First steps on my me-made top

Walking down to John Lewis today (on my way to buy iron-on interfacing) I was imagining coming home, making dinner, then getting my top made tonight. Well, I did make dinner - a tomato & mozzarella salad followed by pasta peperonata (a Jamie Oliver special which works every time) - a very successful Sunday meal with minimal time required - perfect!

My tasty tomato and mozzarella salad

Then I decided to get started on the top.  I had cut out the fabric pieces on Thursday night with very blunt fabric scissors - I'm sure that's a big no-no but I just couldn't wait to get started!  So when I was at John Lewis I treated myself to a new pair and it's a revelation as I bought left-handed scissors.  I had never realised what a difference it would make, especially when cutting fabric. 

The pattern says to use tailor tacks for all the markings.  The Reader's Digest 'new Complete Guide to Sewing' (thank you Camden library) has been pretty useful but I couldn't make sense of the instructions for doing tailor tacks no matter how many times I read them. So I turned to YouTube instead and found this very helpful tutorial and it all became clear. I started doing the tailor tacks, very happy with myself, until 2nd piece in, I realised that I hadn't ironed the pattern properly flat and it was folded under so my fabric was the wrong shape - aah! So I have now cut out another piece (luckily I had spare) and I've now done all the tailor tacks. I've just made myself a pot of peppermint tea and am going to cut out the interfacing then stop at that. The sewing it together will start tomorrow!

I'm assuming I should use tailor tacks on the interfacing as well?  Is that right?  

the bit without fabric behind it was folded under when I cut - oops!

Future Fridays?

I think people tend to fall into two camps - those who like going out on a Friday night after work, and those who like to go home and relax.  I tend to fall increasingly into the latter camp - I like to get home, pour a nice glass of wine, cook some food, and then maybe watch some CSI, a film, or listen to music... or now, sew!!

I've got so many things I'd like to make - pieces of fabric I've got that I'd like to use, jewellery I'd like to make, clothes I'd like to alter or need to fix - that I thought that would be a good thing for a Friday night.  Maybe more the small things like fixing, altering, and making jewellery than actually making clothes as I'm not sure I trust myself with scissors and a sewing machine after a glass of wine.  This is not because I'm a lush, although maybe one glass does tend to lead to two, or three..  It's because I'm incredibly clumsy and have had a few accidents with both scissors, and sewing, in the past.  Most memorably cutting the top of one of my fingers as a child when doing craft work - this was on the Island of Iona (a beautiful, but tiny, island in the north of Scotland, luckily with a doctor in residence).  It turned out fine, it was only a wee slice of finger, and it got re-attached - pretty gross though, and not something I want to repeat!

So, my first Friday project - I have this Mango denim dress I bought last year.  I love it but I find the front of it a bit too revealing and feel self conscious when I'm wearing it.  On one of my daydreams about what I can make/alter I remembered about a box of old handkerchiefs that belonged to a Great Aunt.  I got the box out and had a look through to see if there were any with lace on them that would work as an insert for the v-neck on the dress.  I think this one (pictured below) will do the job quite nicely.  Though I'm thinking it might be a time for hand sewing over the machine? It's quite delicate material and I'm not sure what will happen when I cut it? Any advice on what type of stitch I should do when I cut horizontal to the top of the triangle?  I was wondering about using one of the other sides of the lovely triangular edging to put above the cut out flower part but I'm not sure my hand stitching in neat enough, maybe the machine would be better? 

Dress repairs and discoveries

I got up early this morning as the sun was shining brightly, but instead of heading straight out to enjoy it I thought I'd make a real start on fixing the straps of a dress I bought in a vintage shop in Los Angeles.  The dress was a wee bit tight round the neck and this seemed to have put enough stress on the straps that they looked like they might come apart at any moment - not a good look! So, once again the dress had been consigned to the back of the wardrobe until such time as I got round to fixing it.

The first step was to seek advice on what to do! I already knew that just sewing it back up was probably not the most sensible option as if it was too tight in the first place it was still going to be too tight.  So I knew I wanted to add a piece of fabric in.  When fabric shopping with Jessica on Goldhawk Road I asked her advice on what type of fabric to buy.  With her help I found a fabric and the guy in the shop very kindly gave me a wee piece as a sample (I didn't lie, I did say I was only after a tiny piece).

The scraps of fabric to be inserted on the straps, with edge stitching.

I was a bit worried about it fraying so I decided to do a stitch round the edges of the pieces to be inserted.  This involved some new things for me - changing the foot on the sewing machine! I thought this would be tricky but it's easypeasy, yay!  I changed it from the 1 (which I've checked now and is the 'reverse pattern foot') to the 5, the blindstitch foot.  Do the numbers of the feet differ for different makes of sewing machine? With that hurdle over I started sewing.  I did some edge stitching (I love getting the terms from my Bernina instruction book and bandying them around like I have a clue what I'm talking about!)  round the edges of the inserts for both straps and then pinned them in place to ensure they matched - now I know they don't look like they match up exactly but it was really hard, the dress seemed a bit lopsided!  I tried the dress on to make sure it looks reasonably straight - it looks fine on so I'm happy with it.  After that I sewed them in place, using the same foot and stitch as for the hemming - was this right? I thought afterwards that maybe I should have done a different stitch or changed the foot back from the 5 to the 1?

I had always assumed the dress was handmade but as I was fixing it I noticed the label for the first time 'ILGWU Int. Ladies Garment, Workers Union - Union Made'.  It is really such a weird co-incidence to just notice this now as, for anyone who hasn't read my posts at Archives and Auteurs, I've just started a new job cataloguing the Archive of the National Union of Women Teachers.  I've written more about the excitement of discovering more about the Union behind the label on my other blog - When work and hobbies collide.  I also found this great guide on EBay for dating vintage labels with a whole page about the ILGWU.  The label I have dates from after 1964.  It was so exciting to discover all this, on top of actually fixing a dress and having it done in time for a hen do in Saturday! I just can't get over that I didn't notice this before, and that it all ties in with what I do in my work life. 

I don't have any photos of me in it - maybe after the hen do next weekend!

All that work for a tiny area of fabric like this! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Style envy

I just wrote a post over at Archives and Auteurs about Meek's Cutoff and the use of diaries as source material. Thought it would be a good excuse to post a few photos of one of my favourite current style icons  - Michelle Williams.  Not only does she always seem to choose offbeat and excellent films to star in, but every photo I see of her she looks so effortlessly stylish - at awards ceremonies or everyday.  What I wouldn't give to have even a fraction of that style!