Italian cloth and hacking a ‘vintage’ pattern

First a bit of preamble, because the origins of the fabric I used for this top were important. In June 2022 me and Mr Y were finally able to return to mainland Europe again for a four day stay in Florence, one of my favourite cities. We knew it would probably be very busy with visitors during the summer but frankly I didn’t care about this, I was just so happy to be able to see all those magnificent buildings and beautiful art again.

In between looking at the art and strolling the ancient streets I indulged in a little window shopping at the stores where I can afford literally nothing, including Alexander McQueen, Missoni and Gucci.

I could get a closer look at the details in the Gucci store that is based in the Gucci exhibition (worth a visit)

Missoni….obviously, look at that extraordinary panelled dress

Alexander McQueen…be still my beating heart

Amongst all these shops though I *may* have come across a fabric emporium….In truth, there are quite a number of fabric shops in Florence, what with this being Italy and home of fabulous quality textiles.

I failed to make a note of the name of this particular shop but it was very close to the Duomo and the Baptistry. I didn’t go in (thankfully it was shut at the time!) but they clearly specialised in very high-end alta moda fabrics which were nowhere near my budget!

Stunning beaded silk cloth

I had, however, been given the name of another more accessible shop by a kind Instagram follower so we set off to find it with only the vaguest idea where it was. Bacci Tessuti is quite close to the Medici Chapel and San Lorenzo and, with a little help from Google Maps, we found it eventually.

The air-conditioned shop was a very welcome haven from the extreme heat Florence was experiencing during our visit and I was not disappointed by what I found, there is a wonderful selection of lovely cloth to browse.

The choices in a beautiful store like this can be quite overwhelming so I had a sort-of plan to buy something which felt ‘Italian’ to me. I set out looking at their fine linen, personally I would call it handkerchief linen and it’s much lighter and softer than most of the heavier and more durable linens I’ve seen on sale in the UK. I homed in on one with a large design in blue, red and pink flowers (I love a floral fabric but I don’t often wear it) but this one ’spoke’ to me. So that was great but then the helpful shop manager, who spoke excellent English, pointed out the Liberty Tana lawn he had at a very good price! I would have resisted but my husband wanted to buy some for me so who am I to turn him down!

These were going to be my total purchases but when I went over to the counter the manager told me that the linen cloth was by the textile designer for well-known Italian brand, Pucci. At this point he produced from under the counter several short length pieces of some beautiful Italian designer fabrics including Dolce and Gabbana! They were all very lovely (and still expensive) but I wouldn’t have a use for them. The one I did fall for though was a small piece of silk/cotton cloth from Pucci with their trademark psychedelic design in delicate ice cream shades. It still wasn’t cheap but it was just a bit different and there was enough to make a top of some kind. So of course it came home with me…

it’s a bit crumpled from the wash after I got it home

The linen is on the left, plus the two pieces of Tana lawn bought by my husband, and that was my view from the hotel in the background, straight over the Arno with the Ponte Vecchio just to the left.

With my purchases safely stowed away we got on with enjoying the rest of our holiday (although I spent a fair bit of time planning in my head what I was going to make when we got home!)

Initially I was going to use this ‘vintage’ Style pattern as is (I bought it new in 1988 so it’s a little upsetting to think of it as vintage!) I used it several times back in the day, and I’ve sewn it again a couple of times in the last few years. The back buttons are the feature I like, the rest is basically a woven T-shirt.

As I said earlier, I had no more than 1m30 of fabric to play with and I still wanted to do a decent job of matching the print as best I could. The basic pattern fitted on the fabric, it’s only a front, back, sleeves and facings, but I thought it might look a bit meh, and there would still be some wastage. After a bit of a rethink, by shortening the body and making two deep ruffles across the width of the fabric I knew I would get a much more interesting design and have very little wastage in the end.

Basically it was a case of working out how long I could afford to make the top section and still get ruffles that were a balanced length [I had the Merchant and Mills Florence top in my head as inspiration] I took a line horizontally straight across to the centre front/back from the side seam approximately 15cms down from the bottom of the arm scye of both the front and back. What I should have done if I had stopped to think about it was make the centre front longer, I didn’t though and as a result the front hem lifts up because of my bust. The back is fine though.

The first dashed line is roughly where I folded out the pattern to make the horizontal seam, the curved dashed line on the front is how I should have shaped it.

I was able to cut the front and back pieces side by side on the folded cloth which meant the design ran smoothly around the garment. From the remaining fabric I calculated how deep two full widths of the fabric could be (approximately 28cms each strip) and still have enough to get two sleeves and the neck facings out too.

Once I had all the pieces it was just a case of assembling. First I did my usual scavenge through my button boxes to find enough suitable colours in matching sizes. After joining the shoulder seams and attaching the neck and back facings I sewed all the buttonholes at this stage, by doing this first it meant I wasn’t fighting the bulky seam of the gathered ‘skirt’ later.

My usual mash-up of various buttons down the back

By sewing the buttonholes at an early stage meant I didn’t have to struggle getting the bottom one under the buttonhole foot with the gathering in the way.

All finished. I know I’m just being fussy but you can probably see what I mean about the top rising up at the front slightly. There is no bust dart on the pattern which would have made a difference.

I’m pleased with how the top uses almost all the fabric and shows off the print to good effect, I didn’t want to chop it up unnecessarily and there weren’t many options with the small quantity I had anyway. I had to use a very narrow pin hem on the ruffle to maximise the length, the sleeves had their normal hem allowance on them. If you want a few more ideas for finishing hems I wrote this blog a couple of years ago which you might find useful.

I opted to have the ruffle run straight across the back rather than have an opening (this was because I was being lazy and didn’t want to make a facing and sew more buttonholes!!)

The top is shorter than I’ve worn in the recent past but I like the look, especially with the flat-fronted Eve pants by Merchant and Mills

Out in the wild at Africa Fashion which is on at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London until 16/4/23

As for the other Italian fabrics, I have plans to make a shirt dress with the beautiful linen, I have a design I’ve drafted and sewn a couple of versions of but there’s probably still a few tweaks I want to make to it before making it in the ‘real thing’. The Liberty lawn is waiting for the right project to present itself too, no need to rush these things. I’m all for sewing the good stuff but it’s really upsetting if you sew a dud with it!

Until next time, happy sewing

Sue

Merchant & Mills Fielder Top

The Fielder top and dress by Merchant and Mills has been around for at least six years I think but I only bought my copy from Anne NewVintageSewing just last year when she was having a destash sale.

Essentially it’s a raglan cropped-sleeve sweatshirt or dress with ribbing cuffs, hem and neckline. The sleeves have darts at the shoulder to give them some shaping and the neckline is quite scooped out. Most of the sweatshirts I’ve made in recent years have been quite baggy and over-sized so I thought I would try the closer fit of the Fielder for a change. Based on my own body measurements and the finished measurements given on the packet I opted for a UK size 12, and I lengthened the sleeve to be wrist length.

I bought the unusual ‘quilted’ fabric from the M&M stand at the recently-revived Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London. It was so good to be able to browse a whole selection of stands once again, it had been over 18 months since any of us were last able to do that. The colour reminds me of old-fashioned sticking plasters, the triple-layer fabric is a clever weave but the loose threads through the middle layer do come adrift quite easily. Because of this I overlocked every piece around its edges to prevent further disintegration. I also stay-stitched the neck edge before it had a chance to stretch.

I couldn’t get any ribbing in a colour I was happy with but I found this brilliant wide elastic in MacCullogh and Wallis with it’s pink/beige stripe blending into black.( Can’t find this exact product on their website, I bought it in-store, they do have similar items online though) The next challenge was how to attach it without losing any of the colours.

I tried out laying the elastic over the top of the overlocked edges like this and that seemed satisfactory. I lined up the pink stripe with the O/L stitching underneath which created a suitable overlap.

I tried out a few stitch options and settled on this closed overlock on my Pfaff

It calls for the blindhem foot to be used which meant I could follow the red guide along the stripe.

The finished stitch is nice and stable and looks good too.

The next challenge was neatening the neck but, as you can see from the photo above, the width of the elastic meant it stood away from the neck and was all wavy.

I pinned it on though and had a ponder on how to solve the issue while I went out for a run….

I came up with the idea that if I could get rid of the fullness on the outer edge (like I’ve pinned it out here) then that might work. I sewed the elastic on in the same way I had on the cuffs and hem and pinned evenly and in alignment with each line on the check design.

Next I folded and pinned each pleat evenly, the chalk line and pencil marks where I would start and finish the line.

I used the width of the presser foot as a starting point to sew down to the bottom of the triangle.

a completed triangle.

This is how it looked after I’d sewn all the triangles and I was pleased with the result. The idea worked but now the triangles weren’t flat inside against my neck.

I tried topstitching each one from the outside to see if it would flatten the triangle sufficiently.

It worked! I pushed them all the same way instead of having some going in one direction and some the other.

The end of the elastic was folded over and stitched with two lines at the CB, it ain’t perfect but I’m pretty pleased with end result! I thought I was going to have to settle for an alternative ribbing/binding of some kind on the neck which wouldn’t have linked so well with the hem and cuffs so I’m delighted with how well this has worked out.

I added this gorgeous little label given to me by my friend Alana (and available from Rosy Little Cheeks) on the back, I think it’s perfect, and true!

I haven’t mentioned the rest of the garment construction because it’s a very straightforward sew, I just made it a bit harder for myself…but in a good way.

As I said in an Instagram post, whilst I’m really pleased with he finished result as a garment, I’m not 100% convinced about the fit yet. The fabric is an unusual alternative to traditional sweatshirt fabric, although it creases more and there’s no stretch either but I think it will come to like it. I’ve got plans to make a plain white button-up shirt to go under things this winter (most of mine are over-sized like the sweatshirts!) so I’ll probably layer it up under this, or a roll-neck perhaps?

Anyhoo, that’s one way to elevate a plain top into a slightly more interesting one (IMO!)

Until next time, Happy sewing

Sue

Tips for sewing with linen jersey, a new Lamazi post

Did you know that linen jersey was even a thing? It’s an unusual fabric which you don’t see often, we all know knits are available in most other fibre types-cotton, wool, silk or man-mades for example- but I’ve never worked with it before so when Liana invited me to sew my next Lamazi project using it, and to pass on any hints and tips for sewing it, I was up for the challenge. 

This 100% linen jersey comes from Mind the Maker in a range of colours and I picked the Dry Mustard shade which is a lovely vibrant ochre. The fabric has a beautiful lustrous sheen on the right side, the reverse is duller so it makes it much easier to tell the difference between the two. It has lovely light drapey quality too and is slightly sheer.

Linen fabric is not a textile known for its inherent stretch qualities and this jersey does feel slightly different from other knits because it has only a small amount of stretch along its length and quite a lot of stretch across the width but it has very little recovery so once it’s been stretched out it will stay like that at least until it’s washed again. During construction the application of plenty of steam will encourage some of this accidental stretching to be eased back into position so, coupled with its sheerness, this means that you need to think carefully about what garment to sew with it. 

Plenty of steam will help remove most unwanted bagginess like this

The properties of linen fabric itself [cool in warm weather, warm in cold weather] mean that it would be ideal for loose-fitting leisure or exercise wear, for yoga or Pilates for example. I would definitely say it’s better to avoid anything that is particularly close fitting because areas like the elbows or wrists would become stretched or baggy with little recovery. However the fabric has a lovely drape and its fine gauge allows it to be gathered up successfully so these properties could be exploited instead.

Bearing all these factors in mind I decided to make (another) Sewing Revival Heron dress which I would hack into a blouse. The pattern has a neckline which is gathered using elastic along with raglan sleeves with deep elasticated cuffs. To mix it up further I decided to pull the hemline in onto elastic rather than have a wide smock silhouette.

First things first, I washed the fabric by hand to remove any risk of excessive shrinkage or twisting in the machine. If you want to wash it in the machine then it might be an idea to overlock the cut ends together first to form a long loop and place it into a large washing bag to protect it further. Alternatively you could press it on your ironing board with plenty of steam instead. If at all possible it is better to dry the fabric flat, and certainly don’t wring or twist it. All of this might sound off-putting, and it is clearly not as straightforward as chucking a nice stable cotton into the machine but this is a luxurious fabric and deserves to be treated and handled carefully in the preparation. When it comes to cutting out your pattern pieces lay the fabric as flat as possible, handle it gently and don’t pull it about too much, especially if you decide to fold it. I made a whole back pattern piece for my top so that I could cut it flat, another appeal of the Heron pattern for me is that it has just three pieces so it’s a relatively quick sew usually. 

After cutting all the pieces the first thing I did was stabilise all the raglan shoulder seams using some iron-on seam tape, I did this to prevent any unwanted stretching before I sewed the sleeves in later on. I added small squares of iron-on interfacing to reinforce the bottom of the opening on the centre front seam too. I also decided to press all the folded parts of the casings/ruffles for the neckline, sleeves and hem before sewing anything together, just so that I was handling the cut-out pieces as little as possible, again to prevent unwanted stretching before they got joined together. I also tacked these folded parts into position temporarily. All this might sound excessive but I wasn’t in a rush, and I found the slow and considered processes very soothing at quite a difficult time. 

iron-on stay tape to prevent unwanted stretching of the raglan seams

• 

  the pinned raglan seams showing the slight excess to be absorbed

• 

  the finished seams inside the garment

I pressed and tacked casing/ruffles before joining the sections together later on

reinforcing the bottom of the neck opening with small squares of iron-on interfacing.

Something else I did before commencing was check on fabric scraps which needle and stitch-type would give me the best results. A ballpoint needle suitable for stretch/knits/jersey is essential to prevent snagging which could lead to laddering of this delicate fabric, and I found a short straight stitch was better than a narrow zigzag but you must do what works best on your own machine. You could sew a garment together entirely on an overlocker but be aware of the lack of rebound this fabric has so if it gets stretched or misshapen while it’s being sewn then it’s probably like that permanently. I also tested the overlocker finish before diving in for the same reasons. If you don’t have an overlocker this fabric is fine enough that where possible you could probably sew self-neatening French seams, or a wide zigzag might work but just be careful it doesn’t chew up the edges. If you have an overlock stitch option on your sewing machine and/or a special foot to sew an overlock-style stitch then definitely use them. Test all options before making your choice, the time taken could save you upsets later on. I slipped some folded strips of paper underneath the seam allowances when I pressed them to minimise any chance of the seam showing through on the front

testing stitches and overlocking

I popped two strips of folded paper under the centre front seam while I pressed it so that there was no show-through or unwanted shininess on the right side.

If you have a walking foot for your machine this is definitely a fabric worth using it for, even if you don’t it’s a good idea to use plenty of pins. I’m not a fan of mini-clips because I think they are too heavy and get in the way, this fabric is lightweight and I think mini-clips could distort it while you’re sewing but it’s up to you. Tacking seams is always an option too of course, any technique that prevents the fabric shifting while you sew basically.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while you’ll know I’ve made a few Herons before so the construction was straightforward, the only area I did differently was to create the ruffled hem with a wide elastic casing. I couldn’t decide between my planned 2cms or 1cm wide elastic initially so I tested with the two widths to see which I preferred-I chose to stay with the 2cms width as planned. 

testing which elastic width I preferred for the hem, this was the narrow one (the fabric scrap is wrong side out!)

and this is wider width, it’s the one I used at the hem in the end.

using a bodkin to insert the narrow elastic in the neck casing.

checking the gathered neckline on the stand

I used this quilting attachment on my machine so that I sewed an accurate parallel width for the elastic casing

close up of the elasticated hem casing

To sum up, I’m really pleased with how my first experience of sewing with linen jersey has gone, I’ll admit I was a little nervous because Liana was putting her trust in me with an expensive fabric but taking the time to plan and test, and use my existing knowledge of working with knits definitely helped. Because of the sheerness of the fabric Lamazi also provided me with a metre of Atelier Brunette crepe viscose in Ochre to make a camisole to wear underneath, I used the Simone camisole and trousers pattern by Maven which is a very quick make and a very useful garment to wear on its own or underneath other garments. The crepe viscose is a beautiful quality fabric with lovely handle and drape but be aware that there’s a disappointing amount of creasing, you might want to take that into account when planning, for example if you’re making something you’ll spend a lot of time sitting in.

all finished

As always, I hope you find my hints and tips helpful if you choose this lovely fabric, I wouldn’t recommend it to a novice sewer because some experience of sewing with other similar fabrics is definitely an advantage, plus it would be shame to end up with a costly mistake, but if you’re looking for a new challenge to add to your repertoire this could be a good start. I’ll launder the finished garment either by hand or in a wash bag on a gentle cycle in the machine. I’ll dry it flat too and store it that way, I don’t want a coat hanger to make it misshapen. If you’re a person who prefers not to worry too much about their clothes or their maintenance then this might strike you as overkill, and that’s fair enough, but I don’t think it hurts to have a few special things in our wardrobes which were worth the effort to make for ourselves. 

I’m looking forward to wearing this top as autumn is fast approaching (did summer ever arrive!?) thank you to Lamazi for providing me with the fabric to review.

Until next time, happy sewing,

Sue

A return to blogging with a Kingfisher top from The Sewing Revival

There’s been quite a lull in my sewing and blogging of late due to a distinct lack of motivation and generally feeling meh about everything. I don’t know about you but I’m utterly cheesed off with the persistence of the ‘Rona and, whilst I really try to find the positives as much as I can, there comes a time when I’m all out of good thoughts.

Anyhoo, I’ve finally managed to get my act together and to cut out and sew something which is worth blogging about!

You’ll know I use The Sewing Revival patterns a lot, and especially because they are SewOver50-friendly in their representation. Janine kindly offered me a copy of the new and improved Kingfisher top recently so here are my thoughts on it. The original version was one of the first in the Sewing Revival collection and it now features extra variations including 3 sleeve lengths and additional ruffles and frills to gussy it up.

Initially I’d settled on using a length of fabric I bought recently but in the end, whilst searching-sorry-shopping, my stash I came across a length of batik-printed lightweight cotton which had originally been a dress. I bought it as a remnant which was in two different-sized pieces pieces so I joined them right across the weft to make it useable. From that I turned it into a simple ‘pillowcase’ dress with a gathered drawstring top and hemmed at the bottom. Needless to say, this being England, I didn’t get a massive amount of wear from it because our climate is so unreliable. Sadly I don’t seem to have a photo of it now so you’ll just have to believe me.

The Kingfisher has raglan sleeves which are always so nice to make because they are simple and quick to construct. One of The Sewing Revival’s trademarks is to mix a stretch neck band, cuffs or hem with a woven fabric and this top features a ribbed, rounded neck band. But first I had to get all the pieces out of a length of fabric with a join across it at about 50cms in, plus a tear at right angles to the selvedge in another place AND a small hole just near that! I calculated that I could get a pair of 3/4 length sleeves but one would have to have the seam running horizontally across it. Another new feature of the Kingfisher is additional small ruffles to add so, instead of placing them vertically on the sleeves, I opted to cover the seam with horizontal ruffles, that way way both sleeves would look the same. After a bit of pattern Tetris I got everything I needed out including the ruffles. I started by making the sleeves.

Inside the sleeve with the exisiting join running horizontally

Because of the limitations of the fabric the ruffles were only 5cms wide so, in order to lose as little of their width as possible, I finished each edge with a rolled-hem finish on the overlocker. Check your instruction booklet because I’m sure many models will offer this feature, it will involve a few simple adjustments to the settings to achieve. A rolled hem is a quick and attractive way of neatening fine or lightweight fabrics when you can’t afford to lose too much off the edges.

Each ruffle was cut twice as long as the width of the sleeve because the fabric is quite fine and will gather up well. If you are limited for fabric (mine were cut on the straight grain) or if your fabric is quite stiff or thick, then 1.5x the width will be fine. I sewed a rolled hem on both edges of the sleeve ruffles and then ran two rows of a long gathering stitch along the centre line. Make sure the gathers are evenly distributed before sewing the ruffle down, I used a zigzag stitch to sew the ruffle in place.

I created a cuff to finish the sleeve ends by cutting two pieces of fabric from along the selvedge and sewing them on. My original plan was to create an elasticated cuff using a casing but then inspiration struck(!) and I sewed three rows of shirring instead.

Shirring works best on lighter-weight fabrics such as soft cotton-types [lawn, batiste, voile, Swiss Dot, pique, poplin if it isn’t too stiff] also most viscose/rayons, many silks, and fine woollens such as challis. This isn’t a definitive list by any means, basically nothing too thick, or stiff or overly ‘bouncy’. As with anything you’re unsure about I’d strongly suggest sewing a few samples first to see how it goes.

To begin (and these are very much my own thoughts on shirring, you will find many others which might vary to these-trial and error before you start is the best plan of action) you ideally need a bare minimum of 1.5x the eventual finished measurement but as a rule of thumb I would say at least 2 or 2.5x your finished measurement, especially if the fabric is very fine. I also wrote advice on shirring the back of a sundress in a previous blog post which you can still read here.

Gently wind shirring elastic onto your bobbin by hand, do not stretch it as you wind, you will use regular sewing thread on the top as normal. Set your stitch length as long as possible and, sewing on the right side of the work, make sure you backstitch at the start to secure your threads then sew your first row of stitching. Do not backstitch at the end of the row, carefully remove the sewing by gently pulling the elastic out so that there’s enough to tie off the ends eventually. Repeat by sewing parallel to the first row of stitch as many times as you require, I’ve just done three for the cuff. You could draw on the lines using a marker pen or chalk if it will help, I just keep the edge of the foot in line with the previous row of stitching. The work will gradually start to pucker up as you increase the rows. The photo above shows you what it looks like on the reverse.

This is the right side of the cuff, wherever possible work with the fabric flat and then joint it in a seam or to the next piece it’s connected with. It won’t be gathered up enough to start with so hover your hot iron with plenty of steam over the area and it will pucker up a lot more. When it’s gathered as much as it’s going to tie off or backstitch the threads/elastic to secure.

In the photo above, the top cuff is before the steam was applied and the lower cuff is afterwards, you should be able to see that the stitching is a fair bit tighter-looking.

Next I added small ruffles to the front raglan seams, also neatened with the rolled hem finish just on one edge. The rest of the Kingfisher was very straightforward, the ribbing band went on neatly and gives the neckline a nice finish. You could also use bias binding or make facings if you don’t want to deal with stretch but I like it like this.

Close-up of the finished neckline, I think I bought the navy ribbing from Lamazi Fabrics a little while ago.

Sleeve ruffle

I cut this top in a UK10 so it’s a closer fit than some tops I’ve generally made but I’m really happy with the fit, there’s still ample room for comfort and movement. From a fabric that was languishing in a box I’ve concocted a casual top I can wear in warmer or cooler weather.

Thank you to Janine for providing me with the pattern, I hope my review will be helpful, for a such a simple shape there are so many possibilities with it. If you haven’t tried any Sewing Revival patterns I’d definitely suggest you pop over there and take a look, and if you choose to follow any link I’ve created in this post or previous TSR ones, and you then make a purchase, I will receive a modest fee from it. You can also read my previous reviews for the Sidewinder pants, the Heron dress plus a hack, the Bellbird top and the Fantail top and it’s follow-up. If you want any more inspiration use the hashtag #KingfisherTop on Instagram or Facebook. I’ve got plans for a deep-cuff version later in the year, just so long as I don’t have another creative slump…!

Welcome back and thanks for reading this far, I’ll try not to leave it so long next time!

Until then, keep sewing!

Sue

Fantail follow-up!

I published my review of The Sewing Revival Fantail top recently and since then I’ve made a second using an alternative finish which I thought I would share with you.

the first Fantail top

This second version uses a ribbing finish on the neck, cuffs and back hem instead of hemming or elastication. I’d bought some Art Gallery viscose from Sew Me Something with an interesting graphic design and then my fellow @SewOver50er Kate @stitchmeayear generously offered me some grey ribbing, she had more than she needed. It turned out to be the perfect match and I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried.

There are separate pattern pieces for the ribbing cuffs, neck and hem and, although the same front, back and sleeve pieces are used, there are very slightly different cutting lines for the sleeve.

I had bought 1.5m of the graphic print and it has a fairly distinct one-way design which meant I needed to place each pattern piece carefully to try and get a reasonable match whilst not wasting too much fabric. I was able to do this by folding over one selvedge by just enough to position the front and back pieces along the same fold. This left a good sized piece from which I could individually position and cut a pair of sleeves whilst still just about getting a good match.

Sewing the Fantail with ribbing is very slightly different to the woven version. First, the deep ribbing band is sewn on the back in place of the narrow hem [I’m not sure if there’s a small discrepancy in the pattern or my cutting out but on both my versions I’ve found there to be about 5mm too much fabric in the back compared to the front when joining the side seams]

Like the first version I sewed the ribbing band onto the neck after joining the raglan seams and before sewing up the side seams. As I probably explained in the previous post, I always find it’s easier to put a facing, binding or whatever neck finish on whilst everything can still be laid out flat unless there’s a technical construction reason for doing it later.

The main reason for writing this second post is because I want to show you the way I turned the band at the hem-I forgot to take photos as I was making the first one! It’s a really neat way of of finishing the bottoms of the side seams and can be a useful technique in other places when you’re sewing different hems or edges together because it gives a crisp and level finish to an edge with the seams enclosed. The photos will help make more sense.

Pin the side seams together like so first, the raw edge of the deep elastic casing for the front is already pressed up by 1cm and the bottom of the ribbing is lined up against the notch for the casing.

Next, fold up the front so that it sandwiches the ribbing like this, pin in place. Now sew the seam starting at the fold on the hem. If you haven’t used this method before you may want to sew one side first and check it to make sure you’re happy with it, it can be a little confusing initially but it’s worth persevering.

Turn the hem to check it is level and, if you’re happy with it, neaten the seams however you wish. This is before I neatened the side seam but it will look like this on the inside.

The outside will look like this, so neat!

One other slight change I made was to the width of the ribbing cuffs, I cut the UK 12 pieces but they were much too baggy for my wrists so I shortened them by 5cms so they aren’t so wide and gapey.

At the moment I haven’t edge stitched any of the ribbing like I would do normally on knit garments. Because this is a combination of woven and knit fabrics I don’t want the woven fabric, at the neck especially, to end up puckered where its attached to the band so I’ve left it for now [and I don’t want holes if I had to unpick it]

The ribbing is currently not edge-stitched in case it causes puckering

I don’t normally post two of the same thing in such quick succession but I wanted to share the hem tip more than anything. I fully anticipate making a knit version of the Fantail at some point, or a short sleeve one in something really light and pretty…That’s what I enjoy about Sewing Revival patterns, so many possibilities if you have the imagination.

Until next time, Happy sewing

Sue

Trend Utility trousers TPC12

My first blog of 2021 features my last make of 2020. After several quiet weeks where I didn’t sew any garments, I had cut this project out a couple of months back but then hadn’t felt motivated to make them at the time…the days between Christmas and New Year was the right time to get my head around a nice involved project though. There has been so much going on in the UK recently, (understatement!) especially in these last few weeks, that I wanted something I had to concentrate on to take my mind off other events outside of my control.

If you’ve read my blog in the past you’ll know by now that I’m a big fan of Trend Patterns but these are the first trouser pattern of theirs that I’ve tried.

I saw Lucy wearing her own version of TPC12 on her stand at the Stitch Festival in London back in early March 2020 (just before everything went weird) and it was the unusual split hem detail that initially I really liked. On closer inspection there are some other nice features too, like the topstitched front seams with optional faux pocket flap, and a button fly. These are the kind of details that attract me to a pattern but I would say before I go much further that this is definitely an intermediate pattern as a result, you will need to be a confident sewer or at the very least game to increase and expand the skills you have already. Before I left the show that day I bought some nice heavier weight plain black linen from Rosenberg’s to make them with.

It was then literally months before I decided to tackle the pattern though. I’m not going to lie, and don’t judge me either, but I had piled on weight during lockdown which I wasn’t happy about and as I got bigger the last thing I wanted to do was make a pair of trousers that emphasised that fact. Eventually however I began dealing with the weight issue which in turn encouraged me to revisit the Utility trousers in the early autumn.

Instead of using the linen for the first pair I bought some grey stretch cotton twill from Backstitch near Cambridge. It’s lovely fabric for trousers and a very good quality at a reasonable price. Because the Utility’s are a fixed waistband I went by my waist measurement at that time (it was shrinking!) so I chose the UK 16 and I could tell that the hip would on the big side but that was OK.

I patiently traced off all the pieces which took a while because there are quite a number of unique pattern pieces that need to be cut right side up (RSU) Labelling them all is of paramount importance so that you don’t end up with unusable pieces of fabric cut the wrong way. Once I had cut the fabric out I left all the pattern pieces attached to the fabric until I had either interfaced them or until they were ready to be sewn. I made both my versions exactly (apart from fit alterations) as the pattern but you could leave off the pocket flap detail by cutting a pair of side fronts, or you could have two pocket flaps by doubling up those pieces instead. An advantage of having so many single pattern pieces is that you might have a more economical layplan because they will interlock better, folded fabric is a much less efficient way of cutting out, a single layer just takes a bit longer.

I said at the start that this is an intermediate pattern in my opinion and that is largely because the hem vents and the button fly are quite involved, although not actually difficult, plus I found the instructions and diagrams were a bit tricky to follow. I didn’t go wrong but they do require absolute concentration. What I’ll do in this blog, so that’s useful to you if you decide to make the trousers, is simplify the order of making down to a basic list which you can use in conjunction with the actual instruction booklet. I won’t give you specific, press here, topstitch there, instructions though, they are in the booklet and the diagrams are very detailed.

My first piece of advice, after you’ve attached all the interfacing to the relevant pieces and transferred all markings to the fabric, is to overlock all the cut edges (except the waist and fly front) first. I don’t normally do this because I prefer to overlock as I go along but it makes more sense here to do it as a batch process, just make sure you don’t trim away too much or lose your notches in the process.

Start by making the ‘pocket’ flap [make up the optional pocket bag if you are going to have one but set it aside for the moment] also, make the back darts and set the pieces aside for now.

Join the front seams for both fronts as far as the vent markers, do not join the fronts to the backs just yet. I found it easier to have only the vent sections to work on flat first although the instructions tell you to join the fronts to the backs. Once you’ve made both the vents except for the final single topstitching to hold the flap in place and are ready to turn up the hem join the fronts and backs at the side seams first. Now complete the topstitching to hold the vent in place then join the inseams, turn up the hem and topstitch to finish. [If you’re using the additional pocket bag I would add it whilst the leg is still open and flat, before sewing up the inseam. I sewed mine on earlier and it got in the way a bit when I was joining the various leg seams]

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  the finished vent

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  faux pocket flap

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  add the pocket bag when the leg is still open flat like this

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  the finished pocket and flap

Pin and partially stitch the crotch seam as per the instructions then apply the outer waistband and press the seam up towards the waistband. [If you want to include belt carriers I would add them before attaching this waistband so that they are caught in the waist seam, the tops of the carriers will be enclosed when you add the facing]

Next, make the right fly section and buttonholes as per the instructions and diagrams. I’ve included a photo of where I stitched through the layers of the right front to hold them all together, I’m not sure if this is quite what is intended but it works-I couldn’t make sense of it otherwise!

the pencil is pointing to where I’ve added the row of stitching to keep the layers together.

Make the left fly front and attach the waist band facing, I’ve included the photo below of how this should look from the inside (yes I did use jazzy overlocking thread just because…)

the completed grey version showing the button fly and jigger button

Sew the remainder of the crotch seam to complete it, then sew the entire crotch seam again about 1-2mm away from the first stitching line.

Sink stitching-to complete the waistband-is simply the industry term for ‘stitch in the ditch’.

Obviously there are points where you would be advised to try the trousers on to check the fit as you go so you could do this by pinning on the stitching line (parallel, not at a right angle!) to avoid unpicking. The advantage of having a split waistband on the centre back seam (like good quality men’s trousers) is that you can fit into the small of the back more effectively.

So that’s, hopefully, a simplified method for you, it isn’t that I think the instructions aren’t good, it’s just that I got a bit confused between what was written and which diagram to follow, and that’s why I wrote it down in a clarified form as I made the second pair.

The fit of the first pair is technically not that good but they are soooo comfortable. The waist was a good fit initially although I’ve lost more weight since then so it’s very roomy now. The major issue (and I’ve read this in a few reviews) is that the crotch length is very long and looks quite droopy. You can see this in the photos of my grey pair, and this makes the cropped leg length look a bit too long as a result. For the second pair in the black linen I redrew the pattern down one size and also folded out 3cms horizontally at hip level on every pattern piece to reduce the rise. The second pair are a much better fit but that won’t stop me wearing the grey pair, it doesn’t particularly bother me that they are overly generous because the shaped waistband can’t fall off my hips anyway. Yes the grey pair are very baggy but that’s fine.

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  I’m wearing them with a Somerset Top by Maven, fabric bought at Ditto in Brighton ages ago.

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  This top is the Nora by Tilly and the Buttons

The black linen pair are a better fit at the waist, there’s still plenty of room (too much room?) over the thighs but I don’t mind that. Maybe I’ll shave a little off the next pair, or maybe I won’t…

Overall I’m a big fan of the Utility trousers and I’ll probably make more, now that I’m getting better with the fit. The design details are worth the effort but it is a project you’ll want to take some time over, I had to turn off the radio so that I could concentrate completely and I read aloud each instruction several times to ensure I was going the right way. I sewed matching topstitching but you could use a contrast thread, or maybe you could line the waistband and button stand with contrast fabrics? Apart from the pocket bag if you add one there are no other pockets so you could add some in the side seams quite easily I would have thought, or patch pockets on the back perhaps? I quite fancy a pair made in chunky cord too…

I hope you find this useful, or I’m happy to try and help if I can.

Until next time, happy sewing

Sue

A few hem finish suggestions-a Sew Over 50 topic

Over on the @SewOver50 account recently I shared a few of my favourite ways to finish hems or raw edges, although course it is absolutely NOT a definitive list by any means. I thought I would expand a little here on the blog using more photos of projects I’ve made in recent years. They are in no particular order either and if I wrote a blog post about the whole garment then I’ve linked it so you can read more if you want to.

Obviously there are the usual hand-finished hems using slip hemming stitch or herringbone stitch for example, which I use a lot too, but I thought I’d share a few alternatives which you might not know, or haven’t used for a while.

I’m beginning here with a faced hem…

This was the hem of the first Refashioners project I attempted. It was a jacket made from two pairs of my husband’s old jeans and because I wanted to use as much of the reclaimed fabric as possible I cut shaped facings for the lower edge. As you can see I also finished the edge with bias binding I made from offcuts of dress fabric.

The inside of the finished jacket looked like this. I understitched the lower edge of the facing to help it roll better and also slip-stitched it in various places including the seams and pocket bags to secure the facing without the stitching showing on the front.

This is also a much more shaped facing on the hem of Tilly and the Buttons Orla blouse. This can be a beautifully neat finish on a curve, it gives some ‘weight’ and crispness to the hem too and makes it less likely to curl upwards on blouses for example.

This Orla blouse was from 4 years ago, I like the exposed zip in the back too (the instructions for putting it in were excellent if I remember correctly)

The next one is an interesting hem finish which is very useful especially if you want a quality finish on evening or bridal wear. It uses something called ‘crin’, crinoline or horsehair braid (it doesn’t involve actual horsehair any longer though!) I’ve used it here on an organza skirt for the Dior New Look-inspired evening dress I made 4 years ago. As well as a crisp finish I wanted the hem to have distinct body and wave to it so this was the ideal technique. Crin comes in various widths, this was 5cms, lots of colours too because it’s more commonly used these days to trim hats and fascinators.

Helpfully, my fabric had horizontal stripes, some opaque and some sheer so I started by placing the crin on the front of the fabric and lining it up with the bottom edge of an opaque stripe. It is stitched on very close to the edge being careful not to stretch the crin as I sew, it’s important it lies flat. By sewing the crin onto the right side of the fabric when you flip it to the inside the raw edge of your fabric is enclosed underneath. To be honest I was making up the method as I went along because my experience of this technique previously came from altering wedding dresses which used it so this isn’t foolproof. I would strongly advise you to try a few samples first so that you have the version which looks best for your particular garment. [the eagle eyed amongst you might notice in my photo that I’ve sewn the crin to the wrong side of the fabric! I obviously did it and photographed it before realising what I’d done. As this was four years ago I don’t have any other photo!]

Once the crin is turned up to the inside I slip-hemmed it by hand, it looks a bit messy on the inside because the black shows up but it’s absolutely fine on the right side.

the finished dress, it’s one of my favourites I’ve ever made, and it’s a partial-refashion too because the velvet bodice used to be a skirt!

If you’re making a wedding dress for example and mounting all the skirt pieces onto another fabric, when you use crin on the hem (or bias binding for that matter) by hand-sewing the hem all your stitches will be invisible because you can catch them just through the mounting fabric. This is a couture technique so if you look at red carpet dresses with no visible stitching at the hem this will be how they achieved it. You can apply it as appropriate to any garment that you’ve mounted to another fabric though.

The next couple of photos are where I’ve used bias binding to neaten a hem. I find this a really useful technique if you need the maximum amount of hem because you can sew a very small seam allowance. It’s good if you’re letting down hems to gain length too, on trousers or children’s clothing for example.

Sew the binding on very close to the raw edge, this was a Simple Sew Lizzie dress

Here I made my own binding which is first sewn on with a 5mm seam allowance and then understitched which is what you see here. I made this Grainline Farrow dress for a magazine review

The hem is turned up and I’ve slipstitched it in place by hand.

This is the same technique with ready-made bias binding.

the finished skirt.

My final example is the little christening gown I made from a wedding dress.

If you have fine fabric why not consider using your overlocker if you have one on the rolled hem setting? Refer to your manual for specific instructions how to adjust your machine and make samples first to ensure it’s going to be satisfactory for your particular fabric. You’ll frequently see it used on chiffon or georgette but I’ve used it successfully here on fine cotton lawn, jersey and a stretch velour. If you don’t have an overlocker you can probably achieve a similar finish on your sewing using a rolled hem foot ideally and a small zigzag stitch-as always I would urge you to experiment to see what is possible. Some of the simplest machines can still give you an interesting variety of finishes.

This is one of my variations on the Camber Set

I roll-hemmed a straight strip of fabric here which I then pleated onto the sleeve using a fork!

I roll-hemmed a straight strip top and bottom and gathered it onto the sleeve here.

An extended length sleeve on the River pattern from Megan Nielsen, roll-hemmed and elasticated

I find the next couture/tailoring technique very useful on sleeves as well as coat, jacket or dress hems. I’ve used it here on my Tilly and the Buttons tester-made Eden. I wasn’t taught this method as such, I discovered it for myself whilst doing alterations taking up sleeves for people. I haven’t ever encountered it in pattern making instructions but I think it’s an excellent way of stabilising the cuffs of coats and jackets.

Using strips of iron-on interfacing to stabilise the area where the cuffs fold up

This is felted-type woollen fabric where hand stitching is unlikely to show through but if you have a finer fabric I would make the interfacing strip wider so that I then caught the inter with my stitches and not the fabric itself. See the next photo to explain this better.

You can see the interfacing is above the hem line here and I’ve herringbone stitched it by hand. You can also see how I’ve created a chain link to anchor the lining to vent opening on the back of the skirt.

the hemming stitches aren’t visible from the outside using this technique.

For this next finish I’ve used a triple straight stitch to create the effect of top stitching on the hem, and several seams, of this Simple Sew Zoe hack I made last summer.

If you have the foot attachment and stitch capability for your sewing machine you can always try blind-hemming. I must admit I don’t use it that often, and only then on completely straight hems. There is a bit of a knack to it and I tend to only use it on a busy print which will disguise any botched bits (yes really!) or if I’m tight for time compared with any other method. It’s not quite the same quality of finish you will see on RTW clothes though which uses a specific machine to blind stitch the hem.

Personally I always think the stitches show a bit too much no matter how hard I try to get them really tiny. It’s very easy to catch a bit too much fabric, or none at all! In truth I probably don’t practice enough!!

This Regatta dress from Alice & Co was an ideal application because the skirt has a straight, unshaped hem.

I think it’s worth mentioning that I like to use bias binding to neaten necklines (and armholes) too. I particularly like this as a way of avoiding using a neck or armhole facing which can be notorious for constantly rolling into view or flapping about annoyingly. The version you can see in the following two applications is a strip which I’ve folded in half lengthways first, the raw edges are matched and sewn. The seam is trimmed slightly and snipped if necessary, then turned so that the edge is enclosed and finally topstitched close to the folded edge to secure. In both the following examples I have sewn the binding on the wrong side of the fabric so that the binding turns to the outside to be visible and decorative but you could just as easily sew it to the right side so that it turns to the inside of the finished garment.

the binding is sewn on the inside first

the binding then flips to the outside to become visible.

This dress was made for the Simplicity pattern hacking challenge last year

Instead of the usual hem on this dress I created a casing which I threaded elastic through.

I’ve have included another variation of binding on a hem to show you how it can be combined with other techniques to achieve a quality finish. I used it here on a sheer organza which was mounted onto a backing fabric of slipper satin. This meant that when I turned the hem up the hand-stitching was invisible from the outside because the stitches only went through the mounting fabric.

the hem from the inside

the finished hem from the outside.

the finished dress, I was off to a wedding!

The next technique is more usually the choice of the pattern designer than the dressmaker, although if you know a little about pattern cutting you might be able to do it for yourself. This is an example of a deep grown-on faced hem on the Trend Patterns Square dress which I’ve made twice. It works brilliantly on this dress because the hem edges are straight (square!) plus it gives real weight to the hem which is another satisfying detail.

Inside the hem the corners are mitred.

Pin hemming is a technique I’ve used for decades on fine fabrics. You can replicate it using a rolled hem foot attachment on your machine although it can be trial and error which size works best for you with variable results. I have two different sizes of foot, 2mm and 4mm and I can’t get on with either, I’ve since been told that 3mm is the optimum size for most fabrics but I’m not prepared to risk another mistake when I know I can achieve a good quality result this way instead.

Simply put, I turn over the raw edge by approximately 5mm and stitch very close to the folded edge. Carefully trim the excess close to the stitching line and give it a light press. Then turn again and stitch a second time on top of the first row of stitching. This particular example is from the Trend Bias T-shirt dress I made a few months ago.

turn stitch and trim

make another narrow hem, stitch a second time on top of the first line. Press. There will only be one row of stitching visible on the outside.

If you read about my pattern hack of the Simple Sew Cocoon dress you will see how this variation of hemming came about. I added a large chunk of fabric to give extra length to a dress that would have been too short without it. This method is probably best on a straight hem, you could use it on sleeves too.

attaching a band to the hem.

The finished dress (worn with walking shoes during lockdown!)

This next one is a very much trial and error. I used an edging stitch on my Pfaff sewing machine to hem this Broderie Anglaise blouse which I made recently.

I put a piece of Stitch and Tear behind the fabric as I sewed.

It looked like this after I finished

It will look like this on the reverse.

gently pull away the backing and then carefully snip off the excess fabric up to the stitching line.

Eventually the hem looked like this, the sleeves are trimmed with Broderie Anglaise

I’ve used a variation of a faced hem recently when, instead of bias binding, I used straight strips of fabric to turn up a straight hem on a dirndl skirt. There will be a blog of this particular garment coming soon…

I had some narrow strips of white cotton lawn lying around so I joined them to make a piece long enough to go around the whole hem.

I folded the strip lengthwise.

attach the strip to the hem, raw edges together.

I understitched it, plus there’s a band on the front which is what you can see folded over in order to enclose the facing eventually.

The band folds back to enclose the hem facing.

There’s a little bit of puckering on the reverse here but this is invisible from the front, a good press will sort that out.

To finish with is a very simple method of rolling a fairly narrow hem. Overlock the edge first using three (or even two) threads then carefully turn it once and then again so that the overlocking is enclosed inside. If the fabric is quite ‘bouncy’ and won’t stay in position you could press the edge over once first and then roll it the second time. Whilst the result is wider than pin hemming it is narrower, and possibly quicker and more accurate, than a simple turned hem.

Stitching the hem with the overlocked edge rolled to the inside.

This last suggestion is from a project which will be blogged very soon. I cut 6cms wide bias strips which I used to create a self-neatening hem on a pair of pyjama shorts.

the bias strips were applied right side to wrong side on the shorts hems.

the bias strip is on the inside at the moment

It is then turned up to the outside where I trimmed and stitched it with ricrac braid.

I hope you’ve found my suggestions useful or thought provoking, is there something here which you’ve never encountered before, or that’s made you think how you could use a technique you already know in a different way? The idea is to show you a few ways of finishing hems, or raw edges, in new and interesting ways. I’ve not included the usual hand stitching methods because there’s nothing new to think about, although please let me know if you use these methods in a more unusual application. Just because the pattern instructions tell you to finish the hem a certain way doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do it that way…although think it through carefully just in case the really is a reason!

Until next time, Happy Sewing

Sue

The Refashioners 2017…suits you!

In 2016 I took part in Portia Lawrie’s Refashioners competition for the first time when I made a jacket from two pairs of Mr Y’s old jeans, you can read about that one here. I was jolly pleased with it and wear it a lot and obviously I didn’t win although I did get a mention in despatches so I was chuffed with that.

For Refashioners 2017 Portia announced it would be SUITS! Eek, I thought, I’m not sure about that…anyway, nothing daunted, I started thinking about what I might be able to do if I tracked down the right suit. I knew I didn’t want anything too dark or work-a-day so I hoped to find something in a check perhaps. Funnily enough it didn’t really occur to me that it could be something like linen or suede, or a woman’s suit so when the inspirational Blog Tour throughout September started and it featured some of alternative fabrics I did think “oh, why didn’t I do that?” Hey ho…

When it came to inspiration however there was only one person whose tailoring I was interested in and that was Alexander McQueen. The retrospective of his work ‘Savage Beauty’ at London’s V&A museum in 2015 was absolutely mind-blowing-I went 8 times! [I bought annual membership to the museum so that I could go as often as I wanted, it’s fair to say I got full value for my money. I’ve kept up that membership ever since and use it regularly] Whilst I’ve no hope of ever acquiring or wearing McQueen (apart from my treasured silk scarf which Mr Y bought for me at the end of the exhibition) I greatly admire his meticulous tailoring, originality, attention to detail and craftsmanship which has been ably continued since his death by Sarah Burton. [I didn’t blog about Savage Beauty at the time but I wrote one about a fascinating parallel exhibition that was at Tate Britain, you can read that here]

Portia had set up a Pinterest page of inspiration too so I had a look there as well as internet searches of my own and the book which accompanied the exhibition and is full of wonderful images. So many clever ideas but there would be serious fabric constraints as I only wanted to use one suit, once I’d tracked it down, which meant some things like dresses with elaborate details would be impossible. If I was going to invest quite a lot of time into this it needed to fit me and I’m not a stick insect so I have to be realistic!

I collected ideas and images although some of them were unlikely contenders, for reasons of practicality, quantity of fabric and my own skill level. [I went on a tailoring course at Morley college in London last year and picked up loads of useful skills and the confidence to tackle this head-on, have a look at their prospectus because they offer some great courses] I liked the idea of combining different fabrics and techniques, particularly over or near the shoulders.

I scoured all our local charity shops but didn’t find anything I liked, Mr Y and my Dad didn’t have anything in their wardrobes either. Then, when we were visiting Salisbury in Wiltshire at the end of August, we tried a couple of shops when I spied a black and white checked jacket. It seemed to have trousers with it which didn’t match but these were Prince of Wales check! Looking further along the rail we discovered the right jacket for the trousers was on another hanger-yippee, success! a matching suit in the perfect fabric. It was £25 which was a bit more than I had hoped to pay but the money would go to a good cause so it was a win/win situation really. Even better was the fact it was 100% pure wool and it was a Daks suit from Simpsons of Piccadilly which would have been pretty expensive originally-I definitely lucked out with this one. At £25 though it did mean I would only use one suit rather than buy possibly 2 to mix together. No matter.

So now that I had the suit I needed to come up with a design. I also set myself the rule that I wouldn’t buy anything else so everything had to come from supplies I already had in my workroom. I tried to be a bit ambitious-and different from last year-and initially came up with a few dress designs where I thought I might be able to utilise the trouser legs to make panels and a feature-zip detail.

Before I went too much further though I needed to disassemble the suit to see exactly how much fabric I had. I got out the snips and unpicker and set to (not without trepidation because it was a lovely suit)

The beauty of pure wool is that it presses like a dream and so almost every original crease in the suit disappeared once I’d broken it down into all the parts. Needless to say there was less fabric than I’d hoped for my big plans so I had to modify them a lot. Out went the dress and in came [another] jacket. I’d been looking through my not inconsiderable pattern stash for inspiration and I’d found a dress pattern from 1973 which was amongst a huge number gifted to me last year by a friend. They had belonged to her Mum who was a fabulous dressmaker at Cresta Silks in her youth. Even though it was a dress I was attracted to its striking style lines with a long bust dart that ran parallel to a diagonal under-bust seam, and because it had a centre front seam I thought it was easily adaptable to a jacket. One of the features of McQueen’s work is his unusual seaming and style-lines so I decided to make a toile and see how it went.

The original collar opened at the back for the zip so I made a new pattern so that it opened at the front instead. I also had to change the front and back ‘skirts’ by dividing them evenly in half because the pieces would be too large for the fabric quantity I had. I also wanted to be able to cut various pieces on the bias to make it more interesting so they had to be smaller to achieve this.

By using an open-ended zip I minimised the amount of fabric needed for the front opening, there was no need for an overlap and there’d be barely enough anyway. I also knew that if I could use the original sleeves I would be be able to use all other available fabric for my design.

Amazingly I was happy with the toile and decided to press ahead with the design as it was. I could get the new front panels out of the original, and even managed to include the breast pocket and all the under-linings. However I couldn’t work out a way of satisfactorily utilising the pockets and flaps so they got left out. In the end I couldn’t use the back as per the toile, which had darts and the pattern piece was too large to fit as it was, so I turned the darts into princess seams instead and then those pieces came out of the original back after all. There was a tiny hole in the back but I repaired it with iron-on interfacing and no one would be any the wiser. I’d wanted all the peplum pieces to be on the bias but in order for them to be a reasonable match some had to be on the straight instead.

I’d removed the buttons and facing so that it was as flat as possible. it did mean that the original darts would now be part of the new front though.

Instead of using the paper pattern I laid the first cut piece on top of the opposite side so I that I had perfect placement on the checks. Luckily the buttonhole [which I could do nothing about] got absorbed into the seam allowance and didn’t show in the end.

 I won’t pretend that every seam has perfectly matching checks but given the fabric constraints I’m really pleased with the outcome. I carefully made the jacket up, a very enjoyable process, and because it was being fully lined I didn’t need to neaten any of the seams inside, they could just be pressed open. I remembered my tutor Daniel at Morley saying “steam is your friend” and wasn’t afraid to use it often, in conjunction with my tailor’s ham and a pressing cloth.

The trickiest part of the construction was making the original sleeves a little shorter for my arms and to fit into the new armholes. I roughly measured the sleeve head and compared it to the armhole. There was a fair difference so I needed to reduce the sleeve width by sewing up some of the under-arm seams to about elbow level (they are two-part sleeves) I tacked one sleeve in and tried it out. It looked pretty satisfactory without any further adjustment so I did the same to the other one as well. I tried to ensure that the checks matched as best I could too. Again I tried the jacket on to make sure I could move my arms and that I was happy with their length. After I’d machined them both in I reused the pieces of canvas and domette which I’d taken out of the original sleeve heads. These are part of tailoring construction which help give a good rounded shape to the sleeve head and are basted in place by hand onto the jacket seam allowance itself. I also planned to reuse the original shoulder pads later on.

sewing the original canvas and domette back into the sleeve head.

Once the sleeves were in I could think more about the decoration I wanted to add. One of the recurring features I like about McQueen’s tailoring is his use of lace appliqué and embroidery. Amongst my stash of fabrics I have some beautiful black Guipure lace which was left over originally from the bridal shop where I used to work creating and making the most beautiful wedding and evening gowns. I’d used some of it on my elder daughter’s Prom dress 10 years ago but there’s still some left over so I had a little play. I put the jacket on Doris and draped pieces of lace over the shoulders to see what looked best. Part of the beauty of Guipure is that you can trim it into shape without it fraying or falling to bits so once I’d positioned it where I wanted I could trim it to neaten the shape. I love the swirls!

I wanted the front to have a small glimpse to the lace…

…but the surprise is at the back….

…with the lace extending up the collar, over the sleeve head and down the back.

Looking at these photos you can see the other decorative technique I decided to use, embroidery.

I’d seen a very recent McQueen design which had red lacing on and I wanted to incorporate something similar probably in the form of hand embroidery instead, particularly because the fabric has a fine red stripe running through it.

I had a few practices first at simple running stitch, sashiko-style, and I tried a sort-of feather stitch but it looked pretty rubbish and uneven as I couldn’t get it right or consistent so I tried a couple of stitches of the many that my  25-year-old Elna 7000 machine offers.

I liked the feather stitch but decided it would be over-doing it so in the end I settled on the saddle stitch which would normally be used to top stitch but I was going to run it along some of the red stripes in the fabric for emphasis. [If you’re not sure which stitch this is on your machine it’s the one where the picture looks like 3 rows of stitches side by side. It’s actually 3 stitches on top of one another when it sews thus making an effective top stitch]

stripes from the inside, including the repair to the hole I mentioned.

I decided to follow a few of the red stripes on the front and back, the front ones all run vertically and the back ones are just on one side in a cross formation. I considered putting them elsewhere too but decided there was enough.

Once I’d finished all the decoration I put the shoulder pads and the ‘plastron’ back in (this is a piece of heavy canvas which is part of the underlinings of tailored jackets and which helps give it a smooth line over the chest) The plastron needed to be trimmed slightly to fit inside since it had come from a man’s jacket. Finally I’d managed to salvage just enough fabric in one long strip to make a very narrow facing inside the zip. I turned up the hem first basting it in position and then herringbone stitching it by hand.

basted and herringbone-stitched hem

I’d found some black lining fabric in my stash so cut out the jacket lining (excluding sleeves because they had their own original lining in) and sewed it together. Red lining would have been nice but I didn’t have anything suitable and I’d have broken my own rules to buy some. Because the facing strip was so narrow I wanted to smarten up it up a bit so I dug out some black braid which I stitched down the edge of it-it looks much better now if the jacket is open.

Inside the jacket facing

Next I hand stitched all the linings in position at the hem and around the armholes so that everything was enclosed. The final thing I decided to do was change a couple of the cuff buttons so I swapped one on each wrist to red ones.

idiosyncratic buttons!

And that’s all there is to it…..

I’m afraid I’ll never make much of a model and the backdrop was a choice of either a brick wall or a flower bed! The photos aren’t by Testino (Katie actually) but I hope you’ll get an idea of how the jacket looks, it’s a distinctive but wearable one-off.

I’m so chuffed with my finished jacket and, better than that, I really enjoyed the planning and making very much. I felt I got back in touch with lots of the skills I’ve acquired over many years of sewing, some of which helped me to plan it carefully within the constraints set both by Portia and the ones I set myself, and others meant I could stretch my making skills further than they tend to get stretched these days which is no bad thing.

Initially I wasn’t sure if this would be a refashioning challenge I could rise to but I’ve surprised myself with the outcome. I’ve now got a jacket which I’ll be really happy to wear and I shall enjoy telling anyone who cares to listen exactly how it came about. I don’t know the story of the suit before I bought it but I feel like I’ve given it a new narrative now by reinventing it in a new form….and that might even be something McQueen himself would have applauded.

As ever many pictures are my own but the rest are sourced from the internet.

Have you made a suit refashion this year? I’d love to hear about it, or tell me your thoughts about mine…(risky hehe)

Happy Sewing

Sue

Simple Sew Chelsea Collection blouse hack.

A lot has happened since I wrote my last Simple Sew blog post, Christmas for one thing, and I had a lovely holiday in the sunshine too but now we are all confined to our homes because of Covid 19. Without wishing to trivialise the gravity of this situation, one of the side effects of it is that you might have more time to sew. 

I’ve had a rummage through my Simple Sew patterns to find one which I haven’t already shown you, and which has opportunities to hack, and I settled on the Chelsea Collection. This is a capsule wardrobe of a short sleeve blouse with two variations, a pair of trousers and a button-front skirt in two lengths. I liked the blouse with it’s shirred sleeves and keyhole back detail but I decided to mix it up a little by adding a button front. Normally we are able to select fabric from a couple of generous sponsors but I wanted to ‘shop my stash’ to find something this time. I found a very pretty vibrant floral John Kaldor cotton lawn which I think I picked up from a swap table sometime and I knew would work well for the blouse. 

I didn’t want the blouse to be overly tight so, after checking my measurements I opted for a larger size than I’ve made previously. If you’ve been a regular reader of my posts you’ll know that I tend to check Simple Sew patterns for any discrepancies before I start. There didn’t seem to be any glaring ones but I just added a slight curve to the back hem so that it dipped in the same way as the front and I trued the shoulder seams so there was a smooth flow from front to back. 

Adding a curved hem to the back, I measured the distance from the lengthen/shorten line on the front then made the back the same amount, curving the line gently upwards to the side seam.

trueing the shoulder seams

As I wanted to alter the front significantly I had to make some changes there first. In order to create a button-stand I simply added 2.5cms to the centre front all the way down what would have been the fold. [2.5cms was a fairly arbitrary figure because it depends really on what size buttons you’re using, a general rule of thumb is that the bigger the button the bigger the button-stand needs to be so that there’s enough overlap and the garment doesn’t end up too tight because the overlap isn’t big enough.]I was able to do this by drawing directly onto the tissue before cutting the piece out as there was enough space to do so.

adding the button stand to the front

If you’ve already cut a pattern that you want to add to just stick some extra paper to the centre front fold line, or trace off the whole piece again adding the extra. The original front had a facing for the neckline so now I needed to create a new facing which would neaten both the neck edge and the button-stand. To do this I simply traced off the whole of the new front opening including the neck edge and made the facing a depth of 7cms all the way down from shoulder to hem, with a smooth and gradual curve. The photo should make this clearer. The back neck needed a new facing too because the existing one took the armhole into account. Again I traced off the section I needed making it 7cms at the shoulders to match the front facing. 

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The final change I made was to lengthen the sleeve a little and add some more fullness to it. I started by making the sleeve 5cms longer and then I drew 3 vertical lines on the pattern at approximately the front notch, back notch and shoulder seam points. [Depending how much extra fullness you want to add to a sleeve you could use more places than this but do try to space them evenly apart.] Next I cut up each line from the bottom until I reached almost the top, I left this very slightly attached. With the piece flat on the table I spread the bottom of each slit by about the same amount, probably about 4 cms, then taped slithers of paper into each gap.

First I added the extra length and then drew the vertical lines where I wanted the extra fullness.

Next I opened each part to add the extra being careful to keep the pieces flat and not twisting or wrinkling up, put extra pieces of paper under the gaps. Once you’re happy tape them in position,

Once I had added the extra I cut the piece out.

If you don’t want to cut the pattern up you can do the same process by still marking the vertical lines on then pivoting the uncut pattern at the top of each line, use a pencil or your finger as the axis. Draw or trace around the first section, which remains stationary, then each subsequent section after you pivot it to so that you get the extra fullness being added at the hem. Opening up the wedges in this way means you’re adding fullness to the hem but not the crown of the sleeve, if you want extra fullness in the crown spread the whole piece more or less parallel. The grainline should run equidistant down the centre of the new piece (unless you want to cut it on the bias)

Having done all this I cut it out and was ready to sew! 

I started by joining the shoulder seams of both the blouse and the facings (which I’d interfaced and neatened) then I attached the facings to the neck edge, turned, understitched and pressed. The keyhole back calls for a small rouleau tube as a button-loop which needs to be inserted at the same time as applying the facing although you could choose to make a hand sewn thread loop and stitch that at the end. In fact it isn’t even vital that this is a functioning loop if you’ve got a front opening, the keyhole is purely decorative now. 

I put the blouse onto Doris to check it was looking OK and this was when I found that the keyhole appeared to be bagging outwards quite significantly. I decided not to do anything at this point and I would check again once I had sewed the side seams and put the sleeves in, then I would get a better idea by trying it on myself. 

Checking the front neck

With the loop pinned I discovered that the keyhole didn’t sit flat.

It seems to stick out quite significantly on Doris.

If the button isn’t done up it would look like this.

I made three rows of shirring on the sleeves next, using my quilting guide to make sure the first row was 5cms from the bottom edge, the next two rows were then sewn parallel to the first. [Refer to a previous blog post on how to sew shirring if you haven’t done so before] Next I sewed up the sleeve seams and pin-hemmed the bottom edge to give a neat finish.

I positioned the needle 5cms from the cut edge and the quilting guide helps me as a visual marker to keep it parallel all the way.

Shirring is stitched from the right side so that the elastic is on the reverse. Use a long straight stitch, secure both ends and then apply plenty of steam to shrink up the stitching further.

finished sleeve

After sewing up and neatening the side seams I inserted the sleeves. At this point I tried the blouse on again to check the keyhole on myself and, with real shoulder blades under it, it didn’t seem so noticeable. Two other things struck me though, the blouse was a little too big so I took it in on the side seams and also the blouse was a bit shorter than I expected. In order to take as a small a hem as possible I made some bias binding from offcuts of the fabric then stitched it (folded in half lengthways and with the cut edges together) to the hem using a narrow 5mm seam allowance [This is a useful finish to any hem or edge where you need every spare centimetre of fabric.] Have a look at the photo which shows you how to get the ends of the binding enclosed within the front facing. I turned the binding up and top-stitched in place. 

If you’re adding binding when there’s also a facing pin it like this so that the end is neatly enclosed inside the facing when it’s turned right side out.

Finally, I found some ‘vintage’ buttons amongst my treasure trove and there were just the right number meaning the whole blouse had been sourced from what I already have!

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Well I hope now that I’ve made it that I’ll have a chance to wear my Chelsea blouse somewhere other than in my own garden this summer, who knows? Maybe you’re reading this long after the emergency ended and life has returned to some sort of normality, although it definitely won’t be exactly as it was before.

Sewing our own clothes is an activity which gives us so much enjoyment for a variety of different reasons and, right now, the simple act of creating something is chief amongst them for me. It’s absorbing and the problem-solving gives me something else to think about.

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I think the keyhole back is, by and large, just about acceptable when I’m wearing the blouse. I also think the cure could be to add a centre back seam instead of cutting on the fold so that the point of the keyhole could extend beyond the centre back line, this would hopefully bring the button and loop closer to one another when they are done up…this is just my theory based on experience and I haven’t tried it out. It’s such a nice little detail that I’m disappointed it hasn’t worked out quite right. I also regret not reading my fellow Simple Sew bloggers reviews of the blouse because then I would have known how short it comes up, personally I would add a minimum of 8-10cms to the length next time.

The sleeves are pretty and feminine but maybe they are a little too girly, the jury is out…

Until next time, happy sewing

Sue

Simple Sew Amelia tea dress hack.

The Amelia tea dress isn’t one I’ve sewn before but Jane who comes to my sewing class had made one last summer and I remember liking the shirred elastic midriff section. The brief for our makes this time was ‘festive’ (we usually don’t have a brief, it’s free-choice) Bearing this in mind Bobbins n Buttons had offered to provide me with fabric so I had a browse on their website and selected the Lady McElroy ‘beauty and the bees’ stretch velvet. 

The pattern isn’t intended for jersey but it is simple shapes and a bit of gathering which I knew would still work well, what you don’t want is a fabric that’s too thick or stiff though because the shirring won’t work properly. I planned to hack the pattern a bit so I decided to add long bishop sleeves as it’s winter, I also lengthened the skirt (more on that later) and of course I added pockets! 

Because of the distinctive large print I opted to remove the centre back seam and put the zip into the side seam instead, this was to save me the hassle of trying to pattern match the print across the zip. Because I’d removed the CB seam in the bodice I took it out of the skirt too, for the same reasons. If you’ve got a tricky print to match over a seam like this consider whether you can move the zip to the side, it’s not much different to put in and the opening can be a little shorter but still give you sufficient room. Now I could have a line of bees central down the back (and front of course) and just needed to get a good horizontal match too for me to be really happy.

As I said before I wanted the skirt as long as possible but there needs to be a compromise between length versus flare because of the width of the fabric. If you want the skirt to be longer you’ll need to reduce the amount of flare at the hem because you’ll be restricted by the fabric width. The wider the fabric then the more scope you have. I measured how long I could make the skirt before it would need reducing at the hem and decided it would be an acceptable length. I could add around 10cms to the hem making sure the new side seams were at a right angle to each other so that the hem will run in a smooth line. I traced around a few bees where they crossed the cutting line so that I could ensure the front and back matched as well as possible. 

In order to cut everything as efficiently as possible from the fabric I first cut the skirts against the main fold-don’t forget to exclude the CB seam or the piece will be bigger than your back bodice (if you’re excluding the zip) 

Then I refolded the fabric with the selvedges into the centre to cut the bodice pieces on the folds. This is vital to get those bees running down the centre. 

From the remaining fabric I cut a pair of long sleeves. I used the pattern from another design I’ve made a few times, I measured the armhole of the dress and compared it against the sleeve I have. It was a little smaller at the crown so I added a small amount to give it sufficient width. Finally, because it’s jersey, I chose to use a neck binding instead of the facings so I cut two narrow strips which were each the same length as the CF to CB measurement of the neck plus a couple of centimetres seam allowance. 

I increased the sleeve head by 2cms, moving it out by 1cm either side of the shoulder notch.

It’s important to keep the sleeve level when you add the extra width so draw a line at a right angle to the grainline, then move the pattern piece 1cm in each direction using the line as the axis.

Ok, so I mostly followed the instruction with a few minor changes because of my alterations. One thing I did first of all was to stabilise the back shoulder seams and the left side seams where the zip was going to go with iron-on interfacing because I don’t want them to stretch out of shape. I chose to leave the back darts in although I possibly could have eased them out as it’s a stretch fabric.

stabilised side seam before the zip goes in.

After joining the shoulder seams I added my neck binding. I folded the strips with RS out along the long edge-I didn’t join them to each other at this stage-then, starting at the V, I stitched just that section into place. This way you can sew just a small part, snip into the V and pivot at the corner more accurately. When I was happy with this I sewed the rest of the binding on leaving just the CB part unsewn, then I could join the two strips in the right place and finally attach it to the neckline. Finally I neatened the edge all the way around and then topstitched it down close to the seam to stop it rolling. 

The next part is the shirring which really isn’t difficult so don’t panic. First wind shirring elastic onto an empty bobbin BY HAND stretching it very slightly as you go, put it into the machine in the usual way (you may wish to check the manual if you have an older machine in case there is anywhere else you need to thread the elastic through) Use your matching colour thread on the top in the usual way and lengthen the stitch slightly, it doesn’t need to be zigzag or anything though. Definitely try out a test piece first and don’t forget to secure the start of each new row so that the stitching doesn’t come undone. I don’t secure the other end at this stage though in case I find I need to pull the threads up any more later. You should be able to sew 8 rows of stitching parallel to each other to complete the strip. The fabric will naturally pucker up pretty well but when you’re done stitching hover the iron with plenty of steam over it and you’ll find it gathers up some more as a result. Finally knot the ends of the threads to secure.

Then you need to attach the gathered band onto the lower part of the bodice making sure it’s evenly divided as you go.

Attaching the shirred waist section to the upper bodice.

Attach the skirts (I’d sewn the pocket bags on to each side seam before doing this. I just use my handy cardboard template which I made ages ago, I just trace around it directly onto the fabric and cut out.) 

Next the zip goes into the left side seam. I sew it here out of habit as I’m right-handed and find it easier to do up that way but put the zip in whichever side works for you. After neatening both side seams separately first I sewed up the top of the side seam by about 4cms from the armhole edge. I used an invisible zip and inserted it in the usual way, making sure the waist seams matched, and then joining the rest of the side seam once I was happy with the zip insertion. I sewed up the other side seam and I was ready to tackle the sleeves.

The sleeves are set-in so I made the elasticated cuffs on the flat first using straight strips of jersey the same length as the curved cuff edge. With the strip open and RS together I sewed it once. 

Then I folded the strip in half and sewed it on the overlocker to create a channel.

 This will turn downwards to form the cuff which I slotted wide elastic through, securing at both ends. 

Finally, I sewed the underarm seams to create the sleeves which are inserted into the dress as per the instructions. 

All that’s left to do is the hem which I sewed on the coverstitch machine which is on loan to me by Pfaff at the moment. 

I’m really pleased with how the dress has turned out, it’s very swishy and has a slightly 1940’s vibe to it. I like the extra length on the skirt and the sleeves look fab. I was a little alarmed when I saw the large scale of the print but actually I really rather like the bees now. One thing I’m not keen on (and this is down to the manufacturer and not the supplier) is that they have printed a black background design onto a white base cloth. Because the cloth has a pile it means that anywhere there are joins there is a slight hint of the white showing through which is not ideal. The velour isn’t too tricky to work with as the pile is a bit flatter than velvet but it does still ‘creep’ a bit in places so if you’re in any doubt that pins aren’t enough to keep it all in alignment make sure you tack (baste) seams together. If you have a walking foot I would definitely advise using it. 

Lots of pictures swishing about!

I hope this will help you to feel inspired and perhaps have a go at ‘hacking’ a pattern for yourself. This was a very simple one but if you look at my Simplicity blouse hack you can see just how carried away it’s possible to get!

Until next time, happy sewing

Sue