I couldn't part with my silk-velvet scraps when I left New Zealand so I quickly did the wide shoulder adjustment I'd been putting off and cut the project out. It was my first thing to set up when I arrived at my parents and surveyed the Necchi.
Welllll, how did that go?
It ends up that velvet is made up of all these hair-like fibers that stick up. Remembering to iron it with two layers of velvet stuck together - that was pretty easy. But getting things to line up for sewing was tricky. It ends up being nefariously shifty, not like silk, but like suddenly shifting a 1/4" as the fibers all simultaneously bend.
Put this together with some bias tape and I was screaming bloody murder and blaming it on the machine. The poor plodding thing wasn't really at fault though...so I'm really glad I did a velvet practice project.
Moral of the story: don't sew with velvet. Hah!
Luckily the Scout is easy and until I got to the bias binding I didn't have real trouble. A walking foot would have been nice but the tin full of feet is full of weird feet (except for a rolled hem foot, I recognised that one, yippee!) and none looked like a seamonster-walking foot. I zig-zagged my edges and then for the hem and sleeves I just folded that over and sewed it down.
In the end even the neck isn't too terrible, because once the bias tape was attached all the mess disappeared inside the shirt. However I am really dissatisfied with the final fit. My best friend, Dana, taking the pictures insists that it looks great but the sleeves seem to downright droop off my shoulders (was 1" too much?) and the usual shapeless Scout looks particularly shapeless in velvet. Or is it just me? This is the same size 2 that I have made for all the other versions, except that I idiosyncratically lengthened the hem, more in back than front for a bit of asymmetry.
Not sure about this one yet, but it was a good practice project. And I'm done with Scout tees for awhile!
Pattern: Grainline scout, size 2, slightly lengthened, 1" shoulder widening.
Fabric: silk velvet with a touch of nylon, from Global Fabrics in Wellington
Welllll, how did that go?
It ends up that velvet is made up of all these hair-like fibers that stick up. Remembering to iron it with two layers of velvet stuck together - that was pretty easy. But getting things to line up for sewing was tricky. It ends up being nefariously shifty, not like silk, but like suddenly shifting a 1/4" as the fibers all simultaneously bend.
Put this together with some bias tape and I was screaming bloody murder and blaming it on the machine. The poor plodding thing wasn't really at fault though...so I'm really glad I did a velvet practice project.
Moral of the story: don't sew with velvet. Hah!
Luckily the Scout is easy and until I got to the bias binding I didn't have real trouble. A walking foot would have been nice but the tin full of feet is full of weird feet (except for a rolled hem foot, I recognised that one, yippee!) and none looked like a seamonster-walking foot. I zig-zagged my edges and then for the hem and sleeves I just folded that over and sewed it down.
In the end even the neck isn't too terrible, because once the bias tape was attached all the mess disappeared inside the shirt. However I am really dissatisfied with the final fit. My best friend, Dana, taking the pictures insists that it looks great but the sleeves seem to downright droop off my shoulders (was 1" too much?) and the usual shapeless Scout looks particularly shapeless in velvet. Or is it just me? This is the same size 2 that I have made for all the other versions, except that I idiosyncratically lengthened the hem, more in back than front for a bit of asymmetry.
Not sure about this one yet, but it was a good practice project. And I'm done with Scout tees for awhile!
Pattern: Grainline scout, size 2, slightly lengthened, 1" shoulder widening.
Fabric: silk velvet with a touch of nylon, from Global Fabrics in Wellington
