jcaroline

Inspired by Pink Lemonade

You know when you see something that catches your eye and you can't forget about it?  That's the way I feel about Pink Lemonade Boutique and her divine bags.  Lisa is the artist behind Pink Lemonade and I found her blog and website a couple of months ago and was really intrigued with her use of fabrics (mostly Girlfriends, Freshcut, Flea Market Fancy, some Alexander Henry) with natural linen.  She has a great eye for colors and patterns.  She also uses a lot of quilting in her bags and her sewing looks meticulous.

Thus the dress for Olivia, my daughter, (oh, have I mentioned her before?) from Freshcut by Heather Bailey with natural linen.  She has a little knit dress that has three panels, so I just copied that.  However, I should remember to cut a non-stretch dress just a tad bigger- it is a bit of a struggle to get it over her booty!  Once it's on it fits very well.  I love the way the linen really makes the fabrics pop.  And I can't resist a flower button.  My sewing, on the other hand, is not meticulous but I think the dress is darling and she is always in motion, so no one will know.

Then I was so inspired, I decided I wanted to make a matching jacket and quilt it.  Quilters everywhere are snickering, but I just realized that quilting fabrics gives them body without the stiffness of interfacing.  Okay-- some of us are slower to catch on than others.  So I layered some linen, low-loft batting and another Freshcut pattern and starting quilting away.  I did a diamond quilting pattern made much easier by the quilting guide that came with my machine (you put the guide foot on a parallel stitching line so you can follow it for the current stitching line).  Someday when I'm more confident I'll do a more modern freehand design. I am binding it in a Freshcut stripe and used my Bias Tape Maker and I love it.  We got those in about a month ago and I hadn't used it yet, but it is fabulous.  It produces a perfectly folded tape and it really didn't take any special talent.

The jacket needs the sleeves put in, which I'm dreading, so I worked around them as long as I could. The sleeve holes need to be adjusted, but I'm so scared to start cutting.  The jacket may rest for a few days but it must be done by Thursday.  More on that little bit of excitement later!

Visual Goodies

I just got my notecards by Lara Cameron from Moo!  Let me back up... Moo is an "on-demand" printer in England that specializes in sticker books, notecards and mini cards.  You can upload your own images to be printed, or you can choose from their designer images.  I think Moo is a great idea for pictures of your children, pets, loved ones or to make your own invitations or birthday cards. Their sticker books are packaged like matchbooks and are darling!

I had seen Lara Cameron's work on her blog, Kirin Notebook, and she recently announced that her designs would be on Moo.  I especially like her design of scissors and buttons shown on top. She also sells her designs on fabric at her Etsy Shop.  She is in Melbourne, Australia, but she'll gladly ship it to the U.S.!

The other goodie I've been enjoying is these bags of fabric.  If you do projects that require small pieces of lots of fabrics, they are for you!  They are basically samples and any other pieces of wayward fabric that we've cut into roughly 3" x 4" (at least) pieces and we've bagged approximately 45 of them (50 grams) for $2.  It's a "while supplies last" type of thing, but given all the fabric I'm finding stashed away, we should be fine for awhile.

My other mania at the moment is "fabric packs".  When we buy fabric collections, some pieces sell more than others.  So eventually, when the line is discontinued, there are orphaned pieces from the collection.  I started making color groups of those fabrics with fabrics from other collections and if I may say so, came up with some darling ones.  I then tied them up with ribbon and voila-- it's a visual delight!  The packs are one yard pieces of either 5 or 6 fabrics.  I will be offering them on the website-- I just need to organize them and price them.  A great gift for a crafter, yes?

Red Dress

I've spent the last two days sewing like a mad woman on this red dress.  It needs to be overnighted to Reno, NV today for the Janome Fashion Show celebrating their involvement in the Heart Truth Campaign, a campaign to increase awareness about Heart Disease amongst women.  Janome contacted me last week before I left for four days in Ixtapa, Mexico (relaxing, beautiful and hot).  And since I guess I didn't think my schedule was full enough (?) I agreed to make a dress.  It was my version of Project Runway.  However, I did start with a pattern- Vogue V8020.  I altered the neckline and resized the pattern, so I feel fortunate a dress came out of it at all.  I think I like it- it's like when you spend 3 hours on dinner and you're sick of it before you even sit down to eat.  I made it out of Scarlet Nu-Suede which is pretty easy to work with and feels great.  I pleated Medium Red Satin ribbon for the neckline and used a 3 3/4" satin ribbon for the waist with a rhinestone buckle.

The news announced last night that Hurricane Dean is predicted to hit here Tuesday.  That leads to a little cleaning up around here to get inventory off the floor, etc.  Hopefully, Dean will disappear somewhere in the gulf and we'll just be left with a cleaner space.  Good thing the dress is getting out of here before the weather!
 

New Duvet Cover

I know.. two posts in one day!   However, I feel a little badly because the pants post is really boring if you don't want to make pants.  Okay, it's boring if you do want to make pants, but at least then serves a purpose!  As I was writing that post, my sister emailed me pictures of the duvet cover and pillows she just finished for her daughter out of the black & white flower fabric from the Follow Your Imagination collection.  I think it's super cute!

Everything I Learned About Pants

My last post I promised to tell you everything I learned about making pants.   Well, I don't believe there is one "right" answer and I will also warn you that pants take practice and some trial & error (don't start with your most favorite expensive fabric for your first pair). I did make this pair that I haven't hemmed yet- I'm letting them (me) rest for a few days before I try them on again.  If the fit is decent they'll get a hem and a button.  I did like my idea of using a contrasting facing for the waistband.  I thought it added some interest as well as some stability (the outer fabric is pretty stretchy and I used a cotton for the inside).

If you have no interest in making your own patterns, altering a commercial pattern is a viable idea.  First warning: buy your pattern size by the measurements shown on the pattern, not your ready-made pants size.  I was looking through my old patterns and I used to sew off of a size 12 Vogue pattern and that's when I was young and skinny and wore an 8 from the store.  We won't even discuss what pattern size I would have to buy now, but just be forewarned- pattern sizes were based on some crazy sizing scheme from the 1930's or something.  (Or in reality, ready-made clothes went on their own sizing binge.)  The why isn't important, just pay attention to the measurements.  Also, you still need to know something about what makes pants fit to size them properly unless for some reason you happened to be the model they used for the pattern.  Towards that end, Reader's Digest New Complete Guide to Sewing has several pages devoted to reading patterns and altering them appropriately. And page 46 on adjusting the crotch would have served me well on the linen pants I started that will never see the light of day.

If you've never made a pair of pants before, this is where I would start.  The patterns just take care of some things like your darts and zippers without you having to figure everything out.  But even if you are a very advanced apparel sewer, there is no shame in starting with a commercial pattern.  I think you can still get great results and if you are familiar with the pattern brand, can make the same alterations from pattern to pattern.

A side note on the Reader's Digest book.  It is a great all-around reference for sewing apparel.  It has excellent drawings and explanations for various collars, waistbands, buttonholes, zippers, pockets and other techniques.

The other method worth experimenting with is taking a pair of pants that you really like the fit and tracing them onto paper.  Of course, if the fit isn't perfect, you're going to have to adjust your pattern again.  I tried that on the aforementioned linen pants.  I encountered a couple of problems.  The pants I traced were a much different style than I wanted to make, so I traced and adjusted the pattern by guessing.  (Widening the waistband,  making it a side zip pant versus front.)  That didn't even cause the biggest problem.  The second problem was that my front and back crotch seam didn't match at all, so I had to do some adjusting on the fly and then I got to messing with the crotch until I made the pants too tight in the rear.  Will that pattern work?  Yes, if I go back and adjust it based on the messed up pair of pants.  So this method requires a "trial pair" and pattern alternation.  Again, if I had read page 46 of the Reader's Digest book before I started messing with the crotch, I might have been able to salvage the pants.

The other method I tried is taking my measurements and drawing a pattern from scratch.  And I have to say, it was not as difficult as I would have thought and again, helped me understand better how pants fit.  Of course, I didn't do this without help.  The book, How to Make Sewing Patterns by Donald H. McCunn was a great resource for this.  I had been threatening to "read" the book for weeks now (yawn), but surprising never got to it.  But the great thing is that I didn't need to read the entire book-- I just turned to his chapter on "The Basic Pants" and started following his instructions for laying out the pattern. I then made a muslin pair of pants, adjusted the pattern accordingly, and finally went to "real" material.   That is the brown pair of pants above.  I haven't declared those pants a success yet, but I feel like they are very close.  The only part of his patterns that I question (and it may just be my shape), but he recommends moving the front side seam out 3/4" and the back side seam in 3/4" to "give the pants a more pleasing appearance".  I found it just moved the side seam off center. I highly recommend this book if you want to make your own apparel patterns as it is easy to follow and only $24.95 on Amazon. 

After all that, I don't think any method is better than the other.  All three methods take time and require fitting adjustments.  And I would highly recommend a "throw-away" pair for any of the methods-- especially the two where you draw your own pattern.  Commercial patterns do take some of the detailed work out (the darts, pockets, etc.), but as you make more pants, you'll want to change the details, so it is nice to be able to draw your own patterns.

After all this work, I am reminded why I accept ill-fitting pants from the Gap for $25!  However, it would be nice to have a pair or two of nice-fitting pants.  And I will get there!  If you are a pants expert (or have a book by one) please post your secrets to great pants! (And being a size 2 with a small rear-end doesn't count as the secret!)

Another project finished!

When I last showed you this skirt, it had no zipper, facing or hem.  Voila!  I finished it Tuesday.  If you remember, I tried an invisible zipper which was an utter failure (don't know if it's mine or the zippers).  I even bought the invisible zipper foot suggested on the package- couldn't even figure out how to put it on my machine.  So, I just went back to the tried and true 7" regular old zipper.  The zipper doesn't look bad- once I stuff my body into the skirt, it doesn't dip in like it does on the picture (sigh).

Of course, since I hadn't worked on the skirt for several weeks, I first had to clean up my project room to find the facings that I had somehow lost.  Fortunately, I found them and I had not cut them into something else.  Also, I had only basted the side seam for fitting, but forgot that when I picked it back up.  Ooops- I noticed when the skirt was almost finished, but I did go back and correct that as I don't want the side seam ripping open when I sit down!

I also used my new serger, a Janome MyLock 204D, and I like it.  Now the inside of my skirt looks as good as the outside!  I had put off using it because I dreaded threading it, but it arrived already threaded!  Hurray! 

Anyway, the skirt is from Sew What! Skirts that I've written about earlier (though I think I already admitted that I cheated and took the measurements from a skirt I had).  The fabric is Anna Griffin's Pink Closter, part of her Grace collection.

The skirt fit and is a success (I think it will look darling with a white polo shirt and sandals).  So... I immediately traced a pattern from a pair of pants that I liked and started on some linen pants.  Hot tip:  skirts are easier to fit than pants.  Another hot tip:  the crotch shape and inseam control a lot of the fit.  Yet another hot tip:  don't clip your seams too early.  The pants are not a success (and will never be finished- at least that version), but have led to two days of a pant pattern frenzy.  I will learn to fit pants and I have some resources that can help you.  I'll share those in another post- I'm still debating whether I prefer taking a purchased pattern and altering the fit (which I did for years), tracing from an existing pant, or starting from scratch.  I'm trying the last two today and will share my results.

I'll also add that Mona (my trusty dress form) is now naked again.  She got to wear the half-finished skirt for weeks, but now that it's done, I took it from her.  Maybe she can wear the linen pants that are too tight in the rear with no waistband.