Alabama Chanin Final t shirt

 I love this shirt....

Neckline corrected, sleeves inserted..

Upper flower close up

Lower flower with tiny tassels.. or knots to the outside.

The housework has been suffering... so I'll be back in a bit... Have a wonderful day!

Alabama Chanin - T shirt project toile

First, I'll start with the t shirt pattern and get my fit right, that's what the toile is for.  They recommend that you go to a print shop to print out the patterns, I've some experience with taping PDF patterns and elected to do it at home.  The pattern pages do not have registration marks, like some later patterns do, but if you get the scale right, and are patient, you can get it taped up in less than an hour. If I weren't so excited to start, I would go to the print shop.

 As my first toile, I'm using the t shirt pattern to see if I have to make any changes to it.

The toile... black rayon knit, 

I needed a sway back adjustment, I could take 1" from the small of my back.  What to do? I elected to open slits up on the side seam up to the small of my back.

  It's still pretty snug, so I'll be adding to the side seams.  The black toile is being put to the side, and instead we are cutting into the final fabric.

1" was added to the pattern at the side seam hip, and once it was on, it was still snug.  My design decision was to add panels on the side seam.  It now drapes snug in the back, and loose in the front.  That's ok.

Next... the panels were joined at the front side seams, and the design was stenciled on the front. There was cutting involved....

The embroidery thread is a DMC embroidery floss, 3 strands, I'm experimenting with Golden paints mixed with their textile additive.  The backing fabric is applied only to those areas that will be cut out. This jersey is already pretty heavy, so I don't want it to be too hot.  The backing fabric is a piece of Qiana from my mother's stash.  That white you are looking at, is about 50 years old.

As if by magic....

The neckline and sleeves are basted. 

I don't like how the neckline is sticking up, so that front curve will need to be finessed.

Here we have the side panel that was added after the fact.

I'm pleased with the swayback adjustment.

The sleeves can probably be improved a bit since the pattern piece has no difference in the cap from the front or back. Highly suspicious lol.  One more day and we should be finished.....

Issey Miyake Futon wrap part 3 of 3

It was a weekend of hand sewing....

- working on the sleeves

- catchstitch the batting band to the large lining sized piece

- stitch the outer edge of the wrap... don't do this if you are making it at home.  This is what increased my hand sewing, because the front and backs had to be attached to one another by hand.

Assemble your outside pieces, into one big piece, and attach it to your lining. Turn it inside out, and treat it as a quilt.  Once you are done embellishing, then cut your armholes out.  This will also mean that you'll have to attach your pockets by hand, better that then having to embellish while the pockets are attached.

- cut the armhole in the lining and batting

- Add the pocket

- baste around the armhole

- It looks like a little bed with two pillows

Made the cord and attach the buttons Sorry pics are so dark it's been raining all day

Viola!

Back

Closure cord wraps around the buttons

Folded

folded for storage

I have a few projects bouncing around in my head, I think it's time to work on an iconic wardrobe.  Stay tuned.......

Bootstrap dress form

 New project.... after years of looking at my dress form from the moulage class in 2010, with it's tatty neckline, armholes and hem, It's time for a new one.  Moulage class pattern

Let's not even think about the fact that these are no longer my dimensions.  On the website the ordering process was pretty easy, I took my own measurements, and entered them into the order form.

The pattern was complete by the end of the day, and off to Office Depot to print, (note to self, they close at 8pm during the week).  I requested the pattern have the seam allowances included, and picked the PDF format.  I have seen where others have requested Adobe Illustrator version so they can make changes in their software as needed. I took note of the final dimensions and provided this when I dropped it off for printing.  There is a 10cm x 10cm box for scale, but they didn't use it relying on the finished print dimensions.  It turned out ok, and I checked the box, and it was spot on.

Don't know if any of you have been to Joann's but it looks like they are retooling, so when I walked in to buy the cover fabric, I was delighted to see a cotton canvas for $5 a yard, 2 yards are required for my size, and there might be a wee bit left over for part of a bag. Originally the plan was plain canvas, but none was to be had.  Hope the print isn't distracting.

The instructions call for the canvas to be preshrunk along with the interfacing.  Only the canvas was preshrunk, the interfacing used is a mystery, purchased from ebay a million years ago and unsure it would survive the wash.  The layers were bonded before cutting, then as a precaution, each piece was pressed again, just to make sure.

The bust area was really interesting.  I had initially thought this would be a good idea because of the separation in the breast area, but the breast itself had a strange shape, so I added a fish eye dart to make it a bit rounder.  

 

It came together pretty easily, then there's this internal structure that holds the center pole.

I'm not sure about this form, I'll try it out for a bit and see if it works for me. It's also a bit lumpy, not to say I'm not, just not in the same way.  

 Still working on the wrap, there was more handwork than I realized.

Issey Miyake futon wrap part 2 of 3

I decided after all that work put in on the stencil, it should be used.  It was a learning experience, after a sample, which turned out pretty well I thought.  

sample

Gah... I can't tell you how frustrated I am with the lighting in my sewing room.

It didn't turn out as well on the body of the wrap. 

Argh

If you look closely, there's some smudging and missing stamens, and puddling on the edges of the flower petals. 

 

One or two flowers? Because the second is sure to be better, it needed more help than the first.

 Of course, the minute you paint on the garment.... this lead me to pacing... and trying stitching on my scrap.... 

Finally had a lightbulb moment and looked for a tiny paint brush and fixing what I could.  Result!

Touch Up

It's still drying, tomorrow, it will be ironed to set the paint.

The batting used is Morning Glory Low Loft Polyester batting, purchased at a thrift store for $2.00.  Beware of thrift store batting, once opened, about a third of it had been used, but there is still enough  for the wrap

. 

I did manage to find a flash of the original instructions, the batting is cut for the lining, the mitred frame, the sleeves, and the sleeve cuffs.  This made sense because the frame has a bit of dimension, as well as the cuffs.  As this is a first attempt, we'll try with the thinner batting and see what it looks like. The sleeves will be cut out last.

Bands in process....

Front & Inside lining....

Batting needs to be catchstitched......

Hmm, sleeves and pocket to go...

A couple of more days.... a lot of handwork to do .....