Three Days, Three shirts

Well after my confessions on Sunday about all my unfinished projects I was feeling very yuck.  I hate having things hanging over my head.  So I decided that this week was going to be finishing week.

I started Monday morning with the green shirt.  There was nothing technically wrong with it - it was just way too big so I figured that should be an easy fix - right???? wrong.  5 hours of sewing later I finally ended up with a finished project.  Its not fantastic, but its a wearable shirt so I'm happy.

So how did I do it.  I started by taking my sloper pattern and extending it down to shirt length.  This is where I encountered my first problem.  Figuring out how to take the dart out of the pattern.  I'm not 100% sure I did it right, but it seems to work.  I originally left the armhole as per the pattern and then pivoted the pattern around the dart point to figure out the new side seam, but this created too much length between the armhole and the waist, so in the end I kept the front line of the pattern in place and pivoted around the dart point, essentially elongating the armhole to account for the extra fabric required for my bust.  This seemed to work.

I then took the green shirt apart, laid it all out flat again and laid the new pattern pieces over them.

As I expected the arm hole was much too far out, and the sides of the top were a good 1-2 inches off too wide too, and that's without taking the negative ease that this fabric needs into account.  To account for the stretch of the fabric I moved the pattern over towards the center 1/2 in (essentially taking 1" fabric out of the center and back of the top), then re-cut the fabric to the sloper pattern.

I was then ready to start sewing.  Since I wasn't entirely sure how the pattern would work I sewed the whole thing together using the basting stitch to start with, and I'm glad I did, as I had to take it apart and make adjustments a few more times before I was happy, but finally I said OK, took the whole thing apart one last time and sewed it together using the correct stitches.  As I said 5 hours later I had a top that I could probably buy in a store for $15, nothing special,

I will admit here and now that my finishing on this top is not the greatest, by the time I got to the finishing stages I was so over it and just wanted it done.

One thing that I did do however, which I have never tried before, was add some tape along the shoulder seams to stop the top from stretching out.

Unfortunately I didn't think about doing this till the top was finished so it's a bit tacked on, it also means that the shoulders no longer sit beautifully flat when I'm wearing it.  But despite everything I have now been wearing this shirt for the last two days straight (hence the stain in the middle of the shirt already, please excuse that). It's beautifully comfortable, warm and snuggly so I'm happy.

On Tuesday I decided to tackle the orange shirt/dress.  This went a lot more smoothly thankfully.  I decided straight off the bat that I didn't like it as a dress, and it'd probably never get worn as a dress so my first action was to chop 16 inches off the bottom.

I then added a facing around the neckline.  This is where I spent most of my time and I was trying to decide whether to leave the neckline plain, or if I wanted to do something fancy.  I played around with adding a small draped cowl, piping etc, but in the end went with the plain facing.   I sewed the facing on, turned it over and top stitched it down and I still wasn't overly happy, so I went back with my twin needle and added a line of double stitches about 1.5 inches away from the neckline and this finished it beautifully.

After finishing the neckline I started looking at the bottom of the shirt.  again I played around with a couple of different options.  first I tried leaving it tunic length and leaving a split up with sides, and even doing a high low hem, but in the end I decided on ruching the two side seams creating a nice curve around the front and back.

Last but not least was the grey and white top.  After going out and buying a new underlay fabric, this time with stretch, I decided I wanted to give the shirt one last go with the original two materials.  I re-sewed the front and back together with both fabrics, using 1/4" seam allowance rather than the 5/8in (again using a basting stitch so I could easily rescue it if it didn't work).  I tried it on and it seemed to fit fine, wasn't too constricting, so I went and added in one sleeve (I used the 1/4" seam allowance to sew the sleeve together, but the full 5/8" to sew the sleeve into the top).  Again it seemed to be fine with that little bit of extra wiggle room, so I tried the final sleeve as well.  Yep - it works.  Unfortunately I then had to go and take it all apart again so I could sew it up properly using the right stitches.

            

Adding the collar turned out to be a bit trickier though.  I tried it first with the fleece and the grey and white material layered together, but first it was way too thick, and second without the stretch it wasn't going to work, so I broke out the new material I bought, a plain grey knit fabric.  Its much thinner than the fleece and has the required stretch so it worked beautifully.  I had a few problems getting the stripes to sit nicely at the bottom of the V neck - next time I think I'll go for a scoop neck if I'm using a striped fabric.

And last of all came the band around the bottom.  Again I used the grey knit fabric to line my grey and white stripes.  When I tried it on it was too long, right down past my bum, so I had to take the band off, cut a good 3" off the bottom and reattach.  a good thing I was still basting on first before doing the final sew.

I was happy that I managed to get most of my stripes to line up pretty well,  Its a bit off near the top of the shoulder, but everywhere else was pretty good.

Realistically the amount of time it took me to sew this shirt was very short, but since I basted and tried on after every single seam it ended up taking quite some time to finish.  The final product is probably more sweater than shirt, but that's OK, just this morning my 6 year old son asked why I wore my purple sweater every single day and I realsied that yes I really only have one around the house day to day sweater, so at least now I have two.

Unfinished Projects? Why yes I do have a few!

So I haven't posted much lately and there is a reason for that....The last couple of weeks have been some of the most frustrating I've ever had from a sewing point of view.  I've started not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 projects in that last few weeks and not one of them has been finished for one reason or another.

I decided that I should probably document some of my issues, and then hopefully I can document my fixes if and when they happen so that next time I encounter these problems I have some idea of what I'm doing.

Project 1 - The Coat

It all started with the coat muslin.  I've got a couple of coats in conception phase in my mind. The coat I made last year I love but I wanted to make a few modifications before starting the new coat.

I made myself a coat last year, straight off of Simplicity Pattern 1732

 

Now whilst I absolutely love this coat it does have a few issues.


The old coat is a bit too wide across the shoulders at the back leading to some bunching

And it also has a few design elements that I don't want on the new coats. Things such as the puffed sleeves. the huge lapels, and finally when its cut off at the 3/4 length as I want my next coat to be, its a bit too flared.

So my plan was to trace the existing pattern pieces onto new paper, then modify it using the sloper that I made earlier.  I did this and made up a muslin. After much tweaking and many many many modifications I ended up with this...

(please excuse the hair that really needs to be re-dyed and the ugly muslin material - not my most flattering photos)

The front it pretty much shapeless, the back is ok, but the sleeves are two different patterns and neither or them fit or hang nicely and are both too tight around my arm.

 I spent hours and hours trying to get this pattern to work, mainly working with the arm scythe and sleeve.  In the end I decided to just throw it out and start all over again,

I decided to go right back to the beginning and  create a new sloper.  This time however, when measuring for my sloper I was able to use my new dressform.

A couple of months ago I decided that I would love a dress form, with all the sewing I do it would really come in handy.  But I didn't want to hand over lots of money just to find that I couldn't adjust it to my dimensions - which is a definite possibility given my proportions. So after searching the internet for many hours I found a do it yourself solution using duct tape.  I wasn't sure how well it would work, so rather than jump straight in I decided to try it out on my kids first.

                        My Daughter                                                                                                                 My Son

I know that these forms will probably only last for a month or so the way they're growing, but it was still fun, and it'll be fun to look back on just how small they are in later years.

Once I had the trials under my belt I went ahead and tried it on myself.  Unfortunately this one didn't work quite so well, but what did I expect when I had a 6 and a 7 year old doing most of the work.  From the bust down the form is good, because I was able to do most of it myself, however over the shoulders and across the back, where L did most of the work, it did not come out quite so well, Since across the shoulders and around the arm holes is the area that I have the most problems with, this was very disappointing. In the end however the form was able to be of some use.  I was able to use it when measuring for my new sloper.  Since I was able to draw marks all over it and they didn't move, it allowed me to get much more accurate measurements which in turn made for a much better sloper.

 

It's still not perfect, but its a lot better!

At this point however I stalled.  After all the work I had put into it I'm a bit afraid to try modifying the sloper into the coat pattern.  My original coat pattern is princess seams and I'm still trying to figure out if I want to stay with this or if I go for a darted coat pattern.  and once again indecision leads to inaction and the whole project had been thrown in the too hard pile in the corner.

Project 2 - the Orange Dress/Top

So in the mean time I decided to try something a little simpler.  I found an orange/black knit fabric during one of my many trips to the fabric store, and I couldn't resist it.  I was originally thinking about making a top from this material, then I found this free Dress Pattern from So Sew Easy and decided I would like to try it out.  This actually worked out quite well.  I lengthened the sleeves to full length since I've never been a fan of 3/4 length sleeves and cut out the smallest size along the top edges and the largest size down the side seams to allow me to adjust it as required.  It did require a little rework along the side seams, letting it out in a few places and taking it in a few others, Whislt the fit ended up OK, the style is not right for me - shows off my big belly, and the fabric choice was also pretty bad.  This fabric is just too much as a dress,especially a long sleeve, long dress (which is what the dress ended up as on me when cut out to the pattern).

So the plan here is to cut it off and go back to either a tunic length or a top.  Still trying to decide which, and until I do this one is still in the too hard pile in the corner.

Project 3 - The Grey Top

On one of my many trips to the fabric store I found this great piece of grey and white stripe, loosly knit fabric.  Its very pretty but very stretchy so I found some great grey fleecy fabric to go  underneath it.

Both fabrics layered together

I was a bit jaded after all my failures so I thought that I should go back to a real pattern this time around. I went through my patterns and found one that I liked. Simplicity 5133.

I decided on view 2 with the V neck and the bottom band, but again lengthening the sleeves to full length.

I cut out the fleecy material first.  Based on my measurements I was between a 14 and 16 around the bust, well above an 18 at the waist and below a 10 for length.  I chose size 14 as I figured that the bust was the most important fit in this pattern,....and because my mum had already cut the pattern out to a size 14 (Ok so I'ma bit lazy at times).  I sewed the shoulders together and then machine basted the sleeves in.  I tried this on and it seemed to be going well so I went ahead and cut out the grey and white fabric.  I got it all cut out, re-sewed the shoulder seams with both fabrics, re-basted in one sleeve and pinned the side and sleeve seams and tried it on......it was at this point that I realised that the fleecy grey material I had chosen had no stretch whatsoever...... The whole thing was just too tight.

The plan now is to buy a new under material and try this again.  I figure I can  re-cut the existing fleecy material into a coat for one of the kids.

But in the mean time - into the pile on the corner this goes.

Project 4 - the Green Top

I still wanted to make the simplicity top - and I had a piece of material that I bought back in Australia that I wanted to make into a top so I started over again.  This time I made sure that I tested the stretch of the fabric against the pattern and it looked right so I cut it out - again using the size 14.  I sewed the shoulder seams together, then pinned the sleeves in and the side seams together and tried it on.....

This time the pattern is way to big!  I can't win.  The shoulders are way too wide and the whole thing looks like a tent.  I took it off and re-pinned it an extra inch on each side seam plus and an inch down the front and back and it started to look like its supposed to.

I think with this one I'm going to try and re-cut it using my sloper since I don't want to have a seam right down the middle of it and it was nice and long to start with.  but in the meantime - to the corner it goes.

This is getting depressing

Comfortable, cute and practical shoes.....why yes they do exist

I've been making my own shoes for a few years now as seen in all these photos, and this is only maybe half of what I've made.

My Very first pair of shoes

Version 2 of shoe pattern

Strappy version

Mum and daughter matching sandals

Winter boots take 2

Winter boots

ballet flat version

The biggest pros for making my own shoes are:

1.  The cuteness factor.   I love having shoes in great patterns and colours and finding them in stores are almost impossible.  And if I do find a pair of shoes I like in they invariably come with 5 inch heels, which leads me to point 2.

2.  Comfort.  For me comfort is a must.  I will not wear shoes that are uncomfortable no matter how cute they are.  If I could walk around all day barefooted I'd be happy, but  society says I can't, so minimalist shoes are the next best thing.  The main things I look for is a flexible sole, no heel rise and a wide toe box as I have very wide feet.

There are however a few cons that come with the homemade shoes:

1. The flexible soling material that I use wears out very fast, meaning I have to make new shoes every season.

2. The shoes are not always practical in adverse weather like rain or snow.

So as the weather is starting to cool down once again I decided it was time for another new pair of shoes.  As much as I love the bright coloured and patterned shoes, I have found that there are occasions where my shoes just don't go with the rest of my outfit, so I decided that this pair should be a bit more subdued.  I did not however want to make a plain pair of black shoes.

Rummaging through my wardrobe I found an old skirt that I made over 10 years ago and have worn probably twice in that time.  It was made from a heavy cotton fabric that is a very dark gray with black flocked velvet flowers.  I decided that the skirt could be refashioned into a much more wearable pair of shoes.

Original skirt with the shoe vamps cut out

Now whilst I've made myself many pairs of shoes over the years I don't think any two have been made from the same pattern, there's always something that I don't quite love that I think could be done better so I'm constantly tweaking the pattern. My last pair of shoes were very comfortable.

But they were a bit bulbous around the toes.  This time around I used the same pattern, but extended the toe into a point - I love me some pointy toed shoes.

There are 7 different materials I used to make these shoes.

1. The outside is the refashioned skirt material.

2. The vamp is then lined with a waterproof PUL material left over from my days of making nappies/diapers.  I added this to the shoes in an attempt to make them slightly more waterproof. They're still not going to be fully waterproof as there are all sorts of holes in the material where its been sewn, but hopefully it'll keep my feet fairly dry.

3.  Finally there is a layer of fleece left over from one of my kids clothes projects on the inside of the upper shoe for warmth and comfort.

Showing fleece and innersole material

4. On the bottom of the inside of the shoe is a heavy weight brown mystery material that I bought long ago for a halloween costume.  Its like a heavy weight super duty velvet that I hope will stand up to a lot of wear.  I've found before that when I've used fleece or cotton in this area is really wears out fast.

5. On the bottom of the sole is a special soling material that I bought off etsy (no longer available).  It is basically a heavy knit fabric to which a thin layer of rubber has been vulcanised. It can be machine sewed which I like as it means no gluing is required.

showing sole material underneath

6.  Between the outer sole and the inner sole I've put a piece of 1/4" thick craft foam.  In this case it was foam in the form of those door hangers that you find in the kids craft section.

7. I've also added silicone gel pads that I found in my local dollar shop on top of the foam, underneath the balls of my feet for extra cushioning.

I wore these for the first time today. There is a little bit of pinching around my toes doe to the point, but as the shoe stretches this will probably reduce.  The thing I love the best about these shoes at the moment is the way the toe turns up a little at the tip giving it a bit of a pixie look.

So much for no new fabric

In my post An Exercise in Frustration  that I wrote last week I mentioned that I didn't want to buy any new fabric until I had used up some of what I already have.  Well that resolution didn't last long.  I really wanted to try out the dress pattern that I had created but I couldn't find anything in my stash to make it out of.  So I promised myself that I would only buy material for one dress.......

Well I found the most beautiful fabric.

A purple satin velvet overlayed with an iridescent floral/ paisley pattern in metallic.  A quick google search tells me that this is a Manuel Canovas fabric and is supposedly a home decor fabric but since when has that stopped me.  I think it'll make either a beautiful dress, or possibly a coat so it'll get more wear.

I also found a stretchy cotton fabric with a green geometric circle pattern that I loved which will make a lovely day dress.

And just as I was heading to the cash register I found the most fantastic fabric for a jacket.  Its a vinyl material in the most beautiful iridescent teal green colour.

Ok it's probably not everyone's choice of jacket material, but long long ago I had a vinyl jacket that was just so warm and snuggly.

Vinyl Jacket doing service in Cape Bona Vista - Newfoundland

That jacket has since been retired as it was falling apart, but the moment I saw this fabric I just knew it needed to be made into a similar jacket.  Although the more I think about it the more I think of lengthening it into an A-line 3/4 length coat.  Something like this but with a zipper rather than buttons.

Like this but with a bit more flare at the bottom.

So now I just need to find a snuggly material to line it with.  I've spent some time over the last week playing around with the coat pattern that I used last year, modifying it to fit a bit better - I'll try and use that pattern again but with a few modifications.

But back to the dress that took me to the fabric store in the first place.  I decided to try out the pattern on the green geometric cotton first before cutting into the beautiful purple velvet.

I cut the fabric out exactly to the pattern I made but then had to make a few modifications.  First of all the under bust darts needed to be extended further down past the waist line.  I had originally made the dart about 10cm long below the waist, but needed to extend it to 20 cm.  The same for the back darts.  I extended them from 10cm to 20 cm down from the waist.  I cut the sleeves off just above the elbow.  At this point the dress was very close to fitting well, it was just a little loose across the shoulders.  The shoulders seemed to be too far out.  It needed to be taken in along the center line by at least an inch.  After the amount of time I spent trying to get pattern placement right I was very loath to do this, but I decided in the end that it was necessary and the dress definitely fits a lot better now that I've done it.

Speaking of pattern placement I'm not sure what I was thinking when I cut out the back.

 I got the large circle lined up beautifully, but that leaves me with twin circles  right over my butt, not the best look.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the pattern and the dress.  As far as the pattern goes, the side bust dart needs to move down a little bit, its not in quite the right place, and next time I'll move the center fold line in so I don't need to take off that extra inch down the center but other than that I'm happy.