Stash busting: Another Curtain Project

Here's the latest curtain project.  I really like this blue printed cotton fabric.  The plan was to turn this fabric into a dress with my eye on McCall's 8090.  And then once again, plans changed.  The fabric was used for a set of kitchen curtains.  The lightweight 100% cotton fabric was previously pretreated with a tumble in the washing machine and dryer and was ready to hit the cutting table.  

Sewing IS Political

This is another Canadian made and tariff free sewing project.  The fabric has been in the stash before the convicted felon's tariff and trade war.  These are times for sewing the stash or just plain reconsidering a project as fabric prices continue to increase.  Even threads are hit with price increases that makes one reconsider colour matching.  A close enough colour of thread will do just fine, as in this case (blue thread for top-stitching and beige threads for the serger).  The fabric was an end of the season discounted item from many moons ago.  I found this fabric at Fabricland, a Canadian fabric outlet.  The Gütermann threads were pulled from the stash and also came from Fabricland.  The fabric scissors used to cut out this project are from Merchant and Mills, a U.K. company and were purchased from The Workroom, another Canadian fabric outlet. 

Project details

Seams / Top-stitching:  3.0 straight stitch

Seam finish:  Serged

Fabric:   2.5 metres

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Cutting table, pins, pin cushion, tailor's chalk, measuring tape, ruler, fabric scissors, Janome 4120 QDC sewing machine, walking foot, Janome AirThread 2000D serger, threads, thread clippers, measuring gauge, iron, ironing board and tea.  

Stand strong, elbows up, support local businesses and keep sewing.  

Stash busting: New Curtains

This is a simple project after measuring and cutting out the fabric.  This gifted project came to be after it was spotted in the stash and dreams of new curtains started to materialize.  I, on the other hand, saw this fabric at the store as a potential coating toile fabric or perhaps some more reusable grocery bag fabric.  The curtain project won in claiming this fabric.  And I think they turned out lovely, so I am glad that plans changed along the way.  

The fabric was a discounted bargain find in the home décor department.  It was such a great bargain that I bought the remaining bolt deciding that I will figure out its future at a later time.  It now looks like another set of curtains will be made with the remaining yardage.  The curtains are fifty-four inches long, have a two inch hem on the bottom and a three inch opening on top for the curtain road.  

Sewing IS Political

This is another Canadian made and tariff free project.  Everything used to make these curtains were found in the stash.  The fabric was a bargain find in the home décor section at Fabricland, a Canadian fabric outlet.  No pattern needed but the measuring tools used to measure the fabric has been in the stash for years, circa pre-Trumpian economic warfare.  The scissors used to cut the fabric are from Merchant and Mills, a U.K. company and were purchased from The Workroom, another Canadian fabric outlet.  The threads are all Gütermann threads pulled from the stash.  

Project details

Seams / Topstitching:  3.0 straight stitch

Seam finish:  Serged

Fabric:  3 metres

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Cutting table, pins, pin cushion, tailor's chalk, fabric scissors, rulers, measuring tape, measuring gauge, Janome 4120 QDC sewing machine, walking foot, Janome 2000D AirThread serger, threads, thread clippers, iron, ironing board and a good cup of Canadian coffee.  

Stand strong, elbows up and keep sewing.  

Monday's Mending Pile

Back in January, I made this top and it hung in the closet until it was reluctantly moved to the donation pile.  And that made me sad because it's made with the most gorgeous silk.  I pulled it out of the donation pile this weekend trying to save it from that horrible decision.    

You see, I thought that if I made it oversized that I would get a lot of wear while wearing the back brace.  And then the back brace was modified and I no longer have a piece of hard plastic riding up my left underarm.  Ahhh, the freedom!  

So I thought, if I just create a centre back pleat maybe it would be a better fit?  

It turned out to be a simple fix and for the first time in a long time, it's back in rotation.  I'm grateful that I was able to rescue this one.  

Stand strong, elbows up and keep mending.  

Trending and Stash Busting: Stirrup Pants / OOP and Vintage Vogue 7630

Honestly, I had no idea that stirrup pants were trending this year.  And I swear I didn't go searching for a stirrup pants pattern to be trendy.  Here in the Canadian prairies, land of sweatpants, jeans, and shorts with t-shirts country, we're not well known for being a trendy or a fashion centre.  

This project ended up on the work table because I am trying to find yardwork clothing that will keep me covered up to, hopefully, prevent tick bites.  Something I can tuck into a pair of work socks and rain boots.  Man, I miss winter.  And words can not adequately express how much I miss the tick free summers of my youth.  But I digress.  This is not a post about climate change.  But here I am sewing clothes because of the effects of climate change.  

History of Stir-up Pants

Stirrup pants are a tapered style of pants with its signature feature of a strap or loop attached to the hem that sits under the foot.  This design feature helps to anchor the pants in place and prevent it from riding upwards.  They became popular as equestrian clothing in the late 19th century and were adopted as women's riding wear in the 1920s.  In the following decade this style of pants moved into other sports, such as skiwear, marked with an appearance in the 1936 Winter Olympics.  

In the 1950s and 1960s, stirrup pants remained in wardrobes moving into casual everyday wear.  

Stirrup pants returned to its athletic roots and reinvented itself into aerobics wear in the 1980s where its evolution continued into a mainstream fashion wear.  The pants became known as a wardrobe staple moving from sports and dance spaces into everyday wear.  

And then it quietly disappeared from our everyday wardrobes, but not for long.  Stirrup pants are showing up on fashion runways and according to British Vogue, stirrup pants "are replacing tailored trousers."  I'm not ready to go that far, these stirrup pants are entering the wardrobe as strictly work pants styled with rubber boots not heels as styled on the fashion runways.  

I was over the moon when I found this vintage pattern, OOP Vogue 7630.  The closest thing to stir-up pants found on the Simplicity website are patterns for leggings.  But there are a lot of stirrup pants patterns found via Etsy and eBay resellers of vintage Burda, Vogue and Kwik Sew patterns from back-in-the-day.  

The fabric is a medium weight woven cotton with some stretch.  The fabric's stretch did not meet the pattern envelope stretch guide suggested amount of stretch, but none the less, this fabric worked out well for the pattern.  The fabric was previously pretreated with a tumble in the washing machine and dryer before hitting the ironing board for a press.  

There were some alterations to the pattern.  They were shortened a lot!  I'm not hitting five feet at this stage of my life's journey and if I wanted the ankle design to work on the stirrup there was some adjustments to be made.  The casing for the elastic was sewn with a one and a half turn down and I used a one and a quarter inch elastic.  I made these in a size sixteen since my fabric didn't meet the recommended stretch and cut the crotch and ankle curve at a size fourteen.  I could have cut the crotch at the size twelve line but instead if I revisit this pattern, I will shorten the crotch length.  Again, Vogue patterns are not designed for the petites in mind.  This pattern did not contain any finished measurements on the pattern pieces and thankfully, the adjustments worked out just fine.  

Sewing IS Political

This is another Canadian made and tariff free project as the convicted felon throws more tariffs at Canada.  [Insert eye roll here.]  But I again digress.  Everything with the exception of the pattern was found in the stash.  The fabric has been in the stash for years and was found in the discount section of Fabricland, a Canadian fabric outlet.  The vintage Vogue pattern, circa 1989, was a recent Etsy find purchased from a fellow Canadian.  The fabric scissors are from Merchant and Mills, an U.K. company and were purchased from The Workroom, another Canadian fabric outlet.  The elastic was also pulled out of the stash, not sure where it was purchased, could be Fabricland?  The label is from Kylie and the Machine (KATM), an Australian company and were purchased from another Canadian Etsy seller.  Side note:  KATM labels are now shipping from Canada--Yippeee!  This means domestic shipping and no extra fees or tariffs to pay.  And the thread, all pulled from the stash, are cotton Gütermann threads and were purchased at Fabricland.  

Project details

Seams:  2.8 straight stitch

Seam finish:  Serged

Fabric:  2.10 metres

Elastic:  1.10 metres

Pattern:  OOP and Vintage Vogue 7630, circa 1989

Label:  1 -- "MAKE ᐧ WEAR ᐧ WASH ᐧ REPAIR"--KATM label

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Cutting table, paper scissors, fabric scissors, pins, wrist pin cushion, tailor's chalk, Janome 4120 QDC sewing machine, Janome AirThread 2000D serger, walking foot, safety pin, threads, thread clippers, cello music and coffee.  

Stand strong, elbows up and keep sewing.  

Monday's Mending Pile

It didn't take long for the refashioned slip to end up on the mending pile.  After trying it on with this dress, it became evident that it needed to be shortened.  Just a turn up, press and then top-stitched in place with the knit stitch on the sewing machine.  

And this gifted slip came back to be taken in at the side seams.  I thought I copied the toile version, not quite sure what went wrong.  The side seams were taken in at 3/4" and serged for a three inch total reduction in the width.  

Stash busting: White Linen Shorts / Vogue 9191

I actually made something appropriate for the summer season and the heat.  Well, I actually did start off the month sewing a linen dress.  Now, I'm ending the month with a pair of linen shorts.  Maybe, if I can get out of grubby yardwork clothes, I'll have something I can wear that makes me look like I'm enjoying the summer.  Oh, sometimes I make myself laugh.  I'm actually counting down the days until the first frost and joyfully waiting for that first snowfall.  But I digress.  

An easy peasy sewing project, elastic waist shorts using Vogue 9191.  This is a well drafted shorts pattern and I like the fit.  There were a few changes though.  I lengthened the shorts by three inches and sewed an inch hem.  I also went with a wider elastic than suggested in the pattern.  These are sewn as a size large which would normally end up with a too long crotch length but it worked out in that I have shorts that sit at the waistline instead of just below.  I think I may be revisiting this pattern again.   

The fabric is a medium weight linen.  It was pretreated with a tumble through the washing machine and dryer before hitting the ironing board.  There was originally 1.3 metres prior to the pretreatment and afterwards there was 1.23 metres.  It was more than enough for the shorts.  

Sewing IS Political

This is another Canadian made and tariff free sewing project.  All of the supplies and equipment required to sew this project came from the stash and workspace.  The fabric came from the discounted section of Fabricland, a Canadian fabric outlet, back-in-the-day when linen went on sale.  The pattern entered the stash during the clearance sale at Fabricland when the big four patterns were discontinued and after Simplicity Patterns was sold to a Private Equity firm.  No tariffs were paid in obtaining the pattern.  The fabric scissors are from Merchant and Mills, an U.K. company and were purchased from The Workroom, a Canadian fabric outlet.  The Gütermann threads were all pulled from the stash, and were made in Greece.  The elastic was saved and reused from other garment that ended up in the donation bin.  

Project details

Seams:  2.8 straight stitch

Seam finish:  Serged

Fabric:  1.2 metres

Elastic:  1 metre

Pattern:  Vogue 9191, circa 2016

Additional Tools and Supplies:  Cutting table, pins, pin cushion, fabric scissors, paper scissors, tailor's chalk, Janome 4120 QDC sewing machine, walking foot, threads, thread clippers, Janome AirThread 2000D serger, iron, ironing board, washing machine, dryer, safety pin and coffee.  

Stand strong, elbows up, enjoy a glass of Canadian wine and keep sewing.  

Throwing up the White Flag: Simplicity 9372

Simplicity 9372 came into the stash because I was smitten over the look of the wrap shrug.  And then it sat waiting for me to decide on the right fabric.  This cotton lace knit was just the fabric to motivate me to give this pattern a try.  

I will admit that I wasn't impressed with the pattern as soon as I slipped it out of the envelope.  The first thing I noticed is how thin the instruction sheet paper was to the touch.  Not a big deal just something I noticed.  It wasn't the quality or weight of older pattern instruction sheets.  It was more of a cultural nod to shrink and skimp-flation.  And then I unfold the pattern paper sheets and noticed that the printing was non-existent at certain spots across the sheets of tissue paper.  I was not at all impressed.  How a printed pattern ended up in a pattern envelope in this condition is beyond me, where's the quality control?  Oh yeah, we're living in the age of shrink and skimp-flation.  

I'm not so smitten with this wrap shrug now that it's all sewn up.  It's a meh item that ended up in the donation box.  I cut the bodice piece as a size small because I'm not tall and thought it would be too long.  That was a mistake.  I wish it was wider, it could have been if I cut a large.  The picture on the envelope looked wider than the one I made.  But don't let my experience with this pattern discourage you if you're into the nineteen nineties revival that seems to be trending now-a-days, then maybe give it a try.  Who knows, you may have a better experience with this pattern.  

Sewing IS Political

This is another Canadian made and tariff free project.  The fabric came from Lilax Studio, a Canadian fabric outlet.  The pattern, Simplicity 9372, was released prior the convicted felon's global tariffs.  It was purchased from Simplicity's website and has been sitting in the stash until I could decide on a fabric for this project.  The scissors used to cut this project are from Merchant and Mills, a U.K. company and were purchased from The Workroom, a Canadian fabric outlet.  The threads were pulled from the stash and were purchased at Fabricland, another Canadian fabric outlet.  

Project details

Seams:  Knit (lightning bolt) stitch

Seam finish:  Serged

Fabric:  1.2 metres

Pattern:  Simplicity 9372

Additional Tools and Supplies:  Cutting table, fabric scissors, paper scissors, pins, pin cushion, tailor's chalk, Janome 4120 QDC sewing machine, walking foot, Janome AirThread 2000D serger, threads, thread clippers and tea.  

Stand strong, elbows up and keep on sewing.