A Sewing Thing

[asewingthing]

2 finished projects:

A curtain to hide the stacked washer/dryer made from rectangles in my quilting cotton stash

Cropped & hemmed a tee for a friend

[nosferatumadre]

You know how satisfying it is to line up the pattern on wrapping paper?

[asewingthing]

Here's an unexciting photo of the back of some pants, which is exciting for me, because it means I successfully took in the back of these by 2in!

I used these instructions and they worked like a charm. Trying to get the inner crotch to line back up was a little challenging but if it looks a mess in there, who cares, no one will see it. I think it will hold up down there!

The one downside to this method is you aren't able to ever let them back out. I'm okay with this!

[asewingthing]

Modifying a shift dress

I purchased this shift dress in 2015 or so, and at that time it just ~barely~ fit. It was a specially ordered style for a customer at a retailer I worked for at the time. The customer originally wanted a different style, and opted not to purchase this dress in the end. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy it with my employee discount.

I had to sew down the button placket with a hidden line of stitches to stop it gaping. A column shaped garment below the waist is a tough fit for me.

After about 5 years, it stopped fitting below the waist. I thought about selling it a couple of times, but the fabric is so fantastic, I kept it. I figured I would do something with it one day. And that day happened recently!

The fabric is gray linen with a sheer black interfacing, and cracked distressing throughout to show the sheer black. Creating that fabric was clearly quite laborious, and I've not seen anything like it elsewhere.

It still fit alright from neckline to bust, so I opened the side seams on both sides up to the underarm hemline. I was lucky that I didn't have to modify the sleeve or sleeve hem!

The dress originally came with a super wide obi style sash. I ripped the seams of the sash so I could cut two long arrow shaped strips. Think of the shape of a pencil: a long column with one pointed end.

I serged the sides of these pointed column pieces of fabric. I then sewed them into the side seams of the dress. It was fiddly sewing around the top of the point hear the underarm. I hand sewed that area on one side. Then bravely used my machine for the other side.

Here's the wrong side, where the point of the inserted fabric meets the sleeve hem:

Same area from the right side:

Here's a slightly tilted photo of the entire side seam with the strip of fabric inserted:

It wasn't too bad rolling up the hem to match what was already in place at the bottom:

It is remarkably easier to modify clothing that is made with simpler machines and quality materials!

Now I can wear it as a plain shift, or with the remaining sash (which is still quite bulky) tied in the front or the back.

It's been wonderful to have something old that's new again in my closet! Happy new year, happy new(sort of) dress!

[mossyvida]

New zine!! These will be on my booth for free!! + added a PNG if you’d like to print your own! ✨

(Personal use only 💙)

[systlin]

So my sister wants to start sewing more, because

a. She’s 5′ 11″ and can never find pants long enough for her legs or shirts long enough for her arms.

b. She hates synthetic fibers as much as I do and it’s difficult to find natural fiber clothes that aren’t made of cotton

c. She’s a biologist and would physically fistfight microplastics if given half a chance

So her gift from mom and dad for her birthday was a sewing machine. Not a super expensive one but a good solid serviceable one.

And recently she asked “So where do I GET wool or linen and thread that isn’t polyester” and mom was like ‘go ask your sister’

And I, of course, crashed into the group text like “GET A PEN I HAVE WEBSITES FOR U” and honestly I’m thrilled about this

[systlin]

“Where did u get all this”

“Bets, u know I’m a 15th degree blackbelt of buying shit on the internet”

“oh yeah tru”

[hermesmuse]

Op can may we inquire about the website list

[systlin]

Linen; https://www.graylinelinen.com/

cotton and Silk thread; https://redrockthreads.com/

Linen thread and wool fabric; https://burnleyandtrowbridge.com/ (they’ve got wool stuffs and worsted wool fabric for $15 a yard! I just got three yards of navy worsted wool I’m making a constellation winter skirt from)

More linen thread and wool; https://wmboothdraper.com/ (just ordered wool broadcloth to make a coat)

Silk fabric (THE best place to get silk lining fabrics and raw silk fabric):https://www.dharmatrading.com/

A varying assortment of wool and silk and cotton and even some leather, use coupon code  spring2020 for 50% off your full order, worked yesterday when I bought some stuff there; https://metrotextilesnyc.com/

Wool. You want wool coating for under $20 a yard? Sure you do. It’s here. Not a huge variety of colors, most are black or brown, but hey https://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/Catalog?refinementIds=4096748&Keyword=wool&pageSize=16

[wingedtyger]

I don’t know a lot about sewing, but I want to make or have my mom make some linen pants & shirts for when I’m watering, because it gets to 105 here and we have mosquitos so I need to be covered. What type of linen do I buy? Also, linen pajama shorts, yes/no?

(I’ve been wearing my renfaire pants which are a linen mix, I think. But the frikking mosquitos that hide in the tomatoes get my arms)

[systlin]

Medium weight is what I’d go with.

And linen pajama shorts is a HARD yes.

[beggars-opera]

Renaissance Fabrics is good for all sorts of things

Mood doesn’t specialize in natural fabrics but they do have basically every fabric ever made so

[the-merry-otter]

For wools, I cannot recommend Woolsome enough! They’re a bit more expensive then the above links, but they have a spectacular range of colours and weights, as well as diamond pattern and herringbone weaves. They also have a range of linens, though not as extensive.

Woolsome

Historical fabrics for re-enactors

[justgarb]

Tiedtohistory.com has sheer voile linen

The Linen Lab has a variety of weaves, weights, and colors available

Period Fabric has a variety of wools, but switch to the full website if you’re on mobile

[pterribledinosaurdrawings]

bedtime is a very difficult.

[awlwren]

[id: a short comic featuring a feathery dinosaur. In the first panel, they are sewing something on a table, then think “I should put away this Very Interesting project and go to bed now.”

The dinosaur then throws back their head and screams as they run away from the table and down the hallway past the door — with a short break to *brush brush brush* their teeth at the sink — then all the way to bed.

Lying tucked in bed, they think to themselves “I DID go to bed! good job me. “that took as much effort as lifting an entire car with one hand i think.”]/end id.

[asewingthing]

I won a raffle at Freeman's Creative so I indulged in nicer fabric for a toile. I had my fingers crossed it would be a wearable toile! And it is, but needs some tweaking before I try it again. This is the Sewing Therapy Tie Dress. I made my size as listed on their size chart, a 16. I used rayon. I appreciated the very clear video instructions for assembling!

It was straightforward to sew, and I always enjoy sewing sleeves without any curves or setting in! It's reversible; V or scoop neck. It has optional pork chop style pockets. I always have a little trouble with those kinds of pockets making unwelcome lines at the hips. Even on RTW skirts and dresses; maybe it's more about me and less about the pocket shape?

I would like to make it again, because I feel it would be more flexible if the bodice was 2-3 inches shorter on me. It has 2 sets of ties, and is intended to be tied in multiple ways for different silhouettes. The waist seam hits below my natural waist. If I don't tie it with a couple of inches bloused out like this in the front, it's too blobby/frumpy (is there a better word for frumpy these days?). Here's the amount of fabric I pulled up and under the front ties for a better fit.

[asewingthing]

I made this dress again, and shortened the bodice by 2 or 3 inches (I don't have my notes in front of me). The verdict is still out if I'm happy with that modification. I did not add pockets, and I'm happy about that. No funky-lumpy side seams.

I used a cheap poly that was SO slippery. But the pattern is a very beginner-friendly sew, otherwise I wouldn't have used such frustrating fabric. (I liked the mushroomy print a lot, otherwise I'm not usually one for poly)

I've worn this one once at an event where I didn't plan the Purse Situation and had to wear a hip bag. The bag was not working well with the waist ties. I need to wear it again without all that going on to see if the shorter bodice worked better for me.

Here is a tiny, grainy photo:

I serged the bottom hem and left it at that. It allowed me to wear a silk slip underneath to help with the massive amount of static. No more poly projects for me!

[asewingthing]

Ze shirt, she is in ~progress~.

There is an apron underneath, not part of ze shirt. I've had to make detours to my plans a few times. I will explain in another post once she has sleeves and buttons. Please think good thoughts about my button hole maker. It is like a feral animal, and does whatever it wants.

[asewingthing]

My notes about this project! This is the Helen's Closet Gilbert top. I'd made it twice before, and both times had issues with the interfaced collar piece being mis-sized with the rest of the pattern. After asking for some tips from various places, I wound up block fusing the interfacing and then cutting it out. That seemed to help, I suppose with it being such a large piece of fabric, when it was cut first and then interfaced, it changed shape. Not sure if it got smaller or larger! Anyway, that's a straightforward solution and I'll be block fusing large pieces in other projects going forward. It's the long pieces here that go up the button area on the front and then around the neck:

This is a camp collar style shirt, and I wanted to add a button like a RTW camp collar shirt I already had:

Little elastic loop on lapel corner of one side.

Button placed under the collar area on the other side.

Lets you button the collar all the way up without adding visible button holes!

Since this shirt was already turning into an experiment of unknown results - I was making the straight hem version but cut the button lining piece for the waist tie version instead and had to just work with it - I decided to try adding this hidden button & find something to work for the loop.

I had ONE single mini hair tie elastic in a soft material + bright color lying around. Snipped a piece off of it and placed it on the right side of the lapel corner where I thought it should be.

You can just barely see the loop of yellow inside that corner.

It worked out! I didn't take a photo of it buttoned all the way up. And I won't now because somehow I'm too lazy to do that but I will try to hack a sewing pattern in multiple ways(??).

There is a rectangle of top stitching around the last two buttons near the bottom hem. This was my solution to cutting the wrong shape of lining. What I cut and sewed only extended to the 3rd button. I interfaced the rest of the way down and also top stitched the interfacing down. It's been washed twice, we'll see how long that holds up.

I think it looks like a bowling shirt, so here I am, throwing a turkey. The fabric is pretty heavy so it's boxier than I would prefer. But the print is fun, so I've worn it a few times.

I bought the multi color buttons while on a trip to Victoria, BC Canada. I think a nice souvenir idea for me in the future is buying unique buttons if I find a little sewing shop while traveling and using them intentionally in a project soon afterward.

[onlytiktoks]

[asewingthing]

Ze shirt, she is in ~progress~.

There is an apron underneath, not part of ze shirt. I've had to make detours to my plans a few times. I will explain in another post once she has sleeves and buttons. Please think good thoughts about my button hole maker. It is like a feral animal, and does whatever it wants.

[asewingthing]

I won a raffle at Freeman's Creative so I indulged in nicer fabric for a toile. I had my fingers crossed it would be a wearable toile! And it is, but needs some tweaking before I try it again. This is the Sewing Therapy Tie Dress. I made my size as listed on their size chart, a 16. I used rayon. I appreciated the very clear video instructions for assembling!

It was straightforward to sew, and I always enjoy sewing sleeves without any curves or setting in! It's reversible; V or scoop neck. It has optional pork chop style pockets. I always have a little trouble with those kinds of pockets making unwelcome lines at the hips. Even on RTW skirts and dresses; maybe it's more about me and less about the pocket shape?

I would like to make it again, because I feel it would be more flexible if the bodice was 2-3 inches shorter on me. It has 2 sets of ties, and is intended to be tied in multiple ways for different silhouettes. The waist seam hits below my natural waist. If I don't tie it with a couple of inches bloused out like this in the front, it's too blobby/frumpy (is there a better word for frumpy these days?). Here's the amount of fabric I pulled up and under the front ties for a better fit.

[asewingthing]

Today is probably the last day of weather calling for an extra layer, for the next 5-6 months.

It's the sweater I opened into a cardigan from earlier this year.

[asewingthing]

The Helen's Closet Donovan skirt was an easy project and I sometimes forget it's something I made, because it seems like RTW!

I made the shorter length, no drawstring (I am team Never Drawstring, especially the ones that aren't even functional).

This fabric was hard to keep steady during cutting so the pockets are a little floppy I think from that. But they're equally floppy so I'm fine with it!

I should make another one in a color or print. I learned when making the toile that fabric drape and hand are important for making an Enjoyable Skirt!

[asewingthing]

I have certainly photographed this Gilbert top before, because I made no effort nor intention at print matching but look at that alignment 🤌

This is cotton from the reuse shop. Probably quilting cotton, it's pretty crispy and the drape isn't great. But it worked out! Still has the issue with the inner collar piece being too long so it's sort of folded over and sewed down. You can't tell here through the science of angles.

[asewingthing]

I made these Pietra pants recently, and graded from size 16 waist to 18 at the hip using the tips in the designer's instructions. It strongly urged not to grade the legs down very much below the hip. I regretted that!

I wound up picking apart and resewing the legs from the hip down several times because they were too baggy and the crotch was too low. They're still too baggy IMO, but not terrible. Did I make a toile? Yes, out of the cheapest bedsheet you can imagine. Perhaps it was too thin and yet also somehow cheap and crispy to convey that the legs were too baggy. Live and learn...how to unpick seams with minimized rage.

I also had to unpick the waist a few inches to shorten the elastic after using the suggested elastic length, which also makes me feel better about going down to a 14 over all, if I make the wide leg view which should have more room in the hips by design.

They DO feel like secret pjs that are office appropriate, so def keeping them in rotation for the upcoming unbearably humid & hot summer months when the walk to work in the morning is already ~nasty~ (tilde nasty is a low of 85f with 90% humidity).

I think I could make the wide leg view 2 sizes down from where I started with these. So, a straight size 14 🤞. If I make the effort, I shall report back on the results.

[asewingthing]

I bought black cotton lawn that wound up being far too sheer for my personal taste to wear as a top on its own. But it has worked nicely as a breezy outer layer over jumpsuits and tops with spaghetti straps.

This is the Gilbert Top (camp collar) by Helen's Closet. I've made it twice in a straight size 16 and both times part of the under collar area has been significantly larger than the other matching pieces and I've had to sew the excess sort of folded over, and it has some lumpy spots because of it. Is there an error in the pattern? Or do I need to be more careful about not ironing (only pressing) so as not to stretch the pieces? Reluctant to make it yet again if I get the same result!