Demystifying Knits

Bonjour,

I'm absolutely not an expert on knit fabrics and knits sewing, but I'm really good at being totally obcessed and researching a subject until my eyeballs bleeds... I'm thinking about joining the Sewing Cake Tiramisu Knit Dress Sewalong... So here are what I found out about knits fabrics and using them :

Note : I merged this content into my page (see links on the side bar) dedicated to Fibers and Fabrics knowledge...

Simplicity 1882 - Muslin part.3

New Sewing Machine and "Progress" on S1882

I started resewing the dress from May to June.  In this post (journal entry!) I state the last steps I made on my dress... I'm a snailstress, really!

After June, camping season came and ended with my oldest child starting pre-kindergarden! I'm so proud of her! So after the frantic months of September and October, I wanted to start working on my dress again, but sadly the sewing machine my mother-in-law gave me stop working...

I now have a new machine (Clara, my Singer Quantum Stylist 9960) and I LOVE IT! I'm doing quite a few tiny projects and Christmas presents in the last month with it - I will obviously post about them after the Holidays!! My new machine offer a lots of stitches and I will need to revisit how I finish the seams of my dress...

Resewing the dress S1882

What I did :

• Alteration - Hem: I removed 6 inches from the bottom
• Alteration - Skirt: I removed from nothing (size 18) at the waist to 1/2 inch (size 16) from the notch to the hem.
• Seam finishing: I chose to turn the seams allowances under, for a cleaner look inside and durability. I tested before on scraps to be sure it wouldn't show through when ironed. I used my blind hem foot to sew equidistant from the folded edge of the seam allowances.
• I started with the midriff piece and had some trouble to align the piping edge at 5/8" since the store bought piping was only 1/4" ; so I used my grand-mother tape with a long metal end that is exactly 5/8" to align the piping as I machined basted it to the midriff piece.
• I then sew the skirt pieces and finish the side seams with large double fold bias tape.
• Attach skirt to midriff : TO DO
• Alter bodice : TO DO
• Sew bodice : TO DO
• Attach bodice to midriff : TO DO
• Zip : TO DO
• Collar : TO DO
• Sleeves : TO DO
• Hem : TO DO

Next time I should

• REVIEW HOW STRATEGY TO FINISH SEAMS...
• Pin carefully the previously finished seams allowance when sewing the piping to avoid them being caught up.
• Step 10 - Avoid raw edges for the bottom seam of the pockets
• I need to alter the pattern pieces : TO DO

TIME :  6 h.
Wednesday May 2nd : maybe 1h, I don't remember
May 31rst : 1h alterations
Thursday June 14th :  4h midriff, piping, skirt
Friday June 15th:  ?h, skirt seams finishes not all done...

Simplicity 1882 - Muslin part.2

Fitting !

I love the pockets!

Alterations :

• Hem about 6 to 7 inches from the edge.
• Skirt : tapered from size 18 at waist to a size 16 from top of pocket flaps to the hem.
• Bodice : Take in 1 1/8 inch at the top of the side seam under the arm  to nothing at the midriff seam.

The dress will have cap sleeves, a black collar and black piping at the waist and under bust seams.

TIME : 1 h
Sunday April  15, 1 h
Update Blog : 0.75 h

 

Unpicking Basting Stitches

TIME : about 1,5 hour.

Simplicity 1882 - Muslin part.1

Cut Fabric

My NYC glass head pins!

Measures in inches

High Bust : 38,5
Bust : 41
Waist : 34,5
 Hip : 40
160 lbs, 5 ft 2 in.

Making Simplicity 1882, view B, size 18, D cup.
Used a nice plum colored popeline and black popeline accent @2$/m from Fabricville.

What I did:

I decided not to cut the pattern tissues. So I trace with a teethed wheel and wax free carbon paper on my fabric, unpinned the pattern tissues and cut with my rotary cutter every pieces. I used my carbon paper or tracing pen on the fabric to report the notches and dots on wrong side.

Next time, I should:

•  Trace the pattern tissues onto paper at the right size with the teethed wheel, skipping the carbon paper and the use to remove the tissues before cutting. Then use those paper pattern pieces, directly pinned to the fabric or weighted down with pattern weights, to cut around it with my rotary cutter.
• Cut the notches OUTSIDE instead of tracing them on the fabric inside the pattern pieces.
• Continue using pen to trace dots and inside marking.

It took me about 1 week, tracing and cutting a few hours for a few nights, while procrastinating a lot and surfing the web... (maybe 6 hours)
TIME : 6 h

Basting

Basted seams outside, on RIGHT side.

What I did :

Research princess seams sewing technique :

• Princess seams sewing tips
• PDF on Princess seams types and tips
• Pressure foot to sew curves without pins and video

Next time, I should :

• Step 9 - not sure I should have topstitched on top of the pocket flaps or underneath it??
• Take better care to notch the flap curves because they were visible on the right side when ironed. So I sew the flap interfacing side up on the dress - but they are sensitive (wrinkles) to heat...
• Stay-stitch at 1/2 in the curve and maybe slit notches before pinning and sewing the princess seam (or use the magic curve foot!) 
• I am quite symmetric, so I could avoid sewing the seams outside next time I try to fit garment!?
• If I mark carefully the alterations, I should skip the basting and fitting steps for the next dresses using this same pattern...

I could buy :

• pinking shears or rotary cutter blade to finish seams (or use the mounting technique - i.e. partial lining)
• Get a clean and non leaking iron! 
• Get the Curve Master 5/8 pressure foot - would be handy for my son's quilt projects (lots of curves planned!) and clothing!

TIME : 4.5 h
Saturday April 14, 2.5h, steps 1 to 10.
Sunday April 15, 2h, steps 10 to 17.
Update Blog : 0.5 h

Back to sewing!

Bonjour,

Since my blog has been declared dead, the Easter long weekend might been just what it needed to resuscitated! (pun intended). I cleaned up my sewing room since its now also my office - the kids have officially taken over the living room and kicked me out! Here are the few projects I recently worked on:

Super Electric Banana & Super Papillon!

• I have sewn 2 Super hero cape with the help of this Reversible Super Hero Cape tutorial. They love it! But next time I will make a smaller neck opening... DONE!
• I've sewn my mega wide leg Gap trouser into strait legs one using the guidance of this tutorial to make skinny jeans. And I've hemmed them and another pair of Gap trousers I purchased. DONE!
• I've put aside my Monique Dress for now as I was having trouble fitting the bodice and didn't intended to sew its skirt as is anyway: gathers don't help my waist! UFO
• I manage to sew a belt for my daughter but was unhappy with the thickness of it: it's too hard for her to put in on since it's twisting... So I bought nylon straps to sew underneath my pretty ribbons... IN PROGRESS
• I started to use my scraps to sew sun hats for the kids with the bucket hat pattern. IN PROGRESS
• I started Simplicity 1882... I cannot find any review of it yet so mine might be the first, if I could keep on sewing! IN PROGRESS

So if my documentation of the projects I worked on is of some interest to you, there will be more soon on the Simplicity 1882 Dress!

Blog is dead, long live Blog!

Bonjour,

So what happened with this dead blog? I subscribed to a master degree class last semester with too much homework and starting at 16h, too early for my husband to be back home from work... I also worked about 8 hours per week while still being a full time Stay-at-home mom! No sewing done and now my sewing room is buried with Holiday frenzy remnants....

This session will be similar but the class has no homework and a better schedule. Moreover, I will have one evening free for myself every 2 weeks, thanks Maman et mon chéri! xxx

So I ordered ribbons from The Ribbon Retreat today to make some belts for my slim bellied kids ; Hoping to summon my sewing mojo and force me to reorganize, again, my sewing room!

Rainbow : calm after the storm, no?

Wish me luck!