Garment Construction and My Favorite Coat

I've been sewing for about three years now.  I started with simple patchwork quilts and I have moved on to more challenging quilt blocks and I've begun sewing a lot of garments.  Mostly, I sew toddler-sized garments for my toddler-sized Pete, but I have tackled some dresses for myself as well.  All this to say, I feel like I have a pretty good sense of how pattern pieces for garments come together.  Sure, there's the occasional tricky turn to hide your seam allowances, but generally there's a predictable order to things.  Starting today, now that winter is nearly over and my winter coats will be packed away for the spring and summer, I'm going to be testing my garment making confidence.

A few years ago--maybe even before we were married, I don't honestly remember--my husband bought me the. Most. Beautiful. Coat. Ever.



Purchased at Express c. 2006

 Every time I wear this coat, I get compliments.  Most people say it looks vintage which is why I fell in love with it in the first place.  The coat is a creamy wool with a satin ruffle around the collar and down the front.  The belt is chocolate brown satin ribbon, and the lining is the same satin as the ruffle.  Unfortunately, the coat is beginning to show signs of wear.  You can see a little pilling on the wool in this photo, but the worst wear is happening inside the coat.

Satin is a notoriously difficult fabric.  It's slippery, it frays very easily, and it can wear and tear very easily as well.  The photos above are the armholes of my coat.  Basically, the lining has shredded all along the seams and, unfortunately, a little whip stitch is not going to help matters one bit.  Since I consider this coat to be probably my best "statement" piece for winter outerwear, I think it's worth taking the time to really restore it so that I can get as long a life out of it as possible.  So, I decided to cut the existing lining out of the coat and use it to draft a pattern to make a new lining.  I gotta admit, here, that I'm scared shitless that I'm never actually going to be able to wear this coat again--at least, not with a lining.



From top: 1" grid interfacing, Licien voile, inexpensive quilting weight cotton

I use the grided interfacing to trace all of my pattern pieces from purchased patterns, so I figure it will work equally as well for tracing around the existing lining pieces of my coat to create a pattern to work from.  That way, I don't have to continue to handle the fragile satin and hope it stays put while I trace it onto my good fabric.  I'm going to use the inexpensive quilting cotton to make a muslin.  I don't usually make a muslin when sewing store-bought patterns because money is tight and my time is tight, so I save both by just going for it.  In this case, however, I had the fabric in my stash and that voile up there is kinda precious.  I'd rather not have a technicolor lining a la Joseph due to having to piece fabrics together to make my lining, so I'm going to go full-tilt and make a muslin from the pattern pieces I draft.  Better safe than out 3 yards of gorgeous Japanese fabric.

If any of my sewing friends out there happen across this post and have words of wisdom, I'd sure love to hear them.  In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for me!

 

Wordless Wednesday: Like Father, Like Son

Sketchbook Shirt

Well, the hubs and I have been house shopping since shortly after Christmas which has used up most of my free time, unfortunately.  It's hard to start--let alone finish--projects when my days off are all dedicated to house hunting.  We almost had "the one", but it turned out not to be the one at all.

I have, however, managed to squeeze in a little sewing.  Two of my favorite blogs, Made by Rae and MADE have been hosting Celebrate the Boy month, which has inspired me to get sewing some things for my favorite little boy.

Last year on my birthday, I won a giveaway hosted by Oliver + S and my prize was a copy of the Sketchbook Shirt and Shorts pattern.  I finally opened it up and made something with it.

The first version I made is the short-sleeved option.  I chose a cotton poplin fabric with a subtle orange and grey pinstripe pattern.  The shirt is the perfect weight for summer.  The curved hemline  and careful construction techniques make the shirt look, as Nate put it, like it comes from the store.  The details make all the difference between "homemade" and "handmade".

The second version I made is the long-sleeved option.  This one is a cozy flannel and I plan on making Nate a matching shirt since Peter has been wanting to do everything just like his Daddy recently.  To add some interest to the front of the shirt, I cut the pocket piece on the bias.  Both shirts came together reasonably quickly.  I started the flannel shirt on Friday night, about 8:00 pm and had it done by Saturday afternoon--and that time included correcting several mistakes made due to sewing late into the evening while drinking a glass of wine.

Probably my favorite part of the long-sleeved option on the shirt are the details that make the cuff of the sleeve look so beautifully finished.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but there's a little placket that finishes the slit cut to make the sleeve go on and off easily.

Sewing for Pete is a little bittersweet.  He out-grows things so quickly, but I absolutely love seeing him in something that I made. He seems to like wearing the things I make, too.  Or maybe he likes that kit-kat he's eating...

Feeling a little selfish...

Well, it's Christmas Eve tomorrow and instead of crazily wrapping presents or baking from-scratch cookies for Santa, I started a quilt.  It's not even a gift.  It's for us to use.  I hope to have it finished to put under the tree with our Christmas Day goodies, but there are no guarantees.  Needless to say, I'm feeling more than a little selfish.  Especially because there are gifts that I need to finish for my family before heading home next week.  But, I keep telling myself that I will have time to sew those on Christmas day and on Sunday and even tomorrow.  And, I do.  But my mom taught me that before doing fun stuff, I should always make sure the stuff I need to do is finished.  In any case, I am pretty excited about this quilt.

I decided to do the Stacked Coins quilt from Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.

I'm using some Anna Maria Horner Folksy Flannels I found at Quilt Home fabrics.  I'm almost reluctant to give out this info, because Quilt Home has so many gorgeous fabrics that are out of print still in stock, plus lots of new fabrics that don't sell out at the drop of a hat.

Anyway, I have all of my fabric for the quilt top cut and I'm sewing my coin stacks together.  I chose a white flannel for the sashing and border because I loved how it made all of the colors in Anna Maria's designs really stand out.  

For the binding, I'm going to use the same white flannel and for the backing, I have a gorgeous aqua fleece that I bought from Joann's.  The finished quilt is going to be sooo snuggly and soft and I am having visions of Nate, Pete, and I cuddling up under it to watch Netflix movies as a family.  I realize I sound slightly delusional and since it's Christmas, I'm okay with that.

My Christmas wish for everyone who reads this is that you are able to put your feet up and relax this year.  Thanks for reading and have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Love,

Lisa

Embroidery + Quilting = Magic

FINALLY!  I finished the Magic Quilt I started nearly two months ago.  I love it.

The quilt is a gift for a special little girl who needs a little help keeping nightmares away.  Her mom thought she would like to be able to go to sleep covered up in all of her favorite things.

One of Malia's favorite things is the swings at the park.  To make these, I used a fairly basic split stitch and back stitch, but for the grass, I brought my ends to the front of the quilt and knotted them so the floss would look super soft and tufty.  My spellchecker says "tufty" isn't a word, but I think it's wrong.

This is a little family portrait.  Malia, Rene, Danny, and Keenan.  They are such a cute family!  For Malia, Danny, and Keenan's hair, I used french knots to evoke curls.

Curly red hair, cute red dress, super fun musical--it can only mean Annie.  The best part of embroidering this square was all of the memories it brought back for me.  I totally played Annie in my high school production!  It's one of my favorite musicals.

Macaroni and cheese.  Delicious.

Rene's parents live in Arizona and Malia loves getting to fly out and visit.

Altogether, this quilt has a whimsy and charm.  I hope that Malia loves it and that it keeps all of the bad dreams far away.