Year: 2014

I defy you to find a set of PJs like this in the wild. This is a custom Spiderman Princess pajama set for my toddler, Zoe. Yes. This set made my youngest twirl about and walk around with pride.

The toddler is the youngest of 4….she has 2 brothers and a sister. There was already a cache of Spiderman in this house, and while her older sister has never been princess-y, Zoe was born with a tiara. A tiara in one hand, and an action figure in the other hand.

Exhibit A: today’s bath toys.

Exhibit B: the Spiderman coloring book has been in the “Elsa Purse” since she got it home….about a month ago.

This is where we thank Camelot Fabrics profusely. Without Camelot making licensed fabrics in everything from Star Wars to Cars, I’d be stuck trying to sew ruffles on some Target boys’ Spiderman PJs. You know, Target hacks are fine and all, but we needed to go full princess nerd.

Enter, the pattern.

My mom made me dozens of nightgowns in this pattern….and dresses….with pinafores. For real. So what did I do? I bought multiple copies, in multiple sizes. That’s right. It’s hereditary.

I went to Joann’s to pick up bias tape ruffle trim….and EW! That stuff is cheap, scratchy cotton poly something nasty! They had some other poly silk chiffon ruffle that wasn’t washable….right. NO. So, I went to the remnant bin (shocking, right?) and found 3/4 yard cheap, red, WASHABLE poly satin and just made my own dang ruffles.

I only put on two buttons since this is only size 3 – I thought 3 buttons was a bit fussy. I mean, she’s part action hero here too….

This was my second pair of PJs, so I knew to shorten the sleeves 2 inches. Ms. Princess Spidey Zoe is tall, skinny and apparently doesn’t have an ape’s reach.

The pants, however, I left regular length. Trim only on the top of the top….we don’t want to get carried away here….I mean, that would just be TACKY.

I used the trusty serger to finish seams and/or just plain assemble where I could. I am a working mom of a small army, after all, and need to have some sanity sleep.

Princess Spidey is Version 2. Version 1 is from a bolt of girly hot cocoa goodness I picked up on clearance last year. I cheated and skipped the collar, top-stitched some trim I had around to cuffs and yolk, and just put on one vintage button I had laying around. These have the original sleeve (ape) length, and we have to roll them up when she wears them. Still, they’ve been well loved already. I couldn’t get the model to pose for me, but they are really quite voluminous and have that wide, baby doll circumference to the top. Just ADORABLE.

This is not sponsored; no one has given me fabric or money or whatever – this is just true Camelot Fabrics fandom!

I prefer modern, architectural clothing that is also, for the most part, easy to wear. I’m also a mom, work full time, cook at home 99% of the time…point being, it’s not likely I’m going to self-draft much more than a few patterns. I prefer to buy patterns and alter as needed.

Now, patterns in my preferred style don’t always translate to wearable or quite have my desired aesthetic. Searching for something modern….sleek….I bought this…

I should have known by looking at other sewists’ samples online…and the fact they mostly scrapped the woven and made it in knit. I made it in silk….yeah. I kinda looked like a silk box, not to mention it added a good 20 years AND 20 pounds.

I think the model in the concept photo has a much longer zipper in the dress or is clothes-pin-gathered. I’m betting the latter. I remember we’d take the rubber cord clamps and pin back dresses in another life….yeah. This pattern needs a ton more work, which means it’s going in the cylindrical file.

Do a search for something modern AND wearable…more often than not, you’re going to find something geared more towards the retirement community in Yuma, Arizona….

I’m sorry – after the Burda silk box fiasco of October, I’m just not up for even trying to make that work. *Shudder*

Now, Colette patterns are mostly styled in a 40s classic, romantic look, sometimes delving into a little mod, 60s. Neither really my thing, but I know they’re good patterns, and when I see one drawn with lines that I can work with, I’m hopeful. As with my last selfish sewing project, the Sencha.

I knew if I could hack in a zipper (easy to wear), and make those lines really work for me, I had a chance. Of course, I’ve already posted how happy I am with the results. Although I’m not at all into anything retro, if the lines are classic enough, and can be translated to my aesthetic, I can try to make it work. The key to the Sencha for me was to top stitch the darts. The top stitching makes it less ‘flowy’ and more structured.

The bottom half of that outfit is an ongoing effort however. I was going by a not-to-be named blog on making the skirt sloper. I don’t think it works for me.

I did the measurements as stated, but then I ended up shaving off so much….I bought the craftsy skirt sloper class….just hoping to get this down, you know, in between everything else!

I still haven’t gotten to my Papercut leggings yet, but there’s another example of something modern, clean – but a lot of their patterns are more for 20-somethings than for pushing 40. It’s still high on my selfish sewing list.

It’s a Pacific NW celebration! A Rose City triptych! I was born up at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, Pendleton Wool originated in Pendleton, Oregon and is now headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and the lovely pattern company, Colette Patterns, recently moved from SE to NE Portland, Oregon.

This is the Pendleton cotton I bought during my awesome Pendleton sale shopping spree. After my questionable muslin, I went for it and turned it into a Colette Patterns’ Sencha blouse with a few tweaks.

I’m totally in love with it. I’ve already worn it to work. I’m going to wear it non-stop.

I cut a straight size 8 this time, added 2 inches to the bottom, removed back button placket, inserted back invisible zipper with a 1″ seam allowance to take out any gaping. I probably should have graded back out at the hips, but it’s not going to stop me from wearing it, nor am I going to rip out any seams to use the seam allowance ease I know is in there…I’m good with it.

I top stitched the darts again.

I serged all my edges. It’s a thin cotton and I didn’t want to add any bulk. I also was watching the free Craftsy zipper tutorials one night (it’s a FREE mini class here) – you can always better your technique or learn something new right? Well, sure as shit, there she was, using a knit stabilizer on a woven fabric for her zipper installs. I don’t think I’m going to go run out and buy the steam-a-seam tape she uses, or even buy knit stabilizer in tape form, but I DID cut strips of knit stabilizer I had on hand to use in my zipper install on this version. Holy crap. If I wouldn’t have already used the usual stabilizer on the neckline, I might have done it there too.

Knit stabilizer on woven fabric is amazing. Like….I’m going to keep just using knit stabilizer instead. Well, I’ll run out of what I have first…cuz that stuff is $$$, but…yeah.

Here’s me being a dork. The camera remote is new to me and this is me talking between my teeth….”is it working…are you working? should I…”   CLICK – and look at that. I have the same expression almost as Gru….awesome. LIGHTBUUULB

PS! I totally machine washed and dried this cotton before hand. I may have paid a grip for it, but I won’t wear it if it isn’t easy to take care of…so, now that it’s done – I love it AND I’m not afraid to wear it!

You know, I’m really glad I started on my Sencha #2 BEFORE I took these muslin photos or I never, ever would have made a second one.

I started out the Sencha #1, above, with the intention of possibly something wearable, in a layered-work sort of thing. I know my muslin material, a gray, cheap cotton, was a bit stiffer than the Pendleton Cotton I had picked, and in picking Version 2 I could end up looking more Star Trek than architecturally interesting, but what is life without risk?

I really love the lines of the Sencha blouse, and I know Colette patterns tend to run on the loose fitting side of the fence. A bit too much for my taste, but hey, that is why we make muslins, right? I also knew there was no way I’d ever wear something with buttons up the back. Hahahaha…no. That’s way to fussy for my life. So – from the get-go, I know I need to take it in, and we need to hack in a zipper. I *forgot* that compared to Colette patterns, I’m tall. Yeah.

I cut a straight size 10. I should know better, but whatever. I originally left the side seam open to have a side zipper, but it was so absurdly baggy in the back and poofy all over, I moved the zipper to the back so I could hack out more fabric.

Mind you, this final shirt is with a half inch removed from both sides, shoulders and I think I removed 1-1 1/2 inches from the back before seam allowances – more removed at the neck line. Of course I removed button placket when cutting, so that’s already gone as well. The neck is still poofy in the back. and the waist is weird.

Even the shoulders sit weird. I’m sure the combo of the stiffer cotton and the weird fitting, plus my hacking at it is causing this…not to mention, that by the time I hacked it so much, the facing is sewn in wrong.

It reminds me of an Old Navy shirt. Cut sorta boxy and wide.

^ That shot isn’t as bad…and it’s also kinda blurry. And below….it looks like an ok back-up shirt there, I guess.

I top-stitched the darts. Just personal preference I guess…

Anyway, I did have the husband-unit check my fit before I cut the 2nd one out of the prized fabric, thank gawd. I don’t yet know the fate of this muslin. It will probably sit in my closet, unworn, until I need to cannibalize the invisible zipper back out of it.

What I DO like….the zipper hack wasn’t so hard after-all. After getting the waist even close to as small as I preferred, it’s a bit snug to pull over my chest, but it works. I think with my bust/waist ratio, a side zip wouldn’t work in this design and in a woven. Your ratio may be less extreme than mine, so it might work for you. I still like the shape – or the idea of the shape. Husband-unit said to add an inch or inch and a half to the next one…I added 2 inches and at the bottom to keep the waist high, just longer….we shall see.

Some thoughts today on sewing, pattern categories and perceptions.

I see a lot of posts out there on beginning sewing. There’s a bazillion Craftsy, Burda Sewing, etc. online classes on how-tos. They’re all really great. Tutorials are fantastic. I love a good free pattern, and I love easy and complicated patterns alike.

I also see people new to sewing getting frustrated anyway.

Just like driving a car or riding a bike, a sewist develops muscle memory. As you learn and practice, practice, practice, your hands start to intuitively know where to hold the fabric, when to ease a curve, when to slow down. This is why you see the people in demonstrations not using pins as often. It isn’t out of some divine power…it’s because the fingers just know. In conjunction with the foot on the pedal, the sound of your machine, feeling the tension, knowing when the machine is straining against thickness or the feed dogs can’t do it without a walking foot…this is all muscle memory.

At the end of the day, NIKE still has it right. Just do it. Over and over and over. Who cares if you have a wonky apron or 12 pot holders that are more or less square shaped? Find a blog you love…and go back through their archives, or even through mine, although mine aren’t as exciting as, say, melintheattic.com or lladybird.com. Both are now instructors! Lladybird.com has the benefit of having a mother has a pro and still she is learning. Another favorite is sewcountrychick.com. Read about her couture class that she just took. Even she strives to learn more. Oh, look through the archives of the master of circle patterns in quilting, bettycrockerass.com. She started somewhere too. Sure, I think she has a degree in fashion or something like that – but she’s a master at the circles because she’s done a buttload of them. I don’t know what the metric conversion of ‘buttload’ is, but she’s done it.

My point is, we’re all fallible. Find a hero, mentor, whatever that isn’t afraid to show that. Pinterest is fine, I guess, but I prefer the real life versions of the craft.

Then, apply this when you see a pattern categorized as Easy, Intermediate, Tim Gunn. A more complicated pattern doesn’t mean a sewist with less experience can’t do it. It just means your hands might have to learn something new, and you should go slow. And you will still make mistakes.

I’m in the middle of an ‘intermediate’ pattern now, and I made a dumb mistake on it. My mistake had nothing to do with my skill level. It was not a ‘rookie’ mistake by any means, it was a space cadet mistake. I am now ordering more fabric because my mistake was so colossal, I need to completely remove and redo the sleeves. My lesson? Reread before I take the scissors to it. I altered the pattern, quite well if I do say so, and assumed I incorrectly transferred a measurement. I did not. I missed a pleat. Seriously. I marked it, it’s chalked, it’s there….I missed it in my desire to be in the home stretch.

Even the Tim Gunns of the world make mistakes. It’s ok. I’m lucky this is only a $20 mistake in replacement fabric.

Regardless of your skill level, cut yourself some slack. Look through some archives out there. Find fallible heroes. And just do it.

I had this idea that maybe if I post this little explanation about knits and it helped just one person, it would be worth it. It’s sort of a follow up to the Real Sewing With Knits blurb.

This is a photo of 6 different knits used in the same pattern, the Crafterhours Racerback Dress (and matching shorts.) I’m hoping this will help take some of the anxiety about knits away. I used the same pattern with 5 different knits, with very different ranges of stretch, weight and stretch-memory and sleeves/armholes bound with different combinations of contrast knits. They’re shown rolled up here so that you can see how much structure each has compared to others. This will help you with “hand” or drape as you go shopping on your own.

1. This first one was a pink lightning bolt knit from girlcharlee.com bound with a Joann Fabrics “Sew Classics” knit in black – I think they were labeling it a double knit or an interlock, now I’m not sure if they’re still calling it the interlock or the ponte. It’s NOT as heavy as the girlcharlee.com ponte (#3.) I think of this as T-shirt fabric. If you were to buy a Hanes T-shirt, this is about what you’d get. Maybe even with slightly less stretch than the Hanes. Jersey knit is what some would call it, but I find that is a loaded word…as you’ll see when we get to #5.

2. I love this stuff. This is in the cotton/lycra blend section at girlcharlee.com. It’s really fluid, thin and stretchy. This is not something you’d want to wear if you wanted structure or if you didn’t want anyone to see what was going on underneath. Hazel wears a sports bra or a cami under hers. I’d wear a cami under it if I made something in it for me. While the fluid drapey is great, and it’s light and thin…it is clingy and I’m not in my 20s anymore. It’s bound its own fabric, so nothing really to report there – it has great stretch and stretch memory in that arena. I could see in a dress where its own weight would make it more droopy than drapey after a day of wear.

3. This is a nice Ponte de Roma cotton from girlcharlee.com as well. Soft, has weight – love it. Bound in same, just different color. Where #2 makes the outfit swishy and light, this Ponte makes the outfit Scooter Mod Girl. She needs a paperboy hat and a poster of The Who. It’s thick enough that it will transition well into fall and winter with some longer leggings or tights and a thin long sleeve t-shirt underneath. Love it. It doesn’t have a ton of stretch – but the shorts are ok and still give the toddler lots of diaper room and room for movement. No climbing on the sofa restrictiveness.

4. This is another what I call the t-shirt knit, also from girlcharlee.com. I have a lot of this fabric in various patterns. It’s lightweight, sturdy. However, note that this stuff has a fraction of the stretch of the others. NOT for leggings or anything fitted that needs a lot of movement. This was bound in the Sew Classic cotton knit from Joann’s, which was probably the best choice I could have made as the Sew Classic knit gives it enough stretch to go over Zoe’s head. Her pants, on the other hand, are pretty restrictive. They’re too tight across the butt and don’t leave room for climbing on the sofa very well. I made a maxi skirt in the chevron version of this fabric with the black Sew Classic knit as a waist band and I love it. I’ve also made the boy big, roomy pj pants in the fabric that work great. So – use patterns that would almost work for a woven with stretch. It’s about like that. Nothing snug or formfitting.

5. This is categorized as a “Sew Classics Slub Knit Jersey” at Joann’s. I originally bought it for workout clothes for me…but it’s pretty bright and, well, see through. I still have plenty left to play with if I’m feeling like I need to look like a neon jawbreaker, but I think I’ll leave it for the kids. It’s pretty see through too. It has good stretch and flex – not as much as the cotton/lycra blends, but it’s alright. I made the mistake of binding it with #4 – see how the arm holes are stiff – and they have hardly any stretch. It barely makes it over Zoe’s head. It’s not a loss by any means, but I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

6. I love this “Kauai” print in girlcharlee.com’s cotton/lycra. It’s a little tiki without looking like a creepy bar, it’s a little loud, it’s a lotta fun. Same section as the #2, a little less sheer. Same properties overall. The only difference is I bound (and back yoke) in the Sew Classics knit from Joann’s which worked great. It’s not too much more structured that it ruins the drape – if anything, it helps. I wouldn’t wear it – again, I’m not in my 20s – it’s a bit too thin/clingy for my lady lumps. I think. I don’t know. I could see a bandeau top with a drapey bottom….yeah, maybe the right pattern. It would hold the “ladies” in place pretty well – it has good strong stretch. I dunno. I just know I like it. It’s more slinky to work with than other knits, but it didn’t cause me any problems.

7. This one didn’t make the pile. This is yet another girlcharlee.com purchase. When I go shopping, I like to GO SHOPPING. It’s bound in a solid also bought at girlcharlee.com. I don’t recall the content of the material – something of a cotton/lycra I think – the orange stripes have a bit of metallic in them…I don’t recall. It feels and works like the neon slub knit, just a bit thicker and not sheer. Doesn’t say much other than it’s really hard to go wrong with knits.

And that’s really the moral of the story. Much like I said here, sewing with knits shouldn’t be scary. I’ve proven that it’s inexpensive. If I can sew up the same pattern in very different fabrics, and have them all work – then there’s no reason to wonder if you’re doing something wrong. There is no wrong.

I like to quasi track how much I’m spending per item – I’ve been tracking it more or less for a few years now – I’ve done lots of posts about it. During the ginormous kids clothes sewing weekend, I made a LOT – there were also a few pairs of pj pants for the 8 year old boy in knit, etc. I had 2 very large purchases from girlcharlee.com that totaled around $200. These included large grab-bag remnant/seconds purchases that I’m still making items out of and includes a ton of swimsuit material, etc.

However, even with the 18 or so items I’ve made out of those large purchases, that puts me $11 per item, and anything I’d make from here on out would be gravy. I have a grip of yardage left to hoard play with, and I’m pretty sure it all justifies me buying more fabric being smug proud about not supporting sweat shops by buying fast fashion.

Sure, it might take few years to get to the point in your sewing skill-set to be able to whip up as much and as fast as I do, and, yeah, the serger is a nice perk, no doubt. But with kids’ clothes in particular, the fitting curve is a LOT looser, pun aside. An elastic waistband is acceptable. Ease is synonymous with “room to grow.” Not to mention, I can get a few items out of little yardage for kids…something for me often starts at a 2 yard commitment. Not that sewing for me isn’t worth it, it’s just a larger fabric and time commitment (I made 4 muslins before finally sewing up a pair of Colette Clover pants!)

I probably spend the bulk of my pattern money on patterns for me…my Colette stash, Papercut, etc. is mostly all for my wardrobe. I have 8 or so Ottobre issues, which is all anyone really needs, I’ve got some indie kids patterns from seekatesew.com as well – which are super cost effective and easy to use. And lately, there is a mother-lovin’ GRIP of free patterns out there by the ever generous  blog queens of domestic loveliness. The racerback dress was free. FREE. The Sorbetto, FREE. My kids’ staples, even though I’ve spend a small community college tuition on patterns, my staples are mostly free patterns!

I also have been breeding a small army. If I end up with a lot more fabric than I need for one kid, I can use it for another. I don’t really run the risk of a kid having their entire wardrobe made of a single fabric….although those sales on seconds at girlcharlee.com may be challenging me on that front. And back to the patterns, Zoe is using Hazel’s old patterns, I have graded a few patterns I’ve gotten for me to use for Hazel, not just the Sorbetto.

Anywho, my point is, there is at no point where you can’t make it more cost effective than buying clothes. If I bought every single piece of fabric for my kids to destroy in the yard from Mood Fabrics or a quilting boutique,** yeah, I’d be bankrupt. But I hunt sales, coupons, factory seconds, buy enough for free shipping, etc. My machines are paid for, my dearest husband keeps me in wi-fi and technology (see free patterns, above), and my mom still spoils me with fabric gifts, funky garage sale patterns and will often drop off a few fat eighths as she’s a quilting junky too.

**I make a note here regarding quilting fabric. Quilts are meant to last AND be abused loved. Buying cheap quilting fabrics is a big old storm of disappointment. Cheap quilting cottons and linens will shrink all kinds of crazy in the wash, it feels like sandpaper, it wears out, you think making points match is hard?? Try it with fabric printed OFF GRAIN and suddenly you have a partial bias cut on a straight edge…yeah. ALL THE SWEAR WORDS happen. I have some Balkan Puzzle Squares that I keep in a very dark place in my wounded soul. Don’t do it.

Buy the BEST quilting fabric. No, not best as you can afford. I won’t give you that excuse like some will. It’s like grandma used to say, “I’m too poor to buy cheap stuff.” Meaning, if you have to replace something because it was cheap, then it’s not really less expensive, is it? When quilting, pony up.

My darling oldest girl is in Junior sizes. Tall and large enough to need a women’s size small, but still girl enough to not have the curves for it. Lucky for me, she’s also of girl-fashion-mind. Something like Punky Brewster meets a bag of Sour Patch Kids.

There are lots of tutorials on how to remove a bust dart, so I’ll just leave it at, I graded out the bust dart on Hazel’s Sorbetto long ago, and removed the center front pleat.

I used 2 inch strips of the knit, folded in half and serged to the neck and arm holes for binding. In fact, I serged the whole thing together – never touched my sewing machine for these easy, fast, cheap summer shirts.

I left 2 with raw bottom edges, and used the fabric strips to edge the bottom of the striped version. I made these during the same weekend-without-husband-sewing-frenzy that I made the shorts and racerback dresses (pattern here.) Easy, cheap, quick kids clothes!

I ran into this lady at Joann’s on Sunday. She was ready to take her first adventure into sewing with knits.

She had about a half yard of purple dry-fit type fabric to “make a skirt with.” My first thought: “huh.”

MYTH #1 – You need a walking foot if you’re going to sew knits on your sewing machine.

The conversations started because I complimented her on it and mentioned I had a few yards of that line myself. She later came up to me and asked if I thought an Inspira walking foot would fit her Brother. She had read online that a walking foot is very helpful with knits.

This is utter bullshit. If you don’t want to spend $100 on a walking foot (aka even feed foot, etc.), you don’t have to. I’ve sewn it both ways, with and without, and the only time I really needed the walking foot was with fleece – and well, that’s for bulk, not because it’s a knit. If you’re finding that you’re having feed issues with 2 layers of regular old t-shirt knit or dry-fit or whatever, increase/decrease the pressure of your regular foot. Voila! $100 saved!

**side note, no, the Inspira wouldn’t have worked on her Brother machine. Luckily she brought in some of her other feet for me to check.

MYTH #2 – You can just use a universal needle.

Okay, this was an overheard at Joann’s….and sure, you can use a universal needle on knits….if you wanna go for a punk/safety pin it back together look. Use any needle but a needle meant for knits and you might as well be using your cat as a sewing machine. Get a stretch needle pack for $5. Use it. Smile smugly that you spent $5 instead of $100 (see #1).

MYTH #3 – There are so many rules for sewing with knits.

Here’s a dirty secret that Old Navy “production” shops everywhere know. Sewing with knits is ridiculously easy.  Ridiculous. My next two or 3 posts will show 3 simple patterns using 4 or 5 different kinds of knits, totaling 15 items made over 3 days – those 3 days included a trip to the zoo, a trip to OMSI, swimming, cooking, cleaning, etc. EASY. You cut it out, you put your regular machine on big, wide zig-zag or knit stitch (which I do prefer), and you just do it. Comes out wrong? I often just slice off the seam with my rotary cutter, reshape it with my rotary, and resew. More often that not, my mistakes are making something too big, so this works. Gives me wiggle room. I cheat and use a serger as much as possible, but I’ve had my serger in the shop for weeks at a time, and it hasn’t stopped me from making Renfrew after Renfrew. And knits don’t fray! That cuts your work in half or more! You don’t have to hem it most times, you don’t have to ‘finish your seams’ or whatever – you just let that shit be. I’ve used poly thread, cotton thread, mystery thread (you know you have it too) – and easy peasy puddin pie.

Keeping with the theme of being easy and few real rules – that’s really it. And if you’re still not sure – quit reading every blog and watching every youtube. Seriously. Just stop. You’ll make yourself crazy. Get some knit fabric in the remnant bin, and just start sewing on it. Feel it. Do it.