Summer Seamstress Work Part Four

Today I ran about a little bit with my cousins, first in the morning to go to the farmer’s market and to get coffee and in the evening for dinner. So my sewing time was a little shorter then it had been the other days. However, I did still manage to get an entire tote bag finished today! The fabric is very Vera Bradley inspired and my cousin has one of her bags in pink and orange tones but she wanted another large one for just general travel things.

 

So firstly this is what the fabric looked like. The polka dot pattern was what was on the other side. Now take note, this fabric came already quilted and batted, so it’s not only sturdy but also rather thick. This will be a factor later on in the sewing process that left me with a sore thumb nail.

 

 

This is a drawing that my cousin did to show me what she wanted the tote to look like. It was pretty easy to suss out how to make it I think.

So first things I did was I trimmed of the extra fabric so that the bag would be the right size and that I would have fabric to make straps out of. So I was basically left with a large rectangle. Then from the trimmed fabric I cut a smaller rectangle, hemmed the sides and then sewed three sides down onto the outer fabric to make a nice pocket. The print partially matches up so that makes me happy, even though that gets obscured later by the straps. Next I stitched down on the top edge and bottom edge of the back going all the way across that pretty ribbon. My cousin had been holding onto it for a long time.

Next I made the strap and for some reason my pictures of that process did not save. Basically I cut a bunch of strips the correct width and sewed them together at the ends to create one giant strip. Then I folded it in half (right sides together) and sewed down the long raw edge. Then came the painful act of turning the whole strap inside out so that the stitching was on the inside and the strap fabric matched the outside of the bag. This took forever. Not even kidding. Nearly three and a half hours later I had successfully turned the strap. Part of why this was so difficult was because the fabric was quilted and therefore three layers thick. It was also well over a yard in length. Somehow during the turning process I jammed my right thumb nail in some way because now the whole nail is pink and tender. However, I conquered the strap and then sewed both ends together to form a big loop. The loop was then pinned down onto the rectangle and sewn on.

The sides of the bag didn’t get sewn up until the straps were on. Sewing the straps down while the bag was still a flat rectangle is like, 100 times easier then fussing with it after the side seams are done.

Next I had to make the bottom flat. I flattened the corners and sewed a five inch line across the triangle that was formed by flattening the bag this way. I did this to both sides.

 

I then cut the excess fabric corner off to reduce the bulk of the bag.

Once that was done I turned the bag right side out again. As you can see the ribbon is on the top of the bag. It won’t be staying there. for too long.

The lining of the bag was made from an old curtain that my cousin had laying around from one of her aunts. It was almost the perfect size, so I trimmed  it to be the same sized rectangle as the outer bag. Then I repeated the steps that gave the other part of the bag it’s shape. The sewing of the side seams, and the sewing and trimming of the corner.

The lining and the bag then got put together right sides facing one another and pinned. After sewing around the edge and then clipping and trimming the seam allowance the bag was pulled right side out through an opening I left.

Once the bag was turned right-side out the ribbon laid nice and flat just inside the bag along the upper edge. Giving the bag a nice surprising detail along with the embroidery that had already been on the curtain.

 

Aaaaand this is the outside of the finished bag! I’m really pleased with myself, I think it turned out really great and it’s a nice size for travel. I’m going to have to add some kind of closure to the bag tomorrow but my cousin hasn’t specified yet what type she wants. Most likely a button of some kind.

Last thing I wanted to talk about in this post, isn’t this fabric beautiful? I really love it, it’s really bright and light weight and flowy. My cousin got two yards of it for me to take home to make something with when we were making a Joann’s run. It was on sale and it’s to die for. I am really set on making a pleated skirt with it, knife pleats to be exact. However I’m not sure that I have enough fabric to do that, plus I don’ think the fabric is study enough for knife pleats. But wouldn’t that be super badass if I got it to work?

Until next time, cheers!

 

Summer Seamstress Work Part Three

I am probably the slowest seamstress in the world. This is most likely because my thumbs haven’t grown since kindergarten and I get fatigue in my hands. It’s a sad state of affairs.  This means I don’t get nearly as many projects done as I want to. Plus having to do math to alter patterns and not having the people I’m making the clothes for present makes things a little tricky. Anyway, I did get three projects done today. The skirt I told you guys about earlier, a sheer tank-top and a maxi-skirt. I started a tote bag but I don’t have long enough straps to use so I’m waiting on that for now.

Anyway, onto pictures! These are the two fabrics that the skirt is being made from. I really like the purples together. It is a much tamer fabric combination then the wild one suggested on the pattern envelope, so I feel like it will be easier to pair with different tops and wear to different things.

Here is the best invisible zipper I have ever done. The plaids don’t match up, which drives me fucking crazy, but the fabric was from a pre-purchased fabric stash and that is how it goes. I have made many things work with a little bit of pattern fudging because I bought fabric without an actual project in mind.

Kiiiiick pleats.

Kiiiiiiiiiiiiick pleeeeeeeeeaaaaats.

Next came the tank top.  I drafted the pattern based off of a tank top pattern with a front yoke on it. . I’m also going to adjust the length of it as I go.  It has tiny gather pleats in the center front for an interesting detail. But I think I over estimated some of the inches so I am probably going to have to take the shirt in. I am not as good at math as I really should be considering how often I draft my own patterns. But math is a real struggle for me, my brain just doesn’t cooperate.

Here is the finished tank, it needs to be hemmed around the arm holes, neck hole and hem but I have been putting that off till later this evening.

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-er.

This is the fabric I used for the maxi skirt. It’s this really nice gray and purple stripped knit that I thought that was awesome. I hope she likes it. The maxi pattern seems a bit off so I’m not sure if the waist band will actually hold the skirt up so I’ll probably have to take that in.

Here is the finished skirt as best as I can show you guys. Not the best of pictures, I know.

((EDIT: The skirt fit, the waistband worked without any elastic and I should trust knit fabrics more then I do))

But anywho, that is what I have done so far, along with that hella complex tank. I don’t think I am going to get nearly everything my cousin and I had talked about getting done (three pairs of pants, two button ups, another Amy Butler tunic, three bags, a dress and four more skirts) in the two more days that I will be here. However, I hope that she is happy with the projects I have completed, and I have had a great time getting to spend time with family that I don’t get to see very often at all. This sewing trip has been really relaxing and really nice, and a really big eye opener into just how slow of a sewer I am!

Until next time, cheers.

No Big Update tonight.

Hey guys, I have been working all day but I don’t have the energy to post anything up right now. It’s been a lot of math, pining, unpinning, repining etc. So I just need the rest cause I have a lot of sewing left before I go home later this week.

I wish I was a faster sewer like some people I know, it would make everything so much easier.

Talk to you guys later!

Summer Seamstress Work Part Two

As promised, I have another post! I didn’t really get an impressive amount done today considering I only finished the Amy Butler Anna Tunic, but the last bit I had to do was actually really tedious. Amy Butler is not the clearest of pattern makers, though her patterns are beautiful. Plus I also had to do other things around the house that I am sitting for. Anyway! Onto pictures:

First thing I did when I got up was sew the yoke exterior and yoke lining up, as well as add the button loops to the yoke. The way Amy Butler has you handle seams after you clip them is really weird, tedious, and doesn’t actually cut down on bulk. So I just stuck with traditional clip and snip and top stitching. Which worked out perfectly fine.

Next I pinned the yoke to the bodice, which was a dangerous, pin filled mess of double circles. That is really what took the majority of the day to do. It was a slow pining process, and then a slow sewing process because it was

 

Then I hemmed the lining and the outer fabric, hand stitched the shank buttons onto the back of the yoke and I was done! It’s an adorable little top.

Then after I made my dinner I started working on my next big project, which is the ‘Study Hall Skirt’ by Anna Maria Horner, which looks super freaking cute and I totally need to buy that pattern for myself. I need to make two of them for my younger cousin, though neither of them will be quite so wild as the examples on the pattern envelope. I traced all the pieces I will need onto parchment paper, and left it for tomorrow. I will need to do some math to the pieces tomorrow to be sure they will fit perfectly before I cut them out and start working with the fabric.

 

Stay tuned for another update tomorrow!

Summer Seamstress Work Part One

Hey all, sorry I don’t have any sketches yet to show you from the Ophelia / Hamlet show I’m working on. The director and I are still in the idea stage and so there really isn’t anything good enough to be shown yet. However, that does not mean that I haven’t been doing anything. I have in fact been staying with one of my cousin’s and their kids since Sunday doing some sewing for money for them. I have a big list of things I need to do, so that was what the first day was about.

Then her sewing machine had a freak out which took me literally over four hours to fix, but fix it I did. I am the sewing machine whisperer.

Anyway, there are a few bags I need to make, some pants, skirts and tops. As well as recovering a bolster pillow, which was the first thing I completed. Enjoy some pictures.

 

  

My Cousin is also helping with some of the projects until she and the rest of her family go to New York City for a few days. During that time I will be watching their mini farm. Which means I get to hang out with a goat and some chickens. As well as a pair of dogs and a kind of cranky cat. Which is always fun. Here is my cousin drafting a pattern for a fat square skirt.

 

This is a bin of fabric that isn’t getting used. She has a lot of it laying around, a lot of it in really fun prints too. My stash back home isn’t nearly this impressive. But I’m clearing out almost 3 whole bins of fabric for her making these projects, which will open up a lot of room in her ‘mom cave’.

The next project that I am working on is an Amy Butler tunic called the ‘Anna’ tunic. It’s a really weird pattern at times, her instructions tend to be both vague and confusing when they really don’t need to be.

 <- Here is the pattern,

and here is the super cute fabric

 

 

 

 

I ended up tracing the pattern onto parchment paper rather then cutting out the tissue because A) I didn’t want the pattern to become one use and B) I had to make size adjustments in some places for the pattern and that would have been super frigging difficult on tissue paper, let me tell you. So yeah, it ended up working out really well. The tissue paper that pattern companies use to print patterns on is the bane of my existence to be honest.

Then the fabric cutting bit. It’s nice hanging out with my cousin, I haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time with her once I got past the age of like, 6. It was a little awkward around her kids, also my cousins, because we had almost never interacted before. It was a little strange for the three of us because here we are, related and all in the same house knowing almost nothing about one another. There was a lot of long silences and staring. But everyone was friendly enough and we made do. Family is family, even if you haven’t seen one another in almost ten years.

This picture is kind of tricky to read but it’s the whole lower part of the bodice finished (sans hem) so it’s just waiting for it’s yoke and buttons. The button loops for the yoke are already finished.

And here is where I am leaving it off for the night. The button loops are hand sewn down onto the placket, the main bodices is ready for the gathering in the front, the yoke and a hem. Tomorrow I need to finish said yoke and throw it onto the bodice, add buttons and it will be on it’s way! Hopefully. The pattern is a little hard to understand in this spot, the instructions are sort of bleeding together and she’s repeating herself a bit which is confusing because as any one can tell you with any kind of activity, once a step is done it can’t be done again. Plus it requires hemming four curves and I just don’ t have the energy to do that past 1 am.

I’ll post again tomorrow! Until then, happy sewing.