Ryuunohikari

Grocery shopping bags

2012-01-20T23:21:00.000-10:00

Okay... I got a little side tracked from my original plan. I found a website that had a really nice tutorial for grocery bags and had some perfect fabric in the stash to make them. So I did. This stash entry used up 4 1/2 yards. I made three large lined bags and one small unlined bag.

I found instructions to make the larger lined one on craftster.org. Click Here to go there and make your own. There is an optional pocket used to fold the bag into a little square to keep things neat. I don't think I'd bother to fold them up and turn them into the pocket to make them all neat and tidy. Instead, I fold them neatly enough and stick them into the smaller bag. Or maybe I'll just stuff them in when I'm lazy. It works for me. Here's my bag of bags.

It's actually quite a simple project, made a little more difficult by lining. Keep it simple by NOT lining it and just finishing the edges with bias tape (like my little bag) and you'll have them done in no time. :) Happy Sewing!

Hot Patterns 1121 is AWESOME!

2012-01-05T19:27:00.001-10:00

It's a beauty! And a quickie! Here's my version:

And here's a few tips if you decide you've gotta have one for yourself.

The pattern runs long... I shortened the top by 2" mostly because I didn't have enough fabric, but this length actually turned out perfect for me. The dress was shortened by a lot more.

I'm small on top, so I reduced the fullness in the bust a teeny bit. Most reviewers have said it's perfect for larger ladies, so if you are bigger than a B, try it out without making adjustments. Here's the adjustment I made for mine so it wouldn't bag around the boobs. You can see I pinched out about 1/8" between each notch on both the facing and the front bodice. I'm pretty sure this helped and would NOT want to see it with more fabric over the bustline.

And I shortened the dress by at least 5", probably more like 7" because if I didn't it would probably be a full length gown... didn't want that. You can see where I shortened the pattern for the dress. Here's the short persons version:

This is not a very flattering picture... honestly... the dress looks lots better in real life.

Now there's an odd piece for the hem... facings, on a simple, drapey knit dress. I decided to eliminate the facings and just turn the hem up 1/4" and sew it. I used wooly nylon in the bobbin and regular thread on top. You could do a double needle hem, but I didn't have mine with me so I just did a simple hem. It looks fine to me. Personally, I think the faced hems would add too much bulk at the hem and might even ruin the soft, drapey look of this design.

I cut 8/10/10 corresponding to my measurements and I like the fit fine. It's loose, but still flattering.

Like it? Want one for yourself? I'll bet you get some mileage out of this pattern:
Hot Patterns Riviera Cote D'Azur Knit Dress, Tunic and Top

Fabric Stash Contest 2012

2012-01-05T09:23:00.001-10:00

Okay... I entered PatternReview.com's 2012 fabric stash contest. I have way too much fabric and I can't allow myself to buy anymore till I use a fair amount. Unless it's for work of course....

So here's my plan so far...

Hot Patterns 1121 Cote D'Azur knit top and maybe dress.
I have a yard left of a wonderful rayon/cotton knit I bought and have made at least 3 tops from it. I can squeeze in one more + a panty. I also have 2 1/2 yards of some blue poly knit jersey with beautiful drape that would look lovely. If the top works out well, I'll do the dress too.

Hot Patterns 1091 Wong-Singh-Jones Marrakesh Drawstring Pants
Brown Linen I bought several months back... Pattern is ready, just haven't got around to doing it. This one would use about 2 1/2 yards.
Oooooo... I just found some black raw silk too... This must be ages old. I don't even remember purchasing it. This would make beautiful pants! I might make it with this instead of the linen...The linen is not as soft as I thought it would be.

Simplicity 2860 Amazing Fit Pants
I know I have some black fabric somewhere... It's a staple. If I can't find it, I still have more brown linen. I'll make a pair for my daughter, maybe myself. That'll use another 2 yards.

New Look 6952 Shirt with hidden button opening.
I have some light blue stretch poplin I bought some time ago. It would be perfect and will use up another 11/2 yards. And if I can squeeze the sleeveless version onto this beautiful linen print, I'll do that too. I only have 1 yard of that one.

Hopeful Total: 10 1/2 yards

But then of course, that's only if work doesn't pick up. Right now it's a little slow, but I still plan on working on some shop items in the mornings, along with a few items I'm working on for clients (a set of aloha shirts and a vest). I've been saving my personal sewing for afternoons, while I'm helping my son with homework. His work area is right next to my sewing space... how convenient! :) So if I focus on my stuff while he works, I can get quite a bit done.

Happy sewing in 2012 everyone!

Birth of a dragon....

2011-11-13T11:09:00.001-10:00

After a LONG gestation period, and a very slow hatching, Ryu was finally born on December 5, 2011 at 6pm. As of right now, she is sitting on a countertop waiting for a place to fly.

Original post when I first started Ryu: Celtic Wyvern Pattern by Smallworks blogpost.

Materials: Cotton fabric, acrylic paints, buttons, fiberfill, wire.
Pattern: Smallwork Kells Wyvern by Melinda Small

More babies to come in the future. I really enjoyed making Ryu and will offer them in my shop as I work on more.

BTW, Did you know this is the year of the Dragon? Yup.. my oldest daughter is turning 24. Wow.

New Look 6977: Raglan sleeve top turned tank top

2011-08-06T13:26:00.003-10:00

So I have New Look 6977, and got the raglan sleeve top to fit well. After making some adjustments, it's become a TNT pattern in my stash and I've made a couple tops using this pattern.

So I really like this pattern and I saw a review of a very similar tank top version on patternreview.com:

New Look #6569

It has the same look, with the gathered front at the bust and a V-neckline. I wanted one... was going to purchase the pattern, but thought... well, hey... I have a similar pattern... let's see if we can make it into what I want. Here's what I turned out with.

And I love it. It's not as fitted as the pattern above, but then if it were, it might not look so presentable over the squishy parts of my body... Anyway, MINE fits me well, looks flattering and is pretty much the same as the pattern I was thinking of purchasing. So here's what I did to turn it into a tank top:

The picture below shows the original sleeve piece and the finished tank top piece. I drew in the original lines for the front bodice so you can see where they overlap. Here's what I did.

First, I retraced the front body piece with all the markings.
Then I laid it over the raglan sleeve piece, matching the upper portion of the raglan sleeve seam and matching approximately where the armhole notches were, and traced the shoulder and neckline section. Then I just guesstimated the curve of the armhole.In this picture, I traced the front bodice piece on the finished tank top pattern. You can see where the original sleeve pattern piece overlaps the portion I added on for the tank strap. The seam at the top portion of the raglan sleeve and the shoulder seams match.
Here's the finished pattern front piece:

I did the same thing with the back pieces. Again, the picture below shows the finished tank top piece and the sleeve piece together, with the back bodice piece drawn in along the shoulder blade. The finished piece by itself is shown on the right.

That's pretty much it. The pattern is ready.
I kept the neckline binding the same and just finished the armhole by folding it over and sewing. Simple. Quick. And I have a TNT tank top pattern that cost me nothing more than a few minutes of my time.

Knock-off Anthropologie skirt

2011-05-27T16:55:00.000-10:00

I saw this skirt on Anthropologie.com and love the cute styling. I don't wear skirts and have no reason to make it. But I have daughters who are just the right age for some cute stuff like this...

So here we go... First I'll need to adapt the style to something a bit more casual. It will be used for school, not work, so I need to "casualize" it. I lowered the waistline and made an elastic facing. Then I shortened it to above the knee length and turned the button band into a zippered opening.

First, I'm tracing off a pattern my daughter used for a plain elastic waist skirt that she made several months ago. She used a pattern from the "Sew U" book by Wendy Mullin (designer for Simplicity pattern's Built by Wendy line). My daughter was very pleased with the fit, but for this skirt, I'll leave the dart shaping in the back, and eliminate the front darts. They will be drafted into the button band feature and side seams.

Unlike the Anthro skirt, I'll cut this skirt 1 1/2" below the waistline since my daughter pulls her skirts down about this much so it rests on the high hip anyway, and shorten the hem to just above her knee. I'm starting with a 12" skirt, but added an extra 3". Here's the draft so far:

Now to add the more difficult details. I won't be working with the back piece anymore, it's fine the way it is. The front piece needs those fancy features though.... Here, I transferred one dart to the side seams, and turned the other one into an opening for the zipper.

I think I'll make the button band about 1" wide. The skirt is small, and so proportionately this should work. I traced off the top portion of the dart to the point where I want the button band to end and made it 1" wide. I also drew the button band onto the skirt front to make the next few steps a little easier to visualize.

To make the gathers that fall from the bottom of the button band, I drew 3 parrallel lines going from hem to the bottom of the band, and cut the sections out. Then, uh.... how do I explain this... well, this is what I did...

At this point, I realized that I could easily attach the side front piece to the end of the gathered part thereby eliminating a seam in the gathers, so I taped them together. I'm wondering if there's enough gathering here... but I don't want to have too much bulk at the end of the button band.

Then I got stuck... So I made a paper model to try and figure out how I was going to put the pieces together. Here's it is:

Sorry, it's sideways. I couldn't figure out how to turn it the right way.

Anyway, I traced off facing pieces using the patterns, folding out the darts and adding seam allowances where necessary. I also cut a strip a little over twice as long and 1 1/4" wide for the little gathery bit on the side of the zipper opening.

Hmmm.... I'm thinking about making that top button practical instead of decorative. I'll need something to sew it to, so I added a facing(?) under the bottom zipper piece. Now... off to sewing.

It was difficult to sew the zipper/gathers/ skirt bits together, but using my paper model, I figured out the sequence of putting it together. I can't tell you how I put it together, not because it's a secret, more like I don't remember. I just kept going and couldn't stop or it would break my sewing "train of thought."

Here's some pictures of the details:

And here's the finished skirt with a body in it. It's perfect for her spunkiness. And she loves it. Thats why we sew!

New Look 6889

2011-02-27T11:41:00.007-10:00

SUPER SIMPLE! If only I wore more dresses! I made view D. Originally, I made this pattern using silk twill. According to measurement charts, I should cut a size 12. But I cut the 10 after checking the finished measurements on the pattern tissue. It was still baggy, so I took it in along the side seams by about 1" per side seam. I could still pull it over my head, and it looks lots nicer.

Then I did it up in a tricot knit for a nightie. I reduced the gathers along the neckline, pinching out about 1/2" total since I don't have much bust to fill it up. Being that this fabric stretches, I also took in an additional 1" at the waist. It gave it a little more shape and it's still comfortably loose. Here's what the pattern looked like after I altered it.

Originally, I did follow the directions and used a self-fabric bias tape to make the neckline and armhole facings. For the knit dress, I just did the fold over and sew thing. Much faster, easier and still looks great.
I'm so sorry I don't have better pictures because this dress looks a lot better than the pictures I'm posting. I'm considering doing a few tops in some knit fabric since the nightie came out so comfortable and it was very quick to put together. I think it took about 2 hours from start to finish...

RIPincushion

2011-02-06T22:00:00.000-10:00

Pin Cushie (19something - January 27,2011)

I murdered my pincushion. No wait... it was a mercy killing. He was bleeding sawdust pretty badly, and had lost his strawberry long ago. There was nothing else I could do. So I finally put him to rest. The sewing needles he kept as prisoners, locked away deep in his gut, were removed and will find a new home. The Needlecase will be glad to take most of them in as many of them don't want to be separated from their family of sewing needles. But the remainder will probably be placed in a new pincushion. Pins will remain in an orphanage box until a suitable pincushion has been found (or made). I can't believe he had swallowed so many needles. No wonder his last days were miserable.

His remains will be buried in Sewing Trash Memorial Waste Bin. The family requests no flower pins please.

Duvet Cover

2011-02-03T11:38:00.002-10:00

I made these using STASH fabrics. Can't believe I had the perfect stuff for the covers and never got around to doing it. PR Stash contest saves the day!

This first comforter cover is for a Cal-King size bed and measures 88"x102".

And this one is for a twin size bed and measures 88" x 65"

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make a basic duvet cover (comforter cover).

First, take measurements of a cover you have. Usually, you'll find that it's a few inches bigger than the comforter... sometimes up to 4" larger. This allows for the "fluff" factor. So if you don't have a cover but want to make one, take measurements and add a few inches.

My covers have pieced tops. It's not hard to do, just takes a little bit of math to add seam allowances where you piece.

It's easiest to place your button band along the bottom of the cover. To do this, add an extra 2" to the bottom edge. Then cut a facing piece about 2" wide by the length of the bottom edge. I cut mine using the red fabric since I was nearly out of the taupe linen. Make sure you interface the button band. Finish the facing edge. Apply the facing to the bottom of the cover. Turn, press and topstitch. Here is a view of the top and underside of the button band for the comforter cover top piece.

Make the buttonholes. Here you can see what it looks like on the top and inside view.

The top of your cover is ready. Now, I used a flat sheet to make the underside of the cover. It's smooth, easy and it was already in my stash. But... it doesn't quite match my comforter cover. That's okay. It doesn't bother me, and I'm saving the last of my fabric for the matchng pillow cover. However, if you have a spare flat sheet that you'd like to use, but still have a some leftover fabric from the cover top, you could sew a border around your bottom piece using the face fabric. I didn't. Sadly, I've now just about run out of that wonderful taupe linen.

Anyway, to prepare the bottom section, measure the finished top piece and cut the same size piece, adding 2" for the button band. At this point, if you want to add the border to the bottom piece, you could sew your extra fabric around the edges. Cut 6" strips, fold 1/4" along one edge and topstitch it to the bottom piece, matching the cut edges. You can simply overlap the corners, or get fancy and miter them. Finish along the button edge, fold over 1 1/2" apply a strip of interfacing and stitch along the edges. When that's done, place the top and bottom pieces right sides together and just sew around along three edges, leaving the bottom open. Finish the edges, Give it a good pressing, sew the buttons on... and it's ready!

Kinda like sewing a giant bag... not so bad eh?

TIP: If you have some card tables, place one behind your sewing machine, and one next to you. It'll help support the huge amount of fabric you'll be working with. Oh.. and it's best if the tables are either the same height or slightly lower than your sewing area.

Go to it! It's such a rewarding project. And heck, your bed won't mind if your stitching is slightly off or the fit is not perfect...Beds are forgiving like that... :D

Duvet cover and Pillows

2011-01-19T17:41:00.002-10:00

Thank God for the stash contest on PR. I had all this wonderful fabric waiting to be made into something useful and FINALLY! I got to work on it.

So here's a peek at my duvet cover made with a beautiful butterfly batik I found at Walmart quite a while ago... I can't remember when, but it must've been around the time I was into making shower curtains because there's only enough for a shower curtain. I had this, plus another similar butterfly batik (I must've forgotten about buying the first one), several sashiko medallions I had made, and some leftover linen/cotton from my wedding. The only thing I had to buy were 15 coconut buttons at 4/$1.00. Wow.

Here are the pillows I made to match the duvet cover.

These have invisible zipper openings, (see if you can find it in the first picture below), and the two different butterfly fabrics. I also used the last of my navy linen to make the piping. I had to use the second butterfly fabric when I ran out of the first. But boy... I like it! All of it was in my stash... including the zippers, so shopping my stash paid off! :D I'm happy!

I'm working on another set in barkcloth and linen for my daughter's bedroom and will include a better picture of my duvet cover and a simple tutorial next time.

Flanged Pillow Coverings

2011-01-15T11:05:00.000-10:00

My daughter picked up the Owl panel in Japan about 9 years ago and I've been wanting to make it into a pillow cover since then. Just never found the time or the perfect fabric. Who knew that it was sitting right here in my stash since I got married 7 years ago! The navy blue linen was made into table coverings for my reception, and I've been saving it in my stash. I used some of it for curtains when we bought our home but the remainder was stashed away for a duvet cover (tutorial coming soon).

Anyway, here's a quick tutorial for simple flange pillows. First, you'll need your fabric panel. The edges should be prefinished. I've already sewn my panel onto the pillow top piece. It's cut 2" larger than the panel. A 2" flange looks just right for an 18" pillow, and I'll be sewing the flange along the inner edge of the red border. That'll give me a 1/2" seam allowance.

To cut the back pieces, add about 6" to half the measurement for overlap. There will be a simple overlap in the back to insert the pillow. You'll need 2 pieces. Here are the pieces... not much to it eh? :)

You will need to cut interfacing for the flange (in my case, 2 1/2" wide and whatever length it will be to cover the flange area). You will also need to cut interfacing for your overlap. It will help make keep the edge from stretching out and keep it crisp. I cut mine about 2" x the width of the pillow. Interfacings will be applied to the pillow back pieces. Clip off the corners so the finished corners will be look crisp. And finish the edge for the overlap. Then adjust the pieces by laying the pillow backs onto the front piece, match the edges and fold over. I simply folded about 2" and have about 2" overlapping. The opening is not in the center, but I don't mind. I prefer to have it below the center.

After the prepping all the pieces, pin them right sides together and sew a 1/2" seam allowance all the way around the edges. Press flat.

To make the flange, I changed my top thread to red and used navy in the bobbin. Then I sewed along the inner edge of the red border on the pillowtop, creating a 2" flange. After that, I closed the overlap on the flange by hand sewing it shut. This is the underside of the pillow.

Helpful tip for turning corners neatly:
1) Fold along the stitching lines first to form a nice folded corner.
2) Lay something somewhat pointy, like a chopstick, at the corner, using it to support the corner before you turn it.
3) Turn the corner, keeping the edges folded, and use the chopstick to push the point out. Make sure the inner folds don't shift or it'll be like stuffing an elephant into a refrigerator.
4) Press. Nice corners :)

New Look 6813

2011-01-05T09:34:00.000-10:00

I like this pattern. With a few adjustments it ended up looking as good as the picture. The muslin was made in size 12/14/14, according to my measurements and it didn't really look like it fit well. So I downsized to a 10/12/12. Now it looks like the picture on the pattern.

I did have to make a few adjustments to the pattern in order to eliminate the gaping neckline. I pinched out little bits along the inner neckline, and flattened it to the edges. Kinda like making tiny darts. Since it's made in stretch fabric, it was easy enough to ease in the front and back pieces to the neck band. Here you can see the little pinches I made in the pattern:
And I added about an inch to the sleeve length. That's a simple adjustment...

The technique used for applying the neckline would've created a lot of bulk, so instead of turning the inside edges under and sewing through all those thicknesses, I left it flat and trimmed it down to 1/4" after top stitching the neckline. You could also just apply the neckline with your serger and eliminate a bunch of extra steps, but my serger is set up with light colored thread and I was too lazy to dig up darks.

Here's a detail of the topstitching. I like the blue on brown color combo...

And here's the finished top in brown. Sorry about picture quality...

And the second one made in Red, using some poly jersey. I like the way it looks, but it's not going to work for hot weather...

Oh well... another TNT pattern to add to my collection.
.

Mitered Corner napkins

2010-09-08T10:01:00.000-10:00

As promised, here are the mitered corner napkins I made using some leftover cotton fabric. These are my favorites and for our family, I think the smaller size works best. We use them to wrap breakfast to eat on the road, and they are small enough for children to manage at regular mealtimes. The bigger ones seem to end up knocking over milk cups... which kinda defeats the purpose of using napkins... mess prevention.

On the larger, dinner sized napkin, the central square measured 18" and the border is 2" wide. It took about 1/3 yard 45" fabric in order to make this border, 2 strips, each cut 5" wide.
The smaller napkins are cut 10 1/2" with a 1 3/4" border. I chose this size because I could get 4 napkins out of 1/3 yard of 44" fabric. And I'm not sure how much yardage I used for the borders, but it took about 1 1/4 strips to make one small napkin.

Here's how I cut my small napkins:

Cut your central square whatever size you'd like. In this case 10 1/2". 1" of this will be your seam allowances. (1/2" each side)

Cut your strips adding 4 times the length + twice the finished border width for each corner. The width of the strip should be twice the depth of the border + 1". For mine, it's 4 1/2"... 1 3/4" + 1 3/4" + 1" = 4 1/2"

Sew the strips together and press open your seam., then press the edges up 1/2" on both sides, and fold in half, matching edges and press flat.

Now, make the corners. It's a bit hard to explain this, but you open your border and use the fold lines to construct your miters. To make those miters, fold your border piece right sides together, matching the folds.
Then measure the width of your finished border (1 3/4" here) along the top and bottom fold lines. Mark. Connect these marks to the center fold, forming a "V"... this forms the mitered corner when you're finished. Sew from one mark, up to the tip of the V, then down to the bottom mark.

The measurement from corner to corner at the beginning of each V is 9 1/2"(see picture above).

Here's a close up. The measurement from the vertical folded edge on the left side to the little mark where the start of the V is measures 1 3/4". This is where you start sewing. Don't sew into the seam allowances.

Trim the corners and close off the border. From V to V on my napkin, it measure 9 1/2".

Turn and press, making sure the folded edges match. Now you've got a nice frame to work with.

Pin the center piece in, sandwiching it between the border edges.

Sew it in.

The nicest detail here is the stitching used to sew the border on. I used one of the decorative stitches on my machine and it came out looking very nice. It also assured that the border on the opposite side would be caught in the sewing, even if I was slightly off.

And that's all folks! Oh... if you want the napkins to look good on both sides, simply double your center fabric and place them wrong sides together. Nice! These would make a great hostess gift for the holidays... Gonna have to dig through my stash and see if I have some nice holiday prints!

Coasters

2010-08-19T10:29:00.000-10:00

So ya know, I ran out of fabric to finish those mitered napkins and got sidetracked...

I made some very simple coasters instead. My DH is constantly putting his soda glass right next to my little laptop and of course a puddle ensues. And I started to worry that someday, the laptop would be sitting in water and ZAP! no more laptop.

So I made coasters and keep a couple right next to the laptop so he has NO EXCUSE for letting the water pool anymore.

They're simply cut into 4x4" squares, and sandwiched with a layer of thin cotton batt in between. I used two different types of fabric, didn't have enough of the green one but lots of other scraps....

Then I serge all the way around, trim threads and dab the corners with some Fray Check.

Took less than 20 minutes to make 4 of these. And I made more napkins, dinner size, for a matching set! Woohoo!

And yes, I'm trying to avoid going to the fabric store... You know how that goes... :D

Cloth napkins.. oops

2010-08-13T11:48:00.000-10:00

Y'know how you really want to make something and think you just might be able to squeeze it and make it work out? But it doesn't? yeah... this is one of those times. I knew the border was too short... but I wanted to make it work. Of course it didn't, so I guess I WILL have to go out and buy a little more fabric (YES!) I have enough of this fabric to make a pair of dinner napkins too! That'll be the next tutorial... Fancy mitered edge napkins.

Cloth Napkins - Simple ones

2010-08-12T13:18:00.000-10:00

Okay... I'm a fabric hoarder. I have so many scraps that are just large enough to make something useful from, but not large enough for garments or the big home dec stuff I want. But some of these pieces are just big enough for a set of small cloth napkins. Yeah... I'd like bigger dinner sized ones but these'll work and my Chinese blood feels good about not wasting fabric. And it only took about 30 minutes for a set of 4.

So here's a quickie tutorial on how I got these done...
First tip... I used barkcloth scraps. You can easily see the crosswise AND lengthwise grain making cutting really quick. These were leftovers from a set of curtains I made for a client. She lets me keep the scraps when the customer doesn't want them back, which is why I accumulate so much fabric... hmmmm... Anyway, here's a link to her webshop, the stuff is perfect for home dec things if you like that tropical look. Barkcloth Hawaii.

So cut your napkins 1" bigger than your finished size. Mine turned out to be just under 12". A bit small, but it's what I have to work with. Then fold over and press two opposite sides 1/4", and again, 1/4". It should look like this.

Next, fold and press 1/4" and 1/4" again on the two other sides. It'll look like this when it's ready for sewing.

Yup... that was the hard part. Now all you need to do is sew. I used the edgestitch foot and just sew all the way across on all four sides.

Simple enough eh? So now you can go green and stop buying all those paper napkins... unless someone likes to blow their nose in it... eww.. yeah... he can use the paper towels instead.

Faith Hope Love by McKenna Ryan

2010-08-11T22:00:00.000-10:00

I finished them all! Here they are and they're ready for hanging. As promised, here's a view of the back, after I finally got the invisible thread working properly...

And this block is my favorite... mostly because of the quilted butterfly sitting on the "e".

This project was incredibly challenging. I think the hardest thing was keeping that thread under control, but the results were well worth the trouble. I have McKenna Ryan's Forest Hollow pattern as well and will soon work on that one. I'm planning on using it to create blinds for my daughter's bedroom. She loves owls.

And on to the next project....Hmmmm... that dragon is still waiting for his wings, but I think I wanna clean up the mess here and de-stash a bit. Maybe make something with my scraps next... I'm thinking cloth napkins...

Binder Cover Tutorial - Part 4: More Construction

2010-08-11T09:32:00.000-10:00

Okay.. today we'll finish it up!

First, let's tack down that origami flower. Add a button or bead in the center if you'd like, but tack the middle. You can also tack the petals open if you'd like, but I usually save that for last.

Let's get the back/sleeves ready. To prepare the sleeves, machine hem the straight edge by folding over 1/4" and pressing. Then fold over 1" and press again. Sew along that edge and your sleeves are ready to attach to the back piece. Here's what they should look like.

Now, sew the sleeves onto the back piece. Place the wrong side of the sleeve onto the right side of the back fabric piece. Sew all the way around using a 1/2" seam allowance. Don't worry, it'll turn out correctly....

Now, place the front piece (the one with the interfacing) and the back piece (the one with the sleeves) right sides together and pin, matching the raw edges. Make sure you are tracing just slightly outside the edges of the binder. This will allow the necessary ease to slip the binder into the cover. Don't sew yet.... one more step.

Slide the binder to the side just a little bit, a scant 1/4" will do. Trace. This is the amount of ease you'll need in order to close the binder. When you slide it back, it should look like this. Now you're ready to sew.

Sew along your traced line, leaving an opening for turning the cover right side out. Trim to 1/4" all the way around, clip your corners and give it a good pressing.

I like to press up the opening before turning. This makes it easier to hand-stitch the opening shut when we're done. Just fold it up along the traced line and press.

We're almost done. Turn and press....

Slip stitch the opening shut....

Tack down the petals.... and it's done! Ready for a new school year!

Binder Cover Tutorial - Part 3: Construction

2010-08-10T11:14:00.000-10:00

We're ready to put the pieces together! First, lets separate the outer pieces from the backing pieces.

I like to place them "mapped." In other words, they're placed in position. Here's the front pieces:

And here are the backing pieces:

Lets start putting together the front pieces. Remember, all seam allowances on the decorative strip are 1/4". We'll start by constructing the pencil pocket. Hem the top edge by folding over 1/4" and press, then fold over 3/4" more and press, then sew.

Next, fold it down the center, lengthwise, and draw a stitching line. Then make gathering stitches on the bottom edge of the pocket. To make the gathering stitches, set your stitch length to 5.0 and sew just inside the 5/8" seam allowance. Sew another row of stitches about 1/4" along that row.

Place the pocket piece on the bottom strip (back of the pocket), matching the bottom edge and sew using a regular straight stitch. Then sew the sides of the pocket piece, matching the edges. Gather the bottom to fit and sew across the gathered edge. Your pocket piece is ready to sew into the decorative strip.

Assemble the origami flower/pocket strip pieces using 1/4" seam allowances.

Next, sew the front and back panel pieces to the strip using 1/4" seam allowances. Press. Here's the completed front piece.

Apply the interfacing to the back of the front piece.

We're ready for Part 4: More Construction

Binder Cover Tutorial Part 2: Cutting and preparing pieces.

2010-07-07T15:48:00.000-10:00

Quite simply, you place the pieces on the fabric conservatively observing grain lines, and trace around each piece. Most require only one piece. The only one that needs 2 pieces will be the binder cover sleeve. Make sure you follow the grain lines. Here's what you should have for the front pieces. In this picture, the origami flower is already folded. To prepare the Pencil Pocket piece, draw a stitching line down the center length of the pencil pocket back and the pencil pocket front pieces.

And here are the back pieces, interfacing included.

Of course, we'll need to fold that origami flower, so here's how it's done:

Start with a square

.
Fold it in half, open it up and fold it in half the other way...

This is what you'll end up with (guidelines for the next step)

Now fold each corner into the center:

Turn it over, and fold it in half so you have some nice guidelines for the next step.

Now that we have some guidelines, open it up (corners should still be folded into the middle) and use the folds to do the next step. Match the edge to the guideline folds you just made. Do this on all four sides.. These are also more guidelines for the next step:

I usually give it a quick press with the iron while doing each step so I have clear guidelines to work with.

After you finish those guidelines, you should end up with this:

This is the tricky part.... A picture paints a thousand words... See if you can figure out what I did.

Do this for all four corners and here's what you'll end up with... We're almost done.

Give it a good press. Turn it over and unfold the corners, give it another good press.

Here's what the other side looks like:

And now it's ready to be sewn into our design. That's Part 3. Soon to come.... Construction

Binder Cover Tutorial - Part 1: Making the master pattern

2010-07-06T13:44:00.000-10:00

Here's what we're working on today. Our binder cover has an origami fabric flower and two pencil (or tracing wheel) pockets. It's a perfect way to start off a new school year! Let's start by making a pattern.

1) Making the master pattern is very simple. First, trace around your open binder, adding about 1/4" extra along one short side so your binder will close. Try it...you'll find that you need that extra 1/4" for *ease. My binder measures 11 1/2" x 22" when it's open. The spine is about 1 1/2" wide. After tracing and adding ease, my pattern piece ended up being 22 1/2" x 11 3/4." This is BEFORE adding seam allowances.

2) Next, draw in the elements you want to include in your design. I wanted to have an origami flower and a two pencil pocket. Here's a close up of the elements. It's a little hard to see, but if you compare it with the finished cover, you can see the separate elements.

3) Use the master pattern to trace off the pattern pieces, adding seam allowances. I used a tracing wheel and tracing paper to transfer it to oaktag. Then I added 5/8" seam allowances around the perimeter, and 1/4 seam allowances on the inside seams (the section with the decorative strip). Don't forget that the top strip piece, bottom strip and pocket pieces all fall on the perimeter too and will need 5/8" seam allowances on one edge. The origami flower requires a square that is twice as big as the pattern piece. Here's a better view of my decorative pieces:

I used oaktag to make my pattern pieces as I intend to use this pattern often. In this picture, the pieces are as follows, cut 1 each unless otherwise stated.

Top row: Binder Cover Sleeve (Cut 2)- add 1" along the straight side for hems, Origami Flower (7"square), Pencil Pocket - add 1" along the top edge for hem., 1/4" seam allowance on sides and top edges, 5/8" seam allowance on bottom edge, and make sure it's 1/2" wider than the strip pieces. Prepare the Pencil Pocket by folding in half lengthwise and drawing a line in the crease. This will be the sewing line when you apply it to the Bottom Strip piece.
Middle row: Binder Cover Back (5/8" seam allowance around perimeter, 1/4" seam allowance on straight edge), Top Strip (5/8" seam allowance along the top edge, 1/4" seam allowance on all other edges), Bottom Strip (5/8" seam allowance on bottom edge, 1/4" seam allowance on all other edges), and Front Cover Piece (5/8" seam allowance around perimeter edges, 1/4" seam allowance on straight side).
Bottom row: Backing piece. Cut 1 fabric, cut 1 interfacing both with 5/8" seam allowance.

*ease = The extra room calculated into the pattern provided for movement... in this case, to close the binder.

Draw in grainlines and get ready to cut!

Next: Cutting and preparing the pieces. Folding the origami flower.

Quilting with Invisible Thread

2010-05-30T16:12:00.000-10:00

First off, a huge Mahalo to Julia and Janyce for all their encouragement and tips as I struggled with this thread. I would've given up without you guys!

It's a pain. After a few hours of fiddling with tension, changing needles, varying spool pins, trying a few different brands of invisible thread and playing around with my BSR foot, I finally got it... maybe. Okay... I'm not so good at it yet, but I'm learning. Here's what it looked like at the end of day 1.

Here's some creative threading... If you look carefully, you can see that I completely bypassed the tension discs. The thread is running across the front of my machine. It left a mess on the backing, but at least I got it sewing.

I gave up pulling out the threads to start over but had to stop doing that as the appliques were getting a bit frayed. Here's the mess on the backing that I finally decided to live with.

I've discovered that all I really need to do is sew faster. Oh yes, there are a few adjustments I had to make with the tension (like bypassing it completely), and I do keep my spool in a coffee cup with a thread net around it. I used my BSR foot UNplugged, so I'd be able to use the clear plastic foot. Need to be able to see what I'm doing y'know. And overall, the stitching is decent. I'm not good at it yet, so my stitches are uneven (which is something the BSR would've solved if I had been able to make it work). But it's finicky thread and I just wanted to do SOMETHING....

So I enjoyed sewing for the rest of the day, got a few blocks nicely quilted and quit for the day. Looking good eh?

DAY 2

Then I tried again later... And darn if I'm not having the same problems. I did the same thing, had the exact same settings, and still there's a mess of thread underneath. Everytime I changed direction, I heard SCRUNCH.......;WRRR.........WHIIRRRR... So I had to stop and found a mess of thread tangled up in the machine. So this time, I thought maybe it's being finicky about the foot. I removed the BSR and used my free motion quilting foot. Unfortunately, I don't have one with good visibility yet, (NOTE to self: GET FOOT #24). But again, darn if I'm gonna stop now that it's working again.

Here's a pic of what was happening. Again, I couldn't keep pulling out thread because the appliques were getting a bit frayed. So I left this mess and decided to go on.

Eventually I got it working again and managed to finish the rest of the blocks without much incident over the next few days. It appears the problem was with the foot. I have no idea why I can't use the BSR unplugged, but it doesn't work like that. I used my Foot 27, free motion quilting foot with the teardrop opening. It worked well... forward, sidewards and backward.

I'll post pics of the finished ones later... maybe even back AND front views.

McKenna Ryan's Faith Hope Love art quilts

2010-05-09T09:57:00.000-10:00

The other project I'm working on is the art quilt series "Faith Hope Love" by McKenna Ryan. I found it at Nancysnotions.com for just under $200.00. And it was a kit of patterns and fabrics. I'll have to pick up batting and backing but I was surprised that everything was there. They did substitute a couple of fabrics, but it is SUCH a great deal that I couldn't pass this one up. The colors of the fabrics are slightly brighter, not as neutral looking. But I think that will be nicer for my home. My home is rather bland, which is why I thought something like this would look nice. The slightly brighter colors will bring a more cheery look to my otherwise neutral home.

I've already finished making the blocks, just have to get the backing and quilting done and then mount them... so here's what it looks like right now...

I hope the fit nicely onto the frames. This week, I plan to get some of the quilting done, and maybe have them all mounted before the kids are out of school. While they're in summer school, I'll be teaching my niece and her friend how to sew, so that will keep me busy.

Will post an update on this batch when it's done and mounted on my wall!

Smallworks Celtic Dragon

2010-05-09T09:40:00.000-10:00

One of the projects I'm currently working on is a Smallworks Kells Wyvern. The picture above is directly from the website of Melinda Small (link below) and is the pattern I'm using to make my own little mascot. A while back, I made the Dragon pattern (#4063) offered by Simplicity and was dissatisfied with the results. I reviewed it a few years ago on Patternreview.com. Since then, I've been hoping to find a pattern that looks a little more ... artsy... realistic... kinda... and I found a line of wonderful patterns by artisan Melinda Small. Her fantasy patterns are wonderfully detailed and instructions are very good. I'm not a doll maker, maybe this is why my Simplicity Dragon was such a fail, so having every detail, from tools to stitch size is extremely helpful.

I've selected fabrics, traced patterns and cut them out. Currently I'm putting it all together, which is taking a bit of time. But here are a couple pics of my current status.

The pattern requires several fabric choices, and here are the selections I made:

The picture below is the current state of my dragon/mess. The pieces are small and curves are tight, but her directions are very good. I am finding this project to be difficult, but doable, and as long as I take my time, I think the little bugger will end up being a wonderful little mascot to guard my front door.

More progress to be posted soon... I'm hoping he'll be ready for his first flight within a month.

Simplicity Fish pattern turned Shark

2010-04-09T09:51:00.000-10:00

A while back I used the Simplicity 4926: Fish costume pattern to make a shark. Here's the shark:

The review is posted on PatternReview.com. A PR friend wants to make one for her son so I offered to post the pics of the shark pattern pieces. So this one's for you. I hope it's helpful. If you have any trouble with it, feel free to contact me.

Here's a picture of the white underside piece. I laid the fish piece on top so you can see what I did to adapt it.

And this one is the body/tail piece. The little U shape in the bottom/front is actually supposed to be cut out. That will be where the pectoral fins would be sewn in.

Here's his head. This one was a little bit tricky to get just right so the mouth is kinda under the head, but you can still see out of it.

These are the pectoral fins. They should fit neatly into the shoulder holes on the pattern. Measure the seam along the right side to make sure it'll fit.

Teeth were cut from two layers of a thick interfacing (if I remember correctly). For those, I just measured the length of the mouth openings and cut a strip of teeth with a 5/8" seam allowance along the bottom.

Foam is extremely hard to work with, but if you have strong hands, I would recommend it. The thicknesses make it nearly impossible to fit under the presser foot, and I'm not sure if you'll be able to maneuver those curves for the shark underside. I used a couple layers of thick interfacing since it was such a struggle to work on the fish using the foam. And he will probably need a support rod along the back, and maybe around his sides too. I used a couple of foam supports that my son had for another toy to keep it from wilting.

Please send me a pic of your shark when you finish and share your adventure with me. Good luck and happy sewing!

Last Halloween, my son decided he wanted to be a Star Wars character, but dad and uncle wore the shark and fish costumes to take him trick or treating. I think they had more fun than he did.

Them's sum sexy fishin' lures...

2010-01-12T21:59:00.000-10:00

I made this one for my college age daughter. I'll try to get a picture with a body in it when she comes home. It's a pattern from an old Burda magazine, July 98 issue. I can't believe I still have it. The pattern in the magazine has only the metal rings, but I couldn't find nice, sturdy looking rings and decided to check out some fishing tackle instead. These metal rings and parts are swivels and stuff that I got for a couple dollars in Walmart's fishing supply department.

Here's a view of the back.

And on the inside, I added a built in bra. It's not really for support, more to provide some coverage so nothing shows through.

It was an interesting pattern, and I had fun making it. The sleeves will require reshaping as the shoulder seam seems to be a bit pointy. I think it's suppose to sit on the curve of the shoulder, but it doesn't look right. I ended up flattening out the shoulder seam. Also, I would add a couple more inches to the hem next time...if there is a next time... and there might be because now my younger daughter thinks this is a cool shirt.

There are a couple more unusual looking tops in this issue so I think I'll try making more of them.... Funny... when I first bought this issue, I thought these would be a little to daring. Strange what age will do to us... I think I might try wearing one of those someday.

My new bathroom!

2010-01-11T16:08:00.000-10:00

This is a little late, I've had these up for a couple months now, but here are those new curtains for my bathroom! I love them. This medium weight, slighly stiff, off white fabric is perfect as it lets enough light through without allowing anyone to see inside at night. Now that looks so much nicer than that yellow remnant I had hanging up there.

All my blue and green barkcloth scraps are gone now, but I still have tons more to use up. I might make a batch of shower curtains and put them up for sale, they're not that hard to do, and I'd really like to pick up a REAL grommet setter someday. I've been using the one that comes with the grommets in the sewing supplies and it doesn't last very long. I've made several shower curtains already and it's looking like it's going to fall apart.

I'm really pleased with these. They were simple to make and really make a difference in my bathroom.

Shopper's Vest

2010-01-08T10:39:00.000-10:00

Saf-T-Pockets has a vest pattern made for travelers and shoppers. My mother (travel agent/tour escort), has wanted one for years. This past Christmas, I dug through the stash of fabrics she's been bringing back from Japan for me to work with and constructed this. There are pieces of kasuri, yukata fabric, and cotton remnants. The body is made with silk noil and the inner lining is cotton poplin. I cut the medium, tapering it to large.

It's shapeless and bulky, especially when the pockets are filled, but it serves the purpose it was made for. I would like to say it's perfect, but the shoulder seams are extremely long. I should've shortened it by about 1" in order for it to fit her narrow shoulders. But she's very happy with the space around the bottom and the many pockets on the inside.

Here's a picture of a detail I place on the back.

And a view of the inner pockets on the left side. I made the eye glasses pocket horizontal, with it half sewn across the top. You can see my glasses peeking out. The right side is similar, except there is a pen pocket and no chest pocket. She requested separate pockets to fit her travel wallet, passport, eye glasses on one side, credit cards, camera, and other "stuff" on the other. It also has inseam pockets on both sides.

The pattern also includes a large pocket in the back, and pockets under each arm. I made the underarm pockets wider, but did not put in the back pocket. The pockets are simple patch pockets, easy to adjust and sew on.

I think I'd rather carry a bag than wear a vest as bulky as this... but I'm sure it works for her. She's been traveling for many years and knows what she wants!

Wardrobe Plan for Sensitive Skin

2009-09-30T08:00:00.000-10:00

The PR contest has inspired me to create a new wardrobe and since I'm experiencing a terrible case of ultra sensitive skin, I thought it would be a good idea to make some softer, more comfortable things. I have lots of fabrics that'll work in my stash, but I know I'll need a couple of loosely fitted patterns for bottoms. Click on the image below for a larger view of the plan.

I'll need to stick with natural fibers, preferably cotton, silk, viscose (otherwise known as rayon), some linens and hemp fabrics if they are not rough. Lyocell (alias Tencel) will also work. Of course, look for smooth, soft, silky fabrics (Yippee! A really good excuse for buying some wonderful quality new fabrics!)
Clothing should be loosely fitted, avoiding creases and folds in the material. Rigid seams, closures, pockets and accessories should be avoided in areas where there is more pressure... like at the hips, where my skin seems to be most irritated!

Most of my fabrics were stash fabrics. And much of it is either cotton or rayon. I found a nice silk twill and hope I have enough for a dress. The only iffy fabric is that orange mesh floral... it's soft, but isn't a natural fiber. I'll line it with cotton jersey. Those two dresses are extras that I wanted to make for comfort.
I only purchased 1.5 yards of a very soft cotton denim. But I will need to pick up 2 patterns for pants/skirts. No time to draft, this time of the year gets really busy.

Back to work!

2009-08-14T10:33:00.000-10:00

The kids are finally settling into school so I can concentrate on my sewing. Work things first, so I finished up the curtains, made a few more, and made a simple shower curtain.

Now I can do my own stuff till more work comes in... So I went to Walmart, and found this really nice white stiff fabric which would be perfect for my bathroom curtains. It would also be perfect for making blinds. I want to use if for both the shower curtain and the curtain... here's whats there now.

Actually, my DH just took down the remnant for the window since it blocks too much light and is hard to open and shut. I don't blame him... we have no neighbors in the back.

I have tons of barkcloth scraps and am sewing a strip together for a nice decorative trim for both curtains. The cutting is the most tedious part, but I hope to have it done soon.

Squeezing in work during summer vacation

2009-07-21T11:48:00.001-10:00

All my sewing time has been dedicated to work stuff lately and I'm feeling soo deprived. I've been squeezing in an hour or two at night, after the kids are in bed, but my poor old eyes don't last very long at that hour. The assignment for the week is 3 sets of tab top curtains lined with blackout. I'm almost done with the first set. Here's my workspace today...

My own bathroom still has NO curtains, so that will be the first thing I work on when I have more sewing time. Luckily, there are no neighbors in the back. Next job will have to be for me... A NICE shower curtain and some for the window too.

Maybe when the kids go back to school there will be more time so I'll be able to work and sew a few things for home as well.

Restoring granny's old Singer

2009-07-11T00:44:00.000-10:00

Many years ago, I saved my granny's old Singer from certain death. She had two machines sitting in her house and I wish I had saved them both, but there was no room to keep them. So I brought home the one that was in better condition. It's been sitting for a long time, covered up with a plastic tarp in my mother's patio and I'm finally going to get to work on it. After a little bit of research, I think it's a Singer 15-30 treadle machine. It has a motor that looks like it was attached, but the cabinet still has the treadle base. Here's a picture of the motor we removed.

My son has taken it apart and cleaned most of the rusted parts, but left home to test the waters of independence when he finished school. I miss him. But anyway, the machine is in parts, not on it's treadle anymore, and NOW I want to restore it so it can be used. Here's what it looks like right now.

I know... the gold decal coloring is sadly no longer gold. But the machine was in really sad shape when we got it. It looks a whole lot better, though I will definitely do more cleaning.

These parts here were NOT silver.. they were covered with a light coating of rust. You couldn't see the designs. It took a lot of work, and there are spots in the plates where the rust has corroded the metal, but the designs are still visible. I wish we had a before picture of how badly damaged these were. Just imagine them brown with barely any designs... that was before.

I took pictures of the treadle part, but they didn't seem to look right... I'll try again later. Something was a bit odd about them. However, I'm pretty sure the treadle is in decent shape and can be restored. The cabinet top might need replacement. I'll post a pic when I get a good one.

My goal is to restore it as a working machine, not a display item. It was my granny's workhorse and she did a lot of sewing so I believe it wants to be useful again. It'll take me a long time to figure out how to get it cleaned up, hooked up, and working again since this is the first time I've done anything like this. But I'm excited and hoping it'll be working again soon.

Curtains

2009-06-24T11:18:00.000-10:00

The lady I did the curtains for sent a picture. Everytime I see the finished product I think of getting to work on mine... then of course, something else comes up. Like more curtains.

Anyway, in a previous post, I showed how I did the pattern matching. Here's the finished curtains. You can also see the pillow shams I made. I'm glad she liked them.

Oh, if you're interested in purchasing this fabric, it's called Pauhana and can be found at Barkcloth Hawaii. That design is popular and one of my favorites too.

Bias tape maker machine

2009-06-13T10:17:00.000-10:00

I could use one of these things! Does anyone have one?

Bias tape machine

Matching patterns

2009-06-09T12:42:00.000-10:00

These past few weeks, I've been working on making several sets of curtains, pillow shams, and tie backs for a client. And whenever I make curtains, there's usually pattern matching to do. It's a time consuming process, but well worth the effort as the seam comes out nearly perfect every time! I remember when I tried to do it the first time, my seams were quite obviously askew. I had to redo them. Since then, I've developed a very accurate way to match the patterns. This is how I do it.

First, match the print along the selvage edges, then trim off the selvage. In this pic the selvage is that white strip in the middle.

After trimming off the selvage edge, match the print and mark along the cut edge with pins. Here's a pic with the selvage removed, and the cut edge pin marked. You can see the pin heads here..

After marking with pins, measure twice the amount of the seam allowance. Here it's 1/2" seams, so I marked 1" below the pins.
Trim off the excess along the marks.
Now it looks like it doesn't really match anymore, but remember, there's a seam allowance. Lay them right sides together, pin along your 1/2" seam and check to make sure your print matches. Sew together using the 1/2" seam allowance. Place a few pins perpendicular to the seam in places where you want to make sure the fabric won't slip.
Check, finish edges, press your seams and voila! All Pau. Can you find the seam?
Here's a closer peek...
And that's all to it. It helps if you have a large flat surface to work on. I have to do it on the floor so the fabric can be spread out, but I usually have to work with large pieces.

Moulage 2nd draft

2009-05-06T12:03:00.000-10:00

I'm trying again. Realizing I probably made some mistakes (probably from trying to take measurements alone in the middle of the night when I was tired and without a mirror), I did a more careful set of measurements in INCHES instead of using cm.

I found a few discrepancies in my first set, mainly that the measurement for my shoulder length was only 3 1/4". I had used the 10cm measurement given by KK in his book. Also, I found out that if I relaxed my shoulders, my end of shoulder measurement was now almost 1" less, and my figure width was reduced by 3/4" as well. That'll bring the BPs up for sure!
I also figured out a better way to get my across back measurement. Rather than distorting my body while trying to hold one end of the tape measure at the start point, I wrapped the tape measure around my shoulders and back, read the starting number at the first measuring point, and the ending number, then calculated what my back width was.

Okay... so here's the NEW moulage sloper I drafted.

The hip curve is still weird. But you'll see a huge difference in the shoulder slope and bust points. I'm not so saggy after all! LOL Now, I have to sew this one up and see if it's any better...

Zee Moulage ez constructed...

2009-05-05T12:40:00.000-10:00

Boy... mine sure looks bad. But thanks to Ada on the PR message board, I think I can make it work. Here's what it looks like now...
ACK! I have no waist! I actually do have a little bit of waistline... it just doesn't show here. My bust points are way too low (my boobs are not that close to my waistline yet), and I think the armholes are a little too tight or something. Maybe it's the shoulders...

Now in the back, I need to adjust something... I think it's the slight sway back adjustment. I may have to add a little bit more space across the back.

Here's what I plan to try (thanks Ada!). Raise the bust points up by 1 1/2", straighten out the waist/hip side seam, take a tiny pinch at the small of the back for the sway back adjustment, shorten the shoulder length by 1/2", and maybe lower the shoulder point a little bit.

I need to remember that it's supposed to look like a sausage casing. I keep thinking it's too tight! Too tight! If you have any suggestions, please comment... I'd like to get this thing right.

McCalls Jeans Done

2009-04-30T11:55:00.000-10:00

I added a couple more pictures to the jalie post so you can see the side and back view of those jeans too.

These are fine, but I'm not as enthused about them as I was with the Jalie jeans. There's nothing really wrong with them... but I prefer the fit of the Jalie pattern.

I used most of rocketboy's tutorial, but when it came to sewing the waistband ends, I used the standard method. Here's a pic:

And the finished waistband:It really is a nice finish... Thanks Rocketboy! You can also see how I changed the shape of the pocket lining in order to get rid of that straight line across the thigh.

Here's what I do like about these.
There was NO gaposis in the back.
The pattern is easy to find at any sewing store. I picked it up at Walmart.
If you like a very relaxed fit, these will do. I altered the legs to make them flared.
Alteration lines are already drawn in on the pattern.

What I didn't like:
The yoke doesn't slant enough in the back. I think it makes me look wider across the hip.
The back pockets are too low. This one could easily be fixed, just shift it up a bit.
The zipper installation was not as easy as the Jalie pattern.
The zipper ends lower, and I think it looks a little odd. I'd raise the bottom of the opening up by about 1" if I made it again.
The front pocket openings curve too low. I think it would look much better if it were higher. Again, an easy fix, just draft the curve a little higher.
The pocket lining is only on the front piece. The back part is all denim. Jalie has a pocket lining piece that is denim and lining. The denim only covers above the pocket opening. McCalls piece is one piece, all denim. It's a bit bulky. I cut mine to curve a bit because the bulk left a line across my thigh. Not something I'd like to emphasize.

Although this pattern is meant to help you find the perfect fit, it doesn't include fitting instructions. You need to purchase the pants fitting book for that... hmmmm...

But they did come out pretty good. I'd recommend this pattern too if you like a relaxed fit for jeans. Just make sure you compare the measurements to your favs and cut the size closest to that after measuring the pattern pieces. Don't go by the measurement charts. Here are the pics of the finished jeans.
One last thing, these are my favorite sewing tools for making jeans. I use the hammer to flatten the seams when they're too thick to sew through. And the other one? I'm sure you can figure that out.

Moulage drafting

2009-04-29T10:05:00.000-10:00

I started working on a new moulage since my measurements have expanded :( just a little. Yes, I plan to lose that extra inch, (right...) but till then, I want something true to my current measurements so I can work on things RIGHT NOW! LOL. Anyway, here's how it looks:

Mine looks a little odd and I'm wondering if I did it correctly. See the hip curve? It's not true to my measurements. If you look closely, you can see another line that goes inwards at the half hip line, then slopes back out to the hip. THAT'S the real line. It looked so odd that I decided to just draft a regular hip curve. I'll see how it turns out in the muslin.

Also, look at that weird shoulder... My first one had the same kind of strange lack of slope. My shoulder point is about 1/2" - 3/4" higher than the first shoulder line. Is that right?

I tried doing a trial one in 1/2 scale first and ended up with the same issues. Does anyone know if this is "unusual, but normal?"

I measured twice, but had to do it alone since my DH is DIY deficient, and my 5 year old would definitely be no help here. Anyone who could've been helpful was unavailable... Wish I had a sewing partner. I guess the muslin will be next and we'll just have to see if it's right...

Jalie Jeans DONE! LOVE EM!

2009-04-22T08:50:00.000-10:00

I love 'em so much I'm planning on doing a few more for my daughters and myself... definitely. Now... I have to find more stretch denim in my stash since I promised not to buy more fabric for a while. Either that or I have to sew more stash and make all those other projects I have fabric for. And here they are!

These fit wonderfully. If I were tall and leggy, they'd look like the picture on the pattern... but for my shape (petite and big thighed), they are very flattering! After adding the extra to the side seams for my saddlebaggy thighs, I added even more (1") for fitting insurance. I'm so glad I did because these definitely would be unflattering for my fat thighs without the extra space. I like snug jeans, but I'd rather they glide over the bulges than hug them. I also added an extra 1" at the top of the waist in case they were too low. Which I felt they were when I tried them on before applying the waistband.

Once I put the waistband on, it was fine. I love this pattern! I think if I had chosen a bigger size, and made view B, I would've had a better fit to start with.

The gaposis problem I had with the jeans. Instead of making darts, I just redid the CB seam. I think when I retrace the pattern, I'll trace a bigger size in view B and make some other adjustments to the CB seam and the yoke piece.I used Rocketboy's tutorial on waistbands (you can find it on page 31 of the jeans sew along at Patternreview), but had cut the lining on the straight grain. Next time, I'll cut on the bias. I don't mind the straight band, rather than contoured, but I would like a little more give when I eat...

And that wonderful waistband application:

I have the McCalls pattern to do. I don't know if I'll like this one... it was much shorter in the back and I don't like to have anything showing back there... ewwwww... I did make adjustments, adding more to the back crotch length. And it also has 1" extra fitting insurance, so we'll see.

Undies again

2009-04-13T12:26:00.000-10:00

I made a couple more undies. These use the original KwikSew 2908 pattern, but I reshaped them to make them lower on the hips. I don't want them to peek out of my jeans when I make the Jalie jeans.

First I used the original size Medium Bikini cut undie pattern and redrew the waist much lower. I made sure there was enough seam allowance for my elastic waist treatment. Here's the front and back patterns I made for the low rise bikini panty.

Then I retraced again so I could use a wide stretch lace waistband. I found my attempt on the last teal ones would show when I sat down. It was a little higher than I expected... I guess because of the stretch factor. When sewing these, I measured the elastic to start where I thought they'd be on the leg, then pulled a bit tighter. I hope it works out... at least these should be no show... And that's all I'll be doing on undies, unless I find more puka undies that need replacing. Or I find more good undies fabrics in my stash.

Detour... Undies

2009-04-10T22:07:00.000-10:00

I got a little sidetracked this week and wanted to make some new undies. I'm trying to reduce stash and I just got rid of two remnants of soft knits by cutting out 4 pairs of undies. okay... now I can buy more! muwahhahahaha!!! NOT!

There's a panty sew along on PatternReview.com and I was inspired to make some new undies (which I've been meaning to do, thus the knit remants in my stash). I used my TNT KwikSew 2908 pattern view B. I replaced the elastic waist with some stretch lace. I like the way wide stretch lace lays flatter against my skin than a regular elastic waist. There're fewer bulges that way.

Here's two that I finished tonite... tomorrow I'll finish up the other two before getting back to my jeans. I really needed new undies, and these are so much nicer and softer than the cheap Hanes stuff I usually buy. These are tencel knit, and I think the other set are rayon knits. Sooooo soft. Plus they don't dig into my hip with that bulky elastic bump at the side seam. I made a flat seam at the back of mines.

Here's a pic of the inside. On the instruction sheet, it doesn't say to tack the crotch lining down in the front, so it's usually left unsewn. I use a small zigzag stitch and secure it, otherwise I find that it curls.

No more Hanes for me. These are a quick fix for my sewing addiction. And they always fit just right.

Jalie or McCalls jeans? Alterations to both patterns

2009-04-06T11:41:00.000-10:00

I'm so glad Spring break is over and I can finally get back to my sewing! Now that all the kids are back in school, and my workload is still very minimal, I can work on my jeans again.

Alterations have been finished on both pattern. Here's what I did after comparing each pattern to my favorite pair of Levis.

Jalie was the same in crotch measurements, so I'll start with this one first. I wanted a little more width in the upper legs and hip and considered tracing another pattern. Instead, I just added the extra generous 1/8" to the side seam from waist tapering to the knee. Most of my baggage is unfortunately located in the outer thigh, so that's where I added the space. If you click on the pictures, you can see the addition of blue alteration lines.

I also decreased the length by chopping off 4 inches from the botton. When I measured it out, the distance from crotchline to knee was pretty close to my measurements, so I made no length changes above the knee. I also made the adjustments necessary for the yoke/pocket/waistband pieces.

McCalls alterations are a little trickier. First I retraced a size 10 since 14 seemed way to big for stretch jeans. 10 was much closer in measurements to my Levis. After lopping off 4" from the hemline, I adjusted the back crotch length, adding 1 1/2" to make it a little closer in length to my Levis. I also tapered in 3/4" on both sides at the knee to add some shaping. This alteration was tapered from 2" below the crotchline to the knee, then back out to 0 at the hem. I added a generous 1/8" to the sideseams for a little extra space at the hip to waist. Thigh measurements were actually close enough that I didn't feel I needed to make any adjustments. Again, if any adjustments affected the pocket pieces and yoke, I made those as well. Click on the pics below and you'll be able to see the blue adjustment lines.

Yippee! We're getting to the good part.

Ready.... set..... CUT!

Jalie Jeans or McCalls?

2009-04-01T16:42:00.001-10:00

The new Jalie Stretch jeans pattern just came out and I've been wanting to sew a new pair of jeans. I had started tracing the McCalls pattern a few weeks ago, but decided to wait on cutting them out when I heard about the new Jalie pattern.

Here's a look at the front and back pieces of both patterns. If you click on the picture, you'll have a better view of the differences between the two patterns. The McCalls patterns have 1" seam allowances, but even after tracing those in, you can see a significant difference in size. This is before any alterations were done. I went with the size charts and tried to trace the one that matched my measurements closest. Jalie pattern size T matched waist and hip measurements perfectly, while McCalls size 14 pattern was within 1/2" of my waist and hip. However, after tracing the two patterns and laying the Jalie pattern on top the McCalls one, you can see there's a significant difference not only in style, but in sizing! And yes, both require STRETCH DENIM. For a minute, I thought the McCalls pattern was for non-stretch denim... but nope, it lists both regular denim and Stretch denim, and there is a stretch meter on the side of the package. Hmmm...

In comparison, the Jalie pattern is much more fitted from waist to knee. The rise is a bit lower in front, and the center front slants at a slightly greater angle. It is also much closer in angle to my favorite pair of jeans.
The CB seams on both appear to have a bigger wedge cut out than my favorite pair of jeans, though both angles are very close.

Okay. So then I compared the measurements from both patterns to my favorite pair of jeans, and because the McCalls pattern seemed way too big, I included size 10 and 12 as well... here's how they fared (Favorite jeans, area measured, Jalie, McCalls 10, McCalls 12, McCalls 14):

7 3/4" (Front crotch:) 6 3/4" , 7 3/4", 8 1/8", 8 1/4"

12 3/4" (Back crotch:) 12 3/4", 10 1/4", 10 1/2", 11 1/8"

37 3/4" ( Hip:) 37", 37", 38 1/2", 40"

23 1/4" (Thigh around crotch line:) 23 1/4", 23 1/2", 24", 25 3/4"

22 1/4" (2" below crotch line - around the saddlebag): 21 1/2", 22 1/2", 23 3/8, 24 1/2"

15" (knee): 15 1/4", 19", almost the same as size 10

17" (leg opening): 20 1/4", 19 -20" for McCalls sizes

I did NOT take into consideration basic length measurements as those can easily be adjusted. So far, Jalie seems to be closer to what I'd want to wear.

Next post: Alterations

Uniforms

2009-03-26T00:16:00.000-10:00

I spent last month sewing uniforms for the high school band and for a chorus group. What a lot of work... but now there's nothing for me to work on, just a few alterations. I wish my work was a little more steady, but I suppose these breaks give me a chance to catch my breath and work on things for my own family. And I can catch up on my housework.

Plans for this coming month (when I have slow periods):

Work on a suit for my daughter
Try out the new Jalie Jeans pattern
Make new business cards

Hopefully, the chorus group will have a picture to show so I can post it here...

HAHAHAHa I just reread my 2009 resolutions and had to laugh. Okay... lets get back on track. I'm going to put them in a list on the side of this page so I can see them every time I write a blog entry. I haven't followed it much, except for not buying more fabric and using my stash.

2008 Handmade Christmas gifts

2009-02-02T07:54:00.000-10:00

This fabric covered box is made with a simple shoebox, some spray adhesive, and some leftover fabrics in my stash. I put in a few hair clips, a styling brush and some hair bands and gifted it to my 9 year old niece. My sister says she uses the box to carry around all kinds of other stuff, but her hair goodies are all over the bathroom. Oh well... so much for helping her get her hair things organized. I will post a How To when I make the next box. I think I will make a few to organize my own things...

Inspiration for the next gift came from a well loved toy (BunnyBuns) that my 13 year old daughter is still holding on to. This lovey was adopted from an older sister and has even been traveling to Japan.

Here's the lovey made for my niece (14 months). I hope she will love it as much as BunnyBuns. The pattern is very old and no longer available but in case you'd like to search for it on ebay, it's McCall's Craft pattern 3760. I used it many years ago in an attempt to replace old BunnyBuns. Of course, that bunny just couldn't take old BB's place and has since been donated to Goodwill.

I also made a binder cover using Pokemon fabric for my 9 year old nephew and filled it with those plastic collector card holders, but I don't have a picture. I used the same basic instructions for making a journal cover. You can find them here: Instructions for making Journal Covers
I also gave a few Journals away as gifts, as well as car seat organizers to my sibs. They are finding them very useful. And you can see them in my AirMama makeover post.

So since this year's gifts were a success, my family will be receiving more handmade gifts in 2009. And this time I will start earlier. I already have some ideas.

Traveling vest for mom
Backsaver Handbag (with organizing pockets) for my sister
Quilt for my daughter (she moved into a new apartment this year... I miss her)
Quilt with thinsulate batting for my son (he will be moving to Minnesota in a few weeks and I know I'll miss him too)

And of course, I still have to think of gifts for all the other kids in my family.... like DH.

AIR MAMA is getting a makeover

2009-01-20T19:17:00.000-10:00

We named our van AIR MAMA because the seats feel like first class seating in an airplane and there's so much room we feel like we're flying down the freeway! But she's getting a bit older now and needs a facelift....

I've been meaning to cover my car seats since we bought the van nearly 2 years ago. And I wanted to make something to help organize the mess my kids and I are constantly toting along.

Here's what I plan to make:

4 universal fit carseat covers (eventually I hope to have instructions for these)

2 custom fit backseat covers
1 trunk organizer
2 or 3 behind the seat organizers (2 DONE, See below)

All items will be made very frugally using barkcloth scraps sewn together. Most are from a friend's business (http://www.barkclothhawaii.com/) whom I do some custom work for. I also have batting, stretch velvet, and various cotton fabrics sitting in my stash. They've been collecting dust for so long and I'm finally putting them to use.

First, I made some carseat covers, of which you can find the instructions for in a later post(not finished yet). But I also bought a pattern to make some carseat organizers. I did a quick review of the pattern on PatternReview.com and here's the pics. I made 3 different sets, one for my van, and the other two for my sister's and brother's car. They have kids and I figured it would be a practical Christmas gift. The pattern used was SIMPLICITY 3731. My children make good use of it and it's filled with Legos, Magazines, Pens, and there's always a cold drink in the drink pocket. They love it. And unlike the ones you buy at the store, it's sturdy and fairly stiff. I used a layer of thick interfacing over the batting so it would be firm, not saggy. But basically, I followed the pattern, with some minor modifications, and think it's great... there are NO toys or books on the floor in my van anymore.

SEWING NOTES:

Bias tape is made from self fabric or a matching fabric. I don't like the store bought stuff. I think it looks cheesy and cheap.
I would add a couple extra inches to the webbing strip. It just barely fits over my carseat cover.
Skip the elastic along the top edges for the pen pocket. It's not necessary and if you do the bias tape in a thick fabric, it's useless. Same goes for the pocket next to it.
If you have a good sewing machine, DEFINITELY use upholstery fabric. It's so much sturdier than apparel weight cottons. The white organizers I made are done up in apparel weight fabric and though it's easier to sew, it's not as strong and solid looking. I hope it doesn't start drooping.
I modified the sewing directions slightly so the job would go a bit easier and faster. Instead of sewing all the pieces with bias tape around the edges, I did only the top edges. Then I machine basted the bottom of the pockets onto the backing, and covered the raw edges with single fold bias tape. I also did this treatment between the pockets on the top row before sewing the bottom edge. It looks much neater... and is easier to sew. Here's a pic:

And someday, I'll have my car all organized and will post a picture of the beautiful new interior... Except the fabrics will be faded by then....

Halloween - Coast Guard Rescue suit

2009-01-19T09:10:00.000-10:00

My son wanted to be a member of the USCG search and rescue unit this year. He got the idea from the LEGO site and actually was asking to be a LEGO Coast Guard rescue dude. Right... so we looked online and saw these orange suited rescue guys and thought it would work out fine.

I used a pattern from a very old Burda toddler magazine and bought a couple yards of orange cotton twill. Everything else was recycled (the zippers, the RESCUE patch was made on fabric from an old shirt). His helmet had a couple decals that had Carebears on it which I covered with some pictures of patches I found online. I added the headlamp and with his boots, it looked pretty good.
But down the street, there are a few houses all decked out for Halloween. It's the hit of the neighborhood, but it really frightens the little kids. Mine decided he wanted to go back home when he saw it. We walked for 10 minutes, he got a small bowl of candies and spent the rest of the evening passing out candy instead. Well, I guess I can donate this to the preschool when he tires of it. Someone will like playing RESCUE man...

Sewing Resolutions 2009

2009-01-19T08:34:00.000-10:00

It's January 19, 2009 and I still haven't made any sewing resolutions. So today, I resolve to get my sewing resolutions down on paper (or into the blog). Here we go:

I resolve NOT to buy more fabric unless I've used up more than what I'm buying from my stash first.
I resolve to spend at least 1 day a week sewing for myself or my family. Work can take up the rest of the week.
I resolve to clean up my sewing area every day after I finish so it is ready for the next sewing session the next day.
I resolve to finally get my sloper done and start using it for my own designing rather than redesigning commercial patterns.
I resolve to finish sewing the curtains/blinds for my home.

Okay. I think that'll do for now. So what are YOUR resolutions for 2009?