Category Archives: Sewing

Pretty Basic

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When I took photos of my Miette sweater, I realized that my much loved upcycled denim skirt is on its last legs. I wear that skirt all.the.time. so when we went into Vancouver for Mr. Stitch’s birthday at the end of April I quickly snuck into Dressew and got myself some denim for a new skirt.

This is

This is one of those “Amazing Fit” patterns, generously gifted to me by Gail (thank you!).

The Details

  • Pattern: Simplicity 1717. In these photos I’m wearing it with my modified version of the Sorbetto in Nani Iro double gauze.
  • Fabric: Lightweight 100% cotton denim (with no stretch).
  • Time in the Stash: 2 days. Really.
  • Modifications: Took in ½” from the side seams from the bottom of the skirt, tapering to nothing at the hipline. Chopped off 3 ½” in length.
  • Stashbusting Tally: I hardly think a two day stay in the stash counts, don’t you agree?

 

Um, I think these photos are a bit over-exposed

Um, I think these photos are a bit over-exposed…

The instructions for this pattern where super clear, although I really didn’t look at them much except for guidance with the waist facing finishing. The idea with the amazing fit patterns is that you should baste the seams in place, try on the skirt to check the fit, and then make adjustments as you go along. Well, that seemed like a whole lot of work to me: who wants to start making a garment knowing ahead of time that you’ll have to rip all seams? Not me. So instead I just measured the flat pattern and sewed the seams with a regular length stitch. I tried on the skirt before finishing the facings and it fit quite well, except for the fact that it was a bit too A-Line for my taste. I ended up taking in the side seams by ½” inch at each side and tapering to nothing at the hipline. Of course this involved ripping the side seams anyway – so much for my wanting to save myself the hassle!

Back view

Back view

The denim ended up being quite a lot thinner than I expected. It did feel nice and sturdy at the store, and I made sure the fabric had no stretch to it, but after washing it the weave loosened up to the point that it behaves a lot more like linen (it wrinkles like mad) than denim. I don’t think the fabric was stiff enough for the pockets because these sag a bit and would have fared better had I added interfacing to them.

Don't mind me, just chillin' in my new skirt.

Don’t mind me, just chillin’ in my new skirt, trying to ignore the crease below the waistband.

The waistline facing is finished with bias tape. I did mine in a bright red for a pop of colour but forgot to take a photo of it so you’ll just have to take my word for it. In fact, on some of these photos you can kind of see the bulk of the binding pressing through the fabric, creating a line/crease about a half an inch below the waistband seam.  I believe this is caused by the fabric’s light weight because the crease was not there when I tried on the skirt prior to finishing the facing.  Such is life.  If it continues to bug me I’ll just rip the bias tape and will finish it on my serger to get rid of the bulk.

Simplicity 1717 - Front 1

I wanted a fairly nondescript denim skirt I could wear with everything and I think that’s what I got: it’s a perfectly good wardrobe basic and I believe I will get lots of wear out of it. With two a-line skirts under my belt so far this summer I’m beginning to think that I should give a straight skirt pattern a try. By this I don’t mean a pencil skirt (not too flattering on my pear shaped figure), but perhaps something that is not so flared. Can any of you suggest a pattern that may fit this description?

Sewing Dare: The Sunshine Coast Dress

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I’m not on tweeter or Facebook.  Even though I have an iPhone I only check my e-mail twice a day. I’ll take a phone call over a text message any day, and even better would be to see the person in real life. Other than reading sewing and knitting blogs I guess social media is not really my thing and it really is a wonder that I manage to keep this blog running at all. If I can barely call myself a “sewcialist” how is it that I ended up asking for, and receiving, a sewing dare from Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow? Pure impulse, I tell you. I asked for it and it went down something like this:

Sewing Dare

With that in mind, I came up with this little dress using Simplicity 3835, an out of print Built by Wendy pattern that is now available for download here.

Look at those cute little birds!

Look at those cute little birds!

The Details

  • Pattern: Simplicity 3835
  • Fabric: 2 metres of quilting cotton from Joel Dewberry’s Aviary 2 collection. This print is “Sparrows” in the black colourway.
  • Time in the Stash: 25 months.
  • Modifications: Made the longer dress version (View A) but with the short sleeves of the blouse (View C).
  • Stash Busting Tally: Committed to using 15 pieces of fabric from the stash; 15 used to date; Stashbusting Sewalong Challenge completed!
Loving those pockets

Can you tell I’m loving those pockets?

If you plan on using this pattern, beware of the great amount of ease built-in. Based on my measurements I cut out a straight size 14 but the dress turned out huge. After a few hours of patient ripping, I re-traced the pattern in a size 10 bust/waist and 12 at the hips. Much better! However, I also discovered that I need to make a swayback adjustment on the paper pattern, but this is not because I have an actual swayback (my hips definitely don’t tilt back but rather, because I hunch, they tilt forward) but because I think I display what the book Fit for Real People describes as a “flat derriere”.  Go figure.

Wrinkles at the back

Wrinkles at the back

Also, note that the neckline is a bit high, bordering on constrictive, so if you make this you may want to lower it a bit. Having said that, the fit is super comfortable, the raglan sleeves are quite easy to fit, and those patch pockets are just awesome. The lack of front darts make this pattern especially suitable to showcase a sweet print.

There's a bird in my pocket!

There’s a bird in my pocket!

The fabric I originally had in mind was a vibrant Echino print I’ve been hoarding for ages so in fact this dress started out as a muslin.  I chose to use quilting cotton for the muslin because the Echino print is a stiffer cotton/linen blend with little drape and I figured the quilting cotton would behave in a similar way.  I was so pleased with the way this dress turned out that I’ve elevated it from mere muslin status to completed sewing challenge dress. Plus the print is very much representative of this part of B.C.: while we never had snow, the rain made for very dark skies between October and February so the black background is a reminder of those dark months. On the flip side, that same rain makes this place extremely lush year round and there are all kinds of cute birds everywhere in these parts. Finally, the burst of yellow in the print remind me how glorious the Sunshine Coast really is on those occasions when the sun decides to shine upon it!

And there you have it: The Sunshine Coast Dress.

And there you have it: The Sunshine Coast Dress, and a completed sewing dare.

Once I train Mr. Stitch to pin the excess fabric at the back figure out how to make a proper swayback adjustment I may just have to make this dress again. Next time I will bust out that Echino print for sure. Have any of you guys signed up or completed a sewing dare? If not, would you like a dare?

Summer Brights

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When I first started sewing I was lured by the pretty designs and bright colours of quilting cotton.  I bought a ton of the stuff, so much so that the bulk of my stash is made up of it. I soon discovered that the flowy blouses and drapey garments I wanted to make did not suit quilting cotton’s somewhat stiff hand and since I’m not a hard core quilter, these lovely prints have been wilting in my stash for a couple of years. When the time came to start packing my stash for our move back to Ontario I decided it was time to bring these fabrics out to play: sure they are not best suited for drapey blouses, but skirts and everyday summer dresses? Oh yeah, bring it on!

Look at that perfectly camouflaged front pocket

Pat on back: look at that perfectly camouflaged front pocket. Also, the grain in this photo makes it look like I haven’t shaved in weeks, but I promise you that is not the case.

The combination of blue and yellow in this print makes me think of bright summer clothes so there was no doubt in my mind that it should be turned into a skirt. This is Amy Butler’s Barcelona A-Line Skirt, a pattern that was also acquired in my early sewing days but only saw the light of day a couple of weeks ago. The skirt sits comfortably well below the waist at the midriff area and I might add that being short-waisted this is my preferred placement for a skirt. This is a very straight forward pattern, so much so that it doesn’t even have darts for shaping. The instructions are pretty clear and they include a detailed explanation for an invisible zipper insertion and a lining – a perfect project for a beginner sewist.

(L to R): (1) Oh, look at my pretty skirt; (2) What's that I see?; (3) Gasp! The print does not match at the sides, but I don't think I care!

(L to R): (1) Oh, look at my pretty skirt; (2) What’s that I see?; (3) Gasp! The print does not match at the sides, but I don’t think I care too much!

The Details:

  • Pattern: Barcelona A-Line Skirt by Amy Butler
  • Fabric: 1.30 metres of quilting cotton from the “Berkeley” collection by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures; 1 metre white cotton voile for the lining.
  • Time in the Stash: 28 months and 10 months respectively.
  • Modifications: Added a front patch pocket.
  • Stashbusting Tally: Committed to using 15 pieces of fabric from the stash; 14 used to date; 1 left to go. I’m thinking I’ll have to up the ante and maybe change the challenge to a certain amount of metres… food for thought.
The print is also askew at the back seam, but if I walk real fast no one will notice.

The print is also slightly askew at the back seam, but if I walk real fast no one will notice, right?

If I had a do-over, I would change two things: (1) In my haste I failed to stay-stitch the waist and this has resulted in some stretching in that area; and (2) Try as I might, I failed to match the print at the side and back seams. These things bug me, but not so much to stop me from wearing this garment. In fact, I wore it three times in a two week period. It’s comfy, bright and screams “summer” to me. Moreover, it’s warmed me to the idea of bringing those quilting cottons out to play more often.

What about you: do you ever use quilting cotton when sewing clothes? If so, what sorts of garments do you make with them?

Needle Roll Winner

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Thanks for all your comments on my knitting needle roll tutorial. I sincerely hope that it will be of help to some of you. Since this was also a giveaway and since we can only have one winner, random.org worked its magic and picked as follows:

Random

Congrats Stephanie! Please send me an e-mail with your mailing address so that I can post the needle roll to you first thing Monday and so that you can put the shoebox that houses your needles to some other use.  I can be reached at stitchparade@gmail.com

I also wanted to point out that needle roll can be easily modified to make a variety of different kinds of storage options. Think for example of a make-up brush roll, a pouch to safely keep a kid’s pencil crayons, or even storage for tools like this chisel roll I made for Mr. Stitch last week.

This one is made out of denim, left over from a skirt I will blog about soon.

This one is made out of denim, left over from a skirt I will blog about soon.

This type of roll takes so little fabric and is so fast to whip up that it makes for a great gift idea in a pinch. The possibilities are endless!