Gathering Threads

Pink Summer PJs? Check!

Posted by on May 27 2011

Another UFO bites the dust!

Yes, that makes 2.5 UFOs (my half goes to my swiss dot bishop, which I’ve made good progress on and should finish later this week) that I’ve completed in the last two weeks. Feels great, I tell yah!

This is “Flower Power” from Designer Smocking for Tots to Teens again. This is my second time making this pattern this spring and it still looks nothing like the one in the book because I keep playing with it, changing up the fabrics and colours each time. 🙂 The first time, I made it in a red and white dot, with dark navy smocking. This time, I used a soft poly-cotton floral and a bit of bright green rick-rack to create a sweet pair of warm weather pajamas.  Rick rack and floss were both stash; the fabric and the little red buttons were new.

The knickers are also a Country Bumpkin pattern.  They’re from “Beautiful Bishops” and they were very easy to make. They’re actually cut on the cross-grain. I know, my bad. But I got this fabric off the remnant table and there was only 1.1m. There was no way I could eke out enough fabric for the top and bottom if I didn’t fudge the layout a bit. Given the randomness of the print design, I don’t think it’s noticeable at all and they’re pjs.  There are times and places to fight for fine sewing.  This ain’t one of ’em!

Of course, Stanley is hulking in these size 2 pjs.  I had to squeeze them onto him and you can see the areas where it pulls tight across the shoulders.  On Ellie, these should fit just fine.

The smocking is the one from the book and it’s just a series of simple trellis diamonds. Quick to work. I skipped all the bullions and embroidery because well, like I said before, these are pajamas and the fabric was busy enough that I didn’t think it looked empty without it.

I did a very narrow rolled hem along the top and bottom of the top after I passed it through my pleater. I flattened out the pleats and then sewed down the green trim. If I was doing it again, I’d probably not add the rick-rack to the top edge. It added a lot of weight to the ruffled edge and given that it had a marked tendency to stretch (I counteracted that by backsmocking very tightly), it might have been wiser to skip it. But I like the effect all the same and it was worth it to experiment.

I think this top really offers a ton of options and I think I’ll probably try my hand at a few more versions next summer, too.

Advanced Stitches Project Complete

Posted by on May 20 2011

I’ve been struggling to hack down the UFO pile that’s been teetering and tottering on the corner of my sewing table.  Slowly, slowly, progress is being made.

This angel-sleeved bishop is one of those UFOs that I finished this past weekend and I’m happy with the results. I made it as my final project for my Advanced Stitches correspondence course that I blogged about last fall.

They give you a year to complete all of the units; it took me 13 months, which isn’t bad.  Although, funny girl that I am, I had announced plans to have my final project finished by January.   Hah!

I have already decided to enroll in another distance education course because I found I learned tons of new info from the class.  One of the reasons I struggled for a while with this project because, as usual, I’d had grand ambitions and at times getting the reality to align with my grand plans wasn’t always easy.  But that too was a learning experience and overall, I’m satisfied with the final results.

Let’s talk about the dress and not my poor time management skills, shall we?

The fabric was an ecru poly-cotton with all-over embroidered blue dot and scalloped edge.   I’d planned an entirely colour palette but when I discovered this fabric at Lens Mills, I thought it was too cute to pass up.

The pattern I used for this dress was an older (1980s) bishop pattern that Nancy, my instructor, provided as part of the course.  Nice little pattern but much less full than the bishops I’m used to smocking.  That small stylistic difference wouldn’t have been an issue if I was smocking a traditional geometric bishop design: something with lots of waves or trellises.  If I was making the dress again, or use the bishop pattern again, I will add width to the front and back pieces, so that they’re fuller.  I think that this amount of fabric would have been perfect for a heavier fabric like a quilting cotton or even a fine corduroy but the poly-cotton I used was quite light and as a result, the pleats were quite widely spaced along the bottom row of the bishop.  This, coupled with the embroidered dots,  made getting my wheat-stitch ovals even and symmetrical difficult along the bottom.  Of course, my wonkiest one is right at CF.  Murphy’s law.   But since it was a learning piece, I decided to leave it as was.  I may yet rip it out but for now, I’m OK with it.

I used a lot of unusual stitches in the execution of this plate:  closed herringbone, wheat stitch, raised cable and cable.  For the embroidery, I stitched bullion roses, detached chain leaves and bullion-wrapped buds.  Gotta say, I do like my bullion flowers.

Aren’t they pretty?  I wasn’t planning on the limited blue palette when I started the dress.  I had a nice selection of pinks and soft greens all lined up to go along with the blues.  But as I started smocking, I found I liked the restrained colours.  They remind me a little of delft pottery, with their soft, muted tones.

I closed the back of the dress with seven vintage blue buttons.  These were new old stock that I literally unearthed from Nova.  None of the blue buttons they had were quite right.  Too green.  Too blue.  Too grey.  Too big.  Not right.  I was getting desperate so I got down on my hands and knees and started pulling out all the old boxes of buttons that they have scattered throughout the shop.  I finally found the perfect buttons.  I had to blow the dust off the big box before pulling them out but I’m glad I found them.  Price on the individual card?  $0.30.  Guess they’d been there a while. 🙂

I also would have changed how I tackled attaching the neck binding.  I was taught to start at the top of the plate and work down.  In this case, that meant working a row of chain stitch in dark blue along row 1.  Since then, a friend suggested waiting to stitch the upper row of smocking until after the binding has been sewn down.  This eliminates a lot of the rip and fiddle that occurs when putting on a binding because you can make sure the stitches are perfectly spaced below the neck.  I got mine on pretty evenly, but in the future, I’m going to try her suggestion and see if it streamlines the process.

Finally, I do love my hem treatment.  I utilized the scalloped edge of the fabric for both the sleeves and the lower hem.  Hey, anything to save me from turning up a hem!

Then I added three rows of 1/4″ tucks.  Each tuck is made along one of the rows of embroidered dots, so the three rows of tucks are all identical.  It’s a tiny thing but it makes me happy.

Excuses Sewers Tell Themselves

Posted by on May 17 2011

Sometimes, I’m not entirely honest with myself.  I say things like:

“I just have button holes to finish on this project.  It’s OK to start something new.”

“I’m not in the mood for fiddly right now.  I want to make something quick and easy.”

“I’m using stash fabrics.  That’s got to count for something…”

Unfortunately, those are the excuses that landed me at the point where I’m at right now with this smocked dress.  It’s been lingering in my sewing room since last summer and while I’ve worked on it in fits and starts, I keep finding something else to work on and the guilt has finely gotten to me.  I hauled this pretty pink, front-buttoning bishop out of the UFO pile this weekend, determined to finish it up in a timely fashion.

I have one goal in mind here.

MUST.  FINISH.  DRESS.

It’s the same gorgeous swiss dot that I made this top out of:  in fact, the top was made of the remnants from cutting this bishop.

The pattern and the plate are from AS&E #44 (1998) and it’s called “Cherie”.  When I saw this fabric last summer, I knew it was perfect for this dress.  Only problem is, I just can’t seem to get any traction with it.

I finished up the smocking no problem and back in the fall, I tackled the glorious lace hem treatment.  Isn’t it lovely?

But that’s as far as I got before I folded it up, tucked it in a ziploc with all the floss and got on with other things.

So why didn’t I finish this dress the first time?

Well, which excuse would you like first?

“It was the wrong season.”  This dress is summer personified and by the time September rolled around, I was in the mood for corduroys and wools, not light as air cottons.

“It’s too large for my niece right now.  I’ve got lots of time to finish it up.”  AS&E always run big and while this is a 24 mth, it’s very long and very full, which means that it will fit Ellie this summer but she would have swum in it last summer.

“I’ve run out of the dark pink floss and keep forgetting to take the DMC# with me.”  Yes, my excuses are that pathetic.  Because God knows, I’m never, ever in the notions shop.   Nor do I ever purchase floss by guessing at the colour.  Nope.  Never.  Ever, ever. *eye roll*

Finally, I blame the bullions.  Because there are a lot of them: more than 65 of the little suckers.  Needless to say, that’s a lot of wrapping and tugging and smoothing.  And for some reason, while I love the look of bullions, sometimes they seem like more work than they’re worth, what with the tangling and the bulging and the tongue at a 24 degree angle accompanied by the the “would-you-just-slide-through-you-bloody-goddamn…” mutter that accompanies my bullion making when the muse is not with me.

But enough.  No more excuses.  Here’s what I’ve done since I took it back out on the weekend:

I’ve got most of the pale pink rose buds done in the top row and started on the leaves.

I’ve completed the centres of the white roses and started on a few of the outer bullions.

I still have to complete the bottom most row of the trellis (hence the remaining gathering threads) and cut out and mark the centre button band (one side is embroidered).  I’ve ordered the narrow lace edging to complete the front band and the pink buttons are already in my stash.  I will try and post regular updates.  It’ll keep me honest if I know I’m supposed to post them here for the world to see 🙂 I want to get this dress done by the time my SIL comes down for a visit in June.  2 weeks.  I can do that.

Right?  Err…

But since the excuses are limitless and my time isn’t, I’m trying *really* hard to keep those pesky UFOs to a minimum but they seem to creep up on me.  Do you have lingering projects?  What’s your best (worst?) excuse for leaving a project behind?  A lack of time?  A problem you just don’t know how to resolve?  Boredom?  Short attention span?

Come on!  They say confession is good for the soul…:)

Flower Power Reimagined

Posted by on Apr 28 2011

I’m always amazed by what a difference fabric can make to the overall look of a finished project.

This is a fun little top I made a couple of weeks ago with a yard or so of cute red and white dot fabric.   Do you recognize the pattern?

Take a good look.

No?

Well, here it is in its original form:

Yup, it’s the same top as the little white top with the flowered capris but the mood is completely different, thanks to the fabric I made it up in.

The reason for the change was that I’d really fallen in love with another tunic in the book, “Designer Smocking for Tots and Teens“.  Unfortunately, it was sized for tweens and it’s going to be a long time before my niece will be able to wear a size 10.   And I’m not nowhere near that patient.  So I took a bit from column A (namely the fabric and the smocking design) from the tween top, combined it with a bit of column B (the Flower Power pattern) and came up with this hybrid.

The smocking plate is simple stepped Van Dyke and it was very easy to do.  It’s one of the few smocking stitches that’s worked right to left and it has a lot of stretch, so I did decide, once it was smocked, to backstitch the waist and chest bands with rows of red cable.  Otherwise I think it would have stretched out of shape really quickly and left the top looking baggy and sad.

I like this pattern.  It was super quick to smock and with only three pieces (the front, the back and two straps) it was very fast to cut out and assemble.  In fact I liked it so much that I’m making it again, using a tiny floral print to make a pair of summery pjs.  If (when?) I get the buttonholes done, I’ll be sure and show you so you can see how different it looks from this top, too.

The only thing I didn’t combine, at least according to these pictures, is an iron. Oh well, I’ve been so busy lately, I’m just proud I managed to get any pictures up at all 🙂

Sweet Swiss Dot for Spring

Posted by on Apr 13 2011

Despite being swamped by end of term marking, I’ve been taking regular breaks in the sewing room.   I find the change keeps me fresh (and sane!) and I’ve made some adorable spring and summer outfits for my niece.

None too fancy, mind, and mostly separates since that’s when she’s at her most comfortable.   A few more buttonholes and one more quick bishop and I’ll call it a season.  In the meantime, this is one of the tops I made out of the most wonderful, buttersoft swiss dot.

I fell in love with the whole idea of this top the moment I saw it last month.  It was designed by my friend Laura; it’s her “Little Bird” e-pattern.  Her little girl, Ellie, is adorable and knew I had to make my own version when I saw her wearing it in this photo.

Just get a spoon and eat her like ice-cream, why doncha?

My swiss dot is the softest pink and the hand is indescribable.  It’s stash – remainders from a bishop I am (glacially) smocking and it was nice to see *something* actually made with it, since it’s such lovely fabric.  It’s hard to find the real stuff.  I found this last summer, completely by accident, while I was hunting for another fabric entirely.  It was crammed on the bottom of a jam packed rack of fabrics, dusty and shopworn, but I could tell just by looking at it it was *quality*.  A little haggling later (I love independent fabric stores for just that reason) and it came home with me for a song.  It washed up perfectly and looked just like new, which isn’t surprising given how beautifully it was made.  Yeah for a bargain!

The front and back feature a row of release tucks.  I did three on each side at the front and then seven centred across the back below the yoke.

This was actually the fussiest part of the whole top, since I like my pleats evenly spaced and neatly tied off with knots on the wrong side.  It would have been much faster if I’d simply gathered the lower portions and fitted them to the yoke, which was an option Laura offered, but I wanted those tucks, so the fiddling was the trade-off to get them.  Each tuck is exactly 3/8″ wide (3/4″ total take-up) and 2 3/4″ long.  Because the yokes are curved, my tucks fan out, too.  They’re spaced 1/8″ apart at the top, and 1/4″ at the bottom.  The one right at the centre of the back is technically a released box pleat and not a tuck but that’s only because I didn’t want to muck up the symmetry of the tucks by having 4 pointing one way and three the other.  I’m a bit anal that way 🙂

Really, I’m going to have to gut my sewing room at some point.  In its previous life, it was a large walk-in linen closet (yes, I sew in a closet – but it’s MY closet.  Makes all the difference!) and when the shelves were removed by the previous owners, it left large gaping holes in the not-quite-drywall-some-sort-of-cheap-1930s-pressboard-alternative.   They’re everywhere and they’re impossible to avoid when I take pictures.  Not attractive :(.  Maybe this summer, me and the putty knife can become one.

But home renos aside, I made the sleeveless version, with the small ruffle.  I could have simply done a single layer ruffle, edging it with a narrow rolled hem, but the fabric is so soft, that I didn’t think it would have the body it needed to stay aloft on its own.

Instead, I self-faced the ruffle which saved me from hemming the outer edge and gave it more body all in one fell swoop.

And here’s the hem.  I love this shot.  I’m not a whiz-bang photographer.  I go for clear, well lit and functional rather than gorgeously artistic like some blogs with hosts more talented in that department than I.   But there’s something so sweet about this picture, I think.  The tiny rolled hem, the back-lit texture of the fabric, the out of focus mannequin.  It just makes me happy.

Finally, I decided against doing a drawstring casing.  I like the soft, unstructured look the top has without it and I hope my Ellie looks as adorable in hers as Laura’s Ellie does!