Summer 2002
Traffic light top
Having been invited to a NYE party with a 'T' theme (Two Thousand
and Two), I had to make a costume: I went as a
traffic light! I made a simple tank top from black lycra using New
Look 6845, view D. I then cut out some circles (red,
amber and green) and glued them on (using a washable tacking glue.)
With the scraps, I made a matching handbag. Very cute. I ended up
wearing the top with a black skirt, black shoes and the handbag.
My friends liked my costume. I have now washed the top and the
spots came off (as intended), so I now have a simple black tank
top.
Blue tee-shirt
On my annual post Christmas shopping spree, I finally got around
to buying the threads and notions needed to complete my summer
sewing. First in line was a sky blue cotton jersey tee-shirt. I
used McCall's
8188, but since I had lost the pattern
piece for the sleeveband, I had to draft my own (not hard by any
means.) I had intended to finish it in the same day to wear out
that night, but I ended up going out with friends, so I finished
it on the Sunday. Overall, it didn't take much time. The tee-shirt
looks great, having finished the neck, sleeve and hem with a twin
needle. I bought this fabric awhile ago from a store in the town
where I live. Their knit range is a lot more extensive than the
shops where I usually go. This is where I bought fabric for my
traffic light top.
Border print skirt
I had some black floral cotton in my stash, from the same John
Kaldor collection as my black floral dress. I had originally
planned to make a mock wrap skirt but in the end, I made a
straight skirt using a traced Burda magazine pattern. I put in an
invisble zipper for the first time. It is not perfect and it too
quite a few times but it works. I decided to finish my seams
differently this time. Usually I just zig zag, but I folded over
and sewed a straight stitch, giving the skirt a tidy finish.
I had a bit of trouble with my cutting. I was not concentrating (actually, I was thinking about the virus my computer had) when I realised that I was cutting away at the seam allowance...luckily I had enough fabric to cut out the skirt front again, otherwise my skirt might have been a bit small and on the short side. Another major problem I have is the material...I don't think I matched the fabric well with the pattern. It has quite a stiff sort of hand and it tends to "stand out" where the ease is instead of laying down as it would if the fabric was drapey.
Also, instead of applying a half lining (too hot),
I made bias strips and stitched that to the waistband. I hope
that it provides enough support there. It appears to be find. It
was folded over twice and then topstitched in place. I also
machine stitched the hem.
Yellow tank top
I whipped up a top using New
Look 6918 again and a lovely bright yellow viscose/lycra
knit. This fabric is delightful - cool to the touch and also very
soft. I didn't interface the neckline this time. Instead, I ended
up topstitching twice around the neckline with a twin needle and
trimmed the facing off. For rhythm, I stitched twice around the
hem with a twin needle, mimicing the neckline.
Blue nametag holder
On hearing that I sewed, a
guy that works in the church office asked me to make a navy wall
hanging that would hold the nametags that some helpers wear at
church. After cutting out all the pieces, I had a bit of trouble trying to turn the bias loopy things. A
lot of trouble. I decided to change tactic and planned to sew
lots of buttons holes for the nametags to hook onto. After I
irond the interfacing on, I knew that this project was going to
be a bit more trouble than I had anticipated. The interfacing (yes,
I bought the ultra cheap variety and I regret it), stretched and
bubbled and generally caused a lot of trouble, so I pulled it off.
I was about to blow the project off and give up. However, after a
bit of prayer, I decided to change tactic once again. With the
bias strips that I cut, I sewed them a different way: fold sides
to the middle, than in half again, pin and sew. This procedure
took ages but it was worth it as it looked much better than the
wrinkle excuse for a bias loop thing.
Then I marked where
the strips had to be placed (at 8cm intervals) with chalk I
pinned the strips on and then pinned on bias binding. I sewed the
binding on, sewing over the strips wedged inbetween, trimmed the
seam, turned and sewed. Actually, I think the pinning took most
up most of the time, as there really wasn't that much to sew. I
then had to repeat this procedure. When I pinned the other side,
I again faced a problem that I hadn't anticipated: the strips
hung down too much do to gravity. After a few experiments at
pulling the strips more so they were shorter, I decided to leave
the strips so that they were the same length as the wallhanging
but to sew a few lines vertically. This ended up being a good
solution, as the strips didn't hang much after that. Finally, I
sewed the top and bottom edges, leaving room to insert wood to
hang it and to dowel to weigh it down at the bottom.
Autumn 2002
Brown top
This was my first time
using slinky. I had a lovely coffee brown piece in my stash,
enough to make this cute Burda top that I traced ages ago. Okay,
so I will begin by saying that this project was a bit of a
failure. Not having refreshed my memory on slinky, I threw myslef
into this project maybe a little unprepared. Having had successes
in the past with all different types of knit fabric, I doubted
that I would have much trouble with this fabric.
Well, I did indeed have trouble. Rule number one - make sure you
cut slinky out "on grain." Actually, I didn't realise
that this was amiss before I tried on my top and saw that one
side was majorly longer on one side. I measured both sides: when
flat, everything appears fine but, because of it's weight, the
garment didn't hang. Rule number two - make sure that your fabric
and pattern are well matched. I jumped into this project one
night when I wasn't thinking straight. for this particular
pattern, there is not much of a shoulder seam, thus there isn't
much area to stabilise, leading to a very stretchy shoulder area
in general. Hmm. Rule number three - only buy colours that suit
your complextion. This colour does nothing for me. Actually, I
knew this when I bought it, but it was on special and it was a
nice, warm colour.
Lessons learnt: matching pattern with fabric is so important.
Usually I get this right, but as slinky is one fabric new to me,
and the fact that I didn't really consider its weight in the
equation led to an undesirable ending.
| Pink Tee Not having used Kwik Sew
patterns before and needing a good tee-shirt pattern, I
decided to buy Kwik Sew
2900 to try out the company and test out another
tee-shirt pattern. Well, I am impressed. The top looks
and fits great. I had several compliments. I used view A,
which is a mock turtleneck tee but I used short sleeves.
(I had intended to use the long for Winter but the sales
assistant didn't hear my request for a certain length and
only gave me a metre.) The fabric I choose was a pinky-colour
stretch velvet. The reason for my success: altering the
pattern. I always stalled at doing this because I thought
it was too hard but, as I had to traced off the pattern
anyway, I decided I might as well as the only way to make
it easier is to practice. Looking at the finished
measurements, I ended up choosing the XS size for the
shoulder area and graded it up to a S at the hips. |
 |
Red tee
Again using
KS 2900, I made view A
with the long sleeves in a lovely red cotton/lycra knit. This
went together really fast, since I only had to trace and alter
the sleeve before cutting. However, one thing I have noticed with
this version is the ease in the sleeves: there is way too much
for my liking. I made this top as a fitted tee and I like the
sleeves pretty fitted as well. In the future, I will slash and
overlap the sleeve pattern to achieve the desired fit but since I
only noticed it after sewing the sleeves on, I will just be
taking it in at the seams, not the best method but for lazy me, a
bit quicker.
 |
Hideous top No,
it top is not a part of my normal wardrobe. I made this |
Fitting shell
I have as good as finished
this project. I never did sew in the sleeves! I have been working
on this project for ages, but I could not be bothered to work on
it much. After making adjustments to the
width and length, the dress seems to fit well. It is suprising
how flattering I look in red gingham. I actually feel slimmer
because the garment does not feel tight in spots while loosing in
others. Hopefully I assessed myself well enough to produce well
fitting garments in the future. I have to thank my Mum who did
all the measurements for me.
DKNY Pants
I really thought I would have more time to make some good clothes
for prac. In the past years I have been able to get away with
wearing skirts but I just feel that as I begin work in a special
educational setting, I may need to wear something appropriate for
moving around (i.e. pants)
I think I last made pants, apart from boxer shorts, in 1994. I drove around and looked at three different stores in search of fabric for some elastic- waisted pants, but I had a hard time finding drapey and dark fabric, let alone for a good price. I ended up buying fabric from the bargain table at the last store. I has been really tough to work with but it has ended up looking alright.
I tried out a new waistband treatment (for me, that is). First of all I butted the elastic ends together with a scrap piece of fabric underneath and zigzagged them together. I then marked the quarters with pins and pinned the marks to the four seams. Stretching as I sewed, I used a stretch stitch to stitch the elastic to the fabric. (But not the raw edge...I had already folded and stitched by 6mm) I think I read this techniques somewhere and this is how I interpreted it. I will finish the waist by handstitching it at the seams.
I used Vogue 2235, an out of print DKNY pattern. The pattern also has a nice long bias skirt that I will make one of these days. I had a picture taken of me wearing them, but it did not work out and you can't see the whole pair anyway. Some other time.
Winter 2002
| Denim skirt This was very cheap to make, just perfect for my budget and my thrifty nature. I found a 70cm length of stretch dark denim in the remnant bin some time ago, which I bought for only $AU3.35. Obviously it was a very short piece but I thought I could make it into a hat or a handbag. At the time when I was thinking about buying some materials to make myself a denim jacket, I remembered that piece of denim and I dug out the fabric and measured a few skirt patterns, to see if I could squeeze out a skirt. Even though the pattern (McCalls 2129) said they required 80cm, I was able to used only 70cm with no special adjustments. I already had thread and a zipper that I had bought for a project that I changed my mind about. I have reused this pattern many times that it is paying for itself. This material was a dream to sew: not at all slippery, easily pressed and also very comfortable to wear, given the sretch factor! Can't wait to buy more and make that denim jacket. |
Twin set
I used Burda 2564 to make a twinset. I love this
pattern. This was my first time using a bought Burda pattern - I
have used patterns from WOF magazines in the past though. This
was actually a trial of the pattern, to see if I would use it for
my fuchsia sweater knit. I used a charcoal interlock, which is
beefier than the usual tee-shirt stuff. It actually took me
awhile to pin and cut out the material because of the thickness
and I am sure my scissors need sharpening now. I chose to ignore
the pattern layout, as I found it to be unsatisfactory. (I am so
glad I am not a beginner, so I can use my experience to make some
changes.)
 |
The sewing has been
really easy. My technique with knits has vastly improved
over the last year or so, as I have made a number of knit
tops. I ignored the directions again for setting in the
sleeves. I have found it much much easier to put the
sleeves in before the side seam is sewn. (I think this is
flat construction or something.) I ended up leaving the
sleeve/armcycle seams at 1.5cm, to see how hard or easy
it was. I didn't have a problem: I just matched the
centre of sleeve with the shoulder seam, matched the ends
and stretched and pinned in the sleeve. I ended up
trimming it down later, to reduce the bulk in this area. There are a couple of things I would like changed about the pattern instructions. Firstly, the sleeve directions should be changed, as mentioned earlier. Also, I don't like the interfacing issue: I would like a pattern piece supplied for the interfacing piece, instead of me trying to cut out the correct size. I found the direction for the interfacing very confusing. It said to cut a piece 10cm x 60cm and the corresponding diagram just confused me. In the end, after measuring the front of the cardigan, I thought that the pice was meant to be cut in half. But then I wondered why it was 10cm wide. I cut this is half, thus using two 5cm x 30cm pieces, which was enough to interface where the buttons are supposed to be. |
There are good
points though. I love the way Burda uses snips instead of
triangled notches. At first I didn't realise what they were but
they are much easier to cut. Just make sure it is a very tiny
snip...don't do past the stitch line! The topstiching detail adds
stability and decoration to the neckline. And the styling is just
great, not boxy at all.
This pattern makes a semi-fitted garment. Knit fabric are what is
recommended. I would go further to say that you can choose the
kind of knit fabric, based on the finished look of the garment. A
sweater knit or sweaterbody would be ideal for this pattern, and
I would also use a stretch velvet or velour. I probably would not
use a fine knit, because I prefer garments of this fabric to be
more fitted.
Pants
I used Vogue 9537 and a rayon/poly in a dark
charcoal (with white stitching forming squares). When I washed
the fabric, it become lovely and soft. As this pattern turned out
well, I will use it again for some of the fabric in my stash and
then some. I don't know why I put off doing the zipper. It is not
hard and it doesn't tke much time, as long as you press. When I
was at high school, I never pressed anything until the end and I
think I let that carry onto my zipper seam until now. How easy is
it when the seam is flat and straight. I refuse to tell you what
my zipper application was likebefore I pressed. In the future I
mightcut an extra 1.5cm allowance around the zip area. I did this
with the denium skirt and it just makes finishing the seam easier.
After measuring the pattern, I altered it so that it would "fit"
my measurements. Inevitably fabric will behave different to paper
though. I had to take it in so much at the waist and hips and
through the legs that next time I will go down a size.
I am sorry that I haven't made pants earlier. I have tried on so
many pairs in the shops that I had given up thinking that pants
looked flattering on my body. However, my pants fit and don't
make me look bigger than I am.
Polar Fleece Robe
I sewed a green polar fleece robe
for my friend Cindy, who turned 21 in July. I bought Kwik
Sew 1662 because it has a view specially for polar
fleece. However, I think it would be easier if I had a serger, as
the outside edges use a serger to finish. I have been using my
serger-like stitch for the edges, problem being it uses so much
thread. I estimate that I used 300meters of thread. Hmm.
Spring/Summer 2002
 Kwik Sew 3032 |
Three black tops I desperately needed some black tops for summer and choose Kwik Sew 3032, Burda 2564 and New Look 6918. According to the fabric requirements, to make these three tops would require 2.75 metres. I started with 3 metres of cotton lycra and there is still about a metre plus some big scraps. It is very economical to buy more and make the tops at the same time. I have enought to make a long sleeved top, but since I hadn't adjusted the sleeves at the time of cutting, I put the material back into the stash. I made the tee, tank and draped collar tops assembly line, stopping when I had to change the needle. By sewing this way, it doesn't take long at all. All together, the tops would have only taken a couple of hours to make. I plan to make tops like this in the future, using white and perhaps pink as it is so fast and easy. |
| Fuchsia bias top I thought I would trial an OOP Vogue pattern (2153) using some recently purchased some fuchsia cotton/linen. The pattern has three views: two bias dresses and one bias top/skirt combo, all with varying draped necklines. I had thought that the fabric would soften with a washing but I was wrong, so it is actually a bit stiff for this pattern. The recommended fabrics are a bit vague but I would probably recommend using a drapey material so that the neckline hangs nicely. I will use this pattern again though, for some floral dresses. |
 |
It is so easy and there are no zippers or buttons. I meant to use a small zigzag at the side seams but I forgot at the last minute. The only major change I made to the pattern was to ditch the extra lining. It is way too hot here in Australia to wear lined garments in Summer. The top half of the garment in self lined (the front piece folds over at the top and the back piece has a facing of sorts. To finish off the edges that would be the seam allowance when sewing on the lining, I used a Hong Kong finish using some black floral binding that I had left over from another project. This is the first time I have used the technique and it looks really good. I finished the hem with two rows of stitching, and I also topstitched the armholes.
| Fuchsia skirt I had a lovely piece of fuchsia coloured crinkle rayon which had an *interesting* print, leaves and vines. It lent itself to being cut like a border print, so I made an elastic-waist skirt from a rectangle. The width of the rectangle was my hip measurement plus 3cm for the back seam and 6cm for ease. Actually, I used a larger seam allowance so that it would not show through the split. I really like this skirt, as it was quick and easy to make. There is possibly a bit too much gathering at my waist than I prefer, the result of having a a big difference between my waist and hip measurements.In the future, I would shape the waist slightly by adding less ease at the top, or perhaps a couple of darts. As long as the waist is wide enough to slip over my hips, it should be fine. I did not think of this at the time and I was not sure the print of the material allowed for this to occur anyway. |
For the elastic waist, I pressed and stitched a hem. I then "butted" the ends of the elastic together (as shown in the blurry picture) and zigzagged them together before stretching and stitching the elastic to the wrong side of the fabric. Finally the elastic was turned to the inside and topstictched on the outside. |
Blue
skirt
I actually started this at the beginning of the year but this
became a UFO as the cold weather set in and I did not feel like
finishing it off. The material is an cotton blue floral (purple
and yellow flowers) that I bought at Lincraft. I used the short
version of McCalls
2129. I have used this pattern so much! I took a little time building up the
courage to do another invisible zipper. I did however do it the
first time, though I had to unpick a bit because a few stitches
were actually caught up in the zipper teeth. I really recommend
ironing the zipper before applying, as it is vastly easier to sew
when you don't have to push the teeth down (if using a regular
zipper foot). I topstitched the waistband and handsewed the hem.
Hot Pink PJs
I had some hot pink cotton jersey
in my stash that I decided was too bright to wear and would make
some good pajamas. I used Vogue 2565 for the
shorts and Burda 2564 for the tee. I also had
enough material to make a singlet, using New Look 6845.
All turned out well. I have already written about the tops, but
the Vogue pattern is new for me. I liked how the *waist* of the
shorts and pants are actaully below the waist. Makes it easier
with my small waist.
Black pants
I decided that the Black cotton/nylon
material that I had should be made into some cropped pants. I
again used Vogue 2565. Nothing special to
report, other than I really need to learn to fit pants properly.
I used the elastic waist technique again with excellent results.
I also sewed in a name tage to show me where the back is.
Tuesday, 10 June 2003