Sunday, January 17

Work Wardrobe Part 3

Nearly done on the working wardrobe for Sarah.

Today's efforts are New Look K6261

Made from a Michael Miller Print sourced from East Coast Fabrics at Springwood.  Unlined, but faced.  Invisible Zip.

Well this one was not a love match.   We had a few issues.  Despite the pattern saying you could choose whatever size you needed - Sarah's waist is small compared to bust and hip and although we did grade between the bust, waist and hip - we still had some issues.

The bust darts were in a totally weird position - nearly to her waist, which is crazy, so they had to be unpicked and moved.   We had to take the bust in by 1.5cm each side and grade to her waist.  I also chopped off 1.5cm from the shoulder.

In hindsight, I probably should have cut a size 10 in the shoulder bust and done a FBA or similar, but I didn't want to mess with things too much due to the print.  Upside however if I have a fair bit of this print left ... thinking NCW???

So it's not perfect, the print works super well on the front, but i'm a tad off in the back - with slightly more black on one side than the other.    We won't make this pattern again, though I'd like to find one similar, or perhaps when I have ALOT more time, redraft this one to suit by doing a proper muslin, however time was against us this time.

Sarah does love it and is happy to wear it and well if you aren't a sewer you won't see the errors .... right?





Miss Fox Skirt from One Puddle Lane

Size 6 with wide waistband, belt loops and pockets.  Invisible Zip and fabric also from East Coast Fabrics at Springwood.  Two snaps on the back skirt closure.

I fully lined this skirt, as I felt the quilting weight cotton was a wee bit too light.   So I just made a lining of poly/cotton from stash, took up some of the length, as I dislike petties hanging out and hand stitched around the zip.

Other than that, absolutely no changes and fit like a glove.  Sarah's waist is spot on the size 6, so i had no alterations at all!!!

Pardon the photos, 99% of her worldly goods are currently on their way northward packed in a truck, so we had limited supplies of tees/tops to take a pic with.  Still deciding on sash or belt, but again, theses are all packed away - I reckon you can get away without either, discounting the upside down alphabet on the waist .. doh!

And yes ALPHABET fabric on the skirt woo hoo!!!!



Saturday, January 16

Sk8 Skinnies

So I recently signed up to test Sk8 Skinnies from Winter Wear Designs.

After some not so stellar testing experiences and short tests - I think they need a good two weeks, especially when designers and testers are in different parts of the world.   I had decided that I would test no longer, except for a couple of in my opinion pattern designers.   However, the link to test the Sk8 Skinnies happened to pop into my news feed and as I have an older boy who rarely gets items I can sew for him, apart from tees and shorts, I thought why not.  I'd had experience with a query on another of Suzanne's designs and I was answered very quickly both via email and via her fb group and I thought I should give it awhirl.

I wasn't disappointed, Suzanne listened to all the feedback, both good and bad, all suggestions and thoughts and was very gracious and accommodating of her testers.  Whilst it was still a reasonably quick test, the pattern went through several versions before being released, which in my mind is a very big plus!!!!

I did have a wee bit of a problem sourcing the stretchy denim required, possibly cause it's summer here and I didn't have a lot of time to source it.  So I picked up a denim with minimal stretch that was a good colour for what I wanted and went with it.

The final pattern instructions are good, they explain all the steps.  The pattern comes in some different versions, the smaller ones are suitable for nappies (i don't have children in nappies so can't comment on the fit).  There are different waists including buttonholed elastic.  Faux and traditional fly are also included.

The changes I made ... pretty much none.  I printed and sewed the size 14 - whilst they are a bit long for my DS - I'm hoping the extra length will be fine come winter, if not, I'll just chop them off.

I used Avengers Print from Self Confessed Fabric Addicts for my pockets, both the pocket and the lining, I didn't use the pocket detail.

I traced an Avengers Logo for the back pocket and used Heavy Weight Gutterman, in orange that i had in stash. The actual denim came from Lincraft $19m.

I bought 1.5 m and had about 30cm left over, my fabric was 150cm wide. 

I went with traditional fly, though I followed my own directions to make it up as I've been making a few men's shorts lately and just used that way of doing it.  Traditional waistband with belt loops and a jeans button for closure. 

I really do need to make another pair, with the fabric with the correct stretch.  You can easily adjust the firmness of the skinny when you are sewing up the side seams.  Definitely baste your sides up and try for size, it's very easy to adjust them then.  Rather than after you've added your waistband.   I could possibly have added a wee bit of elastic in the back waist, but again, he's probably going to grow and he could wear them with no issues of falling down.   I did have a bit of problem getting them over his legs, but again this was my error in the choice of fabric. 

And last but not least  -  Did me DS like them - not that you can tell from the photos, but yes he did!!!  And he generally is not that big a fan of jeans lol!!  So I think that's saying something!

Tuesday, January 12

Work Wardrobe Part 2

So moving along, part 2 of the work wardrobe.  The skirt will be made again, as will this blouse, albeit in different fabrics.

The top is another Lekala pattern #4370.  Again we ordered the measurements, just the basic ones and I think the fit is pretty spot on.

I may have sworn sewing the red faille from spotlight, cause well it's a little bit temperamental.

The pattern did give me some moments of WTH???  But slow and steady and I worked it out.  The sleeve is actually pretty cool how it's set in and I'm going to remake this blouse in another fabric, so I'll try and remember to take step by step photos.   

I'd change when the sleeve is hemmed until the end.  I also need to work on the placket/collar attachment, they say to attach the placket first and then the collar, but for me, that didn't sit so well, so I unpicked the placket, put the collar on and then fudged up the placket, i hope to work out that little issue before I make the next one ... just have to think on it.

All up our experience with Lekala, other than the brief instructions have been good, we are happy with the styles and the fit,

The skirt is the Hummingbird by Cake Patterns.  I've honestly had this in stash forever and I've just never gotten past the point of pulling it out and looking at it.   I do however need some work skirts myself, but I'm still dithering.  Anyways Sarah wanted a pencil skirt and bonus this one has pockets which apparently are a must have .... I don't understand why I don't like them lol!  

Now onto the pattern, I do like how you can grade out to your size and this seemed to work well, I cut the pattern from Sarah's hip measurement and then once together we checked for fit and grade it back up to her waist, which we knew as the pattern tells you to cut a size larger on your waist.

However, I did have a problem with my pieces being all different lengths, so skirt side panels, front panel and back skirt.  it wasn't a big issue and we decided the skirt was a tad too short and we added a hem band to it, but I'll have to revisit the tracing to see if it's my mistake or not, the pieces should all fit together.   I did also topstitch the side seams down as I prefer that look.

My invisible zip however IS invisible and pretty bloody perfect.   The skirt can close with a button, snap or hook, we just went with the snap, cause well .... running out of time for making stuff.  She leaves on Monday.

Please excuse the slightly blurry and sticky photos, it's a bit warm here today and I wanted a photo before it got packed away.


Saturday, January 9

Work Wardrobe Part 1

Well as some of you know - Cherub No. 2 is flying the next to take up a teaching position in Central Queensland, where it's hot and steamy.  So a work wardrobe is in order.

We've been stockpiling fabric ... cause you know you never have the right fabric for your projects do you???

Anyways starting with a dress.

From the book Gertie Sew Vintage Casual Sarah decided on Summer dress with flared skirt, but she didn't want the cut out shoulder look - easier to wear bras and we didn't want the collar piece either.

So Sarah drafted off the pattern to her size and I sewed it up making an alteration to having a fully lined bodice. 

Now whilst I wasn't 100% happy with the way it turned out, I had to do some judicious trimming to make skirt and bodice fit together, I think perhaps this was our error rather than the pattern.  The bodice was wider than the skirt - the instructions do say to grade the bodice in, but we had to grade in a fair bit to fit the skirt, so I graded the bodice less and chopped the skirt down at the waist with the desired effect of the skirt fitting the bodice better.   

We've made a skirt from the book as well and it turned our great, so I think it was just this alteration that just wasn't what I was expecting.

It looks pretty cute on though.


 Next up Lekala 4452 - Blouse with Bow

This was our first endeavour with the Lekala patterns, reviews seem to be mixed, but Sarah is a fairly standard sizing, but we put in her measurements, paid for the pattern - which was on sale, I went with A0 for printing and added the seam allowance, it cost us AUD$6 for two patterns.

Toddled off to upload to office works to have printed and I ran into some hiccups - the Lekala patterns have more than one page to them, so you need to check which ones you actually need to upload.   In the end, I just took the USB to Officeworks and told them which page to print.   $4 well spent if you ask me, I really, really dislike taping A4 pages together and will avoid that pattern if I can.  Unless I absolutely adore it if it doesn't come in A0 for a grown up pattern you can forget it. 

So then we cut it out - and I'm looking at it going - eek where does it open??  No buttons, no zips.  As it turns out it fits very nicely over your head and doesn't need zip or buttons.

I made an oopsie with the collar in that I attached the undercollar to the blouse instead of the upper collar and so its not as neat as it should be.   

The instructions are pretty brief, but there are graininess and plenty of notches to help you match up - there isn't a notch for CB but the collar actually have two notches in the CB at both the outer and inner edge of the collar, so you can work it out - don't forget to do a mirror image cutting the collars out and decide which way you want the collar to sit - right or left.    

We made this one in quilting weight fabric and went with no bow - next version will have the bow.

It fits pretty well, it's looser around the waist that Sarah perhaps wanted, but she's going to tuck it in anyways and her skirts seem to sit a bit lower, than I myself like the wear them, and they aren't snug at the waist, which would pull the top in a bit if they were.  

It's pretty cute, the sleeves went in without a hiccup, but if you need detailed instructions, these probably aren't that patterns for you, but if you sew a lot and have a good understanding of garment construction, they are good.  



On the agenda for tomorrow, alterations to the hems of two pants, and the waist of a skirt, along with another blouse from Lekala and a skirt ...  Will I get everything finished by the 17th?????

 

Sunday, January 3

2016

Okay my blog seems to have had a couple of little hissy fits :(

But maybe, just maybe I'll remember to post more often and be more accountable with my sewing, cause gee whiz I sew an awful lot, I just don't remember to record it all.  

Let's just start with this.

So a wee gifty, slightly belated for a quilty friend.

Baby Bionic Gear Bag - you can find it here - you need to have purchased the original to know what you are doing, but the Baby bag is quick and easy, and is oh so cute, you could easily make the bag wider.  I have found that a longer zip and your bag opens flatter, I think i may have used about 22 inches for this baby one.

Then a Clobird Tulip Case - this is the larger size, nice easy sew, other than trying to put the zipper parts back together, go slow, hold your tongue just right and you'll have it - I don't have any Soft and Stable left, so just used Pellon Fleece and it worked just fine, probably not quite as rigid, but I think it's okay.   It is a free pattern and you can find it here 

And finally a Sweet Pea Pod from Lazy Girl Designs.  Now whilst this is very cute, I was a little disappointed in the $$$ that I paid for it, but I guess with our Aussie Dollar being what it is, that's what happens.  Again its fairly easy to put together, but do pay attention to lining up the sides and marking accurately for the one inch trim, otherwise your little bag is a wee bit lopsided.  

Both the Tulip Case and the Sweet Pea Pod both use half of a zipper, so I currently have some half zippers floating around, now whilst this isn't really a problem when you are in the USA, its not so easy to come by zipper parts here in Australia.  At the moment I'm sucking it up and wasting half a zipper, though I've put them to the side, until I can find the findings I need to use up the other half.  Maybe if our dollar improves, I'll just bite the bullet and buy some of the findings here

I also use all fabric from stash ... I'm going to try and use it up as much as possible, my stash is pretty much out of control and I need to make it a bit smaller and use more of it. 



I've also booked into a couple of craft classes already, time to make sometime for me along the way.