Style Arc Anita Peasant Blouse

My new blouse is made from a teal rayon challis print purchased from Fabric.com nearly a year ago. I love it! The cropped pants, Burda Style 02-2011-123A, were sewn last April and have become a favorite.

I have been sewing other garments, too. I put together a pair of the Style Arc Peta cropped pants and another pair of the Ottobre Every-Woman’s Pant (05-2008-16). And, waiting their turn by the Bernina, are the cut pieces for the Style Arc Katherine pants. I’ll get you some pictures soon. By the way, the Style Arc Susan t-shirts fit well and are comfortable. I’ve retraced the pattern with the changes and am ready to make more.

BIG NEWS: DD#1 is getting married! I am making my dress for the wedding and I need to finalize the design and get busy. So far, I have a beautiful turquoise/Capri blue embroidered silk organza that I want to use for a shrug/little jacket thingy. There are also several yards of matching silk dupioni on order for the dress. It will be floor length and fully lined. 

I’ll definitely be stitching a muslin first. Now, the dress should be underlined, right? With silk organza? Bodice only? What is typical? I suppose I’ll need to figure out how to do an invisible zipper/lining combination…

Ah, a learning opportunity…

Style Arc Susan Top

I keep reading good things about Style Arc patterns. Enough, that I finally placed an order. I went with my measurements for choosing a size and once my patterns arrived, I knew I wanted to start with the Susan Top. After all, you really can’t get more basic than a t-shirt. I traced the pattern and compared it to my Bernina My Label t-shirt. Of course, the sleeve piece was too long. The rest, however, wasn’t too far off and curiosity dictated that I sew it up without any other changes. I pulled a leftover stretch jersey ITY to do the experiment. Yes, you have seen this fabric before.

I put clear elastic into the shoulders only because it took such a small amount and hoping I might actually want to wear the muslin.

The instructions have you turn under the neck edge and top stitch. Instead, I cut a strip two inches wide and did the usual neckband and coverstitched around the outside of the seam once it was sewn on. It helped to fill in the neck area.

I didn’t have enough fabric for long sleeves, so ¾ length for this one.

The resulting t-shirt fits me really well, yet could be a tad shorter. I pulled another less-than-wonderful leftover fabric, a matte jersey, made a few changes and made another muslin. I took an inch off the hem and morphed a new sleeve hem using the cap sleeve from view C (the pink one on the upper right) of Simplicity 5502. Yeah, long OOP, but in the pattern file and handy.

I kept the 2” neck band because I was lazy.  I didn’t steam the fabric this time; I merely pressed with a warm, dry iron. Remember - this was the fabric that grew.

I am going wear both of these t-shirts before making any more from the pattern. I have to tell you, so far I’m pleased, and the sting from the postage is quickly fading!

The Sleep Tee

The Bernina got a break this time as my new sleep tee was sewn entirely on the serger and coverstitch. I didn’t time it, but it sure felt like I’d spent more time changing out the threads and needles than actually sewing.

The usual t-shirt things happened:

• Clear elastic sewn into the shoulder seams
• ¼” serged seams
• Coverstitch neck binding
• 1” coverstitch hems

Though not glamorous or exciting, this oversized tee it is exactly what I want for a sleep garment. Nope, there are no snaps, buttons, zippers or elastic and it is big enough to be comfortable yet not too loose where I end up tangled in excess fabric.

 

Thanks goes to the clearance section of Hancock’s for this cotton knit fabric. I washed and dried it twice using hot water and the highest heat setting. The fabric became much softer and I’m hoping that the high temps took care of any future shrinkage.

 

The side seams are fairly straight and the tee certainly isn’t tapered, so I don’t know why (and frankly, I don’t care) it appears to be on the dress form.

I think this no-brainer project would adapt very well to assembly-line sewing. Well, as long as the thread color remained the same.

 

Next? Well, winter and long sleeves are over, but still I want to work with variations of my shirt pattern, though it makes sense to produce quick t-shirts and elastic waist Capri’s. So, your guess is as good as mine!

It Works!

The shirt has been finished, worn and is now resting in the hamper. Though the fabric is not feminine, my greater concern was the fit. It both fits and is comfortable. I look forward to sewing the next one using prettier fabric. But, hey Mary Nanna, at least it isn’t denim!

 

For this shirt, it didn’t make sense to bother with flat-felled seams if I wasn’t sure what my seam allowances were going to be. Nor did I bother to do a rolled hem. Instead, I serged the edge and folded it up. It looks fine…

I am happy with the sleeve cap adjustment. I have very little knowledge of sleeve cap theory, but I do know that this looks much better and I’m glad I made the effort to tweak the pattern.

I fired up the 403A for the buttonholes. However, prior to the buttonholes, I had to find buttons. There were some natural shell ones in the stash (I’m fairly certain they came from Fashion Sewing Supply). They are ever so slightly larger than I preferred, so I took myself to both Hancock’s and JoAnn’s. No surprise, but neither store had buttons that would work. They were too big, too small or not enough of them in the same size. I gave up, went home, and made buttonholes to fit the natural shell buttons.

Next time, I want to shorten the bust dart. Now, don’t get me wrong, this pattern, just as it is, fits better than anything I could hope to find in retail, but still I think there is room for improvement. I like the shaping the bust dart provides, but it really needs to be less obvious, if only a little. I think I can figure this out. Don’t you?

 

I haven’t had a chance to try out the Lands’ End sleep shirt pattern yet as I keep changing my mind about which fabric to use for the testing…

Starting to Look Like a Shirt!

 

My goal was to finish this today. It still needs a hem, buttonholes and buttons.

The sleeves went in easily but the proof will be in the wearing. Sure, it fits when I try it on, but how comfortable will it be at the office?

Even though I'm considering this a muslin, I went ahead and tried a different cuff technique. Yes, I was supposed to be focused on the adjusted sleeve pattern for this shirt. I got sidetracked.

Sherry, over at pattern ~ scissors ~ cloth, has a wonderful tutorial (under her "Tricks of the Trade" tab). I tried it for this shirt and it really was a "Duh" moment for me. Why I hadn't tried this before, I do not know. Thank you Sherry! What a generous gift!

So, improvements to date:

• Sleeve cap - smoother

• Interfacing quality - lovely result

• Cuff technique - easy and perfect - you really need to try this! 

This is encouraging. Makes me want to sew more shirts...

Little by Little

It is dark here. Rainy and dreary too. And, I’m embarrassed to show you these photos. I’ve tried, (really I have!) to come up with better looking ones.

The jeans were finished almost two weeks ago and the shirt is slowly coming together. No longer entertained by needles breaking and flying while zigzagging belt loops onto several thicknesses of denim, I’ve decided to sew fewer of them. This explains why you see two, not three belt loops on the back. I’m not liking the look, but hey, I don’t wear tucked-in shirts and no one (other than us) will ever know. This is my solution until I can figure something else out.

 

Oh, now don’t fret about the collar stand – it isn’t yet attached to the shirt; it's not even pinned. As you can see, I haven’t made it to the sleeves either even though I’m anxious to see if the cap/bicep adjustment is going to work.

 

Once I get a pattern I like, I plan to step up to the opportunities for tabs, pockets and maybe some pintucks or ruffles. This round is simply to let me know if the sleeve is better. Call it a muslin or toile. Take your pick...

 

Along with the new sleeve pattern, I am also trying out a new-to-me fusible interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply. This one is Pro-Woven Shirt-Crisp interfacing. You can’t tell from the photo, but the collar looks great! However, I’ll hold off buying any more until I know it’s gonna survive the washer and dryer.

I am curious to see what happens to this stuff. I don’t hand wash any of my clothing (does anyone?) but I make considerable use of the delicate cycles. It needs to take a few trips to the laundry room and come back looking good. I think that is a fair test.

Side seam at hem of worn Lands' End Sleep-T

 

I’ve noticed my Lands’ End Sleep-T’s have seen better days. I’ve worn dozens of these over the years in various colors and prints. Usually, I order several at a time, all the same size, color and print (translation: whatever is on the overstock page in my size) and wear them until someone tells me I should be ashamed…Well, I am ashamed but they are now $39.50 each. I have to admit they are worth every penny, but I’m realizing I could buy a lot of fabric and/or other sewing goodies instead. Therefore, planning ahead, I am going to take the worst looking one and make it a pattern. The way I see it is there isn’t much to loose if it doesn’t work…

Bernina My Label Tailored Shirt Pattern

In looking at the sleeve cap of my BML shirt pattern, I decided that it really wasn’t too wonky looking. You know – having an obvious bump that is begging to be smoothed out. I could take some off the top of the cap to help it fit better into the armhole. However, it occurred to me that I had added to the bicep measurement in the style settings before printing the pattern and that likely added more fabric than necessary. What would happen if I reprinted the pattern using my actual bicep measurement? Would that correct the cap?

To find out, I’ve reprinted the pattern using my real bicep measurement. The clear pattern on the top is the original pattern printed in 2010 while the white paper is the new one.

For fabric, I’m using this black striped stretch cotton ordered from Fabric.com. To me, it looks like it should be sewn into a manly country western shirt, complete with pointed yokes and pearl snaps. I had expected pant weight fabric. Thank goodness I paid less than $6.00 for it! Just know I won’t be crying too hard if my changes don’t work. Yet, I sure hope they do…

In other breaking sewing news (hold your breath), I started another pair of jeans. My favorite cropped jeans came from Ottobre Woman 05-2008-16.  For this pair, I've lengthened the leg, changed the back waist darts into a yoke, added a coin pocket and traced the back pocket from the only RTW jeans in my closet (Eddie Bauer). As always, I guessed to their placement.

OttobreWoman 05-2008-16

I’ll probably be able to get another project or two from the roll before it is used up and I need to be deciding what type and weight the next one should be.

Happy sewing and Happy New Year!