Valentine Pink Jacket

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

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Pink is pretty far down on my list of colors for apparel and even home décor, so my having actually sewn a pink jacket seems like the perfect topic for a Valentine's Day post.

This soft denim is a very pale pink with gray (or beige, depending on the light) embroidery.

It was originally intended for jeans, but having decided that I prefer darker colors on my lower half, the fabric stayed folded on the shelf until I opened up the Craftsy course Sew Better, Sew Faster. It's a project and technique course in which "garment industry secrets" are applied to sewing this Islander pattern for a modern jean jacket.

I'd actually signed up for the industry secrets, not for the jacket pattern, since the pattern photos did not look very flattering, but rather quite boxy and floppy. Still, I figured that following the instructor through the making of the jacket was the best way to learn these coveted secrets.

I will start by saying that although the course did not change my sewing life, there was one clever method of turning the garment to apply a yoke facing that I am quite delighted with. Other than that, most of the "secrets" are things that anyone who has been sewing for some time will pick up automatically. For example, in the garment industry they don't pin pieces together before stitching. I think we all know that already, and I would be surprised if there is anyone, who has been sewing for a few years, who still pins every seam together. Another example of a garment industry practice is order of construction: sewing all the seams, whether for the body, sleeve, collar, before topstitching, rather than sewing and topstitching each one in turn. Doesn't this seem rather obvious?

As expected, the jacket pattern was no great revelation either. For a pattern with front and back princess seams, and three (yes! three!) sleeve seams, I would expect a more fitted shape, but maybe it is meant to provide a blank canvas for people to fit to their own figures.

Surprisingly, I like it. It is boxy and floppy, but it is supposed to be casual so I don't mind the looseness and droopy shoulders so much.

The fabric is still a favorite and after scouring four fabric stores, I finally found buttons that I think are perfect.

It has some nice details, like the rounded collar and cuffs.

Even though I was disappointed in the course, I think this was a win overall, with a cute, casual jacket and an interesting yoke application that I can use on shirts as well. I would say this particular course is good for intermediate-beginners, that is, you know how to use your machine and have made some garments, but you haven't been sewing for so long that nothing is "secret" any longer. I will be watching the course again (one of the great things about Craftsy) to see if I missed any other gems.

Have you taken any Craftsy courses recently? Or other online classes? Did they meet your expectations?

Katrina

Dress and Coat Set – Harmonious Hues or Color Clash?

This dress is the oldest survivor of the black hole known as my UFO pile.

Partly sewn

I’ve said that about other items, but this is truly the oldest. I purchased the fabric in May 2011, and cut into it soon after that.

Painted, embroidered silk shantung

This was long before I had any knowledge of fitting techniques or even muslin making, so my attempts at adjusting the fit were made with the pieces pinned together. (Yes, it’s true. If I ever get this done, I may name it The Dress of A Thousand Mistakes. That’s worth an entire post in itself.) After a few frustrating sessions, I put the whole thing away for a very long time.

I always had the plan of making a coat to go with the dress – not in the same fabric, but a coordinate. I even mentioned it back in my early blog days when I was swooning over dress and coat ensembles. I won’t even get into my endless vacillations over the coat style, suffice it to say that there will be eventually be a coat!

Now that I’ve decided to finish this thing once and for all, my fabric hoard has thwarted my efforts in the most vexing way. I cannot find just the right fabric for a coat to coordinate with this dress!

Here’s the suiting I originally bought (online, of course) for this purpose. Even though the color is called “gold”, it’s obviously butter yellow, and putting it anywhere near the peachy gold silk is enough to make people ill.  



This is also a nice lesson in the effects of lighting as each fabric looks different in outdoor light (left) and indoor flash (right).

Here is a tan silk/linen that is just not quite the right color, plus the coarse texture looks wrong to me.

Here’s a peach rayon suiting that picks up the overall pink-gold hue of the silk, but is too… pale? flat? chalky? It seems to look better in the camera flash than in natural light, but it’s still not good.

In desperation I tried a contrasting color and was pleasantly surprised. This is a blue-gray cotton shantung, and it looks nice with the blue flowers. Then I started dithering again – maybe it was too much contrast.

Belatedly I realized that fabric shopping was my only option. I grabbed my scrap of embroidered silk and ran to the local SAS Fabrics Superstore, a sprawling warehouse without air conditioning where my physical stamina doesn’t always match my fabric enthusiasm. I was able to endure two hours of the heat, and even more amazing, I found a fabric that I think will work.

I really would not have imagined that a multicolored cotton basketweave suiting would be the answer to this problem, but I can’t argue with the evidence.

 
I definitely prefer this to the other options. But now I have to actually get to work and finish this project before I change my mind again!

 

Katrina

 

An Unflattering Dress

Here’s a dress I sewed up as an interim project while I was caught in a conundrum with another dress (to be explained in detail next week).  

 

The cotton fabric is an odd mixture of colors and patterns: an uneven pink and orange plaid-like design, framing turquoise cacti, all on a taupe background.

I can’t decide whether this represents 50s kitsch or 80s clash. Anyway, the print somehow looks cute and I like the cacti, of course.

 

This was a very simple dress to make, but I should have taken some time to at least think about fit. The fact that it was a wrap-front made me lazy. Or maybe the fabric’s psychedelic colors threw me off course.

 

The bodice is too long, which makes the waist drop too low. The skirt is too full, although it might have looked better if the fullness hit at the waist and not on the outward angle of my hip.

I managed to match the pattern perfectly at the skirt side seams, but completely ignored the neckline. I didn’t even realize the problem until I had the thing put together.

Now it’s always going to look higgledy-piggledy unless I decide to do something about that 1-inch difference between the right and left bodice fronts.

 

Still, it’s not too much of a disappointment since it was meant to be a house dress, and that’s what it is. I used up my cactus fabric, some lining scraps, and several yards of bias binding in an odd peach color, so this was a good stash-busting project too.

and an orangey-pink button!

Next time, I will share my perplexing project predicament.

 

Katrina

TGIF (Finished!)

This dress is finally finished! It only took me two months!

 

I had this partly sewn and pinned together in early May. It was on the sewing table all through the cleaning and decluttering upheaval. I refused to return it to the UFO pile, and so it sat there as a daily reminder of all my sewing projects that really needed to just get done.

Finally, an urgent need to get something else done is what finally pushed me to finish this and get it out of the way. As usual, when I finally put my mind to it, it went together quickly and left me wondering what all the procrastination was about.

It is a lovely pattern and I would definitely make it again if I didn’t have hundreds of others vying for my attention.

 

I simplified a couple of things and complicated a few others. The biggest complication was adding the piping along the seams of the bodice. Getting the lines to meet at a nice point in the center front took a lot of trial and error. The piping insertion is far from even, in spite of my patient basting and careful stitching.

However, I made sure that the piping matched at the back.

Notice that I was completely blind to the mismatched fabric pattern, but that piping looks solid!

A minor complication was my decision to convert from a one-piece dress to a top and skirt. It didn’t create a lot of extra work – I just cut a simple A-line and added an elastic waist – but it did use up every last iota of fabric. I would have made the top an inch or two longer if I had any extra, but I think it is wearable as is.

How did I simplify? By using this fabulous KNIT fabric! 

It’s a pique knit, the waffle-textured kind found in Polo and Lacoste shirts. I think this fabric came from Fashion Fabrics Club but it was so long ago I can’t be sure. All cotton, with just enough stretch to be comfortable, but it won’t pull out of shape. It is perfectly cool and comfortable for summer. I think this fabric came from Fashion Fabrics Club but it was so long ago I can’t be sure.

 

I thought I would still need the back zipper called for in the pattern because of the non-stretch piping, but I gave it the pull-over test, and sure enough, I was able to slip it on with the back seam stitched completely closed. Hooray for knits!

Now here is something amazing I found on Etsy the other day:

It looks like almost the same print, but it’s on a very different fabric. What a gorgeous dress! For sale here.

 

 

Well I’m glad I made mine and it fits nicely. And what a relief to finally get it off the sewing table and out of the way. Now, what’s next?

Katrina

Lost and Found – Part 5

For those of us who are fabric hounds, finding a listing on eBay entitled “large lot vintage rayon fabric” would be a thrill. Reading further to find that the lot is from an estate and includes old dresses from the 1940s, curtains, and yardage, might winnow out the more sensible buyers, wary of mold, bedbugs, and dishonest sellers.

The ridiculously low bid for this lot easily overwhelmed the weak defenses of my common sense, and I nervously awaited the arrival of a huge carton of … what?

In fact it turned out to be just as described – a large lot of vintage rayon fabric in various forms, along with some other goodies. Of course I gave it the hot dryer treatment to kill anything that might have hitched a ride, then sorted through my new treasures.

Several of the “dresses” were actually dressing gowns.

 

This rayon wrap-front robe with a bias-cut skirt just needs a few seams and hems stitched and a new snap on the front. What a color combination!

 

The little navy robe is falling apart, but have you ever seen anything like the fabric?

 

I will definitely put this to reuse.

 

 

 

 

 

The burgundy dressing gown has a huge panel missing from the back, and the fabric shows some disintegration throughout.

 

Still, I’d like to try to use it in some way, maybe in a collar and cuffs that can be stabilized with fusible interfacing.

 

Here are two examples of actual dresses.

 

The pretty polka dot shirtwaist is silk. It’s in pretty good shape other than missing one sleeve and the other one hanging by a few threads. I might be able to repair this with a bit of restyling and restitching. 

The brown dress is missing most of the front (this is the back of the dress). The floral print is beautiful, and the fabric is in good condition, so I can definitely use it in other projects.

 

Then there are miscellaneous pieces. 

An intensely pink-on-mustard floral skirt portion of a dress

A gorgeous black floral piece of something

 

This tropical print was part of a bedskirt!

 

There were also some pieces of modern fabric. How did they get in there? (Not that I’m complaining!)

Doesn’t this look like the quintessential mid-century Hawaiian print rayon? But it’s a Cameron Industries fabric from 1993!

 

There were several other little beauties in the lot, and now that I’ve unearthed them all, there is hope that one day they will make it to the sewing table. At least they are hanging neatly in the closet now, instead of bunched up in a bag on the floor.

 

I have one or two more “Lost and Found” treasures to share with you, and then we’re back to complaining about the heat.

 

Katrina

Sewing? Really? When?

I have sewing plans. Big, exciting plans. The fabrics have been measured and pressed.  The buttons, zippers, linings, and interfacing are ready. The patterns have been double-checked. I’ve even cut out the first two garments.

Yet I still can’t seem to get any momentum going. It’s not like I have anything important to do, it’s just that I have one interruption after another. I don’t know how people with real jobs or kids get anything done.

But at least I can share my plans! It’s another color-coordinated group. I seem to have good luck finishing those. The fabrics are all shades of dusky blue.

It’s sometimes called slate blue, evening blue, brittany blue, steel blue, or simply grey-blue.

Natural blue slate. source

To me, it looks a lot like water reflecting the sky at dusk.

Lake Powell at dusk, Sept 2007

I’m doing a 70s theme here, which at first glance seems as though it could go very badly. Or it could be a wild success.

 

In my mind’s eye, the designs take on a completely different look in, say, blue cotton twill, than the kelly green polyester pictured on the pattern.  

Let’s hope that the reality of the end result resembles my vision.

All I need is an uninterrupted month or so…

Katrina