Sandra Loves Sewing: Pattern Drafting Wonderland

Sandra Loves Sewing: Pattern Drafting Wonderland: Well, I've made a commitment. A commitment to work on my pattern drafting for at least the next six months. That doesn't mean I ...

Sandra Loves Sewing: Pattern Drafting Wonderland

Sandra Loves Sewing: Pattern Drafting Wonderland: Well, I've made a commitment. A commitment to work on my pattern drafting for at least the next six months. That doesn't mean I ...

Pattern Drafting Wonderland

Well, I've made a commitment. A commitment to work on my pattern drafting for at least the next six months. That doesn't mean I won't keep using Ottobre magazines nor Patrones.  It just mean I want to hone my skills and wear the sort of clothes or styles that are essentially me.

I'm tired of buying patterns, usually, they don't fit and I have to adjust anyway.  The sleeves in patterns are usually too short and so is the neck to waist measurement. So, I always have to adjust anyway.  My, I'm making my body shape sound like I'm a monkey!

I use a pattern drafting system called SitamAB. A number of years ago I did some study in pattern drafting.  Getting back to it is hard.  I tend to use a mix of this system and knowledge from traditional pattern drafting.  It's going to take me a while to get the hang of things again.

I have been wanting to make a shirt for a while.  I guess I was inspired again by the final episode of The Great British Sewing Bee. In this episode contestants made a men's fitted shirt. I obviously wanted a women's fitted shirt with a sleeve placket done in the same way as this episode, and french cuffs on the sleeves to accommodate cuff links.

Cuff links on a women's shirt? You'd want cuff links to if you had bought these vintage cuff links:

So, I really liked the way a placket is done on a men's shirt.  I'd never done this before.  Good old Google found me the perfect set of instructions at http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/25307/how-to-make-a-precision-placket/page/all  the first placket took a while, but, oh, the second sleeve placket came together so, so much more easily.

Here's the first placket:

Eat your heart out The Great British Sewing Bee, actually thank you, for being an inspiration.

Google, Google you are a sewists dream come true, we are able to ask questions and get answers to our many questions; we are able to tap into other people's experiences.  What a grand time to be sewing.

Here is my toile, yes, I know it's not in calico.  My first one was, and I was about to do it in calico again after I'd made some adjustments; but, in the corner of my room lurked a piece of cotton twill I'd destashed and decided "what the heck, if I mucked it up, too bad and if it worked - bonus!"

So, here's the toile, I do need to make some minor adjustments to the pattern, but I am happy with it:

Now to make another...

What have you been challenging yourself with?

Happy sewing.

Sandra

Stretch fabric cardigan

My overlocker and I are spending some quality time with each other lately.

I've been sorting through my ever expanding stash.  Sadly some fabrics have moved onto other homes, others are with me.  I am trying really hard not to add to my stash at the moment.

Whilst sorting I came across a boucle orange fabric, just one meter, 150 cm wide, would there be enough to make a cardigan?  With much fiddling - yes.  Luckily it is a busy fabric, because the bottom band is piece, upon piece of fabric sewn together.

The pattern used was Seamworks, Wembly Cardigan 3024.

https://www.seamwork.com/

An hour and a half sewing time! May have taken less time had I been able to see the eye of the needle to rethread the overlocker, and had a needle not drop out of the machine!

Such a fantastic, quick project, done entirely on the overlocker (serger), would highly recommend this. The fit on this companies patterns are true.

Happy sewing everyone

Sandra

I did make another cardigan in black to go with my Ottobre dress.

Sandra Loves Sewing: Teeny tiny zipper pouches

Sandra Loves Sewing: Teeny tiny zipper pouches: Christmas, birthdays, thank you gift, I had this in mind when looking for a pattern to use. This is an excellent scrap busting project...

Teeny tiny zipper pouches

Christmas, birthdays, thank you gift, I had this in mind when looking for a pattern to use.

This is an excellent scrap busting project.  Good little gift to give as a thank you or to someone for Christmas or birthdays.

I got the free pattern from:  http://so-sew-easy.com/teeny-tiny-zipper-pouches-christmas/

I found the hanging clips from www.daisostore.com.au/  (not on their web site) four clips for $2.80 and are of better quality than those I purchased from a craft show recently.

The So Sew Easy site is excellent for all sorts of free and purchased patterns.  The patterns are so easy, the patterns range from tops, dresses, to gift items.

Happy sewing.

Sandra

Sandra Loves Sewing: An important lesson, in sewing.

Sandra Loves Sewing: An important lesson, in sewing.: So, or sew. I tried the Fast and Fun Downloadable patterns - Hoodie Jacket.  It is an easy to follow and construct pattern. I must admit, ...

An important lesson, in sewing.

So, or sew. I tried the Fast and Fun Downloadable patterns - Hoodie Jacket.  It is an easy to follow and construct pattern.

I must admit, I had reservations before making this top because of the winged panels.  Reservations, because I am plus sized and prefer more fitted garments.

This is my final top:

Hang on you say, this has 'no wings'!  You know those reservations I had about the pattern, well I should have followed my gut feeling!  This is not a criticism of the pattern, in fact, the pattern has easy to follow instructions and is easy to sew, I enjoyed sewing it, it was just a poor choice of pattern for my figure type.

So, this is how the pattern should look:

It was all coming together nicely when, at 2 am (I was having a nice time sewing, a real luxury when you are on holidays), I thought I should have a look at what it looks like on me and on my dressmaking dummy:

No, no, no, I am not pregnant and do not want to encourage this look on me.  So, at 2 am I thought I better go to bed, because I knew that  to take the panel out and finish the top would take me equally an amount of time to fix as it would have taken me to sew.

The next morning I removed the side winged panels with the pocket and straightened out the back panel to match the front.

Would I make this pattern again in it's original format?  No, it's not for me.  I would however, consider doing it again in the modified form.  I would add pockets and fully line the hoody.

If you are thin, I would recommend this pattern, but, it's not for me.

I learnt two important lessons, I should just go back to pattern drafting, the work involved with adjusting a purchased pattern is not worth the time and, more importantly, don't stray from your own style.

Happy sewing everyone.

Sandra