Admitting to my mistakes - so you can avoid them!

Not everything I sew makes it onto the blog - I hardly think it's worthwhile sharing all the pyjama pants, t-shirts and track suit pants I make for myself and the kids because I have nothing meaningful to say about them and they're not glamourous enough for just a show and tell type post!

So the tops I'm about to share here almost fall into that category, except that I made a simple mistake on each that I mainly want to post here as a note to my future self, but it may help someone else avoid them too. Plus I'm keeping it real - even experienced sewers sometimes commit simple stuff ups so no one ought to feel bad about that all.

First up, a simple round neck top from Burda 2/2011 #106 which I've made many times before and is my go to pattern for long sleeve t-shirts:

This one is made from a light sweater type knit fabric that I wanted to be able to wear over other layers for warmth in winter so I needed it to be a little looser than the others I had made. Instead of thinking it through properly and slightly increasing the width of the body and sleeves I simply traced out a larger size and made that up. Well that meant the top is too large through the shoulders and the sleeve cap hangs off my shoulder:

I've left as is and happpily wear this top, but it does annoy me everytime I look at it. It's a common complaint I hear about some plus size patterns - that when pattern drafters grade up a pattern they increase all measurments equally, even though shoulder width doesn't usually increase as dramatically as say the bust between sizes. Note to future self - next time fix the pattern properly and don't look for the quick solution!

This fabric is awesome though - it's a polyester knit that I bought recently from The Remnant Warehouse (when I was there buying them out of gold sequin fabric), and the dots are actually flocked velvet. It's very tactile, and I do find that my kids like to touch it whenever I'm wearing it. They also had this fabric in a blue and a brown colourway that I had to restrain myself from buying since I only need so many polka dot tops after all.

Ok, onto the second mishap. In August we went skiing with a large group of friends, and given that I dislike both the cold and doing exercise I was a bit apprehensive. So I sort of went overboard buying warm thermals to wear under the ski gear and chunky wool jumpers to wear when not skiing. I also decided to make a high necked top to wear to make doubly sure that no cold air was going to sneak in my ski jacket when I was trying not to break bones on the ski slopes. Sue at Quilt Sew, Sew Sue had previously recommended Burda 9/2010 #121 (not available for download unfortunately) a while ago, and a quick google search revealed that loads of other people had made it too so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

It is a very simple, quick and easy top to make. Essentially it's just three pieces - the front, back and sleeves and the neckline is formed by cutting out an extra long neckline and then folding it over. My mistake with this one is that my fabric has very little stretch so it's very hard to get over my head (either that or my head is larger than the average German head!). This fabric is also wonderful though, despite the stretch. Another purchase from The Remnant Warehouse earlier in the year it's a French terry knit - one side is smooth and the inside is looped fibres. I've worn this a lot and it hasn't pilled at all yet. I only wish I bought more of it at the time, because sadly it's all gone now.

I find the neckline a bit annoying though - it's only sewn down at the side seams which means that the fabric at the front wants to roll up and it gets a bit bunchy. I overlocked the edge of the fabric hoping that would keep it flat, but I think I really need to stitch it down the whole way around.

The sleeves on this one are also really really long! In the Burda photo you can see it's meant to be worn scrunched up a little around the wrists, but because my fabric doesn't have enough stretch it doesn't stay like that. Note to future self: choose a stretchier knit and reduce the sleeve length.

The final project for this post is made from some beautiful wool fabric I bought from the Tomato fabric store when I was Tokyo this time last year. This was one of those fabrics that I really wanted to use but couldn't decide on the right pattern because I didn't want to waste it. Eventually I settled on Kwik Sew 3915, which is a simple top with a v-neckband that I've made once before:

Regrettably I only bought a single metre of this fabric (it was quite expensive and by that stage I had already bought a lot of fabric!), I had to change the neck band by reducing the width to remove those gathers and the fold over bit at the back of the neck . The v-neck point turned out perfectly, and in fact I like it better than the gathered version:

Unfortunately I didn't think about what changes the back of the neckline would also require. Now that it didn't need to turn over on itself outwards, I really should have angled the centre back seam so that it would sit snugly against my neck, and since I didn't the neckline sags open at the back:

I've been wearing this lots though despite this problem, and the easy fix is to wear my hair down so that it covers it! Note to future self - make this again, but change that centre back seam.

So there you have it - nothing major but I guess what annoys me the most about these is that they were easily avoidable. They are also easily fixed, but since that involves unpicking overlocked stitches on knit fabrics that won't be happening anytime soon!

Kwik Sew 3531: my new favourite tailored jacket

Kwik Sew patterns are the quiet achievers of the pattern world, in my humble opinion. Most of the pattern envelopes are rather dowdy, and apart from using photographs now instead of just drawings they haven't changed much over the years. But their drafting is solid, they offer the essential basics and every now and then one of their patterns will really catch my eye which is the case with this one. Behold my new favourite work jacket:

This is Kwik Sew 3531, an asymmetrical jacket in two lengths:

I chose to make the shorter length jacket mainly because I like cropped jackets but also because if you look at that photograph on the pattern envelope there are drag lines from the side seam down towards the centre front which I figure had something to do with the length.

The fabric is the real superstar of this project though - it's a vintage wool tweed piece I bought from the remnants table at the Remnant Warehouse earlier this year. The base colour is a beautiful peach shade, with flecks in varying colours. It sewed and pressed like a dream.

The jacket is rather boxy as there are no darts or shaping in the back. I was tempted to add a centre back seam so that I could do a sway back adjustment, but I figured that because the jacket is cropped it would still look ok, especially when worn with a well fitting pencil skirt:

The other feature I used is a vintage button I bought from an aptly named shop called Buttons Buttons Buttons down in The Rocks (a tourist district in Sydney) - I bought three of  them years ago for a failed project (another *cough cough* UFO) but I decided it looks better on this project. It really is the centrepiece of the jacket front, and acts like a brooch so I tend to keep my accessories with this jacket very simple. 

The other feature I really love about this pattern is the inseam buttonhole which you can see in the photograph above. It's such a neat finish and of course saves the stress of doing a neat buttonhole.

The pattern is for an unlined jacket, but I drafted a lining for mine as I really dislike jackets without linings. It's much easier to put them on if the inside is slippery, and I also lack the patience to do fancy seam finishes such as Hong Kong bindings. I found a perfect colour matching piece of China silk in my stash picked up from an opshop a long time ago, it was like it was waiting for this project it's so perfectly matched:

The only other change I made was with the button placement on the front. I chose the button placement when I was wearing the jacket and just where the fronts sat best - my buttons are a bit lower and more towards the centre than where they are indicated on the pattern. And looking at these photos I can see that I've put the outside button on the opposite side to the pattern, oops! I'm sure there's some convention about which side women's jackets are supposed to button up, but since I made this and no one else will be wearing it, it suits me just fine! 

Although my fabric has a weight suitable for a jacket, I used some iron on interfacing on the neckbands, facings, part of the fronts, upper back and sleeve heads for extra structure. 

So overall I can highly recommend this pattern if you're looking for a simple and easy to make jacket. Because there isn't a traditional notched collar needing traditional tailoring techniques such as pad stitching along a roll line or welt pockets it comes together very quickly. I've already worn this jacket several times to work since I made it a few weeks ago and I've received quite a few compliments on it - clearly a winner!

Attempting to conquer my mountains of UFOs again

Hello - anyone still reading along? I've never been a particularly regular or prolific blogger, but I have let things slide in the past few weeks. To be honest, I've been having a bit of a blog crisis and was seriously considering ending it - I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment with life and there just isn't enough time for everything I want to do. Since I don't plan to use my blog to make money or launch an overpriced line of amateur patterns I didn't think I would miss it. And I know I'll never have a flashy blog with amazing photography in cool locations and I don't sew the uber popular indie patterns that everyone seems to go crazy over, so I'm not deluding myself that my blog is a 'must read' for anyone.

But then I remembered what I do get out of blogging - it's a way of keeping track of my projects and alterations made, and it's enabled me to make many new friends and contacts in real life who share my love of sewing. I was reminded of this last weekend when I went on a sewing retreat with my local Australian Sewing Guild - without my blog I wouldn't have met these funny and amazingly talented ladies.

I was also reminded when I sat down to finish a UFO that was started in my pre-blog days (that would be more than 8 years ago!) - without any project notes I have no idea of what changes I may have made to the pattern. Despite several attempts over the years to clear up my many UFOs that are lurking around, the sad fact is that I still have more than a few many unfinished projects from the 18 or so years I've been sewing.

Sadly it's not the first time I've confessed my UFO habit and tried to do something about it - in this post back in 2009 I talked about the very same thing, and I have 18 posts over the years referring to UFOs. Judging by the two big boxes of UFOs I know have I didn't achieve much progress since then, but if my Burda style challenge has taught me anything it's that forcing myself to do something routinely it eventually becomes habit. So I'm declaring my intention here: from now on I'm aiming to finish one UFO each month until they're all gone.

I'm also planning to analyse why I let things become UFOs to see if I can identify patterns or weaknesses that I should also try to address. And by blogging it all, not only am I making myself accountable, but I might even make some of you feel better about your own UFOs, or make those of you that are very diligent to feel mighty glad that you don't even have any UFOs (I bet you don't have a fabric stash either, do you?!).

First up, one of my more recent UFOs: Kwik Sew 3915 Ruched Neck Top

I cut this project out this time last year to take away to a sewing weekend retreat but I didn't get time to make it then, and I forgot about it when I came home and packed all my things away. So no real reason for this one becoming a UFO.

I am really annoyed with myself for taking so long to finish this one - it's a great pattern and top and I've worn it several times already in the last month since finishing it. Funnily enough it took less than 2 hours to sew it, and it only took that long because I was sewing it at one of my ASG neighbourhood group sewing days and there is more talking than sewing going on there!


The fabric is a wool knit, quite lightweight like a merino although it's a bit scratchier and doesn't have a great deal of stretch. Being wool it presses really well, and was easy to sew with. The fabric is leftover from a maternity dress I made back in 2012, and was originally purchased from the Remnant Warehouse.

Let's talk Kwik Sew patterns for a minute - they used to be a bit unfashionable, with 'sensible' styles that hardly set the sewing blogging world alight. But I think they have great simple styles and the patterns are really well drafted. Now that they have become part of the McCalls company they seem to be trying to make their pattern covers more enticing and modern - but as always if you look beyond the cover picture you might just find a gem!

I made a size xs from this pattern and it fits me well, although I went off the flat pattern measurements and not the body measurements stated on the envelope.  The shoulder seams are a little wide for my narrow shoulders, and I do have some pooling in my lower back which is to be expected from a pattern without a centre back seam. Looks just like all my RTW tops do anyway, so I'm fine with it.

It's a relatively easy pattern, although I imagine sewing those loops for the buttons on the front would be fiddly in a knit (I didn't bother with them) and getting a good finish at the bottom of that V-neck seam in the centre front proved impossible even though I tried a few times. It has a slight bubble, but it's not too bad and probably not too noticeable at all.

I didn't interface the collar so it's a bit floppy and doesn't really fold over that well as it's designed to. For the next version (that will not become a UFO!) I will use some interfacing, but possibly will reduce the width of the collar so that it doesn't need to be folded over anyway because only the smallest amount folds over and it doesn't really look intentional.

So that's one UFO done from many still unfinished. This is going to be long road, but I just can't let all those fabrics and time invested in half finished projects go to waste, so I am determined to finish a good chunk of them at least. The good news is that I finished four other UFOs last week, so I'm making a good start on my UFO challenge.

Thanks everyone for reading along and commenting on my blog, and especially to those who I sometimes bump into in real life that take the time to say hello - it's always lovely!

Sewing in the polar vortex: Kwik Sew 3740 cowl neck top

It's been so chilly here in Sydney lately that the single digit overnight temperatures have made the 6pm news (apparently we're in a polar vortex) and prominently in our major metropolitan newspaper. In the part of Sydney I am there hasn't been any frost let alone snow, and during the day it's been sunny with temps between 15 - 18C so life has continued on as normal with just an extra coat to go with the sunscreen and hat!

It seems that us Sydneysiders in general just cannot cope with the cold. Myself as well - I've spent far too many nights recently curled up on the lounge under a blanket with hardly any motivation to venture in to my sewing room, hence the blog silence of late. But as they say in the business, here's one I prepared earlier!

Back in May I had a weekend away with my Australian Sewing Guild group which was not only lots of fun but also quite productive. I made this cowl neck top from Kwik Sew 3740 on the first night, and it took about two hours from cutting out to finishing because it's such a simple pattern and I made it mostly on the overlocker apart from twin stitching the hems. I had been planning to make this for such a long time after seeing lots of lovely versions around (see Sharon , Kyle, Shannon and Sue) - I have no idea why I took so long to get around to making this one. It won't be the last one though.

Kwik Sew 3740 - image via kwiksew.com

The fabric I used is some type of wool knit that came in a big tubular piece but it's exact composition is unknown because I bought it for a bargain price at the Fabric Cave at Meadowbank last year (a charity shop selling donated fabric and other craft materials for those not familiar with the bounty that is the Fabric Cave!). The fabric pressed beautifully, is not too scratchy and is the most wonderful deep shade of red.

I made a straight size small, and the size isn't too bad - it's loose enough to layer over another top for extra warmth. It's a bit long when untucked, and it definitely looks better tucked in especially at the back because it disguises the likely fabric pooling at my swayback I will have:

The neckline is exactly as wide as the pattern envelope shows, so that wasn't a surprise but I wasn't expecting the shoulders to be so wide - the seam line is so far off my shoulder it's almost a dropped shoulder.

That cowl is quite big and it does need to be carefully arranged to sit properly otherwise it looks like a scrunched up mess, but it would probably sit a bit better in a more slinky knit.

My verdict: this is a great pattern with Kwik Sew's usual precision drafting. Their patterns may have the most boring cover envelopes, but they sure are reliable when it comes to proper drafting. For my next version (and I'm hoping that will be sometime this winter) I think I will try to raise the neckline a little because it's a bit too cold to have that much chest area out in the cold air!

So, I've been busily sewing....

At the risk of sounding like a trashy 1980s style souvenir t-shirt (you know the ones: my grandma went to Singapore and all I got was this lousy t-shirt), but I have to say it: I've been sewing like a crazy woman and all I've got to show for it is a few lousy blog photos because it's all for other people!

My daughter's school held its annual fete recently which took an enormous amount of time and effort before the day in terms of organising, selling raffle tickets let alone on the actual day. I was the stall co-ordinator for my daughter's class, and we were allocated the second hand clothing stall so I spent about 3 months lugging home bags of donated clothes from school to sort, wash and store in a large pile in my sewing room. The fete was a huge success though - we made nearly $60,000 and my stall made nearly $900 which is a great result and will go towards installing air conditioning in all our classrooms, upgrading computers and replenishing the library. All things you would think the government would provide (it's a public school) but they don't.

Being a little too quick to volunteer my sewing talents, I ended up hemming tablecloths, making drawstring bags and sewing bunting. Oh the bunting! It took way longer to make than I could ever have imagined:

That's about 70 metres of bunting altogether. The actual sewing of triangles to the bias tape wasn't the longest bit, but cutting out all those triangles and sewing them together took many, many hours. Luckily it looked great, we can reuse it next year and all the fabric I used from stash to make it (about 8m) has now balanced out a recent on-line fabric purchase binge!

Next up I offered to make Anna and her friends matching t-shirts for the sports carnival that was scheduled for last Thursday. Her school decided to have a retro themed sports carnival (in the early years it's all about fun and not competition) so I thought a 1970s style raglan t-shirt worn with some sweatbands would be extremely funny in a cute way. Unfortunately the sports carnival was postponed until mid July due to bad weather, but I did finish all these t-shirts:

I used Kwik Sew 2893 (now OOP) which is just a basic tshirt pattern but is drafted really well (all the notches lined up and the pattern piece for the neckband was spot on) and the sizing of the pattern is quite accurate which in itself is somewhat amazing for a child sewing pattern. I made sizes small and medium for 6 and 7 year old kids and all the tshirts fit very well.

I thought the curved hems, and contrasting sleeves and neckbinding were very retro. The different colours are for their different teams. The lettering on the front is made from iron on transfer paper and each t-shirt has their name and year of birth which the kids thought was very cool so the effort was worth it, even if I ended up making these really quickly for no reason.

Finally I had to make an emergency pair of pyjamas for Anna. Anna's school was holding a wear your pyjamas to school day to raise money for some good cause, and it wasn't until the night before that I realised that Anna has had a spectacular growth spurt and all of her pyjamas were way too short. And here's where the value of having a large stash of fabrics and patterns really proves it worth: I was able to dig out a lovely soft piece of pink check flannelette and some textured knit (like the fabric used for spencers) and made a simple pair of pants and raglan tee using the same Kwik Sew pattern again since it was still out on my cutting table:

Pyjama disaster averted, more fabric used from the stash and all done in about the same amount of time it would have taken me to to get to the shops!

So now that's all over and done with, I can get back to my regular sewing projects. I have a blazer for myself about 85% done which I want to finish very soon and I do need to get cracking on my June and July Burda projects because if I let that get too far behind I'm sure I'll never catch up again. Hopefully I have something more exciting to share next time I post

This from that: Kwik Sew 2276 and McCalls 5962

Thanks everyone for your comments on the last post and your helpful hints on swimwear sewing - I'll definitely keep them in mind for the next round of swimsuit sewing. Actually I've already tried out the method of sewing elastic on to fabric with the overlocker and then turning it over and topstitching as suggested by both Angie and Maria - I discovered that to disengage the blades on my overlocker all I have to do is half turn a knob so it's easy peasy to do.  My precious Babylock, I love thee more and more each day!

My sewing lately has been so non productive thanks to Toby being a little clingy and whingy lately, he seems to have a sixth sense and just seem to know the exact moment I step foot into my sewing room because he'll then wake up and scream hysterically until I hold him. I've 90% finished my June Burda project, have started a refashion project and cut out a top, but none of these unfinished projects are blog worthy (yet).  I did get a bit of time last Saturday in my sewing room when my husband took the kids to the zoo, and I managed to finish up two pairs of pants for Toby because he's growing so quickly out of his other clothes.

My mum gave me a pair of lovely teal green corduroy jeans that she used to wear when she was younger - I distinctly remember her wearing these and another pair of cord jeans to my school when she was on canteen duty much to my embarrassment at the time. Of course now I would love to wear them myself, except that I can't fit into them and the small issue that my inner thighs are so flabby that when I wear corduroy jeans the noise of my legs rubbing together when I walk sounds like a black hawk helicopter taking off!

So instead I made Toby a pair of jeans from Kwik Sew 2276, a long OOP pattern that I've used before for jeans for Anna. I deliberately made these a size larger and with a little extra length in the legs so they are a little too big for Toby right now, but I'm sure that in no time they'll fit him perfectly (even if only for a nanosecond).

I reused the waistband and belt loops, and added some elastic across the back to make sure they fit properly, and I'm really pleased at how they turned out.

My husband's clothes are perfect candidates for refashioning since he's a six foot something giant and likes to wear his clothes loose so there's a lot of fabric to work with.  Seriously, check this out:

He seems to have a lot of tshirts from charity golf or cricket days etc that are made from really nice fabrics but are covered in sponsors logos which means he never wears them again after the day, which is such a waste of resource.  Refashioning them is such a better idea than sending them out to a charity shop where it's unlikely anyone else would want to wear them either.  I decided to remake this tshirt that was made of a thick, woven knit in grey and black threads into some baggy pants for Toby to run around in when we're at home - no constraints on his overly ambitious climbing and running around now!  I used McCalls 5962 which ironically I whinged about the sizing previously, but this time the oversized, slouchy look is what I was after:

 

This is the waistband I sewed the elastic on with my serger and then turned under and overlocked - such a better method than sewing a casing and threading the elastic through with a safety pin because it stops the elastic twisting. I can definitely see this being a much neater finish on swimwear than a zig zag stitch. The only problem of course is that it's harder to tighten up or loosen the elastic waist if it's not fitting properly because you'd need to unpick all of the waistband, so you need to get that fit right the first time. I sewed on some black cotton tape at the centre of the waistband purely for decoration.

And so these slouchy pants are perfect for hanging out at home and getting into mischief - such as pretending to play golf with the toy golf clubs but really just hitting things with it (such a boy thing to do!)

or running around popping as many bubbles as he possibly could reach:

I braved the city Lincraft store at lunchtime today to buy an invisible zipper for my June Burda project - fingers crossed that Toby sleeps a bit better tonight so that I can finish it, better late than never!