Fabric Remnants Score

I would quite like a job, or some money, so that I can start buying fabric off the role, rather than foraging through the remnant bin. I see fancy sewing ladies at the fabric store, who I bet know what interfacing does, who are looking for pieces for specific projects.  It's hard for me to plan a project in advance, instead I search for cheap pieces of nice fabric and then see what I can do with them.  Without being able to plan ahead I never get the right linings, fastenings, or whathaveyous.  Which means I often end up with skirts that are essentially rectangles with zips.

But you can find nice pieces of fabric in remnant bins, in big enough pieces to make things, but small enough that they are cheap enough to buy.  And so to today, as I was in town to sign on at the job centre I thought I'd stroll across the road and spend the money I don't have at the Fab Works fabric store (awesome shop).  I foraged through remnant bin (which is mainly upolstery stuff) and found some nice stuff.  Some randomly sized pieces such as 1.4meters by 40cm, but I added it up roughly and it came to about 7m (if you glued all the scraps back into meter squares), and cost £7!. 

I'm plannng to make cropped trousers from the green striped on the left (it looks more green in real life), the other stuff will become three skirts (I'm gonna pair the purple and silver together as they're too short on their own and I think having a two toned skirt will be nice), and black bit is actually two pieces of black lace (one 40cms, one 1m) that I might make into a bra or the top of a bodice top I have a pattern for. 

Tutu!!!

I saw this great How To on Burdastyle for a Tulle Tutu and had to try it.
http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/how-to-make-a-tulle-skirt
It's a simple method- you use a stretchy mini skirt, or make a simple one, then sew the Tulle (net stuff) all around.  I didn't have a mini skirt but when I searched for any stretchy fabric I had I found the left overs from another project.  I had cut the sleeves off a hoodie to make some sleeves (see blog post from a few months ago), and had the body of the hoodie left over.  I was wondering what I could do with it, since it seemed a shame to waste it but it had an unwashable stain on the front- so turning it into a skirt covered in Tulle seemed perfect.

 

Obviously I pulled the top on as a skirt to check it fitted me, and it did although it was quite loose in the waist.  So the first thing I did was to take in the waist, and then add elastic to it.

My elastic skills still fail to emerge and the elastic got twisted and moves around inside the wait band but it'll do. :)My next task was somewhat more labourious- according to the How To I needed 8yards (sigh did no one but me go metric?) of tulle, cut into 9inch by one yard strips.  I have plenty of tulle (another reason for making the skirt) which I bought cheaply online ages ago, in a variety of colours.  With the skirt being beige/cream I went for a cream and orange combination fo tulle.

My tulle is quite stiff and large holed, for a future project I might like to use a more delicate form of it.  Also the colours I have (not chosen by me, I bought a pre packaged pack) are quite bright and gaudy, although I do have some gold which is fancy.  To cut the tulle I first needed to cut it into 4 yards by 54" pieces (which is the size of fabric the How To lady had) before cutting those pieces into 9"strips, then cutting the strips into quarters. I could use my ruler for the 9" strips, but my tape measure is all cms baby.  So I estimated the cm equivalent for the bigger sizes, the process is defo not a super accurate one but it doesnt really matter.

One I had all my strips it was time to pin them to the skirt.  Four of the strips make one layer around the skirt (so I guess if you are a bigger size you would want longer strips?), but one strip is much longer than one quarter of the skirt because they are rooched (I don't know how to spell that!).  So the side seams split the skirt in half, and I put a pin in the front and back to split it into quarters (just so I could see where I would be pining the tulle).  The way I chose to pin it was to pin one end of the tulle strip to the side seam, and the other end to the middle pin.  The I found the middle of the tulle and pin it to the middle of the skirt quarter, then I found the middle of the skirt eighth and pinned the tulle to that, and so on.  I started at the top of the skirt and pinned the tulle pointing towards the top of the skirt- so that after sewing it would fold over nicely hiding the stiching and adding more poof. 

As you add more layers it does get fiddlier to pin the tulle, mainly it's getting you hand underneath the fabric so you pin through it (don't do what I kept doing and pin the two sides of the skirt together doh).   Also after you've added a few layers of tulle one end of the skirt will be significantly bigger and tullier than the other taking up half your table.  I found it was also tricky to pin the tulle in a stright line, and it may have been benificial, although time consuming, to draw some lines on the fabric before I started sewing. 

By the time I'd finished I'd done 9 layers of tulle, and decided this was enough.  Because of how I'd held it and flattened it when sewing the layers had got a bit scrunch so I'll need to sort them out, but I'm quite pleased really.  Now just need an event!

Pencil Skirt update

After the success of my green pencil skirt which came out rather nicely (erm despite not fitting, but I blame my body not my sewing), so I made it up again in some stripey apolstry fabric.  I added 2cm on the waist and hips, and was able to make the skirt longer as I had a little more fabirc, although I think it's still a bit too short to be a proper pencil skirt. 

Green 1am Skirt

Hey dudes, I used the following link:
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-make-basic-skirt-pattern-0123021/
to make a basic skirt block, adapted it to be pencil skirty, and then made it.  I use fabric I found in the remnant bin; a thin piece of green tweedy stuff, and a thick green lining.  The outer fabric was only half a metre wide, so it's a little short, and I didn't allow enough ease into the pattern so its rather tight.  But I'm quite pleased with the finished result, a professional looking skirt imo. :) 
Firstly I cut out the basic block for the skirt out of paper, then traced it onto some grease proof paper and made the alterations which took the bottom of the skirt in to make it a fitted pencil skirt.  The pattern pieces amount to 1/4 of the finished skirt, with two different pieces for front and back.  Each piece has a dart in the top to take it in at the waist whilst allowing the skirt to fit over the hips.   The grease proof paper worked well, it curled quite a bit annoyingly but will store easier that  big sheets of paper.

 Next time I planned to use only one pattern piece for the front to avoid the seam down the middle.   Then I cut the pieces out of the fabric, cutting the same from the outer and lining fabric.  I then pinned the four outer pieces together before sewing them (leaving the back seam undone).  And did the same in the lining.  The I sewed the darts into each piece. I now put the outer and lining fabric right sides together and sewed the top of the skirt; the waist.  I then sewed up the back seam, leaving room for the zip.  I then attatched the zip.  Actually the first time I sewed all the way up the back seam and then attatched the zip, which did not sit well on the skirt.  So I had to redo, but eventually I got it.

 Then I turned the skirt the right way around, and all I had to do was tuck under the hem and sewed along the bottom. 


Et Voila!

Getting Shirty

Made this slightly 70's style shirt for my friends for christmas.  Not quite finished yet, cos he insisted in going to work instead of coming for a fitting. Grr. 
I drew my pattern pieces by drawing around one of his other shirts, then adding a seam allowance, and cutting out the fabric.  The shirt body was quite easy to put together, as were the sleeves.  The collar was a bit trickier because I did it wrong, but I've learnt my lesson for next time.

Orange Waistcoat

Made this orange waistcoat for my dad, at his request and payment, and using the fabric of his choice (orange upolstry fabric and grey lining).  It wasn't difficult but it took about 2 days during which I nearly keeled over and wept out of tiredness.   I drew around my dad's shirt, then made a mock up, which he tried on.  I made some alterations until he was happy with it.  I changed the pattern pieces, and cut out the real fabric and lining. I sewed the front and back pieces together in both the outer and lining material but left the shoulders unsewn and the bottom unhemmed.  I then sewed the outer and lining together right sides facing, then turned it inside out.   I then sewed up the shoulders and hemmed the bottom.  Unfortunately my memory card broke and I lost the pictures I took whilst making the waistcoat, so no jazzy step by step.  But here's the final product.

How to Make the Worlds Most Glorious Banner

 Step One: Buy ATP End of Tour Finals Tickets, and secure appropriate     transport.  Search everyday on the BBC Tennis site to learn which players you will be watching in the doubles and singles matches.  Decide on design- adding humour where possible to encourage televisual exposure. I went for a beautiful double sided fabric banner, support for the singles on one side and the doubles on the other.  I also decided to use the same phrasing on each side, for amusing symmetry.  The kind of thing to make people smile and say 'oh that's clever'.  And I added the flag for each player (grrr 6 players and they all come from different countries) and some little tennis rackets- although as you can see my rackets would be useless as I forgot to add string to them. One side says:

 GO DJOKO GO

(BEST HAIR IN TENNIS)

And the other says:

GO DOUBLES GO

(BEST HANDS IN TENNIS)

Step Two:   I cut out large enough letters from a magazine and used these to make cardboard templates, I couldn't find all the letters the correct size in the mag but I used the T to help me draw the H, and the O to help me do the U, and so on.  The cardboard letters made sure all my lettering was uniform in size and style, and was a really good idea, also I can use them again. 

Step Three: Perhaps not surprisingly step three involves using the cardboard templates to cut the letters out fabric.  First I raided my mums fabric boxes and collected pretty scraps of green and pink fabric (a colour scheme helps IMO) to use for the lettering.  I drew around the cardboard letters (on the wrong side of the fabric) and then cut them out (with some scissors), alternating green and pink fabric as I went.  I then drew some card board templates for the flag (a rectangle intially, then I made the sides slightly curved to soften the edges) and the tennis rackets (large oval shapes extended downwards).  Then I looked online for the flag designs (accuracy being the hallmark of all good banner making) and raided the fabric boxes again to get the new colours I needed).  I found cutting the flags out the trickiest element, and they were all different designs I didn't want to create a new card template for each (such as the Serbian flag which is three stripes, and the template would be cut into three horizontal strips), so I used the basic template the get the size and shape correct but had to fiddle about with the various elements I had to cut out.

Step Four: Pause and pose for a photograph. (sigh)

Step Five: Attempt to sew the letters to the background several times including machine zig zag stitch and hand sewn only to realise, after several hours, that you own fabric glue.

Step Six: Use fabric glue to stick letters and flags to background.  Helpful to have a little glue spreader to use (I used a small piece of cardboard) to spread the glue evenly over the fabric.  I also managed to spread the glue all over the book I was using to lean on (I was sat crossed legged on the living room floor), others may take head and decide to use the kitchen table- but that ain't my style. 

Step Seven: My banner was double sided so I had folded a piece of fabric in half (if you do the same, make sure you glue the letters on the right way up on each side) so now I need to sew the edges.  Which I did. 

Step Eight: This is when I finally ironed my fabric- again others may chose to do it before they sew, but I do not.  Also when I realised I'd forgotten to add our names to the banner- which I did in biro.

Step Nine: Spend five hours on a coach to get to London, then head to the O2 arena, eat your little packed lunch, and wave your banner like there's no tomorrow.  Until you finally realise that up in the cheap seats there's no way anyone can see you.

le-roy 3156

Well the name might need sexing up a tad, but I'm quite pleased with my newest creation.  After an unsuccessful encounter with a pattern (not made by my own hand) that produced a sack with arm holes several years ago I haven't been brave enough to try again, until now.  My mum gave me some of her old patterns, and while everything's in inches (and my tape measure is only in cms), and the picture on the front is channeling some serious flower power, I decided that the new brown fabric I had been planning to make a top out of would be rather perfect for one of the designs.    A major concern was sizing, as I have a rather perfect 30" waist, and this dress has a rather crazy 24" one apparently, but on closer inspection the 'waist' on this dress is about 6"higher than wear I consider my real waist and another couple from wear I wear my jeans so I ploughed ahead.

Its taken me two days to make a dress thats almost finished- I need to buy a zip and buttons, and then hem it.  I'm sure I could have made it quicker but I spent a good few hours (not an exaggeration) looking at the instructions of how to lay and cut out the pattern pieces.  The pattern offered several examples of how to arrange the pieces depending on the size of fabric you have, which was totally irrelavent to me- also what's a selvedge? Because it mentioned that a few times too. 

Then it was fairly easy to pin and cut the pattern pieces- although they all needed to be cut on a fold apaprt from one which was fortunate because I was short on fabric.  I wondered why piece 5 didnt need to be cut on a fold, and then realised it ws because its an arm piece, erm so I needed two of them....oops...dont worry a few bits rearranged and I managed two arms which is somewhat necessary for that two armed look all the kids are going for nowadays.  The first step was bound button holes- which was a lot simpler than the incomprehensible instructions suggested, I assume all children in the 70s were sent through sewing school.  But in the end it turned out to be a nice way to do buttonholes, something Ive struggled with in the past.  You sew a square of fabric on the front, then push it through the slit you cut for the hole, then sew it up.

 Although it did take me an hour and a half to do 4 button holes.  The first one is very nice, the next three are good in their own way which is, unfortunately, not the same way.  But I think equally sized and aligned button holes are the hallmark of a poor imagination...Or something?  The next step was to sew together the bodice top at the shoulders, and then attatch the facing.  Facing another one of those simple yet ingeneous things which I've never understood or tried.  But it makes a nice smooth edge to the collar, and probably looks nicer when you're wearing it as it covers the insides.   I also sewed in the darts in the bodice which take in the top to make it fitted at the bust and waist.  Then sewed the side seams, leaving a space for the zip.  The next step was sleeves. 

The sleeves have a rouched edge, which is fun, and to do this I hand sewed around the top edge of the sleeve pattern piece and then pulled the thread which caused a rouching (so familiar to me as an unintentional consequence of my sewing). Then I lined up the sleeve and the top and sewed the seams. 

Somewhere in the middle of this I went to bed, but this morning I started on the skirt element, sewing the side seams, leaving a space fopr the zip.  The did the same rouching effect on the top of the waist, this was trickier than the arms, as I didn't have as much excess fabric to rouch as before, and it was fiddlier to pin the skirt to the bodice than it had been to pin together the sleeve to the arm hole.  Also my sewing machine had another in a long line of seizures, making sewing the waist together all the more difficult.  Grr.

But I managed, and it looks pretty good.  Although I'll have to wait until Monday to visit the Stich Witch to buy a brown zip, some brown  buttons, and then hem it up.   And then, I might try it on...Fingers crossed...

Update- I went to Stich Witch bought a zip and buttons.  Job done.  Total cost of dress= £6.44 (£5 for fabric, £1.20 for zip, and 24p for buttons) which isn't bad.  It fits well but I don't need to unzip it to get it on, so I take that as a sign that it's a little too lose.  Judge for yourself.

Pleated Skirt

I really want a pleated skirt, at first it was a passing fancy but not being able to buy the nice brown fabric I envisage or know enough about pleats I am growing obsessed (in a very low key way) to getting one.  I have now made two pleated skirts that I like.  The first I made a while ago from some nice, slightly 70's, remnant fabric I found in a haberdashery.  Of course for pleats you need twice as much fabric as you normally would so it has only 3 pleats at the side (for a nice kicky look).  Being sophisticated I added a lining, although being a silly I sewed it up wrong and it made it impossible to get into. But a quick untidy cut into the lining made it wearable, although it was still too big around the waist.  So I folded over the waist band which made the waist smaller, although also made the skirt a touch to short.  Its defo a tights one.  I took it out for its first test drive today, and it worked well.  Apart from the lining riding up on one side as I walked.  Oh well.

A few weeks ago I went to Haworth with my mother, and there was a vintage fair taking place.  Being that she was paying I ended up leaving with some overpriced vintage fabric.  Yay.  So pleated skirt number two was on the cards.  Well the pleats were the easy bit, I then had a pleated rectangle to deal with (also with lining youll be pleased to know, mainly because it was totally see through without) and no idea where was the front, back, sides etc.   Hard to get it to fit when you dont even know how youre gonna wear it.   Anyway, I spent the past two days figuring it out and I think Im there.  The pleats go at the front, and I added two darts in either side to cinch the waist.  And it will button or press stud up at the back.  It doesnt fit great I have to say, which is a shame cos I love the fabric and as I mentioned I really really want pleated skirts.  Its totally the way of the future.