Sunday, February 29, 2004

Burda Plus Spring 2004 pegged
straight skirt for knit fabrics
Burda Plus Spring 2003 pants
in stretch fabric
KS 2565 Kwik Sew 3055 New Look 6959 OOP Burda 8841 OOP?
I spent the weekend cutting out 3 yards of a blue and brown print 100% polyester knit with one fuzzy surface (right side) and a smooth, almost buttery, surface. I managed to cut out
  1. BurdaPlus pegged skirt: I added a seam allowance of 1.5 inches. That gives me an extra 5 inches to play with. The pattern pieces pinfit okay; I seemed to need only 1/4 inch extra for the front, but the patternease tracing paper is stiff, and the knit fabric I'm using is very soft. My hunch is that without extra ease, the fabric will mold itself to every lump and bump.
  2. KS 2565 t-shirt: I lowered the dart 1/2 inch before cutting. Tweak it here; tweak it there; will it ever fit perfectly?
  3. KS 3055 long sleeved t-shirt: DD wore the other one I made last week, and the sleeves were long, so I shortened them about 1/2 inch.
  4. NL 6959 skirt: I had to trace the pattern, first. I was hoping to get 2 skirts for her out of the last 14 inches, but she's getting bigger, and I could only cut one.
  5. Burda 8841 - 2 t-shirts and 1 pair of shorts: It seems all doll clothes patterns are printed single size. I thought it was something Sewing For Dummies did to make things easier. I didn't trace the patterns, since they are single size, and I'm not going to alter them. I tried to get 1 t-shirt, 1 pair of shorts, and 1 dress out of the scraps, but I didn't have enough for the skirt. The bodice for the dress uses the same front as the t-shirt only shorter, so the babies will have one regular t-shirt and one cropped t-shirt.

Thursday, February 26, 2004

No sewing today. I had a class, tho. I signed up for the Artista embroidery class at Dublin Sewing Center. The class had been taught by 2 teachers, Kathy and Lisa. Kathy had to quit teaching, so, fortunately for us, Pat stepped in to replace her. They changed the format of the class. We had been making samples every class. Now, we will be alternating between learning about the software and learning about how to use our machines to embroider. This month we learned how to oil our machines and all about stablizers. The store gave us 25 different samples, and we talked about each one. It was very informative. Of course, I ended up getting a roll of the water-soluable paper like stablizer.

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Burda Plus Spring 2004 pegged
straight skirt for knit fabrics
Burda Plus Spring 2003 pants
in stretch fabric
I had traced these pants last spring in a size 50 which is now a size too big. However, since they are pants, I decided to go ahead and add the seam allowances and pin fit them in this size. We'll see. If they truly are too big, I can retrace them in a 48. I plan on using a solid blue cotton/lycra knit. I traced the skirt in a size 48. I love straight skirts. This one is very pegged. I'm not sure how I feel about that. We'll see. I have 2 fabrics pulled. The blue cotton/lycra mentionned above, and a blue & brown print polyester knit. It has a fuzzy surface. I don't know the name of this sort of knit.

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

KS 2565 Burda Plus Magazine 406A,
French Dart Tshirt
Kwik Sew 3055 New Look 6959 OOP
I finished serging all the seams. The only thing left to do is hem. NL 6959 tank top is completed. I tried coverstitch in the round using Bryden's instructions for ending the coverstitch. It worked wonderfully. I did have some trouble going over the seams. The Elna 744 really doesn't handle bulk very well during coverstitch. I tried on the t-shirts. The bigger sleeve makes a huge difference in the KwikSew tshirt. I'm not thrilled with the Burda Plus tshirt. I'm not sure why. It came out looking almost exactly like the one in the magazine. I was hoping that it looked big and sacklike on the model because she wasn't a plus sized model and that while I filled out the shirt more than the model, the french darts would give me some shaping and definition at the waist. The KS t-shirt is much more flattering. I, probably, should follow Sherril's example, and stick with the tried and true pattern. I like trying new patterns, tho. I wonder what would happen if I put the french darts in the KS tshirt?

Monday, February 23, 2004

KS 2565 Burda Plus Magazine 406A,
French Dart Tshirt
Kwik Sew 3055 New Look 6959 OOP
I finished hemming the sleeves on all of these. They are ready for the last bit of serging. Next time, I'm going to coverstitch in the round. I belong to the Elna Serger Mailing List. Bryden posted these instructions for finishing off the coverstitch: finishing coverstitch - stop and make sure the needles are at the highest position, raise the presser foot, and pressing the tension release hook your allen key (the thingy you tighten the needles up with) behind the threads (under the foot) and hook them towards you - cut through the threads and then remove your work to the back of the machine. This pulls the needle threads through to the reverse of your work ready to tie off It works marvelously. I put the FOE on KS 3055. It was easier and less visible to use a small zigzag than the narrow coverstitch. I think I know why the neckline on the french dart t-shirt is funneling. I bet I used a 1/4 inch seam allowance, instead of the 5/8 inch seam allowance. I decided to make all these tshirts for 2 reasons. First, to get the pink with blue flowers cotton/lycra knit out of my stash. Second, if I made them all at the same time, I wouldn't be rethreading the serger and sewing machine for each tshirt. Also, an assembly line process is faster. However, the Kwik Sew patterns all have 1/4 seam allowances, I put a 5/8 inch seam allowance on the Burda Plus T-shirt in case I needed to let it out, and the New Look tank has an easy to confuse mix of 5/8 seam allowances and 3/8 hem allowances. I sew at night. It's the only time I have free when I don't have a child hanging on me, so I'm tired. It's easy to make mistakes, like putting the waistband on wrong on KS 2788. At least, this mistake is easily fixed. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about that skirt.

Sunday, February 22, 2004

KS 2788: It's all finished. I'm not happy with it, but that's because I managed to get the tab on the underside of the waistband. I'm not happy with the sides either, but I think that has to do with the curve from upper hip to thighs. Hopefully if I smooth out the curve, that won't be a problem anymore. I don't know what to do about the waistband tab. If it overlapped on the outside, the tab would pull the fly shut and flatten that fabric out. On the underside, it doesn't do that.
Simplicity 7071: Finished. I left of the leg elastic. The overalls fit Baby very well.
KS 2565: Sewed the darts, serged the shoulders using clear elastic to stablize, serged sleeves and neckband, and coverstitched one sleeve.
Burda Plus Magazine 406A, French Dart Tshirt: Sewed the darts, serged the shoulders using clear elastic to stablize, serged sleeves and bodice to facing, and coverstitched one sleeve. The neckline is funneling. It's odd; usually when I use fusible interfacing, my facings end up too small, not too large.
Kwik Sew 3055: I got 2 tshirts cut out, one long sleeve and one short sleeve. On the long sleeve, I serged the shoulders using clear elastic to stablize, serged sleeves and neckband, and coverstitched one sleeve. On the short sleeve, I serged one shoulder, one sleeve, and coverstitched both sleeve hems. They are different because I want to use fold over elastic (FOE) on the shortsleeve one.
New Look 6959 OOP: I'm making the tanktop. It has a centerback seam which I really like in top even for DD. I serged 1 shoulder and coverstitched neckline and one armhole.
I bought 3 yards of embroidered white 100% cotton knit, 3 yards of cotton twill with lycra , and Vogue 7744 at Joann's.

KS 2788: It's all finished. I'm not happy with it, but that's because I managed to get the tab on the underside of the waistband. I'm not happy with the sides either, but I think that has to do with the curve from upper hip to thighs. Hopefully if I smooth out the curve, that won't be a problem anymore. I don't know what to do about the waistband tab. If it overlapped on the outside, the tab would pull the fly shut and flatten that fabric out. On the underside, it doesn't do that.
Simplicity 7071: Finished. I left of the leg elastic. The overalls fit Baby very well.
KS 2565: Sewed the darts, serged the shoulders using clear elastic to stablize, serged sleeves and neckband, and coverstitched one sleeve.
Burda Plus Magazine 406A, French Dart Tshirt: Sewed the darts, serged the shoulders using clear elastic to stablize, serged sleeves and bodice to facing, and coverstitched one sleeve. The neckline is funneling. It's odd; usually when I use fusible interfacing, my facings end up too small, not too large.
Kwik Sew 3055: I got 2 tshirts cut out, one long sleeve and one short sleeve. On the long sleeve, I serged the shoulders using clear elastic to stablize, serged sleeves and neckband, and coverstitched one sleeve. On the short sleeve, I serged one shoulder, one sleeve, and coverstitched both sleeve hems. They are different because I want to use fold over elastic (FOE) on the shortsleeve one.
New Look 6959 OOP: I'm making the tanktop. It has a centerback seam which I really like in top even for DD. I serged 1 shoulder and coverstitched neckline and one armhole.
I bought 3 yards of embroidered white 100% cotton knit, 3 yards of cotton twill with lycra , and Vogue 7744 at Joann's.

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

KS 2788: I decided the skirt wasn't too small in the waist. The waistband is pinned. The instructions say to topstitch near seam and top of waistband. The waistband is understitched at the top, and I've always liked stitching in the ditch at the bottom. I'm not sure what I'll do.
KS 2565: It's cut out and ready to go.
Burda Plus Magazine 406A, French Dart Tshirt: I also finished cutting this one out.
I still have about a yard of this pink with blue flowers cotton lycra knit, supposedly a swimsuit knit. I'm not sure whether I'll make another t-shirt for me. 3 tshirts in the same fabric does seem like overkill. I'm leaning towards a tshirt for my daughter.

Sunday, February 15, 2004

KS 2565: I altered the sleeve to be bigger.
Burda Plus Magazine 406A, French Dart Tshirt: I traced the pattern and altered it. I only had to add 1 inch for my bust, unlike the 3 inches I added for KS 2565. I hope it isn't too big in the shoulder and neckline. I decided to forego the yoke on this one. If I like the way it fits, and I have coordinating knits, I might make the version with the yoke. I cut everything out but the sleeve. The instructions say it calls for 1.75 yards of fabric, but I only used 33 inches so far. The sleeves aren't going to take another 33 inches.

Saturday, February 14, 2004

KS 2788: I finally got around to putting the waistband on my skirt, and it's too small. Also, I put it on backwards, so that the tab is under instead of over. That's not a big deal. Unfortunately, I trimmed my waistband where it meets the zipper, so if I want the back seam to line up with centerback on my skirt, I have about 3/8 inches to let it out. (big sigh). I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I don't have any more fabric to make more waistbands. I'm really mad at myself for trimming it. I left the extra seam allowance on the skirt.
Simplicity 7071: I sewed the rickrack to the bottom of the legs, sewed the leg seam and the crotch seam. I sewed the crotch seam and edge finished it with my serger all the way to the waist. I hope it's big enough to get on the doll; I wasn't supposed to sew that high. I decided to take my chances and sew the pants to the bodice.

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

KS 2788: I interfaced the waistband and finished the lower edge.
Simplicity 7071: I sewed the bodice to the self-lining and turned it right side out thru the shoulders. It just barely turned. I'm using a bottomweight fabric, which is heavier than the fabrics listed. I think, if I make this again with a similar fabric or make the smaller sizes that the bodice lining will have to be out of a much lighter fabric.

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Wow, it's been a while since I could sew. I did manage a trip to Joann's to get a french curve to help me fit my straight skirt. Naturally, I came home with 8 yards of fabric. At least, it's really cool fabrc, a rayon-linen blend with transparent burnout spots. It's very pretty, and I got it in 2 different prints. It's sitting in my serge-edges-before-prewashing pile.
KS 2788: I used the french curve to estimate the curve from my full hip to waist. I had to let out the skirt a couple of inches at the side to accomodate my sit-spread, but I had to take in the waist a about an inch. I thought I traced the same section of the french curve onto my skirt on both sides, but when I basted it together, the two sides weren't the same. Fortunately, one was perfect. I copied that side onto my pattern and from the pattern, onto the other side of the skirt. I don't know what I was thinking when I made the waistband pattern piece bigger. I know my waist is smaller than Kwik Sew's. I cut the waistband pieces down to the original size. I've had problems in the past with my waistbands being too small for my clothes (ie the pattern pieces not fitting), so I didn't alter the waistband piece. I can do that easily later on in the construction process.
Simplicity 7071: I sewed the shoulder seams for the bodice and bodice self lining.

Sunday, February 01, 2004

Simplicity 7071: I decided to take a break from fitting my straight skirt. This pattern held some surprises for me. I hadn't used a "Sewing for Dummies" pattern before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The pattern comes in 3 sizes. Each size is separate, which is nice because I don't have to trace the pattern to make clothes for DD's size small and size medium dolls. If I like the pattern, I may trace it. I may just use freezer paper to strengthen the tissue. I decided to start with a pair of overalls, using the scraps from my straight skirt. The pants are one seam pants which are easier to sew, but they require larger scraps than pants with a side seam would. The bodice for the overalls is one piece. I found that annoying and cut the piece up at the shoulder and center front, adding a seam allowance at the shoulder on both pieces. I don't know what anyone else thinks, but IMO doll clothing should come from scraps, not yardage. The one piece bodice required a large piece and would have left quite a bit of scrap material behind. Cutting it made it much more manageable. So, I have the pants, bodice front, and bodice backs cut and ready to go.