Tagged: fabric
New Sewing Machine update!
I just realized that I never told you what sewing machine I decided on! The Brother PC420:
After a lot of comparison I decided to give this model a shot. It has a lot of functions that I most likely will never use but decided to go for it due to 2 things most machines did not have:
– an automatic thread cutter – which is wonderful! However it is a little slow, but hey I actually get my threads clipped now.
– a knee lift! I didn’t even think about this feature when I first started looking but once I realized that I could get it, there was no turning back! I absolutely love having it. Since I work with industrials during the day I come home and automatically try to lift the presser foot with my knee only to have the moment of confusion… well not anymore!
So what do I think overall? I love this machine and have had it for a couple of months now. Those features are nice and I love the automatic needle threader (the one on my old machine never worked correctly.) The stitches are very easy to control and overall it is a nice machine. Ideally I would have liked something a little more heavy duty and I feel like the snap on feet aren’t as sturdy as they could be. But for a middle of the road machine with some great features I still think it was a great deal.
What are your favorite features on your machine that you just couldn’t give up?
A Striped Summer Skirt
A have been very motivated to continue working through my fabric stash. I had this wonderful striped shirting that I believe at one point I intended to make a blouse out of… well that went the wayside and now I a new skirt for the summer!
Hrrmm forgive the poor quality of the photo, I cropped it so you could see the stripes but you can’t see all the topstitching. We are in the no judging zone here anyway- right fellow sewists?
I made the pattern for a basic princess pencil skirt and thought it would be fun to play with the direction of the stripe. Thankfully matching the stripe was one of the easier matches I have had to do. I decided to line it (woohoo using more stash fabric) just to be on the safe side with such a light color. I am quite pleased and can add something new to my wardrobe for the season.
How is your warm weather sewing going?
Back to The Fitting Room
I found the Butterick 5315 pattern that has I bought maybe 5 years ago… It was Fast and Easy as the title suggested but it still needs some tweaking.
I had done some original pattern corrections before cutting out the dress but more were needed. The majority of my corrections were in the height and I curved all the darts (it always fits so much nicer) along with taking some width out of the back. Well I had tried on the dress at a couple of stages and had to take more out of the back and added darts in the shoulder area. Ideally I should have compensated for this with the shape of the bodice front shoulder but I had hoped it would all work out.
Boooooooooo, didn’t work that way and now my bodice front is collapsing (well duh, why did I not think this one through?) I tried to band-aid it by throwing in some stays between the neck and armscye.
Can you see where the extra fabric is and where the dress naturally wants to go? Well I will try putting in some small darts or I may have to put a seam to change the angle of the shoulder. I’ll show you again once it is fitting better (I a little more will also come out of the skirt back.)
Happy Sewing!
Help me pick a new sewing machine, pretty please!
Happy Holidays!
After Christmas I am going to finally get myself a new sewing machine, my poor basic Kenmore has been with be since for 10 years but it hasn’t wanted to really cooperate for a large chunk that time. I am looking forward to spending more time sewing rather that yelling at my machine. Thankfully my grandmother’s singer has helped me survive to this point but it is only a straight stitch and need a little bit of versatility.
I am looking for any and all suggestions from you other sewer’s out there. What do you like or not like? I really stick to sewing clothing, accessories and some home dec. I have no need for embroidery and quilting features. I use industrial machines at work so I am use to something that has speed and power.
I have always heard wonderful things about Bernina however my only experiences with them have not been great at all…
Brother of course in another brand that everyone raves about but I have not used them. I have really enjoyed a couple of Janome’s.
help! Are you missing anything on your machine that you would really like or were surprised by something you thought you would never use?
A Quilted Skirt
I have been on a skirt kick and have lately been oogling some quilted variations.
I think during these chilly winter months a nice thicker skirt with some great tights and boots is so much fun.
I am hoping after Christmas to get to work sewing my own. Luckily I have found a treasure trove of quilted and matelasse fabrics that I think will work just fine although they are technically labeled as home dec fabrics.
What do you think of these?
The Inevitable
I was hoping that as a sewist I would be able to escape such terrible fate… but knew it would catch up to me some day. Today, Friday the 13th it did. An industrial Singer straightstitch complete with OSHA required finger guard managed to stab right through my nail and out the pad of my finger.
OOOOOOOOUUUUCHHHHH. I always heard the stories of you my fellow sewing enthusiasts and have always felt lucky that I had yet to sew through my own finger. I like to think that I am fully initiated into this awesome sewing club now. But still ow, ow, owwww.
Anywho, I would love some tips on speeding the healing.
Happy Weekend!
A Dyeing Day
I have been in the midst of packing to move so I have been quite busy and probably won’t have too many frequent posts for a while until we get settled in to our new place in upstate NY.
Anyway while thinking about the unavoidable cold winter I decided that I would like a new coat. A purple coat that is! While I have been sorting and packing I uncovered a pattern that I already have – Simplicity 2311. Thankfully I have a nice heavier fabric to do a mock up so I am sure I will be updating when I get there.
Ideally, I wanted this project to be fairly low cost and thankfully found some wool in my stash. It was actually a heavy woven drapery wool that the designer gave to me from work. I love when the remnants are too small for most home dec projects but just right for clothing!
The only problem was the natural creaminess of the fabric:
Now I figured alright – free wool I can try to dye this right? Well I figured something like this I should do a little research since my extensive dyeing knowledge involves throwing a box of RIT in the wash…
Most people recommend acid dyes for wools and I found Dharma Trading offered quite a selection of colors. Frankly when push came to shove I didn’t feel like ordered the dye and after consulting my dear friend Robin from Sew Loud I just went with the Rit anyway.
The person who wrang me out at Joann’s even tried to talk me out of using the Rit on the wool but I I read the instructions carefully and was determined with enough heat and vinegar I would make this work!
Now THAT is purple!
I am in love with the color it turned out to be – I used 2 bottles of the purple with a half bottle of wine. I used the washing machine as a large tub and let it fill with hot water while I use a broom handle to carefully agitate the dye bath to help the color stay even. I did not want to accidently felt the wool so I had to carefully choose my settings to let it rinse and drain. Thankfully due to a very wet basement and washer issues in the past we have a manual washer where you can turn the dial and have much more control over the machine versus one of those fancy HE machines. Warning to anyone with a moist basement… don’t get a washer that is automated because the sensors will short out in a year or two…
Alrighty that is it for today and I will keep you posted on WINTER COAT PROJECT 2013.
Corset Done!
Woohoo, I am well on my way to building the proper foundation for my bustle dress.
In my last post I showed my mock-up but now I actually have a lacing corset ready.
I am getting terrible light right now so apologies for the crappy pic!
I used cotton duck and faced the corset with a white sateen and added ivory sateen boning channels.
This was a fun project that just shows what boning really does to a garment.
This pic was taken before the grommets were in (just used knit fabric in the back.) The right side of the picture (my left) has cheapy cable ties as bones whiles the left side is unboned for the moment. The job of the boning is to keep the fabric from collapsing and wrinkling, you can see quite the difference between the two sides.
For my binding I wanted to add a little lace trim on top. I cut 1.5″ bias strips and sewed my lace on with using the edge of my presser foot as a guide.
Once the lace was sewn on I pressed the seam allowance back to the edge of seam (1/4″) and then pressed the remaining side in to meet raw edges.
Fold and pressed at the edge joint and voila!
Trim that can be topstitched on in one step! The folding method leaves a large enough lip on the wrong side that you won’t have to worry about catching it with your topstitching.
Of course after sewing the binding on I realized that I had initially put a bone in my placket hiding my zipper… and it fell out. Soo my placket isn’t quite as lovely and wrinkle free as I had hoped but I may go back quickly pop it back in, we’ll see. I am still pretty pleased with my end result.
Happy Sewing!
Surprise! It’s Fabric!
The other day I went searching for a particular fabric in my stash only to realize that my inventory was getting quite low. I know, I know for some people this is a welcome discovery while others are thinking “No, Dear Lord how is this possible??”
I have been very good about not buying fabric lately “just because I will use it someday.”
Then cleaning day at work happened… and it was magical…
so there are odd sized scraps left over but weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I can see some future purses, pillows, valances and who knows what being made.
Pattern Matching – sewing tip
I know I had a previous entry about pattern matching but this one is a little different. I cut the adorable birdie fabric that I mentioned in my last post and I am ready to make some valances. Generally when sewing clothing I don’t run into the issue of having to match widths of fabric together, however when talking about home dec… this is something that you can’t escape (unless of course you just always choose solids.)
Here are two widths of fabric that I have side by side so you can see what I am talking about.
When cutting fabric in this case you need to be aware of the pattern and cut with the repeat. Here I used the flower motif as a starting point, each straight cut across the width would be started at this point in the pattern. That way if you need to sew them side by side it will be one continuous repeating pattern.
So here is the hard part… actually sewing it so it looks good.
Sometimes you can get away with just lining up the printers marks (the crosshatch and colored circles on the selvage) and sewing a half inch or more. Sometimes you can also just keep peeking as you sew to make sure things are lined up, but this works best for bigger patterns and more geometric designs.
Now for the birdies, and generally any kind of swirling or more complicated design I take a different approach. In the picture below you can see that I pressed my top edge back so I can see a little piece of the print. I then line up my fabric pieces, right sides together while the one pressed edge will allow me to see part of the pattern.
Line up your pattern but offset it to the right just a smidge, cross your fingers and pray, then sew.
I use the inside edge of my presser foot as a guide right along the pressed edge of my upper fabric. Since we offset the match, the placement of your needle ends up being in the perfect place.
Viola!
not quite perfect but I think it is acceptable.
Hopefully that made sense to you… let me know if it was a little confusing and I can try to explain when I am more awake…
Sew Green Flamingo 