2013 sewing

This year's sewing was sewing in twos and sewing wardrobe staples:.  Here are the twos:

• Two Renfrews - yellow and purple, two pairs of Sew Liberated skinny jeans in red and in blue, two staple dresses by April Rhodes, two pairs of shorts from Simplicity 5558 (thank you Phillipa)

navy shorts

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• Two Tovas - grey and white floral
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  grey tova

  
  

  

  spotty tee

  
  

  

  spotty Staple dress

  
  

  

  floral Staple dress

  
  

  

  blue Sew Liberated skinnies

Two Ottobre tunics

And sewn only once (so far)


Minna blouse from Salme patterns (unblogged)

Traveller dress from Sew Lisette
Spotty tee
Vogue green cord skirt

Most of these garments have been worn so much and become my staple everyday uniform, especially the Sew Liberated jeans and in the summer the Simplicity shorts.  The |Renfrews are slightly too big so I wear them but not as often as the Ottobre tunics which I wear and wash, wear and wash at the moment.  So  hurray for sewing wardrobe basics.

I have a few vague plans for 2014, but nothing concrete yet.  I just want to think about getting more creative,  linking sewing to my painting....returning to some form of teaching as I desperately need to earn some money!  Oh and finishing off my ufos of course!  I have recently bought the Lola pattern and the Paula pleated skirt from Maria Denmark so once the UFOs are done, those two patterns are top of my list.  

vogue skirt

Last year I learnt the value of looking after my sewing machine, reading the manual and changing the needle. Could I finally be moving away from being a slapdash sewer?  

Last year I have learnt that I have lots of ideas but I do not have the time or resources to follow them all

through. Maybe I need to focus more.  Hmmmmm...I will get to you about that. 

FO: Red jeans

Hello there, I am in the midst of summer holidays and climbing toddler mayhem.  This means little time to get my hands on my computer to read blogs or write any posts.  But I did finish my red denim skinnies a few weeks ago and have since worn them a lot. 




Once again I used the Sew Liberated Simple Skinny Jeans pattern.  I used red stretch denim from Ditto which has a slight sheen.  It is completely different to the dark blue denim I used for the first pair. It is 3% elastane  and is a lighter less dense weave than the dark blue which makes the red jeans more summer appropriate.  I have found  my dark blue jeans too hot to wear recently.  Although I cut the red jeans to the same size they feel slightly roomier and are not really skinny, more skinny-ish. 

I bought 1.5 metres and had just enough fabric left over to make another pair of shorts! You will have to wait to see them.  I used a thrifted red tee shirt for the jersey waistband.

I don't usually photograph my backside...but here it is just to show you the reverse.  These jeans are great...so comfortable and they suit my life at the moment.  How's summer treating you?

Sew liberated jeans: a review

I finished sewing my jeans two weeks ago and have been busy wearing them.  I have tried to gather my thoughts about the pattern here.

• Fabric used: 2 metres of stretch denim from fabric land.  2 metres was plenty with enough left over for two bags.
• Instructions:  The instructions were clear but disappointingly the pattern lacks a sizing chart....I like to have a sizing chart, I also like charts giving finished garment measurements.  I went online and used Sew Liberated's size chart from the FAQ section of their website. 

• I found the instructions clear and easy to follow.  There is a code to a video tutorial but I didn't use it. 
• I checked the pattern against my favourite skinny jeans to give me a better idea of the sizes.  This was useful as I would have cut too big otherwise.  Thank you to Maryall for the tip.
• I cut an 8 which is a UK 10.  It is fine round my waist and hips but I ended up taking the outside leg seam in an extra 6/8th of an inch to make them properly skinny jeans in my eyes. I started the new seam at mid thigh and graded in.  This was after three days wearing, washing and pinching the jeans in with my fingers, muttering to myself and staring at other skinny jeans examples. 
• I didn't exactly follow the instructions - I found it more effective to do a batch of pinning and pressing, then a batch of machine stitching, rather than pin, sew, press pin, sew, press. 
• I am quite short (5 ft 3) and have short legs, I did not have to shorten the leg at all, so if you are tall or taller than me watch out if you make these.  I think a tall sewer could easily end up with unintentional cropped jeans.

I think sewing something as utilitarian as jeans is fulfilling my sewing plans to create a wearable functioning homemade wardrobe.   

Are these "mommy" jeans?  Is that a derogatory term?  Um, well, they are kind of.   The elastic waistband instead of fly and button is a quick cheat in sewing terms and in making them fit.  There is something about elasticated waists...a little voice tells me they should be the preserve of the over 60s and under tens.  But in reality they work, they are functional and I am wearing them almost every day.  They have given my extensive homesewn patterned top collection a new lease of life.  Sewing them has given me a confidence boost in the realm of sewing jeans and I am fully intending to move on to sew a pair of jeans with a zipped fly etc  in a while.  But first I have cut out and pinned a red pair of sew liberated skinnies, in a more summery red denim. 

Sew Liberated jeans #3

Oh ho, ho I did it...I finished my jeans.  Well I am wearing them unhemmed and rolled up as I wanted to wear them first, and wash them to test the fit. Rolled jeans are one of my favs as well.   

I did some wonky pocket sewing.    For the waistband I used the bottom ribbing of an old sweatshirt Mr Minnado no longer wanted. 

I want to get some good pictures and write up a proper post next week, but couldn't resist just showing you some outtakes today.  Please imagine the voiceover of David Attenborough, describing the wild-beast behaviour of my 17 month old assistant. 



Amid the toy debris...RG hasn't spotted the camera yet


 

  Now she spots the camera...moving in...
 

Back view with fast moving blur of RG...she's trying to grab the camera



This morning my new jeans held up on a visit to a childrens' animal farm and a buggy push through a meadow!   Back next week with a "proper" pattern review and I hope better pics.  I have already cut out a red pair though.  Happy weekend.

Sew liberated jeans - #2

Two spools

After my last post about these jeans a couple of you commented that you had twin needles but had never tried them.  Well, Catherine and Gingermakes ...I am daring you to get to work with your twin needles, because if I can do it, you two certainly can. 

Last week,I looked at my machine and realised the star shaped hole on the right of the top was an extra spool holder hole, a quick look at the accessories that came with the machine and I found a spool holder that fit in the hole.  Cue me: "Ohhhhhh, that's what that's for".  I only had my machine for three years before realising. 





The front faux pockets

I chose to use two shades of blue, influenced by my friend's jeans.  While chatting last week I was surreptitiously checking out her jeans and their two coloured top stitching.  (Since starting this project, I keep checking other peoples' jeans for details and shape.  I have been trying to do it without looking like a staring weirdo.)  Threading the two threads was a bit fiddly as you have to ensure they don't twist and they want to twist!  Then I had a practice go and was pleased I didn't have to fiddle with the tension as I had expected. 

The back with a yoke

So I pressed on and sewed the faux front pockets and the back yokes.  Next, is the patch pockets.  But I was worrying about sizing so I decided I would first tack the jeans together to try them on.  I wanted to make sure I had the size right before spending time on the details.  I cut out a size 8 which I think equated to a UK size 10 but I am not too sure. I had followed Mary's tip of comparing the pattern to my usual RTW skinny jeans.  The pattern looked big next to those especially on the legs.  I cut out the 8.  The front looked so tiny to me that I had to check I could squeeze into it.  Answer: I could!  The legs seem wide though and there are some fitting issues round the crotch.   I am next going to unpick the tacking and carry on with the patch pockets and tackle the leg fit when I sew the leg seams for real. 

Finally, I will leave you with this picture: Little I learning to sew!  Dressed for the occasion in pyjamas and a carnival mask of course.  She was saying " Put the needle in, pull the needle out" over and over. 

Sew Liberated Skinny Jeans - preparation...sharpening the axe?

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

Abraham Lincoln

Some sewing projects require more preparation than others.  I am going to try and share my process of making the Sew Liberated Skinny jeans.  The pattern itself seems simple enough and I think I will be spending more effort on the preparation than on the actual sewing.  Hmm...let's see, shall we?  So far, I have been getting my grubby mitts on the material and notions. 

1. Twin needles

The pattern calls for twin needles.  I have to admit that until a couple of years ago I just thought people sewed two extremely neat parallel rows of stitches and I was in awe of their skills.  Stupid me!  It's a twin needle.  Twin needles have been on my vague to-try list since this discovery and I am happy that the skinny jeans pattern has pushed me to actually buy one and try it out.   I bought mine from Jaycotts. At first I was puzzled...how did I thread two threads?  Thanks to the onders of the internet,  I found a tutorial that I liked here .  Now I am waiting for half term holidays to end and for a peaceful day when I can try out the twin needles.  I have read that you may have to play around with the thread tension before getting it right.  Any twin needle advice?

2. Stretch denim

Buying the denim was a frustrating process all of its own.  I am picky about denim.  I saw some lovely cross hatch denim at Stone Fabrics but I prevaricated too long.  When I rang to order it, I found it was sold out.  I nearly bought some lovely denim on ebay, but my paypal stopped working.  I rang a local-ish fabric shop as I didn't want a wasted journey...their denim wasn't labelled stretch and they couldn't tell me if it was or not.  I went in the end for this dark blue denim from Fabricland.  I was sorely tempted by their scarlet stretch denim and their apple green. Maybe if the pattern works I will try again in red denim.  I have washed the denim and it's waiting to be ironed.

3. Stretch fabric

Oh, I am stumped now. I need a heavy/medium weight stretch fabric for the waistband.  I have no such in my stash....do you think a charity shop sweatshirt would do? Or a charity shop tracksuit - if I hack off the waistband and re-use it?

4. Sizing.

I think I have the right size now....I am worried about getting the size wrong.  I have been measuring and reading the size chart. 

That's it so far.  Any advice?