The Mending Pile

My mending pile seems to be growing. Maybe it's continued spring fever, but I keep spotting things I just know I'd like better with a tweak or two. Often I'm pleased with the results.

First up is an Ivy top from the Sewing Workshop pattern, Odette and Ivy. I made this in black organic cotton from Alabama Chanin. It did not stay black long, and given that it is their organic cotton, I'm not certain it was ever all that black. 

The neck band never sat properly on my neck, probably because the AC knits don't have a lot of stretch or recovery. I removed the neckband and tried to decide how to finish the edge. After this, the neckline was stretched out and even more unattractive on my neck. 

So I dropped it in a pan of old black walnut dye. I figured that I could not hurt it. I was right about that.

Winter set in and I ignored that big pot of dye sitting on the deck. Now, some 6-8 months later, I have retrieved it. No harm, but it's definitely dark brown now, rather than black. I love a good chocolate brown.

I decided to sort-of fill in the stretched out neckline, using some AC remnants. I also added this off-white knit to the binding on the sleeve hems. 

I like it better, but honestly, I don't love it. 

Next was a tee shirt my son-in-law made to honor the victims of that mass shooting in Charleston, SC at Mother Emanuel AME church. It was a pretty standard man's fit.

Using the Lark Tee pattern, I reshaped it into a more feminine tee. I expected it might be challenging at the armscye. That has been a tricky spot every time I've remade a man's tee shirt. The armholes are too low. That's the reason I did not cut the shirt apart before laying out my pattern pieces. I wanted to preserve as much fabric as possible.

I folded the tee shirt onto itself, so that there was a fold down the center front and center back simultaneously. That may be visible in the picture. 

Next I chalk-traced the Lark front pattern piece on the front of the tee.. Then I flipped it over and traced the back pattern piece. I carefully cut each side, flipped the first side along the fold, and then cut the second side by following the edge of the first side.

Then I cut the sleeves at the underarm seams so that they would lay flat. I used the Lark cap sleeve with some success. 

Rather than obsess too much over the sleeves, I just left the original finished sleeve hems alone. 

I did, however, have to include part of the original shoulder seam in the cap of the sleeve.

Now that I look at the picture, I see it's not that bad. But I ripped it out, removed the shoulder seam portion, and re-stitched it. 

I used my hip curve to recut the hem so that it has a shirt-tail hem. It's more flattering than a straight-across hemline, but also a bit more fiddly.

Hmmm... Rather subtle changes, I see in the picture. The mirror lied.

Next in the mending pile - spring-summer pants.

On a Tear

For nearly an entire month now, I've been on a tear. A cleaning-sorting-organizing-purging tear. It started when I could not find a coat I made six years ago.

I love this cotton coat with its quilted black and white polka dot lining. It's a Marcy Tilton design, Vogue 8934. Because it is cotton, I don't usually wear it in deep winter but I reach for it during early spring or late fall. So I was dismayed when I could not put my hands on it one day when I was reaching for it.

I checked in with a couple of my kids that I have to travel to visit. The picture above was taken at the MFA in Boston while visiting my son and his family. No one has seen it.

So I decided that only thing to do was to clean closets. Surely if I systematically clean each and every closet - poof - my sweet coat will appear. And I have way too much stuff that does not get used, so this was a good opportunity to give/throw things away, Marie Kondo style, something I've needed to do for a while.

The 4th closet I cleaned was my sewing closet. It exploded, leaving an embarrassing trail through 2 bedrooms and a sitting room. After much sorting, I identified some that I thought ASG would like to include in their annual sale. It's one of those sales where I always hope my donations > my purchases.

I am not finished with the cleaning-sorting-organizing-purging tear, but I'm starting to sew again. Perhaps because of the chilling effect of cleaning out too much junk, I have not wanted to make anything from scratch. So I've been mending and modifying.

First up is stafford jacket from the Sewing Workshop, of course. Theirs includes 3/4 length sleeves and is much, much shorter than mine. Initially mine looked like this:

I have not worn it much and wondered if I'd like it better with buttons down the front. I think I do.

Then I took a look at another seldom-worn item, a Tabula Rasa (Fit for Art) vest from some really nice wool. I remember fretting over the collar band when I made it. I finished it with some coordinating linen and some stencil prints. I also added a little sashiko.

The stenciling just never suited me much. So I removed the linen band and replaced it with dark brown corduroy. It is nice to have a stash of remnants for little projects like this one. I made add a little sashiko to this one too.

As I was giving it a good press, I detected a tiny hole. Of course, I had the remnants from this project, but felt like I was taking 2 steps forward, and 3 steps back.

After taking a little break, I was ready to add a pocket. Truth-be-told, it was fun. First I cut a piece of tissue for a basic patch pocket. Then I traced primary threads from the plaid onto pattern tissue:

This made it easy to cut my pocket so as to match the plaid. I lined it with a scrap of Bemberg Ambiance lining material, cutting the lining just a little smaller than the pocket.

I'm pleased with the result.

Lastly I added a fun little pocket to one of my all-time favorite little jackets. I made it in 2013 from a Paco Peralta pattern that I ordered directly from him, may he rest in peace. It's called the coolie jacket. inside of my old (2013) Paco Peralta jacket. The jacket has side seam pockets but they are just too shallow for anything. I also mended some seams. So satisfying!

Meanwhile, I'm back to making some rope baskets. Zen sewing, for sure.

But I still haven't located that black and white coat. I hope it turns up some day!

Some Rehab

Me-Made-May generates the urge to rehab old clothes, for me. I've learned through social media that I am not alone. Here are a few of my recent rehab projects.

First up is this San Diego shirt. The pattern is from the Sewing Workshop (TSW), of course. The fabric is a wonderful silk-linen blend that I bought at Textile Fabric in Nashville TN many years ago. I love this shirt but it tended to pull open across the bust line. The one button holds it closed and there is a wide placket that extends to just under my bust. You can just see the top-stitching on that placket.

I simply sewed a rectangle of top-stitching above the bottom of the placket up past the bust line. Voila! Problem solved. And it still slips over my head.

This next one was a little more complicated but the final fix was super simple. It's a Zen shirt (from Now and Zen by TSW) made in my one-and-only Liberty of London piece of fabric. Zen is the one with the double collar.

The day I made this, I wanted to try to imitate the placket and cuff on David Coffin's book cover.

Unlike Coffin's lovely shear linen shirt, mine renders all that work invisible. More importantly I miscalculated the length of the sleeves and they were always too long. That's not a problem I usually have and it's not immediately obvious how to fix it without re-cutting the sleeve.

My first thought was to fold up a pleat or two above the placket before reattaching the under cuff. Since it is full-on summer here in Atlanta, I changed my mind. I cut off the plackets, gathered the sleeves onto a simple cuff.

For the new cuff, I used a cool Japanese remnant from a previous shirt, rather than the left-over cuff. Now the sleeves are 3/4 length.

I really like this slightly more feminine detail with such feminine fabric. And I balanced it a bit with the square on back.

Next was a white shirt made up in TSW's Liberty shirt. There were stains, probably tea.

I tried and tried to remove them to no avail.

The pin marks the top-most stain on the offending sleeve.

I brought this project with me to NH for a visit with DS and family. I knew I would have a good bit of free time. They let me set up a little work area in DS's guest room.

I had some remnants but none long enough for a new sleeve. If I cut and hemmed both sleeves at the place of the highest stain, then the sleeves would have been an awkward length. So I added these cuffs.

I can wear it with the cuffs down, but I prefer them up.

My original make included a self-drafted stand collar. It was always just a little too tall, especially for warm weather. So I opened up the top of the collar and shortened it about 1/2". You know, it's the little things...

I am quite happy with the result. I hope to wear this white blouse a few more times before I stain it with something else.

I have one more white shirt in need of rehab. I accidentally washed it with some red PJs that I had washed multiple times before. There was some free-floating dye and it attached in a number of places, staining more than one piece of the garment.

It's all across the shoulder, extending to the sleeve and front. This one will get dyed. Someday.

I also gave myself a little rehab.

Before

After. I'm too lazy today to apply make-up.