The Hugo Shirt Lump

I am ridiculously pleased that I finally came up with a fix for the lump at the bottom of the Hugo Shirt from the Sewing Workshop! 

As background, I made the Hugo from linen-rayon white woven fabric about 4 years ago. I liked the finished piece but was never very happy with the finish on the hem at the lower front. I finally wrapped the edge in a self bias strip so that it looked neat, even though it was lumpy IMO.

Original hem fold with serged edge showing

Recently I brushed up against something black. It appeared for about 4 inches around that lump. I tried every cleaning tool on hand. Nothing worked. That black was permanent.

So I put it away to think about. Today I thought about it. I took apart the two fronts from about the waist to the hem. This, of course, meant removing my little bias piece as described above. I set that little piece aside.

My solution to the black stain problem was to cut the hem allowance off, remove the offending black and sew the hem back on, thus making the front slighly shorter than the back. It also introduced a seam along the hem line. I like that, frankly, because it adds a bit more weight to the hem, making it hang beautifully.

And then I began to wonder if there was another way to avoid said lump. Here is what finally worked. BTW, I worked on a sample in parallel with my actual blouse. That way, I could test each step on the sample, then do it on the real garment. The pictures below are the sample, as it pretty clear, I think.

I unstitched the center front seam from the lower edge until a few inches below the lower end of the placket. Next, I pressed the front ham into each side, keeping the left front separate from the right front.

After that, I re-stitched the side seams I had removed in the process of shortening the fronts.

Finally, I folded the lower hem of each front piece into place, and pressed.

With right sides together, I re-stitched the center front seam starting with the lower end of the placket, and stopping at the hem fold line. That point should be lock-stitched.

Then I re-folded the hem for each front piece. With them folded, but not stitched into final position. I placed the two fronts right sides together, aligning all 4 center front edges. Note that there are now 4 layers stacked.

Then, while holding the 3 top layers of the edges together, I wrapped the 4th layer from the bottom, around and over the top layer, creating a sandwich. There are again 4 layers stacked, but it a new order. Note this only works if

1. the lower hems are folded in place, but not stitched, AND

2. the vertical center front seam is finished down to the fold line for the final horizontal hem on the two fronts.

In this position, I stitched all 4 layers together. Then I unwrapped the layer that I had previously wrapped and pressed it all.

With this deep hem, there is nothing poking out and it is easy to press the placket in place.

This creates a beautiful enclosed seam from the horizontal hem fold to the top of the hem allowance. Sooooo exciting, right?!?

Finally I had clip the center front seam right at the top of the hem edge. Now it folds back on itself, forming the most beautiful finished front. Hooray.

I went back to the instructions from the Sewing Workshop. There is a chance that what I have described above is exactly what they intended. Here is the language used, which still does not make sense to me. In any case I plan to tuck my little sample into the pattern envelope in order to save myself a headache on the next Hugo shirt.

With right sides together and facings ou of way, sew Right Front and Left Front at center fron seam. Sew from dot to bottom. Bottom of placket is sandwiched in seam below dot. Clip Left Front seam allowance only to dot. FINISH seam together. Press towards Right Front. 

The key is the making of the *sandwich.* Now, if only I can remember this next time...

September Makes

September is gone tomorrow and I do not know where it went.

I see that I have not blogged for a month. One of the main purposes of this blog, for me, is to help me remember how I have spent my creative time. So here is what was made this month:

While I finished the sewing on this 24x30 inch piece last month, I finally mounted it on a canvas in September. And then I submitted it to a local juried show. Fingers crossed. 

The piece is inspired by doing many things I thought I was too old to do during a pilgrimage to Belize in June. The title is *Finally* based on this from the late, great Mary Oliver:

Finally I saw

that worrying had come to nothing,

and gave it up, and took my old body

and went out into the morning

and Sang.

Also this month, I completed two pieces commissioned by my priest at St. Patrick's. Each heart has a signature on it. The goal was to ask parishioners to commit to making efforts on behalf of justice during an 8 week period. Hearts were signed.

The smaller frontal is in the chapel where the 8 AM service takes place. All hearts were fused to the surface, after signatures were collected.

The fabric is cotton sateen from local wonderful fabric store, Gail K. 

I was ever so glad to complete this. Working large is not my forte. The larger one for the nave is about 90 inches by 90 inches, way out of my comfort zone. 

One of the grandson's stuffed animals needed a little repair, so that was also done with love.

He was sooooo brave.

As I pulled garments from my closet for #seweverydayseptember on Instagram, I realized that I needed to fill a few holes. So the following are the only garments I completed.

This is the MixIt top from the Sewing Workshop. I have lost count of how many times I've made it. I finally made a forward-shoulder adjustment to the pattern tissue and now love it even more. 

I used a facing to finish it, rather than the tiny facing included in the pattern. This facing can be turned to the right side or the wrong side. I think of it as a design feature.

The fabric is a dreamy Brooks Brother's cotton shirting, also purchased at Gail K. It was wonderful to sew and is comfortable to wear. I will wear a lot, until I stain it somehow.

I made this MixIt tank from a ponte remnant to go with this jacket. I made the jacket years ago and keep intending to wear it. I think I'll wear it this season, for sure!

I feel like I was pretty unproductive this month. So it's good to make some simple items that meet an actual need I have. This jacket also looks OK with the second MixIt tank I made in September.

I made the gray one from Alabama Chanin organic cotton. It too was pretty easy to sew, although it likes to curl just a little. I made it to go with this jacket:

The jacket is one I love but, like the brown Coco jacket above, I never know what to wear under it. Pulling it out, I realized that I could actually wear it as a top.

The fabric is so gorgeous, I think - a beefy piece of Japanese cotton from Louise Cutting. The jacket is based on the Now and Zen pattern from the Sewing Workshop. It was expensive, so of course, I had too little fabric to make a complete jacket. The accent fabric is a cotton-linen blend from a quilting store. I think the result is better with the accent fabric than it would have been on its own. Now, if only the high temps would please, please drop out of the 90's, I might wear a jacket!

During September I also developed a minor interest in paper making. I've had fun with my wooden deckle. It's easy and fun when you need a little creative pick-me-up.

The imprint from a Japanese maple leaf is my favorite part, I think, and I do love all the textures that are possible.

My granddaughter thinks it's quite fun too, so that makes it a winner!

September leaves me wanting to make something more challenging.

I'm preparing the pattern pieces for my first Brando jacket, a relatively new pattern from the Sewing Workshop. I plan to make it from this medium weight cotton print from deep stash. And I have another deep-stash piece, solid blue-green ponte that needs to become a swing tee dress to go with it.

I hope you're sewing something that brings you joy!