Favourite Outfit

 When I was write my earlier post this week on the "Field Trip" outfit, I couldn't find the post(s) from when I first made the Be Trendy halter tops. I just had the bright idea of using the blog search function and instantly found it!  I mentioned it's a discontinued pattern so that's why I couldn't find it on their website. I wonder why they discontinued it! I love it's simplicity.

This past summer, I wore this outfit:

I love that skirt! It's New Look 6735. Original post here.  This was actually going to be the starting point for my vacation capsule wardrobe. I don't think I even took this skirt though! But really--skirt, two matching tops, grey pants, black tank top. Actually, I'd only take one matching shirt. I don't know if the pink Be Trendy matches this skirt, but it easily coordinates with white, black and grey. Two bottoms and three tops gives six outfits. Almost enough for a week. Unless you're going to Europe where it's going to rain and then go to Miami where it's going to be hot....and everywhere/everything in between LOL. 

Let's Get Caught Up

I had a really good trip to Value Village earlier this spring. I hadn't planned to go, but I got to Fabricland and they weren't open yet, so I headed over to VV.  There were some great options in the fabric section! I hadn't been in awhile because the last time I did, I scored some great fabric. Large pieces of knit fabrics, possibly rayon knit. So, I didn't need more but I couldn't pass up what I did find. This prompted me to finally sew up something from the last haul.

There was enough of this fabric for a dress, so I had been saving it to make a dress. But I don't really wear dresses in the winter and my dress section of my closet is full. So I decided to make a top and skirt. Because of the busyness of the print, I opted for my good old TNT, New Look 6735.  

 With a scrap, I "made" a cleaning cloth for my flute. Okay. I was practicing in our "music nook" which is next to my sewing room. The scraps hadn't been put away yet. This was the first I grabbed. And yes, I actually went to band wearing that shirt, and with that cleaning cloth. I'm unique.

I made the skirt from New Look 6735 as well. I was tired though, and somehow cut out 2 of the sections that needed 4 and 4 for the sections that needed 2. Although they are similar, one is cut on the fold and one is cut flat. I went ahead and sewed it together anyway. It seems a little flat at the front. I added pockets, following a tutorial I found for adding pockets in a knit dress. I had read to use interfacing on the seams to stop them from stretching out. I used the lightest non-woven/non-knit interfacing I had, but I think I should have used the knit interfacing. Though to me, that would defeat the purpose. I wasn't all that happy with the pockets.

Then I tried the skirt on, and it was too big. So I unpicked the elastic in two places, snipped it and made it shorter, then resewed. It was still too big. So I unpicked the entire elastic, re-did the top corners of the pockets and sewed all the seams slightly smaller, and stitched in the elastic (after shortening it more). It's not tight, but I might be worried if I have a "skinny" day. I haven't worn it yet since spring is still hiding with the groundhog. Well, yesterday wasn't too bad and today looks nice. Edit:  I did wear it, I think with a black top. Comfy though the elastic might need to be tighter still.

I've done a lot of small projects this year, that I haven't posted about. Like, slippers. I needed new slippers. The ones I made for the Florida trip were getting holes. The gold ones I made are nice but I wanted something light for summer. I posted a picture of the ones I made to Facebook and my brother's MIL (who was on the trip) asked for three pairs. My SIL asked for a pair. No problem! It seems to take forever to make more than one pair LOL. I totally messed up one for the MIL (sewed the heel piece on upside down). So she got two pairs to start with. I finished the other pair after.

The icky ones in the middle are the Roadtrip slippers. Yes, I used the same fabric as for the muslin I was just making. Great use for those scraps. Okay, I can't find a picture of the gold ones. I can't find the slippers either. Mmmm....

I've also made a lot of underwear.

 I've had this panel for awhile. I think it's a quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I like it anyway. However...the fabric felt "tight", but it still had stretch. And when I tried them on, it was obviously not enough stretch. I could wear them, but I won't.

I did have to piece my bands and made the leg ones a little narrower to fit them all on the piece.

Then I went to do this pair. I noticed this fabric also had that glossy, slick feel to it. I cut the back out and then questioned if I was going to end up with another bad pair. So for the front, I use my colour block pattern, and did my regular 95/5 Cotton-Lycra fro the front sides and the bands. This pair is so, so comfortable and supportive!

These are some I made in the winter. I struggled so much with the waist band of the blue pair. It just didn't seem to be long enough. And when I tried them on, I was shocked. Then I laid them with the other ones....I don't know what happened. 

I had a stack of underwear that didn't really fit me. Some were before I altered the pattern to fit me better, some were RTW. I decided to take the ones I've sewn and fix them up--add an upper belly wedge for a bit more length. This pair I also cut a new waistband. Much better now. 

I have some light coloured pants, so for a few pairs I did the backside in white, and then a print on the front--my pants are not usually as tight at the front, and you don't have to worry about the "squat test". Nothing is worse than squatting and finding out the print on your undies suddenly show through!

When I was picking up new solids from The Fabric Snob, I found this fabric in the clearance section. 

Thought it would make cute underwear. I washed it, and the selvage did not shrink the same as the rest of the fabric. It was very puckery. This is why you shouldn't include the selvage in your pieces. At least not until it's been washed. I snipped off the selvage to let the fabric relax. I was worried it didn't have good recovery so I did the bands in white. Hubby says they're fine, but when he sleeps, the fly is not ....containing him...the overlap is not enough or the opening is too low...

I Love This Dress; I Hate This Dress!

I've been wanting dresses with sleeves for awhile. I have the blue one I made, which I do love but it feels a little dressy. Not sure why, it's just a simple gauze. Maybe cause I wore it dressed up for my supply teaching interview. To me, woven=dressy, knits=casual. I finally decided to just make a pattern. I took my favourite TNT t-shirt pattern, and added the skirt from Megan's skater dress. I didn't want a waist seam, so it flares out just at the sides. I also added pockets, of course.

I instantly loved the dress. It went together so quickly and easily. I even topstitched around the neck cause it was all going so well. I do need to press the hem again; I did a blind stitch hem and it's not quite flat in a few spots. I wore the dress quite a few times, but never got a picture.

However, this always happens to my rayon fabrics (this fabric was another Value Village find). It gets a halo. Not pilly, like a sweater, but it fuzzes up and looks faded. So now it looks even more casual. But I still love it.

Around this same time, I bought a dress from Avon. It is a slinky material, but the print is so similar. It's much smaller scale, but I like it. It had a "shark bite" hem. Instead of a hi-lo, where the front is high and the back low, this is high in the middle, and low at the sides. Totally odd, and totally too long for me. So I shortened it and made it even all around. Then I took the extra, and made pockets!! Of course! Why wouldn't I? I love this too, but it is an "infinity" dress and I find I can't drive with the knot at my back. I was thinking I might make the straps narrower, but I do want to hem, or just serge?  No sleeves on this dress LOL.

Excited by my new t-shirt dress pattern, I grabbed some more fabric. Initially, this was going to be a shirt for Hugh, but he wears too many stripes, and there was so much fabric (bought in a FB de-stash group), that I figured I should make something that actually uses a lot of fabric. Right? 

 It looks good, right? OMG. This dress nearly killed me. Would you like a list of all the ways you can mess up one item?!

That's a pocket. One side was sewn on the right side. Fixed it. I think the pockets took a couple tries and still ended up rather low.

I don't remember what happened it, but I assume it wasn't good.

While serging the skirt together, the underside got caught up. So I had to take the seam in and lose some fullness.

I could NOT get the stripes to match. I basted,  I sewed instead of serged. Like, WTF. Two spots here it got puckered and nothing matched up. 

I finally got some of the washable WonderTape. Carefully applied it, basted, then serged. It STILL shifted!!! Not only did it shift, but somehow the stripes angle downwards at the seams. WTF. How do you stop that?!

Time for the neckband. Surely I've done everything wrong by now. No, somehow I got this little tail of fabric sticking out of the neckband, on the right side. I just trimmed it really close. 

And  I have no clue why it decided to sag. I guess this fabric is thinner and stretchier, and needed a smaller band. F you dress. 

By the time I got to the hem, I was ready to just leave it raw. I keep reading about how "knits don't fray", but you know what? They DO. They ladder. So I still like to hem them. And of course, no amount of pressing and WonderTape would make this hem lay flat. 

It sort of sags in the back. The stripe matching isn't too bad, in the end, but for all that work, it should have been perfect. 

 I feel like this one makes me look frumpier than the black print one. The way the stripes curve downwards at the side seam? After I washed it the second or third time, I forgot it in the dryer and it got totally dry. When I took it out, it looked like it shrunk. But once on, it fit really well. However, the last time I washed it and later tried it on, the upper back was all stretched out, it looked horrible, I don't know what happened. Maybe it was too damp when I hung it to dry? Maybe it got stretched out in the washing machine and then not enough time in the dryer? Then I tried it on again and decided to just wear it. It seemed fine after awhile.

The fabric is quite thin, and really needs a slip to be work-appropriate. I think I wore it once to work. It feels super comfy.

So, while I loved these dresses, this one  was like the younger sibling that was trying to upstage the older, perfect child.  What happens if I try for dress #3?

The Trouble With a Stash....

I don't do a lot of fabric mixing in individual items, but when knitting, I will often be mixing yarns for certain effects. Often though, I just don't have the right yarn to go with what I already have...so the stash grows. That's not usually too much of an issue for me with fabric. I buy a piece of fabric, I use it,  I keep big scraps for Boxerwear flies, or crotch linings in underwear, or sometimes bands. So as long as I'm sewing as fast as I'm buying (ha!) the stash won't significantly grow.

But sometimes a piece comes in and sits there. Could be I loved it, but it wasn't as big as I thought. Or the material is not right for anything I'm working on. Sometimes I have bought fabric and then changed my mind about the project. That's what happened with this salmonish stretch lace yardage. I picked it out to make a "belly band"--a loop of stretchy material or lace worn over your pants waistband to smooth it out and /or fill the gap if they're a bit low or your shirt is short. Megan liked the colour and also wanted a bathing suit cover up because it matched.

Neither of those things happened. Megan's bathing suit faded so quickly (do I even have a blog post about it?). So the lace sat there. I thought I might use it when I made the rayon "pillowcase" dress. I thought I could colour block the sleeves but the family thought it looked odd. So the fabric sat. I kept seeing lace everywhere though and thought it was time to do something, especially after making the tank tops with the lace down the center back. I wanted to expand out a bit. At first, I thought I'd do the sleeves in lace. Too predictable. Then I saw some shirts with the back yoke in lace. Nice, but not quite right (looking at my photos, apparently I did make a tank top with a lace yoke). Then I saw my mother-in-law in a split back t-shirt  and thought, if she's wearing one, I need one. But of course, none of my fabric was suitable.

Off I trudged to FabricLand with my fabric. I'm so picky about matching colours. I was not optimistic. I walked around, everything was too expensive. I headed to the clearance/remnant bin, and found two good sized pieces of fabric. One was a woven that I thought my girls' might like as shorts but still matched the lace (they turned it down), and one was this knit. It's a little thicker, with a plush feel. Could be a ponte?

I got out my t-shirt pattern, all set to hack. First up, I had to create the back yoke. No problem. The petal pieces weren't hard too, though I had just done a swayback adjustment on something and loved how it looked so I was disappointed to not be able to really do that. I thought about it a long time though. Then I got really creative, and decided I wanted to split the yoke and do the stripes on the bias. Pointing up.

I needed some strong coffee for this. And in the end, though my stripes matched awesome, they were pointing down! LOL. I didn't have a lot of fabric, so I just went with it.

 Everything else on this top was a pure fluke. I decided to cut the neckband going the opposite way than normal (it was still stretchy), so it would have little vertical stripes. I had absolutely no intention of it matching at the back. Never even thought of the possibility while planning.

 And I sure as heck did not think about having the yoke stripes match the sleeve stripes!  Holy cow, I could not believe my luck. Perhaps it makes me look a little wider, but that is a lucky sewing-win if I've ever had one. And even more incredible was that both sleeves turned out like this, not just one. If it was only one, that would have been really odd looking.

The two layers of lace still seemed a little see-through, and with the way they curve and there's only one layer at the sides, I worried about my bra showing and if it would be school friendly. I didn't get to wear it to school, but I  think it's fine. Next time, I could make the yoke longer, or more likely, make the back pieces angle more sharply and meet at the sides lower. However, I doubt I'll do this again in the lace. If I made the angle different, due to my short height, those pieces are going to lose the nice curve and I might as well just totally overlap two normal pieces, sewing them together most of the way down. I guess that is an option, but I wanted a bit of looseness.  My mom's not a fan of the shirt, but this time, it's just she doesn't like this style. It wasn't about how it looked on me. I hope I get to wear it more. I don't know if I wore it again this summer. I've gotten to the point where I have more favourites than I really need. Do I get rid of the old frumpy t-shirts?

Great Value!

One reason I sew is to make clothes that fit ME. I'm short, full busted, full belly, not much butt. Regular sized clothes in size XL to fit my bust have issues with gaping armholes, wide shoulders because I'm not 5'6". Pants that fit my belly droop on my butt. I can find petite clothes, but it gets expensive for the basics (worth it for jeans and more elaborate items I won't sew. I need a new coat and I'm hoping to find something), and there's really only one store with affordable (for employed people) petite clothes.

The other reason I sew is because I haven't had much income. Combine low income with needing specialty sizes? Insert sad face here. However, I can't afford to just walk into FabricLand and buy 2-3m of good fabric (even on sale it's still really pricey). One of the best sources of fabric has actually been the thrift store chain, Value Village. It can be really hit or miss, but when I score, it's usually awesome!! Sure, I have no clue what the fiber content is, but how it feels matters more to me.

I found this fabric quite awhile ago. It was a large piece. It waited patiently in my bin and finally in the fall I made a "simple dress".  When my mom saw those pictures, she was not impressed. While my mom is not a style maven, I take her opinion seriously. The dress had to go. I figured the easiest thing to do was turn it into a skirt.

Of course, I couldn't just stitch up the armholes and keep the casing for the ties as the waistband. No, I needed to use a real pattern, cause darn it, I have a drawer full of them that need to get used! I picked one (I actually didn't have much for stretch knit skirts), and look! It's my trusty New Look 6735!! Fabulous! I don't know if I'll ever make the wide leg pants, or the cardigan (I like cardigans, but that one looks a little too Grandpa-ish for me. I think I don't like the sash).

I think I might have shortened the upper  part, and I added pockets. Of course...I could not fit all the pieces onto the taken-apart dress. But I still had tons left so no problem.

I wore this outfit to work (substitute teacher) the day after finishing, and got great comments before the day even started. I didn't wear those sandals, but I wish I had LOL. I haven't worn skirts in a long time. So long in fact when Rob asked what I was making, and I replied "A skirt" he said "You don't wear skirts!". How does he notice that, but can't remember Megan's friend's name?  I love how this skirt is twirly, but because of the great shaping, it doesn't really fly up in the wind. It's slim at the waist, which I think is key for me. No gathered skirts for me. The t-shirt was slim fitting, which is also important. I will definitely make more of this pattern.

I also wanted to make tops with the left over fabric. I wear patterned dresses, so I figured, with the right top, it will simply look like a dress. The first top I made, just the simple t-shirt from ....New Look 6735. It looks fancy in this polyester fabric though LOL. 

I had to severely alter the colouration on my phone camera. The fuchsia was showing as salmon! It looks fine with the skirt, though I haven't had the opportunity to wear that combo.

I still had fabric left. Yup! It was in somewhat smaller pieces now, so I knew I had to do something with some sort of piecing. Then, the Plitvice was released. Bingo! I may have had to seam the back instead of one piece, I can't recall and I'm not running up two flights of stairs to check.

I had a job interview, and I thought this would be the perfect outfit. 

I didn't wear those flip flops!

I didn't have the fusible stay tape, but people in the FB group said they cut narrow strips of fusible interfacing, so I did that. Worked great. 

After the interview, I got changed into these grey Sequoia pants I haven't blogged about yet. I needed photos of the pants, so I employed one of the kids. I'm not sure why she thought I didn't want my head in any shots. 

I didn't make any alterations to the pattern (maybe shortened it near the bottom). I wasn't sure how it all went together. One tester had done a FBA but I just wasn't sure how to do it. I think the middle section is a little small over my summer fluff. I think if it had a bit more width, the gathers would show better. But how to keep that princess seam where it should be? The gathers sort of rode upwards and sat on my upper chest, and pushed the cowl up. It did feel a little wide on my shoulders. 

 I don't see a seam there.  It is a banded shirt and my first three attempts at banded shirts are not my favourite, but this one worked.

The cowl is quite nicely constructed to prevent flip out and gaping. 

When I was visiting my mom the week before the interview, she just happened to have a fuchsia cardigan that she never reached for. Of course I'll take it! Perfect for movie night in the park (same day as the interview, which is why I changed into the grey pants). 

I also have a solid fuchsia top but I think it'll be too much pink. I even have fuchsia pants. Not sure if it matches well enough. But I can really mix and match these pieces. White, grey, black tops with the skirt, and grey or black pants with tops. And this huge piece of fabric was $5.99.

$5.99 for "designer" skirt, and two tops. Pretty awesome!

She's Talking To Me

I picked up this fabric in a local destash (I picked up a huge bag of scraps, as well as some larger pieces. Some of the scraps were pretty large though!). It's a nice, stretchy cotton-lycra with good recovery. However, my TNT t-shirt pattern was drafted with a looser, not as stretchy CL. I didn't realize I needed to make it a bit bigger to allow for that. It feels a bit snug, but I still wear it.

The seller couldn't remember if all the fabrics had been pre-washed, so I washed it. I don't know if it was from sitting in the machine damp, or if it was touching another fabric (and I'm sure I hung it to dry outside), but when I went to use it, there was blackish marks all over. It looked dirty and smudgey.

They seemed to be on only one half of the fabric. I scrubbed, I tried bleach (total disaster), I scrubbed and soaked it again. It was much better after another wash.

 The angle of this isn't good because I was using the self-timer and had a hard time finding a spot to set up the camera. It's definitely form fitting.

Can't remember if I tried adding a swayback adjustment. I don't  think so. Why do my pants look so bad? Look how twisted that right leg looks!

I wore this shirt (and, ummm, I think those same pants) when hubby and I had to take a little road trip to pick up his motorcycle parts. We stopped at a Tim Horton's. I was standing on Rob's right, and there was a worker just a bit to Rob's left. She commented "I like your shirt, where'd you get it?" and Rob thought she was talking to him. He was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt from his Christmas pajama set, complete with toothpaste drippings. No, dude, she was talking to me!!  I had hoped to make a "nice" t-shirt to wear for work--goes with grey and black pants. But it feels a little too snug, and therefor a little too casual. 

LDT

Not to be confused with a LBD, the LDT can also, in fact, become a LBD. However, I turned it into a turquoise t shirt. LDT stands for "Laundry Day Tee" and it's hype is that it's quick and easy, faster than doing a load of laundry. It's from Love Notions and you can get it free by joining their Facebook group.  Free patterns are a great way to try a designer's style and fit. Facebook groups are a great way to see the designs on real women. I have been eyeing the "Lane Raglan" from Hey June, but  after seeing it on real people, I know the underarm wrinkles will bother me and that they are near impossible to eliminate.

  I came across the LDT on Stitches & Seams blog.  I found her write up to be excellent and knew I would have the same concerns. My front and back are not the same! I deal with this in knitting patterns ALL.THE.TIME. Sewing designers seem to understand this though, but I have found that many will "cheat" when working with knits. Cause knits stretch, right? So just stretch that t-shirt tight across the girls. Why not? The question about doing a FBA comes up a lot in the FB group. Some women do it, some don't. Most women seem really happy with the t-shirt. I wonder if unhappy posts don't make it?

I opted to go ahead and just give it a try. I found this wonderful turquoise burn out knit at Fabricland in their clearance section. The label said it had dye spots, but it was rolled up and with a paper band. It was 50% off the $15 price, I think it was a full meter, 60" wide. Once home, I opened it up and found these dark spots. I scrubbed them, and used OxyClean, and hoped for the best. Those spots did seem to disappear....but apparently I missed a few. I was able to work around them. The shirt sewed up quickly. I did a cheater FBA by tilting the pattern on the fold.

 Does that glare off the chest mean it's too tight?!

 Here is where most of my issues are. It almost seems a little snug at the armpits, but then not in the middle of my upper back. And it's droopy around my lower back. And the sleeve hems are cut straight across, so once sewn in, they angle upwards. The New Look 6735 that's become my TNT doesn't have this issue (some do seem to have a bit of an angle, but not this much). To me, sleeves should be straight when worn. Am I out of date?

And this. The sleeves are cut on the fold, which means they are symmetrical. Are your shoulders/upper arms symmetrical? Ever forget to flip a (full) sleeve pattern piece for the second sleeve and then try to sew it in and get surprised that it really does matter?  Look at those diagonal/vertical drag lines. Sad. And all to save paper and pattern prep and cutting time. I will say, when I've been trying to piece a NL 6735 on a small piece of fabric, I would have loved to have sleeves cut on the fold. But I also appreciated seeing the pattern piece fully laid out, to see if there were any issues with the pattern/print layout (like a flower growing out of your armpit).

I did a twin needle finish, with woolly nylon in the bobbin. It worked great for the neckline, not so great for the sleeves. I realized that the neckline has three layers of fabric, and the hems, only two. So when I started the bottom, I decided to try the wax paper trick. Only I was in the basement and didn't want to go upstairs to find wax paper (don't think I have any) or consult google as to how to actually do this. So, I saw some waxy paper from fusible webbing. I started with that and it was working, then I tried ripping it off, and I felt I was pulling at the stitches too much. What else did I have in the basement that could work? Toilet paper? Why not?! It dissolves when wet...

It did work quite well. I pulled off the large bits, and figured the washing machine would take care of the rest. It's been washed twice, I think, and there is still TP in the actual zig zag bobbin stitching, but none on the edges. Before I do this again, I will get proper wash-away interfacing. Or, on a bottom hem like this, just do a straight stitch. It's not stretching to go over my head!

So. I don't think I'll bother with this design again. I'll go back to the NL 6735 and doing any hacking from it.