Sewing

Red Shirt

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red shirtI bought this cherry red wool fabric a couple of years ago at the rug hooking shop in Petite Riviere (River House). Hard finding real wool fabric anywhere nearby – just loved the colour so I bought 2 yards and put it away. I’ve been meaning to make a jacket of some sort with it – I decided on a shirt last week. I used the leftovers from the last grey stripe shirt (the one with the red and silver threads) for the accent on the under collar, inside of the collar stand, inside cuffs and sleeve plackets. For the inner yoke I used some steel grey silk dupioni I had on hand. The buttons came from a stash of shirt buttons I bought from Pam Erny a while back – there were twelve of these buttons – enough for the shirt.

I finally succeeded in doing the “burrito” collar stand application – it isn’t quite perfect because the wool was a bit heavy to work with but next time on a cotton – it’ll be just right!

IMG_2558I embroidered the yoke in the back – a cherry coloured thread slightly darker than the fabric. I was pleased with the fact that I managed to get the embroidery absolutely in the centre back. The embroidery was a modification of one of the Pfaff collection: Sensational Swirls.

The joke here is that next weekend I’m attending a Scouts Canada event in Toronto and we’ve been asked to wear the “uniform” for one of the meals – I am now officially a scouter (having done Woodbadge I and had the police check, etc.) – so I guess I am expected to wear a red shirt – except I don’t have an official Scouts Canada Scouter Shirt! I will take this one, instead.

Travel Pillow

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IMG_2527I have a travel pillow for my head – one I fill with water so to take it anywhere with me means emptying it out, and filling it when I get to my destination. But I also sometimes need a pillow under my knees when my back is being cranky. I realized this morning that if I made a tube (I measured the diameter of a rolled up pillow I use now: 22″) of sheeting the length of the pillow and a 22″ diameter, I could roll up and stuff any pillow in it. So I don’t have to take a special pillow when I travel – just take the tube! Takes up no space in my bag.

 

Snow Day! Another Wool Shirt

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Here’s what I accomplished on my snow day, yesterday…
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On Monday, I cut out shirts from two pieces of lovely wool fabric I’ve had in my stash for years – the original intention was to make pants, but I realized I was likely never going to do that – in part because wool pants need to be lined, and while I make all my pants from a pattern that pretty much works (most of the time) I wasn’t up for the effort involved in having to line the wool. A couple of weeks ago I dug out the fabric and put it in plain sight so I’d make time to create a couple of shirts.

The grey striped shirt worked well with the silk accents (under collar, inner collar stand, inner yoke, inner cuffs, inner pocket top). I knew I wanted to do that again for both shirts. The second piece of wool  is a subtle plaid with a value of navy. I had no navy silk dupioni in my stash and there’s no silk to be had locally, so I had to order a 1/2 yard of dark navy silk dupioni from Etsy which arrived last week. I still had enough pink silk in my stash for this grey shirt (I also have some black silk taffeta – I cut off a half yard to audition it against the grey fabric, but the subtle red/metallic thread in the grey called for the pink accent so I went with the pink).

I tried several new techniques on this shirt: 1) Collar points – Pam Erny has a great technique for making sharp collar points using a thread embedded next to the seam which gets sewn in when you stitch the side edge of the collar and then you pull the thread from the right side and the point actually pops out – WOW! It works. 2) Last week Pam posted her method for getting perfect sleeve plackets. She uses a two piece placket (which allows you to use different fabrics, for example for the under and over lap – which I did this time). Again, her technique is simple to follow and produced a very neat placket.

My challenge is still getting the edge of the collar stand to align with the shirt front edges. I managed not badly on this shirt, but that join still isn’t as tidy as I want it to be – so I spent time last evening tracking down different methods of applying the collar stand. I came up with two different methods – one which attaches the stand first then adds in the collar, the second which uses the “burrito” method. I think I’ll try the stand attachment method and if that doesn’t work, I’ll have a go at the “burrito” technique. I use that technique on the cuffs and it works well, but the collar stand has so little room to manoeuvre that I haven’t been able to get it to work. The video included in the blog entry on the “burrito” technique shows clearly what the gal is doing, so I think it should be manageable.

I find that once I’ve cut out all the pieces (including interfacing) and do the prep work (pressing the interfacing in place), the actual shirt making is very satisfying – the shirt assembles quickly and the pieces in the shirt pattern I use  (by Janet Pray) all line up precisely – no fudging necessary!

Last Christmas Gift

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I had one last Christmas gift to make and it’s done.

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The fabric is a piece of pink velvet upholstery from my sister’s old sofa – I had this bit leftover from cushions I made for her – it’s been sitting in a drawer for several years. Thought it would be perfect for an eleven year-old. So I embroidered one piece (the other side is plain), added a zipper, a lining and a strap and it’s done.

Gift Bags

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From time to time I make a bunch of small zippered bags to have on hand as gifts. Two days ago, I was tidying up the baskets in my sewing room and came across some denim from a pair of jeans which I’d cut up – making a shopping bag from the top leaving the leg portions. I thought with some embroidery they’d make nice zippered bags. There was also a piece of tapestry left over from a large carry bag I’d made for my bed foam which I take with me when I travel. So I made a small bag from that leftover. As you can see I embroidered each denim bag differently (the tapestry had an interesting enough pattern that I left it alone).

There was also a scrap of pink fabric which I used to make a larger bag:

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The design in this case was made from built in machine stitches – it was saved as an embroidery and done in one of the larger hoops.

This morning I began using some “lacy” fabric which surfaced in the clean up – I’ve done two bags, I have enough fabric to do two more.

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These will all go into the bag stash and be given away as gifts when the occasion calls for something. I use them as gift wrap often, putting something else inside.

If you’re interested, here are instructions for making a simple zippered bag.

Baby Sleep Sack

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IMG_2415It took four tries but I finally figured out how to assemble the baby sleep sack – this one is actually #2.

I found a pattern online:
http://www.bombshellbling.com/baby-sleep-sack-pattern/
and made one, but the binding was a hassle – after doing two more, I realized that the whole would go together much more easily if I did the following:

  • when cutting the pieces, make the front neckline about 1 1/2″ deeper than the back neckline
  • sew a six inch seam to join the two fronts together at the bottom (5/8″ seam), press seam open
  • attach the zipper (extending the top about an inch above the neckline – (it will get cut off when the facing is applied – be sure the zipper slide is below the cutting point!), press flat.
  • sew shoulder seams together, press open
  • add neck binding (1/2″ bias tape is the easiest to use for this purpose) – attaching to the wrong side of neckline (leaving 1″ extending beyond the zipper edge, and be sure to have the zipper facing the edge so it will zip properly), press
  • turn binding and top stitch a needle width from edge (turn in edges at the zipper edges), press
  • turn armhole openings under 1/4″ and stitch and press
  • now pin front to back, aline arm holes – because Sarah McKenna cut the front and back the same size the back is a bit wide through the sack – trim excess away, sew a straight seam to secure the pieces, then serge around the bag, turn right side out and press flat
  • you’re done!

This goes very quickly and is easier to execute than the original instructions. I haven’t bothered to adjust the pattern so the finished front and back are the same size – I will probably do that.

Grey Wool Shirt

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This is the other wool fabric I bought while I was in Portland in June. Just finished the shirt – I knew I wanted to use both sides of the fabric to contrast the shades of grey. I also knew I had this bright pink dupioni silk in my stash (I had two 1 metre pieces, in fact) and I thought it would be fun to use it for the under collar, the inside of the collar stand, the pocket facings, and the inside of the cuffs. I brought a pink accent to the outside by stitching the buttons on using pink thread. I really enjoy making shirts – they make up surprisingly quickly and the more I make them, the better I get at the detail. I’m quite happy with this one. (Pattern: Islander Sewing Systems Men’s Easy Shirt – I reverse the fronts for a women’s shirt.)

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Pendleton Shirt

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One of the fabrics I bought in Portland in June was a purple/grey plaid wool worsted that Pendleton uses to make lovely shirts. Then two weeks ago I made a trip to Petite Riviere, near Lunenburg, to visit the rug hooking shop to see if Jane might have some wool fabric to go with my Pendleton plaid. Hers is the only shop in NS (that I know of ) that sells wool fabrics. She uses them for rug hooking and she has a lovely selection. Last year I bought a gorgeous cherry red wool which I haven’t used yet but I think I might do another winter shirt with it. Anyway, she had a piece of large plaid that complemented the Pendleton fabric so I bought enough for a yoke and cuffs.

This has been one of those sewing projects that was a battle from the get go. First of all I had to match the plaids! Then when I started construction I discovered that the fronts were too narrow – no idea how that happened (I’ve used the pattern before and it worked out fine, but not this time). So I added strips to the front center edge (working them into the placket and the button edge), next I had to redo the collar/collar stand in order to get the two parts to go together, the burrito on the neck edge (joining the collar stand and the shirt) took three tries! Then the sleeve plackets done in the worsted turned out to be too heavy to form the fold at the top of the sleeve opening. In the end I used some silk dupioni (in a steel grey colour) which did work. Fortunately, the cuffs went on without a hitch. The buttonholes also went in first try, but I did have to resew a couple of the buttons to get the placement right so the plaid would match across the front.

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The shirt is now done, it hangs well, and I’m pleased with how it turned out. I initially had pockets in the large plaid, but changed them for the main fabric – I would have had two headlights over my breasts!

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Just the yoke and cuffs – that was enough contrast.

Travel Vest

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I took the pattern from the Winter Jacket and converted it to a vest – removed the sleeves, took a dart in the armhole to reduce the fullness, dropped the shoulder a bit, and added more pockets on the inside!

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I used the ultra suede fabric I bought in Portland for the front and back panels and the pocket top. The other faux suede fabrics I had in my stash and thought they went well with the grey.

What I’m most pleased about is the fit! I had to use a bias binding to trim the armholes and a collar to finish the neckline. I tried to figure out a way to join lining and outer vest from the inside but once lining was attached at the zipper and the bottom, there was not other way.

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New Jacket

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Just finished the new jacket! I must say I’m rather pleased with how it turned out.

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In addition to the two outside pockets, there are eight on the inside (two with zippers, two with velcro). That was the whole point of the jacket – to be able to leave my purse at home, stowing my wallet, etc. in the pockets. As I was making it, the lining fabric was difficult – slippery and moving around and at one point I thought I should perhaps go buy a different lining fabric, but I persevered and it has turned out nicely after all. The other tricky part was the interlining for warmth – I used Insul-Bright (a polyester batting with a metallic film on one side) – it was just a bit stiff, so to reduce bulk I cut off the seam allowances and butt the pieces together using a zig-zag stitch to join them – it did reduce the bulk in the seams. Then I attached the interlining to the lining (reflective side on the outside – mainly to prevent moisture from coming through, I think it will still reflect my body heat back in) and assembled the whole jacket.

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Now that I look at it I think I probably should have made the front pockets from the tapestry as well, but that’s something to think about for another time.

Pattern: “Flight Jacket Two” from SAF-T-POCKETS Patterns – Patterns with Pockets. I made a size S (this jacket fits large).

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