MAGAM June 2016

The Make a garment a month theme for June was 'Joyful June'

Joyful June for me was all about getting into my sewing room and playing. Playing gives me great joy and takes my stress away! It also turned out to be a very productive sewing month. This is a long post , I wanted to get it all in, otherwise time goes by and I never get my work up.

I really wasn't sure where I was going with this theme at first. I had a lot of things piled up on my sewing table. I just let my mood take me away.

This was the first thing I made. I call this my Barcelona tank top. It's a self drafted pattern that I have made up 3 times in a lovely fabric called Barcelona. This was my recycling project as well. I started with a garment that I got at the thrift shop, it didn't fit me but I loved the fabric. So I cut it up - what else!?

Here's how I did it. I cut out the circles from the print, leaving a border of white.

Made a sample. Water soluble stabilizer on the back. Then free motion stitching. I used gold metallic thread which I did not like so I changed to silver. I liked how it turned out, so I kept going.

I pinned it all down and went to town.

I have a new Bernina with the stitch regulator that I wanted to play with.

This was fun= joyful.

When I was done I cut away the extra stabilizer and rinsed it out.

I let it dry over night and pressed it out in the morning.

It looked quite puckered. I was a bit nervous. But I was fairly sure from my sample it would work out.

Steam and the wooden clapper. It came up beautiful.

My dear husband always gives my outfits names. This he calls 'Casino Wear'! I love it!!!

I have to admit he kinda nailed it. It's got that lounge look to it.

I had some circles left over so I made the pants too. I used Vogue 8641. These were so easy. They stitched up in an hour.

I liked the pants so much I made them again in a navy pin stripe. I haven't hemmed them yet because I'm not sure which shoes to wear them with. I will be doing a separate blog post on the pants.

Barcelona tank , again.

Teal or turquoise?

I made the tank to wear alone or under this Burda Style Magazine pattern.

Chiffon tunic from the Grunge Collection. 03/2014#126.

I added sleeve tabs. My new machine makes perfect button holes!!!! That brings me joy!!

Barcelona tank top X's 2. One in lace over a lace trimmed one. The little over jacket I'm wearing, is an orphan I made about 3 years ago, also self drafted, never blogged about it.

The very loose weave of the fabric easily allowed me to add a hand crocheted scalloped edge all the way around it.

Now I have something to wear it with.

I also made another altered Vogue 8950. I blogged about it first here.

Yes - I made More stuff this month!

My brother got a Voo Doo doll for his birthday. Made from an old T-shirt. We decided instead to call it an acupuncture doll. This was fun. What do you give a guy who has everything?

The Jalie Maxi pattern has been on my list since it came out and I finally got around to making it. I should have done it a lot sooner. It's amazing. Great fit. (Not skin tight) super easy and fast!

From my new Turkish sewing magazines, I made a jumpsuit that I just love. I blogged about it here.

I also made a white blouse from one of the Magazines. It's been a very long time since I've made a placket with buttonholes. It turned out just okay. I had problems with some of the stitching order due to no instructions. But now that I have it figured out I might make it again. I also dislike the fabric. It's a linen /cotton blend. Next time I'll stick to one or the other. Somehow it combines the worst properties of both fabrics. However it still has a nice feel. This fabric was not inexpensive, I noticed after I pre washed it,it had a few holes in it. I thought I was being careful but somehow I managed to place a hole right by the middle button. Not sure how I'm going to fix it.

Creazion Elisi #3 pattern model #102.

We are almost at the end of this post. Yeah!

The last project is McCalls 7389 view B.

This was super quick and easy to make. And a great little stash buster. If you don't have a lot of fashion fabric, it has a lining.

I have been looking for little summer top patterns using wovens.This is nothing more then a glorified tank top but what's great about it is it's not gigantic. I made a size 10 and took it in a1/2 inch on either side at the under arm , tapering down 2". Everything else fit beautifully.

I cut the eyelet from yardage which was less expensive then buying eyelet trim. I have another project in mind for the rest of it.

I only have one picture that turned out of me wearing it. I think it's really cute. If you don't like showing your under arms then this is not the top for you. It exposes what I like to call my 'chicken fat'. But when I'm hot I really don't care!

Here it is with using lace. I laid the lace over it after I attached the yoke and wrapped it around the edges, then stitched it through all the layers. This worked out well until I went to press it and melted the lace with a hot iron!!! But lace is forgiving and I managed to cut out the crusty mess and invisibly patch it. I can't see where I fixed it unless I look at the back and see my hand stitches.

Of course I'm wearing the wrong bra with this but you get the idea. This will be nice to wear with jeans or the wide leg pin stripe pants that still need to be hemmed.

Now I'm done. I'd be surprised if you have read this far! I am so tired of taking pictures of myself. I'm starting to feel like I have a narcissistic disorder!! I can assure you I don't.

That's it for June. Now I have to clean up my sewing room. It looks like a bomb went off in there.

Thanks for stopping by.

Maureen;)

 

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McCalls 7191- party in the back!

It's been a long time since I've made up a woven top with bust darts!!! So glad I did. This McCalls 7191 is a little gem.

No nonsense in the front- party in the back!

Basically sewed up itself. I used a nice weighty, drapey stable georgette in the front plaid and a flowy - not really sure- poly semi sheer ??? Poka dots on the back.

The two back cross over pieces were to be cut out on the bias, but I changed this up because it would have drove me crazy with everything going every which way. I needed to match my plaids!!! The recipe looked like it had enough give in the shoulder area for arm movement. And thank heaven I was right. I tend to be small in the back but I could see how for some, bias could be critical for fit and comfort.

The v- neck has a refreshing facing, lightly interfaced. The back neck edge has a bias binding. I made this a while back and I seem to remember it a touch confusing to figure, but it turned out beautiful none the less.

I made view C with the short set in sleeves of B. I shortened them to suit me.

Overall I'm very happy with my top. I like where the back length falls.

And I think I achieved a descent match up.

No alterations needed, size 10 out of the envelope. This one is a keeper. I would like to make up a few more or try view D with out the crossover back... Maybe in light weight linen....mmmm.

Thanks for stopping by.
Maureen

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Eureka! McCalls 6610.

I'm so thrilled with my new pants! I think I've discovered my new TNT pants/jeans pattern. McCalls 6610.

I know "skinnys" are all that and a bag of chips these days but I still like my boot cuts to wear with, go figure- boots. Not the 4" stilettos featured on the pattern envelope. I think they turned out great and they fit me beautifully. They were not however, without their challenges.

I made them up in a really nice weighty 2% stretch twill that's been in my stash forever. This pattern can also be made in woven. As per my usual sewing habits I should have made a muslin first but I'm far to impatient for that. I started with a size 10- the closest to my measurements and then adjusted the pattern a little bigger then the petite, as I'm some where between petite and regular. I added a 1/4 inch to the hips, so that's 1/2 an inch per side. I knew the waist height was going to be just below my boobs but I thought I would deal with that later.

I liked this pattern because the pocket bag travels from the hip to the zip and creates a nice tummy holder inner. I will use this style on all my form fitting pants from now on. The fly front zipper was originally in two parts and those always give me grief so I just attached it on my tissue and cut it as one. I have a Kwik Sew zip method I like to follow-so I used that. It worked out but I did have to fiddle with the pocket lining as it was not accounted for in my method. This will require more study to perfect.

One of my "Eureka" moments came when I realized I did not have to use the official bar tack stitch on my machine.Duh! It does a beautiful bar tack, the problem lies with operator error!!! I break needles and screw up the placement all the time and those little suckers are a pain to unpick! I watched a short Angela Wolf You Tube video and she just used a narrow, closely spaced zig zag. So that's what I did!!!! Worked a charm. I have to remember there really are no "Sewing Police"(from now on refered to as the SP) I really need to take her Craftsy Jeans class.

As the maker of my own garments I can bend the rules to suit myself as they work for me. I'm happy as long as I have a high level of professional quality and fit at the end of the day. I want to hear "nice pants" and not "Did you make those?" With that suspect tone in their voice- you know the one!

So at the end of my day these pants did not look so professional on the inside. LOL- I used some x-mas cotton for the lining- yucky. And I did not use my serger, because I kept thinking they were not going to work out so why bother. I did zig zag them at least. Oh- and a really ugly rust coloured zipper that apparently, previously resided in another garment???? Waste not, want not!

All of my difficult fitting issues hinged around this area in the back. I know it looks like a hot mess- but- now I know how to work this out on the muslin I plan to make. Yes, you heard right. I plan to make a MUSLIN. For this pair I just added some small darts to take in the gape.

For the waist band I made it in two parts with a CB seam. I've done this before and knew I could make an adjustment there if need be. I did need to and did so in the way of a fish eye dart through the CB. Such a hack job, I know!!!! However this lead me to my next Eureka moment- I will Learn how to draft my own fitted waist band. There are lots of tutorials online for doing this and it looks very easy. I keep telling myself- Muslin, no SP.

Attaching the waist band then gave me 70's style high waisters- not a good look on me. So just kept stitching until I got it to a height I liked. This also reduced the width of the waist band. This was a good thing as it was way too wide for me anyways. Muslin! No SP!

I have made the Jalie Jeans and had the exact same issue. In fact, almost every pair of pants I've made comes down to this problem so it really is time to address this once and for all.

On the outside it doesn't look THAT bad. I rationalize this with the fact that never tuck my shirts in any ways so no one will see it.

I didn't get all fancy with my back pockets. I used regular thread for topstitching- NO SP. For topstitching, I really like to take advantage of my presser feet. These are the ones I use.

But really, the thing I like the best about these is the beautiful snap closure! That took me all of 45 second to do with my PRYM snap setter which I blogged about here. If you want to make your life easy you must have one! Magic. On my next pair I'm undecided whether use rivets and my PRYM tool. Or the zig zag faux bar tacks. It's nice to have options.

I'm too lazy to to take a picture of me wearing them. I made them and blogged them in two days. That's enough for me. On my next pair when all the kinks are worked out I will model them.

It's 4:00 as I write this. I'm still in my house coat. The fire place is on. I'm cozy on the couch, Lola is near me. Lasagna for dinner . It's raining sideways in Vancouver as witnessed out my kitchen window. It's Good Friday. And it really is good.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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