07/05/2013

Black & White

S.E.W.N.

A hundred and one doodles, four patterns and three muslins later I think I’m officially broken into Project Sewn. This is a big deal, coming from a girl who’s typical stance on muslins is ‘life is too short’. Now I can see they have their place but only when one is chopping into prized woodland critter silk and hoping not to get voted off the island!!

Now I am no fashion illustrator but getting ideas down on paper really helped to reign in the flood of black and white. I narrowed it down from several pages to a few designs and ended up going with my original instinct to keep it simple: Clean lines, blocked shapes. Let the fabric do the talking. Or bleating and scurrying, I suppose.

But lets start at the beginning…this week’s theme was Black and White! Did you sew at home? My sewing week began with the realization that I didn’t actually have a week. Minus three days of work and it was more like four days…to plan, trace, cut, muslin, sew and photograph. True to calculation I finished with half an hour to spare before photos and only because I covered the buttons at Archie’s circus class and sewed them on at the hairdresser. I found being limited color-wise challenging and refreshing. I had to dig deeper to try and come up with something interesting/beautiful in two colors (if you can call them that) that I actually don’t own or wear very much. But I knew, straight up, it was time to break out the woodland printed silk crepe de chine from Spoonflower. I’ve been saving it for something special!

The next question was what to do it? Something to go with rust skirt was a given. And I wanted to sew a piece that I’d love and wear forever, or hopefully beyond May. I could totally see myself getting swept up in making something ‘comp worthy’ but never wear it again. So I conducted a little change room ‘research’, by which I mean trying on this blouse and had an epiphany! Blouses and shirts, for me, are daywear and it’s got to do with collars and fit. But this one was handsome and feminine, like a girly tuxedo. And a definite after 5-er. I wanted in. Color-blocking is one of my fav trends at the moment and the perfect way to let the print stand out here. As you could imagine it was inspiration overload so I had to cull like a boss to come up with this list:

Color-blocked
Understated collar
Sleeves with placket & cuffs (not elastic)
Slim fit body and sleeves (no gathers)
A curved front and butt skimming back hem

Pussy Bow Blouse // High Low Blouse // Wiksten Tank // Asymmetric Blouse

Four patterns…didn’t you believe me? This is how you make do sans drafting skills. Pilfer a sleeve from here, pinch a hem from there. Nothing to it. Okay, I lie, there was a lot to it. As well as adjustments to all the parts: sleeves lengthened, width taken out of shoulders, cuffs narrowed, front hem lengthened, seam allowances added to sleeves but not body. Hence the three muslins. The hardest part was deciding on a pattern to use for the base and being time poor it would have made sense to use something familiar. But the Pussybow blouse was all ‘casual’ and ‘shirty’ where I wanted ‘dashing’ so I went with the PPB’s sleeker sister, the Burdastyle High Low blouse. Mostly for its little hardly-a-collar and conveniently lowered back hem.

Oh, so many decisions! What kind of seams? French. Thick or thin cuffs? Thin. Interface both layers of collar or one? One. Should the triangle point up or down? Up. Contrasting buttons or not? Not. Plastic buttons or covered? Covered. What sized buttons? Small and inconspicuous. Should I go vacuum? No. And on it went. I can foresee my sticking point will be knowing when to let things go. With a day to finish the collar, front placket, hems and buttonholes and faced with ‘to French seam or not to French seam’ the armholes, I went the frenchies. Yup, totally busted my butt for beautiful seams that only my armpits will see.

Totes proud of my collar! I ‘stitched in the ditch’ instead of a top-stitch for a neater finish. The sleeve plackets went swimmingly, glad though that this was not my first attempt. They’re not scary but I get confused easily so this tutorial was helpful. This particular sized self-cover button didn’t come with a press in tool so I had to stitch around the outside and pull on the thread to gather the circle of fabric tight around the buttons. A new experience, but probably how buttons used to be made, come to think of it.

And then the pieced back panel whipped my butt! I lined up the edges, sewed to the point, flipped it over to the right side and there was this huge pucker above the tip. I was just like ‘WHAT is THAT and why is it HERE?!’. But after inspecting closely, the mystery wedge looked like it could be pinched out and sewn like a dart. You can’t even see the seam unless you’re looking for it or wondering why that particular deer has a pointy rump. As an after thought I attached cotton stay tape to triangle seams so hopefully they hold their shape over time.

Proud much? Um, yes! For only chucking a modest tanty over buttonhole foot being a jerk and sewing one cuff beautifully then refusing the other. Stitching that buttonhole entirely by hand! Lining up all the color blocking. Getting the rolled hems to sit flat around the curves. Making an army of muslins. What I’m most proud of is attempting something where I had no idea until I tried it on at the end whether it was going to be amazing or not so. What a week! It was intense. It was fun. Now it’s up to you. If you’d like to see my next Project Sewn creation you have to VOTE, right HERE, right now. Do it for the critters!!

28/04/2013

Upcoming// Project Sewn

Newsworthy

So it was a hard call to make but last week I resisted joining in the latest Kids Clothing Week Challenge and cheered from the stands instead. Something to do with wanting to save all my most spectacular meltdowns for the month of May when I’ll be sewing my little patoosh off in the first ever series of Project Sewn! I am completely blown away / excited / intimidated at the thought of sewing alongside these phenomenal ladies…

Jess from Me Sew Crazy

Andrea from Four Square Walls

Terra from Mama Says Sew

Caroline from Sew Caroline

Sabra from Sew a Straight Line

And what is Project Sewn when it’s at home? It’s the brain-child of Liz and Elizabeth of Simple Simon and Co, the crafty duo behind much loved kids-sewing comp / series Project Run and Play. And like PR&P you can expect all the drama and excitement of a month long sew-a-thon only this time it’s minus the minors. That’s right, a whole month completely unapologetically devoted to adult sewing. About time I say!I’m still trying to get my head around how it all works but basically it’s sewing Survivor. The contestants sew their hearts out and if the masses are wooed you’re safe, if not, you’re voted off the island. Eeek! Officially leaving ego at the door. The competition is built around a weekly theme you can sew alongside at home and post your creations on Project Sewn when they announce the link up each week. I’m pretty sure there are prizes involved. The rules are slightly different to PR&P in that rather than creating from scratch you can use patterns / tutorials straight up, or modified, as long as you give credit where’s it’s due. Which is pretty freakn’ fabulous seeing as my drafting skills are, um absent mostly…

The theme for week one is Black and White. So much room for play there, so now I am off to trawl for inspiration, followed up by some scheming and doodling. Interspersed with bouts of FREAKING out! Wish me luck…

15/04/2013

Rust Pencil Skirt + Tribal Crop

S.E.W.N.

Just in the last week there’s been a cool change in the air and it’s got me in the mood for autumn sewing. Which is great timing, seeing as I just finished this rust jersey skirt which I was supposed to be wearing last winter! So you’ve already had a sneaky peak at this tribal Briar on Kelli’s blog and it was made especially to go with this skirt, due to killer color / pattern combo. The skirt is high-waisted, which looks cute with cropped tops but I wanted a little more coverage for winter and gave it a peplum. Yes, still very peplum happy over here.

A quick recap on the top half…

Pattern// Briar

Fabric// A lightweight cream and navy cotton jersey from here.

Mods// I took inspiration from this top by Free People, I like the slouchier shape overall and the loose peplum but with fitted sleeves and thought it could make a cute Briar variation. Changes made were:

-Adjusted the curved front and scooped back to be a shallower, less dramatic high-low hem.

-Drafted two verrrry rough semi circles for the peplum. By quite literally standing my measuring tape on its side, molding it into a semi circle and measuring out approx 4 inches for the width all the way around. So lazy and so efficient.

Verdict// In love. Deeply.

Okay, this humble pencil skirt has just become one of my absolute fav hand-made pieces, like everrrrrr. First of all, the fit was spot on straight from the pattern. No adjustments. And like a good lover it hugs, not clings. It finishes exactly where a pencil skirt should, just below the knee. And it’s got GEOMETRIC shapes in front and an EXPOSED zip in the back!! There’s nothing else to say except Burdastyle, you did good, real good.

Pattern// Burdastyle Stretch Pencil Skirt

Fabric// Rust merino jersey from here

Notes// This jersey is on the lighter side so to make the whole thing sturdier and more like a double knit weight, I cut each piece twice and tacked them all together to treat as one piece before sewing. And that was after I printed the pattern, lovingly taped all it’s pieces together and added seam allowances. It was an effort but there was a lot at stake here since this amazing rust color goes with nearly every blouse fabric in the stash and most tops in my wardrobe. It kind of HAD to work out!

Construction// Those of you who’ve worked with a Burdastyle pattern before would know what I mean by their less is more approach to illustrations and diagrams. Being a visual learner it usually drives me insane but strangely this skirt was one of the most straightforward sews yet.

Beware the zipper// The amount I spent on zips and zip postage here is too embarrassing to disclose. Not helped at all by the fact that apparently it’s un-Australian to stock 27″ brown, two-way, reversible, brass coiled separating jacket zippers. I had to order mine from here. Which would have been fine except that it was all Goldilocks and The Three Zippers. The first, a 28″ (suggested size) was too long, the second a 26″ too small, and the third a 27″ just right. Sewing = the biggest test of commitment ever.

Annddd…that be me waving to an Ibis. I tried to coax him back but he didn’t want a bar of it…maybe it was my ‘special’ face?

09/04/2013

Tried and True

Newsworthy

If you’ve not yet met the ever-enchanting sewer and blogger that is Kelli from True Bias, now is your chance! I love stopping by Kelli’s space to check out her latest project or just generally drool over some impeccable taste in fabric and mad sewing skills. Right now she is hosting a series called Tried and True and today I’m sharing the #1 pattern that keeps luring me back again and again…and again. I don’t know about you, but I always find it helpful to get recommendations from other sewers and especially interesting to know when someone goes back to a pattern for seconds or thirds….then it’s probably worth a look. Last week, Sonja from Gingermakes shared her no.1 Tried and True pattern, the Sewaholic Renfrew and four cute and completely different versions later, you can see why she keeps going back for more. Often it seems it’s the simple no-frills patterns that end up our most loved wardrobe staples…so if you’d like to know what my # 1 Tried and True pattern is, you can check it out here. I don’t think it will shock somehow…

27/03/2013

Lace Crop + Mint shorts

S.E.W.N.

As promised… a woven Briar! Completed and awaiting it’s shoot now for close to a month while the weather got it’s act together and stopped pissing down every time I’d attempt photos. And since I don’t usually like wearing hand-made stuffs before they’re photographed, in case of hand-to-mouth co-ordination issues, it’s just been mooching about on my desk missing out on summer. So nice to finally get her out for a romp! I’m sooo happy with how it turned out, there’s something about wearing lace that feels so effortlessly feminine. I imagine it being something my mum might have worn in the 70’s. And oddly enough despite being full of holes, is actually pretty hard to see through. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.

Pattern Briar by Megan Nielsen

Fabric Guipure lace. Every time I say or hear it, it’s different. Lets sound it out…. Gooo-eeee-poooo-reee. Pretty sure that’s not it. Anyway, this is the lace and there was only 90cm to play with!

Sizing a woven version was no drama. The fit is slouchy and dart-free, so I just assumed I could up-size and hope the underarms would be forgiving.. and it turned out a really comfy fit all over. The lace has a bit of give anyway, which probably helped so it’d be interesting to see how it goes in a regular woven.

Mods A pocket-less version with above elbow sleeves.

Like sewing air sums up the experience here. I skipped the ‘how to sew Guipere lace’ bit, sometimes you just want to jump in, right? So like a true rookie I was going to bind the neckline and hemlines but you could see it through the holes and wasn’t pretty. I went for fold over hems instead but then every few inches, two holes would line up. And it was all ‘WELL I CAN’T STITCH AIR NOW CAN I?!
I showed it who’s bosslady and filled in the holes to an extent by serging the edges to beef them up a little before folding the hems over. I’m yet to come down from the high of this idea and when I glance at those neat little seams I’m sure I look nauseatingly smug.

More genius ideas Using cotton stay tape to stabilize the shoulder and side seams was another one (what can I say, I was on fire). Now I can officially say I’m still no lace expert…but after this round it looks like Sophie = 1. Gooeepeery Lace = 0

You may have caught me right in the middle of a fully fledged love affair with shorts. It’s like we’ve just met or renewed our vows or something. I never realized how impossibly cute they could be. And sooo practical. Nor guessed that I’d want to be wearing them every day. And sewing / wearing fancy stuff is something I like as much as the next person but sometimes you just want to chuck something on in the morning, knowing you’ve got your ass covered, so to speak, whatever the day brings. Shorts are it!

Pattern Pattern Runway Scalloped Hem Shorts, cute versions spotted here and here.

Fabric A beautiful soft Nani Iro Double Gauze. I tacked a silk cotton voile to the main front and back pieces, but not the pockets, before construction to make the minty colour richer and the need for flesh coloured knickers less critical.
Sizing Upon advice from Poppykettle and Cloth Habit I sized down, cut a small and the fit is perfecto. The side zipper makes them super flattering and comfy too.
Mods Quite a few but nothing brain-straining. It looked like this: 1cm off back sides only and hem facing accordingly. A wedge out of the back piece at the sides, because like Poppy Kettle, I found too much fullness around the thigh but strangely only in the back pieces. And as per usual I put the invisible zip in twice. All these little tweaks paid off in the end, now they sit sit right where I want them, on the waist, and I can wear things like a cropped Briar without feeling exposed.

Welt Fockits I’m not being rude. They’re just fakies. It’s a long story. I made a booboo somewhere in the marking, abandoned the idea of a pocket bag and hand-stitched the hole shut instead. At first I was sad that my pockets were fockets and nearly f$#&its but then I thought, you know what, they’re neat from the outside and I never stick things in back pockets. Who wants more bulk in the boot anyway?

Don’t be fooled by the seemingly serene, at-one-with-nature expression. The whole time I was wondering when I was going to get gobbled by a python. Or dragged off into the bush by a giant tick. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but I did know of a snake that ate a puppy not too far from where we were shooting. I didn’t know him personally, the snake, that is. But close enough. Can’t say I’m especially fond of all our biting, slithering, blood-sucking wildlife!