You Spilled Blueberries and Batwings All Over my Knit Tops!

February 21, 2013February 12, 201451 Comments

Still continuing on with the fun of sewing knits. I made the T-shirt pattern from the Craftsy Sewing With Knits course. It actually started out as stark white jersey fabric. Whiter than white can be white. And I thought, “it’s too white”. So, I decided to dye it. In the interest of environmental and health safety, I wanted to use something natural. I have dyed things with tea before, and they came out a lovely sepia tone. But wanted this one to be more colourful. Have you ever been to somebody’s house and everything is completely white? I mean, everything, furniture, pillows, curtains, rugs. Not only does being there make one REALLY nervous, but, what are the two things you pray they don’t serve you? Blueberry juice and red wine!! So, those were the winners for the dyeing process. I sewed up the T-Shirt first, then let it soak for about half an hour in the offending-to-white liquids. Et, voila!! It came out a subtle purple-grey tone. I made the XXS, as I did with the fleece hoodie, but this one was not as roomy. I would make the XS next time. For the next knit top, I drafted my own pattern with instructions from the book, Downtown DIY Sewing by Alice Chadwick. It included a body, cuffs, waistband and interfaced neck facing.I used gridded pattern paper. I could only find paper with the grid in inches and my rulers are in metric, but not a big problem. The grid makes it so much easier to measure and draft, and I highly recommend it! And this was the end result:It is a printed jersey and was my first time using a directional pattern, stripes and a geometric floral band, and it lined up out quite well. The pattern is a dolman / batwing sleeve style, remember those? I was having a twitter conversation with Charlotte from Seamripped and she was working on her own project and asked if the batwing look will come back in style. I said “yes!” and have since found a lot of sites with batwing / dolman sleeve fashions that look quite stylish. I like this shirt as it is a dressed up version of casual. A bit like a fancier, more interesting sweatshirt, with all the comfort maintained. Update: I have since worn this top and the neck facing would periodically turn toward the outside. So, I followed some advice to stitch along the shoulder seams, stitching in the ditch, and through the neck facing. I did this using a triple stretch stitch and it is really helping to hold the neck facing inside the top.

And the Winner of Pattern Pyramid and Sew Grateful Giveaway Is……

February 18, 2013February 19, 201364 Comments

Oooooh, excitement has been palpable, here at Pattern Pyramid central. As most of you know, this original idea was started by Karen at Did you Make That? and has been kept going by other wonderful sewing bloggers around the world starting their own Pyramid! Here is the information about this Pattern Pyramid that I was lucky enough to win and to it, I also added a Sew Grateful Giveaway gift, consisting of a book titled “I Made It Myself“.

So, we began with printing out all the entrants, like so:Then, Kitty donned his track suit, and began warming up for the official officiating ceremony.Kitty likes to pace himself and start out slow. Okay, VERY slow, but he did not want to get ahead of himself. Before you know it, since Kitty is quite an impressive athlete, his warm-up turns into a frenzy of herculean feats. So much so, that it is often difficult to capture his powerful and agile qualities on film. Kitty tends to leap right out of camera view!!

Afterwards, when kitty was all limber, the entrants names were attached to the official Olympic Kitty Torch, like so: Kitty took his job very seriously, staked out the Torch carefully looking for his best port of entry.

Kitty approached from different vantage points, meticulously stalking the Torch, trying to mentally out-wit it. Begging the question, “Will Kitty actually pounce on Torch, thereby selecting a winning name???” Kitty “tests” the Torch, sizing up his opponent’s strength and skill. Just when you thought it was all only a mind game, Kitty GOES FOR IT!! AMAZING!!! Will these feats of unbelievable artistic athleticism result in a name being revealed??? Or will we have to do this all over again?? A tense yet exciting moment! Let’s wait and see….And, a name comes down!!!! Torn valiantly from the Olympic Torch by our very own brave Kitty. Well done Sir!!! Kitty investigates the winning name.And the winner is Kaitui Kiwi!!!!Congratulations to Kaitui Kiwi from The Curious Kiwi . We are all so Happy for you!! And Pattern Pyramid gets to travel, yet again, to the area of the land down under, all the way to Wellington, New Zealand! It is getting out its sunscreen now.

Kitty is Very Happy For You!!

I will contact you, Kaitui Kiwi for your snail mail and then send off the Pattern Pyramid and the “I Made it Myself” book to you.

Fearless February Project: Burda Style 7441

February 12, 2013April 8, 201347 Comments

I am currently at work on my Fearless February Project. This sew-along was started by Victoria, and her blog, Ten Thousand Hours of Sewing, is based on the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

In the book, Gladwell expounds the value of the “10,000 Hour Rule”, where success and mastery of something can be achieved but requires 10,000 hours of practice. It makes me feel really motivated and positive about my sewing since as a beginner, I sometimes feel overwhelmed with all there is to learn. But, with this idea in mind, I believe that I can achieve success in sewing!

I’m a fan of Gladwell’s writing and if you have not checked him out, he has published several books and they all infuse a fresh twist into the subjects of modern psychology and philosophy.

Okay, with that in mind, here is the Fearless February Project: Burda Style Pants 7441. I began this project last year before ever having sewn a thing, and it was far too overwhelming. And, in retrospect, it was not a good choice for an absolute beginner for several reasons: 1) The pattern is a Burda and I have been told they can be notorious for not providing the most detailed or complete instructions. 2) It is rated as a 3 out of 4 on a difficulty level. 3) Tailored pants are more difficult to sew than a simple skirt or top. And, 4) These pants have a lot going on including, two different styles of pockets, darts, pleats, zipper.

However, with some experience under my belt, a slew of practice hours logged and a variety of projects completed, I felt ready to tackle these pants again.

All pattern pieces have been cut out, including lining and interfacing.

The very first task (after sewing the back darts) was to construct the back welt pockets. Wow, these were difficult to understand, the directions and pictures were not very explanatory and there seemed to be a few placement marks missing on the pattern pieces (i.e., sew lines for piping and pocket attachment). But, with the help of my sewing teacher, and a few tears, I have now completed the back welt pockets!! There was a definite learning curve, and, one pocket looks better from the outside while the other pocket worked out nicely from the inside. So, for the next pants, I should be able to construct a pocket that looks good from both the outside and inside. I am now on to the front of the pants. Wish me luck!