 for a plain white tee! I left the store empty-handed. Yes, I actually walked out of a fabric store without buying anything.

There was only one option left. On the way home from San Francisco we stopped at an outlet mall and looked at the Gap t-shirts. They were on sale, 2 for $10 plus there is an extra discount with a AAA card, so I left the store with two xxl white t-shirts as well as two black ones, all for around $19 after tax.  I didn't realize until later how funny it was that I didn't even try on a t-shirt in my size to see if by chance it would actually fit across my shoulders.  So yeah, I bought two plain white t-shirts so I could take them apart and make a plain white t-shirt. Hmm.

The white shirts actually had pretty deep v-necks, not what I wanted anyway, and it was fairly fast and easy to take them apart and recut them with my pattern. The most time consuming part was carefully removing the neck band so I could reuse it. I used the shirt backs for the front and back of my t-shirt, and the fronts for the sleeves. I cut out the sleeves along the front hems so I didn't even have to hem them. I did use my cover stitch for the bottom hem and the top stitching around the neck.

Even with all the deconstruction I had to do the shirt went together fast and looked great. I was pretty happy with it until I put it on. I've made this t-shirt pattern before. It started out years ago as Vogue 8536 but I've changed everything and none of the four pattern pieces are remotely close to the originals. It's pretty close to a perfect pattern for me. The last change I made was to make a more fitted version that could be worn as an under layer. For some reason I thought that's what my white t-shirt should be. The only thing I didn't do on the last version was change the neckline. A fitted t-shirt, for my needs, should have a lower scooped neck. Well, now I have a fitted t-shirt with a high crew neck. It's tight enough that I don't feel comfortable wearing it alone, but underneath another shirt it looks like a men's t-shirt. Ugh. At least I still have another neckband piece, still connected to the original shirt front. One of these days when I'm feeling really ambitious I can remove that neckband, remove the neckband from my t-shirt, redraw the neckline and replace the neckband.  A lot of work for a plain white tee.

Linen shirt

I used to have a white, short sleeved linen shirt that I loved.  Then one day we had a weird tie dye incident at our house and purple spots mysteriously appeared inside our microwave (which was obviously in the kitchen) and on my linen shirt (which was in a laundry hamper on the other side of the house). I still have no idea how it happened but the shirt was beyond saving.

For years I planned to make a pattern from that beloved shirt but like everything else I own the fit was really pretty bad, especially across my freakishly broad shoulders. Did I really want to cut the shirt apart, make the pattern, then make major changes? It sat in my to-do pile for years. Finally a few months ago I bought Vogue 8689 with high hopes of using it to replace the shirt which was showing itself all too often around my sewing room and reminding me I had a job to do.  Still I procrastinated because the thought of trying to get a shirt pattern to fit right was overwhelming. It's very tedious to try fitting the back of a garment without a fitting buddy. I have a 3-way mirror that helps some, but mostly I pin, take a picture with my camera's timer, analyze the fit from the picture, and repeat. I have neither a great camera nor a tripod so that causes problems as well.

I had worked on fitting a shirt some time ago and used those efforts for the chambray shirt I made in May. The fit still wasn't perfect but it was pretty good so I used that pattern as a guideline for my adjustments for the linen shirt pattern. I used the collar and collar band pattern pieces from the chambray shirt.

I ordered the linen online, which is always risky because you don't know how the fabric feels until it arrives. It turned out to be pretty nice and after pre-washing it I got to work.

The shirt went together really fast, no pinning, no hand stitching, this was an exercise in speed sewing. I'm pleased with the results except for a couple of things. 1. The fabric is really sheer. I planned to wear another layer under it anyway, but I didn't expect that layer to show through quite so much. 2. I made the front placket too wide. Well, I followed the pattern but I prefer a narrower placket and I forgot to change it.

I had planned on using the buttons from my old shirt but they were just a little too small for my wider placket. That meant a 20 mile round trip to the fabric store so I could buy 63 cents worth of buttons.  I came home, made the buttonholes, started to mark the buttons, and Oh. My. Goodness.  The collar pattern was for a narrower placket, so if I line up the center fronts the collar overlaps at the front edge. I'm still laughing about it. I have no intention of buttoning the top button anyway so it really doesn't matter to me. It's a good lesson learned and I won't make that mistake again.

Since the shirt won't be one of my finest works I decided to be lazy and sew the buttons on by machine. I've never done it before because I thought I needed a special foot but my sewing machine manual says to just remove the foot. That was easy. I can't believe how fast and easy it was to do the buttons that way!  Seriously, I'm never going back to hand sewing buttons.

Well, I've finally replaced a well-loved but ill-fitting shirt with a well-fitting but moderately-liked shirt. I think it's a decent trade. I'll wear the new shirt, finally throw the old one away, and I've learned enough that the next linen shirt I make should be amazing.

Jacket Express

When I saw the Craftsy.com class "Sew Better, Sew Faster: Garment Industry Secrets" I knew I had to have it.  I think I sew at an intermediate to advanced level but I'm trying to undo years of thinking home sewing methods are the best and learn industry techniques.  Luckily I still had my 50% off coupon left over from joining Craftsy so I got a great deal on this class, which also included the jacket pattern.  My favorite things about the class were no pins and no hand sewing.  I watched all the class videos before my pattern arrived in the mail and prepared my fabric, a red cotton pique that I bought online a couple years ago.  I ordered my threads (regular and topstitching) and topstitching needles from Wawak.  I live in the next-day delivery area so they arrived before my pattern.  I had just recently ordered some interfacing from fashionsewingsupply.com, so by the time my jacket pattern came in the mail (which only took a few days) I was ready to go!

I should have watched the videos again as I sewed the jacket but I was just too impatient.  Not that I really forgot how to do anything, it just would have been nice to have the little reminders right there with me.  I mostly followed the written instructions from the pattern but I thought the videos were much better.  The only time I varied from the video instructions was with the buttonholes on the pocket flaps.  I knew there was no way my machine could handle those buttonholes after the flaps were attached to the jacket so I made the buttonholes right after I topstiched the pocket flaps.

The topstitching was not exactly challenging, but a good exercise in taking the time to do things right.  I had just bought a stitch-in-the-ditch / edgestitching foot for my machine a couple weeks earlier and I found that it was really helpful in doing the edgestitching.  I moved the needle 3 positions to the left and aligned the flange on the foot with the edge of the fabric.  That worked great on straight edges but I still had to be careful on the curves because the flange is far enough in front of the needle that a curved edge will throw off the spacing.  I don't have a 1/4" foot (maybe my next purchase?) so the topstitching that's 1/4" from the edge was a little more challenging.  Again, not too bad along the straight edges because I lined up the edge of the fabric with a line on my foot, but I couldn't tell where I was at on the curves.  It would have made a lot more sense to move my needle to the right and line up the edge of the fabric with the edge of the foot, but I didn't think of that until later. I ended up having much more success when I marked the topstitching lines with chalk on the curves.

The only other challenge I had was with the buttons.  I planned on using some nickel-colored jeans tacks that I had ordered from Wawak several months ago.  I made the buttonholes on the pocket flaps to fit those buttons.  When it came time to do the buttons and buttonholes along the front edge I decided to practice attaching the jeans tacks.  The first sample was bad. I hammered the back onto the button and the whole thing was at a weird angle.  I tried again, still bad.  I was a little confused because the tack part of the button was longer than the shank, so how was it supposed to fit inside the button?  Maybe I was attaching it wrong? I turned to Google for help and found this great You Tube video on jeans tacks.  Turns out I was using a lower quality variety that was doomed to failure.  The video suggested buying jeans tacks from GrommetMart.com, and after searching all over online for other options that's finally what I did.

I'm going to take a minute and vent about places that have good prices and high shipping costs.  If I had seen that the cost of my jeans tacks was $30 with free shipping, or $25 with $5 shipping I would have bought them right away, but when they were $18.80 plus $9.17 shipping I hesitated for a few days.  I finally placed the order and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived quickly, and the 100 pieces that I had assumed would be 50 buttons and 50 tacks was actually 100 of each.  That's a pretty good price for each button if I ever figure out what to do with the 91 I have left.

This picture shows the difference in the two types of jeans tacks.  On the left is the cheaper set with a shorter shank on the button and a long smooth tack.  I tried to cut away most of the fabric from my sample so you can see how the bottom and top pieces don't line up and the whole thing is crooked.  The better type is on the right.  The button shank is longer and the tacks are shorter and have ridges.  They went together well and hold tightly. My first try at assembling the pieces wasn't perfect but it was close enough. Best of all, the jeans tacks look great on the jacket.

The pattern for the class is Islander pattern #218, Jacket Express.  I thought I'd put the "express" part to the test and I timed myself as I made it. I spent around 2 hours cutting and fusing, then another 9 - 10 hours of actual sewing.  I don't sew particularly fast and of course this was the first time I made the pattern so I thought that was pretty good.  The directions minimized switching back and forth between different threads, needles and machines, but still I found myself wishing for another sewing machine so I didn't have to change threads and needles at all.   The jacket has a boxy fit which isn't terribly flattering on me, but it fit well in the shoulders (no straitjacket effect) so I'll probably make it again but add a little shaping in the waist.

Everybody Needs a Chambray Shirt

The last time I owned a chambray shirt was when I made one for myself during the summer of 1987. I made a skirt to match, and I distinctly remember walking down the stairs and my then-5-year-old brother looking up at me and saying, "Wow, you look just like Snow White!"   The closest thing I have to a chambray shirt now is a denim shirt that is hanging in my closet. It's a men's J Crew shirt that I bought in 1991. I only remember the date because I know where I lived when it was new. Yes I know it's kind of pathetic that I have a shirt in my closet that's older than my grown children. I don't know if it makes things better or worse that I haven't worn it for a couple years. Seriously, nothing else in my closet is nearly that old.

Ok, time to get out of my closet and fast forward to 2013. A chambray shirt is a good wardrobe staple and it's pretty obvious I needed a new one. I have a shirt pattern (Simplicity 2339) I've been working on for several months. I hadn't yet made a wearable version (one that fit well) but I was pretty close so I decided to go for it. I ordered some chambray from Gorgeous Fabrics, my first order from them, and was this fabric ever a joy to work with! Seriously, I wanted to order the rest of it and make an entire chambray wardrobe. It's really not a great color for me though, so I restrained myself. I guess that's the big drawback of ordering fabric online. I've never convinced myself to order swatches because if I love the fabric I'll be mad that I wasted the money on a swatch and what if the fabric sells out because I waited for the swatch to come? I have ordered from fabric club swatches and I'm actually a really bad judge of fabric from a small sample.  So there you go, no swatches for me and I'll just live with a color that's not perfect.

The shirt went together well. I made the collar and the cuffs narrower, changed the sleeve plackets, added a shirttail hem and made numerous fitting adjustments.  I had to practice the sleeve placket because I haven't made one in years, and it was a good thing I did. My practice attempt ended up on the wrong side of the fabric but otherwise looked great. That was easy to correct and I'm very happy with the finished plackets.

Next time I make this pattern I need to adjust the shoulder slope just a little bit and I want to make the sleeves narrower (they feel a little "puffy" where they attach to the cuffs). The pattern has potential though, and it's well on its way to becoming a tried and true pattern.