My Miette is finished!

In amongst Christmas and school holidays and not one but two heat waves (definition at least 5 days with maximum daily temperature of greater than 35 degrees Celsius) I managed to finish My Miette! This is one good pattern. And I'm very very happy! 10ply chartreuse (!) wool. Check out my effort on Kollabora - I'm new to it and  having a play. A few notes also on Ravelry here.

My Meringue

So I've tried to work through my tension issues. And I think I'm winning. But in the meantime I have a bunch of UFOs that are demanding attention. Add the now-9-year-old Princess demanding sewing machine time and things are getting interesting.

I started back on my Meringue from the Colette Sewing Handbook. With lining. I made up the lining and shell and then with wrong sides facing, treated them like one. I slipped the lining inside the skirt shell and pieced it with the facing. I really liked Sarai's steps for attaching the facing around the zipper. Very tidy and straightforward. I struggled to see her description in my head but her excellent descriptions carried me through. The will now be my go to process for "how to insert a facing around a zipper".

I also attempted my first invisible zip with a proper foot. Yippee! Apart from a small amount of puckering around the zipper base (truly two stitches only) it was a great job. Can you hear the huge sigh of relief from where you are? So many bloggers have written about their successful invisible zipper experiences. The "magic" moment for me was using my new invisible zipper foot. I have had unsuccessful (and unblogged) attempts at inserting an invisible zipper using either the standard foot or a zipper foot. I was never confident about where the needle should be positioned. That's the great thing about the invisible zipper foot - it takes the guess work out of where things should be. Now I know how it "feels" I would consider trying one without the specialty zipper foot, but let's be honest, why would I bother when things are soooooo much easier with the right equipment [aside: I'm now seriously considering other specialty feet...].

Zipper with just a little pucker at the base

I do have to mention Sarai's procedure for sewing a scalloped edge. Noice! The template to shape the scallops is simple but smart. I was really pleased with the way that the scallops turned out. Also the trimming suggestions - a little extra at the points between the scallops.

Scallops!

I finished everything off apart from the lining hem. I left that for a couple of days in case there was any stretch. And then a simple hem a good inch above the highest point of the scallop. I find putting lining hems too close to shell hems ends up with another hem (on the lining) being required. I chose a narrow zigzag which is good for fray-able fabric like rayon lining (turn up lining seam allowance, pin, iron, narrow zigzag close to the hem and trim off excess seam allowance).

Narrow zig-zag hem. Still a few tension issues here. 

In my first post on this skirt I did mention concerns about size and they were warranted. The skirt is too big - not ridiculously so - but enough that it is not a good fit on me. A-line skirts are not usually my favourite look so I think I might hand this skirt on. I have a friend in mind who I think would both love it and look great in it.

This was still a great project for me. My first pattern from the Colette Handbook. My first invisible zipper. Inserting the lining. Trying a scalloped hem. And using fabric from my stash.

Ta da!

Making bias binding

I decided that my self drafted peasant blouse required it's own bias. The fabric pattern was far too unique and varied to attempt to match with anything made commercially. Solid bias would have been awful. Plus I have managed to acquire two new bias making tools (these from Clover).

I did have the additional challenge of having very limited amounts of fabric. Piecing would be required. So I did the obligatory research and discovered some useful tutorials here and here. I also took the time to review the instructions that came with the tools (is this too obvious?).

Anyways, I still managed to stuff up the fabric joins. Some were the "right way" and some were the "wrong way".  Luckily the length between the rights and wrongs were sufficient to have seams facing the same way. Extra luckily, it's pretty hard to find the difference between the sides when there's just barely 1/2" to scrutinise. Even better, there is over 3m left and, yes, there are some interesting seams.

I've officially commenced a bias stash!

Self drafted peasant blouse - Part 2

Very late post. I finished this in November!

So I've pulled one of my favourite tops apart (read about this process here). Now I'm going to make a new one!

I ironed each piece so I could identify symmetrical and mirror image pieces. I contemplated creating new paper pattern pieces but decided to just use the original fabric pieces. This worked well - no movement like paper patterns. The original also had a woven stripe so the grain line is obvious.

I've had some vintage (70s I think) brown/back/cream cotton complete with paisleys in my stash for a little while and knew that it would look fab as a peasant top. Additional challenges were less meterage than I remembered and it's very narrow (a smidge over 90 cm) which  makes pattern piece placement a challenge. Also the pattern is non-symmetrical across the 90cm. InitIally this troubled me - the centre should be symmetric, shouldn't it? Shouldn't it? Ummmm, no. It doesn't. What a liberating statement! Woo hoo! It's not symmetric around the centre fold on either the front or the back. But that's ok. I'm happy with it and that's what counts.

The fabric is quite sheer but not slippery so only tension issues (what else!). 

I referred very closely to the deconstruction notes (in reverse!) and managed an acceptable copy of the original.

See, not symmetric!

A few learnings:

• Whist similar, the weight of the copy fabric is lighter and you can tell from the drape. The top is actually slightly A-line.
• Peasant tops with at least 3/4 length sleeves are good. 1/2 sleeves are a bit short (but still ok)
• I need to practice faced gathered necklines. This is too gathered.

Enough already!

I commit to not buying any new fabric, apart from lining or interlining, until I have at least sewn my planned list for 2014. 

I commit to not buying new patterns unless they are discounted and are on my "list".

Planning some more

It's funny how home and work life can collide. I have just finished a bunch of reviews of 2013 at work. It's interesting work. Now it's done, I can finish off my planning for the year. And at the same time, I have felt the need to have a think about planning my creative activities. So maybe a little reflection of 2013 is necessary here too. I posted in September about Summer sewing plans. So how have I gone?

• Black silky shirt (a Taffy maybe...)
• Black capri pants (I would like to try a Burda pattern) Burda 7068 blogged here
• Suit 
• Casual jacket (By Hand London)
• Peasant top (self drafted from an old favourite) done! Blogged here
• Knit top
• A summer frock that fits! (Pastille by Colette)

Given my machine tension issues and the fact that I've almost finished my Miette cardigan, I'm quite happy with my progress.

I've also done a toile for my Pastille (yet to be blogged) and I'm very happy with the result so far.

So what's next? Does this list still stand?

Black Burda Pants

The last piece I finished in 2013 was a pair of black ankle-length pants in black stretch cotton sateen. I used Burda 7068 - a semi fitted pant with side zip, rear darts and front pleats. I used the wider waistband (view A) but shorter length (view B).

I decided to cut out a size 14. I'm usually a 12 but I've not used a burda pant pattern before. My measurements are larger than a 12 in the waist but less than a 12 in the hips. But my last pants experience ended up too small and is now languishing In the cupboard.

I checked the fit using the Sandra Betzina trick of machine basting the side seams before adding the waistband and zipper and trying them on inside out to check the fit [best fitting idea ever - I'll be using that one. I ended up taking from 1.5cm to 3cm in on both inside and outside  leg - most at the hip.
This isn't a big deal given that I'd upped a size and used stretch fabric.

I'm pretty happy with the result. There is some pulling at the bottom of the front pleat but not significant. These will do great service for work and replace a pair that are just about trashed.

The only other modification was for a sway waist - increased width of darts at back and took a small dart in the back waistband.

Poor light and crappy camera so there's not too much detail