Stashbusting Challenge

Houston.  We have a problem.

 

Building my own spaceship and flying it to the moon would probably be less of a challenge. 

One of my intentions for 2013 is to sew more of my stash.  As evidenced by the picture above, this will be an intention for many years to come.  SMH.  In my defense, one bin is full of lining.  Whenver Ambiance goes on sale or I get a good coupon, I buy basic colours.  The rest...well...  There are casual-wear knits, cottons, bottomweights, silks, linen, shirtings, activewear knits and lots upon lots of wool.  There is a pack of sheep shivering their asses off because of me.  Awww...poor little guys...

This picture doesn't include three overflowing bins of what-was-I-thinking fabric,  now used only for muslins.

Here's my pledge:

"I, Lynn of You sew girl!, commit to using at least 12 pieces of stash fabric in 2013. I also commit to using at least 10 patterns from the stash. Stash includes any fabric or patterns on hand prior to the date of this pledge, 15 Jan 2013."

I think committing to using 12 pieces of fabric is reasonable and quite doable.  Some folks set some pretty lofty goals from sewing 3/4 of the stash to using over 20 pieces and not buying any more fabric.  Yeah.  I know me.  Setting the bar really low works.  LOL!  I can raise it whenever I want, right?

Oh and about those patterns.  Yeah, that's another thing that needs work.

McVoguerickwik, Burda, New Look
Jalie, Colette, Christine Jonson, Indygo Junction
drawers closed for a reason...out of sight out of mind

BWOF, Knipmode, La Mia Boutique, Patrones

two boxes of culled patterns

Anyone else taking the plunge pledge?  Originators of and more details about the challenge can be found here.

L 

YSG: Ramblings

1.  It's been nearly three weeks since my last blog post.
2.  That's about when I last sewed a single stitch, too.
3.  I have drafts of posts.
4.  In my head.
5.  Does that count?
6.  School started three weeks ago and I've been in sixth gear ever since.
7.  Speaking of gears, my car has to go back to the shop.
8.  O_o
9.  I am so tempted to trade it in and I haven't even had it a year.
10.  I knew I should have bought the Honda.
11.  My Jalie jacket still sits without a lining.
12.  I've cut out all pieces except the sleeves.
13.  I've got too many projects going on at the moment.
14.  That's hampered my sewjo.
15.  A recent road trip has not helped the situation.
16.  I am going to work really hard to sew this weekend.
17.  I'd like to finish my jacket.
18.  My next break won't be until March.
19.  Ugh.
20.  Who cares if Beyonce lip-synced?
21.  FLOTUS Obama's inaugural coat was b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. 
22.  Sista got it goin' on.
23.  That's all for now.  Hopefully I'll get to sew tomorrow.

L
 

Jalie 2559: Sleeve Heads

I have a small update for the Jalie jacket.  After considering all of your comments about the sleeve heads, I opted to take the "average" of all suggestions.  The polar fleece was too thick for this fabric and the cotton flannel was too thin.  I ended up compromising with 100% cotton batting. The nice thing about this material is that the thickness is just right and provides a lot of support without being too bulky.  

left sleeve

It would be too much for both sleeves to set so nicely on the first try, right?  It took four tries and three (or was it four?) sleeve heads to set the other sleeve.  The result?

right sleeve

Believe me, it looked far worse than this after the first few attempts.  The armhole was so stretched out of shape that this was the best I could do without cutting a whole new side front, side back, and upper/under sleeves.  I even thought about unpicking both sleeves and retrying the polar fleece or cotton flannel.  Luckily I didn't have to resort to either option.  Using my tailor's ham and a LOT of steam, I was able to smooth out the puckers enough to be happy with the result.

Although it's not very visible in the second photo, the puckers aren't there.  Also using a smaller needle really helped remove some of the wrinkles/puckers that occurred in the McCall's skirt.

Now I have to do the lining.  I used a stretch poly charmeuse for the skirt, but I haven't decided if I will use the same fabric for the jacket. 

That's all for now.  School starts in a couple of days and I need to get prepared!  I hope to squeeze in some sewing before then.  Until next time, be well.

L

M5523 & KS3179: Complete

McCall's 5523 (skirt)

Let us all welcome the newest member to the town of Waddervile.  Don't worry, dear discarded garment, you'll find plenty of company along with many other less desirables.  I had high hopes that we would get along well, but you didn't want to play nice with your wrinkling and all.  It's a shame, too, because I think you really would have enjoyed meeting Judith's offspring.

On with the review...

Fabric & Notions:

• 1.5 yards of rayon-poly-lycra stretch woven suiting
• 1.5 yards of beige (more like gold) stretch polyester charmeuse
• 1.5-inch wide beige petersham cut to waist circumference plus extra
• 7" invisible zipper

Fitting & Alterations:

Having made the skirt in 2010, I didn't need to make any additional adjustments.  The pattern has a 1.25" wedge at the center and side back for a full seat. 

In more recent applications of the wedge alteration, I straighten the seam above the alteration and take off the extra width from the side seam.  I didn't do that with this pattern and don't see any negative affects.

Construction:

All seams were sewn on my machine and then serged together.  For the next project using this fabric, I'll finish the edges first, sew the seams, and then press them open.  I added a rolled hem to finish the bottom edge.  I tried to turn up a hem, but the curve of the flounce too deep and, by this point, I was beyond done with this garment.

Conclusion: 

The rendering of this skirt to Wadderville has nothing to do with the pattern.  The pattern is fine and I intend to sew it again..  The fabric's not even that bad, really.  At least, I hope it isn't since I have yards upon yards of this stuff.  I just can't get the wrinkles out in a way that makes this...um...less wrinkly.  I think the color of the fabric only exacerbates the problem. I also think the problem might be with the type of needle I used.  I switched to a 75/11 microtex midway through the project because the 90/14 universal needle made big holes in the fabric.  I don't have any wrinkles in my Jalie jacket and I used the microtex needle from the very beginning. 

The big question is, will I wear it?  I don't know.  It's hanging in my closet for now.  If there comes a day when I haven't done laundry and have nothing else to wear to work, it might make an appearance.

Kwik Sew 3179 (top)

Pattern love is in full effect with this one.  This is the fourth time I made this top and don't know why it's taken me so long to make it again.  There are four pieces (back, left front, right front, tie extension) all cut on the bias and can almost be completely sewn on a serger.

Fabric & Notions:

• 2 yards of purple-ish cotton solid
• regular sewing thread for sewing/serging seams and rolled hem

Fitting & Alterations:
I cut large and took out a half an inch of width from the neckline, tapering to nothing at the hem.  Aside from that, I didn't make any other alterations. 

Construction:
I cut this out a couple of days ago and finished it in about an hour.  It would have taken even less time, but I decided to sew the seams on my machine first and then serge them together.

Conclusion:
This is a great instant gratification project.  It's what I needed to get back in the groove after the McCall's skirt.  I'll take pictures wearing both garments when I get all prettified. 

Up next:  A BWOF skirt in the same rayon-poly-lyrca fabric.  Oy vey.

L

When the Wedge Fails

I thought my first post of 2013 would be about my fabulous jacket.  But since the right sleeve is really determined not to set it self correctly, I'm going to write about something else. 

This is Joanna Coles, the "Tim Gunn" of Project Runway All-stars, season 2.  Normally, I like what she wears, but this skirt is not working for me.  Do you see that?  Why would anyone want to do that?  I try my best to prevent my clothes from splitting at the seams.  Why in the world would it be encouraged at the waist?  Sure, her pose is exaggerating the split, but day-um!

That split dart thing is not cool.  After grabbing some more screen shots, I noticed that it actually stands away from the body.  When I first watched the episode, I thought it was an unfortunate attempt at color-blocking.  Um.  No.  It's like the split of a hem, only at the waist.

The fact that the skirt is too tight at the hip does not help the situation at all. 

I don't think there's much else for me to say.  Joanna, darling, I am not a fan.  Not that you would care what I or anyone else thinks.  Just know that I am in no rush to knockoff this look.

Would you wear this skirt?