Wings and Things

It's been a busy week at work, the spring weather is finally showing up a bit! I haven't had a ton of time to work on anything, but here's a bit of  what I've been doing this week.

I think too often I buy really wild fabrics, and end up having to make pretty basically shaped garments out of them, because details would get lost, or be too overwhelming. A few weeks ago, I forced myself to buy some plain, cream cotton to maybe work on something with a more interesting shape.

 

 The idea started with seeing this McQ top with an extended 'flap' over the shoulder. I thought about how to extend the yoke of a shirt to create such a flap, then I started thinking about how it looked like little wings.

So obviously, the answer was to make a shirt with an extended yoke that was a little pair of wings. You can see the altered yoke piece up at the top here. I also had to cut the back armholes a little deeper to compensate for the narrower point where they met the yoke. 

I also made little shaped pockets for the front, just for fun. I used freezer paper like I do with my tiny hand applique to try and get the edges smooth. Worked pretty well, I think.

Attached yoke. The construction was a little weird, had to finish the sleeve hole edges before putting on the yoke. The inside yoke is cut straight across where it joins the body, only the outer one is shaped, like a cowboy-shirt yoke.

 On, I think the wing effect is actually pretty subtle--I was afraid it would be too costumey to wear normally. I promise it doesn't bunch like that normally, I think I accidentally tucked it into my pants.  

From the front, you just get the little 'flaps' like the original shirt. I didn't interface them because I didn't want them super structured, but now I'm think a lightweight interface might have been prudent. I made it pretty cropped, been getting into more unusual shirt proportions lately. 

 Also cut some vanilla short sleeved shirt pieces, just because I've realized I don't have many that I like/like the fit of. I've gained enough muscle at this point that quite a few were just too small and had to go into the donate pile.

 This fabric is so cute, but very busy. I attempted to match the diagonal stripes up at the center front and back (I cut two back pieces, rather than one on a fold) so we'll see how that goes.

In drop-crotch shorts news, when I took out my summer clothes from under the bed, I realized I had a few nice, drapey, oversized tees. I like this one particularly with them. I've also started making a few more pairs of weird pants/shorts, but no pictures yet.

New Materials

So my tacky baroque print shirt is nearly done. All that's left is buttons and button holes...which I've been known to put off for weeks and weeks. Hopefully it won't be that long. At least it's a short sleeve shirt, so I probably won't be yearning to wear it any time soon. Pretty pleased with the fit overall, and my 'fussy cutting' of the pattern worked pretty well.

 A month or so ago, I found a very 70's polyester button down with this amazing print. It was in kinda rough shape, one of the button holes was torn and the cuffs were frayed but it was $2 so I bought it anyway and it's been sitting on my fabric rack since. I decided to try and make a tank top out of it. The two front pieces were sewn together to form the back , and the large back piece (There was no yoke on this, you can see it's a one piece collar too) became the front. Despite no serger access I think it came out pretty well.  It's a little bit of squeeze getting my head through the neck though.

Now that I've got some respectable guns I feel like it's going to be a summer full of tank tops. Well, that and the fact that I'm hot all the time.

 I also got some materials from the thrift store the other day. The gold lame shirt I think will just get sized down, I've always wanted a gold t-shirt! The elastic mom jeans are hopefully destined to become something like the comfy jean/sweatpant hybrids I've been seeing around.

 The bottom picture is, from top left- white sheeting, bird-and-flower sheeting, some misc. fabric I already had in the middle, then two XL collared shirts, a mint and a gray to be cut up for fabric. Hoping out of this assortment I get 3-4 summer shirts. Didn't find any heavier weight fabric for shorts/pants this time around.

Clearing the Shelves

Finally done with Summer Institute. It's a lot of fun, and I had a great group of kids, but it's nice to have some more down time. I've begun trying to use up some of the shelves of fabric that I keep accumulating. Not materials for 'work-work' just the junk I pick up at thrift stores and forget about.

To the end I finally got around to making something with the camo fabric I bought a few months ago. I've been seeing tons of camo pants in stores right now, so I figured I might as well give 'em a try. With each new 'regular clothing' project, I'm going to try to learn a new technique. This time around, it was a turn up contrast cuff.

I quite like the way the fit came out on these, I used my 'looser/lower crotch' modified shorts pattern then tapered the leg on them. They are a little higher-waisted than I normally wear, but I think as I wear them, they will stretch a bit and slouch down. 

And the turn-up cuffs, I thought a dainty little floral print would set off the camo pattern a little bit. You can roll them up or leave them down.  Next time I would taper the leg opening slightly less, because they're a bit tight on my calves when rolled up right now. I also have a little bit of an odd problem with the seam twisting around to the front, which was present in the original Levi's I based the pants pattern off of. I might try and correct that by moving the inseam around a bit to the front on the next pair. 

Fabric number two to get used up was a cute yellow floral twill from the thrift store. There wasn't a whole lot of it--not enough for shorts or a jacket, so I decided to use my jean-jacket pattern to make a sleeveless version. I quite like my little jean-vest! I need to buy some more snaps for the front though. Also tried a new way of attaching the one-piece collar, and it's probably the neatest looking collar I've done yet. 

Admission time though, can you tell what I screwed up? I put the bottom band on upside down. Didn't care enough to rip it off and redo though. 

Ahh, but look at my perfect french seams and nice bias finishing on the armhole!

And finally, something more nerdy-dumb-wrassling related. I found this awful, awful fabric at the thrift store, and knew it was perfect for a tribute to one of my favorite new guys in NXT, Enzo Amore. A Bonafied-G and a Certified Stud, and most certainly not SAWWWWWFT. 

Short and Square

So I finished my test-run floral shorts with my new altered pattern, and I'm quite happy with them. I think this cut is a little more flattering on me and my big thighs/quads, without looking like a big bro-esque cargo short. I think I'll actually wear these quite a bit (yes, probably with that shirt, or a plain blue one)

The only snag I hit was, as you can see here, I placed the pockets way, waaaay too low. Don't know what I was thinking! But an easy fix for the next go around, which will probably be with the camo twill I posted a picture of last time. Thinking of making that pair longer and tapered at the calf maybe. Also had a little bit of a stretching issue with the waistband, that'll teach me to interface it next time. 

Also happening this week: experimenting with crocheting granny squares for a secret-possible-future project. Not something I've had a lot of experience with, so it's a whole new world for me. This website has been a great starting place for tutorials. 

Special Deliveries

So 200th Blog Post Super Suprise Package winner Lety R-Z received their package, and has a little blog post about it here, go look so you can both weep at what you could have won, and check out her adorable felted creatures. PS: Lety, the semi-circle thing is a collar, I think from the 20's.

I got my own package too--sewing machine needles, finally! I also got some new hand needles and some camouflage fabric that will probably become some pants or shorts. And since it's arrived I've been sewing up a streak of spring clothing. Just in time too, all of a sudden it's gotten very warm. 

The Cloud Shorts are now 99% finished. Can't call them done because I need to order a snap for the waistband. But everything else is done! The waist band on it got a little stretched somehow, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with them. 

Lookit that topstitching! And yes, the cuff's lined. Pleased with how all this detailing turned out

Pocket topstitching not quite as nice, but still pretty good! My belt loops always look a bit ragged though, working on that. 

Because it was just a shortened 'slim jean' (let's be frank, a blatant trace off an old pair of Levi's 511) the fit on the cloud shorts is very snug on the legs, particularly since I've gained a bit of muscle since I drew up the pattern. While I don't mind it on that pair, I also wanted some looser, wider legged shorts, so I made some alterations. I made the crotch 2 inches lower, and the legs wider. 

 The bottom fabric here is currently testing the above pattern, looks good so far. The above fabric, I'm not sure about. 

The fabrics I had cut in the last post came together to make a new shirt! I think I've finally really gotten the hang of piping, it comes out much more evenly now. 

Oops, forgot to iron it before taken pictures. This shirt is also stuck at 99% done until I get some snaps, going to use some sea green pearl snaps.

 Cuff on the sleeve's got a little curvey detail to it.  

I hand appliqued the little curly things on there, they are a bit lopsided--even though I used freezer paper! Oh well, certainly still wearable. 

And in last (awful) news, my computer recently wiped it's hard drive, leaving me for the first time without my giant image reference folders, and more importantly, without all my syllabi and handouts for school. So that's a whole other project to tackle, that I'm putting off for the moment. 

Bad Planning, Bad Luck

I was so, so close to finishing my cloud pants--and everything had gone so well--when I broke my last sewing machine needle putting the belt loops on. And despite living in a major city, there is no close convenient store that sells them (well, there is a place on Fabric Row, but the guy there was super rude and I won't go back) So I placed an order online and am waiting for them to arrive. I am happy to say that the cloud-pattern on the cuffs actually worked out better than I had planned, and the pattern wraps around the seams smoothly!

So to keep busy in the meantime, it's back to some hand-work. I've continued quilting on the the Irish Chain quilt, and also banged out some more Dear Jane blocks. These are D-3--7. D-7 I totally messed up, it's meant to be an 8-point star, but I attached the flying geese the wrong way around, and did not realize it until I'd gotten three of them on. Oh well, we'll see if it bother me, I can always re-do it. 

I also bought some big XL shirts at the thrift store to use for fabric, they were gutted and cut apart, and this one I've combined with a floral fabric I had hanging around to make a short sleeved western shirt. The light sage green fabric will become the piping on the shirt. It's all cut and ready to go once I get my new needles. 

These two shirts have been cut apart too, but haven't figured out what I'll do with this yet. The front pieces are not quite big enough to cut new fronts out of, so there's going to have to be some patchworking involved here. 

Did some drawing too. With my tax refund safely in hand, it's time for a new tattoo I think (lest you think I'm impulsive, it's also contributing towards a new mattress, which is very practical and desperately needed.) So I'm still sketching up some ideas. The top one I think may be too detailed, the bottom one not enough, we'll see. 

Short Things

Lety-RZ's super-deluxe jumbo prize package is on it's way to Texas! Hope you enjoy the miscellaneous odds and ends I've included! 

Another cat means another cat bed (yes, exciting, I know) Wharton's an enormous cat, so I made him a larger, rectangular bed. He likes it, although they steal each other's beds pretty frequently. 

I've also been on a shorts kick. Again, while I'm not pledging to be totally 'no-buy' for spring clothes, I'm trying my best to see things I like, and replicate them rather than buy them. Not that I've see cloud-themed shorts anywhere. This one was my idea. The top stitching a little wonky, but overall I'm pretty happy so far. 

Yes, I did the front pocket area too. I'm still not sure if I'll also do the bottom hem with a cloud pattern. Making it line up at both seams won't be fun, but I'm working on it. 

Don't think I've forgotten about my Irish Chain quilt, either. Any time I'm out in the living room I'm working on quilting it. You can't really see it, since it's diagonal lines through the patterned 'chains' of the quilt, but I'm nearly finished with that part. Then to figure out what to put in the gray squares. You can see one of them has a circle quilted on it, I'll probably do that in all of them, then I'm thinking maybe doing a different flower motif inside each one? Not sure yet. 

Renew the Pledge

First of all, hooray for 200 posts! But that it took so long reminds me that I need to post more. And to post more, I need to work more! But between the cat, and work, and my new interest in exercising, my time seems to slip away.

At the beginning of every new season, when we're getting new shoes in the store, I vow to make lots of wonderful things to wear, and maybe make a couple things and then fall by the wayside. I'm not saying this spring will be any different, but I've begun making the effort again. I think part of the problem is that I really only use recycled fabric, so it's a bit of a grab bag as to whether I can find something appropriate for what I want to make.

Anyhoo, at the thrift store last week I did pick up two fabrics, one of which has already become this lovely pair of shorts.

The fabric was meant for home decor, I think. It's some kind of polished cotton, but it's quite heavy. It sewed up really nicely though. I fudged the fly zip a little, can you tell? Every time I go back and do pants, I forget how to do the pockets and fly, and have to relearn them. 

Back view, got the pockets on pretty nicely this time around. 

And on! They are shorter than what I've worn in the past, but now that I'm getting into shape I'm more comfortable with that. But I'm happy with the fit, just have to put the button on the waistband. 

This is the other fabric I picked up, it's some kind of synthetic crepe. I was hoping it was silk so I could make a shirt out of it (it's very Stella McCartney from a few seasons back) but since it's not, I'm actually thinking about making it into a pair of work-out shorts, just have to trace out a quick pattern from the pair I have. 

Whenever I'm feeling a little lost in my own studio, making Dear Jane blocks helps me get back into focus. These are from earlier this week, it's E-10-13 and F-1 and 2. I think they got me back in the groove a bit. 

In sillier news, Seamus always gets a personalized valentine from me--last year featured his favorite pokemon (Trubbish) This year's got his favorite up-and-coming pro wrestlers, The Shield. 

And, like I promised in the last post, for post #200, I've got a little giveaway! Comment with your email address and I will randomly pick a winner to receive my silly floral lucha mask, as well as some other odds and ends.