Stretch Corduroy for the Home (and Van)

Posted on 1 December 2015 by Jan

Bac 2016-07-22 (1) k in June, I got a really good deal on some stretch corduroy fabric at Minerva Fabrics. I bought 7 metres, without giving any thought to what I might use it for. It arrived and I immediately regretted it as I stashed it away – it took up loads of space and I had no idea what I’d do with it. Well, I needn’t have worried…

The first project was a van curtain, using the brown fabric. In the summer, we bought a new (to us) van, with the main purpose of transporting our band equipment to gigs. This second-hand van had been kept very clean in the back, and so we have also been using it for autumn picnics (cheese and pickle sandwiches and a flask of tea, snuggled under a blanket in the back, gazing out over the Yorkshire countryside, after a brisk walk through the fallen leaves). We also have plans to use it for camping when the weather gets better next summer, so I took one the pieces of fabric I bought to make a hefty, light obscuring curtain to go behind the seats. It worked perfectly, blocking out the van contents from the outside and creating a homely feel inside.

The second project was a set of three duvet bags using the cream with brown squiggles fabric – not to be confused with duvet covers. We don’t have a spare room with a bed in, as we use our two spare bedrooms for our hobbies. We have futons we can use in the music room and sewing room, and a sofa bed in our living room, but the spare bedding is stored in heavy duty garden waste bags on top of the wardrobes in our bedroom. These bags tend to tear when the bedding is removed and when it’s squeezed back in, and also adds an unpleasant plastic smell. After our last visitors, Jez was squeezing the freshly washed bedding back into one of the bags and it split completely down one side. He mused that it would be much easier if we had fabric bags that wouldn’t split – could I make some? Well, the stretch corduroy was just the fabric for the job. I made up three circular based bags with draw strings to hold covered duvets, pillows and bottom sheets for each of the beds. They look much more attractive on top of our wardrobes too.

The third project for this versatile fabric is yet to be made up. I’ll be using it to create a (debatably) wearable toile for the Ginger Jeans pattern – cream cord with olive green
flowers / leaves and bright yellow squiggles, for those crazy days.

(This is another of my back dated posts – I’m hoping to post in a more timely way in future.)

Do you ever buy fabric because it’s a bargain, when you have no idea what you’ll use it for?

Replacement PJ Bottoms

Posted on 1 November 2015 by Jan

I find that my pyjama tops last longer than my bottoms and, in the past, I’ve thrown out perfectly good tops, just because my bottoms are no longer wearable. In October, I had two pairs of PJ bottoms wear out. I realised that I could use the ‘Margot Pyjamas’ pattern from the ‘Love at First Stitch’ book, by Tilly Walnes of Tilly and the Buttons, to quickly replace them.

The first, and only, pair of Margot PJs I’d sewn were made with woven fabric, and although they are very comfy, I find stretch PJs much more comfortable. I bought some pink & white stripe and some black & white check jersey fabric, and very quickly had them made up using my overlocker and twin needles on my sewing machine. These were a quick, practical make and I’m really pleased with the results.

(As this is a post-dated blog entry, these PJs have since worn out with constant wear and I don’t have any photos, so here is a photo of the fabrics. That’ll teach me to put off my blogging for nine(!) months.)

Have you extended the life of a matching set by replacing the worn out parts?

Pink Paisley-ish Gypsy Top/Dress

Posted on 11 October 2015 by Jan

Last month I took advantage of being between contracts to catch up on all of my sewing blog posts. If you’re a subscriber, apologies for the number of emails you received. Now that I’m up to date, and I’ve started a new contract, I’ll be posting much less frequently.

I also used last month’s free time to clear out my wardrobe and make a plan for what I really need. I’ve been sewing haphazardly until now, which led to the Walkaway Dress I’m not sure I’ll ever get a chance to wear. With this plan, I’m hoping that I’ll meet my goal of wearing 100% me-mades during May 2016 (excluding underwear), as well as reducing my fabric stash.

IMG_7013a My first planned item was Burda Young 6950 (view A), using a pink paisley-ish fabric from my stash. I need more tops that I can wear when I go out, but that feel comfortable. I found the gypsy tops that I made recently were flattering, so this seemed like a good option. I made the longer version for more coverage, and this length will probably work well for me as a dress too.

I decided to take things more slowly than usual, to try to improve the quality of my end garment and avoid silly mistakes. I still managed to sew the top portion to the bottom inside out (I’m getting pretty good at unpicking), but other than that, it came together nicely and I’m really pleased with the results.

I’d be happy to wear this top/dress with jeans or leggings, and perhaps even as a dress with tights, as I kept it nice and long. I should get plenty of wear out of it. I think I’ll be considering this as another TNT pattern, although this is the only one I’ve made and I probably won’t make another for a while. I think I have enough gypsy-style tops for now.

One thing that I’ve started doing while sewing, is listening to podcasts. I find that it helps me to keep my sewing speed down; if I go to fast I can’t hear the podcast. This is especially helpful when I’m getting near the end of the project and I get the urge to rush to finish it. At the moment, I’m working my way through ‘Happier with Gretchen Rubin’ on iTunes, which I would definitely recommend.

My next two projects will probably be PJ bottoms, to replace some that have worn out, even though the tops are still in good condition. I’m not sure when I’ll get time for this though, now I’m back at work. I’ll just keep trying to fit it in where I can.

Black and Red Stripy T-Shirts

Posted on 13 September 2015 by Jan

I have spent a couple of months searching the internet for red and black striped knit fabric – one to one and half inch horizontal stripes – with no success. I wouldn’t have thought it would be such an impossible fabric to find. My last resort was to have it specially printed, although this seemed like a lot of work to go to for such a simple pattern.

T-Shirt 1 I started with ‘Spoonflower’ which appears to be the front runner for printing your own fabrics. It was simple enough to create the design and upload it, but I had to buy 2 yards, as I needed just over 1 metre for the t-shirt and you have to buy to the nearest full yard. Then there was international postage costs to the UK, and I was hit with a tax charge when I picked it up at the sorting office. They were unable to deliver it directly due to this additional charge. This is definitely the most expensive fabric I had ever bought. All included it came to approx. £60. The fabric was a thin jersey, but it was okay for the t-shirt. The red came out a little brighter than I expected, but that’s hard to account for without ordering colour samples first.

T-shirt 2 After receiving this fabric and needing to pay the extra tax charge, I thought I’d look into UK based alternatives. I tried out ‘Bags of Love’ and I was very impressed. It took me a little time to figure out how to upload and order the fabric I wanted, but you can order an exact size of fabric required (length and width), which helps to keep the costs down. I ordered the medium weight jersey and it was a lovely fabric. From my experience with the colours of the Spoonflower fabric I darkened the red stripe, and it came out exactly as I wanted. The cost of fabric and delivery came to approx. £45, so it was quite a lot cheaper than Spoonflower. Since I’d ordered the exact size of fabric I wanted, there were no fabric remnants left, which was great. I’d only end up hoarding them, and what can you do with small amounts of jersey fabric?

Here are photos of the two t-shirts made using Simplicity 2116 again, like the Black and Beige T-Shirt. The construction was very similar to the first one, except this time I made sure I put the neck band in the right way around first time. Jez and I are very happy with both t-shirts and I’ll definitely use ‘Bags of Love’ should I need/want fabric printing again.

Pink Scottie Dog Walkaway Dress

Posted on 8 September 2015 by Jan

I am a member of the Minerva Crafts ‘Craft Club’ and each month they send through a discount voucher for a particular item in their online shop. One of these was for the ‘Walkaway Dress’ (aka Butterick 4790) as made famous on the last Great British Sewing Bee. I love 1950s fashion and so I thought I’d give it a go.

Walk Away Dress A ridiculous amount of fabric and black biased binding later I had a 1950s walkaway dress ready for trying on. Due to the amount of fabric needed it just wasn’t feasible to made a toile, but with hindsight I should have made the bodice at least.

When I tried on the dress I found that the armholes gaped indecently and the bodice was too long. The press studs on the front wouldn’t hold closed and the front part of the skirt had a tendency to ride up in just the few minutes I was wearing it. I hated it. I put it to one side and got on with other projects, not sure if I would come back to it.

A few weeks later, I was feeling ready to look at the walkaway dress again. I added in another dart to each side of the bodice and exchanged the fake buttons and press studs for real buttons and button holes. I then hemmed the bottom of the dress to finish it off. I’m still not feeling too happy with it, although it is now wearable, but I think that’s partly to do with the ordeal of making it and that I don’t wear dresses or skirts very often. Perhaps I just need to get used to it. I do think the shape is flattering though, showing that I have a waist, so I may see if there are other similar patterns I can try.

I’ll see if time makes me feel any warmer towards it, but I can’t imagine making another one. I have learnt a lesson about toiles for bodices though. I think I was simply very lucky with the fit of the first blouse pattern I made.

Pirate Tote Bag

Posted on 28 August 2015 by Jan

Bag1 Before I started making clothes, I used to make tote bags. They were a simple design that was easy to repeat and to customise with all kinds of applique, some simpler than others – like my current music book bag, which is a design cut from a favorite worn out t-shirt. I use this bag to carry around all my ukulele music books, many of them created by my boyfriend (such as ‘Ukulele! – The Strummers Guide‘ available on Lulu and Amazon. All profits go to Save the Children). My boyfriend asked if I could make him a manly version of this bag, so he can carry around his books too.

I started with the red twill that was left over from his Monkee’s shirt and added a black and white musical note lining. I hadn’t mad one of these bags for a while so it took a little longer than it used to, but it was soon complete …then I noticed that the straps were sewn in the wrong way round! I really do need to take a little more care.

Bag 2 Quite understandably, my boyfriend asked if I could turn them around, and while I had the lining detached I was able to add an applique design. Jez drew a skull and cross bones pattern, which I cut it out of the red twill and sewed onto a square of the musical fabric ready to attach to the bag.

It worked out really well in the end and I have plans to make another bag with a ukulele design on, to hold the books we have for sale.

Two More Gypsy Tops

Posted on 22 August 2015 by Jan

After my success with my Green Paisley Gypsy Top, I decided to make two more using the Butterick B4684 pattern. Again, I used view A, with the elastic under the bust as in view D, and finding the position of the elastic was a doddle with my method of turning it inside out and drawing on it. Perfect!

B&W Gypsy Top For the Black and White Gypsy Top, I used some fabric from B&M Fabrics on Leeds Kirkgate market. I think this is where much of my stash fabric has come from, but now I’ve signed up to their Facebook page I can also see when they get new fabric in. There is a great selection in the market and in their new shop on the outside of the market building. They are really friendly and very happy to help. I managed to avoid my problems last time hemming around a curve by using some biased binding along the bottom edge. It was much easier and gave a much better finish.

I tried to make this in one day, but I ran out of black lace and had to order more from Minerva Crafts. It arrived quickly though, so I was able to finish it within the week.

Purple Gypsy Top The Purple Gingham Gypsy Top was made to wear instead of my several RTW plaid shirts when playing with my band ‘The Skiffle Skunks’. It has a nice country feel and is comfortable to wear while playing and singing. I didn’t have any appropriate biased binding to use, so I did a scrappy hem on the bottom edge. It looks okay from the outside, but I know there is a mess inside. Next time I make this top, I might use it as a good reason to try making my own biased binding for the first time.

I think that there will be more of these TNT patterns in my future, especially for gigging in.

Black and Beige Stripy T-Shirt

Posted on 7 August 2015 by Jan

B&W T-shirt After my success with his Monkee’s shirt, my boyfriend asked if I could make him a stripy t-shirt. He’s quite particular about his stripes and hasn’t been able to find any t-shirts he likes for a while.

I wasn’t sure about making something as classic as a t-shirt, but thought I’d give it a go. I ordered some black and beige stripy knit fabric from Minerva Crafts and I was very pleased with the feel of it when it arrived. The pattern I picked for this was actually a pyjama top pattern which looked like it would be simple to make (Simplicity 2116).

The cutting out took quite a while as I tried to make sure that the stripes matched on the folded fabric. The stripe matching along the sides worked out well in the end – not perfect, but good enough.

The big problem I had was with the ribbed collar. I used my overlocker for all the seams including the collar, and as I was sewing it felt like it was going in beautifully. I’d never done this before, but I was following some advice I’d found online about stretching the ribbed fabric as I sewed it in, after lots of pinning to make sure it was evenly distributed around the neckline. As I looked at the completed neck band, which was lying beautifully flat with no puckers, I realised that I’d sewn it in inside out! Bugger! I managed to keep calm and after unpicking it, which took ages with the overlocking, I sewed it in again the other way around. Not quite as good as the first time, but good enough.

In the end, Jez was really pleased with it and has set me the task of finding some red and black fabric to make him a Dennis the Menace style t-shirt (or two).

Green Paisley Gypsy Top

Posted on 5 August 2015 by Jan

Green Gypsy Top Years ago I had a pink paisley gypsy top that I wore until it fell apart. I’ve always wanted another, but I haven’t been able to find one. Now I’m sewing again this seemed like a great idea for a project.

The Butterick B4684 pattern view A, with the elastic under the bust that is in view D, looked like a good place to start. The fabric that I decided to use for the wearable toile is a green paisley pattern from my stash.

I found it a nice relaxing project and loved adding the lace to the neck line using my overlocker. It made it really simple to get a neat finish on the inside. The only problems I had were trying to do a curved hem at the bottom edges and getting the placement of the under bust elastic right. I had to unpick the original channel that I’d sewn in. It took a long time to find the stitches to unpick among the overlock stitch I’d used on the edge of the fabric making up the channel, without damaging the top. I found that the best way to find the correct placement for the new channel, was to put the top on inside out and draw a line with tailor’s chalk where I wanted the elastic to fall. I added a slight upward curve in the centre front to ensure I didn’t have too much bagging in the centre. It worked a treat.

I was really pleased with the finished item and it was definitely wearable. I think I’m well on my way to another TNT pattern.

Me-Made-May 2015

Posted on 31 May 2015 by Jan

After watching Me-Made-May 2014 from the side-lines, I had very good intentions to participate in Me-Made-May 2015. Then, before I knew it, we were half way through May and I hadn’t even considered my pledge.

For anyone who hasn’t heard of Me-Made-May, the official description on its creator’s blog (So Zo What Do You Know?) is “Me-Made-May’15 (#mmmay15 for social media interaction) is a challenge designed to encourage people who sew/knit/crochet/refashion/upcycle garments for themselves to actually wear and love them.” The main types of pledges that people make include:

Wearing at least one (or two) me-made garment each day for the month of May 2015 – some people include jewellery, bags and pyjamas in the count
Wearing at least one handmade item five days a week during the month (or another number of days)
Wearing whole me-made outfits (sometimes even including undies)

Although the challenge is not designed to be about blogging or making new items, some people see it as a good opportunity to pledge specific new makes, finishing off their procrastinated projects, photographing each days outfit, more regular blogging and sorting out their wardrobes. You can find some photos on the Official Flickr Group

Missing this year’s challenge was part of my motivation for re-igniting my blog. I have also decided to use it to document my preparation for MMM16 and a challenge of wearing 100% me-mades during May 2016 (excluding underwear). This will require at least two pairs of jeans, two pairs of trousers, one matching jacket, fourteen new tops, two pairs of pyjamas and a summer coat. Ideally, I’d also like to find some flattering, comfortable patterns for clothes I wouldn’t usually wear, such as a work dress, a work skirt and a casual dress.

Well that should keep me busy for the next year!

How do you decide what to make next? Do you plan ahead or pick and choose on whim?

Vivid Kitty's Fascinating World of Sewing and Stuff