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.

Short Lace

As much as I've been enjoying making things for myself lately, I really haven't been doing enough textile experiments. I've been meaning to revisit needle/tape lace for a while, I wasn't really satisfied with any of the project I did with it. So just to get back into it, I did a little sampler to play around with stitches. I just laid down some twill tape and basted it to a thick piece of wool to stabilize it.

 It came out a little rumpled. Part of it was that I didn't put paper behind it, so I caught a fair amount of wool in the stitching. The other part was that I didn't put it in a hoop. I thought the wool would be stiff enough to not warp, but that wasn't the case.

 I like the finer meshes, and the 'woven' effect on the big square. You can also see I changed threads--the more off-white thread was softer and I think made for better-looking stitches.

 I've been really intrigued by all the loose, drapey pants and shorts I've been seeing around lately, but have had a difficult time figuring out how to make them work for me--any gathering around the waist is super unflattering because of the size of my legs. Starting with a bunch of images, these two (Comme des Garcons and Rick Owens) included, and an $1.50 pair of very large old-lady linen pants, I think I'm on to something.

I cut off the bottoms of the legs, and opened up the seams on the sides and crotch. I used the excess leg fabric to make a melon-shaped 'crotch gusset.' Unfortunately, due to limited fabric, I had to put a seam in the middle, which I think affects the drape a bit weirdly. If I make another pair, I'll make sure not to do that. I then pinned the sides up, put them on and carefully took in the side seams and added front pleats. 

I didn't have enough left over for pockets either, so the butt looks a little naked to me. I like the cuffs at the bottom though, gives it a little more structure.

Now here's the problem...I can't quite figure out what to wear them with? Loose top? Tight top? Tucked in? Or not? Most people seem to wear them with big drapey layers, but that's not really something I have much of...

 Trying things out. I think I need a looser tank top to make it work. I think the fact they are off-white is also a little hard to match up. I'd really like to remake them in either an olive linen or blue chambray.

I did pick up on my Dear Jane blocks. I had to take down the design wall, so it's harder to pick colors without seeing the previous rows. I have them charted out, but it's not the same. Row I, Blocks 3-6.

New Computer, New (consistent!!) Posting

Well, hopefully consistent. But definitely more than has been going on-my old Lenovo x120e got a whole glass full of water spilled into it, and refused to even power on. I tried to hold out until my birthday/tax rebate time, but not having a computer at all was pretty awful, and I gave in and treated myself to the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro, which is a big upgrade from my old one. The screen on my x120e was admittedly pretty awful, which made editing photos for this blog a pain. On this one, however, the screen is gorgeous, and having a touch screen has been surprisingly handy.

But enough computer chat. What have I been up to since the death of my old laptop? Quite a bit, although I was not taking photos very consistently, since I had nothing to upload them to. So the picture coverage is a bit spotty.

Like I apparently have no picture of the making of this shirt? And I made this quite a while back, since there's no weight bench in the background of these pictures. In any case-just using my basic longsleeve shirt pattern, with contrast cuffs, collar and placket. Next time around I may slim down the arms on this pattern a tiny bit, but then again, my arms keep growing, so maybe not.

 I found some plastic canvas at the thrift store right before Christmas, so I decided to make some little needlepoint ornaments. I have plenty of crewel yarn hanging around for it. I charted out some portraits of my two cats. I think they came out pretty well, I just wish there was more contrast in the eye area on Barry (the orange and white cat)

And here's the finished ornaments. I must have used different dark green on Wharton's and not noticed. But they came out pretty cute! And went right on my tree.

I've been really interest in combining sports and athletic wear with traditional 'craft' processes lately. I've also been learning crochet a little more fully, so I got it into my head to make crochet shorts. I started sketching, and decided to stick to a simple granny square pattern at first so I could figure out how to shape it into shorts. I still want to do something with more shaped squares eventually.

So I needed a variety of yarns, as cheap as possible, since this is just a test. The cheapest way seemed to be to just buy an old afghan for a few dollars and pull it apart. I don't really need to buy full skeins of worsted acrylic, it's not very nice for much else. Unfortunately, the only before picture of the afghan I took was this crummy instagram. So apologies for that. Take my word for it, it was very ugly. 

 

 And a few days later, it became these! The making was pretty simple. Four granny squares to start, then join the front and back halfway down, then made a crotch gusset (may not be necessary if you don't have thick legs/butt like me) then join on the sides.

 Then round and around each leg, and around the waist.

 The is the back view, in the middle back I used treble instead of double crochet, to sort of create a 'yoke' also to accommodate my butt. Honestly, though, it's still a little short in the back, next time I might also add a short row of double crochet just there as well.

And the front. It's lined with a pair of old bike shorts. I carefully tacked it in by hand with lots of separate small tacks so the stretchiness is preserved. There is probably an easier/better way to do this though I imagine a machine zig zag or serger stitch would not look very good.

 I also wondered, "Is it possible to cross stitch on spandex, or would it constrict the four-way stretch too much?" Then I figured, if the cross stitching was done with the fabric stretched the same amount as it would be on the body, it should work. I picked out a simple pattern from an old book I have.

 I had found at the thrift store a while back a cross stitch kit with 'waste canvas.' The idea is you stitch through the canvas and fabric, then 'pull' or unravel the canvas out from underneath. No picture, but I stretched the shorts over some cardboard, and basted the waste canvas onto it. Then stitched through both and pulled the canvas away. 

 When the shorts are unstretched, the stitching does look a little puckered and odd.

 But, once they are on, it looks much more normal. We'll have to wait and see what happens when I wash them though.

I tried to find a bigger piece of waste canvas, and was having a hard time finding any. It turns out that the world has moved on to water soluble canvas! And thank goodness because pulling the waste canvas was a giant pain. No plans for this yet, but I sure I'll think of something.

Last thing for now, I've been making up a neat shirt with some medallion/border print material I found. I was planning on making it long sleeve, but I lost the fussy-cut cuffs, and don't have enough to cut more, so I think it's doomed to short sleeves.

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.