Super summer Simplicity separates

Do you do a closet exchange when the weather changes?  We always did that in my family when I was small and the habit remains. This week I took down boxes filled with shorts and summer tees and gladly packed up the wool sweaters.  As I was hanging up some summer shirts I came across this one which I made last year and have never worn. At the time I really didn't like it much but I can't recall why, it seems perfectly nice now.

Or perhaps I am just happy to wear a little cotton blouse, denim skirt and some sandals. Probably so. The pattern for the top is Simplicity 2339 Amazing Fit pattern which I previously made here in blue silk charmeuse. This version in cotton lawn looks totally different and in fact neither version looks much like the pattern drawing. On the first one I converted the front to have a hidden buttonhole placket which is very nice feature on a fine silk blouse. 

For this version in cotton lawn I also eliminated the sewn-on buttonhole placket to create a ? faux ? placket.  I am not sure if this has a name, you see it sometimes on high end women's shirts and blouses. It is a good way to save cutting out that long piece, it adds no bulk, the interfacing is hidden and the inside has a beautiful clean finish. With a little math it is not difficult, I will do a follow up post on how to do using fabric that is easier to see than this black print.

The skirt is Simplicity 2152 in black stretch denim which I blogged here.  This is a great skirt pattern and I wear it a lot as it is great for running errands with nice pockets to store all kinds of notes, scraps, phone, etc. 

In the background behind my elbow you can see one of the foxglove plants. I bought a 6-pack of tiny plants last year and had a few flowers but this spring they are fantastic. The one shown below is about 4 feet tall now.  By the way in the top photo I am standing in front of the very large apple tree, right below the bee colony. Do you think I am brave?  Actually they could care less about people since they are so busy with the lemon trees...at least for the time being.

Happy Spring Sewing,  Beth

Coat Refashion: preserving the pockets

For at least a year I have been looking at a well-loved coat in my closet that I no longer wear, trying to decide if I should keep or donate. For some reason I couldn't part with it, the color is so nice and it seemed wrong to divest myself of a well-fitting coat.  A few interesting articles about waste in the garment industry and no-scrap cutting plus the push of a contest on Pattern Review gave me just the motivation needed to take scissors to this blue boucle.

So this swing coat became a skirt and one half of a jacket. A skirt with pre-made welt pockets!  If only all welt pockets were this way, ha ha, that would speed up construction considerably. Half a jacket because that was all I could squeeze out of the original coat, so I used some wool plaid in a complementary color I had, which I bought - where else - at an estate sale.  

This little jacket is a Style Arc pattern, the Audrey Jacket. The most recent issue of Threads magazine has an article about mixed materials so it was timely to use the plaid on the jacket although I am not sure it is entirely successful. The skirt is Simplicity 2152 which I previously made here. It is a great skirt pattern, quite easy to fit on the fly and I added a center front seam in order to cut it out from the coat.

Do you want details?  I think you do based on the great comments on my previous posts about the grey Vogue 1143 jacket, comments which I appreciate very much.  Often I see tutorials and think that the info is already available in sewing books but what I have come to realize is that blogs are like example problems in a math class.  You may know the drill but it is really helpful to see a technique applied in multiple ways.  Or am I overthinking it?  Let me know.  In any case, I took photos of this process so here you are, a look at the "vintage" inside and outside of this coat. 

The pattern (Burda - maybe one of the few Burdas I have ever made) had a stand collar and a clever and easy to make hidden buttonhole placket, one of those details I really like. Here you can see the lining, it used to be the matching blue but has faded to a streaky watercolor-ish lilac now.  

And that very re-usable welt pocket.  That was definitely going to make an appearance on the skirt and it was actually easier to incorporate it than to try and cut around it.  Here is the pattern envelope, which is long gone from my files but I found this image on the Vintage Patterns Wiki after searching on Etsy for Burda swing coat pattern. I am constantly amazed at what I find on Etsy with simple searches.  




I am crazy about this new skirt, perfect for winter but I am still on the fence about the jacket. As designed the collar is a bit high so I have not put in the buttonholes, still thinking about reducing the height of it. Also I don't really plan to wear them together, might be a bit too much.
Next post: some details on construction for the skirt and the jacket plus a better look at my lovely pre-made pockets :)  Can you tell how excited I was to reuse those pockets? 
Happy sewing, Beth

Actually made some separates!

When it comes to dresses or tailored items I have no end of inspiration and ideas but as for separates - I rarely sew them.  And yet I look in my closet for something to wear.  I am trying to remedy that lately, a recent project was this shirt and I am about ready to use some blue silk charmeuse on a long sleeve shirt, hopefully before December is over.  But in the meantime I did make this knit top and denim skirt.  According to my photographer, I am a blinker - so this photo was the best of the bunch.

The top is the ubiquitous Jalie scarf-collar top, and I do feel that as usual I am the last person in the sewing universe to make a popular pattern.  Fabric is a rayon knit from Stone Mountain in Berkeley which I bought on a rainy Sunday shopping excursion with Jean of JKaori Designs. Not sure I will make that top again, the tie is a bit flip-floppy for me and it is kind of distinctive.  However the Jalie pattern fits well and I can see using it as a starting point for other tops.

The skirt is black denim with maybe 4% lycra which I am starting to think is too much stretch. Plus I have my hands in the pockets, creating some creases across the front which are really not there. I used Simplicity 2152 but the pockets are nothing like the pattern where the pockets are sewn on the outside of the skirt, albeit into the seams.   
I wanted the pockets to be inside the side fronts, plus I eliminated the pocket trim.  
Here is a closer look at the pockets.  As it turned out the pocket placement is much higher and nearer the waistband than on the original pattern design.

For the inside of the waistband I used a different fabric, I wanted something less bulky than the denim but not slippery, so that it would stay on the waist.  I have always found that skirts lined all the way to the waistband have an annoying tendency to rotate around and then my center front is somewhere on the side.  Or maybe that is just me? But to counter that I used this cotton fabric scrap and then lined the skirt portion in satin, as I wanted to be able to wear tights in the winter and I don't like it when the denim sticks to tights.  Whew, that is a lot of thinking about the inside of a skirt.  Oh well, the fun of sewing, you can do whatever you want! 

As evidenced when I made this dress last year - with the mix and match lining.

I have a feeling I will probably wear this skirt a lot more in the summer than now. . . is it spring yet?   And see in the first photo - we do get some autumn color here in CA.  

Happy Fall Sewing, Beth

McCall's 6513 knit top in turquoise Ikat with bonus skirt

This fabric has been on my shelf for maybe two years? Turns out having this blog is handy for remembering things, I did a quick search and see that I bought in in March of 2012 at Stone Mountain in Berkeley. So for the past three summers it has been saying "pick me, pick me!" and I finally did. I love this fabric, a super soft rayon knit that includes turquoise and white, one of my favorite color combos.

For these photos I was standing in the shade but it was very bright so perhaps the details are a bit lost. It is actually a top and a skirt: pattern repeat time again. The pattern is  McCall's 6513 which I have used previously here and here. Plus I had enough fabric to make a very simple pull-on elastic waist skirt,



I have found this to be a really good wrap top pattern although when I first made it I start out with my usual 12 and it was too large so had to cut it down considerably. At the time I didn't go back to adjust my pattern, darn it. So lots of basting and adjusting which is thankfully quite easy with a knit like this. Interestingly I start with 12 in most things which work out fine but in knits they are always too big so I am going to see what happens with a 10 as the starting point next time.

Originally I bought this fabric planning to make a dress but a top is way more useful. Like this, with my trusty black denim skirt (Simplicity 2152).



OK, my hair is not red - what is going on in this picture? Also doing a rooster thing on top. Anyone else have crazy hair on vacation - and could not care less . . .that's my island attitude :)
But I do like this top with skirts, or shorts.

There was no planning in the pattern placement as I had barely enough fabric to squeeze out that skirt. Which I wanted to be slightly flared, not a circle skirt, but just not a straight skirt. I even had to use pieced together scraps to make the inside of the waistband. Which was good for an unintentionally zero-waste project! By happy accident (due to the width of the pattern piece and the print repeat) the back looks symmetrical which I like. Or at least doesn't bug by being off to one side.



Here's the pattern for the top. I swear this winter I am going to make the other version, with the slightly higher draped neckline. In a smaller size to start. Although it is so similar to my favorite knit top, New Look 6150.




This was not my most beautiful sewing, but really, who looks closely at the hem of a print knit skirt - not me. Just a turn and stitch. But this image gives the best representation of the color. The dark is actually a navy blue but it looks like black so this top can do double duty with either. 

Hurray for using a great fabric that has been sitting on my shelf for too long. I don't think I have bought anything since spring (when I bought the seersucker for my jacket). Plus when I was rummaging through the stash I found two wools (purchased at garage sales) which I had forgotten all about. Which are fantastic - so fall sewing has planned itself. 

But fall is NOT here yet - at least for me. 

Did I say fall - no I didn't but as you can see by my fooling around in this photo below I almost had to change before dinner so as not to be sopping wet. Actually it would have been a good laugh for everyone. 

Let's hang on to summer for a few more weeks, can we?

Aloha, Beth

Coat Refashion part 2: making the skirt

If you have been reading this blog then you know that bright blue is one of my favorite colors so the idea to take a favorite wool coat and refashion into some new pieces was very appealing. Originally made with a Burda pattern, my wool boucle coat was well worn in its early years but had dropped out of the regular wardrobe rotation long ago, probably due to the linebacker style shoulder pads and just being displaced by something more recent.  Not to mention that I don't exactly live in an artic zone - so coat wearing days are not that frequent.
As mentioned in the previous post, doing a bit of analysis on the coat showed that it had more than enough fabric to make a skirt and with some judicious pattern piece placement (say that three times fast) I could squeeze out part of a jacket too. This skirt became all about the pockets since they were pre-made.  Didn't notice when I took this photo but it is not quite straight on center, but you can better see the pocket welts which are on both side front sections. Pattern is Simplicity 2152. This version has a center front seam because I could not find a wide piece to use for the center panel, so I cut that on the center back seam.  Call it a design detail.

To review, here is what I started with, front and back of this coat. Lots of fabric there. I did find one little hole up by the neck, drat those moths, but I repaired it with some fusible on the wrong side of the fabric. 

         
This weird looking image is the coat laid out on the floor after the sleeves had been removed. Which I did using the razor blade method. Very fast and perfect for this fuzzy fabric. I have only seen one other sewing blogger use this method, the very talented Bunny of La Sewista.  I would say practice and chose your battles carefully if you want to go that route. I wield a straight blade like you use in a wallpaper scraper.

The inside of the skirt once it is assembled, featuring those pre-made pockets.

Skirt side view, plus the reused coat lining. Strange fading on that lining fabric, it almost looked dyed that way but it was just how it was after being stashed away for a long while.  Looks like I need to finish stitching it down along the zip. Which is a navy invisible zip - because that's what I had in the zipper box.  A no new notions garment! With the fuzzy boucle it really does disappear. You can see the waist facing is blue cotton, I like the waistband area to be cotton so it doesn't twirl around as you wear it. 

                 
Shown on the left, I used portions of the sleeves to make the skirt waist band pieces. The remaining sleeve fabric went to make the side panels for the Style Art jacket . . .more on that to follow. When I have a waistband or facing and I want to cut it out not using a fold I just make a tracing and tape it to the original piece as I have done here. Very handy if you are a fabric miser like I am and trying to use less than the suggested fabric requirement - which I generally treat as only a suggestion.


One last step is the hem. I did put the bottom of the skirt at the jacket hem in case there was a mark or line which actually disappeared with some steaming (thank you nice quality wool fabric!) but I left the original interfacing from the coat hem there to give the skirt hem some shaping and softness. I just saw a comment from Trena (The Slapdash Sewist) on my grey jacket sleeve hemming post and she asked if there were any problems pulling out the tracing thread once the fusible is ironed on. That is more an issue with tailors tacks - those pesky threads can be stubborn to pull out but these thread traces on hems are very light, mostly on the right side of the garment and I just yank them out. If it lifts up the fusible a bit when it gets pressed again the glue remelts and it seems fine. I cut a bias strip from some remaining lining and put a binding on the hem, kind of a thick one but I wanted as little as possible of that potentially itchy fabric getting near me. The white is the fusible armo weft that was on the original coat hem.

I am really happy with my new blue skirt, call me crazy but this afternoon I bought some blue tights to go with.  Will try to take some photos tomorrow.

Perhaps it is time for a little moratoriam on blue in my wardrobe?  I do have some really weird blue multi-color sweater knit fabric I found at where else - the thrift store which is a perfect match but no rush on that.  How about magenta? I have a small piece of wool and plan to remake the most wearable skirt in the world (Vogue 1247).

Now that I have finished this skirt I see refashioning possibilities everywhere, no old coat or dress is safe so I may be revisiting some more of my long abandoned coats, who knows?

Happy refashioning, Beth

Lekala T-shirt pattern 4284

There is a lot of coincidence and overlap in the sewing world, particularly when we are all shopping for fabrics on the same websites or stalking the newly released patterns. This week I saw my friend Shams write about her experiences with Lekala patterns, a Russian-based pattern company that creates an email pattern based on your specific measurements. Shams didn't have success with the jacket pattern she chose however she did use a pants pattern previously and it worked for her.

I have made one other Lekala pattern (a dress, blogged here) which I thought was very good and last month I saw a review of this top so decided to give them a try again.  They have a lot of very cute tops plus printing a pdf pattern for a top is fairly minimal so it's not too bothersome. So I happened to finish sewing this just a few days before I saw Shams' post.

Not very exciting, but a very nice fit in the shoulders and neckline, which is the number one place I have to alter. Most patterns are too big for me there.   Scroll down, because as they say on TV, "But wait, there's more!"

Kind of cute, huh?  Do you recognize this fabric? It is what I used for my shingle dress, Vogue 8904.  A cotton/spandex knit jersey from Girl Charlee. Great for t-shirt testing.  By the way, the skirt is Simplicity 2152, blogged here, although it was an a-line style and one day I thought it was sticking out a bit too wing-y on the side seams so I made it much more of a straight style. Now I think it is much better plus it has great pockets. Also I removed the lining because it was too hot in the summer, and then I resewed it back in this winter so I could wear tights. And now it is out again :) Next winter I just have to remember where I stash it!
Eek, who likes to look at their backside? not me. Not the back of my head, as I have a crazy cowlick which normally makes the back of my hair resemble a 5 year old boy who just awoke from a nap. Serious stick-out parts. And yet I have short hair...Not the most distressing dilemma in the world but it is the goofy little things that can really bug, right?

This pattern is Lekala 4284 which they call "Blouson with Decorative Back" and it does call for a knit. Notice those darts? That was the only change I made, eliminated the darts by easing that section into the back. Which worked out fine. This stripe is optical illusion-y enough without another seam in that area.

So all in all, I am quite happy with the fit. In her post Shams discusses the size options she chose and how they worked out. I input only the basic measurements (bust, underbust, waist and hip) and did not add any specs on the 3rd section (adjustments where you can specify things like shoulder width, bust length etc) I didn't use any of those other specs which I made the dress either. I am just happy that I can start with a pattern where the circumference is right from the beginning. For Vogue or other patterns I usually start with a size 12, and possible narrow the neckline and then widen a the hip. 

The price for Lekala can't be beat, around $ 2.50 and you can use PayPal which I like for small purchases. I ordered the pattern on a Saturday afternoon and it was in my email in less than 2 hours. Amazing for a customized pattern. 

This top is a bit big at the hip but that is an easy adjustment and I don't like things to be too form fitting so it is fine with me. 

This one really is a test version, I think in a more interesting fabric, or a two-color version it would be really cute. The opening in the back hits at just the right place, no straps showing. 

This is going in the repeat file, there will be another one. The Girl Charlee website is calling to me (always!)

One more for the road.  This is my TGIF pose.  Although the camera did strange things here so kind of washed out. How do you like my new coral clogs, which I ordered in the midst of winter after a who knows why late-night search session on Ebay looking for clog sandals. And these were $ 30 instead of the usual $ 130 for Troentorps, they are a bit wonky, the wood color and strap width are not matching exactly but who will notice?
The hydrangea in the corner is the first to bloom, next to the pathetic grape that has never produced anything but leaves. However I have decided it is very pretty so it is staying for now.

Happy end of May sewing,  Beth

A tale of two jackets

Today we have a tale of two jackets. One I made at the end of last summer and put away, due to what seemed like a serious error, but it might be redeemed on closer inspection. (Or time in the magic closet? a well-used and very apt phrase). The other is just recently completed, using a pattern repeat and while I think it will have a place in the rotation, it might not be quite the home run that the first version of this pattern turned out to be.  So you can be the judge, shall either of these be benched or make it to the starting lineup?  Enough baseball metaphors yet? Now I am determined to think of some others.

At the top of the order is my pattern repeat, the Jacket Express. This is a jacket pattern from Islander patterns that is included in the Craftsy Class: Sew Better, Sew Faster: Garment Industry Secrets.



You may recall I made this previously, here is a link to that post which has a lot of info on making this jacket.  This is a pattern that is included in the Craftsy Class: Sew Better, Sew Faster: Garment Industry Secrets. It is from Islander Patterns. I made it from a red denim that I found somewhere and it turned out to be something I wear ALL the time, as it helps to avoid the dreaded denim jumpsuit look (blue denim jeans + denim jacket = bad 80's music video or something equally hideous). The red in this jacket is just washed out enough to make it a very versatile neutral.



Also hideous, the versions on the pattern packaging. Anyway - if you are interested in the sewing details  - and there are quite a few  - in my previous post, here is the link.  Also I wrote a second post reviewing the Craftsy class which has other sewing details and some more pictures so here is that link.

Sometimes I just decide to swing away and make something even though I have a zillion other things I could be doing. But this jacket was on my mind, as I am going to make a similar jacket for my mom, from that pineapple denim I bought from Girl Charlee (visible in this post). So I made a test version in her size of this Islander jacket. And she didn't like the way it fit and felt. So I tried to adjust it but wasn't getting anywhere. Then she pulled a cute denim jacket out of her closet and said "I like everything about this one, can't you just make it exactly like this?" Yeeessss I can....by spending a good chunk of time (it takes me about 2 hours) making a copy pattern, then sewing up a test version just to check.  So that is done and soon I will start on her jacket. But meanwhile, back to mine. I wanted to try it out in stretch woven. This pattern and the instructor are VERY specific, in fact adamant - insistent - demanding that it be made in a regular woven. So phooey with that. Stretch is the way to go. I love stretch wovens such as cotton sateen or wool with lycra (although I am not a fan of ponte knits, although I guess they are in fact, knits! but they seem like wovens to the touch. I digress)  So I had this rather thick cotton sateen that was never going to be a dress as it is just slightly too heavy so perfect for a jacket. And you know I cannot resist that color.



It looks a bit rumply here but quite wearable. And pointless to iron (when finished) since it is cotton with lycra, so just go where the fabric takes you. Pressing as you sew - that is quite necessary. After all that topstitching will not be in the right place without nicely pressed seams.

Side view. All in all I consider this turned out well, maybe not one of my home runs but perhaps a good double or RBI. It was easier to sew in the non-stretch denim and that pressed perfectly, was a bit easier to topstitch but all in all this is done. You can see I left off the buttons on the upper pockets. Gave it just a little too much of the chest headlight effect. I did narrow this version at the side seams by taking it in at the waist, about 1 inch on each side, it seemed to need a more fitted look than the red one.



And here is a little warning, check your work before proceeding to the next step. This jacket is a topstitching bonanza, and if you do the topstitching on one sleeve but not the other and sew them both then you will have to rumple up the sleeve and squish all that fabric under the presser foot in order to do it. NOT my most favorite thing to do. Gnashing of teeth at this point. Oh well. Got it done. Who knows what I am talking about?



Now for Jacket # 2. Almost in the same color, but not quite. Also in stretch although this one is denim. Fabric I bought at Piedmont fabrics maybe 3 years ago, not sure why. I was with a friend. Peer pressure :)



Not bad but this is the one with the problem. I freely admit that this is a case of hasty sewing. Actually, hasty cutting. Last summer I thought I would squeeze out this jacket just before vacation, easy peasy, right? Using my self-made pattern blogged about here.  And it would have been perfect, but for one little problem. I put the stretch going up and down instead of around the body. And after I had it about 80% cut out, I thought "this seems strange" and then snap! realized and I was SO mad. So I shoved the pattern pieces in a bin and left on vacay. Returned and sewed it up as I don't like unfinished stuff hanging around. It is really cute but slightly uncomfortable. Restrictive in the shoulders and arms. Fine if I walk around with perfect posture but not so great for actual living. Although this denim is stretchy enough that even though the stretch goes up and down it does give a little with movement. Can you tell that it is starting to grow on me?



Looking at this picture I think the buttons are slightly in the wrong spots or sewn on too tightly but I will never button it up so screw it, they are staying that way. Also the upper pockets are not there, I just put the flaps. The lower pockets are real, and I did put some interfacing as they are welt pockets under the flaps so need a bit of help.



Even though these two jackets are similar in color I can see they are quite different in style so I will probably wear the first one with denim skirts or pants and the second one might be nice with a dress. For me in the summer a jacket like this is just something to carry along in case the air conditioning is overwhelming (which to me it always is).

Now to compare and contrast:  Jacket Express



and denim jacket pattern made by me.



That denim skirt I am wearing in all the pictures is Simplicity 2152 which I wear all the time in the summer. The knit top is Simplicity 1916 pictured here.

So maybe I have scored a run or two with these jackets. And you know I have many, many, many items in my wardrobe that complement these colors so no problems there!

Perhaps a quick palate cleanser is in order, a knit top or pair of shorts, since summer has tentatively arrived here (finally - such a weird spring).  Something I can call a home run.

In any case, no more jackets for me for a while.  Ok, how many baseball references did you count? I think eight. For any overseas readers - yes, baseball and American english, kind of unintelligible, I know. My European friends who have lived here always remark on this very confusing habit we have of using baseball metaphors in so many conversations. Don't worry - soccer is taking over the world (or has done) and we will have to learn all the soccer references soon enough.

Happy weekend sewing, Beth

Today's garden photo is the foxgloves which live at the shady edge of the garden. You can just see them in the first photo above. You don't see them very often here in my hot locale but they seem so cottage-garden to me and I am happy I found a spot for them under the pink jasmine. Plus they seems to come back 2nd and 3rd years so you know I like that - plant repeats and pattern repeats