Category: Blog

Posted on by

August Sewing Challenge… Kind of

Lets start by saying how good I’ve been at keeping up to date with my sewing challenge… Sadly last month wasn’t quite as much of a success. The theme was ‘outerwear’ and I decided on a 50s swing coat so it was never going to be made in a month anyway but I’ve made steps towards it so I thought I’d give an update.

I had a genuine meltdown trying to decide on my fabric; I knew this was going to be a special make, potentially a forever coat. I got some samples and spent a whole day moaning to anyone who would listen about my dilemma (sorry Annett!).  In the end I decided on this beautiful teal merino wool with this bright cotton lawn fabric

So where am I now? I traced the pattern onto Swedish Tracing Paper (after actually ironing my original pattern pieces) and have cut out all of my pieces which was terrifying. My next step is to book a lesson with the very talented Jamie Kemp so that I can get sewing (you didn’t think I would do this one all on my own did you?!).

So my plan is to make this one alongside my other challenges and I have actually made a start on September’s. I wanted to make more use of my overlocker which I only ever use for seams. I plan to do some research and also have a go at rolled hems which I’ll update you with as I go but I also wanted to make a garment almost entirely on the overlocker. It’s great for sewing jersey as the stitch allows some stretch still. So I decided on the TATB Joni dress (again) with this beautiful teal fabric. Although it was quite scary cutting off my seam allowance as I sewed, it was so quick and easy. I also found it was a lot quicker to sew in the clear elastic on the shoulders and waist.

So now I just need to find time to make a coat while we move our lovely shop to a new space and as the new school year has started. Easy…

 

Posted on by

July Sewing Challenge – Trousers

My challenge for July was to make trousers; I made trousers at the beginning of the year but there were a few issues that I wanted to perfect. Controversially for a sewing project which I knew I would be writing about on a blog… I didn’t take very many pictures..  But here it goes anyway!

I decided to use this Simplicity pattern which is unusual for me as I very rarely use any of the more commercial pattern companies. I had also heard that Simplicity patterns aren’t actually very simple at all… I loved the floaty style though so decided to give it a go.

I wanted to be sure that I had a good fit so made a toile before I started. Last time I did this, I didn’t add the zip and just pinned where I thought it would close; this just wasn’t accurate enough! I didn’t need to make the whole length of the trousers as the bottoms aren’t fitted so I now have a nice pair of calico shorts…

I used a light fabric for optimum ‘swoosh’ factor. Even though there is swoosh, this fabric was not fun to work with; it was really slippery when I was cutting and sewing it! But also the needle kept catching and showing the white base of the fabric weave; apparently it’s because the pattern is dyed on after manufacture. After hopping on to the Sewing in the UK Facebook page, people suggested that I use a ballpoint or finer needle; I’ll definitely try that next time I work with a similar fabric. Luckily these parts aren’t obvious on the finishing trousers.

This pattern has a zip at the centre back of the trousers so I couldn’t use the same method I’ve used before for attaching the two legs together (putting one leg inside the other). So there was a bit of a headache while I tried to make sense of the diagrams and confusing language in the pattern. It seemed to work in the end though and there aren’t any holes in the crotch region so that’s a win.

I must admit that I did have to wing it a bit with this pattern and I did go off piste and just did what I thought would work. I’m a very visual/kinesthetic learner so bare-minimum diagrams just don’t work for me! I have enough sewing knowledge that it was fine and the finished trousers look like real trousers.

One reason that it’s taken me this long to finish is because I got to a point of almost finishing in July, then thought that the style didn’t suit me. I’m still not 100% sure but the tie belt makes a big difference. So now that I’m at a point where I’m not embarrassed to share it with all of you, here it is!

My August challenge (that I’m starting 13 days in) is going to be a 50s walking coat… Wish me luck!

Posted on by

June Challenge – Slippery Fabrics

I can’t actually believe that I’ve stuck with this challenge for a whole 6 months! I honestly thought I’d do January then get bored… but I’ve surprised myself and have managed to persevere. So last month was working with slippery fabrics and as Devon is going through an insane heatwave, I decided to work with velvet. Yes, velvet in 30 degree heat! So I won’t be wearing this dress any time soon but I couldn’t resist the beautiful fabric and it definitely fitted with the challenge as it was indeed slippery.

I found out quite quickly that velvet looks different depending on which way up you cut it. One way is light and the other creates a rich, darker colour. Of course the first piece I cut out was the light version which I didn’t like as much so there was much swearing, re-cutting and really trying to squeeze the pieces out of the fabric that I had left. Now this is fairly standard for a sewing project but cutting velvet is an actual living nightmare and I wasn’t best pleased with having to do it more than I had to. As you would expect, it slips and slides all over the place. There were lots of sharp pins and a rotary cutter involved and it was still tricky.

After a good couple of hours I had all of my pieces cut out and couldn’t resist fitting them on my mannequin to see how it draped; I just love how it looks on the skirt pieces. And this is how it stood for the majority of June… standing there, looking pretty but very much not in a ‘finished dress’ way. It’s not that I didn’t have the time; I made several other non-sewing challenge items. It’s that I thought that if cutting the fabric was as bad as it was, what on earth would the sewing be like?

In the end, I needn’t have worried as I finished it all in a couple of hours and didn’t come by very many issues at all. I think this was down to a couple of reasons: lots of pins and a walking foot. The only time I had a problem was right at the end when I was rushing the waist and didn’t bother to use as many pins as I had before so of course both sides slid away from each other.

I didn’t actually try to sew this velvet without a walking foot but I imagine the outcome would have been messy and inaccurate. The foot works by providing an extra set of feed dogs for the top of the fabric being sewn so keeps everything where it should be. It meant that my sewing was stress free and my fabric wasn’t chewed up or destroyed.

I’ve learnt that slippery fabric (or at least velvet) isn’t too horrendous if you have the correct tools to make it work. I’m pleased with the dress and, even though I can’t wear it any time soon, I will be well kitted out for any Christmas parties that might happen!

So here is my Christmas dress… in June!