Plum Cloak: Lining Progress

I haven't posted anything in a while, but I have made some progress. I'm down to ~9 grommet holes to sew on my medieval dress. I've also made some progress on my cloak. I'm not exactly sure why I decided to sew on the cloak instead of the dress. Maybe because it's winter and it seemed possible that I would get the cloak done in time to wear it. Maybe because I wouldn't expect to wear the medieval dress until the Renaissance fair this summer at the earliest or Halloween at the latest. At this point it doesn't seem very likely that I will have the cloak done in time to really get any use out of it this winter, but I'm really enjoying working on it.

I stitched together the lining portion of the hood, including the darts and sewed them into the hood. Nothing terribly interesting there. After my not-great experience with the lining rolling forward on the medieval dress, I decided to understitch the lining on the hood. I had just read a suggestion from Peter of Male Pattern Boldness to use a zipper foot to do edge stitching. So I figured I'd try it out. It was a little awkward with all of the bulk of the hood crammed into the arm space of the sewing machine. I guess I could have turned it around. It didn't even occur to me, I'm so used to lining up fabric off the right side of the foot.

I did two samples before I stitched directly onto the hood. I still got a little too far towards the plum wool in one tiny section, but I think it looks pretty darn good. I'm really impressed with how much it helps keep the lining turned under.

I also used a tack (French tack?) to attach the lining to the outer hood fabric at the apex of the hood. This keeps the lining from pulling out of the hood. It worked really well. I didn't take any pictures during the process, but I used my overstitch foot (which zigzags the thread over some wires to keep it spread apart) to start stitching on the seam allowance, stitching over nothing for a while, and then stitched into the seam allowance of the lining. Since there's a center back seam, it was an ideal spot for a tack.

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Frivolous Photo: I made a perfect strawberry rhubarb pie for a Valentine's Day treat. Every time I see rhubarb in the grocery store, I snap it up and make pie! There was something so fabulous about eating pink pie on Valentine's Day.

Plum Medieval Dress: Hem Progress

The pattern for my Plum Medieval Dress, Simplicity 2573, includes a tiny train. I didn't realize this until after I cut out the back pieces, then decided I would decide what to do about it later. I thought about trying to get the skirt hemmed today, so I lay out the skirt and trimmed the back layer to be roughly even to the front layer. I wasn't worried about being too precise since I'll be measuring the hem against the floor for the final length.

This turned into this:

I think there is a little bit of sun damage there at the bottom of the skirt. I had stored my fabrics folded up in direct sunlight for a couple of months. Silly newbie mistake! I'm not too worried about it though, because it's not at all noticeable on the dress form. Also, It's possible that it will end up in the hem. I'll see once I have the hem turned up. I'm not against the idea of turning the hem up higher if needed or maybe just going with it since a long dress in a medieval environment certainly wouldn't have been pristine along the bottom.

I was all ready to pin the hem up and get to work on setting it up for a hand-stitched blind hem (slip-stitch?), when I realized that the lacing might affect the way the hem hangs. I have 15 eyelet holes left to go! Slow but steady progress.

Speaking of dress forms. I have a dress form! I picked it up a few months back and am just now putting it to its first use. I managed to get it to match my measurements at the hip, waist, bust, and upper bust. I changed the form to match on everything but the bust, then added an old bra and stuffing. I don't have sewing friends, and there's only so much helping that my husband was going to be a good sport for, so dress form it is!

These pics were taking in a room that my husband and I are currently renovating. It will be an office. But for now, it's empty. Too bad it won't stay that way. White wainscoting will cover the white section of the wall.

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On an unrelated note, I noticed today that one of my favorite sweaters has a hole starting. I had darned a hole in this sweater 4-5 years ago and it has held up immaculately ever since. I'm reasonably sure, however, that I didn't keep the yarn that was left over after that fix. I don't think there was very much left. You can see the irregularity of the darn just to the left of the hole in the below picture. I love this sweater, so I'm thinking about attempting a fix.

I like the idea of working some embroidery directly onto the sweater, but I'm completely perplexed about how I would draw on the sweater. So maybe I will embroider on a different piece of fabric and applique it to the sweater.

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OK, one more diversion. One of my favorite bloggers when I started into the world of sewing blogs was Sommerset at Pins and Needles. She hasn't been blogging for a few years now. I miss her voice in the blogosphere. I hope she still finds time to sew just not to blog about it. The projects that she shared on her blog were true works of art and I always appreciated the details she would share about construction, decisions, etc. Well, Summerset used to have a "Parting Shot" on pretty much every blog post. It was a non-sewing related photo that gave a peek into the rest of her life.

I have a goal this year of using my downtime more consistently to progress on my sewing projects. In my mind, part of that goal also means posting more regularly here. I think the two will go well together. I hope that I will feel motivated to sew because I am being held accountable to show some progress on my blog and that I will feel motivated to blog because I have made progress with sewing. We'll see though, since I'm back to work tomorrow after 2+ weeks off for the holidays.

As part of a more consistent blogger presence, I thought it might be nice to borrow Sommerset's idea. Instead, I think I will call it a Frivolous Photo.

For today's Frivolous Photo: playing trains with my boys. My 3 and soon-to-be-2 year olds are obsessed with trains at the moment. They got several track additions for Christmas, and now this is all that they want to play. It's good times for everyone!

Medieval Dress: Eyelets

The pattern for this dress calls for eyelets and lacing at the sides. Because I decided to use turn of cloth with the lining to finish the sides, I have six layers of fabric where the eyelets go. I did a sample with the same fabric arrangement.

I tried two types of eyelets/grommets that I had around: one that has one piece of metal and one with a front and back. Both were unable to handle all of the layers of fabric. These are the two holes on the right, above. I liked the idea of using thread anyway. It's more period-appropriate, but also I was not going to get anywhere near the plum of my dress with a metal eyelet without some serious luck. My sewing machine has an eyelet stitch. That, with an awl poked through is the second hole from the left. The stitch looked decent, but it was not going to stay open. I had read a suggestion from Bunny at La Sewista once about making really nice buttonholes by covering a machine-worked buttonhole with a hand-stitched buttonhole. That with just some standard thread is the hole on the farthest left. I liked the way that looked!

I ordered some purple buttonhole twist. I think I got the reference from Sunni at A Fashionable Stitch? It's a tad more violet than the color of the dress, but a substantial part of what I love about sewing is working with fabulous fibers, and I wanted to go with silk thread.

On the dress, I stitched the eyelets with my machine and I am now working on completing them with the button twist. The more violet thread is pretty dramatic up close, but across the room, it just highlights the eyelets.

Apparently I've been using the wrong needle for the job. I never quite know how to choose a hand-sewing needle. I have dozens around and typically just go with whatever has an eye that fits the thread I want to sew with. Probably time to re-think that strategy!

I currently have 8 eyelets done (one with the wrong thread, so I might re-do) and 16 to go.

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.