I’ve moved!!!

I’ve moved my blog! You can find me over here at LITTLE KIDS GROW.

Windy City Skirt Tutorial

As promised, I’m posting the Windy City Skirt Tutorial. This was my first applique, so I may have missed something in the process, but it worked. (That’s all that matters anyway, right?)

What you’ll need:  Applique fabric,matching thread,  fusible interfacing, water soluble drawing tool (I use a pencil), fabric adhesive (I use Liquid Stitch)

1.  Make a sketch of your design. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just something to give you a general idea of proper spacing. I wanted something asymmetrical for my skirt design, but the sky’s the limit in your creativity.

2.  Once you have your design idea in mind, select the appropriate fabrics for the garment and the applique design. To be honest, I didn’t really take fabric weight into consideration when attempting this project, but I would definitely recommend selecting an applique fabric that is sturdy.With a quick project like this one with minimal fabric prep time, the less finicky the fabric (knits, silky, fine, etc) the easier and less time consuming the process.

3.  Sketch your design directly onto the applique fabric. I did this design freehand, but there are many beautiful stencils that you can use if you prefer. Also, I used a pencil (with an eraser). I drew very lightly on the fabric and just erased if I made a mistake. Any extra markings are either taken care of during cutting or after you wash your garment. 4.Preparing your applique fabric:

Once your drawing is complete, you’ll want to cut off any excess fabric from the top and side of your design (do not cut the design out just yet) and add fusible interfacing to the back.

5.  Once you’ve adhered the interfacing, cut out your design. 6. Position your pieces on your garment:

My design used 4 large separate pieces. The separate pieces made it easy to move around on the garment for proper placement.

7. Adhere your pieces directly to your fabric:

I pinned the fabric in place and then lifted the under side to apply the  fabric adhesive. Because the fabric that I used was heavy, I applied the glue directly from the tube, but if you are concerned about even distribution I’d recommend using a brush – especially if your fabric is thin.

Depending on the manufacturer’s instructions, you may have to wait a bit before sewing. (I’m a bit impatient, so I didn’t wait!) I guess it depends on the fabric.

8.  Once your fabric has adhered, it’s time to stitch. Matching thread covers many mistakes, so I highly recommend it. Sew around the outer edge of your design using a satin or buttonhole stitch.

When you come to the end of a section back stitch a bit before moving on to another section.

And, that’s it! You now have your own designer original! Yea!!!

I took a lot of shortcuts, but if you’d like more information on applique, here’s a fantastic tutorial with lots of great instructions, and product suggestions.

Windy City Skirt

I am so excited about this skirt. This was my first applique design and I am hooked! I set out to design a skirt using this book here (which I absolutely love by the way!) Unfortunately, something went awry. I miscalculated a measurement and my skirt ended up a bit on the short side. I wanted to lengthen it, but was out of my original fabric. The only fabric that I had that would coordinate was some old drapery fabric that I had in my closet. Never one to back down from a chance to be thrifty, I recycled the drapery fabric and in the process decided to try my hand at a little bit of applique and WALAH (Voila)! The Windy City Skirt.

This skirt started out as the “Ocean Waves” skirt, but my kids thought that the design looked more like the wind blowing. Ha Ha!

Tutorial to come!

Keep sewing!

CalandraFIND THE TUTORIAL HERE.

Little Lizard King

So, I was over at The Train to Crazy this morning, and she is having a pattern give-away featuring Little Lizard King. The patterns are so cute. I’m especially excited to see that boy pattern pieces are included  (It’s so hard to find patterns for boys). Here are my 3 favorites:

Shirred Shirts

I found a cute tutorial for shirred shirts here the other day. I’d already begun a shirring project which included straps, but I thought I’d try something different. I didn’t follow the original instructions which suggested cutting the arm holes before sewing the the final seams. I’d already closed my garment so instead of removing the seams, I just cut the arm holes afterward. The top has one seam down the back instead of one on each side, but it works and the girls are enjoying them. I also used a fleece instead of cotton.  The weather is starting to cool off here a bit, so these sleeveless creations can transition into the cooler weather with a light sweater or jacket (Click on the pic to see a larger version.) I’m submitting this shirt for Make It Wear It and the Kids Clothes Week Challenge.

Keep Sewing!

Calandra

Sewing for Kids

Over the last few days I’ve been perusing the web for tutorials for kid’s clothes, and boy did I hit the jackpot! Call me naive, but I never knew that there were so many awesome tutorials for the kiddos clothes out there. I’ll be posting the links as I try the tutes. I hope you’ll find the links as exciting as I have.

I entered the following sew-along to get me going:

Sewing for six kids can be a little overwhelming at times. It’s such a motivation to see others creativity. Very inspiring! The  Else Marley site has a lot of great stuff including more info about this challenge. Take a peek here.

Keep sewing!

Calandra

Beginning Pattern Drafting

THE SLOPER

I must admit something. I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to spend some time going back to the basics. Two years ago, I was trying to find every shortcut in the book to keep from spending the necessary time to understand garment construction (See this post). I just wanted to get to the finished product and felt that all of the “extra stuff” was slowing me down. Now, unfortunately, I’m missing a lot of general sewing techniques, and it’s hindering me from making some of the garments that I’ve sketched (I never saw that one coming).  I absolutely love designing, but here’s my dilemma: I’m still super duper short on time.  I find the draping method to be a big time saver, because  I can just forgo the muslin, throw the fabric up on the dress form and just “go for it!” Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, “Haste makes waste”, and I’ve wasted a lot of fabric in unworn garments that looked fine on the outside but just didn’t wear well because of poor construction. I hate to admit it, but I WAS SO WRONG. Technique is ultra important! So, I’ve dusted off my collection of sewing books (lots of vintage ones that I absolutely love!), and I’m  starting at square one: THE SLOPER.

Now, understand, though I’ve seen the “error of my ways”, I still absolutely dread making a sloper!  So many measurements, adjustments, more measurements. In the grand scheme of things, I’m sure that the initial process of making a sloper will save me tons of time later in pattern adjustments, etc, but,…well…I just don’t want to do it! But, just as bitter medicine is hard to swallow (ha! wher’d that come from?), I know that it’s good for me, so I’ll trudge through it.

I have 3 or 4 good pattern drafting books, but I think only one takes you through the steps of creating a sloper. The others create patterns directly from your measurements and by-pass the sloper completely.

Finally Fits (1973) by Ruth Amiel & Happy Gerhard is a fantastic book for beginners. It says on the cover that it is “The no-scare Home Patternmaking System for everyone, every size”, and I have to agree with them. It’s not intimidating at all. The instructions are easy to follow and there are tons of diagrams. The book is an easy read with very few industry terms that would throw a novice like me. And, even though it was published in the early 70′s you are not bombarded with out-of-date garments to duplicate. I found that everything offered in this book can be used as a template for garments today. I found it here on Alibris.com, but you might also find it here on Amazon.com

Chapter 1 gets you acquainted with the materials needed like pencils, paper, tape, rulers, French curve, scissors, tape measure, etc.

Chapter 2 is my favorite part (not really): Measurements.  You have to take approximately 41 measurements, give or take a few, and it takes a lot of time. Some of the measurements are challenging to do by yourself, so I’d advise a partner. My six-year-old was more than happy to oblige and did a fantastic job.

Chapter 3: the Paper Pattern Checker. If you’re a beginner like me, your next question would be, “What?” I thought you went straight from the measurements to the sloper. Who new you’d have to make a Paper Pattern Checker of your exact measurements, transfer that pattern to muslin to make a Muslin Pattern Checker, adjust those measurements and then finally arrive at your sloper. Whew! and Wow! I finished my Paper Pattern Checker today for my skirt.

If any of you have done this before and have suggestions for this newbie, I’d be forever grateful for any advice.

(Step TWO will be to transfer those measurements to muslin and then sew it up. I’ll post those pictures soon.)

Do what you love,

Keep sewing!

Calandra

De-Stashing the Fabric Stash

I must confess…I love my fabric stash! I love the vintage finds, thrift finds, yard sale, and estate sale finds. Oh, they’re  my pride and joy!!!(Ha! Ha! Just Kidding) But, I do get “fabric stash phobia” on occasion where I’m afraid to cut into one of those precious finds. What if I mess up? I’m notorious for sewing a sleeve on inside out or sewing on the wrong side of the fabric. (My seam ripper is my friend.) Since I’m still not very confident in my sewing skills, I’m ultra cautious when pairing fabrics and patterns. Is anyone else like this? Or is it just me?  It’s really quite annoying.

Thankfully, I found a great site here and joined a De-Stash challenge. “Oh, but your fear of commitment”, you say? Don’t worry about me, I’m sure I’ll survive. At least, I hope. Feel free to take it with me. It shouldn’t hurt too much.

Make time for the things you love!

Keep Sewing,

Calandra

Wear What You Make

My life in general is very fast paced.   Because of this, I have a tendency to try to “cram” everything into short spurts of time – including my sewing.   I’m results driven, so I commonly  rush through my projects instead of taking the time to make sure that the inside of my garment looks good too. Because of this, I’ve never really felt  like my creations were “finished”. I’ve probably only worn one or two garments that I’ve sewn outside of my house – and then only once or twice.  (This is not a good thing!)

I’ll be spending the next few projects concentrating on fit and technique. There are a lot of basic sewing skills that I still have yet to master (like invisible zippers and button holes). I really don’t think that it’s wise for me to move forward without a proper foundation. Admittedly, I’m not exactly thrilled about slowing down long enough to get the basics in, but I know that it’s necessary, so I embrace it!

I just cleaned out my closet.  Anything that didn’t fit, wrinkled too easily, or hadn’t been worn within the last 3 or 4 months was given away – except for 3 beautifully tailored suits that I  can’t bring myself to part with. They are pre-baby suits and are now one size too small. I’d hoped that I’d be able to wear them again, but alas, my waistline has rebelled. Nevertheless, the Italian fabric, construction and fit are absolutely amazing. If I can ever bring myself to take them apart, I’ll draft new patterns and cut the suits in a larger size. In the meantime, my closet is bare, and I need to use my sewing skills for something useful.

My new mantra is WEAR WHAT YOU SEW!  Since I’m working outside of the home more these days, I’ll start with some new career pieces.

Here’s the first top that I’ll be working on. It’s by Badgley Mischka for Vogue. We’ll see how it goes!

Do what you love!

Keep sewing,

Calandra

The “Finished” Product

I finished my garment for the PR Knock Off contest!  My final garment is not an exact copy but it was certainly inspired by the original  garment.

I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of draping denim. I’m sure that it had a lot to do with  it’s light weight and stretch. It was very malleable and kind to this  less than patient sewer.  Here’s the final side-by-side pic of my garment and the inspiration piece:

As you can see there are definite differences. I wanted to focus on the main design elements of the original but infuse a bit of my own personality into the final garment – hence the denim and dual tones; however, I ran into a  few snags along the way and had to adjust my original concept accordingly. I wanted to incorporate the diagonal accent of the original garment from the top right shoulder down to the hip area as pictured in the original design, but the thickness of the fabric made everything too bulky, so I had to scratch that idea and focus more on the upper bodice . I also chose to leave the edges of the garment raw. (The selvage shows  prominently on the layers of the upper bodice.)    The picture below shows my first thought. The second shows what it morphed into.

My second challenge came when I realized I cut the fabric for the front of the dress too narrow. I failed to take into account the amount of fabric needed for 4 darts, so I didn’t have enough fabric for my seam allowances. 

Since I’d already decided to incorporate the “wrong side” of the fabric into the design, I used my need for more fabric as an opportunity to showcase the lighter shade of the denim. The gussets also added a fullness to the final version that I ended up preferring over the original design.

To view more pictures, see here:

Keep sewing!

Calandra