Sewing Blurb for Sunday 1/29/06

I completed the Twist Top in the buttermilk knit.

I then pinned fitted the Vogue jacket referenced in post below. I had to make my usual adjustments; forward shoulder, high round back, narrow back, shortened the sleeves by 1 1/2 inches. They were really long! Also had to do an FBA, adding 1 1/4 inch. I am always amazed at having to do this when pattern states on it that finished bust is 44. In pin fitting pattern, center front did not meet mine at all. This measurement should have been sufficient but wasn't when fitting. I believe Liana as well as another reviewer on PR indicated this jacket was a little on the small size.

I then adjusted KS 3339

I have some knit fabric purchased from a local fabric store in Radford called SewBiz. I made another KS top from it about 1 year ago. I have enough to make the v-neck, sleeveless top (View B) above. I think I will use a black ribbing as I have a lot of that in my stash and this knit has a black background with green, teal and yellow flowers in the foreground.

I had to raise the underarms as I felt these will be too low. I am not sure if I should make a FBA. Sometimes this makes KS tops too big. I traced between large and xlarge as measurements for large is about 1/2 inch to small and xlarge is about 2 inches too much.

I then cut out the Swing Jacket pattern, view 2 which will have an attached collar. I pin fitted that pattern also and needed to make the usual back adjustments. The pattern is a cut-on kimono style so some adjustments required a little extra to complete. I am still working on the adjustments. I am using a wool/nylon fabric I also purchased from Nancy's Notions that was promoted at the time with the jacket booklet which included the pattern and the DVD.

Wool Roving and planned use

I wanted to show some of my wool roving I received in the mail yesterday for use with the Babylock Embellisher. I am designing in my head what I plan to do with this. I want to make some sort of design and trying to determine how best to go about this. I want to use the design on the Vogue jacket pattern as well as the Swing Jacket pattern that goes with the booklet I purchased from Nancy's Notions along with DVD of the various designs using this pattern. Here is the Swing Jacket booklet.




Here are photos of some of the roving.




Here is the other jacket I am working on. Liana-Sew Intriguing blog and Friend of PR-recently reviewed this on her blog. I am making the jacket on the far left, in lime green cashmere wool that I too purchased from Wazoodle over a year ago. It was offered at such a great price I could not turn it down. I will line the pattern but will not add an interlining as Liana did. I really don't want it to be heavier, I like the lightness of it. It is similar fabric to a jacket I purchased at Talbot's about 4 years ago that I still love and wear. The Talbot's jacket does not have a lining.

Twist Top 2

I completed the Twist Top. This knit was difficult to sew. Used bias tape to stabilize single layer edges-sleeve hem edges and bottom edges-to be able to serge and then hem with sewing machine. Love the feel of this fabric. Very soft, wrong side sort of satin like. I will revisit this pattern again as I plan more of my spring sewing.

Here is photo of completed top.

Saturday, Saturday, ...........

I have that tune in my head about Saturday, Saturday night's allright, or something like that.

Last night, after meeting DH for dinner and going to Barnes and Noble to get Stephen King's new book, I then went to my sewing room upon arrival home. It was so nice to be in there again.
I serged the edges of the sleeves and hem of my KS Twist Top, then serged the side seams. Then I had a phone call that interupted my brief sewing time.

The electricans had been to the house yesterday and we had a problem with some electrical items in the master bathroom so they had to return this morning to fix. Before they arrived I went to CURVES. After electricians left, I took my shower and then went and did my grocery shopping for the week. Plus ran some errands for my DH, one too many. He had to go into work so I was glad to help out but......

Before hitting the grocery store and Walmart, I went to Hancock fabrics and took advantage of the 75% off on Vogue patterns. When all is said and done, Vogue patterns are still some of my favorite ones and normally I do not have a lot of fitting issues with them, just my usual fitting issues: foward shoulder adjustment, swayback, most the time FBA, and narow back adjustment. Like many others though I go off and try a few independent ones with some success and some not so good successes. I am not sure why I bought more patterns. I am a little compulsive about this. But 75% off is very good. I have patterns galore, many never made up. I am going to cull my pattern stash and sell some on Pattern Review before too long. I also purchased some lining fabric for a potential jacket I have in my design mind at this moment.

I was so excited whenI got home and found I had a package from Alpaca Direct. I purchased several colors of merino wool and colonial top roving from them to use on my new Babylock Embellisher.

I bought this after Christmas and got an extremely good bargain on it. I only wish there were more helpful sources for using the machine and for felting. I am not sure why Babylock is not marketing this more. Seeing an outfit made up in the Australian Stitches Magazine using this machine for embellishing, made me want one. So this was on sale for $525 and I got 10% off as I accepted the floor model.

The wool roving was great and better than I expected. Very impressive colors. I need to search out sources for tips on felting and designing with it. I have not been able to find a source for roving in VA/MD or NC. These would be much closer than California where I got this material. There service was great though and I of course took advantage of their special, so I got free shipping and priority mail! Not bad.

I also purchased a pattern from a sewist on Pattern Review and that arrived today also. It was the Loes Hinses Wrap Skirt. I have looked at this one on and off. I have good fit most of the time with LH patterns. Skirts are rather long on me though, being 5'3", but I normally adapt them well.

Got to run, amazingly my DH thinks we should eat dinner. Guess he's right. More on sewing today later.

A little sewing

I had to come home early from work today to meet the "Cable Guy". While waiting for him, I took time to sew thus continuing to complete my KS Twist Top. For a simple to make top that if you had no interuptions you could complete in 30-45 minutes of straight sewing, this is becoming a drawn out project. I serged the sleeves to the front and back pieces. At that point, the cable guy arrived and spent 45 minutes correcting the cable problem with TV.

Only sewing left is to sew side seams, serge sleeve and hem edges, topstitch and viola! new top.

My next top using the other buttermilk knit shown in previous post I am leaning toward a raglan sleeve top, possibly using black for sleeves and the body a print. If not that, then perhaps a cross over top. I have several of those patterns as shown below:

Latest project

I still have my KS Twist Top to complete. Have not been able to sew much during the week due to other time commitments. Here is a photo of the fabric I am using. I addressed some issues with this buttermilk knit in my post on not all buttermilk knits are equal. There is a big difference with this knit and the one depicted below. This one feels more "buttery" and has more drape. Both are great knits.


Here is another buttermilk knit I plan to sew up soon. I am not sure what top I want to make yet. Sorry, for the blurry photo. Camera and me were not getting along well when taken.

Woodstock not so Groovy!

I completed the Woodstock Tunic by Hot Patterns. Not the outcome I wanted. I am not having good success with size for this pattern line. I have used Glamour Girl size for all that I have made and though bust size is somewhat okay, shoulders and chest are way to large.

Pattern adjustments made with this tunic was narrowing the front and back shoulders, which I think I over adjusted. Reduce the bust depth was too long and perhaps could have lowered 1/2 inch. Sleeves drafted too tight on this, thus ended up taking 3/8 seams instead of the called for 5/8.

Fabric was horrible to sew. Dulled needles quickly. Fabric was a knited faux suede from Hancock's. I will probably wear around the house or perhaps give to my favorite charity, Goodwill Industries. Here are photos of the tunic, with one being a close up of the decorative neck facing. A more detailed review of this pattern can be found on Pattern Review. You can go to sidebar on this blog and click on My Pattern Reviews for the review of this.

Not all buttermilk knits are created equal

I am working on another KS Twist Top using a buttermilk knit from my stash, purchased over a year ago from one of my favorite fabric sites for knits, EOS.

I will post photos of fabric and top later. This particular buttermilk knit came in geometric shapes of pink/green/white as well as coral/green/white. I bought some of both. I made the coral/green/white top using a KS pattern that was high neck tank. After making FBA and such the top ended up rather wide through waist and hips. I also attempted to use a fusible thread in lower looper of serger, creating an easy way to turn up hem, iron base fusible thread, then hem using sewing machine. The fusible thread proved to be too "strong", "harsh" for this buttermilk knit and thus one could see the fused thread and this will not disappear. Someone on Pattern Review advised of this when I posted a tip on using fusible thread in lower looper. It was good advice. So test, test, test.

I decided to make the twist top using the pink/green/white knit since it has clearly aged in my stash and time to use. Also this will allow me to make another entry into the stash contect on Pattern Review. Sometimes these contests are great motivator for getting me to use some of my huge amount of fabric in my stash; when I enter I always think this will be a breeze to compete in, yet I never seem to get close to winning. Maybe the win is using up surplus fabric.

What I forgot about this particular fabric was that serging the edges is a true bear. After spending at least 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour playing with serger settings and still finding it challenging on this knit, I decided to use a technique that I just read about creating "serger fabric or serger knit" using wash away stablizer along the edge of serge stitches. This proved to be the perfect solution to my challenge. The threads layed on the fabric nicely and I had a more stable knit to work with. I also attempted to fuse bias tape to test sample edge which gave the knit some stability also. Since I was low on the bias tape I did not use this. I will in the future should I have a buttermilk knit like this again.

I say not all buttermilk knits are the same because I have a favorite knit top I made over a year ago using a pattern drafted with PMB=Pattern Master Boutique; that was the perfect knit to serge and sew. It did not require stablizing and fusible thread in lower looper for basting hem worked perfect.

I have another buttermilk knit from stash like the perfect one above and will make some sort of knit top from it. Probably not the Twist Top but gosh I truly love the fit and look of that pattern on me.

Foot Sold

I have sold the Open Toe Stippling Foot via Pattern Review

There is a classified ad section on that site. One can sell patterns, fabric, books, sewing feet and more. Glad my extra foot has found a home.

Thinking about sewing

I recently looked through and read (not thoroughly) the book What Not To Wear by Trinny and Susannah. I happened to record a week's worth of Oprah and on one of those days, T&S were on her program. They showed several women made over. All looked great and some were truly WOW's. Thus I went out and checked out the book from the library before deciding to buy or not.

As a result I have decided that I need to make some fashion changes. Some of their recommendations for a full busted women appealed to me. I must add here, I never would have thought when I was in my teens and twenties/thirties that I would call myself full busted. Now that I have them, on my own, I also have the full waist and hips to go with them. Today I turn 55 so perhaps I reflecting on the then and now. But I am getting off topic on to another.

One recommendation for full busted women is wrap or surplice tops. With that in mind, yesterday I pulled out a top I made by Stretch and Sew about three years ago and wore it with black skirt, black hose, black pumps and a rather longish style black jacket from Talbots I have owned it seems forever. I was amazed at the compliments I received yesterday at work.

In the book it also talks about how to dress to make one appear taller and slimmer when one is short and no longer slim. My outfit worked according to their recommendations and I did feel like I looked thinner and taller .
Here is a photo of the pattern with the top I wore. (Middle version). It fit well, the issue is the double layer in the front, caused the hem to be rather bulky. Reading on Pattern Review tip on dealing with this, the next one I make I will modify the bottom edge to accomodate the double layer.

I have not been able to sew much since this past weekend. As I read on another blog about thinking about sewing when not, I too think about sewing a lot when I am not. Actually keeps me sane. I am now planning some more fashions to sew and perhaps because it is my birthday there may be a fabric store to visit at lunch.

Sewing Progression-1/16/06

Here is a picture of the KS Twist Top, completed yesterday.
I am ready to make a few more of these. I made a fitting adjustment to the pattern back. It was a little snug, so decided to do a broad back adjustment instead of redrafting the entire back. I also made note to add 1/4 inch to sides of front and back when cutting out next tops. I think that will give me a smooch more room without having to redo the pattern. I am happy with the outcome of this top.


I am progressing on the Hot Pattern Woodstock Tunic. I am having a bear of a time with the fabric. It is the faux suede, a sueded knit type. Had a hard time determining the best needle to use. Ended up using a Stretch 12. I have mixed feelings about the pattern. Perhaps it is the style. Fitting adjustments were good, perhaps took too much off shoulders. Top stitching the facings to the outside of the top was difficult. Mainly due to the fabric and keeping it flat and even. May have to redo one side. I think this will be a knock around top and not something that will get much wear. I think I may be way past the tunic stage. Will see. Here is photos of work in progress. Left photo is the trim fabric used, the right photo is the top inside out laying on cutting table. I just got through with topstiching the facing to the outside.

P&S T-Sold

I was able to sell the P&S T pattern by Hot Patterns. The buyer is like many of us trying to determine the best size to try in this pattern line. I really like the creative offerings from this line.

I am currently working on the Woodstock Tunic. I had to make several fit adjustments when I pin fitted the pattern. Hopefully they will be all that is needed. We will see. Here is a photo of this top.

Twist Top is making me happy!

I started sewing the KS Twist Top today. Just about finished it actually. I printed out a couple of the reviews on Pattern Review about this pattern. I did use the clear elastic around the neckline as two other reviewers suggested. I think this was a good suggestion. I then just followed the instructions as it was an easy top to make.

The great news about this is that I have a good fitting top from Kwik Sew. I have not always had good success as I have had a hard time finding the size ranges I needed to use. I am finding that I have a decent fitting top when using small in the shoulders and neck. I then taper the small sleeve head to large underarm to accomodate the draft onto large bust area. I then use large throughout.

Today's KS top felt a little snug through the back area, and this was more of an exception that the norm. Perhaps it is the knit I am using or just the style. That is the challenge of sewing with various knits. At least it is a challenge for me. Irregardless or regardless, I am please with the top.

The twisting top front area was a nice depth for me. Others have mentioned it was rather low and have worn a cami underneath. I added 1/2 inch at that area, tapering to the regular cutting line and this worked perfectly.

I will post photos later. Nice to have a success after another failure with another pattern line.

Plain and Simple T-!@#!!!!!@@@#

I am very disappointed with my second attempt at the Plain and Simple T by Hotpatterns. With bust adjustments and other attempts, the darn thing is just too big through the upper chest and shoulder areas.

I cutout neckband for top. Basted to top, basted side seams and tried on to determine adjustment for scoop neckband. I had wings under the arms. Shoulders look to big, etc.

I know my measurements are basically correct. I think the Glamour Girl size in this pattern line, even though for C/D busts, is drafted for a fuller sized woman overall. I am thinking Slinky Girl may be better. However, given the size I wear in RTW-14 Petite, I thought Glamour Girl would be better. NOT!!!

I thought about reviewing pattern on PatternReview, but so many people seem to be having such success with this pattern line and so many people defended the owners so strongly when they were having start up problems getting their orders out, that I think it may not be the place or time to give a negative review. But this is my blog, so I will express my disappointment.

I am offering the pattern for sale or even trade for same pattern in Slinky Girl. All pieces are in tack, but pattern has tracing marks.

I decided to toss and not try to salvage or hone any more fitting skills. My sewing time is short and I have other things to try. I have to admit I am now concerned about the tunic top I cut out of the Hot Pattern line. I did pattern fit this, took out some width on the shoulder and upper chest area, so hopefully it will not be a disappointment. I even cut a narrower sleeve width with this pattern. I guess I will find out this weekend.

I am going to sew up the KS Twist Top pattern next. Fabric is cut and ready to go. Hopefully it will come out okay. Could use a success at this moment. Here is the KS pattern photo.

One too many feet!

I recently visited a nice Viking/Babylock dealer in Forrest, VA. I purchased two feet for my Designer 1. Two days later I learned that I purchased a foot I alreay have. It is the Open Toe Stippling Foot. In case you are reading this blog and have D1 and need this foot, I have one for sale. It was $19 and I am willing to sell for less than the $19. Make me an offer.

Here is a photo of the foot.

Sewing Today

I have not had much time to sew of late. I am trying to take the Nancy Z approach,10-20-30 minutes to sew. I seem to be hanging at 10 minutes, if lucky.

This morning, I rethreaded the serger, getting it set up to sew the Hot Pattern Plain & Simple T. I could not believe the problem I had in rethreading. A simple task took up most of my 15 minute allocation. Finally got it all set up and stitches were okay on sample. But had to stop to get ready for work.

This evening following exercising at CURVES and a shower, I serged the shoulders of the t. Then measured the neckline to determine the neckband length to cut for the scoop neck of the T. Got the rotary cutter and mat and cut this out. I then had to start cooking dinner.

That's my sewing for now.

I will say that I am pleasantly pleased with my inexpensive knit fabric purchased at Wally World. Has good recovery and nice weight knit. I just hope the revisions to this pattern will be good ones and that this T will be a good fit compared to the first one. If so I will be ready to tackle the V-Neck one in this pattern pack. I will try to post a photo of the fabric later. Here is a photo of the pattern.

What I did thus far this weekend

I have been busy tissue fitting several patterns this weekend, making fitting adjustments and cutting out fabric. Yeah!!! I now have three patterns cut out and ready to go.

I also played around with sewing machine yesterday, late night. I am couching "fun fur" yarns onto ultra sulky solvy in an attempt to make a sewing machine knitted scarf. There are several ideas or methods from doing this in a Sulky Book that I have had for over 18 months. It was shown at our November ASG meeting. Yes wanted to play a little. After I complete a time consuming project like my LH jacket, I like to try something new and what I consider play.

I cut out two knit patterns. One is the Plain and Simple T shirt from HotPatterns. My first attempt was not satisfactory and recognized the need for several adjustments. I redrafted the pattern front piece before but was not real happy with my efforts. I then reviewed Sandra Betzina's Fast Fit for large bust and decided to try her technique which is a variation of the FBA in the Fit For Real People book. I then retraced the front pattern piece and then did a slight FBA using SB's method. I like the look of the new pattern. I used an inexpensive knit fabric, yellow with blue flowers, that I purchased from Walmart. I like the fabric but will not feel bad if this newest version of the P&S T does not work out either. I also lengthened the T. The first one I made just did come to my waist and I am along waisted petite. I think there are sizing issues with these patterns. They are stylish but I am not sure that what they say about the fit is what the reality is. I do know that the pattern pieces do not have all the notches on all the corresponding pattern pieces. For me not a big deal, but for the beginner sewist, this could create issues. I find it a little annoying to pay the price and not get a top quality pattern.

The other knit top is the Kwik Sew 3378 that is getting a lot of reviews on Pattern Review . This is a twist top from knit with a front twist in the bust area and front center seam. KS patterns are a challenge for me from a fitting standpoint. I am now basically tracing a small shoulder and medium arm area then going to large bust. Sometimes this works, sometimes not. In doing this, from time to time, I have had issues with side seams not matching up front to back and has to do with the tracing of a smaller armscye and larger bust. I pretty much remembered to check this with this pattern tracing and good thing I did as back and front side seams were not going to match up at all. I used a matte jersey knit purchased from Hancock Fabrics in early December. It was on sale and I purchased about four yards of it. It is a chocolate brown color and I had in mind another knit top to try from this also.

The third pattern was the Boho-Deluxe Woodstock Tunic pattern, again from Hot Patterns. After tracing the pattern and pinfitting, I made my usual FSA and swayback adjustment. The pinfitting revealed that the shoulders were way to wide and I used the smallest, size 12. I thus did a narrow back adjustment and used the same technique for the front as it was wide in the shoulder and arm area. After doing this it looked like it was going to be a better fit. I felt the bust dart was too long and shortened it. The sleeves required a 1/2 inch adjustment and I have some concerns that they may be to full. I left them as they were and figured I will take deeper seams if necessary. I was disappointed again that the front piece had a notch in the arm area to match up the front sleeve area but the sleeve pattern had no such corresponding marks. Again if you are a beginner you are going to question what is the front or back of the sleeve. Even the instructions for sewing reference notches but there are none on the sleeve. I hope that they, Hot Patterns, will do a quality check of their newer patterns when they release them. This is just not a "good thing" whether you are experienced or not with sewing. If you say they are there, they should be.

The fabric I used for the tunic is faux, soft suede in a golden brown color. I purchased the same fabric with embroidered flowers on it for the outside facing trim that is in the front and back neck area. I will add to the sleeve but don't think that I will do that for the hip area as I am not sure I want to draw attention to the area. I have enough to do so if I change my mind.

LH Tuxedo Jacket Complete

I have been under the weather for a few days so have not posted updates.

I completed the Tuxedo jacket on Monday. It turned out well. I wrote a review for Pattern Review. Click on "My Pattern Reviews" in side bar for additional detailed information.

The fabric I used made the jacket fairly stiff. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I thought it would be softer. The fabric choices listed on the pattern envelope included raw silk. My fabric is tussah silk which to my thinking falls in that category. Perhaps silk noil or silk linen or silk shantung would be softer choices.

There were a few fitting adjustments made, such as adding a smidge to bust area, and 1/2 inch to back hip area. Next time I may take up the upper back seam some. The photo, see Miscellaneous sidebar for photos of this jacket under the LH Album, makes the back look wider than it is. I think it is because the photo is such a close up.

I am happy with the jacket and I will make another jacket from the pattern.

Not sure what my next project will be. I have several ideas in mine. I have cut out and ready for sewing the LH Butterfly Bag. I want to remake the Hot Pattern Plain and Simple T again and have another test knit to try. First attempt was not a success.

More later.