Self drafted Bias Skirt - scary!!

Bias is something that always scares me... My first experience was the gathered circle skirt I made for my daughter.

You can see below at the front how it is stretched out.

Here again at the side you can see how it is stretched out.

All over the internet there is circle skirt as a simple skirt- but seriously how ? How can one understand bias and its handling.  I think skirts to start with are simple gathered skirts.

I've made a bias skirt pattern for myself and made it out of calico, this calico is bit thick so the fall is not very apparant. Hopefully the faux suede will do a good fall.

The material has a great fall, so wait and see..To test the fall - you can see this post to buy a drapey fabric.

Enjoy your weekend :)
Preethi

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Conquered the invisble zipper

Ahhh!! Finally conquered the zipper..
Do you dread the invisible zipper or any zipper? I DID. Not anymore

I had so many questions -

Invisible Zipper Issues

Which way to place the zipper?
Do I need to iron my zipper?
If so, what setting?
Which foot to use? Worst my machine doesnt even support the invisible zipper foot.
Use tape or pins?
Baste?
Can't get close enough. What to do?
The seams at waist don't match up, what to do?
The neck now is one up one down, what to do?
Why is the invisble zipper visible from the correct side?
Ok, I know the zipper, what about facing?

I was once at this stage - Zipper foot not working - The needle went straight down the zipper teeth.

And then at this -

where I got the right foot but my tenchique was wrong. The zipper was showing from right side, it was all wonky, seams never matched.

And now (happy face)

Please dont notice the zipper colour, was in a hurry to finish off the skirt.. the fit was so good I couldnt resist to finish it off.
It's a pencil skirt by the way if you are wondering.

Imprevement - I could do better with matching of the circles at both patterns. But I could live with it for now.
If you'd like to have my lessons learnt and tutorial let me know :)

-Preethi.

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Sewing - Still a beginner

When I was sewing for my daughter I was churning out stuff so quick. I was new and was willing to try various things and fail several times. For some reason now that I've progressed to sew
for myself I want to know ways and to perfect things. I'm taking several online courses. There is so much I want to do and so little that I'm able to.
To think of it I still don't know most basic stuff, I've a long way before I can come up with something decent for myself.

Here is my to do list.

1. Draft a sleeveless blouse from the basic bodice for myself.  I'm on the way. I've a good moulage I made for myself so Ithink I should be able to do this one.

2. Draft a skirt sloper.I'm wearing a lot of skirts these days.. Bought so many from east.co.uk. I'm loving them. So I thought why not try sewing them for the summer.

3. Invisible zipper on waist with waistband. Haven't found a good tutorial yet on this. The best and most logical tutorial for the zipper on back from neck facing is this from fashion incubator - Such beautifully calculated for the fold of the fabric. I'd do it slightly differenlty though, instead of a different pattern piece, I'd just move the facing pattern slightly right to compensate for the fold of the main fabric.

Enjoy your week!

Preethi.

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How to ease sleeve cap by crimping - easy quick and no frustration way

Sleeves are always tricky. Aren't they?

Ever wondered how on earth does the arm hole match up to the circumference of the sleeves?
Why don't sleeve and arm hole match for a garment with no gathered sleeves?
A poorly made set in sleeve can scream homemade, not that I'm ashamed of it though. :)

The sleeve circumference is so much larger that it becomes so difficult to do it without puckers.
Some upto 3 cm. Well it also depends on the type of fabric (knit, woven). You should comfortably be able to rise your arms up.

I have the tried the following options:

1. The gathering way (2 rows or 3 rows) but it always ends up with puckers which almost look like gathers. Yeah! gathering way produces gathers, atleast for me.
2. The finger pressing way (the heat in the fingers does help to manipulate the fabric) but it takes ages to get it right. It's frustrating to say the least. Divide and conquer way it is.
3. Crimping way - The easiest and simplest and quickest and bestest. No more frustration or patience required.

I have read this in a couple of fashion books without pictures so had to do a number of trail and error to get this right. So let's see how to do it. Below is the video.
Set the stitch length to 3. Max is 4 on my machine Guess I forgot to mention in video.

Do you need to finish the sleeve (sleeve seam, finish raw edges and hem) first or after crimping/easing?

I have done both ways and both have pros and cons.
If you finish the sleeve it becomes slightly difficult to crimp because it is difficult to lay flat - you could always remove the tray to make it easier.
But if you don't finish the sleeve then the threads may come in the way when you finish. You could always tie a knot but then when you start to pin it up against the arm hole you may need to adjust.
I'd prefer to finish the sleeve first.




Don't forget to let me know if it worked for you.
After you have eased you'd need to match up the notches or the dots and pin up at few points before you stitch. Sorry should have taken a few pics there, may be next time!
Happy stitching!
Preethi.

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Crimping sleeve ease

Just checking, how have you been?

I don't have a blog post with me, but I can't wait to show you the sleeve I made.

I used the crimping the method. I have seen the crimping method in text books but haven't seen them in blogs or videos. It has taken me quite an effort to get it right. But once I did wow the whole sleeve easing was a breeze.

UPDATE - Blogged with video here - How to ease sleeves crimping way - Easy, simple, Quick - No more frustration

No more 2 rows of gathering - what rubbish!  hahha .. Sorry

Sorry about the photo. Just took it late night. I was so thrilled. And I have to show you what I'm making.

Do you use the crimping method?

Do you want a video of it? Pictures may not work here.

Have a good weekend!

Preethi.

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Half size pattern drafting experience- A skirt

At the pattern cutting course in London we got to work with half size patterns at home - scaled to half size.

Seriously it was such a saver and it allowed me to work when the kids are awake, not having to wait until they sleep to get the entire dining table to myself without being disturbed.

This is something I could do watching tele.

 So here it is, I made a pattern myself of this skirt and also tried stitching it. Well the kids were asleep and I couldn’t use the sewing machine but my fingers were ithching to complete so I hand stitched it.

I’m so proud of it, I did show off in the class.

 At first when I started I couldn't even make out which way was top and which bottom when I started to sew but eventually managed.

 Finished half skirt.. Well I didn't complete the waistband or the hem.. Just wanted to sew to see how it comes together.

 Enjoy your weekend.
Preethi.

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London Pattern Cutting Course

My husband's cousin came home on a Saturday and I just returned from my course. He asked what course is it. I said Pattern cutting. and he asked me to explain it.
And then he said Oh glorified tailoring :)

And yes it was,expect we did no tailoring.
Size 12 was our basic block from which we did our different variations.
- Dart manipulation of front basic block
- Dark manipulation of back basic block
- Dart manipulation of skirt block
- Collars etc...

We learnt 2 methods -
1. Cut and spread method which is the basic and tedious method
2. Pivot method - A very very good video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbeTqR5GIU0

Being from IT I'd rather prefer do all that on inkscape. Just an ever so slight pencil thickness or the angle of the pencil creates overall 1/2 cm difference. I'd prefer to do all that on my computer.
I'm familiar with inkscape now having drafted a nightie for 2T and a multisize 2T-8T sun dress.
But dart manipulation on the computer is something I need to get familiar with.

It was really a feeling of school - not like a traditional one or rather I can say more like a practical lab style.
Need real leg muscles to stand all day - yeah all day 10 to 5. Only time sat was on the first day where we had a little theory and during our breaks of course.

There was also a take your hands off your face moment in the class. All were stunned, really stunned and couldn't believe it.

Every time I came home and my husband asked what I did I was like - dart manipulation. But really that's what we learnt; I don't know if there is more to pattern cutting or it was just variations. Surely there are many more advanced courses but until I make my pattern for myself and move all those darts I'm not doing any more.

Have a fun filled weekend.
Preethi.

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