Aaarrrgghhh!!!!

I hate sewing. Really.

Well, not really, but today I do. Because I DESTROYED my vintage shirt today, and it took me the last 4 hours to find a way to sort of fix it. Or at least fix it to a point that it is semi-wearable.

As a preface to this, I am a serger newbie. My husband bought me a little Brother 1034d a couple of months ago, and I am still learning how to use it correctly. That thing just goes so darn fast!!

Anyway, I was serging the inside seams on the blouse (being lazy, I should have used french seams, so I learned my lesson there I guess) and managed to get the back of the shirt puckered up under the serged seam, and into the knife. I made a huge gash in the back of the shirt! Oh, did I say some words.


But there was no way I was going to give up the ghost! I had already fit the pattern, I didn't have enough fabric to cut a new back, what could I do?

I thought about it for a while, decided that I would patch the hole with some black interfacing, and then make a yoke for the shirt. I had some black fusible interfacing, which I fused to both the inside and outside to close the hole:


Then I took the last bit of fabric that I had and started drawing lines on it with chalk, the same distance apart as the pattern that was used for the front yoke:


I then pleated it the same way that I did the front, and cut it using the top of the back pattern:


I brought the bottom to a point to make the shirt kind of "western." When I first purchased the pattern, I had assumed at first glance that it was a western-style shirt, so I figured it was ok:


I then folded up a hem in the bottom and pinned it to the back of the shirt:


I sewed the bottom seam, topstitching right along the edge. It worked fairly well, in this photo I am pointing to the patch, which isn't visible:


I then basted along the top edge and trimmed away the excess. I opened the shoulder seams up and the seam at the back of the neck, tucked the yoke into the seam, and re-sewed:


Here is the finished back, ready to be pressed and for the sleeves to be set:


I will wait to do that until tomorrow, since I clearly have a case of the "poo-touch" and am destroying everything I handle. Hopefully a good night's sleep will cure that, as well as make me feel less like throwing the shirt AND the serger out the window.

One Hundred and WHAT?

Ok, so I broke the rules. I was sticking to the plan SO WELL, too! But I was totally justified. Allow me to explain.....

So, I pulled out all the pieces for Vogue 1107, the Chado Ralph Rucci shirtdress:


I then got the instructions out of the envelope and...holy mamma! There are 109 steps in the instructions!!!! I gulped, and then set out on step......one. Which I proceeded to do wrong and then had to pick out the seam. The very first seam! I screwed up STEP ONE!! That leaves 108 steps for me to totally mangle!

I had to put it back in the box. I just couldn't do it!!

I needed something easy, so I decided to start the alterations on my super-fantastic vintage shirt:


After doing flat pattern measurements, I decided to do the following alterations:

1. A "standard" full bust adjustment, a la Fit For Real People. I opened up the bust dart and widened vertically as well.
2. I moved the front pleat over since the FBA resulted in it shifting.
3. I also widened the back by 1 inch (for two inches across the back, since the pattern was cut on the fold).
4. I then slashed and widened the sleeve across the bicep.

I then went ahead and made a muslin and holy cow! The fit was SO close!! I was amazed at how well it fit. The bust point was in the right place. The dart was perfect. The front and back pleats were perfect. There was just one minor problem....it was boxy. I then made the following further adjustments:

1. I had to lengthen the back by 1/2 inch, since the FBA lengthened the front slightly.
2. I took the width that I had added back out of the back, it wasn't needed.
3. I then curved the side seams, taking in a total of 1/2 inch at the waist (for a total of 2 inches, 1/2 inch on the side seam of both the front and the back, 1/2 x 4, is 2 inches).

So I know it was cheating, but I feel like I need something to help me recover from the shock of 109 steps in the Chado dress!

Now I need to decide what fabric to use. I have:

1. A white stretch sateen, for a classic white shirt
2. A black sateen, not stretch, with antiqued silver buttons
3. One of the two asian-style prints that my grandmother gave me (pictured below)
4. Silver-blue silk from Fabric.com (pictured below)
5. The black batiste with large polka dots from Fashion Fabrics Club (pictured below)

I'm leaning toward the white or black, but I could be persuaded otherwise!

Down to Four

Today I finished another UFO in the sewing room. This one had initially been set aside because the fit was not good. So, there it sat....no hem, no sleeves, and no buttons. I finally decided that I would do the finishing and then take it to the Goodwill.

The shirt came together pretty quickly, and looked nice enough that while my mother was here today, she offered to take it off my hands!

The pattern is McCalls 5138, a button-down shirt with a convertible collar and three sleeve options. I used the longer length and the short, puffed sleeves:


Supervisor Cat, reporting for duty. What would you like for me to impede today?

The sleeves are really cute, gathered into a band:


All the shaping for the shirt is done with darts. The back has two vertical darts, and the front has two vertical and two bust darts:


I didn't get much else done because I spent a big chunk of the day hemming pants. Mom dropped off 4 pairs that needed hemmed, 2 pairs that needed cut off for shorts, and one pair of shorts that needed patched. I got all that done and don't really want to go back in the sewing room right now!

Tomorrow though, back to work. I want to get started on my Vogue shirt dress. This one is probably going to take a while!

Only Five Left To Go!

Why I never get anything done:


Supervisor Cat is on the job!


But in spite of "Supervisor Cat's" impediment, I did get another garment done. Soon, I will finish the rest, and then I can get back to starting a whole batch of new projects to abandon later!

Today I completed the Burda 7775 dress. If you remember, I made the shirt version of this, and had some issues with it, among them the tendency for the top to ride up and and the facing to flip out. I think that the "riding up" will be remedied by the additional weight of the skirt, and as for the facing, I cut this version with a very deep facing, especially in the back (thanks to Linda T and her suggestion).

Here is the finished product:


On this version, I used little round buttons that look like beads:


I'm not entirely happy with the topstitching. Besides it looking like it was done by the same crew of drunken monkeys that do my pad stitching for me, the thread I used was a poly thread and slightly shiny. Why did I use that thread? Because it was the only one that matched the fabric. Did I even take into consideration what it would look like in the top stitching? Of course not!!

Like in my original version, I also used flat-felled seams instead of topstitching:


This did make it a little more difficult to match the seams on the top and the seams on the skirt, as well as inserting the belt loops:


There was one thing that I did not like, though. Two of the gores on the skirt are gathered where they attach to the top. And of course, it is the one right on the hip:


Had I read ahead in the instructions, I might have thought far enough in advance to cut that extra fabric out of there so the piece would lay flat. But, I didn't think to because the gathering was not illustrated in the line drawing:

One of the nice things about the pattern is that the sleeves fit perfectly. In both versions the sleeves have set incredibly easily:


See? No tucks or creases! I do have a little trick for this, though. Most patterns with set in sleeves will direct you to ease-stitch the sleeve caps. I much prefer the quick shortcut of "crowding" when the sleeve cap is not gathered. To crowd the sleeve cap, place your fabric so that you can make a line of stitches in the seam allowance. I just use the side of the presser foot as a guide:


Then place your finger against the back of the presser foot, and hold it there while you begin sewing:


The fabric will build up, or "crowd," behind the presser foot:


This is what it looks like when you are finished:


The crowding creates a perfect curve to the sleeve cap, and makes it super-easy to set in the armscye:


Overall, I am happy with how the dress turned out, but I am going to take a break for a while from these crazy Burda patterns with 45 miles of topstitching in every one. I hardly ever sew Burda patterns, but the last two that I have done have been super-tedious.

This morning I did cheat a little and work on a new project, but it was just tracing a pattern, and it was only because I was awake three hours ahead of my husband and needed a SILENT project. I decided to trace this vintage shirt:


It was one of the patterns that came from a lot of 20 that I purchased from Ebay, and I was excited to find that not only were all the pieces there, it was still in its original, factory folds. It was never used!

As I start to play with these vintage patterns, I am really surprised by the amount of information that is included in the instructions. Here is a section on fitting the pattern:


And here they show you how to make tailor's tacks:


Patterns of this era were not printed, but were pre-cut. Here is the back of the shirt:


All the markings are indicated by a series of holes in the paper. Fortunately the instructions tell you how to "read" the holes in the paper. Two large holes show where the pattern should be cut on the fold:


Other smaller holes indicate darts and other markings. After tracing the pattern and doing flat pattern measurements, I was pleased to find that the size is not too far off. I do need some additional space around the bust and the waist, but a standard full bust adjustment will take care of that. The dart is even at the correct height already! I think I will add the FBA, about an inch across the hip in back, and adding just a touch of room in the bicep and I will be ready for a muslin.

Pressing Forward

OK, I know that's a bad sewing pun. But it describes what I have been doing. I haven't finished anything, but have been working.

This week I have been continuing to plug away on the UFOs in the sewing room. Today I worked on the bodice for my Burda dress, but also worked on the coat that I started for my husband last year.

The most time-consuming part of the coat is the incredible level of STRUCTURE that is in it. I haven't sewn a single seam yet, but have been sewing like mad. Not only that, but there is so much hand sewing. So far that is all I have been doing.

The first step in making a coat like this is to have the fabric pre-shrunk. My dry cleaner is used to my nonsense now and will happily steam a length of fabric for me or block seams on a stubborn fabric in a half-finished dress. To preshrink the fabric, I had them steam the wool unmercifully and dry clean the silk for the lining. You can also shrink wool by soaking some towels and putting them in the dryer with the wool on the hottest setting.

While your stuff is at the dry cleaner, you can make a muslin! When making a muslin for a coat it is best to use a very heavy-weight fabric. You want your muslin to have a similar weight and body to your fashion fabric. One of the only good fabric purchases I have ever made at Wal Mart was an incredibly heavy unbleached muslin...almost a canvas or denim. Seriously, every other fabric I have purchased there has been complete crap. I bought a black denim for pants that actually pilled in the wash. It PILLED! How does that even happen on denim?? Anyway, here is the muslin, put together oh so long ago:



Excellent fit, if I do say so myself! Once the fabric was cut out and marked, then all the hand work started. Make sure that the pieces are all well-marked, because your pattern includes lots of information, including markings for the collar roll line:


The pattern for this coat also included completely separate pattern pieces for the interfacing. It also indicates that hair canvas should be used for interfacing:


Hair canvas can be purchased from places like B. Black & Sons, who carry a brand called Hymo. You can also purchase coat "kits" from them that include sleeve heads, shoulder pads, under-collar felt, pocketing....anything you might need. The hair canvas that I am using has a grid printed on it, and I used a pencil to draw in the roll line and the stitching line.


Then I started my pad stitching. Yes, my pad stitching looks like it was done by drunken monkeys, but it serves the purpose. Essentially, you roll the collar over as you are stitching so that the interfacing holds it in the shape that you want it to be on the coat. You can roll it over your hand, or a pressing ham, whatever is going to give you the shape that you want.


After the pad stitching is completed, you add a strip of twill tape to the roll line. I then cut back the interfacing to the stitch line, and added twill tape around the edge of the hair canvas. This will help the lapels keep their shape and make sharp points.


I also cut back the canvas to the stitch line because that will make the seams less bulky. Now I am ready to continue working on the shell of the coat. Next up, welt pockets. Oy.

One Down, Seven to Go

Today when I got home from work I decided that I would put in a concentrated effort to move some of the unfinished projects out of the sewing room. I picket this one because I wouldn't have to change the thread in the serger. How is that for lazy?

As I mentioned before, this is a shirt for my brother, that he requested when I was making all the shirts for my nephews. Here is the finished product:


Sorry, no "model pic," since I won't see him again until Sunday. This one was relatively easy to finish because I used the serger for all the seam finishing. In fact, it only took about 2 hours start to finish, but then it was already traced and cut out. Here is a shot of the inside:


One thing to remember, when using contrasting buttons like I did here, always match your thread to the buttons. I know that some people might think that that is kind of a "duh" hint, but you have no idea how long I was sewing buttons on with thread matching the fabric and then wondering why my stuff looked homemade.

The serger makes quick work of finishing the seams, and since he is rather rough on clothes I didn't see any reason to do french seams, flat-felled, binding, or any of the stuff I do on my own clothes. Because I know I'm not going to drop spaghetti down the front of it in a week.

The shirt is red broadcloth, and the "stripes" are a quilting cotton with showgirls on it:


The pattern is Simplicity 4760, a pattern with both men and boy's pants and shirts:


It is the same pattern that I used for this shirt for my husband:


Overall, it is a very good pattern. It runs large...but then it's Simplicity. Simplicity ALWAYS runs large. But, it is well-drafted, the notches are all accurately marked, and the sleeve cap is flat enough that even in a woven you can set the sleeves in flat if you ease stitch. I much prefer setting the sleeves in that way.

Also, as you can see the pattern does not include an option for the shirt with the contrasting inset, I just drafted the "stripe" myself. I took a yardstick and just drew on the original pattern where I wanted the stripe to fall, and then when I traced the pattern I traced the front in three different pieces. After tracing, I added seam allowances. The fronts of the shirt are what I sew first, so that I can just treat it as one front piece, and according to the instructions. It is actually very simple.

Tomorrow I will work on the purple dress. I may even have to bring myself to change the thread in the serger!