There is nothing like fabric fun... See me at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, Maryland USA The best fabric store ever... We get designer fabrics from New York everyday and they are only 2.97 a yard.
The Treasure hunt room: From Glitter and Lace to Ralph Lauren first runs from the designers...wonderful 4 way knits... and I LOVE them all
So, my picture content has been questioned... I truly believe a picture is worth a thousand words.
Note: my picture of myself in the mid throws of sewing as many tubins' as possible this week, I have huge bags under my eyes. Making an outfit a day, organizing my mini store of fabric and blogging all at the same time has a no sleep penalty.
So, in honor of Google wanting more words out of me, I shall add some verbal tips. To be quick, I sometimes lay out five pieces of lycra/matte jersey at a time and pin the selvages together to assure they are flatly laid out and pin my pattern pieces for my drape neck blouse that I love onto the stack of fabric. You must have sharp scissors for this. Ginghers are great scissors for this. Do NOT pick them up in haste when you are crafting jewelry. They will never be the same. So, now after you get out your Butterick 3131 pattern, that has be altered to perfection for you. Pin on your pieces, only five pieces. No front facing in this pattern, it only has a small back facing and a small piece of interfacing for the back neck. There is front (my front is altered to add additional draping, back, sleeves, and back neck facing. in this pattern. After cutting out the pieces, lay your stack next to the sewing machine. It is a really quick-sew after this. I can go through the stack and iron on the interfacing pieces to all five or just do a blouse at a time.
Tip for cutting out pattern pieces. When I have a pattern that I know has notches and dots to match up and places where I am going to clip I do it as I cut the pattern pieces. So, when I pick them up to sew I just match the clips. This pattern there is a place where your back piece has a neck interfacing and it is only sew 5/8 in to start so you don't have to clip it. But where it lines up with the front sloping drape you are going to have to clip. I clip the front piece of this blouse as I cut out the pattern piece. On your sleeve pieces there are dots and notches. I found I can clip in a little at each dot and it makes it very easy and fast for me to sew a sleeve in. I pick up the sleeve piece and do the line of basting from one notch to the other. Then I sew the sleeve together and hem the sleeve at the length that I have already adjusted my pattern to the length that works with my suits etc. I turn under the bottom of the sleeve twice and top stitch. At this point the front has already been sewn to the back and the Top shoulder seem has been top stitched through the shoulder seam to hold it in place. I just pin the sleeve in place-ease in the fullness by matching the notches and the dot clips. There are dot clips on my front and back pattern pieces that I clipped as I cut out those pieces, so you just line them up together when you pin and it is easy to sew the sleeves in.
1. If I feel like I have a little time, I do five at a time. In other words, do all five interfacing iron ons. You have everything cut out in the stack. Five interfacings and five back neck facings. After ironing the interfacing on, do all five back neck facings turn under the edge a quarter of an inch and top stitch. Sew the back neck interfacings onto all five back blouse pieces.
2. Take all five front blouse pieces and turn under your front facing which is just a large circular slope to the blouse piece and you only need to turn under the edge quarter of an inch and top stitch.
3. Now you have a front and back ready to sew together. Sew your side seams together matching your notches. I cut out my pieces to fit me with a quarter inch seam so I can just use an overcast stitch to sew the pieces together. I don't have a serger, but if somebody asks me something at work, I like to be able to show them the seams without embarrassment of messy look seams.
Any overcast stitch will do but the one I use on the machine I am using now is the one that looks like a straight stitch on two sides and a zigzag in the middle.
If the fabric is not thick enough to not get sucked into the feed-dog I use the zipper stitch.
So, this writing out everything takes time. Now it is Tuesday my day off. I wore black denim looking tubins' on Sunday and Monday before I went to work I made a long cardigan type jacket out of some drapey black fabric that virtually stayed wrinkle free. I may use this pattern for a white fabric. Then I will have a black and a white blazer type jacket and a black and white cardigan long jacket to wear. I virtually have almost every color you can imagine in poly poplin suits, but I am planning on trying different suit jacket patterns and reporting back here as to how easy and fast they are to sew.
This blogging may increase my coffee drinking, but I need to increase my water drinking, also.
This is my glitter outfit I wore on Sunday. Glitter tubins-glitter was in the knit itself so no trace left. The top had those wonderful little mirrors on it...and the accordian pleat was a slight satin type sheen woven in so I felt it suited the whole look. I found a slightly glitter black sash to use as a scarf and I felt it was a good outfit.
The sweetheart neckline top.... quick and easy. Hardest part is picking the material... I used the accordian pleat for the bottom, so I adjusted the pattern somewhat for the different type of fabric, and I transposed the boatneck from the slanted one onto the sweetheart so I would not be showing too much skin at work. I have no neck and high chest, so low necklines are very low on me and have to adjusted to regular high boat.
Butterick B5045
Remember this?... Monday I made a black cardigan style jacket to go over this for a different look
I liked wearing this jacket with the long dress. I felt flowy.
These are Lightweight Lycra pants made from the same pattern but taking the baggy capri's and extended them to long pants for the palazzo pants look and matching scarf.
Then I made Yellow Pants the same way and used the pattern with shirt pattern and added sleeves from the lace yoke pattern, but raised the neckline and cut the lining (yellow silk under the lace with the top from this long jacket pattern and you can see how low the shirt would have been. Of, course inappropriate for work, but when I raised the lace neckline I could wear it.
The jacket with this yellow outfit was made from a popcorn gauze that I found in 2.97. Light and airy. For the Yellow Jacket I took off 6 inches so it wasn't as long, but was still drapey and airy.
