Sewing in Outfits....Three Green Pieces

This weeks outfit has taken a while to put together. Two years to be exact.

I bought the beautiful green wool challis print and the green stretch denim from Vogue Fabrics.com. The jeans got made quite quickly using my TNT jeans pattern. The shirt took a lot longer because I  guess I've gotten so use to wearing knits ,that a tailored shirt hasn't been on the top of my list of garments to sew until lately. I'll tell you about the cardigan later.

First the shirt. Isn't it gorgeous?

I love paisley and the colours in this fabric are so pretty.
The pattern is B6026 which I muslined and showed you a couple of weeks ago.
I have nothing new to add. Of course I had my three alterations done , (FBA, Sway Back and Rounded Upper Back ) so this was a quick sew.Here's a closer look at the "darts" detail details

For the skinny jeans, I have developed a well fitting pattern by combining the fit of Sandra Betzina's
V1034 with the dimensions of the lower portion of an OOp McCall's pattern.
     .
The denim is two sided and I think the "right side" is the brighter green, but I preferred the darker side. I used a quilting cotton from my stash for pockets , facings, etc.
I'm really happy to finally be able to wear these. They've been waiting in my dresser all this time to be worn. Well, you know, I have a lot of clothes so....

I did all the top stitching in black and I like that effect.

Now about the cardigan. I love it !! And look! It's reversible!!!

The wool/cotton knit was bought at Sacre Coupons Saint Pierre  in Montmartre when I was in Paris in September .Isn't it fun?

The blue/grey side is wool and the green/cream is cotton. This was an excellent quality fabric . By matching each green stripe , pinning and hand basting the green side , the navy stripes automatically matched up perfectly

.As for the hem and all the flat felled seams , I spent hours separating the two layers of fabric which is stitched every half inch.. I cut away the navy side close to the stitching and then used Steam-a-Seam to fold the green side and then top stitched.  For the hem, I separated 2 1/2 " of the two sides , then folded in and  hand stitched the edge.

.It was quite a challenge to achieve facings and pockets that matched each side but that's just the kind of thing I love about sewing.

The pockets were great fun to create. I love the result .
 I had planned on having the zippered pockets on the navy side open into the green side but I chickened out and they are just deep enough for keys or a debit card.I love the effect though.

I do love pockets to put my hands into though and I love the ones on the green side.

For the facing, I serged the edge with matching thread and top stitched in place.

 I love all three pieces of this outfit. I can't wait to wear the green pieces..

The cardigan is perfect for March weather here, at least this year.

I've already worn the navy version like this and it was  agreat hit with my Sewing Group.

Which one do you prefer?  My husband couldn't decide when I asked him and I can't either.
This has been such a long picture heavy post that I'm pooped and I need a nap so , more later from

A Coat for Tamara.....Simplicity 2311

I'm finally back after an absence of three weeks . Where was I you might ask ? Agonizing over Tamara's coat , that's where !



First about the fabric.You know, after 50 some years of sewing,  you'd think I'd know what fabric works for a specific project. Well, not always ! This was  a heavy wool double knit bought in Paris five years ago . The "vendeur" told me it was from Valentino's workshop !! I'm not sure I believe that but it was a beauty. The heavy was  the problem part although that never occurred to me at all before starting on this arduous sewing journey..

The pattern is Simplicity 2311, which I made before here and it turned out wonderfully.

At Christmas, my DD tried my coat on and I knew I had to remove the FBA, but otherwise my coat was a good fit on her so I thought I had it made . Oh, I was so wrong !

I decided that I'd use Fusi Knit on the whole coat except the sleeves to offset the knit factor. At first , everything went very well. I carefully used all my pressing tools to press all my seams so they wouldn't show on the outside and the outside layer was beautiful.

I sewed the kasha  lining to the wide facing piece and that looked beautiful too.

Next I sewed the lining and outer layers together and that's where all hell broke loose. I could not get the front of the coat to hang properly. That wide facing together with the front of the coat was just too heavy. I wish I had taken photos of the problem but I was too frustrated to think of that.

I'm not going to bore you with all the things I tried before that front was hanging as it should .Suffice it to say that it took me a whole week of  trial and error before I finally tamed that beast.

In the end it took me 3 1/2 weeks to finally be able to wrap that thing and send it to Tamara via Canada Post.

Here it is but the photos don't do it justice.

The collar is beautiful in this pattern.

I found the perfect buttons to dress up an otherwise plain garment. I made bound buttonholes which I wasn't satisfied with so I didn't photograph them.

I supported the buttons with smaller ones on the inside of the coat

The sleeves turned out beautifully. I added self made shoulder pads and  sleeve heads made with lambswool.

The back featured a yoke and a center back seam.

I fused grosgrain ribbon over the seam joining the facing to the lining with Steam-a-Seam. I actually removed it to see if it was causing the problem of the not hanging properly but that wasn't it so I refused it back on.

I added my self made monogram  ( my initials are  all D's ) which my daughter really likes. 

And that's all I'll say about what I think will be the last long  winter coat I'll ever make. Life is just too short for that much aggravation !

In the end, Tamara loves her coat. She sent me pictures of her wearing it at work. (Thank you daughter ).I've always thought my girl looks so pretty in red.

I only hope this coat is warm enough for those cold Ottawa winters. If not, I made it big enough for DD to wear over cardigans or blazers, etc.

I've since been busy with my Sewing Group and a three piece ensemble that is so fun to make. I also have received my Surefit Designs Dress kit and I've drafted my basic pattern . Next I have to sew my muslin and perfect the fit before I can start designing all the things that are in my head or on my Pinterest boards , Lol.

Wishing all of you lots of time to sew.

A Lot of Sewing Going on But..... And Sure Fit Designs

Well, as the title suggests, I've been laboring in the sewing room making my DD a winter coat but it's not finished yet although I've been at it for two weeks but a winter coat is a three week job for me. I intend to have it finished and off to Tamara by Thursday. I'll show it next weekend.

I didn't get my second B6026     finished but I do have a cute Rachel Cowan skirt finished to make an out fit with a top I made a while back and I'll show you that in a bit but first, I'm so excited !

I've been attracted to Sure Fit Designs system for a while now but it wasn't until I watched Joy of Joyful Expressions Blog display her plethora of stuff made by using SFD that I had to have another look.

I spent two whole evenings while my husband was away, perusing the Sure Fit website and watching many free videos  Glenda very generously provides I hesitated for a bit because of our diminished Canadian dollar and by the high shipping for anything over $75. I decided after seeing this on the Sure Fit Designs blog ... a $50.  Gift certificate for $25. In the end I ordered the Dress kit and the large and small design stylus.The shipping was $14.95 and that seems reasonable given our very high Canada Post shipping prices.

I can't wait for my Sure Fit kit to arrive so I can try my hand at designing my own ideas or copying RTW or patterns I don`t want to buy. This is going to be a whole new venture for me and I`m so ready to take my love of sewing in a new direction.

I`m also confident that having the Sure Fit system will help me greatly in fitting my  ladies  in Sewing Group. Here`s the link to an introductory  video that shows what you can do with the master pattern.

Now here is the outfit combining top V8856  and skirt V1247  that I`m wearing today.

Hmmm...probably won't happen too often but rather this is how I'll wear the skirt

 I should mention that I make the pockets of the Rachel skirt differently than the pattern shows.
 Here `s what I do.

As you can tell , I've moved the pockets closer to the sides of the skirt front. I just prefer them that way.
I eliminate the pocket bag and use Steam a Seam on the right side of the pocket as shown here.I use Fusi Knit to stabilize the skirt front where the pockets will be stitched.

Before pressing the pockets down, I top stitch the openings on the lower skirt piece.

I press the pockets in place and run a line of white (so it will be seen easily on the outside) basting stitches to outline the pockets. I then top stitch using this white line as a guide.

This makes for a nice clean finish and eliminates bulk

That's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for stopping by. Next week, I'll show you Tamara's Valentino red ,long wool winter coat so please come back.

Continuing to Sew In Outfits and Trying out B6026

Thank you so much to those who answered my question from the last post. I think it's safe to say that I'm in a very small minority of people who use the stop/start button exclusively to sew !

Like many people who have a lot of clothes , in the past , I've often found I haven't got just the right thing to wear, To rectify this, I've made a real effort , this past year to sew complete outfits  at a time.
This week, I made this outfit. I know ! Grey and black again.

The linen shirt was a trial for B6026  but was such a success that I decided to make a pair of black culottes to complete an outfit.

 The culottes are in a nice weighty rayon jersey bought at Fabricville.

For the shirt I cut a size 12 with a half inch extra at the side seams which I didn't need so I would say that this pattern is quite generous. I added a bust dart after spreading the pattern piece one inch across the chest. This resulted in the design tucks being a little too low and I will deal with this in my next version.
I must say that those tucks were very easy to achieve and add a lot to the look of this shirt.

I lengthened the sleeves and added cuffs.

The culottes are McCall's 4861 (now OOP ) View E, which I made before here.
I omitted the zipper closure and the back darts and added elastic to the waistband.
I also added pockets which I don't love and may sew them down or take them out , I'm not sure which. They add a little too much bulk to the hips and who needs that?

Both these pieces can of course be worn with a number of other things  and the culottes can almost be a four seasons item They will be fun to style  for spring and summer, too.

Here I added a shrug

I'm not sure about this look

But I love these together

Do you ever wonder what I do with all the clothes I make ? Well, I do weed out my closets regularly. That usually happens when I find myself having to look for a hanger for something. I don't allow myself  to buy more hangers so I know it's time  to put some things in the give away bag.

I;m going to slow down my sewing for a couple of weeks and make my daughter a new winter coat. I''ve finally cut into a piece of heavy wool double knit that I bought in Paris five years ago.This is  a very time consuming project but I do want to make the second version of the above shirt so I'll have that to show next week along with a pair of green denim jeans to match which I've never blogged. So please come back to see me soon.

I'd Like to Ask You Something

I don't have anything to show you today even though I have an outfit made but  no photos yet but there is something I'd love to know. I wonder about this a lot.

And the question is...Does anyone else out there in Sewing Blogland sew exclusively by pushing the start/stop button?
( in other words, without using the foot pedal of your sewing machine.? )

I don't even know where my foot pedals are. I've been sewing,using the Start/Stop button,  for at least 10 years. I think I started because the button was there so why not use it. I sometimes get tempted to look for my foot pedals when I'm top stitching, for example, but that would take up valuable sewing time so I shake it off and of course sew slowly.

Sew Slowly ! I say that a lot to my students but that;s more possible with electronic sewing machines , I believe.This is my favorite machine.

 That leads me to another question....What are your favorite special features that you would not want to be without in a sewing machine?

Mine are the extended sewing surface, the up and down button,the automatic cutters, the stop?start button , the speed control

and the mechanism take makes it unnecessary to take up the bobbin thread before you start sewing. I really love this feature!

I'd also love to have the feature where you can lower and lift the pressure foot with your knee, but I guess you can't have everything.

Now I know that one can sew wonderful things without having this type of sewing machine. I did for many, many years, but if you're lucky enough to have such a machine,, these features can make the sewing experience even more enjoyable. They also help if you have arthritic hands like me.

I tell my sewing students that they should buy the best machine they can afford so that as they learn, they will get less stressed. Nothing is more aggravating than a machine that keeps giving you problems as we all know.

Please let me know if you too use the start/stop button  instead of  the foot pedal and what you especially love about your sewing machine.

More soon from

Sandra Betzina's V1477 Times Three

As soon as I saw this pattern I had to have it.

                                           

I've long wanted to try this style and always suspected that it would bring too much attention to the bust and I wasn't wrong but I 'm happy with the results just the same. I say results because I made two wearable muslins before cutting into the fabric I bought especially for the long version.

I should say that having access to Sandra's online classes , a gift from my DH for Christmas, helped a lot in the making of this pattern
Also, since this was described as close fitting, I cut size D instead of my usual B or C.
Another really good thing about this is that it's not too low cut and the neckline fits close to the chest.

This is the first try. I made View B, the top version.

I used rayon jersey bought in Paris ( I got a "coupon " which usually  means a cut of three meters in my experience of Paris fabric shopping ). I followed Sandra's instructions  ,in the pattern directions,for doing an FBA and made my spread one inch. As it turned out, that was too much and the twist ended up well below the bust and the top was too roomy. It's wearable though and I'm pleased with it.

This is the second muslin. I took about 12"  ( or maybe more. I don't remember ) off the length of View A for this one to see how I would like those pointy edges.

The fabric is poly/lycra and was left over from this dress  This time I did a 1/2 "spread to make my FBA . Much better ! The twist is closer to the bust this time. I love this version. It's sassy and fun and my DH really liked it.

                          

So on to the "real " thing. This time I made View A with no changes except for the 1/2" FBA.

The fabric is rayon/ lycra and just right for this style IMO.
For the hem of this one as well as the red one, I used Steam a Seam and since there will be no stress involved, I didn't stitch it . I've used this method before on loose hems and if you use lots of steam, the hem stays put very well.

Both tunic versions require leggings or something underneath. Even the long version could not be worn as a dress. I made my leggings out of a ponte-like poly knit which worked really well. I used my Silhouette Patterns Yoga pant pattern as a starting point and tapered them to my shape That worked really well too.

So what do you think? I know that the long version would look a lot better if I were tall and slim like the pattern model but ,at my age ,I no longer care about things like that. I just really like how this feels . A great dancing outfit, methinks.

With boots

See what I mean ? This couldn't be worn as a dress !

And with shoes

Now I must go see what you all have been sewing so more later from