modifying instructions without making additional pattern pieces or a mock-up
I looked at a lot of zipper pouch tutorials and then mostly followed these two:
Life Sew Savory (I switched back and forth between the written instructions and the video inline in the page, looking through both entirely before beginning)
I wanted to do a quick learning project that would also result in a gift for my mom’s cousin, author C’Anna Bergman-Hill and which would use a fabric she really liked from my remnant finds at Shaukat Fabrics in London.
This was fortunately on my mind last month when I went to Fabric Outlet, so I remembered to bring the remnant and get a matching thread and 9″ zipper. The next step was to decide which fabric to use for the outside of the bag. I wanted something sturdier than the light, almost-chiffon of the remnant to help give the pouch some structure. I hadn’t bought a fabric intentionally for this on that shopping trip, but a brown linen remnant I’d bought then (intending to try making fabric coasters with it) turned out to be perfect. I recommend fabric selection as a lovely “last thing of the day” activity; I went to bed that night feeling happy about the upcoming project.
Because I am kind to my future self, I had already washed both fabrics before putting them in my fabric storage area. Thus when I was ready to get started all I had to do was iron. Being a little nervous that ironing, even on the wrong side, might make the linen shiny, I tried using a piece of muslin between it and the iron as a pressing cloth and that seemed to work fine.
No ironing board, but a thick towel on my worktable is fine.
The idea of changing zipper length is a bit daunting, so I chose a pouch design where the pieces are the same length as the zipper tape (the fabric part of the zipper). I used that as the width and then decided on a height based on wanting to be able to fit a little notebook and a short pen pocket inside. I made one paper pattern piece for that and cut out four pieces of the lining (since I wanted to add a divider inside to create two pockets) and two pieces of the outer fabric using it.
I thought just holding the pattern piece down and then using tailor’s chalk would be precise enough for this, but next time I think I’ll at least put a few pins in, mark with chalk all around being more careful to keep the chiffon from shifting around, and cut more carefully with longer strokes. It’d just be a little easier in the later stages when lining up all the layers to have their edges very regular.
Then I cut out two 2″ squares to cover the ends of the zipper and a piece to become the pen pocket.
Here I’ve got the divider pieces stacked and I’m playing with the pen pocket piece, folding over the ends so I can give it extra toughness to help withstand the pressure of having a pen shoved in, grabbed quickly, and rubbing on things while the pouch is inside a purse and moving around.
I gave the pen pocket a lot of extra folded fabric around the bottom where it will experience the most strain.
Double fold seams sewn at the top and bottom of the pen pocket and then the bottom folded over to be sewn again.
Next I pinned the two divider pieces wrong sides together, stitched across the top, and flipped them around so I could attach the pen pocket by one edge (on a right side of the divider fabric) by stitching along its righthand side and bottom.
I’m still getting the hang of keeping my thread tails out of the way when I start, so that I don’t end up sewing one into the end of a seam or making a lump. Getting better bit by bit!
The folded design results in a two compartment pen pocket.
Such a lightweight fabric won’t hold up forever, but this ought to work for a while.
Note how it is placed on the divider piece as high up as will comfortably allow a small pen to fit in there (I tested with the pen I’ll be gifting with the bag) and will allow room to shorten the divider in the next step for a good fit.
Press the divider piece flat, wrong sides together, as it will be in the finished pouch. Then trim a bit off the bottom to allow clearance for the zipper to be used without constantly snagging on it.
I just eyeballed this, but it worked pretty well. I’d probably go another .25″ shorter in future, but this works fine.
On the top is the divider piece, on the bottom is one of the lining pieces. Remember that the divider bottom is still unfinished and will need to fit into the seam between the lining pieces later, so make sure there’s some seam allowance room under the pen pocket.
Yes, my tailor’s shears are a work of wonder. I love them so much. And they return safely to their private storage box when I’m done cutting fabric so I never use them on anything I shouldn’t or knock them on the floor. You can watch how they were handmade in this wonderful 5-minute documentary. Supporting craftsmanship like that is very important to me and these make me happy every time I touch them.
The next step is when I started to feel myself pushing into new territory. I wanted to be sure I didn’t bring the sewing machine needle down on a metal part of the zipper, so I was ever so careful. First I put a pin into one of the little 2″ squares right at the zipper stop, the fabric’s right side is toward the zipper. And stitched as near that as I could without hitting the pin.
Don’t hit the pin, you don’t hit the zipper stop.
Then I folded it back over and stitched it down again, now being able to see and avoid the metal stop. I just put a pin in there to keep the zipper tape ends flat and even and keep the square nicely placed.
You can see where I wasn’t happy with my first try at attaching this and seam-ripped it out. Perfectly fine to leave it rough like that since that bit of fabric will be inside the walls of the bag and never seen.And that’s how it turned out.
The business end is a bit trickier, but here’s how I did it. First, I noticed that there are are stop pieces at that end too, they’re just more subtle.
Unzip a bit to get the pull out of your way.
Use your fingernail against those to figure out where to put your pin holding the tape ends and 2″ square (right side down!) to the zipper tape.
I thought I was keeping as close as on the other end, but I think I placed it a bit too far beyond the zipper end.Perfectly fine, but still could be a bit prettier at the top end (on the right in this shot). In future, I’d pin at the top stops so that the stitch comes down about half as far from them as it did here.
Next it’s time to make the zipper sandwich. Just keep looking at your work, flipping things back, imagining the finished piece, and thinking about right and wrong sides of the fabric.
So much mental gymnastics going on as I imagine the stitched result and flipping it open and using the zip!
I found it helpful to spin that around and pin the pieces with the edge I was about to sew facing toward me. It helped me get the pieces lined up evenly.
Lesson for the future: consider the position of the pen pocket in relation to the zipper opening. My concept had been that you’d unzip the bag just a bit and there would be your pen. When I’d pieced it all together and stitched it, I realized I’d put the divider the wrong way round and the pen is all the way at the foot of the zipper. Well, it’s less likely to get lost that way, right? 😀
Notice also how, knowing the next step requires the zipper foot, I have stuck the manual into the machine to remind me to change feet before sewing the next part.
Those green lights in a wooden block on the top left are my Make Time Clock by Chap Ambrose. There’s a lovely metal push switch at the top that starts a light flashing while I do a session of making and when I’ve completed it, that light stays solid. When I come into the room and see all six lights shining, I know it is a good week. 🙂 The clocks are, alas, no longer available to buy, but I don’t blame Chap; as he says, “I walked the fury road of Kickstarter fulfillment and came out stronger on the other side.”
My first time with the zipper foot was an adventure.
ALWAYS LOOK AT THE PRESSER FOOT BEFORE YOU FIRST REMOVE IT AND THEN IMMEDIATELY TRY PUTTING IT (NOT SOME OTHER NEW FOOT) BACK ON.
I did not do that and so, having pulled off the presser foot with much more ease than I expected, I tried sticking on the zipper foot and was totally confounded. First I tried locking in the wrong end of the foot, then the wrong part of the right end of the foot (it’s the wee bar you’re locking onto it not any of the part of the foot behind that). I went back and forth with the manual, my fingers getting sore and nearly in tears afraid I’d break my machine pushing too hard. It turns out the Janome MOD-19 feet don’t so much “lock in” as “kinda softly sorta snap and you’re hardly sure you’ve actually attached it”. Sigh. Thank goodness for YouTube videos and extrapolation from other machines to my poorly documented model.
To help, here is a nice big picture of sewing with a zipper foot on the Janome MOD-19 sewing machine.
See how just below the point of the needle there’s a gray plastic piece (that’s the foot holder) with a dark horizontal line in it? The horizontal line is the bar on the foot—you can see one in the righthand side of the zipper foot. THAT’s what you’re “locking” on to the Janome MOD-19 foot holder. Sigh. If only I had looked at it more closely and verrrry slowly removed the presser foot to understand this better the first time. Learning!
One of the videos gave me the tip about using the front part of the foot to target my seam (and I’m focused on the structurally solid part of the fabric to the left of the selvedge threads).
And here’s a zoom and enhance of that Janome MOD-19 sewing machine zipper foot.
The gray plastic foot holder is just holding the little metal bar of the zipper foot in its soft gray beak.
Oh my gosh it worked!!
My first zipper pouch top is looking pretty decent!
And from the other side…
Okay, so now we split the fabric types again, lining to one side of the zipper, outside to the other. That is “Refold the fabric so the matching sides are together”. And yes, partially open the zipper before the next sewing step.
Below we see layer 1 of the lining side, let’s call it “bag lining left” as we imagine looking at the finished bag edge on with the zipper at the top. “Bag lining left” will have its wrong side to the wrong side of the outside fabric of the bag.
Layer 1
Then we add layers 2 and 3, the divider.
Layer 3, with its attached layer 2 under it, everybody’s edges all lined up.
And finally layer 4, a.k.a. “bag lining right”. Pin all four layers together, being careful to keep the pen pocket smooth.
Line up the outside fabric and pin it too.
Here we see two white pins marking the correct location of the gap to leave in your stitching.
And this is where I goofed up. Because Life Sew Savory had put two versions of the bag in the pictures at the top of the page and reversed the fabrics between them, I kept getting muddled in her pictures between what was the interior (hot pink, it turns out) and what was the exterior (stripey green). So I thought I had the gap marked wrong and flipped it over to the exterior. *sad trombone*
ALWAYS PAUSE AND THINK THROUGH WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT STEPS AFTER YOU SEW THIS ONE, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’RE FIGURING OUT WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE THAT LESS ATTRACTIVE PART WHERE YOU TURNED SOMETHING RIGHT SIDE OUT AFTER STITCHING.
I did correctly turn the zipper end flaps down toward the lining side at least.
The little 2″ squares that were used to hide the ends of the zipper pulls leave flaps that stick out on the sides. If it was a stiff fabric I would have trimmed it, but this stuff is so light it only adds a tiny bit of structure to the bag as it tucks into the body here.
Well, I turned it right side out and looked at that gap in the exterior and thought about seam ripping all the way around and if it was a fancy thing and not my rather imperfect first try at a zipper pouch, I might have. But then I thought, “Eh, C’Anna won’t mind and I’ve been wanting to try out decorative stitches on this machine anyhow…”
Good enough! And that orange on brown stitching looks really nice.Flip side. Yeah, oh well. Could be better and the next one will be!
Given how plain the fabric is—in a nice Shaker simple sense—even when I do this pattern correctly in future, I’d be tempted to add a decorative stitch to the outside fabric pieces before putting it together.
But the inside is a great success:
Two sections!And a pen pocket!
Okay, C’Anna, it’s going into the mail to you Monday! 🙂
Hooray! I’m blogging again—at last the huge work of migrating over 8,000 posts on this blog plus all the associated media from Typepad to WordPress.com is complete. (Big thanks to the fabulous concierge team at WordPress.com for all their friendly and highly competent help!) It’s so exciting to be revitalizing MetaGrrrl.com and the first thing I want to write about is something that has been revitalizing me over the last year and a half.
Advisory: this post is huuuge because I’m catching up on all my projects, with instructions in some cases. In future I’ll do separate posts per project.
In June 2017 I did the Basic Sewing safety and machine basics session so I could use the sewing machines at TechShop, the makerspace here in San Francisco (now known as TheShop.build). During the class (which turned out to be a 1-on-1) my instructor taught me to make a clever little flip-top bag.
Sewing machine at TechShop.It’s a bit longer than a sunglasses case, and wider.It’s a little easier to understand how it is made when turned inside out.
It’s just a long strip of fabric (4x the finished length plus an inch of seam allowance) which has been sewn right sides together to make a loop.
Next the loop is flattened out with wrong sides together and the loop seam positioned as the back of the inside top edge of the bag—underneath at right edge in picture above—where it is least likely to be worn out by things stored inside the bag later.
Last, you fold the “lid” down, overlap it with the front body of the bag, and stitch down along each side. Lastly, turn it right side out.Here’s the detail of how to arrange what will be the top of the bag when you stitch the side seams. The “lid” is folded down first, with the front of the bag overlapping it just a little. When you turn the whole thing right side out, it makes the top closure work even without a fastener. (Not secure enough to keep things in if you shake the bag, but good enough to be put in a purse or backpack without disaster.)
I went back the next day and did more sewing, but I didn’t take notes (or haven’t unearthed them yet). I tweeted something the next day saying that I worked on two projects, but which? Probably it was this sewing tools caddy, which is super handy:
I didn’t have all these things at first (though the machine needles envelope was from my Basic Sewing class at TechShop) and I already had the fabric scissors and the two cases of hand needles. I’ve added bit by bit as I went along and am very pleased with how this caddy has accommodated my needs from the expected (a seam ripper and tailor’s chalk) to the unplanned (like the fashion curve ruler and the pinking shears).
(I figured out how to make it just looking at pictures and playing around with paper a little, but there are patterns available such as this one and this one. It’s basically a big flat bag with three folded over flaps of different heights sewn into the base and side seams as you make it. It gets its stiffness from cardboard slid down inside the big flat bag part. I could add on a little strap to keep it from relaxing completely flat if not leaned up against something, but so far I always have it at the side of my worktable with supportive things behind it.)
You can see both my ability to carefully measure and mark out the pieces for cutting, and the quality of the fabric scissors at TechShop left something to be desired.
I recommend adding interfacing inside the handles and making them a bit longer. They squish up a bit over time, as you can see, and you want to be sure they’re long enough to sling the bag over your shoulder, even if it’s not your default way of carrying it; you’re going to need to juggle it, something else you’re carrying, and a set of keys at some point.Three compartments! Great for putting your tablet in the middle, or reserving that for your “live in the bag” items while switching out the side pockets for today’s book, that mail to go in the postbox, etc.Detail of the fabric pattern. Loved it on sight! It’s not as black as it appears here, the photos above are more accurate.
I must have gone to Britex Fabrics beforehand and raided the remnants bin, because that’s where I got that fabulous African-print wax fabric for the sewing caddy and the lovely Japanese fabric that is the blue part of the tote. (I hadn’t learned yet to wash fabric before sewing.)
About to measure, mark, and cut for the triplet tote. I also hadn’t yet learned to properly iron fabric before cutting.
Doing creative projects was a huge emotional release for me after all the heavy work through the latter half of 2016 and the first half of 2017 as executor of my biodad’s estate and volunteer with MoveOn Text Team. I wasn’t feeling able to do much in the way of creative writing, so being able to exercise my creativity and see a project to completion was an enormous lift.
TechShop sewing machine with a completed project and the fabric for future projects beside it.
Around age 19 I knew how to sew well enough to make myself a complete set of Elizabethan clothes for working at the Northern California Renaissance Faire, but all those skills had pretty much evaporated. Given how much more patient I am now, it is for the best that I am beginning again from scratch and learning to do things right.
In June and July 2017, I visited SCRAP, a fantastic scavenger paradise of materials for projects. In their fabric area, I found a cool embroidered table runner along with some other remnants. This turned into my next project, another tote bag, this time with an interior pocket and a very pretty strap made out of a necktie off the racks at some discount store like Marshall’s or Ross Dress-for-Less. I think the table runner cost something ridiculously great like $1 while the tie may have been $10, but it was still a good deal for the nice bag that resulted.
Table runner folded over “wrong sides” together, stitched up the sides, and then turned right side out to make a very simple flat bag. Flap and strap added separately.The flap as a separate piece. And the embroidery of the table runner.Ah, right! As I look at this I remember I did something sneaky with how I made the lining, but I’ve forgotten the details. It was a tricky puzzle for a new sewer, though. The pocket is at an angle on purpose, to make it easier to access when wearing the bag. At least I think that was on purpose. The tie-as-bag-strap thing worked amazingly well and the bag is holding up great. Joe used it a week ago to carry an iPad for doing crossword puzzles together at brunch.
Not sure now (in January of 2019) when I began the work on turning a cool locally-made bag with cork ends which had worn out into a new tote, but it might have been the same day I made the table runner tote bag.
A bit funny that the lining and exterior of the cork-detailed bag wore out before the cork parts. It was a prototype(which Joe bought something like eight years ago at a little SF shop called Peasants and Travelers, out of business as of the last few years alas), so I bet they changed materials.
I trimmed off the fabric which had begun to shred itself. The plan is to do another triplet tote. The body is mostly ready, I just need to figure out how to attach the cork pieces both securely and attractively.The exterior is very understated, but great bags often have surprises inside. When I saw this Japanese travel-and-graph-paper-themed fabric at Britex I knew it would be a source of future delight. I think my skills have just about improved enough to finish this pending project.
My need for stress relief grew, while, unfortunately, my energy to get out of the house or do projects reduced. Like a lot of folks, 2016, 2017, and 2018 were pretty rough for me.
On August 4, 2017, I received a diagnosis of the mouth form of an autoimmune disorder, followed by diagnosis of the skin form in January 2018. Dealing with that medical stuff ate up most of my non health and wellness project energy, though in fall of 2017 I did do a massive change to our backroom, where our desks and potential guest space are. I added eight Ikea Besta cabinet columns on two walls, with a two part work table extending from one of them. That was the foundation for the lovely sewing project area I have now.
No sewing, but thinking about sewing… On June 16, 2018, I got various soft knits and other fabric remnants for about 2/3rds their regular price: 1 5/8 yards taupe cotton, 1 3/8 yards white bamboo/lycra, and something else from the bin, plus from the new bolts 1 yard of another cotton knit for $8.99. Looking back from January 2019 I was perhaps over-hasty in getting knits without knowing how to sew knits yet, but at least I was thinking about sewing and how I might be able to make more comfortable clothes for myself. I will be using these soon.
In mid November 2018 I bought myself a sewing machine; a Janome MOD-19, but didn’t unbox it until the start of December. I eyed the box all around Thanksgiving-time with anticipation tho’. 🙂
My first project as the machine and I got acquainted December 2, 2018, was a pincushion. I made it out of a leftover end piece of that table runner I got at SCRAP. 🙂
It’s a pretty stiff fabric, but I expect with use it will soften up and the sturdiness will be good in the long run. Embroidery from the table runner source of the fabric.Not exactly elegant hand-stitching and I didn’t have the right thread color, but I made a thing I still use all the time!
I also finished up the open end of the back support of the sewing caddy I’d made back in 2017.
On December 13, 2018, I had the pleasure of another trip to Britex, this time with a shopping list derived from my readings in Sew Everything Workshop.
The recommendation for Coats & Clark or Gutermann thread came from Diana Rupp’s book and I’ve since seen the same recommendation from others. I stocked up on some basics—bias tape, interfacing—so I’d have a better chance of being able to dive into future projects without having to make a shopping trip.
When I bought the oilcloth for the sewing machine cover, I asked if I’d need a special foot for the sewing machine and she said no (and turned out to be right). I skipped getting the velcro because I realized I wasn’t sure I was going to immediately make walker bags (which I’d picked as a good practice project I could then donate to the senior center a block away).
Because I haven’t gotten the filling for it (the dust-free kitty litter), I haven’t made the draft dodger yet. Nor have I worked on pillows, but I did steal fabric from that for making part of a toy for my nephew.
This is when many of the items seen above in the sewing caddy picture were purchased. I also got a bunch of fabric, some with a plan and some remnants with only the vaguest plan, and four cool graphite-colored rectangle buckles for attaching the straps of a bag. Along with a dust-resisting solution for my sewing machine cover project, I got two charcoal gray fabrics with intent to use them for a new laptop bag, (the shinier, silkier one for the lining). I also got a bright orange flannel intending to use it to pair with a bright print I found in the remnant bin to make a microwaveable heat pad for a relative (but over the holidays, after not doing the project in time for gifting, found out they already had a couple of them so I ditched that plan).
The next project was a better illustration of why I got the machine. I began reclaiming my comfort in clothing by converting a pair of “yoga pants” which have a waistband I can tolerate* but which make me feel dorky into something I’d happily wear through an airport. (*I have a rare autoimmune disorder which makes my torso very sensitive to the pressure of elastic bands and other tight constrictions.)
TSA Pants
Waistband is great—wide and soft—and they have pockets…
… but the cuffs are gathered into a narrow band which insists on settling about three inches above my anklebone. Not elegant. The cuffs must go!
Fortunately, I have a seam ripper. 🙂
Dwarven Forge miniature terrain elevation blocks make great fabric weights.
More skill practice: I made a paper pattern and used it to cut out the new cuff pieces.
I added a band of the shiny graphite-gray fabric (originally planned for a new laptop bag) which makes them just a little dressier, while actually also making them more comfortable. Slept in this on a red-eye flight in a lay-down seat and they were great. Success!
It took me hours to do this very simple project and there are definitely errors, but I learned so much! Very proud of myself for letting go of perfectionism and for making something I really needed.
I followed this guide to lengthening pants. In the course of this project I learned these new (or completely forgotten) skills:
“Stitch the ditch”
Pressing as guidelines for later pinning and stitching.
And re-acquired these skills:
Making a paper pattern piece
Taking something from idea to plan to measured to pattern pieced to cut to pressed to completely sewn in one session (with a dinner break).
Going slower when it gets challenging
My “oops” moments included not cutting TWO fabric pieces for the cuff as I have TWO legs and letting the combo of knit fabric and slippery silky synthetic take over when I was going too fast stitching the ditch on the first leg and having to seam rip about 3 inches. (If it was a fancier garment and higher than the ankle it would have been necessary to seam rip the whole piece as it is a bit twisted compared to the other. I may re-do with a longer, better sewn cuff at some point.)
Still, not bad for sewing knit and slippery fabric when I don’t know how to work with either!
That was a luxurious day of getting to work on my own projects, so I also began making a sewing machine cover, following the instructions in Sew Everything Workshop. It was another success and another source of learning.
Isn’t that oilcloth fabric fabulous? How could you not want to go play with a machine under a cover like that? The pattern is “Fabulous Foxes” by Andie Hanna, part of the Robert Kaufman Collection. I got it at Britex in San Francisco.
This one went together very well. I slowed down. 😀
Still need to learn how to wrap bias tape for a more finished look around openings. I cut separate pieces and stitched them down and the gaps show.
It came together in three stages on different days:
Marking it up to cut using tailor’s chalk directly on the wipeable side of the fabric, cutting the pieces, creating and finishing the handle opening, and then assembling the body pieces onto the top.
Cutting the cord slot and pinning the bottom seam. (Double folded seam style, folded over and then over again, so when you stitch you leave a clean edge on the interior.)
Sewing round to finish the bottom edge (which I did on January 8, 2019, after the bustle of the holidays and travel).
Making this was so fun, I want to work more with BPA-free PUL (polyurethane laminate) fabrics. I had no problems with the sewing machine feeding this even though I wasn’t using a special foot, I guess because I was going slow. I’ve got a bit left so I’m thinking of making some little zippered pouches.
I was definitely hooked at this point. Went back to Britex on December 20, 2018, where I bought an “ironing ham” (used for ironing curved things like sleeve cuffs), zippers I could use for making pouches of various sorts, cotton cording for lacing for other small projects, polyester fiberfill, and more remnants. (I looked at thin, cheap quilt batting, but then didn’t find the kind I needed so I skipped it.)
So much lovely fabric…One shopping bag of loot in hand, a dazed Dinah emerges to the sidewalk.
I bought 5 meters of a Liberty cotton poplin and 3 meters of a Liberty lawn I plan to use for garments for me once my skills permit me working with something that’s £18 a meter. I also bought 28 remnant pieces (mostly about 8-10″ strips around 45-55″ wide), about a third of which were gifts for my mother. For a few I found two pieces. These are all amazing fabrics and will be really fun to use, even in small amounts.
These intricate patterns make me very excited about sewing!
On January 8, 2019, it was a pure joy to have things so well set up that I could just turn on the lights and the machine and start sewing when the mood struck. This is when I finished the sewing machine cover. Only took about half an hour. I turned off the machine, covered it up, turned off the worklights, and went on with my day. Glorious!
My next projects were organizing my sewing materials and making a toy for my nephew Charlie, beg pardon, Space Commander Charles G.
I used this pattern from sewgrown.blogspot.com. Their pattern includes flames that tuck into the bottom and can be extended on blast off, but I left those out for safety since Charlie has a very little brother.
The tricky bit for me with this one was cutting the pieces of the fins since the fabric for those had a distinct right and wrong side. I had to recut one piece, but fortunately it was small and didn’t waste much. (This fabric was originally going to be used in repairing the pillowcases in our front window, but I know I can get more and it was ideal for a sturdy section of a toy like this.I also wasn’t paying enough attention to lining up the direction of the diagonal pattern of the right side of the twill while I was cutting these, but fortunately 2-year-olds aren’t too fussy. 😀
One tip when using poly fiberfill: stretch out a glob of it a little to make a flat pad rather than a lump and place that flat against the sides, then when you’re jamming into the center at the last to finish filling it up entirely full, the flat pads keep lumps from forming on the exterior. This of course will also make the rocket more aerodynamic and require less fuel.
Along with having a good sewing day, I ordered some pieces from Ikea (storage boxes for fabric, an organizer for notions, extra shelves to make the cupboards work better) and threw in two cheap duvet covers that were on sale at a price making them a great price for printed cotton fabric. One of those is a fun fabric I’ll be using for my first clothing project (see below). Ironically, the fabric storage boxes have been lost by FedEx twice between Ikea and my house, but the rest is turning out fine.
On January 18, 2018, I gave myself the treat of a visit to a new-to-me fabric store, Fabric Outlet, on Mission Street. Very friendly staff and I was such a happy Dinah puttering around and finding things. I got fabric and buttons for a present I’m planning to make (shhh, for now), fabric and twill ribbon to make myself a new apron that’s proportioned correctly for me (no more apron-side-boob!), a flamingo pink satin remnant that will be perfect for the belt for my next project (below), some linen and twill that may work to make coasters, fusible interfacing (a proper, non-remnant sized piece this time), thin batting, and a few interesting remnants.
On January 20, 2018, I began thinking through a more complex project, my first complete pieces of clothing: a set of lounge pants and a matching kimono jacket for an upcoming trip to very warm weather. (I’m sure these will also come in handy this summer, whenever we get one. It was never entirely predictable in San Francisco even before climate change.)
Thinking through how to add a soft, fold over waistband and using a piece of craft paper to work through my ideas.
I washed the fabric, and while that was going I figured out the best of my current pairs of lounge pants to use as the basis for a pattern.
(Yes, these are pretty fabulous pants—best of all I bought these tropical wonders at Marks & Spencers in Yorkshire!—but the elastic top isn’t comfortable for me these days.)
Figuring out how to get this three dimensional object to lay flat enough to be captured in two was a real test of my wits and patience, but, taking breaks when I needed, I did succeed eventually. I marked and cut all the pattern pieces and will take a photo of those when I write up the sewing part of this project in a future blog post.
A quick and rather silly project was my diversion on January 22, 2019, when we had to cancel our usual D&D game and I had bonus time. I used a faaabulous girl’s t-shirt I found on clearance to make a pool tote.
Why don’t they make more stuff like this in adult sizes?This was one of those shirts where the back fabric is a bit longer than the front. I used this to my advantage to create the base of the bag.With the shirt inside-out, I lined it all up so that the shirt was smooth and the back was flat.Then I folded the longer part of the back over the front, and pinned it.
After I stitched across to secure this bottom seam of the bag, using a flamingo pink thread to match the unicorns and removing pins as I sewed of course, I had to do two separate small bits of pinning at each side to close up the gaps of the shirt vents. (I sometimes bring a pen and notebook to beach or pool and don’t want the pen escaping through a little hole in the bottom of my bag.)Then I cut off the sleeves, being careful to leave the seam that had attached them to the body of the shirt intact. This will add body and stability to the straps.Next I used tailor’s chalk and an oval dish of the right size to mark where I’d extend the neck opening to create the other side of the straps. The goal is to use as much of the shirt’s shoulder strap as possible width-wise and to bring the opening down parallel with the armpit of the shirt. (If I hadn’t had the ideal oval dish, I would have used my curved fashion ruler.)
Cut out on the oval, pinning if necessary to keep the cut even on the two layers.Do a double fold seam around the rough edges of the former armholes and neckhole. Go very very slow, probably hand-turning the needle, as you pass over the thickness of the seam at the top.If this were anything but a cheap, loosey-goosey, rather silly pool tote, I would have pinned it, but for this I just folded the double fold as went along (playing the part of a double fold machine foot, I guess).Despite being very slapdash, it turned out dandy. I look forward to laughter and envy on vacation with friends.
MetaGrrrl 