Playing catch-up.

First off - thank you so much to everyone who gave me some styling tips on my last post!  Lots of great ideas in there; I'm sure I'll be trying some of them out in the future.  Please excuse my laziness in not answering each comment separately.  Some days are just like that :-)

I've spent part of the morning today updating my 2014 Sewing FOs page.  I hadn't added any finished makes since May!  There was a lot of catching up to do.  I realized that some of the things I made over the summer I never even posted about - partly because I was so busy, but also because a lot of them are the same patterns I've been using for a while, just in different fabrics.  I find myself using Instagram more these days for show and tell, and this space more if I have something I really want to say about a pattern, process or make.

That said, yesterday I wore two of those unblogged makes and really liked how the outfit came together, so I snapped a couple of bathroom-mirror selfies to share.  This is the kind of outfit I feel right at home in.  Of course, it's based on some slouchy jeans :-)  But on top of those jeans is an item I made early in the summer that actually filled a hole in my wardrobe:  a plain white Renfrew!

I'm sure it will come as no surprise that I completely fell off the Stash Diet wagon over the summer.  One day I was at my local fabric shop getting zippers or something, and my eyes fell upon a lovely 2-yard piece of silk chiffon in the remnant area.  It came home with me, and a couple days later I sewed up the long edge and then sewed the two ends together to make a huge infinity scarf.  Honestly, it's a bit too big, but by keeping the yardage intact I can change my mind later and make it into something else if I want to.  It's kind of a Moroccan tile print in lavender, yellow, white and black.

And because it was chilly when I left the house in the morning, I added one of my favorite jackets, purchased probably 15 years ago at Loft.

Rounding out the look were some simple silver jewelry and a pair of quilted black block-heeled shoes.

After I came home from my coffee date with a friend and an impromptu lunch date with Hubby, I finished up my second Alabama Chanin project.  I do have a couple of things to say about that one, so I'm hoping to get some pictures of it over the weekend.  Stay tuned, if you're interested in that stuff!

Navy & Kelly

This morning I made a Renfrew.  It's navy and kelly green, and really soft and comfy.  I wanted it for a long time, and I finally made it.

That is all.

Baby's First Pattern Hack

I finally sewed something that's not a quilt!  (There's been a lot of quilt-sewing going on around here lately - I've already started a new one.)

A couple months ago I was reorganizing my fabric stash, and came across a lovely floral knit I'd completely forgotten about!  I bought it in spring during a sale, but it's really more appropriate for fall so I set it aside.  After I found it, I spent some time thinking about what it should become, and I finally settled on a scoop-neck tee with medium-full sleeves gathered at the wrist. 

So out came the Renfrew, and I gave the sleeve the ol' slash and spread.  And I took pictures along the way in case you'd like to try it too.

After tracing my sleeve pattern, I drew some lines parallel to the grain line, about 1.5" apart.

I also drew in the seam allowance on the sleeve head.

Then I cut up all the lines except the center one, almost up to the seam allowance line.  It looks like an octopus, doesn't it?!  There are 7 strips though, so I guess it's a heptopus . . .

I cut in from the outer edge almost to the seam allowance line, to create a little hinge at the top of each strip.

I order to get everything lined up nicely, I decided to tape my original pattern to my mat, and then tape the slashed pattern on top of that.  Then I decided how wide I wanted my sleeve to be at the wrist.  I didn't want it to be too full; the original sleeve measures about 10" across at the wrist.  I went for 19", just under twice the width.  I measured out from the center to get that width, then lined up my outer strips and taped them down.  Then I distributed the rest of the strips as evenly as possible.

Once I had everything positioned the way I liked it, I traced over the whole thing again.  I felt that was easier and quicker than taping pieces of paper into the spaces.

Here are my two sleeve patterns:  hacked sleeve on the left, original sleeve on the right.  It was a very easy piece to draft, but I'm still super proud of myself for doing it because usually I'm too lazy to do this sort of thing!

Then I went about constructing the top in the normal way.  Once I had the shoulder seams sewn and the sleeves attached, it was time to gather the bottoms.  I thought of getting out my sewing machine, but then decided to try out gathering on the serger.  It's one of those things I knew you could do on a serger, but had never actually done.  And it's really easy!

I did a few samples with different settings on the differential.  I started out with the dial all the way up, and then worked my way down, notch by notch.  It was interesting to see the samples get incrementally less gathered.

What I didn't do though is to measure my beginning and ending width, so I didn't know the percentage of gathering on any of the pieces!  I decided to gather my sleeves like the middle piece, but once I'd done it I felt it was still too wide, so I went back over it with the setting turned up as high as it goes. 

And then I continued with construction as usual.  For this look, I wanted a narrower wrist binding, so I cut the pattern piece in half. 

And here's the whole top:

I think it's really pretty.  I love this fuller sleeve.  The only thing I wish were different is the wrist binding:  my fabric doesn't have a lot of stretch, so the binding doesn't hug the wrist as much as I'd hoped.  Next time I will probably add in a little elastic there.  But still, I'm very happy with this make!

I had a terrible time getting a good picture to show the puff of the sleeve while wearing it.  Here are three mediocre snaps, because it's all I have time for!

Trust me, it's blousy :-)

A dozen and counting.

Remember I said the other day that I'd made two Renfrew tops last week before leaving for New York?  Here's the other one:

OK, I kind of hate this picture because I look dorktastic. But the truth is, this is how I look much of the time.  No, the truth really is, this is actually better than I look much of the time, LOL!  I do usually make at least a small effort when I take pictures for the blog!

Anyway, you've all seen 8 bazillion Renfrews by now, but I wanted to show you this one because I really love how the cowl drapes.  This is a very soft and slinky cotton/rayon jersey I got from Girl Charlee.  I probably should have shortened the body a little to account for that slinkiness, but since I didn't, it can be worn with pants with a lower rise, which is a good thing.  It's really too long for this old skirt from J.Crew, but the colors work well together.

I was also very proud of myself when I made this top last week that I paid attention to my print direction, so the birds are not upside down on the outside of my cowl.  Yay me!

And can I just say, last night I finally watched the first two episodes of The Great British Sewing Bee and I just loved it!  Are any of you watching?

(We did it!)* repeat four times from asterisk

You may not know this -- I only know it as a consequence of spending two and a half days with a two and a half year-old -- but every time Dora the Explorer accomplishes something, she launches into a song the lyrics of which mainly consist of the phrase "We did it!"  It's been in my head for daaaaaaaays.

Anyhow:  are you like me?  Are you a) lazy and b) unsure of your skills? 

Those two attributes have kept me from trying the V-neck version of the Renfrew tee for a year now.  But before we went to New York, I was in the mood to make a couple tee shirts, and I felt that one of my stash fabrics would really work as a V-neck, so I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try.  It was easy to make that decision because I wasn't crazy in love with the print.  You guessed it - another sale buy from Girl Charlee.  It's actually kind of great to have some cheap fabrics around that I'm not in love with - it makes taking these risks easier.

The lazy part comes into play because I had to get out my sewing machine AND my serger.  Generally, I sew all my knits on the serger only.  But I really didn't trust myself to get the V right with it, so I sewed the neck binding together and then attached it to the neckline using a zigzag stitch on the regular sewing machine.  After that I serged off some of the excess seam allowance.  I could have taken off more, but I was scared.  I also could have played around with my stitch width and length and made those zigzags smaller, but as I've mentioned, I'm lazy.  And yes, I know my serger tension is off.

The instructions have you clip into the V on the body of the sweater so that you can pin the binding around the neckline - I clipped in about a half inch.  It was a little scary to do that, but you know what?  It worked great!  I'm very happy with my first V.  Of course, I'll probably not be able to do it this well next time when I use a fabric I love, because that's the way things work, right?

No topstitching.  Lazy.  It came back to haunt me though because after I washed it, the seam allowance flipped up and I had to iron it down.  That's right - I ironed a tee shirt.  I do that a lot.  You'd think I would learn!  In my defense though, sometimes it's a style choice.  But not this time.

Anyhooo, here's the finished top:

I wore it on the plane out to New York, and it was comfortable enough even though this is one of those jersey fabrics that hardly has any stretch and the designs are stiff.  I like that there are so many colors in the print - I think this one will go with a lot of different bottoms.  I wore it with some old brown pants and liked how they looked together.

Have any of you made a V-neck tee shirt?  Was it scary for you?  Did you do anything differently in the construction?

Renfrews #8, #9 and #10

After so many makes with this pattern, there's really nothing left to say except, "Look at the cute fabric!"

Number 8 was made a couple of weeks ago.  I've already worn it once and the cute little floral print made me feel smiley.

Vintage Peach Green Floral Cotton Jersey Knit Fabric

Numbers 9 and 10 were made on Friday.  All three have the round neckline, as that's the neckline I like best on me.   Numbers 8 and 9 have long sleeves, and number 10 has 3/4 sleeves.

Retro Poppy Peach Cotton Jersey Knit Fabric

Vintage Bird Floral Red Cotton Jersey Knit Fabric (currently only available as a half yard cut)

 

Now that these pictures are up, I can start my 2013 FOs page!  Woohoo!

Kiddie Style

Here's the Renfrew I made over the weekend - my first long-sleeved version.

This print is probably a little too juvenile for me - it reminds me of little girls' pajamas.  But I don't care.  I wanted some cheerful tee shirts to brighten the winter days that are coming.  And this is pretty darned cheerful!

It's warm too, because the fabric (from Girl Charlee, natch) is a cotton-lycra blend, so it's on the heavier side.  But I have to admit, it's not my favorite kind of jersey to sew.  It tends to resist the needles, pins and rotary cutter.  But it turned out well.  I even did a cute little zigzag neck edging for the first time:

I'm going to put this on today and head out to the fabric store!

Renfrew du Jour

Yet again!

But I changed it up this time!  I made View C, with the cowl neck and the three quarter sleeves.  In my bird print fabric.  I just need to make one more, and then I'll have one for every day of the week.

When I made my first Renfrew, way back in June, I was so anxious to get started that I only traced the pieces for the scoop neck and short sleeves.  Yesterday afternoon, knowing that Hubby would be out this morning playing basketball and thus enabling me to have a sewing morning, I traced out all the other pieces.  So now I can make any Renfrew I want, any time I want.   Ha!

I was almost finished by the time he got home.  I got a little distracted and didn't check the placement of the birds on the waistband piece, so I've got some mirror-image bird business going on down there.  Oh well. 

I was a little surprised by how short the three quarter sleeves ended up being (and I've got slightly short arms) - I guess I was expecting bracelet length.  And I feel like it's a teensy bit wide across the shoulders - probably because when I did those seams, I didn't realize that the tension dials on my serger had shifted, so they got stretched out a little.  Oh well.

As soon as I finished it, we headed out the door to the local banh mi shop for lunch, closely followed by frozen yogurt in Chinatown, eaten on the way to the park.  It's a beautiful day - really too hot for this top.

Guess I'll have to change into one of my other Renfrews.

Lace Layering Tee

Yeah, I've been hitting the knits again . . .

A couple weeks ago when I was at Vogue perusing the remnants section, I came across a piece of stretch knit lace.  I'd been interested in trying this stuff out, so I picked it up.

I spent some time thinking about what I wanted it to become.  I've seen some really cute projects out there using this type of knit as the bodice of a floaty dress, or as in insert in a blouse.  But I decided that a practical garment for me would be a lacy tee shirt that I could layer under sweaters or jackets, or over tank tops.  So yesterday I got out my trusty Renfrew pattern and went to work.

Because I knew I wanted this to be a layering garment, I thought about ways I could reduce bulk.  I ended up eliminating the all the bindings.  For the neckline and sleeves, I serged the raw edges then folded them back in a narrow hem, which I stitched down using a tricot stitch (also called a three-step zig-zag) on my sewing machine.  You can't see it though, because the white thread disappears into the white lace - that's a good thing!  I like the clean edges this finish gave the top.

For the bottom edge, I did away with a hem altogether and cut the front and back pieces so that the bottom edge is the selvedge.  This will make the top nice and sleek when I tuck it into a skirt or pants.  Also, the Renfrew top as drafted is quite long, so doing away with the hem band shortened it to a length more suitable for tucking in.

The fabric is quite sheer, and I'm pretty sure it's synthetic.  The stretch goes both ways, so I was able to choose which way I wanted the motif oriented.  I toyed with the idea of tea-dying it, but decided that white would be a more versatile layering color.  And honestly, I'm not sure how well a synthetic would tea-dye.  By being careful in my cutting and eliminating the bindings, I was able to have a pretty substantial piece left - about 15" x 40" - so I can use this again in the future as an insert.  I sewed all the seams on the serger, and just stitched down the hems with the sewing machine, so the inside has a nice, clean finish.

I'm really happy with the way the top turned out, and working with the stretch lace wasn't as difficult as I'd thought it would be.  The only downside is that the texture of the lace makes it not the most comfortable thing to wear right next to the skin.  But I guess I can suffer for fashion . . . once in a while.

The Birds

When I posted my first Renfrew top last month, Lisa very kindly made a comment introducing me to Girl Charlee online fabric shop.  Of course, I took a gander straight away, and immediately fell in love with this bird-print fabric:

This is another cotton/rayon blend jersey, very soft and slinky.  You may have noticed that all of my recent sewing projects except for the turquoise Clovers have been knits, and I'm finding it very interesting that each fiber blend behaves a little differently.  This one has a lot of drape, and therefore feels like it's a little bigger than the more stable orange fabric I showed yesterday.  However, I've been using the same size 6 pattern tracing throughout!

On yesterday's top and on this one, I did finally include some stay tape at the shoulders.  I'm still not convinced it's necessary, but it will be interesting to see if these two tops hold up better than the first two I made.

I was really hoping this top would be a good match for this skirt I bought at Anthropologie a couple years ago.  But it's not quite white enough.  I should probably try it out with my Madeleine skirt though!

And since I haven't done a silly shot for a while, here's me, pretending to fly away:

A Contentious Color

Orange.  It's one of those colors that people either seem to love or hate.  I happen to love it.  It reminds me of bright, sunshiny summer days.

On Saturday I spent the entire day sewing, and made two Renfrew tops and a Mission Maxi.  I told you I was trying to get a lot done before my niece comes!  Here is the first of the two Renfrews:

This one is in an organic cotton jersey from Fabric.com.  I think it looks great with this Marimekko for Anthropologie skirt I've had for years.

This cotton is slightly heavier than the knits I've used for my two previous Renfrews, making it a tiny bit more challenging for me to sew.  I had really wanted to use my new twin needle to topstitch the bindings, but the closest orange thread I found just wasn't close enough, so once again, they're plain.

Here's a little something I wanted to show you.  I trace all my patterns onto a pattern-making material that is a lot like non-woven interfacing.  I like it because it's sturdy, cuts easily without ripping and has a slight texture that makes it stick to the fabric so I can be more accurate in my cutting without doing a whole lot of pinning.  But it's fairly thick, so I don't like to fold it up and put it back into the pattern envelope.  Instead, I roll it and put it in an old toilet paper tube, and mark the pattern name and the size I made on the outside.

I've got all my patterns arranged on a bookshelf, and when I want to reuse one, I just have to unroll it and I'm ready to go!

Polka Dot Mania!

Here's the last of the photos I took on Friday.  This is another example of the fit of the Renfrew top:

I grabbed this polka dot skirt just to be silly, but I actually kind of like it.  What do you think?  Too much?  Looks like a good 4th of July outfit to me!

Hope everybody is having a great weekend!

Today

I'm heading to the grocery store, wearing my new t-shirt!

Not much else to say really, since I just wrote about this one yesterday!  It is a little long in the waist, but I prefer my shirts to be that way, so that the lower dorsal area doesn't get exposed when I sit down.  You know what I'm talking about.

Also painted my nails last night with one of my new China Glaze polishes, just to go with this top!

A very pretty blue-grey.  Formula was perfect on this one!  I've used four of the twelve colors so far, but this is the first one I've taken time to photograph!

I spent quite a while this morning photographing my four new makes, so I'll be doling those out over the next few days!

Succeeding in spite of myself.

I made my second Renfrew top today, and boy, was it a bear.  But it came out OK in the end.

I used this very cute fabric I ordered from GirlCharlee.com (Thanks, Lisa!), a cotton/rayon jersey.

Nice and soft, with lots of drape.  My main problem was that after washing, the grainline was very skewed.  I again spent a ton of time trying to straighten it out, but finally decided to just let it be off grain.  I figure, most of the tee shirts I've purchased (I won't say from where) are off grain too, so how bad could it be?  Well, it could be very bad - one of the reasons I wanted to make my own is that I get really sick of the tees twisting around my body because they weren't cut straight.  But I now have a little more empathy with the folks who sew up our RTW items.  You can bet I'll be researching how to true up grain on knits, but if anyone has thoughts on this, chime right in!

The tee came out looking good in the end; we'll see how it fares after washing.  I did it the same way I did my first one, completely on the serger and sans topstitching around the bindings.  To me the topstitching really gives a  tee a sporty look, and this fabric doesn't scream "sporty."  Rather, it whispers, "cute."

I spread it out on the bed because if I'd tried to hang it up, it would just collapse on itself!  That's how silky it is!  Feels great next to the skin.

I know I owe you guys a bunch of modeled pictures of stuff I've finished lately!  I've been spending a fair amount of time trying to finish up my spring cleaning before my niece comes for the rest of the summer, and once I'm in my grubbies, I just can't seem to find the energy to clean myself up and take pictures!

Call me Bubbles! Everybody does!

After months of threatening to make a Renfrew tee, I've finally done it!

Two weeks ago, I made a big order of knits in preparation for finally getting to this pattern.  I'll admit I was a little fast and loose with my clicking on Fabric.com; I didn't fully read each item description, and consequently some of the fabrics were a surprise when I opened the box.

Like this one.  I'd thought the polka dots were going to be about a quarter of this size, and my first reaction was that, like Bubbles DeVere, I'd probably rather go naked than wear this print.  So I decided, what the heck - I'll use it for my first go of the pattern.  No great loss if it doesn't work out!

Imagine my surprise when I finished sewing it up and quite liked it!  I actually think it will be darned cute with jeans, although I can't say for sure because I'm in my house-cleaning grubbies today (because that's what I really ought to be doing.)

This top was so fast and easy to make.  I traced the pattern yesterday, which took less than a half hour, and then later in the day spent another 20 minutes or so cutting out the fabric.  I sewed the entire top this morning in less than an hour and a half.  I did skip a few steps though . . . I didn't have any twill tape, and decided not to bother with it since I'd thought this one was probably destined to be a sleep tee.  And I didn't topstitch the neckband down because I like how it looks without the topstitching, so I'm going to see how it wears (and washes) this way.

I sewed the entire thing on my serger.  It was so much easier than I was expecting it to be.  I did 2 little test seams on scrap fabric, and everything seemed fine, so I just went ahead and  got started.  I didn't even change my needles out to ball points!  Although in truth, they are probably ball points by now because I haven't changed the needles once since I got the serger!

I made the size 6 top with no adjustments - Sewaholic's size 6 matches my measurements exactly!  I chose the neckline of View A with the sleeves of View B.  The fit on this top is close, but not tight - just right in my opinion.  This fabric ended up being thinner than is recommended; it's a rayon/polyester blend, and quite soft and drapey.  I was worried that might cause me problems, but it really didn't!

I'm so happy with my first experience sewing knits.  I was nervous because so many people say it's difficult, but I found it to be quite easy.  I'm hoping it's not just beginner's luck!  I can't wait to make more of these.

I'm also happy with my first experience with Sewaholic patterns.  I really like Tasia's layout and design, and the instructions were clear and concise.

Champagne!  Champagne for everyone!