Sewing Meetup!

I am a terrible procrastinator.

About three weeks back Tanitisis and I realized that we lived in the same city and arranged to meet up. I confess that I was just about as nervous as I was back in my Cupid.com days (yes, I did that). We met up at a coffee shop near my work in the more "artsy" district of town, and by district, I mean street—Saskatoon is not very big, but it does seem to have a little bit of everything.

We didn't even really talk sewing all that much, but we ended up having a lot in common, and I'm super pumped to have a sewing buddy in town. Even better, our meet up has drawn out another potential like-minded individual that lives in town and has a presence on PR. Jodi B (from PR), if you are reading this, I can't find you on PR, unless you are teasing me and actually live in Virginia.

Here we are according to my camera:

And here we are according to Tanitisis's

When searching PR I came across another blogger who looks like she may live in Toontown. http://butterfly-747.blogspot.ca/. I hope you don't mind that I've directed traffic at you (if you do, please leave a message and I'll remove the link).

Since my last post, I've seemed to come out of my sewing funk thanks in-part to Tanitisis, who also happens to work at Fabricland and mentioned in her last post that the stretch denim had gone on sale half price. I had spied some denim-look knit there a few weeks ago that I wanted to make into jeggings (really Erin, at your age? Didn't you wear stirrup pants once in your life? Isn't that enough?) Yes really. Now I have to make some appropriate tops that cover my ass so I don't feel naked when wearing them. There were some fit issues when I made them up that may be useful to others, so that will most likely be my next post.

I've also made a lot of other progress on my other projects:

1. knitted socks: finished. They are thick and warm, and fit my foot amazingly well.

2. knitted sweater: I finished all the pieces and then realized when trying to sew them together that I have to rip out the front and the back pieces to the start of the armpit shaping. Oh well, something to do while I watch tv.

3. Baby quilt: I'm almost done, and I'm pretty pleased with it. There are a few lot of mistakes in the quilting and it's not perfectly square (much to my mother's insistence that it needs to be to add the binding). I figure that at some point it will probably get pooped on so really people—I'm okay with the imperfection. This, coming from the girl who used to, as a child, wiggle my toes until they felt "even" every night when I went to bed. OCD much?

All safey-pinned up and ready for quilting:

Après quilting with binding attached (but not finished):

Showing the backside which reveals my horrendous quilting. Here's hoping that's the side that gets pooped on most frequently.

A close up of the binding: 

A close up of the cheater's version of a mitered corner.  

All I have left is hand sewing the binding down—yet another thing I can do when watching more television. 

And for all you haters of my fabric choice for the backing and the binding—I'm talking to you dear husband and sister who raised your eyebrows when you saw the plaid—you can suck it because I think it looks cute. 

One more thing. Being from Saskatchewan, I don't like to to point out our extreme weather, because I really hate to perpetuate stupid stereotypes like "Canadians all live in igloos" or "drive dogsleds to work". That being said, I have to share a few photos of our spring weather this year (specifically after the storm we had this week).

This is a girl I was in a show with who posted this pic on Facebook:  

To be clear, that's not actual snowfall, but a big-ass giant snow drift closer to the edge of town. But still... yeesh!

Apparently, this has happened before though:

WTF. Why does anyone live here? Oh yes. Because they are friggin' crazy: 

Trena, this picture is for you because I know that you bike—probably not with a skidoo helmet though. Ridiculous. 

Hopefully we don't get any more snow, although it can actually be very nice when it's sunny out (from our front window this morning):

Now I have to figure out how to take flattering pictures of myself in leggings that I will most likely regret posting to the internet. Happy Sunday!

Getting my knit-on etc.

Well, it's been a while. A lot has happened in the last month, so I'll provide a recap:

We went snow shoeing, skiing, started P90X, got sick, took a break from P90X, started knitting, stopped sewing, had a drastic change in diet, etc, etc, etc.

We have an exorbitant amount of snow this year, and I bought a groupon for a snowshoe rental. It was okay, but I like skiing better.

 
(snowshoeing at the local golf course)

I admit, I'm a little stuck in the sewing department. I made a couple of major fails and then another slightly disappointing piece that took the wind out of my sails. After my successful Jungle January blouse, I whipped off another Renfrew using a unique piece of knit I found at a second hand store that I was saving for B, but then selfishly reallocated to myself.

This goaround with the Renfrew, I was not as happy. It seems that the minor fitting issues that I could live with on the first make were magnified in this one. Namely, the biceps are tight, and I think I need to make the arm scythe larger too, not to mention a sloped shoulder adjustment. Now that I've washed it a couple of times, it feels better in the armpits, but something needs to be done if this is ever going to be a tnt for me. I was even thinking about going up a size to see what that feels like. I should probably also look into a sway-back alteration, but I just can't seem to give a crap about an angle I can't see.

My next sewing project was just barely started when we wend skiing, I got sick, and stopped being motivated to sew. It's a baby quilt for my friends in Calgary who are due in a couple of months. I used this Rough and Tumble pattern as my basis, but squared things up a bit to make construction easier and scaled everything down to the craft-size batting I had in my stash. I only have one of the coloured strips done, so it's not even worth showing you a progress shot, but here's the inspiration quilt:

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/12/rough-and-tumble-quilt.html

I also took a learn to knit class in January, and continued with a sock class at my local yarn shop. I was considering buying a much cheaper course from Craftsy, but honestly, getting out of the house, meeting new people and having two hours to myself only focussing on making something is worth the extra $. I am surprised how much i look forward to it every week. 

The Learn to Knit class sweater (children's size 4). It will go to my nephew. 

And the sock class socks in progress: 

I'm also currently working on an easy sweater pattern I purchased so long ago, I don't even remember when it was. I had completed the back but then unravelled it when I was cleaning up a few years ago for a move. 

I now have the front and the back done and just have the sleeves and assembly left. 

The slow pace of knitting used to frustrate me, but I like that I can do it while watching the many shows on tv that I keep up with but don't really care about. 

There are a tonne of sewing projects that are floating around in my head: finding/fitting a tnt button down shirt pattern, blazers, jeans, pants.... the list goes on. All are complicated and intimidating which is mostly why I'm procrastinating starting anything. 

Today I'm having my very first sewing meet-up (ever) with tanitisis. We just learned that we live in the same city and are going for coffee. Confession: I feel just as nervous as I did before a date back in my "cupid.com" days, but at least now I know that we have something in common!! It will be very nice to have someone in my age bracket that will understand sew-speak. It should be fun!

In conclusion, I hope to get my ass back in gear and sew some things soon!!

RAWWRRRR!

Back in December, I was at Fabricland fondling a red/orange/purple leopard print sheer, dismissing it as indulgent and impractical for my freezing body temperature. I've sewn with sheers before, and while I love the thought of them, they aren't really practical for my daily life. THEN, Pretty Grievances announced Jungle January, I rationalized that I DID need that sheer fabric, and I would just turn the heater up and wear the shit out of it. I already had McCall's 6512 in my stash just waiting for an excuse to make it up.

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PR Review: 

MISSES' BLOUSES: Loose-fitting blouses have neck/front bands, yoke and front sleeve (cut on crosswise grain of fabric), no shoulder seams, back pleats and narrow hem. A: pleated pockets with button flaps and short sleeves rolled-up (wrongside shows) with button tab. B: bias collar extends into tie ends and sleeves gathered into button cuffs with seam opening.

 

Size?
AX5(4-6-8-10-12)
My usual size is a 12, but after looking at the finished measurements on the pattern, I made a muslin up in a 10. It was gynormous. Seriously, you could have fit two of me in there. So I rechecked the finished measurements, compared them to a rtw blouse of a similar shape, traced off a size 8 and did an sba. The adjustment lines they included on the pattern were helpful here, though I only used two of them to decrease the width.

1/2 inch sba:
Red(cutting line), Green (where I horizontally slid it over 1/2 inch), then I redrew the armscythe.

(hem/placket–bottom flipped up)


Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow?Yes.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I liked the unusual design elements (yoke/sleeve piece) and the construction of front placket (placed on after hemming). The amount of ease made it possible for me to not have to worry about my usual broad upper back adjustment, while the shaped side seams actually give me some waist definition even though it's a billowy style.

Fabric Used:

Polyester georgette

 

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I made a size or two smaller than my measurements suggested, and an easy sba decreasing the width of the front pieces. I would probably shorten the sleeve by about an inch if I ever made this again. They fall in a weird spot that's longer than 3/4, but not full length. 

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I will definitely sew the short sleeve version—I don't think my wardrobe needs another tie blouse any time soon. I dress too casually in every day life.

Conclusion:

I'm really REALLY happy that this turned out. I got nervous when my muslin was so big, but I took a chance on the sba and was pleasantly surprised. This colour combo is one of my favourites and I love how it drapes, so I'm happy to wear it as much as I can. I'm also really looking forward to making the short sleeve version in a few months when it starts to get warmer.


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I found a new challenge for February here.

I've been putting off a couple of jackets, cutting into my fabric from Italy, taking the Jeanious class that I bought about 8 months ago, finally sewing a button down shirt that fits me in the upper back AND the waist, etc, etc, etc. This challenge couldn't have come at a better time. Perhaps this should be the year of fearless sewing.

There's also a stash busting challenge that Cation Designs started. My fearless sewing should take a big chunk out of my stash, since the fabric is just sitting there waiting for me to get over myself and just do it already.

Good luck in all of your challenges!!

One Pattern, Many Looks via CationDesigns

I was going to enter the PR contest "One Pattern, Many Looks" with my new Sewaholic Alma pattern, but then realized that I don't immediately need 4 quasi-similar blouses in my wardrobe. Apparently I DO need multiple dolman sleeve tops (pattern courtesy of Cation Designs). Unfortunately, these don't apply to the contest since I made them all last year, but I wanted to publicly thank Cindy for her really useful and easy (and free) pattern.




This stripe version was my first attempt, and I think I remember putting in the neck band 3 times to get the size right. It's still not perfect, but IS perfectly comfortable. Apparently I feel the most sassy wearing this one.



This red sweatshirt version began it's life as a thrift store purchase. Coincidentally, I had the perfect match in ribbing in my stash from a bunch of sports wear fabric my mother-in-law gave me. As you can see, I still hadn't gotten the hang of the neck band thing yet.

This rust version is probably my most successful. The fabric was purchased for one of my Lekala makes (not blogged about yet, but it's coming), and there was enough left to squeeze out this top. This knit was wonderful to work with, and it has become very useful in my day-to-day wardrobe.

This last version was made for my work Christmas party. I don't really like it. I LOVED the lace remnant when I bought it, and was looking at making a peplum top for the holidays. Unfortunately, when making my wearable muslin (still not finished and will blog about that in future), I realized that the remnant was too small for a peplum. I barely had enough for the top I did make—using the selvage for the neck binding. I still ran out. I underlined it with a really nice black knit lining I bought especially for this top and ended up using it for the bottom band.

The end result is a really heavy top that looks cheap. I should have left it unlined and worn a black tank under it. So disappointed.

A close up of the stretch lace: 

It is a really great olive-gold colour with a sparkly sheen to it. I liked it because it was shiny enough to say "holidays", but I could still wear it under a black blazer for every day.

Anywho's since I now have the Sewaholic Renfrew, I'll probably give this one a rest for a while as my TNT knit top. It a great stashbuster since it doesn't use a lot of fabric, so I'm sure I'll revisit it again.

I've been working steadily on my contribution to Jungle January and should have something soon to blog about. There's also some altering of other pieces I need to show you before I move on to the next big project on my list (a baby quilt for friends of ours that are expecting). I'm not a quilter by any stretch of the imagination, but it was my Mom's hobby-of-choice for a while. She helped me pick my fabric and I simplified a pattern I found on the internet. I even bought a rotary cutter! 

See you soon!!

Embrace Your Outer Diagonals

I've not posted for a while, and I have a lot of great excuses, but instead I'll regale you with horrible photographs taken last night about three minutes before we had to leave for a friend's birthday party.

I got the Sewaholic Refrew pattern from my brother this Christmas and had this blue and white striped cotton jersey in my stash waiting for it. 

You may notice that the stripes are not particularly horizontal. That is because my fabric is cheap crap. I mostly buy cheap crap so I don't have to worry about messing up or being frozen with fear to cut into precious cuts of fabric from far off places (I've got a great piece from my trip to italy over a year ago that is slated for a jacket that falls in this category). 

When I laid the fabric out, I was not so pleasantly surprised to find that the stripes were ridiculously off-grain. I decided to just go ahead and make it a possibly not/possibly so wearable muslin. Turns out, when you sew with wild abandon, magical Christmas surprises happen: 

Those smug smiles on my face are because of the stellar stripe matching that occurred no thanks to any clever cutting I did. I just cut full-steam-ahead and this pleasant surprise happened. The stripes ended up matching on the bottoms of the sleeves and even somewhat on the bottom and sleeve bands as well. 

And the fit... this is my new tnt top. It's seriously fantastic, fast and easy to sew. And it fits my lifestyle of t-shirts and jeans. 

My official pattern review: 

Pattern Description:

The perfect basic tee! The Renfrew Top is a fitted knit top with sleeve and neckline variations. View A has long sleeves and a scoop neckline. View B has short sleeves and a deep V neckline. View C has a dramatic cowl neckline and three-quarter length sleeves.

I made view B with A sleeves.

Pattern Sizing:

0-16. I made a 6 in the bust and waist grading to a 2 in the hip

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Very easy, plus I had read through the tutorials/tips on sewing for knits that Tasia posted on her blog before I got the pattern, so I was very prepared.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I like everything. I put off getting this because its "a basic t-shirt pattern", but it is so worth it. 

Fabric Used:

Cotton jersey. The stripes were printed WAY off grain, so I just went with it and had some pleasant surprise stripe matching in the outcome.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

There is some gathering under the arms in the front that I've noticed in other versions, and I'm not sure if a tuck above the bust would eliminate this or cause more problems. Right now, it fits the same or better than a rtw top, so I'm inclined to leave it alone. The sizing was right on (just the Minoru jacket I made a few months ago). Also, I normally make a broad back adjustment in most tops, but after measuring the pattern piece I decided to leave it. Usually, the width of the back at the armpit needs to be 18 inches and this was just shy, but with the negative ease of the knit it worked out perfectly.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I will most definitely sew this again. I've got a sweater with an awkward neckline that desperately needs a custom white crew neck. Now if I could only find a decent white knit...

And also, yes, for the love of Pete. Those of you on the fence about this one:  take the plunge for goodness sake.

Conclusion:

I'm totally sold. I'm so happy with this top and it took all of a couple of hours to make!

I have more Lekala goodness in the works and a couple of tragic peplum fails so more on that soon.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Another jewel of wisdom for beginners...

When you prick your finger on a pin and bleed all over the shirt you are making, it's time to go to bed.

Lekala 4042. I'm a fan.

This was the second of my aforementioned sewing projects that I was able to burn through, and my first ever Lekala pattern.

Review of Lekala 4042:

Pattern Description: 
Blouse with decorative neckline from knit fabric.

Pattern Sizing:
You give them a set of 5 or 6 measurements and they give you a size-accurate pattern.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, but I lengthened the sleeves.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
There are a couple of places to find the instructions. One translation is better than the other. Look on this website:
http://www.lekala.co/women-sewing-patterns/blouses/blouse-with-decorative-neckline-from-knit-fabric.html
The instructions were pretty good for this one. It's a bit tricky, but if you've sewn for a while it should be not problem.


What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I loved that it was exactly my size and had seam allowances already added. This doesn't take a lot of fabric either and it's a quick make.

Fabric Used:
A very fluid jersey knit in a vibrant raspberry.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
My muslin, made out of a much sturdier knit was much too small in the shoulder width. I added 3/4" to the shoulder width and it ended up being a bit too wide in this drapey fabric (see arrows and circle in pictures). I'm not very familiar with negative ease, so I'll chalk this mistake up to ignorance. It's easy enough to fix if I ever get around to it.
I also made the sleeves long. All I did was measure myself from my shoulder to my wrist, then I added the hem and an additional 4" for rouching:

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes, and absolutely. I was very happy with my first experience with Lekala and I recommend them to everyone (well, maybe not beginners since the instructions are not the greatest). I may make this again in another colour in a slightly heavier knit. I just saw someone else made this with a striped knit which gives a neat effect: http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/eye-twisting-top?image=226610

Conclusion: 
I'm so impressed with Lekala patterns. I've made the other knit top and will review it soon. So far the fit is really great. I've yet to try anything more complicated so my opinion may change.