...and sometimes I do alterations

My husband has great faith in my sewing abilities (I suppose I should be flattered) and often calls on me to sew or alter various items of clothing. Mainly making his shorts and shortening the legs of jeans, pants etc. However this last little job has almost done me in.

He has a cream jacket and the sleeves are a bit too long. He has worn it a few times but decided the sleeves just had to be shortened before our next overseas trip. What!!!  The sleeves have a mitred vent and four buttons with false buttonholes. "It'll be easy" he says. "Just turn them up an inch." I don't think so!

Original sleeves

I remembered an article by  Judith Turner in Australian Stitches magazine. I looked up the index and found three articles (thanks Sharon). Hmmm. Fairly comprehensive step by step instructions. What does you tube have to offer? A wonderful array of videos. I settled on hem suit coat sleeves by Phyllis Smith and sewing mitre and bagging side on jacket sleeve  by Judith Turner.

One week later and after much whimpering, unpicking and tearing of hair the job was finished. It's not perfect and I sincerely hope no one ever inspects the work closely, but my husband professed himself satisfied. The biggest problem I had was with the mitre as the vertical and horizontal hems were of uneven width. Much folding and pressing and refolding and pressing was needed and eventually a lot of secret hand stitches were used to finish off the mitres.

The false buttonholes have been discarded as there is no way I could do them and my husband said two buttons were enough, although I may add the rest later. The stitching marks of the false buttonholes are proving difficult to remove. Any ideas anyone? I could try some white vinegar, perhaps.

The purpose of this post is to remind myself never, never, never to attempt this again. Also to issue the warning that while doable, it is not easy! But I must admit I'm rather proud of my effort.

The next job will be to choose a pattern for my May MAGAM. Something I can wear on our trip, I think.

Daffodil yellow jeans

For April's MAGAM challenge, Sarah Liz suggested  "maybe this month you can learn a new technique, expand your sewing knowledge, or just make something you like for the new season"
I love wearing jeans, but buying them RTW is a bit of a hit and miss affair. If they fit in the waist they are too big in the hips and if they fit my hips I can't get them buttoned up. Making my own pair would also expand my sewing knowledge.

I bought this Jalie 2908 jeans pattern in 2009 when everyone else was making "jeans that fit". I always intended to try it for myself and five years on I have. At the time I read almost every review on PatternReview.com and made copious notes, which is a good thing as I had forgotten most of them.

I used some daffodil yellow stretch drill purchased a couple of years ago to make a muslin first. The stretch factor was much the same as the stretch gauge on the pattern so I traced off  the size that matches my hips and increased the waist two sizes. 

Because these were a trial pair for fitting mainly,  I omitted a lot of the traditional jeans features. I only did minimal topstitching and skipped the rivets and belt loops. My pocket design leaves a lot to be desired - there isn't one - and the pattern gives no clues as to what would be suitable. I also feel the pocket is a bit too long for me. I have made a note to shorten it by 2cm. The bias waistband fits me well but it twisted somewhat as I was stitching it on.

 This is a very good pattern, the instructions are easy to follow and the diagrams very clear. I printed the separate pattern instructions from the Jalie website for easy reference and all the pieces went together smoothly. I did add a pocket stay and this may be why they didn't stretch quite so well around my middle, but I got the button done up and after wearing them on Sunday they loosened up and needed hitching occasionally.

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 Not too sure how often I will wear these in public as they are a bit colourful, but I will tackle another pair in more traditional denim soon. Meanwhile, I have conquered another "never thought I could do it" demon

Vogue 1250 and the fabric from hell.

I started off in March with a simple dress that I had made before, as I knew the month would be busy. I had a trip to Melbourne planned for the end of the month but the dress wasn't finished so it went with me. I'm sure it enjoyed the plane trip but somehow, in between catching up with my sister, seeing her new grandson and celebrating her birthday, the dress languished in my case and came back home in the same unfinished state.

When I finally settled down to sew it I found I had the fabric from hell. Every time I stitched it, it slipped and stretched and skewed all over the place. This required a lot of work with my favourite tool the seam ripper. Not that any ripping was being done. Tiny zigzag in fabric that snagged and tried to run with each unpicked stitch needed very careful handling. Added to that black thread on the black roses made it almost impossible to see the stitches in places.

Eventually the thing was done and I'm very happy with the finished result.

I really like this pattern. I made it two years or so ago and I don't recall any problems with the pattern or the fabric at the time. It goes together easily and although I did find it was a bit too long in the bodice then, this time I took a tuck front and back which solved the problem.

The previous dress, above, enjoyed several dinners aboard ship on our last cruise so I'm expecting both of them to accompany me in July when we go cruising again.

Now to tackle my April challenge which is a pair of jeans. I'm using the Jalie 2908 which has been made by just about every sewer in the blogosphere and I'm hoping it will be kind to me. To be on the safe side I'm using some yellow stretch drill which I purchased from Spotlight a couple of years ago for the grand sum of $3 per metre.

I might be a year behind the trend for coloured jeans but they are not going to be expensive.

Cheers everyone.

February top

Most of last month was taken up by making a fitted muslin from a very loose boxy OOP Simplicity pattern dating from 1994

Simplicity 9086

My inspiration for this idea was the talented Sharon of Petite and Sewing.  Her Vogue pattern is very similar in style to my pattern, so I thought "I can do that".

When I first made this top back in 1998 I made size 12. It was a bit loose but wearable. It finished up at the op shop though because the facings showed through the white fabric and I didn't like that. The pattern has languished in my stash since then.

Well I made the muslin and I fitted it and trimmed it and fitted it some more and it was enormous. Then I looked at the finished measurements on the pattern. (I've learned a lot since 1998) size 12  is 42-1/2 inches (108cm.) Even size 8 is 40 inches (102cm) Help!! My bust measurement is 92cm. So I lopped more off and finally reached something that felt reasonable.

By this time I wasn't going to risk any fabric that I really liked so I found some poly jacquard that I bought back when Spotlight still had a store in Perth (for those of you not in Perth that's a long long time ago)

With March breathing down my neck, did I knock up something quick? Oh no! I decided to do something I've never done before - french seams. Then I fancied a side invisible zipper like Sharon did so I put that in too. And I hated those facings first time round so I bound the neckline with a bias strip and finally it was finished.

It's still a little on the big side so will need a further nip and tuck.

Side seam invisible zip.

This one is pinned up to a shorter length. Unsure which is better.

I would like to finish by thanking Sharon for inspiring me to try this. I will make another now I know where to make the changes. My aim is to have a blouse that fits as beautifully as hers does.

January MAGM skirt finished.

Finally finished my navy Vogue 1247 skirt yesterday. Not before time. Don't really have an excuse for my tardiness except for grandson's quilt and No.1 son's 50th birthday but really I just couldn't get motivated. Anyway it's done now.

I took a few shortcuts this time and only bound the horizontal hip and pocket seams and overlocked the rest.

I used a scrap of pretty poly-cotton for the pocket linings and binding. I didn't have an invisible zip so did a lapped opening with a navy zip from my stash. Not as neat nor as pretty as my previous effort so I won't be showing it.

The fabric is navy blue although it doesn't look like it, another 80cm remnant of cast iron polyester I have had for years.  I don't think these skirts will ever wear out.

Again I added extra length to the skirt and even made the pockets a little shallower in an endeavour to fit the pattern onto the fabric but alas I had to face the hemline with some 1 inch wide bias binding to conceal my knees and preserve my dignity.

The top I'm wearing is Kwik Sew 3378 made in February 2010 and which is still one of my favourite tops. I must make it again sometime.

Now to tackle February's garment. The toile (muslin) I am working on isn't complete yet so I will have to think of something else to make.

Plans change

Here it is the 1st February and I haven't finished anything. I'm still slip-stitching the binding on my grandson's quilt, which turned out nothing like my original idea and I only cut out my January skirt yesterday and started sewing it today.

When I placed the coloured blocks around the calico art work it looked OK but I wasn't really happy with it. Then I realized that this wasn't meant to be a showcase for my dubious quilting skills but simply a way of preserving a memento. So I went with the maxim that less is more and just added a simple brown border and binding.

It's very plain, but it is for an eight-year old boy, so I don't think he will be too worried. When I finish slip-stitching the binding I will just randomly tie the main area as I don't have any free-motion quilting skills at all and this is not the piece to practice on.

With luck the skirt should be finished tomorrow.

I haven't any specific plans for February. At present I'm toiling a fitted shell and if it is successful I may make a blue print top to go with January's skirt.

Family comes first

Although I am keen to continue with my MAGAM challenge I have some other sewing I have to finish before Australia Day. My grandson's primary school class went to the Perth Hills Wildlife Discovery Centre before Christmas and while they were there they all placed their handprints, in brown and yellow paint, on a large piece of calico.

Grandson won this piece of art in a draw and Grandma has been asked to make a keepsake of it.  It is a little over a metre square so I am adding a border of earthy coloured squares around it, with a shot of green here and there, then will back it and turn it into a sort of quilty thing. I'm hoping it will turn out ok.