sewing Archives - Page 7 of 36

Lucinda June 25, 2014

Organize Sewing Machine Needles With a Pincushion

If you’re like me, you have few different sewing projects going at the same time – a knit dress, button-down shirt, skinny pants… you get the idea. With different projects comes the need to switch to different needles depending on the type of fabric being sewn, and sometimes it’s hard to keep track of which needle is which, which one has been used, etc.

My trick – I use a tomato pincushion to keep track of the different needles I use. Each section is designated for a specific type of needle – on this pincushion, I have a section for universal, topstitching, ballpoint, stretch, and hand sewing needles. With a Sharpie, I mark the name and the size of the needle, too, so I know if it’s the right size when I’m looking for a needle to use. You may find that for your personal use, you need more than one section for ballpoint or universal needles because of the varying sizes – I have two sections on this pincushion to keep my universal needles organized, for example.

I also go one step further and mark down on a Post-It I stick to my machine the date I began to use a particular needle in this pincushion and what projects I used it for. This is a handy organizational tool when a needle isn’t used a lot, and isn’t quite ready to be tossed out for a new one.

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Lucinda June 21, 2014

Weekend Sewing – Back at the Machine

After about a month of taking a sewing hiatus, I sat down at my sewing machine and serger today – hooray for the first day of summer putting me back in the mood again! I cleaned up all of my loose patterns, redid my bulletin board with patterns I want to sew soon, and organized my thread box – ahhhh. And the best part is that I already had a project cut out and ready to sew, which you can see in the front of the photo on my ironing board – can you guess what I’m making?

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Lucinda June 18, 2014

Pattern Reviews: Belcarra Top and Floral Pants [Sewaholic and Simplicity]

Patterns: Belcarra, Simplicity 1696
Fabrics: top – eyelet from Joann Fabrics; pants – stretch cotton from Metro Textile
Size: top – 6; pants – 10

Sandals: Tahari

Before I share two of my newest makes, I wanted to thank everyone for posting their thoughts on my last post about fast sewing – when it comes down to it, it’s really all about what’s right for each individual sewist, and we should (and do!) applaud each other for our efforts. Imma do what’s right for me from here on out, ya know?

So yeah – I made pants! Floral ones, to boot! The fabric is leftover from the dress I made for my trip to Florida earlier this year and these pants were intended to be a muslin for this pattern, but they ended up being a wearable muslin – even better.

I would say I have the fit about 95% of the way there. I went down a size than I would normally cut out for pants, based off of the way I wanted the pants to fit and to account for the stretch in the fabric. The fact there’s different pant blocks based off of body shape is great too, I used the slim block based off of my measurements and the adjusting I needed to do wasn’t anything major. I took in the inseam quite a bit in the back to get the butt to fit better, and took a small amount in at the front center crotch seam. I think the waist could still use some adjusting.

Here’s my problem with these pants – the longer I wore them, the more they grew!! When I left the house in the morning, they were nice and fitted, a bit loose in the waist. By the time I got to lunch, these pants were huge on me all over – maybe because of my body heat and sitting at my desk all morning? Luckily I had a pair of jeans to change into (I was travelling that day), otherwise I would have needed a safety pin or something to keep these up. I never saw a baggier-butt pair of pants in my life.

Why did this happen with my stretch cotton, oh wise sewists of the sewing blogosphere? I’m planning on making more of these pants in stretch cotton after I tweak the fit a little more. After I washed the pants, they snapped back to normal, but I can’t always change my pants halfway through the day when they stretch out again, hahahaha.

Can I get a “what what” for faux welt pockets?! They’re my new favorite sewing detail. I don’t need real welt pockets in my pants, and I never use my back pant pockets, but I like having the look of a pocket on my backside. They need to be lowered a bit on the next pair, they’re up a bit too high for my liking.

On to Belcarra – this is my go-to summer top this year. It’s a beautifully drafted pattern! The shape is really flattering – I don’t feel like I’m wearing an oversized woven top like some other patterns I made in the past. Raglan sleeves are always a winner with me as well.

Since I made this, I’ve worn it several times already, and I have plans to make a few more with some variations. This top goes together so easily (I think it took me two hours max to cut/sew this?) and can be paired with high waisted skirts, skinny jeans, jackets, you name it – this is a brand new TNT for my sewing pattern arsenal.

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Lucinda June 14, 2014

No Fast Sewing, Please

My sewing machines have been cranking as of late, to the point where I haven’t had a chance to photograph a good chunk of the garments I made – this was pretty evident towards the end of Me Made May this year, when I posted a recap and couldn’t link to any of the finished garment posts. The above photo is the damage I did over the last few weeks to fill up my fabric stash since all of that sewing depleted a lot of what I owned – which is a good thing! I feel guilty sometimes when I buy fabric with the intent of a project and it ends up sitting in my stash for a looooong time. I stocked up for summer/early fall sewing in NYC a few weeks ago: lace, silk, cottons, stretch cottons, pontes, linens; all fabrics that fit in my color palette and will be purposed into pants, blazers, tops, and dresses. Garments that fit my style and wardrobe.

But with all of the sewing I’ve been doing, to the point where I quantify how many garments I want to make in a week or weekend, I came to a realization: this isn’t how sewing is supposed to be. Sewing is supposed to be fun, relaxing, and enjoyable. It’s about the process. And I’m not the only one who feels that way, Madalynne wrote some posts on what she’s dubbed “fast sewing.” I couldn’t agree more – I think a lot of us are caught up in fast sewing.

And then I started to understand why I’ve been turned off by blogging and sewing lately.

I’ve been seeing the same patterns, same blog tours, same sew-a-longs across a majority of the blogs I read – nothing really new, or original. As much as I want to “ride the wave” and participate with every new pattern that comes out or organized sew-a-long, it’s not the right thing for me to do. I realized I need to stay true to myself and pick projects that work for my personal style and lifestyle – that’s what The Wardrobe Architect was all about, right? I think there’s sometimes a pressure we sewing bloggers put on ourselves to be current with the latest and greatest pattern launch, to keep up with what the popular sewing blogs are doing, but at the pace that sewing patterns are coming out from great indie designers, it just isn’t possible, for me at least, to do it in a way that’s enjoyable.

So with all of this, I’m distancing myself from the “go go go” pace I’ve been feeling lately when I’m reading my favorite blogs, seeing everyone participating in the same thing, and thinking to myself that I’m behind and need to “get going” on making “xyz”. As much as I tried to crank out several new garments a month to show you guys, or jump on the bandwagon to make the latest and greatest pattern, I burned myself out and haven’t sat down at my machine for three weeks now. Heck, I even cut out a skirt that’s ready to sew, and I have no desire right now to start sewing.

Instead, I’m taking the time to work on some other things that have fallen a bit by the wayside – I started a new sweater, been running outside and lifting weights on a regular basis, and relaxing more on the weekend instead of pressuring myself to make and finish an entire garment in two days. I’ll come back to sewing soon, and it’s going to take me a while to get through my new collection of fabric, but I’m ok with that. I’ll enjoy the process.

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Lucinda May 27, 2014

Pattern Review: Lisette Round Trip Jacket [Simplicity 1419]

Pattern: Lisette Round Trip Jacket, Simplicity 1419
Fabric: linen blend from Joann Fabrics
Size: 10

Dress: McCall’s 6752

Had it not been for Me Made May this year, and following Liesl Gibson’s Instagram feed, I don’t think I would have discovered this pattern. I guess it’s because the model on the pattern envelope is shown wearing only the dress, and the jacket is just an illustration that blends in with the dress it’s paired with. I would have flipped right past it, since it seemed like just another fit-and-flare dress pattern, but when I saw Liesl pair her jacket with a tunic and pair of pants, I loved the shape and silhouette. The perfect summer jacket!

(Disclaimer: I tried using my remote control for the first time outside with these shots. They aren’t up to my usual photographic standards, but with a “creative director” who works different hours than I do, and a backlog of projects waiting to be shot for the blog…ehhh whaddyagonnado. So yes, my head is cropped off in almost all of these pictures because I was on a hill. Hah!!)

Ever since my sister came up in March and we went to H&M, I’ve been on the hunt for fabric for a white jacket. I tried one on I fell in love with when we were in the store, but hated the puff sleeves and how it fit (and who buys fast-fashion anymore? Not me!). It was the fabric that was to die for, a heavy knit with a neat, basket weave texture. This linen is nowhere even close to that fabric, but the H&M jacket put the idea in my head that I wanted to make a white jacket or blazer. I think I still want to make another white jacket, more blazer-style, this summer.

The pattern was very straightforward and easy to sew, a beginner could make this jacket. It’s not designed to be very fitted or tailored in any way, so it was a great jacket to make coming off of my Anise project – my mom laughed when I told her I was making another jacket! It’s unlined, which makes it easy to wear with sleeveless garments. I’m sure you could draft a lining if you wanted to, but I didn’t want to bother with it.

What I did do, though, is underline the front and back pieces of the jacket: the white linen is a little see-through, as you can see at the shoulder seams, and I didn’t want all of the seams and darts showing through. I underlined the pieces with some white lining fabric I had kicking around in my stash, and serged all of the raw edges to finish the seam allowances. I didn’t feel like underlining the sleeves, since heck, that would be a full jacket lining!

I think I’d make this jacket again, because I love the angled lapels. I’m still not sure how I feel about the ruffle/peplum, it’s a little too “sweet” for my liking, but it’s starting to grow on me. The ruffle stuck out like a tutu when I finished the hem, but it’s been in my closet for a week or two now and the fabric relaxed a bit. Maybe it’s possible to leave off the ruffle on the next version, lengthen the jacket a little turn up the bottom to hem it.

Is it starting to feel like summer where you are? Memorial Day always feels like the ushering in of summer, and we had some beautiful weather over the holiday weekend (Chris and I went to the drive-in on Sunday!). Except it’s supposed to go back down into the 60’s again this week…the pool is open for the season now, and the lifeguard on duty must be so bored.