Finally, Success!

It's been one of two things. Either I haven't sewn because it's so bloody hot that a work day in this heat rendered me a damp lump, or the sewing machine was still being evil. Evil! I decided that with this break in the heat, I'd give it yet another go. Same snarls. For some reason, I decided to look at the bobbin. Turns out it had somehow come out of its track. Slid it back in and voila! Everything is back to yes.

Since I only had a little bit to go on my simple skirt, I was able to finish it tonight. While the charm pack skirts used elastic waistbands, I had instructions for that skirt. This one I made from a scrap with my own made up pattern. (The pattern is a rectangle. Top secret!!!) With 1" elastic for the waistband, I allowed myself 1.25" for the waistband casing. However, I failed to consider that my zig-zag stitch is .25" wide. No wiggle room! I just couldn't get my waistband finished without a mess so I picked the whole thing apart (after four attempts to plow through). As you can see, it's not the best fit -- tight in the thighs, baggy in the waist. Although, I do feel I learned some things about the way fabric lays on the body, namely, I'm way too curvy to start with such straight hems. Next step: A-line.

Skills acquired: elastic waistband

Upcycled Men's Shirt

Skills acquired: pleating, using hem tape

I made a skirt! This is the finished product of my upcycled men's skirt. I'm particularly proud of the pleating. I finished the hem at the waist with hem tape, a substance I will wax poetic about in the future.

It's a pretty simple design, so I'm trying to think of ways to jazz it up. Contrasting waistbands, upgrading buttons, piping, ruffles. When I have more, I'll list them on Etsy!

Blind Hem...Sort Of

Skills acquired: Blind hem

After much consulting with my mother and my yoda about what on earth a blind hem is, I put one in a pair of jeans. (At 5'4", most of my pants need to be hemmed.) This was both a success and a failure. If these jeans were pure cotton, I think it would have gone better, but polyester blends don't iron as beautifully as cotton. Ironing a tube didn't go as well as it could have either. My hem is also too short for heels. The biggest problem, however, was that I thought I could do this without cutting off the excess fabric. Not so. They don't lay cleanly because of the extra bulk, so while my hem is perfectly blind, it needs to go on a diet. When I get a moment (please see my previous post of upcoming projects), I'll pick this out and try again.

Charm Pack Skirt

Skills acquired: hemming, installing elastic waistbands, gathers, pressing, not cursing at my sewing machine (even when it stabs me).

One of the projects in Stitch by Stitch is a girl's patchwork skirt made from charm packs. Since I was making mine for a verge of toddler, I altered the pattern some using the tutorial on One-Hip Mom. I ended up with a 5,8,12 pattern for a one-year-old.

I really learned a lot doing this project. If you're new to sewing like I am, I highly recommend making a mom's day by making one of these. You gain several skills, but mostly you gain confidence.

Here's some of what I learned and plan to do differently on future skirts.

- When pre-washing and drying a charm pack, have a method of keeping the squares together. I was fishing them out of sleeves and undies.

- Pay attention to the patterns you're making. I almost had a column of the same print.

- Pin far enough away from where you want to stitch so you don't have to take pins out as you go.

- Pay attention to how you pin. I put some in in a way that made it awkward to stitch without stabbing myself.

-Pressing makes everything beautiful. I double pressed my hem and waistband before stitching, and it turned out beautiful. My mom, who used to sew herself, was very impressed. It's so pretty, I'm posting a detail shot.

- Hem the bottom before you pull the gathers. Hemming on a curve isn't fun.

- I thought the skirt was too small, so I added another column before doing the back seam. It was more difficult to add than it was to make the skirt initially, but the experience was cool. I saw how much I had to undo to do it right.

- I used my seam gauge and seam guide on this project. Both tools were super helpful, and I can't imagine doing this without them.

Tulle Layers

Skills acquired: patience, profanity, respect for tulle

I, having all the patience of a three-year-old, did not want to develop sewing skills by making napkins, graduating to pillows, then practicing bags. Oh no. I want to work on clothes now, now, now! I've had a jersey, melon skirt for a couple years now that I never wear because it's Spanx or vpl. Sounds like the perfect thing to alter, no?

With my flair for the dramatic, I thought this would be a fine base layer for a neon yellow tutu. "Tulle will be great," I thought," because I wont' have to hem it!" Turns out I'm just the sort of naive mark shifty tulle lays in wait for.

I folded and trimmed this with only a tape measure as my guide. Remember what I said about shifty? le sigh. It was all sorts of uneven. I was so frustrated with it, I spent weeks just glaring at it on my dress form.

Eventually, I decided to just plow through it. I sewed the layers together, gathered them, sewed them to the skirt, sewed up the back (that part took at least three tries), and sewed on the ribbon that covers my terrible stitch work.

This is the finished product. (I think like look like one of Toulouse-Lautrec's cancan dancers and even topped the outfit with a hair feather.) Notice the lack of detail shots. It's puffy at the top, and the stitching is all over the place. The back is especially awful, so I spared you a photo. No doubt I'll want to redo this later, add more tulle -- cut properly -- and stitch straight. But for now I can say, "I made this!"