Tag: Seamwork Riley

The Cure for the Summertime Blues…or When Life Gives You Lemons

On By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized1 Comment

Summer in New England does seem to go by too quickly and this year is no exception. It’s been kind of a strange season weather-wise, but I’ve been able to make the most of it with a beach day here and a hike there. I got caught in a few epic rain storms as well, ones where rain coats and umbrellas don’t seem to do much. I’m not going to get to do all the things I wanted to this summer, but I was able to finish my second Riley top. I am calling this one a success since I was able to lengthen it enough so it works with midrise pants and it looks good despite using the wrong type of fabric. The ties on these are a little wonky, but when its all tied up, I don’t think it will make much of a difference.

I even was able to make bias tape for this one with the fabric, although it didn’t quite press as well as plain cotton, which made for a very frustrating project.

There has to be a better way…I think I need a better tool to make bias tape if I’m going to be doing this more often…

Despite this, it worked ok for the facings. I extended the length of the top by 1.5 inches, so it still has a slight cropped look.

So glad to finally be able to use this fabric for something! And I have more leftover, so I may use it for some lounge pants or I may also make a pair of these great knit pajama shorts that I had self drafted a pattern for.

I was able to test out the shorts pattern on some leftover knit I had from a 1970’s style dress I made. All the pajama shorts I purchase seem to have ridiculously wide legs that tend to ride up in my sleep. I wanted something a bit more comfortable and these worked great. It could be a great way to use up leftover knit as well, which will help with my overall stash-busting project.

A very fast extra project for the month. I think this could be a great way to bust some stash and also give me more comfortable pajama shorts!

Up next for the month is making this cute sleeveless tie-top using McCalls 8620 (view C).

I’m trying out the fit on some lemon-print cotton I bought in Montreal. I had a feeling this pattern would need some adjusting and so far I’ve been proven right. The collar on it just doesn’t seem to match up to how it’s supposed to fit on the shirt. I think if I make it smaller it could work better. I may also have to extend the front facing a bit too so it can reach where it needs to go. It’s odd that the facings are cut along with the main shirt front. Folding it in the way the pattern described was extremely confusing. It took a few tries and 3 times unpicking the stitches before I figured out what they were trying to do. I was able to figure it out by actually pressing the facing in place first to see how it needed to land. Anyways, this one will never be perfect, but I’m confident my next one could be great if I take my time and figure it out right. I did shorten it a bit, but so far it doesn’t seem to need too much size adjusting, which is lucky.

I also started the bodice on my summer sundress, but I quit to cut out some button-up shorts out of some scrap denim. This is another test garment as I’m not sure I can get the fit right on the first try. I have some anchor print (I think it’s Chambray?) that I’ve really wanted to do something with. I think this may be the perfect pattern for it, but I need to make sure. I’ll get to the dress eventually, but it’s a high possibility it won’t be ready for this summer. But you never know.

Summertime Tanks: The Life of Riley

On By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized2 Comments

Oh this summer! The other day I went to put on my favorite bathing suit. As I was pulling the bottoms over my legs I hear “bbbrrrrrrruuuuuupt” – that all knowing sound of old elastic stretching out. The legs holes were totally useless as the back just hung off my butt like an untucked sheet. Very depressing – and they weren’t even that old! I had the idea that I could probably just replace the elastic in the legs, so I didn’t throw them out. They now sit on a pile of well intentioned projects I say I’ll get to – running belts that I haven’t sewn up yet or tee shirts that I want to repurpose into tank tops. It’s so hard when there are so many other cool things to sew. I really do want to fix these bathing suit bottoms though…

These bottoms fit so well! And lately the suits I’ve tried on don’t seem to cover much of my bottom…it would be nice to salvage these.

Right now, I’m busy with summer tank tops. I saw this Seamwork pattern in my collection, the Riley top, and I thought it looked really cute. I had also been trying to figure out what to do with this fun cotton fabric I bought. I thought this might be the perfect top for it, but wanted to figure out the fit and the length first. I knew it was a cropped style and it seems like when Seamwork says its cropped, its REALLY cropped.

I thought there was a possibility I’d want to lengthen it just a tad. I didn’t want it too long either, which is usually my complaint of other patterns. I found this Paris-themed cotton in my stash. It was one of those times I just bought something because I thought it looked cool even though I had no idea what I would sew up with it. It’s just plain cotton, a little on the thick side so probably not ideal for this project, which I think prefers a lighter weight fabric. I decided to go for it and it mainly works. It’s a little bulky in places and the ties and bottom casing a little stiff, but the print is really cute for this. For a test garment, it’s extremely wearable. I tried to really take my time on the hem and the facing, so it didn’t look too sloppy. I think the result is great.

The Seamwork Riley top, in some nice cotton
A very rainy day in Cambridge, MA. But it’s still muggy enough to wear a summer top.

Now to try it with the real fabric. This is lighter weight so I think it will sew up nicely. However, I had thought it had just a slight stretch to it, but when I started cutting into it, I realized it’s pretty much a two-way stretch jersey. I’m still going to try it – the pattern doesn’t use too much fabric, so I will still have some fabric left for another top if this doesn’t work out the way I want it to. After seeing where the Paris tank landed, I decided to extend the pattern by 1.5 inches. That way I could wear it to work if I wanted or at least not feel self conscious wearing it when I’m not at my fittest.

This fabric is so cute!

I made too much bias tape for the first tank, but I’m hoping what I cut out will make enough for this one. I’ve been dreading it and putting it off because there was just so much ironing with the last one, and I struggled with my bias tape tool for some reason – the fabric just kept moving and shifting to one side. I may need another tool that’s easier to use.

With all these tops, I think I may need to switch it up. I’m really wanting to make some shorts before the weather gets cooler, but it’s hard adding stuff to my growing list of potential projects. I think I need to at least attempt the dress I cut out first. We’ll see if I get distracted…again.