Sewing Workshop - West End Hoodie

I made this weeks ago and am just now blogging it. I liked the Sewing Workshop West End Hoodie when it came out. I had planned to make some changes to it, like swapping out the short, wide sleeve for a long sleeve.

My friend Heather beat me to it and made it up in a red knit. Hers was so cute that I rushed mine to the top of the queue. Heather lengthened and narrowed the sleeve, though she pieced hers with an above elbow seam, having cut it as long as possible on grain. She also pointed out that the short hem on the center front piece was a raw edge. It's the only raw edge in the entire hoodie, which seemed a little unusual.

Thanks to Heather's advice, I drafted a little fold-down hem for the front piece to eliminate the raw edge. I lengthened, and narrowed, the sleeve and omitted the sleeve band. I made the sleeve longer so I could fold back the cuff. As shown in the following photo, I cut it on the lengthwise grain (which also had stretch), so I didn't have to put a seam in the sleeve, but that would also work. I made a size large.

I also removed a bit of the flare at the hip by straightening out the back side seam, as you can see in the following photo.

I used a really wonderful fabric that I purchased from FabricMart a year or so ago, and shown in the following picture. It is a reversible double knit, poly cotton, I think. It's black on one side and coral on the other, and very soft. I finished the seams by hand, flat felling them. Technically, this hoodie could be reversible, except for the zipper.

The zipper is an 18" plastic zipper from Zipperstop.

This is a very comfortable, easy to wear hoodie. I like the shaping of the side seams, which reminds me of the Sewing Workshop Liberty top, another favorite. However, I'm not sure how flattering it is on me, with the Swing back, though I do like how it nips in a bit at the waist. Time will tell. If I do make it again, I plan to make the sleeve a tad wider at the wrist.

Teagarden Twist - Front Zipper

My most used TnT (tried and true) pattern is Sewing Workshop's Teagarden T. I've made at least 13 of them, in different colors and patterns. It is my version of a t-shirt and perfect for my large-busted-but-small hipped figure. The reason this pattern works so well for my figure is that it uses underarm gussets. I love gussets. I wish more patterns used them. It's a great way to add bust room without bloating the rest of the pattern.

I've now started playing with the pattern – mixing it up. For this version, I used a doubleknit fabric from Marcy Tilton and I added a zipper at CF. Because this fabric is a fairly stable doubleknit, I added 1" to CF when I cut it out, for an increase of 2", in the front only. In fact, I placed the front of the pattern along the selvedge when cutting it out. The resulting top fits just right.

I finished this top a couple weeks ago, but it's been almost relentlessly foggy and cold, so I wasn't impelled to get outside and take pics. It's hard to believe that 30-40 miles away it's 90 plus degree weather, when here it's in the 50s and 60s. Micro-climates galore.

The zipper is a very nice one from Zprz that I purchased two years ago at PIQF.

At first I was planning to use one of my great striped zippers, and I auditioned it before I even cut out the top. I liked it and was prepared to use it.

But when I had the top to the point where I was ready to insert the zipper, I pinned in the striped one and took a mirror picture. I didn't like the effect. From a distance, the black and white stripe merged into grey and the result was bleh.

The striped zipper is pinned to the top, and I left a lot of the tape showing. After seeing the photo, I decided to use a black zipper and to leave less of the tape showing. (Note to self, clean bathroom mirror.)Oops, I didn't notice that the top is a bit skewed on the hangar, as evidenced by the crooked CB seam.Closeup of the great zipper.No comment.

Oh, I will mention that these pictures are the first I've taken since receiving some new bras. It feels like I'm wearing a vise, so it must be working. ;)

Liberty Shirt with Pulled Collar #2

I recently made a Libery Top with Pulled Collar. I mostly liked the collar, but felt it was too tall for my neck. So I decided to make it again, this time shortening the neck by 3/4". This works better for me, I think.

This fabric, which was fabulous to sew, is a textured cotton from Emma One Sock. EOS sold out long ago, but I recently saw it for sale on the Sewing Workshop site. I purchased the buttons for another project at Hart's in Santa Cruz, when I was on my way to a sewing retreat. I like their little cross-hatched design.

This amuses me.
I haven't cooked in months.
This cayote squash was purchased in maybe January for a pot of soup. The cayote, now called Gerold, decided to sprout. When I took this picture, a couple weeks ago, I measured and the tendril was 3 feet, 1 inch, not including the squash.
Gerold has been composted. I like to think Gerold is happily growing away on some compost pile.
I still haven't cooked.

I've been busy at work and this weekend will be busy. A blogger meet-up at the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit and some daughter time. I hope you have a good one!

Liberty Shirt with Pulled Collar

One of my local sewing pals, Sara, saw this collar on a RTW boutique tunic. She reverse engineered this interesting treatment and shared it with me.

It's a straight collar, with no stand. There is a long bias tie, sewn at the CF of both fronts, and exiting through buttonholes at CB. You can pull the tie and knot it at the back. When you pull it, the fronts of the collar turn inward.

I decided to use the Liberty top as a vehicle for the collar.

I wasn't sure how this would look on me, as I don't have a particularly long swan-like neck, so I decided to use this cotton shirting from FabricMart, as a test fabric. I think it looks ok on me, though it would be even better on a long necked woman with short hair, I think. I may make it again, but I'd use a linen fabric or something more edgy.

Closeup of dyed buttons, next to an undyed button.

I have a lot of these mother of pearl buttons in my button box, as they were very cheap at Fabrix. Long ago, maybe two years ago, I threw a bunch of these buttons in a cup of red dye. (Dylon, I think. Or maybe liquid Rit.) I left the cup on my counter for weeks, hoping the buttons would turn red. They did not turn red. They turned pink. I don't sew with much pink fabric, but the shade was perfect for this shirting.

Before I took most of the hangar shots, I pinned an original, undyed, mother of pearl button near the shaded buttons so you can see the subtle shading of the dyed buttons.

Closeup of tie in the back collar.

Closeup of collar.

Hangar shot

Sewing Workshop - Hibiscus Top

It was blustery and sunny today, making it tricky to get good pictures. But more pictures here.

I traced off the Sewing Workshop Hibiscus shirt over a year ago. I knew that a swing silhouette is not good for me, but I wanted to make it work.

Probably because of this, I traced a medium, which is too small for me, but would also have less volume at the hips. At the time, the only FBA techniques I knew would have added *more* volume at the hips, and would have distorted the lower panels. Unable to solve this problem, I reluctantly put the tracing away.

Last week Martha, of Now Sewing, made her first Shirt of the Month for 2012 and she made a beautiful Hibiscus. This inspired me to pull out the tracing and apply FBA knowledge I have acquired in the year since making the tracing.

This time I chopped off the left and front bodice patterns 1" below the bust point, did the FBA, and re-attached the bodice bottom. Other alterations followed.

I have not been feeling shirt collars lately, so I omitted the collar. Note that I did not shorten the sleeves and they are a good length - this pattern has short sleeves. Also, I widened the upper sleeve, but not the lower sleeve - it is fairly close fitting below the elbow.

Alterations and Modifications:

• 3" FBA.
• Widened the back 5/8" (1-1/4" total).
• Narrowed the shoulders by 1-1/2".
• Widened the upper sleeve by 1-1/4.
• Removed most of the swing shaping, which meant modifying the side seams (front and back), bottom facings, and bottom panels.
• Omitted the collar and stand and finished the neckline with a 1/4" bias band.

Materials:

• A wonderful homespun striped cotton fabric purchased over a year ago from The Spirit of Cloth in San Diego. I'm sad that this store closed before I had a chance to visit again.
• 4 3/4" buttons from my grandmother's button box. They were the only buttons that were the right size, the right color, and that I had enough of. I did not want to go to the fabric store. :)

Conclusion:

I'm not completely sure how I feel about this top. It's less flattering than I'd hoped. I thought that if I didn't make it too long, used an open neckline, and removed most of the swing shaping, that it would be a good top for me, but the pictures say otherwise: it looks ok, but not great.

More Pictures

Can you see the pocket on the lower left? It's hiding amongst the well matched stripes. :)

Sewing Workshop - Liberty in Blue Jacquard

A couple more pics

I'm a bit surprised at myself that I haven't yet made the Liberty shirt as designed. This is a great pattern - based on a Miyake design originally - but I have seen many boutique versions of this great top. If you don't have this pattern in your arsenal, you should.

The first few times I made this top, I used Heather N's pullover version. For those versions, I had traced off a Large and performed a 2" FBA. Since that time I have been doing my FBAs a bit differently, so this time I traced a size Medium, chopped the front off at the waist, performed a 3" FBA, and re-attached the bottom, merging them together at the side seam. I definitely prefer the fit of this version which hangs closer to my hips.

Both versions.
Left: Size Large with standard 2" FBA. Right: Size Medium, sliced at waist, 3" Y-shaped FBA on top, bottom re-attached, and side seam merged.
Result: Much better fit through the hips.

I have been meaning to make a buttoned version of the Liberty for over a year, but it took the Autumn 6-pack to get me to do it. This is my first top for the fall 6-pack.

The fabric is a 100% cotton jacquard from FabricMart. As of this writing, they have 14 yards remaining. I really love the drape of this fabric. The recommended care was dry cleaning or hand wash, but I tossed it into the washer and dryer and it came out like an heirloom tablecloth - such beautiful drape with heft to it. It's so rare to see woven cotton with such lovely drape.

Materials:

• 100% cotton jacquard in cornflower blue from FabricMart
  
• white Angel Weft interfacing from Apple Annie's for the front and neck facings
  
• 6 5/8" Dritz buttons from JoAnns
  

Alterations & Construction Notes:

• I decided to alter the collar. I changed the neckline and drafted a new collar. It wasn't quite what I wanted, so I left off the collar, but the neckline is lower/more open than the original pattern. I plan to play with this more in future versions.
• I used a size Medium with a 3" y-shaped FBA.
• I widened the back, creating 1" darts on each shoulder.
• I removed about 2" from the outer edge of the shoulder, tapering it to nothing.
• The pattern instructs you to do French seams on the shoulder and side seams. Because I had darts in both sets of seams, I did hand-sewn flat felled seam instead. I also used hand sewn flat felled seams on the sleeve seams.
• The size Medium sleeve is a bit too long. Next time I should shorten it by an inch.
• I used six buttons, spaced in three sets of two.

Pictures

Love the texture of the jacquard

Friday Night Notes

Happy Friday!

Thanks so much for your feedback on my black jacket. I really appreciate it! I met DD1 for lunch downtown this week and I wore it. This "meet at center front, but doesn't overlap" sort of jacket seems to be very popular right now - I'm seeing it in numerous Fall lines. I think the style is growing on me.

I got a bit of sewing done this week. I made most of another Teagarden T in one evening. (Shown above.) The rayon lycra "trendy" knit was from FabricMart, though fabric.com also carried it. I also finished up a pair of charcoal stretch no-wale corduroy Linda pants from Style Arc. I am not sure what the difference is between no-wale corduroy and cotton velveteen, but they seem pretty much the same to me.

Charcoal No-wale Corduroy Linda Pants

Also, the buckles have been coming in. I now have some nice options, so thanks, again for your collective help. I was prepared to go to Goodwill to see what I could harvest, but I no longer need to. (It's too bad that the Goodwill just blocks from me is a Boutique and the clothing is too nice, and too expensive, to cut up. The nearest true thrift store isn't nearly as convenient.) I'm still collecting the more mundane hardware and supplies for the purse, and I haven't even selected the fabric for sure, so I'm not ready to start it yet.

You know what? Shopping for the buckles remind me how much I love hardware. I think many sewists do. I love hardware stores - always a pleasurable errand. I love using hardware in my garments: zippers, grommets, toggles, cord pulls, buckles, you name it. The only thing I don't like is when I don't have the right hardware for a project and it slows me down. :)

Autumn 6-Pack

So glad it is Friday! Unless something comes up, I plan to have a productive weekend. I have decided to join the Autumn 6-Pack on Stitcher's Guild. This is where you sew a coordinated set of clothing for a season. I have alluded to it, but not really talked about it. I have a plan, which I hesitate to share because it will, undoubtedly, change. But I have a pile of coordinating fabrics in charcoal, cream, and blue (including navy and some other shades of blue). I plan to mostly use TNT patterns. You will see at least one more Teagarden T - maybe two. :)

I will modify the suggested 6-pack somewhat. I've been reading the blogs of other folks who are also participating and this seems to be the norm - modify to make it work for you. The charcoal Linda pants (pictured above) are intended for my 6-pack.

Even though I rarely sew with a plan, I don't usually have clothing orphans because most things I sew go with black and I have a variety of black bottoms in different styles and shapes. But this will be an interesting experiment. I have intentionally not used black in my plan, but most everything should go with black. We shall see how it goes. :)

Not sure what to work on this weekend. There are three patterns that I want to sew and I can't find any of them. I guess it's time for a cleanup.

Have a great weekend!

StyleArc - The Linda Stretch Pant

More pics

Have you heard of Style Arc patterns yet? This Australian-based pattern company is quickly gaining popularity, thanks to the internet.

I first became aware of them when, mere days after the royal wedding, they were offering a knock-off of the Pippa dress. You know the one:

I have to say that I loved Pippa's dress much more than Katherine's. :)

Not interested in making the Pippa dress, some of their other offerings caught my attention. Folks were starting to order a few of their patterns to test them out, with very favorable results. For example, Ann of Gorgeous Things, made up the Cruise Club Kim dress and the Creative Cate top, which was May's freebie pattern. The general consensus is that the Style Arc patterns are drafted the way RTW is drafted and that they fit much better than the Big 4, from the get-go, with less "extra" ease through the upper chest, for example, and a more RTW-like crotch curve. You can read more StyleArc pattern reviews on the PR website.

I was particularly interested in the StyleArc pant offerings. Despite the high cost of shipping to the U.S., I ordered several pant patterns, a couple jacket patterns, and I also received the June freebie, a camisole pattern.

The Style Arc patterns come in one size only, though the range of sizes they offer is quite large. These patterns are hand drafted and do not use multi-sizing and so, like the Italian Marfy patterns, you have to commit.

Australian sizing is different than U.S. or even European sizing, so you need to take your measurements and compare them against their sizing chart. But even then, I was not sure what to order as I don't know how generous their ease is and my waist, hip, and bust measurements each correspond to very different sizes. So, I started a conversation with Chloe at Style Arc, gave her my measurements, sent her to a picture of me on my blog, and we worked out that I should order a size 10 for bottoms and a size 16 for tops, with the understanding that I needed to alter for my waist and bust. (She even checked the ease on the jackets I wanted - such great customer service!)

When my package arrived (via Kansas City, for some reason, where the envelope was torn in transit, and then taped up again and stuck into a plastic baggie), the patterns were intact, thank goodness. The pattern paper is similar to Kwik Sew pattern paper - fairly substantial. I have not yet seen a pattern piece that requires that you lay it out on the fold. So you get the entire front, for example, and the entire back. That is very handy when matching prints or plaids, or cutting on the bias. But what I liked most, is that for each pattern, they enclose a small swatch of the recommended fabric. It's tiny, but it's much better than nothing.

The Linda Stretch Pant

I decided to start with the Linda Stretch Pant, which is a fitted pull-on pant for stretch wovens. They recommend a stretch bengaline, which is almost impossible to find in the U.S. and, thanks to the enclosed swatch, I discovered that it is not a particularly stretchy fabric. I had some fabric in my stash from Fabrix that I though would be a good substitute. (Some enterprising Aussie might want to try selling some stretch bengaline on Etsy, which is widely available in Australia in different colors and a couple different weights. I'd buy some!! :) )

Since the size 10 was based on my hip measurement, I knew I would have to enlarge the waist, but I was not exactly sure where/how much, so I decided to forge ahead and make the pattern as designed, adding a bit at the side seam. Oh, these patterns use 1cm, or 3/8", seam allowances.

These pants sewed up quickly!

Materials:

• A stretch woven wool blend (?), gabardine (?), dark taupe fabric from Fabrix. I love this fabric and almost hated to use it as a test, but I have enough for another pair of pants or two and I have already used it for a pair of Sewing Workshop Trio pants that I love. So I put on my big girl panties and forged ahead.
• 1" waistband elastic. The pattern calls for 2" waistband elastic, which is optional.

Construction Notes:

• I added another 3/8" to the side seams, for a total 3/4" seam allowance, but cut the rest of the front and back pant out as designed. Their construction notes utilize RTW techniques and instruct you to sew the inside leg seams first, so I did not add more seam allowance fabric there. You then sew the crotch seam flat, using their stretch woven techniques - these were new to me, but seem to work quite well. I then pinned the side seams and tentatively tried them on. They fit quite well! Yes, the pants were a bit snug through the belly, and there was a bit of muffin top, but nothing I am not used to in RTW. The rise and crotch curve were perfect!
• I did not use the shaped waistband that came with the pattern. It was far too small for my waist. I used a rectangular waistband, as I always do. If you have a waist that is smaller than your hips, I'm sure the shaped waistband would be great.
• I very slightly tapered the pants at the knee. To be honest, I would probably omit tapering next time.
• I shortened the pants by 1", so I would assume that these patterns are drafted for someone who is around 5'6".
  

Conclusion:

That's it! For me that is minimal changes, especially for such a fitted pant. These pants came together so fast and I love the fit! Yes, they do feel very much like a good pair of RTW pants. It's hard to believe that there is no zipper, especially since this stretch woven is not that stretchy, but they are so comfortable! Next time I make them (and there will be a next time), I plan to enlarge the waist a bit to avoid the muffin top, though it really doesn't need much tweaking. :)

Another Teagarden T

My top is also new - one of the six things I made last weekend. I can't remember exactly how many Sewing Workshop Teagarden T's I have made, but it's approximately ten. I love this pattern – it is my go-to t-shirt. For this one, I used a lightweight rayon/lycra knit from Emma One Sock. I just loved the wild print. Also, because the fabric was so wide, I was able to lengthen it a couple of inches, which is a nice change. The first Teagarden T that I made, the one from a black rayond/lycra blend, is starting to wear out. I need to make another black one, but it's not the most exciting sewing. :)

More Pictures

I LOVE this outfit. Love love love. These pants are so darned comfortable!!! So is the top and I just love the soft, lightweight rayon knit that just skims the body. UBER LOVE. :)