Summer Dress Continued...

Sometimes I out-smart myself and then, when I fix the problem, I figure it's good that I am smart enough to fix the problem but I wish I hadn't created it in the first place. Also, I should just accept the fact that I should cut the garment out in the 14 and give up on thinking I am a 12 in most places. sigh. But I really DO want to lose 10 pounds! wail.

What happened when I took up the bodice pattern pieces was that I raised the neckline a little but not enough and in the process, I made the armholes quite tight. I can fix the armholes but my bigger problem was that I cut out the pattern in the size 12 and the bodice barely fit around the bust on the dummy.

So I was glad I hadn't sewn in the darts in the back but I wasn't sure what to do about the fact that the front edges hardly met.

I may in fact end up taking a small tuck in the back of the bodice where the darts are because my waist is okay for the size 12. But it's not small enough for two full darts.

In the meanwhile, I pondered what to do about the front. I had to sew on an interfaced front band on each side of the front and I decided to take only a 3/8 seam instead of the usual 5/8 seam allowance. That might give me an extra whole inch to play with and I need every bit I can get. I also sewed the skirt to the bodice only at the front so I could play with the gathering and darts in the back later.

It worked like a charm and when I put the dress on the dummy, I could get the front bands to properly overlap! Now I can adjust the back gathers and that part will be done.

Next, I want to go to the store to see what they have in the way of a flat ruffle that I could sew into the neckline (I might barely have enough fabric to make one but I thought I'd look through the notions first). I was thinking if they had something in the blue or the kelly green, I could sew it onto the neckline instead of just the seam binding the pattern calls for and therefore get some more coverage for the old cleavage. Plus, I will get some seam binding for the armholes and buttons and I'll be done.

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.

I'm back with baby clothes! Not for me (thank goodness)

All's well that ends well. It has taken me forever to get back to sewing and blogging but here I am again. Mum made a complete recovery which amazed us all but left us forever grateful for her strength of will and character, as well as the medical care she got while in hospital. Then, a friend decided to have a baby (or will, in May) so I got to go to the baby shower and so I made some of the cutest clothes imaginable - baby clothes.

Over many years, I have used this McCall's pattern 9331 to make the newborn sized clothes whenever friends of mine have babies. I think the first time I used it was for my nephew who is now 22 years old! I love the way the feet on the pants stick up and the hat is just the cutest. I figure the parents can put a t-shirt on the baby and then dress it in the little jacket that is called a kimono on the pattern.

I went shopping for the fabric with my mother after she had got out of hospital and she suggested we go for the pink (a little peachy actually) and blue flannelettes and mix them up, since we didn't know if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl. I figure a baby doesn't know what colour it is wearing so it would only be the parents who might object and these parents are pretty relaxed about that sort of gender-biased colour thing. And if they did mind the colours, they could give away the outfit that was mostly the "wrong" colour. I had also, in the past, made yards and yards of flannelette seam binding in white and I decided to use some of that up on this project.

Since the pieces are so small, I had lots of options in cutting. I decided to make the bottoms of the pants feet in the opposite colours and to find matching bears for each. I chose the sleeping bears for the blue feet and the awake bears for the pink. You might have to click on the photo to see the large for detail.

In this view of the inside of the pants, you can see I decided to flat fell all the seams for a nice smooth finish. I also used the white flannelette seam binding to encase the elastic around the ankles. The top of the pants will be elasticized also. Pretty cute already.

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to physically manage flat felling the seam that made a tube out of the pants leg (and the jacket arm) as they were going to be so small. But I did! It was tight going but I managed to sew into the leg and turn around at the bottom and sew my way out again.

Here's a view of the jacket. I made the sleeves out of the contrasting fabric colour. All the seams are enclosed in modified flat fells. The jacket closes by using a tie on the inside and then a tie on the outside, after the front flap is folded shut.

Here is a view of both pairs of pants, both jackets and the hat, after completion. You can see the feet - so cute! And the hat is two layers - one pink and one blue - so it is reversible depending on the sex of the baby.

Finally, one last view of both outfits and the hat. Adorable.

Hems and fitting a vest

A few odds and ends today. Someone asked in the comments, when I was making the purple coat, about what stitch I used on the hem. I tend to use any old stitch that works. The purple coat had really loosely woven fabric so I used a giant loose stitch. I decided to demonstrate on that dark brown stuff with contrasting white thread.

First, I turned up the selvage of the left over piece of fabric, so you could see the difference between the "hem" and the background. The selvage has a white thread running through it so if I had thought more, I would have used pink thread or something for the fake hem stitches. After anchoring the thread in the hem (the turned-up part), I take a stitch in the skirt or body fabric. The needle is still in the taking-of-the-stitch position.

Next, I put the needle under the edge of the hem and bring it out far enough below the raw edge (in this case, the selvage edge) so the thread won't end up pulling out of the raw edge. I didn't have to worry about the hem stitch pulling away from the loose threads on the purple coat because I had previously stitched lining pieces to each coat piece and so I had in effect, a line of stay stitching running all along the hem.

When I pull the thread out and get set to make the next stitch, this is what it looks like. Effectively, what you see from the inside of the garment on the hem are small vertical stitches. The stitches are at an angle behind the hem. On the right side of the garment, you shouldn't see stitches at all, because you should only have taken a very small bit of the fabric in each stitch. I think the next time I hem something by hand, I'll do a blurb on it so it should look better than this!

The next thing I decided to do with my dummy is retro-fit some vests with a back elastic. I really like wearing vests but I have wished for some of them to fit a little more closely. Now that I can work on a dummy, I can get the better fit.

By putting the vest on the dummy, I was able to gauge where I wanted the elastic to sit on the vest. Then I measured each side and up from the bottom so the elastic casing would be even across the back. I stitched a rectangular casing where I had marked it on the vest.

With the casing stitched, I cut a slit in the lining so I could insert the elastic.

Because the elastic was a half inch wide, it was stiff enough so that I could just slide it into the casing and work it along by itself, without using a bodkin or anything to pull it. This way, I only needed to make the one slit in the lining.

Once I had worked the elastic to the other end of the casing, I stuck two pins in it to anchor it (you can just see them in the photo). I put the vest on the dummy inside-out and pulled the elastic until the vest fit the waist more closely.

Then I cut off the excess elastic and zigzag stitched the slit closed, catching in the elastic at the same time. I also zigzag stitched the other end, even though it didn't have a hole in the lining, so that it would match the first side.

There you go - finished vest on the dummy, showing the gathering.

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.

Doppelganger

[I wrote this yesterday...] Da da, it's my birthday! Da dum, it's my birthday! And my Mum is getting BETter! It's been a tough 6 weeks but things look like they are finally moving in the right direction.
So about my birthday - I've only been thinking about getting a dressmaker's dummy for about 30 years and today I got one.

My Dad is here for the day and since he has a car, we drove to the Fabricland where I wondered if I'd have to order a dummy. But no! Not only did they have lots in stock, they were 40% off just until tomorrow for members only. Woot!

It's not fancy but I am really looking forward to finally using a dummy for more than just fitting. I might even, eventually, sign up for that pattern making class at the college where I teach. It's part of a larger program but they might let me take just the one course.

She's a nice pink colour and she's as small as this size gets - unfortunately, when I get upstairs to the sanctity of my sewing room, I'm going to have to crank open those dials almost all the way for this size. However, I have been going to the gym - it's one of the main things that has helped during Mum's problem - and I have actually lost an entire pound. Yes, I did say "one pound". When I was 20 I weighed 25 pounds less than what I weigh today at age 49. Not horrible and I call it my "survivor fat" - if I fell off a boat tomorrow, I'd be able to live for a while on it - but I'd still like to be a little lankier than I am now. Never mind. Que sera, sera and all that.

2 shirts finished

Where does the time go? Mum is doing better - thanks to all who have commented and sent their prayers. She is awake and starting to show frustration, which is a sign that she wants to get OUT of hospital and we are all cheered by that. But as "What About Bob" said, it's baby steps to the elevator.

In the meantime, I finally made it to the Fabricland for shirt buttons and got enough for both the striped shirt and the camp shirt. I made all the buttonholes on Friday and sewed 17 buttons on Friday night while watching tv. Therefore, I was ready on Saturday morning to wear the striped shirt to visit Mum.

She had bought me the fabric one day when we were both at the store together. In the photo, I am also wearing the very first jean jacket I made from that Vogue pattern I use all the time - it is a lightweight cotton twill. When I got to the hospital, I pulled up my gown (she is in isolation) and flashed her my bright clothes and told her that the shirt was made from the fabric she bought me. She totally reacted and formed a face that went "ooh, ah!" and so I was thrilled (she can't talk due to a tracheotomy).

I only took a photo of the other shirt before I did the buttons but here it is anyway. Now I only have to make three buttonholes on the grey suit jacket and I'm done all those UFOs and can start on something new. DressADay has inspired me to start "sewing with a purpose" or SWAP. The second link is to the page where SWAP is described and the root url of that page is a woman who sells fabric in Nova Scotia. She has a contest and I won't be ready to enter it this year but maybe next year. In any event however, it's all about not just sewing this and then that with no direction. (That's a heckva sentence, sorry.) I have two lengths of twill - one in a mid blue and the other a kelly green - that could form the basis for the two solid colours part of SWAP. And a couple of weeks ago, I was actually inspired to give away about a half dozen skirts I never wear (waistbands too small) and dress pants I'd bought from Sears and now never wear (same problem) so I actually have an inch or so of open space in my closet. I have to do the same with the blouses I have that are polyester and therefore don't work well with my body chemistry. I have to stick to cotton and rayon.

Anyway, I now have to go study project management - I'm taking a course in it at the dame college where I teach. They offered it for cheap to staff but I am finding it interesting and it is possible it could add to my resume. I'm going to do some proper planning for my SWAP but I'm also going to give myself the "out" to sew something else from my stash, just for fun. What was really interesting was that when I went to buy the buttons, I walked around for about 10 minutes with a remnant bolt of some nice 100% cotton for another camp shirt but in the end, I put it back and didn't buy it because it wouldn't necessarily have gone with anything else in my wardrobe. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

Continuing with the Camp Shirt

Happily, Mum has started to regain consciousness! We have toe wiggling on command! I'm so looking forward to seeing her this weekend. By then, she'll be way past toes and into eyebrow raising I hope. I thank everybody out there who is wishing her well or praying for her.

In the meantime, I'm making that camp shirt.

The pattern calls for front facings. I have learned the hard way that if I spend a little time finishing the raw edge, I won't get fraying threads later on after I wash it. I iron on the interfacing and then iron down the free edge. Next, I sew it down with a zigzag stitch.

Sometimes, I use a straight stitch but the zigzag looked okay on this busy print. I know no one sees the inside or wrong side of one of my shirts but me, but still, I like the inside finishing to look nice.

You can't see them in the photo but I marked the four corners of where the pocket goes with blue chalk. Then I put pins in so I'll be able to see the dots on the outside or right side when I turn over the left front piece. In the photo, I haven't ironed down the dart yet either.

Next, I take a piece of uncut fabric and line up the stripes with the front piece where the pocket is going to go. Then I put the pocket pattern piece on the fabric so it lines up (vertically) with the pocket markings. I usually cut out the pocket piece with pinking shears so I don't have to otherwise finish the raw edges once they are folded to the inside. Check out a store-bought man's shirt and you will see that the raw edges of the pocket are not finished either.

With the pocket itself, first I iron over a little fold of the top raw edge and sew it down. Then I sew the top, right sides together as the instructions indicate, along the sides at the top and turn it right side out.

Then I iron down the top and continue down the sides and across the bottom, to make the pocket look finished. At this point, I also sew down the top fold so that you see one line of stitching on the right side. There are two lines of stitching on the inside of the pocket top because I have already sewed down the little fold. It's over-kill I know but I tell you, my pockets never come apart! :)

Once I have the folds all ironed, I unfold the bottom corners and turn them into mitered corners. Again, who cares? But I do because I think it makes them neater.

There's that darned yellow cast to the photos again. I think that happens when the flash doesn't go off. Anyway, when it came time for me to place the pocket on the front for sewing, that's when I noticed that, as cleverly as I had lined up the stripes vertically, I had neglected to notice the horizontal pattern! And the pocket therefore doesn't match the shirt front exactly. I could have just made another pocket. But I didn't. And so I decided to rationalize that I like it better this way, where the pocket doesn't entirely disappear into the shirt front. And the reason I did that was because I didn't notice the horizontal issue until after I had sewed the pocket to the shirt. sigh.

A summer shirt

Last day of January, although not of Winter, I know. Erin at DressADay is waiting for summer and I have decided (at least for now) that so am I. I have been thinking about this shirt I made some years ago and how comfortable it is and have decided to make another. It is what LLBean might call a camp shirt - short sleeves, spread collar, straight (not fitted) body. I wear this shirt a fair bit in the Summer because it is cool and not fitted but it also isn't too baggy. I made it out of something that is probably rayon although, since I got the fabric as a remnant, it didn't say what it was.

The problem comes from not remembering which of my patterns I used when I made it. I got out the most likely pattern and laid the paper over the shirt and it seems to be the one, Simplicity 9210 (not the puffy sleeves version!)

So then I went looking through my own remnants and rediscovered this rayon from which I had made a dress even more years ago. At the time, I was wearing dresses to work every day and I made "several" (read "many") using this one pattern that was so easy and nice to wear - McCall's 8017. However, I also made them fairly short and now that I am several years older, I find myself approaching (if not already at) an age when skirts above the knee don't really work for me any more. Which is to say, I may not wear the dress made from this fabric any more so I am okay with making a shirt out of it.

As far as my Mum goes, she's still in hospital and still asleep. Her doctors call it it a real conundrum but they are all interested in how to get her back to normal and working really hard at it. I think it helps the doctors to work harder because all kinds of family visit her every day and it is clear that many people care about her very much.

A new skirt

It's been a heckuva a week, with my Mum in hospital with no clear diagnosis or prognosis. So I kept myself busy and, among other things, finished the skirt.

You can't see any detail because the fabric is so dark but I wore it to teach on Thursday and got Peter to take a photo when I got home. Those are the tall suede boots I wear when it's below 20 below. And the jacket I made (of course) from some lovely thick wool that Mum got me years ago. I don't sacrifice warmth for fashion!

First, back to the beginning. I sewed a piece of lining to each fabric piece - there are only three pieces for the skirt - one front and two back. I made the darts first.

I put pins in about every inch-and-a-quarter, so the fabric wouldn't have a chance to stretch and go into folds as I sewed it to the lining. I used a wide zigzag stitch close to the raw edge to stitch the two pieces together, except at the top where I used a straight, basting stitch because I knew I was going to trim the seam when I was finished attaching the facing.

Once I had all the lining attached, then I sewed the two back pieces together and hand basted where the zipper would go. I chose hand basting this time because I thought when it came time to rip out machine basting, I might find myself snipping the wool fabric itself because the fibres are so loose. It also gave me the opportunity to use a contrasting thread so I could see it better. Then I pressed the seam open and pounded it with my clapper to get as sharp a folded edge as possible.

Because the fabric is so loose, I also basted this zipper in before sewing it, something I don't often do. I can be a bit of a lazy sewer and don't do much basting but it does pay off if you want to be careful.

I had bought a dark brown zipper the last time I was out at the fabric store but I also picked up a black one while I was at it and when it came time to choose the zipper, I went with the black one, as the fabric really is very dark.

With the vent at the back, I made chalk marks on the inside (or right side) of the lining, so I would be able to see where to stitch. In the photo, my fingers are pointing at the chalk marks and I can see them but they are pretty faint for the viewer, sorry. I also folded over, pressed and stitched the long edge of each side of the vent to finish the edge.

I folded the vent over to one side following the pattern instructions and stitched a line of basting along where I had put pins to mark the stitching line. I also pinned the vent into the proper position and took the pins out as I sewed the vent. For the hem, I machine sewed some of that lace seam binding along the raw edge of the skirt and then folded the hem up and sewed it up by hand.

In wearing the skirt, I can see faint evidence that the wooly fabric wants to behave differently from the lining and there is a little bit of bagging because of the way I stitched the lining directly to the fabric. But I found that I can just twitch that away when I stand up and anyway, the fabric is so dark, that you hardly notice anything happening. For a remnant, I think I'll get a fair bit of wear out of this skirt and it doesn't owe me anything.