Hey Sew Sister.

The annual family beach vacation was almost a month ago. As always the weather, food, and friends were wonderful.

 

Sunrise  - East Coast!

 


DS's and friends playing Volleyball

Beach house at dusk

The sewing activity this year was to copy a favorite garment from RTW. My sister had purchased a pair of Tommy Bahama capri pants for $10.00 at her local thrift shop. Sis loved the fit of these pants, which had a fairly fitted  waist, with just a tad bit of  looseness that could be cinched in with a drawstring, and legs falling straight from the hip. They also had an invisible zipper on the front center seam and waistline darts. The fabric was mid weight 98% silk 2 % lycra print with the texture of bark cloth. 

Sis is a experienced machine quilter who is interested in learning to sew garments. So for our family vacation each year, we try and choose a garment sewing projects that is at her skill level, and that she is motivated to sew.   Pillow cases and tote bags won't do. Last year she sewed a dress out of her favorite batik quilting fabric. This year I offered to make a pattern from her capri pants which she could use to sew another pair.

I have copied RTW many times,  mostly simple garments like T shirts, woven tops, pants and shorts. It is so frustrating to buy a RTW top in a flattering style and then buy a pattern for the same style and have it fit horribly. Why not make a pattern from the RTW garment?

This summer I copied a cowl neck top - RTW top on  the dress form

 

A tank top, with wide bra friendly straps and flattering neckline. Pants and shorts- various brands and styles of  pants that fit well. One designer brand has the perfect crotch shape for me.   RTW top and pants on the dress form.

 

And a favorite sleeveless blouse. The original RTW blouse was too tight across the bust and gaped so I made the copy larger in that area.

I use different methods of copying for different types of garments.

For knit tops with simple bodice and sleeve shapes, the method I use is to lay the garment section ( front, back or sleeve) flat on a large piece of paper and trace. – the Craftsy.com Pattern Drafting from Ready to Wear class, taught by Steffani Lincecum, is a good explanation of this method.

For pants , I prefer to lay the pant leg flat on a surface, lay translucent tracing paper over the pant leg, mark the seam lines with pins, and mark pin lines with marker. I have not seen this method on the Internet or in magazines, but in works for me

I have also drafted patterns of a RTW garment starting with my sloper, and using key measurements from the RTW garment for style details like  bands, yokes, collars, etc.
 
I used my paper on top method to make the  pattern from the capri pants.

We could not find any woven silk/ lycra fabric similar to the TB pant fabrics so Sis purchase a drapey rayon print from Nancy’s Notions.

It is always interesting to observe what quilting sewing habits Sis has to overcome to sew garments. It  was the humongous 5/8" seam allowance again,   and cutting out fabric with scissors. When I gently commented on the raggedness of her cutting, she replied that  she never uses scissors except to trim threads,  and that she was really  missing her rotary cutter.  We assured her she could use a rotary cutter to cut out garments at home with the appropriate mat, but not on the kitchen table of a vacation rental.

 

The pants were a success. And they also provided an opportunity to explain another sewing lesson - the impact of different fabric types on the fit of a garment. Amazing that 2% lycra of the original garment fabric made a lot of difference in the wearing comfort of the pants. We had to add  ½ inch on the side seams of the woven rayon version to get the same comfort level.

Another girl activity during vacation was coming up with new, sewing related lyrics for songs. This activity was instigated by me in preparation for some comedic entertainment at an upcoming sewing guild meeting. Songs like The Eagle's Witchy Woman  morphed into Stitchy Woman and Lady Marmalade - Labelle 1975 whose  refrain is  Hey Sister, Go sister, Soul sister, Go Sister  was changed to ...you guessed it .


Badges we wore all week.

Hey Sister, Go Sister, Sew sister, Go sister.
Hey Sister, Go Sister, Sew sister, Go sister
She gave up her stash and she went to the mall.
Hoping to find something new
But when she tried on a bit
and none of it fit
Gitchi Gitch Ya Ya Da Da
Gitchi Gitch Ya Ya Here
Mocha Chocolata Ya Ya
Crafty Lady sew a Lot.

Voulez vous coudre avec moi, ce soir, Voulez vous coudre avec moi?
Her friends filled their blogs with the best they could make
But she had nothing to post
So she went shopping online
And it was all fine
Gitchi Gitch Ya Ya Da Da
Gitchi Gitch Ya Ya Here
Mocha Chocolata Ya Ya
Crafty Lady sew a Lot.

Touching charmeuse feeling silky smooth
Color of café au lait
Made the savage beast inside
Roar until it cried
More, More, More

Now she’s the envy of everyone
Notions and bolts fill the floors
And when she gets a little urge
And thinks she needs to purge
She just cries ‘more, more, More!
Gitchi Gitch Ya Ya Da Da
Gitchi Gitch Ya Ya Here
Mocha Chocolata Ya Ya
Crafty Lady sew a Lot

With much thanks to the creativity and wordsmithing skills of J. Jarvis.

Life's Ups and Downs

Life sure has its ups and downs. The Independence Day holiday was spent at a fun family picnic where the featured food was crabs (it was in Maryland), steaks, and in season fruits and vegetables.

Got Crabs!



Crab pickin' sure is messy!

 There was a badminton tournament, water gun battles, fish and turtle catching in the pond, and a finale of fireworks. “Now kids, don’t play with the fireworks, leave that to the adults." (who have been drinking all day!) We left the picnic, drove 4 hour home to pick up a change of clothing and drove another 7 hours  to attend the graveside service for my husband’s recently deceased uncle the next day.

For the memorial service, I wore a dress made from Burda Style magazine March 2013.

  This dress is fitted, with a scoop neck, short sleeves and an A line skirt. The angled darts, waistline, sleeve and neckline edges are highlighted with applied trim. Here are other garments with similar trim applications.



Trim accented seams and darts

 The fabric was a unique light weight, double layered, quilted, textured silk/rayon fabric from online fabric retailer Sew Much Fabric. The  print was in sober grays with faint splashes of white and greenish yellow. I chose a trim in the same greenish yellow to add some interest to what otherwise would have been a basic style, dull colored, dress.

Fabric front and back

The dress is called the Ribbon Dress on the BurdaStyle website. For the trim, the magazine instructions recommend petersham, which is very different than ribbon. Petersham is woven ribbon, but has some unique characteristics that are important for this design. It is almost always made of rayon, cotton or a mix of the two natural fibers, and with a weave that allows it to be shaped around curves. Most ribbons, and petersham’s look alike cousin - grosgrain ribbon, are made of poly and cannot be shaped around a curve without gathering. Petersham is not available at my local fabric stores. If I had had more time, I would have purchased some from Etsy.com where there is a large variety of colors and widths. Instead I had to look for alternate trims that had a flexible weave. Bias strips to the rescue. A package of Wrights 1 inch double fold quilt binding,  cut in half and the cut edge folded in, it created a 5/8” flexible trim.  

 My handy, dandy edge stitch foot (also called joining or stitch in a ditch), with the needle position set to 1/8” from the  flange that rides along the edge of the trim, made sewing the trim to the dress a breeze.

sewing trim with edge stitch foot

 Rather than deal with facings on the neck opening,  I lined the entire dress.  It took lot of tweaking to get the close fit I wanted in the bodice to prevent the wide neckline from falling off my shoulders. When I make garments that require lots of fitting, I usually end up sewing in my underwear. I try on the dress, mark the alterations, take off the dress, sit down still wearing underwear to sew the changes, try on dress again, etc. Does that happen to anyone else?

 

 

 

Scrap Happy

I had some rather large scraps left over from my graduation dress and the large print reminded me that  I wanted to make Hot Pattern 1146. The  Deco Vibe Shadow Woven T-Shirt & Tunic. A pattern for a woven fabric T shirt with contrast panels on the neckline, sleeves and side bodice.

Hot Pattern 1146 Deco Vibe Shadow Woven T Shirt

  This use of paneling in garments is a favorite look and I have many pictures in my inspiration file of it used in dresses, tops and even swim suits.

 I really like the bands on the bodice sides, on the neckline, across the shoulders and down the sleeve. Using  a darker color on the bands create a slimming  look in the torso, and horizontal lines across the shoulders. All good style lines for my pear shaped body.  I wanted to test the pattern first.  I have never made a Hot Pattern.   I have purchased several, some right after the company launched many years ago. The people that rave about HP are not shaped like me and there seem to be more reviews of knit tops than woven garments, so I have never been motivated to sew one before this. I could not find any reviews or even blog posts about this top.

 The body measurements on listed on the back of the pattern.   My measurements spanned sizes 12-16; bust a size 12, waist size 16, and hip size 14. The finished garments measurement was not provided for this pattern.  The difference between finished garment measurements and my body measurements is the ease that would be in the finished top. The ease, more than anything, determines the size I make in any pattern.  So I had to cut out all the pattern pieces, pin them together and measure the front and back bodice at bust, waist and hip, remembering to subtract out the seam allowances. I also assembled the sleeve (5 pattern pieces) and measured it too.  The finished garment measurements for a size 12 had 2 – 3” ease over my body measurement so that is the size I made.  Pinning together the pattern pieces is also a good way to check the pattern drafting accuracy and matching marks, and make sure you have cut out the correct size.  Hot Patterns have sizes 6 -26 printed on the same sheet with no differentiation in size line style (dots, dashes, colors).   The size labeling is sparse, often only printed next to the line on one side of the pattern.  It was under the size line on one piece and over the line on another pattern piece. Finding my size and cutting it out was a tedious, time-consuming activity. The differences is size are infinitesimal in places make a spirograph design of lines.  The size 6 line was barely visible on my pattern and since it was the only reference on some pattern pieces  (Size 12 was the fourth line  as in 6,8,10,12), it was very difficult to determine what line to use for the size I chose. 

Where is my size line?

Inconsistent  Size labeling

 There is a video on this top on YouTube Video. While it focuses on applying the decorative zipper in the center back, there were shots of the shirt in progress which helped me understand how to piece it together.   The direction  are sparse. The pictures were easy to understand.  The text on my copy of the pattern suffered from printing quality problems and was unreadable in many places . Sewing the top went very quickly after all the measuring and prepping.

The fabrics  for the first version were a print in a light weight cotton lycra woven and black fabric which was a rayon, poly, lycra ponte  knit. I was able to pull this top over my head so I did not put a zipper in the back.

partially assembled

  This pattern seemed to be "petited" from shoulder to bust. I had to drop the bust darts 2 inches.    The arm hole height was a bit short and the sleeve cap  height was only 3 inches.  Small sleeve heights are common in T- shirt sleeve to provide mobility and reduce the need for armhole ease in the sleeve.  I suspect this last reason is why the sleeves in this top were designed this way.  No ease  facilitates matching  the bands in the sleeve (4 seam lines) with the bands in the shoulder and side bodice area. But this armhole did not fit me well and had fabric bunched under the arm.  The back width was huge, over an inch and 5/8 wider than the body measurement.  Even for a T shirt fit, that is too much back width.  I took it out across the shoulders, moving in the back armholes but I should have taken it out all the entire length of the back. The top was huge in the waist area, even after I put in back waist darts.

Version 1 front

Version 1 side

  The sculpture I am posing with is an iron work door on the campus of Radford University where son #2, my baby, is going this fall. I thought the door  was symbolic of  my son  leaving home, opening a door on a new phase of his life, but able to look back and see us on the other side of the door. Can you tell I am not looking forward to an empty nest?  We were on campus for orientation. Temps in the 90’s F, severe thunderstorms interspersed with bright sunny skies and 98% humidity. My hair is an excellent hydrometer and in those conditions, will defeat any extra hold hair product on the market.  The schedule had us parents walking to different building at opposite ends of the campus for presentations, lectures, dining hall meals.  I think they wanted us exhausted and in “info overload’ for the final talk, which was about tuition and a few additional fees.

Version 2 of the top was made using my sloper with the band patterns superimposed over it.  Using the larger armholes on my sloper meant drafting a sleeve that had a bit of ease in it.  I was able to do this, add the panels to the sleeves, and still match the panels on the garment.

original sleeve versus new sleeve

 The second version is made from lightweight linen in black and light turquoise.  I really like the fit in the shoulder and sleeve much better.  Somehow the back is longer than the back on the first version. I need to shorten it,  as the first time I sit down , the back will be a wrinkled mess.

I love the style and fit of the 2nd version of the shirt. I strongly recommend making a muslin or test garment of this pattern.

School's Out!

I did continue to wear me made garments during May as incentive to clean out my closet.  Finding the time to photograph myself was difficult and I decided not to bore you with pictures of me in garments, many of which  I gave away. Gone are several matched suits. Pants and jackets of  the same color and fabric, The pants didn’t fit as well as I would like and the jackets didn’t look good worn as a separate.   Gone are pants I had worn to the point of shabbiness. But I made a note of the pattern and what I liked or disliked about it. Gone are 2 of my first  lined jackets, made in the early 1990's. Why did I keep them so long? After much thought I concluded it was  because they were made when I got my first supervisory job and I wanted to look ..supervisory, which at that time, for women as well as men, meant a jacket.  They represented the accomplishment of a significant career milestone.  I've achieved a few more milestones since then, so it was easy to let them go. 

The clean out mentality spilled over into other areas. 

1. Fabric Stash - The juvenile prints left over from my sons' childhood will not be in fashion when my grandchildren come along. Gone!

2. Linen closet - Where did all these beach towel come from? Some with names of places I have never been to. Gone!  Power Ranger Sheets  Gone!

3. Blog Reader - moved to Bloglovin, Not really lovin it,  but it showed me how many blogs were on my list. Over 400 ! Deleted were blogs devoted to doing quirky things for a year, ones with too many ads and not much content, anything related to sewing vintage patterns, style blogs with one style, and some other attributes I won't go into.  Gone !

Son #2 decided to have his Boy Scout Eagle Court of Honor in June,  the same month as his High School graduation. Lots of family came for the weekend to celebrate with us.  It was a great time, but I had to relocate my sewing stuff out of  the sewing, I mean, dining room. Yes, I am the one that bought out all the plastic containers at the the Big Lots store.  Yes, they were stashed in every closet of the house and under the deck. As soon as the  company left, I had to get started on my dress for the graduation ceremony. Which container did I put that fabric in?   I found it and  finished the dress in time.

The pattern - Vogue 8902 - Misses Dress has close-fitting bias bodice and sides, seam detail, sleeve and skirt variations and back zipper, lined bodice and lots of topstitching. Sizes 6-22 with custom fit for A,B,C,D, cups.

Vogue 8902

I didn't notice that all dress pieces were bias cut when I bought the pattern. The recommended fabric is double knit, crepe or tropical wool.  I made the dress out of a printed cotton stretch sateen with the contrast inserts of ponte knit, and lined it in tricot knit. I felt the cotton stretch fabric had about the same amount of stretch as a crepe or tropical wool on the bias. This dress is rated easy, but I would rate it medium and time consuming. It has many angular pieces that are easy to mix up (mark notches and right and wrong sides) The seams of the angular pieces are not straight, but have some shaping in them, as does the center back seam below the waist. There is lots of top stitching. Only the bodice is to be lined, but I lined the whole dress. There is no separate lining pattern. You have to use the same patterns  as the garment, with all those pie wedges pieces, etc. My fabric was a abstract floral in purple, black and white. I used black fabric for the waist insets and sleeves to break up the print.

Vogue 8902 Front

Vogue 8902 Back

Zipper Lining detail



Proud Mom June 13, 2013

Me Made May Madness

I committed to participating in

 

 organized by Zoe of the blog  Zo- So....!  

My pledge and my first week of outfits.

'I, Audrey of Sewtawdry, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13  I will endeavor to wear at least one of my me sewn garments each day of the merry month of May 2013'

This may be more of Me Made May Madness because I really do not have time to take daily pictures of my outfits.  My reason for signing up was to expedite a closet purge. Something has changed  in the last year.  Any or all of these; my body shape and coloring, personal image, work dress code, fashion, etc.  But the clothes I enjoyed wearing or felt comfortable in are no longer that. I waste time in the morning trying to put together an outfit.  My closet  is stuffed with clothes, many I have made. I have a especially hard time giving away the garments I have sewn. So much time and effort invested in them.  But some have  passed their "wear by" date.  At the very least I can consider a sewn garment as a learning experience, a lesson learned. I will think of  my sewing projects as notches in a ratchet.  A ratchet is a mechanical device that allows continuous linear or rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction.     Every day I will wear a me made garment, and give it a chance to confirm its place in the limited space of my closet.  If I can wear it more than once, in different outfits, it gets extra points. If it is a 'one trick pony', it better be pretty special.

 

 

Wednesday was cold. I wore a recently made leather and wool skirt. I am making an effort to pair this skirts with different tops. I must have lost some weight since I made it. The waist is loose and the  skirt kept trying to  rotate around my body during the day. I will add some elastic inside  the waistband to accommodate waist changes.  I originally paired it with a black and white plaid shirt with black chiffon flounce (Burda).  The plaid fabric is too heavy for a blouse, stiff and uncomfortable.  It never even got the day trial. I took it off and put in Give Away box.

 

 

 

 Thursday I pulled out a silk blouse I made years ago from Silhouette pattern Pam's Blouse  .I  love the heavy weight silk and the print colors of tan, black and  pumpkin .   I will keep it.

 

Friday was a company holiday.  A sewing friend and I drove to Hampton Roads, VA ( 2 hours) for an ASG seminar. More on that later. I wore burgundy wool pants with a avocado green silk blouse and a fun tie dye cardigan that had similar colors.  I think I will retire the pants. I love the color, which goes with many things in  my wardrobe,  but the style is not the best for me; pleats at the waist and tapered legs. I have some similar colored fabric in my stash that I will make into traditional straight leg pants.

Saturday was tough. I don't sew many casual clothes so it was difficult to find something I had sewn that was not too dressy for a day when I planned  to putter around the house .  A Vogue knit top was the answer. Normally, I would have only thought of wearing it with the pants I pair it with for work.    But it looked great with  jeans.

Back to Friday. I attended an ASG sponsored event with Sarah Veblen  Her topics were Designing Comfortable Layers that Work  and Divine Details.  Sarah is a custom fashion designer with a home-based business that focuses on creating clothing for her clientele, and that concentrates on teaching and writing to promote the craft of garment-making. She has written a comprehensive and beautifully photographed and illustrated book on fitting.

 

The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting gives detailed information on custom fitting garment patterns. And it provides easy-to understand explanations of pattern making principles and skills to make the resulting pattern changes logical and straightforward. Sarah has been a consultant to several small label women's clothing companies, assisting with the conceptualization of designs, pattern development, and technical aspects of construction. She has also been a pattern making consultant for  Fit For Art Patterns, with whom she also collaborated to develop the Eureka! Pants that Fit pattern,

 which is based on the fitting research she conducted while writing her book. She is also a  regular teacher for PatternReview.com.

The morning presentation was Designing Comfortable Layers that Work.   Our first tasks was to complete a lifestyle inventory and answer questions about our current wardrobe.  For me, the question which made me think was "What would you like to  feel like when you get dressed on a daily basis ?" The way my clothes make me feel is a huge factor in whether I wear them. My answers - comfortable, attractive, distinctive.  She then discussed  and showed examples of the difference between separates versus an ensemble, which is a group of complementary garments that contribute to a single look. In addition to the common pieces we think of a layer and that often complete an ensemble; a sweater, jacket, coat, or shawl, a linen blouse over a pretty camisole can make you look just as put together as a blazer over a collared shirt.  A printed shawl over a tunic can turn a relaxed look into a statement, A vest can take the place of, and be more interesting than, a jacket.  She also discussed wearing ease and how much to add for layered garment. Her main point was RTW patterns generally have too much ease. She suggested, using the finished garment measurement at bust and hip, printed on many patterns or measured by you on the pattern,  to determine what size to make.  And don't go overboard when adding ease to parts of a layered ensemble.  Also discussed were 

• Show pieces or statement garments versus "foil" garments,
• Using repetition or echo of details.
• Textural changes when combining colors and fabrics.
•  The scale of prints, from bold declaration, mild statement, or reads as texture and how to use them effectively.

Sarah Veblen

The afternoon topic was Design Details.  I love these kinds of presentations. When a speaker shows the details she has added to her sewn garments. Details that take the garment from standard or pattern picture perfect to something eye-catching and unique.  Sarah often uses big 4 patterns, but they never look like the pattern illustration.  She described the creative process she uses, when a garment seems blah or just not complete, to find that detail which changes it into something she enjoys wearing, Many of her garments are shown in the gallery on her website. Unfortunately there is no information on the pattern used and the decorative technique/changes she made to the pattern. They were so inspiring in person.  If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of her classes, I recommend it.  I will be at the Quilting and Sewing Expo in Baltimore next week and am already signed up for her class on underlining.

On the way home, we made  a side trip to a nearby independent fabric store with a nice selection of fabric.  Sarah came in shortly after we got there, to do a little shopping of her own.

 

 

 It is dangerous for me to go to fabric stores right after seeing someone else's inspiring garments. I tend to buy fabric and trims similar to the ones  they used for their pieces. But after I get home I think, "These really aren't me."  I am proud to say I was very good and didn't buy anything.

 

I wanted  to reply to a question that  Far  asked in a comment on my last post.

 

 She asked "If you don't mind, can you explain a lil bit further what you did when you said: "So I drafted facing patterns and added hem allowances to the garment pieces." 

 

 It is hard to explain with words and I don't have pictures of the process so I looked for a good tutorial.   This one at  Grainline Studio Adding-lining-to-an-unlined-blazer is very well done. It is very similar to the process I used except she used facings for the hem edge of her jacket too.  I just added 1.75 inches to the bottom  edge of the jacket pattern to turn up as the hem.  Hope that helps.