The Great Vintage Shirt Project - Advance 8413

I didn't forget about the Great Vintage Shirt Project - it just was at the bottom of the list for July!  I did get it done and actually like it quite a lot. 

The main interesting features of this shirt is the double pocket and sleeve tabs which are cut on the cross grain.  I like interesting things done with stripes and plaids, so this was perfect for some fabric that I picked up a while ago at Jo-ann's.  Other than that, it really is just a plain shirt with released pleats shaping the waist, and a yoke with gathers at the shoulder blades. 

The double pockets are fun - it really is just two pockets, one sewn on top of the other.  That means that the bottom one is a little less useful than the top one, but I think these are just decorative anyway.

I would like to show you the hem on these sleeves - this is how Bunny did her sleeves on her recent green dress - the exception is that this pattern was drafted this way to start with.  First the hem is really deep - this one is five inches. 

Because of the really deep hem, with the cuff is turned up, you see the right side of the fabric, not the wrong side as you would if there were a narrower hem and you turned up the cuff.  This is an easy change to a pattern that is not drafted this way (as Bunny shows in the link above!).

I did find some perfect vintage buttons in my collection for the shirt - red with a black outline on the rim that perfectly matches the colors in the shirt. 

This is the last post before the trip to Salt Lake City, I will be back to posting early next week.  Thank you all who commented on the suit - I will wear it and enjoy it well beyond the wedding!

Parting Shot:  Bookends.  It is a rare moment that any two of the cats share the ledge above the ironing board, so I had to take a picture.  Our cats pretty much tolerate each other, but don't really sleep together or any of that stuff.  We think Kiwi and Wellie are friends, but not sure.  Kiwi liked old Max, too, and tried to sleep with him, but he wouldn't let her. 

The Wedding Suit - Final Post

I am really happy to have finished the suit!  I am happy with it, although, the only thing I'd change is to take in the waist just a little bit more.  I'm not going to worry too much about it at this point!

I do apologize in advance for the lack of details in the photos.  Photographing a black suit with a black top isn't easy.  For the construction posts, I had the flash in my favor, so the fabric looked like a grey, which is great for showing details, but not showing the color.

Front:

Back:

Without jacket, front and back (no I'm not really that bored, just waiting for the photographer!),

Tomorrow:  final post before leaving for Salt Lake City!  In case you thought I might have forgot about the Vintage Shirt of the Month, I haven't!  Yes, you will get to see this month's all finished tomorrow.  I cut it out at the beginning of the month, and it was the last lonely thing on my ledge waiting to be sewn.

Parting Shot:  High Up.  Miss Kiwi has found a new sleeping place, high up on my shelves.  Wellie likes to get up there too, and he's not too happy when she's up there.  Sigh.  Just like children, always have to have what the other has.

Weekly  Wardrobe

Just Some Hemming Left

Thank you all for the compliments on the Wedding Suit so far!  I really appreciate you reading and following the progress!

Even with the Wedding Suit, I've managed to almost squeeze in another piece for my daughter's school wardrobe.  What has helped is that I'm using a pattern that I've already made once, New Look 6722.

The reason that I didn't quite get this one finished is that I wanted to make the top for the Wedding Suit first, then change all the thread cones over to the coverstitch machine and hem both garments.  If you look carefully, you can see the pins holding the hems in place.

So far, the Wedding Suit top looks like this, made from Jalie 2794, the sweetheart top, with a stretch lace and a rayon jersey knit underneath.  Right now, it needs hemming, too. 

Tomorrow I'll get these tops hemmed!

Parting Shot:  Center.  Wellie just has to be in the center of it all.  This afternoon I found him sitting amongst all the pattern pieces and stuff on my table and just watching everything going on in the workroom.

The Wedding Suit - Part Nine

The Jacket is Complete!

I *finally* finished the jacket today!  Whew!  I'm really happy with it, too. It still needs a good pressing and the usual cat hair removal, but it is done.

The collar is exactly as it should be and I'm happy with the overall fit.  Taking off the collar and replacing it was the right answer - it does take a bit of fearlessness (or crazy, however you look at it) to do it.

Here's the little split at the back hem:

All that's left for me to do is make the knit top to wear underneath. I originally thought I'd make up the knit print I ordered with the silk, but now I'm going to make up the stretch lace. You can see both fabrics in the Parting Shot of this post. I just need to get a knit fabric to line the lace. 

Tomorrow I'll pick up that extra fabric and get that top made.  I hope to show you the whole outfit on Monday!

Parting Shot:  New Mice.  My son and I made new mice for our cats today.  They're not a great feat of sewing engineering, but they're filled with catnip and the cats go crazy for them.

The Wedding Suit - Part Eight

Collar is Fixed!

I took another look at the collar this morning and determined that it needed to be removed and replaced.  That's not as easy as it sounds, actually.  The problem with the collar was some strange pulling on the one side and just an overall unprofessional look.  Nothing screams "homemade" more than a bad collar!  I know I can do better than that, so after taking the collar off, I set about make a new one.

The major problem with the collar was that the under collar was not right.  The under collar and upper collar are cut from the same piece with the same grain lines.  If you've sewn any sort of jacket with a collar, you know that this is not a good idea and that the collar rolls nicely if the under collar is on the bias.  For some reason, I'm not sure why, I didn't think much of this when cutting out the suit.  I did glance at it and think that it was strange not to have separate collar pieces since the pattern had different pieces for the front lining, back lining and front interfacing.  So, I went ahead with the collar as drafted.  Mistake!  Always take a careful look at patterns and modify them if needed!

I was pretty sure I knew the problem yesterday, but didn't want to face taking the collar apart late yesterday.  This morning, I drew some bias grain lines on the pattern piece, for the under collar, underlining and interfacing pieces.  

After cutting new collars, underlining and interfacing, I made a new collar.  I also trimmed a bit, 1/8" or so off of the under collar so that when the collar was pressed that edge would roll under nicely.

I made sure it was well pressed and shaped and put it on the jacket.  It looks so much better!  It rolls nicely and is smooth.  Whew. 

Because of the way that I attached both collars at once, I will need to attach the lining to the collar at the neck edge by hand.  That's pretty easy work and will not be seen once the collar is rolled into the proper position.  As you can see from the photo on the dress form above, I've done one half at a time and still need to finish one side. 

 Today I also got the sleeve hems finished.  I had to finish the sleeve lining hems, make buttonholes and attach the buttons.  From the outside:

From the inside:

Tomorrow, I will be able to finish up the lining hem and the remaining buttonholes and buttons to complete the jacket.  I hope to get the knit top cut out, too, but we'll see!

Parting Shot:  Reading.  I found Wellie curled up with my son while was reading this afternoon.  It was too cute not to take a picture of.

The Wedding Suit - Part Seven

Getting There

Although I took yesterday off to hike, I have done some considerable work on the jacket and am pretty close to finishing.  I've made and installed the lining and have hemmed the body and sleeves.  So far, the jacket looks like this:

I still need to do some work on that collar - it doesn't lay quite right - but I think I'll take the evening off and look at it again in the morning before deciding if I need to take it completely apart or not.

I still need to finish the lining hems, which I can't do until I get the collar issue resolved and get the buttonholes done on the sleeves.  After that, it is just buttonholes and buttons.  Then, I need to make some kind of knit top.

Q/A:  Just a few today.  From NancyW.:  So, are you underlining and lining the jacket? What are you using for the underlining?  Yes, I am underlining and lining.  The silk is a bit see through in places and a bit thin, so I am underlining with cotton batiste.  I am lining with rayon Bemberg lining.

Carol wanted to know about shoes for this outfit.  I did post a photo of them, but that was quite a while ago, before I finished SFB.  Here's the link to the post with the shoes. My brother's fiance did see them and liked them, so that's good!

Last, but not least, Liz in Ypsilanti wanted to know what happened to the tie dye my daughter and friend made the other day.  All the stuff is at camp right now!  My daughter and her two friends took all their dyed t-shirts and socks to wear at camp this week.

Parting Shot:  Soup.  We hiked Mt. Monroe yesterday.  On the way there, we stopped at the Lakes of the Clouds Hut, hoping for some soup or other goodies to purchase.  There was soup, but it was cream of mushroom.  My son doesn't like mushrooms.  At all.  The poor kid hiked for three hours with the promise of soup and it turned out to be cream of mushroom.  Thankfully, a hot chocolate and a Snickers bar was a good substitute.

The Wedding Suit - Part Six 

Beginning Jacket Construction

I've finally started the jacket.  This, of course, will be the most time consuming part of the whole suit. I've already got the jacket, underlining and interfacings cut out.  The construction is much like the skirt, with the big difference is that there is interfacing applied for shaping and support to the underlining.

I've decided to apply the interfacing - traditional hair canvas for this project - using a variation of a technique shown by Kenneth King in his book, Cool Couture.  To keep the heavy interfacings out of seam allowances, he applies it to a thinner fabric and then trims away the interfacing out of the seam lines and the thin fabric away from the back, making a frame of sorts. It is a super clever technique and worth the price of the book if you don't own it.   What I've done is to apply the interfacing to the underlining, and to only trim the interfacing  out the seam allowances, then use the unit as the underlining.   You can see the underlining for the collar and the collar below. 

With the interfacings done, construction is pretty straight forward - sew the darts, and then sew all the major seams and set in the sleeves.

Now I've got to make the lining/facing unit, and get the insides prepared for attaching the lining.

Parting Shot:  Buttons.  I got my buttons today from MJTrim.  I'm pretty happy with them.  They are plastic, and they are light weight.  I was a bit concerned about the weight as these buttons are on the collar tabs and the sleeve vents.  It is hard to see, but all around the edge are rectangular cut outs and the centers are shiny.

The Wedding Suit - Part Five

And We Have a Skirt!

Thank you all for the lovely comments regarding SFB and my daughter's new dress!  I appreciate that fact that you're still reading along and enjoying my little adventures.

While the skirt isn't all that exciting in design, I am pleased with the way that it turned out!  All those darts made fitting the skirt really easy.  I think I've found another skirt pattern that really works for me - the other is the same one I used for the Barcelona Beauty and more recently, the Spring's First Blush skirt.

Here's the center back zipper that I've moved from the side seam, completed with the waistband, hook and eye and an extra snap for security.

Both the skirt and jacket have a little center back vent detail, here's the one on the skirt.

I used hem tape to keep the skirt hem neat, and hemmed the skirt to the underlining for no show of stitching from the right side.

I also anchored the skirt lining to the skirt at the side seams with thread chains.

Now that I've got my bottom half covered, I need to get going on the jacket and top!

Parting Shot:  Seattle!  My husband recently came back from a business trip to Seattle and brought back this t-shirt for my daughter  She was happy because the Space Needle was sparkly!

Weekly Wardrobe - Simplicity 3775 and Jalie 2564

Two Pieces!

 I made two pieces this week, only because I had purchased the brown fold over trim last week, and since I'd be using brown in the coverstitch machine to finish the dress, I figured I would go ahead and make the camisole and finish it, too.  It saved me switching threads a few extra times.

The Jalie camisole is so easy, especially if you use foldover elastic to finish the top edges and make straps.  There are only two seams, a hem and finishing the top edges.  We had just a small piece of the brown interlock, and with the colors she has in her wardrobe, a brown cami seemed like the right thing to make.

I left a little extra strap on the inside so that if I need to adjust the straps later, I can.  Alternatively, I could have made a bra style strap, but this was easier.

The dress is Simplicity 3775, another out of print pattern.  There was just enough left of the fabric to squeeze out the dress.  I had just little strips left when I was done cutting. 

I pretty much made the dress as per the pattern except for the skirt.  The skirt is an a-line skirt and because I wanted to use the border print at the hem, I needed a skirt with straight sides.  I stole a skirt from another pattern - the aqua cross over top - and used it with the Simplicity bodice.  It worked just fine and I got the look I wanted.

Believe it or not, because this is a knit dress, both she and I can wear it.  It fits a little differently and if I were to make one for myself, I'd make it a size larger than hers. 

For the moment, she's really happy with it - we'll see how much she wears it when school starts.  I think she will - she's discovered how easy it is to get ready when all you have to do is pop on a knit dress and pick out a few accessories.

Parting Shot:  Curing.  My daughter had a friend over last night, so this morning they tie-dyed some t-shirts and socks.  Should be interesting to see how they turn out, once they're done curing. 

The Wedding Suit - Part Four

Skirt Progress

The skirt itself is not really an exciting design - just a straight skirt with eight darts to shape the hip and waist area.  It is easy to make, so I've started that first. 

A quick measurement and holding up of the tissue confirmed that I'd have to add a little bit in circumference, and take off a lot of length.  Easy changes.

I also decided at this point that I'd change the zipper from the side to center back.  I've put zipper in the side many times before, but since this skirt had a center back seam due to a small little vent at the bottom, I decided to move it to center back.  That and I didn't have to deal with putting a zipper in a side seam with a very curvy hip curve.

Once I got everything cut out, it was time to mark everything.  Since I'm underlining, I only had to mark the batiste layer. 

I layer the fashion fabric and the underlining together, and basted through the center of each dart to make sure nothing would shift during the subsequent pinning and stitching of the dart. 

After stitching the darts (stitching both layers as one, seen below) and basting the side seams I did a quick fit and found out I could remove a little of what I added to the circumference.  Yay! 

So far, so good.  The skirt needs a lining, waistband and hems to be complete!  I should be able to show you that on Saturday.

Parting Shot:  Knights.  A couple of our church interns need knight costumes for the upcoming Vacation Bible Time week in August.  Should be fun - I get to make a red one and a blue one.