Take Two for 2022: Sew Buttons

On June 5, 2022June 4, 2022 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Take Two, Uncategorized2 Comments

Pattern: Vogue V9227 View B

I came back from vacation a few weeks ago, but I feel like I’m still catching up on things. Since I didn’t have much time to sew over the last few months, I decided to take both my sewing machine and serger for servicing, since it had been several years. With everything working in tip-top shape, I wanted to tackle another re-do with a completely new pattern. About 4 years ago, I made this knit top that had decorative buttons on the collar and arm seam. I liked the look of it on the pattern envelope, but the end result…not so much. I was cleaning out my closet this spring and happened to find it hanging in the back. Yeah…I knew I wouldn’t be wearing this. Before this, I had never gotten rid of a garment I had made myself. I never had the heart to throw away a make, no matter how flawed it was because of the time spent and the hard work put in. But I knew I couldn’t keep everything forever, especially things I just couldn’t wear. So in the trash it went, after I salvaged the buttons of course.

Navy blue knit top — The old top that I never really got to wear. I just couldn’t get over how wrong the buttons looked on this.

Even though this new shirt isn’t a do-over of a pattern, it had a similar style to the first shirt, with buttons that were decoratively placed on the arm seams. As with this other shirt, I knew would have to be careful and pay attention to where I put the buttonholes to make sure everything looked even. I had to be careful when constructing the collar as well, so everything lined up right. I knew I needed to take my time with this and not rush through it like last time. I think with knit tops especially, I tend to maybe not be as precise since they sew up so quickly.

View B on this pattern is actually a test drive for View A, which I thought would make a really unique winter top. I totally missed the boat getting it ready for the right season, but decided to sew up View B for fun anyways. I also wanted to give myself a break from another project I am working on with chiffon that is making me tear my hair out a bit.

Although I salvaged the buttons on that other shirt, these are not them. I got buttons that matched the fabric, but most importantly were the the right size for the garment.

It’s not perfect – the collar in the front could be a bit straighter and some of the seams could be better, but overall I like the result. This one is wearable for real this time. The panels on the seams look even and the buttons are lined up correctly this time. Most importantly, this is a better pattern that I am able to be successful at, which I think makes a big difference. I’m very excited I have a new, comfortable top for the fall and hopefully one that I will not throw out any time soon. So glad to have my serger back!

Going with the Flow: Starting up 2020

On February 9, 2020July 11, 2021 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized2 Comments

Pattern: Vogue V9005

Despite all my big plans for 2019, I basically accomplished almost nothing I wanted to for the year. I also kind of just forgot about my blog. I didn’t actually forget, I just never seemed able to get to it, even while I was still sewing. But I’m not wanting to dwell on the past…

Last year was a pretty important year since I turned 40 and my significant other also turned 40. We had some big travel plans and life got pretty busy. It’s interesting how an age milestone can make you feel like you have to try to accomplish everything. Maybe it’s time to slow some things down, I’m not sure. I do have some travel plans for this year, although they are quite different from last year. My SO and I thought it would be a good idea to take some trips with our families this year since we felt it was important at this stage in our lives. It’s great to do these things when you can because you never know what life will throw at you. None of us is getting any younger.

But first up, I do have a girl’s trip planned to Austin, TX in a few weeks. I’ve been trying to decide whether Continue reading “Going with the Flow: Starting up 2020” →

Winter is…over

On July 9, 2018December 28, 2018 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized1 Comment

Patterns:

McCall’s M6796, View D
Vogue V8956, View C

Since it is now July, you would think that the fact it’s not winter any more would be obvious to me. It is, but I realized that with all the craziness in the last six months, I forgot to blog about some of my winter projects. I’m particularly proud of both of these garments, and not just because I actually completed them in the season they were intended for, but because they both came out really nice. The sweater I am most proud of, since I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on it and was able to wear it quite a bit, even as winter was thawing out a bit.

I am especially proud of the purely decorative buttons on the collar – I definitely chose the right ones for top.

Close up of collar — The lines on this really look as close to perfect as ever. I think this lightweight sweater knit was really the perfect fabric for this project.

This garment got a lot of wear this past season, since it matched a lot of things and Continue reading “Winter is…over” →

Top mistakes: My sporadic sewing

On July 3, 2018July 12, 2018 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Uncategorized1 Comment

Patterns:

Rhapsody Blouse (bishop sleeves) by Love Notions
Vogue V8670 (view D)

This year has been pretty crazy for me so far. It started with me losing my job unexpectedly, then moved on to a big move and a new co-habitation situation with my significant other. All of this occurring while I was training hard and accomplishing my major running goals and then finally shifted to me getting a new job and trying to find some normalcy and a regular schedule for my life. With all these changes taking place in a fairly short period of time, I saw my planned and unfinished sewing projects piling up. Whenever I found myself with a pocket of free time, I would try to hurriedly work on these. Unfortunately these rushed blocks of productivity lead to some large, unplanned mistakes.

Doggone it! It’s upside down!

I had the perfect project in mind – a garment I really wanted ready for this spring. It was one of the Rhapsody Blouse options from Love Notions. The fabric I wanted to use was this very soft, almost gauzy, cotton that had this really cute dog print pattern on it. I bought it thinking it would be cute for some kids clothes, but since I don’t have any kids, I decided I liked the material too much to not keep it for myself. I cut the project out in between packing my stuff for my move. I even attempted to make a small amount of bias tape with the leftover fabric I had (it wasn’t much), but that didn’t seem to work right. I’m not sure if the material was too stretchy, but the shape wasn’t right when I tried to use this method.

Trying to make bias tape — Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on here either. This is what happens when you attempt a new trick at the end of a long evening.

This project was actually a quick sew, so one day post move I dusted off my serger and went to work. I worked fast putting all the pieces together. When I put it up on the dummy to see my progress, that is when I noticed it…

Dog Blouse — Such a rookie mistake! I didn’t pay attention when cutting this printed fabric.

I had cut the shirt completely upside down. All the dogs were on their head.

I couldn’t believe I had made such a big mistake, but I was trying too hard to get the blouse cut out before the big move. Since I hadn’t done a project with a real print in awhile, it didn’t even cross my mind to make sure this was right. I was concentrating too hard on making sure I could fit all the pattern pieces and that I had measured the right size for me. Oh well, at this point I was still going to finish the blouse. It would just be a bit quirky.

Sleeves on dog blouse — One good point is that because I chose the elastic sleeves, it tends to hide some imperfections that exist in the sleeve hem.

Luckily the rest of the construction went very well, even making the bias tape, which I was also a bit rusty at. In the end, I had a nice spring blouse…although it was now summer and too hot to wear it. It’s still light enough to wear on a cool summer evening…and there is always next year.

What the…buttons?

The next project I attempted was a solid color fabric so there Continue reading “Top mistakes: My sporadic sewing” →

The Dress-for-Wedding Challenge: Part 3

On June 16, 2014November 27, 2017 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Special Occasions8 Comments

Pattern: Vogue Patterns American Designer, Kay Unger New York #V1353….continued from part 2 and part 1 Phew! It’s finally done. Actually, I do still need to buy a belt, but all the sewing is finished! Where we left off...okay I put the invisible zipper in. For those who don’t know, this is what an invisble zipper looks like. The teeth are not exposed on the outside, like a regular zipper, so the material is sewed around the front of the zipper tape.

Invisible zipper foot — Plastic invisible zipper foot – a great alternative to buying a whole new foot

It really wasn’t that complicated, but there were a few minor beginner hiccups that I will share. I watched this video, which described the whole process perfectly. I didn’t have a proper invisible zipper foot, so I just used the cheap plastic foot pieces you get at the fabric store and it worked just fine. I also wasn’t going to take any chances screwing this one up, so I made a bright colored basting stitch where the zipper was going to go, and pinned one side as the video instructed me. After I sewed the first side, it seemed right, but I had trouble zipping it up. It seemed twisted. Thinking I did the whole thing wrong, I un-did all the stitches and tried to figure out what the issue was. I couldn’t see what I was doing wrong, so I attempted stitching it again. It seemed right, until I tried zipping it up for the second time. I finally figured it out – the bottom of the zipper had just flipped to the inside, so it only looked like I pinned it wrong. Ooops! Oh well, I know for next time. After sewing both sides, the zipper flipped in with the material and indeed became invisible within the back seam. But all of a sudden I couldn’t zip the whole thing up to the top. This puzzled me for a bit, but after some examination found that I had just sewed one section too close to the teeth and the zipper was getting stuck. Minor fix – all set! I think it just needs a press so that the material is a little flatter around the zipper, but otherwise you can barely see it. Major learning: it is extremely important to sew as straight and close to the teeth as possible. This is where that plastic foot comes in handy since it actually has a groove that allows the foot to glide easily over the zipper teeth, keeping everything straight and tidy. This dress has a full lining in it, which attached at the neckline. The pattern also had me cut out a hem facing, which was to be sewn to the bottom of the dress. As I completed this step, Continue reading “The Dress-for-Wedding Challenge: Part 3” →

The Dress-for-Wedding Challenge: Part 2

On May 27, 2014November 27, 2017 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Special Occasions4 Comments

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

There is nothing like a slightly rainy holiday weekend to give you the motivation to sew! Things have been so busy over the last couple weeks with work, random obligations, and my actual graduation from business school that I hadn’t gotten a chance to work on my new dress. I was grateful for the 3-day weekend to get started.

But I first want to mention that my oldie New Home machine is now in semi-retirement. I’m sad that I won’t be using it as I’ve gotten quite attached to it, quirks and all. It will be a good thing in the end because I have far less bobbin issues with my mom’s old (my new) Husqvarna machine.

Okay back to the dress. The pattern seems very straight forward, instead of cutting the front bodice on the fold it had me do a little flip-around thingy instead since there were really no other pieces to cut on the fold.

I was able to get it pretty even.

The front bodice has darts and pleats. I hadn’t done darts in forever, so I had to try to remember how they worked. I had to go online for a refresher video to remind me how to sew the triangles in and press them down. Ah yes, it was all coming back to me. They were so easy, I may start putting darts in everything now!

The pleats along the neckline were something I hadn’t done before so I watched a few online videos (like this one) and figured it out. I had some trouble with this research because there were a lot of references to box pleats and knife pleats and I had no idea what type this was. I still don’t actually know, but the video I found showed me a picture of a pattern that looked like mine. Works for me! The pattern markings Continue reading “The Dress-for-Wedding Challenge: Part 2” →

The Dress-for-Wedding Challenge: Part 1

On May 15, 2014November 27, 2017 By qplourdeIn Sewing Projects, Special Occasions13 Comments

Pattern: Vogue Patterns American Designer, Kay Unger New York #V1353

I almost put the title as The Wedding Dress Challenge, but changed it because I didn’t want people to think I was getting married, or worse yet attempting to make a wedding dress! Eeeps! A friend of mine is getting married on 4th of July weekend and I thought it would fun to wear something of my own creation. I may be eating my words later. But I feel like I have enough time to complete this task. Plus I’ve had this pattern that I’ve been dying to try and some lovely material I bought many months ago that is just itching to be used.

Dress for wedding material — I think this is cotton, and it also has a little bit of stretch to it

I know, it looks pretty complicated. But the rating says “easy” so I have some confidence in this project.

I had hoped to do some cutting on this today, but my day just got in the way. So check back to see my progress as I attempt my first special occasion dress.

Something Old: This pattern has been sitting in my collection for about 9 months, which is not too old, but older than other patterns I have.

Something New: It calls for an invisible zipper! I’ve never worked with one before and it looks like I need to use a special foot for it.

Something Borrowed: Technically I am borrowing my mom’s old sewing machine (only 10 years old), since she just bought a brand new one.

Something Blue: I think there is some navy blue in there somewhere.

I also need to get about 2 yards of lining material, Continue reading “The Dress-for-Wedding Challenge: Part 1” →

Threading Lightly

Tag: Vogue Patterns