Wardrobe Wednesday

I may have an unnatural relationship with this raglan pattern (link below). This time paired a fun stripe with a navy solid. 

This time I added side seam pockets. Half the fun of making your own clothes is adding details you really like. I like pockets. Pockets big enough for my hands. Pockets big enough to hold my mobile phone. You know, appropriately sized pockets. If you don't know about pocket inequality, you should do some reading. This article from Medium is a good place to start. It just scratches the surface. I'm sure you could find more out there with a simple Google search. 

Here's my finish. Tip: spread your garment sewing across several days: read and prepare pattern on day one, press and cut fabric on day two, assemble and sew on day three, wear on day four. Doing it all in a single day can seem daunting. Take your time. You aren't just sewing to have a garment that fits, you're sewing to be part of the garment construction process. Slow down.  

The pattern is the Going Home Sweater by Ellie & Mac with a few modifications. Your mileage may vary. Read my full post about my experience with this pattern in my Going Home Sweater post. 

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):

Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron

Going Home Sweater

I stacked up some of my glorious loot from Aunt Betty so I could settle on something. 

I pulled this cute little print and a coordinating solid. 

The pattern is the Going Home Sweater by Ellie & Mac. 

I want to tell you I love this pattern but I don't. I love the quality of the pattern and the directions. What I don't love is that neckline. I'm not one to show off and I wear t-shirts with a crew neck almost every day. Yes, every day. For work. This neckline just didn't suit my comfort zone or style. What's a person to do? Well, Ellie & Mac also make the Straight Fit Raglan Top. That collar on that pattern totally suits me. So I did some simple mashing and now I can make the Going Home Sweater with a crew neck. 

The difference isn't that obvious in this photo but I can assure you I'm much more comfortable. 

Here is my finished Going Home Sweater with crew neck. The next hack will add pockets. Half the fun of making your own clothes is to put pockets in everything ready-to-wear leaves them out of. The color blocking on this one was fun, too. 

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):

Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron

Aunt Betty Strikes Again

In case you haven't heard of Aunt Betty, you should check out my tagged blog posts on the matter. If you want a quick primer, you should check out this Professor Pincushion video which explains it all. 

Over the last couple weeks a friend of mine has been cleaning up her sewing room. Partly to clear the clutter and partly to make room to work. Some of that decluttering went to the thrift store and some came to me. I am like an overzealous fosterer when it comes to fabric. I love it so much I can't say no. 

That's right, five trash bags full of fibery treasures. What's inside? Well, mostly a thing I don't really have much of: knits. 

Let's save some time and post a couple collages. Here we have each bag of fabric dumped out. 

Then, each fabric (not in the same order, surely) but folded and stacked neatly. There are some wovens in there, some fleece, some denim. A generally fun mix of fabrics. I see so much sewing ahead of me. I may have to reinstitute Wardrobe Wednesdays while I work through some of this fabric. Remember, if you sew your own clothes you get to add pockets to everything. 

Pattern designers I'm supporting in this endeavor:

Rad Patterns

Ellie & Mac Sewing Patterns

Patterns for Pirates PDF Sewing Patterns

Not a fan of printing on your home printer and assembling patterns yourself? I highly recommend PDF Plotting. They offer excellent service at a reasonable price. Save on shipping by sending several patterns at time. 

The Bird Dress

I follow Cal Patch on Instagram and her sewing adventures are always a pleasure. Last week she shared her version of the Bird Dress and I was intrigued.

I've been collecting worn t-shirts for a while so this was the perfect project because it is designed to use those tees to make a color-blocked garment. Sadly, I took only one progress shot, this one before I attached the pockets to the front.

I made this using two black, two blue, and one maroon tee.

One of those had some words on the front that are now on the back of this piece.

The pockets are really the star of this garment. This worked up in an afternoon.

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron

Thread Thursday: Stitching up Irony

Last month Urban Threads put their Ironic Sweater designs on sale.  This was a very clear invitation to buy them for my very own holiday-themed attire.  Those that know me know that I'm not a super fan of Christmas or the nearly forced consumerism that the U.S. participates in.  Never mind the fact that I think telling children a lie about a magical fat man that breaks into your house once a year is a bad idea.  We'll skip past most of that and get to Thread Thursday!

I'll sum up the procedure but you really need to go read Urban Threads' tutorial because that's what I did.  First, pick out your designs and print it out.  I trimmed the printouts so they would easy to work with.  I was super stoked about this part.  Why?  Because it was the first thing I printed on our new laser printer!

Add lines and tape to shirt.  After I did this I remembered that I hadn't added the stabilizer so I had to cut and iron it onto the inside of the shirt front.  The Frixion pen did its disappearing act, but like it sometimes does it still could be seen.  In my experience Frixion pen marks always wash out.  Even just the application of a few drops of water washes out the marks.  Do what makes you comfortable, though.

I started with the center design and worked out from there.  I'm not a fancy person, so I decided this would be just fine stitched onto a blue tee.  Besides, I think this shirt is cool enough to be worn more than once a year.

I loaded it up and let the machine do its thing.  I used Superior Bottom Line pre-wound bobbins in gray for the bottom and Magnifico in a light gray for the top thread.  This kind of thing takes forever.  I totally think the results are worth it, and you never have to change the thread color, but it isn't something you can finish quickly.

Aren't they great marching along?  Brains!

With the first row done I moved on to the second row.  I'm not a very tall person, so I figured two rows would be plenty.  Turns out I would still be stitching if I'd done a third row.

The stabilizer is a iron-on cut-away.  I'm still learning about stabilizers and how to get the best results with my embroidery machine.  I don't think I'll be going into business anytime soon but I do think I'm improving.

You can still see the lines from the Frixion pen but I didn't even wash the shirt.  We had a quiet holiday meal with friends at our house.  I finished the stitching on this the morning of the 25th.  I just put it on over a long sleeve tee and went with it!

It isn't what you would expect out of a holiday sweater.  I like that.

Did you stitch up something fun for yourself for the mid-winter celebration?

Thread Thursday: The kind you wear!

During my adventures over on Instagram I found a link to a maker of wonderful t-shirts that fit not just my lifestyle but my love of quilting.  If you haven't, you should totally go check out Patchwork Threads.

I had to buy one of their tees.  This one said everything you need to know about my love for quilting.  I'm sure I'll be back for another, or three.  They are having a destash right now that speaks to my frugal nature and my urge to buy quilt-themed t-shirts.  What kind of geeky tees do you like?

Serger Camp 2014

Last week I attended Serger Camp.  Three days of serger class put together by Ellicott City Sew-Vac.

I purchased the Enlighten, a great serger, last year during the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Baltimore.  During the class, I had an opportunity to work with the Evolution.  The Evolution is an over-lock and a cover-stitch machine.  It does the job of two machines.

That means that I had to box up this pretty little thing to make room for my new machine.

This is the Evolution.  It does everything. It has over-lock stitches, cover-stitches and is just plain awesome. 

I reviewed the packing list to make sure I had everything.  After some simple assembly, I was ready to get her situated in the perfect spot.

The package deal included the rolling tote and the 22-foot attachment kit.  Considering how much some of these feet cost, this is definitely the way to pick up these feet if you think you will use them.

What have I done with this amazing toy?  I pieced a fleece blanket out of some 8" squares I had in a bin and did a cover-stitch on my t-shirt scarf.  I think I'm ready to make some more great things with this machine.  I wonder where I put that knit fabric....

She's Back Scarf

My husband supported the Veronica Mars movie through Kickstarter and part of that meant he got a t-shirt.  He didn't want it, so he handed it over to me.

This will be a quick overview of how I made this t-shirt into a scarf.

I thought the fabric was very thin and just not a very good quality t-shirt.  I looked at the design and figured it would make a simple scarf. 

First I trimmed off the top of the shirt as close to the sleeve seams as possible.  I smoothed the shirt as best I could with the bottom hem lined up.  I lost a little of the screen print, but I don't mind.

I did a quick press on the cut edge and stitched it with a wide cover-stitch to match the existing hem.

Wear it as a single loop.

Wear it doubled up for a tighter scarf.

One cut and a pass through the serger and I've got a simple scarf with some interesting graphic details.