Finding a Cache of Threads

In the last couple of weeks, I've found some delightful thrift store scores. One of them was this stack of Threads magazines from the late 90s/early 2000s. There were 21 in the stack but I already owned two, so came home with 19 new-to-me magazines.

I really like having physical magazines to flip through when I'm in the mood for it. I can flag any technique or project I want to try; I can pick them up and put them down without fear of losing track of which website I was on when I saw something interesting! And I'm not a Marie Kondo follower, so I actually like having a row of magazine boxes on my shelf :)

In any case, I had a lot of fun looking through these old magazines. I found a couple of articles in particular that are really useful to me right now. Isn't it funny how styles may change, but the sewing info found in these articles remains golden for years.

And I found familiar names from today's sewing world on Instagram and Pattern Review, in the tips and letters sent in, even from the early 2000s! (TCSewhat, I'm looking at you LOL)

Something I really enjoy about older magazines (these ones are at least 20 years old now) is checking out all the advertisements, especially the ones in the back. Even with only a 20 year gap some of them feel ancient. But there are SO MANY Indie pattern designers advertising regularly; we'd be remiss to think that the Indie revolution started with Colette.

I was so intrigued by the advertisements that I started searching online to see if any of those indie designers were still in business. It was surprising to find that many still were, with a few no longer designing but still having their patterns available. So to close, here are just some of those originals who are still designing and selling in the Indie Pattern world albeit most of them with very retro websites. Have fun checking them out!

Islander Sewing Systems

Petite Plus Patterns

Christine Jonson Patterns

Cutting Line Designs

Green Pepper

Pamela's Patterns

WWWearables

Saf-T-Pockets Patterns

Silhouette Patterns

L.J. Designs

Great Copy

Pavelka Design (so 90s! No longer designing but patterns are still available to order)

Weekend Review: the Dress Shop of Dreams

Dress Shop of Dreams / Meena van Pragh
New York: Ballantine, c2014.
326 p.

Dresses. Books. Science. Baking. All in one.

This is another story about a magical vintage dress shop; there seemed to be run of them for a while!

It's cute, sweet, a little predictable and not altogether believable -- but still entertaining and charming. And the cover is lovely :)

Cora Sparks is a focused realist, a scientist whose parents died mysteriously when she was quite young. She was raised by her wonderful grandmother Etta, the owner of said dress shop. When women come to try on dresses, Etta stitches in a magical little star somewhere on the inside which brings women their dreams. 

Mixed in with this story is Cora's search for the truth of her parents' tragic deaths, a conspiracy with long-reaching effects. And there is also a secondhand bookseller just down the street, one who bakes a mean cherry pie. And is the velvet voice of a late night radio show. Walt has been Cora's friend since they were 5 yrs old, but she doesn't see how he adores her. Until Etta throws a little magical influence into the mix...

There are many lines in the story that cross and influence one another, just like Etta's little thread stars. If you let yourself go with the flow, you'll probably enjoy this sweet read. 

In some bookish ways it reminded me of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (the good parts) or maybe even the slightly loopy magical bits from stories by Sarah Addison Allen. If you like shopping vintage, or details of said dresses, or a gentle romantic thread, this is a great pick. 

Reuse, don't Chuck that Tee!

At my library we celebrated our local Trashion Week (leading up to Fashion Revolution Week) with a few workshops. I was lucky enough to be able to lead a session on upcycling t-shirts into scarves, alongside a friend and volunteer who is also a sewist.

This is a quick and easy idea for a workshop, whether it's at a library or just a crafternoon activity with friends (in that case you could also have refreshments. Just sayin.) We asked staff and a few family members for donations of any old tees they no longer wanted, and encouraged attendees to bring one if they had one they'd like to reuse. We ended up with plenty!

Then we found a few patterns online for variations of t-shirt scarves, printed off the instructions, and queued up the smartboard with some youtube tutorials in case we needed them (we did). We had a great time! Over the course of an hour and a half, we cut up old tees, made them into new and wearable fashions, and had a lot of fun together.

I chose to share a pattern which I've made a few times as a Christmas gift, this braided scarf, and we also found another semi-braided variety. One of the participants came with her own design as well -- isn't it gorgeous?

I got so excited by the possibilities that I rounded up a few more links of things to do with old t-shirts. Here are the ideas I shared at our workshop -- I hope some of them will catch your interest and give you a good way to use up old tees or even your leftover knit scraps (I know we all have a lot of those!)


12 Ways to Recycle Your T-Shirts

Recycle a T-Shirt

39 Ways to Reuse, Recycle & Rewear your Old T-Shirt

 

50 Recycled T-Shirt Craft Projects
 

Me Made May 19: a pledge

I didn't really take part in Me Made May last year; I seem to join in sporadically. I think I will join in this year though, for the 10th annual challenge, with a different kind of pledge than in previous years.

I have tons of memade at this point; I can easily wear a different memade garment every day. That's not a challenge any more. What is a challenge is thinking about my memade wardrobe in the light of sustainability. How much do I need? And is my making done thoughtfully? These questions are more of the kind of challenge I'm thinking about lately.

So my focus this year is to figure out whether I'm wearing and enjoying my already existing wardrobe of memades, what garments/fabrics in my stash are keepers and which to pass on, and to make some decisions about the kinds of fabrics I'll buy in future -- thinking about what things my wardrobe needs and how I can fulfill that in the most sustainable way I can. 

I hope everyone who is participating remembers that according to Zoe's original manifesto, this challenge isn't intended to spark a sewing frenzy in order to wear something different every day or to take daily photos if you don't want to. It's a way to get to know your me made wardrobe better. I hope it will help me do so this year!

Weekend Review: The Essential A-Line

The Essential A-Line: make 17 flirty skirts from 1 basic pattern
Jona Giammalva
Lafayette, CA: Stash Books, c2013.
128 p.

I've owned this book for quite a while but haven't yet gotten around to making a skirt from it. I spent this week looking through it and examining the ideas that Jona Giammalva shares, and noting the designs and tips I liked. For example, there's one intriguing lining method that I've never seen before.

As the cover states, there are 17 different designs created from one basic a-line skirt pattern. That is a tiny bit misleading for new sewists, since the designs require a bit of pattern hacking for each one -- it's not hard but you will have to retrace and alter the master pattern for the different additions and designs. There are lots of illustrations telling you how to make changes, and the instructional tone is quite engaging and complete.

The sizing is good -- from 0 -20, or xs to xl, which equates to a 33" - 47.5" hip. The master pattern is for an a-line skirt (obviously) without a waistband, which is intended to sit an inch below your natural waist. The pattern is a fold out sheet in the back of the book, made to trace off in your size.

The book is laid out in sections: first, tools and notions, then information about the pattern and fit tips, then finishing techniques. It's pretty thorough, covering basics like altering for a slim or curvy figure, altering darts, adding belt loops, inserting zips, hemming options and so on. There are many lovely photographs both in this part of the book and of course in the project part as well.

The majority of the book is the project guide. Each variation is photographed, clearly described, and the sewing steps are clear and logical. The book is aimed at new sewists and so includes a lot of basic information, which I think would make things less intimidating for newbies. The style is very country chic, though; most of the skirts use quilting cottons, and many of the photos are of women in a field or hanging laundry, etc. If you can't see past the images to the potential of the pattern lines, this might put you off at first.

I think it's a pretty interesting take on how to change up one basic pattern shape and get a lot (really, a lot) of different looks from it. There's even a maternity version here. It's an encouraging set of ideas on how to make the most of one well fitting pattern which sewists could apply to any of their favourites.

 It did give me a couple of interesting ideas, but overall it's not 100% to my personal taste. I like to sew with cottons, including quilting cottons, but the aesthetic of this book isn't really mine.

 Also, I don't like skirts that don't sit at my waistline -- I always feel like they're about to fall off and I'm continually hitching them up. So I doubt that I'll actually make anything from this particular master pattern, but I might use another basic skirt pattern that I like and try some of her techniques for embellishment or colour blocking. I really liked her patchwork version! And adding some gathered strips along the bottom edge looked kind of neat as well.

So a pretty handy and well laid out intro level book. If you know someone who's just starting out, this is an easy gateway book! It makes sense, since the author is known for her blog, Stop Staring and Start Sewing, aimed at getting people to start sewing instead of wishing they could sew.

You can get a good look into the contents at google books, including that unusual lining tip on p. 29 if you need any encouragement to check this out.

To Tee or Not to Tee: a 90s top redone

Do you muslin something as simple as a t-shirt or pop-over blouse? I don't, generally, but I was prepping some older patterns I thrifted recently, and found that this McCalls 6091 90s suit pattern had a hidden gem: a nice boxy blouse with lots of potential.

This top's recommended fabrics are a challis or soft cotton kind of drape. I never usually try out such simple things before using my intended fabric, but this time I'm planning on cutting up an old dress and didn't want to waste the limited and very pretty fabric. So I found a scrap in my stash that was just the right size (about 1/2" waste left after cutting this out) and went ahead. And after I cut it I realized that I'd used a knit to muslin for a woven. Doh!

But I continued on since this pattern is quite literally two pieces. Plus neck facings, but I left those out on this trial make and just turned and stitched. I really just wanted to see if I'd got the sizing right.

And I did, if I'll be using a knit in future. In fact, I quite like the shape and fit of this as a simple tee, and think I might just be using up a few more little leftover bits to make myself some colourful summer tops.

As for alterations: I cut the neckline much higher than the pattern indicated, more of a boat neck style. The "U" neckline might be pretty but it is also far too low for my body as it is patterned. So even if I do use more of the original shape next time, it will be raised.

I also gave myself an extra inch on each side seam of front and back when cutting out. I graded out from just below the bustline to the hem. It was perfect. I just turned and stitched the neckline and the sleeve and bottom hem, using a long and narrow zigzag. It works fine on this busy print, you can't really see the stitches at all, and there aren't any puckers.

So someday I really do intend to make this in its proper incarnation as a woven top, but for now, I'm quite happy with this wearable muslin.

Maybe I should muslin more often!

Scrapbusting with Bias Tape

I found this little gadget in the sale bin at my local Fabricland this week -- at 90% off it was a no-brainer to pick it up!

I do love bias tape and have always meant to use up my random dressmaking scraps -- the ones that are too large to chuck but too small to do much else with -- in making loads of bias tape. Now that I have this handy little helper, I had to finally give it a go.

I refreshed my memory of how to do this in the round with this video:




Doing it this way is quick and easy...even easier with a handy tool! You can do it with a pin stuck into your ironing board, apparently, but I never found that very easy to manage.

In any case, I used a scrap left over from the dress I have just finished (love this fabric!) and now have a nice colourful bit of cotton bias tape. Though I must admit it did take me longer than 5 minutes.

For this 1/2"Bias tape maker, I had to cut a 1" strip. I had one that I'd trimmed -- not really bias but this fabric is quite stretchy so I thought I'd use this as my first quick experiment.

You just need a pin to pull the fabric through to start, and then a hot iron to press the fabric as it comes out of the nose of the thingy as you pull the little handle. I found that I had to use my hand to keep the curled form as I pressed it, but it really helped to have the device holding the form even if a bit loosely.

Voila -- a strip of bias(ish) tape! I found that the finished tape was quite narrow,so left it as single fold tape. Another solid press to flatten it out well, and then it was stored on an empty thread spool -- handy, that. 

But then I wanted to try it again with it all done properly, so cut a 12 x 12 square of cotton check, and then remembered that somewhere in my stash I had a 1" tape maker. After a bit of searching, I found it, and so cut the bias strips 2" wide for a finish of 1". I used a Frixion pen to draw on the bias lines. 

Then I cut the strips, ran it through the tape maker and secured it to the end of the ironing board and kept going.

I had quite a bit of bias tape when I was done. And I really like how the check looks on the bias. I think I might use up the rest of that old apron front to make more! When I had run it all through, I then pressed it again to make a double fold bias tape in the finished width I wanted, with one edge just barely meeting the other. It looks great, and will be very useful!

Let's see how much more I can get out of my scrap bag!

Weekend Review: Beginner's Guide to Making Skirts

A Beginner's Guide to Making Skirts / Wendy Ward
London: Cico Books, c2016
160 p.

Here is the second book by Wendy Ward that I was able to get from my public library. I liked it even better than the first book!

Perhaps that's because I'm in the mood to make a bunch of skirts as a basic staple of my wardrobe -- my three favourite black skirts are wearing out and it's time to sew up a few more that I will wear a lot. This book has lots of options to work with.

There are lots of reviews and blog posts about every single one of the designs on Wendy Ward's website if you want more in-depth info on each. There are 8 basic designs, and just like in her first book she shares options to change, customize, and personalize each design, meaning there are a lot more than 8 basic skirts here.

There are pattern sheets in the back, again, to trace off (and yes, the tracing is still eye-crossingly mixed up, but doable with some patience.) I hope to make 4 out of the 8 skirts -- and probably a variation or two. If only I had more sewing time! 

I like the variety of silhouettes on offer -- you could probably make almost any design you liked from this set. The instructions are clear, and the photos are sharp, stylish and modern. Each project has its own set of instructions but there is also a section at the end of the book on basic tips and techniques -- inserting elastic or pockets, inserting closures of many kinds, attaching waistbands, hemming, adjusting pattern sizes, and so on.

Another plus to this book is that the sizing range has been greatly expanded from the first book I read by Wendy Ward. The range goes from US 4 -22, or UK 8-26 (ranging from a 25 - 41.5" waist and a 34.5 to 51" hip.)

This book is particularly interesting to me, and I'm planning on attacking the very cool Roehampton culottes first. Then I'm going to have to little look to see if I can find Wendy Ward's brand-new book, A Beginner's Guide to Sewing with Knitted Fabrics. I like her style!

Fabricville Project: Purple Dot McCalls 7834

For my most recent dress for the Fabricville Bloggers Project, I chose this very sweet McCalls 7834, a Laura Ashley design. I had my eye on View B (the blue one in the middle) as the most likely to suit me.

I had also seen this amazing fabric in the Fabricville online store -- it's purple, it is polka dotted, and there is text in those dots! It's everything I love! Plus it's a nice weight of quilting cotton, with a tiny bit of stretch to it; I really like using quilting cotton for clothing, despite any snobbishness in the garment sewing world... you just have to select the right pattern for it.

In any case, I received these two things and got right to work. I was sidelined for a bit by my bout of flu the week before last, but finished it this week and just had to wear it immediately, despite the chilly & very windy weather ;)

I really love how it turned out. The fabric has a nice weight to it, not too heavy but not too thin either. It holds the shape of the skirt really well, with the gathers at the waist and in the lower ruffle. I did alter the skirt quite a bit with the properties of the fabric in mind: I reduced the width of the top ruffle by about an inch on each end of both front and back panels to reduce excess gathers. And the bottom ruffle was supposed to be made of *three* panels -- I immediately chose to reduce that to two panels, with two inches added on to each end. That way the amount of gathering would be more balanced, and more wearable in this stiffer fabric. In a challis or chiffon, the gathering indicated in the pattern would work well.

I had to increase the bicep in the sleeve by about an inch as well, and decided after I tried it on to leave the sleeves at a longer length, as I like the effect. And the collar was straightforward, with a nice shape.

I also decided to make my own covered buttons for this dress. I didn't want to waste any of this fabulous fabric! Plus I didn't have any buttons that seemed to work well with this dress, so when I remembered that I'd picked up a covered button set at the thrift store, and they were the right size, it was my immediate choice to use them. I read somewhere that to make really nice covered buttons you should add some padding between the fabric & the button form, so I put a layer of felt in between and it gives them a nice roundness.

I was in such a hurry to wear this that I didn't get all the loose threads picked off!

This is rated as an "easy" pattern, and it really is pretty easy! It slips on over the head -- there is an elastic casing in the back waist to gather it up a little but still allow for expansion. Thus the waist is not fully fitted, so if you prefer a very close fitting waist this is probably not the pattern for you. But it's a comfortable fit, and I think the shape is nice enough as it is.

I, of course, added pockets -- why would you have a gathered skirt without them? I used my standard side seam pocket pattern and sewed it in with the top of the pocket even with the top of the skirt. When you do this, just remember to gather the skirt first, leaving the pocket free, and then pin the pocket down over the gathers prior to attaching to the waist seam, or you'll have some weirdly uneven gathers in a front skirt! And I was very pleased with the blind hem on this dress - I finally figured out how to use my blind hem foot properly and it looks so nice - in fact you can hardly see the hem stitches :)

The fabric really appealed to me for the text within the circles. When I received the fabric I realized the text was from a news story -- you can see Obama, Situation, Haiti, Emergency, firefighters, & more in it -- but I'll just pretend that it's found poetry ;) Thank goodness it doesn't say "Trump" anywhere, or I'd have sent it right back.

This was a really fun dress to make, pretty straightforward, with good instructions, and lots of variations available in the pattern. I found that everything went together well, even the collar, and the proportions are nicely balanced. The only thing missing is pockets ;) 

 And I just love this fabric! Perfect to wear in the library. Another text based dress for my collection!

Artistically Inspired 80s Dress

Forgetfulness is a strange thing -- I made this New Look 6344 Dress way back in September, and then forgot to blog or review it, and also forgot to wear it all winter once it got tucked away in a corner of my closet. I retrieved it today and wore it again, so thought it was also time to share it!

I found this wonderful vintagey pattern in a local thrift store, and thought that the shorter length would be perfect for a lightweight floral polyknit I found at Fabricland. I originally decided to make this dress as soon as I saw the fabric -- I was planning on going to an artist's talk by Amanda McCavour for her beautiful installation at Gallery Stratford -- thread work poppies, so gorgeous and peaceful.

When I saw this fabric I knew I had to make a matching dress! But there were only 3 days until the talk, so it had to be an easy to make dress. This 80s dress fit the bill.

It was a pretty straightforward sew. Even with the shorter length I had to shorten the skirt some more. Perils of being only 5'2". I left it a bit longer than I would usually though, as I liked the longer, flowier feel of this design. Of course I added pockets, with some seam tape along the edge of the pocket/skirt seam to reduce stretching.

It's then sewn together and an elastic casing formed from the waist seam allowance. Thread through the elastic, turn under & stitch the neckline and sleeve hems, and then leave the hem unfinished -- I couldn't face stabilizing all the very long hem and it looks perfectly fine unfinished. I like the easy way when possible!

Such a full skirt :)

In any case, finding something in your closet after 6 months which you've completely forgotten about means it's like a new dress :) I enjoyed rediscovering this colourful comfy dress today and also realizing that I could share it with you all. I hope you've enjoyed this little visit to a gorgeous art installation from September!