Oh my gawwwd I am such an addict. I am in my usual pre-departure phase which means I suddenly and unhelpfully want to buy clothing as a psychological support for my upcoming months of homelessness.
And that extends to fabric, ah, sillllkkksssss! In Italy!! We went to Como one day because it was a Swiss national holiday and thus, what could be more thrilling than the not-closed Italian grocery store full of wine, cheese, pasta, fresh tomatoes, etc? Um, and the not closed shops in the center of Como full of nice cheap clothing? Or the FABRIC STORE in Como full of not cheap, Italian silks? Especially as I was just recently reminded I wanted to do Emmeline in silk...And the shop was full of silks! I couldn't possibly resist an artistic Italian panel, or some wild paisleys...so now my pile of projects for the next month has stopped shrinking! Help!!
To gird myself for this and also for an upcoming evil chiffon project, I got out the tools. On the Scout I tried out the spray glue. So, spray glue. Really. Doesn't help a whole lot. Instead of just lying your pattern piece on the fabric you have to apply it really carefully and I think this took up enough time to make it a waste of time. Your fabric and pattern piece are nicely attached to cut out, but then you have to rip the pattern piece off the fabric (would NEVER work on anything fragile) and then you have sticky pattern pieces. Which gum up your iron. haha!
More on the Scout: I cut a size 2 with a 1" wide shoulder adjustment and a bit of shaping at the bottom, otherwise no changes. I continue to be incapable of doing whatever I am supposed to on the Scout with bias taping, so I went for another, um, creative couture finish. (This is very narrow bias tape! I can't fold it over into 1/4s!) This is a good fitting Scout and I am so happy with it. It still pulls a bit across the back but overall the fit is much better. After the glue experiment, I gelatined the rest of the fabric before cutting out the sleeve. Gelatin here is a bit tricky as it comes in sheets. I ignored the instructions and plopped it in warm water, which made a gooey mess, and then I just popped the fabric in that...it got some bits of gelatin on the edges but was delightfully firm to cut and sew. I love gelatin. One is supposed to dissolve it in cold water and then add it to a warm water bath. That way you avoid the gummy gelatin ball.
As a reminder of how great gelatin is, I cut out the blue Emmeline without anything. It sucked. I also didn't pay attention on the front which is why it has a design feature of being half matte and half shiny. I am great at adding design features ; ) I lengthened the Emmeline using the bottom of the By Hand London Polly top pattern. I french seamed, and had the same problem as before that there is no real seam allowance difference at the sleeve, and so it creates a triangle-fabric-mess. I can't think of a way to avoid that. I then used my micro rolly hem foot on everything. This was totally experimental but it came out amazing, even though the shirt is actually quite, ermmm, not symmetrical...it looks great on! Way better than expected! and NO BIAS TAPE!! My life has been so improved by learning the use of this hem foot.
And that extends to fabric, ah, sillllkkksssss! In Italy!! We went to Como one day because it was a Swiss national holiday and thus, what could be more thrilling than the not-closed Italian grocery store full of wine, cheese, pasta, fresh tomatoes, etc? Um, and the not closed shops in the center of Como full of nice cheap clothing? Or the FABRIC STORE in Como full of not cheap, Italian silks? Especially as I was just recently reminded I wanted to do Emmeline in silk...And the shop was full of silks! I couldn't possibly resist an artistic Italian panel, or some wild paisleys...so now my pile of projects for the next month has stopped shrinking! Help!!
To gird myself for this and also for an upcoming evil chiffon project, I got out the tools. On the Scout I tried out the spray glue. So, spray glue. Really. Doesn't help a whole lot. Instead of just lying your pattern piece on the fabric you have to apply it really carefully and I think this took up enough time to make it a waste of time. Your fabric and pattern piece are nicely attached to cut out, but then you have to rip the pattern piece off the fabric (would NEVER work on anything fragile) and then you have sticky pattern pieces. Which gum up your iron. haha!
 |
| Sorry head, we don't need you after all... |
More on the Scout: I cut a size 2 with a 1" wide shoulder adjustment and a bit of shaping at the bottom, otherwise no changes. I continue to be incapable of doing whatever I am supposed to on the Scout with bias taping, so I went for another, um, creative couture finish. (This is very narrow bias tape! I can't fold it over into 1/4s!) This is a good fitting Scout and I am so happy with it. It still pulls a bit across the back but overall the fit is much better. After the glue experiment, I gelatined the rest of the fabric before cutting out the sleeve. Gelatin here is a bit tricky as it comes in sheets. I ignored the instructions and plopped it in warm water, which made a gooey mess, and then I just popped the fabric in that...it got some bits of gelatin on the edges but was delightfully firm to cut and sew. I love gelatin. One is supposed to dissolve it in cold water and then add it to a warm water bath. That way you avoid the gummy gelatin ball.
 |
| Annoying unfinishable triangle at the armpit. |
As a reminder of how great gelatin is, I cut out the blue Emmeline without anything. It sucked. I also didn't pay attention on the front which is why it has a design feature of being half matte and half shiny. I am great at adding design features ; ) I lengthened the Emmeline using the bottom of the By Hand London Polly top pattern. I french seamed, and had the same problem as before that there is no real seam allowance difference at the sleeve, and so it creates a triangle-fabric-mess. I can't think of a way to avoid that. I then used my micro rolly hem foot on everything. This was totally experimental but it came out amazing, even though the shirt is actually quite, ermmm, not symmetrical...it looks great on! Way better than expected! and NO BIAS TAPE!! My life has been so improved by learning the use of this hem foot.
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