I'm back sewing linen

I would like to thank all my die-hard fans who keep checking this moribund blog and wishing me well in the comments. Not only am I not dead, I am doing great! But I have not been sewing since July and so I haven't blogged since then.

In July, I sewed up a cotton jacket and skirt outfit for my trip to California.
You can read all about the trip here if you like.
There is even a photo of me wearing that jacket (I paired it with a dark blue denim jean skirt that day) in this entry, meeting with a fellow dog blogger (not a sewing blogger, sorry!) that day.

Of course, I trailed off the end of that travel blog too, and have not written about our last three days in San Francisco, where I bought a couple of remnants at Britex Fabrics, a very cool store. I even became a fan of the store on Facebook, even though I may never get back to SF. But they have a fun "button du jour" on FB and as you may know, on FB, you can ignore whatever you like!

I was thinking I would make nice tops to go under jackets, with these silks. The gold on the left is a stiffer dupioni type silk and the print on the right is a soft, charmeuse silk.

In the meantime, I never finished that "gala dress" I was making. It just failed to inspire me in any way. But since I have my "rule" about not making a new thing until the current thing is finished, I stared at the unfinished bodice hanging on my dummy, week after week. I only went into my sewing room to iron shirts and darn socks. I tried my hand at writing some stories (I am still working on those). I decided I was not willing to go back and teach only 6 hours a week.

In November, one of my neighbours fell while running and broke both ankles, so I volunteered to walk her dog for her every night. Then another neighbour went in for a total knee replacement and I volunteered to walk her dog every morning. So I've been doing that. The one with the broken ankles has healed up nicely and she has taken over walking her dog again. The other has a younger dog and I am still walking him for exercise around the park. It gets me up in the morning, I get a little exercise and then Kathleen and I sit and have coffee and solve the world's problems.

Then, at Christmas, my parents announced that they were going to drive to Florida this year and stay for the month of February. They were going to just drive down and see where they would stay, once they got there. They are really good travellers but Dad is 81 this year and so I piped up, "What would you think if I went with you and shared the driving?" In fact, they seemed to brighten right up and said they thought that was a great idea. So I am going to Florida for a month!

When am I ever going to have this opportunity again? Maybe never, so I jumped at the chance. Some people might think I am a little crazy for wanting to spend an entire month with my folks but we get along great when they come to visit here and we are all pretty low maintenance. I told a girlfriend about it and she told me that she had gone to Spain some years ago, with her parents when they were in their 80s and she never regretted the memories that she made, especially now that they are gone.

So I decided I needed to make a travel dressing gown but first, I fished some linen out of my stash and I am making a dress and jacket. Not sure if I will take them to Florida, as linen wrinkles but I am halfway through them now, so there you go.

I am using Vogue 8146 for the first time. The jacket is similar to the other swing-back jacket I made out of linen here. It is also unlined. And the dress is virtually the same as a McCall's pattern (8017) that I used for years and years - just a shift with some darts.

I have this big hunk of very pale green linen and I had thought the print and it might go together but not really. They don't clash, but it's not a brilliant match.
Back here I also made a dark navy linen skirt and short, unlined jacket and I think I had in mind that all the pieces would mix and match. The embroidered linen is quite different in texture from the other three, lighter weight linens but I think I may be able to to some switching of skirts.

There is something about that swing, pleated back that I really like!

I decided to sew quite quickly, in spite of it being a new pattern. I am finishing some edges with a simple zigzag fold.

But I should have used pinking shears on the long edges of the dress. I am not going to flat fell those seams (so I can let them out or more hopefully, take them in, if my weight changes) so I have had to zigzag all down the edges to prevent raveling. I also decided not to line the dress, as it sort of defeats the purpose of linen being cool. I will probably wear a short half slip if I feel there is any possibility of seeing through the fabric.

So there! I am sort of caught up to date with you, my readers. I am sorry I haven't blogged in SO long and there'll be another dearth of blogging while I am away in February. And in case you are wondering, yes, my long--suffering husband has to stay home and earn a living. But I will email him and Skype when I get internet access so the time will pass pretty quickly I think. All the best to you-all!

Starting to sew the Jacket

This morning, I sewed all the main vertical seams on the fronts and back, trimmed the seams, ironed them and then topstitched them in a flat fell. Probably more ironing than sewing but still, a fair bit of both.

The light in this photo makes the green look unfortunate and not at all like the bright, cheerful colour it is, but that shows up later. You can see the back, two fronts and the bottoms of the two sleeves, plus tabs and pocket flaps. I can see (close up) that I have used slightly different shades of green for the main seam stitching but I did make an effort to use the matching green thread for the top stitching. Then I filled a bobbin with the blue and did the top stitching of the contrast pieces.

First however, I pressed the heck out of the seams on the contrast pieces. I pressed the seam open on the wrong side.

Then I made sure it was really flat on the right side. Then I pressed the edge together so that the blue was on one side and the green on the other. If I hadn't done all that initial pressing, I might have had bits of the fabric rolling into the seam ditch and it could have been a mess. This way, it's neater and frankly, easier even if it does seem to take extra long in the pressing department.

This is an extreme close-up of the edge of the collar. You can see that on the underside (the blue side), you can just see a bit of the green. However, on the up side (the green side), you can't see the blue. I won't be wearing my collar turned up like they did in the 80s (or was that the 70s?) so I made sure the blue wouldn't be seen at the edge of the collar when it was lying flat. I suppose it doesn't matter but I had to decide one way or the other and this is the way I went.

Here is a close-up of the topstitching. I used blue for the bobbin thread and green for the top. In this photo, you can also see the difference between the right and wrong sides of the fabric itself as shown on the sleeve to the right of the pocket flaps.

Sleeveless Summer Dress

My new project is a summer dress. Inspired by A Dress A Day, I got some new dress patterns recently and have been wanting the try them out. Now that Summer is sort of near (today is rainy and NOT warm at only 10C or 50F), it seemed like a good time and I also have my new dummy (who I haven't named yet) so I can fit the patterns better.

I wanted to try this New Look pattern 6587 in the sleeveless View D. It looked cute and would be nice and cool when it finally gets hot enough. Plus, View D showed a print fabric which reminded me of Dress A Day so I figured it would be a good match. Not wanting to waste however, I went through my stash and chose a fairly ... ugly, shall we say, cotton print for the "muslin" that I never make.

I thought I had already blogged about this print but I went back several entries and didn't see anything so pardon me if you've heard it before. Anyway, the fabric is a nice 100% cotton sateen ("sateen" now reminds me of Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge) but the print on it is weird, man. It sort of looks like tropical foliage but it's oddly abstract. And then there are the unexplainable blue blobs that remind me of the Horta on that episode of Star Trek. So why did I buy it? Yep, it was on sale! I really have to stop doing that.

The pattern calls for optional pockets but they way they are set up, I fear they would make the dress look like an old fashioned pinafore so I have decided against them.

Now that I have the dummy, I actually pinned the paper pattern to the dummy to see how it might look. I thought that the armholes and the front neckline would be too low (showing bra under the arms and too much cleavage in the front) so I decided to take up the bodice pieces one half inch on the front and the back. I had considered waiting until I had the fabric cut out and then taking the bodice up at the shoulder seam but then everything else would be hauled upwards and so out of proper alignment. This is why I got the dummy in the first place so I got brave with the pattern adjustments. I haven't seen how it worked out, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I made the right decision. I'll know soon...

There are also two vertical darts on the back of the bodice and I am leaving them unsewn until I can fit the bodice onto the dummy.

Here is the bodice sewn together except for the shoulder seams. I am about to flat fell the vertical seams and it's easier to do when I can lay the piece out flat.

Still life with dummy

So I'm back home again and I'd like to thank all those who made comments on my last entry - I'll get there soon! In the meantime, I wanted to get my dummy set up. She still hasn't spoken to me with her name. I keep thinking it "should" be an alliteration with Dummy but maybe she should be a variation of Julia - I'm Jule to the family. On the other hand, I really liked the name Sarah when I was little. It'll happen.

I cranked open those dials and then dressed her in this underwire bra that I bought for something dressy. I hate underwires - they don't lie on my ribcage at all comfortably. Maybe I have a weird shaped chest, I don't know (and don't care) but I don't like them. So I thought it would be good for my dummy - she can't complain. It was not filled out, shall we say, so I stuffed the bra with some small facecloths I have and it works.

Then I put on a shirt I made last summer and sure enough, it didn't fit the dummy either. I have to lose 5 pounds (or more) or give this shirt away - never been worn!

So next, I put a tank on her that I'd made. It fits very closely but that's because it's made of this rayon stuff that accordions up when you wash it. It's perfect for an undergarment because of the way it fits and how it shows where the armholes can't be lower than (ooh, is that bad grammar or what?).

Plus of course, it matches the dummy nicely. Next I put the grey jacket on her - it needs a final press but it'll look good when I finally wear it to class.

Now for the real reason I wanted to get the dummy. Inspired by A Dress A Day, I have these two patterns that have never been used.

I wanted to make sure that I was closer than usual with the fitting, before I lashed out and actually sewed one of these dresses.

The pinning isn't very accurate but I'm familiar enough with patterns to see that I shouldn't have to do much altering if I make the bodice in a 12 and the skirt (waist and hips) in a 14, especially if I wait until I have the main pieces sewed together before I see how deep to make the dart in the bodice back.

I wanted to make view D (sleeveless) of the sun dress in New Look 6587 for the little holiday we have planned for the end of March. I have some unattractive cotton that I will make this pattern in first, using the dummy, and then some nicer rayon that will be the more finished model. And then for the "Duro"!
Mum is now making real progress, with her feeding tube removed, eating some real food and they're going to fix the tracheostomy so she can finally talk. I think her progress now will feel exponential compared to the past 5 weeks and I'm really looking forward to it.