2013 Essential Top Sew-a-long, a couple of days late and a dollar short

I have to thank Faye for hosting this sew-a-long. This is the first time that I have successfully completed a sew-a-long. It helped that I was too sick to go to work last week. I had enough energy to move from one chair to another. I took this time to finish up some UFO's that were hanging around. In February, I needed a red dress for Red Dress Sunday and this lead to me deciding that I needed to add some color to my wardrobe. In addition to needing a shot of color, I wanted to use up the red fabric as part of my stashbusting plan.

   I made 6 tops in the last two weeks. I drafted all of the tops with PMB except for the top with the gathers. I used the top from Simplicity 2598 and added the sleeves from the cardigan to the top. I drafted a pattern for a top with short dolman sleeves. I need to make the front a tad longer and lower the back neckline. This is going to be my TNT tshirt pattern. It is loose but not sloppy, skims the lumps and bumps. I just need to change necklines and sleeve lengths for future tops. I'm not sure that the curved hem on the striped top is my style. I'll wear it a few times to see if I like it. I think that I would like it better if I made it longer. I took separate pictures of each garment but somehow managed to delete them. So far,I have made 3 other tops, 3 dresses and a skirt. All the garments are different shades of red and came from the stash. I still have a pair of pants that needs the elastic waistband finished, a skirt that needs the vent stitched down and a jacket that needs shoulder pads and pressing. I put the red fabrics away for a while and now I'm working on some white tops. I've been really good with fabric purchases. I bought the fabric for Queen Bee's Easter outfit, red tricot and black rpl for a pair of pants and a skirt. I want to Hancock's today and did not buy any fabric. I noticed that the quality of fabric has improved since my last visit. I still need to blog about the Easter dress and my February challenge.

2013 Essential Tops Sewalong

Faye @ Faye's Sewing Adventure is hosting a two week sewalong and I decided to jump in. I have a few patterns that I want to work on after my Easter jacket and DGD's dress is done. Ms QueenBee has decided that she wants a yellow dress for Easter. I need to go to Hancock to get one fabric and maybe some ribbon for her dress.  I have a few UFOs that need to be finished. I need a day off so I can spend some serious time in the sewing cave.

Fearless February - Red Dress

This is the pile of fabric at the start my challenge. One of my long-term goals has been to draft a sheath dress in PMB. When Victoria started this sewalong, it inspired me to do the work and to draft this pattern. In addition to drafting the pattern, I decided that I would underline the dress using silk organza and line the dress with Ambiance. I lucked up because I had everything that I needed in the stash. Sometime last year, I bought a bunch of organza in different colors on sale. I can't remember who the vendor was. The red Ambiance came from a Joann's sale. I bought the rest of the bolt and ended up with 17 yds. The fashion fabric is a boucle that has been in the stash for a bunch of years. I think that I bought it from Fabric.com in the early years.

I sandwiched the paper pattern between two layers of soil separator paper and traced the pattern. I cut out everything in layers. The soil separator paper clings to fabric so I placed in on the table first. Next went the fashion fabric and then the silk organza. The soil separator pattern was the top layer.  This worked somewhat. Next time, I will press the organza so it lays better.

I hand basted the underlining to the fashion fabric. I thought that I would hate it but it didn't take as long as I thought that it would. I interfaced the neck and armscye openings. Once I started working with the dress, I realized that this fabric was probably not a good choice for this pattern. The fabric is so soft and when you press it it flattens the boucle. My invisible zipper went in without any problems.

Now, it is time for a WTH minute. Everything was going well until I noticed that I had too much fabric in the chest area. I realized that I made a mistake when I traced the front pattern piece. I had a little excess on the paper pattern fold line and I should have trimmed it off. I pleated out the excess fabric and went to bed last night. This morning the plan is to stitch the pleat in place. I'll add some seed beads down the front and around the neckline dress up the front. this will make me feel better. Note to self - retrace the front pattern piece.

I want some mindless sewing today so I cut out Lekala 4119 .
It is a cowl neck pattern with a band at the hem. I'm using a red ITY knit from Fabric Mart . I bought 6 yds so I plan to make a few tops to add some color to the wardrobe.

2013 Top of the Month - January

Over the last few years, I have purged the closet multiple times and very few pieces have survived the process. One of my favorite tops started to disintegrate when the lycra started to give way. It hurt my heart to throw the top away. I loved it and wore it at least a couple of times a month except in the hottest days of the summer. Purging the closet has been a learning experience. I discovered that I will make a skirt before I make any other garment. Next on my list is easy knit tops. Then come dresses. Pants come further down the line. I wear more cardigan than jackets. I really need to develop a set of TNT patterns.

I like pretty clothes but if I'm realistic I spend most of my time in knit tops and jeans. I didn't think that I had goals for this year  but I think they have been lingering in the subconcious part of my mind. I plan to continue to rebuild my wardrobe which includes making more tops. If I join the 2013 Top of the Month group at Stitcher's Guild then I will have some encouragement to make at least one top a month.

 I made two tops in January plus the top for my swap. The tops are the final pieces of my winter 6PAC. I used Hot Patterns 3 Grace cowl neck pattern for the first top. This pattern has 3 different versions but I tossed the other 2 tops because I don't need that much fabric around these girls. The pattern was really easy to put together after I watched Trudy's video.

I used the sleeve pattern and added sleeves to the top which I narrowed just a little too much. The only issue that I found was the sleeve were too long. I cut about 4 inches from the finished sleeves. I wanted the top to be longer so I added 2.5 inches which I divided into 2 pieces.

The fabric was one of those "what was I thinking" purchases. I bought it from Michael's a couple of years ago. Every once in a while I'd pull it out and then put it back because I just didn't think that it was me. The colors are brighter in real life. I like how the pattern turn off and plan to make it several times. The only change that I made for the next version is to shave the back neck area so it will fit close to my neck.



Part of stash busting is to avoid returning any fabric to the stash so I made a second top. This top was made using a pattern that I drafted from PMKnits. The only issue is that the neckline is too low so I tacked it together to avoid flashing people. The next time that I use this pattern I will raise the neckline and cut the under layer so it ends just below the bust. I added ruching on one side of the center section. I want to make this top into a LBD ruching both sides and adding flare to the skirt hems.

2013 Swap First Garment - Lekala 4075 (long post)

I finished Lekala 4075 last night. I ordered it from Lekala patterns on their American website. I had been checking out the site when I decided to test the waters. I ordered the 5 pattern bundle special for 10 bucks and then got 10% off because I registered. I ended up paying $8.79. I got a form letter saying that there was a problem with my order. Later that night, I got an email asking for my pattern choices. When I wore up the next morning the patterns were in my in-box. I asked for seam allowances and they are about 3/8" wide.

I was pleasantly suprised at how well the pattern turned out. It was easy to glue together after I got pass my self-inflicted problems printing the pattern out. I couldn't figure out what was wrong when I tried to line the pattern up. I printed it out again and got DH to look at it. Lightbulb moment - remember that spouse's help is not always helpful. Bless his heart, he tried but he only made me more frustrated. Men and woman definitely speak a different language. I ordered the pattern to fit legal paper and didn't change the printer properties. After I changed the printer setting, it printed out without any problems. A light box would be  helpful. The pages are numbered and it went together without a problem. It took less than 1/2 hour to glue the pattern together and cut it out. I traced the pattern onto soil separator paper for future use. The pattern comes with a diagram.

I threw together a muslin that turned out nice. The only issues that I ran across was the front sleeve draft. I think that problems was due to my bust size. The front sleeve drafted too short so I copied the back sleeve length onto the front pattern piece. I eased the darts in place instead of sewing them. Added 5/8 inch of fabric to the front pattern piece for added insurance. Pay attention to the markings on the v-neck. Clip the markings - the opening is about 2 1/2inches wide on each side of the V.

I used a soft drapy knit that I bought from A Fabric Place ( only been in the stash since November).

The pattern directions had me scratching my head.  I started out by interfacing the neck and sleeve opening with 1/2" knit interfacing. Used 1" interfacing on the hems.

Serged shoulder seams together and pressed them towards the garment back. Sew the tie together. Turn it right side out and press.

Place the fabric front right side up on the table. On the right side fold over the edge 1/4" back and topstitch in place. The opening will be 2 1/2" long.

On the left side of the opening, line up the edges of the tie and pin both ends in place. Pleat the fabric between the pins in place. Baste them in place. Sew the tie in place on the left side of the neck opening.

 














Pull the tie across to the right side of the neck opening. Starting with the right side of the topstitched opening, pin the tie to the neck opening until you reach the left side of the tie.  Baste the tie in place stretching it slightly so the tie will hug the neck.  Stitch the tie in place.

Finish the side seams easing the bust dart to the back fabric. Finish the blouse as usual.

I ended up hand stitching the tie in place so it would stay in place because the weight of the tie wants to pull it to the left side of the opening.

 Girlie is wearing the finished top.

 Closer view of the tie area.












The pattern was well drafted except for the front sleeve length. I plan to make it again using a black woven fabric. This is a long post but I wanted to write down the directions for future reference. I might make this again as a dress with long sleeves. Three more Lekala patterns to try out.

2012-2013 Winter 6PAC

Last year, I decided to work on my fall/winter wardrobe following the Stitcher's Guild 2012-2013 Winter 6PAC thread. My second goal was to use up some of the fabric that has been lingering in my stash taking up too much space. I managed to get 6 garments out of 11 yards of a lightweight black ponte knit I bought last year. I made a tank top, cowl neck top, 2 skirts, pair of pants and a cardigan. All of the bottoms were underlined because the fabric was lightweight. I used PMB to draft all of the patterns except for the pants so I could test some design decisions.

 

I used Louise Cutting One Seam pants  for my pants pattern. This pattern is great. Her directions are excellent and I can make a pair in 2 hours. I discovered that the the pants are too big when I wore them last weekend. I need to see if I can take the waist in. I did remove one inch from the pattern for the next pair. The collar on the cowl neck top is not high enough. I will probably give DSIS this top.

I made two black skirts. I wanted a longer skirt to wear with boots.  The shorter skirt is knee length and has two kick pleats in the back. I didn't take pictures of the shorter skirt or the cardigan yet.

 

 

I used a modal knit from an ebay vendor for the top and cardigan. This is another fabric that has been in the stash for awhile. It is so soft.  I love modal knit. PMB doesn't draft a one inch facing so I had to manually cut the facing smaller. I didn't bother with buttons since it will never be worn buttoned up.  The camisole is too wide across the top but I need the width across the bust so I used elastic to make it fit more snug. The next time I make a camisole, I will try PMB scaling to accommodate the stretch of the fabric.

 

Up next was a dress and jacket from fabric that has been in the stash for quite a while. I could never figure out what to make out of this fabric. The pattern for the dress had too much ease so I reduced the ease. One of these days, I'll get the hang of figuring out ease. I need to stop being lazy and baste the side seams together before I sew them. The armcye was gapping so I took a wedge out of the pattern.

 

The jacket was an adventure because I made a huge mistake when I drafted the original pattern. The original pattern had a built up neckline and shoulder darts. Big mistake, it looked horrible. I loved the fabric and wanted to save the jacket. I removed the neck area and cut it up to draft a front and back yoke. I used gathers to take up the excess fabric from the shoulder dart. I used a binding for the collar and front facing.  The back of the jacket has a center pleat. I made a couple of other garments that I gave away before I took pictures. 

Stash busting -just keep on using me until you use me up

I've been working on using stash fabrics for a couple of months. So far, I've made a tiny, tiny, tiny dent in the stash. I've used about 35 yards of fabric that has been keeping me company. 
Gone are:
11 yards of a black double knit -  Some garments worked better than others.
5  yards of a green/black print knit - dress & jacket. This is one of my favorite outfits so far
3 yards of a printed knit from A Fabric Place- 2 tops that turned out to be a pleasant suprise. I made Hot patterns 3 Graces cowl neck and a PMB surplice top that I ruched one side of the center panel. I just need to hem the tops and shorten the sleeves on the cowl neck
8 yards used as failed muslins - now trashed. I had to stop myself from trying to reuse the fabric. I had put the used fabric in the trash and then pulled it out. It went back in the trash.
6 yards for testing pants. The crotch fit is not perfect but they will be fine to wear under long tops.
2 1/2 yards modal knit used to make a cardigan and camisole

I was spending way too much time visiting blogs yesterday and I came across a stash busting sewalong at Cation Designs . I figured that this would help to keep me motivated to use up some of this fabric that is occupying way too much space in my house.

Here is my pledge:
I, Towanda, commit to using as many as possible pieces of stash fabric in 2013. I am committing to spend at least 15  minutes in my sewing room 4-5 days a week. I also am committing to not buying any new fabric except for fabric that I need to finish a collection or special one time pieces that I can't easily find again. I will shop my stash before hitting the submit button and ordering fabric.

This is fabric that I am thinking about using for the 2013 SWAP Contest. I started out pre-washing most of this fabric and ended up prewashing 2 big ziploc bags of fabric that are taunting me in my sewing room.