Friday, February 18, 2011

Wanting to start something new

Still working on that shirt. I get so impatient when I want a project to be finished already. I prefer the phase where I wonder what fabric to use with which pattern, to the nitty gritty of finishing.

In the meantime, tragedy befell my favourite track pants!
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I don't know how long I have had these Pearl Izumi pants but it has to be close to 15 years. I love them. They make my butt look small. They fit comfortably over my yoga pants and I wear them to the gym three days a week. Last week, I was zipping down the ankle zipper when it suddenly parted company with itself! The zippy mechanism jumped off the teeth. I can rip everything apart and install a new zipper. But I was wondering if any of you clever sewers out there had a magic fix? You have to get the zipper teeth back into the zipper pull and I'm not sure if I can do that.
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I finished the cute little blouse with clear buttons. They have a little band of "cut glass" around the edge which sparkles nicely. I haven't worn it yet but plan to, the first warm day. Today was warm and it got up to 10C (50F) but that isn't really warm enough for a short sleeved blouse. And I have a cold so I didn't even get to go out and enjoy the weather much. But soon!
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I decided to flat fell the armhole edge, to contain the ravelly polyester fabric edges. I've been doing French seams for all the rest.
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It turned out well.
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I put the cuffs on by sewing the right side of the cuff to the wrong side of the sleeve first.
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Then after I sewed up the ends, I turned the cuff to the right side and used the zipper foot to sew the folded edge to just over the sewing line.
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Here's the finished cuff. I still think I'm going to sew a line of top stitching around the other three sides.
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After I turned the facings to the inside down the front, I saw that there was going to be bagging. This might fix itself after I put on the buttons and buttonholes, but in the meantime, I hand sewed a line of basting down the fronts to hold the facings down flat.
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So I have just got buttons and buttonholes to go, and maybe some top stitching.
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14 comments:

  1. Ann Made StudioFebruary 18, 2011 7:54 PM

    Both your shirts look wonderful.

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 19, 2011 9:23 AM

    Can't help with your broken zip problem, but want to say, as ever, your work is inspiringly carried out, beautiful. OllieV

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  3. ShirleyFebruary 19, 2011 11:52 AM

    If it is a plastic zipper first look at all of the teeth carefully. If one of them is a bit off then you might have to put a new zipper in. Otherwise it will keep coming off in the same place.

    I googled "how to put a zipper pull back on" and there seem to be good answers. I've done it before and it isn't too hard.

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  4. Anne LFebruary 19, 2011 12:01 PM

    I have fixed a plastic zipper by removing a bit of the teeth at the very bottom, getting the slider back on and then sewing on a piece of fabric over the bottom of the zip so that it should not slide to the part with the missing teeth. But this was a snow suit with many layers and I couldn't face taking out the entire zipper. :-)

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  5. JuliaRFebruary 19, 2011 2:07 PM

    Thanks all, and for your suggestions about the zipper. I haven't tried anything yet - I think I should be in a calm, zen state of mind before attempting this. :) Good idea about working it up from the bottom too. And yes, there is some damage to a few teeth at the top, where it parted company to begin with. I thought I could sew a few circles around that part of the zipper so it didn't go all the way up again, if I fixed t. We shall see!

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  6. SEWNFebruary 19, 2011 6:53 PM

    Love your blouse and shirt. Gorgeous work.

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  7. gwensewsFebruary 23, 2011 1:54 PM

    I loved your white blouse when you first posted it. This striped one is beautiful, too. Nice sewing!

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  8. AnonymousFebruary 24, 2011 12:49 AM

    If you carefully remove the zipper stop with some small pliers and then remove the stitching around the upper end of the zipper you should be able to get the slider back on. Once that's done just stitch around the end of the zipper again and then use a wide zigzag stitch with 0 length to make a kind of thread stop to prevent the slider from going over the damaged part of the zipper again.

    Cheers.

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  9. heavensdevilFebruary 25, 2011 11:20 AM

    I would do exactly what anonymous suggested...:)

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  10. JuliaRFebruary 26, 2011 12:49 PM

    Thanks for your suggestions! I haven't tried them yet but I will!

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  11. erinMarch 08, 2011 1:04 AM

    I love the blouses that you made. I was just curious to know if you had to add more seam allowance when you used the fell seams? Thank you.

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  12. JuliaRMarch 08, 2011 9:48 AM

    Thanks Erin. No, I make a normal 5/8 seam and then I trim about half of one side off and fold the other side over it.

    I just looked for a photo illustration and found this old thing:
    http://juliasewing.blogspot.com/2006/02/new-project-summer-skirt.html
    It illustrated the flat fell pretty well.

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  13. Sandy DavisMarch 24, 2011 9:51 PM

    Very precise work - beautiful! Thanks for posting your great work.

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  14. JuliaRMarch 29, 2011 11:11 AM

    Thanks Sandy. Good luck with your own blog!

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