Burda 2/11, #106

Second One

JustGail asked about my son in a comment on a post a last week, regarding his tooth situation so I thought I'd update you.  He is doing much better.  Once we had that tooth removed, the healing progressed very quickly and now you can hardly tell that there was anything wrong in there at all.  Well, there is a big hole where the tooth was, but an adult tooth will come in soon enough.  Thanks Gail, for asking.

I've finished up the second Burda t-shirt and I like it a lot better!  The length is better both at the bottom hem and sleeves and that was the main thing that needed changing.  I was constantly pulling down the t-shirt at the hem when wear-testing the first version, so this is much better. 

While not an exciting pattern, it is a good basic pattern.  I'll get a lot of wear from this one and should probably make more in other colors.  It is getting to that point in the winter where I'm tired of black and white and need colors to perk things up! 

Tomorrow:  The start of Anthropologie knock-off, which hopefully will be more exciting than a t-shirt!

Parting Shot:  Bonus.  My daughter liked my fingerless gloves so much that she wanted a pair.  Not exactly like mine, of course.  She's twelve and you know she can't have anything exactly like mom's.  She picked out a pattern from Knitpicks, and I found enough leftover yarn to knit them up.  I even found enough so that she'd have her choice of two colorways.  She chose the yarns below, leftover from socks. 

Burda 2/11 #106

First One

I've finished the Burda t-shirt and am fairly pleased with it, but not totally in love with it.  There are a few reasons why.  One, I'd like it to be about 1" longer.  I shortened the waist by 1", to put the waist where it belonged on my body, but did not add 1" back to the hem.  With lower rise jeans, the t-shirt is a just on the verge of being too short.  Two, for some reason the sleeves ended up being exactly right.  The length isn't a huge problem, but over time I find that sleeves shrink a little bit; starting out a bit long seems to help that.  I took 1" out of sleeve length, which is standard for me with Burda.  Not sure what happened there! 

The construction was easy, but I did change the neck finish.  Instead of the Burda directions which have you make a bound neckline, I cut a strip, folded it in half, stitched it to the neckline right sides together and then pressed it outward.  This is just like some of the neck finishes that Jalie uses and like the one on the refashioned t-shirt I made earlier this month. 

The fit overall is good - it has a nice fit through the body and sleeves.  I did double check the pattern against the Burda turtle pattern and this one is a closer fit just through the body, but almost exactly the same through the sleeves.

I've got another t-shirt already started, I just need to finish the neckline and hems.  I've been a bit more careful in construction and double checking lengths when cutting.  It is red, too, so I think if this second one is a better fit overall for me, then I'll just happily donate the first one.  I'll finish this one tomorrow and let you know how it looks on Monday!

Parting Shot:  Second Place.  Spring's First Blush won a second place at the Road to California Quilt Show a couple of weeks ago.  I just got the garment and ribbon back today.  The picture of it on display is courtesy of Elisabeth Eastmond, who was able to attend the show.  Not sure why they chose to display the top without tying the waist ties, though!

Not Part Two of New Pajamas

I had hoped that this post would be Part Two of the new moose pajamas, but it isn't to be.  I ordered some patterns in the hopes that they would be here by now so that I could sew up the the t-shirt right away.  Since the patterns have not arrived, I have to put this project and other projects on hold.  I've bought the Jalie men/boys t-shirt pattern for this project, but I've also got the running skirt/skort in the same order, so a new running outfit will be on hold, too.  I even have fabric, but not the patterns!

Meanwhile, I decided to make something up from the February Burda.  It isn't even February yet!  Not that I've chosen the most exciting pattern of the lot, but it will probably be one of the most useful (in addition to Jalie women's t-shirt pattern, which is part of that order that I don't have yet!).  By  now if you've seen the Feb. Burda, you've probably guessed it:  the plain, long sleeved t-shirt.

I know, not exciting, but useful and will be worn.  A lot.  At least I hope a lot.  I wear my black and white t-shirts a lot, so I'm hoping that by making a red one it will see use, too.  We'll see.  I'll make this one and hope it doesn't go the way of so many woven button up shirts I've made! 

At any rate, I have some fabric I really like, so that's a start in the right direction.  This is a red slub rayon jersey knit that I bought from Fabric.com when I bought the ever-so-wonderful burgundy stretch french terry.  I'm thinking this will be a bit easier to work with.  I can't imagine why it wouldn't. 

With only four pattern pieces and straight forward construction, I'm thinking I should be test wearing this tomorrow.  We'll see.  Right now I need to get red thread on the serger. 

Parting Shot:  Screen.  As a surprise for my daughter, today I made her silkscreen from her block printing artwork.  I used her original artwork, fixing up so that I could make the screen and now she has a screen for making t-shirts.  Now we need to find a cheap t-shirt!

New Pajamas, Part One

The Shorts

Since this week is about sewing for my son, I'm going to finish it up with a set of pajamas.  He didn't *need* the shirt, but the pajamas are needed.  The fabric is this interlock knit with a moose print that I picked up at Fabric Fix last week:

He wants a t-shirt and shorts, even in winter, so I pulled out Simplicity 3935 to make the shorts.  I knew I had already cut out the tissue and had possibly folded it down to the right size, so there wouldn't be too much fussing with the pattern.

There isn't a view for shorts, but I made some anyway by shortening the pants to slightly longer than the pair of pajama shorts he's wearing now.  Very easy to make, two pieces, elastic waist and not much time. 

So far, he's happy with how this set is turning out.  That's what nice about sewing for him.  He genuinely likes what I make and isn't too picky!

Next up:  the t-shirt.

Parting Shot:  The Cable Guy.  One of the basic skills of my husband's job is making cables for the network.  Not a lofty job by any means, but one that needs to be done so that the more impressive work of making the data move actually happens.  I thought it was an interesting look that he was sporting, wearing all the cables around his neck.

Valerie - The cuffs of the fingerless gloves were knit with a fuzzy/furry type of yarn, as was the trim on the hood. 

New Shirt, Part Two

The shirt is all finished and he's very happy with it.  He wore it to school today.

This shirt was quick to make for a lot of reasons.  One, there were very few pieces to the pattern.  Two, there was no fussy matching of plaids, stripes, a pocket.  Three, the shirt was short sleeved, thus no plackets or cuffs to make.  Four, much of the construction was done via the serger.  Since this is a child's shirt which will probably be outgrown in 6 months, I did not feel it was worth the time or effect to to french or flat felled seams.  A 4-thread serger, plus top stitching on the outside is quick and very sturdy.  Perfect for a child's shirt.  Five, since I've made 12 similar shirts last year, making shirts has become very easy.  That's not a bad thing.

Many of you have joined these sew alongs in which part of the challenge to make a similar style garment for a period of time or certain number of garments.  While that is a big challenge, it is also a good thing!  You're going to get really good at making that sort of garment.  You will know what works for you and what doesn't as far as technique.  You will learn what sorts of fabric and interfacing you like the best and all kinds of other things.  Your confidence on one particular garment will soar!  I haven't sewn a shirt since early December, but I knew exactly how to make this one come together quickly.

If you haven't joined such a challenge, make your own little challenge, just make it shorter - try three skirts from similar patterns or whatever fits your style and sewing ability.  It doesn't have to be complex, the main thing is repetition and practice.  You might even find a TNT pattern along the way, and then you'll be all set to do all kinds of neat variations on it like Carolyn does with her TNT dress pattern!

Parting Shot:  Matched Set.  I had some leftover yarn from my knitted hood, so I made some fingerless gloves to match.  There are two of them, but I needed my other hand to photograph the one being worn!  It is a very quick and easy pattern, too!

All About My Son Week - The Shirt, Part One

Thank you for the compliments on the jacket; I wore it yesterday as a test and it was exactly what I wanted, warm and nice looking.  It was easy enough to wear under a parka and just right for around the house.  Perfect for the cold weather.  Believe me, it has been cold around here the past few days, with yesterday below zero for most of the day.

Now that the burgundy jacket is complete, I will be sewing this week for my son.  A few weeks ago I promised him a shirt, so we went fabric shopping and he picked out this print:

Almost every one of his shirts for school is plaid, so he wanted a print instead of another plaid or a solid. 

His previous shirt from the size 8 pattern was fitting perfectly, so we decided that it would be best if I made a size 10.  That meant he needed to pick out a model that included a size 10.  He chose this one from an older Patrones:

This one is a good choice, there's no pocket and it is pretty simple.  You wouldn't be able to find the pocket with this print anyway and simple is better to let that print not only shine but take center stage. 

The only problem with this pattern, and one that I've noticed with other Patrones shirts that I've made for my son is the collar and collar stand.  Both are drafted too large, specifically too tall, making the collar look like it belongs on an adult shirt rather than a child's.  When I was tracing the pattern, I kept looking at the size of the collar and knew I'd better compare it with a current RTW shirt and double check the size.

Sure enough, the collar, as drafted is too big.  You can actually see the plaid collar through the tissue in the above photo.  Here's the pattern piece with the correction, note how much smaller the collar is. 

The other problem with the collar was the point at which the collar attached to the collar stand.  I checked this against the RTW, too.  In this case it was too far back from the edge.   The collar needed to attach to the stand closer to the curve.   In the photo below, you can see that I've moved point B closer to the curve, over the buttonhole, rather than to the left of the buttonhole.  I went back then and double check the collar size to make sure it would fit between the new markings on the stand.  The collar stand was also too tall, and that was easily corrected. 

It sounds like a lot of fixes and takes more time to explain than actually do.  It is good to compare a new pattern to either a TNT pattern (that's a good reason to have one!) or RTW if you're unsure.  If something looks off, chances are it is.  With that done, I got everything cut out and have been working on the construction. It looks like this one will be done tomorrow, so I'll show you all those details tomorrow.


Parting Shot:  New Week, New Shelf.  Wellie is back to hanging out in the linen closet while I clean the bathroom.  This time he went up a shelf to the sheets to hide out, rather than hanging out with towels.  I almost didn't see him this time before shutting the door, either. 

The Burgundy Jacket - Final Post

I am glad I finished with this jacket!  It is nice to have something new to wear, but really, I'm glad to be done with the fabric!  Don't get me wrong, the fabric is beautiful; the color, texture and warmth are all really nice.  Working with the fabric was another story.  Stretch french terry can be spongy, slippery and stretchy and oh yeah, did I mention that it also curls when cut?  For some reason, the fabric I had did not like anything higher than the medium setting on my iron.  Anything higher and it would melt.  At least my iron is cleaner now than when I began the project.

While not the best fabric attributes in combination, it can be worked with.  My serger with differential feed made a big difference in how the fabric behaved, as well as a lot of hand basting, stabilization in key areas with fusible interfacing, a stretch needle in my sewing machine and lowering the presser foot tension in my sewing machine.  Hand basting was the single biggest help in the whole project.  Tedious, yes, but it really kept things in place, whereas even trying to machine baste things would cause stretching and mismatches. 

Even the hems were difficult.  For knits, I usually fuse a narrow strip of knit interfacing to the fabric edge, turn and coverstitch.  Not so with this fabric.  Even with the differential on the coverstitch machine, I had a horrible looking hem.  I eventually brought out the narrow Heat n Bond and fused the hem in place first and then did two rows of straight stitching on the regular machine.  Not my first choice, but it did produce a nice, clean hem. 

All that said, I am really happy with the jacket!  The pockets turned out just like I wanted them to.

The fronts look nice from both the inside and outside:

The neck facing on the collar turned out nicely, too, after some hand basting and topstitching:

I'm not sure that I'll ever sew this type of fabric again, given a choice of regular french terry or even regular sweatshirt fabric.   At least now I know!  Although I'm pretty stubborn and don't give up too easily on projects, a lesson for you to take away from this project is to not give up on something too easily.  Keep trying to find solutions and answers before you put that project in File 13. 

This week:  some things for my son and a welcome return to sewing a nice, plain old woven cotton!

Parting Shot:  Special Delivery.  Just to prove he's got all the cat instincts, Wellie has claimed this box for his own.  Not that he can lay down in it or anything, he just sits there.  He's done this several times since I got the box, but it will be removed tomorrow.

The Burgundy Jacket 

Quick Post

It is done.  It has been quite a journey on this one!  It is getting late and has been a really busy couple of days, so I will at least give you a photo of the finished jacket:

For the moment, suffice it to say, that stretch French terry can be a difficult fabric to work with.  Beautiful yes, but spongy, stretchy and a bit slippery.  The good, bad and ugly details along with more photos on Monday.

Parting Shot:  Ribbons.  My daughter did well at competition yesterday.  She got a first place for her printmaking.  She was the only one in the category, but being the only one did not guarantee a first; she still had to earn it and follow the rules.  She got a third for her flute duet with a friend in the small instrumental ensemble category.  Her choric speaking group also got a second place, but the ribbon is not shown and belongs to the school.

 

The Burgundy Jacket

Part Five, Slower than a Turtle

I told you this one was moving along slowly.  I did get a little work done yesterday before having to go coach fine arts and workout.  When I got home from the afternoon carpool, we had no power, thus no blogging or sewing.  This morning, we had a dental emergency (see Parting Shot, but don't look if stuff like teeth gross you out!) and groceries to get, and the machines still haven't been turned on yet today.  Maybe this afternoon when I get back from picking up my daughter I can get something done.

At any rate, yesterday, I did get the zipper installed.  I made sure the band was well interfaced - no stretching wanted - and then hand basted the zipper in before machine stitching it.

I also got the facings made and attached and the collar facing ready for the final finishing.

Now, if I can just get to that and the large amount of topstitching (and probable hand basting to make sure it looks good), I might finish it.  Maybe on Saturday, I'll be gone all day tomorrow at my daughter's fine arts competition.

Parting Shot:  Tooth.  Yes, that's my son's tooth.  He came home last night from church with a really swollen gum and very sore tooth.  Turns out, it became infected.  It needed work, but wasn't going to be filled because it was just going to come out in a few months because it's a baby tooth.  Things just didn't work out that way, so the dentist removed it, cleaned everything out and my son should be ok in a few days.

Burgundy Jacket

I Think This is Part Four

Or something like that.  I didn't get much progress done on it today, but what I did do makes it look a whole lot more like what the jacket will look like when it is finished. 

The major things done today was adding the front bands and adding the collar.  The collar is similar to the collar on the faux fur jacket, but this one is gathered, then attached to the neckline.  While I like the idea of the gathered collar, figuring out the finishing for such a thing has been interesting.  You've got to deal with the gathered collar on the inside, too, so that's a slight concern.

I've been trying to figure out that finishing in my head for a few days now, knowing that I'll have to face it eventually.  I think I finally figured out how I'll finish it, but I need to take one more look at the insides to make sure it will work.

I did get the zippers today and one of them matches fairly well. 

It is a bit darker than the fabric, but I'd rather have that than the plastic one with the tape and teeth that are a bit too red.  It looks like I'll be working on installing the zipper either tonight or tomorrow, then I'll be working on the finishing.  The rest of this week will be pretty busy, so I'm hoping to get this done by the weekend, we'll see.

Parting Shot:  In the Stack.  Of all the place to take a nap, Wellie decided that this perch atop a stack of magazines, fabric and patterns was the best. 

Burgundy Jacket

Real Progress!

Between yesterday and today, I was able to get some real progress made on my jacket!  As you can see, there has been quite a bit of construction done.  I think I am about half way through, as I still have the collar, zipper and hems to work on.  I can't work on the collar or zipper until I actually get the zippers anyway.

I did finally decide on a pocket.  I wanted what is sometimes called a single faced pocket;  this type of pocket uses the garment piece as part of the pocket bag instead of a two pieces of fabric for the pocket bag in addition to the garment front.  This is ideal for what I'm trying to achieve here.  I want pockets, but not the bulk of three layers.  I finally found some instruction for such a pocket in Roberta Carr's Couture The Fine Art of Sewing, pp. 167-169.  I used those, with a few modifications to work with the garment I'm making.  Here's basically what I did:

1.  The first thing was to get the side seam ready for pocket construction.  I finished all the seam allowances on the serger and interfaced the front seam allowance in the pocket area.  I then stitched the side seam on the regular machine, basting the section where the actual pocket opening would be and then pressed the entire seam open.  Of course that necessitated sewing the shoulder seams and setting the sleeve in the flat, too, before actually getting to that all-in-one side/sleeve seam.  Sounds like a lot of work, but wasn't too bad and quickly done on the serger. 

2.  The topstitching at the edge of the pocket on the front piece was then added.  This must be done before the pocket is stitched in place.  Once the pocket is in place, you can't do this without stitching the pocket shut!

3.  The pocket bag was added.  In this case, you only need one piece for the pocket bag.  I've cut mine to match the shape of the seams. 

The pocket is then stitched to the seam allowance of the back only, as close to the basting as possible. 

4.  Normally, the pocket bag would be topstitched in place, but right now I am just basting it.  My plan is to catch the top edge in with the topstitching on the horizontal seam, just topstitching it along the vertical edge and then catching it in the bottom edge with the wide hem.   I've also added one of the bar tacks, and will add the other one once the hem is complete.

After all the topstitching is done, you can remove the basting from the pocket opening area.  Here I've partially removed it so that you can see the pocket:

The plan is to do all of the topstitching on the coverstitch machine plus the sleeve hems, but I need to switch the threads from the serger to the coverstitch.  That's my next step, then I'll work on the collar, front band and zipper.

Parting Shot:  From the Fix.  I was able to meet up with Patricia from Suit Yourself Couture today for a little chat and some shopping in Manchester.  She lives relatively close to me (cool, huh?!?) and is working on a SWAP this year - check out her plans and pieces that she's working on as she posts them on her blog!   During the trip, I picked up some knits at Fabric Fix for a pretty good price:  some moose interlock for pajamas for my son, some yellow wicking knit for workout/hiking wear for me, two kinds of stripes for me, plus a knit print for my daughter.  Nothing was over $4.00 a yard.

Poseidon's Pet

My daughter finished her art project for competition today.  Yay!  It is all packed up and ready to go to school on Tuesday to be sent down to be judged on Thursday.   

Today she made the prints from the block she carved, framed the best one, cleaned up the block (it has to be turned in with the final print) and finished up her artist's statement.  She even came up with a fairly clever title on her own, Poseidon's Pet.

Even though the judging will be done on Thursday, she won't know if she gets ribbon until the awards ceremony late Friday afternoon.  We'll see how she does!  Meanwhile, she's putting the finishing touches on a flute duet, choric speaking piece and a choir number and will be competing in those categories on Friday. 

I didn't get to work on the burgundy jacket at all today, due to this project, some errands and a project for a friend.  Maybe tomorrow and hopefully there will be something to show on Monday!

Parting Shot:  Out of Sight.  Almost.  Except for that tail, Wellie has found a place which completely conceals him from view.  Not that he could get away with it for long, as I needed my machine cover back.

Burgundy Jacket 

Mere Progress

I got it cut out!  That's a lot of progress, huh?  Right, not so much.  At least it is a start.  It has just been a couple of busy days here, but I'm thinking I'll have some time tomorrow to get sewing on this project.  I'm actually in no big hurry, as my zippers won't be here until sometime next week anyway.

Here's the line drawing for the jacket, from Patrones #284, model #40:

I will be doing a few things differently.  One, I am eliminating the pockets.  They are a type of bellows pocket and I don't want the bulk.  They also needed zippers, which I didn't order.  I might do some sort of inseam pocket on the horizontal seam.  I'll think about that tomorrow.  Second, I am changing the sleeves.  They will be straight, not flared and full length. 

I hope to get a nice start on this jacket tomorrow, but we need to finish my daughter's block printing project tomorrow.  We have all the stuff as you can see below, we just need to get it done!

Parting Shot:  Not Enough.  Obviously, two full food bowls was just not enough food for Wellie.  He knocked down the food bin and was helping himself.