Off the Clock

UPDATE : I received this message from my daughter the other day - " I forgot to mention again thank you for the new pads!  They work perfectly and are saving my shells big time ."  Apparently the extra layers, the substitution of a plush bath towel instead of thin fabric store terrycloth, and the extra 8 square inches coverage are making a positive difference. _________ About two years ago I was busy making fitted cloth diapers and soakers for my granddaughter.  The other day Daughter asked me to make some more soakers.  Well, this is what you get when your mom is a packrat.  The first time around I made the diapers and soakers with brand new fabrics and diaper flannel - after all, it was going to be touching my precious grandbaby's delicate skin.  Fast forward a couple of years and it's all about the "what do I have on hand?" lol  This batch is made from leftovers from various jammy pants. The only modification she asked for was to make them ab

Lutterloh 298-225 I bought this Wonder Woman flannel back when I first got back into sewing, about four years ago (Is that all?  It seems like so much longer!)  I've made myself a couple of other pairs of pyjama pants, in fact the first thing I posted about when I got back into sewing was a pair of self drafted pyjama pants.  But I have been sitting on this favourite piece of flannel, afraid to ruin it.  I finally cut into it today.   The self drafted pyjamas I made back then were ok, although a little short in the rise.  I've also made pyjamas from Big 4 patterns, but they always seem to be so baggy.  And in all cases they never seem to be long enough, even after adding extra length.  They start off fine but then seem to shrink even after the flannel was pre-shrunk.  This time around, as I've been flirting with the Lutterloh patterns, I decided to give this one a try.  And I'll come right out and say it - I've never had a pair of pyjama pants f

I made these two circle skirts for my 18mo granddaughter.  Aren't they adorable?!  Ok she's wearing it inside out in the above pic but still - adorable!  I used this tutorial  which is what gave me the circle skirt bug in the first place. I used foldover elastic for the waistbands even though I didn't fold them over because it seemed like a softer elastic to have against little one's skin and also because I was able to get a decent colour match. Next on the agenda?  Well I am going to take a break from the sewing room for a few days but I want to draw up this Lutterloh pattern, 298-225.  I've been sitting on a length of Wonder Woman flannel for years and I think her time has come. On a completely different topic there is a discussion on Pattern Review about storing your pattern tracings.  This is the back of my sewing room door.

Corrie's Eva wearing a fabulous full skirt I love Coronation Street and have watched it forever.  Aside from the story lines (which drive me crazy sometimes) I love seeing what folks are wearing.  They have a few characters wearing some really nice things lately.  The other day I saw Eva wearing this box pleated full skirt and fell in love. I bought a gorgeous piece of cotton sateen in a hibiscus print.  I thought Lutterloh's 300-104 (on the left) would fit the bill and set to drawing it out.  I washed and ironed my fabric and laid it out on the floor to accomodate the wide pattern. And then realized my 56" wide fabric was a tad too narrow.  I thought ok, no problem, I'll just pinch out the middle of the pattern to make it less of an arc.  Well I would almost cut that piece of fabric in half before I would be able to get it all on the fabric.  Time for a plan "B". Not to be deterred I thought maybe instead of a circle skirt I cou

I made the peplum top from  Vogue 8815  about a year or so ago, and have been intending on making the skirt from   New Look 6107  to go with it ever since.  Well I finally got around to it.  I thought that a pegged skirt would look better with a peplum top and after doing some research I decided that I didn't need to buy a new pattern, I could just use this one to adapt.  I took one of the versions hanging in my closet and pinned the sides, starting below the hip, to a total of 1 1/2" in from the sideseam at the hem on each side.  Well this was clearly too much pegging - I could barely walk!  I then tried halving that to 3/4" each side and that was perfect.  After pegging it I had to take it in 1/2" along the whole side seam to drop a size since I have lost some weight.  All in all I am very happy with this outfit.  It can be worn as separates or together like a dress.

Before and After - Simplicity 1696 I first made and blogged about this pattern five months ago.  I was happy enough with them although they didn't look like the pattern pic .  I wanted a more fitted pant, closer to a jean, which is what I thought I would get with this pattern.  See the extra folds of fabric under the butt in the left view above?  I wasn't thrilled with that.  I've only worn them once, and since every time I've put them on I felt they looked worse.  I had taken apart the side seams a month or so ago to remove the piping and try taking them in but because of the front pockets I wouldn't be able to do this.  So I sewed them back up and left them to languish in my closet. I modeled them for my mom the other day and she commented on how there was way too much fabric in the back.  So I decided to remake them from scratch to see if they could be something I would wear.  One of the first things I discovered when revisiting the pattern was tha

Lutterloh 285 66   I wrote last week about trying out the Lutterloh system, and the fitting problems I had because I took my measurements incorrectly.  I have redrawn the pattern using my correct measurements this time, and the top looks and fits very much like the pattern drawing.  I had to lower the waist 1 3/4" and raise the bust dart 1 1/2".  Other than that the pattern gave me just what I expected from the pattern pic; size for size at the bust, 3" of ease at the waist and 1" ease at the hip. Can you see the facing through the fabric?  Yeah, that had to go. I tried making facings this time as the pattern calls for rather than banding as I did with the dark blue version.  I serged the raw edge just to help keep it smooth and flat because I was using such a lightweight knit, but as it turns out the facing was obvious through the lightweight fabric so I ended up sewing a second row of topstitching and then clipping the facing close to that stitching.  

I have a bit of a fixation with hats.  I love them; I love trying them on.  I like the way I look in them.  But I don't often actually wear them in real life.  Last summer I found a very nice hat store while on a short holiday with Mavis in Niagara on the Lake, and of course I bought a pricey hat.  We found ourselves back in this store again this year and promised myself I wouldn't buy another one, although I was very tempted! Then I saw this; fabric hats!  So of course you know where my mind went from there... The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!  Off to google I went in search of a pattern.  I came across this free one from Martha Stewart , and figured she would know all about hats, right? Well she may know hats but I found the pattern to be poorly drafted.  The brim didn't match up with the crown.  I forced it to fit but I wasn't happy with it at all and I ripped it apart to start over.  I redrafted the pattern to make it fit better, rec

UPDATE: I think I figured out my sizing problem!  And it is such a beginner's mistake that I am almost ashamed to admit it.  But fear not, dear reader, I am here to put aside my pride and let you in on a life-changing revelation. I took my measurements wrong, but it is worse than that sounds.  I know that I pulled the tape quite tight when taking my measurements and I rounded down to the lower even number when I landed on an odd number.  I am used to working with Big 4 patterns and they always have so much extra built in ease (for my taste, anyway) that I thought this was the way to go.  So I just took my standard tape measure and remeasured.  I had a difference of 12cm to what my previous measurements were.  That's almost 5", folks!  How could I be off by so much?!  Well, now here's the embarassing part; I used the Lutterloh tape measure the first time I took my measurements and even though I KNEW that the zero wasn't at the beginning of the tape, I just au

I can't believe we are in August already!  Where does the time go?  I know I've been spending a lot of it in my sewing room.  Unfortunately I have fallen far behind in blogging about it, so I will try and do a bit of a catch-up today. Some time maybe last year I made this sleeveless version of Vogue 8815  out of a stretch cotton weave.  I lengthened the bodice by 1" but still I still felt that the waist was too high.  It is supposed to sit 1" above the waist.  I also felt that it was too loose and not very flattering.  I finally realized one of the problems was that I was wearing it with the wrong type of pant.  A peplum top needs to be worn with a very narrow bottom such as leggings or a pegged skirt.  I wore it with black leggings and it looked pretty good, although I still wasn't really feeling the love.  I then took it in about 3/4" on each side and suddenly it went from ok to amazing!  A peplum top must have a close fit to look its best.  I have enough