My Sewing Space

Yesterday I mentioned that I had made a sweater while waiting for an opportunity to pick up some ribbing. Here it is: I love white in the spring and summer, but I don't wear it so much lately because something about me in white says "human napkin" to my kids. We'll see how long the sweater lasts. I used Kwik Sew 2856 , View C. This was a really easy project. Start to finish: 2 hours. The fabric is a cotton sweater knit that has been in my stash for around two years. The pattern has been in my stash longer than that. I read an article in Threads #123 about sewing with sweater knits. The author recommended using 1" seam allowances. I played with the fabric a little before cutting anything out and went with 1/2" allowances - double the usual KS allowance. It worked just fine. I cut a size small and didn't change a single thing. For the seams, I used a zigzag stitch and it sunk into and blended in with the fabric really well. So well that there was no way I...

So, I'm as far on the jacket as I can go until I get some further help. I've never drafted a lining for something like a jacket (a simple skirt maybe) and I've never lined anything with pleats. This jacket has three: two in the front and one in the back. Just forging ahead and figuring it out as I go was tempting, but I don't want to mess this up. A little hand-holding in the process sounded good so I requested two books from the library and now I'm waiting for them to arrive. Someone is searching all of Ontario to find them for me. Isn't the library wonderful? I rarely have more than one project in the works at a time, but it could be awhile before I come back to the jacket, so I moved on. I cut out three T-shirts for the Preacher and then noticed that I didn't have any white ribbing. Bah. I couldn't get the fabric store to get some for a couple of days, so I needed another project. I cut out and sewed up a sweater that I'll save for another post. T...

Look what the mailman brought me yesterday! More Jalie patterns ( 2561 , 2911 , 2568 , 2908 ). I'm hoping to try making some things I've never sewn before - jeans and underwear. Should be an adventure! I got a good start on the spring jacket last night. My uncertainty about the sleeves was solved when I realized I wouldn't have enough fabric to make them full-length. Sometimes it's good to be forced to try something different. I'm hoping to get more work done on it this afternoon.

A couple of weeks ago my older daughter told me that she needed a new sweater and that I should knit her one. Well, okay - I can do that! She was pretty certain that it should have a hood and just to make sure I caught that, this is a picture of her playing outside pretending her too-small sweater has a hood. Crazy girl... After giving her a few choices about what she wanted the sweater to look like (cardigan vs. pull-over, pocket styles, cables/patterning, etc) it was clear that she wanted a sweater just like the Wallaby that I just finished. I was kind of pushing for some cables or some interesting pockets or something, but she's hard to convince. It's good that I like the Wonderful Wallaby pattern because I'm doing it again now. I'm combining two yarns to get the proper guage. The Cascade Quatro is from stash (thanks again to my MIL!) and the other is an acrylic yarn that I found at Zeller's. I have to admit that I am a yarn snob and I rarely knit with acrylic ...

So I did get the muslin cut out and put together last night. I cut a size 12 (based on the body measurements given on the envelope) with no changes before cutting it out. I think I'll go down to a 10 and add some length for the real thing. I don't like struggling to get my jacket on over my clothes, but the fabric I'm going to use is a stretch twill, so it will have some give. The front: The back: Side view: From the side you can see that there is a bit of a wrinkle/caving at the shoulder on the sleeve. I think making it smaller will help that. I'm wondering about the sleeves. They are supposed to be cropped and I like the shape, but I don't know if I will like that for outerwear. I'm going to let that simmer for the rest of the day.

This jacket might take me awhile. I’m going to use Vogue 8480 . I started playing around with making bound buttonholes. I found a good method in Threads #95. You make a faced window with organza (or a lining fabric). They recommend stitching over graph paper – this works really well for getting all the buttonholes the same size. I printed some with very small squares – 4/cm from here . Clip, turn the facing and then fuse the buttonhole lips in place with a bit of fusible web on the back side to hold them in place while you sew them down. So easy and looks good. I’m excited. The method allows for different looking buttonholes (like the one in the middle) but I think I’ll just stick with the traditional one on the right. This is how the article recommends finishing the back. Pretty simple – cut a slit, fold back the edges and stitch it down by hand. I did this one after removing the basting threads holding the buttonhole lips together. It would be much easier if they were sti...

I’m pretty tired of making T-shirts. I made two more for DD that I haven’t posted yet. So, it was time to move on. Most of my daughter’s pants are too short, but I’m not really interested in making a lot of long pants at this point in the year. I thought a pair of basic (versatile) khaki pants that could be rolled up into capris would be a welcome – and ideally multi-season – addition to her wardrobe. Enter Burda 9611 … I love Burda patterns for kids. Burda and Kwik Sew. I made a pair of jeans for her in the fall using this pattern. I think these turned out cuter. The details of the pattern that I really like are the coin pocket, the “real” fly, and the belt loops. I’m not so sure about the horizontal pleat across the lower leg. For this pair I copied a detail I saw in a children’s clothing boutique. I sewed a strip of bias-cut self fabric along the pocket edge, leaving the bottom edge raw. I fastened on these eyelets that I picked up awhile back at a Field’s tent sale. I...

It's finished! The details: The buttons aren't a great match, but I'm using them anyway. I like them, I had them, and they were expensive. This is as good of a use as any. I bought them in NY and I didn't have the yarn with me to match, so this was as good as I could get. The pattern calls for garter stitch at the edges of the pocket and ribbing at the hem. I changed both of those to seed stitch. I altered the placket, also. As written in the pattern, the placket doesn't overlap - it's just a slit with a garter stitch border. To make the placket this way, I cast on five stitches on the underside, knit them in seed stitch throughout and then sewed it to the upper layer at the base of the placket. Knit buttonholes are always ugly, aren't they? These are just yarn-overs that I stretched out a bit during blocking so they would work with the buttons. The pattern suggests grafting the top of the hood together. Hello? Grafting 27 stitches? No thank you. I did a thr...

How cute are these? The tutorial is over at Pink Penguin . Try it - see if you can make just one!

More fru-fru dancing clothes for my daughter… The shirt is made from Kwik Sew 2918, yet again. To add the gathers at center front (CF), I slashed the neckline down into the bodice in three places close to the CF. I spread these apart while keeping the CF on the straight grain. I slashed in the side seam under the armhole and overlapped the pattern to release the bubble made from spreading at the neckline. This is essentially moving a dart, but this pattern doesn’t have any darts (or need any) to start with. Overlapping at the side seam shortened the seam, so I added that back in at the bottom. The neckline is finished with a binding. I also slashed and spread the sleeve pattern in three places from top to bottom to change the basic sleeve into a gathered, puffed sleeve. If I do this again, I think I would add more into the sleeve. It really doesn’t “puff” all that much. But, this fabric is pretty lightweight and for something with more body the amount I added would probably b...

So the dress met with the four-year-old’s approval yesterday. She likes the color and the “ruffles.” And it’s good for dancing… …and twirling! A few months ago she told me that the difference between a pretty dress and a really pretty dress is that a really pretty dress is one that is good for twirling (read: has a full skirt). I guess this one works for her. I used Kwik Sew 2918 again. I made the short sleeves a little longer and decreased the width of the back at the side seams. The neck opening is a little larger than I would like, but that’s because I had to cut off my first attempt at finishing it. I tried sewing down the center of a strip of fabric onto the wrong side of the neck edge and then turning it to the right side, so that there would be three raw edges turned to the front. I saw it in Threads #121, but could not get it to work for me. I trimmed, clipped, understitched, and pressed but it would not stay turned to the right side. So off it went, and I bound t...

On Saturday night I debated about whether to spend the evening sewing or watch Project Runway Canada and knit. I'm not a big TV watcher and rarely sit to watch TV in the evening. But, I really like Project Runway, so I opted for that. I'm glad I did. What a great show. I haven't caught every episode, but I wish I have. This last challenge was to dress a female business executive. As the deadline was approaching, they were thrown an additional challenge: design some (coordinating) lingerie. Wow! Some of the designers had not done either of these things ever before. And the models were sent to shop for the materials to make the lingerie! Sewing lingerie with fabric and lace someone else with no sewing knowledge picked out? Eeek! Each episode I find myself amazed at both the things the designers can do and the things they cannot do. Always, I'm amazed at what they can do in a short amount of time. Granted, sometimes their final product is finished really poorly - as in glu...

The “church shirt” is done! I made a shirt exactly like this for my son last spring. I think the fabric was about $1/yd at JoAnn’s a couple of years ago, so I have more than I really needed. So, one shirt last year, one this year, and there’s probably enough for one for next year yet. I probably won’t do that – I put the rest of the fabric on the “muslin” pile. I certainly could have done better with the buttons, but I had these in my stash. Finishing the shirt today sounded good to me and I really didn’t want to bring all three kids to the fabric store with me to pick out some other ones. It’s incredible how many button cards they can pull off the hooks in a very short amount of time. I cut the yoke on the bias. I don’t think I really like it that way, but I’m still on the fence. Hmmm… This is another great Kwik Sew pattern (3146). I haven’t used it quite as many times as the T-shirt, but it’s not too far behind. Again, this one is very well drafted and all the design featu...

I’ve been sewing T-shirts for the little guy this week. Most of this has happened while he is napping or having some “quiet time.” Today when he came upstairs after quiet time he said, “What did you make for me today, mom?” Gotta love that. A couple of months ago the Preacher and I went to a minor league hockey game. Turns out it was a T-shirt give-away night. Everyone got a T-shirt! Lucky me! The team's mascot is a Muskie and is featured nicely on the shirt. The little man thought a fish playing hockey was really pretty funny. So, I cut it up and turned it into a shirt for him. You can imagine how hard it was for me to part with a large black men's T-shirt with a hockey playing Muskie on it, but hey, that's just the kind of mom I am. This shirt is made out of the leftovers from this shirt. The navy stripe is sewn on top, not pieced. The brown and blue stripes are from Metro Textile in NY. A very soft jersey - not sure of the fiber content. Orange and white stri...