Flat Felled Seams

I just posted this jacket on SewPassionista by DIANA which I made reversible using flat felled seams. I thought I'd show you how I managed to make even the sleeves look really professional (IMO).

1. I sewed 5/8" seams and trimmed one side to a generous 1/8".  (It's important to think out to which side    you want to press and top stitch your seams before trimming one side )

2. I folded the remaining seam 1/8",pressed and hand basted it to be sure it would stay folded.

3. I then pressed the basted seam over to cover the trimmed side.( You could also baste again to be sure but I pinned down the seam from the right side and that worked  well for me)

4. I top stitched at 3/8" using a  stitch length  of 4 because my fabric was quite bulky and Gutterman Extra Strong thread with a size 14 jeans needle in my machine and polyester thread to match the print side in my bobbin..

I only did one row of top stitching rather than the usual.two for flat felled seams as I just didn't want to push my luck.

5. For the sleeves, I sewed them in flat (that is before sewing side seams )  and used the above steps.  I then sewed the underarm and side seams all in one and flat felled  in the same way as all other seams. I top stitched using matching rather than contrasting thread for the sleeves and side seams.

    Here is a sleeve on the print side.

To complete my reversible jacket, I turned all finishing seams including collar,lapels, center front,hem and sleeve hems under 1/8",basting and then turning again and top stitching.

I made buttonholes on the right side as usual and sewed buttons on
the opposite side sewing two buttons at the same time .

I really enjoyed the process of making this reversible jacket and matching jeans. (No they are not reversible!)  I hope I've inspired someone out there to tackle a project they think will be too challenging. Remember to take it one step at a time and before you know it, you too will have a garment to be proud of1

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A New Take on the Hong Kong Finish

I've just finished the dress that is part of my Pattern Review Mini Wardrobe Contest entry. See here at Sew Passionista by DIANA. So now I'm hard at work on a brown denim suit for my sister Gloria.

In a way, it's a piece of cake because ,except for being smaller busted than me, the two of us are exactly the same size. My Sandrs Betzina jeans fit her perfectly!

The jacket is this OOP Burda pattern  8605,

that I love and have made many times before including here, and here, and here, etc.


I love a Hong Kong seam finish which I blogged about before  in this post. But up until now, I've always applied it after sewing the various seams together. Well, I got the bright idea ,this time, and many of you probably already do this, to apply the finish before I join most of the seams together and it's so much easier this way. Who knew?!

Here are the various parts of the jacket with the animal print charmeuse strips already applied.

I'm just so tickled about this!

If I were ever to sell garments made by me, this jacket would be the thing. I love making this. I don't think I'll ever get tired of this pattern.

Here are a couple of shots of more examples of  this great Burda pattern.

My most favorite is the white denim one. The oldest is the red mini whale corduroy one made 10 years ago and  that I still wear.still wear. the most recent one is the black/pink print which gets me compliments evry time i wear it. I'm planning a new version in early spring.

Do you have a special pattern in your collection that just won't stop producing ideas for new versions?
Let's talk!

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Did You Catch the Sale at Moods?

I'm so excited! For the first time ever ,I've ordered fabrics from Mood this week when they had a 20% off sale sitewide!

Now I already have enough fabrics to last me a very long time and so I made sure to only order pieces I can't find here and for me that means an assortment of stripes! I only ordered five of the fabrics that I had pinned to my Mood board  plus a few swatches of some of the others.

           
   
                                 


          

The only thing is , I don't have a plan for any of these fabrics. I've been trying very hard not to buy fabrics without knowing what I want to make out of them so they don't linger  long enough on my shelves to bother my conscience .Lol.

What is your strategy when buying fabric? Are you an impullse buyer ? Do you only buy a fabric when you know exactly what it will become? Do you stalk certain fabrics until you can resist them no longer? (That's pretty much what I do!!)  Or do you buy fabrics "just in case"? (I do that too).

Well, not exactly a post filled with useful sewing tips or information, is it! But I just wanted to share.

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Seasonal Sewing Plans

I had fun this week while starting to put away summer fabrics. Most pieces had been slotted for a particular garment that didn't get made.

I decided that ,in order not to forget what I wanted to make , I would take photos of indidvidual fabrics paired with the patterns they had been intended for.

 I used my android tablet to take each photo and then made up a page  with each photo and ended up with this!

This little exercise became quite addictive so, I made up a page for my Fall/Winter sewing plan.So far I have these pieces planned for.

I'll add more to this page. of course, but I'm going to try very hard to stick to this plan. In this way, I'll use a lot of fabrics in my stash and I think it will keep me from adding too  many more new fabric to my well stocked shelves.

Don't you love starting a new season of sewing? There are so many possibilities ahead for creativity and pure enjoyment of our craft, isn't there!

Happy Sewing to you all!

Changing a French Dart to A Regular Bust Dart (on Vogue 1313)

If you follow SewPassionista by Diana, you know I've just finished V1313 by Ann Klein.
It turned out well (with a reservation or two) but I did make one important change to the pattern because of the striped front panel. I new a regular bust dart would distort the stripes less than a French dart which was on the pattern.

This post is to explain how to change a French dart to a regular bust dart.

Here's what I did.

Step 1. I traced the  upper bodice center pattern piece.

Step 2. I drew a line from the side seam to the bust point about 4" below the underarm..

Step 3. I cut a line through the center of the French dart, to but not through the new  bust line.

Step 4. I then closed the French dart . This  opened up the new bust dart.

If you don't need to do a Full Bust Adjustment, you're done  .

However I do need an FBA ,so this is what I did.

Step 5. I cut through the bust point and through the center front.

Step 6. I added paper underneath ,closed the dart ( no picture)to shape the outside of the dart  .

Step 7. ( Only if you did an FBA) .On the side front pattern piece,I cut to but not through to the side seam and spread the pattern the amount I added for my FBA  like this.

That's all I did. BTW, I got this info from Peggy Sager's video "Darts Are a Girl's Best Friend"

This worked very well for me  and I'm glad I gave it a try.

To see more about this garment, please visit Sew Passionista by Diana. I'll leave you with a couple of outdoor shots my DH  took this morning before I left for church.

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Professor Pincushion Video Lessons

I've just found a treasure trove of videos at a site called Professor Pincushion.

I wasn't aware, before, of these video lessons and just happened upon them on the McCall's website. I've watched  some of them through and I think there is some useful info here for new sewers and probably for not so new.


The link for the videos is Professor Pincushion

The individual videos are as follows: ( I got these on the McCall's site but they are on Page 1 under videos at Prof. Pincushion ) They range from about 10 minutes to 20 minutes each .

 I've rearranged the order of the vdeos to make it easier for beginners .

Note: If you're reading this on the BlogLovin Feed , you won't be able to access the links below. However, they work fine on the original post.

1.How to Take Your Measurements For Sewing

2.How To Read A Commercial Pattern Envelope

3..How to Read Commercial Pattern Directions 

4.. How to Mark Your Fabric For Sewing                               

5..How To Arrange or Layout Sewing Pattern Pieces

6.How to Cut Out Sewing Pattern Pieces

For those of you who already sew, there are other  videos  that may be of interest to you.One example is Function and Design Ease. Another is Working With Leather and Vinyl.

This is a great website. Access to it is free but you can also pay a fee for a Premium account which lets you access stuff not available to free members.

I hope this is useful to someone. I'm planning on using these videos to help me prepare for a new sewing class I'm starting in the fall.

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How I Streamlined McCall's 6744

I made my daughter a maxi dress  for her to wear while on vacation at the beach. I used McCall's6744.

The pattern called for an elasticized waist and I knew Tamara would not like that. Instead I added
darts to both the front and back bodice pieces as well as the front and back skirt pieces.

I measured 4" from center front and center back for all the pattern pieces involved and drew 1"wide darts. I made each of them 5"long.

This took 4"from the width of the waistband and I thought I might still need to use elastic at the waist. As it turned out ,I didn't. The result is a very slimming dress that can still be pulled over the head because the fabric is poly/lycra. This wouldn't work for a woven .

This is a great little pattern and I recommend it as a shorter dress as well. Tamara has already let me know she would welcome a shorter version and I don't blame her. It looks great on her, don't you think?

These simple alterations can also be used for my maxi dress ,V  1352 . I'm not loving the elasticized waist and intend to use this treatment to  rectify that.

I hope this  information helps someone !

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How I Made the Yoga Palazzo Pant

As promised I thought I'd share how I changed the Silhouette Patterns Yoga Pant into palazzos.

I should first say that I raised the waistline for all of my yoga pants by about !.5 inches because low rise is not for me.I forgot to mention that in the previous post.

I first decided to make the width of the leg bottoms 24".

I started widening the legs at 9" below the waist or at low hip point. I also added some width on the inseam starting at about 5" below the crotch.

The pictures below are fairly explanatory, I think. Please ignore the back pockets. I didn't add them to these pants and they are not part of this pattern but my own addition for a couple of my versions.

Hopefully you can see better when you click on the photo.

I added the same amount to the front and back pattern pieces.

I really love the shape of these pants. It is a very well drafted pattern.

One of my sisters commented on the fit of these and asked me to copy the pattern for her.

The shape through the thighs is of course altered on the palazzos but they fall so elegantly. I'll be making this version again for sure.

I hope the instructions for these are clear. Please let me know if I didn't give enough information.

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