T-shirt Rebellion

I refuse to wear T-shirts. They look absolutely terrible on me and worse, make me feel completely dowdy. But souvenir T-shirts are still fun to receive, and they can be great conversation starters for meeting strangers with a shared interest. 

So this is what I do with T-shirts. I cut them up with no regret! Slash, lop and snip! No more chokey neckline! No more baggy waist! 

The Jalie pattern I like to use as a template is a tank/camisole top with a marvelously flattering cut which I have used over and over and over again. Unfortunately I do not think Jalie prints the pattern anymore, but it wouldn't be complicated to draft your own. 

 For the Chicagofight top, I used a strip I cut off from the hem to create straps. One side is "hemmed", the other side is a double raw edge. I needed more strips to create the lattice effect, so I cut more strips off the bottom of the T-shirt and  "hemmed" them to match the cut off hem.

For the Aldo Nadi top I created wide straps/sleevettes by cutting rectangles the length of the measurement over the shoulder from front bodice to upper back, and about 6 inches wide. Then I simply gathered the ends of the straps and sewed them onto the fronts and backs.

So don't be afraid, cut into them! Your T-shirts are bound to look better than before!

Goddess dress

Okay, I've decided to fire this blog up again, after a long absence. I was somewhat annoyed by how long it takes to load photos, but I think it might be better now.

I made this dress from Burdastyle magazine pattern 7-2010-117, for my niece, Malia. Available for download at Burdastyle.
It looks fine in the photo, but it is about 2 sizes bigger than I would have made for myself. The ITY fabric is really stretchy. This is the second version of the dress I've made. 

The first was in white, for my daughter, to wear at a wedding. And yes, she looked almost too fabulous. We were concerned about her having exposed shoulders in the church so we added a dark blue military style jacket which I think went perfectly with the dress. She loves contrast, too. But guess what--all the bridesmaids were shamelessly wearing completely strapless dresses! Yes, you knew it! At the reception, my daughter had a little bit of slippage of the upper edge of the bodice while she was dancing, but well, she moves around quite a bit. Malia really liked the dress so I promised her one, which conveniently  arrived around her birthday. 

Some sewing details: On the white version I underlined the whole dress with self-fabric. This was necessary, as it is white. However, this thickened the seams. It was okay, as no one but me would notice this. The directions have you doubling the fabric for the drape but I didn't think this was necessary, so I used a single layer for the navy version. You should experiment with positioning the lower end of the drape before sewing it in, somehow. An afterthought on my part. I think different fabrics definitely drape differently. On the navy version, I twin-needle stitched the hem, but on the white version because of the underline, it would have been too thick, so I used the pseudo blind-stitching feature on my Pfaff.

Winner!

Patternreview.com had a Sewing for Men contest, and I entered the pea coat I made for Eamon. This was the first thing Eamon ever asked me to make for him so I had to admit I was delighted, and worked on it steadily until it was finished. The pattern is Burda Magazine 10-2006-129. They made it up in leather and their pockets were placed much higher due to the belt in the design. I eliminated the belt and made it in black heavy wool. My pattern review

I also entered the Pendleton wool shirt I made as a Christmas present for Mike. Got some nice comments on this, too, but the pea coat was very popular, and it won 1st place! The prize is a free online class at Patternreview.com. Excellent--I will use it!

By the way, I have a group on flickr.com called Sewing for Men. I've been trying to get it going, but it has bee tough attracting entries, so spread the word!

It's been a while

Well, I guess I would be more motivated to blog if it were easier to load photos. So now it's been a whole year since I posted anything here, but I actually have been creating lots of projects!

Make it easier for me, Google! It takes so darn long to load photos...grrr!

At left here is a photo I took in a store window of an outfit both my teenage daughter and I fell in love with. It has sort of a Burdastyle flavor. And somehow I have tons of pinstripe fabrics. Just not any red metallic ones, like this here. My daughter loves lots of hardware on clothes. The other day she saw a hoodie sweatshirt, normal style except for 4 metal belt buckles fastened to the front, over the center zip. I thought, "How impractical!" and then realized the buckles actually had snaps behind them. Ha, more hardware! She was so drooling over that jacket... I think I'm finally starting to understand what her clothing preferences are. Stuff that will ding my dryer until the family screams, "Stop that awful noise!"

First Recital

I enjoy singing, but in preparing for this, my first solo recital, I may be trying to be too professional. Therefore, I am fussing and spending too much time memorizing words. So there goes practicing in the Musical Sewing Room. I try to work on memorization and as I get distracted lining up the next seam, it degenerates to la-la-la.

Can you believe I took this photo myself with a tripod? Gi'me the look, baby...
Um, yes, I made that dress.

Sword & Skull Bag

Last year when I took up fencing I made myself a fencing equipment bag, just because I could. As a true designer might expect, contemplating the design took longer than making the bag. Not wanting to go through this again, I thought I would never make another one. But as it turned out, I really wanted to contribute something original to our fencing salle's fundraising event, so I donated a "custom-made fencing bag".  Before I made this one, I wrote down instructions for myself with the intention of making it available online for free eventually. Burdastyle.com is inspiring me to create my own patterns and share them. They even have the instructions for creating a .pdf file for patterns and uploading them.

The person who "won" this bag at auction really likes red. And I had the cool silver skull brocade fabric which I snatched up on ebay--I knew somebody would like it! 

 Who knows if anyone else is interested in sewing a fencing bag, but if fencing becomes more popular, maybe those grammas could get involved...

New Bundle Assortments!

Just got the 4 assortments I ordered from Fabric Mart today. What a deal! Corduroy assortment, blouse weight assortment, semi-sheer dress weight crepes assortment, and dark-colored stripe and plaid suiting assortment, a total of 48 yards for $60. But since I ordered it when there was a sale on the website, I got it for even less--the equivalent of free shipping, so about $1 a yard!

I like ordering the assortments because it allows me to try different fabrics that I might not have chosen, stretching my design imagination. Outrageous colors get relegated to Halloween costumes.

Check out the huge heavy box--so much fabric!

Silk Jacket

What drew me to this Onion pattern was the simplicity of the design. Ties instead of buttons. No pockets. Band collar rather than notched.

This became the chosen pattern for the silk tweed in my stash. I once had a cream wool jacket(from the 80's!) with wide black banding at the edges which was really me. So, keeping that in mind, I deduced that black details would make this jacket successful. I am surprised at how good it looks in the photo. 

One small problem is that--maybe you knew it--this jacket cannot be worn open! So it's a good thing I made it from breathable silk, and silk lining which feels like a dream.

Another small problem with it is that the wide overlap in front creates quite some bulk right there. I suppose I could get used to it. But if the jacket is always worn closed, why put up with the overlap? Maybe the underlap side should be cut a few inches narrower on the inside, or angled a bit.

The back view

I added an extra pair of back darts. I am beginning to realize this is a consistent alteration.

One other thing, this jacket sure reminds me of a karate ghee!

Blue Velvet Gloves

Why make gloves?What attracted me was that gloves take hardly any fabric. No interfacing, and seemingly little time. It's just another thing I wanted to be able to make.

Vogue V8311 offers 9 different variations on the woman's glove. I chose view A, without sewing on the jeweled embellishments. The blue velvet needs no embellishment, don't you agree? In fact, I was surprised at how elegant these make my hands look, elongating my fingers and slenderizing my wrists...  My amateur photography just doesn't show any of this.

I was expecting to be doing a bit of hair-pulling, but maybe because of my choice of fabric, this project was actually fairly easy. The stretch blue-velvet panne hides any sewing imperfections, and does not unravel at all. 

Next project-- After finishing these, I started diggi

ng in my stash and scraps for fabric for the next pair of glamour gloves. I found just enough fine milk chocolate-colored kid leather! Makes it not so bad that my DD just ran away with the blue ones...

The thumb piece sewn   Glove pieces

 

Before adding gussets

Another Cloak

So the friend who requested the cloak I showed you earlier in this blog, asked for another to give as a gift to a fellow SCA enthusiast. This person likes red. But in order for the cloak not to look like Little Red Riding Hood, I needed to think of something different.

I found this beautiful tapestry fabric in the home dec section of Fashion Fabrics Club. Conveniently, it had a nice repeating pattern that was easily divide-able in straight lines. I edged it with black velvet ribbon instead of folding the edges under since the fabric ravels easily and is bulky. Dry clean only! Even though I did pre-wash the red wool melton. In the second photo of the cutting layout, it shows how I had to cheat a bit since the wool did shrink, and the pattern would not fit onto the fabric. Oh, well, it's such a large expanse of fabric I thought, it won't be noticed. Here, my son is modeling the cloak. Yes, I did make the boots that he is wearing, too, using directions from a book called The Medieval Tailor's Assistant. 

Halloween Rush

I thought I never again would have to sew Halloween costumes, but this year there was a party we could not miss. So once again, I found myself spending hours in the sewing room. I don't mind sewing to a set of instructions, but hey, I just can't make a copycat version of a pattern.



Isa wanted to be Queen Boudica. She needed a leather armored chestplate and she also likes corsets, so I created a heavy leather corset which looked very armor-y. I used a leather needle but this leather was so thick I had to manually help the wheel on my sewing machine with just about every stitch! Luckily the seams weren't very long, but there were four of them. She also wanted a plaid cloak. The fabric arrived on the 31st, so we didn't have time to cut it into a semi-circular type cloak and it ended up being draped. The leather, which a friend gave me, is tough enough for shoe soles, and in fact, I did use it to make the boot soles for the last costume described here.

Here's my costume.



The main thing was, I got the idea that I would use up some fabric from my stash that had no other chance of emerging from the closet. I started sewing this dress on Halloween, having cut most of it the day before. I used a regular peasant-type dress pattern but cut the sleeves bigger and let them dangle instead of gathered at the wrist. I wasn't sure what it was going to be, so I asked my husband, and he said "Fortune Teller!"



Eamon is happy with just about any costume and I picked this for him. He is a big Monty Python fan. All the materials for this I had in my stash except for the pleather which was new from the Denver fabrics closeout. That darn lion applique was supposed to be ironed on with a fusible but it wouldn't stick to the nylon taffeta. I had to sew it on by hand, and no, I couldn't just pick regular thread, but a metallic thread that kept fraying! I made the boots with pleather uppers and thick leather soles. The toes weren't intended to be curled up but that's how they came out and it has a very funny effect. I had this metallic knit which I used for the sleeves. The sleeves were attached to one of his old T-shirts he wasn't wearing any more.

Next year? I guess I'll try to start earlier.