I haven’t really been posting here lately because I’ve been very caught up in pattern making, which I love. And my friend Claudia and I decided that we want to start a new fashion line, and so we have a new web site up now, http://jadenomadtravelwear.com/
Our new fashion line is called Jade Nomad, and we’re doing women’s travel wear. We’re hoping to do a mini-launch for Spring 2013, and a full launch for Fall 2013. http://www.facebook.com/JadeNomad
OWOP! I’ll be joining the one week one pattern challenge, where you pick one sewing pattern, and wear your creations styled different ways for one whole week, from Saturday 24th to Friday 30th March 2012.
http://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2012/03/one-week-one-pattern-details.html
I’m thinking of using the Colette Clover pants, since I’ve already made 2 pairs, and am currently working on my 3rd, a pair of denim trousers with a front fly. Since it’s winter right now, I definitely like wearing pants more than dresses or skirts, although I do have a dress on today with tights. It will be interesting trying to style the pants in different ways.
I just received my new book from Amazon called Cut-up Couture: Edgy Upcycled Garments to Sew, by Koko Yamase. It’s a gorgeously styled book that talks about how to refashion sweatshirts, t-shirts and dress shirts into chic clothes. I love the interesting ideas in here, but I think that the clothes wouldn’t look quite so chic with your standard thrift store sweatshirt, so I think I will make some of the garments in here, but using new sweatshirts.
I’ve been looking a lot at knit dresses, and really like this draped design.
I just finished my first self-drafted jersey pattern. Here’s a picture of my dress.
I wanted a comfortable jersey dress that I could wear to work, and since I finished my patternmaking 2 class at Portland Sewing, all I want to do now is draft clothes.
I was looking for something like this.
I started with my basic torso sloper, and followed instructions on drafting a knit shirt from the book Building Patterns: The Architecture of Women’s Clothing. I first manipulated my darts into the side dart, removed ease at the sides, and drew my neckline. Then I eliminated my side dart by bringing my waist up by that amount.
Here’s a picture of my front and back draft.
I made my back neckline width 1/8 inch wider than my front neckline width to prevent gaping at the center front neckline. You can see on my back draft that my shoulder seam came out a little bit.
I cut a stretch lining fabric using the same front and back pattern pieces, and also cut out a facing. The lining covers the entire front and back, but not the sleeves.
I finished the lower edge of my facing with a serger, then basted it to the lining. I sewed the shoulder seams of both the lining and the fashion fabric, and then sewed my neck edge right sides together. I stitched the facing to the seam to hold it in place. Then I sewed my side seams, permanently attaching my lining to my outer by sewing all 4 fabrics at the same time.
You can see here that my lining is attached to my outer fabric.
I used my double needle for the first time. It was surprisingly easy to use, and made a nice finish that was also stretchy. They have great instructions here: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/05/sewing-tips-basic-stitches-plus-double.html
I’m not quite sure what the fabric is, because I bought it from the Annex section of Mill End, but it’s a woven not a knit, so it must have some spandex in it to give it stretch.
I’m about to start designing and sewing some jersey dresses, so here’s some that I like so far.
Since I’ve been doing so much reading and experimenting with jeans, I thought I would post my top tips for sewing jeans. Here’s a picture of my very first pair. I started them at the beginning of January, but I only just finished them now, mainly because I had to repair my flat felled seam on my inseam, which started totally coming apart, since I only used a 5/8 inch seam. These were made using a stretch denim. I’m not sure what the weight is since I bought it from the annex section at Mill End.
Here’s a picture of the pocket. To make the pattern for the top stitching, I folded a piece of paper in half, made a random curve on it, and cut that out.
Here’s the back of my jeans. For the back yoke, I wanted to completely eliminate my back dart by having the yoke encompass the whole dart. This made the back yoke length 4 inches. Bad idea. You can see how far down the yoke goes, and I’m not so into that look. So for my next pair of jeans, I made the back yoke 3 inches, and moved the rest of the dart into my side seam.
And here are my top tips for sewing jeans.
1. Make a muslin first, and after you make adjustments to your pattern, make another muslin, but this time, use your final fashion denim to make a pair of short shorts. That way, you can see how the stretch and weight of the denim affect the fit.
2. Buy high quality buttons and rivets. Do not buy those cheap ones from Joanns. High quality buttons and rivets are made out of metal and are easy to install with a hammer and metal plate. I used ones from http://www.castbullet.com/rivet.htm
3. Use a 3/4 to 1 inch seam allowance for flat felled seams on denim. A 5/8 is insufficient. Tape paper to the outside of your pattern, and add that extra amount by using a ruler and pencil. 3/4 inch is good for a narrow looking seam, and 1 inch is good for a wider seam with 3 or 4 topstitching lines.
4. Practice sewing the front fly. By the time I got to my 4th fly on my purple jeans, then I finally felt like I knew what I was doing.
Okay, I was aiming for 10 tips, but that’s all I can think of for now. Have a great day!
Here is a pair of purple jeans that I sewed for the Pattern Review jeans contest.
http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/contestreport.pl?ContestID=151
These non-stretch jeans have flat-felled seams, four pockets, and a zip fly with button closure. It has a slightly tapered leg with metal side zippers. I used a purple 10 oz denim, and they are 100% cotton, with no stretch in them.
I drafted these pants using the book called “Building Patterns the Architecture of Women’s Clothing” by Suzy Furrer.
http://www.amazon.com/Building-Patterns-Architecture-Womens-Clothing/dp/1424343534
I wanted a pair of straight leg, high waisted jeans. I drew up the basic trouser sloper in the book, and then drafted the jeans based on the instructions in the book. I lowered the waistline to be 1 inch below the navel, and I’m pretty happy with this waistline. I used a contoured waistband, which I think fits much better than a straight waistband, even though my book says that if the waist is less than 1” below the natural waist, that you can use a straight waistband. My first pair of test jeans has a straight waistband, and it did not fit properly at all.
I drafted front pockets, and a front fly. For the zipper, I used a 5” metal zipper. In my test pair, I used a 7” zipper, and it was way too long. Since it was metal, it was hard to cut, but I did it anyway, with my paper scissors. For the front pockets, I used this fun purple and green quilting cotton. I wanted the fun fabric to be visible to me, so my whole pocket facing is with the quilting fabric. I serged and topstitched my denim piece that faces the outside on to the quilting fabric.
For the back pocket, I used the Butterick 5682 pocket. I also used the Butterick 5682 sewing instructions to construct my self-drafted jeans.
I used flat-felled seams on my back yoke and center back. On my test pair, I used the standard 5/8 inch seam allowance, and could not get it to really stay closed. I did some reading on-line, and increased my seam allowance to ¾, and that extra 1/8 inch really made a huge difference.
I followed the instructions on Male Pattern Boldness for both the flat felled seams, http://malepatternboldness.blogspot.com/2011/05/jeans-sew-along-3-seams.html
and for attaching the fly:
http://malepatternboldness.blogspot.com/2011/05/jeans-sew-along-5-fly.html
I added 5 inch zippers to the bottom of the legs, and I really like how they turned out.
For topstitching, I used Guterman top stitching thread in brown, and a size 100 needle. I tried using both a size 90 jeans needle and a top stitching needle, but the size 100 needle worked best. I had them from my quilting days.
The rivets and buttons I got from Junior at http://www.castbullet.com/rivet.htm and my husband said that they were easy to put in. He just used a hammer, and a metal plate that was on some piece of woodworking equipment. I bought the sombrero rivets, and read that sometimes they get smashed in. Luckily the ones that I had went in just fine with no special equipment.
All in all, I’m really happy with my jeans. I wore them today at work, and they brightened up the dreary rainy day.
After reading the inspiring Colette Sewing Handbook http://www.amazon.com/Colette-Sewing-Handbook-Techniques-Seamstress/dp/1440215456/ I decided to actually analyze my wardrobe, and to plan out what items I should sew, instead of buying random fabric and patterns. Instead of making pieces that will not ever get worn, I want to focus on wardrobe basics that I will wear every week. I decided that I like bold and graphic styles with simple silhouettes. The color palette that I’ve chosen for this year is:
And the clothes that I would like to sew are:
Right now, I’m working on my first pair of jeans ever, and they are self drafted from the book
Building Patterns the Architecture of Women’s Clothing
And I just bought some purple denim, and will be joining the jeans contest at Sewing Pattern Review!
Sew Cult 