Still on a sewing kick. I found a few useful links recently:

• Make your own pressing equipment PDF from University of Kentucky: how to make a pressing ham, sleeve roll, and other useful tools for pressing seams. (There’s a whole page of Clothing and Textile links here on the UK site: I haven’t been able to check them all out, but some look really useful.)
• Binding necklines for knits and a turtleneck finish for knits, a pair of video tutorials from Threads. Between these two videos there’s a lot of good information on determining the amount of fabric to use and how to stretch it around the curves.
• How to make box and inverted box pleats, how to make knife pleats, and How to hem pleats, Burda Style.
• Fine-tuning the armhole fit, from Sew News

I took a critical look at my wardrobe this weekend and thought hard about the pieces I like (or don’t), the pieces I wear (or don’t), and the pieces I would like to have (but don’t). A lot of clothes went to the donation pile, including some that I liked passably but rarely wear because they are difficult to launder or press, or that don’t fit me well and are beyond my ability to alter; and some that I don’t wear because they don’t fit my style. What’s left are pieces I wear all the time, or are my favorite dressy pieces. What’s coming are a couple more casual-to-business-casual skirts and pants, some dressier t-shirts and tops to wear to work with all my skirts and jeans, and a couple of classic shift dresses. I’m sticking with my mostly black and gray palette, with a few whites and bolder colors (mostly reds) mixed in. I bought a few yards of new fabric—cotton twill in a couple of neutral colors, and some cotton and rayon knits—to fill in some of the gaps: I’ve realized I like the comfort and easy care of knits, and they don’t have to look as casual as my uniform Gap T’s. What I hope to get out of this exercise is a wardrobe that I’ll wear all the time, that I feel good in, and that looks like I thought about what I put on.

I have a small blue Jack Spade messenger bag that I like a lot, but I often wish I had bought a black one instead. I bought some black corduroy with the intention of reverse-engineering the original bag and making my own—that was months ago. But BurdaStyle recently put up a pattern for a messenger bag, so I decided to try that out. I changed the pattern to be an inch narrower and an inch shorter, and the resulting bag is just the right size for a magazine or a couple of books, sunglasses, and wallet. I lined it with a fun, bold Prints Charming cotton print left over from a skirt I made last January. (There’s another view of the bag on the Burda Style site that shows the lining.)

If I were going to make another—and I might (I’m such a bag geek)—I would probably add a zipped pocket inside and a loop for keys, and make the strap adjustable. It’s very quick to sew once you get all the paper taped together to construct the pattern pieces.

Reason number 7,534 why I love the internet:

I found myself on the Wardrobe Refashion site yesterday, and in particular this post about the Sadie top that the writer had sewn from organic bamboo jersey. I haven’t tried this variation of the top because the fabrics I had don’t drape very well, but hers is beautiful! I followed the link to the sewer’s blog and read how she adapted the Sadie pattern to get the softer drape, and as I read further found a link to a post on how to work with stretch fabrics. And there, folks, appears to be the answer to my stretched out t-shirt seams. Yay!

Discount Fabrics has begun carrying a small selection of organic fabrics in their new location on 11th Street between Howard and Folsom in San Francisco, so I picked up a yard of bamboo jersey there yesterday and I’m going to have a go at that Sadie variation. The bamboo fabric is super drapey and has a slight sheen to it, so I think it will look great as a dressier top.

I spent some of the weekend working on Burda 8601 (view B, without all the foufy lace—I’m shooting for something more like this variation), which may have been just a touch beyond my sewing skills (the fact that I made it from Dupioni silk, which is very fine, may not have helped) but it came out all right. I took out the side zip in favor of a corset-style lacing up the back. It’s hard to say how it’s going to fit—I still have to put in the eyelets for the laces—and I’m a little nervous about how it will stay up! Hoping to finish it sometime this week.

I had a couple of hours to spare before E. gets home, so I thought I’d do one more Sadie top. This knit is heavier than the other two and came from a sample sale at Discount Fabrics. I didn’t try to hem this top, as I want to explore the stretching problem first. But I did redraft the pattern a little: I dropped the arm holes almost an inch, and I took in about an inch of the width I’d added to the bottom (it’s still wider right at the waist, but tapers in again at the hips):

This one is almost perfect. If I can work out my top-stitching and hem problems, I’ll be very happy with it. I do love how fast they come together with the serger!

Yesterday I suffered a spectacular failure sewing the Sadie tank top pattern from Burda Style web site. I used the size 34 version, and smoothed it into a size 36 from the waist-line down for a little extra ease. The fit was fine, but I had some problems with the neck and arm openings:

I think the problem was a combination of things: I should have pulled the ribbing fabric tauter when I sewed it to the body; I should have used a longer stitch length on the serger so that the body fabric would ease in; and I totally stretched it out when I topstitched with the twin needle. Keeping all that in mind, I had another go at the top today, and here’s take two:

As you can see, the neck and arm holes are much better here. But I still got a lot of stretching and flaring when I hemmed the bottom with the twin needle on my sewing machine, so I haven’t done the top-stitching on the neck and arm holes because I don’t want to totally ruin it. I think it’s a tension thing, or the feed dogs stretching the fabric out on the bottom.

On the bright side, I bought both fabrics for $1.99/yard from fabric.com when they had a sale on baby-rib knits, so I’m not too upset about it. A little frustrated, but not upset. The second top is wearable. I like the fit and the shape on the whole: I dropped the bottom of the armhole opening about 1/2" on the second top and I think its still a bit high (note the bunching under the arms), so I’ll try dropping it some more. I could see making a few of these for summer tops or layering for work, once I get the kinks worked out.