An experimental, two-sided top

So there I was, staring at everything in my sewing room, wondering what to do. I decided I had to put away some stuff first and packed up some patterns into their envelopes. As I picked up a few pattern pieces (Butterick 4056), I realized they had been left out because I thought I would make a few more easy little tops.

Back in the Fall, I had made three of these little pull-over tops in silk which are great for under any suit jacket. I remembered I had some small pieces of fabric left over from these shirts I made years before I started this blog. In those days, I was using a shirt pattern (McCall's 8053) that fitted very loosely, with long tails that you had to tuck in - way too loose for leaving outside of the pants or skirt. When I got this fabric that resembled silk (but was polyester and so washable with no ironing), I remember the store table had about a dozen beautiful jewel colours and all I got were two - a burnt orange and a pea green. When I went back after realizing how great the fabric was, it was all gone. Boo.

So I went to the stash and found a piece of orange and one of green, not enough to make a top out of each. But I imagined that I could use the front part of the pattern and cut and green side and an orange side and have a "reversible" top!

I found some green thread and some orange and loaded a bobbin with the green and put the orange on the top thread. It's such a simple top, there are only facings around the neck and they were easy.

I hemmed the facings by machine, with the matching thread on the outside (but forgot to take a picture of the hemmed facings).

Here's the top with the two sides stitched together, lying on the ironing board.

And here it is, with the neck facings on. I am going to stitch the hems all by hand, as I did for the silk tops. I haven't tried the top on, under a jacket, but I believe it may work. I hung it on the hanger with the "front" hanging down so you can see the "back" but when I wear it, it should be balanced so the "back" hides beneath the jacket. It's an experiment! Of course, I'm in no position to wear a suit jacket these days but it'll be ready for when I am. Looking at the final picture, I am reminded of the Go Fug Yourself girls: "ooh, shiny!"

The doldrums

Sorry about the dearth of blogging. But thanks for all the kind comments you have been sending lately. They are appreciated! I feel like I just don't have mental energy and what physical energy I do have, I use it to go to the gym to keep myself semi-fit and sane. I do yoga combined with tai-chi and pilates three times a week at the gym. It's an hour of quiet exercise where I don't sweat but I feel good after. But then I am tired a lot and I just come home and read (or nap). I wanted to devise an original jacket for myself during chemo but I don't have the energy for it.

So I finished my little bags and still haven't given them away. Each large bag has a smaller one inside. One is going to my Mum when I see her this weekend. Don't know about the other two!

So I decided to look at ALL the new patterns I have bought over the last few months. And compare them with the fabrics I have in my stash because I'm not going to buy more. I have some shirt fabric of course and could make some of them but I would like to try out a new pattern. Maybe not the pants - those will require effort to fit properly. I have some twill that I could use for an unlined jacket. I have some nice wool for a work outfit. Not sure when I will be going out to work next! Anyway, that's the plan now - I'll pick a pattern and some fabric and just make something easy.

More little bags

Call me crazy but I'm making more bags. I had such fun making the last set that I decided to use up the rest of the upholstery type fabric and I got another two sets of bags out of it.

I ran out of the pale green rayon for the lining so I am using some craft fabric I bought ages ago for the second set.

I also had to make more bias tape for the larger bag. For a complete tutorial on how to make a batch of bias tape, go here, from March 8, 2008.

Now I have just enough bias tape in both fabrics to make a large bag with each kind of lining.

Here are all the pieces, waiting for me to get zippers for them. For the sharp-eyed, there is a bonus fifth bag in there. I just can't throw away even a small piece of fabric if it can possibly be turned into a bag. Tomorrow, I'll be getting the zippers. I was going to walk - it is "only" a 10 km round trip - but I am getting a ride instead by a fortuitous set of circumstances.

A hat

I'm rummaging around my sewing room, looking for things to make, fabric for some more bags as the last set were pretty popular. I spied the messy purple fabric I made a coat from last year and remembered I thought I could make a tam out of it. This time, I have a pattern which includes a tam but I have it in my mind that a trilby style hat would work and I have a pattern for that too.

I'm using McCall's M5773 and decide to go with view F, the blue one with the brim. Actually, I really want to make view E in the red, using the red boiled wool from that jacket I recently finished. But I figure the purple wool will serve as a template and I can pitch it if I don't like it.

It's very simple and I use some cream coloured lining scraps I have for the inside.

I decide to interface one side of the brim, even though the pattern doesn't cal for it. This wool is very loose and I figure I can't go too wrong with interfacing.

I get the crown of the hat put together and try it on and it's HUGE. I think it's the fabric, more than the pattern, so I take up one half of the crown seams by another 5/8 inch and it seems to work better. I sew the interfaced brim to the outside of the hat.

I sew the lining to the other brim. Then I sew the hats together at the edge of the brims, leaving a small opening to turn them right side out. The hat sheds mightily each time I hold it.

After I turn the hat, I sew around the brim, first to seal the open edges together, then to add rigidity to it, with a line of stitching about 1/4 inch from the edge stitching and one around where the lining joins the brim, to keep the lining at bay. It's not brilliant but it's okay and gives me hope that the red one will look better. And now of course, I have "the ensemble", with the coat and the hat. Hmm. At any rate, it is covering up my bald chemo head and that's the main thing. You can just see that I am wearing a blue skull cap under the hat. When I have hair again, it will fit over the the hair too.

Some little bags

Happy New Year!

When I went up to my sewing room, I played around with some fabrics and patterns and put some things away and then thought, I'd like to make a couple of little bags to give away.

At Christmas when she was here, Mum admired the bag I made as a pencil case for work so when I discovered I had a fair bit left of that upholstery fabric, I thought I would make one for her.

I got out my trusty bag pattern (Simplicity 9949) and examined what bits of fabric I had.

I had enough of the upholstery fabric for four bags and found some rayon that I had made a shirt out of that would be suitable for lining.

I also used the rayon to make seam binding.

It was a good plan when I put the seam binding on the one larger bag. I pinned one side over the stitching line and then sewed from the other, unpinned side.

The idea was that because I had pinned it on the underside, I would catch that side of the seam binding when I sewed it from the other side. It worked all around the zipper but not on the ends so I had to sew it twice - the second time from the pinned side that had not caught in the first stitching.

Consequently, the seam binding is a little rippley but it'll never come off!

I'll put the smaller "pencil case" bag inside the larger one when I give it.

And here's what they look like separately. That larger bag can hold a surprising amount of stuff. I just find it fun to make these things and then give them away. Mum will get one set and I think I know who will get the second set.

My third chemo is tomorrow so I may feel a little too crappy to sew for a few days, if it's like last time. I'm hoping it won't be but I am prepared to spend the rest of the day in bed.

Jacket's done and some other stuff

First of all, let me say thank you for your kind comments. And all of them positive, as I had asked for! That whole energy thing is a force to be reckoned with.

Now, back to the jacket. This is the cuff. I have sewed it to the wrong side of the sleeve, sewed the ends together and turned them and now I have pinned the folded and trimmed edge to the outside. If you make the photo large and look closely, you can see the line of stitching that attaches the cuff. The folded edge will just cover that line and the cuff itself will be sewed to the sleeve with topstitching.

Here I am, sewing the cuff to the sleeve with a line of topstitching.

Once I had finished ALL the topstitching (each line has a duplicate, parallel line so there are two rows everywhere), it was time to attach the snaps. I just use the kit snaps and they come with two tools. You cut a tiny hole in the fabric with this one tool, by hammering it through the fabric and then you put the snap pieces in place and hammer them together using the other tool to crimp the pieces of metal together.

It works pretty well until the hammer slips off the tiny tool and smashes you in the thumb. Not a crisis (although it does really hurt) but when you have chemo, the chemicals break down your blood cells too and you can bleed pretty badly, so I iced this as soon as I had smashed it.

Once I got back upstairs, I realized I could hold the tiny tool with a pair of pliers and couldn't believe I had not thought of it before. It was a slap myself in the head, duh kind of moment.

And here it is! I am all decked out with Christmas colour accessories because Christmas is tomorrow. I bought some large scarves for my now bald head but I find I am most comfortable in this little knit cap I got from the MEC for bike camping, or all the old scarves I bought for my beloved dog when she was alive. Wearing her scarves is a sort of homage to her too.

And then I had some time to make a couple of gift bags that can also be used as shoe bags. When you live in snow country, you wear boots everywhere but bring your shoes when you visit peoples' homes and shoe bags are always welcome.

I had two pieces of some upholstery fabric that were just big enough for women's shoe bags. The only thing I miscalculated was the size of the pocket for the draw string. If in doubt, leave more room.

I was using this fairly fine, nylon cord I had so I thought I didn't need much room. And it does move through the sleeve well enough.

But the fabric is so thick that it doesn't bunch up much and it would have been better to have a slightly larger casing. However, I am not willing to re-do it now. Anyway, if it's just for shoes, it doesn't need to be tight at the top.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas for tomorrow.

Why everything is taking so long

Okay, it's time for an explanation why my blog entries are taking forever. I have a really good excuse - it's a humdinger, in fact. In August, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In September I had surgery which got it all, and it had not spread to the nodes - great news. But it was a really aggressive tumour so they recommended chemotherapy first and then radiation as preventive, adjuvant measures and I have just had my second round of six chemo sessions and it is tiring me out. I am thinking radiation in the Spring will be a walk in the park compared to chemo.

I decided to go ahead and teach this past semester, as I had already committed to it, but I am not going to be teaching in January. I am thinking I want all my energy to get well - not from the cancer which is gone but from the chemo - that is some toxic stuff. So I have planned some creative projects for myself that I can work on when I feel well, which really, is most of the time.

Before people respond with sympathetic comments, let me tell you what I have learned about energy. I have learned that there really IS negative and positive energy and people can project it like quills on a porcupine. I have discovered that, however well-meant, expressions of sympathy are negative energy. Negative energy requires effort to resist and I am not willing to expend that valuable part of my own energy resisting it. I intend to be relentlessly cheerful and positive about this entire experience and I have been therefore avoiding anybody who can bring me down, even if they really do mean well.

I have been writing about the experience from the get-go and that has been tremendously therapeutic. I am now trying to come up with suggestions for how people can respond when they hear about something major like this. Don't say "I'm sorry". I know that's almost always the first reaction but don't say it. I have been thinking people could say something like "Wow, how are you coping with that?" I had one person respond with "God love ya!" which I felt was not negative. So my challenge to you, my dear readers, is to come up with other initial expressions of caring that are not negative. I'm currently stumped.

In the meantime, I am carrying on with the corduroy jacket.

Here are my nice flat felled seams, from the inside and the outside.

Here's the back yoke from the inside, pinned and ready to be sewn down. I actually turn it over and sew it from the outside to make sure the topstitching goes in the right place. I sew very slowly because the pins are underneath then and I can't take them out as I go.

This is the shoulder seam, after it has been sewn and then one side of the seam allowance has been trimmed. I trim off the seam allowance belonging to the body of the jacket because there is only one seam in the sleeve part that will need to be folded over to make the flat fell.

Here I am pressing the outside of the shoulder seam over the ham. Because of how awkward it is, I don't press the flat fell over on the inside around the shoulder seam. I just fold it over once the outside is pressed flat and then pin it and sew, also very slowly.

And here is the jacket, taking shape. I have sewed on the bottom band to the inside of the body. After I sew up the ends, I will sew the folded edge of the band on the outside of the jacket with topstitching.

Green jean jacket continued

It wasn't until I had the fronts all assembled that I realized I had not made allowances for the fasteners! I had not decided before this, whether I wanted to go with buttons or snaps. I like buttons but they can be awkward on thicker material like corduroy and the buttonholes can be a pain. However, now that the pocket flaps are sewed in place, I am never going to get buttonholes made on those things and it has been decided for me that I am going to go with nice black snaps.

As for putting on the facing, at least I thought that one out in advance. Part of the finishing is to understitch the facing to the neck seam allowances. But if you sew the facing to the fronts of the jacket before you do the understitching, it makes it awkward to get to the ends of the collar. So I did the understitching before I sewed down the fronts.
I also realize that I should probably never wear this jacket on television, as it would make viewers eyes go all buggy. Good thing I'm not ever on television.

Green jean jacket continued

Steaming ahead (literally)! There's a powerful lot of ironing in this jacket -- all those flat felled seams and pockets and things.

I always haul a previously made jacket out of the closet so I can look at it, more than the instructions even. This is one I get a lot of wear out of, made of a pale lilac pinwale cord.

Here are all the pieces ready to be assembled, after I have ironed on the interfacing. I decided to go with the black interfacing, to be one less colour in the palette. The interfacing occasionally shows, like when the front facings flip out in a wind or something.

Here are the pieces as I've started to assemble them. I've made this jacket so many times that I can assemble it out of order (and practically from memory) so that I can make it fairly quickly, sewing a pile of pieces and then ironing them all at once.

These are the two seams on one half of the front and I'm ironing them over after I've clipped one of the seam allowances, so I can make the flat fell. Onwards!

Another Jean Jacket

I do apologize for not blogging in so long. I have a lot going on in my other life right now.

After I finished my last project - which I have worn quite a few times now! - I decided I would make up this fine wale corduroy I had in the stash.

I got it with another jean jacket in mind (and because it was on the sale table of course). It is a print and the contrast between the black and green makes it look intense. Because it is SO green, I thought it would be cute for wearing at Christmas with something red. Or black.

Since it is a print, I have had to cut out each piece of the pattern (my old tried and true Vogue 7610) in one layer only, so I can make sure the lines of houndstooth print are all straight. I am just glad they are tiny enough that I don't have to think about trying to match them vertically or horizontally. It was fairly tedious and made my back ache, bending over the table like that for hours. Or what seemed like hours. Anyway, it is all cut out now except for the interfacing and now I can finally assemble it.

Working on this jacket has got me to thinking yet again about this jacket I cannot find but want to make. I have it in my head that I saw a photo of such a jacket in a Laura Ashley catalogue back in the 80s. My sister used to work there - they had a store right here in Ottawa with the most beautiful home dec fabrics and the clothing too. I even sewed for patrons of the store who wanted stuff that I called "soft furnishings for the home" made but couldn't do it themselves. Anyway, I only remember this jacket from this one catalogue. They had such beautiful stuff back then, when it was still family owned. Something has happened to them in the last 10 or 15 years and they aren't the same at all.

This imaginary jacket was a dark green wool, hip length jacket that might possibly be called Edwardian. Except when I look up Edwardian jackets, they don't look at all like what I have in my head. So I have decided that after I finish this jean jacket, I am going to design my imaginary jacket. It will be a first - I have always used patterns. And I will use pieces from my existing patterns to help me. But I am quite excited about this! I will make a muslin too - another first for me. And when I am ready, I plan to go see what Darrell can find me in the way of a beautiful fine dark wool tweed. Mmm, I can taste it already.