A quick blue top

I wanted to make a really quick top to see if I could sew this over one weekend (TLDR: I didn't. It took me almost three weeks which is fast for me so I'm still happy).

I thought a sleeveless top would be faster.  But I hadn't counted on the various design elements taking longer. Also, why did I think a transparent fabric with polycotton underlining was a good idea if I wanted to go for speed?  That did not help, but it was the colour that most spoke to me of all my stash fabrics.

 

 

At first I was inclined to treat fashion fabric and underlining fabric as two layers (basically line it with the polycotton), but I quickly realised that you would be able to see the darts and pleats through the top fabric and going the underlining route was just better all round.

If you haven't come across the term: underlining is when you deal with two fabrics as if they were one layer.  You pin, pleat and dart them both together. It does make for a better appearance when the top layer is translucent or see-through, like mine.

It was all going quite swimmingly when I discovered that I had for some unknown reason sewn the longer outer curve of my back neckline band as if it was the outer curve of a collar. Except it isn't and this longer curve needs to be sewn into the back bodice piece. Outch.

The first picture shows the problem:

I'm a bit of a lazy sort, I did most certainly not want to re-cut the whole neckband thing (after I already did for a different reason: I cut one part wrong, oops. So I wasn't going to cut this out a third time), so I stitched the correct side shut, picked the longer side open and basted the fabrics on just one side, like so:

I made sure to pin the two layers of the back bodice so they wouldn't slip out of alignment and stuck the basted part of the neckband over the raw edge, basting it down. I felt it would take longer to press the band fold (from when I'd sewn the wrong side) back open, pin to the raw edge, stitch and press back flat.

Instead I top-stitched the band to the bodice (I know that's not how you're meant to do this), when I should have sewn this together at right side of tabric together first and top-stitched after that. Well, sue me, not doing it.

I think that emergency manoeuvre worked quite well:

The central part of the bodice is a touch puckered, but not too badly. I think I can get away with that. I have a very small pucker on the inside, who cares.

Because the top-stitching from the right side did not catch the second band layer, I then hand-sewed that layer down.  I used to loathe hand sewing but I've come to quite enjoy it. You can sit and think about pleasant things (or listen to a podcast or what have you) and enjoy the time to yourself.  I recommend a nice quiet hand sewing session, it's peaceful.

Then I pulled the basting stitches back out and called it done. Marvellous!

 

I also hand stiched the armhole facings down on the inside, into just the underlining layer, that was a touch tricky:

I sewed the front neckline shut a bit and now feel that it pulls a little. Next time I'll raise the neckline even more than I already did. This is pattern 2104 from Lekala that didn't look like the V-neck would end lower than the bust point - the image on the website definitely shows it even with the bust darts, but nope: the pattern that I taped together has a decolleté that plunges to about your navel. 

Not to worry, easy enough to raise that. Which I did. Twice. Still not high enough. I'll know for next time.

I had sewn this pattern twice before: once as a wearable toile, then in a patterned green fabric I really like. I do wear both. I thought I had made all the changes I wanted to make but found that I want to adjust this pattern some more if I made it again:

As I mentioned I'll raise the bottom of the V-neck another inch or inch and a half.  I also want to change the angle of the bust dart - I feel that the horizontal line looks okay as far as it goes, but I think an angle would make this more flattering. That will take more fabric, so I'll need to keep that in mind.  I haven't quite made up my mind if I want an angle from lower down in the side seam, or even one down from the armhole. It will also depend on the fabric I'll want to use.

Now this top is almost done, the only thing I forgot was that I wanted to stitch two double-pointed darts into the back to take it in a bit at the waist. I can easily add this later. When I get my sewjo back.

Long story short: I made life a bit more difficult with my choice of fabric (but I so love the colour so it was worth it), the hem didn't quite work out because I overlocked it too early - I should have waited until I stitched everything else. The top fashion fabric layer turned out to be a little bigger than the underlining fabric but better that than the other way around. When I folded up the hem I let the top fabric sit a touch longer to even things out. It worked out, that's the important thing.

I came across this great blog post on fitting

This is a great blog post on fitting:

https://www.thesewingdirectory.co.uk/accurate-fitting/
Written by Lorna Knight the author of 'Complete Dressmaking Skills' and 'Dressmaking to Flatter your Shape'.

The article is a very good no-nonsense description of how to pick the size to cut out, test sew a garment (i.e. as a toile, also called a muslin) and to pin the areas that need adjusting. What I like a lot is that it sets out all the general steps that help with fitting, and covers all the main issues.

I particularly liked her suggestion that you can iron interfacing to the back of your pattern tissues once you're happy with the fit you achieved.

This article gives good basic advice but it is not a guide on advanced fitting so if you run into specific fitting issues that you can't solve yourself then you need to look at one of the many fitting advice  books that are out there.

Useful advise on the more advanced fitting solutions are to "follow the draglines". When an ill-fitting garment pulls, these drag lines will often point to the area of concern. Say you have sewn a test top and these diagonal dragging folds point towards the bust area: chances are that you need a full bust adjustment.

If you cannot pin an area tigher on a test garment because you need more space rather then less, then you can undo a seam to see if more fabric in this area solves the issue. Some guides advise to slash the fabric itself open, but you do need to carry on the slash to the edge of a garment - fabric is a flat, two-dimensional material that needs darts and seams to shape it into a threedimensional construct. You can't creat a sticking out bump in the middle of a flat piece of fabric. There needs to be a seam or dart somewhere.

The other great fitting tip I came across:  if for example the seat of trousers looks a bit tight but you can't quite pin-point just what kind of change you need to make to your pattern - have a look for 'grab'. Where does the fabric (or tissue if you are tissue fitting), "grab" your figure? Is it across more than in an up and down direction? Is it both?

Again there might be some draglines, really tiny ones, that point the right way but if a garment is only a little bit too tight then you may not be able to see them. But looking for 'grab' instead is a great way of figuring out where the pattern piece needs to be bigger.

If you need a swayback adjustment on a dress or tunic that has no waist seam (you can pinch out the extra material at a waist seam): you may be able to raise the inside shoulder point. This is the corner of your pattern where the shoulder seam ends at the neckline.  Mark off the amount that needs pinching out vertically down from the shoulder seam (or a bit less) and then redraw the slope of the shoulder seam. You will then to lower the entire back neckline to the new lower level. There are blog posts about this out there (that's where I've got this tip from. Apologies, I can't remember right now where I saw it).

A rounded upper back can present some fitting issues because the shape of the area makes different kinds of adjustments necessary. For some you may need to increase the darts at the shoulder seam, but for others you need to slash the back bodice piece horizontally, from about mid shoulder slope across to the centre seam or fold. You then raise the pattern piece above the slash. This is the adjustment I need and I had no idea for a very long time. It seems counter-intuitive.

You may also need to rotate the shoulder seam forward when you have a rounded upper back. This makes much more sense: if your posture isn't totally upright but instead you carry your shoulders turned forward a little, then you are going to need more material in the back piece and a little less in the front at either side from the shoulder seam.  This adjustment is really easy: tape the back and front pattern piece together at the shoulder seam, draw in your new shoulder seam (keep the inside corner where it is and only change the angle of the seam), and cut apart. Done.

Whatever your fitting issue is (once you know which it is), it is very useful to search online - there may be youtube videos and/or blog posts about that very issue. Chances are that you'll find the answer. If not, come along to one of our LDC meetings and ask us! We may have the answer or be able to point you in the right direction.

This is a great blog post about fixing a gaping back neckline with the help of darts:
https://inhousepatterns.com/blogs/news/6229370-back-contour-shaping

Check out the book "Fit for Real people", it can be very helpful.

I will look for some more guides on fitting and blog about them as and when. Happy sewing!

Lorna Knight who is the author of Complete Dressmaking Skills - See more at: http://www.thesewingdirectory.co.uk/accurate-fitting/#sthash.IYAbWy1e.dpuf

Lorna Knight who is the author of Complete Dressmaking Skills - See more at: http://www.thesewingdirectory.co.uk/accurate-fitting/#sthash.IYAbWy1e.dpuf

Frankenstella

It's a Stella Hoodie- but not as we know it.  Yes, I am continuing my love affair with Tilly & The Buttons patterns in her new book STRETCH.
I fell in love with this knit fabric at the Spring Knitting and Stitching show at Olympia.  It is more suitable for pyjamas for the under sevens than a daytime dress for an over 70  but it made me laugh and I had to have it.  

The peppermint green base does not show up well in this shot but the quirky characters, which called to the infant in me, do. I thought that I had bought only enough to make a top but when I came to cut it out I realised that I had enough for a dress.  By this time, having made 5 items from STRETCH, I knew where to go for a reliable pattern.  I wanted to try out the dropped shoulder style of the Stella Hoodie but didn't actually want to wear a hood made up in this fabric- so the Frankenstella was born.

I traced the Stella top, added length from the hemline of the top  and finished it off with the curved hem of the Frankie tee.  This was easy, as you can read in my previous post about creating the Frankie dress,  because I had made a separate bottom piece for that dress.  I extended the end of the Stella hoodie straight down, marking horizontally the point at which I wanted the side edge of the hem to end.

I then placed the piece I had cut from the Frankie tee at the edge and traced around this, ignoring the part that extended past my vertical line.

All that remained was to decide how to finish the neckline.  I went for facings rather than a neckband and made these by measuring and marking 4 cm around the neck of the front and back bodice, then tracing the result for the facing pattern.

With hindsight I would have made a narrower facing of only 2.5 cm.  I understitched the facings after clipping and trimming the curve so that they lay flat and then zig-zag stitch round the neckline- no chance of them popping out from the neck!
The result I have mixed feelings about.

 I did not check the sleeve length and I feel they are too long, but not if I double the cuffs back so I will leave them as they are.  However there are issues on which I should like some opinions.

I  think that I should have made the dress a bit shorter, maybe the length that raising my arms achieves.  I also considered putting elastic in a casing around the waist to get a blouson effect.  Below I have achieved this with a belt. Does the curved hem make it look too much like a nightgown and should I shorten it by cutting the hem straight across?

What do you think?  Should I make it shorter or should I add elastic around the waist or should I leave it as it is?  Please leave a comment below to help me decide.

Please contribute: tips for sewing a simple skirt

Shall we do a collaborative blog post?  All about tips for sewing beginners about sewing a skirt.

At our monthly meetings we often get the question from sewing beginners: "I would like to sew but I never have before and I don't know where to start".  We have lots of advice and tips so how about collecting it all in one place?  Like right here!

We often recommend that a beginner sew a simple skirt first. There isn't quite as much going in terms of different elements that a dress or trousers would demand (getting sleeves to fit into the armhole, or doing a front zip on trousers).

First tip: when you want to use a stretch fabric and you have never sewn before then pick a firm jersey fabric that is a bit thicker than the cheaper jerseys that are very saggy and extremely difficult to sew with. Sewing with thin jersey fabric is something that I still can't do. Avoid it if you want to retain your sanity. Honestly.

Woven fabrics are much easier to sew with (as far as I'm concerned), but because they don't stretch they need to be fitted to your shape to look good.

There are different skirt styles with different degrees of difficulty. A gathered skirt made from two rectangular pieces is the easiest, - circular skirts and skirts made from flared panels are also relatively simple.

The more pieces your pattern has the more sewing you'll do, but you also get more opportunity to fit the garment to your shape because you have more seamlines you can adjust.

Sewing in a zip isn't as difficult as I feared when I was a beginner but you may want to go with a button closure on a first project. See how you feel.

A commercial pattern is useful because it has instructions: not just how to sew but there is also the layout of the pieces for cutting out, and it tells you which piece to interline. There is also really useful guidance on seam allowances and how to do the different ways of stitching (like top or edge stitching, under stitching, stay stitching, or how to stitch for gathering - all kinds of information).

The sewing pattern size is not the same as your dress size in shops. Measure your waist and hips and compare to the measurement table on your pattern. Most pattern envelopes have multiple sizes in them, often split by the smaller and the bigger sizes.

Above all pick a skirt shape that you are excited about! I often make the mistake of falling in love with the pretty fabric they used and forget to check the line drawing to see if I actually like the style. Which is kind of important.

Now I've gone on much longer than I meant to. I haven't even said much about sewing itself (the things we discover as we go along) - I hope that other Dressmakers Club members want to give tips and advice in the comments!

Tracing the pattern from a RTW garment

Have you traced the pattern of a ready to wear garment, one you bought in the shops?

It can be a great way to get a sewing pattern because it is a clothing item that you know fits well enough to want another one just like it.  Or at least with as few adjustments as needed. Preferrably the ones you know how to do.

I bought a lovely short-sleeved blouse with intriguing double layer ruffles from a charity shop.  I did realise at the time that I keep going for this very pale blue, chalky looking shade and then end up not wearing it because it makes me look pasty, to be brutally honest.  Do I learn from this and stop buying clothes or knitting yarn this colour?  Heck no, course not.

So it seems that I bought a pattern instead.

It took me a while to start taking this blouse apart.  I saw the great tip of leaving half the blouse intact so I can see how it goes back together - I only need one set of pattern pieces after all.  I'm glad I read that on a helpful blog somewhere, I'm not confident that I would have realised.  Start wielding a seam ripper and I keep on going...

This blouse fits fairly well.  The dart is not quite in the right place and I need to suppress a wedge of fabric in the underarm area, I am optimistic that I know how to adjust the underarm seams as well as the sleeve width. Fingers crossed.

I flattened each piece carefully, straightened what edges need to be straight (e.g. the centre back that will be cut on the fold), and weighed the whole down with my trusty pattern weights.  Also known as glass coasters in another life - I use them with the felt feet pointing up, they work fabulously.

I drew around each piece making sure that the shapes make sense: an armhole needs to look scooped and not jagged, no corner should look too sharp or seamlines lie in an undulating S-shape.  So far so good!  The test will come when I sew this up in a toile fabric.  I haven't got that far yet.

I did add more generous seam allowances because these were very narrow (the blouse was industrially made after all) and I may have to re-do the flounces. These are a circular shape that looks a bit like a Viennese whirl. Mine have an element of squashed doughnut to them, so I may compare to a commercial pattern I have in my collection. Just to sense-check.

I also traced some stretch fabric leggings that I loved but nasty moths had left a gaping hole near the knee, damn them.  I'm delighted that this worked really well too.  The pieces look astoundingly legging-like, just like a commercial pattern!  At least I like to think so.

I ripped apart most seams on one half only.  I ended up with the back piece and also a flat front piece that I left whole even though there is an internal seam that dissects it in a very intriguing style line.  That's the reason why I wanted to trace off this pattern.  I'd be looking for a pattern like it till the cows come home and not find it.

If I had ripped these pieces apart I'd end up with a very thin strip for the side panel. I think it would be very tough to lay this out straight.  A piece as narrow as this would go wonky as soon as you look at it.  Instead I traced the entire front piece, and then started to roll it back gently and marked the internal seam every couple of centimeters. That was a great way to prevent problems.

Have a look at the photo:

I reckon I've done well for not having traced off patterns in a pretty long time.  I haven't yet put these pattern pieces through their paces, but I live in hope that it'll go well too.

You may be able to trace a simple garment off without having to take it apart, as long as you can get each piece to lie flat.  But shapes would get distorted too easily if trying to trace off a complex item with multiple seams like my blouse.  I am lucky, I can't wear either of them so I didn't have to worry about it.

Have you sewn anything from a traced off pattern, how did the whole process work out for you? It would be really useful to hear of people's experiences - always good to learn from others. Please share in the comments!

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Woven or stretch fabric?

I like trying out Lekala patterns because you can get a sewing pattern to your own measurements, and you can use the advanced features (called 'Optional' or 'Adjustments') to further personalise the pattern: arm or leg length relative to torso, neck or upper arm width, short-waisted, narrow-shouldered...  there are all kinds of different options.

This Lekala pattern #5081 is the most standard blouse pattern I found on the site. I thought it would make a good basic pattern that I could then adjust for other versions.

I am not sure though that the required fabric is listed correctly. It says: "Fabrics: Knit" and "Is stretchy: yes". Really?

Can this be right?  This is a blouse with bust darts, a buttoned front opening and placketed cuffs.  I have never seen these kinds of features in a pattern for stretch fabrics.  I feel that this has got to be a pattern for woven fabrics instead.

I decided to try a polycotton fabric to see how it works out.

Unfortunately the sleeve/body seam is very puckered despite gathering the sleevehead in the normal manner before sewing them in.  So there is not a good fit in this area.

On me the blouse shoulders are too wide (I didn't use the "narrow-shouldered" advanced option, I didn't think I was) - I may be able to adjust this by cutting the armholes a touch bigger to narrow the shoulder and sewing the sleeves as they are back in. This should reduce the puckering.

My biggest gripe is that the blouse doesnt overlap enough for buttonholes and buttons - in fact this would be a perfect fit if the front closed with a zip: the centre fronts fit wonderful if they meet flush with each other. I had to add a piece for the 'underlap' and attach loops to the edge of one side to catch the button I sewed onto the seamline with the added piece, i.e. onto the front centre line where they need to be.

I should be able to adjust the pattern at the front centre by adding about 2/3 of an inch (around 2cm). This would also increase the tiny little lapel to a more reasonable size (just look at them in the above photo: they're barely there!). I just feel that the very small lapels look rather ridiculous - as if something had gone wrong to be honest.

I think all round this is not the most successful of Lekala's patterns, but it has potential. I just dread having to make all the adjustments when I had been hoping I could just sew this together and be done. Which is really what you want when you go for a personalised pattern.

I am also not enamoured of my fabric choice: this polycotton is just that bit too stiff and I worry that I won't want to wear this blouse much.  A big reason why I am finding it so hard to finish this - this project has been languishing in my sewing basket for at least the last year.  What a shame.

What kinds of fabrics do you think are suitable for this pattern? Is the website right or should I try some other fabric?  I could really do with some advice and ideas.

Thank you.