Hard to give away...

from sarah the sewist

As we've mentioned a time or two, we're continuing to work on holiday gifts for everyone, and we're finally starting to feel like we're making some progress. I just finished the gift for Josh's stepmother. It's the Amy Butler Downtown Purse. This pattern came in the mail yesterday---thank you Lisa Lam over at the wonderful site U-Handblog. I had won her monthly bag contest awhile back (for the Amy Butler Messanger Bag I made for my mom's birthday), and had my heart set on the Amy Butler Downtown Purse pattern as my prize... Unfortunately, this particular pattern was out of stock, so I had to wait. This pattern arrive was pretty fortuitous!

I am particularly happy that we didn't need to run out the "storm of the century that didn't actually happen" (the weather folks here in PDX had everyone on high alert this weekend, claiming snow and wind) to get supplies for this one either (sort of my MO---get started, realize I don't' have a critical piece for my project, have to run to the sewing shop, etc, etc).

A couple of weeks ago we bought a yard or so of some absolutely beautiful cotton from Windham Fabrics "American Coverlet Collection." You can read about the design concept for this line here, and visit the American Coverlet Museum's site to learn about their work preserving coverlets. What an exciting effort they're undertaking trying to preserve this unique American art form! Anyway, as you can see, this is gorgeous stuff.

Of course, me being me, I did make some changes. I'm continuing my infatuation with fusible fleece. The stuff just has so many uses... Since we didn't have a lot of Timtex, I backed the sides of this bag with two layers of fusible fleece, which created a pretty thick, very sturdy structure for Downtown Purse. I also used the fusible fleece for interfacing the strap, which I think makes it a bit more comfortable to carry---I had done this when I made my friend her Frenchy Bag, and she seemed to like that particular feature.

Also, I truly hate the removable false bottom that a lot of bags have. After making a zillion of the Amy Butler High Street Messenger Bags and never finding the stupid quilters template that you're supposed to use to make the false bottom, I now avoid that phase of bag making as much as possible. My latest creative brainstorm was to use two layers of Timtex to make up the bottom of the bag. (I know, I'm living on the edge... two layers of Timtex---the stuff is a tremendous pain in the butt to sew as a single layer, let along two.) It worked out just fine and seems to have created the needed stability at the bottom of the bag.

I really got a bit obsessive about matching the patterns on this one... Like, I think pretty much everything matches up. Which is weird, because I usually try to be kind of serene about that sort of thing. I mean, there only so much you can do to make sure your fabric pattern lines up, right?

Can you tell that I really, really don't want to give this one away? I really am proud of this one. I think I'll make a very similar one for myself sometime soon.

Velvet(een) Rabbit (nope), Elvis (no), PANTS!

from josh the sewer


Yes indeed, I have made some velveteen jeans. I am pretty damn excited about them (can you tell?), but will have to wait until the winter air blows through these here parts. As you can imagine they are a little bit on the warm side. A while back the Sewist and I were at Bolt buying something or other when under the main counter a shelf of 50% off pinstripe velveteen called to me. After spending a couple of days thinking about what kind of pants I wanted to make, we decided that jeans would be really cool. I choose this Kwik Sew 3504 pattern (really there aren’t a ton of choices, but I am taking a Burda break while I slog though the jacket).

Why velvet pants? When the Sewist and I were in graduate school in Ireland (yes sometimes it is important that you travel great distances to acquire knowledge that will be of little use to you in the future, oh, and I will avoid student loan whining, it is so passé) I used to walk by a shop everyday in the way to class that featured a Blue Velvet suit in the window. I was absolutely taken by these garments. There were two problems: the first was that I was a little bit broke at the time and the second was that there was nowhere that I would actually wear a velvet suit to. There were poshy bars that this suit would not have looked out of place in, but I would have. I was more of beer drinking good time guy (yes I was much thinner before I left for Dublin, still regretting too many beers).

I think I should step back and let you know more about the magnificence of the velvet suit. It rains a lot in Dublin and I know you have heard that all before. It rains in Portland, but nothing like it does on the Emerald Isle. When we were living in Dublin (1999-2000) they were in the midst of some serious economic expansion and to go hand in hand with that a housing shortage, especially for rentals. We took the first flat that we could find and afford, which was actually really nice in a brand new apartment block right near the Guinness Brewery (cool!), a really shitty part of town at the time (not cool!). Oh the things we saw, smelled and felt. Really kind of a depressing place to be. Plus, it turns out that the outside windows were installed backwards so they trapped moisture instead of letting it out; leading to a mushroom bloom under our “dresser” (cardboard, high quality). After walking along the River to get near downtown (before they banned commercial trucks) and cutting through the city building I passed Cuan Hanley’s Shop (thanks to the Sewist, for remembering this, I only recalled that he married the gal from Riverdance). This Blue Velvet suit was like some sort giant rhinestone on the gray wool that was Dublin (gotta love fabric metaphors). Seriously I loved thing, I still regret that I didn’t get it or even take a picture of it. It was just so cool to see something so incredibly bad assed and so (be prepared I am using this as word and not a prefix) ANTI to the smoggy rainyness.

As an aside, Dublin was really cool at the time featuring some great art, design, fashion and drunk soccer commentators; really we are missing something here in the US---a tumbler of whiskey should be a REQUIREMENT for all pre and post game tv shows. I am sure that some day the Sewist can put together a post how interesting the fashion was at this time. Since I am so far afield at the moment I have got to say that the Sewist was knitting some cool stuff at the time, third wave feminism and all (you weren’t alone Stitch n’ Bitch!) We have a really close friend, a photographer who at one time studied fashion in Manchester. She designed lingerie out of things like bicycle tire inner-tubes or the like (not sure exactly). She left fashion school, which is a shame because she was really far ahead of the curb; I believe that she would have dominated all of the recycled clothing fashion shows and competitions. Seriously, she too is bad-ass and a great photographer.

The idea of a velvet suit has stuck with me for quite some time; I remember that Samuel L. Jackson wore a maroon one to something or other (very impressed, but not enough to remember the occasion). Every morning, I drink out of my Elvis mug. Which features the King wearing some kick ass pinstriped pants, but also a really strange shirt and large belt, neither of which I would want to replicate. These pants are an homage to the velvet suit and my King mug. Could I see the King wearing these pants, hells yeah! Which again elevates them in my eyes, now I should mention that I believe the King would have to wear them while touring Alaska, Norway or Bemidji, Minnesota; and he would have to be alive (no conspiracy for me, anyone who mixed that much peanut butter with that many barbiturates is certainly dead).

Since this is a sewing blog and not me being boring at a party, I should talk about the pants coming together. The velveteen was really messy; I am still finding pills of it around the house, lurking in corners away from the Hoover. Sewing across the grain was really difficult and required lots of ironing to make things like the pockets lay flat. The Sewist did a blind hem for me on the legs that I really like. Still haven’t made the carriers yet, the first two attempts have featured me failing; I have got one more attempt in me to get it right.

The Pattern was great, except the waist was a little a long and the back pockets were too big and placed a little too low. I did do my first major pattern alteration (aside from length)---I lowered the rise by about an inch and a half---these are pretty high waisted as is. I did view "B" the boot cut version. The Sewist found the matching fabric in the scrap bag from which I made the pockets. The technique in making the fly was really common sense and the final product looked nicer than any fly that I have done previously. With some rivets we could probably make a more than reasonable facsimile of a ready-to-wear pair of jeans. All in all a very nice pattern and with nice results.

Pretty in Plaid

from sarah the sewist

We've been pretty lazy with our blogging lately... I guess the annoying combination of our digital camera going a bit wonky and the shift key on the laptop not functioning has taken its toll. Nevertheless, sewing has continued. In addition to the Christmas sewing we've been doing, Josh and I both finished up some clothing projects.

Awhile back I got this Built by Wendy pattern at one of the Despot's $2 Simplicity pattern sales. I thought that the top pattern would be a handy one to have, especially for cheapo summer tops and the like. However, after making a tunic (out of a hot-pink floral remnant---which kind of works, actually) out of the collared dress view, I decided this was a pretty fun, versatile dress pattern. If you remember, I had some back luck with a dress this summer, so I've been gun-shy with the dresses ever since.

Anyway, when I made my first version of this pattern, the neck was incredibly annoying---it came up very high on the neck in a tight crew neck. I hacked away at it until it was tolerable. Which was basically the entire neck band. I also didn't like the gathering around the entire neckline; it created an odd puffiness in the front of the dress that was not that flattering.

I did cut the neckline on the bias and matching bias-cut panels to trim the bottom of the dress. I wanted to trim the sleeves this way, too, but I ran out of fabric. It looks pretty snazzy, nonetheless.


I made an amazing discovery at the fabric shop in my neighborhood---Maywood Woolies flannel. This stuff is pretty amazing. It really and truly looks like wool. It also drapes like wool. But you can wash and dry it. Unlike wool. It also doesn't itch. Unlike wool. Basically it's badass stuff. I am taking a weird delight when people compliment me on the dress in telling them that it's not wool.

I think more of this will be on my shopping list... It also comes in herringbones, houndstooth and tweeds. All of my favorites. Those of you who've been reading for awhile know that it's very bizarre that I made myself a green article of clothing. I've justified it by calling this "olive."

I thought I was terribly creative using a plaid fabric for this dress. Until I sat down to write this blog post and noticed the envelope picture. Oh well.

Nice fall color huh? And the leaves aren't too bad either.

Shear(ling) Love

from sarah the sewist

Josh's birthday is coming up next month, and since he made me such a fabulous gift that I know was a real labor of love, as well as a major pain in the butt, I feel compelled to make something for him that's he's going to love as much as I love my gift. Plus, my husband's just generally awesome, and he deserves something special.

When our latest Burda World of Fashion magazine arrived, Josh was thrilled because it actually contained three men's patterns. He was immediately taken with the snazzy faux shearling fisherman's coat.


(You can check out the line drawing here if you're so inclined.)

I've never made anything out of shearling, faux or otherwise, but I thought this would be a wonderful birthday gift for my sweetie. It's certainly not something that he'd make for himself (even though I believe he'd be perfectly capable, despite his recent spate of self-doubt). And, faux shearling items are still so popular, that they're quite overpriced. I've also never seen anything in the stores, even Nordy's, that has quite these unusual lines and interesting shape. (Working just a few blocks from the downtown PDX Nordstrom can be a bit dangerous---I'm always checking that place out.)

What I didn't know is that faux shearling is really expensive---like $25-30 a yard. That seems a little insane for something that's basically fancy polyester. But I'm sure there's a good reason. Anyway, these prices forced me to do something I never do---brave Fabric Depot on one of the 40% off days. Worse yet, the Saturday of the two 40% off days. Hardier souls can handle this, but I'm just not that tough when it comes to shopping. Anyway, I grabbed my fabric and ran (after paying, of course).

This looks to be almost identical to the fabric in the pattern photo. It's your normal white fleece inside, with the outside of the fabric being a dark brown faux distressed leather. I think it's pretty masculine, unlike the pink-on-pink that was also available.


So, I haven't actually done any work on this pattern. Haven't even traced it out of the magazine. But, I'm thinking about it a lot. I hear the this stuff is a nightmare to sew with, but I'm in denial. It'll all work out just fine. And if I keep telling myself that, it just might be true.

Oh, in case you're wondering... It's (obviously) not a surprise. Kind of hard to hide a sewn gift in our house, since the trusty Kenmore's in the living room.

If it were raining on the moon...

from sarah the sewist

And I were an astronaut stuck in that lunar rainstorm, I'd have just the thing to wear.


You may remember a few months ago that Josh and I scored a serious haul of fabric from Rose City Textiles that was rather eclectic. Basically, it was a bunch of random, slightly sporty stuff that was only a buck a yard. Among that was some lovely satin waterproof stuff of unknown fiber content---I can guarantee that there's absolutely nothing natural. Anyway, I got about eight yards each of brown and blue. The brown is super-classy; the blue, not so much.

Anyway, it's started raining like all get out here in PDX, and I only have one raincoat (living in Santa Fe for three years will do that) that I have had since college. It's pretty ugly and has no hood, which kind of defeats the purpose of a raincoat in my book, since I'm a disaster with umbrellas (they always break on me). I keep it at work for rain emergencies, when I have to run across the street for coffee and the rain is just too torrential.

I bought a few of the Built by Wendy Patterns at the Fabric Depot when they were having one of their $2 Simplicity pattern sales. I've used all of them that I bought that day (someday I'll tell y'all about my waaaaay too low rise BBW jeans debacle---use your imagination) except 3694, which is a hoodie/dress pattern. I figured this would a be a quick and easy raincoat---which it really was. Well, beyond the little incident Josh shared with the world today. How mortifying.

I just think the whole thing looks fairly ridiculous, though.


With the floppy, A-line sleeves, I could take flight (maybe that would come in handy on the moon?).


Anyway, the jacket served my purposes, a new raincoat with an actual hood for under $5.

A few "design" notes: I top stitched the fronts of the raincoat, as well as the sleeves, where they attach to the body of the coat. I finished all of the seams with navy bias tape, which does go a long way in making the jacket look more professional, and less goofy. It's a good thing, too, because this fabric ravels, ravels, ravels. I'm hoping that the finishing job helps to keep the whole thing from falling apart. I also used a parka-style separating zipper, which looks fairly snazzy, although it does add to the overall moon rainstorm effect.


(Random weirdness: in this last picture you can see peeking out from under my new lunar raincoat, I'm wearing my Brandon Roy rookie t-shirt. Woo-hoo! Trail Blazer training camp starts this week!)

Oops!

from josh the sewer


The dog and I got a kick out of this. The Sewist accidentally mixed up the back piece and one of the arms on her current rain coat project. She did fix it quickly, though I thought it would be much cooler to leave it with the trunk opening. I am sure she will have more to add shortly.

We sewed quite a bit during this rainy and cold weekend. I am working on another pair of pants (this a pair of jeans made out of velveteen, I love Bolt, because I always find the neatest fabric) and a flannel shirt. The Sewist is keeping my head spinning with her multiple projects, which are all coming together at once.

Out of the Trenches

from sarah the sewist

My Indygo Junction Trench Topper that I was sewing as part of the Great Trench Coat Sew-a-long on Pattern Review is finished and I broke it in by wearing it to work today. I was a little uncomfortable with it just because it's a lot louder than most of my wardrobe, but it worked with dark jeans, a white collared blouse and my black cowboy boots. Someone even told me that it gave off a "vintage cool vibe," which sounds good to me. Not to mention, Josh and I went out to The Screen Door (yum!) for dinner this evening, and he claims that two diners noticed on my jacket. My style is generally not that noticeable, more cute than anything, so it's kind of nice to have something distinct and eye-catching.


I wrote about my progress here and here and it was really fun knowing that there were quite a few other folks working on a trench at the same time---although mine is more of an indoors jacket, rather than the outwear most of the others on Pattern Review are planning and sewing. It's funny, I was planning on sewing this jacket, but it jumped to the top of the queue when the sew-a-long was announced. The super-cool Amy Butler print from Bolt in an unusual cinnamon color and the lovely pink Moda fabric from Fabric Depot for the contrasting bands were a fun combination.

I covered the issues that I had with this pattern in my last blog entry, but I do want to re-iterate that while I had some problems, they were completely fixable and Indygo Junction seemed very happy to get the feedback about the errors in the pattern drafting. The other thing I noticed with this pattern is that it's already rather petite-ified. By that I mean that I didn't shorten the sleeves, and only took in the shoulders a smidge---which was great for me. My fix to the belt issue worked, and I think it looks like it was supposed to be this way.



Anyway, since this jacket is unlined, and since the Sewer and I don't have a serger (waaaah!), there was a lot of seam finishing on this jacket. Which was a colossal pain in the butt. Well worth it, but a pain, nonetheless.


I also faced the pink bands at the sleeves and bottom so that they'd have more of a structured look and flare out a bit more. Which I think turned out pretty nice, since the two fabrics were different weights. The contrasting bands actually, oddly, toned down the busy look of the main fabric, which is sort of interesting.

I must have placed the three stupid button on this jacket at least three times. Each. It was really difficult to figure out the right spot for the buttons, and I still not completely satisfied with the way the buttons look on the jacket. I am really crappy at hand sewing and avoid doing so at all costs. Our sewing machine does a lot for us---including auto buttonholes and it's really easy to use the machine to attach buttons. However, like I mentioned in a previous entry, the buttons I chose for this jacket were too big for the auto buttonholer, and it turns out, also are too big to sew on with the sewing machine. Which sucked. So I spent all of last evening sewing and re-sewing the buttons.

Basically, the buttons won.


I'm planning to make this trench again, especially since I've worked out all of the weirdness with the pattern, and since I have a decent stash of raincoat fabric on hand.

Whale of a Jacket

from josh the sewer

I have working on another big fall project. Earlier in the summer (and summer lasts for about 4 more hours as I write this), I found this St. Louis Americans jacket that I really wanted to replicate. The Sewist and I decided to use Burda Pattern 8135 and gray corduroy. For the trim I found braided, folded-over cording in navy blue. This project is not going to be solo, it is by far the hardest sewing project I have undertaken. The pattern has twenty some pattern pieces!

Instead of doing a straight replica of the St. Louis Americans logo, I decided to do make the whale part of the Chicago Whales (of the short lived Federal League) logo. I went back and forth on making an "authentic" piece of sports wear, but I didn't want to make a Cincinnati Reds jacket (my favorite baseball team---insert loser reference here) or a minor league team from Dayton, (the original hometown) or Portland (the permanent hometown and birthplace of the Sewist). Instead I decided to create a fictitious team the Portland Whales, I should also have a nice fake back-story written in my mind on completion of the project.


Anyway, so far I have sewn the back panel together and decided to eliminate the vents (I hate vents, and my digestive system has matured enough where they aren't an occupational necessity). At this rate I should have this project ready in time for Summer '09.

In the Trenches

from sarah the sewist

The Pattern Review Great Trench Coat Sew Along has proved just the motivator for me to start planning and working on some fall jacket projects. I'm working on the Indygo Junction Trench Topper in view 1, which is a lovely, princess-seamed (woo-hoo! my fave--I love princess seams!) trench coat. I'm creating a light weight cotton jacket that should serve me well this fall---particularly in my insanely cold office building (my fingers literally turned blue one day and I thought I was having some sort of circulation episode, but it was actually the a/c---I wish I was joking).

The Sewer, with his amazingly sharp eye for fabric and design, found this Amy Butler Fabric for the body of the jacket, and I'm using a complementary plain pink cotton from Moda for the bottom panels and bell sleeves. (In case you haven't noticed by now, 50% of the fabric I by is pink, which is weird, since almost all the clothes I bought in my 30 years are some sort of shade of blue.) Anyway, it's a gorgeous cinnamon color that's not at all orange---I don't share Josh's fascination with caution orange.

I have been completely spacey with this project, though having already forgotten to cut out THREE pieces. Yes, I, with all of my sewing experience and my somewhat advanced skills, didn't both to check to see what pieces I needed to cut out. I just cut out what I had, and didn't do any accounting of the pieces. Low and behold, I had dropped the piece for the front side panel, and neglected to trace the back facing at all. Absolutely brilliant.



As you can see, the omitted piece was a fairly critical component of the jacket. Oh, yeah, and did I mention that I griped about how the pattern called for way too much fabric, and so I wasn't at all careful with how I cut out my pieces? So, of course, we had to go by another yard of fabric. Of course.

So, I've sewn a grand total of one seam on this thing. So, far, so good.



It doesn't look like I've sewn anything backward, upside-down or wrong-side out, does it?

(By the way, Josh is making some slow and steady progress on a jacket of his own, but I'll leave it to him to update you.)

Pants-Pants Revolution!

from josh the sewer


I have this friend who a couple of years ago was obsessed with Dance-Dance Revolution. He and his wife used to have dance offs and he was always getting off the phone to play the game. I have never played it before in my life, but I dedicate the title to him (and puns make good titles for blogs).

Anyway the pants I made were the second go 'round of the Simplicity 3891 cargo pants. Like the first time I left off most of the pockets and decided to pass on using the zipper on the leg, but instead of cutting the legs out at the pants line I cut them at the zipper line to make the legs narrower than before. This resulted in a much more reasonably-sized leg circumference.

The pants are made with Robert Kauffman Kona Cotton in chocolate brown and the facing is made with the same fabric in caution orange; both were from Bolt. While at Nordstrom not too long ago I noticed a great pair of chino pants that were this color brown with orange top-stitching and details, the problem is I don't pay $150 for chinos; while there is nothing wrong with this, I just can't do it. In that same vein, to give the pants a more finished look I decided to take inspiration from Nordy's and the Sewist's latest skirt and use the twin needle to add some detail. I used brown thread to twin needle the pockets and the inseam. To do the hemming on the pants legs and to sew the facing down, I used the orange thread with the twin needle. I had some orange thread left over from a long ago project and when I bought the second spool I got the same color except it was made from cotton instead of silk, I like the effect of the subtle differences in shade.



I also went with the caution orange zipper, just to pull the whole look together. Creating the fly was much, much easier this time and required far less intervention from the Sewist.



I love the way these pants fit and look. This was my first attempt at making something fancier than the pattern called for, which was a nice way to be creative and not go too far above my skill level. It was also the first time I actually changed any major component of a pattern (I've left stuff off, but never really altered anything intentionally.) Oh yeah, I should add that I used a button to close the pants instead of Velcro as called for (actually, I did this in the first pair as well)---I am committed to keeping my pants from falling down in public.

This also marks a major milestone in my sewing---this is my first completely seam ripper-free completed project.

Another Burda WoF Skirt

from sarah the sewist

Between my Burda World of Fashion magazine subscription and my Sew What! Skirts book, I will never, ever have to purchase a skirt pattern again. This is a good thing, 'cause I'm cheap and skirt patterns always seem like a waste of money, since I'm probably not going to make a bunch of the same skirt. Pants, yes. Skirts, no.


This is the most recent skirt I've made thanks to Burda WoF. This is from their current "Plus" Fashion magazine (see minor rant on their "plus"designation here). It's sort of view "A" and sort of view "B" of style #406. I used the technical drawing for 406A as my inspiration, but the shorter length of 406B.

Wonderfully, Burda has enough sense to include---in all their magazines---a variety of styles for different body types, and I'm loving the fact that this skirt was already sized for those of us who are not exactly tall. (I'm 5'4", but the fashion/sewing pattern industry has decided that I'm some sort of super-short freak, even though that's just a smidge shorter than the national average of 5'5". I often try on pants and they're probably 7 inches too long.) Anyone, wonderfully, there was no petitizing of this pattern for me, which fabulous.

I made this in the lovely brown stretch cotton sateen I got a Bolt awhile back, the same stuff I used for my super-awesome pink Hot Patterns shirt. I probably could have made better use out of this fabric by making the Hot Patterns Razor Sharp Classix Nouveau pants that I had been planning, but it's fantastically comfortable for a skirt, just doesn't drape and flip like Burda intended for this style. Which is fine with me.

I added a little pizazz to this one by taking a cue from the technical drawing above and adding a lot of topstitching.



I topstitched on either side of the panel seams with the twin needle, switching to a single needle when the panels split and the gores are inserted. (Does that make sense?) I also twin needled the seam when the yoke meets that panels and the hem. All together, it really creates a tailored, professional look. (The rich brown doesn't hurt either.) Oh, and you'll be relieved to know that after four and a half attempts (!!!) I finally conquered the invisible zipper that just wouldn't cooperate.



(I'm still not sure about the Built by Wendy blouse I'm wearing in this picture. I've made it twice, but it's not been quite right either time.)

The Vinyl Countdown

from josh the sewer

Pictured here is the Sewist's birthday gift. My Dad likes to say "Vinyl is Final" when explaining his choice of house siding; this phrase stuck with me as making this. Being somewhat limited in my sewing skills, my choice of projects are small. The Sewist loves bags so I decided to bust out the Amy Butler Messenger Bag pattern again. Instead of doing something that I could get through easily and quickly, I decided that she NEEDED a pink sparkly vinyl bag, to deal with the wet winters here in Oregonia. For the interior I went with the Echino Beehive in eggplant that I picked up from Bolt. The appliqué is reflective fabric, that kind you see on coats for high visibility. At the Mill End store they sell it in 12 x 18 sheets for $4. This is actually cool, at $25 a yard on the bolt it is much cheaper to buy the sheets to make tall and wide things.

The first part of the project was making the appliqué. I found a crow picture on the internet and blew it up in Photoshop. I printed it, cut it out of of paper, traced it onto the back of the reflective fabric and cut very carefully. I stitched the crow to the outside flap with silk and metallic thread that astonishingly matched perfectly. This part went really really well. I was feeling really good about the project at this point. Next was the vinyl (here the sound effect should sound like DUM, dum, dah; ominous like).

Wow, the sparkly vinyl is really cool and pretty, but my god it is hard to work with, especially if you have no idea what you are doing (see: me). I decided to make the strap first, though it is a middle step in the instructions. I like to get the little things out of the way first (and I am actually working on a separate post about this, because it is interesting how differently the Sewist and I look at directions). Following the pattern's directions, I folded the two sides toward the middle, to deal with fabrics stubbornness, I glued like crazy and stacked books on top to hold it down. After a couple of hours, I folded, glued and stacked again. Now it was time for the sewing. I actually was able to get it stitched, terribly. The vinyl was incredibly sticky and it took me PULLING it though. I figured this was bad for the machine, so I called the Sewist at work and spoiled the surprise. I was drenched in sweat, the strap was really terribly screwed up and the sewing machine looked tired. The Sewist was not impressed with what I was doing to her machine so I called it day.

The next time out I sewed the exterior together, which was going great when the right sides were together. So the problems were back again as soon as the exterior of the vinyl touched any part of the machine. I was really close to quiting and going to Nordstrom's and buying something, when it hit me that there has to be a way to do this (the Sewist mentioned a Teflon foot). I googled "sewing vinyl" and on this site someone mentioned wax paper. Melting wax paper onto the exterior worked swimmingly. The other bit about working with the fabric is that is is impossible to iron the seems open, so I trimmed them short (but not too short). The last bit about the vinyl is it is really difficult to turn inside out.

The interior actually came together as expected.

For the strap I went with a different tactic, I cut a 3.25 inch wide slice of the exterior and 3.25 inch wide slice of the Enchino Beehive which I backed with fleece interfacing, like the straps from the Very Green Bag. I sewed everything right side together and turned inside out. I think with the strength of the vinyl one layer will be sufficient and the fleeced fabric should be pretty comfortable. Turning the strap right side out took some time and an incredibly sore finger, but the results are pretty nice, though a little puffy. I again stacked books on top of the strap to get it to lay flatter, which is working, though in need of another night at this point.

The changes to the original pattern include:

no tab, actually no clasp also, the flap is heavy enough to stay shut;
no flap pocket, neither the Sewist or I every use it on the bags that we have;
no top-stitching on the outside, not necessary, no desire to wax paper again;
strap, as I mentioned;
tool pocket has more usable slots, for things like cellphones or iPods
and no canvas backing, this things weighs a ton already and is plenty stable.

Lessons learned:

probably the last time for sticky vinyl, too too too hard to deal with for any length of time
and anytime I am dead tired after making a seam, I probably am doing something wrong.


The next bag I make (one that I might actually use myself), will probably be our first adventure in designing a pattern. The Amy Butler Pattern is really great, but I am finding more not to like every time and there are things like shape and size that I would do very differently.

The crow is in honor of our dog, who hates them. We have always joked that if she had her own company it would be called "30 or So Crows" for the number she would like to catch every day. Another sign of our complete dog dorkdom!

Happy Birthday Honey, enjoy!

A First

This post has moved to our new blog. The direct link is located here.






from sarah the sewist

Since Josh is working on a pretty complicated, involved project at the moment (more on that when he's done), I decided to start (and finish) a simple project... You know, to create some balance in the sewer-sewist sewing world. During the Fabric Depot 30% off sale (which seems to have been running perpetually lately), I picked up the Amy Butler pattern for the Gum Drop Pillows. These things are basically HUGE octagonal puffs.

Oddly, this is the first home decorator item I've made in twenty-odd years of sewing. I've racked my brain and I don't think that I've ever made a curtain, pillowcase, pot holder and certainly not a quilt. It just never occurred to me. I learned to sew clothes years ago, and that's what I've stuck with. But, Josh and I have been complaining about our profound lack of "stuff" in our house, and I saw this pattern, and figured it'd be pretty simple and low commitment.

I used some lovely, typically fun Free Spirit 100% cotton poplin from Heather Ross' "Lightning Bugs" collection. I sewed the smaller puff, with alternating yellow and brown panels, with white in the same fabric as the top panel. The instructions have you cut out what is half the pattern pieces, trace them and then flip the piece over and trace the other side. That was way too fussy for me, so I just cut out each side with my rotary cutter, flipping the piece over to make the whole panel.



Then I just sewed the entire thing together. It was that easy. That part took literally less than an hour.

Then the real fun began...

Since I'm sort of cheap (both of us are, actually), I really didn't want to spent $20+ on stuffing. We have quite a few old pillows laying around the house, so I simply de-stuffed a couple and used that filling to stuff the new puff. Our dog took quite the interest in this part of the process (maybe sewing can really be a family affair?) and decided to "help" by sitting right next to me, staring as I de-stuffed and re-stuffed. I think it blew her mind---it was just too much like her de-stuffing her toys. (She may have been thinking, "Mom's really a DOG?!") All-in-all, it took one and a half old king-sized pillows to stuff the puff. I'm not sure if that's equivalent to the recommended 10-twelve ounce bags of filling called for in the pattern.

Finally, because I really couldn't think of a way to strong-arm the puff (it's really BIG) into the sewing machine to close the hole left for stuff, I was forced to hand sew. I hate hand sewing, and truly cannot remember the last time I hand sewed anything. Despite that it took me forever, the finished product turned out pretty great...

Except one little thing... Can you spot it?

Yeah, I forgot this was a directional fabric. For about five seconds I considered re-doing the entire thing. Then I realized that would be insane. So it is, how it is.

I actually really like this puff, and I think I'll make the larger version soon, so we can have an ottomans. They're that big.

Oh, and the dog loves it.