The Elephant's Child

Nerd, I Am.

An in-progress photo of the wall quilt for above my desk.  It's actually all finished, but I'd rather show you the finished product once its hanging in place, which I'm hoping to be able to do today.  I need to spray paint the curtain rod I'm going to hang it on.  I also need to move my desk out of the way to mount the rod on the wall, which will be a Huge Pain, what with the tangle of cords and such behind my desk, and the fact that my desk isn't a desk at all, but a conglomeration of table, flat door, and filing cabinet.  I aspire to a Real Desk someday. 

Anyway, here goes: 

Looks pretty bad without its binding on.  I'll get a better picture once I've got it mounted on the wall.   

Cutting It.

There's always a dilemma, when you find a length of gorgeous fabric.  You want to use it for the purpose for which you bought the fabric, but oh, cutting into it is such a scary proposition. 

Today, I'm going to cut this fabric: 

It's a very pale yellow linen, 60" wide, and I hope to make curtain panels for my living room.  It only took about an hour and a half of figuring and measuring to decide how to cut the fabric. I'm going to line the back of the curtains, so that adds another whole set of complexities.  I've got the fabric ironed - all 5 yards of it - and it's waiting downstairs on the dining room table.  Wish me luck, because I bought the whole end of the bolt and there's no more fabric like this to be found.  If I mess it up, I'm out of luck. 

No way out but through... 

Purse for The Wedding.

My little point and shoot digital camera throws a fit if I turn the flash off when taking a picture indoors.  But you get the idea of what the purse looks like.  I need to adjust the pattern so that it's about one inch taller, but other than that I'm quite happy with how this turned out.  Added bonus: it's about half the weight of my beloved (but getting old and tatty) Eddie Bauer bag.

A tip for sewing your own purses: Decor-bond interfacing is your friend.  In this case, I bonded the interfacing to the lining, which gives the outside of the purse a much softer appearance even without being quilted.  And it makes the pocket I put on the inside a little less likely to rip out.

Really sorry about the blurry picture.  Hope it doesn't hurt your eyes too badly.

Sorry, I'm Sick.

I've been sick.  And stressed about several things.

Brain is fried.  Creativity is being burned up trying to finish sewing that needs to be completed before my youngest brother's wedding in mid-August.  Did mostly finish my top; it needs to be hemmed yet, that's all.  Started Sparkle Kitty's dress (can't find the pattern online to link to), but had to recut the bodice because it was too small.  My rules on making a muslin don't apply for little kids' clothes.  Thankfully, I had lots of fabric available.

Still trying to decide whether to attempt to make Mad Musician a tie for the wedding, using these instructions. The pattern calls for 60" wide fabric; I have none.  What I have is 45" wide fabric, the same as Sparkle Kitty's dress is cut from.  I'm not sure, in my sickened state, it's wise to attempt something like a tie and something for which I'm going to have to hack the pattern to make it work with narrower fabric. (It's cut on the diagonal, see...)

Somehow need to get new lenses for my glasses before the wedding as well.  New frames are, sadly, out of the question, but thankfully I chose very well ten years ago and my current frames aren't too embarassing, despite their age.  You get what you pay for, and I paid an awful lot of money for these.  They're still in very good shape, too. Nothing's broken, and even the earpieces are only a teensy bit cracked. The lenses, however, are completely trashed.  Not only do I need a new prescription (I think?) the lenses are cracked, scratched, and starting to yellow.  Hopefully, new lenses can be fitted to these frames.

Summer Top: Wedding Rehearsal Dinner, Part 2

Sewing tips for apparel sewing:

1. Make a muslin

2. Make a muslin

3. Make a muslin

But if you're in a huge hurry and need to get your garment done ASAP:

4. Make a muslin

Ignoring these tips may result in the following:

1. Tears

2. Feeling really fat and ugly

3. Wasted money, fabric, time, interfacing and other notions.

4. Last-minute panic over what to wear.

I'm working on the muslin for my top. I made the size I needed per the body measurements on the pattern envelope, but since this pattern includes different size pattern pieces in the bust area, the "bust measurement" doesn't really apply.  For example, the size 22 (really more of a 16 in ready to wear) may end up with a finished garment bust of anywhere from 42" to 49", depending on which bust-area pattern piece you choose.  The pattern should be sized per the ribcage or the "high bust" measurement, but it is not.  Thank goodness I made a muslin!  I was able to see right away what needed to be changed, pinned the changes on the muslin, ripped out the seams and am in the process of transferring the changes to the paper pattern.   Fortunately, it mostly involves cutting down one size (yay!) and shortening the torso (which I nearly always have to do anyway, as I'm only 5'-3" tall.)  

I also have to lengthen the upper bodice/bust piece and shorten the lower bodice piece, as the seam on the top that is supposed to fall just below the bust falls... umm, elsewhere. (I think all fit models used by pattern companies and ready-to-wear designers have their girls up around their ears, and no, it's not an age thing since other female family members have the same fit issue and we've all been that way since puberty!) But I think that won't be too hard to do and I only have to move it about an inch.

All in all, probably about two hours of work over and above cutting and sewing the actual top.  Extra work? Sure.  But I'll know when I cut into my final fabric and start sewing that it will fit perfectly when it's all finished.  

And just think, if someone like me, who has been sewing for twenty-eight years, still needs to make a muslin when using a new pattern for the first time, you probably do to. 

Summer Top: Wedding Rehearsal Dinner

I'm going to attempt a bias-cut pull-over top in this print.  It'll match nicely with the linen pants I made earlier this year.  The pattern I've chosen is Simplicity 2614, and I'm hopeful that because it's a "Threads magazine collection" pattern it's a nominally better-designed pattern than many of the Big Three's patterns are these days. I'll make either View E but without the Laverne and Shirley necktie or View D.  Not sure about that cap sleeve. Is it too cutesy?

And may I rant a moment?  The European sizes on the envelope correspond nicely to ready-to-wear and to the European sizes in Ottobre. But does the American sizing? No.  I have to "read up" in the American sizing. In other words, if you're a size 10 in ready-to-wear sizing, you'll most often have to choose a pattern size 16.  Three sizes' difference! But if you're a size 42 in Euro sizes, you're a size 42 on the pattern envelope.  It's like the pattern companies all got together and conspired to make it nearly impossible for newbie clothing-sewers to have anything at all come out even close to fitting properly.  Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Summer Play Pants.

Adaptation of some basic boys' pants out of Ottobre 1/2009.  I think it's design #39, if I'm remembering correctly. Sparkle Kitty cannot abide a zipper fly; it's all elastic and soft waistbands for her, so it's starting to get hard to find pants patterns that work for her.  Ditched all the extra do-dads, pockets, trims, and tabs that made these pants "outdoor pants" and kept only the back pockets.  Turned them into capri-length, and used a plain band at the bottom instead of an elastic cuff.   Rear pockets ended up too low because at the last minute I added a cotton-ribbing set-on waistband for the 1-1/2" elastic, which is the only elastic I had on hand.   I figured it would be ok since Ottobre's kids' pants seem to run just a tad short through the rise anyway, but once it was all together, I could see adding an extra 1-1/2" on the top made the pockets a bit too low.  But they're cute regardless, and Sparkle Kitty doesn't care.

I was worried the gathered edge and the bottom band would make these look too much like clown pants, but they're fine.  And by the way, the Tutti Frutti fabric line sold at JoAnn fabrics?  Fantastic for kids' pants.  Wears like iron, resists tearing, and while a bit stiff to the hand at first, quickly washes into a nice, cool fabric for summer shorts and pants.   The last pants I made with this fabric line wore so thin they were nearly sheer at the knees, but they never did get holes.  Pretty decent pricing, too. Usually it's around $6-7/yard, but it goes on sale several times in the spring before going on clearance 'round the end of June or so.  Awesome.   Only bad thing is now Sparkle Kitty is tall enough that I can't get a pair of capris for her out of one yard of fabric.  Sewing mammas mark milestones by yardages. *sob*

Learning New Things.

I did something this past week that I've not done before. I did the hand sewing needed to make a wedding dress bustle up the back.  It was a challenge figuring out how to anchor ties in delicate fabric, ties sturdy enough to hold a fair bit of weight without tearing the fabric.

It was just the sort of fussy, creative problem solving I like to do.  The fact that I was doing it for a friend made it all that much more fun.

It made me think of advertising that I can do wedding dress repairs, bustling, and some small alterations.  I love the lush fabrics that wedding dress and haut couture dresses are made of.  I like fussy sewing.  I like a challenge.  It's just working with brides that strikes terror into my very soul. (The bride who is to wear the above dress above is an exception.  She's a pratical, reasonable lady.  And she's a friend.  That makes a difference!)

 

Bustling.

I'm headed out of state to help bustle a wedding dress.  Well, to attach ties or hooks or buttons so that the dress can be bustled. 

I'm still lacking a netbook, laptop, or even *gasp* a smartphone, so posting will be slim to non-existent the rest of this week.

Pants That Fit.

I love linen. I love linen like I love good wool.  Passionately.  If I had my druthers, I'd wear linen all summer and fine woolens - sweaters, tweeds, flannels - all winter.

But those fabrics are expensive, and so is the clothing made from them. And I'm a hard to fit girl. Even if I could shell out the big bucks for taliored linen pants, it's highly unlikely that they'd fit me well.  Even if I got lucky and they did, I'd have paid so much money for them that I'd be afraid to wear them for everyday.  And I'd still have to shorten them.

But today is a dawn of a new era for me, one that includes summer days spent in swishy, cool, causal pants.  Lying here beside me on the desk is a pair of driftwood-brown linen pants, with a wide, set-on waistband, a zipper fly and slash pockets.  They've even got a cute pink piping accent on the inside of the waistband. You know, like those expensive pants from the department store.

They fit like they were tailored just for me.  Because they were.  Because I made them.  All by myself.

The fabric was 50% off-the-clearance-price at JoAnn Fabrics.  Two and a half yards came to $6.50.  It had a sparkle embedded in the face of the fabric, so I used the fabric wrong-side-out. (The inside of my pants has a subtle sparkle, yes.  No Twilight jokes, please.  Don't embarass yourself.)

I used Symphony broadcloth for the waistband lining and pocket linings.  Cost?  $3.00 for the yard I needed.  I bought a zipper that put me out another $2.00.  And, already had in my stash the pink piping I used on the inside, but had I bought it, it would have cost about $3.00.

Total cost came to about $11.50.  I still need some buttons or fasteners for the waistband, but I have several things in my stash that might work.  I could have used lightweight fabric from my stash for the linings and I would not need to have bothered with the pink piping. 

Downstairs in the basement are two and a half yards of a pale pink linen.  I plan to make that up into a pair of pants just like this.  And after that, I may get crazy and try making a pair of jeans or a straight skirt based off this same pattern.  Well, maybe not the jeans. But definitely the skirt.

(Pattern is Ottobre's Practicality Pants, Issue 2/2009)