Terra Cotta Sewaholic Thurlow linen trousers

I am in some kind of crazy groove.  Everything is coming out amazing lately.  I am preparing to move and although I am so so happy to see all these great projects, I wouldn't mind a few things that need to be donated to friends!  Haha not the usual thing to complain about.

On these Thurlows I changed three things.
1. fly on left side.
2. flat felled the outside legs (note: don't do this...)
3. back pockets are from the Grainline Maritime.

I cut out a size 0.  The first time I made these was also my first time making fly-pants, after reading a bunch of books and measuring crotch seams, and I cut a size 4 and used high stretch jean fabric, and I made a bunch of weird modifications to the crotch because I thought I knew a lot.  So, don't do that!  You will endure a lot of pins in the crotch trying to fix massive pants!  For some reason, I guess because Sewaholic is for pears, if you are not a pear, size down a LOT in these pants.  I sized down 2 sizes!

So, the fly switching can be a bit puzzling for the brain but I did it correctly, even the interfacing was cut properly the first time, hurrah!!  I made this basically in one afternoon.  And it was going sooo well that I thought I would flat fell the outside legs, as in, why have I never done this before?  The reason is because you have to change the order if you want to flat fell, so that you have one side open...I flat felled AFTER sewing the inner leg.  It was kind of harrowing and it involved a flat-fell learning curve.  One side looks a bit bad  The other side looks ok.  But anyway I am so impressed with my flat felling that I don't care.

Photo credits: Senka Stojanovic, in the King's Gardens in Copenhagen.  She took such nice pictures that I posted them all!  On their first day of fresh air these pants got a lot of bike time, beer drinking time and other assorted fun, and they held up amazingly.  As an aside - to show off to Senka how much I've made, I had a fully self-made wardrobe in Copenhagen.  I don't wear a big variety of clothing so this was a chance for things to shine that I think I haven't worn more than a few times in two years!

Let's just pretend they're even, ok?

Learning curve.

I lined these with leftover fabric from my Vogue star dress, and for the waistband - I am always confused by waistbands.  They are too long, too short, they don't overlap properly, who knows. Anyway so I didn't sew the lining together in the back, I folded each side down separately.  And I think the tab in the front is too short because the two buttons almost touch.

For once I don't mind the messy touches.  I really like these pants!

New Look 6352 Maxidress in silk charmeuse

This really is a one hour project, but it was held up for exactly a year.  Go figure!
The fabric is from emmaonesock and is a luscious silk charmeuse.
The pattern is from ebay. 
I decided to make this when I was testing maxidresses in August of last year.  I had been given fabric for my birthday and wanted to make a perfect maxidress.  I thought if the 'perfect' pattern (the Named Ama) didn't work out, I had this as a backup.  I also thought a maxidress would be the perfect way to showcase the pattern on this dramatic silk charmeuse.

The first hold up is that I sewed the shoulders together...and then my sewing machine broke.  I was just about to leave the States and I couldn't deal, so this got shoved in a corner, and then entered the Black Hole of Luggage Hell.  It's components were reunited in December, at which point it seemed like I might as well wait for my new sewing machine.  It arrived in February. The pattern calls for facings, but I saw no need for that -- naturally I planned to bias bind it with more matching silk. Luckily I have learned not to try narrow curved hems in silk anymore, but ugh, making bias tape?  Add another month just from ennui. And lots of other things to do.

Eventually I got tired of having unfinished things sitting around. Enough!  It's now my 1 month window before leaving Switzerland and I know from experience that I don't have much concentrated sewing time left.  After that I can expect challenging projects to be beyond my mindset, and fixing old things becomes completely out of the question.

Also a silk maxidress is something I might wear right now, which definitely amped my interest factor. I had expected a lot of shaping would be necessary.  I raised the shoulders about an inch and bound the neck...and realised it doesn't need any shaping actually.  I mean, it is supposed to be a pretty shapeless maxidress...so I got my groove on and finished up those french seams.  The main trouble is that after being dragged around the world the silk had shredded at any cut edge and some had to be trimmed down, but I cut about 1cm off the armholes to make them a touch deeper anyway.

In the end it is a kind of shapeless maxi dress.  Seems like a shame it took so long to get this way.  I am not sure how I feel about it.  I mean, as shapeless maxi dresses go it's great, but maybe it's just too shapeless?

Starry Vogue 1395 dress

So I had this dress on my list for ages but I kept changing my mind about the fabric.  I read enough reviews to know I would have to raise the shoulders, and changes to patterns always make me nervous...so the silk went back into the corner for this one.  Instead I used this amazing star print cotton from Paris.  I covet pretty star prints!  I love this one!  So I took forever on the small details.

In real life it doesn't make me look boobless.

I cut a size 10.  Vogue seems reliable that way and especially on the designers it seems wise not to size down.  I was hoping that by elevating the shoulders, I would be functionally shortening the waist as well and it would fit better, and I was right! It still blouses quite a bit but that is because the overlayer is longer and it is sewn into the middle of the waist seam.  I think I need to make that seam a bit neater. 

Patterns like this kind of irritate me.  By which I mean, patterns which have a lot of very small, only sort-of-controllable details like meeting a seam where on one side you apply bias binding, and on the other side, you roll a micro hem.  Or putting a v in the center front with a seam and topstitching.  A lot of stuff comes together in one place and provides many opportunities for sloppiness and that unfortunate handmade look.  It makes me think I would not make this dress again.  Also, while I think every single blogger has raised the shoulder seam, nobody mentions that it isn't that straightforward, because it's a curved and eased seam and has to match at the center.

So, this is what I did in detail: I first seamed the 5/8.  Then I tried it on and marked how much higher I wanted it.  I sewed that (it happened to be exactly one inch more.)  Then I cut at the 5/8 mark, so I now had exactly a 1" seam, and I undid all the stitching, realigned everything, and finally sewed my final seam.  I had to ease the front into the back a little bit.  This is the opportunity to realign the shoulders- some people noted that the dress fell backwards during use, and you could compensate for the heavier back fabric by cutting slightly more off the front.

After that I wanted it done!  I used my amazing new skill of the micro hem foot on the front ties, and I cut about 5'' off the bottom when I hemmed it.  I skipped the elastic and the skirt lining.  I am still on the fence about those.  The elastic might make the skirt gathers more regular, but I hate skirt elastic...and the skirt lining would make it not stick to tights but the dress is nice as it is and I don't want to mess it up!  However it leaves me with this unfinished feel.  I also completely don't understand how to insert a skirt elastic into a seam allowance and I can't find any online help, so I suspect trying to add elastic would just ruin the dress.  Any thoughts?

Pfaff Creative Expression 2.0 Review

Oh, this has been a long time coming, this review.  My relationship with this machine is developing, but it isn't easy.  Unlike most people, I didn't go into a shop, try six machines, and fall in love with one.  I determined ahead of time that I wanted a Pfaff for the IDT. I went to three Pfaff stores in Switzerland, and was always overcome by ennui at the idea of trying the machines in the store.  They clearly all...sew.  So, what is there to try out?

I was debating small machines like the Passport 2.0, and the Ambition 2.0.  I was swayed toward this machine because:

-The Pfaff store in Chur (my nearest) could have ordered the above machines, but didn't recommend them, and was pedantic and difficult to talk to.

-The Pfaff lady in Zürich was too busy to answer most of my questions, but finally recommended a mechanical model, and gave me some prices.  I would have probably otherwise gone for that because the Ambition was 1099 CHF without extra feet, and she considered it a worse machine.  She didn't recommend the passport, and at 899 CHF it wouldn't have been a bargain either.

-The Pfaff dude in Bern was passionate and took time to talk to me.  He also determined my price range, my interests, and offered me what was technically the best machine, with the best perks (I wangled a free invisible zipper foot!) for the best price.  Bern was a long way to carry a sewing machine on the train though.  I liked the fact that I was getting a used machine, since I had so much luck with my used Janome.  But I had no sudden spiritual bonding with this Pfaff.

I still miss my Janome My Style 20.  I really lucked out buying something used on local ebay.  Nothing I have used since has functioned as well and efficiently as that.  I include this Pfaff in 'everything.'  Yes, I had to buy a walking foot.  But the stitches were reliable and the machine was simple. Tshirts that I have made using a non-stretch straight stitch on that machine still look great, and it's been almost 2 years!

So, the Expression.

Pros: It sews.

Cons: Everything else.  I still sort of hate this machine after eight months.

1. Automatic threader.
This seems like laziness.  Instead of making a machine where you have some space behind the needle and good visibility to thread it, ignore ergonomic engineering and add more equipment? I'm not with this logic.  Other machines have enough room that you have a good clear view of your needle. Again, lazy design.
(Admission: I still don't know how to use it.)

2. WORST BOBBIN WINDER EVER.
The Pfaff bobbins are small, narrow, with sharp edges.  They are uncomfortable to hold. I have callused fingertips, which makes it worse, as these tend to spin out of my fingers when I hold them.  The bobbin winder is the worst I have ever used and I mean this without exaggeration. You have to thread around a flat round disk on the machine, which is difficult because if you thread it securely, the bobbin doesn't wind, but if you thread it loosely, then it comes off the disk. On the bobbin side you actually let go of the thread and it winds itself into the bobbin.  Seems like a recipe for it to snag on the inside eventually because you don't have a way to secure the loose thread.  About 1/10 bobbins is threaded so badly that it causes problems at some point while sewing, and one was so bad that I actually had to throw it away.  I am not sure whether it is to do with the bobbins but the machine always makes a small snag nest on the bobbin side when backstitching.

3. Feet run away!
The feet attach with a broken, instead of a solid bar.  And they just press on instead of requiring anything more.  Result? Any time you are on thick fabric the foot falls off!  Also the normal zip foot is very narrow, it has two little legs that come forward, they aren't thick enough, and they don't hold the fabric well - I haven't looked into whether there is a better replacement.

4. IDT vs power?
This machine really hesitates any time it needs to go over more than two layers. I expected it to have quite a lot of oomph but it does not. It eventually sews things but you need to pull from behind and it doesn't sew with a regular stitch length due to clogging behind anything high.  I expected it to be less finicky about fabric.  The IDT also is irritating because you have to start 1 cm into your fabric, and it does not like to backstitch. The IDT itself does hold the fabric together nicely.  However this is a disadvantage for elasticky knits.  It holds them so tightly that it stretches the knit, and for some reason knits always shear away off to the left.  I have to put in extra effort to maintain a correct seam allowance when I sew with knits. 

5. It doesn't like to backstitch.
Yeah basically FORGET backstitching actually at the end of anything.  At the start of a piece of fabric, you need to begin 1cm in or the IDT will eat the fabric or will push it away, causing you to sew a curved line.  At the end of a piece of fabric it just eats it and makes a bubble.  The only way to backstitch is to do so a cm before the end of the fabric.(This seems kind of not helpful.)

So...it works.  I have sewn a lot of things with it since January.  I don't remember what it's like not to have an IDT.  I even sew a lot of silk without crying too much.  But I don't really like this sewing machine.  I expected a high quality machine to provide a clean finish to my sewing, and this one provides me with little nests every time I backstitch, huge messes every time a bobbin runs out, and chews up the ends of sensitive fabric.  I am moving again, naturally, and I am on the fence as to whether I put this guy into storage or sell it, and my goal buying such an advanced machine was to want to keep it forever...

Burda 03/2013 #107, aka the Most Amazing pschedelic cardigan EVER!

I have had this pattern since last summer.  I think I originally wanted to use some Missoni fabric for it.  Thank god I came to my senses and made a Plaintain instead.  (That was hard enough!) After that I never found fabric I liked - something stretchy but fine knit.

Until a few weeks ago, that is.  I had been musing on cardigans as in the summer a small cardigan is perfect to carry around and throw over your tank top when it gets cool out.  This cardi pattern, chilling in my pattern bag under everything else (is it ghetto that I have one of those big shopping bags as my pattern collection?) was itching to be made *and* while I was in Bern it was the perfect time to splurge at my favourite fabric store, VeroStoffe.  The shop is privately owned and has a well-curated selection.  Unfortunately, not cheap.  I doubt anything is less than 30 franks per meter.

So this amazing cool drapey rayon jersey, at 32 franks a meter, seemed like a steal.  I was in love and didn't hesitate, and I took it home and made up this cardigan in like 2 days flat, brushing aside all the half done projects in the way.  I cut a 38 although I debated a 36 because the material was so stretchy, but the 38 was fine (there is quite a bit of fabric under the arms but not in a bothersome way.)

It is amazing!  I was terrified because of hating gathers but I survived them and although they hang a bit low, it's the pattern - the gathers are not to hold your boobs up, they are more to hide the stuff under your boobs.  I think this is actually a super fabulous pattern.

Ok then I did the stupid thing.  The denoument was waiting to happen, right?  I have this snap maker, and I have all these pretty snaps, and even dark blue ones!  So I spent an hour educating myself on plastic snaps and then filled up my great cardigan with snaps.  Which was perfect!  Until I had to take it off after trying it on!  The snaps are so much stronger than the fabric, even in two layers, which I did NOT ever think of interfacing, that they rip straight out of the fabric.

ooohhhh I hate learning by experience!  So I debated...cutting 20 little squares, interfacing them and zig zagging them on and then re-snapping.  And I put this in a corner to sulk.  And then I thought that is too much work and I am sooo lazy.  So if I just cut one long strip for front and back, interface then and zig zag them on and then re-apply all the snaps, it will be like a band feature.  What do you think?

In the end and with the help of some patternreview comments, I realised I was making things too complicated!!  I zigzagged the band shut, and sewed buttons over the holes (I just pulled out all the snaps.)  So I love my new shirt, even though it no longer opens up the front, it doesn't really need to.  I will interface the front band on my next version and I will use actual buttons.

Here are the after pictures.

 

Megan Nielsen Tania Culottes in coral rayon

Another project that I planned last summer, but the fabric, a rayon from Anna ka Bazaar, was not the drapey rayon that I expected and eventually turned into my Lucie dress.  I knew that I specifically wanted to use drapey rayon and until I found it I had to be patient...

When I walked into a shop in Paris this April, this bolt of coral woven rayon was schmoozing with some sparkly knits in the corner.  I couldn't resist it and it was already saying Tania! Tania!  I wasn't even too concerned about how it is transparent. I got so excited about this project as the temperature rose.  It makes such a huge difference to make projects now that I plan now for now!  I am always playing catch up with the past, with projects planned last summer (luckily I am pretty sure I don't have any that I planned in New Zealand...) I don't have a lot of enthusiasm for those things.  Unlike culottes which seem like exactly what I need right now.  Especially coral ones.

Cutting was pretty easy.  I cut a S as most reviews said that it is true to size.   It was a bit scary to sew the pleats but construction was actually very simple - only I got done with the zip and put them on and had a moment of panic thinking I had skipped the culotte step! (it's near the end.)  My rayon was slippery and made me nervous, especially as my sewing machine has a tendency to chew up things anytime I backstitch or anytime the bobbin gets low. I stabilised the zip and I sewed the bottom together first, although then you have to be careful not to get a bubble at the zip's bottom. I actually took a bit of time with these...I wanted them to be amazing!  I did sew one piece of the waistband upside down.  I think it was the inside back.  But I am not sure.  I am dyslexic with facings and seems like it extends to waistbands...anything that involves a bunch of strips. I was surprised how long the culottes were initially but once I had the hem evened out they got shorter.  Definitely not too short though, I would say they are just right.  I am 5'4''. 

That's about it.  They are amazing!  I let them hang for two days then had a friend trim them.  And then I practiced long and hard with the micro rolly hem thing.  This is the first time I have used it.  Ahem, I mean the rolled hem foot.  It works out pretty good but it is still a long process...I sewed a line of stitching first which made a huge difference in being able to feed the fabric into the curl of the foot. The learning curve is evident, one side is better than the other but any other hem would have been a tragic nightmare so I am ecstatic.

My friend Pädde took the photos when I visited him last weekend in Luzern.  We are on top of the Museggmauer, the city rampart wall, in one of the towers.  It was very windy so I can attest that the culottes do blow up rather far...the Japanese tourists were having a laugh at our photo session in the wind.  I will spare you some of those windblown pictures! 

Emmeline Tee by Little Tailoress

I made versions 3 and 2 as muslins using scraps from my scrap bag.  I also tried a new technique for tracing and I have to report it was a bad idea.  I traced each page one at a time without taping them...I think this leads to serious distortion.  Size S, both in woven fabric.

Version 2 has raglan sleeves. I cut one out backwards and had to sort of match scraps to get it to work, because I had decided I wanted it to be a wearable muslin. Overall I feel like the sleeves are both too long, and funny at the shoulder points.  To sew this shirt together, you basically sew a single 90 degree angle, and that to me is just wrong at the underarm seam.  I'm not sure how to improve it, or whether it was because my pattern piece was distorted by tracing.  I suspect this version would work out in a knit somewhat better. It pulls across my back as well, although it doesn't limit my range of motion like the Scout does.

Version 3, the sleeveless one, is somewhat better.  I french seamed it, despite knowing ahead of time how that would cause trouble with finishing the arm holes. Then I tried out a bunch of things with bias and hem tape and they all look really bad.  Don't use bias tape on rayon!! It just doesn't have the same texture and ruins the neckline.  I can imagine doing a repeat version of this in silk though. With such a simple shell, it's tempting to think of how you can push your comfort limit with perfection, right?  I will probably repeat this (and although I do very dislike making bias tape, I would probably make bias tape for a silk version.)

Overall I think that this pattern is still a work in progress from a new company.  The PDF could have been more densely packed and I was grumpy with it, hence not wanting to tape.  I wouldn't print out the instructions anyway but I feel like they treated beginning sewists a bit like idiots.  I suspect the info could be seriously shortened and simplified.  However, having lots of binding treatment options is great for a newbie and is totally what I would have liked two years ago (well, probably would have helped now if I had read it.) It would be nice to have that info on just a few pages, or maybe a short sewing instruction, and a long sewing instruction, so you can choose which you need. (The Lady Skater had dual options like that and was great.)

Also this pattern is basically not available if you live in Europe.  I had my friend in the US buy it for me...