WWWHHHAAATTT!?! – The Minions – Part 2

I had already spent the appropriate amount of time worrying about making this minion shirt so it was easy to get started on it.

I really wanted this shirt to sew together without any problems, so I decided to take my time and think things through carefully. So after laundering and ironing the fabric , it was time to start cutting.

I cut very carefully and added the alterations that I wanted to the pattern as I cut. I was quite selective about the interfacing I chose to use and I went ahead and cut it out too.

As I started to sew, I realized that I did make one cutting/design error, well not really an error, but a small change to the design. In my mind, the shirt had the minion fabric on the right and the blue on the left, but I had cut the left front from the minion fabric and the right front from the blue fabric. Mmmmmm, was this going to look ok? After much thought, I decided it would look fine, and maybe better because the buttons would be on the solid blue fabric instead of lost in the the minions fabric.

The sewing when smoothly. I took my time and tried the shirt on after each step. I also ironed each seam carefully as it was sewn. As I serged the edges of the sleeves, preparing them to be hemmed, I did not notice that I I was running out of thread on one of my loopers. Once the looper ran out of thread, my serged edge was ruined. Luckily, I had debated about cutting 1/2 inch off the length of the sleeves and had not done so yet. So, I cut the 1/2 inches off the length of the sleeves ridding me of the bad serged edge, threaded new spools of thread on my loopers and serged the new edges.

With the sewing on of the final button, I declared the shirt done and tried it on. The fit seemed to be good, but as I looked at myself in the mirror, the shirt needed to be something else. The right blue front was just that, blue. I grabbed some scraps and started adding to the blue front piece.

At first, I wanted to add a stripe of minion fabric down the blue front, but that was too much of an accent. I thought about digitizing a minion embroidery design. But since I was too excited about wearing the shirt, and it would take time to perfect the design and I wanted to wear the shirt now. My next thought was a pocket. This would not be a functioning pocket, just something for show, so it would not have to be any certain size or style. I decided to make a temporary pocket and see how it looked pinned on.

To make the pocket, I cut out two squares of fabric and then rounded the corner on one end. Next, with right sides together, I sewed completely around the two modified squares. Next, I made a small cut in the fabric that would be inside the pocket. I turned the pocket right side out through this slit. After a lot of pressing, with a little seam to seam, I mended the cut that I made in the pocket to turn it inside out. This worked well and I had a finished pocket. Since I will not be putting anything in this pocket, I am not worried about the seam to seam mending holding up with wear and tear.

Placing the pocket on the blue front, I liked it, then with another look, I did not, then after a few minutes, I liked it again.

Argh!

I turned to the husband for his opinion and he said that he did like the pocket, so I sewed the pocket to the front of the shirt. I am still up in the air as to wether I like the pocket or not but it is sewn to the shirt for now.

The shirt has passed the “wear” test and I really like it. My alterations seem to be good. This shirt is fun to wear and is very comfortable.

It also makes me crave bananas for some reason…

Until next time, sew forth and banana on!

WWWHHHAAATTT!?! – The Skulls – Part 1

Its what I want for Christmas. I told the husband that all I wanted for Christmas this year was a minion. Now, not one of those little ones from McDonald’s or a plush one, or even one of those plastic ones that talk. I wanted a really live, living, breathing minion. And, of course, I don’t want my minion to be lonely while I’m at work so I had better have a couple of minions. The husband said he would see what he could do but in the meanwhile I decided to satisfy my minion need with some minion fabric.

When I saw the minion fabric at Walmart, I knew that I just had to have it. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to make from it, but I just knew that I must have some. I purchased 1 yard and brought it home. The fabric sat on the cutting table while I debated what I wanted to make from it. I thought about all kinds of fun kid’s clothes that I could make from it, but instead I only wanted it for myself, so I decided to make myself a shirt from it.

Because let’s be honest here… Who doesn’t need a minion shirt?

Before I could cut into the minion fabric, I found myself fabric shopping again when I ran across this banana fabric. Seriously, it was bananas! BANANA! So of course, I needed some banana fabric to go with my minion fabric so I purchased one yard of the banana and headed home. Once I was home, I placed it next to the minion fabric on the cutting table. And I thought I was all ready to go. But, before I could cut into the minion fabric or the banana fabric, I found myself scoping out Walmart’s fabric department again, only to find a different minion fabric that I liked better for my shirt than the first minion piece, so one yard of this second minion fabric made it way to my cutting table as well.

Finally all set and before I could go fabric shopping again, I decided it was time to design and make my minion shirt. I quickly decided to make one front from the second minion fabric that I had picked up, the collar and sleeves from the banana fabric and then to find some blue in the stash for the other front side and the back. After laundering and ironing the fabric, I pulled my sloper pattern from the closet, only to remember that I was in the process of altering my basic sloper.

Augh!

I did not want to cut into my precious minion and banana fabric with a pattern that needed it’s alterations tested.

So, I folded up my minion and banana fabric and pulled some fabric from the stash to test my alterations on. I like the colors of this fabric a lot but it has not become a shirt till now because it is very thin. I was skeptical of how it would wear being so thin, but I decided that since this was a test shirt, I would go ahead and use this fabric to give it a try.

So I cut out my altered pattern and I started to sew it up.

The sewing went smoothly. I was afraid that my machine would argue about sewing this thin fabric but all went well, and soon it was time to sew buttonholes and buttons. Sitting on the top of my button box was some sugar skull buttons that the husband got me awhile back when I needed skull buttons for the girl’s cross back tops. I laid the buttons out on the shirt. They did not really match but they looked fun, so why not. Again, this was just a test shirt.

Rather than picking out just one design of sugar skulls, I sorted through the pack of buttons and picked five different designs. When I sewed the buttons on, each button had its holes in a different spot. One button’s holes were vertical, one was horizontal, and the others were at a variety of angles. This presented a challenge to sew the buttons on straight. I had to measure and turn the fabric every which way to keep the skulls on the buttons right side up. Luckily with some patience and time, I got the buttons sewn on correctly.

I have had a chance to give this shirt a “wear test” and it passed just fine. There were a couple of small alterations that are needed to the armscye and button placement but I had solved the fitting problem at the neck from my last shirt made from this pattern.

But the good news is that I feel good enough about my alterations to my pattern to start the minion shirt as my next project.

Until then, sew forth and BANANA on!

The Making of the Doctor Who Reversible Sling Bag – Part 2 – The Construction

The construction of the Doctor Who reversible sling bag began with cutting out the pattern pieces from the fabric. I remembered to cut the length 1 inches longer and the strap 3 inches longer as I had previously decided to do as I cut the black bottom weight pieces and the Doctor Who Dalek fabric.

But as I cut out the striped fabric, the stripes started to play with my brain and I cut out one piece correctly, and three pieces incorrectly with 3 inches extra on the bottom and only 1 inch extra on the straps. When I realized my error, I thought about cutting the 3 pieces out again correctly but I hated to waste the fabric. I had purchased this fabric for another project and had cut the pieces for this bag conservatively as to leave as much fabric as possible for that other project. That lead me to decide to make my already cut out pieces work out some how instead of cutting out corrected pieces.

The sewing process started with the insert seams and the bottom seams. I matched the insert seams at the top of the bag because of the extra inches at the bottom of the stripes, then cut off the extra before sewing the bottom of the bag. Next was the seam that I called the pinch. This is the seam that squares the bag to give the bag a bottom. It is sewn by first pinching the corners of the bottom seam of the bag and then stitching across the pinch. The pinch was easy with the bottom weight fabric of the Dalek fabric side of the bag. I measured and sewed carefully and the pinch turn out great.

The striped fabric was not as easy. Because it is a thin lining fabric, it wanted to slip and slide as I measured and sewed the pinch but with patience, I finally got acceptable results. These pinch seams weren’t that hard so I stopped being as careful and learned very quickly that that was a bad move. My next pinches went terribly wrong when I did not carefully measure and sew them. I ended up unpicking and re-measuring and re-sewing all 4 of the pinches on the second bag to get nicer pinches. Lesson learned, take the time needed to do the job right the first time.

The next step was to sew the two parts of the Dalek/black bag and stripe/black together. With rights sides together, I sewed around the curves of the top of the bags. Each bag was then turned right side out through the strap. This was a bit of a challenge but with time and patience the bags were turned right side out.

Now it was time to fix my cutting error. The striped fabric was 4 inches too short on the strap, 2 inches on each side. I had several options for fixing this problem, like just sewing more fabric to the stripe fabric but I wanted to make sure it was very secure at the shoulder. I finally opted to make a patch from the black fabric to cover the missing stripe fabric. I cut a piece of the black fabric big enough to cover the missing piece with seam allowances. I folded over the edges and ironed them in place then applied some seam to seam to the edges. I then ironed the patch in place. I sewed the patches in place as I top stitched the edges of the bag. The patch worked great to solve my cutting error, and because the patches are at the shoulder, it looks like I meant to add the patch to the strap as reinforcement.

The final bags turned out great. I was concerned at first about the bag not having a closure as it gapped when I placed it my shoulder but when I added a book to the bag, the weight of the book closed the bag. I took the bags to my coworker the next day. I showed her that they were reversible and told her if her daughters wanted a closure on the bags to bring them back to me. Her daughters called me the next day to tell me how much they liked the bags and that they had used the bags for their books at school that day instead of their regular back packs. I was excited to hear that the bags were a success and that they liked them and that they used them. It did my sewing heart good.

These bags were great fun to make and as always I learned some new sewing lessons from making them.

After this project, I see more sling bags in my future. Maybe next time with pockets and closures with Snoopy or Mickey Mouse fabric or maybe even more Doctor Who fabric.

I also have some great Marvel Comics fabric that I was wondering what to do with and San Diego Comic Con is coming up shortly!

Oh, this is going to be fun!

Until next time, sew forth and Trust the Doctor on!

The Making of the Doctor Who Reversible Sling Bag – Part 1 – The Design

As promised, this post will tell you the trials and triumphs of the making of the Doctor Who reversible sling bags. Just to recap, the pattern for this sling bag was the April pattern of the month over at Project Run and Play. Although I don’t usually participate in the link parties on that site, this time I had already purchased a yard of Doctor Who Dalek fabric that was on sale and a bag of some type was just what I wanted to make from this fabric.

One of my coworkers has two tween daughters who adore Doctor Who and making something for them is why I had bought the fabric in the first place. In deciding what I wanted to make the girls, this sling bag came to mind and I thought it was a great idea. I would not have to worry about the size or fit, and since they have to wear uniforms to school, the bags would be something they could use all the time instead of just on the weekends. I was excited to get started.

The hardest part about making this sling bag was deciding on the details.

The pattern is very simple, and it is reversible so you don’t have to worry about finishing edges.

It has no pockets and no closure, but it would be no problem to add pockets and/or a closure. Did I want to add pockets? If so, what kind of pockets should I add, a patch pocket, a zippered pocket, or a welt pocket? Did I want the pockets on the outside of the bag or the inside? If I add a closure, should it be a button, a snap or velcro? If I add pockets or a closure, would the bag still be reversible?

I finally decided that I wanted the bag to be reversible and very simple to make so I decided on no pockets and no closures for these bag.

The next decision was what other fabric to use with the Doctor Who Dalek Exterminate fabric. Since I wanted to use the Doctor Who Dalek fabric on multiple projects, I chose it for the middle insert of the bag. I knew I wanted a heavier bottom weight fabric for the rest of the bag in either black or blue, so I did not have to worry about interfacing anything. I found some nice black bottom weight scraps in the stash that would work great. But, what should I use for the inside?

Laying on the cutting table was this striped lining fabric that I had purchased at Walmart for the lining for a different upcoming project. I did not really want to use a thin lining fabric on this bag, but the husband convinced me to use it when he said that the stripes were the Doctor Who scarf colors. This lead me to decide to use the black bottom weight as the middle insert with the thin, striped fabric to give it more structure.

The last design decision for this bag was size. After printing and taping the pattern together, I measured the size of the middle insert. I wanted the Doctor Who Dalek fabric to be the highlight of the bags, so I wanted the middle insert larger than what the pattern called for. I taped the pattern pieces together and then I drew a new cutting line for the insert, making the other pieces of the bag not as wide.

I then measured the size of the bag versus a big book and decided to make the bag one inch longer. I then held the strap pattern piece to my shoulders to measure the length of the strap and decided to add 3 inches to each side of the strap for a total of 6 inches in length added to the entire strap.

I thought about taping some scraps of paper to the top and bottom of the pattern and drawing in the changes I was making to the pattern but then decided that I would just try and remember the changes I had made. This was a poor choice on my part which you will learn about later.

With all the decisions, the design, the fabric and the size, finally made, it was time to start cutting out the pattern and get sewing.

Stay tuned for the construction process in the next post!

Until then, sew forth and Doctor Who on!

Drop Down the Cuteness – Part 2

The panda bear’s pattern was easy to follow so the crocheting of the pieces was fun and it stitched up quickly. Then something changed. As I began to stitch the panda bear together, cuteness did not burst from every stitch. What went wrong? Upon completing the panda bear, I sat the latest cute bear and the panda bear side by side and studied the differences.

Of course there were the obvious difference in the bears, but as I studied their faces, my attention was drawn to their muzzles. Now, the size of the muzzles of these two bears are quite different from each other, but that is not what caught my attention. It was the placement of the muzzle on the head. The first bear has a big muzzle so it had to be sewn lower on the head, closer to the neck and the eyes needed to be inserted right above the muzzle. The panda bear had a tiny muzzle in comparison, so it could be stitched up higher on the head with plenty of room for a space between the eyes and the muzzle. Was the placement of the muzzle on the face in a different position the answer to the cuteness issue? Was the panda’s face just too high and separated on his head?

I turned to the pattern and, yes, the pictures showed the eyes and muzzle of the panda stitched lower on the head and closer together. I also pulled out the only other teddy bear pattern that has turned out cute for me as I crochet it, the pattern I used to make Madison and Tux, and, yes, because the head is crocheted sideways in this pattern, the muzzle is even with the neck and the eyes are inserted right above the muzzle. If my theory was correct, lowering the muzzle and placing the eyes closer to the muzzle of my amigurumi bears would bring out the cuteness.

I was excited to test my theory and make another amigurumi teddy bear with a lower muzzle and closer eyes, but first I had to try and fix this panda bear. I was not willing to unstitch his head and muzzle plus his eyes were already permanently snapped into place, so I crocheted him a bow tie. I found a free bow tie pattern for a dog on Ravelry and modified the size to fit the panda bear. The bow tie filled in the distance between the panda’s neck and muzzle making the neck and muzzle seem closer together. Whether it’s the illusion of bringing the neck and muzzle closer together or just that the bow tie is cute, adding the bow tie help bring out some of the panda bear’s cuteness that wasn’t previously there.

I did not have a quick fix for lowering the eyes to see if my theory on their placement versus the bear’s cuteness is correct. I will just have to place the eye closer to the muzzle on the next amigurumi bear I make and see if the cuteness appears spontaneously. I am betting it will.

I don’t know if my next amigurumi will be a bear or not, but I see I a bear with a lower muzzle and eyes closer to that muzzle soon in my future. Perhaps then I will know if that was truly the answer to bear cuteness or not. I hope it is and I will have another crocheting mystery solved.

Until next time, crochet on and cute on.

McCall’s M6274 – Puffing Up Again – Part 2

With the pieces of the top cut out, it was time for the sewing to begin. I did not follow the pattern guide as closely this time as I did the last time. After sewing the shoulder seams, I made the gathers for the puffy sleeves. Next, I sewed the gathered sleeves in flat instead of setting the sleeves in as the pattern called for. I guess I was not as careful this time about matching the stripes as I cut out the pattern, since these stripes do not match as well as the purple stripes did. Perhaps it had nothing to do with my cutting or matching skills, but more the fact that these strips are larger than the previous purple ones and that’s why I did not get as good a match. I am not completely sure why the stripes did not match as well this time. I will have to look into this further. I need to sew more stripes to perfect my matching techniques.

The facings at the neck were not a problem to sew. Holding the top up after sewing on the facings, I could tell right away that the alterations to the neckline and shoulder seams were good. The top was already looking so cute, and it was going to fit so much better than the last top I had made from this pattern. The next step was the hemming.

I used my double needle to hem the bottom of the shirt for some added detail. I added a row of double needle stitching to the neckline as well to hold the facing down in place. The last hems were the sleeves. As I hemmed the sleeves, I decided I would like a cuff on them. Now was not the best time to change the design of the sleeves though. The time for that was back at the altering and cutting steps. If I wanted a cuff on the sleeves, I should have cut the sleeves longer so there was fabric left over to make a cuff with. But since I had not cut the sleeves longer I twisted and folded the fabric until I had made a cuff. I not going to say how I twisted and folded the fabric to get the cuffs to work since it is not my best sewing job, and I don’t plan to use this method of cuff making again. After making these cuffs, I used the double needle to hem them up.

The last step to complete this top was to sew the buttonholes and buttons. Like last time, I decided not to sew a full buttonhole but to just sew the button permanently to the epaulets and the sleeves as a non-functional decoration.

With this top now all done, I once again miss having the little neighbor girl around. Without her to wear my alterations, I don’t know if the altered shoulder seams and neckline are a good fit. But by looking at the top, I know the alterations are better than the last one I made, just as I knew that the previous shoulder seams and neckline would be a problem. And with that, I have officially decided that with my new alterations, I like this pattern and I will be making it again.

Until then, sew forth and puff on!

McCall’s M6274 – Puffing Up Again – Part 1

Patterns were on sale again at Joann’s and as I studied the McCall’s web site and wrote out my shopping list, my thoughts turned to a previous McCall’s pattern M6274 that I had purchased during the last sale. It is a girl’s top with puffy sleeves. As you may remember, I have made a top from this pattern and the puffy sleeves turned out great. They were just adorable!

What wasn’t adorable though, was the neck line. I did see the little neighbor girl wearing this top and as I feared, the neck hung over her shoulders. She had to keep pulling it up. I then knew that if I ever made that pattern again, I would be altering the shoulder seams and the neckline to fix the problem. So, why not just make that pattern again and fix the problems with it since I had found out the results from the wear test? I own the pattern already and it’s just sitting in the closest, and I do love the puffy sleeves of the pattern. So, rather than purchasing more patterns to just live in the closet, I decided to use one that I already had and make the alterations it needed to make a wonderful girl’s top with puffy sleeves.

I started with the alterations to the pattern. I pulled out my child’s sloper pattern from Kwik Sew’s Sewing for Children and I laid M6274’s front and back pattern pieces on the front and back pattern pieces of the Kwik Sew’s basic t-shirt pattern. Taping extra pieces of plastic to the top of the M6274’s pattern pieces, I traced out new shoulder seams and a neckline based on the Kwik Sew’s pattern. This neckline would be finished with a facing, but I did not cut out separate pattern pieces for the facings. Instead I just used the newly altered front and back pattern pieces to cut out the facings. With the pattern alterations made, it was time to cut it out.

Since a striped fabric worked well the last time I made this pattern, I picked another piece of striped fabric from the stash for this top. When I cut out the sleeves, I debated about cutting them longer but in the end, I followed the length of the pattern. I did cut the epaulets slightly longer. Why you ask? I don’t really know why I thought they needed to be longer. If the sleeves were not any longer, why did the epaulets needed to be longer? In the end, I had to cut the epaulets back down to the original pattern size. I worry about my thought process sometimes. At least I was thinking ahead, or at least trying to think ahead so I didn’t run into problems further into the project.

Next up, the sewing process.

Until then, sew forth and puff on!

What to Wear to America’s Birthday Party

I found this fun sun top pattern on the internet. It looked just right for summer outings, so I decided that I wanted to make one for each for my co-workers tween daughters. This top is made as a front and back square, sewn into a tube. Elastic is sewn to the top to gather the tube to fit the body, and then shoulder ties are added to help keep the top on. Simple enough. The only measurement needed to make this top is an accurate chest measurement. I reached for this Stars and Stripes cotton print that has been hiding in the stash for as long as I can remember. And I hoped that this would give the girls something fun to wear on the 4th of July.

I cut out 4 squares of fabric, 23 inches by 28 inches, for the two tops and 8 strips, 4 for each top, for the shoulder ties. The first step was to sew the side seams. Normally, I would have just serged the side seams to finish them up but the pattern called for french seams. I have read about french seams and seen videos for sewing them but I had never done a french seam. And I figured that I might as well learn something new while making these tops, so I sewed 4 french seams  The french seams were very easy to make and leave a beautiful clean finish to the seams. In fact, you hardly notice there are side seams with the french seam technique.

Next came the shoulder ties. These were not difficult to make, just time consuming. There was a lot of ironing to make these ties. I folded the strips I had cut like bias tape by folding the edges to the middle and then folding the strip in half, then tucking the raw edges into the fold.  Next I edge stitched down each tie. I learned a lot about folding the edges, ironing the edges and edge stitching by the time I had made 8 ties.

I next stitched a 1 inch hem at one end of the tube and a 1.5 inch hem on the other. I added the ties to the larger hem as I stitched it and I placed the ties 8 inches from the side seam. I made a tab and placed it under the hem at the center back as a tag, and also to tell me which top was for which girls since their measurements are just a little bit different.  I also left an opening for the elastic in this hem. I then stitched down the middle of the larger hem to make a casing for the elastic. This left a nice ruffle at the top. This ruffle is very cute and adds a nice touch at the top of the elastic. I cut the elastic to the chest measurements that the girl’s mom had given me plus one inch. I did not want the elastic so tight so that it cut into their chest when wearing the top. I also wanted the elastic just big enough to the make the gathers and hold the tube to their body. Lastly I pulled the elastic and then finished it off to complete the top.

Upon completing the tops, I put one of the tops on a hanger to take pictures before giving the tops to the girls. It look terrible on the hanger. The ties looked too close to the center front and the tube looked like just that, a tube. I was very disappointed. I could only hope the tops would look better on the girls than they did on the hanger. Luckily, they did. The girls looked very cute in their summer tops, and they seemed to like them. The tops seemed a little long and I told the girls that I would shorten them, but they both said they liked the length. The smaller girl mentioned that her elastic seemed tight. I told her that was an easy fix and had her try on her sister’s top. She said that the larger size was a better fit. This really was an easy fix. I just unpicked where I had closed the elastic, removed the smaller piece of elastic, pulled in a longer piece and stitched it back up again. At work, their mom said the fit was great and they were already wearing their tops before the 4th of July. I was excited to hear that.  I hope they will wear and enjoy their tops all summer long.

Until next time…

Happy American Independence Day and Sew forth and Celebrate On!

McCalls M6274 – Puffy Sleeves

If you keep up with the Joann’s Fabric and Craft ads, you may have noticed several great sales on patterns over this last summer, and like any good fabric store shopper, I could not pass up a great sale on patterns. I did my research before going in. I studied the pattern web sites and made lists of my wanted patterns. I decided on the styles and sizes I needed before entering the store. I took the husband with me to Joann’s on purchase day so he could search out the patterns as I called out the wanted numbers. At the check stand, I delighted in the saving at the bottom of the receipt. I hurried home with my new patterns, and promptly poked them in the closet. But, the other day I just was not in the sewing mood to begin altering my second pattern for myself. And so I pulled out these bags of fun new patterns instead, and I decided it was time to sew some of them up. I quickly chose McCalls pattern M6274 as my next project, a size 4 girl’s shirt with puffy sleeves.

.

.

I started by reading the pattern directions. Since this project was to try a new pattern, I decided early on that I would be good about following the pattern guide in making this shirt, and not deviate from the instructions and improvise my way through the sewing as I usually do. So, as I traced the pattern and cut it out, I was careful to add all of the markings from the original pattern. Being the first try of this pattern, I did not want to use a favored piece of fabric for this shirt, so I checked out what I had in my scrap boxes. I picked this purple and white stripe for it, but I debated a while about using it because of the stripes. I was already trying a new pattern. Did I want the added worry of aligning stripes too? But since I’m a daredevil like that, I finally decided on the purple and white striped fabric for this shirt.

.

.

Cutting out the pattern was no problem and soon the sewing had begun. After sewing the shoulder and side seams, it was time to make and insert the puffy sleeves. Because I had decided to follow the pattern guide more closely than usual, I read the pattern guide carefully and had the markings for the gathering stitches and the tab all in place. This all worked to my advantage. The construction and insertion of the the sleeves when smoothly. Much more smoothly than I had anticipated. Even the gathering process went smoothly. Maybe I’m getting better at gathering? I was very excited. The sleeves had even worked out great with the striped fabric. I had worried that with the gathered sleeves that the stripes would look askew but they lined up fine. I did use a double needle on the hems of the sleeves. This was a little tricky with the tab, but in the end it worked out great. I did deviate from the pattern in one spot. I decided to not make buttonholes in the tab, but to just sew the button and tab to the sleeve. I saw no reason why the tab would ever be unbuttoned, so why go to the extra work of a buttonhole. I did notice right away that these sleeves were the shortest short sleeves I have ever made. It seemed like the hem was almost to the armscye. At first I thought about lengthening the sleeve but then decided not to. I was following the pattern and this was the length the pattern said to make the sleeves. Plus these are cute little puffy sleeves, and lengthening them may take away from that look.

.

After inserting the sleeves, all that was left was to finish the neck and bottom hem the shirt. It all sounded pretty simple but as I held up the shirt with the sleeves attached, I noticed the size of the neck and especially the drop in the back of the neck. The front and back of the shirt are almost at the same level. And the neckline is huge. The shoulder seams are so tiny. How is this going to fit? Will it always be falling off the shoulders? Not wanting to turn the neckline down any more than I had to, I serged and turned the neckline once and stitched it down with the double needle. This was not the cleanest look. I would have preferred to hide the serging with the another turn but I did not want to make the neckline any bigger and I wanted some shoulder seam left.

.

With the shirt finished, I decided that I could not make a judgement call on whether I liked the pattern or not until I gave the shirt to the little neighbor girl and I heard back from the mom on the wear test. Did it hang off her shoulders? Were the puffy sleeves too short and made it hard to move around in the shirt? I am going to have to ask her mom to be very honest about the fitting points, not just say oh its cute, and she likes it. I need to know how it wore so I know if I want to make another shirt from this exact pattern again. Or will I want to modify the neck line on it, or if I would even make the shirt at all again. So, after I find out the results of the wear test, I will decide if my great sale pattern was even worth its terrific price, or will it be removed from the pattern stash in the closet forever. I will report back on those decisions later.

.

Well until next time, happy sewing and crafty dreams!

But It’s My Favorite or A (Life) Altering Story

“My Buzz shirt does not fit anymore.” announced the husband the other day. And, its true. With his weight loss, his buzz shirt does not fit him well at all anymore. This shirt was always overly large on him because it’s fabric stretched so much when I was making it, that now it is really just too big for him to wear. I explained to the husband that I don’t unpick so therefore I could not fix his Buzz shirt but that I could start again and make him a smaller Buzz shirt. “But, its my favorite. Can’t you just make it smaller?” replied the husband. After rolling my eyes, I decided that yes, I can fix his Buzz shirt. It was time for me to get over my issues with unpicking, bite the bullet and try altering a few of our older larger shirts.

To start this journey, I examined the Buzz shirt closely. I was not going to go spend time altering a shirt that was already wearing out, but the Buzz shirt seemed to be in pretty good shape still, so I got started. I noticed quickly that the same alterations that I had made to the husband’s shirt pattern were the same alterations that the Buzz shirt needed. This made perfectly good sense since I was dealing with the same pattern. So, just like on his shirt pattern, I needed to take some out of the shoulder seams to bring the neck line up more around the the husband’s neck. This meant the the collar was going to need to be removed so I could get to the shoulder seams. With that, the unpicking began.

I started the unpicking process by removing the twill tape from the collar, then I unpicked the facings from the shoulder seams. Next came the actual unpicking of the collar from the shirt. I wish I had not been so careful in the construction of the collar in the first place, like backing stitch and double stitching where I felt it needed reinforcement. Not doing those things would have made the unpicking easier. But I also knew full well that when I sewed the collar back on I would be following my same techniques so that I had made a good sturdy shirt. I decided that I did not need to remove the collar completely from the shirt. Because the alteration was in the shoulder seams and not the tab front, I only needed to unpick to just past the shoulder seams. On the husbands shirt pattern I had raised the front of the neck 1/2 inch but I did not know how to add that 1/2 inch to the already made shirt so I took a little more off the shoulder seams than I did on the pattern to help draw the front of the neck up a little more.

After removing the desired amount from the shoulder seams, it was time to sew the collar back on. I noticed right away that now the collar was too big. I thought about trying to find the scraps from the Buzz shirt and make a whole new collar but then decided to just remove the excess and then put a seam up the center back of the collar. I often put a seam in the center back of the husband’s collars. When I am making the husband a new shirt and don’t quite have enough fabric, I can put a center seam in the collar and it can be made with much less fabric. So, I saw no problem in adding a center seam to the Buzz shirt collar to make it smaller. The collar sewed back on smoothly. Because of the easing slits that had been cut when the collar was first stitched on, I had a larger seam allowance when I reattached the collar but not enough that I think it made any difference.

After completing the collar, I had the husband try the shirt on. The alternations seemed to be good, the neck line was smaller and closer to the neck and taking the extra out of the shoulders seem to lift the front up more. I would have liked the front up even more but it was still acceptable.

Next I planned to take the 1/2 inch out of the sides seams like I did on the husband’s pattern, but the husband said no. He wanted the roominess of the shirt left in but he did want the hems shorter. This was an easy fix. Because I was leaving the roominess in the sides of the shirt, I did not fuss about lifting the side slits up with the shortening of the hem. The husband would still be able to easily sit even if the side slit were lower and smaller. So, I cut 1 inch off the hem and gave the shirt a new 1 inch hem. Because of the stretch, the Buzz shirt had always been longer than the husband’s other shirts. With the new hem, the Buzz shirt is now the same length as the husband’s other shirts so it could be a little shorter, but not enough that I was willing to redo the hems.

With that the Buzz shirt was altered and ready for the wear test. Upon first trying the newly altered Buzz shirt on, the husband said the fit was fine. After wearing the shirt, he still says the fit is fine but I have noticed that I could have taken just a little bit more out, probably due to the stretch in the fabric, but not so much that I would be willing to unpick the collar again. What I did learn was that the altering of the shirt was not that big of a deal and that I did not die from having to do some unpicking. Although the unpicking was not fun, it was not the problem I was making it out to be. I thought the altering of the shirt would take weeks to finish but it really only took a couple of hours. I was very pleased with the short amount of time required and with the end results. So I will say that I will no longer be afraid to alter any of the other shirts that the husband may want fixed, even though I would still rather start from scratch and make a new shirt.