Reversible jacket and other things

Other things first: My Dad wrote a book some years ago, about his time in Korea in the early 1950s. It is well written, nice clear prose, and interesting. What was especially poignant was the fact that when he was in Korea, he was only 24 years old. It is interesting to think back to when I was 24, and compare our life experiences. He has set up a website now, and will be posting reminiscences in the form of a blog. He can use some traffic, so here is the URL:
http://koreanwarmlbu.wordpress.com/
If any of my readers have a military connexion, you might be interested in the book. It also has U.S. military connexions, as he got some training at Fort Lewis in Washington (chapter 4). That chapter contains an intriguing anecdote about the recycled barrack box he was assigned and which now rests in my garage. In any event, I wanted to give old Dad a plug here, until he figures out how to increase his blog traffic. Go check it out!


Back to sewing! Here is the two-sided denim, all ironed and laid out. I have far more than I need for a jacket and I don't know what to do with the yard or so I have left over. Not a skirt - it is too quilted and bulky for that.

I am modifying this pattern.

I used the original to good effect on this jacket that I wore all over France in 2008. But since I wanted to make the jacket truly reversible, I needed to make some changes.

I wanted to have a one piece sleeve with no cuff. I also needed the front to be plain so I could turn it inside out. I pinned the two front pieces together so they wouldn't have a seam (or a pocket). I might still add a pocket later, but not until I try wearing it.

I thought I would use two colours of thread on top and bobbin but it turns out I can use just the pink successfully, due to all the quilting stitching.

Another reason for a one piece sleeve is to make the flat felling of the armscye easier and neater. Once that is done, I can sew up the entire underarm and side seam in one go and finish it neatly also.

I have decided to limit the amount of the other fabric that shows on each side. I could make the band around the front contrasty and have cuffs that turn up and such like but I think it is busy enough without that. I have the single sided selvages that I can use when I hem the bottom at the back or I could let the blue show more on the pink side. I believe I will wear the blue side out more of the time than the pink side but I don't know for sure. I have decided it is a lot more casual fabric that I remembered it being. Anyway, by modifying the pattern it is going together very quickly (fewer pieces) so I'm not investing tons of time in it.

An embarrassment of riches

Now that I've finished the red linen outfit, I am on to new things. I have been thinking about this double-sided (two layered) fabric I bought some years ago after I won a gift certificate to spend at Fabricland.

It's a thin layer of denim embroidered to a thin layer of bright pink cotton. In addition, there are frayed flower shapes on the denim, which actually make it less sturdy. My plan is to make a reversible jacket, even though I will probably wear the denim side out most of the time. But making it reversible will allow me to have a bright pink jacket for the times that I want one. Now that I'm doing a fair bit of breast cancer awareness work, I suppose the pink will come in handy, although I bought it years before I even got diagnosed. I'm planning to use the Butterick 4741 pattern I used for the bright yellow twill jacket I wore to France in 2008, but adapt it with plain sleeves (no cuffs or placket) and a one piece front so the jacket can be truly reversible.

While I was hauling the denim out of the stash, I re-discovered all these other fabrics too! Hence the title of this post.

Speaking of France 2008, here are four of the Provencal cottons I got on that trip. I think I will make either shirts or skirts out of them. They are not heavy weight fabric and will probably wear forever as shirts. Delicious looking!

Then there are these lengths of rayon of the soft, challis variety. I bought the two complementary blue ones on the left side and have made a dress out of the larger print already, with accents in the small, geometric print. So now I have to make something with the geometric print. This fabric is actually stiffer than the other rayons and seems to have more dye in it or something. It has a batik look to it. I am thinking I should make dresses out of this fabric, as it is lightweight and drapes well. My only "issue" is that I don't really have much need for dresses - I can get more wear out of shirts. On the other hand, if you build it, they will come. Maybe if I make dresses, I will find places I can wear them!

Anyway, all this to say that I am still sewing up my stash - no new fabric for me! And I write this to help myself resist going and getting this green polka-dot fabric I saw when I was getting the lining for the red outfit. It reminded me of this cute shirt dress I had when I first went to law school, that I wore with a pink jacket. That was 1981 folks. Good times.

Placemats and stuff

I do like making some things for other people, especially when I'm working with nice fabric. I started by tearing all the placemat sides into the same size for the print and the other side.

Then I sewed them right sides together along the long sides, using different coloured threads for the different sides.

I like to work like an assembly line, so after I sewed all the long seams, I pressed them all open. This made the seam flat for when I turned the mats right side out.

Once they were right side out, I pressed the long seams flat.

Then I pressed the raw edges of the short sides of the mats under so that they lined up for top stitching.

Doing it this way meant that I didn't have to line up ALL the edges and I could get a cleaner line along all four edges for the top stitching. I then top stitched all the edges very close to the seam or the opening (as the case may be). I also stitched in 5/8 of an inch from the outer edge, to give the mats more substance. I decided to go with a flat placemat and not a quilted one. It's a choice. All of my own mats are quilted but I think the flat ones are more elegant.

Here they are. I made all the napkins and used up every inch of that fabric (they are large napkins). Then I made the reversible placemats in the two colours for the two different recipients.

My cousin had asked for a tea cozy so I pulled out one I made but don't really use (I nuke my tea when it gets cold). I thought it would look nicer with a rounded top so I drafted a template for that.

I only needed a little bit of seam binding so I cut a strip of fabric in several diagonal pieces using my self-healing mat and rotary cutter and stitching them together.

This recipient wanted a burgundy colour scheme, so I machine quilted the two fabrics together with the burgundy on what was going to be the outside. It's always surprising how long that takes!

I put a little loop for a pull on the top and stitched the seam binding on one side by machine.

I stitched the second side of the seam binding by hand, so the machine stitched line would be hidden. I think it looks pretty good myself.

I think I'll still make some potholders because I have some scraps left over but I'm already wondering what project to do next.

Wedding presents

I have two weddings to attend this summer for people who don't know each other and will never meet, so I am making the same thing for each of them. One asked for placemats and the other already has everything but you can always use some new table linens, so I got fabric enough for two sets and will make them up in one batch.

The younger couple asked for a burgundy colour scheme. Did I ever have trouble finding that colour in the quilting cottons! I was surprised at how little there was of it. After some searching, I found two complimentary prints in a really nice, smooth cotton. It was so nice in fact, I wonder if I should go back and get some of that fabric for myself. I am going to use the larger, abstract "flower" print for the napkins and the smaller print for one side of the placement. I know the main colour is blue but there IS burgundy in the print. I will use the dark, solid burgundy for the other side of the placemats.

For the other couple, I chose green for the opposite side of the placemat but everything else will be the same.

I've already pressed all the napkins, ready for sewing the edges. I'm going to miter the corners. I press over each edge twice, to enfold the raw edge. Then I find the creased corner and stick a pin in it.

Then I open out the pressed edges and fold the corner over on the diagonal, twice, to encase the raw edge.

Then I fold the long edges back in and secure them for now with a pin.

Here's the mitered corner, ready for sewing. I'll use a zipper foot and stitch right along the folded edge on the "wrong" side of the napkin, using off white thread on both upper and bobbin threads. I like doing stuff like this in assembly line style, where I complete all the same steps and then move on to the next thing. After I finish sewing the napkins, I'll rip the other fabrics up into the placemat pieces and get to work on them.

The perfect shirt, template

I pulled out sleeve pattern pieces, and front and back pieces from different patterns, and layered them to see how different they were from each other, and maybe try to figure out why some shirts wouldn't allow me to stretch my arms out in front of me.

I didn't find anything! The sleeves were practically identical in the shirts that didn't work, compared to the shirts that did work. Same with the fronts and backs. I went to the closet and tried on the shirts that don't work (why do I still have them hanging there, you ask? I ask that too.) The only thing I can think of is that all the shirts that work have a little Lycra in the fabric. And I think it is the width of the back that makes the difference, not the type of sleeve. In other words, my problem is that the back isn't wide enough, which means I am too big for the pattern. I can stand to lose 10 to 15 pounds and there it is - a whole pattern size. sigh.

I also looked at the sleeveless shirts I had made (and never worn) from the Vogue pattern 2634 and then I looked at the pattern and slapped myself up-side the head. It was a size 10, even smaller than the 12 with which I was having issues.

I decided to go with the McCall's 5630 "perfect fit" pattern and start to modify it. I pulled out the pattern pieces and discovered that I had already made this pattern!

Again, I used cotton with a little Lycra in it. I wasn't all that happy with how big the collar was but the shirt was a pretty good fit otherwise.

So what I did was cut the collar back at the points, so it would be a bit smaller. I've done this before with good results.

I had it in mind that I would use some plain cream coloured fabric I had, but in the process of looking for it (I have boxes and boxes of fabric), I found some nice striped cotton (no Lycra!). It is a little thicker than the silk but I think it will be okay for a template. My plan is to make the body straight, so it is more like a tunic than a shaped shirt. It won't be as long or as baggy as a tunic, but I want the stripes to be straight, all the way up and down.

When I cut out the front and back pieces, I cut as straight down the stripes in the fabric as I could, eliminating the curve in at the waist. I will still put in the bust darts but I won't put in the vertical front and back shaping darts. It will be interesting to see how boxy and bulky the shirt looks with no vertical shaping.

White denim jacket and skirt

So I got some plain wood buttons. There wasn't a huge choice so I settled on some shank buttons because they weren't very dark, or very big or very textured. Sort of like the Baby Bear's middle of the road choices.

I wanted to get them now because it is far easier to put a buttonhole on the pocket flap before you sew it to the jacket.

Here, I've made the holes and set the buttons on the flaps, with the shank in the buttonhole.

The other decision I made was about the skirt pocket facing or lining. I didn't want to use the denim because then the pockets would be too thick and look weird. I had some almost white lining but then I remembered the thinner cotton I used to make the last two white shirts I made so I used that instead. You can't really tell from the photo but the denim is in the middle, the lining on the left and the shirt fabric on the right.

The skirt zipper is a mock fly - a real one is more complicated.

The zipper itself is too long, even at the regular skirt size, 18 cm length, because the waistband is supposed to sit just below the waist. So I sew a zigzag stitch in one spot as a new stop, above the original metal stop at the bottom, and cut off the excess zipper tape.

Here's the fly with just the one side sewed down.

Here's the fly with both sides sewed down. Not too exciting but simple is good too.

White denim jacket and skirt

I decided to use the 3 or more yards of white "ten ounce" denim I have and make it into a jacket and skirt. Not to wear all together of course, lest I look like the Man from Glad. I am calling it "ten ounce" because it is very substantial, like the denim you get in traditional jeans.

I am using Butterick 4741, view D (the red one), the same pattern I used for the yellow cotton jacket I wore to death in France. This time, I am taking up the sleeves by 1/2 inch and the body by a whole inch. The sleeves were really long on the yellow jacket and I ended up rolling the cuffs up almost the whole time I wore the jacket. I didn't notice that the body itself was really long but looking at it in the mirror, I realize it could come up a bit too.

I am using McCall's 3656 in a modified version of the fly-front with pockets skirt. It is way too short for 50 year old knees so I have lengthened it over the years.

That looks lame but it is still just above the knee, even with the extension. When you are 6 feet tall, you can wear a skirt that goes half way down the thigh and it is wearable. But when you are 5'2", the femur just isn't that long and halfway down it can mean disaster for sitting in a short skirt. So I go just above the knee for a casual, cotton skirt.

I've been thinking about what buttons to use. As is my wont, when I can't sleep, I go through my fabric boxes in my head and sometimes, I think about the next project. I have a white corduroy jacket in the "classic" jean jacket pattern and I used silver snaps for that. I didn't want to go with plain white boring buttons on this jacket but couldn't decide until I thought about wooden buttons!

Of course, I shall have to go get some new ones and they won't be very dark wood but what do you think of the concept?

Man's casual shirt

Vroom! Bird shirt done!

We have had some wet summer so far so maybe this bright shirt will perk things up. If nothing else, they will see him coming on the bike path.

I used my old tried and true pattern - McCall's 8409. It makes a roomy short sleeved casual shirt and he likes it.

This time, I modified the front bands. The pattern calls for the buttonhole (left) side to be a true band and the other side (the right or button side) was just folded over. I decided to make both sides true bands and I like the difference. It's sturdier and looks more professional.

As usual, I put the sleeve on first, before I did the underarm seam.

This allows the flat fell finish to be even easier around the shoulder.

Then I finished it up in a trice! What next, I wonder?