2013 Halloween Costume Shouldabeen: Medieval Dress

This summer, I started furiously working on a medieval dress for this year's Halloween. This picture is from early October. I was just too far from the mark to push through and have it look the way I wanted (the trim around the neck is just pinned on in this pic). Maybe next year!

The dress is from Simplicity 2573, view B (on the right).

I decided to eliminate the binding on the bodice. There's a lining anyway, might as well just sew the front to the lining. Seems more period-appropriate to me, although I'm not going completely purist here. However, my first incarnation of the bodice didn't include any extra width/height for a seam allowance. Newbie sewer mistake there. After some pretty thorough research, I settled on using a compass (yes, that thing you last used for drawing circles in fifth grade) to add seam allowances. The pattern calls for the bodice to be interfaced with muslin. I used some rather stiff green cotton I had laying around

Then I cut out the pieces with my rotary cutter. Love that. I have got to get a bigger cutting mat/surface.

In the picture at the top, the lining has been inserted. I borrowed from a technique the Slapdash Sewist discusses to attach lining via machine on a sleeveless bodice. Mine had one less opening, so I sewed the bodice to the dress at the waistline by hand. Hand sewing always intimidates me, but this was surprisingly easy and satisfying! It's certainly not perfect, but it's not going to be seen and I'm very satisfied with it. I realized after I stitched down the waistline that I should have underlined the bodice. The instructions didn't call for it, and I am unused to thinking beyond the instructions.

I struggled a little with all of the cloth in the bottom corners. I had 3 layers in the bodice and one layer from the skirt, all trying to get to a hard corner while still leaving me room to hand-stitch the lining closed. I ended up with a bit of a bump. The lining sticks out a little here and in a few other spots. This was my first ever lining, though, so I'm chalking it up to a learning experience.

The fabrics are just devine! The outer fabric is a wool/rayon blend that drapes beautifully! The lining is china silk. I've been using a walking foot when sewing seams as both fabrics are a little on the slippery side. So far, I think it's working really well.

I'll have more about those grommet holes in a future post. Still to go: finishing those grommets, hemming the skirt, attaching this beautiful trim, oh yeah, and creating the entire under dress. See why it didn't get done by Halloween?

Plum Cloak: Shoulder Challenge

A while back, I managed to steal a few moments with my husband to try on and photo document the latest on the Plum Cloak. Zany expression aside, here is where it stands today.

I am concerned about what appears to be some extra space beyond the curve of my shoulder. It's as if the pattern was drafted to allow for linebacker shoulders. Or just mega shoulder pads?

I know to some extent the neckline will be pulled up by the addition of the hood and closure. But I don't think it will accommodate all of the excess that appears to be there. I didn't make a muslin for this cloak. Mostly because I got impatient for not having sewing time, but also because it's such a non-form-fitting garment that I thought (hoped) I could get away with it. I have to decide if I am just going to live with it, or if I want to try to sew out some of the excess. It seems like I could just bring in the seam line to pull out some of that excess. The trick would be how to ensure that both sides stay even. I would also need to make the same/similar changes to the lining.

The seam allowances have been clipped (notched?) and pinked. I'm really enjoying working with this wool!

A Tale of Two Pillowcases

My youngest, who will be two in August (two!) is a serious cuddler. He loves to throw himself full-force into a pillow and pretend to snore. My oldest (turned three in August) has been using a pillow that my grandmother made for me when I was a little girl. The pillowcases that are still laying around for it are very girly and frilly. We've been using a standard size pillowcase for it with the extra length just folded up. I decided that for Christmas this year, I would make my boys pillowcases and find a nice pillow for the youngest.

I picked up some flannel cotton at my favorite local fabric store (now Colorado Fabrics), and got to work. I used 1/2 yard for each pillowcase. First, I folded down the selvedge ends to create a 2" cuff. Then, I folded the cuffs to match and closed the cut sides with French seams. Quick and oh-so satisfying.

The first went pretty well, but I only squared the fabric on one side and ended up with a little bit of an uneven seam on the other side.

For the next, I squared both cut ends of the fabric right away and ended up with not enough fabric to cover the pillow. After a second trip to the fabric store, I proceeded the same way I did with the, first, thinking that with the pattern I had chosen any minor differences would be hardly noticeable. The pillowcase is not nearly as lopsided as it looks in this picture.

I am incredibly pleased with the results and my boys are super happy with their new pillow and pillowcase. It's so satisfying to work on small projects that I can complete in a relatively short period of time.

Plum Cloak: Progress to Date

In 2008, after moving half way across the country to Colorado with nothing but my husband and two cats, I was feeling empowered and had a bit of free time on my hands. I had always wanted to learn how to sew but had let myself be a victim of circumstance. In the summer of 2008, I suddenly decided it was time to teach myself to sew. I had two projects in mind: a quilt and a cloak. The quilt has been pieced, although I still haven't quilted it, and now, 5 years later, I'm finally getting some traction on the cloak.

A couple of years ago, I hit up a sale at my local fabulous fabric store, Denver Fabrics, and purchased a gorgeous plum-colored wool coating. I had to buy 7 1/2 yards! I was incredibly intimidated by how to handle that much fabric. I found The Great Coat Sewalong blog, which strongly recommended having wool fabric professionally steamed to pre-treat it. I sat on that wool for over a year, immobilized by my own feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty. Then one day I just decided to lay it out and start cutting.

On again off again cutting, and months and months later I finally had all of the wool pieces cut out! The pattern recommended stay stitching around the neck and the non-shoulder curved seams. I used fusible stay tape instead. I managed to sew all of the seams of the outer layer, including the hood. The hood has two darts on each side. I had never sewn darts before, but I was really pleased with how they came out. I used a tutorial from Sew4Home that was very helpful.

All through the sewing process, I was following Ann from GorgeousFabrics' Pressinatrix recommendations. However, when I got to the shoulder seams and the darts, I realized that I couldn't appropriately press these extremely curved seams on my flat ironing board. I had always thought that tools like pressing hams were for extreme sewists, but I now find myself in need of one! I'm not sure if that's a measure of how far I have come with sewing or a re-education of my naive preconceptions. Regardless, I can't move forward on the cloak shell until my newly-ordered ham arrives.

With pressing still incomplete, the shoulder seams stand out pretty far from my shoulders. Not sure if that's just the shape of the pattern or if it has anything to do with those seams not being pressed completely flat. At this point, I want to try ironing them with the ham and see if pressing them well settles them down a bit. If that doesn't do the trick, I intend to take in the seams a bit. We'll see if I can get my husband to help me with the pinning/marking.

For lining, I have a rayon/silk blend that I got from Mood. I'm a bit intimidated by the slipperiness of the fabric. Cutting precisely is definitely the area where I feel I make the most significant mistakes. I don't have a cutting mat large enough for the length of this cloak, so a rotary cutter is out. Lately I stumbled on Gertie's recommendation (from Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing) of sandwiching slippery fabrics between two layers of tissue paper. A massive, last-me-the-rest-of-my-life roll of tissue paper is on its way!

While I wait for various sewing tools, I have a chance to catch up on my blog (or is that to pretend that I have a blog) and I'm also looking into hemming ideas. I really like the suggestion from Did You Make That? of using lace to bridge between the heavy wool fabric to the blind/catch stitch of the hem.

Forest Lovey: Completed!

This is going back quite a ways, but I thought I should post about the fact that I did manage to finish up the forest lovey. I really enjoyed slip stitching the silk binding to the back. I completely messed up the mitering of the corners, but my little one doesn't care.

I've actually managed to carve out some time for sewing lately. I'm working on a cloak. More to come on that soon.

Forest Lovey: Quilted!

I got the borders all mitered up, but really struggled to get a decent picture for some reason. I have a fancy flash that is supposed to make a big difference with indoor photos, but I think it isn't up for fabric in all cases. Below is the only decent photo I got, and it's of the worst of the four corners. My biggest problem was with getting the inside corner in the exact right spot. The best one was the last corner of border that got sewed on, where I could sew all the way up to the other border piece. Still, they look passable, and I'm really proud that they are mitered at all.

I quilted everything in the ditch with a walking foot and clear Sulky thread. It was a dream. It went so fast and I got really great results!

I had checked out Guide to Machine Quilting by Diane Gaudynski from the library, where I got a lot of confidence and the invaluable suggestion of turning one's top thread vertical. When I had the spool horizontal as per my normal sewing arrangements, the thread just spiraled off of the spool and didn't spin the spool at all, creating a twisted mess. Turning the spool veritcal on the bobbin winder was effortless and solved the problem instantly!

My only issue was where the stitching line strayed onto the upper fabric. After I did it once or twice, I got a lot better about making sure it didn't happen again.

With the gridding quilted in, it was time to tackle the free-motion designs from Quilting Designs from Nature by Lone Minkkinen. This was my first time ever doing free-motion quilting, and it was nerve wracking! I copied the designs onto Stich 'n Wash Disolving Foundation Sheets from June Taylor, Inc. that I had picked up at Joann's. I pinned the sheets directly to the quilt and stitched away.

I was sweating bullets by the time I was done with the two squares, but I was so pleased with the results. I definitely found that I got better results when I relaxed a little and got into a bit of a flow. However, as I got towards the end of the second design (the hawk/eagle), my arms were getting really tired and I got a little sloppy.

The view of the stitched designs from the back.

Unfortunately, the paper did not completely dissolve despite thorough soaking and vigorous agitation with a very soft toothbrush. *sigh* As you can see in the picture below, there are lots of little white bits when you look close enough.

From even a little bit of distance, however, it's almost not noticeable. And, I don't think my 16-month-old will mind. I'm thinking I might just chalk it up to experience and let it be.

All I have left to do on the lovey (once it dries!) is sew on the border. It should be done in time to give it to my son for Christmas!!

One of the driving forces behind creating this mini-quilt was to test out ideas for a bed-size quilt without creating something that I knew I was going to toss (and thus stealing my motivation to work on it). Some lessons learned for the big quilt:
1) The corduroy is way to thick to expect it to fold back unless absolutely necessary. I went into this project with the idea that the corduroy should get folded back whenever possible so that the dark fabric would not be under the lighter fabric. However, the corduroy didn't hold a 1/4" crease no matter how much I pressed it, and I was reluctant to press it too much and smash it's lovely velvety feel. These unruley seam allowances caused all of my problems with stitching in the ditch as well. On the bed quilt, the seam allowances will be pressed away from the corduroy as much as possible.
2) Obviously I need to do something different with the free-motion quilting. I might try a different transfer paper. Or I might try tracing it directly onto the fabric with a dissolving pen. I'm a little reluctant to do that because I am exceedingly slow at making progress and am a little concerned that I would get too far ahead of myself on the tracing, leading to permanent marking. I've also considered quilting from the back, since I would care much less about the paper bits on the back of the quilt. However, I wouldn't be able to use the clear thread in the bobbin, I'm almost sure of that. The fabric on the back of this quilt is the same as the cream squares on the front, and I love the way the back looks. So I could always use that cotton thread in the bobbin and stitch from the back.
3) The quilted designs on the cream blocks are perhaps a bit too subtle. I love how the designs came out so much that I am very reluctant for them to be so minimalist. I'm considering using a contrasting thread for quilting those designs on the bed quilt. That will be a tough call to make. A green would be one option. Or I could go with a slightly darker cream/tan color for something not too dramatic.

Border On, Mitering to Go

I cut out of work a little early and actually found some time to sew today during the daytime! I finally got around to re-cutting the border strips for the mitered border. They went on really well, I think, and now they are ready to be mitered. I was surprised by how quickly I went from cutting to assembled.

I sewed each border piece to 1/4" from the edge. I dug up several tips for mitering borders from Quiltmaking Tips and Techniques. The one I decided to use involves folding the miter with the fabric right-side-up, ironing the crease in well, then folding the whole thing on the diagonal and sewing from the back with the right sides together. I'm hopeful that it will work well!

Up close, I'm a little concerned that the border fabric and the focal fabric are too similar. When I look at it in pictures, I don't mind it nearly as much. Still, for the bed quilt I might figure out a different kind of fabric for the border, either a different color completely or something in a value in between the focal fabric and the background fabric. I have to find a different fabric, regardless, since I don't have nearly enough of this fabric for a bed quilt.

After the mitering is complete, all I have to do is sew on 2" strips of the background fabric, which will end up under the binding, so no need to worry about mitering. Then it's time to put it together and get it quilted!!