Things to think about when sewing

A friend recently asked me to help her make a skirt.  Well actually, she asked me to make it, but I persuaded her to have a go.  So I was putting together a little pack of instructions and it got me thinking about some things you need to think about when making clothes and I thought I'd put together my little list here for you all.

Firstly, never, never, never, ever, ever, EVER use your fabric scissors on anything but fabric.  Remember the childhood game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, where scissors beat paper? Well they do, but paper is the race equivalent of a tortoise.........over time paper will blunt your scissors (and therefore be triumphant!).......and blunt scissors do not and will not cut fabric.  In fact, they will eat your fabric, which isn't quite so bad if it is cheapy toile fabric, but not your lovely, expensive me-made-to-wear fabric.  So quite simply, only use your fabric-cutting scissors for fabric (and explain to all family members that if they want to keep their limbs, they keep their hands off your fabric scissors too and you must manage as menacing face as possible when telling them this). I have a cheap pair of scissors for cutting paper (actually, I have several pairs of these as little hands keep stealing my paper scissors) and a couple of pairs of fabric scissors, and for these always buy the best you can afford.

When it comes to cutting out your pattern pieces, give some thought to seam allowances.  Commercial patterns tend to all 1.5cm seam allowance, but that doesn't mean you have to stick to it.  If I am inserting a zip, I like to allow at least 2cm seam allowance on the zip seam.  It adds a bit more stability to the allowance where the zip is and also means I can finish the seam allowance.  Also, think about how you want to finish your seam allowances; are you going to zig-zag stitch it, overlock it, give a "hemmed" finish (ie turn it under and stitch close to the fold line).  How you want to finish your seam allowance (and this will depend on your fabric choice) will determine how much seam allowance you need to have.

Do you want your clothing to be lined?  Anything can be lined and if a pattern doesn't include lining, it doesn't mean it can't be or you shouldn't line it.  Lining often makes clothes hang better, and also helps prevent wear and tear on seams (as they are hidden away).  It also means you don't have to finish off your seam allowances as they will no be subjected to direct wear and tear and so won't fray (if it is a frayable fabric!)

Don't be afraid to change things in a pattern.  You may love a particular style of dress, for example, but the neckline may not suit you.  Just change it to one you do like (obviously, if you do this, you will need to change the shape of any facing, but it's no big deal).

And lastly, always toile a pattern (test it out on cheap fabric) first to check the fit.  You really don't want to go straight into cutting your precious fabric only to find that it doesn't quite fit (and that one is learnt from bitter experience!)

What things do you give thought to when you are sewing?

Satin Top for Miss FM and some lessons learnt

Miss FM was recently invited to the batmizvah of her best friend's sister (ya with me so far?).  Now,the dress code for this was "posh frock" which sent Miss FM (and not to mention me) into a tail spin.  Why?  Well, Miss FM is very sporty, not particularly girly and loves her trainers and leggings.  She owns only 1 dress, which she asked for and then has subsequently refused to wear.  She refused to look at dresses and shoes whilst I sat in a corner wailing and gnashing my teeth.  We then went fabric shopping and found some (as I thought at the time) pale blue satin and an A-line dress pattern which I could adapt to make a 60's style shift dress and which I thought would suit her petite frame, as well as being on trend.  Sorted!  However, unbeknownst to me Mr FM had suggested DM style boots and tutu skirt which Little Miss was very taken with.  So boots (some very lush patent white ones were found) and a navy blue tutu skirt were found.  So instead of being Audrey Hepburnesque, she was insistent on funky goth!  I then realised that my pattern was the wrong style to make into a top and searched around and came across Burdastyle 09/2012 #150  which I could easily (did  you hear the snigger there?) adapt to a top.

Now Miss FM is 10 next month, but is very slight in frame.  This pattern didn't go up to her age, (think it goes up to an age 6) but her measurements weren't that far out.  I did the dreaded tracing of the pattern and set about making a toile.  I decided to add the extra width at CF and CB and thought that I would have to drop the armhole.  In my panic (this was on Friday night and the party was on Sunday and Saturday was fully of sporting fixtures) I couldn't remember how to adjust the sleeve to get the right length but an emergency call-out to the lovely TSF (www.thesewingforum.co.uk) ladies sorted that.  Toiled the bodice and found I had to take out all the excess I'd put in and so decided to do the sleeve as per the original pattern too.  Little Miss tried it on, and success!  It fitted no alterations needed!!!  However overnight, I was awoken with a nagging feeling.  When I did my pattern cutting course, my tutor always said that only 1 sleeve need to be toiled if your body was symmetrical, which I had done.  However in the break of dawn, I was having my doubts.  I did the other sleeve and it was too small - not enough width and too high under the arms.

As the top fitted her perfectly around the neck, I decided to add the extra width in the shoulders by slashing and spreading the pattern.  I cut up the bodice from hem to shoulder and added 2cm.  Make sure you have a reference point, eg a waistline so that when you move the pattern piece out, it is kept at the same level to keep the proportions correct.  Just redraw the shoulder line from point to point.

 To make the sleeve adjustment, I had draw in the Crown Line (or bicep line as it was told to me).  This is the point where the sleeve head meets the sleeve edge. See below.

 Again, I did the "slash and spread" method.  I had lowered the armhole by 2cm, which meant that I to increase the height above the crown line by 2cm.  She also wanted the sleeves wider so I added 1 cm to each side of the sleeve and redrew the sleeve head to match. If you widen the sleeves, remember to add the same amount on the side seams of the bodice.

I decided against doing a facing and just lined the top (the satin was shredded on a cut edge as soon as the scissors were waved in the air!) as that was the best way of protecting the armhole edges (my overlocker foot and power pedal has been missing since we moved, 10 years ago, never got round to replacing it and my machine really doesn't like doing zig-zag stitch) and I put in a concealed zip. The top was very baggy which Little Miss was happy with but wasn't right with the skirt so I pinched out some darts in the back, leaving some bagginess in the front as a compromise. And here it is: 

It's a bit frumpy on, in my opinion but it was what Little Miss specified and who am I to argue with someone's burgeoning style.  She was happy and a happily dressed person is a confident one!

Oh and the lessons learned?  1)  Don't start a project late at night, especially if you will need to do (major) alterations, 2) Your tutor isn't always right and 3) don't let your other half get involved in wardrobe planning!

New Year, New Aims

Well, apologies for the belated wishes, but Happy New Year to you all.  I hope you all enjoyed your festivities.  Ours were relaxed and fairly quiet, which was welcome following the mayhem that was work.

Well it is a new year and it is time for (and I hesitate in saying the word) resolutions.  I used to set the ones that I guess most of us do.....get fit, lose weight, but I never did so I stopped making them.  However this year, I am setting myself aims.  I need quite a few things to change and my aim is make those changes.

In that vein, I have sewing aims too.  I failed miserably last year on what I wanted to do sewing-wise, so new year=new start.  I am still struggling with my wardrobe, but I have started the 40+ New Year Style Challenge and it is proving to be an interesting journey.  As I have commented previously, I love my jeans and indeed wear them most of the time.  I don't need a fancy wardrobe as I work from home and have a family, so jeans suit my lifestyle.  I would like to smarten up a bit though and just get out of my jeans occasionally.  But what is interesting is that I have learned that my style is Natural Elegance, so I have decided that rather denigrate my love of jeans, embrace them, they are what I am.  I also have a fear of pattern (one of our tasks was to put together outfits with at least 2 patterns in, it brought me out in hives, I tell you!), but actually, it is a really fab way of livening up an outfit, and I have also found out that I tend to favour a monochrome colour style, and tend to wear shades of one colour.  So I have a few things to work on, such as introducing more pattern and colour into my wardrobe.

I do still want to smarten up my wardrobe, so my aim is to make my skirt block, and also my trouser block.  My summer wardrobe is lacking in trousers and my winter wardrobe is lacking in skirts (well, jeans to count as trousers, don't they?).  I like clothes that can be multi-purpose, ie they can be dressed up and dressed down (which is why jeans are so a staple in my wardrobe), so I need to make some trousers that can be used for smart casual for work, but can then be used when I go out on the town with my girls.  I'm also looking make a few tops that fit that bill too.  I am also lacking in a couple of fancy outfits.  Last year, I had to miss out on the offer of last minute tickets to a ball as Cinders here had not a thing to wear.  I don't want to miss out again! (I am a sucker for a posh frock and champagne do!). However rather than do it all hap-hazardly, I need to work on building a whole wardrobe and not just bits and pieces and hope they all go together.  Coletterie are about to run their own style challenge: The Wardrobe Architect  so I shall be taking part in that.  Come back and see my progress.

I also want to practice certain techniques, rolled hems being one of them.  I can tend to do them by hand, but sometimes for speed, a machine-rolled hem is the only way to go and mine aren't great.  I want to learn to make those wavy, fishing line hems too.  I would also like learn to make corsets.

So quite a few aims there, which will take up a good part of the year, so I'd better aim at finding time to do them!!  So what resolutions, I mean aims have you decided on for 2014?

Baby Doll Pram Set

We, hubby and I, both come from largish families and at Christmas time, we have a family rule that we spend a set amount on each little branch to be spent however we deem.  It makes for interesting buying, sometimes with the parents missing out, or at best getting a token gift, whilst the majority of it goes on the children.  I like to try and make things; it makes the money go further and makes for more interesting and personal gifts, time allowing as ever.  Alas this year, time did not really allow for it and I only got around to making one.  My littlest niece (the disgusted recipient of a clothing present), Little Miss H, was given a wooden pram for Christmas last year.  It was pretty enough, being the typical pink of so many little girls' things, but just not comfy enough for a baby doll, no mattress and no covers.  I promised then to make her something but just never got round to it.  So I decided to make it for her Christmas present whilst hoping it would be better received!

I'd made a quilt a few years ago for my daughter.  I'd found this gorgeous piggie fairy fabric when she was tiny and held onto it with the intention of making a quilt for her.  In fact I had it so long, I couldn't even remember what it was called nor who made it!!!!  It (the quilt) was in gorgeously girlie pink and purples.........just right for a little pram set and so I raided my stash.  It took me just as long to decide which fabrics I was going to use as it did to stitch it.  I settled on a very basic square pattern, with stitch in the ditch quilting.  I cut up a duvet from when my wee lass was a baby and used that for the mattress, giving it a plain pink cover and made a pillow to match, with a stripe of fabric down one short side to match the binding on the quilt.

I am pleased to report that Little Miss H was far more impressed with this gift, exclaiming "Cushion!" when she saw the mattress and cuddling it tightly!  She then spent the evening tucking her baby snuggly into her pram.  Success this time!

The Skadi Dress

I tend to flick between knitting and sewing, although I do sew more than I knit.  I think I prefer the more immediacy of sewing.  I say immediacy with a reasonable amount of tongue in cheek!  I am a member of Ravelry and I have to say, I love that site.  I've always liked clothes that are not found on the high street, which is one of the reasons I started sewing and the same goes for knitting. Ravelry is fabulous as it is a huge resource of patterns, mostly from independent designers.  One of the patterns I found was the gorgeous Skadi dress by Erica Neitzke  It has a lovely vintage feel to it, so right for nowadays.  It is knitted in the round and knits up like a dream (and I am new to knitting in the round).  My daughter is too old for this (not to mention has developed a severe allergy to dresses) but luckily, we are girl heavy in our family, so my youngest niece was the recipient of this in time for her second birthday.  Alas she was distinctly unimpressed, being that her present was clothing, but her mummy loved it!  Hope you do too!

Well Hello! Long time, no see!

Well, 3 posts do not a blog make (which I have shamelessy pinched from the blog of a fellow forumite!)!  I have an excuse, a very good excuse.  Well it is the only excuse I have, so it will have to do.  Before starting this blog, I had a really nasty, severe bout of sciatica.  For those of you that haven't had it, let me put it this way....I gave birth to all 3 of my children without pain relief, and I would do it again, in fact all 3 at the same time, rather than have sciatica.  I had an episode last year and a mini-cocktail of drugs and some time sorted it.  This time, I ended up in A&E, was given a shed-load of drugs, both oral and injection, none of which worked and sent on my merry-way with a bag positively rattling with a cocktail of drugs.  I tried to settle down to sewing, but it was just too much.  After months of physiotherapy, I am reasonably back to normal, and how I am now is likely to be my normal, which isn't what my normal used to be, but hey ho!

I did, during that time, make a gown for someone (more of that later), but a recent girl's night and an empty wardrobe tempted me into trying to sew again.  Well you know what they say about necessity being the mother of invention - it was time to get inventing.   I say inventing,  I raided my Burda Style magazines.  I have been collecting these magazines for years and then I fell out of love with them; their patterns were dull, dull, dull.  However they turned a corner and our romance was rekindled.  I found an asymetrical top in the July 2011 edition (pattern 113) and raided my stash, finding a silk satin-backed crepe (or crepe-backed satin) and a silk chiffon.  I decided to wing it and not make a toile, figuring that as it isn't fitted, I would probably get away with it.  Once I'd got over tracing off the pattern (I have never forgiven Burda for skimping on their pattern pages), it was an absolute dream to put together, although cutting the chiffon sleeves proved to be somewhat of a challenge.  I thought I'd pinned it to within an inch of its life.....but it moved so that in the  middle there was barely any sleeve and actually it was not even discernably a sleeve!

Take 2:

I pinned it diagonally around the seam allowance.  It was better but I still wasn't convinced.

Take 3:

I had some lightweight iron on interfacing so I pinned to chiffon to the rough side thinking that it would be gripped by the glue.  It was a bugger to cut it that way as it was pinned to the interfacing and actually,  I couldn't tell the difference between attempt 2 or 3!!!!  I did a french seam for the side seams and just zig-zagged the trimmed edges for the neck and sleeves, which was a bit of a mistake as my beloved Janome really doesn't like zig-zag finishing, but it was ok, not great, but ok (and who else will get to see the insides when I'm wearing it?!).  In the pattern, the hemline is supposed to be elasticated but I skipped that as it probably isn't wide enough to gather and it could do with being a bit longer it I were to gather it.

The good news is I finished the top in time and wore it out.  I'm not sure about the unfinished chiffon edges.  It is already fraying, and I do like neat edges.

I think next time I make it (and there will be a next time) I will bind the seam allowances of the neck and sleeve edges, just for a neater finish, but I love it and it is a great wardrobe basic.  It is a great pattern to work with and could be quite versatile.  I can see it made in a jersey for a cute, casual summer top, with maybe a deeper neck band, or in a cotton with bias bound edges....the options are limitless.  

Call the Fashion Police!

I am a woman on a mission.  I have committed my cardinal sin and my mission is to rectify this.  Let me explain. Years ago when my friend had her first baby, her dress sense completely changed.  She went from a mini skirt loving gal (and at 6ft tall, there was wasn't much skirt against those lovely giraffe-like legs) to a jeans and polo shirt clad mamma.  She of course was quite happy, and that is the main thing, but I swore I would NEVER become the jeans and t-shirt mum.

Roll forward to today, and what do I wear?  Yes, you've guessed it jeans and t-shirts.  Now I really don't blame the children for this change in my style (although I do hold them responsible for the loss of my waist), nope.  It all started when I began working from home.  Our house is old and cold, (especially as my office is my loft!) and I was rushing around doing the school run, dropping off work, collecting work, ferrying children to their activities, etc.  And it was just easier to throw on my jeans.  But I am sick, so so sick of wearing my uniform of jeans and T-shirts.  So my mission is to smarten my wardrobe.  The only thing is I've kind of lost sight of what suits me.

So I made a croquis as advised Threads (and didn't like what I saw, but hey ho) but still didn't really know what to do.  I then stumbled across the blog 40plusstyle.com .  Ignore the fact that it is aimed at the over 40's as there are some great style tips and hints.  It led me to a calculator which has determined that I am a rectangle or banana (?!) and that I have long legs/short torso.  (Actually, I have long thighs, if it weren't for them I would be more balanced and 2 inches shorter).  I then bought Gok's book "How to work your wardrobe" (well at £3.99 in a discount book store it seemed rude not to!).  And he has some good pointers for building a wardrobe.

So armed with this info, my mission is to update my wardrobe and get me out of my jeans.  I have gaps in my wardrobe, considerable gaps actually (did I say that I only wear jeans and t-shirts?!)  That being said, I really need to get in touch with my friend to get my bodice block toile checked for fit  and I will be off.

I just need to find all the fabric I have ideas for.  Now that is a different story!