Remnant top..

I got this piece of material at Joanns, from there remnant shelf. It is about 22 in Long so it took me a little bit to figure out what to make out of basically, a half of yard piece of material. I had to turn the material sideways to make the top,

I had a real dilemma trying to figure out how to do the neck, I wanted to put elastic in it but I wasn't sure how to do it,because the knit it was not very stable, very unravely. So first I used a wonderful product called wash away wonder tape Here.

The  Wonder tape was the exact width of the elastic I wanted to use,  so I literally just put the tape on around the neck, where I wanted the elastic at clipping as I went.

      

                                                     Wash away tape.

                                                

Peal off the backing.

                                                           Apply the elastic.

Serge the neck and turn under.

                                                     
It worked, and I am so glad, because I have several other pieces to make tops out of like this...

ITY top

Another take on my TnT knit top,,  but with one difference,, I used ITY fabric,,, now I made one several months ago,, and didn't like it at all,, so I thought I would try it again,,, I LOVE this one,,,, it is so comfortable  the difference,, I added about 3/8 in to the middle of the side seam,, and yes just to the middle. You know had some shirt styles go in a little for the hour glass shape,,, well my pattern did to,, so I left the side seam straight,, and it worked perfectly,,                    

I wanted to do something different on the neck,, but couldn't decide what,, I wanted it to stand out just a bit and not blend in so much,,, I wanted to put a trim on with the binding,, but with what,, and what color, I either had off white or green to choose from in the colors form material to work with,,, so I got to looking at the material and noticed the white on the salvage,, perfect,, only problem it is not bias, so that means I have to curve it myself,,,

                               

                                      Time for the iron, and a lot of steam,,,,

                                                         

                                                          Whala....

Twin set.

I love twin sets.... sometimes I have to realize that a twinset may not be the top and over shirt that comes together in a pattern, but sometimes its what  you put together... this set  is the jacket form  Vogue 8559 and a self made top,  the material is a slightly heavy sweater knit,, actually a little heavier than I wanted, but it will work, for now..........I don't just love it, so I am definitely going to make the pattern again,, cause I just like the casualness... (is that a word) of it,,, besides, any thing that hides tummy fluff it a good thing,, lol...

Oh,,, I found something to do with my dress form,,,, HA...I don't have a mirror to take pix of myself, so this is the next best thing,, problem is, clothes look better on the form than on me,,,, oops, did I say that...

 Ok ok,, so I went a little overboard with the pix,,  I had such a hard time deciding which ones to post,, I posted them all,, well not ALL,, I did delete about 5 or 10 or,, oh you know,,,,

Burda 7595

This is another new favorite,, any pattern that I can make for my Dd straight out of the envelope is basically a favorite,, lol..

 I used a very light weight almost sheer knit from my stash,, Making view A,,I  shortened  it a couple inches, and the collar, it calls for it to be hemmed, but I didn't want the wrong side to show, so I folded it in half and sewed both ends into the neckline.. then I finished the hems with a double needle,, 

New top.

Simplicity 2147 is up next, I have been working on this  had it on my table a while,, I can claim procrastination for part of it,, but mostly it was a lack of commitment in design that got me,,the body of the shirt is supposed to be tucked,, but I didn't know how it would look over DD boobs,, I didn't want the material straining pulling the tucks apart, so I gathered it instead,, it actually looks good,, and I didn't have to do a FBA,, YEAH,,,,,

I think I sewed a 14 straight out of the pattern,, so if this fits that well over her, you know it has to have a LOT of ease,, the yoke "that includes the sleeves", kinda gets lost in the busy pattern of the material,, which is ITY from fabric.com.. I was really nervous about using it, cause it is a little drapey, (is that a word?) I was afraid too drapey,, but it works,, and it works even better with a undershirt,, the gathers don't fall between the um boobs, so it looks good that way... and she likes it,, YES,, we have a winner,,   

I think I will try and make her another sometime, and put a piping or contrast material between the yoke and body, so it distinguishes then...

Nothing special,,,

Another Vogue 8151 done,, I think I could have taken this one in a little more in the arms,, but it still works... 

I am trying to teach Holly to pose a little,, I think we'll keep trying,, lol...

The shirt that wouldn't go away,,,,

I have made this pattern several times.. but not out of woven fabric,, well woven that stretches.. I have never had so much trouble putting in a binding for a neck.. Of coarse part of the problem was I didn't take into consideration the "lack" of stretch the material had... But I finally got it right,,,

I just wish she liked it,,,, 'sigh',, no she doesn't like it....  she got home from school and I asked her what she thought of it,, because you know that now matter how much you like the print, the pattern or the style,, if it doesn't feel good,, then it won't work,,, well she told me she doesn't like anything about it.,... WHAT!!,, I am like,, you don't like the material,,, the last time I asked, you did.... so I start asking her about other pieces of fabric she had picked out while back that she did like,, well she doesn't like half of them,, so long story short,,, I guess she is going through a phase,,, after looking at 3 stores to find some shirts,, and only finding 1.... I decided that if we cant find anything she DOES like, then what I make for her is just going to have to do,,,,,

So until then,,,,,, I am going to do some sewing for me,,,,, yeah!!!!!!!!

Vogue 8636

I love this top...

I have actually made 2 tops for Holly out of this pattern so far,, the 1st was out of some green material she didn't really like,, so it probably wont see the light of day,, but the 2nd is  nice,,,

I have had this material for a while,, it is a stretch mesh,, I never realized how much I like stretch mesh,, it is fairly easy to work with,, there are lots of options for tops,, and you can leave it both single layer or line it,, depending on where you use it at,,,for the hems, I just did a rolled hem on the serger...

I was really at a loss on how to do the neck line,, I knew I needed to bind it,, but I needed the stretch of the cover stitch machine but was too lazy to thread it,, plus I didn't know how the material would word in the binder,, so i got to thinking,, yeh, i do that sometimes,,

I have seen this type of finish on other tops and thought it would be neat to try it,, besides,, I wouldn't have to line it this way.. It worked great,, I just measures the neck opening,, making the material that long,, then cut it I think 3 in wide,, marked every inch on each side of the material,, instead of matching up the opposite marks, I offset them by 1, thus creating a "wrinkle" in the fabric,,,clear as mud??

I lined the fabric with grey knit,, in the front and back,,,it turned out great,, she had her School pictures taken in it...

MIA...

I've been missing here,, but I have been sewing,, trying to get more done for Holly,, I really like this pattern, especially now that I have it almost perfect,, ha ha,,,its taken me a while...

I had to raise the dart,, it is supposed to be angled up, but with this material it has a horizontal lines so I had to raise them,,, I also had to raise the front shoulder,, funny thing,, the back shoulder line is higher than the front...

It would seem for some reason when I drew off the sleeve, I made it too small, can't imagine how I did that,, the brighter white is the too small sleeve... the top pattern is Tru-grid,,, I love this stuff..

Tracing off the sleeve,, this stuff is so see through,, you can see both the pattern, and the lines from my cutting table through it, making it very easy to line things up...

Oops, ran out of material,, oh as they say in heirloom sewing,, there are no mistakes, just opportunities..

                                                       And  whallaa..

I think I need to take a little more in in the front armscye  (sp) (I looked it up and tried spelling it three different times,, you get the idea,, sigh)

                                              Sleeve looks pretty good...

McCalls 4932...

Well sort of...

You might remember this post I was making some lace to go on a jacket,, well after trial and error making a jacket and shell, I finally got working patterns..

This is what the jacket looked like, basically,,, no dart,, allready starting off bad,,

The shoulder seam was too wide...then it had to be angled...

This is what the alterations look like that work,, take in the shoulder seam but 3/4 in,,, raise the armhole 1/2 in,, where the waist comes in,,, let that out,,, and the piece of pattern going across the bust, that is where I have to put a dart in....

I have also learned a little trick,, I have started putting the date on my pattern of the last time I altered them,, that way I can remember...

Now for the shell,, the  waist from the shell from the pattern was just like the jacket waist,,I didn't feel like messing with anymore alterations if I didn't have to,, besides, I had a knit top that fit me almost perfect,,so I thought, just copy it,, so I  went and got some Press and Seal, (P&S),and laid it out,,, you can see in the pic that that stuff really sticks,,,

Getting the P&S laid out good on the top,,,

After I have traced around the edges..I cut it out,, the very thing that lets P&S work so good.. also lets it stick to about anything else,, so I knew I needed something to stick to the adhesive side,,, introducing Pellon  Tru Grid,,,

All Tru Grid is is a see thru  fiborous material that has an inch grid on it,, after I cut out the P&S, I laid it on the Tru Grid and cut,,,

This is what it looks like,, the shine is from the P&S,,, the lines are from the Tru Grid,,

This is a try on,, I wanted to see just how much of a difference the dart made,, the left side is with no dart,, the right,, with one,,

Finished jacket and shell.. I think I could use a little deeper of a dart,, but this works pretty good for now,, will make the alterations for the next set...

Burda 7758

I have seen this pattern on many blogs, so I finally decided to make one for me,, it was a little different, the neck is just turned under and top stitched using a twin needle,, I did raise the neckline 3 in, it is VERY low cut,, if I make it again I will make it more circular,, right now its kind of a v shape, but it will work.

The material is a slinky knit,, I think I got it off Wal-Mart's $1.00 table,, I used a slight zigzag to finish off the hems...and did a 1/2 upper arm adjustment,, I never knew my upper arms were so full,,, but this is the 3rd pattern I have had to make this adjustment to,,so I think it is to stay...

Another Vogue

A quick post,, yes I am still around,, have been helping my Db, he was diagnosed with Colon Cancer in Nov of 07, since then, it has spread to his lungs, liver, breast bone, and now to his brain stem,, and yes he has been undergoing Chemo, but the Cancer that he has, is so aggressive, that it will never be in remission,, it will always be maintenance, so it will eventually win,, unless a miracle happens,, and I do believe in those,, thank God!!!

Sometime in Oct/Nov, (been too long to remember now),, he came down with Pneumonia, was in the hosp for a month,, scarring on his lung left him with only one,, he is now doing as good as is possible,, but we go day to day,, so that is part of where i have been lately,,,




Now onto sewing things!!!

I love this pattern,, this is the 2nd one, I think I am getting better at making it,, I am getting the bugs worked out, still have to take it in a little more though,,

Vouge, 8151

I am in the process of finding a TNT knit top for Dd, and I think I have found it,,,,


This is my 1st try at it,, I am in the process of making another one, and each on that I make, I am adjusting the pattern to get the right fit, its nice doing it this way cause each time she is getting a new top,, and cause its knit,, the material is forgiving,, on the right is the 1st adjustment I made, and 3/4in forward shoulder adj, it may not look bad, but when she is standing straigh,, it is very noticable that the seam is too far back..



I also moved the sleeves "forward", basically adding 1/4in to the back sleeve,, and taking away 1/4 from the front,, I think I will need to adj the front a little more, but that is for the next one,,, well, the 3rd one,

Knit shirt.. finished....

I finally have a confortable knit shirt pattern,, I am soo excited,,, now I can make them whenever I want,,out of any material I want,, how great is that,,, :)I love knowing how to sew,, oh, the spots arent on the shirt,, but on the mirror....and,, I know,, I also need to learn how to take a good picture,,, :(

But I did learn one thing making this,, DON"T stretch the band for the neck, I tried it once,, noticed the shirt was puckered a little,, ok,, it was puckered a lot,, so I took it off, tried it again,, this time it was better, but I still pulled it ever so much,, but in some places it was still too much,, but not enough to take the band off,, I guess you could say this shirt is still a learning experience that is usable,,,

Knit shirt pattern again!

Ok, learning experience here,, there are products made to clean mirrors with,, water isn't one of them,,,,really lol.....this is embarrassing, but I had to show the before and after pix,,, so before

and after,, ok, disregard the mess it in the background,, what can I say,, I'm a messy,,

Ok, this is why I had to make a new sleeve,, see the puckers in the armhole,, the sleeve is pulling in too tight,, this is what I call "troubleshooting",, and it's something I am not always good at,,, (and yes there is a seam in the elbow area,, I ran out of material and had to piece the sleeve together,,,

I just got to thinking,, I know several ladies that digitize,, ( make embroidery designs) all I can say is ,my hats off to them,, I can't imagine how many times they have to go to the software to change a stitch, move a column, add stitches,, and each time they have to send the design to the machine (how ever that method is, whether it via a box, or memory stick or whatever) with the new stitch placement,, to sew it out, to see if it is any better, or worse,,back and forth, time and time again, to get the design just right,, that is almost how I feel about sewing sometimes,,, every time you need to change something on a garment, to make up a new pattern piece with the adjustments, then cut material out again and sew it up,, I KNOW it is worth it in the end,, but that doesn't mean I have to like it,,, take this shirt for instance,, the front and back are good,, the sleeves were a little tight,, I had to add more room in the sleeve top,, so I folded it in half to find the center,, drew a line almost to the bottom,, the cut it open,, ( slash and spread),, I opened it 1 in ,,(ok you experts out there,, don't laugh,, I am still learning,, :) make new pattern with the alterations, and cut material again,,

Well, I ran out of red,, so onto purple,,( see, I knew that $1.00 a yd material from Wal-Mart was good for something,,,lol )

Hopefully I can get this put together today and see how it fits,,,