Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Pink Out Day


I just found out that today is #pinkout day! The high temp. here today will be in the 50s, and, believe it or not, that's waaaay too hot for me to actually wear a hat. So, I'm sporting a little PussyHat pin on my bag. I designed it myself and I don't know if I can share too many details, yet, but you should be able to get the super-easy instructions for it soon.

There's more information on #pinkout day here and here.

#IStandWithPP

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Leggings

Work Friend: You didn't make your own leggings, did you?

Me: Of course I did!


I used Stretch & Sew 313, which is barely even vintage, in my opinion, since I was 14 in 1993, but I digress. 

Which means that I remember stirrup pants and I still hate them, so I made my leggings/tights stirrup-free but pretty long. 

I found a fabric at JoAnn's that is pretty heavy, has amazing recovery and was marked "workout to weekend." The pattern uses a cut-on elastic waistband, where you stitch the elastic to the inside of the tights, then turn it down and topstitch it in place. 

I used a tip that I read in one of the Stretch & Sew books for this - instead of pinning the elastic in place before you topstitch, just baste it down at the center and back seams (and side seams, if your garment has them). Then, you don't have to try to pull pins out as you're stretching your elastic to fit. 

Ann Person was on record as hating the look of zig-zag stitches on the outside of the garment, but I see this A LOT in activewear, so when my coverstitch refused to cover the super-thick elastic plus two layers of fabric, I just used a fairly wide zig-zag to topstitch. 

I hemmed the legs using the coverstitch, though. The leg and crotch seams were serged, with an extra line of straight-stitching inside the seam allowance of the crotch seam. 

It really is a fast pattern to put together, since it only has the two inside leg seams, the crotch seam and the waistband. 

And, yes, leggings aren't pants. But, they aren't supposed to be. If you really want to complain about this "new" fashion, it's been growing on us, as a society, for about 900 years. They're just more comfortable now that we have spandex.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Plain Black Skirt

Gym selfie, again. I know. 

This is Stretch & Sew 445, shortened quite a bit because I am short and I wanted it to hit around my knee and not mid-calf. It's a real workhorse pattern. There's probably a way to make the encased elastic waistband less bulky, but it doesn't bother me the way it is.

Wednesday, March 08, 2017

Old Rotary Cutter

One of my favorite sewing tips - use an old rotary cutter to cut out your patterns! I love tracing patterns, but I always kind of hated cutting them out with scissors. This is faster and also lets you see which areas might be a little tricky to cut without the help of shears. Nice! Thanks, Beverly Johnson!


Wednesday, March 01, 2017

They Don't Make Them Like They Used To

Proof. On the left, a sewing ham that smells like a 1970s basement. On the right, one that I bought online last year. The first one could seriously be used as a club. It weighs a ton! Bonus background Travis cat.