Saturday 10 March 2018

Pineapple Pants

This year I have joined the RTW Fasters which means I have pledged to make all my clothes!  So far so good and I am only shopping to look at the details and construction and the inside of garments for inspiration. That is me on the right with the umbrella!



This fabric has been in my stash for a year and I originally thought I would make a jumpsuit out of it but then decided on culottes!



Pineapple 🍍 pants! Vogue 9019 Culottes. I took out the pleats and look how roomy they still are! I also added a tie belt that is fastened at the waist at the side seams. Fabric was viscose I think but it  puckered at the seams so there was quite a bit if unpicking. The fabric did not like the overlocker no matter how I played with the tension, so I ended up zigzagging most seams. It has a zipper at the centre back so I used an invisible zip.

(The top is a bought one from about 6 years ago!)  Happy sewing!



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Wednesday 17 January 2018

Simplicity 1563 Dressing gown (Bath Robe)

Cotton Quilting Backing proved to be the perfect fabric to make my boy a summer bathrobe.  It was 2.8 m wide because presumably it can be used for a quilt for a double or queen sized bed. I found it hard to find cotton fabric appropriate for a teenager of 18 and fabric which was wider than 112cm.  With the narrower fabric I would have had to get 4 metres and that made it quite expensive.  But this was the perfect solution, plus I found it on the sale table. I pre-washed it and it was dream to iron and sew. 

I chose to do french seams to make the inside look professional.  But then when I went to put the side pockets in I realised the french seam wasn't going to allow it.  I opted to sew rectangular pockets on the front left and right instead.  You have to have somewhere to put your cell phone!

I lengthened the robe by 3 inches but then forgot to add this to the band when I cut it out (ie. the band around the neckline).  I did have to go and get another 0.25 of a metre, because it was a long piece!

My son is six foot two tall so the seams were really long - it was quite a marathon sew! I image, not as much as a marathon as sewing up a hot air balloon! You guessed it, I ran out of cotton and had to make another trip to Spotlight! He loves it!

Any questions please just ask!



Sunday 14 January 2018

2018 RTW Fast

Hello and Happy New Year!

I have been sewing over the last three years but haven't posted.  But, since I have joined Sarah Welch Gunn's 2018 RTW (Ready to Wear) Fast it's time to get back to making and blogging about what went right and what went wrong, and what fixes took place!

The rules for the fast are that I must make all my own clothes for all of 2018 and not buy any (except for underwear and socks and shoes!) I can however buy fabric!

I am not your average model - I have size 12 bust, size 10 waist and size 14 hips, the off the shelf ready to wear clothes rarely fit well.  Stretch fabrics are very forgiving but still they can pull or gape in the wrong places.

What better way to start back into blogging than to talk about a favourite pattern. New Look 6184 has made up three summers dresses over the last three years.(all in cotton sateen).  Cotton Sateen is my favourite fabric to sew and it always makes a comfortable summer dress.  That little bit of stretch makes it so comfy.

The first dress was a white and blue dress style C and the second one was a red poppy dress using the straight skirt style D.  The third dress was a green and  blue one, also style D, but I put a beautiful flounce on the bottom which gave it a Spanish feel. (Youtube showed me how to get the measurements for the flounce.)

The feature I most like about this pattern is that there are tucks around the neckline which fit around the bust.  When I cut out my patterns for sleeveless dresses I always put an extra inch at the shoulders and an extra inch on the side seems.  I tend to leave the middle front seam and middle back seam as is.  The I make it up with long stitches (for easy unpicking if need be) and put it on inside out.  My husband pins it to fit. I resew it as per the pin lines and then try it on again. I do have a mannequin which I use in the same way - put it on the mannequin inside out and fit but from bust point to shoulder it is one inch too short and I am not bothered to spend time building up the shoulders.

Invisible zips are a dream.  Once again "Youtube" is your friend and these are my zips of choice now.(You have to iron the curly up bit of the zip open flat and then you can sew oh so close to get a beautiful zipper closing.)

You can tell I am a piping fan!  I used piping with chord (ready-made) on the red dress and satin ribbon for the blue and green dress. In my next blog I will show you the lacey facings I used (an idea adopted from looking at the inside of Anna Stretton dresses!)