Vintage Style

The top I have made for January MAGAM is an old Style Pattern from 1975. I have quite a few Style patterns in my stash all dating from the mid 70s to 1991. Some I bought new myself and some used ones I got from the op shop.

This was a very quick project. The fabric is cotton jersey from Spotlight  and the pattern is just four pieces. It is suitable for woven and jersey fabrics. Because of the loose fit I straight stitched the seams then finished them with the overlocker.

 The neckline is more boat-shaped than the illustration would suggest, but it isn't too wide. It was supposed to be finished with bias binding but I made a skinny facing, understitched it, topstitched it and trimmed it back with the overlocker. 

My husband took a few photos for me as a nice change from mirror shots.

This is a very comfortable top, easy to get into and get out of and is just right for part of a cruise wardrobe.

Not quite the pattern illustration.

I am very pleased with this simple little top. So easy to make and so easy to wear. It is a pity it is no longer available, although I did see one copy on etsy.  It will definitely go on the make again pile.

Bye for now ;)

November MAGAM skirt ..then nothing

I finished my third Rachel Comey skirt Vogue 1247 towards the end of November, then ground to a halt. My mojo packed her bags, said "hooroo" (that's aussie for goodbye) and vanished out the door. I had made the skirt for Christmas so felt no urgency to chase after her, instead choosing to mess around in my sewing room doing precious little.

I kept postponing my photo session and when I finally put the skirt on I discovered to my horror that I had added a little fluff around my high hip/waist and the skirt was now a bit tight. I sucked everything in and took the pics then hoping to shed the fluff between the beginning of December and Christmas I put it aside and on Christmas morning put it on. Nope, no better. 11.30 am found me sitting in my undies at the sewing machine letting the side seams out from the waist to the hip seam, turning what had been 1.5cm seams into 6mm seams. It took only a matter of minutes and I could breathe again, literally as well as figuratively speaking.

I wore the skirt on Christmas Day with a black top. The green one is tucked up around my waist for photography purposes.

The fabric was another remnant from Spotlight. As I had only 1 metre and the print is directional I had a lot of fun fitting the pattern onto the fabric. I did a lot of clever folding and made it fit with only a few scraps left over.

 It is a quite firm cotton with bunches of cherries or similar and looks quite festive, I think. It fits comfortably now and coped with Roast Turkey, Plum Pudding etc.

 The New Year sees me with a navy and white wide striped top cut out and waiting to be sewn, but after that I'm not sure where to go.

An old pattern from 1975 I'm making the blue top on the right.

I have made a garment every month since mid 2013 when I joined Sarah Liz's Style the Stash Sew-a-long followed by the Make A Garment A Month Challenge in 2014 and my wardrobe is bulging at the seams. :) Apart from shopping trips and a fortnightly visit to the library my clothing needs are more of the retired lady of the house variety and I have an abundance of those. I have whittled down my stash to a few cold weather pieces and a dress or top length or two but I don't need anything more at the moment and I would be sewing them just for the sake of using up the fabric.

Now that MAGAM has moved across to Facebook I think I may take a break from a firm commitment and just make something when I really want to. I have a lot of quilting stash so perhaps I'll piece another quilt top. Or maybe I'll buy some real fabric and make something special for our next cruise in April. Meanwhile the navy and white top is calling me so I will finish it and see where we go from there.

Happy New Year to all and may your sewing always be a joy.

Whittling down the stash.

October was a busy month for me, with three family birthdays and quite a bit of sewing and I have finally made myself sit down and write about the sewing part of it.

First off I made my Style Arc Slip on Suzie dress which I introduced at the end of September. This is a very nice dress which caused very little trouble except for a bit of gaposis at the crossover neckline. This I managed with a few stitches to hold the wrap in place and will take a tuck out of the pattern before the next time it is made.

Thinking that it looks a little shapeless on my shapeless body I made a tie with the excess I cut off the hemline. Not sure if it looks much different.

Either way I like the dress and found it very easy and comfortable to wear. The fabric is a Retro printed stretch poly which is very stretchy, easy to get into and out of.

Next I dipped into my lucky dip basket and came up with, you guessed it, another jersey. This time a nice lemony yellow which was labelled as Colorado Cotton Jersey, colour Butter. The pattern I had matched with it was an old Vogue 9904. Both pattern and fabric are from my stash. I have had the pattern for several years and have used it once before, so I was quite happy to cut it out without hesitation. The only alteration I made from the original was to straighten the side seams as they curved out to fit an hourglass shape, which I am not! However I should have allowed a little more ease as it is a bit snug across my tummy.

 I really must do something about getting a remote for my camera as these mirror shots are not wonderful.

On to the next item. The inspiration for these was a Craftsy Sewing Kit, a pair of linen pants.

This outfit really caught my eye, especially with the navy top and I thought I might buy the kit which was half price at the time. Well the postage was more than the sewing kit and made the total over $60. As Spotlight was selling McCalls patterns for about $6 and I had some natural colour cotton linen blend in my stash which had been there since forever, I said forget it, I'll make my own version.

The pattern is McCalls 6843 and while the picture on the envelope looks like pyjama pants the finished pants look something like my inspiration.

It's a pity McCall's didn't get their sample maker to press the seams before the photo shoot.

The slight bulge in my side seams has been removed since the photo was taken. I trimmed the seams twice before I was satisfied with the end result. I don't know why I didn't cut the legs to a smaller size in the first place. Anyway I am quite satisfied with the finished pants and think they will be quite pleasant to wear in warm weather. The cotton component stops them from wrinkling too much. I made a pair of shorts from the same fabric some years ago and they have worn well.

I have bought some nice navy linen for a top after the style of my inspiration pic but have yet to find a suitable pattern so November's sewing project is another Vogue 1247 skirt in a print fabric.

Until then....

Lucky dip.

A few weeks ago I looked at all my patterns and all my fabric and couldn't decide what to sew next. I always have trouble deciding which pattern would be the best match with that particular piece of fabric and if I went with that one maybe I would be sorry and wish I had gone with the other one. So I started to match up some of the fabric with patterns I thought would go nicely together and ended up with twelve pairings. A couple of these had an alternate pattern or fabric. These I wrote down on a Project Planner sheet that I printed off from the Craftsy website. I can't supply a link as I can't find it anymore. Luckily I downloaded the pdf.

Next step was to decide which project to make first so I wrote them all down on bits of paper, put them in a basket and drew one out. The winner was...

A striped top made from a Japanese premium knit jersey using New Look 6779 OOP, my sort-of-TNT top. I have made this top 4 or 5 times before and I like how it fits but the neckline has been changed a few times. I cut a size 12 but should have added a little extra ease around the tummy.It's a bit snug but not tight and it clings to the knit fabric of my skirt.

I had a few problems while making this top. First, jersey curls (and curls and curls). Second the pattern has 5/8" seams so in the interests of accuracy I had to pin the seams every 1/2" to make the fabric lie flat enough to sew. Finally I wanted to overlock the seams and trim them back to 1/4". While doing the back seam and concentrating on keeping those pesky curls under control, suddenly disaster struck. Ohh nooo! I'd caught a fold of the back under the knife and cut a half inch slice in my top.

I cut a scrap of material and a piece of fusible webbing and patched the cut from the wrong side matching the stripes. Can you see the repair?

I'm so relieved that I was able to save this top.I think I will give jersey a miss for a while.
                                        


Next one out of the hat is Style Arc's Slip on Suzie a faux wrap dress in a Retro Printed Knit Polyester, another Spotlight special from a few years ago. The minute I saw this pattern I knew it had to be made in this fabric. Wish me luck!

August stashbusting

The theme for August was stashbusting, so I took the opportunity to scrounge among those pesky remnants that we all manage to collect and came up with a couple of "colour blocked garments".
Naturally I couldn't find any pieces that were big enough to make something that looked reasonable so I just hacked a bit off here and there and came up with this for my granddaughter.

Kwik Sew 3234

The pattern is a girl's pyjama top but I figured a top is a top and it was the only kids pattern I have anyway.

Kwik Sew 2965

Next I salvaged a few pieces in 3 colours and cobbled together this top for myself. Suitable for around the house in summer.What else can I say.

While I was in salvage mode I lopped the bodice off the house dress I made last year. I only wore it twice. It had an acute case of gaposis at the back neckline and the long back zipper was more than my bad shoulder could cope with.

It will be much more useful as a summer skirt. I finished the waist with some pale blue bias tape from my collection.

Let's hope September will be more inspiring.

Catching up

My husband and I have just returned from a holiday in England and a Mediterranean cruise. Before we left I completed my May garment, a pair of Style Arc Barb pants, and then dived straight into a top for June. Kwik Sew 3740 View A.

The Barb's were made from a khaki/brownish stretch gabardine on sale at Spotlight some time ago. (fancy that!) I got this pattern because it was advertised as Linda pants with a slimmer leg. While the legs are indeed slimmer than Linda I feel the rest of the pants don't fit me as well. Comparing the two patterns I noticed a difference in the shape of the crotch, but decided to go ahead and use Barb as it came. I wore them a few times while we were overseas but although they look nice they don't feel as comfortable as Linda. The crotch is shorter and there is a bit of bagginess under the bottom at the back. I pinched out a fold of fabric and they looked much better so the pattern will need to be altered before I use it again.

That's not dust on the mirror, my camera seems to have developed a strange spotty overlay.

On to Kwik Sew 3740. I have made this top twice before. First time View A with the cowl and long sleeves, size medium, which required an incredible amount of "taking in" before it fit me. I feel the the stretchiness of the fabric had a lot to do with that problem. Next time I made view B size small with the neckline raised 5cm and with short sleeves. A much better fit.

This time I made view A again but raised the neckline 3 cm, used small size instead of medium, cut extra small sleeves (I have skinny arms) and the cowl in extra small to fit the altered neckline. It turned out well. The fabric is a poly/lycra knit another sale special from Spotlight and the colours aren't me at all, but it was cheap!!! You have to buy it when they're practically giving it away, don't you? It was originally intended for a dress but the weaving terrazzo path pattern was very difficult to place without giving me bulbous hips or weird shaped bosoms, so a top it became with the pattern pieces placed randomly to avoid the snakelike design.

Both of these garments accompanied us on our 5 week holiday to England and Europe, but wouldn't you know it, we had the first hot summer I have ever encountered in 5 previous trips. Long sleeved tops were not the most useful things to have packed. Luckily I packed short sleeves as well.

After we got home and the jet lag had worn off, I started sewing the Style Arc Simone cardi I had cut out before leaving. I had had visions of taking it with me but time ran out so it was ready and waiting when I got back.

The strange pucker is caused by my hand tilting, not a quirky pattern design.

What a treasure! It went together smoothly, it has drape without dangles and the most intriguing pockets. Built in pockets! I'm in love. The fabric is a wool/acrylic knit in navy blue, again from Spotlight but I think I paid a bit more for this. I got a size 10 but if I have one complaint it is I should have got a size 12 as I could do with a bit more ease. I usually get tops in a 12 from Style Arc so not sure why I made that mistake. Even so, it is a lovely cardigan and I shall get a lot of wear out of it.

I'm still debating what to make for August. So much fabric, so many patterns. Something for summer, perhaps?
 

...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.