1940′s Dress–Part 2 (the muslin)

Last night I finished my muslin, sort of.  It was after 10pm and I’d only set one sleeve, but I needed to snap pictures and go to bed.

But I feel I got enough done to get a feel for the fit and construction.

I didn’t want to take pictures wearing the dress last night because this was post-workout and shower, and my hair was doing crazy things.  No time to blow-dry, I had sleeve(s) to set!  But here’s a photo from the night before, pre-sleeves.

I feel pretty confident in the fit of the dress–I added 2″ to the waist and hips when tracing the pattern, based on the size chart measurements.  The bodice has tucks and gathers, so it’s slightly loose and billowy–but I think that’s the design, right?

The sleeve went in quite poorly, despite gathering and basting first.

So many little tucks!  I think I might try setting in the sleeve flat on my final garment.  It’s a tight space to work in with the sides sewn up.

The addition of the sleeve did seem to limit my arm movement to an extent.  I would like to improve on this, but I’m not totally sure how.  It fits at least as well as any RTW button up shirt I’ve worn, so dare I say this seems “normal” to me?!  From what little research I could do online, it seems I need to raise up the armscye for a closer fit, which enables better movement?  I think I’ll try tapering down on the seam allowance around the under arm of the sleeve to slightly bring it up.  I would love input from anyone who knows more about this though!!

The collar and vestee were a bit challenging–I didn’t find the directions to be very clear.  But now that I’ve done it once, I’m sure I can do it again.  I think the collar points and the vestee points look a little extreme and pointy, so I plan to make those a little smaller and softer around the edges.  Although the addition of a sleeve seemed to balance out the collar some, so maybe it’s not so bad?

The muslin was a great opportunity to practice the construction of this dress, including my first hand picked zipper.

There’s definitely room for improvement on the zipper application, but I did enjoy this method and will try it again.  (And Sallie, I totally used fabric glue to “baste” the zipper in place before stitching–worked like a charm!)

I didn’t have time for any saddle stitching, but I will probably practice some decorative stitches on the muslin before the final garment.  I don’t think I have time (or the desire) to do the saddle stitching by hand, so I’m hoping that top-stitching with a thick thread will do the trick instead.

I don’t find the pleated skirt to be especially flattering to my shape, but it really reads “1940′s” to me, so I’m gonna stick with it.  I hope with a shorter hem I’ll like it more.

I’m excited to get started on my final garment now!  This dress has way more details than anything I’ve done recently, so it is definitely challenging me and a lot more work.  But I think the time investment is totally worth it.

Talk soon,

Qui

1940′s Dress – Part 1

I’m sewing for victory, and I finally made a start.  I’ve had my fabric and pattern picked out for months now, but this weekend I actually traced the pattern, and tonight I’m cutting out the muslin.  I’ve got one more weekend between me and victory (March 29th is the deadline), so it’s now or never.

I’m using Du Barry 5947 and some green fabric I got at Mood LA.

The green fabric is a soft shirting fabric with a small pattern in the weave.  The color is hard to see in the photo, but it is a pale green.  I’m having some doubts about this fabric… I like it, but I fear it is such a plain pale color that it will make my dress look like a boring muslin.  The pattern suggests decorative saddle stitching around the seams, and I wonder if this could add enough interest?

The first contrasting thread color to come to mind is red (my fave), but I think blue could work to.  Any suggestions??  I’m not very creative with color mixing…

I do, however, have a red buckle I could use for the belt.  I found myself at the Santa Cruz antique fair last month and came across a lady with a booth full of vintage buttons.  I’m sure I paid too much, but check out the pretty red buttons I got:

Yep, I bought all red buttons.  What can I say?  When you know what you like, why fight it?

I was showing off my button purchase at lunch with friends, which led to my friend offering me some of her mother’s sewing supplies she had in storage.  I was given some great fabrics and A LOT of buttons, seam binding, threads, buckle and button kits, a Singer buttonholer and feet attachments, and TWO pairs of pinking shears.  That took my number of pinking shears from zero to two, just in time for the 40′s sew-a-long!

I’ve never pinked seams before, so I’m excited to try this vintage finishing technique.

Well, I better get cutting.  Time’s a wastin’!

Leopard Leggings

I guess Jungle January really got to me, because, I purchased two more animal print fabrics in January.  I’ve sewn them both up now, so here is the first project: Leopard Leggings.

This all started when I signed up for a 5k run.  My sister and a couple girls from my weight training class had signed up, and I didn’t want to be left out.  I’m really not a runner, but I figured this would be a good motivator to get more exercise.  And so far I’ve put in a few miles…

The race is called She Is Beautiful, The Pinkest 5k and 10k. And for whatever reason, I thought I could use some special pants to wear on race day (March 17th).  It helped that I ran into this lovely knit fabric at Harts, and it called out to me.  I couldn’t forget it, so I went back with a coupon and a plan: leggings for my run.

Leggings are truly a quick project–just sew the crotch seams, inseam, hem and encase the elastic waist band.  I made a pattern by cutting up an old pair of work out pants that couldn’t hold their shape.  They made for a good starting point.  This fabric is quite stretchy and a little thin–not exactly supportive workout material, but they survived their first run and will definitely be going out again.

We went for a practice run on West Cliff Dr, where the 5k will be held.

This is me with my sister and fitness coach, Danielle.  She is a wonderful coach and an encouragement to me.  I can’t keep up with her, but I ran about half the course and walked the rest.  My mom was visiting and ran/walked with me too, so I had great company the whole time.  The race begins at the Lighthouse and follows the coastline, so it’s a beautiful view at any pace.

 

I have just enough of this fabric left, so I’m hoping to make a swimsuit with it too.  Let the jungle escapades continue!

Anyone else take a jog lately?

Singer 201-2 Named Birdie

If you read Male Pattern Boldness, no doubt you are familiar with the virtues of vintage sewing machines. I myself have considered owning a vintage machine, but I decided I wanted a modern zigzag machine to be my primary machine as long as I feel I’m a beginner. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with learning garment construction and an unfamiliar machine at the same time. I secured a basic and wonderful mechanical Janome last summer to be my #1 machine–very similar to the machines I learned on in middle school sewing class and my most recent personal machine (a basic modern Singer.) After recently reading about Peter’s latest Featherweight acquisition, I browsed Craigslist for local vintage Singers. I’ve browsed before, and there are rarely machines within 20 miles of where I live. However, this particular time, there was a vintage Singer listed nearby for $75. There weren’t many details listed other than it worked and came in a cabinet with attachments.
I could tell from the photos that the machine looked like a 201-2, and the internet had good things to say about the 201-2, so I arranged to test drive the machine.
Well, she sewed rather nicely, and home she came. Thankfully my mister is big and strong, because these machines plus cabinets are heavy!! He hauled her home and upstairs for me.

After a little more Internet research, I ordered some new oil and grease, and a marked needle plate.

I had a great time reading through the original manual and finding all the places to clean and oil. And then there was the grease. I used cotton swabs to wipe out the old green grease, and then refilled the pots with fresh grease. It wasn’t difficult to do, and I rather enjoyed it! It seemed there were more than 20 spots to oil, compared to my modern machine that only has about 3 places to oil and only requires oiling 2-3 times a year.

I received several crazy looking feet for the 201-2, as well as a buttonholer. I have yet to figure all these feet out, but they look rather impressive to me. The original oil can and grease tube were included to, which is kinda fun. The machine operates with a knee lever. This takes a little getting used to, but so far I really like it. My chair is a tad high for the cabinet, so now I need to get a little stool to go with the cabinet.

I made a top with Birdie already, and I have to agree that she is a smooth operator. I found she easily maneuvers around curves and corners, better than my Janome. She is quiet and ladylike, but don’t be fooled by the svelte figure–girl is heavy. I lift her with both hands when tucking her into the cabinet.

I’m very happy to have added a vintage machine to my collection, and I look forward to mastering the buttonholer.

Welt Pockets and Scrubs

I volunteered to make some scrub tops for my dear friend Maxx who works in the medical field. I think it took me over a year to finish all three… What can I say? Sometimes it’s hard to stop sewing for one’s self long enough to make other people a garment, plus I was still building up my arsenal of sewing skills. It’s okay if I mess up on my own garments, but I couldn’t send Maxx to work in anything too shoddy.

I made a true muslin for once, checking fit and practicing flat felled seams and learning how to make a double welt pocket.

Here’s the first top:

I was pleased with the pockets. The welts weren’t perfect, but they mostly met in the middle.

I made the second and third tops together, going back and forth between two machines with different thread colors, finishing a few steps at a time. This mostly helped with the welt pockets because I didn’t have to read the tutorial I followed more than once.

This is the second set of welt pockets, and the welts are a little further apart, but not bad.

This is the final top, and sadly the welts aren’t even remotely close together… How did I get worse with each pocket? Well… I’m afraid I *might* have cut corners while attaching the welts and pocket pieces, combining two steps into one. The steps seemed a little redundant at the time, but now I regret not taking the extra few minutes to first attach the welt and then the pocket.

The fabric print is so busy, I think the pockets are well camouflaged. And knowing Maxx’s attitude toward my sewing, I decided to live with the mismatched welts and get the tops done already (Maxx is much less critical or picky about the details than me, besides, she can’t wear a top that isn’t complete.)

The pockets were the only difficult part of the garments–the sleeves were set in flat, and the sides and shoulder seams were flat felled. After welt pockets, flat felled seams were like child’s play.

Quick Slouchy Blouse

I was in need of a quick project before the Sew LA party for Gertie–I wanted to wear something me-made, but I didn’t have anything in the closet that seemed right (You know what I mean?  The closet full of clothes and nothing to wear syndrome.)  Of course, I don’t have that many me-made items yet.

I’ve had my eye on the BurdaStyle Slouchy Blouse for some time, and it seemed like the perfect quick project: no sleeves to set in, no collar, and easy fitting with it’s loose slouchy silhouette.  With only 3 pattern pieces, it was even quick to cutout.  The front facings are part of the blouse front which made the pattern piece very wide.  It didn’t quite fit on my fabric, so I actually cut off the end of the sleeves and made them a separate pattern piece.

The whole thing went together very quickly and without incident.  I kinda winged it with the sleeves, and I didn’t really pay much mind to the directions for the sleeve tabs.  As a result, I’m not sure they look quite right… I think they need to pull the sleeve up a little more.  It doesn’t bother me enough to fix them though.  Next time.

The pattern called for 12 buttons, but I only used 10.  I never went back to the pattern to see where I missed the last two buttons, but it wears comfortably, so no big deal.  I’m guessing they go at the bottom of the blouse front.  Oh well, nothing’s flying open.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about the fit.  It sure is comfortable, but it’s also pretty blocky.  I wonder if I could go down a size for a slightly slimmer look.  Maybe a little slimmer and with the sleeves pulled up a bit more it would have better proportions?  What do you think?  I used a rayon fabric that drapes really nicely, and it’s super soft.  I’ve already worn this blouse a few times to work, so it’s definitely a practical piece for my wardrobe.

We had gorgeous warm weather over the weekend (in the 70′s) so I took advantage!  My sister walked down to the beach with me and shot some photos.  Thank you Fanny.  It felt good to feel some sunshine and get outdoor shots.

A Sewist’s Trip to L.A.

At this time last Saturday, I was driving South to LA with Erin and my twin sister Jessi. I made my first (and surely not last) visit to Mood Fabrics.

I was completely overwhelmed when I first walked into Mood. Isles and isles of fabric from floor to ceiling–I wasn’t sure where to begin. I had made a list of specific projects I needed fabric for, so I set about touring the store to see what was on each isle.

I spent most of my time on the shirting fabric isle, trying to pick something out for my husband’s next shirt, as well as a shirt dress for myself. I finally picked a dark blue fabric and a light green fabric.

While touring the isles of silk, I came across this black silk with a dog print woven in. Loving dogs as I do, I thought it was rather special and expensive, so I splurged on two yards.

I’d like to make a blouse with it by the end of the year, but I definitely want to hold out for a TNT blouse pattern, so I need to get sewing more blouses.

We had a lovely afternoon eating food, walking to the garment district and back, and finally kicking back with our feet up after dinner.

Sunday morning we perused Little Tokyo, and I finally found something cute to hold my paperclips at work: a little rice bowl with kitties on it.

We made it to Sew L.A. for Gertie’s party, Sunday afternoon. What a blast! I got my makeup done by Dorit who was providing retro makeup for the partygoers. There was delicious party punch and snacks, and many friendly fellow seamstresses, including Miss Christine Haynes herself. And of course, Gertie!

Gertie was so sweet–she graciously signed everyone’s books and posed for pictures, and even talked fabric with us.

I didn’t think to take pictures of the clothes, but many of the items from Gertie’s book were on display. The clothes were so gorgeous and inspiring to see in person.

I was pretty tired after all the driving, so I’ve been laying low all week. But, the weekend is here, and I have some sewing to do.

Talk soon.

-Qui

Purrfect Renfrew

I had my eye on this animal print sweater knit for several months, but who wants to buy sweater knit in the summer, right? Fast forward to winter, and after many rave reviews of the Renfrew pattern, I finally picked up the shirt pattern and sweater knit.

At this point, nobody needs to hear me say how great the Renfrew pattern is.  I’m pretty sure I’m the last one to get it.  But, in case you were wondering if there is a single person who does not like Renfrew, let me just say, it’s not me.  I LOVE it.  And as I type this, I have two more Renfrew tops already cut out and ready to be sewn up.

With Jungle January upon us, it is high time I write this post.  So here she is, my animal print contribution:

I thought for sure this was a sort of leopard print, but after sewing up the top and putting it on, I began to think the black spots were more like the hide of a Holstein cow.  I’m not saying I felt fat, but for some reason, I really didn’t like the print anymore.  Luckily, this top is so darn comfy to wear, I kept it on and the print grew on me over time.  Now I see coffee beans.

I guess I should call this the ink blot top…

To ensure this post had enough animal print, Lucy and Jay joined me for photos.  Check out the other Jungle January makes at Pretty Grievances.