Oops

The Dog Ate My Homework

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Well hello there people. Long time no post. I just started a new job and joined the gym for the very first time in my life. So free time is hard to come by lately.

And how should I spend it? Blogging more excuses why I got no new sewing projects to show OR shut up and get sewing? I decided you might enjoy it better with more action and less talk.

The Good News:

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I’ve finished 3 projects, all from the Psychedelic Leopard turquoise knit.

(Hello there Anne aka Pretty Grievances! BTW have you checked out March Burda? There’s a page dedicated to you – even if they’re like 2 months late for Jungle January.)

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The Bad News:

I just finished the 3 projects late last night. Or is that early this morning. So you won’t get any Show-N-Tell until next week – what with short London winter days and working 9 to 5 (or 9:30 to 6pm more like).

Suffice it to say for now, I wasn’t able to squeeze a long sleeve wrap top on top of the Donna Karan Vogue Pattern 1282 cowl-neck top and Burdastyle Magazine 2012-05-113 skirt out of the 2+ yard fabric. That was always a bit too ambitious I guess. But I did manage another sleeveless cowl-neck top based on modified McCall 6078 view C. I also have a biggish scrap left which I’m debating on whether to turn into a scarf or not.

And Oops, I seem to have broken my Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 830 sewing machine in the process.

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Thankfully with unreasonably high top thread tension (7) and a noise cancelling headphone, I just about managed to finish these 3 projects on the machine.

So here’s a question for you:

If your fancy smancy machine broke out of warrantee, would you bother taking it to a local dealer for fixing / servicing? Or would you take a screw-driver to it and see if you can fix it yourself? (DH not an option as my DOH doesn’t do DIY!)

I’ve read a few horror stories about getting Husqvarna machines fixed, so I don’t know if it’s worth paying the price to get no working machine for weeks and months on end.

The ever festering dress

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I’m on route to my brother’s graduation with nothing to do on the flight. So finally, some time to catch you up on the gazillion projects I always seem to be working on (if not finish).

First off, a lemon.

It started life as a RTW dress from Camden Market. As expected of the Camden aesthetic it’s a bit Lolita Goth. It’s an interesting combination of a thin stretchy knit that clings for the long sleeve top and a floaty soft muslin for the A-line gore skirt. Inside the skirt at each vertical seam there’s a twill tape that allows you to draw up the skirt to form irregular bubble hem.

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I liked the dress well enough, but that knit top was never going to keep its shape with a full skirt dragging it down. So I decided to multiply my investment and turn each section into a separate garment.

First off, the skirt. I thought I’d keep to the Victorian Undergarment feel and keep it light and airy in thin China Silk and as a pull on with no zip, no closures. After much agonizing I settled on a spaghetti strap camisole top with empire waist in the front slopping to a natural waist in the back. I didn’t have the right shade of matching off-white, so I went for what seems like a complementary shade light mocha, along with a lovely organdy ribbon with gold scroll print for a border.

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For pattern, I base it on my most recent bodice sloper result. camden-dress2-patternThe bust darts have been pivoted into one single French dart, and bodice cropped at under-bust in the front. The back waist darts have been pivoted out, resulting in a continuous curved back piece. But I then had to pivot the dart back in to make the waist big enough to slip the dress on. OK, no big deal I thought and continued my merry way finishing the damn slippery top and attached it to the skirt.

Boy was I wrong. The result was less than stellar. The combination of the color and silhouette just does not work for me. Especially in the back where the unflattering puffy band of the back bodice cuts my body into unflattering proportions.

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The angle of the straps also look a bit weird. But I had to shift them so close to the CB to prevent the straps from falling off my sloping shoulder / muscular neck.

I tried my best to style it to no avail. So it’s a case of “Sounds Good In Theory…”

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But fear not. The dress isn’t going to be binned. camden-dress2-detail-2

The doubled spaghetti straps with matching bows are too pretty to bin. I’m just going to dissect and multiply the dress again and turn this lemon into a lemon meringue. Stayed tuned to find out what becomes of 1 that became 2 that then became 3 dresses.

 

I’m a Dummy

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The other day I got another cut of fabric. Yes 600+ yards ain’t enough. Not if you don’t have the right color in sufficient quantity. And let me tell you, I’m just in love with this most gorgeous orange silk dupioni!

Anyway, I wanted to serge the ends before I pre-shrink it in the washing machine. Yes, I chuck silk into the wash. I can’t stand any fabric that I can’t wash. I’ll go the stretch and hand wash if necessary, but dry-clean or specialist cleaning only? No thanks. Not even Claire Shaeffer’s Fabric Sewing Guide can convince me otherwise. Besides, I have plenty of dupioni / shantung in my stash, all washed, and I like their soft lived-in look much better than the off-the-loom gleaming look.

Anyway, I wanted to serge the ends because I want to avoid this:

These silk are notorious for raveling. And those whiskers stick to you like cotton candy. Plus at those prices, you don’t want to lose even 1/16 of an inch.

Now it’s been a while since my one and only dalliance with the serger. That was when I first read through the manual like months ago. So when I took it out again, my mind blanked a bit. I didn’t want to re-read the manual again, especially as it’s full of fluffs (extra instructions in different languages cluttering up every single step). I cherry-picked the bit I thought I needed: settings for 2-thread overlock. So I put on the converter cap and off I go. Or not.

I got a ball of mess. The extra threads were still coming out. I thought the converter was supposed to take care of it. Must I really remove the extra threads and needle? With all the doom and gloom I read online about how difficult it is to thread sergers, I didn’t really want to unthread the extra threads.

The manual wasn’t crystal clear on this. I checked my two serger books: Serger Secrets and Ultimate Serger Answer Guide. Unfortunately the For Dummies sections weren’t detailed enough. These books are obviously for the initiated, what with all their serger jargons. I need a Serger For Dummies book instead. I didn’t even know how to describe my problem properly, never mind looking up fixes and progress to creative serging!

So I bite the bullet and unthread the upper looper thread completely, and unthread the left needle thread from the needle only. Yeap, I left the left needle in. I’m that stupid when it comes to sergers. A machine that can take four threads just turn my brain to mush. I’m glad I didn’t go for an even fancier one with even more spools of threads.

And for the ball of mess, it didn’t go away until I finally figured out what I did wrong: I forgot to lower the presser foot.

(In my defense, my current sewing machine doesn’t have a physical presser foot lever. It automatically lowers when I step on the pedal. Alternative I press a button for manual lowering. So I completely forgot that these machines can have a physical presser foot lever that you have to manually lower!)

Cape WIP

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No, I haven’t been playing truant. Work’s been rather stressful, so progress is slow with the cape. I’m almost there. Just need to attach the lining, finish the hem, the button holes and buttons. In the meanwhile, here are some WIP pictures. Non-sewers be warned – plenty of boring sewing details to follow!

The fitting tweaks…

So, after my disappointing muslim of Burda Style 2011-08-112, I enlisted the help of Big Bertha, my duct-tape twin (more about her some other day). She made me realise a few truths.

  1. My shoulders are lopsided.
  2. All those massage therapists weren’t lying, I do have shoulders of concrete.
  3. My neck sticks forward like a chicken, which is why all those RTW shirts gape at the back of the neck and choke me in the front.
  4. And finally, all those fitting experts weren’t lying either, if it doesn’t fit at the shoulders it won’t fit right elsewhere.

Here’s the muslim on Big Bertha…Back shoulder seam has been let out at the neck base to accommodate my concrete back shoulder muscle.  Similar amount has been removed from the front shoulder at the neck base…

All of a sudden the whole things hangs much better. Even the weird lumps at the upper arms seem less noticeable and the arm holes less restrictive.

But I decided to smooth out the lumps anyway and move the  arm holes as planned so I can gain some useful pockets.

I also let out a bit at center front for my chicken neck to roam freely.

Here’s the final patterns…

On the left are side-front & front, on the right are back & side-back. The new lines drawn on the old Burda patterns for comparison…

So the shoulder points have been moved inward & upward. I also increased the hem width of the sides by pivoting from the shoulder points to make the cape feel less constrictive.

The double-welt arm-hole and the pockets are my additions too. The arm-holes now align with my arms naturally at my sides. The top of the arm holes are about 2″ above my elbows to accommodate bent arms without bunching up above, and they extend just far enough  so I can comfortably stick my hands in my spanking new in-seam pockets! See…

And of course I can’t possibly commit to just one way of wearing it. So belt holes have been added in the front side seams just above the pockets.

Here they are, tried on with my Topshop trench belt for size & positioning.

So, with the patterns happily settled, the sewing commenced.

All cut out and…Oops!

Here are the fabrics all cut out, and reinforcement interface ironed on. Now for the oops…What is a sewing project without an Oops right?

In the dim light after work I stupidly forgot to check the direction of the nap. This fabric has texture a bit like pony skin with furry nap running downward. I cut the fabric upside down, so the nap runs upward. Great for catching crumbs! At least all of the pieces are in the same direction. Anyway, too late to cry over spilt milk & all that. So soldiering on…

Double-welted arm-hole slits

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  • The arm hole slits being on the bias I thought I better interface it to cut down stretching.
  • Bulk was a bit of a worry. I allowed a bit extra width for the welt than I would on thinner fabrics. So 2 welts added up to 5/8″ width. I cut separate fabrics for each welt and staggered the seam allowances so that when finished, they’ll be graded for a gentler slope rather than one hefty 3 layer 1/4″ cliff.
  • Machine basting some guidelines followed by hand-basting kept the seam-rippers at bay. And voilà, here’s the finished welted slits.

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And now for some Pocket Magic!

  • The original in-seam slits have been converted into in-seam pockets. They sit just below the waistline and I made sure they’re big enough for my hand. And my Oyster card. And my smart phone. What after my expensive disaster with Lilliputian Topshop trench pockets I was taking no chances.
  • They actually sit just inside the seam. I had cut 3/4″ seam allowance to accommodate the thick fabric. The pockets are sewn to the bodice with 1/4″ seam allowance, leaving about 1/2″ of coat fabric acting as facing. This prevents the lining fabric pockets from poking out, but without the bulk factor of a separate facing.
  • The pockets are actually backed by fitting muslims. I was paranoid that keys & co. will poke holes in my pockets no sooner than I finish the cape. So preventative reinforcement was patched on. OTT I know. Here are some lovely views of the innards….

What do you think? Should I just wear it out like that – yes, inside out? 😉

The state of the affair…

Look rather dashing don’t you agree? 😉

Just wait till you see what I have planned for the leftover! Yes, I’ve managed to squeeze enough for a handbag from the scarp. But plan for how to put that together is fuzzy as fuzzy can be.

One thing at a time. First get off this blog and get that old Viking Sapphire cranking!

Speaking of pockets…

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…What is it with Burda and in seam pockets that are stitched to the dress fronts? Like these from recent issues…

Sporty / funky patch pockets I get. Discreet lady-like in-seam pockets I also get. These I don’t get. It rather ruins the drape of otherwise classy / funky dresses.

“Home made” comes to mind. And not in the flattering sense of the word 🙁