Red and Ready T-Shirt

Over Christmas I thought I might refashion this turtle neck t-shirt I had. I only wore it a few times because the neck was far too tight. But as it was red, it really needed to get some use and give some holiday cheer.

So, I chopped off the neck. As you can see, before I remembered a before photo.

Then I tried it on. Okay...looked like it was more than just the neck that was tight! I will spare you the image. ;-)

So, now that the holiday is over, I decided to get on with making it work so I can have a warmer t-shirt the rest of the winter and it will be ready to go for next Christmas.

I had some scraps of a darker red t-shirt fabric given to me by a friend, so I did a bit of chopping and a bit of adding and a bit of let's see if I can make the neckline interesting. and voila!

I put the collar on in an asymmetrical way just for something different.

Another pose to show that there are also an added stripes from hem of top up and through to hem of sleeve on both sides. The cuff is added in a similar way to the collar because I chopped off the existing cuffs.

(Here's hoping a lose a bit of this Christmas' over-indulgence and it will fit even better!)

Bags from Jeans

On Monday, I taught a workshop on how to make a Reusable Bag from Recycled Jeans. The theme of the Adult Learner's week was Being Green. Or something similar.

Okay, to me this is not rocket science. But anyway. So I was surprised that this was a new idea for the students.

Here is the completed bag.

and an option with lace trim.

Here are a few of the in progress bags being made.

What was interesting was trying to work out the best plan for jeans that weren't straightforward.

This bag needed an extra base at the bottom. The original jeans were fairly big so without the base, everything would have fallen out each time you set the bag down.

These jeans had belonged to the lady's daughter. So to cut across the crutch would have made something rather small. So, we worked out how to open up the legs and sew them together front and back first, before sewing across the bottom. The jeans had a gathered band at the bottom of the legs, so those made handles that were a bit smaller yet still worked.

One of the other ladies had never used a sewing machine. But she hand sews and does crafts, so she had some idea of how fabric works at least. So, it is not the easiest thing to begin on a machine sewing denim! But she did very well. I had to get her over the seam sections once or twice, but for the most part she just had to be shown a bit of stitching and she was off!

I told her if she does take a beginner sewing class don't use this class as an example of doing it right. We were using the chop, chop, sew, sew method - with rulers for those who felt they needed some control. A bit of make it up as you go along. Well, for me, that is the best way when you are recycling a garment. It is not going to fit the rules in the first place, so you may as well forget them when you start. Much less frustration!!

So they all went off with bags finished or nearly finished. and several started thinking what else they could do with some of their old clothes! Oh, and most of them collected a bit of lace trim to fancy up their bags as well!

Origami bags

okay a bit of production sewing going on.

These have been edged and the beginning stitches to form the folding for the bags. There are gubbins there for about 21 bags! Good way to reduce the stash. I have reorganised the boxes these fabrics live in so I should be able to look at what is there and get it out to use in the future.

You may realise by now that I revert to chop, chop, sew, sew when things don't seem to be done in a logical manner. I made up the first one according to the directions, but when you fold everything round, the inside pockets were all floppy. So, I have redeveloped the directions so they don't.

Also, I decided I don't want to close them with a drawstring! They look quite smart without. So, I am developing a different closure.

These were made with fat quarters (yards - which should mean 18 in square) - some of which were very badly cut - so skew-wiff that I had to cut 15 in squares. Also, some were fat quarter metres, which made 20in squares. The majority were about 17 or 18 in square.

I do think the drawstring closure might work with a much larger size. These smaller ones just look like a little pouch when gathered up...not very inspirational for working out what to put in them. But if I change it, I can think of quite a few different ideas for what to put inside.

on the work table

covering the edge

I had two varigated threads that were of pretty much the same colour. The YLI thread was quite a bit thicker, as it is from their jeans thread variety.

I had decided to use the thinner thread. I usually pull a thread out quite a way and lay it on the quilt to see what it will look like. On the reel, it is a bit too solid to tell and sometimes you don't realise how strong one of the colours may be.

With the thinner thread, though, when I tried it, the changes were far too frequent. So, I snipped the bobbin thread and pulled it out.

I put a 120 needle in the machine and tried the YLI thread. This was great! The colours changed at decent intervals. Also the green is more the colour of the background. I think it gives just enough of the pink and yellow to give the idea of ice cream without being too much. And because the thread was thicker, it covered more, so the stitch length was 1 instead of .6

And then, I didn't get the chocolate sprinkles sewn on because I sorted all my beads and sequins and crystals into different containers after I started looking for the brown ones. Oh well, it needed doing! I have more beads, crystals and semi-precious stone chips than I had before and they no longer fit into the original containers. So, there was a lot of shuffling for a good part of the day.

and tomorrow I am going to a sewing afternoon! The ladies from the UKSewing online group who live in the Thames Valley area used to get together to chat now and again. We haven't done it for sometime, but last month we realised it was 10 years for the online group. So, we got together at Gabrielles. Some of the other ladies told us about some sewing evenings they attended and could we do something like it? SO, we are going to try once a month. It will be at the Community Centre near me, since I can get it for reduced fees. So, I think I will try to get some advice and help with a proper jacket. I will bring my camera. I just hope I remember to take photos.

Costume Patterns

Even though the first Fancy Dress Costume course has been cancelled, I still want to be prepared if the others run later in the year.

I found a great costume book at the Library called Quick Costumes for Kids, by Deborah House. There is a section at the back with a fold out page of costumes to trace off. It was a great find, because the costumes we are going to make will be developed from a very simple base. Some we will do from the basic squares and rectangles idea. But I had planned to draft things like trousers out myself. The trouble is, I haven't got a ready-made kid at hand anymore to try things on to. So, when I saw that this had already done basic costume pieces, I decided not to reinvent the wheel...this time!The book presumes you know how to trace off patterns. (I never did that before, as I have never used Burda or similar pattern companies. Before I learned pattern drafting, I generally swapped bits and pieces of existing patterns around to get what I wanted. Or I used the chop-chop-sew-sew method!*) However, I did see someone tracing a Burda pattern, so I had the general idea. It took a while to work out what to look for, but I have managed to trace off nearly all the patterns today. No wonder they layer them. I am already onto my 4th sheet of pattern paper which I would say was about a metre square!

Anyway, what I wanted to say was, if you see this book, do get it. Besides the patterns, which are drawn in 3 generic sizes, they have instructions for sewing the majority of kid's costumes you might come across. Then of course, you use your imagination for the special character costumes or the slightly off-the-wall costumes, but you have enough resources to be able to pick and choose the pattern pieces that will best make up the look you want.

* the chop-chop-sew-sew method goes like this. Hold the fabric up to the kid. Decide it wants folding about here and chopping about there. go and stitch. come back and try it. either chop more or resew more. repeat until it is right!
PS I didn't invent this method. It is as old as the hills.
PPS. sometimes you don't think about the kid needing to raise their arm and you have to unpick the under arm area and put in a gusset. kids don't mind. and the Gingerbread man costume will last longer.

Have fun. Have you made any fun costumes lately?

Cheerful blouse - fix

As you recall, the white linen blouse started off like this. It was cut out nearly 2 years ago.
I worked on it this past week or so to match the "Cheerful Skirt". However, 2 things. I have lost some weight and I cut the jewel neckline to a v, plus added the button stand. (in real life you aren't meant to change the plan for the shape of a blouse as you go along!) So, although the result looked okay, it gaped badly at the neck.

So, I put a bit of ruffle round the neck, which helped with the gaping. It didn't fix it, just helped.
Part of that was it was too big, as well. So, being linen, it sort of stood out to attention, so to speak. I wore it today and realise that this was because I needed to take it in. I realised I could get the neckline to lay closer to my chest if I took it in at the top too. I didn't want to unpick anything, but I realised I had enough extra ease to actually turn the waist dart into an armscye princess line. So, I took it in from the waist right up past the bust and curved over into the armseam.

IT Worked!

Then I also took it in at the back waist darts and the side seam from the waist down. And it is great! Phew. I think I better make up another blouse soon so I can be sure I get it right this time. I will never remember all the changes otherwise.

Featured Blog

Today I will do the Featured Blog, since yesterday was about the 100th post. Don't forget to leave a comment on "Posy for You" to be eligible for a give away.

One of the blogs I check out frequently is Pins And Needles by Summerset Banks. Summerset does very detailed posts about her projects. She is an excellent technician making garments with a vintage feel, sometimes from vintage patterns but using modern embellishment techniques. She gives step by step explanations of how to make a pattern work for you, whether for fitting or for aesthetics.

Summerset has won awards in various wearable art categories in shows across America. She was in hopes of being invited to be a Bernina Fashion Designer, but they have stopped doing shows now. Like me, Summerset likes to develop garments with a theme in mind. I am sure her garments would have been stunning...well the ones she already makes are!

Summerset also makes clothing for her family and does community related projects. At present, she is doing the Peter Rabbit Characters! Reminds me of all those days I spent using the "Chop-Chop-Sew-Sew" method to do storybook and Nursery Rhyme Characters. Here are some examples of a few I did.

More of my costumes are at my old website: http://www.craftycostume.com/ But, before you go there, check Summerset's blog out! http://scpbanks.blogspot.com/

UPDATE: February 27, 2009 Summerset just won Best of Show at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show 2009, Hampton,VA with her recent ensemble "Bluebird of Happiness"!!! Well Done!

UKSewing - Thames Valley group

Yesterday I went along to a get together at my friend Gabrielle's house. We are part of an online sewing group on Yahoo called UKSewing. Every so often those of us in the Thames Valley area get together. We just have a natter about sewing and show off some of the things we have made recently and so on.

Often, you can come away with a bit of fabric someone else has decided they don't have a use for. This is the fabric I came back with, courtesy of Helen. I am thinking of using the paisley in someway with denim. The photo picks up the red more than it actually is in real life. Perhaps I will add it to a jeans skirt I was given that I can chop and change. Then I can use it for examples of what you can do for some of my courses. There is a bit more of the greyish blue (which is actually a bit more blue than grey shown in the photo). I am thinking of doing something with a bit of a retro feel to it.

Posh Wrap

So, this week I have been sorting out what events I will be attending in Houston and what clothes I should bring or wear for each event. I realised that although Houston has better weather than we do at present, they also like to crank up the air conditioning! So, when I wear my posh skirt at the Bernina Show and reception, I know I will be nervous and I may feel chilly if the air conditioning is on freeze. I don't have time for some posh jacket, and besides I don't want to swealter. I could wear a cardigan, but suddenly, it wouldn't be posh any more. So, I decided to take scraps from the skirt and make a wrap. (I mean these are really scraps. Especially for the tafffeta. I had already used that fabric for the lining of last year's Bernina ensemble skirt, so the posh skirt for me was made from the leftovers.)

Posh Wrap using the "Chop, Chop, Sew, Sew" method. Basically I just took a length of the white synthetic organza, and a length of the taffeta. I chopped the taffeta in half lengthwise and gathered it a bit with a long stitch on the sewing machine. Then I overlocked it onto the white with my overlocker (US term=serger). I just stuck it on, not fussing...they didn't even have properly straight edges!

The first strip didn't keep the gathering as much, so I just carried the extra round to the end. Then the other side actually worked. So, I needed a bit for the other end. I discovered I had a shaped piece that was cut on the bias so I just thought I would put it on there and then trim it. But I decided to leave it the way it was! Okay I was pretending to be a designer...Oh yeah, I am. (Smile!) So then I overlocked all round the outside edge. Then I made beaded tassle bits like I did for the skirt which makes it all work with the handbag.

Tassle Detail

Voila! One posh wrap.

I like the idea of having one side more ruffled than the other, as I will wear that side against my neck and the frill won't get annoying. Did I say I don't normally do the scarf/shawl/ wrap thing. I will see how I get on with this. If I like it, I may change my ways.