A New Skirt and a Jacket Lining

I made a cotton interlock skirt using New Look pattern No. 6730. I wore it to work today with a formal cotton blouse then wore at home with the salvaged cotton top.

More exciting, I'm making a lined jacket. I wanted to try sewing silk chiffon, and the jacket lining seemed like a low-risk choice of project. I found some silk chiffon on sale at Vogue Fabrics for $5.99 per yard and made the lining first, because I was eager to see what it was like to sew such delicate, floaty fabric. I used tissue paper on the bottom of each seam as I sewed it, and a walking foot on top so I could try to feed the fabric evenly. This system worked very well for me. I'm pleased with the way it came out, and it fits well.

Far as I know, silk chiffon is not commonly used as a lining, but when I tried it out with the somewhat nasty fabric I'm using for the jacket, the chiffon improved the drape of the nasty fabric. This is the same fabric I used to make a straight skirt that I have not yet worn, because I have not yet hemmed it or attached the hook at the waist.

The fabric, which I believe is meant to be used as upholstery, is sort of stiff and doesn't drape at all well by itself, but with a cotton lawn lining, the skirt's not too bad. I think the jacket will look OK too, with the silk chiffon. If not, it's no great loss. I got the fabric on sale for something like $2 per yard, with the intent of using it as a tool for learning. If it turns out ugly, I can wear it to work in the garden on coolish days. I'm using Burda pattern # 8761.

Two New Tops

I have been unexpectedly busy at work, because one of our employees quit, and the rest of us have had to work harder to take up the slack. So I have not had time to take photos of the gardments I've worn each day. They've been repeats anyhow, since I don't have that many self-made garments. Here are two new tops I recently finished. The first is like the one I showed in my most recent post, except that I used thing braided trim on the shoulder and armholes to keep them from stretching. I'm sad to report that the spray-on fabric stabilizer did not work.

The braided trim worked very nicely. No stretching at all, and I'm very pleased with the way the top looks when I wear it. In fact, I wore it to the office today with a blue/gray silk suit.

The second top was made using McCall's 7978.

I used fusible interfacing on the neck edge, which helped somewhat to prevent stretching.

SSS 21 - Salvaged Knit Top

I wore the stretched and subsequently gathered-neck cotton knit top today, under a light-weight jacket.

A Tragic Knit Top

I used a pattern for woven fabric to make a top out of cotton interlock fabric. To compensate for the stretch, I used one size smaller than I would normally wear. When I tried on the top after sewing the pieces together, it fit perfectly. I loved it and looked forward to wearing it for SSS Day # 18.

But when I top stitched the neck and armhole edges, they stretched all out of shape, and the top was unwearable. To salvage it, I gathered the edges. I was afraid the stitches would pull out, so I stabilized the neck edge by sewing in some flat braided trim. I kind of like the way the neck looks, but the armholes look weird. Still, the top will be fine to wear under a jacket.

So I decided I absolutely must figure out how to keep the knit fabric from stretching when I top stitch the edges. I could have used interfacing on this particular top, since the neck opening was large enough to slip on over my head. But what about when I want the neck edge to stretch -- when I wear it, not when I'm sewing it?

A Web search turned up the following:

(1) decrease the tension on the presser foot;
(2) use spray-on or paint-on water soluble stabilizer
(3) use elastic

I tried decreasing the presser foot tension and still had stretching. I didn't want to use elastic, because part of what I like about this fabric is its softness and light weight. The elastic would make it feel heavy; besides the elastic would look weird on the edges of the armholes. So I went to the fabric store after work and bought some spray-on stabilizer and some more of the black cotton interlock, to try once more.

SSS 13 - 17 and Pattern Weights

I've been horribly busy at work, so no time to take photos or blog until today. In fact, no time to sew either until last night.

Here are the garments I wore during the week. I was working at home most of the time, remotely connected to the office, so I could wear whatever wanted. I didn't have to look "professional."

Tuesday: brown linen dress with yet another version of the Butterick 5567 jacket
Wednesday: peach colored version of huge pants
Thursday: white top
Friday: turqoise sundress with matching jacket (it's still quite warm here)
Saturday: tonight I will wear the yellow nightgown

I recently watched Peggy Sagers' video Factory Tips & Techniques - 1 & 2. One of the things she recommends is using weights to hold patterns and fabric down when cutting, rather than pinning the pattern to the fabric. I tried this out last night when I cut a couple of tops out of black cotton interlock. It works very well. As Ms. Sager pointed out, you don't have to buy specially made weights. You can use anything heavy enough to hold down the pattern. I have lots of rocks in my garden, so they were an obvious choice for me.

Stretchy knit fabrics are amazingly easy to sew with a serger! It only took me about 10 minutes to sew each top together. I still have to top stitch the neck opening and armhole edges. I'm waiting to do this after I finish sewing a green linen skirt. The skirt is a test garment. The fabric was on sale for a very low price -- can't remember how much, but it was cheap enough for me to buy several yards. It's fairly nasty fabric -- doesn't drape very well, and scratcy against the skin. But underfacing with cotton lawn changed it much for the better. So I think I'll have a wearable skirt. The bright green color isn't really my style, but it's not hideously ugly either. It'll certainly be good enough to wear around the house, to the grocery store, that sort of thing.

The kittens have at least doubled in size since they were born. Here they are as they looked a couple of days ago. Their eyes are open now, and they're beginning to move around more than their mother likes. She often jumps up and lies on the table, to get away from these pesky children.

A New Nightgown & SSS 12

This is Simplicity 9012. The pattern called for a lace overlay on the yoke, but my primary goal for a nightgown is comfort, so I left off the lace. The nightgown was very easy to make. I didn't time myself, but I easily got it done over the weekend, even though I spent most of the weekend catching up on work from the office. I'd guess it took 3 hours total, including hemming by hand. I made French seams, because it seems as though this would be more comfortable for sleepwear than serged seams.

SSS Day 11

McCall's 8050 top. Very comfortable, but the cotton fabric wrinkles easily.