Shirt Project Update

I've been busy over the last week and made only slow progress with my shirt project, but I finally have photographs to show for the work I've done so far! My garment photography is very poor I'm afraid. You can see, though, how there's no placket down the front of the shirt. It does look a little lost without this, but it might look better once the snaps are on.

Here you can see the western-style detail on the chest, I don't know the terminology but it's like a mini yoke on either shoulder. I think these have worked well.

You should be able to see from this picture how there's no collar stand/base. The pattern also included a small button loop that you can see here, this seems to be a bowling shirt feature that wouldn't normally be found on a western shirt, so I'm a bit worried that it's going to look odd with the pearl snaps.

The pockets are ok but I'm annoyed that there's some definite puckering all the way around, I'm really not sure what's caused this so I'll have to do some research on how I could have made this sit more neatly.

I'm particularly pleased with my seams, which you can't see much in these photos, but I used 'Run and Fell Seams', or I've also seen them called 'Flat Felled Seams', across the shoulders, down the sides and round the sleeves. This is basically the flat double-stitched that you see mostly on jeans, as shown in this photo. It makes for very neat seams on both sides and most western shirts use this all the way round. I'll be posting a tutorial very soon on how to achieve this look.

Still to do are:
- the bottom hem
- adding the pearl snaps (I'm aiming to create a tutorial for this)
- adding a flap over each pocket to add to the western style

Shirt dress / lime green moodboard

Here's a Polyvore moodboard I created for my dressmaking class portfolio. It's the last week and I'm having to put together the portfolio fast if I want to pass the course! Not that it's about getting a certificate, but it'd be nice. I've used my shirt dress project for my portfolio, and so I've had to do a moodboard for it in retrospect.

I really should have done this at the start, as it's quite useful actually, it helps to define what you want from the project. I've started using Pinterest in this way now, like for my Modern Kimono Dress project - more to follow on this in future, at the moment I've created a muslin that was only half-successful and I'll be doing more with it as soon as the shirt's finished (just the hem and snaps to do now!).

Shirt project

I'm currently working on a shirt for my other half, it's the first time I've attempted a man's shirt although making my shirt dress (see below) definitely helped. However for this project I particularly wanted to do a Western style shirt, you know, the classic cowboy-style like these Levi shirts:

I was *really* disappointed with the range of patterns available for men's shirts, I didn't feel I had much choice at all. There was just one pattern that had that western-style look, Simplicity 4760 - it's the short sleeved pattern B that I was interested in:

Having bought this pattern, the only appropriate one I could find, I didn't really think about it or look too closely at it until I started putting all the pattern pieces together. Now that I'm more than half way through making the shirt, I realise that this shirt pattern has a plain front, i.e. doesn't include a placket for the front of the shirt (you know, the extra bit of fabric that forms a line down the front edge, where the buttonholes go), which really would have given this shirt a smarter, more finished feel. Quite disappointed by that.

On top of that, I realised that the shirt collar is flat, it doesn't have a base/stand for the main part of the collar to attach to, it just joins right at the neck. Here are a couple of photos from Made To Measure, 'Anatomy of a Shirt by Alexander West', to help you see what I'm on about:


Overall it turns out this pattern is really more like a bowling shirt than a 'proper' western shirt and I'm really disappointed. As a project it's come together fairly well, although the sleeves took me quite a while to attach, and there was a small amount of puckering that I haven't yet figured out how to eliminate. Still it's all good practise.

What I'm really excited about though, is the final touch - I'll be using pearl snaps, and I've never used snaps before so I'll need to do my research and hopefully will be posting a tutorial here some time in the next week or so!

I actually had an *incredibly* hard time tracking down authentic western-style pearl snaps to use, I had to import them from America can you believe! Found an excellent seller on Etsy though, Cowgirl Snaps - 24 colours available, really great seller. You should check her out, they really make all the difference if you're looking for an authentic western-style shirt, it's all about the attention to detail. Can't wait to use the left over snaps on a fitted girl shirt for myself!

Photos of this project to follow very soon...

Red & pink for Valentine's Day

So everyone's been going on about Valentine's Day, I'm not really into it myself (and no I'm not single, so don't accuse me of just being jealous!), but as expected there's been a huge Twitter / Facebook / blogging buzz about it. Lots of heart-shaped crafting going on in the online sewing world, but I'm not too into that sort of thing either. Just one thing caught my attention - Everybody Everywear is doing a feature on outfits combining red and pink as block colours. Now I would never have considered wearing red and pink together like this, but after looking at some of the posts and a little Googling, I think I *might* be a convert! Check out these 3 I found on Google:

Ok so the last one's a bit odd but I do like it :)

I have yet to discover where I stand on re-posting people's own photos from their blogs so I'll just give links to the ones I really liked from Everybody Everywear:

- this one from Knocked Up Fabulous, I really think she looks so gorgeous! Smart but cool.

- this one from Marionberry Style, which again is pretty smart workwear that I really love

- I found a few like this one from Rachel Sayumi where they'd gone for a much paler pink with the red, and that seems a lot easier to wear and very pretty. Not quite as striking though perhaps.

I really enjoyed looking through all these, and I definitely have been given the confidence to try this combination! Having said that, you've definitely got to be careful. I sifted through *plenty* of no-no outfits. I wonder what everyone else thinks of these celebs, but I think they could have done better! There were much worse out there, mind! You should go check it out on Google, I just searched 'Red and pink fashion'.

Happy Valentine's Day one and all!

Oh no!

Crushing disappointment today when I was reading through some Sew Weekly posts and discovered that in order to contribute to the site you had to have signed up in December! Disaster!! Being quite new to the online sewing world, I had just imagined Sew Weekly to be a free-for-all where anyone could show off their projects. How wrong I was. Sadface.

Still, I've been discovering lots of new blogs and getting ideas for here, so that's good. I'd like to check out a new blog every day, as I've found quite a lot but not yet had the chance to sit down and actually read through them all properly. When I've filtered them down to my favourites I'll let you know!

Having said that, it also occurred to me today that I should spend less time online and more time actually sewing! Was too hungover to do anything today - my precious Sunday, wasted! Might do something small for you tonight...

Mobile cover

Today I received an email from Craftsy and one of the featured items was a smart phone case project:

It's not dissimilar to mine, and it made me want to have a quick look on Craftsy at other similar projects - the standard is really amazing on some of them! Check out these others that are really individual and a lot of thought has gone into them (links below). Makes me feel kinda bad that mine was just thrown together with whatever I had to hand! Having said that, at the time the immediate need was a very practical one as I simply didn't want to scratch my new phone! I actually lost it (the cover, not the phone!) on a night out not too long after I'd made it, and a year on my phone is covered with scratches. Shameful!

Anyway, here are some particularly impressive and unusual ones:
- Corset style sewn case
- Rainbow tapestry case
- Clever zipped case that can be worn on the arm for jogging etc.

I definitely need to start thinking more creatively about my projects!

More dress photos

As promised...

Damned English weather!

Argh weather! The foggy drizzly weather is seriously preventing me taking some decent dress photos. I shall have to take some indoors photos, the problem is getting good enough photos. Why oh why didn't I just MAKE time yesterday?!

Made it to my dressmaking class tonight, only one more session and I shall thoroughly miss it when it's finished! Where will I turn for advice?! Yet more reason to get involved online. After much trauma managed to get that last buttonhole finished that I'd been putting off, and I'm also working on a cowboy-style shirt for my other half, as well as a kimono-sleeve dress out of some really unusual fabric I was given by my grandma, which I'll be showing you soon! Yes yes, I know I need to work on only one thing at a time otherwise I won't finish anything... just watch this space!

Took some more photos of the dress at class though, but they're not the professional standard I'm looking for, still worth showing here though - took photos with and without the sash. Will post them shortly....

Today's musings

Today I've been trying to organise some photos of my shirt dress so I can post to Sew Weekly, I really want to get involved in the online sewing community and this seems like a great opportunity.  Hopefully I’ll get some taken tomorrow – today would have been perfect weather but I just couldn’t spare the time!

Also on my mind is the range of blogs I follow, I’d like to expand my list as I have a core few that I really love reading but I think I need to discover some new ones.  I thought I’d make use of my new Twitter account and ask the world.  Whatever I discover I’ll share with you in my list of favourite blogs & websites – watch this space...

Dress #2 - Shirt Dress UFO?

This week on sewweekly.com, the feature is UFO sewing projects, ‘those pieces that have tormented us for longer than we'd like admit’. I’m thinking about submitting my shirt dress, as I’m just finishing it off this week and it's been a work in progress over about 4 months now – literally just one buttonhole left to do on it now (I ran out of thread!). However, everyone else’s projects look so professional and have amazing model-style photos, so I’m not sure whether or not my project would be up to standard. Maybe if I find some artsy abandoned railway (and learn how to pose!) I might get somewhere near! Like Jennifer’s ‘Touch of Pink Skirt’ or ‘Not So Sunny’ dress – I will never be able to produce photos as good as those!

So, for now at least, I’m only sharing this one with lucky ol’ you, in the Sew Weekly style:

The Facts:

Fabric: from 1st for Fabrics, brown-black polyester-cotton weave, £20ish plus cotton floral contrast fabric £5ish
Pattern: Simplicity Project Runway 2403
Year: 2010
Notions: 12″ zipper (£3, John Lewis), 6 x 0.5” buttons (£2.50, eBay)
Time to complete: about 3 months (not solidly! Maybe 20-25 hours?)
First worn: To work, yesterday!
Wear again? I think so – although the fit is a bit annoying…
Total cost: At a guess, about £30

These are the only photos of the dress I have so far and were hastily taken, so that I could email them to my mum to show her my latest achievement! I’m really sorry about the poor quality! Anyway here's a close-up of the waist without the sash, which I added separately using a purpose-drawn pattern:

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the results of my second ever self-made dress, the waistband and the placket look professional ('placket' is a new dressmaking term I learned meaning the bit where the buttons go!). I'm perhaps a little disappointed with the fit - when I sit down, I do get that annoying puffed-up chest effect which seems to be because there's too much fabric between the neck and the waist. I should have shortened the torso part of the pattern before I made it, but the measurements had seemed ok. For my first ever fully-completed dress though, I think I can be forgiven!

It was pretty funny wearing this to work yesterday, I was really self-conscious but nobody commented, which I think is a good thing! - but I'd totally forgotten about how I'd been waiting to finish the last buttonhole when I took the photos, so I'd just tacked the two sleeve parts together for the photos, and then wore it like that to work and of course the sleeve went 'ping' and opened on the way to work! Nightmare - but thank heavens, I quickly located a needle and thread in a desk drawer and botched it back together. Phew! Anyway it was the first time I've ever worn a self-made dress out in public and it felt just great, I felt pretty proud!

Twitter

So, after years of resistance, I’ve finally gone and joined Twitter.  In the past I just couldn’t see the point of it, I couldn’t think of anyone I would particularly want to follow!  But recently I’ve started following lots of different blogs and other websites, and I was starting to struggle to keep up.  When I noticed I could follow many of them on Twitter, it just made sense to be able to look at updates from them all in one place.  I confess I’m a bit scared, but also hopeful!  I’d say ‘it’s the future’, but I think it was probably the future 10 years ago and I’ve just taken a long time to catch up to today!

I’ll be tweeting sewing-related items of interest and eventually, when I’ve got a bit more content going, I’ll tweet whenever I update this blog.  Follow me @caroli317

#twitternewbie #wishmeluck

New Year's Resolution 2012

I can't believe it's now February 2012! A lot has happened to me since I first opened this blog, and a big lifestyle change and house move (I've been unpacking for 6 months!) seemed to stop me in my tracks. I've recently been doing a lot more sewing, and it made me realise I should be keeping a diary of what I've been up to. First of all I made it my new year's resolution to tidy my sewing space, so I'd like to share with you a photograph of my 'sewing room', or rather, my itsy bitsy teeny weeny space in a room full of boxes! I know there are plenty of people out there who can identify with this though, as I found an interesting topic at the Sew Weekly sewing circle where someone was asking the best way to organise a small sewing space. If you suffer from a similar problem, you may find some of the responses interesting. It just goes to show, you don't have to have the perfect sewing space to be able to create, and to enjoy working on sewing projects.

I can definitely recommend doing some online research about sewing space organisation, even if it's only checking out the Sew Weekly forums - I could hardly get inside this room before I made it my new year's resolution, let alone have a clear surface space! I also learned a lot from thesewingforum.com, it's a great source of info about all aspects of sewing.

After doing various bits of online research for ideas on sewing storage, I put a few photos of ideas on my Pinterest New Years Resolutions 2012 board as well.