Random Thursday

The lovely print I framed for my bedroom, Stof Maisonette Canvas.

Honestly, I’ve had a lot of ‘fails’ this year, perhaps because I’ve been trying new patterns and indulging in wishful thinking. But it’s spring here in Orlando, and I’m getting a bit more revved to sew. It’s so funny – I have more than enough dresses and pants and tops, but, yes, I enjoy more and different. And I am diligent about donating the garments that leave my closet. We are a big city, and there are always women who need that something to wear – against the cold, for an interview, to wear every day. I focus on One Heart Women and Children. Pre-pandemic I volunteered my time through my church. I miss those uplifting experiences.

Sewing plans! everything is on order, must be patient…

I’ve spent hours looking for a maxi dress with sleeves, no waist seams, long and lovely. And rayon challis for that perfect drape. Pefect for our hot summers.

Etsy Smart Fabrics 

And another summer and all year favorite, a maxi knit dress. McCall 6747 is my TNT. How cute is this print! I don’t usually spend so much on a knit fabric, but it seems that cost avoidance is difficult. More and more, I’ve found that inexpensive jersey knits have a harsh texture and give up color like crazy. So I choose to be realistic.

Art Gallery Luna & Laurel Eye See You

Recent fail…I ordered 4 yards of Shannon waffle cotton for a robe…I love the pattern, with it’s cozy shawl collar. Think flannel…

My fabric was awful. It just balloned out everywhere, not cozy at all. Laundered 3 times, and it persisted.

Shannon Waffle 10 Ounce Cloth

Not deterred, with a $40 piece of fabric on my hands, I cut the robe into pieces and made 8 faceclothes. Here’s a lesson, they are the best faceclothes I’ve ever had! Absorbant, easy to rinse, very cleansing, and quick to dry. So I can recommend this fabric for making those indispensable clothes for your face. My robe pieces were enough for me to make gifts for Christmas. But you can make 8 with 1 yard of this fabric.

So – I’m sitting here waiting on patterns and fabrics! Bye for now – Coco

True Bias Ogden Cami with variations

Deep summer and so very hot…I’ve been living in my only Ogden Cami (here). So I went through my remnant stash for anything approaching a yard of fabric.

What a lovely and easy pattern:

I haven’t made the plain vanilla, as above, but opted to draft a button-front from the get-go. IMHO, it’s a great way to break up that ‘sea’ of fabric in the front and add some interest to the design.

I also changed the back neckline – I wasn’t fond of the flare from the v-neckline in the original.

Sewing notes:

• I originally cut the size 4, based on my measurements. It was just too snug across the bustline and center back. This is size 8, with an additional 1/2″ added to the length of the straps.

• The button front is uncomplicated, my first post has more details on the draft and construction.

Fabric: Art Gallery Magnolia Study Silkroad rayon challis, Fabric.com. It’s shifty, and this pattern has so many bias cuts! Pin, pin, and pin again 🙂

• The raised and loosened back neckline is also an easy change.

• One thing that really really bugged was that the original lining cut right across my bust -terribly uncomfortable, and, in a sheer fabric, kind of a bad idea. Also, the linings wanted to crawl up. Aarg. so I used the lining pattern to draft facings for the entire bodice, which finish at 1.25″ wide. These are easy to topstitch in place, and they don’t wave around or impact the fit of the bodice at all.

Pics!

More Carolyn PJs…

Straight from bed into my new Closet Case Carolyn Pajamas! That sounds backward, but I don’t actually sleep in my PJs.

I do love to wear them on rainy days (that cozy factor) and in the evening after my shower.

These have been in the sewing loft for over a week, pending photos. I do this all the time and I need to get them into my closet 🙂

This is my second pair of these super comfortable and cute PJs (first version here). Making them – layout, cutting, construction – is a rather big project, but it’s also fun because of all the details.

 

Sewing notes:

• I sewed a straight size 8, View B, which has the cuffs on sleeves and pant legs.
• This wonderfully cool and wrinkle-free fabric is chocolate/off-white cotton/lycra poplin shirting from Fabric Mart’s NY Designer category.  I looked at it for days before it went on sale for 60% off – I was really fortunate to get it.
• Once again I applied bias edging details instead of piping. This time I used double-fold quilt binding, pressed open and cut to 2″ wide. It’s poly/cotton (no shrinking to speak of), and is a nice weight for an edging. It’s also available in a myriad of colors.

I like the fit of the pants so much that I’m planning a couple pairs to wear with a sleep shirt.

Something else got moved out of the loft this morning as well. This dress was on Emile for 4 weeks as part of the staging when the house was on the market!

It’s Simplicity 8640 (purchased on Etsy), in Traveling Bananas, a cotton/rayon/linen blend from Fabric Mart’s Hawaiian Designer.

Parting shot – my resident doves. I know they had a baby earlier this spring, because the three of them spent hours sitting together on the fence and ground-feeding once the juvenile was out of the nest. I had to take this photo from inside the house because they startle so easily. Beautiful.

Bye for now – Coco

Closet Case Carolyn Pajamas

Why did I wait so long to make these beautifully designed and drafted pajamas from Closet Case Patterns?

There is so much to love with the pattern. I think what I like best is all the attention to the balance and finish of each piece.

Sewing notes:

• I sewed view B in size 8 (I’m 5′ 6.5″, bust 33.5″, waist 29″, hips 36″ at widest part across my upper thigh). The pattern site is kind enough to note that their model is 5’8″ and wearing a size 12. I wish more designers would give this information.
• Fabric: Black/White Cotton/Lycra Poplin Shirting – Famous Dress Designer from Fabric Mart. Mystery, does anyone know the identity of the famous dress designer?
• Since I used the cuff on the sleeve and pants, I constructed the top and bottom, except for the cuff, and then determined the length and fit for each.  I do recommend this – it would be a lot to ask of a pattern to simply fit everyone everywhere.
• I like the appearance of piping, but not the fussiness of sewing it! I used 2″ wide bias strips instead, remnants from my recent Zadie jumpsuit. I love the color contrast against the black and white print. Fun stuff 🙂
• Only change – I drafted a back neckline facing, rather than use the pattern approach. The facing enables easy and clean attachment of the collar, and it’s a simple addition.

More happiness:

I want more, and I’m looking for another large print in a similar substrate.

Great project, fantastic pattern. Ciao! Coco

A summer robe – S1946

My house is so destroyed with pre-move fix-ups that I have nowhere to model this robe.

Plus – OK, I’m distracted, busy, working with my fix-up helper.

In the middle of all this, I decided to make a new robe. My go-to terry robe is really irritating my neck. Can you believe it?! It’s the loops on the terry cloth.

Serendipity. I ordered a couple yards of this pretty double brushed poly spandex from Fabric Mart for a cardigan. And they sent me 3 yards, the end of bolt gift. Wow. All of a sudden, this fabric just had to be a robe.

Simplicity 1946 is the only robe pattern I use now. A couple reasons: It comes in sizes for the entire family, and it does not have an attached front band. The front is faced, which means it’s so easy to sew.

Of course I’m always challenging myself. The pattern is for woven fabrics, but I decided to use a knit.

Sewing notes:

• I used the size Small Adult. Fits great.
• I spent about an hour working with stitch lengths, tension, and so on, on both my sewing machine and my serger. I don’t just serge knit seams, I prefer to stitch and then serge to finish the seam allowances. Reason? Straight stitching adds both structure and weight to a knit seam. I like it.
• Tip on the hem finishing: you can clip the side seam allowance at the hem turn line,  spread it open, and avoid the bulk of turning a serged side seam!

• Those pockets: I staystich the sewing lines, press, and baste the pockets in place. For both knits and wovens. I love quilters basting needles! BTW – dbl brushed poly loves to be pressed, light steam, I use my silk setting and a calico pressing cloth.

• This is a pic of my favorite presser foot. It’s a quarter-inch foot, and it’s constructed to guide 1/8″ and 1/6″ stitching as well. I’ve tried to find it online, cannot, so I sleep with it under my pillow.

• Washi tape is so nice for making a topstitching guide, in this case 1 3/4″.

• Happiness – I didn’t run out of thread. I often order matching thread from Fabric Mart, they always select a great color. It’s much easier than running to JoAnn (which is not near me) with a swatch.

I love this robe! I Intend to wear it all the time while I get ready to move. It’s calm 🙂

Parting shot: the loft is ready to be painted. Barren. But the printer is online, and I’m printing the Paper Theory Zadie Jumpsuit right now!!

Ciao – Coco

Simplicity 1946 Terry Robe

My house has purple fuzz everywhere!

S1946 is currently my favorite robe pattern. It’s so easy to make (no attached front band), and it’s a wonderful fit.

I made two robes earlier this year, but I had difficulty wearing the fabrics. One was rayon French terry, and the other was cotton/tencel sweater knit (here). Both irritate my neck and shoulders. So I made a new one in cotton terry cloth – bingo! The terry has a nice weight, is very soft, and feels just right.

From Fabric Mart

Sewing notes:

• I sewed the size Medium with no changes.
• A tip for the belt carriers: Terry cloth is thick. If you insert the ends of the loop side by side, instead of together, they won’t make a big lump in the side seam.

My next project is to clean my house. I’m tracking little purple threads and loops everywhere 🙂 It’s almost the weekend – I hope it’s safe and pleasant for all.

Ciao! Coco

 

Simplicity 1946 Robe – needed!

Truth time! My three robes were in awful shape, serviceable but not great. Not especially inspiring or fun to wear!

So I’ve been working on new ones. This is a great pattern, I mean, a great pattern. It’s so easy to sew and so predictable.

I used this family pattern to make robes for my son and grandson, and, yes, cushions for my daughter’s cats! Now it’s ‘me’ time.

Fortunately, I was able to cut my own version in size Medium from the original tissue. So I destroyed any future large versions. The children’s draft is intact…

My son and grandson love their robes.

I really like this pattern because it’s so uncomplicated. No attached front band, big pockets, and an easy fit.

I was feeling pretty brave with my choice of fabric. This is a denim/white cotton and tencel sweater knit from Sol Angeles (purchased at Fabric.com). It’s beautiful, so soft.

And chunky. I serged all my edges before sewing! I had snow in the loft…and all over me. I kept shaking myself when I left the room, otherwise I would have had white fluff everywhere. Kind of reminded me of sewing plush fleece, but it didn’t make me rub my nose or sneeze.

Sewing notes:

• I sewed a straight size Medium. The only change I made was to narrow the sleeve a  bit toward the bottom.
• Lots of serging and topstitching going on. I topstitched, per the pattern, around the front/neck facings. And because my seams were so thick, again about 3/8″ from the edge. It’s really a matter of working with fabric, no topstitching police out there…
• I used 1 1/4″ hems on the sleeves and bottom edge, both with 2 lines of topstitching to keep them nice and flat.
• Big change: I lined the pockets in white cotton broadcloth. It stabilized the pocket for that ‘cram my hands in’ moment and prevents the pocket fabric from stretching out from use.
  

More pics…

It’s so comfortable!

Next up – well, I sewed the same pattern in gold French terry, and I sewed a ‘spa’ robe in white French terry, different pattern, it’s pretty nice. The latter has been used so much that it’s in the laundry.

New projects – wrap front culottes from Burda, and the Allie Olson Highlands maxi dress. My living room is a mess with drafting paper and things to be taped! Which is fine, happy mess. My dining room is a quasi-art studio, paper, rulers, and pens everywhere. I think it’s good for me to chill and not be so picky about things. It’s my space  🙂

Other stuff. I got an oil change this morning (much delayed) and bopped into the nearby Orchard Supply Company for scotch tape. I love that place, it just smells so good. I came away with marigold and zinnia seeds, to be planted tomorrow. We’ll see. My target spot has sprouted peanut plants and some unknown plant, it’s fun to see what the squirrels and birds gift me.

I hope everyone has a nice, calm, and enjoyable weekend – Coco