A coworker and I are taking the "Hems and Basic Alterations" class at Stitch Lounge. I have problems with fitted shirts because if they fit in the shoulders, they usually hang off me everywhere else, so I’m hoping to learn how to take in a shirt so that it fits properly (since I haven’t yet made that bold step forward to the shirt pattern from the Sew U book). In the first class we covered mostly hemming, but in the second class we will be bringing in clothes that we want to alter. Even though hemming seems like a really basic thing, I learned a few things from the first class: how to hem drastic curves by adding 1-2 basting lines inside the seam line (the same technique used for setting in sleeves, which has always intimidated me), and decorative hems using a twin needle. So I had to try that out for myself on this, Sew U skirt number nine:

(I missed catching the edge of the folded-over fabric off and on the first time, so I added another double row 1/4" in. As we say in the software business, "It’s a feature.")

The other exciting thing about this skirt (which, yes, is the same linen as the tote bag I made last weekend) is that it is my first big project using the brand new serger that E. bought me for my birthday (even though he couldn’t understand why I would choose a serger over a new iPhone). Here’s the inside view of the hem and side seam:

Isn’t that pretty? And it’s so much faster than pinking the seams or zig-zagging around the edges, or having to fold the hem under twice. I’m looking forward to trying out some patterns for knit fabrics, too.

I won’t show you the finished skirt because I don’t consider it finished yet: I’m looking at the clean lines of the plain linen fabric as a blank canvas, and planning on making use of some of the techniques in Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens to complete my masterpiece. Stay tuned…

One of my favorite combinations is natural linen and red fabric. I bought these red and white quilting fabrics when I lived in Calgary. I think I was planning on a Log Cabin quilt in red and white. But I haven’t quilted in a while, and I’m trying to clean out my fabric stash, and I need a birthday present for my mom. So that’s where this fell out.

The structure of this bag isn’t much different than the grocery bags I made last year. I cut the bag rectangle 15 1/2" wide and 34" long, and sewed the gussets about 1 1/4" in from the corner. The big differences are that I lined this bag (I just made two bags, and sewed them together wrong-sides facing when I sewed on the handles) and added the red and white panels to the front and back.—nothing fancy, I just strip-pieced them and sewed them on top of the linen. I also ironed some medium-weight fusible interfacing to the lining to give the bag more body, since it turned out bigger than I was thinking when I started the project.

Originally I thought I would Gocco-screen something on the fabric, but I chickened out. However, I have quite a lot of this linen—it’s from my mom’s stash and it must have been on sale, or she was planning on making the entire family matching outfits, there are yards of it—so there will be many more opportunities.

My studio looks like a fabric tornado hit it, oy.

Apologies in advance for the terrible photography; it’s been raining for days here, so not much opportunity for outdoor shots. Great weather for sewing, though, so I’ve been doing quite a bit. I turned back to my perfect skirt pattern from Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe. And the results are in!

Sew U skirts number five and six are made from dark gray wool flannel worsted and light gray wool suiting, respectively. (Sense a theme?) They’re identical otherwise to the third skirt, fully lined and hemmed shortly above the knee.

Skirt number seven is a longer skirt, like skirt number four, but an inch or so longer. This is a fun print from Prints Charming Fabrics—not my usual style, but with all this dreary weather it was cheery to work with and it will be a great spring skirt. It’s fully lined with white cotton. I didn’t think of changing the pattern into a side zip (and bypassing the need to try to match the fabric on the back) until after I’d already purchased extra fabric to do the matching and cut it out, but I’m happy with the results.

Skirt number eight is a departure from the others. I used the Sew U skirt pattern for the waist darts, but modified it from the hip down to be a straight, ankle-length skirt. It has a side zip (after my previous revelation) and a slit up to the knee on the same side. Very evening wear.

Here’s what I learned about putting in a side zipper: sew the side seam with the zipper first. Duh, right? Well, duh. Here’s something else I learned about putting in a zipper in general, from a great photo tutorial for making a change purse: when you sew in the zipper and you near the top, pull the head down past the needle so you don’t have to try to sew around it. So obvious, when you think about it, and yet it’s made the zippers on these last four skirts much easier and neater.

Now that I have a whole wardrobe’s worth of skirts, it’s time to turn my attention to tops…

One yard of oilcloth, one yard of poly-cotton broadcloth (for the back), two packages of extra-wide double fold bias tape and about an hour of cutting, pinning and sewing. One package of the bias tape went around the straight edges on the left, bottom and right (all in one piece, with mitered corners), and the short straight edge at the top. The other package makes up the neck strap and the ties and binds the curved armholes – and neatly covers the raw edges from the other bias tape. So much faster to buy the prefolded bias tape and not have to do all that pressing!

I have this pattern down to a science now. Bought this gray linen Monday after work; washed and dried it and cut out the pattern and finished the edges and back seam Monday evening; put in the zipper and the darts Tuesday at lunch; and finished the side seams, the facing (I didn’t line this one) and the hem Tuesday evening. The hem is always the spot that gives me trouble, mainly because I’m never sure what the right length should be. I added an inch to the base pattern for this one, but most of that was folded under for the hem.

This is almost addictive, now that the skirts are turning out the way I want them. However, I think I’m ready to move on to the shirt pattern.

Here is my third skirt from Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe. This is the dark gray herringbone wool I bought at Britex a couple of weeks ago, lined with some black bridal satin I bought from Discount Fabrics.

And a close up shot of my pale knees:

This is about as perfect a fit as I was hoping for. Unfortunately, I messed up the hem – I forgot I was sewing with black thread; and I should have shortened the length so I only had to fold under a half-inch instead of an inch and a half, but I got nervous after having remeasured and pinned the hem about six times and wanted to leave myself some room to lengthen it if I screwed it up, and when I started to pull it out it left a line where the stitches had been, so I gave up. I’m sure I’m the only one who will care.

I like everything about this skirt except the hem: the length, the line, the drape, the fabric, the way the lining prevents the wool from sticking to my tights. This is a skirt I can actually see myself wearing – yay!

I used the fabric left over from my first skirt attempt and altered the pattern to lower the waistband an inch so the skirt sits slightly further down. I didn’t lower the darts (just made them an inch shorter also), but I did lower the starting point of the back zipper rather than trying to shorten it. This all worked quite well – the skirt sits much more comfortably now.

However, I had slightly less than half a yard of fabric to work with… um… actually, several inches less than half a yard of fabric. Even with the minimum possible hem I could manage, the finished skirt is only 12 inches long. If I put up a photo, I’d have to put this whole site behind a 21+ sign in. Okay, I’m exaggerating – but not much. I have socks that are longer than this skirt!

I finished it anyway – practice is all good. I also re-hemmed the first skirt so it hits about mid-knee. Now that I’ve altered the pattern to fit the way I want it to, I plan to make two or three skirts in different fabrics and lengths. Then I’ll move on to the shirt.

I finished my first attempt at the skirt pattern from Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe:

I adjusted the outside curve from the waist to the hip so that the waist uses the medium pattern size, and the hip (down to the bottom hem) uses the small pattern size. This fixed the problem I had with the medium pattern where the back darts didn’t take in enough fabric, so I couldn’t get a clean line in the back. The remaining fit problem, which I will tackle in my next attempt, is that the waist feels too high for me. I’d like it to be at least an inch lower.

This fabric is heavy 100% cotton – almost denim or canvas weight. It has a brushed texture to it that lends a casual feel. Because the fabric is so heavy, I didn’t line it, and I didn’t bother with interfacing in the waist facing. I think the fabric is a little heavy for the length of the skirt – I might end up shortening it just above my knees. This is the default length of the pattern, with 3/4″ turned under for the hem.

The fabric and zipper came to $7.47, including tax. (Discount Fabrics rocks, if you have time and patience to dig around.) However, I bought one and a half yards of the fabric and used less than one, so I could probably make a second skirt from the remainder. It took about two hours to make, not including the time I spent sewing the two muslins to check the pattern adjustments.

My overall satisfaction with this pattern is high. I’m going to play with the waistline a bit more, and then I think I’ll be ready to try a dressier fabric.

I bought Sew You: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe hoping for some information on fitting patterns, which it doesn’t really get into. The first half of the book provides straightforward information about tools, different types of fabrics, preparing the fabric and the pattern, understanding how the pattern pieces work, and basic sewing techniques. The second half of the book focuses on sewing and customizing the three patterns that come with the book (an A-line skirt, a shirt, and pants).

My background in sewing clothes is limited, but I’ve been quilting for years, and I have made a couple of skirts from commercial patterns. On the whole this book is a bit too beginner-level for me. However, I did find a few useful tips in it, and the suggestions for altering the patterns (making the skirt more or less A-line, changing the collar type or cuff on the shirt, narrowing or widening the legs of the pants) were helpful in giving me ideas for future changes. There is a fair amount of information given the price of the book, and I like the format. It’s a book that can (and must) be flipped through from section to section.

The patterns included in the book appear to be relatively easy (I have only tried the skirt pattern so far, which has front and back darts and no waistband). There are only four sizes: extra small (size 0), small (2-4), medium (6-8) and large (10-12). One annoyance is that the seam allowances are different for these patterns than those of most of the commercial pattern companies, and there are two different seam allowances factored in to the pattern pieces depending on the piece.

I made a muslin of the medium skirt pattern in about half an hour, without any finishing or adding the zipper, just to test the fit. As is, it’s a nice, flattering, below-the-knee skirt without being too A-line. Trimmed to above-knee length it fits a lot like my favorite Banana Republic box-pleat skirt. I’m not 100% happy with the back darts, which don’t seem to take in enough fabric on me, but this may also be due to the fact that I used the size that fit me around the waist and is actually one size too big in the hips. I plan to try to alter the pattern to blend to the small size around the hips to see if I can correct this, and then I’ll make another muslin.

On the whole I think I’ve gotten my money’s worth from this book and the patterns. It’s a good value for someone with limited sewing experience, and the skirt pattern (at least) is wearable. I’ll update this review as I complete the other patterns.

UPDATE: My first attempt at the skirt is here, and my third attempt (where I finally got the fit the way I wanted it) is here.

CPUs. Cayce Pollard Units. That’s what Damien calls the clothing she wears. CPUs are either black, white or gray, and ideally seem to have come into this world without human intervention.

William Gibson
Pattern Recognition

I wasn’t a big fan of William Gibson until I read Pattern Recognition, when Jane told me that the protagonist reminded her of me. And it’s true, the line above sounds a lot like my wardrobe: black, white or gray (plus a few shades of blue jeans) with as few logos, brands or embellishments as possible. Clothing that, as Gibson writes later, “could have been worn, to a general lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000.”

I work in software, where the standard office uniform is a t-shirt and jeans, so I can get by with a rotating assortment of Gap classic t-shirts in long or short sleeves, in black or gray. When one wears out I replace it with the same piece. In the summer I wear tank tops, in black or white. I avoid shopping for jeans until the ones I’ve got are worn out and I’m forced to go try on a zillion pairs to find something that fits well and doesn’t make me look like I’m trying to pretend I’m still 16. For dressing up, I have a couple of black skirts (one wool in an a-line, one linen with a box-pleat), which I usually wear with black tights, and some ribbed silk sleeveless turtlenecks. Although I keep buying cute shoes at Designer Shoe Warehouse, the only ones I ever wear are a pair of chunky black Italian pumps or knee-high boots, plus sneakers for every day (which is a relatively new development – for years I wore Doc Marten’s with almost everything).

I do buy new clothes. A few times a year I get the urge to go shopping, and I buy things that fall outside the range above and are rarely worn, or I buy things that mostly fit my style but don’t quite fit my body. Either way, most of these items end up being given away. I wear the pieces that do fit until they fall apart – which often doesn’t take very long.

All this lengthy introduction boils down to why I’ve decided to try to learn to sew better, to alter patterns so they fit me better, and maybe even to modify patterns to suit my own style. I’ve done a bit of sewing over the years, but mostly piecing quilt blocks (always with straight lines). The few items of clothing I’ve made have either been from really, really simple patterns, or ended up at my mother’s to be finished (often both). I’d like to make a few well-fitted shirts and tops, some comfortable, casual pants, and perhaps a couple of dresses. I don’t need a lot of clothes, but a few options would be nice.