Embroidery Design Software - Ouch!

One of the areas that I purchased the embroidery machine for was to be able to make my own embroidered fabric. The problem was that it was not as simple as just hooping up the fabric. I wanted to be able to embroider repeating motifs or even a repeating border print onto fabric, but was not sure how to do it with this machine. It seemed quite complicated.

One of the ladies mentioned that it is possible to do it manually if I made a template. I need to ask her more about it.   There seems to be tutorials on line for it too.
Multi hooping
Digimad who posts often on the Janome forums also has a fascinating video on split designs here

There's also a few threads on Janome about it.
No hooping for large fabric embroider

Anyway, the owner had just gone to Janome Institute. This is apparently a yearly event for machine dealers to learn about their machines. She mentioned that I needed to order software to do what I was suggesting.

I had done some research and then someone asked exactly the same question I did on the Janome forum and even posted a video for how to do multiple hoops. Then I found out that the application can cost up to $1500. Ouch!.

The owner has offered to let me try it out in the shop. I'll do that, but boy, I'm going to have to think long and hard whether I want to spend that kind of money. . .

Ran into my fitting teacher

I took classes with Christie last year. We had two sessions only and she helped me with a McCall's pattern, I think. I never really finished it and still need to look at it again. The bust pattern needed lengthening with the FBA.

Anyway, it was good to run into Christie. She asked what I was doing and I mentioned the Sarah Veblen book and my attempts to refit a previously tried pattern to see what else I could learn, do with it.

She encouraged me to contact her for help with fitting, since I had confessed that it's much harder to fit myself. I should also raise the idea to get a dress form for me.

I'm looking forward to it, but she mentioned that she would only do it this Friday and then be out for October (when I'm out too). I will have to reach out in November.

Today, tried out a few more things with embroidery.

Used the borrowed Isacord thread. It does stitch out nicer.  I'm going to have to see how much the 1000m spools cost. Used the tear away again. Then I tried out some of the smaller sized designs which I think would look lovely repeated over an expanse of plain fabric.

Then I threw all the samples into the wash . . . wow. They all shrunk up. Since the Isacord is polyester and so is the embroidery thread, the only thing I could think of is that it's the tearaway OR that the cotton isn't completely shrunk up. When I pre-washed it, it was cool and dried cool.  This time I threw it in with the towels. I may have to try embroidery on some very washed and dried cotton.

I will try ironing out the samples to see if it does anything. . . .

Taking embroidery to the experts

Took both samples to the shop.  Got some good tips.

"Why does my embroidery machine sometimes 'thunk' during a pattern?"

Areas where there are dense stitches sometimes grab hold of the needle, and the 'thunk' is the needle pulling out and the fabric and hoop hitting the machine.

He recommended that I try Isacord thread.  They were nice enough to let me take a couple of spools to try, to compare it to the Mettler embroidery thread. I found out that Mettler embroider thread was not UV-proof and is apparently less suited for machine embroider and more for quilting.  He thought that was why there were some loops on top of the embroidery.  Also, I was advised to use a Microtex needle. I bought some there because they were having a 30% sale as it was Anniversary week. 

Apparently OESD stabilizer products which are sticky (or 'pressure sensitive') apparently have a 'Plus' on the label. Have to remember that. Also apparently some of their products are sensitive to high humidity and may stretch. 

This week I'm going to have to try the Isacord thread. I'm going to just do it with the tear away stabilizer that I used with the earlier sample to keep everything else the same. 

Inspiration: Embroidery Design PacksUTP1145

Urban Threads Design Pack UTP1145

How lovely, a whole design pack on constellations. Would be quite eye catching to create a dress from fabric that has been covered with these designs. 

  I think this pack could have a lot of possibilities.

Urban Threads Design Pack UTP1113

Doable with the existing designs on MC11K?

Inspiration: Coral skirt

Urban Threads UT 6584 Branching Coral

I have some coral fabric left, and when I saw this photo from some fashion show (should have noted who the designer is) a few months ago, I knew it would be something I would like to recreate.  Urban Threads has this design. I think the small one (3.86" x 3.43") would work. 

A skirt would be lovely (I don't have that much fabric).

Dart placement after removing center back seam?

The muslin came together last night. Front looks good. Back not so much. Which is strange considering I would have sewn the CB seam and the darts should be the same distance away. BUT, I think this may be a case that since I took away from the sides seams to compensate for the cut on fold back, the existing dart placement would be a little closer to the side seams than in muslin #2, which would look strange.  Having difficulty 'looking at my back' I'll have to ask husband to check or take a photo of both muslins to see what's wrong.

With the HBL drawn in, the waist seems lower than it should be too. Have to take photos and post.

On the embroider front. Pulled out the MC11K SE. Based on the shop's recommendations, the best way to learn how to use the embroidery machine is to just USE it.  So picked the same embroider pattern and stitched it out twice, once just hooping the muslin and then gluing another muslin scrap on top (called 'fabric sample'). The second one I hooped thick stabilizer and then glued the muslin scrap again on top ('stabilizer sample').  I baste stitched both samples.

There was some thread jumping, but overall turned out okay. On close inspection, the fabric sample did show more tendency to 'tunnel' for some areas. The stabilizer sample did not show as much buckling. Although the buckling around the pattern almost looks like quilt 'embossing'.  I'm not sure if I should do this, but I slowly snipped out the stabilizer leaving just small pieces.

I wonder what other people do with samples. Maybe I'll be able to use it as an applique for a pillow case or something.  Something else to research.

By the way,  read somewhere that some have had success using glue sticks instead of using spray adhesive to stick fabric on top of the stabilizer. I tried it with the Basting Glue I bought from Creative Feet when they were in town at the Del Mar Quilt Show last year.  Seemed to work very well. The glue is water soluble and does not gum up sewing needles, so no worries.

What to do with no Center Back seam?

So my last post about the 3rd tunic muslin was my confusion on what to do about the CB seam after the sway back adjustment. That adjustment would be fine if I maintained the CB seam, but because I didn't want to I have to figure out how to transfer the deviation to the side seam.

I've not seen 'official' instructions on how to do this, but my thoughts are that as long as I maintain the side seam length after I move the CB deviation over, I should be fine. That also includes walking the match points on the side seam to make sure they still would line up.

So I laid the back pattern against a straight line and then marked where the deviation from original CB started and ended, and then drew horizontal lines where the deviation was 1/8 of an inch, 1/16 of an inches and estimated where they would be taken out at the side seam. I smoothed as much as needed to make a clean seam and then measured the original side seam length and the new side seam. I subtracted the difference from the bottom side and drew the hem to that point.

I believe that would maintain the same side seam length. And no CB seam.  I still need to walk the match points however. . .

Visited the local sewing machine dealer. The sewing machine technician there wasn't sure why my serger would sew the wide 3 thread overlock fine, but not the narrow.  He asked me to bring in my serger.

Also bought thread for embroidering the collar of the fashion fabric tunic. Had trouble matching colors, so finally had one of the nice ladies help me. Strangely although the color I was trying to match was green, the tiny spots of blue ended up being more in line with the color.

Yardage Town had laces on clearance. I purchased 5 for 99 cents each. Looks like at least a yard or two each, so a great bargain.  My stash grows.

Finally broke out the blue tracing paper purchased from Richard the Thread. They accept phone orders and will take smaller orders than online.  LOVE the paper. Works much better than the chalk ones. And the large size makes it much faster.

Lovely clean easily seen lines. MUCH better than the small chalk papers from Dritz.
Richard the Thread is my go-to source for tracing paper now!

Tunic Muslin # 3 : Establishing Fitting Lines

The Sarah Veblen 'Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting' calls for horizontal balance lines (HBLs) and other landmarks to use as fitting references.  I've already established the HBLs for the waist and hips, but for the center back, I'm a little stuck.

Since I've decided to  fold out the center back seam from my last muslin, I realized that I'm now left with a center back seam that is not straight. After my original muslin, I took out a 'closed wedge' as Veblen describes it to deal with the sway back. It worked, and I transferred the alteration to the back pattern. But it meant that the back pattern does not line up completely at the back. It did not matter when I had a center back seam, but now that I folded the seam allowance out, I'm not sure how to easily establish the center back.

I guess at a pinch I could make a dart at the center back and then copy out the new back as a full pattern.

Before I do that I should try tracing out the section which is superfluous and seeing whether I could take it out of the side seams. However, I'm not entirely sure if that's a great idea since I'll have to check if the side seams are even between the front and the back of the tunic.

Revisiting New Look Tunic again?

Over the Labor Day holiday I ordered two fitting books. I have the Palmer/Pletsch 'Fit for Real People' purchased when I started sewing.  As I plan to start pants shortly, I got the Palmer/Pletsch ' Pants for Real People' and also Sarah Veblen's 'Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting'.

I was planning to just use fashion fabric for the next version of the tunic with minor pattern alterations (other than the sleeve head). However, I think I may just go back and make another muslin of the tunic, this time working in the fitting axis instructions from the Sarah Veblen book. I'm particularly interested in working with the Horizontal Balance Line (HBL) which I've previously read about online, but not done.  It would be interesting to see how the fit is with those reference points first as there may be more alterations that aren't obvious without those markers.

Besides, I'm still stuck on the fashion fabric version since I've planned to underline with white Batiste and have not gotten it as yet. Also want to play with embroidering on the facing.

5-Thread Stitch: 2-Thread chain stitch and 3-Thread overlock

Top is with left needle position (and loose
green needle thread). Bottom is the
right needle overlock position. 

Next stitch is the 5-Thread Stitch: It has 2-threads for the chainstitch and 3-threads for the overlock.

The overlock stitches can be narrow (Right needle) or wide (Left needle). Strangely, when I use the narrow (more distance between the chainstitch and the overlock stitches),  the stitches for the overlock look good. However, when I move the needle over to the left side, the Green needle thread is loose. Same tension settings . . .

Tried increasing the tension for the needle thread to 5 (rest are 4), but not much of a change.

Packing away for today; will have to try rethreading if it doesn't work!

Tunic: Fabric Ideas and Construction Plans

Having made the changes to the pattern for New Look 6803, I'm looking at what fabric to use. I have this fabric in my stash, a printed and embroidered voile cotton.

It's very sheer, so I'll have to either wear a camisole under or maybe underline just the front and back of the tunic.  I don't want the tunic to have much body however, so will have to play with how the fabric will look and feel underlined. I was thinking of using the muslin cotton for the underlining, but the voile is so thin, it may be over powered by the cotton . . .

I also want to do something about the collar; either embroidering with similar colors a lot of flowers, or maybe a completely contrasting fabric.

I'll have to hit the fabric stores and trawl around. In the meantime I'll have to serge the fabric and wash it. I'll be able to cut out all the various pieces while I search for the underlining and collar pieces and then I'll be able to make a sample of the fabric against the muslin and maybe others to see how it works.

Getting reacquainted with my Juki MO 735 Serger

When I got my serger originally, I took the time to try all the various types of stitches as shown in my users manual. With scraps of fabric, I bought thread in the colors of the guides and threaded up the serger.

I'm not sure where I stuck those scraps (although I labeled the scraps themselves!) so I'm doing it over again. This time I'll also be making samples with the other feet that came with the serger. I'll be doing it in sections, since there's so many settings/types.

The first one is the 4-Thread overlock with Integrated Safety Seam

Opened to see the seam; no seam separation - GOOD!

Settings:
Tensions: 4 (All threads)
Cutting Width: 3
Differential: N
Stitch Length: 2.5

I've ironed the seam to set the stitches (although the picture on the right was before I ironed). Solid stitches with no seam separation so definitely usable for piecing on its own.

I think I could play with the looper tensions a bit more; the lower looper thread is showing a bit on the top side; either the top tension is too high or the bottom looper is a little to loose.

The bottom seam is the 4-Thread Overlock with Integrated Safety Stitch.  The top seam is where I used the same stitch, but set to gather.

Settings to gather:
Tension: 4 (All threads)
Cutting Width: 3
Differential: 2
Stitch Width: 4

This will provide a slight gathering with light medium weight woven fabric. When I increased the thread tension on the needle threads however, it gathered more (higher needle tension makes the thread shorter, hence more fabric to less thread distance (compared to leaving the tension the same).

Potentially usable for sleeve head easing, but must watch/manipulate how the fabric feeds, mine had a tendency to pull away from the knife so the edge had to be readjusted multiple times.

Durable seaming but probably not good for areas where I want a lot of stretch.

Jan Saunders - 4 Thread overlock stitch has the advantage of a safety stitch. If the seam line thread breaks, the second row of stitching prevents the seam allowances from raveling out.  

Conclusion: New Look 6803 Tunic View D Muslin and future ideas

Tried using the embellishment used on the sleeves for the vents and tunic hem. Somewhat successful. Definitely need to figure out length of embellishment design and see how many multiples are needed to have the best outcome. I used the edge of the tunic to guide the embellishments, but I think a marking line would be much more precise when I do try it on the fashion fabric.

Tunics slides on and off, is snug, but doable. Definitely much more fitted. I may want to consider the following changes to the pattern.


Construction considerations:

1. Need to figure out how to handle the inside of the collar area; the collar facing actually flips out so the inside of the collar can be seen. Maybe a second facing? I read something recently and am trying to remember what the article was about. Same with the shoulder seams as they go into the collar.   I realized this can be partly handled in this pattern if I remove the CB seam.

Pattern Considerations:

1. Front darts may need to be shifted slightly nearer to CF. Although they don't look BAD, I think they could look better if one of the vertical darts lined up with the BP.  Moved the seam so that one is under the BP (marked 'New').
2. 
   
3. I left the closer of the vertical darts (relative to CF) as a released tuck. Again, it doesn't look bad but may want to think about it more. 
4. 
   
5. Vents (or more accurately side slits) should be longer, meaning I'll have to reconsider the pocket placement/size to make it work. Added markings for vent and moved the pockets up and resized pocket to smaller real estate.
6. French dart may need to be lowered just a bit more. I will probably just cut out the bust 'box' again and shift down to do so.  Leaving this as is for now. 
7. One of the things I realized (too late) is that although the sleeves look and hang alright, they're not supposed to be puffed/gathered at the sleeve head. Which means I may want to try and remove some of the sleeve head ease. I think just a half inch fold will be plenty.  Removed about 3/4 inch of ease by making a horizontal tuck at the sleeve head. Smoothed out the new cutting and seam line.

Misc:

1. Consider a side zipper if I want to make the tunic any more fitted. 
2. Consider taking this pattern and starting to slash and pivot the darts to try princess cut, or a yoke front/back. Since I've put in work to make the pattern fit, it's probably pretty close to a sloper (although still with some ease built in, which is not really a sloper). 

Fabric considerations:

1. Definitely want to try this with the voile. Need to fix Construction Item #1 first though . . .
2. Charmeuse or other drapey fabric would also be great. Nothing with body however. 

Sleeve head-taking out ease

adding marking lines

Adding marking lines. Also removed
the CB seam

Resized pockets and moved match points

Vents marking

New dart placement on front + new pocket
match points + Vent

Sleeve and stitching the front and back of tunic

Nearly done.

Basted in second sleeve and then sewed in flat. Then stitching front to back. However, I pinned sleeve front and back together, tacked with machine stitches to ensure I'm on seam. Then stitched sleeve together and then tunic front and back together.

I did leave the side vents open at the bottom (about 3 inches), but I will want to have the vents longer, which means that the pockets will either have to go, or I'll have to drop the size of the pockets significantly. Also found that the markings on the pockets need to be transferred once I sew them onto the tunics, since I overstitched the correct point and instead stitched to the match points of the pockets.

Tried on the tunic. I'm happy with the results and changes to the pattern. The lower and more vertically angled french dart looks much better. I realize that the more horizontal french dart actually makes the tunic more boxy.  And the back is much more fitted, in the original make the back did not hug my curves at all.

Something else to consider. I may want to try the S-curve  and maybe even break the front of the tunic into two pieces with a waist seam curving up at center front.

Tomorrow I'll finish the vents and hems (including sleeves).

I believe I'll be able to make a tunic with good fabric next.  This may be a tried and true pattern soon.

New Look Tunic: Finished Collar

Point turner and iron used to make the collar facing lay flat. Used Juki's 2mm distance guide foot to the center point and needle position to 1.4 to top stitch the 'raw' edge of collar down.

Tried it with the Edge Presser foot and realized that the guide was also going to push the facing away, so switched to the guide foot. Looks very professional.

Tomorrow will have to base the other sleeve in and sew flat and I may be able to sew the underarm and sides too. Must remember to leave the sides to vent, but may not be possible of the pockets droop too low.  Then it's hem the bottom edge of tunic and sleeves.

I was thinking that I may be able to make this a more wearable muslin if I embroider on it. Then it may look more like a sheer tunic.

New Look Tunic: Sleeve and Collar A

The instructions say to put in the sleeves in the round. I tried putting it in flat. Seems to work. The pattern requires easing the sleeve cap; I put in three parallel gather lines first, then sewed up the bottom to the start of the easing spot. Then I pulled the gathering threads so the sleeve cap would fit and sewed it up the rest of the way. Worked a treat.

The collar facing. I would definitely trace a line in the pattern and onto the facing to show where the raw edge should be turned in. I used the serged line as the template which was probably only possible because I was very careful to serge as closely to the cut line as I could.

Also, when I assembled the collar and basted it on, I had to match the fold lines between the collar facing and the front of the tunic. Again if I drew in a line on the center front of the collar facing and the front of the tunic, it would be less guesswork.

Collar facing seemed small for the collar, but once I tacked all the main points (side seams and center front and back, I realized that it would stretch and may be what was designed since it would then pull in the direction of the facing. We'll see.

Sewing the collar together was not bad at all. I did it in sections from one tack and another. And since the instructions call for double stitching for strength, it actually worked to my benefit.
This time I made sure to cut down the center front of the facing, but have to trim fairly close to the stitching so that it would turn clean. I am stopping there for the night.

Next thing will have to be ironing the collar after turning it to the outside. Will use the point turner to get the edges straight and then have to edge stitch the collar down.

Tried on the half assembled tunic and like what I saw. Bust point is looking right; it was too high before.

Unfortunately I serged using blue thread knowing that this is a muslin, but now that it's coming together so well, I wish I had used white thread, might be wearable. As it is, probably just a round the top.

Oh, and the pockets make the side vents much shorter. May have to take them out all together . . . .

Embellishing the muslin

Worked on the tunic and added a 3/8" stitched line at the sleeve hem because it makes turning the hem in easier.

I thought it would be cool to try some of the embroidery stitches on the Juki (#59 on the F600). I added a layer of tissue behind the area and stitched two rows of repeating chevrons. It looked good. And when I fold up the hem I think I'll be able to do a line right through it.

I will have to do the same with the tunic hem since I want to make vents on both sides. Better do it next before I stitch any of the rest of the pieces together. Also want to make sure I put the collar facing together; because I reduced the back neck dimension, the facing also needed to be reduced. We'll see how it shows up.

One step closer; packaged boy's shirt

Finally, stopped procrastinating and packaged up the shirt with care instructions. But first a few pictures. Managed to figure out how to get the pictures to the blog.

 Close up of the collar and top stitching. I used Fashion Incubator's technique.

The inside of the collar also looks okay. It was much cleaner than the muslin that I made. 

Inside front extension and the serged shirt hem.

 I flat felled all the seams, but when I checked out some RTW versions, noticed that some just serged the seam and then top stitched. Could be easier!

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New Look 6803 : Woman's Tunic (View D) Part 2

Finally got to working on the tunic again. I decided not to interface the back facing; we'll see how that turns out.

Today I spent much of the sewing in serging the individual pieces. I'm definitely getting much better at inside and outside curves and even sharp inside corners. I'm very happy with how well it turned out.

I believe that most things you have to do repeatedly to get good at and serging is definitely one of these things. I think that without doing it (and doing all variations of serging) you don't even get to understand how something could get better. Many of the tips I've read online and in books have come together for me. For instance how to serge without trimming off fabric and then switching to a section where you want to trim fabric. For how to secure serger threads at the start at the end of the seam.

Also I noticed that when serging outside curves, the looper threads have to be loosened since the loops travel a bit more distance between one needle and the next. The reverse is true when serging inside curves; then you have to add more thread tension; meaning less thread passes between one needle and the next.  Although I'm not sure whether I'll want to continually change my thread tension when serging pieces.

I'm being very careful to try not to mess up the chalk transferred markings; I recently purchased the large tracing paper from Richard the Thread, but I have not tried it yet.

I had added additional darts and tucks to shape the tunic more. After finishing my serging I sewed up the side darts; made them longer and lowered the bust point (BP). and also one side of the dart.  I made up a size 14 originally, but found that I could have made a size 10 so added lots of darts and tucks to take out the additional ease. However, once I finish the muslin, I'll probably have to make a call whether I want to keep all the additional darts. It's kind of painful to have to add so many darts in. I packed it up after that since I realized I was feeling a little rushed.

One last thing; I stay stitched on my collar and after that, checked it against the pattern piece. I realize that although it may be easy in the moment to hang onto fabric for dear life to make the stitching straight, it probably stretches the pieces and adds unwanted length . . . now that I think about it, that's probably what happened to the little boy's shirt I just finished; the body was 1/4' to 3/8" longer than the sleeve.

On that note, I still have NOT sent the shirt to my friend. I really need to get that taken care of!!! Tomorrow I'll address the manila envelop and fold the shirt in. Then all I'll need to do is drop it off Monday morning.

New Look 6803 : Woman's Tunic (View D)

 (Sigh) I don't know how to rotate photos like this.
Anyway, this is my next project. I've made this once; the first time was a few weeks after I started sewing  and I made the same view (D). Overall, it was wearable, but back then I didn't know how to plan and finish my seams.

I made changes to the pattern; dropped the bust point by about an inch and a half, and then angled the side dart to start just above the waist line.

My plan is to have a vent on both sides of the tunic, and maybe put in a zip on the side since I remove about four inches of ease overall.

I am making this out of muslin; if it works then I'll copy the pattern over to a more permanent material and then make the first one with fashion fabric.

There were some online made of a very silky material that would be really lovely in solid colors.

Simplicity 8543: Short Sleeved Shirt (Part 3)

I finally finished the blue shirt. Overall it came together alright; not technically perfect, but good.  Since Juki nor Janome do not make a foot for flat-felling, I had to do it by hand. Mostly it worked out, but there were some points where a foot would have made it much easier.

Showing the flat felled seam on sleeve and body

The technique in David Coffin Page's Shirt Making book was very helpful in creating flat felled seams when joining the body of the shirt to the sleeves.

I have to figure out how to not get birds nests when starting to join the sleeve and body; I may have to try sewing on  tissue to start to see if it will help.

The hem of the shirt was difficult; I ended up serging the hem and then turning the edge in. You can see the serged hem. Doesn't look bad.

Washed the shirt; it came out fine.  Need to trim off the last few loose thread ends and then fold it up to send to my friend.

Simplicity 8543: Short Sleeved Shirt (Part 2)

Interfaced the extended front facing and the collar.

Interfaced collar; next time I interface the
UPPER collar

Comparing the interfaced and stay stitched
piece to the pattern

I forgot how muddled some of the instructions can be and I should really have been making construction notes while making it.











My front shoulder is about 1/8" wider than the back shoulder; I tried to steam shrink it but didn't work so stretched the back to fit. Have to check the pattern to see if I cut the piece wrong or is the piece is too big. . .

Also, instructions on assembling the collar incorrectly shows the collar sewn together even on the notched side. Then it asks you to turn it which is wrong. I have notated the step.  Also have to consider sewing the long outer edge first and then understitching to ensure it rolls to the under-collar.

I tried using the Fashion Incubator's tutorial for assembling collars; she instructs to add 1/8" (or whatever the turn of cloth needs) to the pattern for the outer edge of the upper collar. I did, and after a few tries, I thought I cut too much for lightweight cotton.  But after ironing down the first fold on the edge and then the short ends of the collar, the inner notched edge actually matched up pretty well. And the collar edge pulls under really nicely. The collar points turned out pretty good, too.

HOWEVER, I realized that the instructions on the pattern don't call out whether to interface the upper or lower collar. I interfaced the lower collar since I assumed the upper collar would then have to stretch over the lower one so the collar line would not sure but it turns out that I should have interfaced the UPPER collar.

I'm going to try and use it the way it is now, but if it doesn't work I'm going to have to cut up a new collar and chalk it up to practice.

I had tried the flat felled seam using Sarai's tutorial here.  She indicates trimming the edge being folder to half the other edge but I stitched a line about a quarter inch away from the seam line and then trimmed to that. I think it's neater even though it's an extra step. 

Tomorrow I'll try the collar and decide how to move forward from then.

Shirt for friend's son

A good friend who's very supportive asked about me making a few shirts for her younger son. I am thrilled to be able to give back to her and I'm using this Simplicity pattern 8543. 

She stays in another part of the country and I made a muslin to send to her son to try. She said it fit fine so it's now time to make up the shirts. Children grow so fast I can't wait too much longer!

Muslin of shirt

Simplicity 8543

The muslin helped me to try out the techniques. The collar was fine, trimming it down before I installed it made it smooth. Also the David Coffin Page technique on installing sleeves with 1 pin was much easier than trying to pin it all down. 

So I've got blue cotton fabric to make the shirt and also a forest green one. I got some better interfacing as well and soaked it in hot water to preshrink.  

Cut out the fabric in blue. Collar made using the method in Fashion Incubator here. Also using the interfacing tips she suggested but not sure how to apply her comment: Skip the stay-stitching on necklines and use interfacing instead. Stay stitching only stabilizes a very thin line -that which contains the stitching itself and fusible will stabilize the neckline area, greatly reducing creep when attaching collars and the like.

Need to research more.

This comment I understand and also will use: When you’re fusing a line that will be folded -say a hem, or a vent- your fusible should cross the fold line. Do not -I repeat- do not have the interfacing end right at the fold line (which is what’s done in home sewing patterns). Extending the fusible one half inch beyond the fold line will extend the life of a garment. If you don’t extend the fusible and you fail to line up the fusible with the fold line exactly, it can throw off your fold line as I’m sure you’ve noticed. A fold in fabric is a stressed region, cushion it for longer life.

And also this comment: When making your fusible pattern pieces (required for production patterns), they should not be the exact dimensions of the pattern piece upon which they’re placed. Trace the shape exactly, then trim off 1/8 of an inch all the way around. This will help to stagger the seams allowing them to lie flatter. Plus, any off-set fusible pieces having become askew will not obscure the actual seam depth.

Will post pictures on the WIP.

Boy's shirt: Muslin and fabric ideas

Finished this muslin.

Followed DCP's instructions on how to join sleeve to shoulder using 1 pin. Worked great.

My friend's son does not like prints, so I'm planning to make the shirt in a solid green cotton. However, I do have this car print in my stash and it would be so cute!

Inspirations: Magenta peachskin fabric

Magenta Peachskin: good drape, 7/8 yd

Color combo works

drape will work with this skirt

Idea considerations:

• A more fitted structured top and a draped bottom.
• Gold top (dupioni?) with some texture will balance the smooth drape.
• 3 quarter sleeves or sleeves only to the elbow.

Project in flight: Pencil skirt

Type: Skirt
Pattern: Diana Rupp's Naughty Secretary Skirt
Fabric:

• Rayon Crepe-remnant (slightly less than 1 yd)
• Poly Charmeuse-remnant (slightly more than 1 yd)
• 1 regular zipper

Having just finished the muslin for a little boy's shirt (Simplicity 8543) for a friend, I wanted to make something for me.  I had found a lovely light rayon crepe with marvelous drape and paired it with a burgundy colored charmeuse for a lining.  It's sewn together, but I have the hem to do and I want to jazz it up.

I plan to add lace on top of the skirt in a pattern (attached directly to the rayon) to jazz it up a bit. As it's going to be added at the last, I want to finish all the rest of the construction and also mark the final hem length before I attach the lace. 

Construction steps:

1. I put in the darts for both fashion fabric and lining. 
2. Joined front to back pieces on the fashion fabric and lining. 
3. Sewed the fashion fabric and lining together at the waist (right side together) and understitched. 
4. Attached the back left and back right panel to the zipper for fashion fabric. And for lining. Sew
5. Finished sewing the last 2" (right next to zipper) and turned lining in. 
6. Sew rest of back seam.
7. Still need to hem. Need to add lace.

Construction notes: 

• I had a tough time cutting out the pattern due to the slinky nature of the rayon.  In the future I will 
• copy out the full pattern so I don't have to fold the fabric (which was very tough)
• sandwich the fabric using tissue on the bottom and the paper pattern on the top
• I also did not add a bias tape waist band as called for in the pattern. I don't think it needs it since both fabrics together gives the skirt quite a bit of heft. 
• Because the fabric was so slippery, I cut the lining extra big. I made the lining first in order to do a fitting.  

Good links to have:

• See Tasia's tutorial about how she joined the lining to the fashion fabric for her Cambie dress cleanly here.
• Jessica has a tutorial for how to join a lining to a sleeveless dress without handsewing here.
• The Slapdash Sewist has another one here. 
• A few other sources.
• Sewing a zip to the dress and the lining at the same time
• Fashion incubator

Which comes first?

The fabric or the pattern?

For me, it's neither. Not that I don't have a stash, nor is it that I don't buy patterns. I am wildly successful at accumulating both. But the missing link in most cases is the inspiration.  That may sound weird, since many people buy a pattern because it inspires them, or a particular fabric because it has value.

I get a pattern because I want to learn something from it. A particular method or technique or design element I have not seen before. In fact, many of the items I've made never really stay true to the pattern. Even before I buy it I'm already thinking about how I can 'make it better'. I may make a muslin to test out a pattern, but otherwise it's all too common for me to make alterations.

It's somewhat the same with fabric. I buy something because it feels good against my skin, or the color evokes something, but usually when I walk out the store I can see the general category, a skirt, or a blouse, or a jacket. But the actual design is usually not yet formed.

What about you? Does an idea drive what you actually create? Or is it a pattern or a piece of your stash?

Stymied by creativity

It is possible to be creative and not create anything tangible. That's what happens to me. I get all these great ideas about what to make next and at some point they start to cancel each other out, until I'm paralyzed by the viciously tugging thoughts.

Hence the reason for this blog. Because if I don't write it down somewhere, I probably will never get around to it. Focus. That's what I need.

So. In this blog I will put down all my ideas and inspirations and number them. I will also try to update each idea on how far I have gotten and whether the idea actually worked out. Einstein apparently noted that he found 10,000 ways not to create a light bulb. I can only hope I don't have quite that record.

On to the ideas.