Monday's Mending Pile

Nothing like laundry day and ironing to reveal more items destined for the mending pile.

It seems a major stress point in my clothing could be found at the armhole curve, as shown on this shirt.   

It's not only on the right side of the shirt, this stress hole is mirrored on the left side. A quick change of thread on the sewing machine and it was an easy fix.  

Mama R also had a similar stress point on her dress.

Maybe next time I'm sewing around the underarm curve on a sewing project I should do a double stitch. It couldn't hurt, and might save a trip to the mending pile.  

Well, that is all in mending news today...

Happy Sewing!  

Pleated Pull-over Top

I'm revisiting out-of-print Butterick 5561 for Mama R, it is the third version that I've made for her. Interesting thing came up when I offered a beautiful polyester crepe to be make with this pattern. She hesitated and tried to talk me out of it.  

Insert #5, the perplexed face.

"What's up?," I ask. Mama R had said in the past that she likes this fabric and she never complained about the two previous versions of OOP Butterick 5561. Getting her to talk was like trying to unstitch a knit stitch from a scuba knit with a traditional seam ripper. Oh the pain! But finally the deep dark secret unraveled.

The woman of mystery finally reveals, "this fabric is just like this one. It doesn't fit as well as the other one."

Still perplexed by this revelation I ask, "What do you mean?" I can't imagine that the fit would be any different since I used the same pattern and size for both tops.

"I'll show you," she said as she removes it from the hanger and tries it on. "It's wider here and lower in the front. When I bend down you can see down there," she shyly adds.

"Can you try on the other one?" And to my shock I starting to see that she's right. Okay, Mama R is always right but sometimes I like to think I know what I'm talking about when it comes to sewing. So wrong.

How did I not see it before? Or better question would be: how did I not consider that different fabric will affect the fit of a garment? I'm going to blame it on the current sinus infection.

I need a plan. At first, I thought I would change the shape of the neckline so that it would sit higher all around. But then the brain fog lifted and I thought what if I cut the raglan sleeve seams as a size smaller? I proceeded only with the thought that if it doesn't work I have enough of this beautiful polyester crepe and another copy of OOP Butterick 5561 to try again. I wasn't dealing with a whole lot of energy to copy the pattern or make a muslin.

Thankfully, the smaller sized seam was just the trick to raise the neckline. The pattern was also shortened in the sleeve and top hems. I didn't interface the facing pieces because I didn't have similar weight interfacing in my stash. And the hems were all finished with a 5/8" rolled hem.

The fabric has been in my stash for possibly decades? Let's just say that it has been part of the stash for a long time. I do believe that I picked it up when Fanny Fabrics closed down and I bought a whole lot of it. I actually have a dress cut of this fabric.  And there enough fabric left to make a dress or another top. It was pretreated with a tumble in the washing machine and dryer. No issues with the pretreatment process.

Now, there is just one problem. This top will look great with my last sewing project. I might have to raid her closet. Just kidding Mom.


The Stats:

Fabric:  1.7 metres

Pattern:  OOP Butterick 5561

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Sewing machine, serger, cutting table, scissors, pins, thread for the the serger and sewing machine, iron, ironing board, and a whole lot of love for Mama R.

Happy Sewing!

Basic Black Skirt

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating this weekend. I hope those who were celebrating all that we are thankful for, have full hearts and bellies.  

It was nice to have a long weekend because it was mostly spent in bed. Sinus infection, a Thanksgiving tradition. I was premature in my excitement that snow was in the weather forecast last week as not a flake of snow was seen in these parts. ~sigh~

I did manage to get dressed today and make it down to the sewing machine. I wanted to sew but my pounding head wasn't into anything too challenging. 

Out-of-print Butterick 5790 was just the project with two seams, an elastic waist, and hem. The pattern is not my current size but since I made it work with this version it is back in rotation as a keeper. The fabric, a black ponte knit, would create a basic wardrobe piece that would be comfortable to wear to work.  

It should have been an easy project but I spent quite a bit of time sewing the side seams trying out different needles before I found a stretch needle that didn't unravel or break my thread. Once I found the perfect needle it was smooth sewing. I shortened the length by two inches and sewed a one inch hem.  

The Stats:  

Fabric:   1.10 metres 

Elastic:  1 metre

Pattern:  OOP Butterick 5790

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Sewing machine, serger, pins, cutting table, scissors, thread clippers, sewing machine needles, polyester thread, cough syrup, kleenex, tylenol, and tea.  

Happy Sewing!  

I Thought It Would Never Get Here...

This evening's news contains the word

Yup, snow. I will admit that I'm pretty excited and grateful to hear this (don't hate me). Not only does this mark the end of allergy season... [insert happy dance] Guess what came in the mail today?  

A vintage ski suit pattern, Kwik Sew 760!  

I want to make these for work where I spend quite a bit of time outdoors. I have a pair of snow pants from Costco that sit at the waistline and don't keep me warm if there is a wind blowing the cold up my jacket. And I don't want to spend over $500 for a bib-style ski-pant that I know won't fit me off the rack.

The goal is to make a proper fitting pair that aren't bunched up in the legs. This Kwik Sew pattern seems to be a good start. I'm going to need pockets, lots of pockets. Can you believe the ski-pant pattern doesn't come with pockets? And a muslin.   

Have you ever made ski-pants? This will be a new challenge for me. Any tips?

But first, I have some sewing to do for Mama R.  

Happy Sewing!

Monday's Mending Pile

I'm so impressed with Sweden right now. I've never been there, maybe one day. It sounds like such a progressive and cool place to visit.  

{Source}

Sweden is looking at giving tax breaks to those who embrace the "make do and mend" philosophy. Per Bolund, Sweden's Minister for Financial Markets and Consumer Affairs, states that their vision isn't necessarily about consuming less rather consuming better. Amen to that!  

There is an increased knowledge that we need to make our things last longer in order to reduce materials’ consumption. ~Per Bolund.  

It is about time. After decades of cheap clothing and goods being produced to fall apart at least there is someone seeing the devastating environmental impact this is having on the world.  

Happy Mending!

 

Detour

Sometimes I come across a bolt of fabric that makes me stop in my tracks, gasp, and it throws me off all those fall sewing plans.

That is what happened when I saw this fabric and then it went on sale and then I just couldn't resist. Yellow is one of my favourite colours but I figured that I would get more wear of the other colour combination.

The fabric has Tilton design written all over it, don't you think? It was what I envisioned when I first laid eyes on it and that is what I went with, kAtheRine Tilton's, Butterick 5891. This is a tried and true pattern that I first made about three years ago and is a favourite in my wardrobe. The only changes that I made to the design were to the sleeve length and the back.

I eliminated the back centre seam and shortened the sleeve length by three inches. My favourite part of this top are the buttons. I used four vintage buttons that originated from the 1960's and an old winter coat that belonged to Mama R.  

The fabric was pre-treated with a tumble through the washing machine and the dryer, followed by a pressing. It handled all of that well but boy did it ever shrink! I'm really glad I pre-treated this fabric.  

The Stats:  

Fabric:    2.10 metres 100% silk

Interfacing:   0.60 metres fusible

Pattern:  Butterick 5891

Buttons: 4 - 3/4" Recycled

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Sewing machine, serger, button hole foot, scissors, clippers, pins, pin cushion, new needle for the sewing machine, needle for hand-stitching, threads for the sewing machine, serger and hand-stitching, seam ripper, coffee, no tunes this time but there was coffee.  

Happy Sewing!  

   

Charity Sewing...

I'm planning my Lenten charity sewing project. This year I plan to start early, very early. It's usually too busy in the spring and allergy season returns, so I'm going to spread the work out. I'll be sewing more chemo caps but I'm switching patterns and fabric.  And hopefully, by the end of Lent I will have 40 chemo caps to donate without feeling stressed about doing them in 40 days. Sometimes I underestimate how long it takes me to finish projects.   

I picked up McCall's 4116 when it recently went on sale because check out version G (on the bottom left corner.) I can sew that in silk noir or handkerchief linen! I have several colours of silk noir in my fabric stash and there is currently some beautiful handkerchief linen on sale for 70% off but it is not in my budget right now. My fingers are crossed that it will still be on sale in a couple of weeks. I think chemo caps in these fabrics will be appreciated when the hot weather returns.  

I'm excited to try out this pattern on woven fabrics. Good quality knits are hard to come by these days and they rarely seem to go on sale anymore. But I do have some nice cottons and wouldn't mind giving version D (top right corner) a try as well. 

We'll, see how they turn out. This year's chemo caps will be in memory of my god-mother and uncle who both passed away of cancer. Do you do any charity sewing? I'd love to hear about it and what patterns you use.   

Happy Sewing!