Up to the cuffs

I now know to turn off the strong incandescent light over my ironing board, before I take a photo. Then the flash on the camera goes off and I get the right colour reproduction. So now my pix are really GREEN.

Here, I have started to pin down the flat fell for the shoulder seam finish. I really can't iron down the flat fell around the shoulder, so I pin it, sew it and then give it a final press. Of course, I did first press the seam allowance as flat as I could toward the body of the jacket.

I usually do a modified flat fell on the underarm seam but since I made the tiny baby clothes recently and flat felled everything there in miniature, I thought I would do a proper, trim-only-one-side flat fell and it worked well. I also did it that way to save thread, because I would only have to sew down the one side, but I think I am going to end up with lots of thread left, I have been so parsimonious.

Now it was time for the contrasting cuffs. I first sewed the blue band to the INside of the sleeve. I used green thread for the top (I think) and blue for the bottom. In any event, I did have the two colours of thread on the machine at the same time.

Then I sewed the ends of the cuffs together, making sure to fold precisely along the seam between the green and blue bands. At this point, I realized it was better to sew with the blue side up, so I could see where to start and end the seam and I didn't change the threads around. As I suspected, it didn't show when I was done anyway, so it didn't matter.

I trimmed the seam allowances fairly closely and turned the cuff to the right side out. Then I pressed along the seam between the blue and green bands, trying to make sure the blue was every so slightly angled toward the inside of the cuff. I wasn't entirely successful along the ends of the cuffs and a tiny line of blue does show there, now that I've finished the topstitching. But really, I don't think it's a big deal.

Finally, I did the topstitching. The way these cuffs are constructed, you fold the seam allowance under and sew the folded edge of the band over the seam line on the OUTside of the sleeve. In this case, it was the green side of the band that got stitched to the outside of the sleeve. Since I have done this manoeuver many times before, I know that in the first, outermost line of topstitching, the line that actually stitches the cuff closed and to the sleeve, the INside line of stitching (the bobbin thread line) actually ends up more on the sleeve part than on the cuff part. Therefore, I used green thread for the top AND bobbin for that line of stitching. You might have to go to the extreme close-up in Flickr to see it, but you can see that on the INside, there is green thread in that one spot. Then I switched to blue bobbin thread and stitched all around the cuff in the two rows required for the top stitching. I'll be doing the same for the bottom band.

Jacket about half done

Just a little update, as I won't get back to this until tomorrow. I am forging ahead with the regular sewing of pieces together and thought I would show the pockets. I can't believe how bad the colour reproduction turned out on this one. Yuck.

In this photo, you can see how I stitched around the pocket "bag" before attaching it to the jacket front. I do that so I can get the proper shape on the top stitching.

This photo shows the true colours and how the jacket is about half done. Unless I turn the collar up this way, you won't see the blue but I will know it is there and that makes me smile. Next step is to put the sleeves on.

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.

Continuing the jacket prep work

I was wrong - my mother noticed the weave. It was a pleasure to have my parents here for the Mother's Day weekend, especially after all the health problems Mum had in the winter. Dad had something he had to do on Friday after they got here, so Mum came upstairs with me and sat in my sewing room, reading, while I cut the fabric out. She would find amusing passages from her book and read them aloud to me while I hunched over the cutting table. It was most companionable.

As I was cutting, I asked Mum about which side of the twill she thought was the "right" side and she thought the more visible weave with the diagonal markings was the right side and after we talked about it, I agreed.

After I had cut out all the green pieces, I sorted out which pieces I needed to cut the underside in blue and pinned them to the blue twill and cut them out, leaving a half inch seam allowance on the collar, cuffs and bottom bands. Then I cut out the corresponding pieces in interfacing and arranged them all so I could make sure I hadn't missed anything.

Finally, I sewed together the blue and green pieces, using an old leftover green thread for the bobbin and the blue thread for the top.

Another jean jacket and some other things

This is a jacket that I have had on my mind for quite some time now. I have also had the twill fabrics sitting in my stash boxes for a while. In fact, it has been so long that I thought the green twill was much more like a Kelly green than the brighter, more acid green that emerged when I went digging. I am glad it's not as Kelly green as I had imagined. I like the brighter green with a touch more yellow than blue in it. But it does go nicely with the mid blue twill I got at a separate time.

In this photo, I have also dug out of my boxes some rayon that I bought in three complimentary prints. I have already made a matching pants and big shirt in the large print and a dress with the medium print (using a little of the small print for contrast). I realized that it goes well with the plain blue twill so I unearthed it in anticipation for later.

In further anticipation of what is to come, I went to get matching thread (no photo - really!) and to see if there was some twill in a blue print. I found some! As far as the thread is concerned, I discovered only today that Fabricland is phasing OUT Mettler thread which was the only one that really matched the green. AND they only had one small spool of it. Argh. So I am going to have to be clever in my use of green thread. I say this because normally, a fully-flat-felled jean jacket uses up two 100m spools of thread. Anyway.

Again with the Vogue 7610 pattern - I love this pattern and it SO works for me. But this time (drum roll please) I am going to make the undersides of the bands, pocket flaps, collar and tabs in a contrasting fabric. The green jacket will have little touches of the blue twill. And the blue jacket will have touches of the blue print twill. Oh hold me back, I'm so excited. :) Now, you'll hardly see them because they are just the undersides of things, but I'm telling you, it's pretty exciting.

These are the pattern pieces that I will use in the contrast. However, the bands and the collar are both normally folded over to make the two sides so I am going to be adding a seam allowance so I can get the contrasting sides this time. I'm going to go ahead and cut two collar pieces too, because it is just easier than fiddling around trying to get only one layer for that piece. And what could I do with the other bit anyway, except save it to use for crafts? So I'll stash it away and one year, I'll make yet another jean jacket that will use the green as contrast. Or something.

I have enough of the plain blue and the print blue twill to make summer skirts so I'm happy about that too. As far as which is the right and wrong side of twill, your guess is as good as mine. Of course, you can't tell from looking at this photo but I think the right side is on the right side of the photo. The "wrong" side looks very diagonal and the "right" side looks more like the weave is at right angles to itself. I am sure no one in the world but me will notice.

The Dress is Done

I measured between the dart locations and decided to use a piece of elastic 6 inches long and stretch it over 8 inches of waistline at the back.

I pinned one end of the elastic to where the dart was supposed be on one side, and ran the elastic along the untrimmed seam allowance to the location of the other dart. Then I pinned the elastic along the seam allowance and went to sew it down.

I sewed the elastic to the seam allowance using a long, wide zigzag stitch, stretching it as I went.

When I was done, the elastic was hidden behind the seam allowance, as it was pressed up toward the bodice.

I took a photo of the dress on my dummy, who I have decided to call "Rose". I was lying awake a few nights ago, trying to get back to sleep. I decided to go slowly through the alphabet, looking for a name for the dummy that resonated with me. I often use the alphabet technique to go back to sleep, instead of counting sheep. Anyway, I got to the letter R and the name Rose just seemed to work. Plus she is a nice rosy colour so there you go. I was just going to put this up as the final photo for this dress but then it got just warm enough to put it on so I got Peter to take a picture (or two) of me wearing it outside.


I like the one with the jacket because the jacket covers a multitude of sins. And I made that jacket too and wear it all the time, along with the dozen other I made from the same pattern. Hey, when a pattern works, I take advantage of it. As you will see in the next entry or so.

Almost finished the dress

So my dress is nearly complete and I make my husband go to the sewing room to admire it on the dummy. He says, "are you really going to wear that in public?" And I say, "I thought you weren't going to complain any more about my fabric choices?" And he says, "I can't help it. That fabric makes me feel like Kramer when he heard Mary Hart's voice on television."

I tried the dress on again and was surprised to see that it really wasn't as low in the front as I had feared. So I have put aside the blue eyelet lace I bought and am only going to trim the neck and armholes with blue bias tape.

Here, I've pinned the dress back on the dummy to decide how many buttons to put, at least on the bodice. I refuse to have a top that gapes between buttons and so I put pins in every two inches, which is awfully close together but works for me.

I chose some plain, slightly turquoise buttons and am putting them two inches apart on the bodice and 2 and 1/2 inches apart down the front of the skirt. They only had 15 matching buttons so I bought them all and have used 14 on this dress.

After sewing the skirt back to the bodice and trying it on, I realized that it is a bit loose in the waist. However, instead of having that sewed-in look, I think I am going to put a bit of elastic on the seam allowance at the back and that will snug the waistline up without making it difficult to breathe.

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.