Sewing for Travel (Butterick 5526)

I sewed Butterick 5526 again for my recent trip to London. It was very practical, and pretty, when worn with a pair of black cropped linen pants I made for the same trip. They are the same tried and true pattern I used for these tan cropped linen pants. 

I took this shirt along on another trip, on our recent weekend down to my daughter's graduation from Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo). All the hotels around the area require a two night minimum stay (Can you blame an area whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism for this requirement on high demand weekends? I don't.) This shirt went along to the beach and on to winery tasting on Saturday. I wore my newly finished CA Romance dress for the ceremony on Sunday.

This is a great pattern. I love the shape of the hem and the curved side seams. Thanks again to my sewing buddy Susan for all her work altering this pattern to give me a great fit! And of course we weren't the only people to find that the sleeves may be too tight as originally designed (see my links in detailed posting to Pattern Review). Nothing beats a muslin!

I previously sewed and wrote more about my experiences sewing this shirt, in my posting about sewing my No. 1 Ladie's Detective Agency shirt.

Drill for Structure (Pearly Wannabe Jacket)

Early on, when I began blogging about my Pearly-Wannabe jacket project, I noted that one of the features was drill utility fabric, which I'd used as an interlining between the two layers of fleece that make up the front and back of the jacket.

I didn't start out doing this. As I've mentioned before, I've made Butterick 3573 (an out of print pattern, but highly available on the web) in double layers of fleece a number of times, both in the original pattern jacket length and as an extended weight sports vest.

However something about not only extending the jacket but also slashing and spreading the front for added fullness changed the character of the double layers of fleece. The garment took on the character of a nice warm blanket. A nice Snuglie! as a friend in Sewing Lab commented.

Time for a visit with Auntie Seama Rippah. (That gal will be expecting overtime after this project) I ripped up the hem again (remember my challenges with how to bind the hem in the last post?) and interlined the inside/lining layer of fleece with the utility fabric drill * up to about the bust level. I then channel stitched the drill down to the lining layer. So if you peep into the inside, you'll see what looks vaguely like decorative stitching patterns, hiding my structural secrets.

The result? The fabric takes on a new character, hanging in an almost wool-like manner and with plenty of shape and structure.

Keep your Snuglies for watching late night t.v!

* I had drill on hand because I use this heavy twill-weave fabric to make the pocket bags in trousers and pants. Fashion fabric in pockets may look and feel elegant, but my pockets see hard use. They need sturdy fabric in this no-show area, to support the weight of the two sets of keys and cell phone I invariably carry.

Modifications Retard Progress! (Pearly Wannabe Jacket)

The Pearly-Wannabe jacket, I've been blogging about recently, was a challenging project. There as so much I was trying to do. Some ideas worked, some didn't.

I was reminded of a line from a WWII British novel by D. E. Stevenson (Listening Valley). During a card game ( no video games or pre-recorded movies for entertainment in those days folks!), one of the young officers says, "No more mods (modifications). Mods retard progress!"

Of course, I'd created all my mods up front. Looking back on the project I'm guessing I would have been safer just doing button on/off sleeves on my original pattern. My mods definitely got in the way of speedy sewing. But.... well it was a lot of fun imagining the results.

One of the mods I had planned was to bind my hem edge with bias trim made from the flowered home dec fabric. Sounds cute, don't you think?

In practice what happened was that, even when I weighted down the bias trimmed two layers of fleece with leaded drapery cord, I still just ended up with a great, heavy, bunchy hem. But I persevered. I hand stitched. I kept re-laying it out and stitching it again. I made sure things lined up. Then I re-pinned and did it again. I added vents to make it hang better.

And no matter what I did, that hem just looked bunchy, heavy and yucky.

I heard myself saying, Well gee, I've put so much time into getting this hem right. I've got to get this bias trim to work out. And suddenly I remembered a conversation from my very young adulthood.

A work mate was explaining why she was sticking with her lousy boyfriend, Well, see, Jimmy and I have been together for five years.

Yeah, you know what I did then. I unpicked that bias trim and used it to simply turn up the hem behind the bottom edge of the jacket. (I stitched in the heavy drapery cording as well, to make a nice stable hemline)

No bad boyfriend hems in my wardrobe!

Jacket Features (Pearly Wannabe Jacket)

My Pearly-Wannabe Jacket
This not exactly mainstream garment,
suites my arty-romantic California style

In previous posts, I debuted my Pearly Wannabe Jacket and discussed my experiences with the base pattern.

Of course.... I made quite a few alterations to the base pattern -Butterick 3573, a tried and true( T&T) favorite of mine.

Out of Print, but plenty of vendors
still carry this big seller fleece jacket pattern

Jacket Features

1) Button On/Off Sleeves. These were the most important of my original goals for the garment, allowing it a double life as jacket or vest.

2) The Pearly's! I used quite a lot of repurposed / recycled men's shirt buttons both as decoration and also to support the garments usefulness.

3) Separating Sports Zipper keeps me cosy

4) Double layer of fleece front and back is warm. Drill utility fabric, used as interlining, gives it solid structure and keeps the jacket fabric from looking like a blanket.

5) Weights in hem and along the edges of the center front below the zipper give the jacket a more solid feeling as well. I used a combination of pennies and drapery weight cording. A pants hook just below the end of the zipper, helps the jacket to close more neatly, and hang better.

6) Tucks in front and back give a little shaping. I slashed, slit and added to the original pattern shape to add in more fabric that I then tucked back in.

7) Home dec fabric is used as an under collar, for trim and for the button on/off wings. This heavy weight cotton fringes nicely. Integrating the pinks and blues in the home dec fabric with the red plaid fleece, gives me lots of wardrobing options. It means this jacket goes with shirts and blouses that include a variety of colors.... blue, white, red, pink, yellow, green etc.

8) Shirt weight cotton lines the wings and is used in decorative finding.

More on these details to come

Origins - Pearly Wannabe Jacket

Butterick 3573 is out of print
But several web vendors still carry this classic fleece jacket pattern

I had so many ideas when I began working on the red plaid fleece jacket project I titled The Pearly Wannabe.

I'm going to start by telling you more about the pattern I started with - a pattern I made many alterations to, but the basic fit around my shoulders and in the sleeves remained.

~ ~ ~

I've been sewing this classic fleece jacket pattern, Butterick 3573 for about  eight years. The first version I made was the one on the far left, that buttons all the way up with no collar. I still have it - green fleece with pretty green leaves machine embroidered run up one side. I faced the inside with tapestry print home dec, and added a pocket out of tapestry print as well. The pocket is just big enough to hold my original iPod which was a new device for me when I first sewed this garment. Alas, my current mobile device is too wide to fit! That was when I still only used one layer of fleece.

Since then I've sewn the jacket several more times. I quickly found that I liked making the jacket front and back out of two layers of fleece, leaving only the sleeves to stand alone in one layer. The jacket takes well to ornamentation and cute buttons. A pocket is always nice, though the original pattern doesn't have that option. I tend to make the jacket a little past the hip, with a simple collar. I don't usually button it all the way up.

I've also converted the pattern into a sports vest. Remember when I talked about that in my podcast? I do that by
a) Lengthening the front and back
b) Angling the front and back out
c) Leaving open vents up the sides to about the length of the jacket length
d) Leaving off the sleeves
e) Creating a seam or fold on the center front and sewing in a separating sports-type/heavy weight zipper

I double the fleece on my sports vests too.

In the next post I'll talk about how I changed the pattern.

El Debut: My Pearly-Wannabe Jacket

Yes, I double-checked 'el debut' really is the Spanish version of the word we often think of as French for 'presentation'

I have been working on this jacket for probably six weeks now. I can't even begin to catalog what went into the creation and imagination of this new adjunct to my wardrobe, though I plan to highlight some of the sewing techniques and items I used in this blog. Several of them were new to me and I plan to use and try them again in less complex projects.

Nor can I say that this garment is absolutely finished. Note the piece of floral binding still hanging down from one of the faux pocket flaps in front. And I keep finding other places I want to add buttons. I don't even dare show you the back! We are not talking a mainstream piece of clothing here, yet it's definitely something I plan to wear in my everyday world.

This Pearly-Wannabe garment (you know about the Pearly's right?) has button on-off sleeves, so that it can live life as either a vest or a jacket. I'm hoping that will make it a useful travel garment.

I'll share more on this creation over time. The base pattern is one I've sewn many times in the past, but altered tremendously for this garment.

After working so long on the Pearly-Wannabe, I'm craving some plain, basic sewing time. I'm already working on a pink flowered shirt (that's where the binding that's going on the faux pocket flap and the lining for the button on/off sleeve wings came from) and have a pair of very simple black linen cropped pants cut out as well.

This jacket, no matter how much she wants to be one, doesn't really qualify as a Pearly. For one thing, all the Pearly clothes I've seen, are solid black, then trimmed with elaborate patterns of buttons. Also the Pearly roles are inherited. And they're British!

What can I say? This gal's a California Pearly!

~ ~ ~

For more on Pearly's

http://www.pearlysociety.co.uk/Main%20page.html

Podcast - Gettin' Shirty (Part 1 of Shirts and Blouses)

Hey, the April 2013 "Enchanted By Sewing" Podcast is available in the pod-o-sphere!

This month we're getting' Shirty!

Is that garment you're sewing a shirt or a blouse? Is it the collar stand, or lack thereof that makes you decide one way or another? How about set-in sleeves versus dropped? Maybe it's your choice of fabric.... This month Laurel talks about her experiences creating her No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Shirt, with a Butterick pattern that sometimes says shirt and other times blouse. She also discusses sewing techniques that say shirt, and chats a little about the history of shirts and shirty language (with special attention to a scene from a Harry Potter book ).

 ~~~You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on this link. Or, download this podcast free from iTunes, to play on your favorite mobile device/mp3 player (like an iPhone or an Android), by clicking on this link to iTunes.

Check out a free excerpt from
My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times
By clicking here

The show is created, produced, and brought to you by Laurel Shimer author of the Time Travel e-book My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times. This historical romance, ebook-novella is available exclusively on amazon.com for your iPad, nook or kindle ebook reader, for only 99 cents (Only 99 cents? That's less than a cup of coffee!) 

~~~

Links

• Shirt or Blouse - Pattern Plays a Big Role
http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/04/shirt-or-blouse-pattern-plays-important.html

• No. 1 Lady's Detective Agency Shirt

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/03/no-1-ladys-detective-agency-shirt-b5526.html

~~~

It's Done! No. 1 Lady's Detective Agency Shirt (B5526)

Butterick 5526
With Alterations
Click on the Illustration above for more detail

Are you a fan of the No. 1 Lady's Detective Agency books? Heroine M'ma Ramotswe often reflects on fine animals, like the ones on this lovely print, that we over on the other side of the world, associate with Africa. I've had this animal material in my fabric inventory for years, never feeling quite sure what to do with it. And I'm glad I saved it, because it's going to see a lot of use. Precious Ramotswe would like it too, I know.

I'm not sure I've ever spent so much time sewing one garment. But the time put in was worth it. Here's what makes me proud and happy, when it comes to this project.

1) Thank you Susan for all your work! The pattern fits really well. It's comfortable and flattering.  I'm looking forward to making many more shirts with it. And after all Susan's work, I still managed to finish off the sleeves on my own, using my favorite front-of-the-bathroom-mirror technique! You know that one right? Yep, I use lots of pins, and try not to spill too many all over the counter, or worse yet in the bathroom, the floor.

That mirror is where I got that final fitting on the sleeve to work, when it was time to get on with the project - my first of three for my intermediate sewing class. There's a time to be fitting and a time to just use the mirror, figure it out, and start sewing.

BTW I'm not the first person to need a lot of alterations when it comes to this pattern. Good thing my buddy Susan worked so hard creating that muslin before I sewed this garment, unlike Sarah Sew who loved  the results but can’t wear the shirt she labored over! Here's an excerpt from Sarah Sew’s review at Pattern Review "I would check your fit before finishing the shirt completely. Most patterns seem to run large, this one, however, seems to run small. Also the armhole is rather high. "

No kidding on the fit challenges, especially those armhole comments, Sara.

Cute buttons, huh?
You can see here, how the topstitching adds oomph!

2) I've also focused on learning to be a crisper sewer in the beginning and intermediate sewing construction classes at Cañada. I'm particularly proud of my crisp, neat hem and the sharp edged cuffs on my 3/4 length sleeves for this shirt. For the hem (as well a the inside edge of my front facing) I cut double wide packaged bias tape down the middle (lengthwise) then sewed one edge to my raw edge and the other edge behind/under/sandwiched between the bias fold and the back side of the garment - then hand (for the facing) or machine (for the hem) stitched down.  It looks neat if it's exposed when I'm wearing the shirt open over a tee and it gives the kind of definition I was looking for.

I've also learned that multiple rows of topstitching add crispness/definition/body. I just can't decide on the best word for this, so I guess I'll go with oomph!  My hem has two rows of stitching (stitch lengthof 3.0 or 3.5 is nice I think), and the front edge of the shirt has 3 rows.

See I told you I do a lot of checking
in the bathroom mirror!
There's my little red tray of pins,
 the ones that like to scatter.
Here you can just see I'm checking the
positioning of the buttonholes I'm
planning to sew. They're drawn straight on the
stabalizer, and on the hanger. But
will they be straight when I wear the shirt?
Yes!

3) My buttons march down in a nice straight line. I used a technique I've blogged about before, using stabalizer I normally use for machine embroidery to layout my buttonholes. When I have just a few buttons, I can use the scrap leftover from embroidery, but in this case, where I was sewing 8 buttonholes in a strip, I did use a brand new length.

4) I made some alterations I really like, both on the muslin and the actual shirt as I sewed it. Those include:
a) The cuff's were supposed to button in a traditional way - but I never really button longer sleeves shirts. First thing I do is to fold up my sleeves to just below the elbow. So why not start out that way, especially with such a casual style?  I permenently turned these cuffs back, and sewed them down with unbuttonable buttons. The little sleeve placket gap I like to wear in a regular sleeve, is a feature of the shirt now.
b) The front placket was just a turn-under-twice deal. Maybe that's OK for those who button their shirts high, but I won't be wearing this shirt like that. When I tried turning under the placket and put the shirt on, the back of the fabric (a vague shadow of the print) showed at the open neckline. Ugh! So I created my own facing pattern from the bodice front.
c) I fooled around with how far the buttoning part of the front should extend beyond the buttons. Because I used these large, printed-pattern buttons I left it kind of wide. Then I did three rows of topstitching to give it a nice heavy edge. Ancha in my intermediate construction class has suggested I add another three rows of stitching on the other side of the buttonholes, and I'm planning to take her advice.

Yep, it was indeed worth putting my energy into sewing a practical and versatile garment. However since I finished it I have been inspired to do some breakaway, rule-busting sewing! You'll hear more about that soon 

:-)

Camisa en curso/ Shirt in progress B5526 (Buddy Sewing)

I'm using this jungle print from my
fabric inventory, to make a test garment

 ¡Ya es hora!

Ain't it about Time!

You don't want to hear all the challenges my buddy Susan and I had getting Butterick 5526 to this point. The experience reminded Susan of the old expression "A camel is a horse designed by committee." Enough said on that front. Although I would add that we're not alone in our fitting challenges. Look at what this Pattern Reviewer , Sarah Sew and Sew,  wrote. Yes Sarah, we can relate to those too-high sleeve challenges. And I'm glad we went through all those muslins before I got to this looks-like-it's-wearable stage.

At this point 

* No cuffs - It's going to be a 3/4 just below the elbow fastening sleeve. 
* No collar or collar stand. I'll do a standard set this time, but I'm thinking about trying out that idea from the current Threads magazine on the lilac version. More about that when I actually do it!
* It looks like I need to design my own curved front facing. The pattern simply has a turned over twice facing which means I need to keep it buttoned up higher than I normally do to avoid having the back side of the fabric show. I'll test that on the muslin to make sure it comes together right.

We are so gol durned happy that the front and back bodice pieces and the set in sleeves are finally working with me and each other, that we're ready for a party. OK, a sewing party for collars and cuffs maybe.

In celebration of getting to this stage I reviewed my button inventory and realized I don't have any that look good with either the test garment fabric, or the lilac one I'll be making next. I was sure I would, because I have tons of repurposed buttons and a goodly number of new cards as well. But no dice. So, I put in an order at LotsOfButtons.com. They have free shipping after $15.00. So I'll see how that order works out and get back to you.

I want to wear this shirt for awhile before I cut out the beautiful lilac checked material I have planned for this shirt. For the lilac one, I'd like to try out several of the seams I've been practicing in class. Flat felled with french underarm seams perhaps? Rereading this it sounds like I think that French people have different kinds of underarms than Americans, so I couldn't resist leaving it in. Sarah Sew and Sew mentioned she used those seam types on her non-fitting but beautiful one.

At this point I just want to get the basic pattern working and wearable for my body and wear it enough times to see how I might tweak it.