See my vest…in textured fleece

On May 8, 2016May 12, 2016 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized3 Comments

Pattern: Kwik Sew K3813

Some key takeaways:

Wait to buy your separating zipper until you confirm the final length
Make sure your fabric works for the arm binding, if not you can use spandex or knit

Just as spring made its way in New England, so did the cold weather. For a winter which saw 70 degree temperatures on Christmas Eve and only 2 snow storms, this spring sure is cold! We had more snow storms in April than in March, and now that it is May, I can’t walk around my house without a sweatshirt. Or a fleece….which brings me to….

I decided to make a fleece vest! I started this a bit on the late side – as in after winter was technically over. Glad this cold weather started up, or I would have felt completely foolish!

This was a pretty ambitious project. I have never made anything like this before, and half-way through making the vest, I was worried I may be in over my head. However, the results of this one are very positive!

When I first decided to make this pattern, Continue reading “See my vest…in textured fleece” →

Southwestern Over-shirt: Joys in the hood

On April 21, 2016May 12, 2016 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized2 Comments

Pattern: McCalls stitch n’ save 6681

Skills acquired:

Homemade bias tape
Hoods!

There comes a time in every sewist’s life when they realize they are still learning. I’ve been killin’ it on so many projects lately (with some minor complications), I really thought I was heading up to the big leagues. Then I had to make a hood. I don’t know why this baffled me so much, but looking back on it, it all seems rather stupid.

First of all this pattern is labeled “easy” right on the front. This should not have been as much of a challenge as it was. I think some unclear writing and my own inexperience with making a hood contributed to this lesson.

Let me step back a minute on this one. I chose this pattern because I wanted to make something else besides pajama pants with this cotton flannel I had bought when on vacation in New Mexico. I specifically searched for patterns for flannel fabric and figured for this type of native-american-like print some sort of over-shirt would be nice. I thought this pattern looked cute with the hood and everything so I decided to go for it. Continue reading “Southwestern Over-shirt: Joys in the hood” →

The end of an era jumper

On February 28, 2016April 21, 2016 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized6 Comments

Pattern: McCalls 2075 (vintage 1969)

Oh! Wouldn’t it have been great if I could have finished this right when Mad Men was ending! Of course that was last May, almost a year ago. As I watched the final season, I really wanted to make one of those vintage jumpers from the ’60’s. I think I even had this pattern already. But work ramped up and I never got around to it. My mom gave me some royal blue corduroy last fall and I thought, “This will be perfect for this.” But again things were busy at work and I only managed to cut it out. As the year ended I started buying the buttons and some of the other notions I would need. I started making the darts, but had to set it down as the holidays approached. Obligations and lack of time again. In January I began to chip away at it, step by step. But I couldn’t quite finish it until mid-February, especially with all that hand sewing.

But this is called the “End of an Era” jumper for another reason. A few weeks ago, I lost my job. I have gone through this a few times, but it’s still never an easy thing. Especially when it’s just due to some business deal that has nothing to do with you – some company buys another one and wants to clean house. And suddenly I went from being busy every Continue reading “The end of an era jumper” →

Sweater weather : Experimenting with sweater knits

On February 1, 2016February 28, 2016 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized3 Comments

Pattern: Butterick B5954, view B

I can’t remember if I officially made the announcement, but I did mention this on a previous post – I bought a serger! It was my Christmas present to myself….that I actually bought in October. It was expensive, but so very necessary. Finding a way to work on my mom’s just wasn’t working any more as I don’t live close enough to pop over for an hour or two. I did however decide to buy the exact same one as her, since I had gotten so used to it. And here it is – I feel like I need a name for it, but can’t think of anything clever. Sergey just sounds too much like Pee-wee’s Playhouse.

My main fear about this machine was threading it. Continue reading “Sweater weather : Experimenting with sweater knits” →

Another day, another knit skirt

On January 12, 2016February 3, 2016 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized7 Comments

Pattern: McCall’s M6966

I’ve seen so many cute long knit skirts lately worn by people at work. So I thought, why not make my own! I had just bought myself a serger – exciting news. So this was the perfect project to test out my skills.

Not much to say about this one. I had used this pattern before, but this time I decided to try view C, but with the yoke I had constructed for view D. It’s pretty basic, with just a back panel and a front panel, and the yoke pieces to form a waistband.

I did start to sew up the waist incorrectly, sewing where the elastic is supposed to fit in the wrong place. Continue reading “Another day, another knit skirt” →

Happy and plaid: the Dahlia dress

On January 8, 2016February 3, 2016 By qplourdeIn Sewathons & Contests, Sewing Projects, Uncategorized8 Comments

Pattern: Dahlia from Colette Patterns

New Skills Acquired:

Machine blind hem stitch

When I look at some of my projects from last year…

I do! It may be a mini-obsession. I do have some non-plaid projects in the works, but for now….

This dress has been sitting as a draft in blog forever. I wanted to share this on The Monthly Stitch and even bumped it up in my project queue because the July theme was all about plaid. I rushed through all the hot sticky weather to try to finish this dress in time to post on the site and then…the blind hem stitch on my machine wasn’t working. On July 28th.

Yeah I know I could have just hemmed it by hand, but I really wanted to try out a new technique. And that was more important than trying to force a project into a theme. It’s all about my learnings as a sewist, right? (Back me up on this one) So in the corner this dress went while I worked on other stuff, involving other non-blind hems. I decided to pick this back up when my machine was properly repaired. Welp, at least I can also get that button-hole stitch fixed too.

Clash of the Tartans

I bought this fairly light-weight tartan fabric when I was on vacation in Scotland last summer. I had a picture in my head of the type of dress I wanted to make from it – something simple but also stylish that would really show off the plaid design. The Dahlia dress seemed perfect – Continue reading “Happy and plaid: the Dahlia dress” →

Striking a new corduroy: part 2

On December 30, 2015January 8, 2016 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized8 Comments

Click here for part 1…

Pattern: McCalls M6610

Yikes! This project fell of a cliff fast. Okay I’m being a bit dramatic – it’s not a total disaster. These just didn’t end up being the fabulous everyday pants I imagined. I tested these pants out using an inexpensive purple corduroy I bought in preparation for this nice green corduroy that I want to use for the real deal . After making a few jeans with this pattern, I think I’ve decided I don’t like it too much. This is unfortunate because it means I will probably have to start all over again – more test fabric, more fitting adjustments. Well maybe the practice will do me good.

Where the whole thing falls apart is the waistband. Continue reading “Striking a new corduroy: part 2” →

Coming back from leave…with a leaf skirt!

On December 16, 2015November 27, 2017 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized7 Comments

Pattern: Sewaholic Crescent Skirt

New Skills Acquired:

Bound seams

Well I don’t know what happened. I got super busy in August and September and put my sewing on hold. Then all of a sudden it was December and I hadn’t gone near my blog, not even to read posts from my favorite bloggers. It’s not like I haven’t been sewing – I have been working on projects here and there when I find a spare weekend. In fact this skirt I am writing about was actually made in September and I had even started a post about it. Well these things happen. Sometimes you get so focused on the constant making that you don’t take a step back to write and reflect on what you have accomplished. I felt so behind in the projects I wanted to finish this summer that I kept pushing through and I let my laptop collect dust. But now we return to our regularly scheduled blog post, already in progress…..

What a difference the right pattern makes! With my last skirt a fitting failure, Continue reading “Coming back from leave…with a leaf skirt!” →

The garment of Venice: a tale of two fabrics

On August 23, 2015December 15, 2015 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized6 Comments

Pattern: Simplicity (vintage) 6216, view 2

The search for the perfect pattern to match an idea in your head is a challenging one. But sometimes it really works out!

I found this printed fabric by accident in the back room of one of my favorite fabric stores, Sewfisticated Fabrics. It’s actually really nice quality cotton with a tiny bit of stretch to it. The print looks like the canals of Venice, Italy. Really cool find, so I had to buy some, even if I wasn’t exactly sure what it would be.

Somewhere I got the idea it would look good as the top of a dress, with the bottom being just plain black. I also figured it should probably have an empire waist – so the search began for a pattern I could use for this vision.

I started to look at some vintage patterns, because I couldn’t really find many modern patterns of the dress style I was looking for. I settled on this Simplicity pattern because the picture had a similar look to what I was going for. For the black skirt, I bought fabric that would dress up the look, but I’m not exactly sure what it is – some sort of polyester. It’s a little on the thick side, so I knew I was going to have to use a serger so the seams didn’t appear too bulky.

Most of the vintage dress patterns I have used have been really easy to construct, and this one was no different. For the bodice, it requires you to cut out a facing, which finishes the top and armholes without a lining. When you cut out the facing and sew it all together, it is one long piece like so:

Then you sew it to the bodice with right sides together so it can be flipped to the inside:

Facing on bodice — This is before you flip the facing to the inside. The raw edge is pressed and sewed as well.

I find this “facing” method a lot in vintage patterns and Continue reading “The garment of Venice: a tale of two fabrics” →

Anti-fashion in a new age: the improved flannel shirt

On August 10, 2015August 22, 2015 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects6 Comments

Pattern: Sewaholic Granville shirt (1501)

New skills acquired

Plackets
Collar & collar stand
Flat-felled seams

I grew up in the 90’s. This was the decade where I awkwardly lived out my teen years and a few young adult years as well. Say what you will about the grunge music movement, but for a self-conscious pre-teen who had spent most of her childhood bullied mercilessly, that music felt like ecstasy inside my head. I remember spending many hours listening to Nirvana’s Nevermind over and over to try to numb my pain. And I actually spent an entire family vacation to Arizona with the Pearl Jam Vs. album constantly pumping into my ears. People say that music was depressing, but life can be depressing when you become a teenager. The music mirrored all my thoughts and feelings about growing up and trying to find my place in a world that didn’t seem to want me. And the flannel! Flannel shirts were the style – a part of the anti-fashion movement that was sweeping the country. We were no longer going to spend money on brand names and store logos. We would look in thrift shops and re-purpose old clothes from our parents. It was casual and comfortable and a way to rebel against corporations.

I miss my flannel shirts.

Anyways, this fashion craze was all finished when I went on to college. Continue reading “Anti-fashion in a new age: the improved flannel shirt” →

Threading Lightly

Tag: homemade clothes