September in Review...

First before anything else, I must acknowledge that today, September 30th, is 

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

In Canada today is marked by both the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day.  Today, like every day should be in this country, is a day for learning, acknowledgement and reflection about the land and history of this country and our place in it as a community.  I hope that you will take a moment and explore the links above to find out more.  

National Sewing Month

Today also marks the closing of National Sewing Month.  Did you notice that things were quiet over at NationalSewingMonth.org?  Other than the naming of this year's theme "Spread Love, Stitch Love" this celebration of sewing felt low key.  

Congratulations to MimiG for spreading the love with a new line of sewing patterns ready for stitching.  The new pattern line, KnowMe features designers known in the online sewing community.  This month she also shared sewing trivia throughout the month.  What I love about these patterns is that the sizing is more inclusive and there are more options for sewing men's clothing.  

This bomber jacket pattern is sweet.  

And I love this motorcycle jacket pattern.  I don't have anyone to sew these for but I'm certainly watching to see if someone makes these jackets.  I hope so, they look so cool.  

Sewing

There wasn't as much sewing as I hoped this month.  A scraped knee and bruising near my collar bone and shoulder area deflated my sewing mojo for most of the month.  Thank God, those boo-boos didn't stop me from sewing a few things.  

The waterfall coat (Butterick 6244) is getting used now that cooler temperatures are here.  The pull-on pants (Vogue 9246) ended up being too big and I would like to revisit the pattern.  The set of pajamas were gifted (top: vintage Simplicity 6851 and bottoms: OOP Simplicity 2372).  

Stash Busting

All of the sewing projects this month were made with fabric from the stash.  Most of the supplies were from the stash as well with the exception of the pink serger thread used to sew a machine rolled hem on the waterfall coat.  This month 9.6 metres of fabric, 1.9 metres of elastic, 1 label, 4 buttons and 1 metre of fusible interfacing were stash-busted this month.  

What's Next?  

Only God knows!  But I can tell you that there is one more set of pajamas being cut right now.  Another gift sewing project.  

Happy Sewing!

Mending Matters

The patchworked blanket from years ago came out of the wash in less than perfect shape.  

I'm not a quilter and I really didn't follow any quilting rules making this blanket.  I just made this to use up scraps.  But it's come to be nostalgic piece that I cherish.  The memories that are sewn together are priceless to me.  So, when I found these fraying pieces of cloth that date back to the 1960's, I had to try and rescue these portions of the blanket.  

Remember, I'm not a quilter.  I just grabbed whatever piece was big enough to patch up the fraying piece.  I pressed a seam allowance and topstitched it in place.  

For two smaller pieces that were coming undone, I used some cotton trim to do some patchwork.  I know it's not perfect but what matters is that I'm happy to have this blanket back.  

Happy Sewing!

Stash busting: Pajama Bottoms / OOP Simplicity 2372 and OOP Vogue 9217

This is a quick make!  

I made the pants pattern in the past using out-of-print (OOP) Simplicity 2372 and knew that it's a trustworthy pattern.  I added 1/2" to the side seams, shortened the length and added a waistband after I missed the pencil note to raise the waistline.  Oops!  This is where OOP Vogue 9217 came into the picture.  I used the waistband pattern piece to add the casing.  

The fabric wasn't wide enough to cut the waistband on the grainline, so I had the lay out the pattern piece lengthwise on the crossgrain.  Only to discover that there wasn't enough length to include a 5/8" seam allowance.  I solved this by just serging the end pieces together.  Thankfully, the difference in the print's direction won't be noticeable when worn.  

The fabric is a cotton flannel and was previously pre-treated.  

Project details

Seams:  2.6 to 2.8 straight stitch

Seam finish:  Serged

Fabric:  2 metres

Label:  1 "me made" label to mark the back

Elastic:  1.2 metres

Patterns:  OOP Simplicity 2373 and OOP Vogue 9217

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Cutting table, pins, pin cushions, measuring tape, safety pin, sewing machine, walking foot, serger, threads, fabric scissors, thread clippers, iron, ironing board, measuring gauge and oh sweet precious time.  

Happy Sewing!

Stash Busting: Pajama Top / Vintage Simplicity 6851

A request came in for a pajama set that has wide sleeves.  I turned to vintage Simplicity 6851 which I believe, based on the hairstyles on the pattern envelope illustrations, is from the 1960s.  It is actually a robe and slip pattern.  I removed sixteen inches off the hem length and added five inches to the sleeve length to create this long sleeve pajama top. 

The top has bell-shaped, raglan sleeves, round neckline and front buttons.  Most importantly, it has pockets!  Those gorgeous, generously sized pockets were added to the project.  

The fabric is a soft flannel that I picked up at Northwest / Marshall Fabrics in the beginning of the year and that has been pre-treated and pressed and sitting in the sidelines for months waiting to be turned into a pajama set for myself.  Instead, once a pair of pajama bottoms are sewn, this will be gifted.  

I don't know what more to write besides I know this is a vintage pattern but if you do stumble across it one day, I would highly recommend it.  It's well drafted.  It came together perfectly.  The darts are well thought out and give this a nice fit.  And those bell sleeves are finished with a sleeve facing.  There are no dislikes with this pattern, it is a joy to sew.  

Oh, one more thing!  The buttons are vintage as well.  I picked up a box of these from Eaton's when they closed down twenty-three years ago.  I can't believe I'm still working through that box of buttons, but they came in handy today.  

Project Details

Seams:  2.8 straight stitch

Seam finish:  Serged

Fabric:  3 metres (narrow width flannel)

Interfacing:  1 metre fusible

Buttons:  4 - 1" suit buttons

Pattern:   Vintage Simplicity 6851

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Cutting table, fabric scissors, measuring table, pins, pin cushions, tailor's chalk, sewing machine, walking foot, buttonhole foot, seam ripper, serger, threads, tweezers, screwdriver, thread clippers, hand sewing needle, tailor's wax, iron, ironing board, cutting board, hammer, buttonhole cutter and tea.  

Happy Sewing!

 

Stash Busting: Pants / Vogue 9246

I did spend some time over at Pattern Review doing some research on Vogue 9246 and by what I read in the reviews, I should have turned away from thoughts of sewing the fold-over front pants.  But I couldn't help myself and put my trust in God that I won't be wasting my time on this project and I will end up with a pair of pants that fit comfortably for the coming cooler temperatures.  

Since I have some tweed fabric that I scored for $3.99 / metre, ages ago (you don't see prices like that anymore), I thought I had nothing to lose.  Well, except a couple of metres of fabric.  So, with faith and fingers crossed I got to work.  

I really like this pattern for the pleated front pants.  I won't say that this pair is perfect, but it is wearable.  So, I'm going to call this a win.  According to my hip measurements I'm a XL.  This turned out to be not so.  There is a very generous amount of ease.  I think that I might be able to sew a size medium next time.  And these are high waisted, very high.  The crotch feels like it's sitting low much like the shorts I made this summer.  If I were to pull them up to a proper height for the crotch the waistband would sit at the lower bust level.  But I digress.  I am interested in comparing the crotch length on the medium size.  Thankfully, the front pleat hides the fact that the crotch sits so low.  What should have been below knee length ending up being above ankle length on me.  And I like the length.  It will be perfect with ankle length boots.  

Project Details

Seams:  2.4 straight stitch

Seam finish:  Serged

Fabric:  2.2 metres

Elastic:  0.7 metres

Pattern:  Vogue 9246

Additional Tools and Supplies:  Cutting table, fabric scissors, pins, pin cushion, measuring tape, tailor's chalk, ruler, sewing machine, serger, walking foot, threads, tweezers, hand sewing needle, thread clippers, iron, ironing board, measuring gauge and time, oh sweet precious time.  

Happy Sewing with a thankful heart!

Stash Busting: Unlined Tweed Coat / Butterick 6244

I always meant to revisit this pattern after the first one I made.  I actually did make one that was gifted to someone else.  I wanted to sew one for moi with a little more ease in the backside.  Here is version number three.  

I added 1 3/4" inches fanned out from the centre back hemline area and about another 1/2" fanned out from the side hemline.  With this, I was able to achieve the desired amount of ease.  

This version does not have pockets.  The fabric is a light-weight tweed from Northwest / Marshall Fabrics back-in-the-day when you could pick up tweed for $3.99 / metre.  That was about a decade ago.  

Yup, there is more fabric left over.  At that deal I picked up the remaining bolt. 

I do like the pink specs in the tweed fabric and chose to highlight it by sewing a rolled hem in pink thread.  This will be perfect with the pink turtleneck sweater dress I made last year.  So what will I do with the remaining 5.3 metres of tweed?  Stay tuned.  

 

Project Details

Seams:  2.6 straight stitch

Seam finish:  Serged interior seam finish, edges are finished with a rolled hem

Fabric:  2.4 metres

Pattern:  Butterick 6244

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Cutting table, scissors, pins, pin cushion, clapper, tailor's chalk, Janome sewing machine, Janome serger, threads, measuring tape, ruler, iron, ironing board and precious, glorious free time.  

Happy National Sewing Month!

In Sewing News Today...

Today, marks the beginning of National Sewing Month.  This year's theme:  "spread love, stitch love." 

I see examples of this everywhere in the sewing community.  

1. Melanie's Peace for Ukraine SAL project.
2. Mrs. Mole sharing her extensive knowledge on fitting.   
3. Martha's Lent season sewing projects.  

These are just a few examples, there are so many more examples worthy of mention.  

Hmmm, how to celebrate National Sewing Month?  

I haven't been sewing the last few days.  

I haven't even cut out that tweed sitting at the foot of my cutting table.  

It's been too hot the past couple of days to think about cutting into tweed.  

Stay Safe and Happy Sewing!