Dancewear

I have been sewing dozens upon dozens of dance costumes this past few weeks.  This year I have even sewn a couple of costumes for the principal dancer, including her undergarments.

I did have some input into the design of this costume.  The brief was a demi-tard with frilly legs.  I combined a Jalie 2915 bodice pattern with a Kwiksew leggings pattern and added a flounce between the two.  I modified the Jalie pattern to ruche some of the panels.  I added frills to the bottom of the leggings, which are above-the-knee in length.  It turned out rather cute.  I did not choose the fabric.  I imagine that there will be nowhere to hide under the bright lights in this white lycra.

To determine the attachment line on the leggings, I tried the leggings and bodice on the dancer and marked where the bottom of the bodice sat on the leggings.
 

I had a frilly elastic that I used along the top of the bodice.

It turned out to be rather easy to gather lycra for the leg frills.  I just used a long stitch and a high thread tension and the frills gathered by themselves, no pulling of threads required.  I attached the frills to the leggings with a zig-zag stitch so that the legs could still stretch.

I did not hem the legs or the flounce.

A brief post

My daughter needed flesh and white coloured full briefs for under her dance costumes.  I thought that it might be quicker to make them than do the rounds of the shops to find knickers that weren't pink or blue or covered with pretty motifs. 

These briefs are worn over stockings, and possibly other undergarments, depending on costume changes, to keep everything up and together.  I tried out a few different patterns which I will review here  (I realise that this post will be of interest to a very, very small audience...but at the end I will put links to the skirt in the last post that a few of you asked about...scroll straight there if you like).

This first photo shows the comparison between Jalie 2915 and Jalie 2564, both made in Sz J.  The underneath pair are made from 2915, which is a pattern for a leotard and tutu skirt.  I thought that this pattern would be ideal, but for my daughter, there was too much fabric bunched up around her bum cheeks.  Jalie 2564 is a briefs pattern.  The circumference is narrower and the legs cut higher.  I was worried that it would not give enough coverage, but they fit her really well (she does not have much of a bottom...genetics can be strange).

Then, out of curiosity, I thought I would compare them to Stuart's children's block, which is what I use to make her leotards. I cut this next pair with a lower waist line, as she is not used to full briefs and kept pulling them down.  Stuart's block is not as full across the bottom as 2915.  Its leg line is a little lower than 2564.  The back is very similar to the 2564, but the front differs.  For Stuart's block, the front and back are the same width.  2564 has the front narrower than the back, which you can see in the seamlines in the top photo.

I compared the patterns to Jalie 2447, a tankini pattern.  Jalie 2447 has a curvier leg line, but I didn't make it up.  I have since made some swimmers using Jalie 2792, which is very similar to Stuart's block, with a little more negative ease...review to come!  Can you tell that I am a teensy bit obsessed by patterns?  Most people would have just made one, and modifed it to suit. 

In the end I made a fourth pair, which was mostly based on Stuart's block, but using the higher leg line from 2564.  I can't find these today to photograph.  I didn't ever think that I would bother to make girl's knickers, but these were not too hard and look cute, so I may just sew these again to use up scraps of fabric.  I should keep some elastic in stash as elastic is way overpriced at Spotlight.  The beige elastic used here was from BoobyTraps, the ivory from Bra-makers Supply and the white from Spotlight.

Now it seems I have more readers these days.  I love connecting with other people who sew, so welcome to my little blogspace.  I love getting comments, although sometimes they make me feel slack because I don't comment on as many other blogs as I would like to.  My relaxation time these days is to look at other people's sewing, but it is usually in 5 minute grabs, so I don't always get to comment.

The skirt in the pevious post was reviewed here.

Here are links to some of my more funky sewing, that you may also like, if you liked that skirt.  Enjoy!

Layer skirt

Skirt with retro pockets

Remnant skirt

Pleat detail skirt

Lace detail skirt

Twinkle camisole

Twinkle tunic

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.

Ruffles

I've made a lot of ruffles lately.  80-odd at least.  So I thought I'd share some of the benefits of my experience with you, in case you ever found yourself needing to sew 80 ruffles.

Sewaholic has written a recent post on the usual method of gathering fabric, as often descibed in pattern sheets.  This is not my favourite method, because I have trouble gathering the fabric evenly.  Also, I used to get unwanted tucks, but this is because I didn't realise that you were supposed to sew between the 2 rows of basting stitches and not below them.  All those wasted years of frustrating gathering because I never learnt the technique properly. 

I was given ruffle-y ballet costumes to sew because the person who designed them decided that she did not have enough time to sew them!  When I started the gathering, I tried using the zig-zag over dental floss method, as posted here.  Only I used cheap cotton instead of dental floss because I had so many ruffles to do.  This was not working so well,  because the "dental floss" was not staying anchored, and I was pulling the gathering thread out too far and losing gathers.

So then I moved onto a modified zig-zag technique.  This was not the final method I used, but it is so interesting that I thought I would document the process here.

In the following photos, the upper thread is light blue and the bobbin thread is red. (A big thanks to my photographer.  This method takes 2 hands, so I had to enlist the services of my photographer, who interrupted his rugby viewing to take photos).

Hold the end of the upper thread and take a single stitch.  I use the hand wheel to take this stitch.

 Then use your other hand to grab the upper thread where it comes out of the needle.

 Pull both sides of the upper thread to bring the bobbin thread to the surface.

 With your left hand, hold the end of the bobbin thread and don't let it go.  Use your right hand to grab hold of the loop of bobbin thread that was brought to the surface.

 Pull this loop of bobbin thread out (don't let go of the end in your left hand).

 Keep pulling until the length of bobbin thread is at least as long as the final length of your ruffle, and then some.

 I push the upper thread back to the foot, just to keep it all tidy.

 Zig-zag over the loop of bobbin thread.

 Here you can see the blue threads zig-zagged over the red bobbin thread, behind the foot.

 You can either apply tension to the loop of bobbin thread, to gather as you go, or pull it tight afterwards to gather the fabric.

 Pretty tricky, hey?  But as I said, not the final method I went with.  The ruffles were taking me way too long.  I recently bought "industry clothing construction methods" by mary ruth shields.  I have only had it a few days, so it is too soon for me to review it, but I have read the chapter on skirts where it says only to use the basting / gathering method if you have a lot of time on your hands, as this method is too time consuming to be used anywhere but in a custum or couture setting.   Well, these ballet costumes are custom, but they are not couture, so I investigated the gathering feet described by Mary.

First I looked up my Elna manual.  Elna does make a gathering foot, so I went to see my local Elna man.  He could not help me out, so then I went to Spotlight (all the time wondering if I would be better off staying hojme and just getting on with the ruffles).  No gathering foot for Elna and none listed in their catalogue.  I was just about to leave when the ANGEL behind the counter pointed me in the direction of the generic sewing feet.  I have not tried generic feet on my machine before, but the Sewparts low-shank gathering foot only cost $3.99, so I thought it was worth a try. 

Check out my beautiful gathering.  The amount of gathering can be adjusted by altering the tension of the upper thread, the stitch length and the foot pressure.  My foot pressure is usually set at its maximum of 3.  I used my maximum stitch length of 4.  My upper thread tension varies from 0 - 9 and I set it about 6.5 to get the gathers below.  The fabric is a sheer nylon.  Apparently more gathering can be achieved by holding your fingers behine the foot so that the fabric does not pass through so quickly.  I did this, but I am not sure how much difference it made.  It took me a few goes, changing the settings,  to get the gathered strips to the length I wanted.  From then on, it was just a single row of stitching to produce beautiful, even ruffles.

I

I was so excited, I finished off the ballet ruffles and then began gathering everything in sight.  Some samples are shown below.  The fabric for these samples were harvested from the floor around my sewing machine, so you can just imagine what my sewing room looks like (and after a week of focussing on ballet costumes, the rest of the house does not look too much different to my sewing room)! The gathering foot seems to work best on lightweight fabrics.  From the left, there is a synthetic georgette, a lightweight cotton, a quilting cotton, a bias strip of Liberty fabric, a synthetic organza and a lightweight stretch denim.

A heavy-weight twill cotton did not gather very well.  I could not get any knit fabrics to gather at all.  The knits just would not progress under the foot.  Initially I was disappointed by this, but then Suzannah did a post on gathering knit trims.  The following sample was made using the regular sewing foot, a stitch length of 4 and an upper thread tension of 9.

After all the ruffles, I used the gathering foot to gather the tops of 14 pairs of green organza harem pants, that were then attached to a lycra waistband.  For a one-off garment, the basting / gathering method would most likely still be my method of choice, as it takes a bit of fiddling to get the right amount of gather with the gathering foot, but when sewing multiples, I am definitely a fan of the gathering foot.  I forgot to picture of harem pants before I gave them all to the studio.

I hope that ruffly, gathered things stay in fashion for a while longer, now that I am so proficient at gathering.


Here is a photo of the leggings for the ballet costume.  For my records, I used Jalie 2920, shortening the legs to below the knee.  The lycra had only 50% stretch, so I went up 2 sizes.  I didn't use the waist elastic measurements recommended by Jalie; instead, I measured the girls' waists and cut the elastic 3 cm shorter than this.

Narrow Bindings

I have been toiling away at my machine, sewing up ballet costumes for a local concert.  At the moment I am working on 14 caterpillar costumes.  Whilst the sewing itself gets tedious, I enjoy the process of working out my patterns and construction methods for maximum efficiency and minimum number of fittings.

These caterpillars are all wearing green satin bolero vests.  The fabric is heavyweight and frays terribly.  The boeros are for 6 yo girls.  This is the neatest method I came up with to bind the edges of the boleros, which have some rather tight corners.

Step 1  - Keep the bias binding folded.  Lay the binding with the folds facing upward on the right side of the bolero, matching the raw edge of the bolero with one folded edge of the binding.  Stitch down the centre of the binding.

Step 2 - Trim away the seam allowances (my seam allowances were 6 mm).  It is okay to trim off some of the binding.

Step 3 - Fold the binding, and about 1 mm of bolero fabric to the inside of the bolero and stitch along the folded edge of the binding.

This is what it looks like from the inside.

This is how it looks on the outside.

 This is the completed bolero.  Not perfect, but as neat as I can get it.
  

Tip for gathering tulle

I discovered a neat, little trick for gathering tulle the other day.  It starts with zig-zagging over dental floss.  I positioned the dental floss in the loop of my narrow-hemming foot to keep it centred as I was sewing.  I used a fairly wide zig-zag, so as not to get the dental floss caught.  Then, because I knew I was short of dental floss, I kept the floss under tension.  This had the added bonus of gathering the tulle evenly as I went, saving the tedious hand gathering step.  You can see it gathering behind the foot in the photo above.  Pull the floss tighter to increase the gathering.  The amount of gathering can still be adjusted after you have finished, as long as you have not cut the floss off too short.