Quite Possibly the Cutest Thing I Have Ever Made

Yes, you read that correctly.  This is it:

Yes, I made an R2-D2 Bag.  My Princess Leia needed some more accessories for her Halloween costume, and perusing Pinterest, I saw some cute ideas.  This was my result.  What's better than Leia carrying around her loyal droid and having him hold her candy?  Nothing!  I used black flannel from my stash for the bag itself, felt for the white, shiny silver/gray vinyl for the rounded part and metallic bits on the body.  The blue was from my own costume, and the red was a tiny bit of felt.  Glue did not work, so everything was stitched on :)

Here is the Princess in her Ceremonial Dress (End of Episode IV: A New Hope)

I used a simple pattern, McCall's 6098 for the dress and improvised the sheer cape by draping and pinning.  The belt was shiny silver/gray vinyl and so was the necklace.  

McCall's 6098

This is a "1 Hour Dress" pattern, and that was pretty accurate.  I lengthened the sleeves since it is October, and a little chilly here in Virginia, and lengthened the dress too.  Easy peasy.  There is a neck facing and a keyhole opening in the back.  Very simple for beginners.

Sewing for kids

I managed to do a bit of sewing for my girls this Christmas.  First up is a blue corduroy skirt that I made using Jalie 2908 (yes, the jeans pattern) for a starting point.  I wanted to replace a denim skirt that she had loved to death, and I could not find a fly front denim-type skirt pattern.  This was my result:

I used gray topstitching thread for all of the topstitching. The pockets and fly shield were made from light blue poly crepe.

 

 

I made the length of the skirt a few inches below the knee and added a kick pleat to the back. 

Altering my pattern from jeans to a skirt was very straightforward.  I angled out from the widest point of the hip creating a flare for the front and back.  For the center front and back seams, I drew a straight line extending the center front at the fly, and center back at the widest part of the hip, down to my new hemline.  The only change I made was rotating the lower edge of back pockets outward toward the side seam.  As located per the pattern the pockets were a little odd looking and too parallel to the center back seam:

After rotating them outward...much better:

 

Next up for my Christmas sewing was a Jalie 2566 cardigan made with an argyle interlock knit.

 

My buttons were small pink hearts.  I thought I should use them while my daughter is still young enough to think they are cute.  She really likes this top.  I think the band lays strangely at the top button.  My version of this cardigan has this same issue, perhaps it is a pattern issue rather than an operator issue.  Much to my surprise, this pattern seems to be OOP.

 

Next up are 2 long sleeve versions of McCalls 6787 for my youngest.  The first one is made from a printed cotton jersey from Spandexworld.com.

 

 

The second version used a rayon knit for the top and a quilting cotton for the skirt.  I think it came out adorable:

 

 

 

That's it for my Christmas sewing.  It was a big success.  :)

Happy New Year everyone!   

PR Sewing Bee Round #2

I advanced to Round #2 of the PR Sewing Bee.  This week's challenge (and I do mean challenge) was to use men's button down shirts to make a garment for an adult.  I had a number of my husband's dress shirts in the "Refashion" pile which are no longer suitable for corporate wear. 

I chose one lavender and one dark purple shirt and after racking my brain for quite some time, decided on McCalls 6286 (now OOP).

I used the lavender shirt for the front, back and sleeves. The dark purple would be the collar and button band.

I had a rough time fitting this top.  I cut a 14 and did a 1" FBA creating a bust dart.  It was a little snug so I cut my pattern apart again and made it 1.5".  This made everything worse.  My muslin fit better than this:



Dear God...Avert your eyes!

I ripped out the bust dart and pointed it up toward the apex but wow...what a mess!

Long story short: the fit was horrible.  If it wasn't for the contest, this would have gone right in the re-recycle pile. 

Once I put it on, it looked like a waitress uniform, or worse, a bowling shirt. 

Contest entry photo

The collar was pretty though:

I split the raglan sleeve into a 2 piece sleeve, and made my own piping to highlight the seam which came out nice (even though it added to the waitress vibe):

The back didn't even look good:

Needless to say I did not advance to Round #3 with this atrocity.  Oh well.  On to more exciting things.

The Great PR Sewing Bee : A - Line skirt

Pattern Review has started "The Great Pattern Review Sewing Bee".  The first challenge is to sew an A-line skirt that has the following:

1. Zipper
2. Lining
3. Button/hook or any other closure
4. Waistband
5. Hem

Rather than drafting an A-line skirt from scratch, I began with my trusty McCalls 3830 Pencil skirt pattern and turned it into an A line skirt with a waistband.  I used Winifred Aldrich's excellent reference book "Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear" to do this. 

I traced my pattern pieces for the pencil skirt and started making changes.  For the front piece, I cut a vertical line through the center of the front dart down to the hem.  I then rotated the piece closing up the dart.  This swings the hemline outward.  I then added 1" to the width of the lower edge of the pattern piece and drew a straight line from that point at the hem up to the hip.

For the back piece, there was one 1" wide back dart.  I am very curvy in the back and did not want to remove the back darts entirely.  Instead I turned the 1" dart into a 1/2" wide dart, using the same cut and rotate method as for the front piece.  I added 1" to the width of the lower edge of the pattern piece as well.

Contest or no, if I make something, I want to wear it, not have it languish in my closet.  This A-line skirt needed to be a staple that would get a lot of wear.  An A-line skirt can be a great item for a capsule wardrobe.  I decided on a brown corduroy that I purchased in India and have had for several years.  In fact, all of the fabric and notions for this project came from my stash.  The lining is a brown and pink houndstooth charmeuse satin from Fabric.com.  I previously used this lining fabric on my second Simplicity 2057 jacket, and there is still some left. 

McCall's 3830 does not have a waistband, so I needed to make one myself.  I cut a straight waistband 3" wide and a few inches longer than my waist measurement.  I used 1/2" seam allowances so the finished waistband would be 1" wide.  I like to make my waistbands extra long so that I can sew them to the precise length after the skirt is assembled and fitted.  I shifted the original center back zipper to the left side an inserted a lapped zipper. 

Waistband

The contest requires a lining for the skirt.  I used the front and back pattern pieces for the lining.  The original pattern used front and back facings which became unnecessary with a lining and waistband.  This was my first time lining a skirt and I must say that I love the result.  Smooth slippery fabric next to your skin is fantastic.  I attached the lining at the zipper by machine and after a few passes, it looked quite good. 




Machine sewn lining at zipper

The trickiest part of an A-line skirt is hemming it.  To eliminate bulk at the hem, I serged the raw edge rather than turning the raw edge over.  I put the skirt on my dressform, pulled out my handy laser level and marked the hem.

Marking the hem

 
Once the hem was folded up and pinned, I hand basted it in place along the fold.  Then I hand sewed the hem, easing in the fullness.

Hem: basted and hand sewn

I used a similar process for hemming the lining.  I pinned and pressed it to the correct length and basted it in place near the fold.  Since the lining fabric was very prone to fraying, I turned the raw edge under and basted the raw edge only using the longest machine stitch.  Before hemming, I pulled the bobbin thread on the basting stitch and eased in the fullness before sewing the hem by machine. 

Lining hem: Eased fullness prior to sewing

Then the lining was done:

Lining Complete!

The finished skirt on display with some new scenery:

Front View

 

I am very pleased with this finished skirt.  I really took my time to do a nice job finishing the lining and hem. This will be a great skirt to wear this winter with tights and boots.   

Cardigan of the year, McCalls 6844

McCalls 6844 must be one of the most popular patterns released last fall.  To date, there are 33 reviews on PatternReview.com.  This is the pattern envelope photo:

 

It is a cardigan with peplum and length variations.  Here are the line drawings:

I am not on the peplum bandwagon, so I made view B, the longer version with no peplum.  Why am I not on the peplum bandwagon do you ask?  Well, #1: I'm not a trend follower, and I often dislike trends on the principle of them being trends, rather than what they are.  #2: I really really don't need extra volume at the hip/butt, I have plenty of volume on my own. 

 

I bought the pattern in the Large-XXL size range, before reading the reviews on PR.com.  Most of the reviews said that the pattern ran large and that cutting a size smaller than your measurements suggest is wise.  I, however, was skeptical and only adjusted the shoulders.  I cut a Large and graded to an XL at the hip. I cut the each of shoulders about 1/2" narrower than a size Large.  While the shoulder width is now pretty good, there is still too much width across the upper back and across the upper bust.  I will grade the pattern down in those areas to make it more like a Medium. 

 

The pattern states that this is a close fitting cardigan whose fronts do not meet.  Wrong!!  Even though I essentially cut a size too big, the fronts definitely overlap.   See?

 

Here it is belted and unbelted.  I am very short waisted; my natural waist is only a few inches below my bra band and I always wonder how it looks when I wear belts like this. 

Granted, with a big, loose style of cardigan like this, not cinching it in some way can add all-over volume, which isn't a great look either.  I'm not sure which way is best.  Here are some back views.  See how I really don't need the extra volume that a peplum would give me?  I'm all natural baby!

 

The construction of this cardigan was very quick and easy.  I didn't interface the front bands and I am happy with the result.  I used a sueded jersey knit from Denver Fabrics.  The sueded just means that the wrong side is a little fuzzy, which is very nice and cozy.

One more thing to check out...the hems:

Wait a minute...that looks like...is it?...Yes!  It IS!!  A Cover-Stitched Hem!  That's right friends, Santa was good to me this year.  (And by Santa I mean me)  My husband is not good at gift giving/shopping, so I placed the order for a Brother 2340CV and received it while he was out of the country on a business trip. 

I sent him a facebook chat: "You just bought me a lovely Christmas gift.  Thank you." 
His response was: "?" 

I have been putting money aside for most of the year saving up for a Cover-Stitch machine.  I had been looking at the Janome 1000cpx, but I simply could not justify the extra $$$ for it.  My serger is a brother (5234PRW), and I am very happy with it, so I felt comfortable with the brand.

So there it is, my first finished garment of 2014 and my January Garment of the Month.

 

 

Is that a coat? No, but check out those sleeve caps! (My November Project)

 As I was getting ready to go out wine tasting wearing my November project of the month and the newly saved McCall's 5847 denim shirtdress, my husband asked me: "Is that a coat?".  I was standing in our bedroom, no where near the front door and said:  "Do you really think I'm wearing a coat right now?"  Geesh.  That shows what he knows  :) 

 

So I was able to save my shirtdress.  I took of several inches off of the front princess seams as well as the side seams to undo my unnecessary FBA.  I also needed to raise up the bust point (the first time I have ever needed to do that), which I did by raising up the front of the dress at the shoulder seams.  Guess what happens when you raise up the front of a dress like that?  The size and shape of your armhole gets seriously changed (and smaller).  So when I went to attach the sleeves, the armscye (sleeve part) was a whopping and shocking 5" longer than the armhole.  How do you think that sleeve would look?  Like total crap, that's how.  (Thankfully, I had plenty of denim leftover to recut new full length sleeves.)  I found this very helpful tutorial about redrafting a sleeve to remove the sleeve cap ease.  The front of my armhole was at least 1" shorter than the back, so not only did I need to remove all of that ease, but I needed to move the top of the sleeve head toward the front.  Redrafting the sleeve was really no big deal and I loved how easy it was to set in the sleeve when there was no ease.  I think I may now be a convert to Fashion Incubator's belief that "Sleeve Cap Ease is Bogus".  I mean seriously, the re-drafted sleeves went in so smoothly and beautifully.  I may redraft my sleeves more often. 

Look at the difference between the before and after sleeve pattern...amazing!  And here it is in real life:

The top of that sleeve cap is so smooth!  If only I would stand up straight, that wrinkle on the back of the arm could go away too.

So my rookie mistake turned into a save.  Woo hoo!

 

Rookie Mistake

This weekend I'm going wine tasting with some girlfriends in celebration of one friend's birthday.  Did you know that Virginia is wine country?  It is!!  So a driver has been booked, and we'll be heading out to enjoy some local wines with good company.  What to wear?  My thoughts went toward a denim dress, cardigan, animal print scarf and my new boots.  Something like this:


from Polyvore

In order to wear this outfit, I needed a denim dress (minor detail).  I had some denim in my stash and after considering and rejecting it for jeans, I thought it would work well for a dress.  It was very lightweight with no stretch and I had a lot of it.  I pulled out McCall's 5847 shirtdress pattern.

I did a 1" FBA per the Palmer/Pletsch pattern instructions.  I cut it out and have it partially assembled.  OOOF!  I have made a rookie mistake.  I cut out the size corresponding to my high bust measurement and then did the FBA.  What did I forget to do?  I never looked at the finished garment measurements on the envelope.  DOH!  If I had I would have realized that there was 4" of ease at the bust, and I wouldn't have needed a FBA.  So now I have a giant shapeless sack.  Bring out the seam ripper, I need to slim this thing down a lot. 
 

MMM Day 2,3,4,5, & 6

True to my word there have not been daily posts.

Lets start with Day #2 (Thursday):  I wore my purple Renfrew hot off the machine and my eldest daughter, who was home sick from school, wore her matching Jalie 2566 (not blogged yet).  The fabric was purchased from Denver Fabrics and is a nice thick jersey with good stretch and good recovery.  I used the same fabric for my New Look 6150.  I think 3 tops out of one piece of fabric is pretty good.

Friday May 3:

I realized today (day 3) that I really don't have many places to go and it's difficult to get dressed up for a trip to school to pick up the kids when I don't even have to leave the car.  But I did it anyway and it turned out to be a good thing.  My youngest and I wound up going directly to the doctor's office.  Long story short, she had a splinter under her thumbnail (ouch) and it got infected, wasn't healing very quickly and her teacher and school nurse recommended taking her in to get checked out because they were terrified of staph infection.  Sigh.  So we spent some time at the doctor's office where I wore this:

The top is an unblogged version of New Look 6111, and the skirt is my favorite most worn me-made item ever: my denim, McCall's 3830 pencil skirt.

 Day 4: Saturday May 4
It was an unseasonably cold Saturday morning watching a softball double header, and I had to break out my long sleeves and a winter jacket.   I wore my Purple New Look 6150 (no photo from that day-oops!):

Day 5: Sunday May 5 (Cinco de Mayo)

Worn to swim practice (thankfully it is indoors right now): my newly finished and not yet blogged Vogue 8390 in Brown jersey knit.

A proper review of this is forthcoming, but you can see a couple of issues I had with this top.  I cut a straight 14 and the shoulders are too wide.  You can see where the seam is versus where my shoulder is.  I will cut it narrower through the shoulders and upper chest.  In the left photo you can see the under-layer (left front) is a bit floppy by my left hand.  I found the entire layer too loose.  Next time I make it (and there will be a next time) I will take a pie shaped piece out of the center front of the left front to take out some of the looseness.  Otherwise it is a big winner!

Day 6: Monday May 6

Spent the day at home after going to the gym in the morning.  It was chilly again so I wore my long sleeve Vogue 8323.  Looking back I never did a blog post nor did I do a PatternReview.  Tsk tsk, especially since I wear it a lot.    

Look! An action shot of me making bias tape:

That's the state of my MMM so far!