Can you believe that October is almost over?

Where did October go? I have spent the entire month working on costumes. In the last post, my son had thrown a little bomb my way about needing a costume for his French class. Yes, the kid wanted to be Hugo Victor. Not only did I not know who that was but I had very little time to actually work on the costume. He wanted a leather jacket (ok, this made me laugh), a bowtie, and a beard. I made a bow using 1 1/2" wide grosgrain ribbon gathered in the middle and another folded piece wrapped around the gathered area. Double-stick tape was used to attach it to a shirt. I purchased a white beard from the costume store and trimmed it to match a mustache and shortened the beard. Then, I went to the Goodwill store and poured through the size 4/6 jacket and actually found a jacket with similar lapels that Hugo Victor had worn (that's a little scary about fashion isn't it?). That was the costume. It worked. I haven't seen the grade that he received yet. It had been stressed that they had to have costumes that would take about 2-5 minutes for them to put on.

Today, I received a the January 2009 issue of Threads. It has the most gorgeous dress on the front. I wish that I had somewhere to wear clothes like that. There is an article on bound buttonholes, another designer challenge on white shirts (they are all nice but I really love Fred Bloebaum), sewing with velvet, check out the coat article about weaving, and much, much more. I will definitely be scheduling time to sit down and just read. This has been my favorite magazine since the 80's and I have every issue.

I have not found any time to work on my next sewing project. My days just seem to disappear between my business, helping with the daily homework grind, son's activities, scheduling repairs on the newly renovated kitchen (microwave died, worst of all - countertop replacement), and just generally trying to keep up with housework (failing here), laundry, and cooking daily.

Happy Sewing!

No real sewing today!

Today has been a bust as far as sewing goes. I thought about working on my pattern but never got to it. However, I did spent a few hours working on my organization of the sewing room / office / guest room. This is going to be a huge undertaking. I have about 90% of my business stuff transferred to the temporary location. The sewing room looks like a tornado blew in but my inventory is organized and I know where everything is. My personal sewing stuff on the other hand may not be so easy to locate. Oh well, in the end it will all be good. The only thing that I haven't figured out is what to do with the computer. I can leave it set-up until the very last minute but I really can not be without internet connection more than a day.

The rest of my evening was doing homework (not mine, my son's). I don't actually do the homework. He does it. I check it then explain what is wrong if anything. Then sign all of the appropriate paperwork. However, this week is the end of the first nine weeks and there is a test every day. I really don't mind helping him that much but I really do look forward to when the light bulb goes off and he figures out how to do all this himself.

Oh, yeah, he dropped a wee little bombshell tonight. He has to have a costume of Victor Hugo by Wednesday. Yes, my chin hit the floor. No, I don't have anything suitable for the task. All he wants is a leather jacket, a black bow tie, and a beard. I'm in the process of making a black bow tie out of black grosgrain ribbon and elastic (I think). Since it's costume season, I should be able to come up with some sort of beard but Victor Hugo was always in some sort of jacket. I don't know what I will be able to do with that. I have one day to create.......

Happy Sewing!

The Bag for the Halloween Costume is done!

If you didn't know, the Indiana Jones character carries a vintage WWII gas mask bag. So, after looking at a multitude of photos of said bag, I decided that it would be very easy to make a bag and it was.

Here is the pattern that I drafted. Not a lot. I drafted the main part of the bag in one long piece with side pieces. The size of the bag is larger than one of the vintage bags since it will be the candy bag for Halloween. The size that I ended up with is 12" x 15" x 3" and I used 1/2" seams.

Here's the finished bag. Not bad for my first attempt at drafting a bag. This style of bag is suppose to have snaps but at the last minute I decided not to put them. It seemed like a waste of the snaps. The bag handle is from a bag that I got at Good Will for this purpose.

Here you can see the side of the bag with the d-rings. You can also see the seams which are basically french seams. Yippee! Halloween costume is finished with the exception of make-up which I have decided if I'm going to give the kid stubble or not but I did locate a website with a video on how to do the stubble.

Now, it's time to decide on the next project. It actually didn't take very long to decide on. I will be making this Simplicity pattern:

There are a couple of decisions that need to be made like size and which view. I'm thinking either the bottom one on the left or the middle on the right. The pattern has separate fronts cup sizes c and d. I'm hoping that this will eliminate a little bit of work. The fabric that I found in the stash is a pinky/lavender shade. It's on the washing machine right now.

Happy Sewing!

Tutorial - How to draft and attach a pocket flap

This project started with me looking for information on creating a pocket flap and the actual placement of the flap above the pocket. I found information on drafting a pocket flap and sewing on the pocket flap but no information on where the pocket flap should be placed above the pocket. So, I looked at Men's RTW and this is what I came up with:



Above in pink is the original pocket pattern. I changed the top of the pocket to add a pocket facing and squared it off. You can also see the 1cm seam allowances.
Next, I checked the finished width of the pocket. I used this measurement + 1/4" for the width of the pocket flap. Yes on every RTW jacket I looked at, the flap was slightly larger. The depth was approximately 2" + (2) 1 cm seams. I also copied the curve of the pocket bottom on the flap.
Here are the results of my drafting. The pink is the actually size with the brown showing the seam allowances.
Here's the jacket front with the pockets sewn on. When completed the flap will cover the topstitching on the pocket.
Here I've sewn the two pocket flaps. Since I will be adding snaps, these will need a heavy interfacing.

Here I've added a buckram (it was the only stiff interfacing that I had in my stash). Since this interfacing is very stiff, I cut it without the seam allowance and hand stitched it to the flap.

Here's the flap turned and topstitched. I did two rows of top stitching.

I placed the flap raw edges approximately 1/4" above the finished edge of the pocket, centered so that there is a small overlap on each side (approximately 1/8"), and pin into place. Finished placement on RTW was general 1/2" to 3/4" above the finished pocket edge.

Here I stitched 1 cm seam. Remember to backstitch at the start and the finish. This seam will need to trimmed to approximately 1 /4" of the stitching line. Press this so the flap lays on the pocket.

Topstitch enclosing the seam. My pocket flap covers the topstitching on the pocket.


Finished product with the snaps in place.

Whip Holder created.

Above is the whipholder that I created. I modeled it after the sample displayed on IndyGear.com. Here is roughly the measurements that I used - length is 25cm long (includes 1 cm seams, width is 3" + (2) 1cm seams, add a heavy duty interfacing about 2" on each end. Fold right sides together long ways and stitch a 1cm seam leaving an opening large enough to right side out. Lightly press and do a double-row of topstitching. Add snaps on the ends making sure that they will match up evenly. Then stitch the belt holder in place just above the snap. Width will depend on belt using.

Above is the whipholder with the belt inserted and the whip snapped in. It is a little bit tight (I forgot to check this measurement). If I were making this again, I would add 2cm to the length. Otherwise, I think it turned out perfect.

Happy Sewing!