I'm Too Ambitious

Since we're talking about sewing beyond my skill.

Arg! It's always something. Last time it was the fray of doom. That's in check now, but I seem to have reached beyond my grasp. Instead of putting waist pleats in this new shirt-skirt like I did with the previous one, I broke out my rockin' French curve and made some hips. It went quickly and well until it didn't.

Problem #1: My markers aren't unmarking. I got a pair of those markers that you can mark and wash away. Only, they're not washing away! No matter how much I wipe, I just end up moving a blue line around my skirt. GRR!

Problem #2: Part of the beauty of turning a men's shirt into a skirt is that some of the work is already done. The button holes are stitched. The buttons are attached. The hem and side seams are finished. Oh, yeah, the seams. I sort of undid that with my brilliant French curve hippy work. Nice. I literally spent half and hour reading up on seams to figure out how to finish these seams.

Problem #3: The answer is a mock French seam. To do a mock French seam, I need to iron my current seam flat. Uh, it's already curved. That happens when you use a French curve. To proceed, I need a tailor's ham -- a 3D ironing board.

Problem #4: I removed some cuff buttons to replace them for visual interest. I removed the wrong buttons. Now I have to sew them back on.

Sigh.

Fray of DOOM!

I'd already made the awesome lower half of my next men's-shirt-upcycled-into-a-skirt and was about to start on the waistband when I noticed this:

That is the fray of doom, people! It's right on the cuff, the top of the waist band.

I had planned on listing this skirt on Etsy and I was especially excited about it being a larger size (34 inch waist) because Etsy is full of tiny people. I'm sure I can stop the damage with fray check and fusible webbing, but I can't make the wear disappear. So do I not list it? Do I note that as an upcycled item there is regular wear to the fabric?

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!

Men's Shirt Into a Skirt

In November I bought an armful of men's shirts to turn into skirts. This project got shoved aside for Christmas, but after the recent passing of my snuggle bunny, I needed something light to distract me.

I want to maybe get more creative with some of these shirts, but the blue pattern is busy enough that I was okay sticking with a simple design. Using this tutorial for the rough idea, I sat down with some Law & Order: Criminal Intent and my seam ripper. I decided to start with the blue patterned shirt. The first step is to remove the cuffs...I hate these cuffs. They were triple stitched onto the sleeves. I was ripping them out for at least two episodes. For comparison, I removed the entire sleeve of the polka dot shirt in 15 minutes.

Sewing the waistband went rather well. I consulted some of my books, chanted "I can do this! I am awesome!" In 30 minutes, I had a beautiful waistband...that was backwards. Frustrated, I abandoned my project for the night.

The next night, I fixed the waistband and pinned the skirt in place. I felt I couldn't finished the edged and get it properly pinned, so I'm going to get some hem tape to make things neat. Finished pictures in a couple days!

Darn It!

It's been a terrible week, so I'm catching up on my hand sewing while I distract myself with TV. I really hate hand sewing, but any sewing at all is good right now. Plus, I feel empowered to save my socks. I will darn them to salvation!

Source: realphotography.com via Muriel on Pinterest

On the list of items to fix (aside from socks), sewing buttons back on jackets, darning some studded cashmere Michael Kors arm warmers I bought for a steal because of a hole, and picking apart a men's shirt for a later project.

Where Am I?

I haven't posted in a month because I've been busy covering Fashion Week (a misnomer as it's really four major fashion cities showing one after another) for Fashion Me Fabulous. Because of this, I haven't been able to spend time sewing. This season's been a little interesting since I've taken up sewing. I noticed the seams more than ever. I cared about the fabrics and draping more. Poorly cut pants made me more nervous to try them.

Book Review: The Sewing Bible

Details: The Sewing Bible by Ruth Singer, $23.10 on Amazon.

Pros: Stitch By Stitch assumes your fabric is cotton or some other easy material, but The Sewing Bible lists other options for neat hems and seams if you're using a more difficult fabric like tweed or silk. Likewise, if you want to make some nice clothes without linings, this book will teach you how to finish your seams and hems professionally.

Where The Sewing Bible excels is the middle section regarding embellishments. She gives a nice primer on everything from pleats, beading, smocking, frogs, applique, quilting, pintucks and more.

Cons: Singer thinks too highly of hand sewing. It's all fine and good to know these techniques, but telling the reader to slip stitch a hem that could be done on machine is silly.

Some of the tutorials really won't do anything to improve your sewing skills, and they aren't structured to build skills like those in Stitch By Stitch.

Summary: Stitch By Stitch will teach you how to sew, but The Sewing Bible can spin you off from there. I would not recommend it as a catch-all primer, however.