Mistakes sewers make

Feel free to add to this list, most of which was generated by my own mistakes over time. 

Some times I learn my lesson, sometimes I don't.

Here we go:

1. Using up some really good fabric on the wrong pattern because of some dumb head idea that just because you have had it on your shelves for decades it is time you used it to make something. Guaranteed about six weeks after you do this the absolutely perfect pattern for that fabric will show up.

2. Spending huge amounts of time altering and trail sewing the same pants pattern again and again instead of just trying a new pants pattern from another company that just might draft closer to your shape.

3. Killing yourself making a everyone should have one in their wardrobe item, like a hand stitched Chanel jacket, when you know in the back of your head the shape doesn't suit you, and that you are more the kind of lady who makes lunch than the kind of lady who lunches.

4. Having a little bit of thread on all your bobbins and winding not enough for current projects over each one.

5. Cutting out a multi sized pattern because you are too tired to trace it, and then realizing that you want to sew a different size next time.

6. Sewing black fabric with black thread after 10:00 p.m.

7. Not using the pressing cloth because you are in a hurry.

8. Thinking the stitching will look better when you turn it over to the right side.

9. Adding a few inches to the bottom of a pattern and marking that and then cutting out along the pattern pieces, cutting away that extra you wanted to add.

10. Using a light coloured interfacing on a dark fabric because it will never show will it, until you cut those buttonholes open.


That's a start. 

Time to go to bed. Have company this weekend and just realized that I have also volunteered to babysit my daughter's moose sized Golden Retriever male adolescent who likes to sit on people, even those who have allergies.

This list will definitely be continued.

By me, and by you.

Adeline dress in knit

I have the Stylearc  Adeline dress cut out in a specified woven fabric and will be working on that over the weekend. 

But when I had some really nice heavy Ottoman knit left over from a cardigan project (probably should have had that review up first of course) I decided to see how this pattern looked like in a knit first.

The knit worked very well. Basically I love this dress and love this pattern. I am going to wear it right out, I can tell.

Not a lot to the dress from the sewing point of view, but what there is has been very well-drafted. The V-neck is faced in the woven version instructions, but I changed this to a simple cross-over V for my knit edition. The dress also has cut-on sleeves that can be rolled up, and big pockets that I didn't put on here as I just was too short of fabric.

My standard cross-over V neck 

In fact to squeeze this dress out of my remnant yardage I pieced the back at roughly waist seam level. Not ideal but hopefully looks as if it was meant to be.

Obviously a super comfortable dress to wear and a very fast sew.

The Adeline has a higher at the front hem ( I just cover hemmed this) that is not too extreme but I think makes for a nice side view:

As you have probably figured out a long time ago I am more a sew it and throw it on and get a fast picture taken kind of blogger than a thoughtful one who puts time and energy into styling. I just sew and then take a picture and run off to sew something else. I do realize that this does show in my shots but hopefully you can still see enough to do the pattern justice.

These shots were taken as I jumped out of weeding and grass cutting clothes (you can see why those were needed in this picture - but note too the nice vegetable boxes my husband has on the go too) and it apparent why those who are more careful have such nice pictures.

The bright sunlight shows for example why women of a certain age IMO would do well to wear hose whatever the style folks say otherwise, and that knit dresses really do benefit from better than gardening underwear.

That said I did put on different accessories on this dress which made clear to me how broadly useful a style like this is.

First I tried the dress on with my favourite gift to self necklace  -I bought at the height of my empty nest attack from which I am now mostly recovered -  and some suede shoes.

Three eggs for three kids, I am pretty sure I bought this just after having put some kid on a plane a few years ago

Next, when I realized how comfortable this dress was I got to wondering if it was something I could also dress up so I ran in the house and got my favourite dressy shoes and some jewellery - totally matchy of course, but then again I am at the stage of requiring hose so that might be as expected.

Here is the dressed up version and those shoes:

This is such an wonderful pattern I know I am going to make a few more for sure. I haven't given much thought to the cocoon shape up to now but can really see how flattering, in a not sloppy way, it can be.

We will see how it looks in a woven next.

Flypaper thoughts morning in July edit

• My daughter and I in the fabric store
• I have to go to a wedding
• What do you like best?
• The turquoise, the shocking pink, or the coral?
• What about black?
• No black, done with black
• Besides it's a wedding
• OK. What about navy?
• Yes I could do navy. I have navy shoes and a bag
• You mean match? No you can't do that.
• I like to match
• Mom no. I mean it
• So what am I going to wear?
• How about grey?
• Let's get those buttons. I can come back later.
• Offline for the last week because I have been doing childcare for seven days
• And helped my Texas bound son clean his place
• Out where he lives there is a sign on the church
• "Blessing of the surfboards Sunday"
• Church a block away is selling ice cream cones every afternoon as a fund raiser for Cuba and Uganda
• Good for instilling values
• As in any more hitting and no ice cream all summer
• Have made a few things but need a photographer over the age of 7
• Got to wait for the weekend to do that
• Got a Singer Rocketeer for $50 from a man who had it set up in his backyard on a table
• Sounds so smooth
• But needs a major cleaning
• Read you can soak them in kerosene overnight in a bucket
• Got a feeling I am not going to be doing that
• Got it to run a old template buttonholer
• Excited and want to do a post on that
• Have so so many sewing projects in my head
• Think I may make a few bags
• My wallet is shot
• Pretty excited about that
• Let's face it 
• My sewing is not on the edge
• It's right in the middle
• Now off to remind everyone about the church ice cream

Insta T shirt with experimental neckline

I am in need of some of the most basic of  T-shirts for my summer. I will be taking care of the kids 2 and sometimes 3 days a week in addition to my teaching. I am planning on doing a fair bit of running around and a lot of it outside.

It's good for me to be so busy. I am in the process of getting my head around one son relocated to San Francisco and one to Austin Texas, and although I am very pleased for them - both moves represent great promotions- as a mother situated here in Nova Scotia I am still taking in that this is what the family now looks like. I am finding hanging out with younger children and a toddler very therapeutic while I reconfigure my life a bit. 

Of course sewing is my most grounding activity.

Which brings me back to T-shirts. Since I am in the mood for quick and positive results I have pulled out Jalie's Dolman top which of course also has a sleeveless sort of cap sleeved version.

I whipped this one up pretty fast in some cotton single knit I had lying around.

As you all know single knit really curls to the right side so feeling reckless I played around with the neckline a bit.

I cut the neckband and rather than folding it in half instead I  stitched it single layer to the inside of the neck, right side of fabric to wrong side, flipped it to the right side, and zig zagged it down letting the raw edge just hang out about 1/4" past this top-stitching.

Of course this raw edge rolls into the neckline and to my optimistic eye looks sort of like piping if your standards are fairly fluid:

I am pretty pleased with this since I usually don't sew this randomly, as in raw edges.

Here's the full shot of the T-shirt. A very nice simple summer pattern:

Flypaper thoughts emergency sewing division

• Miss Daisy had a small benign thing removed yesterday from her belly
• Despite my best efforts and a $35 cone she has ripped her stitches out
• My vet is in Iceland with my middle son at a friend's bachelor party
• Don't ask
• The wedding is in September in Monte Negro
• You know that one of their friends took his girlfriend to Europe to propose
• He changed his mind and mailed the engagement ring back for his mom to deal with
• Mailed it in a sock
• Back to Daisy
• Went to the covering vet today who is about 95
• He told me that dogs in the wild have wounds and no stitches and not to worry
• My niece who has done a term of nursing and is a genius says it is too open
• We tried to close it ourselves with steri strips
• Booked in to see someone else tomorrow
• In the meantime I am in bed with a dog with an open wound who is trying to get at it
• Stupid collar cone thing might as well be in Iceland for all the good it is doing me
• So jumped out of bed and cut up some of the husband's underwear
• He is out of town
• Needs new ones anyway
• Serged it down to Daisy width and sewed the inseam by hand while it was on her to get a good fit
• Fruit of the loom dog shorts
• Kneeling on my bed with a needle and thread
• Student of mine from Newfoundland said she had a friend who sewed so well 
• She could sew the ass on a cat
• Well not the only one
• Publisher said I should do sewing videos
• You tube here we come
• Have made a dress and a cardigan this week I love
• When we get Daisy's seam done I will post pictures
• Thank goodness rhubarb is in season now
• You can't beat a nice rhubarb crisp in times of crisis
• Off I go to the fridge

Jalie Stretch City Coat pattern review

On my recent trip to San Francisco I knew exactly the jacket/coat I needed, both there in the misty mornings and at home in the windy and wet days here in Halifax.

Unfortunately I didn’t have exactly that coat with me on my trip. However the first thing I did when I got home was start sewing one.

Jalie’s Stretch City Coat pattern has been around for a while. Many folks have made it, and many of them have made it in a woven, just using a larger sized pattern. I really wanted to stick to the original intent and so having been keeping my eyes open the right stretch fabric for a couple of years now.
I finally found it along the back wall of my local Fabricville.

I decided to use a grey outerwear fabric with a micro fleece bonded to the inside. It is a pretty interesting fabric. The outer side is a tightly woven poplin, much like commander if you have sewn that, and the inside has a very fine micro finer fleece bonded to it. Perfect if you want weather resistant with a little warmth but without the hassle of putting in a lining.
I found this fabric very easy to sew. I used a standard sharp needle and polyester thread but I did lengthen my stitch length to 3.0 for construction and 4.0 for top stitching. There is a fair amount of volume to this fabric, sort of bouncy like Ponte and I felt that the longer stitch length was just more compatible with it.

I made a few changes to the pattern.

First I couldn’t decide on whether or not to do the collar or hood view – one is dressier one more useful – so in the end I made the collar view but sewed the hood up as a separate unit and added three snaps to the back of the collar stand so I could snap on the hood as needed. I placed one snap just a half an inch or so from the end of the collar stand on each side and one at centre back on the back of the stand on the jacket. I then just sewed three snaps on the inside of the hood to match.

This is a bit of a pattern hack and I do realize that one result of that is that the collar has to stand up when the hood is attached. You might think this looks weird but living in Nova Scotia I have no problem with as many rain barriers as I can get. I have also convinced myself that this detail looks edgy and works with the techno nature of the fabric. If you disagree, don’t tell me.

The other variation I made was to change up the suggested buttons and buttonholes for big sew-on snaps. I test sewed a few buttonholes and they just looked small and wimpy to me in this fabric so I went back down to Fabricville and got these wonderful snaps – large ones for the coat and smaller ones for the hood/collar attachment.




A word on the snaps. I have observed in RTW that the stitches for big fashion snaps like these go right through to the right side of the fabric. Once you get your head around this, and the fact that your hand stitches might not be 100% perfect and that is OK, this are easy to stitch on. Each snap has two holes at each corner which I used in the coat but for the smaller collar snaps just sewed them on through one hole as we are used to doing with snaps.

Use a biggish needle and I really recommend a buttonhole twist or heavier thread for the snap sewing on. The metal of the snaps tends to break an ordinary construction weight thread. I should note though that sewing on all these snaps carefully took a bit of time. I probably spent two sewing days to make the coat and about three sewing nights to do the snaps.

Finally pockets in this coat are interesting – sort of free floating square bags that the pattern instructions tell you to tack to the facings, giving you a reference to an illustration that seems to be on longer available on Jalie’s site.

As a result I sort of improvised here and folded the pocket bags slightly vertically and did a short row of machine stitches to secure the pocket top and bottoms to the facings. This actually seems to work quite well, holding the pockets in place so they don’t flop around but not pulling on the facing.



I really am very pleased with this coat – it has a combination of style and function that really appeals to me. I know I am going to wear it a lot – both at home and when I am on tour visiting.

  

The Swiss Army Knife of Jackets?

For reasons that are a mystery to even myself I have decided I need a completely new wardrobe and style.

Did a big purge yesterday and thought to myself that it was time for a change.

Not sure what that looks like but since my children keep moving around, it will involve some travel clothes.

Having being back from San Fransisco about two weeks I am naturally now starting my sewing for that trip.

Currently I am making the exact all weather jacket I will I had when I was there. Next will be the dress I wished I had and the five tops I really needed.

Back to the jacket.

When you travel even if that means just out your front door (something I should be doing right now because I have three dogs to take care of - see traveling children above) comfort and practicality are important.

When brings me to this little beauty:

If you are in the mood for a smile today, I really suggest this video:

Now if I can get all these dogs walked I might actually get some sewing done today.