The Second Blue Dress

I had enough of the blue and white sheet leftover to make a simple dress, and knew I wanted to make it shirred.  I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but it kept getting postponed.  I read tutorials, I wound my elastic thread, and cut a large rectangle from the remaining sheet, using the hem as the dress hem.  I sat down to shir.

I've mentioned before, with machine knitting, how tuck rhymes with *uck....well....ever notice how close shir is to shi* ?  LOL.  The elastic thread in the bobbin was not feeding very well, and was WAY tighter than any of the tutorials showed.  As in, the tutorials showed it would be barely gathered with the first few rows....I had it severely gathered as it was sewing.  I read more tutorials, esp. ones relating to Brother machines as those machines don't seem to like to shir... however, I have a Kenmore.  One tutorial showed a similar drop in style bobbin, and she said she had to tighten the shuttle screw.  Well, I knew I did not need it tighter, so I tried loosening it, bit by bit.  That worked, and finally by about the 4th row, I got a good tension.

I hadn't drawn my guide lines on, and my presser foot is too narrow to use as a guide for 1/2" rows (so many tutorials said they did this!).  I thought I'd be able to use the extended hem guide markings on my machine, but no...you can't see them when you're sewing in the middle of the fabric!  I finally got fed up and drew guide lines on.  I did as many rows as I thought I needed (I wanted it to cover my bust and a bit below), then I went back and redid the first three rows since I still had some elastic left.  I could get about 3-4 rows per bobbin of elastic thread.  I actually did stop mid-row and start a new bobbin, even though the tutorials say not to...I just backstitched really well over the end.  Of course, I was using a patterned fabric; I might not have done this on a solid fabric.

I serged the side seam, wrong sides together, then did a French seam on the regular machine.  I cut two strips for the straps, and tried sewing elastic inside them to make them a little more interesting.  That was a disaster.  Maybe if the fabric was more fluid.

Once I had it on, I could see the front hem was higher than the back, since I had used only one piece, and there was no way to make the front bodice longer than the back bodice to account for the extra length over my chest, LOL.  I also saw some bagginess at the sides which could have been the poor shirring job or a size issue.  I was going to take the sides in, but that would disrupt the stretchiness of the shirring.  Next time, I will use two pieces for the bodice, so that I can taper the sides, and make the front longer.  One thing I did do was to add an extra row of shirring just on the front, to create an optical illusion of the front shirring being the same length as the back.  It could use another row.

I'm actually not fond of the straight line across my upper chest, although I like the height of this one compared to one I bought.  Which is strange because they are both just straight, and the RTW one has adjustable straps, so I don't know why it seems/is lower.  Maybe because it's a knit and slips a bit?  I made the straps wide enough to (mostly) cover bra straps, but found it was actually fairly supportive without a bra on.  The shirring though does trap sweat!

A Tale of Two Dresses

Early in the summer I picked up a blue and white floral window topper, thinking it was a sheet (early June).  Later, I found a blue and white floral sheet, Mainstays brand (Wal-Mart?), 60% cotton, 40% poly.  I'm pretty sure it was a twin.  It had a nice, crisp hand; not a wimpy polyester 70's sheet.  I also found two dress patterns at Value Village in my size.  One is a shift dress, Butterick 5628, and one is a sheath dress, Simplicity 7965.

I had just tried making another shift dress, McCall's 3173.  During tissue fitting (my first "real" time), I was worried that it was going to be too shapeless, despite the large darts, so I went with making a top.  However, I didn't quite finish it as I was disappointed in the shapeless shape, and the feel of the fabric irked me (I think I live in knit t shirts too much).  Shortly after making that dreadful top (it probably isn't so dreadful, but compared to t shirts...), Elizabeth wrote a few posts about shift vs sheath on her blog, SEWN.  This was so timely for me as I was struggling with trying to break free of the empire waist style.  I thought a loose, flowy shift dress would be a nice, cool, summery dress I could quickly sew in a variety of fabrics and just throw on and wear easily.  However, I had just bought a gorgeous stretch twill sheath dress (with empire waist, but not noticeable), and it made me feel fabulous.

Despite my now second guessing a shift dress, I went ahead with Butterick 5628.  The pictures show the dress as a jumper, over a long sleeved shirt.  It also says "fitted, A-line jumper".  Doesn't look too fitted in the tiny envelope picture!  I don't remember exactly if I did a FBA or just cut smaller shoulders (I think that's what I did).  I did take an inch out of the upper bodice, the inch shown above the waist, and the inch shown in the skirt for petites.  I also made it shorter.  I had some issues with pinning the dress...stupidity, actually.  After pinning the first piece, I realized it should have been on the fold.  Re-pinned it, then realized I wanted the hem to use the sheet hem.  Unpinned it, started pinning it at the hem, and realized the sheet wouldn't be wide enough to cut both pieces along the hem.
 The sewing was going good, however, when I went to sew up the sides, I got a surprise...poor pattern drafting meant one piece was longer than the other!

I've never checked pieces prior to cutting!  I guess I should.

I didn't want to do the facings; I never get a good finish on the edges, I don't have a good stash of plain fabrics to use (the fashion fabric would show through if used), etc.  I went and bought a 1" bias binding gizmo after the (relative) success on the last two dresses with the smaller binding.  The package has wrong instructions though---it said to cut the fabric in 1" strips!  I cut 2" strips using up the odd shaped pieces leftover from cutting out the dress, sewed them together, and ended up with way more than I needed.  What a great way to use fabric!  I finished the edges, and tried it on.

Blah!  It might have been "fitted", but only at the sides, and only if I wore a sweater under it.

I can understand how fashion "experts" say a shift dress is flattering...it totally hides any of the mid-section curves.  Supposedly, this makes viewers look at you and think "Oh, I can't see her waist, it must be REALLY small under there!"  Ya, right!  LOL!!

So, I added some front and back vertical darts, and took the sides in a bit (actually, I think I did this before finishing the openings).  It affects the lay of the skirt, but it's acceptable (to me).  I hemmed it, and washed it, and I think it shrunk!  It's way shorter than just the hemming would account for.  The first time I wore it out, I used a dark blue wide ribbon as a belt, but looking at the pictures now, I don't think I'll share those!  I wore it recently to a pool party and forgot the belt.  I had a couple compliments, so I think the belt is out.

At least now I know, a shift dress just isn't for me.  Maybe as a nightgown.  Even though the alterations probably took as long as the initial sewing, I DO have a wearable dress that I really like (and I found some blue sandals at Value Village!!).  Sometimes quick isn't worth the time!



Time to Catch Up

A number of issues has caused a slow down to my postings, but I hope to get back on track soon, at least, when the kids go back to school!
While at my parents for Father's Day (mid June), my mom found this fabric.  It was a pre-shirred piece, sold by Simpsons-Sears, is 50% cotton/50% polyester, and probably from the mid-70's.  I had a very similar (commercially made) shirred dress, in the same shade of green, but plaid.  I wore it when I was about 5, it's a little too short for Meg to wear as a dress by today's standards (ever look at old patterns and wonder about just how short those little girl dresses were?!).  There's no way Lucy would wear green flowers, so I had to make Meg a new dress.

The fabric is about 52-56" wide along the unshirred edge.  The package said you could make a dress for up to a 36" chest.  Indeed, I tried to stretch it to fit me, and it wouldn't.  I think that the more shirring there is, and the closer together it is, the less it will expand back out.  Also, commercially shirred fabric uses a different stitch than a home sewing machine, so maybe this affects it too. 
I  cut off some from the bottom for straps and to shorten (I cut maybe 6-8") and blindhemmed it flat.  Then I went to sew the side seams (Meg has a 28" chest, so I didn't take anything off the width).  I lined up the shirred section and pinned the smooth skirt.  And one side was longer than the other!

Crappy picture of the hem, showing the difference between the two sides, on my crappy looking ironing board.
I ripped back a few inches of the hem on either side, and lengthened one while shortening the other so that they'd meet at the edge.  Annoying.

It is on the long side, but she grows quickly, and most of her dresses are on the short side.  She really wanted a halter tie since Lucy has a halter dress, and she doesn't.  I used my 1" bias tape maker, but cut the fabric on grain.  Pressed it like double fold tape and top stitched it closed.  So much nicer than making a tube and turning!  The instructions on the tape maker are wrong though!  I think it's the "Unique" brand, not Clover.  It says to cut the strips 1" wide.  Same as for the 1/2" tape maker.  Good thing I'm far enough along in this journey that I knew better!!

This is Meg and my cousin's daughter, who is almost 3.  She's adorable!

I'm glad I got the chance to sew this up for Meg, it was pretty quick and easy and looks commercially made (I guess cause most of it is).  Stay tuned for more shirring escapades that weren't quite so quick and easy!

SewingPatterns . com

Somehow I got on sewingpattern.com's email list.  I never look at the emails since by the time you add shipping it's usually not a deal to order from the States, compared to waiting for a sale.  But recently, Kwik Sew patterns were on sale and they hardly ever come on sale at the fabric store here, and I wanted some bathing suit patterns.  The four patterns, with shipping, came to just over $40, so I saved some money, esp. since not going to the fabric store means I didn't buy anything "extra" LOL.

However, I just got a notice today that they have shipped my patterns.  That's a week after I ordered!  Is this normal for this company?  I did once get a shipment notice from Knitpicks that was dated the day after I got the notice, LOL.  Does this mean that they JUST got mailed today, or that today was just when they sent the notice?

Itty Bitty

Almost forgot to show this project from late spring!  Lucy got a new camera for Christmas and had been keeping it in a sock.  I kept saying I'd make a case, but after some not-so-wonderful experiences trying to make a cell phone case for Meg, I put it on hold for a little bit longer.  Finally, I decided a zippered bag would work fine enough and got to work.  There's lots of tutorials for lined, zippered bags/pouches out there.  It's not a terribly difficult project, although I found it hard to figure out some steps due to the fabric choices/photos of the tutorial I used.

 A few years ago, Rob's brother, who works in the film industry making/supplies props, brought me a BIG bag of remnants, mostly upholstery weight fabrics.  That's the outside fabric, the inside fabric is satin from a Christmas mei tai that taught me slippery fabric does NOT work for straps!
I'm not sure why the top corners are angled in.  It's okay, but I'd like to know what I did wrong.

The zipper is a little bright for the fabric; I didn't have it with me when picking the zipper out and totally forgot that brown would have been a nice choice too.
I do have plans to make more of these, but there's lots of things out there I want to make!  I do have materials to make one for my band "stuff"  (oil spray, tuner, mouth piece, pencil...).

Answers!

I just got a comment on the last post about the hat and mitts in my profile picture.
I just did a quick scroll through the posts under "LK150" and "Machine Knitting" and it's not there---I might have posted it before I learned about Labels.  However, it's a self-made pattern using the tuck stitch design that's in the LK150 manual.  The mitts are based upon several mitt designs out there; that was in my early days of figuring out what I like in a machine knitted mitt.
I recently washed all my winter stuff, and had trouble getting the rinse water suds free.  So there were many (hot-ish) rinse cycles...and this hat felted!  Didn't shrink too much, but it's felted alright.  Oh well, I don't wear it much.

A very similar pattern can be found in another post  and there's a link to Ray's site, the designer.  I haven't checked recently to see if he's selling the pattern or not.  For my hat, I just made one wide rectangle to go around my head, ribbed for the band, then tucked till I got it high enough, and casted off.  Fold in half and stitch the top closed (graft) and sew the side seam.  Add some tassels...
Such an easy pattern since you don't need to work decreases into a stitch pattern, or transfer stitches. 

Sorry I'm not much more help!

Something Knitted

Apparently, on March 28, I started a pair of "Stricken" socks, by Cookie A.  I needed a small portable project for working on while the kids had their various extracurricular activities.  Parts of the pattern are easy, esp. once you get into the pattern, but then other portions are not so mindless.  There were numerous little issues with these, but mostly due to not paying attention.  I did find it annoying that the instructions for the different symbols were not on the same page as the chart/symbol key.  So I'd have to flip the pages, then find my place back in the chart...and several of the moves are very similar, but some have a twist and some don't, etc.  (I was doing two at a time on magic loop).

I was using a boo-boo bin yarn from Sweet Sheep that I got from the last time I went to the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair (2008!).  The yardage on the tag said 360yd, I think.  But I was having some doubts as I got near the heels.  I don't know if it was the cables or what, but it became clear I wasn't getting full socks from this ball.  I thought some sandal socks would be fine, but indeed, they were still too short!

I am having a REALLY hard time getting the pictures to move where I want them.  This "What you see is what you get" format is crap....and once it's posted, it never looks like it does in this window anyway...right down to a different font!

 I thought maybe gloves/fingerless mitts might be an option, and from the front, they looked great. However, even taking out the heel, the leg is still too wide around my wrist. I loved how the leg pattern was brought down into the heel flap (although I did NOT love the change from working in the round to working back and forth and doing those cross overs!!!!!!!!!!).

I have no idea how this post is going to look.  LOL.  Sort of how I feel about these socks.....rip?  All the way, or back to mid-calve and try to pick the pattern back up and work decreases to fit, and then try to figure  thumb gusset increases into the pattern?  I have pink tipless gloves already; although I really felt diva-ish with elbow length "gloves" on, and could see that they would be nice on those days I'm wearing a t-shirt in the house and need arm warmth when I go out but don't want to wear a full sweater under my coat. 

Ideas?

Not a Funeral Dress

Last July, when we received word my aunt was dieing, I set out to make a dress for the funeral, as I had no sad, summer clothes.  I had a lightweight black woven, with a beige floral embroidery.  It had been bought as remnant pieces, so I had to have a pattern I could work with, and chose Simplicity 5189 (which I posted a few posts back, in a different version).  This was before I knew about needing a FBA.  I made the dress based on my measurements.  And hated it.   It was baggy in the shoulders, my arms couldn't move, it was too long, baggy in the back....I took one picture, which didn't even turn out good (blurry, and my hair was in a towel).  I put it in the closet thinking "someday....".  In August, I learned about FBA, but didn't know how to alter the princess seams of an already made dress...especially the shoulder/sleeve relationship.

In June, I decided enough was enough, and I really wanted a dress with sleeves.  I thought it might be faster to alter it than to start new.  Not too sure about that, LOL.

 I knew I needed to cut the shoulders narrower, and have a little less length in the upper chest.  I played around, but was worried about how the princess seam would fit into the armhole, and if the sleeve would end up fitting right, with a higher, smaller armhole (it seems weird that the solution for a constricting armhole is to actually make it higher/shorter).  This picture above makes my left shoulder (with the sleeve) look very sloping!  So I cut it back even more!

Better, but I still felt the sleeve was somehow too low...do I need shoulder pads in EVERYTHING?
I snugged up all the seams from the shoulder to the hips.  I wanted to keep the skirt fullness, but this resulted in a weird , giant pleat...the side front pieces folded inwards and the front center piece came to the front....

Edit to add:  I also shortened the sleeves.  I realized that while I don't like little cap sleeves or little flutter sleeves, I don't really like sleeves that go down my arms past my bust line (unless in a pattern, or slim fitting like a t-shirt).  I feel like  I look a lot wider than I am in the first picture above, because my arms blend into my bust.

I hated the neck facings.  I couldn't get a 100% cotton in black, so had to get a poly-blend, I hated the edging of it, nothing was nice.  Since I had just made my own bias tape for the other version, I went back to the store and got a bigger bias tape maker (it's for 1" tape, but the instructions say to cut strips 1" wide...the same as for the 1/2" maker!).  Doing it around just the neck was certainly easier than having to do the armholes too!

Once I lowered the neckline, I became perplexed with how the upper chest was laying.  I thought the bodice had too much length as I could pinch out horizontal darts.  But I knew horizontal darts were not the answer.  I could rotate them and make pleats along the neckline, but thought it looked a little slapdash.  I had hoped the bias binding would help, but it didn't.

(I also hacked off a lot of length!).  The neckline is held down by double-sided costume tape.  Which doesn't please me either.  I was just looking at the picture, thinking I could make it into a bit of a cowl neck...but how?  It doesn't need anything around the back neck, just something along the front neck.  What do I do to avoid this next time?  How do I make the upper bodice narrower but get the armholes in the right place compared to the shoulder?  And does this have something to do with how when I tried the FBA, the armhole ended up being a really weird shape?  Argh.  Just when I think I'm "getting it", something throws a wrench into it. 

I did just pick up two plain dress patterns from Value Village...a sheath dress and a simple dress with more of a full skirt.  I think I'll be able to do a basic FBA on them and get a good, dependable pattern.  Of course, neither has sleeves!

Bathing Beauty

Back in early May, I decided to copy my bathing suit that was falling apart.  I figured, it had only a couple pieces, how hard could it be?  I found on line tutorials, blogs by people who sewed bathing suits, and got some supplies/material.  I dissected my suit (uh, there were more than "a few" pieces) and promptly got stage fright.

A little while later, I was at Value Village and took a look at the sewing patterns.  And wouldn't you know, there's Simplicity 8553, from 1978, in Meg's size!  I thought that might be a good way to get going.  We picked out the fabric together and then I had a panic attack at home when I realized the fabric didn't stretch as much as the guide on the pattern.  And the pattern called for 2 way stretch fabric, but isn't swimsuit fabric 4 way stretch?  Added to that, Meg was one size in the chest, and a much bigger size in the waist.  Bigger than any of the sizes on the pattern!  And then, there was the issue of the length.  Just how much should it stretch to be the right length?  She's only 5, and is tall, 

I DELETED PICTURES AFTER AN EXTREMELY UNSETTLING COMMENT

but probably not as tall as the size 8/10 that I was using.

 I carefully followed all the steps, in the order given (although I didn't really pay attention to the lay out of the pieces, so I've ended up with a LOT of the bright pink left; it called for .8m but since I laid it out differently, I used maybe .4m).  If I was doing it again, I would change when I did the button holes for the ties to come through to after sewing the side seams and putting on the binding, to ensure it lines up better.  Or, make it like my suit and have the ties come through the binding.

 There is no elastic used in the pattern.  I thought that was great for a young girl who often complains of things too tight.  However, her hips are not as big as the pattern, so I added a small amount of elastic in the binding at the outer thighs.

I have only two complaints...it seems a bit long, esp. the back.  The upper back is I think too tight, and it rolls downward, hiding the binding....and then it gets all droopy bum.  The neck tie at the front is stitched on the inside where the binding joins the suit, and that means the top edge of the binding rolls forward.  And the front droops too, I think pulled down at the sides by the back rolling down.

She loves it though and we've already bought fabric for another suit.  Or two.  However, there really wasn't a single skill I learned while making this suit that I then used to make my own suit.  LOL.

Name That Tune....

Back when I was a kid, I watched "Name That Tune" game show quite a bit (I don't remember that part of the show, mainly the "I can name that tune in 5 notes" bit.  But there are other links there too....).  I love listening to music, all sorts, and  had a good aural memory...until I had kids, LOL.

Today's blog post is a sewing version.  LOL.  I was at my parents' on the weekend, and was hoping they had some specialty presser feet I could borrow.  We found this little case in the cabinet.  It has a silver gizmo on the left side, and the center indent is empty.  It says Sears Kenmore on the clear lid.

 It doesn't have the usual notch on the side to screw it on, nor is it possible to snap it on (this is, assuming it is a presser foot!).

 It's shaped like a pie server, although the back is higher, and one side curves up.

 There is a hole in the top of the shaft, and a tiny screw on one side.

Any suggestions?  I'm totally baffled.  I've googled Kenmore presser feet, and it doesn't show up.  I've googled specialty parts, accessories, etc.  This makes me even more fascinated and determined to figure it out!

Finished!

So, I finally finished my "muslin" of Simplicity 5189.  I made my first version last summer when I had to go to a funeral, but it turned out too big...even though I had made the right sized based on chest measurements.  It wasn't until the next month when I was trying to make a sundress did I learn about a "full bust adjustment" and why my sewing attempts were failing (patterns are based on an average frame, with a B cup bust, so because I was a D cup, to get it to fit my bust, the rest of the body was too big).  I never showed a picture of it, as the only picture was blurry, over exposed, and my hair was in a towel, LOL.

I decided to give it another try, since I had found a tutorial on how to do a FBA on princess seams.  Well, as I posted a little while ago, it wasn't as easy as the tutorial showed.  I started by taking an inch out of the upper bodice, but I still ended up taking another inch out!  The bust curves were too sharp, there was too much material in the center panel over the upper chest.  I took the sides in quite a bit too. 

 The weather turned warm finally, so I ditched the plan to add the sleeves...I figured with the adjustments I was making, the sleeves would never fit right.

I had to get Rob to mark the bottom to hem it, as all the panels ended up a different length. 

I decided I'd try making my own bias binding.  Well, that was....fun.  This is a light, gauzy, woven material that I don't think is 100% cotton going by the sound the fabric made when I pressed too much with a hot iron.  I had issues making the tape...the rotary cutter made the edges open up, not fray exactly, but splay.  When I seamed the first piece, it didn't line up right so I had to figure out that it's the sewing line you have to match up.  The folded tape is really narrow...my gadget was for 1/2" tape, so it was really fiddly to sew it on.  I wasn't happy with the first sewing on job, and I noticed I needed to shorten the upper bodice more on one side, so I took the trim off the arms (hadn't done the neck), and re-did it, much better.  I had to cut a new neckline.  Trimming it went better than the armholes.  There still seems to be too much width in the upper chest, but I don't know how to fix that.

Oops, the continuous mode on self-timer didn't give me enough time to "suck it in" LOL.

It is a nice, light dress, even with a slip on it was still comfy.  I do have to watch what bra I wear, some show under the arms.

Edit to add:  I forgot to mention that I sewed a little strip of elastic across the back waist, to pull it in a little but still let me get it over my head without a zipper.  It's a nice little touch that I might do on other items; I like it better than sewing long ties into the side seams (too maternity dress-ish).

I had planned to use this as a muslin, but I made so many adjustments, I don't think I could transpose those changes onto the paper pattern, and now that it's summer, the fabric I was planning on isn't appropriate.  Next time, if there is, I will try using smaller shoulders as the adjustment...

Little Gifts

My to-do list is not getting shorter!  These items were on my longer to-do list, planning to do them later in the summer.  They're for my "grandma" as a thank you for letting the kids ride her horse briefly last summer.  I figured I'd make them before we go out there again.  Well, she's dropping by this afternoon to give Hugh his birthday gift, so I got to it!

This is another neck cooler.  After our afternoon there last summer, I looked around for some horsey fabric, but couldn't find any (not even through Freecycle).  A month or so later I found some nice quality horse print at Value Village!  It's a bit larger print than I would have liked, but oh well.  I wanted it a little wider in the tails, and my fabric was about 5" longer than I normally use, but that's okay.  I kept the length for the crystals the same, and centered the width that I normally use and sewed a tunnel (I normally cut it 4" wide, this time it was ...uh...there's just shy of 3/8" on each side...so that's 3/4" wider times 2, so it's a total of 5 1/2" wide?).

Next, I wanted to make a snack bag.  I wanted to use PUL to line it, but worry about the food-safeness of it (some sites say it's NOT food safe, some say it's not TESTED one way or the other), so I got some gold taffeta like fabric.  I sewed the three pieces together, turned right side out, tucked the open ends in and topstitched closed.  I wish I had pressed the seams first.  Then I followed the directions here.

However, the tutorial doesn't mention anything about using one way prints!  LOL!  The seams inside were a little bulky, but at least it's not the raw edges like if I had just held the pieces together.  But if there's a better way to make it double sided, let me know!

This (above) shows the backside, which is rightside up (it's one long piece) and the gold taffeta flap open.

I decided to make another one, without the lining, but this time I cut the front piece separate, and stitched it at the bottom to the back.  Then, as I was sewing the sides, I realized I could have just stitched a U shape around the three sides.

I folded the inside edge over and stitched it down, but for the flap, I fringed it a little and left it for that rustic look.

I've got lots more fabric pulled out to make more!

My Wish Came True!

I've had opportunities this week to visit Value Village, Bibles for Missions, and Salvation Army thrift shops this week.  On Monday, it was VV.  I didn't find any fabric, or patterns, or anything to refashion, but I did get a Cleo sheath dress in a hot pink bamboo print.  It's not a Cleo Petites, but I think Cleo is geared to an older crowd, so it still fit.  I wore it that evening for Hugh's birthday party, and it was great; I wish I had gotten a picture.  Not a style I would normally try; it had princess seaming in the bust, but then a high waist seam, and was 98% cotton/2% spandex, a nice, solid fabric and well built too.

On Tuesday, Meg was upset that Lucy had gotten a purse at VV, and I had just seen a neat re-fashion of a men's polo shirt, so her and I headed off to Bibles for Missions thrift shop.  It's more like the Salvation Army, but I couldn't find a single men's polo shirt that was big enough!  I did get some "fabric".  The first item, I thought it was a sheet, in a crisp cotton, but it turned out to be a 20ft long valance!

 I like the print though.  I think I can piece together a dress, although it will be on the shorter side.   I also got a twin sheet, 100% cotton, with a nice pinks floral pattern...not the 70s floral, but a modern graphic print.  The only issue is that the side pieces of the fitted sheet are seamed on, not just notched at the corners, so this limits the usable amount.  Might end up being used for a child's dress or top.

While at this shop, I did find this plus size Maxi dress!  It's a crinkle cotton gauze, and definitely too big AND too long--you can't see it, but it pools on the ground a little!

 The extra neat thing is that it's got a wrap skirt!  So there's a LOT of fabric to work with.  The back waist seam is angled though, I guess that's to go over an ample booty.  And there is a center back seam, but that's okay, they don't show much and I'll just work with it.

 I'm thinking of sizing it down, taking off the wrap, and keeping it sheath like.  Shortening the straps to fit me will mean the waist seam will move up, creating more of an empire waist.  It'd also be neat to have a real waist seam, and a gathered skirt.  Could I use the overlay to make a new bodice, and have the resulting skirt be gathered enough?  I wonder if there is enough length to cut it short and either use that extra for the bodice and then the remaining skirts gets gathered, or maybe make a midriff band like the very first dress I made...

 There's no size tag, but it's a little too big, LOL.

Last night Lucy and I went to the Salvation Army, to search for a plus size polo shirt, and found a few things.  This dress is a little too big, mainly in the upper bodice...to get my bust to fit in the proper location, I have to pull the shoulders up quite a bit.  So, I'll shorten that, maybe keep the sleeves, and shorten it.

 The lower seams are split, so I'll lose that, and I'll lose a lot of volume, but since it's princess seamed, how can I keep that volume?  Make a waist seam anyway? 

 However, the back has a bit of detail that I want to keep.....suggestions?

At the Bibles for Missions shop I did find one polo shirt that I got, but it wasn't terribly big on me.  I had some ideas of what to do with it, but it would be fairly involved for a refashion.  So I had Rob try it on, and of course, it fit him fine.
I did find one at Salvation Army that I thought I could play with.  I don't like it as much as the one I lost to Rob, but it'll still work.

 Seems a little shorter than I thought though, I'll have to remember not to raise my arms!

I also found this Liz Claiborne knit sheath dress.  It is a heavy weight knit, so perhaps not a summer dress, but I was thinking maybe a nightgown.  I'll need to stitch down the button placket though, the edge of it is flipping upwards.  Again, the upper bodice needs some shortening.  The dress is a little snugger than I'd like, but man, it did make my booty look lovely!

I'm looking forward to doing some refashioning over the summer, I'm stocking up now since it's a little harder to shop with the kids over the summer.  One idea I want to explore is some shirring....I'm seeing it a lot on strapless maxi dresses right now.  These dresses are so long that I could probably cut enough off the bottom to make a bra-friendly bodice and move the shirring down to my midriff.  But do I want it there?  I do have one dress, in a heavy cotton knit, with a shirred bust, but it also has shoulder straps; most of the ones I've seen in the cheap store are a light woven cotton.  Yeah or nay?

Grooooowwwwwwwwwlllllll

Is anyone else having trouble posting on Blogger blogs?  Or is it just me?  I write my comment, click "Google Account" and it sends me to the Google sign in page, I do, then it sends me back to the comment page, but as "Anonymous" and when I try to post it goes back to Google Accounts sign in page...repeat....

If you're having trouble commenting on here, please email me at tracykm at yahoo dot com.

A few weeks ago I had plans to go to Value Village after a doctor's appointment as they're close by.  Then I saw that it was 50% off day....I went before on a 50% off day and it was nuts.  But I decided to try again as I had just seen some fabric there that I had passed over but I couldn't stop thinking about.  It was gone though :(  I did find some jersey sheets that I thought I could use to make summer dresses, muslins, and/or a baby wrap sling for Lucy's teacher.  I didn't find much else that I thought would work for me as is, or to refashion.  I did grab one dress that caught my eye.

I didn't get a before picture, but it was long!  I didn't think the bodice would fit me (it was a size Large), but thought the skirt was long enough that I could take the bodice off and get a short dress just from the skirt.  I tried it on at home, and surprise, it DID fit!  So then I thought I'd take off the woven strips on the bodice, and use them to make wider shoulder straps, although I don't seem to need a bra.  However, when I held them out of the way, the bodice was really boring looking.

I needed to shorten the dress by about 7 1/2".  I know "maxi" dresses are still in (I can't wait for them to be "out" so they'll appear in the thrift shops!), but it's a summer dress, and I like my legs!  I marked the new length, but saw that the skirt was several inches wider at the bottom.  I debated how I could shorten it from the top of the skirt....there's a band on the front, but no "waist" seam on the back.  I thought I could cut the back and make it seamed, but worried I'd mess up the seam allowances or something.  In the end, I do wish I had tried, so I could preserve the swishiness of the skirt.  But it's still okay!

I took the 7 1/2"  off the bottom and slip it in half, and hemmed the half from the top.  I tried a twin needle to see if it'd match the original.  The needle wasn't a stretch needle so it didn't work.  I gathered the long strip, pinned it on, sewed it down, and presto!  A great, new summer dress!  The ruffle sweetens up the sultry animal print, and a black stole gives a little coverage.  Perfect for a day trip to Toronto, or for date night!

More On Illusions

How nice to get comments again!  :)  I know people are reading, but it's just nice to get feedback.

Z suggested re-working the maple leaf chart.  I could probably manage to make it symmetrical, but to be honest, I still can't really figure out how it all works!  LOL. 

Carla mentioned she wants to try doing illusion knitting on the USM (Bond machine).  The ever-wonderful Heidi has instructions on her website.  I haven't really read it, to be honest.  But while I was knitting the dishcloth, I'd do the knit side row and think "This wouldn't be too bad on the machine" and then I'd do the wrong side row...and think about converting all those stitches...The dishcloth took me one day (mmm...maybe actually two) to knit by hand.  Not a big time investment, and I don't think the machine would be faster for something that small.  Now, for a scarf or wall hanging....I'd think about it some more.  There are some pretty cool illusion designs out there!

As it stands today, I think I'll give the dishcloth to my inlaws' guest and explain it's the prototype, LOL.  I will look at the chart some more and see if I can alter it to make a better one for my sister in law, who is the type of person who always wants the best....if not....then I'll whip up a bunch of Marg Coe's circular dishcloths, and I can use the two day drive to graft them all and sew in ends, LOL!

Update to List

true up pattern and make swimsuit
finishing sewing muslin
-perfect fit
sew green dress based on muslin above
copy pink/black/white knit dress and sew copy
make at least one other knit dress, preferably two
make woven dress
make tops
make shrug (black?)
make cardigan with penguin for Nya
make Indianapolis Super Bowl scarf

Update:   Forgot to put Lucy's camera case and hem animal print dress on the list.
I'm almost done the muslin.  I've decided to not make the green dress at this time...I think the fabric would be too heavy for summer, and I feel a little frumpy in the princess seamed muslin.  Although the vertical seaming is supposed to add height, what I see is a big blob, LOL.  With no horizontal definition, you can't tell that I have (a bit of) a waist.  Sure, it's loose and flowy, and probably nice for summer (but so sheer it needs a full slip), but I'd rather have the horizontal seam of an empire waist dress.  I've also been experimenting with tucking in my shirts.  OMG.  It's been like, 15 years since I've tucked in a shirt!
Right now, I'm hemming the animal print sundress.  Cause summer came!

Eh?

Back in September 1995, I somehow convinced Rob to go on a road trip to the States.  We'd been dating only a few months, but had gone on weekend camping trips, so, hey, what's a 10 day trip to another country?  LOL.  I had hoped to get to Tennessee, but we made it only as far south as Kentucky, which we loved.  We spent a few days at Mammoth Caves National Park; it was just after Labour Day and a great time to visit.  One day we were looking at a large info board and struck up a conversation with another tourist.  At one point, he stopped, and asked "So, what part of Canada are you from?".  I laughed, Rob was confused.  The "eh?s" gave him away.

Right now, Rob's parents have a house guest from England.  She's come every year since 2006, and stays for a month.  I thought it might be nice to send a little bit of Canada back with her.

We're going to Indianapolis this summer to spend a week with Rob's sister.  I thought it might be nice to bring her a little bit of Canada too.

I've never done illusion knitting, but when I saw this maple leaf chart posted on Ravelry, I thought that would be a cool way to try.  Finding a bright red dishcloth cotton was harder than knitting it!  The stores around here had only a faded red.

I'm not 100% pleased with it :(  The chart is not symmetrical, and I don't know if that was intentional.  It's a little harder to see the leaf than I thought it would be, which is sort of cool though.

I don't know if I should try to alter the chart or just leave it as is.  Your thoughts?

Cutie Pie!

A while ago, I found through another blog (Angry Chicken?), a link to a EDIT:  tutorial on making sock monkeys using dollar store novelty socks.  I knew I had to do that, esp. since two of my niece's like sock monkeys.  I bought a pair of Valentine Socks, but one of the girls wore them and got them dirty before I got around to sewing.  So I went off to Dollarama to get more socks.  Poor selection!  And, the two socks were not quite the same size!

 It was fairly easy to follow the tutorial, although I changed the ears a little.  I also used the purple heel that came from the second pair of socks in the set...I thought the black wasn't contrasty enough.  The buttons are from my stash.  Slim pickings for those!

 I sent this off to Nya, Rob's sister's daughter, for her birthday.  I also made her a neck cooler, like the ones I made last summer.  I had to piece the fabric a bit, the center, with the beads, is two layers, I thought the fabric was a little thin.  It's left over from a girls' dress last summer.

I also included some Canada temporary tattoos, and a Canadian 5 dollar bill (she's American, and turning 5), all jammed into a decorative box from Dollarama, and cushioned with all the metallic foil strips that fell out of the pom poms I bought for Meg from Dollarama.
This wasn't on the list I just made since I actually did this last weekend.  Today, I sewed a little camera bag for Lucy, which I had forgotten to put on that list.  So, there's nothing to cross off yet!

Plans

I've got so many plans/projects  going on that I think I need to make a concrete list, make it public, LOL.
In 6 weeks we head out to Indianapolis to spend a week or so with Rob's sister and her family.  Many of the things I really want/need to get done by then!

true up pattern and make swimsuit
finishing sewing muslin
    -perfect fit
sew green dress based on muslin above
copy pink/black/white knit dress and sew copy
make at least one other knit dress, preferably two
make woven dress
make tops
make shrug (black?)
make cardigan with penguin for Nya
make Indianapolis Super Bowl scarf

Is that it?  Oh my.  Since it seems to take me at least two weeks to sew a dress....yikes.  I'm hoping once I get the muslin done, the actually dress will be quick.  And since I'm copying my knit dress (and enlarging), hopefully that goes quick.  The shrug should be fast as I'll do it on the machine, same with the cardigan, although I don't know what pattern/knit radar I'll be using.
This weekend is busy.  Next weekend is busy.  Busy weeks.  So, I might not blog a whole lot for now :)

Why Is It So Hard?!

First off, some proof I do still hand knit!  Lucy took this picture on Tuesday night during Meg's skating.  If you read my other blog, you'll have read how I got really distracted during Meg's swimming class and I didn't get much knit then, LOL.

Next up, more sewing.  I want some dresses with sleeves.  I don't have many patterns,  I bought a pattern at Value Village for a dress or top with or without sleeves.  I decided to try tissue fitting, but I decided while doing that that the pattern didn't have enough shape for me to make a dress.   

There was one dress I made last summer and never showed you.  I made it before I learned about "full bust adjustment", so I had made it for my chest size.  Well, it fit like a sack everywhere else.  The only picture I took was blurry, dark, and my hair was in a towel.  So you never got to see it, LOL.  I decided I would give it another try, since I found a couple blogs with awesome instructions on how to do a FBA on a princess seam pattern.  It'd be no sweat, right?

Why are things always so hard for me?

I started out by folding out an inch above the armhole and an inch just above the waist.  This made the waist a little high, but that's okay.   I then  followed the steps and tried to move the pieces apart the two inches I needed.  Things went REALLY wonky (look at that armhole, so I backed off to 1 1/2" (it's not a closely fitting dress).  I finished up the steps, which was not as easy as the tutorial made it seam.  The bust point is not marked on my pattern, and it seemed to be in the middle front piece while the tutorial showed it being in the side front piece.  The tutorial didn't show the notches, so I wasn't sure where to put all the slashes.  The amount I had to lengthen the middle section seemed humongous compared to the tutorial, and that threw off the pattern line. 

Today, I decided to retrace the side seams.  I had graded from an 18 to a 22, partly cause I want some swishiness, and because I was worried since I needed the 18 for the shoulders but the 18 waist (body measurement) is way too small.  I realized last night that the extra 3" I added in the bust would be going all the way down the length of the dress, and hence, over my belly (while it wouldn't be added over the back or bum, where I don't really need it!).

However, when I laid the pattern piece back on, I saw how weird the armhole had changed, despite the tutorial saying the armhole wouldn't change.  So now I need to go back and do something about that.  I decided that while doing all these adjustments I would do a muslin, despite hoping that the dress that I was making was going to be a (very) wearable muslin.  It might just be a top though.  I found out I have a shortage of woven tops in my wardrobe!  This is why I didn't know I have very big problem with "forward shoulders", the other dress I was going to make, which turned into a top, is woven and the shoulder seams were strange.....