Q&A - Sewing Everything

I love this plant and often stop to admire it when out walking.

Several posts ago, Robin left a comment asking if I sew all of my clothing. Then Carolyn wrote a post about this subject, sparked by Robin's comment on my post.

When I first returned to sewing almost three years ago, that was my goal. For awhile, I was sewing all of my own clothing.

Then I realized I was missing out on some good stuff!

I now enjoy mixing my sewn items with purchased items. The items I buy are often gently used, usually funky, and often something that would be difficult (if not impossible) to make. I check out funky boutiques, consignment stores, ebay, art festivals.

Take today, for example.

A boutique I like near Union Square, KatiKoos, featured some great Polish sweaters on their Facebook page. (They also have a newsletter you can subscribe to, but often the clothes she posts on Facebook sell out so fast they never make it to the newsletter.) I decided to take a quick visit this morning to check them out.

Uber Sweater Love

I also saw a great silk scarf.

Silk Scarf Love
(The rest of the clothing is mine.)

Unfortunately, both pieces were out of my clothing budget, so I left them behind. But these are the sorts of garment I keep my eye out for.

Do you sew all of your clothing?

This weekend I'm making a pair of pants. You might be happy to hear that I'm taking a break from the knit tops. :)

Butterick 5679 - Knit Top with Drapey Pocket

Quel surprise! I've made another knit top! Out of a rayon lycra!

I bought this Butterick pattern when it came out. I really liked View C, which has a single drapey pocket. Just my cup of tea. I went to Pattern Review and there was only one review for View C, by Ann Smith. (You need to create an account to view any reviews over six months - but a free account works.)

I found her review to be most helpful. She had all kinds of problems with the fit of the raglan sleeves and the neckline. So I approached the pattern with caution. First of all, the only thing I did not like about the pattern is that it has a boat-neck-ish shaped neckline. (Though it's not quite as wide as a true boat neck.) I have narrow-ish shoulders and I hate a wide neckline (though I think I know why they did it that way). I don't like my bra straps to show and I don't like a neckline to slide off my shoulders.

So the first thing I did was to raise the neckline at the sides on all the pattern pieces - tapering it to nothing at CF and CB. I planned to cut the final neck opening once I had the garment together, because I knew this shape wouldn't be right either, but at least I'd have enough fabric to work with.

The front pattern pieces. The neckline has been raised at the sides. And the 1.5" horizontal strip at the bustline is my only FBA.

The raising of the neckline for the sleeve and back. I tapered it to nothing at CB (and CF).

I was using a very stretchy rayon lycra jersey, a wonderful fabric that I bought on a recent visit to Harts, so I wanted 4" negative ease. I checked the finished bust measurement on the pattern piece and the size 16 had the fit I wanted. So I cut out a size 16 (quite a bit smaller than my usual size, especially if you count the 6" FBA I usually add). I sliced the pattern horizontally at the bust and added 1.5" to go up and over the girls. The only other alteration I made was to the sleeves. The sleeves looked incredibly long. I removed 3.5" at the "shorten here" line.

I cut out the fabric and started sewing. This pattern is very quick to sew. For one thing, the hem, the sleeve hem, and the top of the pocket are designed to be left as raw edges. It would be very difficult to hem the top with the sharp point, so it makes sense. I am not 100% in line with the raw edge movement, so I serged these edges. I can live with serged edges. ;)

The first thing you do, is to lay the pocket on top of the right front piece and sew them together at the hem and side. Because this is a stretchy knit, I used Steam a Seam Lite 2 to attach them to each other and then stitched through the sandwich. It worked great and there was no distortion.

The instructions for the neckline are to turn the edge under twice and topstitch. I assume this is why the pattern has a "softened" boat neckline which is easier to finish this way. I hate that sort of neckline finish. I just don't think it lies nicely against the body and it's hard to sew at the sides, where the greatest curvature is, without distorting the finished neckline.

What I did was sew all the CF and CB seams, and the raglan seams, so that the neck hole was formed, and then try it on. I then pin marked where I wanted the finished neckline to be. I removed more from CF and a bit from CB and the side seams. I then used the Sarah Veblen binding method. I am very happy with the final neckline. (I am getting rather tired of posting the Veblen link over and over, but I want it to be handy! Maybe I should just create a link page.)

I cut a 1-3/8" strip for the neckline and sewed it on with a 1/4" seam.

If you read Ann's review, you will see that she had to remove quite a bit from the raglan seams. Besides Ann, I have quite a few very accomplished, very prolific sewing friends who never post anywhere. I wore this top to an event they attended and two or three of them (I can't remember) had made this same top and had the same problems that Ann described. It took them a lot of fiddling to get a top that fit properly through the shoulders/neckline.

I did not have this problem at all. One of them said that the pattern lacks proper shoulder shaping - it doesn't go "in" like it should at the shoulders. Several of us were mulling over why I did not have this problem. It was suggested that perhaps it was because I was using a very stretchy knit. That is possible, so be wary of the shoulder fit if you attempt this pattern, particularly in a more stable knit. (And I think it's totally worth the trouble, because the pattern is great otherwise.)

The sleeve length was perfect after removing 3.5" in length, so it is quite long. Though if I were to do a turned-under hem, I'd want to add a half inch back. So check the sleeve length.

Hem:

I was asked to show some up close pictures of the serged hem.

The pocket hem up close. I started serging at the back side seam, at the inner corner. I serged across the back around the side, and then across the front, ending at the point. I restarted at the bottom of the point and serged up, ending at the inner corner. A drop of Frayblock at the point, and then I trimmed off the serged threads.

The front and the sleeve hems.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I LOVE this top!!! My sewing friends told me it was one of the most flattering tops they'd ever seen me wear. I think it is best in a drapey knit fabric — that pocket is designed to hang and drape gracefully. You have to decide how you feel about raw edges. One friend, who doesn't like raw edges, just chopped off the pocket point and hemmed it straight across. It looks great that way too, though I do think the pocket point can create a slimming line.

Worn with my beloved Marcy Tilton pants, Vogue 8397, View A. It's now OOP, but well worth tracking down.

Burda 3254 - Striped Top

One of my sewing pals was recently de-stashing her patterns and this one called to me. It's an OOP Burda envelope pattern — my suspicion is that it's long out of print, but I'm not sure. I love how the stripe chevrons all over the place — CF, CB, above the sleeve, below the sleeve. I made a shortened version of view B.

Based on the desired finished size I wanted (4" negative ease at the bust), I made the size 16. The original pattern is designed for woven fabrics, but of course I wanted to use this knit fabric from Marcy Tilton. I added 1" length to the front to accommodate needing a longer length for the bust.

Before making the stripe version, I tested it out in another knit from Fabrix. This is another print that I wasn't that crazy about, but I really loved the quality and price of the fabric at $2.39 a yard. I did not cut this version out on the bias, and I did cut it at full length. It was too long, so I chopped off about 8". Then it was too short, so I added a little flange to increase the length.

Test version. I cut off a bit too much, so I added a flange.

I also shortened the sleeves 1-1/4" and shaved off the shoulder "bump" which was too far out from my natural shoulder.

Despite making the test version, the stripe version, cut on the bias, is a bit snug. Before cutting, I tested the stretch of the bias and it seemed ok, but I guess it was a bit less stretchy than the test fabric. I cut the stripe version 2" longer than the test version (before adding the flange).

For the test version, I cut a 1-1/4" strip for the neck binding and sewed it with a 1/4" seam. For the stripe version, I cut a 1-1/2" strip on the cross grain and sewed it with a 1/4" seam.

For both tops, I hemmed the bottoms and the sleeves with 1/2" Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite.

More Pictures

Giveaway Winner

And the winner is... Laura SJ!

I have never seen the random number generator actually generate a number at the end of the range before, Lucky #1!

Laura, please shoot me an email - my address is in my profile. If you do not want the CD, just let me know and I'll roll again.

Happy Friday, everyone. It looks like my weekend will have wonderful weather, and a couple activities, so sewing will be sparse.

New Spring Vogues - Hurry Hurry for Sale!

Vogue 1309 - Issey Miyake

The spring Vogues were released this afternoon. Today is the last day of the 4-day Vogue, Butterick, and McCalls sale. If you want to buy any of the new Vogues at the sale price, you have a few more hours!

Here are a few I like. I am dashing this post off quickly, due to the timing, but I think you'll find my picks to be fairly predictable. For example, I like the Issey Miyake top shown above, but I don't think it would look good on me.

Love this Koos bag, Vogue 1311. So fun!

This Very Easy Vogue 8819 vest/jacket has interesting possibilities, especially sewn with a striped fabric.

This Marcy Tilton dress is very cute. I'm not much for dresses, but this one I really like. Vogue 8813.

This Katharine Tilton top has some nice variations. I especially like that some of the views are a twist on the princess seam.

Another interesting dress, this one from Sandra Betzina. Too bad I so rarely wear dresses. For this one, I'd add sleeves. Vogue 1297.

Here are Sandra Betzina's take on the harem pant. The very wide legged pant is pleated into a front yoke. The back is less full. You can leave the hem wide or sew them into a band. I like these. Vogue 1307.

Another great Marcy Tilton bag. Vogue 8823.

I'm not buying as many patterns these days, but I'm going to go make an order. Just 5 or 6 patterns. So long as I do it before the sale ends tonight. ;)

Busty Post, Bra Making Kits, and Miscellany

Several heart sculptures are located in different areas of San Francisco — a reference to the song, "I Left my Heart in San Francisco." Union Square features this sculpture with flames shooting from eyeballs. I love it, but have no idea what it means.

Several things I wanted to mention.

Uber Busty Post

Kathy F noticed that I had the name of the Palmer Pletsch fitting book wrong on the Uber Busty post. I've corrected it. She also noticed that it was in the second edition of the book that the Y-dart was introduced. I added that info to the post as well. Thanks, Kathy F!

Kathy also asked me to clarify how I "convert the dart to a curve" in knits. So I pulled out some patterns and took pictures. I added a section, Pictures of Alterations, to the original post.

The results are in: Folks love having a response to their comments. I will do that from time to time. I'll just get over any minor aversion I have to the inflated statistics on the comment count. ;)

I added a new header called Negative Ease with another picture and a bit more text.

Finally, I added a TOC to the beginning of the post, which is now quite long!

Bra Making Kits

I have zero interest in making bras. It is great for those who are less gravitationally challenged, but my lap dusters require serious architecture. I favor La Mystere bras, which feature molded cups and are up to the challenge of my physiology.

However, if you like to sew your own bras, you might be interested in this opportunity. I learned about it from Don McCunn's yahoo group.

Would you like to buy fabric from a dyer who sells to Victoria Secret? Here is what Don says (printed with permission):

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I have linked up with a specialized dying service that dyes all the components required to make a bra. Basically their business is dying for manufacturers such as Victoria Secret, etc.

The last year or so they have also been offering custom dyed bra kits to consumers. They have been trying different ways to offer this service which to the best of my knowledge is unique. The market for this service is not huge. But Craig, the owner, is not giving up on us one at a time bra makers.

I corresponded with him recently when I got a notice he is planning a new dye lot. The way it works is you order in advance so he knows how much to dye, then he dyes and ships out these individual orders. He tells me he is planning to do this twice a year. So if you want some colorful fabric to make bras, now is the time to order. Specifically before May 1st. The current color offering includes the following:

• Light Turquoise
• Marina Blue
• Lavender
• Camel
• Rum Raisin
• Sky Blue
• Baby Pink
• Strawberry Pink
• Black
• White

For more information and to order, use the link below.

Bra Making Kits

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Note that if you want to order extra yardage to make matching panties or slip, you probably can, but talk to Craig.

Sewing with Knits: Ponte

I have received some emails that have mentioned sewing knits for the first time. I want to say that if you are nervous about sewing knits, I highly recommend that you start with the easiest of knits: ponte.

Ponte is a double knit made from a blend of fibers - usually rayon, poly, nylon, lycra. Quality of ponte varies enormously. I have found that ponte high in polyester content tends to pill, so I prefer my ponte to have little-to-no polyester. Some pontes are beefy and very stable (ie. they do not stretch much), so they will need more pattern ease and are well suited to pants. Other pontes can be lighter weight and drapey. For example, the Sophia brand of ponte tends to have more drape and would be good for a top or dress. I tend to favor the pontes that are higher in rayon — they have a nicer feel and drape.

Eileen Fisher, for example, uses a lot of ponte in her line. Start reading garment labels to see what kind of ponte you prefer - note that the labels won't say ponte, but you can recognize the double knit and read the blend of fibers on the label.

I have had very good luck with the ponte fabrics sold by Emma One Sock. They are expensive, yes, but the quality is fabulous. You can't necessarily judge ponte by the price. I have bought expensive ponte that pilled like crazy and ran at the seams. I bought very inexpensive black ponte at Fabrix that has worked well for me. (They do not have any currently and, by the way, if you ask them for ponte, they won't know what you are talking about. Think of it as a doubleknit made from synthetic fibers. Also, when they had it, it was only in black.)

When I re-sold some of my Fabrix ponte to a sewing friend, it pilled like crazy for her. I can't explain it because I'm very hard on my ponte - I always throw it into the dryer. Why did it pill for her and not for me? I have no idea. I only charged her the price I paid, $2.39 per yard, so I didn't feel too badly. ;)

I find that I can successfully use ponte in patterns that call for wovens or stretch wovens. It travels, and washes, well, except in those cases when you have the pilling type.

Unrelated to Sewing: Music

Have you heard of the music group, Walk off the Earth? Very fun musicians and performance artists, they became well known when their cover of Goyte's song Someone That I Used to Know went viral on youtube:

I just love the bearded dude!

I also love the instrument switching they do:

And here:

They sometimes play unusual instruments (they now have more money for production):

They have a lot more videos on youtube and I spent several insomniac hours watching them. Yes, a bit obsessed. In fact, I plan to create a Pandora stream around these guys. ;)

I bought tickets to see them on their upcoming tour. I'm taking DD1 and DD2 (who also plays several instruments, such as piano and ukulele). These impressive musicians write their own music as well as perform covers. They are performing in a small venue - an SF club - and I hear that their shows are visually interesting and include audience involvement. Plus, the tickets were dirt cheap!

Au Bonheur Pants with Seaming and GIVEAWAY

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I wanted to thank everyone for their enthusiastic response to my FBA in Knits post. I tried something new this time. I responded to every comment. I am curious. Did you like that? Or did you not care? It felt a little weird to see so many of my own comments - a little self indulgent, like maybe I was trying to inflate the number of responses. Let me know what you think, because I'm not sure that I would do that again.

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Let me tell you the story about this pattern. I didn't see it's potential and buy it before Au Bonheurs went out of business last August. Several months later, when Luz Clara spent two weeks in Paris, she visited the store that sells Au Bonheur patterns and found they had some left in their drawers. She very kindly offered to look for any I wanted, but I still didn't realize I wanted this pattern. Instead, I asked her to look for a top pattern, which she found and brought back. Thanks again, Luz Clara!

After Luz Clara returned from Paris, and after I had made the Au Bonheur jeans, I realized I wanted this pattern. However, I knew no one in Paris and none of my stateside friends had purchased it either. I thought, oh well, maybe it will make its way to me some day.

Fast forward to a few months ago. One of my sewing pals, Lynn CC (of the Koos scarf), wanted the jeans pattern and did have a friend living in France. She asked this friend to visit the store, sometime before Christmas, and try to locate the jeans pattern. This friend couldn't find the jeans pattern, but found "another pattern with interesting seaming" and sent it back to the US. When Lynn told me this, I was holding my breath, hoping it would be the pattern — Lynn had no idea until it arrived. It was! She very kindly let me trace off my size at our recent retreat. Thanks so much, Lynn!

This is an interesting design. It has back pockets, with a flap. The "circle" you see on the right hip is not a pocket. It's an inset circle. They sewed a button into the middle of it as a decorative detail. It features jodhpurs-like insets on the inside leg, front and back. It has a waist flap, which I immediately knew I would not use. It has a fly front zipper, with cool button flap on top. (I love this feature, but left it off my test pants.) It has a contoured waistband.

I traced off a size 42. The same size I used (that fit so well) in the jeans pattern. I did made a few changes: I used a rectangular waistband with elastic. I left off the zipper, back pockets, and button flap front. Since I didn't use the button flap front, I left off the decorative button on the inset circle. The pants are designed for a woven, but I used a stretch woven. In fact, this is a wool-blend, washable, stretch woven from Fabrix that I have now used for 3 or 4 pair of pants. This fabulous fabric cost me $3 per yard and is perfect for pattern testing. Surprisingly, I did not have to increase the waist or shorten the leg.

The most interesting detail is the inset circle. This immediately reminded me of the Holey Moley technique that Marcy Tilton shows in her Inspiration Paris CD. This is one of my favorite Marcy CDs, so I popped the video in my Mac to review. I did use her technique, very successfully. Twice! (Yes, I had a little oopsie.)

Look at the beauteous circle! (OK, it's more of an oval.) But, isn't it beauteous?!! But... WAIT! Oh no! I sewed the two fronts together! And cut a circle out of the seam. Pfffft. At least I had more fabric and could recut the fronts.

I do like these pants. I think the crotch fit could be tweaked a bit, and the leg is rather wide, but I plan to wear these for awhile before I decide if I will make them again as-is. If I do, I plan to use a contrasting topstitching thread to show up the details, and also to include the button flap.

GIVEAWAY!

Now we come to the giveaway! This is another one of those ironic coincidences. Just last week a friend sent me a generous box of goodies. In the package, she included the Inspiration Paris CD! Turns out she had an extra and thought I might like it.

Since I already have one, I'm offering it as a giveaway. (I first obtained her permission.) The inset circle technique is a good one, but I also often refer to the included video on sewing a separating zipper in a lined jacket. There is also an interesting video on how Marcy packs when she goes to Paris.

If you would like this CD, leave a comment on this post. If you post anonymously, make sure to include identifying information of some kind. I'll generate a random number and post the winner sometime next week. This drawing is open to anyone, including my international sewing sisters. :)

If you want to leave a comment, but are not interested in the CD, that's fine - just mention that in the comment.

Another thing I wanted to mention. I never had trouble watching the videos on this CD when I was using the Leopard operating system on my Mac. However, when I tried to watch it on Lion, it would not play the videos, though I could view the rest of the material. To workaround this problem, I copied the PDF file to my hard drive and was able to watch it there — the videos are embedded in the PDF file. I talked to Marcy and David Page Coffin, and it seems that I might be an anomaly. I believe the problem is with Adobe Reader and not the CD itself, but I wanted to mention the workaround in case you experience this.