Seasonal Changes

It is finally autumn here in the southeastern part of the US. And it feels a bit like we're heading into winter quickly. It always feels that way because I love the feel and look of fall and want it to stay a while.

Twice a year, I move my clothes from one closet to another. It is always a good time to assess the items I'm not wearing or items that need mending. And I find myself enjoying the making of small tweaks in a few items.

First up is this black cotton shirt with white sashiko, constructed 2 years ago. It is made in a medium weight cotton that feels a bit like washed linen. I traced the pattern while at Sew Kansas. It has never been published by the Sewing Workshop.

This neckline is not part of the pattern. I adapted it from the Egyptian shirt from Folkwear.

I like it a lot and have worn it often. Black pants; black top; done. No surprise that is began to look quite washed out after a number of washings. And I have all this black walnut juice around, so I thought, why not?

But I did not want to dye the white sashiko so I removed it. I let the top soak in a solution of black walnut juice and iron water for several days, simmering it on the stove from time to time. I think it did get a bit blacker. Afterwards I restitched the sashiko. Yes, I did. Who does that?!?

Next up was an unlined version of the the Sewing Workshop Tremont jacket. I have used this pattern more than once. It's a charming pattern, I think, with its asymmetrical fronts, set-in sleeves, and face-framing collar. This one was constructed using a hefty loosely-woven cotton ikat. I added some red accents that got in my way when I actually wanted to wear it. And it really should have been lined from the get-go.

I now see that the red accents are just about invisible. sigh.

So I removed the red accents and lined it. I used a soft light-weight cotton Ikat for lining the body and rayon Ambiance for the sleeves. I really like the weight of it now.

I also added a new closure using remnants from another cotton ikat project. I created frog knots per Sandra Betzina and simple loops on the other side.

And then I decided I didn't like that and removed the closures. Jeez.

Last weekend I signed up for an indigo dip at my local recreation center. I looked around and saw this nice white top I made with a French pattern, the Cezembre. I had already adjusted it once, as the cotton shirting was too tightly woven for the sleeves to fit smoothly into the armscye.

Cezembre before

I tried to create a gradiated indigo color with the darkest portion at the bottom. It was impossible (for me) to keep the upper portion white, so I dipped it all. I'm pretty happy with this color. I do love indigo blue.

Cezembre after

Ah, well. Two steps forward, three steps back. It's all about the joy of working with cloth in my hands.

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Now Quilting

Well, I was quilting, but now I'm done.

Every so often I get the itch to make a quilt. And then I've got it out of my system. I so admire the quilts made by dedicated quilters - all the precision and attention to every detail - but I can only manage to quilt in small doses. Then my attention wanders back to clothing.

This one was inspired by a car load of gifted fabric from a friend at church. The first batch required machine washing. By the time I finished that, I found that I actually liked some of the fabric. I felt it deserved to become part of a quilt. It is mostly older prints but by flipping it over, I had solids. I gravitate to solids more than prints.

The pattern I used (mostly) is a simplified courthouse steps. The quilting is simply vertical lines more-or-less an inch apart. I was actually a pretty satisfying make, in the end.

The back of the quilt is made from some white muslin included in the gifted fabric. It had a few flaws, so I added a bit of boro to the quilt back. I also used some of my remnants from thrifted men's shirts. Those too had some flaws requiring a bit of boro repair.

This is to be a present for DS. I wonder what he will think of boro repair!

The rest of the gifted fabric will be used in future sewing camps or go to my local American Sewing Guild chapter for redistribution. We will use it to make projects like this:

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Orange and Purple

I volunteer each Wednesday at a food pantry. It's quite a large operation, providing a market-style experience to about 200 families each Wednesday. Several times a year we volunteers participate in city-wide activities that raise money for our operation and others providing a similar service. And we receive brightly colored T shirts. This year's is bright orange and last year's was purple.

These T shirts are sized for men, wider through the shoulders and more narrow through the hips. I am not shaped like that and I never end up wearing these shirts. But I do like to combine them into a shirt that fits.

I was not terribly adventuresome with this project, using Grainline Lark T shirt pattern pieces. This is a basic (ladies) T shirt pattern that fits me. I cut the front and back from the body of orange T shirt (sized XL), and the sleeves from the body of the purple one (sized M).

Orange and purple is a cheerful color combination, I think. Makes me smile.

This is a good reminder to always have fun while sewing. This was all fun.

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Inside Out Chateau Jacket

One day DC and I were out shopping the thrift and consignment stores and I spotted a bed set. It included two pillow shams and a 90x90 spread. And it has two interesting sides. Score!

So of course I bought it and cut it up. Because that is what I do, right? Cut up pretty textiles.

This is my third Chateau jacket, a pattern from the Sewing Workshop. I think it's my favorite. I love the white wool one but I'm so afraid of soiling it that I rarely wear it! I do believe I'll get the most wear out of this one. 

The Chateau lends itself it a large interesting print as there are only two pattern pieces plus a back facing. It is intended for non-raveling fabric and raw edges. I was able to use two corners of the bedspread for the fronts and a another finished edge for the back.

I think that the embroidery stitch used on the edges of the bedspread is the chevron stitch.

The Chateau pattern also includes instructions for binding the edges which is what I did. I had a cross-dyed cotton remnant in purple and orange. Just right for this crazy print.

It's not really a print. Rather it is large machine-stitched patchwork on very light weight cotton that is then hand-stitched to a heavier burnt orange back. The two layers are secured with hand sashiko done in stripes of cream, blue and orange thread. The edges are folded to the inside and hand-stitched together using a chevron stitch.

The stripes are wonky, as you can see in the pic of the markings for my welt pocket opening.

The first time I finished it, I realized that I liked the inside much better than the outside.

I am quite fond of the subtle pattern of the stripes of big stitches. But then I am partial to visible sashiko. I hand-finished the raw edges of seam allowances (SAs) in the following way:

1. pressed the SAs open.
2. trimmed out some of the bulk
3. folded the raw edges under, and
4. fell-stitched the SAs open along the folded edge.

The finishing on the seam allowances accents the lines of the Chateau jacket:

I even like the exposed back facing.

As originally planned, the outside sort of wears me instead of the other way around. I sought advice from a number of sewing friends and came up with a fix that I like. It is now completely reversible though I will no doubt wear the orange side out the most.

In order to have functioning pockets on both sides, I kept the original patch pockets on the wild side and created single-welt pockets on the burnt orange side. The patch pocket works as a pocket bag for the burnt orange side.

Here's how I created the pockets: I removed the original patch pockets. Then I added a single welt pocket opening to the orange side. I omitted the pocket bag. Next I re-sewed the patch pockets in place. So on the wild side, they are standard patch pockets; on the burnt orange side I have welt pockets.

I used an older Sew Confident tutorial to make the single welt pocket openings. It is very clear and easy to follow. This is available through the 2015 subscription to Sew Confident or as an individual tutorial found here.

This is not great fabric. I've already discovered a frayed place just above one of the patch pockets. That's OK. I'll add a boro patch and be even more pleased with it!

So which side would you wear?

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White Linen Again

White linen is wonderful to cut, press, sew. This one started life as a large man's shirt - lots of potential. And it is currently a woman's linen shirt. It's like full circle. But the ride was such fun.

The MixIt top from Sewing Workshop is often my starting place with upcycled items. I like that it fits throught the shoulders and bust and then there's plenty of room below. The original shirt was plenty large for cutting out the MixIt Top.

Above I have the MixIt Front piece on top of both the left and right fronts of the original shirt. I aligned the fold line on the tissue with the buttons and buttonholes on the shirt. That is, I aligned the Center Fronts. So I did not disturb the buttons or button holes on the original shirt at this point, figuring to make my shirt button up the front too.

The back was cut on the fold, using the fabric below the original yoke. This was a BIG shirt. I rather like the shape of the man's shirt tail and so decided to keep it, removing only enough of the hem stitching to sew my side seams.

This shirt was big enough for me to cut long sleeves. I used the sleeve cap for the MixIt Top and the rest of the sleeve was cut from the MixIt Shirt. That is such a great, versatile pattern. I still had to reshape the lower portion of the sleeve a bit to smooth out the lumps. But I was able to keep the button placket from the original shirt.

Then I began to play with the leftovers.

The original yokes became sleeve cuffs, though I had to use a piece of white Kona cotton for the back side of the cuffs.

Oops. this needs pressing!

The original cuffs became my collar.

The original collar became my pocket.

And then I began to puzzle how I would deal with the buttonholes from the original shirt. Of course they remained on the left side of the shirt, as is traditional in men's shirts. That's awkward when you've been buttoning the other way for nearly 7 decades (!). And it was fun to think about options.

At Gail K in Atlanta I found these silver coin buttons. These are obviously not made from coins - they are too small to be nickels and check out the tiny ones I used for the pocket and upper sleeve placket. I love these little silver buttons. They remind me of my Texas roots for some reason.

My current solution to the closure puzzle is this: I used some of the scraps to make bias tubes and threaded the tubes through the button shanks. Then I threaded the tubes through the original button holes and tied a knot in the tubes on the back side. Also I added a new row of buttonholes to the right side of the front.

One added advantage to this solution is that I can easily remove (most of) the buttons when I launder the shirt. I thought it might feel wierd when I wear it, but it does not. So far. I can always change it. And that's one of the best reasons to sew.

Bottom Line:
Thrifted Shirt - $2.75
Buttons - $18.00
Time spent - Priceless? Yep.

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