Catching Up

Tags

Butterick 5689, Butterick 6383, clothing, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing

That corduroy is so gorgeous!

 

I finally got it together to take some (admittedly meh) pictures of what I’ve been making, so let’s take a look.

Here’s the finished vest; if you recall, the two front pieces are corduroy, and the collar, back, and lining are a drapey poly/rayon, all from the stash (pattern is Butterick 6383).  I like the drama of this style–and LOVE the fabrics–so I will wear it, but NOBODY better say a thing about clown collars.

Believe it or not, I am not a professional model.

I had planned to wear this with a black turtleneck, but it looked much better over the red.  What it REALLY needs, actually, is the same top, but in maroon, which would coordinate better and not upstage the corduroy so much.  Will keep my eyes open for something like that.

Also, I didn’t realize it until I saw the pictures, but the neckline is a bit wide on this.  I’ve already overlapped the fronts more than the pattern called for–it was pretty huge.  I took advantage of the roominess of it to just sew the button through all the layers; this is one of those rare and beautiful instances where the lazy sewing method is also the more attractive one, as my machine would have made a mess of a buttonhole on these fabrics.

(Side note here:  does anybody understand the logic of when Big 4 patterns include a lining and when they just have facings?  I lined this and I actually think it was a lot easier than the big hassle the instructions put you through to face all those raw edges.  Are a lot of sewers intimidated by linings, so they avoid them?)

Need to tack down the point on the right front, I think.

Yep, black.

 

I am much more enthusiastic about the red jacket, though it took me a while to get there.

Pattern is Butterick 5689 (out of print, but available on Amazon), fabric is 2 1/2 yards of fuzzy red fleece from SCRAP.  Total out-of-pocket cost for this was about $13.

Whoops!  Collar wants to stick up, but I’m training it to curve nicely and it’s getting better.  The color of the fabric is much brighter in real life–not enough light in my living room.

Pattern didn’t call for a lining, but it has big facings. 

Apparently, I like living dangerously, because I cut this out on the day after the election.  I was in a state of horror/grief/shock, and I knew I shouldn’t take on grading a pattern in that frame of mind, but I did it anyway because I couldn’t bring myself to care about screwing it up.  I also didn’t cut this thick fabric in a single layer like I should have, because keeping track of that was more than my brain could handle.  I’m frankly a little bit amazed that all the pieces actually fit together like they were supposed to.

I constructed it in a similar mental state, and I now have no idea how all those front pieces go together (this jacket is a lot more complex than it looks), but I just followed the pictures carefully and it worked.  I had graded up a bit, but I wound up taking out the extra in the side seams.

YOWEE–look at the scrap of fabric I found in the stash for the pocket linings!

The biggest problem I had was with the collar.  I continued the front topstitching all the way around the base of the collar, hoping to hold the facing down, and that was a mistake.  All it got me was a weird lump under the collar that kept it from lying down flat.  Once I removed the extra topstitching and slip stitched down the facing, the whole area looked better.  I also put in some thin shoulder pads.  The collar still wants to flip up, but it’s getting better each time I wear the jacket.

There was no way my sewing machine would be able to do a buttonhole in this fabric, so I used a big snap under the button. 

That wearing business, though, that’s turning out to be surprisingly fraught.  I haven’t actually managed to wear this jacket anywhere other than the mailbox yet.  It turns out that the taboo status of red from my childhood is still stuck in my head.  Yep, I know it’s nuts, but I just seem to keep finding reasons to NOT wear this.  That’s why it keeps getting worn out to the mailbox–I’m trying to get used to that color, that particular color that nice Catholic girls just DO NOT wear.  Though I am crazy about bright colors, I thought for a long time that I didn’t like red.  It was a big deal a couple of years ago when I made the red knit top that I’m wearing with the vest in pics above; I only had that fabric because it was part of a Freecycled bag of fabric, as it wasn’t something I would have ever bought for myself.

Another problem with wearing the jacket is that I wasn’t sure for a while if I liked it.  It’s a little bit unstructured and droopy; my partner said it reminded him of a bath robe, which happened to be exactly what I had been thinking as well.  But I wore it today–to the mailbox, of course–and decided that unstructured was a perfectly respectable thing for a jacket to be, especially if said jacket is as soft and cuddly as this one.  So one of these days I will actually wear it someplace other than the mailbox.

In the meantime, my partner’s new fleece cycling jersey is all done, except for the new top stops for the zipper that I am waiting for UPS to bring me (why yes, the need for top stops was discovered the hard way).  And the Hello Kitty pullover is coming along.  It is easily the goofiest thing I have ever made and ZOMG I FREAKING LOVE IT SO MUCH.

I hope you all are getting down with your goofy selves, and wearing all the colors, too.

STH

 

Endings and Beginnings

Tags

cats, clothing, politics, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing

Happy bears make everything better.

How’s everybody doing?

It’s been a supremely weird, discombobulating couple of weeks, hasn’t it?

I actually wrote a long, long post about the election the other day, but then decided it was so “inside baseball” that it was probably interesting to nobody but me.  I felt better having written it, and that’s enough.

All I really want to say about the election, and our rather uncertain future, is this:  President Obama was on a conference call the other day with some Democratic activists and he told them that they have until Thanksgiving to mourn, then it’s time to get to work.

I sent a card to Hillary Clinton to thank her for her lifetime of service to the country and apologize for how she has been repaid for that service.  I’ve told Chrissa and Rachael at SCRAP that I won’t be volunteering there for a while.  My partner and I are going to sign up to work at Second Harvest; I’m also looking for a local immigrant organization that needs volunteers. And, even though I’m one of those people who really hate telephones, I made my first political call today to Paul Ryan to express my support for Obamacare.  My goal is to make one call a day.  I’ve also put myself on a news diet, just for my own mental health.  I’ve been a political junkie for some years now, but I need to change how I engage with politics–less time spent reading about horrible things that I have limited power to change, much more activism to hopefully help change what I can.  #ImStillWithHer  #StrongerTogether

And, while I’m doing that, thank goodness there’s sewing, and cats, and fall weather, and delicious food, and all the pleasures of life.  The American Thanksgiving is coming up this Thursday, and my honey and I will eat too much at the buffet, take a walk in the cold, and then come home to mulled wine, an afternoon nap, and sleepy cats on the bed with us.

On the sewing front, much has been happening here.  I finished both the vest and the red fuzzy jacket, though I haven’t gotten around to taking pictures of them yet.  I have reservations about both, but I probably need to actually wear them out of the house before I decide what I think.

In the meantime, I’ve started work on my partner’s cycling jersey, which then promptly came to a halt when I realized I’m out of narrow elastic and the zipper I bought for the jersey isn’t long enough. 

Also, my plan for the extremely fabulous corduroy has changed again.

I’ve had such a hard time committing to a pattern for this, I think because it’s such a great fabric and I don’t want to waste it.  I love jumpers because I can layer them and change how they look, but I wanted something really interesting and non-frumpy for this one.

So I got this at Joann’s on Saturday:

Looks like I’m finally going to have to learn to pattern match.  😛

I’ll have to lengthen it a bit, but I should have enough fabric to do that.

This dress is lined, and that’s a good thing, because that corduroy is going to fray like crazy.  I went to the stash, not expecting to find anything suitable that would be long enough, and found this:

No, not the fabric model–look at all that color around him!

This is a really unusual cotton that I bought at a quilting store years ago.  It’s magenta at one selvage, then shades to purple, blue, green, and finally dark gray at the other selvage.  I had figured I’d use it as a quilt backing, but I think it’ll make a cool lining for my cool ’60s style jumper.

But before I do that, I simply MUST MUST MUST do something with this:

MUST.

This Hello Kitty remnant has simply GOT to get combined with some other fleece pieces–I’ve got light pink, dark pink, orange, white, and black–to become a pullover.  I’m not sure why, but I’ve been dreaming of colorblocked fleece (and grabbing fleece remnants at SCRAP) since the middle of last summer, and fleece season is finally here!  And I really need me some cute and colorful and silly right about now.

So I’m hoping to get the cycling jersey done this week, then get to the Hello Kitty pullover.

Hope all is well with you folks.  Back soon with project pictures.

STH

 

 

Plans, and the Changing Thereof

Tags

Butterick 6383, cats, clothing, Friday Night With Friends, sewing

Sunday snog-fest on the sewing room windowsill.

WHAT?

I participated in Friday Night With Friends this week, and decided to get a start on my vest.

I’d been having second thoughts about my fabric choices for this.  All three fabrics here are very lightweight synthetics with a lot of drape.  But look at that photograph of the jacket in taffeta.  The suggested fabrics also include jacquard, broadcloth, linen, and tweed.  All fabrics with some body.  And the pattern is meant to be oversized–I sized down to an L and the finished hip measurement is still 13″ larger than my hips.  The vest is designed to stand out from the body, and I was afraid that my drapey fabrics would just make it look like a tent.

So I went to the stash again and came up with some gorgeous corduroy.  This is for the right front:

I wasn’t able to capture the depth of color in this–it’s amazing.  Those are gold highlights and the background is black, though it looks blue here.

And this is for the left front:

It’s black, but I’ve lightened it to show the texture.

So I cut the vest out on Friday and sewed a bit on Saturday, and this is what I have so far:

Hmmmm . . . don’t know how I feel about it yet.  Especially the puffy collar.  But, at the same time, I feel like everything about this project is new and a bit risky, and I’m just going to go with it for a while.  It’s a style I’ve never worn, with various features that are new to me, and I’m just going to wait to form an opinion until I see all the elements together.  These fabrics were just sitting around in a box, and at least now there’s a chance they’ll become something very cool.

I used to have a supervisor at a former job who was a terrible control freak about certain things, especially food.  You remember the sandwich-ordering scene from “When Harry Met Sally,” right?  Like that.  Then one day it occurred to me that controlling everything like that–wanting it the way you want it, as Sally put it–means you are never pleasantly surprised.  Like I frequently am by things like this and this.  So I am prepared to be pleasantly surprised by how this vest turns out.  🙂

This project has reminded me of how much I DESPISE gathering, however.  Gathered and tiered skirts were a thing when I was a teenager and I spent so many miserable hours wrangling long strips of cotton, and YUCK.  Was glad to get that over with.

Another change of plans that happened this weekend was this:

My honey came home from a bike ride Saturday afternoon and asked if I would make him another fleece cycling jersey, but this time with a full zip and thicker, warmer fleece.  And off we went to Joann’s to use our coupons and get supplies.

And yes, I did try to talk him into the tie dye fleece, or the fleece with the dogs on it, or the fleece with the huge black and yellow houndstooth, but we came home with the black.

Sigh.

So my plan right now is to finish the vest; I’m adding a lining, but that doesn’t really take any more time than facings.  Then I want to cut out the cycling jersey and my red jacket.

It’s going to be a very fuzzy week here.  🙂

STH

Dramatic Developments

Tags

clothing, Healthy and Happy: SSWD, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, Simplicity 8349, Simplicity 9873

The gun that is introduced in Act One . . . .

Sorry to have disappeared on you folks!  I keep doing that, don’t I?  I’m going to have to get a regular weekly-or-so thing going again . . . .

Anyway, the good news is that I am better at sewing than I am blogging, and work on my Destination Happy and Healthy collection has been coming along well.

You’ll recall that I wanted to make a slightly-slouchy turtleneck using this vintage pattern and some black cotton knit I got from SCRAP.  What I was going for was a top with lower armholes, a looser fit, and a softer, less constricting neck than the base-layer-type turtlenecks I see in stores.

I wasn’t sure how much ease I’d want in this, so I tried to err on the side of more–about 5″.  That was pretty close to perfect; I just increased the seam allowance a bit on the side seams to get it just the way I wanted it.  I also shortened the top and raised the shoulders so that the seams weren’t halfway down my upper arms.  And the collar piece was just ridiculously long–something like 13″, I guess for those women with “swan-like necks”?–so I shortened it, folded it in half, and sewed both edges to the neck of the top.

Dropped shoulders still dropped, just not as far.

Loose, comfy fit, but not sloppy.  Win!

 

I’ve also finished my black jumper!

My goal with this was to make a plain black dress that I could wear with a blouse or turtleneck underneath (and maybe leggings also) and accessorize with my VAST collection of hefty “statement” necklaces (see a small portion of said collection in the top photo).  Which I seriously love but never get to wear because I don’t have anything plain enough to serve as a good background for them.

---

I’ve had the lightweight, stretchy black denim for this in my stash for a couple of years now, but I’ve been putting off making it, I think because I was afraid it wouldn’t work.

But we have a success!

I really like it!  I was going for “Art Teacher” and hoping to avoid “Nun” and “Dystopian YA Novel” and I think I’ve done that.  (I have some experience with nuns and they don’t generally go for statement necklaces.  I just hope I don’t look like an extra from “The Handmaid’s Tale.”)

I was surprised when I first took the pattern out of the envelope–I had already cut it and had totally forgotten.  I suspect that project was a wadder; this dress is fairly fitted and I had cut out a 20, which would have been too small.  This time, I graded up to a 22 at the bust and hips, 24 at the waist, and the fit was right on.

This is a really simple style, but it took some time to complete because the denim frays like you wouldn’t believe, and I had to finish all those long, long seam allowances.  I didn’t want to use my usual French seams because of the bulk of the denim, so I chose two different finishes:  for the princess seams front and back, I pressed the seams open, folded the seam allowances under, and stitched them down about 1/4″ from both sides of the seams.  I also changed the back zipper from a lapped to a centered style so that I could approximate the look of the topstitching on the back seam as well.

You can see some zig zagging there; I initially hoped that would be enough to tame the fraying, but no way.

I inserted pockets of black rayon-poly into the side seams (YAY POCKETS), then bound the seam allowances with some bias fabric strips I had cut the wrong size some time ago and never used.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, my sister and I signed up for an “Intro to Beading” class at the new Makerspace that opened up here recently.  And I made this:

I’m pretty sure I was the only one in the class that didn’t think it was weird, but it reminded me of a Mid-Century Modern walking tour I had done not too long before.

I was thinking of that black jumper as I was making it, and then I remembered that I still had some of that fantastically-soft purple knit in the stash.  So obviously I had to make a purple turtleneck to go with my black dress and purple glass necklace.

 

AND, as if that wasn’t enough, I’ve also taken my first stab at making leggings!

Which . . . didn’t work out so well.  I need to take them in at the waist and, I suspect, add some elastic to the yoga waistband, so I’ve set them aside for now.  I’ve still got about 2 yards each of the black and the purple knits, and definitely want to turn those into leggings once I have a pattern that works for me.  I’m going to have SO MANY cozy warm layers to wear this winter!  I’m really pleased with how my fall sewing plans are progressing.  I’ve now got 6 wearable items done!

Next up may be the vest, now that I have the turtleneck I wanted to wear under it.

I hope that your creativity is flowing in dramatic (and well-fitting) directions.

Talk to you soon.

STH

ETA:  I have linked this post up to Crafty Quilter’s October UFO Linkup.