Winter Coat Time - Simplicity 2534 completed

Some speedy sewing has transpired around here and I have finished the child's wool coat I started in this post. Some detailed info there on bound buttonholes if you have a coat or jacket in the works. I am happy to have it done in time for the recipient to wear it for this holiday season, even though I took a detour to make my Little Black Dress.  Hey, I am on a roll these days...I better start with some gift making while the sewing is on a hot streak.

Oh I love this little coat (children's size 6, Simplicity 2534)  and I had to give it a lovely blue lining. The collar and cuffs are from a piece of velvet (luscious quality stuff) I have had for ages. No idea where I bought it and the stuff I see available today is nowhere near the quality.  Maybe next time I go to Britex I will buy a yard of the good stuff, so worth it to have when inspiration strikes. The grey wool I bought at Stone Mountain in Berkeley, a lovely weight of wool and very cashmere feeling. I know - I petted all the cashmeres when I was there. Something on my lifelong sewing list, a cashmere coat.  One of these years.

This pattern does call for cuffs and I made them about 3 inches longer than the finished sleeve length I was going for, that way as my little friend grows a bit the sleeves can be made longer by flipping down the cuffs.  

                                  

I did quilt the bodice portions of the lining with fleece, just to give it some more warmth. Not really tricky, I cut out fleece pieces using the pattern, trimmed away the seam allowance, drew the stitch lines with pencil and stitched away.  On these tiny pattern pieces it took very little time.  The piece on the left has been sewn and on the right you can see my pencil lines.

When I sewed the lining at the hem, I first pressed the lining to get a nice crease, and then pull that back and stitch about 1/2 inch from the crease to get that nice bit of ease that you need in a coat lining.

Real leather knot buttons, because after all that work with the quilting and the buttonholes only the best will do. Actually I am crazy about leather knot buttons, always have been and they may be repetitive but I tend to use them often on jackets and coats for myself.  Classic and if I lose one I can find a replacement.  

As I mentioned this coat is going to a little friend who lives in Seattle but I did want a photo of the coat now, so my friend's daughter was very nice to model it for me and she did a great job. 

Another coat finished - my favorite thing to make. Strange, huh?  but it has been that way for ages, since I made the first one I don't know when. 

Up next, some more knit tops and and a couple of mystery projects.

Plus some planting - I went crazy at Home Depot today with the tulip bulbs which were on super sale. Which is great when you are looking at all the pretty pictures on the package, but they don't grow in the package - so I will be digging some holes this weekend. 

Walking out of the store - here was the view. I had a nice moment with 4 other shoppers who were all stopped in their tracks. Beautiful the way the autumn trees show up against the pink clouds.

Happy December sewing, Beth

Breaking my own rule, the Little Black Dress

Curse you Vogue Patterns! Just when I have put a moratorium on making dresses I was tempted by this  one.  It is Vogue Easy Options 8280, which is their version of the designer Roland Mouret's Galaxy dress. Very popular among celebs and others who can afford $ 2000 for a little something to wear. Certainly that is not me, having neither $ 2K to drop on a dress nor a list of red carpet appearances. Such a pity. I will have to settle for wearing it to some holiday parties.

And double drat. I broke my own rule of not wearing black. A non-color so visually uninteresting, so fade into the background, so blend in with all the other females wearing black dresses at parties. But wait...I am having a bit of an epiphany here.  Black, well deployed can really work. I suppose the same can be said for beige also. Last week I had to laugh because Tasia from Sewaholic mentioned me in her post about her new Cordova Jacket Pattern which she sewed up in beige.  I feel the same way she does about beige - neutrals are just not my thing and she is a fan of the colorful and flowery as well.

However this dress is so, so something - very fun to wear and not difficult to make. I did enter in the Pattern Review Little Black Dress contest - I swear, the last contest for me so I would really like to win! Wouldn't that be ironic... with the wardrobe piece I used to scoff at but now love. So if you are a member surf on over and vote, my PR name is "sunnysewer".

The fabric I used is a cotton sateen that has been in the stack for ages, ordered from Fashion Fabrics club and when it arrived I was surprised to see it had a faint iridescence on the fabric, so not really suitable for things I would use cotton sateen for. But just right for a dressy item. I did lighten these photos a bit since it is so difficult to photograph black and it is looking a bit wrinkly here. Something about the sleeves give me a toreador vibe.
                   

I made a couple of changes with the pattern. The skirt has front hip darts which always bug me and in this slightly stiff fabric never want to lay flat so I actually used the skirt portion of my blue wool vintage McCall's dress which fits well and has cute pleats on the hip instead of darts. This dress needs to be very fitted so I took in the skirt quite a lot. The sleeves are my favorite feature and I think they may reappear on some future dress. In these images you can see the slight shimmer on this fabric.

As I have mentioned in the past, I have a drawerful of vintage goodies which have been passed down from my nana and my Aunt Jo (nana's sister and my first sewing teacher).  This dress seems perfect for some of the sparklies that only see occasional outings...actually I can't remember the last time I did wear any of this stuff, but I swear I have done so.  

These are all rhinestone pieces from the 50's or before.  On the left is a bracelet, and matching earring. I can't find the 2nd earring, sob.  It has to be somewhere in one of my dressers.  On the right are a set of earrings and dress clips.  The dress clips are such a cool item, they have a frame so you can clip them both in and then wear them together as one pin. On the right I am showing the dress clips and matching earrings plus the bracelet.  Lots of sparkle, these old pieces are incredibly well made and comfortable to wear.  

Here is the Vogue Pattern, one of their Easy Options patterns that has more than 40 reviews and looks great on so many.  One of my favorite recent versions was done my pal Amy of SewWell blog when she entered the Tessuti contest.  I LOVE her version. Check it out.  Fabric choice MAKES a dress! 

And now back to my regularly scheduled sewing, finishing the little girl's coat from my previous post. Then onward to some Christmas gifts. It is pouring rain here and I was thinking about planting some tulip bulbs but not today!

Happy rainy day sewing, Beth

P.S. For a very funny take on the original designer version, here is a link to a short UK newspaper article.
P.P.S. my hair is driving me crazy - soooo close to calling for a "please cut my hair today" appointment instead of waiting patiently for it to grow.  Based on comments on one of my previous posts - everyone knows the feeling!

Winter coat time - starting with bound buttonholes

It is winter coat time here, or as much as that happens here in temperate Northern California. Mostly we are wearing our rainboots and watching the weeds sprout after our typical dry summer. But in the Pacific Northwest the chill has arrived. A pretty coat is a necessity for a little girl to go see the Nutcracker Ballet dressed in her holiday outfit. I am making a wool coat for a little friend of mine who lives in Seattle. She is 8 years old and an aspiring seamstress. We conferred on the color and selected charcoal grey for a versatile coat.
I find sewing for children a nice palate cleanser after a stretch of complex fitting such as my recent pants quest. For the most part, it is choose a size and go with childrens patterns, with some adjustment for height. For this coat I decided to do bound buttonholes, they seemed to go with the fabric. I don't really have a rule for choosing bound or stitched buttonholes, often I do a sample of both on the fabric and see how it looks with the buttons. This may seem counterintuitive but I can get a better result for a coat front with bound buttonholes rather than machine worked, with the machine buttonholes there is always the chance that there will be one little pest that is slightly crooked.

Here is quick overview of my steps to making bound buttonholes.

Step 1:  on the fused coat front, draw a buttonhole ladder (I use pencil), and then run thread trace through the lines. Here I used orange thread for contrast on the other side with the grey.  On the right, the coat front with the thread trace showing. I also went over the horizontal button lines with wax tailors chalk which disappears when ironed.

Step 2:  (below on left) pin on the buttonhole strips. I didn't show how to make those here, I fold and press a piece of fabric about 1.5" x 6 inches, stitch 1/4" from folded edge, then draw a chalk line 1/2" from fold. Cut precisely at the chalk line, resulting in a strip exactly 1/2" wide with a stitched line down the center.  I do several of these and then cut the buttonhole strips, about 1" longer than the planned buttonhole. Here they are pinned on the marked buttonholes. I sew all the stitching in the same direction. For the ends of the stitch lines, I have marked with my yellow chalk marker. Since the thread ladder in orange is there, I  lay the clear ruler along the orange ladder and mark across the buttonholes. This way everything stays in line and each is equal to the other. 

Step 3: (below on right) The moment of truth - cutting the buttonholes. I marked the cutting lines in a red pen so you can see how it is sliced open. I use a sharp scissors, snip the center first, stopping about 1/4" fron the end, and then cutting the sides of the triangle. The most important thing about cutting the buttonholes is to get just to the stitching, literally one thread weave away from your stitching in order to be able to turn that buttonhole and have it be smooth and flat.   By the way, when I stitch the buttonholes I do backstitch at the ends, you can see the stitching is doubled, and pull the thread tails to tie knots. 

Step 3: Turn the button strips to the right side and smooth them out. Now is the time to sew the little triangles down and secure the buttonhole. If they are cut nicely you should have little triangle flaps like this.

I use my trusty friend, the zipper foot to sew these. 

And the buttonholes are done! I do baste them shut on the wrong side, so they don't get wonky during the handling when finishing all the other steps. I did catch stitch down this front princess seam, was a quick step but it keeps the front nice and smooth. 

I made this same pattern a few years ago for the same little girl, a red version. This year I looked at the children's coat patterns and this is by far the very cutest one out there (not much choice in this category)  plus I already had it, and my little fashionista said it was OK with her.

                   
Onward with some rainy day sewing today. Hope all your winter projects are going along well,
Happy sewing, Beth

Style Arc Audrey Jacket,

Thank you for all the great comments on my coat refashion project. That blue boucle coat keeps on giving, as I used the remaining fabric for a portion of this new jacket. It is the Audrey jacket, from Australian pattern company Style Arc.

When I cut up my coat to make a skirt there was not quite enough to do the whole jacket so I rummaged in my fabric stash and found this wool plaid which was a complementary weight and color palette.  Here is the technical drawing and my little sketch of color ideas. I often do this when I am going to make something that has mixed fabrics, or deciding which way to have a plaid go. Despite my less than artistic efforts it is really helpful and fun to play around with my colored pencils. 

You can see that I originally thought about doing 2 solid colors but it seemed like more of a mish-mash than the plaid. Threads magazine had an article in the last issue about mixed materials and showed a few plaids so that was the inspiration. 

On the pattern the collar band was about one inch wider and that seemed too tall, so after it was all sewn together (practically finished) I cut open the top seam and shortened the band by one inch, and then sewed it by hand, which worked out fine. The collar is interfaced on both the wool plaid and the satin lining to give it some structure. My lovely incredibly matching blue buttons from the original coat reappear here on this little jacket, which called for just two buttons on the band, however I had a remaining buttonhole on my coat so it appears as the bottom right one, and then the left one is sewn on to match.

Here you can see that original vertical buttonhole - but I think the 4 buttons solves that problem nicely and becomes a design element. OK, that is my story and I am sticking to it. To complete this jacket front I had to piece a tiny section, which you can see here on the right, just at the shoulder seam. Instead of bothering me I actually quite like it - it is virtually unnoticable when worn but just a little reminder to me of enjoyment in figuring out this whole project. 

A look at the back and the inside with my typical two-tone lining. Whatever is in the lining box and matches gets used up. To get the length I wanted I had to piece the bottom as a band and take in about two inches at the center back seam so the jacket is not as wide as designed. I did cut out the front pieces on the existing fronts of the coat so no facing needed.

          
Someone mentioned that it might be a bit too matchy to wear this jacket with the skirt and I think that is right. Here is one option, I bought this jersey turtleneck which picks up the teal in the plaid. The pants are my test version of the Sewaholic Thurlow trousers and I am boo-hooing a little, as I made them from a denim tablecloth that someone gave me. As fabric goes it is a little lightweight for pants and has no stretch (oh how we [read me] have become accustomed to stretch) so I never intended to wear them. But they fit so well...I might just put them away for a pair of lightweight summertime pants. One of these days I plan to get some photos of these recent projects as worn.

Today I was outside surveying the blah-ness that is my November landscape and noticed that the leaves on the apple tree are doing their own color block thing with the branches yellowing from the bottom up, and the tips are still green. How have I never seen this before?  Very pretty and soon it will just be bare branches and lots of leaves to rake. 

Happy late November sewing, Beth

Wrapped up in Blue

How difficult can it be to learn to knit? Just something simple, maybe a scarf. As it turns out,  impossible in my case. I have tried a few times, with some very patient knitters showing me the basics, with no success. My sample squares are comic, they get tighter with each row and some random dropped stitches. Every time I try to cast on I need to look at a video.  But I did make a sweater!

Or a T-shirt. Or a sweater type of shirt. But not a sweatshirt. Whatever it is, I am crazy about it. Here is how it started out, as big giant knitted thing.  I don't know much about knitting (obviously) but it seemed handmade, perhaps on a knitting machine. On left, the "fabric" about 40" wide and 2 yards long. On right, close up of the edge. And where did I get this knitty thing? At my magical mystery thrift  store, where my secret sewing alter ego is slowly donating fabulous fabrics, as always in blue. (To read about my other fab finds here is the post.)

                  

A few details: I did think the fabric would unravel when cut but it behaved well if I handled it carefully.  I used New Look 6150 view D, the plain top. ( I have finished the wrap front version as well, a great pattern and I will post soon).  On the right is the top neckline without the band. I did zigzag all the edges once cut out. I tried the serger but it seemed to chew up the edges. The yellow thread across the front is my error-prevention system. With a top like this the front and back don't look very different once you remove the paper pattern so I put some type of indicator on one piece, in this case a thread trace. Usually I just mark with chalk on the inside but this was easier for the sweatery knit.

  

A closeup of the neckline. I used the same technique as on my previous t-shirts.  To see this technique done here is a link to the Threads video. I did a couple of practice versions on scraps to get the hang of it and now I use it on everything t-shirt related.

One last little tip for sleeves on knits. It is much quicker to put sleeves in knits with the garment "flat" i.e. before the side seams are sewn up. However, I don't like what this does to the underarm intersection, creating a seam ridge where there should not be one. It is an issue of the "dominant seam" as discussed by Kathleen on her Fashion Incubator website in this post A better way to sew lining and facings.  She explains it perfectly and this is something I think I knew intuitively but her photos make so much sense.  In order to avoid the dominant seam issue on the sleeve+side seam, I sewed the sleeves while the garment was flat, just stopping at the last inch on each end. Here you can see the sleeve is attached (and tossed over the shoulder - kind of a weird image but hopefully you can see the area where I have left it unsewn. Then I sewed the side seams, and finally finished that last couple of inches of the sleeve as if it was a set in sleeve.  A tiny extra step but I like the result. Then the entire sleeve seam can be trimmed down and finished. 

There is just one more of these sapphire blue items to show you, my finished Style Arc Audrey jacket which used the remaining pieces of the blue coat fabric. And then we are done with blue for a while. Ha ha until the next find.

With the remaining sweater knit I made a scarf, so here is my top shown with my refashion project: Coat into Skirt. Oh yeah, I am very please with my rhapsody in blue.

Tomorrow morning is all about Pie baking, my assignment this year is one apple and one pecan. Then Friday will be a sewing day, with plenty of lovely turkey sandwiches, etc for fuel.  (the best part, yum:)

Today's SunnyGal garden photo, a new pink Salvia. Things are looking a bit bedraggled in the garden, as to be expected this time of year. Lots of leaves and newly sprouted weeds after the rain. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all, 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