Victoria's Secret Versus Albert's

We all figure Queen Victoria went to bed wearing frothy, delectable muslin night gowns.

But what about her consort Albert?

I'm pretty sure it was something like this charmer I made my husband for the festive season. He has been wearing out flannel nightshirts year after year since we first got married. 

Not glamorous, but warm and cosy. He wears them over regular pajama bottoms. 

We couldn't have him modeling the look anymore than you ever see Prince Albert dressed in his night gear!

McCalls 8379

EnchBySew-50: Tote’in for the Festive Season - Holiday Postcard

Click on this link in iTunes   to download the 50'th episode of the Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast,  produced in December of 2016.

Or listen directly on the web by clicking on http://traffic.libsyn.com/enchantedbysewing/FINALHolidayBagLaurelShimer.mp3

This December I’ve put more time into sewing, than blogging about sewing. So though I’ve actually sewn five items – I’ve only blogged about two of them - so far. I’m hoping I'll find some time to post about what I’ve made, next week, because I really enjoy having a sewing journal.

I love looking back through my blog and remembering – oh that’s right Back in December of 2016 I made
* Queen Cordelia – a printed courderoy princess seamed shirt with ¾ len sleeves, fun buttons and some collar embellishment
* A pair of front-pleated denim trousers
* A  night shirt for my husband,
* A simple flannel baby blanket
* A flat bottomed tote bag

This Month’s Show is a holiday postcard, focusing on the basic technicos/techniques of sewing a flat-bottomed bag that can serve the combined purpose of being both a tote and gift bag.

Five reasons to know how to sew a tote

1 - Save money or just  be Green: I don’t know about where you live, but around here, we get chargd 10 cents for store bags -it’s really worth remembering your tote bag!

2) Be Arty as well as green and clean up your sewing resource inventory : A tote bag is a handy way to use up fabric scraps and remnents. I serves as a  vehicle for trying out favorite or new embellishment techniques like embroidery, craft button designs, beading, quilting or a collage made of scraps of  lace and trims

 3) A tote bag is a basic sewing project . It’s  a good  way to stare learning to sew, or get back into sewing . It doesn’t take very long and you can practice basic seaming and other sewing techniques.

4) Unlike garment sewing - A tote bag does not require fitting!

5) A tote bag makes a great packable and reusable gift. If you have the resources on hand - You could even decide to make one an hour or so before it’s needed!

I blogged about, a tote I made earlier this month for visitng family members as a holiday gift. That posting includes four photos intended to show basic steps of tote bag sewing.

BTW I included a pound and a half box of biscotti from a wonderful local Italian deli – Diandras in San Mateo at Crystal Springs shopping center . If they ate , or shared, all the cookies during the conference they came for, they could use the tote to carry home their dirty laundry. Back home They can use it for grocery shopping or They can pass it on to somebody else as a gift bag. The bag itself was small and light weight , so it wasn’t going to make trouble when it came to taking their bags back on the airplane.


Technicos/Techniques: How to sew a flat-bottomed tote

Photo Collage and brief summary of basic steps for sewing the tote http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2016/12/green-sewing-tote-bag-for-reusable.html

Queen Cordelia: My Latest Princess-Seamed Shirt M6076

My sixth Palmer and Pletsch Princess-Seamed shirt. I'm definitely on a roll with this pattern!

Been wearing Cordy (excuse me - I mean Queen Cordelia) a lot since I finished her a few days back. I lengthened her sleeve from the quarter length I did for Princess Periwinkle and Marigold, into a three-quarters length. Perfect for a warmer weight fabric.

Cordy thinks she's royal because she's made from corduroy (cord-du-roi /cloth of the king), but according to wikipedia, that was something folks used to just say. Apparently corduroy is just as everyday as I am.

Don't tell Cordy, OK?

Green Sewing: Tote Bag for Reusable Grocery or Gift Bag

I figure it's green sewing because the fabric was a small remnant I had in my inventory for three or four years.

Pinking shears on all the edges makes for easy seam finishing.

1) After seaming side and bottom seams I cut out a 1 inch by 1 inch square from both the left and right hand corners

2) Pulled across to make a flat box corner and seamed

3)Used a decorative blanket-type stitch to add strength to the corner/box seam

4) I used this same stitching on the top edge of the bag

Wide black gros-grain ribbon (glad to find in my trim inventory) made handles. I stitched an 'X' shape to hold those in place.

The bag is all ready to hold a present of biscotti from Diandras Bakery in San Mateo. Diandra's was started by a gentleman who came over after WWII on a boat from Italy. I know that because a wonderful Italian teacher I had one summer came over on the same boat! Diandras makes great baked goods. The giftees might then use the bag as a grocery tote, a dog toy bag, a dirty clothes bag or ????

Pattern Work: Disneyland with Princess Periwinkle de Nîmes (M6076)

Another M6076, Palmer and Pletsch princess-seamed shirt. I've been altering the pattern (off and on) for a year now, working to get the perfect fit for me.
I think the original sleeve-into-torso seam was somewhat more dropped than what I've ended up with. I'm quite happy with the fit of this shirt - it really conforms to me, and the long curved princess-seams are flattering. Below is a photo of me wearing the Princess, recently,  at Disneyland.

Note that this denim is the very, very light weight variety, it looks more like chambray. Princess Periwinkle comes, of course, from Nîmes, the origin of our modern denim fabric.

A trip to see the holiday decorations at Disneyland with Cousin Martha, motivated me to get the Princess finished!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denim Discusses source of denim in Nîmes 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periwinkle_(color) - Periwinkles seem to be related to vinca - a rather invasive European flower a lot of people plant around here, and are then often sorry to have done so! I love the blue color though, much like the one in this shirt. It's also referred to as 'lavender blue' - I wonder if that's where the Burl Ives  song (it's really an old folk song but he popularized it in the 1960's) comes from? I always wondered about that, because all the lavender I know is purple 

EnchBySew-49: Fall Color Sewing

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Click on this link in iTunes   to download the 49'th episode of the Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast,  produced in November of 2016. Or listen directly on the web by clicking on this link.

~ ~ ~ This Month’s Show ~ ~ ~

Pensamientos Primeros/First Thoughts: Impact of Color on My Sewing Choices

Technicos/Techniques: Patterning and Sewing Color

Pensamientos Finales/Final Thoughts:Searching for Color in San Diego County 

~ ~ ~ Web Resources ~ ~ ~

Recently I've created several postings related to the fall colors mentioned in this months 'cast,  in my Postcard from California blog http://postcardfromcalifornia.blogspot.com

My regular sewing blog  - includes postings about the princess-seamed shirt Marigold are in the Me Encanta Coser/Enchanted by Sewing blog http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com

Marigold's Machine Button Hole Sewing

Yup - Even with care,  this buttonhole is a little crooked at the bottom edge. This doesn't show because the button covers it, but it's more proof that buttonholes are tricky. Frankly if I want perfect openings, I sew them by hand. Also, I don't stress about perfection!

1) I used a contrasting thread on Marigold's buttons holes, so I sure didn't want crooked threaded openings! Yes, modern machines are programmable to sew buttonholes neatly and repetively, but I'm often challenged by accurate placement. So I draw my buttonholes on medical supply tissue paper and sew them one at a time.

I make test sewing samples first 

Fabric Test Package - I make sure to include a piece of the same interfacing between two pieces of the shirt's fabric, so that I'm testing the same situation as my shirt

2) First I laid the buttons down on tissue. In theory you add maybe 1/8" over the width of the button. I try by theory and I try my gut reaction. Then I sew, cut and try the button in each hole

3) I make sure to put a wide pencil line at top and bottom - this is where a programmed buttonhole knows how far to go - but I  making the decision in each case to stop or turn. 

That's because of experience. Sometimes the fabric or interfacing gets stuck in the machine (even though I always use the right presser foot), and the programmed stitches aren't even on both sides. I use my buttonhole machine setting, but I make the choices each time as though I'm sewing the first, and I no longer use the programmed setting.

4) When I cut the button hole, of course I put a pin across the top so the seam ripper I'm using to open the buttonhole,  doesn't slice past the top of the opening. Again... experience!

5) When test sewing these buttonholes, I found I needed a piece of tissue underneath, as well as on top, in order to make the interfaced fabric test package (in preparation for the actual shirt) move unstickily along. I don't usually need the underneath tissue, but this fabric is a kind of loose, rough weave, and I found this quite helpful to keep my machine sewing smoothly.

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Marigold - A Princess-Seamed Shirt - Terminado - http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2016/11/fall-colors-marigold-princess-seamed.html