Ruffle Tank

I am ridiculously pleased with how this turned out. It is just a tank top after all.

Mostly I am happy with the fit.  It doesn't gape at the bust or roll up at the hips.  I started with a Jalie t-shirt pattern.  Size T for the top half, although a U across the upper back.  I graded to a size W at the waist line.  I made a gradual transition from T to W, rather than closely following the body line.  I drew in the strap width and neckline.  Next time, I think I could make the upper back a tad wider, the armholes lower and cut in the armholes some more.

The fabric was a remnant piece of unknown composition.  I didn't have much of it, so I cut the tank on the cross grain.  The fabric is pretty stretchy so this doesn't seem to matter.  For the binding I used a lighter weight fabric from another remnant.  This remnant was marked as cotton-spandex, by hand, but it smells like silk to me.  This fabric was one of those crazy curling knits, so I cut the binding strip wider than I needed.  I was going to trim the excess width, but before I could do that, it curled itself nicely, bringing the raw edge back out past the neckline.  I quite like this effect, so I am going to leave it untrimmed.

The skirt in the top photo is reviewed in an earlier post.

Stripy Tank

I love drapy tank tops, on other people.

This one was inspired by one that Suzannah showed us how to make.

Front detail.

Side detail.

Tank tops are difficult for me to buy, being very pear-shaped.  This one I made is not terribly flattering.  It looked better before I put the binding on it.  I think that I haven't got the neckline and armhole shape right.  Drapy tanks seem to have very little side shaping, but this just seems to emphasise my bigger bottom half rather than my smaller top half.  I just fudged the pattern myself, but I would love any pattern recommendations.

Late edit:  After looking at the photos in my blog post I went and hacked into the top, narrowing the straps and lowering the armholes.  Do you think it has helped?  I only turned under the edges and didn't bind them as I still have not cleaned the kitchen tonight (shame about domestic duties) and tomorrow I start another batch of dance costumes, so all my machines will be threaded in red.

Marfy Shorts

My Marfy shorts are nearly complete.  I was going to get up this morning and stitch on the hook closure at the waist.  There were lots of things I was going to do this morning.  I lay awake half the night thinking about them, then fell asleep at dawn and got nothing done.  Anyways, a quick photo before my photographer went to work and here they are, hook to be sewn on later. 

Pattern: Marfy 1668

Fabric:  Linen from Tessuti

The patch pockets with the flaps seem to give them a squarish, mannish sort of look, so I find they best suit more girly tops.  I made this top before I started blogging.  It is Simplicity 5055, with the sleeves from another Simplicity pattern that I have since thrown out.  The fabric was from Knitwit.

A close-up of the zippered welt pocket.

I will put some pattern, fit and construction details in a pattern review.

Zippered welt pocket in a side seam

I've returned to an earlier project, the Marfy shorts.  Thank-you to Belinda, Jenny, Christine and Mem for helping me out with my Marfy pattern puzzle.  The consensus is that the lower half of the patch pockets have a vertical zippered opening.  Whilst I was thinking how to do this, I pulled out some King Gee shorts.  I have learnt a few construction techniques by studying King Gee clothing.  One of the pairs of shorts had a zippered welt opening in a side seam.  This would be on the opposite side of the pocket than the Marfy pattern indicated, but I decided to try this technique out anyway.

I took some photos of my practice run.

The brown fabric is the main fabric.  I have interfaced the edge, to a width of about 5 cm.  The floral fabric will become the welt.  This welt fabric should be interfaced.

Mark the welt position on the main fabric.  The box is a width of 2.5 cm (1.5 cm seam allowance plux 1 cm welt width) and the length of the zipper opening.  I have marked a basting line 1 cm (welt width) away from the box.  I have also marked the cutting lines, 1 cm inside the box.

 Place the main fabric and the welt fabric right sides together, lining up the edge.

 Baste along the basting line ouside of the box.

 Press the welt fabric up along this basting line.

 Stitch along the long side of the box, stopping and starting exactly at the ends of the box.

 Trim the excess fabric away along the cutting lines in the box.  Cut diagonal lines into the corners of the box.

 Turn the welt to the inside.

 Fold back the ends of the main fabric and stitch a short vertical line to secure the ends of the welt.  Repeat for the other end of the welt.

 Fold the welt over the main fabric so that the seam allowances are exposed.

 Place the zipper face down on these seam allowances.

 Change your machine foot to a zipper foot and baste the zip in position, making sure that you do not catch the welt or the main fabric panel in the stitching.

Sandwich the zip between the seam allowances and the pocket lining.  (The pocket lining should be twice the depth of the pocket plus seam allowances. )  Stitch.  After sewing most of the zip, you may need to stop the machine with the needle down, lift the foot, pull up the zipper tab, lower the foot and continue sewing.

 Press back the pocket lining.

 This is what is looks like from the right side.

 Fold the pocket lining in half, forming the pocket.  I handbasted the other side of the zipper in place along the seam line, so that I could see and sew the seam line without catching the welt.

 Place another main panel on top and sew the side seams of the garment.  All done.

I haven't sewn the ends of the pocket bag in this example.  On the shorts I will sew the pocket bag by topstitching through the main panel.

Now for the real thing.  Wish me luck!

A lined vest tutorial and a book review

I'm still sewing ballet costumes!  This one is a boy's lined vest.  I thought that this would be a good opportunity to try out some of the methods in my new book "Industry Clothing Construction Methods" by Mary Ruth Shields.  The method is a little different to other methods that I have tried (See Sigrid's lining a vest tutorial or Josie's waistcoat) so I have taken photos for a tutorial.  Sadly, I haven't used a contrasting lining or different coloured thread.  If ever I make a vest for me, I promise I'll use contrasting fabrics and threads so that you can see the process more clearly.

First of all, sew the darts in the vest and the vest lining.  The next step is to sew any pockets, or flaps, but my vest is plain, so I skipped those steps.  I also do not have a back waist belt, so I skipped those instructions as well.

Stitch the front and back of the vest together at the shoulder seams.  Repeat for the lining.  Press shoulder seams open.  Place the lining and vest right sides together, ensuring that the shoulder seams match.

Stitch around the vest, starting about 10 cm from the side seams on the front bottom edge.  Continue up the front, around the back neck, down the other front and along the front bottom edge, stopping on the bottom front edge about 10 cm from the front side seam.  If you enlarge my photo, you can see the threads hanging off where I started stitching.

Stitch around the armholes.

In the instructions, I cannot find any mention of clipping the seams, although they are shown clipped in a later diagram.  I clipped the curved seams aroung the armhole and neck edge.

 Slip your hands up through the back opening and pull the fronts through the shoulder seams.

 This is the vest turned right side out.  The side seams are not sewn yet.

The next step is to sew the side seams, front and back right sides together, continuing on to sew the lining side seams, lining front and back right sides together.  The diagram for this in the book is not very clear, and my photo is not that clear either, but this step is easy to do.  I pinned the match point at the underarms before starting to sew.

There is no mention of pressing this seam, but I think it is worthwhile pressing this seam.  Turn the vest right side out and press.

 Turn the vest inside out again.

 Stitch the bottom edge, vest to lining, leaving a gap to turn the vest through.

This next step is a tip I picked up from Threads magazine.  When you are going to turn through a gap, pivot at the end of your stitching line and sew to the edge of the fabric.  This is particularly useful if you are going to stuff the object and the stitching lines are placed under quite a bit of stress.  It also makes it easier to sew the seam shut later.

 Turn the vest right side out.

 Edge stitch or hand stitch the gap in the bottom edge closed.

Next I have to sew the buttons and buttonholes.  The book recommends sewing horizontal button holes so that the vest can expand a little when worn.  I will not topstitch this vest, but it could be topstitched before the buttonholes are sewn.

So my initial review of the book (given that I have not read all the front chapters yet);
- the instructions are easy to follow
- the illustrations are diagrams, not photos; however, the diagrams are easy to follow.
- the method outlined for constructing a vest was new to me and a simpler construction technique than other methods I have tried.