Sewing with Love

As a grandma of 11, I have sewn items for all the grands - one quilt each plus the occasional PJ pants and other items. That activity has dropped away as they've grown older and more aware of their own styles and wishes. I used to go nuts around the holidays, trying to make something special for each one. Now I'm a bit more selective.

The youngest grandson just had his 6th birthday and made a special request - a Paw Patrol shirt. How could I refuse? The only down side is that I had to buy that fabric from the big box store that I do not like. They have exclusive licensing to fabrics of that sort. It was not too painful, though.

For children's clothes, I have an nice collection of Ottobre magazines. When the grands were coming fast and furious, I invested in subscriptions for several years and kept them. 

I'm glad I did. I also kept some of the pattern tissues cut out for an older cousin of approximately the same age, allowing me to make an educated guess as to the size for this 6 year old.

One time, I made a grandboy a darling plaid shirt in his team's colors complete with plackets, collar, collar band. He outgrew it in about 10 minutes. That made me sad. I wanted to avoid that this time so aimed a little larger than needed.

These Ottobre patterns are a good starting place for me. The instructions are extremely brief and they sometimes employ non-traditional construction. I chose a sort-of camp shirt, thinking to avoid all the messy (but fun) details of a dress shirt. 

For this shirt, the raw edges between the collar and the body of the shirt were to be covered with a bias binding. I knew I would not like that for a camp shirt because the neckline is kept open, so the binding would show, as would the wrong side of this printed fabric. 

I pulled out one of my husband's guayabera shirts, a lovely silk twill camp shirt. Based on this shirt, I drafted a front facing to enclose the raw edge where the collar is sewn to the shirt. In the back, I was able to enclose all the raw edges by rolling the outer collar edge under and slip stitching it in place. That probably makes no sense, but it worked!

And the shirt is too big. That is a win! Perhaps he will still be able to wear it when the weather once again returns to spring-summer. I think he looks adorable in it!

I'm wearing my fave Peony vest in cashmere-silk

At the same time, I had been visiting with my local grandgirl who was planning a Halloween party with friends around the pirate theme. She had a vision of the costume she wanted to create and began to shop the thrift stores for a vest. She is quite petite and that proved futile. So, of course, grandma to the rescue. And I had just the right pattern, one that I had never opened. I don't remember buying it even - might have been something someone gave me. It is one of those classic Folkwear patterns.

Even though she is local - only a mile away from me - I worried the whole time I was making it that it would not fit. Her mother is also petite and I never had much luck making fitted garments for her due to the need to shorten the torsos of everything. This pattern was just right without those kinds of adjustments. Hooray!

From my stash, she selected the outer fabric and the lining. I did not have enough of the print lining but was able to squeeze two fronts from it. This vest traditionally has a back constructed of two layers of lining, but that wasn't the pirate look she was seeking. 

I basted the shoulders and side seams together and ran over to her house. It was so tiny I could not imagine that it was right even though I had taken careful measurements. But it was very close. I had to let out the back and the side seams at the bustline. I also needed to scoop out the armscye but otherwise it was just right.

This basting led me to screw up the actual sewing of the vest. I came home and made all the adjustments I noted above, and then made duplicate adjustments to the vest lining. That's when I actually consulted the instructions. Oops. The lining was supposed to be attached to the vest while the side seams were still open. My fabric was fraying a bit and I did not dare take it apart again.

Instead, I attached the lining to the vest all around the outer edge (hemline, center front seams, neckline), leaving an opening for turning on the back hem. I carefully stay-stitched the armholes for both the lining and the vest and trimmed the SAs down to about 1/4-3/8". Then I rolled both SAs to the inside and slip-stitched them together. All good!

Then I realized I had omitted the back belt. Dang! Sometimes I just need to slow down but Halloween was looming. To fix that I partially opened the side-seams and slipped the ends into the seam, restitching securely. Whew.

The vest pattern includes 4 welt pockets, each big enough for a quarter. I marked these with tailors tacks and pondered whether to make them, or maybe just the pocket flaps. In the end I omitted them and I'm glad I did. No need to press my already frazzled luck, really. And welt pockets are dicey in the best of times for me. 

Making 7 perfect buttonholes reminded me how much I love my now old Bernina machine. It really came through for me. I returned to the big box and bought D rings for the back belt and the vest was complete. 

And it fits her perfectly. She says she'll wear it in the future too. She looks adorable in it. I am maybe a little biased but not much.

This Victorian pattern from Folkwear was gratifying to sew. It made me wonder if I would wear a fitted vest like this one. Nah. 

But these makes were very satisfying.

Review of Gift-Making December

Or, why I haven't blogged in over a month.

Where did December go? Well, it flew by me. For the past month, I've been focused on making and buying presents for family members. The truth is that it was not all fun in 2017. And this was a monster of my own making, so-to-speak.

Next year, there will be few handmade gifts. I promise. I do love the idea of handmade gifts but I obsess over it. I don't think that fits with the spirit of giving. So unless it is zen sewing and gives me selfish pleasure, I must step back and allow time to breathe and enjoy the joy.

Here are the gifts I made, and honestly, some really were fun.

This jacket was requested by my granddaughter. It's made using Kwik Sew 3818, a medium-weight wool and lined with a medium-weight silk-cotton blend. I blogged about it here so I won't rehash it, But isn't she cute in it?

Next up were two robes. These were also by request. And they were so simple to make using Simplicity 1562, now probably out-of-print.

They are both made from polyester fleece, so easy to sew. The owls on white background is for my 8 year old granddaughter; the Clemson-themed robe is for my 11 year old grandson. The Clemson version was a HUGE success. He almost wore it into a movie theater. The owl version will be used too but did not garner great enthusiasm.

The last requested gift was this super-simple pillow case for a youth-sized pillow:

Here it is in its first use with 2-year-old grandson:

Now a sensible person would have stopped there. Those were requested and so pretty much guaranteed to please. I did not stop. Next I made these two (2!) patchwork pillows for another 11 year old grandson and his 13 year old brother (who wears glasses like these). They have two dogs of this breed.

If they look simple, then please, please look again. They took FOREVER to piece. Each contains half-square triangles no larger than 1 inch. Yikes! What was I thinking?

The pillows finish at standard bed-pillow size. I put a zipper in the back to allow for machine washing. When the 11-year-old opened it, he said, "Oh, look! A pillow." And he proceeded to unzip it and remove the pillow. Hmmm...

And then I could have stopped, yes? But for a long time now, I've had this great idea. My husband wanted a shirt to match one that the 2 year old had. Such a shirt simply did not exist. So I made each of them a shirt using this lovely cotton shirting from Gail K in Atlanta.

It took some research to find a man's shirt with most of the conventional details. I settled on Vogue 9220. Then I took measurements from one of my husband's shirts and tried very hard to make them match. In the end his was a bit too tight and the little one is too big. Of course, too big is not a problem with a two-year-old, so now I'm thinking about ways to remake the one for DH. Or maybe not.

The little one is from one of my old Ottobre magazines. I have used and used those patterns making many things for grandchildren with the enclosed patterns. I must say that was joyful to make.

I should probably write a separate blog on DH's shirt. I learned a lot about the fit of a man's shirt and I should document it before I forget.

As I reflect on making gifts this past month, I realize that the simplest were perhaps the most joyful to make. There's a lesson there.

So that was my December. I'm so glad it's January now.

Same song, second verse

Left is the new Jacket; Right is the old full-length coat!

I checked. And just now I double-checked. I made this jacket for my granddaughter almost 5 years ago. My daughter recently told me she had out-grown it. Well, yes, it had become a jacket instead of a coat and it had 3/4 length sleeves, almost elbow length. Sweet, sweet girl, she wore it way too long.

This time, I opted for assymetrical closure, rather than a double-breasted closure.

So here is a replacement. I now see that the original one was a full length coat when I made it. Over the years, as she kept wearing it, I thought it was a jacket. So this time I made the jacket length. This makes the proportions look a bit odd in the comparison, but I think she's really more of a jacket girl than a coat girl.

Kwik Sew 3818

Kwik Sew 3818 is not a quick make. It has a hood, an empire waist line, a sweet belt at the back, and it's double-breasted. The fabric is wool and I chose to line it with a silk-cotton blend called Radiance. Radiance has a satin side and a flat side. I love the weight of it and find it nicer in a coat than my go-to lining, Bemberg Ambiance.

The pattern does not include a lining so I simply made two coats - one from wool and one from Radiance. I followed the instructions which are quite thorough. I used my trusty Pam Howard jacket-lining techniques from our class, Jacket-making Boot Camp. I confused myself while attaching the sleeve lining but pushed through and finally got it right.

The pattern calls for a lined hood even though the jacket itself is not to be lined. The lined hood is sewn to the jacket and then the front and back facings are attached and enclose the raw edges on the neckline and hood. This required much grading and pressing, something else that I learned from my time in Pam's class. What a game-changer that class was!

Fingers crossed that this second coat is as well-loved, or maybe just half as well-loved, as the first one. I look forward to seeing her in it after Christmas. Like I said, fingers crossed. She's 11 and almost 12 now.

That Hoodie

For Christmas I made my granddaughter a new coat. She had been over to my house wearing a coat I made several years ago for her, only the sleeves are now barely 3/4 sleeves and it is rapidly becoming a shrug.

The pattern is from this issue of Octobre. In fact, it is on one of the two covers:

As you may know, Octobre is a European (Finnish?) subscription magazine that includes the patterns in each issue. I have loved having some of these for making clothes for the grandchildren. It requires tracing the pattern from a page like this and then adding seam allowances:

Always a little daunting!

The instructions are brief but fine as it is a pretty straight-forward make. The hoodie attaches with an inset corner but otherwise it is a very easy pattern to put together.

My corner on the inset was a little wonky so I covered it with a label.

The fabric is a cotton-linen blend I purchased at Sewing Workshop this past summer. Because it is a jacket, I quilted it, using cotton flannel as the batting and a rayon lining as the back side. Then I assembled it as a single layer.

I used a separating zipper that I've worried is a little stiff. It was a bit fussy to install but not terrible. I inserted elastic in the sleeve hems and a draw string in the hoodie, as well as the coat hem. I used a cotton batik (light blue graphic batik) to finish edges on the inside. It was really quite fun to make.

And here is where the story takes a sad turn. It is not her style. And I get that. I really do. I like to select my clothing too. So, lesson learned. I need to engage her in the selection of pattern and fabric, and even the sewing next time.

Maybe she should just keep it a while. By the time it fits her, she might like it. Or not.

Goodbye to 2016

December went by me in a blur of travel and illness. Luckily the illnesses were not serious - just temporarily debilitating - the flu and shingles. And the travel was fun - one trip to NH to see our son and family and then on Christmas a trip to Charleston to see our daughter and her family. Both great trips.

But I sewed very little this month. And here it is the last day of the year and I'm finally back in my sewing space making clothes for me! We have some fun plans tonight and so I'm making Quincy pants to go with a top I made a while back. The top is Vogue 9063 and I see that it is on sale today over at ClubBMV. I made it from one of those interesting Asian silks - actually 2 pieces that seemed to go together.

The Quincy pants are made using this mystery fabric. It's been in my stash so long I do not remember buying it and I have no idea of the fiber content. Seems a bit like tencil or some other kind of rayon. Drapey. Soft.

Vogue 9063 made over a year ago. I just love the fabric!

The Quincy pants are from the Sewing Workshop (TSW). They are narrow leg pants which leaves me hoping that I do not end up looking like a top-heavy golf tee in them. TSW also has the Helix pants - narrow leg for knits. The Quincy is intended for woven fabrics and so should work this tencil (?) fabric. I've made the Quincy pants twice before - once was unsuccessful due to poor fabric choice but the second pair was more useful. I have high hopes for this 3rd pair.

I'll be omitting the artsy buttons on the outside seam this time, but it is kind-of cute, isn't it?

I did manage to make a few more clothesline bowls as gifts, many wrapped in pretty cotton batik fabric. But I still like the naked ones. Have I mentioned that these are entirely addictive to make?

This one was given to daughter but her MIL liked it so I re-gifted it to her. It'll be no problem to make another!

This one I kept. I like the beehive-like structure and use it as a tissue holder.

Lastly I made PJ pants for two grandsons, and a jacket for one granddaughter. Then I ran out of time.

Onward to 2017! I'm closing out 2016 with a wish that we all spend more time making and creating in 2017. Life is shorter and shorter - here's to being happy where we find ourselves each day.

Martha