Simplicity 1699 and Spirit of Winter

Over the last couple of weeks I've managed another couple of finishes.
As I'm trying to stretch myself and learn new techniques, the first was a dress from Simplicity 1699.  The new techniques were princess seams and inserting a zipper.  While I've inserted zippers into bags and purses, I've not done it in dressmaking.

 The photo makes the fabric appear blue, its not. Actually it is purple.

 In the photo it appears the fabric is blue, its actually purple.  The fabric was on special at Spotlight and is a double crepe.  The cost of fabric was $17.50 and I have enough left over to make a top.  I'm thinking of making the Colette Sorbetto which is a free design.

I will make this dress again.  Next time I will lengthen it as its a bit on the short side for me and I'll use something with a slight stretch in it like a cotton sateen.

My next task was to make something with a lining.  Again using Simplicity 1699 I made the jacket.

This is a pale purple linen and is a good match for my polka dot dress.  The fabric was from Centrepoint and cost just $7.

In an online class at Craftsy the tutor said to interface linen to stop it creasing.  Thinking that was a good idea, I cut out the pieces and then fused interfacing to it.  Disaster!  When fusing the interfacing, even though I pressed rather than ironed, it distorted the fabric.  The two front pieces in particular were baaaad.  When I put the pattern against them, in some places it was off by as much as 2 inches.  The back wasn't too bad, and the sleeves were a bit distorted but again not too bad.  Fortunately I had just enough fabric left over to re cut the front pieces.  This time I fused the interfacing before cutting out the pattern.  However I did notice that the grainline was altered significantly.  While it looks reasonable, the proof will be when I come to wear it.  As the grainline was off so much on the front and sleeves the jacket may end up twisting when I wear it.

Apart from the interfacing disaster, it sewed up very quickly and the lining was very easy to do.

I'll definitely do this jacket again, but probably not in a linen.  Or if I use linen, I won't interface it.

I finished page 20 of Spirit of Winter by Heaven and Earth designs

I can see the end in sight now as I'm about to start the last row.  After 5 years on her, only around another 6 months to go.

Another tunic Simplicity 2054

I finished another tunic.  I made it to wear over leggings, but it is long enough to be worn as a dress on its own.  However the colour is a bit brighter than I realised, a bit too bright for me.

This is Simplicity 2054.  Fabric is a ITY jersey from Centrepoint and cost $17.

I made a mistake with the neckline.  I sewed the facing on inside out so the raw edges were on the outside.  As this is a knit fabric and I used a stretch stitch it was going to be just about impossible to unpick it.  I decided to hide the raw edge by covering it with lace.  I first trimmed the raw edge  as close as possible to the stitching and then attached the lace.  I was lucky that I had some lace in my stash that was the exact colour of the dress.

 I'm pleased with how that mistake turned out.  It looks as though it was meant to be and even adds interest to another wise plain garment.

New shirt and Spirit of Winter update

I finished another shirt.   Last year I bought a solid red fabric and a small red check fabric. I combined these on the new shirt.  This is another of the New Look 6963.

Its been a long time since I finished a page on Spirit of Winter.  Finally page 19 is complete.

This weeks (week 8) TAST stitch was chain stitch.  These were my examples of its use.

First is part of a combination seam on a crazy quilt block.

 And used as a filling stitch in a goldwork piece.

This week I'm aiming to make another tunic to wear with leggings.

TAST stitches and shirt finish

There have been another couple of TAST weeks.  Week 6 was Chevron stitch:

Week 7 was Detached chain:

I've completed my first shirt.  This is the first time I've made buttonholes.  It was a bit nerve wracking putting the buttonholes in.  At that stage all the shirt was made up, so if I'd messed up the buttonholes it would all have been wasted.  Fortunately they worked out really well.  This was a New Look pattern 6963 and labelled Easy.  However I found some of the instructions really difficult to understand and they really weren't in-depth enough.  As a result I spent a long time on Youtube looking at how to videos.  Of all things, the pocket instructions I couldn't follow.  I thought patch pockets would be easy, however it turns out to be a type of fabric origami.  Easy enough once you know how, but the instructions on the pattern weren't nearly good enough.  The turn up sleeves also defeated me and I ended up doing my own thing with them.  The pattern calls for a 2 1/4" hem and have a tab looping around to appear to hold up the sleeve.  However if I'd used a 2 1/4" hem there would have been a huge amount of surplus fabric hanging down from the tab.  In the end I folded 2 1/4", and folded again.  I then sewed close the folded edge.  I then turned this to the right side of the sleeve and stitched at the bottom of the sleeve so it appears like edge stitching at both the top and bottom of the cuff.  This fits perfectly in the tab and is the perfect length.  With the two double folds this ends up as a  6 3/4" hem.

I'm very pleased with how this has turned out.  It's a smart casual shirt.

I'm going to make another of these shirts.  I have some red checked fabric and solid red fabric so I'll use a mix of these using the checked fabric for the body of the shirt and the solid red for collar, sleeves and pockets.

I'm going to add some more tabs to this blog showing only photographs of finishes as a quick reference. 

Tast week 5 - Herringbone stitch

Week 5 of the TAST challenge is herringbone.  These are my examples.  Other participants have posted some amazing examples on the TAST facebook page.

CQ tea cozy and TAST week 4 Cretan stitch

I finished my crazy quilt tea cozy.  With a layer of batting in it, it keeps my teapot wonderfully hot for ages.  Here is the second block completed.

  And here is both sides of the completed tea cozy.  It has a ribbon at the top so I can easily lift it off the teapot when pouring a cuppa.

TAST week 4 was Cretan stitch. Here are my examples.  The first is on my CQ Four Seasons cushion

This is a double row of Cretan in pink and blue and is on the Tea Cozy.

Up next, I registered for an online CQ course on embroidery motifs with Kathy Shaw.  The first task is to do two trees, one using a twisted method and another an embroidered method.

Tea cosy crazy quilt and TAST

I've started working on a crazy quilted tea cosy. I love having a morning cuppa but find that the tea is getting cool before I've finished.  Hopefully a tea cosy, as well as looking nice, will let me extend those lazy mornings!

Both front and back will be crazies.  One side is done.  This is also my May block for the CQJP2015 challenge.

I've been keeping up with the TAST challenge, but last week got slack about posting on my blog, although I did post on the TAST facebook page.  So here are week 2 and week 3 for the TAST challenge.

Week 2:  Buttonhole stitch.  As a seam treatment, buttonhole wheels and a buttonhole leaf.

 

Week 3 is feather stitch.  Worked here as seam treatments and also to join blocks and borders.

 

Anyone wanting to learn how to do these stitches, should click on the TAST badge to the right.  This will take you to the Pintangle page, then click on TAST FAQ which lists all the stitches and gives instructions on how to do them.  Mary Corbet also has great tutorials, including easy to follow video instructions.





 

Over on  Kathy Shaw's page a new free crazy quilting course will be opening for registration in a couple of days.  The course is Embellishing with Threads.  I'm looking forward to learning more on this course.   Anyone wanting to get into crazy quilting should take a look at her free classes.  They are great classes with easy instructions and so much fun seeing what other participants are doing.