One of Last Year's Projects --Girls' Button Front Dress

Here's one of the dresses I made for Daughter last year but never got around to blogging about.  She picked this fabric from the quilting cottons at JoAnn's.  Okay, so taking a picture of it while she's standing in front of a door that is nearly the same color is probably not my best photography decision of the year.  Nobody's perfect.  I'm a dressmaker, not a photographer.

Anyway.  The buttons are a little too bright, with a little too much orange in them to quite match the red berries on the dress, but that is pretty much the only flaw and I think I can live with it.

When I was younger, I had a number of dresses made like this one.  This is one I call the Shamrock dress.  I made this one about 13-14 years ago (yes, it still fits) but hardly ever wear it.  Daughter absolutely loves the style, which is so much more appropriate for her than for me, so I set about making one for her.  I had to create my own pattern for her dress, as I couldn't find a button front pattern, though I confess I didn't try very hard.  The conversion is pretty fast and easy.

I start with my trusty Butterick 3360, which I have made many times.  This pattern has the front on a fold and a back zipper for a closure.  Remove the center back seam allowance and cut on the fold.  Add a self-fabric facing and interfacing to the center front, and Voila! you pretty much have a button front dress.

The only trouble is all those buttonholes to sew and cut and all those buttons to attach.  But the buttons on the front are alot easier to fasten than the zip at the back which is so hard to reach sometimes. 

All in all, it's a gorgeous dress.  Daughter is very happy with it and has put her order in for another.

Another Girls' Butterick Dress

Are you guys tired of this pattern yet? It's Butterick 3350 and now that I've sewn all three necklines, I believe that I am finally tired of it.  Also, this is the largest size in the envelope, so once Daughter grows out of this, we'll need to find a new pattern anyway.

This is made in a pretty  quilting cotton that I bought at JoAnn's earlier this year.  Very nice and soft and easy to sew.  I love this fabric print, a little old fashioned and antique-y but still perfect for a little girl. The back tie is a double sided ribbon, also from JoAnn's but I'm not happy with it.  I thought for the added expense, a double sided ribbon would be a little more substantial than the single sided or the grosgrain.  It's not.  They made it thin and cheap and I really don't like it.  I'm looking for a source for decent ribbons.  Any suggestions?

I put an invisible zipper in the back of this version, too.  So much easier and nicer looking than regular zippers.  And as I get older and (I hope) wiser, I'm more inclined to enjoy the hand sewing aspects of making clothing.  I say this because I sewed the center back seam allowances of the lining to the zipper and the entire lining waist seam entirely by hand -- and I enjoyed it.  That would not have been true just six months ago.

Anyway, like I said, I've sewn all three necklines:
The plain rounded neckline

The sweetheart neckline

 And, of course, this latest one, which I'm no sure what to call. Which do you like best?

A Gallery of Girls' Projects

Last post was for the boys. This one's for the girls. Okay, girl. Since I only have one daughter.

I made Daughter a couple more of her signature knit wrap dresses. This one is made from interlock from JoAnn's.  My girl is growing up, though, so this will probably be the last of the juvenile prints for her.  She has a classic taste.  When she picks fabric for herself, she tends to choose tiny flowered prints, but she still leans towards pinks every chance she gets.

The stripes are a jersey that I bought from Miss Fairchild over at Pattern Review.  Daughter made all the design decisions, including the length of the skirt and sleeves, and the ruffle trimming the hems.

I also made her a bathing suit, using Jalie's newest pattern.  I bought nylon/lycra fabrics last year, on clearance after the summer season was over, so I had several for her to choose from.  She liked both the pink (naturally!) and the purple, so the Jalie, with it's color blocking, was the perfect choice.  I still can't get over how easy these are to make.  And to think I used to spend $25 every year for Daughter's bathing suits.

This sews up in about 3 hours and as far as I can tell, the elastic lengths listed in the pattern instructions are perfect.  I made a swimsuit like this for myself last year and I found it a little short in the torso.  I made Daughter's using the size that matched her height and the fit seems pretty good.  If the weather would just get nice, we could field test it and know for sure whether or not the fit is perfect.

I also made her a cute little collarless jacket out of pink stretch cotton.  I show you that one next time.  And I realize I never took a picture of my wool melton coat that I finished in March.  I'll take a picture of that one, too.  Just as soon I sew on the button I managed to pull off.

A New Dress For Daughter

I feel a bit as though all the dresses I sewed for myself last month used up all my sewing energy for January and February.  But here at the tail end of the month, I seem to be getting a little of my own back.

 The pattern is Butterick 3350 which I reviewed on PatternReview.com last year.  Read the review

The fabric, ribbon, thread, and zipper all come from JoAnn fabrics.  The fabric is a plain old quilting cotton, but I liked this pretty calico print and the thread is Gutermann.

 Since I've used this pattern already, fabric cutting to final hem only took a couple of hours a day for a couple of days.  Daughter likes this Sweetheart neckline very much -- this is the second dress I've made for her with this neckline.  Both sides aren't perfectly matched, but I'm really thinking that no one is going to notice that.

The back tie is grosgrain ribbon, which Daughter has always preferred to a self fabric tie.

This time I used an invisible zipper for the back closure.  They take a little practice, but are well worth learning how to do well.

I used steam-a-seam to get the lining to hold still at the waist seam, and then top stitched on the right side to attach the lining at the waist.  And I hand sewed the lining to the zipper.

Knit Dress Baby Gift

So what have I been doing lately?  I have completed a couple of projects, but the cutest one is this one.  A knit dress for the baby of a new mother I know.  She's just under two months old and cute as a button.

I love to make baby clothes.  And collect baby clothes patterns.  And buy baby fabrics.  So it's no surprise that I had everything that I needed on hand and ready to go.

The pattern is McCall's 8574 and includes an entire layette for babies preemie to 21 pounds.  It includes a t-shirt, onesie, sleeper, gown, dress and diaper cover patterns as well as the ever present hat and booties, which if they fit, never stay on a baby anyway.

I made the View E dress with the long sleeves.  I thought about making the booties, but measuring the baby's ankle just now is impractical and besides, like I said, they never stay on.

The fabric is a heavy weight interlock from JoAnn's.  The print was so cute that I picked it up last year even though I don't have any babies in the family and didn't even know anyone who was pregnant.  But, hey! I figured an opportunity was sure to come along some time.

The pattern is intended to either be hemmed at the neckline or use decorative elastic.  I did neither.  Instead, I trimmed 5/8 inch from the front and back necklines and added self binding.  I cut binding strips from the interlock 1 1/2 inches wide and, uh, long enough that I wouldn't have to worry about running out.  Then I folded it in half lengthwise and serged it to the right side of the front and back necklines.  Finger pressed flat and used a 7mm coverstich to finish.  Voila! Nice neckline edge.

I also stitched in a size tag and a 100% cotton tag so that mama could tell which was front and back.  It's not super obvious and new moms don't have time to play guessing games with the baby's wardrobe.

This is my second entry in the Pattern Review Sewing for Children contest.  Though that's just an added bonus.  If I had more time, I'd make more baby clothes.

Daughter's Dresses are Finished

Early morning sewing.  I love it!  It's the best time to get anything done. I got both of Daughter's dresses finished, though it took me two separate one-hour sessions.  I really think I need to stick to this one hour a day of sewing thing.

I feel so much better already.

The pink print is a heavyweight cotton interlock from JoAnn's, the perfect weight for a winter dress.  The solid pink is just a plain jersey.

The giant flower fabric is also a pretty heavy cotton interlock.  I wasn't sure those flowers weren't so big it would look like they were wearing Daughter instead of the other way around, but it seemed to work out better than I expected.  The salmon is a cotton lycra and flimsier than the interlock, but the two seem to work well together.  They both came from Fabric.com.

The pattern is an adaptation of the Jalie twinset.  I don't really like the draft of the Jalie wrap top for little girls, so I took the twinset top pattern and redrafted the front.

I had to experiment to get the right binding length.  I walked the seamline of the neckline, cut the binding piece that length, and then stretched it gently when I sewed it to neckline.  I cut off the excess binding and subtracted that amount from the amount I started with.  I think it took me a couple of tries until I had just the right amount of binding that didn't pucker and prevented the fronts from gaping open, but it was well worth the effort.  This makes the nicest dresses and they're quick and easy.

Friday Night Sew-In -- Leatherworking project

Pop on over and sign up for the Friday Night Sew In this week.  I'm looking forward to it, that's for sure.

First of all, I need to drive to JoAnn's for the start of their weekend sale on Friday morning.  I'd like a few Burda's (which rarely go on sale), a few notions (like size 18 needles), and perhaps a replacement for my troubled iron, which is going to take at least 6 weeks to send it out for repair and get it back (but will only cost me shipping one way).

I'd like to finish up my volunteer sewing for SewMuchComfort first, which ought to take all of 15 minutes.  The only reason it's not already done is that I need to pick up a piece of velcro from the aforementioned fabic store.

Then, I'm hoping to fire up the treadle machine (okay, too much steampunk there -- all I really have to do is engage the belt -- but "fire up" sounds so much more interesting than "engage the belt")  and make a corset type belt out of a piece of really beautiful black leather I bought from FabricMart last year (I think).  It's garment weight, so I'll either have to line it with leather or a heavyweight twill to give it enough body to make a good belt.

I like these rather plain buckles that I ordered from a seller on Etsy and I'm thinking I'd like to fasten it with 2 or maybe 3 buckles. I have some fancier buckles, too, but I've noticed that I usually tend to pick plain and functional over fancy and delicate.  Who knows?  I might change my mind between now and Friday.  Sheesh. I might change my mind halfway through the project.  It's certainly happened before :o/

In any event, I've always thought those wide belts were really cool and I can't wait to make one for myself.

Girl's Dresses 2 of 3 -- The Knit Wrap Dress

This dress is the second installment of my girls' fashion rebellion series -- making winter dresses from Spring fabrics.  Very pretty sprigs of  flowers on a purple background.  This fabric came from JoAnn's a couple of months ago.  It's a fairly heavyweight cotton interlock that is warm enough to be a winter fabric -- even though it's a spring or summertime print.

I used the cardigan pattern for the armscyes and sleeves and the shirt pattern for the front and back from Jalie's Twinset pattern.  Then I just altered the front piece to make the wrap neckline.  I know that Jalie makes a wrap top in sizes for little girls and I've made it for both Daughter and myself.  I have to admit, though, that I don't really like it very much .  The sleeves are too tight and the neckline gapes too much.  Sizing up fixes the sleeve problem but makes the gaping problem worse.  Besides, I don't like the neckline construction so much, either (sorry, Jalie!).

It was actually easier for me to adjust the Twinset pattern, so that's what I did.

After making the top, I ran the full width (61 inches) through the ruffler after determining the length by subtracting the length of the top (after accounting for seam allowances and hem) from the shoulder-to-hem measurement.  Then, I simply serged the skirt to the top and hemmed.

Voila!  New dress!

The Fall Jacket -- Finished At Last!

Yay! It's Done!

I'm so happy with this finished jacket and so pleased that it turned out so well.

I've only ever used a couple of Butterick patterns and I've been pretty happy with them --  it could be that the other Buttericks I've sewn have been loose-fitting and the normal issues I have with patterns just haven't come up.   Or it could be that for whatever reason their draft fits me right out of the envelope.  I ordinarily have to spend quite some time narrowing the shoulders and doing small bust adjustments.  Not so with the Fall Jacket.

Butterick 5685 and wool blend fabric

The pattern is Butterick 5685 and is designed for lightweight woolens, tweeds, or poplins.  I used a very nice 30% wool woven that I picked up at JoAnn's (an amazing find since my JoAnn's almost never has wool or silk) with leaves embroidered in rayon.  It sewed up beautifully -- a real joy to work with.  My only regret is that I have just a yard or so left.  On the other hand, the fabric is so distinctive it may not be a good idea to have too many articles of clothing made from it.  Hmmm. I think there's enough left for a vest, though...

First muslin -- this project
only needed one

The muslin, sewed right from the tracing, fit beautifully right from the get-go.  The only thing I tweaked was I trimmed 1/2 inch from each front to narrow it up a bit.  It pulled in the princess seams just enough so that their placement was more to my liking without really disrupting anything else in the jacket.  The sleeves are very nice with an excellent amount of sleeve cap ease -- enough for good fit but not too much to make assembly a nightmare. 

poly spruce -- I like the green and brown combo

The lining is a sort of spruce-colored polyester.  I bought half a dozen yards or so of this last year for making linings and I really wish I'd bought more.  Actually, I think I bought what was left on the bolt, so maybe I mean I wish there had be more for me to buy  :-)

Anyway, it makes a fabulous lining, with just the right amount of slipperiness for sliding over sweaters.  In fact, I was a little concerned that I made the jacket too small at first -- trying on just the shell dragged so much against the t-shirt I was wearing that it made the jacket feel very snug.  Horror!  Doom! Despair!

Then I slipped on the lining, and then the shell (the two hadn't been joined yet) and I couldn't believe how much roomier the jacket felt.  Behold the Power of a Polyester Lining!

I used woven fusible interfacing for the fronts and plain muslin as interfacing for the collar.  I trimmed the seam allowances of the interfacing before fusing to reduce bulk.  This really helped to make the corners nice and sharp when turned.




The shoulder pads are 1/4 inch instead of 1/2 inch like the pattern calls for and I certainly did NOT extend the outer edge 5/8 inch past the shoulder seam.  That's the aforementioned dreaded linebacker shoulders and I am so not going there. I bought these at JoAnn's yesterday since I decided I was too lazy to dig out the appropriate supplies to make my own.

So, I have mostly good things to say about this pattern's draft.  I should mention, however, that it is important to sew all the seams from the top down, as l discovered that the pieces did not all quite properly match at the hem.  The fronts in particular were shorter than the sides and back, so I ended up trimming a bit to even everything up.  I'd suspect sewing error except that the same difference occurred when sewing both the lining and the shell.

As for the instructions.  They're terrible.  At least in my opinion.  I read through them several times, at first to get a feel for the construction, and then to try and figure out why the heck they would put this jacket together the way they did.  I got the first, but I'm still baffled by the second.

The instructions have you sew the upper half shell and lining together, then sew the lower half shell and lining together, and then join the two at the waist seam (sewing the shell seam and slip stitching by hand the lining seam...ummm...sewing by hand, Butterick?  I think not).  After that, you get to fumble around a bit trying to put the sleeves and shoulder pads in while trying to keep the lining out of the way because hey! the lining sleeves are SLIP STITCHED IN BY HAND!!!  Need I say more?

What I did was first assemble the shell (all of it, including the sleeves), then assemble the lining (also including the sleeves), and then join the two along the front and neckline seam.  So simple.  So easy.  I can't for the life of me figure out why Butterick made it so damn complicated.

I stitched the cuffs differently as well, and I sure do wish I had done the buttonholes differently, because I really don't like them as they are.  It might not be too late to fix it, but I'm not going to do it right now.

The cuffs call for turning up the shell fabric over the lining and stitching the hem.  I pulled both the shell and the lining fabrics inside out between the shell and lining layers, placed them right sides together and sewed them together at 3/4 inch seam allowance.

Trimming the lining would have kept it
more firmly inside the sleeve

I should have trimmed the lining about 1/2 inch as this would have guaranteed that the lining would stay inside the sleeve when the jacket was slipped on, but this is a minor issue and one I'm not going to worry about.









The buttonholes are placed on the edges of the jacket both on the inside front layer and the outside front layer.  This means that the inside layer gets buttoned awkwardly and I don't like it.  It also means there's buttons on top of each other on that side -- the inside functional ones and the outside decorative ones (I couldn't figure out at first why the pattern called for 6 buttons...).  I will likely sew shut the buttonholes on that inside layer and put buttons there while putting two button holes near the princess seam on the outside layer so it's not so clumsy to button the jacket closed.

Now for the oddities.  I call them oddities because  I refuse to call them mistakes :o)

Not sure how this happened
but I intend to find out

The collar.  Note that mine doesn't extend all the way to the edges of the fronts like in the drawing on the pattern envelope.  There is exactly a 1 5/8 inch extension beyond the collar.  On both sides.  Except that when I walk the seam lines on the pattern paper, the seam lines match edge to edge.  And I staystitched the neckline of both the shell and the lining.  I'm going to sew this baby again just to see if I can duplicate the phenomenon.  I really want to know what happened there.

In any event, I actually like it better this way.  Somehow, I think it suits me more.  What I don't like is the button placement.  Because I used the pattern guide for buttonhole placement which plans on that corner being turned down a bit, the buttonholes are too far away from the edge and the top.  I sewed a small snap to the corner there to keep it from flopping around -- not the ideal solution but one that is good enough.

A good way NOT to do a hem

The other "oddity" is the hem.  You can't see this oddity, but I know it's there.  It will bother me for a while, but I am determined to ignore it :o)  I wanted a nicely finished hem, so I folded polyester organza ribbon over the edge and stitched it down like seam binding.  Bad idea.  Bad, bad, bad idea.  It would have worked if the hem had been straight.  But it wasn't.  When I folded up the hem along it's slight curve, the ribbon bunched up and rippled and generally made a nuisance of itself.  And it's too stiff.  I highly recommend against using poly organza ribbon as a seam binding.  I know I won't do that again.

Even with it's quirks, I absolutely love this jacket.  I tested it out last night for 15 minutes at 30F degrees -- it's a little too light for that temperature but should be perfect for 40F - 50F.  New England daytime Fall temperatures.  Exactly what I had in mind. 

I think this jacket is a great draft.  It fit beautifully all over and the sleeves didn't not have enormous amounts of sleeve cap ease.  While I don't need more than one jacket with a collar like this, I think I will use this pattern again after I find another collar for it -- it makes a really nice double breasted jacket.

A New Sleeve Board and Other Goodies

I went to Joann's yesterday and picked myself up a sleeve board to replace the one I smashed to smithereens (okay, okay I just broke it in half) over the weekend.  Lo and behold, the ones at Joann's are now made with steel mesh like a regular ironing board, as though daring me to try and break this one.  Ha!  Ten bucks says I can find a way to break steel mesh  :-)

More surprising was my fabulous Red Tag find.  Red Tags are 50% off this week, and I've been known to find some really great pieces for, um, really cheap.  So, I scoured the Red Tag rack yesterday and found this:

The label said 64% polyester, 29% wool, 7% other.  Um, wow.  29% wool fabric at Joann's?  My Joann's rarely carries anything in silk or wool or any of the other finer fibres.  So, I snatched it up.  I took the rest of the bolt--only 3.5 yards or so, but plenty for me to make pretty much whatever I want.  It was $10 a yard--at 50% off it was $5 a yard.  It feels really soft and the rayon embroidery is a little subtler than the picture--you know how rayon catches the light.  And I like the embroidery because it's more like vines and leaves and less like flowers--I'm not that much of a flowery kind of gal, but vines and leaves suit me just fine.

Butterick Patterns are also 99 cents this week, so I got a handful of new patterns, too.  I'm going to use this fabric to make Butterick 5685.

But not until I get a chance to make that Shining Star Vest, darnit.  Practical. Sewing. Keeps. Getting. In. My. Way.



I also got some pin cord, linen, lightweight twill, and rayon challis to make shirts for my sons and husband...but those are boring and I won't go into them  :-)