Blog tour round up

Hi folks.

For those of you who have been following the little blog tour of reviews of my book today is the last day and by me.

I have to tell you that this all feels a bit odd. 

I never set out to write a book and certainly didn't think that I would ever be asked by a publisher to organize a few other sewers to review it on a blog tour (and I am not forgetting here my wonderful friend Carolyn at Diary of a Sewing Fanatic who did the first review on her own on her blog.)

I didn't write this book to be a writer of books. In fact I will tell you something. Since my own copy arrived I haven't even looked through the pages, it is still sitting on my desk untouched. It feels like a garment that you have made and know so well, it's done.

I didn't do this project so I would have a book on my desk.

I wrote this book entirely because I wondered if there were a few tricks that I could pass on to new and returning sewers (sewist is on the book, sewer is still in my head) so they wouldn't be discouraged. Sewing has just been such an anchor and a beacon in my life, such a comfort and just the thing I needed, exactly what I needed, in the times in my life when I needed some picking up, getting up, and dusting off, well I just couldn't stand it if someone couldn't have that resource in her own life too.  I was bothered that maybe somewhere someone else was prevented from getting to that point because they thought maybe the fact the binding rippled was because they were just no good at this making/creative thing- when I had the potential to do a save and say listen just iron it into a curve before you sew it on and you will be fine. And then they would know they were fine.

I felt urgency writing this book because of thoughts, like that. I wanted to facilitate the giving of a gift.

So when I wrote down a bunch of my own handy hints it was because I was thinking of those other sewers who were who I used to be before I ruined a thousand garments working this all out, with my own experiments and with the help of so many sewing friends, both those who had sewed with me in person, and those who have supported me with their own written words.

So to me the blog tour was part of that connection to others like me.

And so a shout out to my wonderful reviewers, all sewing fellow travellers who have inspired me with their own mastery and more important enthusiasm for sewing. 

Thank you to Tany in Portugal:

Dawn in Alaska:

Lara in Australia:

 and Ruthie in England:

Thank you all, my people, for your support and for taking the time to participate in this little tour this week. Thank you.

Swimsuit sew-along update

The swimsuit sew-along will hit the www Monday.

There has been a slight delay because my sister Nancy has herself a part-time job.

First of all you need to know that this sister is the one most like me in disposition.

You see she and her husband have moved to a new town, sort of a semi-retirement idea, and Nancy is trying to get herself integrated into the new community.

To make a long story short one day last week my brother-in-law was off doing some errand and my sister thought she would pop into a nice looking flower shop. In their last town Nancy was a florist.

When my brother-in-law came in to find her, well there was Nancy working behind the counter, helping out in a busy time. Of course she was hired. 

This is where I come in. Her new job is in one of those upscale floral outfits. The owner says that work attire has to be a grey linen Japanese apron. 

No problem said Nancy. She didn't have a clue what her new boss was talking about.

She and I found out exactly what a Japanese apron is on Pinterest, within minutes I had found a .pdf out of Singapore, and some grey linen down on the shelves in the basement where you can basically find pretty much anything.

So the swimwear sew-along will not get into high gear until next week as I have a very rush order on some Japanese aprons.

I also was thinking that there is some irony that I am starting a swimwear sew-along. I never really wore a swimsuit until I was in about grade 5.

We lived in a small town in the middle of Canada when I was growing up. The local Y there had a Swedish athletic director who for some reason had decided to move to rural Manitoba.

This Swedish athletic director was of course Swedish in her approach to physical fitness, so there we were all these prairie kids doing rhythmic gymnastics with streamers and balls in matching blue leotards. We saw this in some Olympic event once and I told my kids that I used to do that, and they thought I was nuts, but I did.

Well this Swedish athletic director had a theory that no one could learn to swim properly unless they were naked. So in this small town Y no kid was allowed to wear a bathing suit until puberty. I kid you not. An entire Y of naked kids in about as rural a town in the middle of nowhere as you could get. But if you think that people can't be open minded in little country towns well you haven't been to Brandon Manitoba also known as the Wheat City.

There are two things I would like to add. If you think I am making this up I can line up some more sisters for verification. Second thing is we are all great swimmers. We love the water.

So I might be a late starter in the swimsuit game, but I do have a lot of opinions.

Tune in next week.

Blog tour book review

Hi folks.

The publisher has organized a blog tour book review of my book. Some of my favourite bloggers will be participating. Here is the link to the line-up for the week.

My book in e-book format

Just a quick update from my publisher.

My book is available as an e-book on the C & T site, just search my name or the title.

They also note that if you sign up for their newsletter while you are there they will send you notices when the e-books go on sale, usually at 50% off.

So now you know.

Maternity leggings shots

And here we are. A great pattern (Peg Legs with maternity add-on), great fabric and a particularly great daughter-in-law. Also a good sport.

Flypaper thoughts Sunday morning edition

• Have decided to alternate a project for me with a project for someone else for a while
• Need a quick sew for a palate cleanser
• Going to continue with some Indie testing
• Remember when those emails from the Big 4 saying new seasons patterns were so exciting?
• Now mostly I think who would wear that
• Strong sense of running out of ideas
• Anyone else thinking this?
• Got to make some golf shirts
• Also need to learn how to be a better house painter
• Since my husband is not taking his golf shirts off this year
• Miss Daisy has a friend who has lost his sight
• Poor Garth is sad
• But she waits outside his house until he comes out
• And goes to stand quietly beside him
• Never did this before when he could see
• Do you think I am a shallow person
• When the first thing I think of is what will I wear
• Let's work on your bunker shots says the spouse
• Let's figure out a tab front without a pattern I think
• Going back in the classroom two mornings this fall
• They needed a pinch hitter
• Am I working on the syllabus?
• No
• Am I cutting out a new dress this afternoon?
• Yes
• I was once in the fabric store when a woman came in to buy fabric to be buried in
• We decided lilac was a lovely choice
• I never make any of these things up
• Know a 95 year old woman who one night wondered if she should bother to paint her toes
• Has lived alone for 40 years
• But if I stop now she said
• What will I stop next?
• So she painted them
• Have you ever grown celery?
• One of the best kept secrets of the universe is that the fresh stuff has flavour
• Not like the stalks of garden hose we dutifully buy and dice and add
• Just because the recipe says so
• I am thinking I should make biscotti
• Can you make it without nuts or would that just be a rusk?
• I don't think a person who should be making a dress should waste her time baking rusks
• Does anyone?
• If so they should learn to sew
• Maybe I should stop listening to my sister
• The one who said watch Outlander
• I made myself promise I would only watch it while I cleaned the kitchen at night
• Man does that stove sparkle
• Lot of unanswered questions there
• Didn't Claire miss running water when she traveled back in time?
• I mean wouldn't you?
• Me my idea of camping is an RV with a shower and AC
• And that Jamie believes anything
• Season three isn't available here until August
• Good thing
• Otherwise I might be in the kitchen long enough to be making rusks
• And what kind of sense would that make?

Leggings sew-along: gussets, waistbands and finishing

I was asked recently why a gusset and what shape should it be?

Interesting question.

The most accurate answer would be that the gusset is the open space you see when you split your pants. In simple terms (unless you have been dancing really, really wildly and really, really split your pants) it would be about the length of the seam you open and about as wide apart as that the resulting opening would be.

A gusset is giving a particular garment what it needs anyway.

What is also interesting to me as someone who has sewn a number of different shaped gussets over the years is that the different shapes, most commonly a diamond about 3"+ long and about 2"+ at the widest part in the middle, and a V shape, all work in a similar way. But think about your own physiology and consider what shape you need and where.

What is common to them all is that one side is usually attached to a top of the leg seam (either to the crotch seam or inseam) first and then captured in the completion of the seam. We already talked about that in how I would put in the Peg Legs gusset a few posts back.

The Peg Legs gusset is set horizontally with the widest part of the diamond lined up with the crotch seams and the longer parts of the diamond extending down into each inseam:

I have also sewn in gussets in the past where the narrow ends of the gusset where lined up with the crotch seam and and widest parts at the inseam (imagine the image above with the diamond vertically). Unfortunately I can't show that to you as the pattern I used to use that had it done that way  was an old Kwik Sew that has vanished from my collection and their catalogue.

By contrast to the diamond shape the Clara by Jalie has a smaller gusset, a sort of triangle set as an extension of the back crotch:

You can see here how it was first stitched to the bottom of the back crotch (I used a lightening stitch to do that) and then how it is captured when the back crotch is finally stitched. I am pretty sure that the explanation for the shape of this gusset is that the Clara's do not have a front crotch seam. The gusset as placed this way is finally stitched in via the one long seam ankle to ankle.

If you look at these two gussets you can see how they both add three dimensional space to the leggings right at a place that would just be a stress/vulnerable to stitching breaking place otherwise.

It also explains why gussets make leggings more comfortable.

I am sure you will also notice too that the diamond gusset is a larger unit and for that reason I suspect might give a little more movement room for a larger person. For this reason I chose the Peg Legs for my maternity leggings when I knew give was going to be important.

Gusset seams need to be topstitched.

This can be done with a cover hem or twin needle (see the Peg Legs gusset above) or a triple zig-zag like I did here in my Clara's, note the seam allowances are folded to the garment side and top stitched that way:

Topstitching is also an option for all of the construction seams in leggings and something you see a lot in athletic wear for instance these made by Brit from Halo:

The point of this topstitching, here with a cover hem in a custom pattern (Greenstyle Creations and Jalie's Cora both have multiple seam options, is both to reinforce the seams (think of flat felling in jeans) as well as flatten the seams for comfort against the body.

A note here now about topstitching with a conventional machine. In the last post about seams we talked about wooly nylon in the loopers of a serger for more comfortable, stretchy seams. There is also the option of a stretch thread in the needles, I have used Euroflex with good results but the colour selection is limited, so I generally use a good polyester thread. I have some Maxi-lock stretch on order from Dry Cleaner's Supply and will talk about that when it arrives - not something I can get in local fabric stores.

But back to topstitching and conventional stitches. For topstitching gussets I always wind wooly nylon by hand onto a bobbin (a machine winds it too fast and stretches it out of shape) and this give wonderful stretch to any stitch.

For topstitching in a knit I generally like a multi-step zig zag rather than one that just zigs and zags because doing the zig in steps means there are not the long threads to catch.

Here is what a stitch made with the wooly nylon in the bobbin looks like, the underside of a three-step zig zag and both sides of a common utility stitch you could also use to topstitch seams if you really wanted to:

three step zig-zag showing the bobbin side, bobbin hand wound with wooly nylon

Utility stitch right side on Supplex

Bobbin side of the same stitch showing how the wooly nylon stretches when stitched

On the issue of whether or not to topstitch the seams, really don't feel you have to. I have made many pairs of leggings without and they have held out just fine. Then again I am not a marathon runner so chaffing from seams has not been an issue for me. And the cover hemming looks pretty cool.

If you do decide to cover hem I personally think that a good fluffy wooly nylon is essential in the loopers. I also shorten the stitch length to about a 3 (I know many folks do a 4 but I like the extra stitches). You can do a two needle cover hem or a three needle.

Generally this is done from stitching from the wrong side so the loopers show decoratively on the right side, aiming to situate the stitches so they cover the well of the seam on the right side. This can actually be tricky to do, as is any dominant stitching that you do blind from the wrong side while hoping for the best. I have found that rather than trying aim for the centre of the seam try to put the middle needle of a 3 needle stitch or the centre of the space between the two needles of a two needle cover hem so it stitches right on top of the right hand needle/seam line of the garment's serged seam. This really helps getting it right. 

3-needle cover hem from the right side:

And from the wrong side where hopefully you can see the middle needle set more or less to follow over the right hand needle seam thread of the serged seam:

To hem the leggings it is very important that they can be stretched to go over the foot without the stitches breaking, or, even more important in capri length leggings where the hem is over the large calf muscle that can expand with movement, without binding.

For this reason I always stretch a little while I topstitch the hems, to build in that extra stretch, whether I sew the hem with a 3 step zig zag with wooly nylon hand wound in the bobbin or with a narrow 2 needle cover hem, my preference to avoid tunnelling in these stretchy fabrics. 

Below are two samples. You will see that the stitches in both hems looks small - this is because they were stretched when sewn and the extra stitches got packed in - something I wouldn't worry about in a hem at this level.

Finally the last detail in the construction of the leggings is the yoga band waistband. 

There are several ways these can be done. 

Some folks when working with a firmer knit like Supplex actually just sew the band and stitch it right on to the top of the leggings, counting on the double layer of fabric to provide both the stretch and support they need in a waistband without elastic. Others, and suggested in both patterns, also add a row of elastic only lightly stretched, to the seam allowance at the top of the band and band facing.

I have seen clear elastic suggested for this step, some sewers serge this into the seam that attaches both band layers, but I don't personally find that is feels secure enough inside the band.

My own preference is for a 1 / 2 " bathing suit elastic (you can recognize this for its boring muslin colour) that I triple zig zag stitch down to the inside of the band, butting the elastic right up to the seam like this:

Well this wraps up our leggings sew-along. 

Not sure if I did this right. Suspect that there are more organized ways to run something like this so let me know if going through a garment type like this is helpful. 

In future I am going to forget about the Facebook page I think hoped that there would be some pictures of works in progress from readers, but that was probably spreading us all too thin.  I think this blog and my Instagram are more my own mediums in social media.

So for a bit the blog is going to resume regularly scheduled programming but watch this space once August kicks in for a bathing suit sew-along. Need to get that in before that awful moment when Nova Scotians start sniffing the air and saying things like " I can smell fall" and the back-to-school ads become depressingly frequent.

Around here we like to wring out every last drop of summer, and when we can't do that start packing the RV to head south!