Summer sleeves…make me feel fine

On July 8, 2015July 27, 2015 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects7 Comments

Pattern: New Look 6104 (view D)

While I was in the middle of trying to finish up my cold weather projects that got away from me last season, I realized I would always be a season behind if I didn’t get working on some summer clothes. So I dropped everything and whipped up this little shirt, made from fabric I got for $1.99 a yard at Sewfisticated in Framingham, MA.

When I bought this, I had a vision of making a sleeveless shirt. This New Look pattern that I had already made a muslin from seemed perfect, especially with the tucks in the front and the collar-less design.

Based on my experience from last time, I cut the neckline a bit smaller to compensate for my small shoulders and cut the bottom part a little fuller. It could probably use more adjustment next time – with the bottom more flared out and the middle part taken it a bit at the waist. Continue reading “Summer sleeves…make me feel fine” →

There will be only one: a difficult kilt project

On April 22, 2015May 26, 2015 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized8 Comments

Pattern: Simplicity (vintage) 7213

I was doing so well on my last few projects, so I was not anticipating any problems. Unfortunately this one knocked me down a few pegs – I don’t think I will be attempting another kilt-skirt any time soon. And definitely not this pattern.

Some Background

I got the idea to make a kilt-skirt last summer, when I went to Scotland for a vacation. Okay so what I really wanted to do was make something in the clan colors shown in Highlander: the TV series (not the movie), since I have always been a huge fan of the show. Finding clan tartan fabric was not as easy as I had hoped – I found some fabric from a few of the clan names but they were all in this really heavy wool that I knew would make my skin break out immediately. And I couldn’t even find MacLeod tartan, which I’m not even sure is historically accurate on the show.

Author’s note: I apologize to all people that may be Scottish reading this! I am definitely not Scottish and I am probably not using any of these words (clan, tartan, etc) correctly since I have no idea of what I am talking about (and all my knowledge comes from the TV show Highlander). Feel free to correct my knowledge about clan or family colors/tartans as I don’t mind being educated! Continue reading “There will be only one: a difficult kilt project” →

The baby sleep sack and the series of wrong decisions

On April 20, 2015April 28, 2015 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects3 Comments

Pattern: Butterick 5583

New skills acquired:

Ribbed cuffs and collar
Time management?

There is nothing like rushing to finish a baby gift an hour before you are supposed to give it at the baby shower. This sleep sack marked the first baby item I ever attempted. In the end, it came out pretty good, but I did have some difficulty.

First of all, when I borrowed this pattern I started looking at all the wonderful fleece that was available (and on sale!). I had picked out something perfect for a baby girl when I remembered that my friend was due in April. This was a newborn sleep sack that she would not be wearing as a newborn. WRONG! I immediately picked out some cute cotton knit instead.

I do not have a serger at home, so this required me taking a special trip to my parent’s house in order to sew this up. Continue reading “The baby sleep sack and the series of wrong decisions” →

Sheer Skill: beautiful inside and out

On March 13, 2015March 18, 2015 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized7 Comments

Pattern: Butterick ivy + blu B6021

I live in New England. This winter has been murder with the snow – more so than usual. February was one big white blur and everywhere you turned, snow banks were piling up higher and higher. Houses were buried, mailboxes were lost and ice dams were creeping onto many a roof. People have grown a little colder as well – sick of shoveling the stuff, driving in the stuff and seeing the stuff. The waste management company for my town actually hurled my recycling bin on top of a giant snow bank where I could barely climb to reach it. I just left it up there for four weeks. I love snow, but even I realize it has been a little much this year. I decided, as the icy winds blew outside, to make this sheer dress even though I knew it would be a while before I could actually wear it.

I finally got around to using the birthday material my mom got me, seen in this post. This was the first time I have worked with material so thin and sheer, but I knew french seams were the way to go. They work so well on this type of material, plus I’ve been striving to make my garments look more professional, inside and out.

The Tale of Two Bodices

When I saw the picture on the envelope, I had a feeling the bodice on this might be a bit too big. I generally have this problem anyway, having such small shoulders. And look at that model – it looks like the top is just falling off her. So I cut out a smaller size, which still seemed to match my measurements. After I sewed up the finished seams and stitched in the lining, I tried it on. It was so tight under my armpits, it started to leave welts. The straps couldn’t even rest on my shoulders straight. I was going to try to adjust and let out the seams on the arm holes, but I realized that I still had a lot of the fabric left – plenty more for a new bodice. I was even able to squeak out a new lining, although that was a close call. Looks are definitely deceiving with this one – the top is not as loose as it looks.

Pinning it Down

This pattern was mostly easy to follow. It has an elastic waist, so you have to create a casing and do the whole thread-the-elastic-through-the-hole thingy. But no zipper!! Getting the dress on and off is also surprisingly easy despite having no zipper, although figuring which was front or back took some thought (sewing a tag in would be a good idea).

The only directions I got confused by was Continue reading “Sheer Skill: beautiful inside and out” →

Dr. Strange-seam or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bias

On March 4, 2015March 10, 2015 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized11 Comments

Pattern: McCall’s M6966

These skirts were inspired by the many striped knits skirts I’ve seen people wear at work. I saw this pattern online, and thought my skirt would really stand out having the stripes going in different directions (view D). Those diagonals were intimidating – there seemed to be a lot of room for error if I cut wrong. But if I did it correctly, I would have a skirt that was not only me-made, but something you would see in stores as well!

My first attempt was a wearable muslin in a charcoal gray knit. I needed to make sure I could actually make this with bias seams before I ruined my striped material. Turns out cutting out those pattern pieces on the bias was harder than I thought, but not for the reasons I originally thought. I bought 3 yards of fabric, thinking it was a bit excessive but safe. It worked out in the end, but if I make this again I may buy an extra half yard to avoid the cursing and the sweating. Fitting the pattern pieces so the diagonals match up perfectly took some creative adjusting, and every time I thought I had it with one piece, I adjusted for the diagonal and it would overlap another piece. Gah!

Advice: try to fit the two largest pieces first (bottom back and front) and then work your way to the next biggest. Trying to go by the picture for laying out the pattern does not work.

I tried to make sure the pieces were all going to fit before I cut, but its tough when you are cutting two pieces from the same pattern piece. These pieces were so large so I don’t think that folding the fabric would work in this case. The good news is if you have successfully cut everything out, the hard part is over.

The rest was easy – I used my mom’s serger to sew up all the seams. This pattern is definitely one of the easiest I have attempted Continue reading “Dr. Strange-seam or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bias” →

It Seams Complicated: My First Blouse

On February 11, 2015February 12, 2015 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects10 Comments

Pattern: New Look 6104

New Skills Acquired:

French seams
Tucks

I’m so proud! I took one piece of slightly stained discount fabric and made an actual blouse! With buttons!

As much as I like the end result, I did find this pattern a little difficult to follow. I think the main problem was it assumed I already had experience making pin tucks and shirt cuffs. It took some concentration and some interesting maneuvers cutting around a few stains, but in the end I made a pretty nice trial blouse.

Tuck Ever-Exhausting

I decided to make view C because I liked the short sleeves and I didn’t think the ruffles would work with the almost flannel-like material. The directions on the pattern basically just said to fold the material on the line provided to make the tuck. I had no idea which way to fold the material or how to make the seam. Even doing an exhaustive search on youtube confused me, since the videos usually showed using multiple lines for guidance. Using a practice scrap, I attempted my first tuck. Annnnddd I folded it the wrong way. Well I’m glad I practiced.

Tucks are created by basically folding the fabric up on the pattern line, with the wrong sides Continue reading “It Seams Complicated: My First Blouse” →

Wait, is it After Labor Day?

On December 29, 2014December 29, 2014 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized5 Comments

Pattern: Simplicity 4127

It’s pretty bad when your summer projects don’t get finished until the fall. It’s even worse when they leak into the wintertime as well. Okay, so I am running a little behind on my projects. But I wanted to finish this top, since I had already made the muslin (see blog post) and I didn’t want to forget all the knowledge I gained. Especially since this was the most expensive material I have bought to date. But of course it’s white, and you know what they say about wearing white…seasonably I mean. Not the virgin thing.

This project went very well – I was able to get the straps right and had some soft white cotton that worked great as a lining. Again, I installed an invisible zipper instead of a regular zipper, which the pattern called for. My new invisible zipper foot has been serving me well – definitely worth the money. I also made sure to cut the bottom section 2.5 inches shorter than the pattern, which gave me the length I wanted. For the straps, I used a textured trim I found at the fabric store. I wanted a contrast for the waist, so I picked a satin yellow ribbon. I’m wondering if white would have been a better choice. After I stitched it together, I realized I still had an issue of the bottom blousing out more than I liked. I didn’t want the illusion I was expecting…so I knew I would need to do some adjusting.

I took in the material in two sections around each side seam. Because of the gathers, my alterations are not too obvious….I don’t think.

I’m not too impressed with the way the bow came out – I’m never good at those little decorative things. The bow on my muslin came out a lot better, probably because my mom helped me out with Continue reading “Wait, is it After Labor Day?” →

Okay…I did it…

On August 30, 2014December 29, 2014 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects9 Comments

Pattern: Simplicity 4127

In case you were wondering, that vague post title refers to the fact that I made a muslin, which is something I pretty much never do. I just don’t have much patience when tackling new projects. But, I have also noticed that being a newbie, I tend to make a lot of mistakes. And I also notice that the second time I make something, I make less mistakes, soooo….yeah you see where this is going.

Making a muslin refers to making a “trial” garment out of some inexpensive material. Traditionally these were made with muslin, hence the name, which is a really plain cotton fabric. But now the term “making a muslin” is used for any fabric that may be used. This is my understand at least, from reading many sewing blogs. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

I bought a wonderful white material labeled “as seen in J Crew” at the Fabric Corner in Arlington, MA. I bought it because it reminded me of this cute summer top I used to have when I was much younger, that showed off my midriff. I’m not at an age where I can show that much skin, but I did want another cute summer top, so I splurged on it (it was pretty expensive) and then bought this pattern:

My mom gave me some brown-ish printed cotton that was leftover from a quilting project. So I got to work. Continue reading “Okay…I did it…” →

One Suit, Two Cups

On July 16, 2014November 27, 2017 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized3 Comments

Pattern: McCalls 3566

Well I thought this post would be about my issues with putting bra cups into a bathing suit for the first time, but that was actually one of the easiest parts of this pattern. Since my first attempt at a bathing suit was so successful, I thought I would try a different style from this pattern. I thought the triangle top would be a good one to try, but I felt it would need some cups…for shape.

Unfortunately, this pattern did not provide an easy adjustment to add these. There was an option to add foam, but that is not something I have seen or could find online. The directions called for sewing each piece of lining to each of the separate front pieces. This was not an option since I needed to sew the cups between the material and the lining. Sewing the two lining pieces together was a bit difficult, but I got it to work. And with a few stitches, I secured the cups in the right spot under the lining, and being careful not to let the stitches show on the front side. I could use that front seam to my advantage – no stitches showed and the cups were securely in place.

Now the real hard part of this suit was the straps and that darn drawstring. I spent hours flipping those inside out. My fingertips were completely red Continue reading “One Suit, Two Cups” →

The Dress-for-Wedding Challenge: Epilogue

On July 10, 2014July 9, 2014 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Special Occasions, Uncategorized6 Comments

Pattern: Vogue Patterns American Designer, Kay Unger New York #V1353….continued from part 3, part 2 and part 1

I thought it might be nice, since half my blog is about this one dress, to post a picture of the final dress in action. Here is the dress I wore to my friend’s wedding over the July 4th holiday:

Me, having a conversation with a mystery person. I cropped her at her request.

A few days before the wedding, I added the thread belt loops and a fabulous gold belt from TJ Maxx ($9.99).

The wedding was wonderful – everyone had a great time. I was so happy to see my friends take this next step in their relationship. I also couldn’t believe that I got a few compliments about my dress, from people I didn’t know and who didn’t know I made the dress. It gave me a great ego boost – and I was ready to dance up a storm at the reception (not pictured).

One final picture, then I swear I will never speak of this dress again! Haha! But seriously, I would use this pattern again, I especially liked how the bodice fit and I didn’t need to make too many adjustments on the skirt. It would be interesting to see it made with a different print, so if anyone out there attempts this dress, let me know!