Stitch and bitch thread #5 This whole thing is fabricated.

[NutellaEllaElla]

Welcome back seamsters! It is soon to be September and Autumn is on its way.

It cuts fabric beautifully, this was cotton with seam a seam on the back.

‘Steam a Seam’

That's so neat! Very festive. I'm looking forward to playing about with it over the Christmas break.

On one of the dancewear facebook groups I'm in, you see people using their cricut to cut out appliques from lycra. They get some brilliant effects due to the cleanness of cut that a cricut can make.

Still not had a chance to sew for myself 😭 but SIL reminded me that the church service on Christmas Eve is nativity fancy dress for the kids so over the last few days I’ve been sticking the kids in front of Netflix to get a couple of quick half hours to turn half an old circle skirt, a few metres of net curtain and lots of shiny ribbon into a cape for a king and an angel outfit.

I've just seen that there's a Sewing Bee Christmas special on tonight at 8pm on BBC 1.

The Sewing Bee Xmas Special was quite cute - though I often look at the things they can make 'without ever using a machine before' and go... oh crap, I hope they have help behind the scenes, because that's better than 90% of my days.

I watched part of that yesterday @kittykarate and thought the same. Judging by how neatly Penny Lancaster managed to sew up that ultra slippery fabric, I think it’s safe to assume some kind of help must have been at hand.

That fabric would have been such a nightmare to handle, but she only came 3rd on that challenge (I think!) so may be the judges took the amount of help needed into consideration?

I'm 100% convinced they have significant help. We only really see them at the machine, that's the easiest bit! The real hard work is understanding construction and fit. They're absolute newbies, I've only been sewing just under 2 years and it would honestly take me a full week to make a jumpsuit or parka jacket.

I haven’t watched it yet, looks good though. I do wonder about people who go on the show having never sewn, do they think it’s easy?

I love the Sewing Bee but it’s so unrealistic and I think that’s magnified in the celebrity special episodes. Still fun to watch though!

I imagine that behind the scenes there is a whole army of production assistants pressing seams open, transferring & explaining pattern markings, pinning etc

Do you suppose we could buy one of these assistants in Hobbycraft?

Happy Christmas

We aren't big on gifts in the Gnome clan but I was very grateful to receive a bobbin winder, some tailor's hams and a cordless iron. All things I wanted but couldn't justify buying for myself.

Plan today is to carry on with my shirt. I did the cutting out on Christmas eve. I have cut it out an inch longer with the intention of doing some more shaping on the front. I feel very adventurous as this will be my first time going properly off-piste.

I hope everyone is able to have a peaceful Boxing day.

Merry Christmas Gnome and everyone

I got a couple of sewing patterns that I wanted which is exciting. Might get to sewing tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas!

I spent part of it finishing a pair of Hudson pants. I’m not sure about all the love for this pattern. It’s probably fine if you have the 28 inch leg that this pattern is drafted for, but the proportion were completely wrong for my legs. Surely average height people have calf muscles too?

As it’s just the legs that are the issue here, it should at least be fairly straightforward to get the next pair to fit better. Plus I’m only planning to wear these at home, so should probably be a bit less obsessive about achieving the perfect fit. They’re sweatpants, for goodness sake!

How are you planning to give your shirt more shape @GnomeDePlume ? I’ve been looking at the Grainline Archer, but think it might be too shapeless for me. Wish I’d realised that before I bought the pattern 🤦🏻‍♀️

@CrimsonAlligator I think those trousers look great. Annoying about sizing though.

I have put a couple of vertical darts on the front of the shirt. DH has just walked through and grumbled that darts make it more tricky to iron. I told him to view it as a challenge to his ironing skills!

Shirt is finished. It's a bit difficult to see as it's a deep red colour!

Yay congratulations! It is a beautiful colour indeed.

Thank you! All done across the Christmas holiday so very pleased. The fabric is a waterfall batik print from Dalston Mills. It was lighter weight than I was expecting.

Next make will be a waistcoat for DSiL. I will have to wait until I get my sewing room back before I start that. Not least because it is supposed to be a surprise for him and he is staying at the moment!

That looks great @GnomeDePlume. Are you happy with the adjustments you made?

I’ve decided against making the Archer shirt as I just can’t see that boxy shape working for me. But while sorting out my wardrobe the other day, I came across a toile I made for a Sewaholic Granville shirt. Even though it is a few sizes too big for me, it’s still a much more flattering shape than any of my shop bought shirts in my actual size.

Cleary Granville is the way to go for me, even if it’s a lot more of a formal shirt than I had in mind. May be there’s a way to make it a bit less structured, but still flattering?! 🤔

@CrimsonAlligator does the Granville shirt have darts at the front? A slightly larger size then darted at the front would give a more relaxed back with darts taking up some of the excess fabric at the front. You could also make it with a stand collar.

I have a fairly broad back with not a huge bust. The shirt I made has a yoke and a box pleat at the back which gives plenty of ease. The aim of the darts at the front was to give a bit more shape to the shirt. I havent worn it in anger yet so I will be interested to see what DD's think.

@CrimsonAlligator it depends on what you mean by formal but making it in a rayon/viscose or linen might make it less formal looking than a crisper cotton type fabric? Or a brushed cotton check or a chambray?
Also, wearing it with the top few buttons undone and the sleeves turned up?
I’ve been browsing the #sewaholicgranville tag on Instagram and very few of them look ‘formal’ to me - lots of gorgeous prints and the sleeveless version looks cute for summer.

I've made a toile for my colleague's dress, then I popped to my fav fabric shop and bought some material for making a toile for a new summer dress for myself plus another batch of fabric to make another copy of my favourite winter dress i've made so far. I'm in the middle of cutting out the pieces now.

Quick question if anyone's around - when you stabilise a shoulder seam, should the ribbon or stay tape, be the bit sewn onto when joining the front and back pieces? If it is not sewn onto then what's the point in it being there?

Yes, you stitch the elastic too, to provide strength to the seam. (Image is from the deer & doe plantain instructions).