Goodbye to 2020

Just a quick post to wrap up this strange year. I've been dreaming of sewing more than actually sewing, but I now have several projects all ready to start in the new year. Instead of sewing, I've made a few Christmas cards. 

This is something fun for me. I don't stress about making a million of them and getting organized. Instead I make one or two as the spirit moves me. So a few (maybe most) recipients are receiving these late.

Here is a recap of the very small amount of sewing I've managed in the last couple of weeks: 

I used a remnant from my last pair of black ponte pants to make a layering shell. I like to have these on hand during the winter. It's nice to wear like a camisole.

I also made just a couple of Christmas gifts, again making sure these were no stress gifts. I made two rice bags for my son using some pretty royal blue silk twill. He has reached the age where he injures himself in his workouts from time to time. I'm not sure how he got to be that old. I thought he might appreciate these lavender sacheted bags that can be heated or frozen. I did not manage to take a picture but they were not all that interesting anyway.

Lastly I made my daughter an apron to match mine using Tessuti's free apron pattern. She is quite petite, so I made some adjustments in hopes it would fit her proportions better. 

I think that this is a fabulous pattern given its price. I might have even paid for it, as it is similar to some I spotted in France summer 2019. It has the feel of a European kitchen to me - simple, crisp, functional. I used some lovely linen purchased in Paris.

And I added a tag that reads "My mom made this."

Happy New Year, fellow creatives! I hope 2021 greets you with lots of fun sewing projects.

Monroe and Helix

The Monroe Turtleneck pattern is a freebie from Tessuti, very similar to their also-free Mandy boat tee. It came out in (my) spring 2018 and I downloaded it almost immediately. I even traced off a size 3. Then I tucked it away to wait for cooler weather in the northern hemisphere. And of course, I forgot about it.

As is often the case during these COVID times, I find myself most inspired by online sources of eye candy. I routinely visit Pattern Review and Instagram for ideas. The Monroe was recently reviewed on PR and I loved what I saw. She rates it 5 stars. Then I read the rest of the reviews of the Monroe. Wow. Not complimentary.

Having made the Mandy, I was familiar with one potential problem. The sleeves on these Tessuti patterns are often too danged tight on me. That is why I had traced the largest size initially. Here are their suggested body measurements for the largest size, 3:

Bust 40-44”
Waist 35-43”
Hip 44-48”

Not close to my measurements, especially now that I've lost weight. Working off their measurements, I belong in a size 1. Of course, the Monroe's problems have nothing to do with bust, waist, or hip measurements, as there is no fit in those places. Rather, the problems are with the neckline, as well as the sleeves. Several disgusted reviewers rated it as a wadder from the get-go.

I decided to give it a go.

SEWING KNITS: I know from sewing knits for years that every knit has a different amount of stretch, vertically and horizontally, as well as differing amounts of recovery. I also know that I do not like negative ease, something that is almost a given in a pattern designed for knits. I'm OK with zero ease in some cases but I'm happiest with a little positive ease.

SLEEVES: Working from my previously traced tissue of size 3, I first pinned the sleeve tissue together along the seam allowance. Then I slipped it over my bicep. That was fine, good news because I really did not want to mess with the armscye.

NECKLINE: Next I took the edge of my knit fabric and wrapped it around my head to see how large the circumference needed to be. That was revealing. I needed 6 more inches than allotted in the size 3! And I will say that my head is not unusually big either. The drafters of this pattern must have assumed a knit with an enormous amount of stretch. They suggest that even a ponte knit would work. May I politely say, no way, José?

Adjusting the turtle neck pattern piece was easy because it's just a rectangle.

The neckline took a bit more work, because it is not linear. First I trimmed about 1/4" off from the front and back necklines. Then I measured with a 12" Curve Runner similar to this one, to see how close I was to the planned size of my turtleneck collar.

After 2-3 more iterations, I was pretty close to the size of the planned turtleneck collar. So finally I scooped out the front a bit, leaving the circumference of the neckline just a smidge larger than the circumference of the collar.

You've probably noticed that mine is not a turtleneck. That is because my knit fabric is quite drapey and so it produced more of a cowl neckline which, frankly, is my preference. I mostly wanted something soft and warm around my cold neck during these winter months.

My fabric is a cooperative jersey knit, 100% polyester. This makes me sad because I never ebd up actually wearing tops made from 100% polyester. Polyester fabrics tend to have static cling in the winter and they are hot in the summer. The days that fall between are days I'd rather wear cotton or linen or silk. It was a good toile and sort of wearable (DH likes it). 

TIP: It had one of those very wide selvages that distorted the fabric. After removing the selvage though, it was a breeze to cut and sew. I used a ball point needle and polyester thread. I also used a leading patch and trailing patch while sewing. This is a quilting trick that I've found prevents light weight fabrics from being sucked into the stitch plate.

Here I'm combining the Monroe top with some new black ponte Helix pants, modified to include a waistband. I seem to always need new black pants!

Happy holidays and happy creating to you!

Tessuti's Simple and FREE Apron

This make was pure pleasure. It has all the components for satisfying sewing:

• 100% linen, the good kind
• simple lines and shapes
• loads of top-stitching

Yes, I made an apron. And, as it happens, I need one. I find myself cooking way more than usual within this corona confinement. I think it's lovely enough to wear whether I'm cooking or not.

Last summer, we spent a week in a resort in the French Alps. The trip was designed by our son and his family, and we were invited to tag along. Most activities were of the outdoor kind. But we ladies did find some sweet spots for shopping.

One nearby village had two shops of note. There was a little shop where the entrepreneur makes handbags out of bicycle tires and other unusual materials. She had her workshop set up as part of the shop. I was charmed.

The second shop contained various small items, housewares and hand towels and the like. I noticed some lovely linen aprons for about 70 Euro each. There was something about the linen in such a simple item that was attractive to me. My reaction was of course, wouldn't that be fun to make? What sweet memories.

As we are all more-or-less confined due to the novel corona virus, Tessuti has issued a free downloadable apron pattern that is exactly this basic design. I think of it as the French apron. Merci, beaucoup!

view from the back with no hips

It is considered one size. But, of course, it fits me a little differently than it does their models. You can see the difference in the wrap.

view from the back with hips

The linen is from a shop in the fabric district of Paris, a shop with tables containing beautiful linen cut into 3 meter pieces. If only I had brought an empty suitcase...

The instructions are pretty straight-forward, if maybe a little verbose. The pattern calls for fabric that is 60" wide in order to cut on the fold. I decided to create a center front seam so as to use my 55" width fabric more efficiently. I am inexplicably happy with that center front vertical flat-felled seam. I like the effect of the intersecting top-stitching, on the front pocket and elsewhere.

On the other hand, I got tripped up with one phrase. Late in the instructions, there is a reference to matching a *finished* edge to a *neatened edge.* In order to attach the straps to the front edge, you are to align the *neatened edge* of the garment armhole with the finished edge of the strap. Hmm. I figured out what needed to be done way before I figured out what a *neatened edge* was.

Most of the edges are finished with a shirt-tail method I learned from Pam Howard. This is the perfect technique for a cooperative linen like this one. The idea is to stitch 1/4" from the raw edge, and then use that line to fold the edge under twice, creating a neat narrow hem. Some recommend pressing it in place first, but I find that just creates a crease I don't want. Instead, I finger-press it as I go, edge-stitching the final hem. It is very zen.

So, back to the *neatened edge.* This is the edge created by folding over that line stitched 1/4" from the edge, and then folding again. I think.

INCORRECT

In the above picture, I'm trying to determine how to attach the strap to the front bib. You can see that the strap edges are finished and the armhole is not. This picture shows the wrong way to sew it. Below you can see the correct way to place the straps on the bib.

CORRECT

I guess that *neatened* means folded twice but not stitched. Anyway, I figured it out. Below you can see how the bib facing looks right after stitching it to the garment top edge, sandwiching the straps inside. The top edge is stitched at 1/4". The armhole edge is stitched at 1/2". And the bottom edge of the facing is turned under prior to stitching.

This is really a simple sew. I promise. I do not know why I obsessed over the neatened edge. I do really like the result.

It was so very satisfying to make. You know how wonderful a really good linen can be to sew.
#makesomethingeveryday

MMM Day 22

Me-Made-May 2017 is marching along and I'm enjoying seeing some of the makes posted on Instagram and other places. I started Day 22 with yoga wearing Tessuti's Mandy boat top and RTW yoga pants.

Mandy is a free download I've made a couple of times. It's one of those one-size-fits-all which means there is no fit at all.  The fabric is a skyline print in rayon knit.

Later I wore these two pieces, both patterns from the Sewing Workshop:

The pants are the Helix pants, this time in red ponte. The shirt is the Florence in a nice cotton Ikat from Gail K in Atlanta. I omitted the decorative buttons from the back. It has such a cute pocket. I lost the pattern piece though.

Sydney Wrap

First, many thanks to readers of my blog who offered sympathy, suggestions and perspective on my Sydney jacket.  Special thanks to Helen near Sydney and Colleen from Tessiti.

I have finished. Hooray!

mine, finished.

Leather trim was an interesting option.  But...

• I have limited knowledge of sewing leather.
• Though at times, I fly without a net, the previous mistakes made me cautious.
• There is probably a great way to make lapped 3/16th inch seams with leather, but I don't know it.*
• I was able to cut the new piece from my wool/cashmere scraps with just one splice.

two remnants lapped

Here you can see how much I relied on pins to insure a decent lapped seam.

The rest of the construction was easy, fun, and I am happy with the result. The only change I made was to top stitch all of the hems

such sweet pockets tho mine are a bit small

I look forward to wearing it. The low tonight will be about 26F (-3C) so it should feel great.
It is done and I am glad to move on.

the back: not too bad

Yep. It's a wrap.

* tape or glue, maybe.

Saving Sydney

Still playing with fabric beads. See a great tutorial here. 

If you read my last blog posting, you know that I made a mess out of the lovely Sydney jacket using a fabulous piece of wool and cashmere. To stay calm, I am still making these fabric beads. They are a little addictive. Last night I created the bracelet by weaving them together with a bias tube from a thrifted tie.

But I can be a bit stubborn so I am working thru some fixes for my Sydney Jacket.

First up:

The incorrect pattern piece for the back (and the cut piece of cashmere/wool) is quite a bit smaller than the correct pattern piece, as you can see below. It makes sense to me to slide the poorly cut piece down flush with the lower hem and create a new piece that frames it and becomes the correct size for the back.

I traced the difference between my incorrect version of the back pattern piece and the correct pattern piece, creating a corresponding new pattern piece (adding the 3/8 inch overlap):

It is an oddly shaped piece and, of course, I do not have anything that size in my remnants. Despite this, I proceeded to cut the new pattern piece out of old quilt cotton and put the jacket muslin/toile together. Here is how the sewn back looks in this test piece:

And here is how it looks as a complete muslin/toile with the frame or insertion. I do not have plans to highlight this inserted piece in the final jacket but it is helpful to see how it looks in this high contrast cotton.

So far, so good.

Now I have a major decision to make. This oddly shaped piece will not fit on any remnant I have. Even if I rob the Peony vest pieces, I will have to piece them in order to create the new insertion piece. And I'm not ready to sacrifice the Peony vest, as it may turn out to be a favorite item to wear.

You may recall that while my reptilian brain was in charge, I noticed that I had enough fabric to cut out a vest AND a jacket. So I did so without considering the possibility of catastrophe.

My next step is to see if there is ANY way to piece the remnants into something like this insertion piece.

Alternatively I have been hording saving a beautiful piece of soft black leather, also purchased at Gail K. I'm wondering if it might look cool to add a leather insertion. I could add some other leather accents to the front. The down side is that I have almost no experience with leather so I will definitely be doing my research first!

Stay tuned, if you can stand it!