On garment sewing

I used to sew a lot of garments - mostly for myself. A few for M when she was a baby. Oh - I should dig out the one outfit that I made for a girl that took forever. I made it way before M was born. I made it just because. My kid wore it ONCE for a photograph and that was it!  I'll dig it out - it's a hoot.

Anyway, I really really want to get back into garment sewing. There are so many neat fabrics on the market (including quilting cotton and batiks) and some very nice patterns. I can't see myself sewing pants. That just a disaster waiting to happen. However if you can get a good fit, it would be neat to have a perfectly fitting pair of pants. And last Monday? We chatted about sewing underwear and bras.

What I'm making is called the Mandarin Vest by Indygo Junction. It should have been made months ago - it's going to be a sample at The Hobby Horse where I'm teaching the class next month  - Saturday, March 23 at 1 PM!!!  It's a very simple pattern - the hardest part is putting in that collar. I only made one wee mistake on that, but no one will know as long as I don't point it out. The store is closed today, but call tomorrow and get yourself signed up.

I used to cut out patterns with scissors - no more! I now use my rotary cutter. First I traced the pattern pieces onto tracing paper that I found in my stash. Placed the fabric on a cutting mat and freehand cut those pattern pieces. I bet they are as accurate or more accurate than if I had cut them with scissors.

Cutting the vest pieces with a rotary cutter

Once everything was cut (I hate marking and will only mark if absolutely necessary). I can usually wing the placements or refer back to the pattern. My home ec teacher (Mrs. Sealy) is probably turning over in her grave that her star pupil isn't marking her fabric,.

Oh shoot - I didn't think I had any dark interfacing. I left that to deal with this morning. I searched through the interfacing drawer (YES - all my interfacings are in one spot) and voila - I found a package of black non-woven interfacing. That'll be perfect.

Non-woven black interfacing

The package was brand new. Why did I buy it? Who knows.  Then I dug out the serger. It'll make quick work of the seams and this serger is a dream to work with. It was easy enough to change the thread from white to black. Maybe took five minutes? And then I was in business.

Working with the serger to have nice finished seams

The front facings are done. The collar is stitched in place but needs to be hand sewn on the inside. A perfect job for today at our Monday sewing day. I was hoping to have the vest completed this morning, but that isn't going to happen. I bet it'll take about an hour to finish the vest once that collar is hand stitched in place. There are no sleeves, so I just need to serge the side seams, turn under a hem on the armholes and the bottom - all of which will be done by machine. Oh - and a bit of topstitching.

Partially completed vest

The pattern comes in two different lengths and two different styles of pockets. My print (batik from Banyan Batik) is so busy that you're not going to see the pockets so, at this point, I'm opting to not put them on. They are cute little patch pockets with gathering at the top. Personally, I think it's going to add visual bulk right at the waist/hip line and I'm not sure that I want that. I'll get the vest finished and then decide. Gosh - I'm such a bad model! I just make up the instructions as I go along. There's no lining so it'll be easy to add after if I want.

But that's the beauty of sewing. Don't like something - change it up. It's just like cooking. Unless I'm baking, I rarely measure anything. I like to live on the edge.

We had our UFO class in the morning yesterday. Oh my gosh - it was so much fun to see how people scrambled at the last minute to get their $10 back. We took lots of pictures and roped two more people in. I'll be sharing those pictures later this week. Same thing with our Lilla class on Friday night and the Kimberbell on Saturday. Lots of stuff to share this upcoming week.

In the afternoon, I taught a class on EQ8. Oh my - what fun we had in that class. There's so much that one can do with that software. My head is still spinning every time I look at it. And I usually discover something new. It's amazing how many little "tricks" can get hidden away in any software and unless you know where to find them or how to make them work - well - it's all a learning experience. I have to say that I learned something too. When you use the tools all the time and in the privacy of your own workspace, one is not required to know the names or the exact function of each. But in a class - well that's a different matter.

We're going to have a second class in the future because we barely touched the surface of what you can do with the software. If anyone is interested in the basic class of EQ8, let me know. It was loads of fun and those poor students went home with their heads FILLED - no, let's say they were way over capacity!! I gave them homework as well.

I'm packed and ready for Monday sewing. Can't wait!!!! My favorite day of the week. It's the only day of the week that I'm guaranteed to work on my personal stuff. The rest of the time, it's all about making samples for teaching or working on other people's stuff. This is my precious day!!!

On that note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!