Protea matching set
6 days ago
BurdaStyle Chiffon Maxi Skirt
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Here is what I've learned this project:
1) How to use iron-on interfacing.
I didn't look when I bought the package of iron-on interfacing (apparently I need to read packages before I buy them) because it was a thin weight and I was wanting something a little more stiff to give the waistband some structure.
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| Close up of how the zipper foot works! Its awesome! |
3) That once you serge your side seams you CAN NOT let the seam out!
I thought everything was great because using the serger is so amazing! I got serge happy and went ahead and serged the side seams. Looking back I should have just used a baste stitch until I knew the size was correct by fitting it on myself or the Dress Form. The skirt turned out okay, but It got a little bunchy on the hips so I may just iron that down or tack it down to the lining so it isn't poofy.
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| Serging the lining to the chiffon fabric |
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| Using my serger |
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| You can see the white stitches a little but they are hidden nicely when worn. |
This was the finished waistband from the inside, which in the long run really doesn't matter cause you cant see it, but I hope to get better as I progress.
Final skirt :)
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My next project will be a jersey knit dress! Soon to come :)
-Colby
Next Project & New Items
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Husband - "Did you order something from Amazon?"
Me - "No. Why?"
Husband - "Cause there is a package here with your name on it and its pretty big."
Me - "What!! Weird. I wonder what it is?"
Who doesn't like mysterious packages?!? Turns out it was a new Brother Lock 1034D serger from my super amazing parents!!
My machine collection is now complete! A sewing machine and a serger. This will help me out a ton when working on the apparel that I create. It makes wonderful finishing stitches and cuts the fabric while you sew. As Jessica Simpson would say its a "twofer" (one item that has two uses) which she uses often on The Fashion Star show. :) In the past couple of days I've been able to play with it a little and watch some video tutorials on how to thread it and change other features. I wont lie...it was very scary at first to even know where to start with it. I went to JoAnns and grabbed some neutral white/grey threads to get started.
I've been testing out its special stitches and I've learned that you can actually use your serger to gather your fabric! No more creating two baste stitches and pulling on threads. It does it for you and I found an amazing youtube tutorial here on how to do it. So I've tested a few of my fabrics I have on hand to see how the different types of fabric react to the gathering. I tried both gathering (on the serger) and just creating regular pleats (on the sewing machine) on the chiffon fabric to see which one I like better for my skirt. I will probably stick with the gathering.
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| regular stitch (green fabric) & gathering on stretch material |
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| gathering (left -serger) & regular pleats (right - on sewing machine) |
I am also a lover of books!! I love the smell of books, the feel of holding a book, and how pretty the covers are...strange I know. Which means I don't have a Kindle and don't plan on getting one unless I'm forced to. If I had endless amounts of money I would have the library from Beauty and the Beast...maybe just on a little bit smaller scale. :)
Like I said in one of my previous posts I've been very overwhelmed lately with all the new fabric terms and types of fabric out there..Chiffon, Voile, Seersucker, Faille..it never ends and with me being a newbie to sewing this was really hard to grasp. This led me to do some detailed searching on a book that would come in handy. I initially wanted a book that had actual swatches in it so that I could touch and feel the fabric, but this is the next best thing. Its Fabrics A to Z: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Using Fabric for Sewing. One of the awesome things about the author of the book is that she also has a GREAT blog that I am following as well. Check it out here!
Next Project! Ok so its really very similar to the last project I did since its just another version of a maxi skirt, but I'm working with chiffon and giving it an inner lining. I found the inspiration from the BurdaStyle website here and I really wanted to find a coral colored chiffon but JoAnns didnt have any and most of what I can find online is too expensive for me so I found a fun bright blue print fabric instead.
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| chiffon fabric, lining, 12" invisible zipper, and iron on interfacing |
One of the great things about this skirt from BurdaStyle is that you can download all the pattern instructions for FREE which to a Dutch wife is the best word ever. :) More to come on my project later.
-Colby
Maxi Skirt
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Here is my very first skirt creation. As with the rest of my "beginning" projects I am learning new things along the way. I found this stretchy polyester/spandex fabric from the clearance section at JoAnn Fabrics which I thought was pretty and a fun color. I am hoping to really step out of my box and find some fun and even brighter colored fabric for a later project.
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| sadly this picture doesn't do the colors justice |
The hardest thing about this project was deciding how I wanted the waist to fit. I got the idea from this blog Here but of course my brain had to alter it in a few ways. For one I didnt want to attach a top to the skirt because I wanted to be able to wear the skirt with whatever top I wanted and any color. So I decided to make the skirt flowy by gathering the waist fabric just like the blog, but I wanted to attach the waistband and also use a zipper. The waistband was hard because I wanted it to be 2" (more of a wider style band) but I only cut the fabric and interfacing at EXACTLY 2" which means I didn't have the extra 5/8" seam allowance that I needed to attach it to my skirt which led to this happening once I folded the skirt over:
I obviously didn't have it big enough to then fold over and sew again. I have yet to sew the waist down to the front because I haven't decided if I want to sew it with the machine (because you would see that stitch from the front) or sew it by hand, which I could possibly hide the stitch in the middle layers of fabric so it wouldn't show from the front.
The other problem I came across was sewing with stretch fabric! Apparently there is a lot to learn about sewing with stretch fabrics. You need to have the correct ball point needle and you need to use the correct stitch on your sewing matching. The stitch is called a "stretch stitch" which looks like a zig-zag stitch. I looked in my sewing manual and it said which one was for stretch fabrics (thank goodness).
Finally once I had the zipper on (which wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be) I tried on the skirt and realized the zipper was sticking out and bunching in the back making a non-flattering look which is why I have no rear photos below...Haha! So I still have to figure out how I am going to get the zipper to lay flat, finish the waistband (take it in a little depending on where I want it to sit on my waist), and finish the bottom hem. I only did a quick baste stitch on the hem for my photos cause I have no patience. :)
Here are some final photos! Enjoy..
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| skirt is higher in this one |
Until the next project!
-Colby Maia
Butterick B5734 Final
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Some problems that I ran in to was I didn't measure the dress on my body before sewing the back seam for the zipper because once I finally finished the zipper (after removing the first zipper that I sewed on backwards, lol) I put the dress on and realized i needed to take it in a half inch on each side.
The hardest part of the entire project was hemming the bottom of the dress!! Since the skirt was made of 5 pieces (which gave it a flared look vs. just having one rectangular piece of fabric) it was hard to take the hem up an equal amount all around because when I folded the fabric up it created extra fabric and didn't lay flat at all. It was also hard to fold up the hem an equal amount all around because once I sewed the skirt pieces together some pieces were longer than others at the bottom, which i should have double checked before sewing them all together.
Overall if I ever decided to redo this dress I've learned some very valuable lessons. The dress fits great and I like the wide straps. I also think the pockets are super fun and very trendy on dresses right now. When I get better at sewing and finishing dresses I would love to try this dress again. As you can see from the back I would still need to put a hook and eye above the zipper.
Onto the next project!
-Colby
Dress Form Diva
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| Thanks Dad! |
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Gotta love the husband touches :)
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| The hardest part was sewing around the center in the v-neck |
I'm so excited to finish this dress project and continue learning. Its pretty hard since I have a full-time job so I try find time when I can. :) Lastly it's been SO warm in Iowa that I saved some money to purchase a patio lounger! One of the awesome old-school plastic ones to soak up the sun when I have time.
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| It was only $22 at Target |
A Place To Call My Own
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| Check out the deal on Page 14 of this weeks ad |
I was told by many people that since I chose a linen (100% cotton) material that I should wash the fabric before I start sewing with it so that it shrinks first. Instead of shrinking after I have the nice dress all put together. That was my goal today and I also cut out all the pattern pieces for the dress. There were 10 total pieces which may seem like a lot for a "simple" dress but I think since it has pockets that could be why. I need to do a little more research on what the important symbols are to trace onto my fabric. I did some chatting with my mom today and there are a lot of circles and points where I should trace. That will be my next step once I pin my patterns on.
Also I've been frustrated with the fact that most patterns only start a size 6, until I realized that it may actually be the "true" sizing that women should have had or at least did at one point in time until those crazy/smart marketers (yep that's what I got my degree in) decided to tell people they are fitting into a size 4 when that might actually be a size 6. The measurements above are the bust measurements on my dress which seem fairly normal or strange depending on how you look at it. :)
Lastly I went to the mall today and was sucked in by the amazing smells coming from Bath & Body Works! Somehow I came out of there with 5 new hand soaps that smell delicious. :) I recommend the ones I bought below.
All I can say is YUM!
Fabric Mania!
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| (left to right) Butterick B5489, B5640, and B5734 |
The most overwhelming part so far has been choosing which fabric to work with. On the back of the patterns they tell you the suggested fabric you should use and this one said "Faille, Crepe, and Stable Knits". All of which I have never heard of except for maybe the knit fabric but didn't know what stable meant. Thanks to Google and a book I found at Half Price Books I was able to at least find the definition. Searching in JoAnn was at first very overwhelming since I had no idea what I was really looking for and their signs aren't the best. Anyway after asking around I decided to go with a linen fabric because its 100% cotton and wont have any stretch to it which can sometimes be hard to work with (I hear). Plus most of the cute fashion fabics at JoAnns were the linen and cotton materials. So I finally broke down and just picked a fabric knowing that this will be my first project on my own and could be a disaster. :)
Hopefully I can get started on cutting out the pattern this week. The white fabric is just a apparel lining fabric that was 100% polyester (JoAnn actually had an aisle that said "apparel lining" so that was the easy part) I also bought some much needed sewing staples that I realized I didn't have.
A tape measure (using the one from your husbands tool box doesn't work quite the same), more bobbin cases since you cant have too many of these, a sewing gauge for when you need to hem the bottom and you want to make sure you are cutting the correct amount all around, and a tracing wheel to mark the darts and important points from your pattern. Other important things needed for dress making are tracing paper so you can mark the darts onto your fabric, pins, and good fabric scissors (i.e. scissors that you haven't used to cut food or sticky things) lol :)
So I should be set to get started! I'm going to pray for patience that I don't get frustrated and want to quit. I can do anything through Christ who gives me strength....even if it is just sewing a dress.
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