Matching Stripes – Follow up

They match. I have completed a sleeper with my revised pattern and it looks like the stripes are matching without altering the fit of the sleeper too much. I did need to modify my pattern a little and I learned a few tricks for matching the stripes. Stripes have to be treated with respect, or at least that is what my husband the former Marine says.

While cutting, I matched all the pieces so that there was a green stripe at the arm pit point on the sleeves, front and back. I also had to cut two crotch pieces before I got it right. I usually do not worry too much about the grain line when sewing a knit, but the crotch pieces had to be cut at a specific angle to match the stripes of the other leg.

After cutting out the pattern, I placed the two fronts together to even up the stripes around the neck, but after sewing the collar on the stripes were uneven again. This is due to the fact that I can not sew straight. No one can, that is just how it is. At this time, I debated about sewing the zipper in unevenly, one side of the sleeper being 1/4 inch higher than the other. I did not like this option at all, so decided that maybe the stripes would just not match across the zipper. I found that as I sewed the zipper in, I could stretch a little after I got it started and match the stripes. So, the first stripe may not be quite matched, but the matching got better from there.

I mailed the sleeper to my newest nephew and his grandma said it fits fine but is a little bigger than the old pattern.  I did make the sleeves longer and the legs a little longer because that is what the babies seem to out grow on the sleepers.

Grandma and mom said that the neck and the arm pits fit good and that was the part I was worried about the most.  

I am so excited now to get out more striped fabric and make many more sleepers now with matching stripes.  I just found out recently that a new niece or nephew is on the way.  He/She will be here in December so I had better get busy.

New Shirts for Me

I need new shirts. My days off provided me with the time to resolve this problem, and here is the results.

I started by digging through my stash. I found the blue fabric first.  When I bought the blue piece of fabric, I knew that I wanted a shirt out of it and exactly what design I wanted embroidered on it. I wanted to make more than one shirt, so I continued digging through my stash until I found this brown piece that Mom had given me a couple of years ago.  I cut the two shirts out and started to sew.  In the sewing process, the blue shirt went astray. Nothing in particular went wrong. I just didn’t like the way it sewed up or how the embroidery design looked. On the other hand, the brown shirt sewed up great.  I was not going to embroider on the brown shirt. I thought it was busy enough. My husband thought I should so he picked out a design to put on it, and I really like the way it turned out.  Ironically, the blue shirt that I was so excited to make and just knew I would love, is now the “ok” shirt, and the “ok” brown shirt is the one that I think I will enjoy wearing.  I have not worn either yet, so we will see.  

One note about the blue fabric, I was going to make the blue shirt with a collar, but after washing the fabric, I did not have enough fabric to make one. I was shocked by how much the fabric shrank. I could have cut out the facings separate, but I did not want to due to the rayon in the fabric and not being able to iron a crisp seam.  I have learned the shrinking lesson the hard way over the years.

Always, ALWAYS prewash the fabric! In fact, I have learned this lesson so well that I am almost fanatical about pre-washing. I wash my fabric in hot water, of course fabric depending, and dry it completely in a hot dryer.  Yes, I do have to do some ironing before cutting, but it is well worth it in the long run.  Nothing is worse than to spend the time making a garment, wearing it once, washing it and never wearing it again due to shrinkage.  There is my soap box rant for the day.

Helping out a Friend

I don’t sew for hire. I don’t feel that I am a good enough seamstress to do that, but I don’t mind helping out if I can. A friend from work asked if I could help her make a valance for her shower. She is redecorating and wanted just a simple valance to hide the top of her shower doors. She could not find a valance that she wanted to buy, so she bought a regular shower curtain to make a valance out of.

The project was fun to construct and did not really take much time to put together. It did take some thought though. The first step was to decided the size.  We decided to double the length to get lots of ruffles, but this limited the width due to the decrease in butterflies from the bottom to the top of the curtain. Since the purpose for this valance is to cover the top of the doors, we decided to line the valance because the fabric was not very heavy and could be seen through.

So, with two 18 inch pieces for the front, and two 14 inch pieces for the lining, construction started. First, the two front and the two lining pieces were sewn together into two long strips, then sewn to each other. Next came the hardest part about making a curtain, the ironing. The newly constructed tube was ironed to be 16 inches wide, 1 inch over the top and 1 inch over the bottom to meet the lining. Hemming the sides came next, followed by two seams, 2 and 4 & 1/2 inches from the top to make the casing for the rod.  With the sewing done, the valance was slipped onto the rod to complete the project.

I have not seen the finished valance hanging, but my friend said it looked great.

Silence

Boy, have I been busy lately! But unfortunately not with any sewing projects.

I was out of town for the 4th of July holiday and I had a change in my schedule at work so I have not even turned my sewing machine on in the last 2 weeks. I miss sewing. My machines look so sad and lonely.

Luckily, I have some days off coming up, and my plan is to spent at least a couple of them just sewing.

So, stay tuned for the results!