Tag: Coverstitch

Lemon slub knit top with shirt tail hem

On By Sharon5 Comments

This is another version of KS 3740 in a lemon slub knit that was in the stash.

I would also like to introduce you to Katniss our new family member.  This is why Tomba is in nearly every photo as he is busy trying to find out where she is in the hedge.

Now to change up a plain t-shirt I decided to use the downloaded shirt-tail hem extension from Christine Jonson Patterns that I had downloaded sometime last year that has been sitting in my KS3740 pattern folder waiting for me to remember to use it.

So finally I got to play with it.

My t-shirt length is long meaning I usually cut off around 7cm depending on the fabric drape, so I already had some length built into my pattern to play with.

You make your t-shirt as normal until the side seams, so I used the binder on my Coverstitch for the neckband,

and then used the chain stitch on my Coverstitch to baste the side seams together so I could work out the length of my top and the point I wanted the split to occur.

I then machine stitched my side seams, stopping 6cm from the hem, where I pressed open the seam allowances and then had Mark level the front and back hems.

Once this was done, I pressed the hems and then used the shirt-tail hem extension to draw in the shaped hem with a FriXion pen.

Then with some 6mm Steam A Seam I finger pressed this around right at the outside edge the hem allowance,

and then trimmed the fabric back so I only had a 6mm hem allowance.

which I then carefully removed the backing tape from the Steam A Seam and finger pressed the hem in place

so it was ready to be taken over to the Coverstitch to finish the body and sleeve hems.

Front view minus Katniss

Side view

Back view

This is my 2nd piece for SWAP 2019.

******************
2019 Stash Out: 2.3 m
2019 Stash In: 0 m

Turbulent Sea DVF Wrap Dress

On By Sharon7 Comments

You know when you purchase your ticket for Frocktails and then it dawns on you, “what am I going to wear”.

Of course I left it to the last minute but with a sewing weekend coming up I decided to make another DVF Wrap Dress with this dry knit that was in the stash.

Thank you James Broadway

Just before all this happened the ladies over at Artisan Square had a Pre-2019 SWAP Dress Challenge that had to include a new fabric or new technique.

As this knit is heavier than my previous DVF dress, I decided to add a waist-stay which is a technique I have never used and I found this very detailed post over at Stitch N Smile.

The next thing I did was to do a gaposis adjustment in the front neckline of 1cm, this has made the front neckline sit much better.

So armed with all my sewing goodies I headed off for a weekend of sewing.

To make the waist-stay I used some navy petersham ribbon I had purchased from Torb and Reiner and a trouser hook and bar.

Then I realised I had to add a buttonhole to the waist-stay as one of the ties for dress has to pass through the side seam,

where I attached the waist-stay to the dress and I had positioned the hook and bar to be offset to be on the other side away from the tie on the outside. 

By the end of the 2nd day of sewing the dress just needed hemming and thankfully Mark was on hand that evening to level off the hem so I could use my coverstich to finish the hems that night.

This dress is getting a lot of wear besides Frocktails and I can see it getting a lot more with summer finally arriving.

This will also be  my first garment for SWAP 2019 as “One garment may be completed by today (28 October 2018) US Time Zone.  

******************
2018 Stash Out: 6.3 m
2018 Stash In: 5.0 m

Taupe knit top – V8572

On By Sharon4 Comments

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen this back in October 2017, it had just been finished but as it was a winter top, it went straight into the wardrobe to wait for the weather to get cool enough to wear.

Fast forward to last weekend, the weather had turned nice and chilly and my top had it’s first outing at the Annual Australian Sewing Guild Rhodes Fashion Sewers Sewing Retreat at The Tops Conference Centre at Stanwell Tops.

This fabric was purchased in the USA in 2011 from the same shop the fabric for my Skewed Cowl Collared Top but this one was a very stable knit.

Working with my V8572 my TNT Woven top I:

*  Bound the neckline with the A Binder on my Coverstitch

* split the side seam 12cm above the pattern hem, also offsetting the front and back hems by 1.5cm.

* used my Coverstitch again to do the hems, and when I came to the corners I raised the needles, keeping the longer needle just in the fabric, pulling some thread forward, turning the fabric and started sewing again, this kept it all very even.

Now to work out what other garments this top goes with in my wardrobe.

*****************
2018 Stash Out: 1.5m
2018 Stash In: 0m

Como Trunks

On By Sharon3 Comments

Still catching up with my sewing backlog, here is a gift I made for Mark back in September last year.

I have read a lot of reviews of the Thread Theory Como Trunks and purchaed a kit back in 2016 to check out the fabric quality as well as the elastic that they suggest you use.

These were made for our 16th Wedding Anniversary in 2017, and the gemstone colour is Peridot which by my thinking is green therefore this olive fabric in the Como Trunks kit was perfect and thankfully quite quick to make up.

For some reason last year Mark decided to wear trunks and went on a bit of a purchasing spree.  At this time he did make the comment that he didn’t want any for his Birthday or Christmas so I felt that I could still give him a pair for our Wedding Anniversary.

As usual the Thread Theory instructions are very clear and you end up with a very professional looking pair of trunks.

The only change I made was the way I sewed on the elastic for the waist, I followed how Mark’s RTW trunks were sewn which meant I had to trim the excess fabric away using my Duckbill scissors.

The Coverstitch was perfect for stitching the elastic in place as well as for the two leg hems.

There are no modeled photos but they are in high rotation which is great, but so far there hasn’t been a request for any more so I will see if that changes as the year progresses.

******************
2017 Stash Out: 21.9
2017 Stash In: 14.6 m

A striped top

On By Sharon7 Comments

This is the 3rd top that I made during our weekend away along with the skewed cowl and cream top back in May.

I originally purchased this fabric from The Remnant Warehouse for a shingle dress, Vogue 8904 and no matter how I tried I just couldn’t get it to sit right at my swayback even taking notice of all the very helpful blog reviews.

So this fabric has been marinating in my stash since then, still in pieces, so after seeing so many striped tops this year I decided it was the year to finally do something with the fabric.

Once again I have used KS 3740 as my base.

Michelle showed me a great trip for matching the stripes, using Steam-A-Seam you finger press this onto the right side of your fabric at the seam line and then slowly remove the tape and finger press your stripes together,

it worked a treat

The back has a seam as this works better for my sway back

I also used my A Binder on the Coverstitch to finish the neckline

This top also got a lot of wear during Winter and I have found more striped fabric in my stash so there could be another one appearing at some time.

******************
2017 Stash Out: 21.9 m
2017 Stash In: 14.6 m

Garnet Finlayson

On By Sharon7 Comments

I’ve been sewing for Mark again for our 15th Wedding Anniversary back in 2016 and it has taken me quite a while to get some photos of this garment even though it is worn quite a lot.

Some of the choices from Traditional and Modern Anniversary Gifts suggested Glass, Watches, Ruby, Alexandrite and Rhodite Garnet.

I then remembered I had been given some Sweater Knit from Knitwit by Alison’s mother about 10 years ago that I had earmarked for a smarter sweatshirt style that Mark had been wearing for years that were starting to show their age.

So I headed to Thread Theory and purchased the Finlayson Sweater PDF as I planned to sew this during our Sewing Weekend in Brisbane as Mark was going to be away for our wedding anniversary. However his plans changed so I suddenly had to get this made.

Working from his much loved sweater I cut a large and added 7.5cm in length as I wasn’t going to add the bands.

From my bag stash fabric I found some black twill that I used for the back neck facing.

and used my Duckbill scissors to trim the bulk from the collar which I also understitched.

This pattern went together very well and when I had the sleeves in I decided to compare it to his much loved sweater and realised it was going to be too large in the sleeves and also thought I’d take some extra width from the side seams as well.

The solid line is my stitching line and the dashed is the cutting line.

The final steps were to add some black twill tape to the neckline and to do the hems on my Coverstitch.

Mark has said that it is a different neckline but he seems to be quite comfortable with it as it got a lot of wear during Winter.

This is the only photo I have got of the back view, which shows how much fullness there is in the body,

mucking around with Roscoe

so I will compare this to the Medium to see how much difference there is for the next version.

******************
2017 Stash Out: 21.9 m
2017 Stash In:  14.6 m

T-Shirt with a Twist

On By Sharon11 Comments

This is a top that I finished in October last year and it has been worn quite a lot during the warmer months.

This is the result of the sew-along with the Australian Sewing Guild, T-Shirt with a Twist which was for ASG Members only back in May last year, but as we were experiencing Winter at that time, I decided to make it a summer top and leave it for a few more months.

I used KS 3740 as my base pattern and followed the instructions, but this is where I ran into trouble, 45 degree angles can be found both on the short length and long length of the quilting ruler I used, and I managed to use the wrong one.

Thankfully I made this at my ASG Sewing Guild Group at The Remnant Warehouse and Alison was very helpful in setting me in the right direction and also guiding all of the overs/unders for the lattice stripes.

Here are the lattice pieces in place.

Now this then leaves you a gap in the back neckline, so I used some Solvy  to create a false back neckline so I could used the B Binder on my Coverstitch to finish the back neckline

and continue around the plain front neckline.

Then at another ASG meeting another sewing friend, Wendy, kindly pinned the back hem for me,

which I finished with my Coverstitch.

I like that this top is plain in the front so I can wear a number of different necklaces with it,

and then there is all the fun in the back.

******************
2017 Stash Out: 21.9
2017 Stash In: 14.6 m

Skewed Cowl Collared top

On By Sharon6 Comments

The other weekend I want away for a 3 day sewing retreat with the Australian Sewing Guild at The Tops Conference Centre.

I had taken a top that was cut out which I wanted some help with fitting and then fabric for another 3 tops.

On the 2nd evening I pulled out this camel coloured knit which I purchased during my US trip back in 2011 and had plans to make the cowl neck version of KS 3740 my TNT knit top. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough fabric for the cowl from the pattern, but as this fabric had fantastic drape I really wanted a cowl neck of some sort.

You can see the fabric on the table.

Thankfully one of the ladies in the group had brought along her copy of Knits for Real People by Palmer Pletsch (my copy was in my bookcase at home) and I found the instructions on how to draft a skewed cowl collar (wow I just found this link) which as long as I didn’t want it as deep and happy for an extra seam it worked perfectly for the amount of fabric I had.

The best bit I was finished by lunchtime the next day, very happy indeed.

How I wore it to work the other week.

Now to get photos of the other two tops I made prior to this one!

******************
2017 Stash Out: 6.1 m
2017 Stash In: 4 m

Cold Shoulder Top

On By Sharon9 Comments

Back in December during my first lot of toile preparation for Susan Khalje’s classes I decided to make myself a new top for summer.

To start with I pulled out my TNT knit pattern, KS 3740 and then thought I would add the cowl from the ASG Cowl Neck Knit Top Sew-along, so I traced of a new pattern and followed the great instructions and had a new front pattern.

Then I dug out this fuchsia knit that I had purchased at The Remnant Warehouse that worked with this skirt that is an orphan in my wardrobe now that the knitted top no longer fits.

I merrily cut out my top, stitched the shoulders and overlocked the side seams and tried it on!

Did you notice above the words “no longer fits”, well it was a complete disaster, partly due to the fact that I have gained some centimetres and the stretch of the knit wasn’t what I thought it would be.  The top has now had its side seams unpicked and I am trying to work out a way to salvage it.

However I was determined that I would have a new top by the end of the year!

Back to the drawing board, this time I pulled out some Coral Cotton Knit that I purchased from Pitt Trading back in 2015.

First I checked the amount of stretch and it was better than the fuchsia knit, so I went ahead and cut out and sewed another top but this time I only basted the side seams before I tried it on.  A bit snug but wearable so the sleeves were basted in.

Looking in the mirror it was very apparent that I hadn’t made the forward shoulder adjustment to my knit TNT pattern, and with the knit being rather thin it was really noticeable.

It took me a few days and then it dawned on me, what about a cold shoulder top!

I undid the top of the sleeve and then put it on, turning down what I thought looked good, pinned in it place and then took the sleeves out, stitching the new top hems on my coverstitch and then trimming the seam.

I hemmed the sleeves and then stitched the sleeves back into the armholes.  I added Lite Steam-A-Seam2 to the remainder of the armsyce

turned it under and coverstitched it in place.

After a few washes

Back to the sleeve pattern, I pinned what I had cut off and it was 6cm.  So for the next version I will create a new pattern and straighten the curve at the top 1cm of the sleeve so that I when I turn it to hem there is solid fabric all the way across.

The back view

******************
2017 Stash Out: 1 m
2017 Stash In: 4 m

Pleather and knit top

On By Sharon4 Comments

We are going to have to do something about the lemon tree!

The inspiration for this top came from this top pinned that I pinned 2 years ago from Lafayette 148 New York and have been meaning to make it for ever.

Kerryn’s Fabric World sent me some swatches back in 2012 and they had this Polyester Spandex that has a leather look to it that just had to be added to my stash.

It has a knit backing but has no stretch to it at all.

Then when I made my Drapey cardigan back in January, I realised that the merino wool looked pretty good next to the Pleather.  So with some very careful cutting out I managed to get the cardigan as well as the back and sleeves for this top using KS 3740.

As the Pleather is essentially a woven fabric, I used Vogue 8572 my TNT woven blouse for the front, but wanted to add princess seams to it as well.

This was the 2nd item that I packed to work on during the Sewing Weekend in Brisbane and after I finished my cardigan I then started work on this top.

First up I traced off the front of V8572 and then proceeded to add armhole princes seams + 6mm seam allowance (so I wouldn’t get confused between the two patterns).

Original front pattern

Armhole Princess Seams added

I cut out the front and then basted the front and back together to check the fit.

There was quite a bit of excess fabric above the apex curve and as I could see this myself I didn’t take any measurements to put back on the pattern so I am not sure how much we ended taking out or how much we smoothed out the curve 😦

The back was a different matter,

So I took out a 1,5cm dart at the neckline down 8cm and then took a 2mm seam all the way down the centre back so from the right side it looks like I have a centre back seam

The rest of the top went together very well, I added a knit neckband to the neckline and then used my Coverstitch to finish of the neck edge.

As well as all the hems

Of course I have finished this right as the weather is starting to warm up but the top had its first outing to the ASG Industry Day at Simplicity Patterns yesterday which is in a big tin shed and this top kept me very comfortable.

******************
2016 Stash Out: 13.7 m
2016 Stash In: 18 m