The Last Week

Busy times continue around here.  I've been scrambling to get a lot of my summer house maintenance done before July 10.  Why?  Because my niece will be visiting from Turkey!  Not Niecey-poo, who has come three times before; sadly she decided to spend the summer studying for an upcoming exam.  This time it's Niecy-two, her younger cousin who is 8 years old.  We're really looking forward to her visit and I want to have as much of my work done as possible so I can just enjoy my time with her :-)

I've felt like I haven't had much time for sewing or knitting, but somehow I managed to complete a shirt for Hubby and two more Emery dresses in the last week + one weekend!  Because my time is so limited, I'm lumping them all together in one post.  None of these are new patterns anyway - these makes are all about the fabric.

Here's Hubby's newest guitar shirt.  I saw this fabric in the Hawthorne Threads newsletter a couple weeks ago and immediately ordered some - cool guitar prints are hard to come by!  This is called "Guitars in White" by Timeless Treasures.

Hubby asked for a mandarin-collared shirt with pockets deep enough for his new phone.  He likes being able to have things made to his specifications!  The pattern I used is one I bought new in 1996 to make him his very first guitar shirt, McCall's 8409.  The style is quite oversized; I liked it in the previous versions I made, which were all dark colors, but with this light fabric I feel it overwhelms him a bit.  So I'm debating taking it in a little at the sides.  It does fit nicely across his shoulders, which are wide.

Going chronologically, here's my Tiki Winki Emery Dress, which I've already shown you (and not completed in the last week).  This one is actually my favorite so far in terms of colors that suit me.

Next I made up a version in a stash fabric I bought last fall in hopes of making a dress just like this.  I bought it from Fabricworm; it's from Moda and is called "Tickets" but I can't find it anywhere to link, so I have a feeling that by the time I bought it, it was already out of print.

This dress is ironic because as much as I love the print, I actually rarely go to the movies!!  I've probably been to the movies 3 times in the 5 years we've lived in Chicago!  It's always too cold and too loud, and the chairs hurt my back.  I much prefer to watch at home :-)

I like the dress, but I don't love it as much as I was expecting to.  The fit is a little looser than I'd like.

"enhanced"

"actual early morning light"

I realized before my next version why my bodices were a bit on the loose side.  This is kind of embarrassing . . .

Ever since I got my Janome almost 2 years ago, I've been sewing with the needle on the default setting, assuming it was centered.  For some reason I decided to measure the needle position the other day and . . . it's not!  I have no idea why a machine's default wouldn't be the center position, but mine is actually one click to the right of center - giving me slightly narrower seam allowances and therefore slightly wider clothing.  Derrrrrrr.

So now I'm getting into the habit of centering my needle before I begin to sew.  I did it on this fourth Emery and I'm happier with the fit on this one than on any of the previous 3.  It's not actually noticeable in these pictures, in part because of the busy print, but I certainly notice it when I'm wearing the dresses.

failing at beating the self-timer

So here's a confession.  All I want to sew or wear these days is Emery dresses.  The pattern is a great blank canvas for pretty prints, and it's easy to sew since I've got the fitting worked out.  Because I really only have another week of sewing time before my niece comes, and then likely none until September, I want to spend my time sewing things that aren't frustrating and that I know will be successful.  So I bought myself a few pieces of fabric in order to Emery to my heart's content.  This is one of those.  It's Michael Miller's "Point of Sail," which I bought from Fabric.com.  Every time I see this fabric online, the triangles are always pointing downward, which reads "bunting" to me.  I wanted it to read "sailboats," so I turned it the other way around for my dress.

Emery #5 is already underway, and I'm hoping to get in a #6 before next week too.  Blogging is likely to be sparse from now until September while I enjoy family time :-)  But I will continue to do micro-blogging over on Instagram.  Well, I think I will but I tend to get caught up in the moment and forget to take pictures most of the time!

Two Things.

Here's the shirt, with buttons but before washing out the markings - mostly for the sake of putting it on my 2013 FO page!  Nothing to add, except that Hubby came home right after I finished sewing on the last button and immediately tried it on with no prompting from me!  Such a good boy!

And for fun, here are a couple pics of a mani I did the other day and really liked.  The base is Misa Baby I Love You, and the tips are Zoya Ziv.  I really like how Ziv worked on the tips - it's slightly sheer and very sparkly, and I think it's a different look from the chrome polish I would normally use for this sort of thing.

Adding these tips extended my mani by a couple of days!  But I've found that the Misa polishes wear pretty well on their own as well.  I think this one is my perfect coral polish.

Resolved.

Today was Me vs. The Shirt, round 3.  This time I won - all that remains to be done is to cut the buttonholes and sew on the buttons.

But let me back up and take you through the whole painful process. 

After I posted yesterday, I decided to try the collar again.  I probably should have waited to read everyone's advice - thanks so much to those of you who offered it!  (Also to those who commiserated!) But I wanted to see if using the Sullivan's Spray Stabilizer would help.

Before I got started though, I got out his RTW linen shirt with a band collar, and I noticed that the collar on it was much narrower than what I was using from my pattern.  And that made sense, since it doesn't have to hold a collar.

The original collar I picked out next to the RTW collar.

So I redrafted my pattern piece to the dimensions of the RTW shirt.  I'd already cut my new collar band pieces, but it was no big deal to just trim them down.

On my first collar, the outer piece was stabilized with lightweight fusible.  We all know that didn't work.  One of the pieces of advice I'd read online said to interface with self fabric, so for Collar #2 I cut three pieces, using one as interfacing.  I also took my seam allowances down from 5/8" to 1/4" because the band was now so much narrower.

I sewed Collar #2 together and then stitched it to the neckline.  But because this was my second try, and I'd already trimmed the neckline seam allowance after the first try, it didn't go on very evenly.  I ended up unpicking some of the original stay stitching that was showing through.  I also had to do quite a bit of hand stitching at the center front because my seam allowance was popping out.  I got it to the point of looking OK, but not perfect; by that time it was getting dark so I decided to put it away and sleep on it until today before deciding whether or not to unpick the whole thing again.

This morning I took another look at it and I just couldn't live with how it looked.  It was so sloppy in the light of day that I didn't even have the heart to take a picture of it!  So out it all came again.

But before getting started on Collar #3, I took the time to listen to the podcast on sewing with linen that Lisa G. had recommended in the comments yesterday.  While it didn't address my particular problem, I did learn quite a few things.  Linda Lee stressed that it's really important to true up the grain in order for the fabric to hang right, and I'll admit that I noticed some skewing on my first two collars because they were off grain.  I thought I had gotten all my pieces on the grainline, but honestly this fabric is SO shifty.  So with my last leftover piece, I took the time to pull one thread and cut across the space left by it to get a truly straight edge - not easy, since the softly spun fibers break very easily once unwoven.

I felt that my second collar was still stiffer than I wanted - it was just too much contrast with the drape of the rest of the shirt - so this time I only cut two pieces.  I sprayed them with Sullivan's and once they were dry, I sewed the two pieces together and turned them. 

Since I'd picked out some of my stay stitching around the neckline after Collar #2, I stitched all the way around again.  And this time, to help me get my collar on straighter, I marked a line for myself to line up the collar edge.  I marked just shy of 1/4", since my seam allowances for the collar were 1/4".  You can just barely see the pink markings in this photo:

p.s. this photo shows the actual color of the fabric!

And just to be extra sure, I hand-basted the whole thing on before doing my actual stitching.  It still didn't come out absolutely perfect, but it's pretty close, and I didn't think this loosely woven fabric could stand having the stitches removed again.  So I went ahead and did my edgestitching.  Here's my final collar:

Still a tiny bit of waviness, but far better than the first one.

So here's what I learned for using this fabric:

1) Make sure the grain is absolutely stackenblochen!
2) Use spray stabilizer.
3) Press, don't iron!  I realized I tend to iron my seams rather than press them, and that really stretched this linen out of shape.   I had much better luck when I used downward pressure only.

Once the collar was resolved, finishing up the rest of the shirt was a piece of cake.  The remainder of the seams were French seams - necessary for a fray-prone fabric like this.  This was my first time using a French seam on a curved seam like a sleeve cap, and I'm not convinced it's the best finish.  There's a little bulkiness at the shoulder because the French seam can't be clipped around the curve like a normal one would be.

I put two rectangular pockets on the front, and the back has shoulder pleats coming off the yoke:

And here's a silly picture of the whole thing (mostly) - because it was spread out on the table, it looks like the body is enormous and the neck is teeny tiny, hehehehe!

And now that I've spent a half hour or so writing this, the Fray Check I used on the buttonholes should be dry, so I can cut those suckers open and sew on the buttons.  But maybe after dinner . . .

Procrastinating . . .

Over the weekend, I got started on Hubby's special request shirt.  He had asked me for a short-sleeved mandarin collar shirt in linen.  I spent some time looking through my men's shirt patterns, but decided to go with the pattern I developed for his business shirt back in March, switching out the sleeve piece for the short sleeve from McCall's 6044.

When I went to my local fabric shop last week to look at linens, I got kind of a sticker shock.  Mind you, I went to the "expensive" shop (Fishman's) but I really wasn't expecting this fabric to be quite that expensive - it was $25 a yard!  I ended up going there twice - the first time I just took a picture of the fabric to show him.  I wasn't about to spend $50 plus on fabric without knowing if it was what he wanted!  But he liked it, so I went back the next day to get the goods.

The fabric was labeled as Irish Handkerchief Linen, and the color Burgundy - it's a great color for his skin tone.  It's incredibly soft and drapey.  Given that the fabric is so luxurious, I was expecting my sewing experience to be luxurious also.  But it's kind of giving me fits.

Sorry this picture is so bad - it's so cloudy today I couldn't get a good one.

Being fairly loosely woven, the fabric frays like crazy.  So I had all the pieces spread out on my coffee table and did not touch them until they were ready to be sewn. Things went pretty well at first - I got the buttonholes, pockets and yoke done with few problems.  And then I moved on to the band collar.

And it's a mess.

Somehow, the outer edge got totally stretched out - even though my outer collar is interfaced (with the fancy, expensive ultra-lightweight kind) and my inner collar was cut 1/4" smaller, as usual when making shirts.  So now I have to pick the whole darn thing out again - did I mention that my thread is an EXACT match, and it's been cloudy for days?  I've pulled out the big guns (my strongest reading glasses) but am still having a hard time getting going.

I spent some time today looking for advice online about sewing with handkerchief linen, especially for anything referring to stretching.  But everything I've found says, "Linen is so easy to sew with!  You can use it for anything!  It's so stable!!"

I did find one website that recommended forgoing interfacing (fusible or otherwise) in favor of self-fabric interfacing, so I'm going to give that a try.  Thankfully I had enough fabric left to cut out another 3 collar band pieces.  And I've sprayed the heck out of those with Sullivan's Spray Stabilizer - I'm hoping that will help some.

Have any of you had this problem before?  Anyone out there have any advice?  I should have known better than to congratulate myself on my sewing lately - this project has knocked me down a peg!

Long time coming.

Yesterday I made Hubby a shirt.  A shirt I meant to make about seven years ago!

This is the third "guitar shirt" I've made him from this pattern.  I like the oversized, bowling-shirt vibe.  The pattern itself is McCall's 8409, from all the way back in 1996 - the year we got married!  It has lots of variations, but I've only ever done this version, View F.

I would guess I bought this pattern in the late '90s, and made him his first shirt around that time too.  It's the same print as his new shirt, but in blue, and has been well worn and loved over the years.

The fabric is nice and soft now from all the washing, and the collar is showing signs of wear.

I think that was probably the first time I made a man's shirt, and because I wasn't as precise as I am now, I stitched the inner collar stand down by hand:

However, I did take the time to flat fell the side seams:

A couple years later, I made him a second guitar shirt when I found this red Hawaiian-print fabric:

Hubby loves wearing both these shirts in the summer, so about seven years ago when I found the same fabric in green, I snapped it up with the intention of making him a third shirt.

And I did!  It just took me a while to get around to it ;-)

Now that I've made so many shirts for him, this one felt easy.  When you eliminate cuffs and sleeve plackets, you save a lot of time!  I also saved time by attaching the inner collar stand with my edgestitching:

And I didn't do any of the easing to get a curved collar.  This shirt will never be buttoned all the way up, so I figured it just wasn't important.

This time I did French seams, which also saved me some time - durable, but without a lot of fuss:

In contrast to the business shirts I've been making, this shirt has a separate buttonhole band piece, although the right (button) side is a double fold.  I wanted this shirt to be nice and soft, so I didn't interface the buttonhole band:

Two of the features of this pattern that I really like are the yoke and the center back pleat:

Can you see it?  There's a lot going on with this fabric!

Here are all three versions of this pattern hanging together.  I call this photo "Guitar Trio" -

I'm proud of myself that I finally knuckled down and made this shirt - that fabric had been taunting me for far too long! 

A better collar.

If you're sick of reading my yammerings about interfacing, click away now . . .

You may remember that the lovely shirt I made for Hubby had some interfacing problems, i.e. the fusible kept coming un-fused. 

I tried to re-fuse it, but sadly, every time I washed the shirt, it would un-fuse again.  It took me a good 15 minutes to iron this shirt - three times what it normally takes - just to get it looking somewhat presentable.  And with each wash the situation got worse.  It was time to make a new collar.

While I was at it, I changed the shape of the collar.  After Hubby wore the shirt, he told me he felt the collar points were too long, and I had to agree with him.  I hadn't really noticed it at first, but after he mentioned it, I compared the pattern piece to his RTW shirts, and the collar really was quite exaggerated. 

The original collar.

Neither of us are up on men's fashion so we're not sure what the current look is, although he did spot a similar shirt collar the other day at Armani.  Still, he needs to feel comfortable in his shirt, so I reduced the size quite a bit.  This one matches the RTW shirts he's been used to.

The new collar.

I think I mentioned the other day that I ordered a few different interfacings from Fashion Sewing Supply.  In my pink shirt, I used Pro-Sheer Elegance Medium, and felt it was a little stiffer than I wanted for my own collar.  So yesterday I made 4 collar pieces:  two in each fabric (the white of the old shirt and the yellow of the new shirt I'm making), one with Pro-Sheer Medium and one with ProWoven Shirt-Crisp.  Then I held all the pieces of each collar (upper, under and stay slot) together to see how they felt.

Fashion Sewing Supply lists Shirt-Crisp as a crisp but not super-stiff collar interfacing.  I found it to be lighter in weight than the interfacing from my local fabric shop which I used on the first shirt.  It did apply somewhat easier than my previous interfacing, but I still had to go over each area several times to get it to fuse.  The directions say that some fabrics will fuse more easily without steam; I tried it both ways on the same collar, so I'm not really sure which one did the trick!  I think I've got a stable collar now, but only a run through the washer and dryer will tell me for sure.

I had a lengthy discussion with a lady at the fabric store last week who told me that fusible interfacings are not meant to be washed and dried, and that men's shirts should ONLY be made with sew-in interfacing.  I'm not really sure I agree with her, but time will tell.  I'm contemplating taking apart one of Hubby's RTW shirts to see how it's done.  I hesitate to use sew-in interfacing because I don't want the bulk in the seam allowances and can't figure out how to do it with the seam allowances trimmed!  Basting, I guess.  Sigh.  Any ideas from you shirt-makers out there?

Meanwhile, here's the collar for the new shirt, to give you an idea of the stiffness:

Shirt Spotting

Hubby wore his new shirt to work today!  I managed to snap a couple of pix before he left.  Mind you, that was at 6:00 a.m. so they're not the greatest.  He was so cute though - he went straight to the Grey Wall and stood there!  Awww.  I've told him he needs to pay attention to the fit and comfort of the shirt throughout the day, so that I can know if I need to make any further adjustments.  I do know that for future versions, I'll be making the collar points slightly shorter - we both felt they ended up a little long.

As you can see, he's quite happy with the shirt.  :-)

Here it is from the back - I think you can really see here how broad his shoulders are:

And his right shoulder is lower than his left one too, just like me!  It's like we were made for each other!!

Plain. White. Shirt.

I finished Hubby's shirt last night at about 5:00 p.m.  Big sigh of relief!  Seems like this project has taken up all my mental energy lately!  (Not to mention blog space.)

Because we were headed out to dinner and a concert, I didn't get to wash and iron it until this morning.  I admit to being a little afraid - not for any real reason, but just because it took me so much work to make this shirt.  Things mostly turned out OK though.  The little bit of sewing machine oil that got on the sleeve while I was felling it washed out (whew!).  All the pink marking pencil also washed out.

The bad news was that the fantastic interfacing I was boasting about in the last post unfused in some areas.  Here's how the cuff looked straight out of the dryer:

Bummer!  Fortunately, I was able to re-fuse all those areas.  I hope I don't have to do this each and every time I wash this shirt.  Being all cotton, it already took me longer to iron this one than his other shirts.

I'm really happy with my work on this shirt, and I think overall I did a very good job.  But for those of you who claim I do everything perfectly, here are some boo-boos.  These are things I chose not to re-do because they will never be seen:  they'll either be tucked inside the pants or under a tie.

Rolled hem.  These are so hard!

Not-quite-edge stitching!

I learned so many new techniques with this project.  Sleeve plackets:

I kept my sleeve plackets short because I shortened the sleeve so much, which made attaching the cuff rather difficult.  I might lengthen it next time, depending on how far up his arm this one goes.

Flat-felling the sleeve to the body:

Using the felling foot for the sleeve and side seams:

I lost a bunch of time with that one, because the first thing I did was to fell the two sides of the back to each other.  D'oh!  That was a drag to pick out!

I added a few things to my base pattern.  Back shoulder pleats:

Stay channels under the collar:

And I changed the collar from the one I'd done on the muslin to one with slightly longer points.  It turns out I'd used the button-down collar before.

And here's the whole thing, front and back:

Looks just like a plain white shirt, doesn't it?!  Because I iron all of Hubby's shirts every week, it was really interesting for me to go from pieces of fabric and sections of shirt on my ironing board to a completed shirt that's constructed just like the ones I buy him at the store.

So, the next question is:  does it fit the way we want it to?  Sadly, he had to work today and left before I got up, so he hasn't tried it on yet!  I'm dying to see if it fits, but also a little afraid.  I'm going to try my hardest to get him to model it for you - but if you have a man at home you know my chances of this are about 50% at best!

And now I can finally get back to working with something with COLOR and PATTERN!!  Yay!

ETA:  He tried it on, and the fit is perfect!  Double yay!!