Stitch and bitch thread #9. I have pressing concerns

[NutellaEllaElla]

Welcome welcome!

I've not made anything for ages after I screwed up the same thing twice. I'm gonna have another blimmin crack at it though! I've reconnected with another hobby and work is seriously getting in the way of everything I want to do, darn it.

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Can I join, just finished my second ever project using a pattern. DD likes superheros and space and found it really hard to find dresses in those styles, so decided to try and make her some. Have so much to learn.

hello @Outandabout43 , how old is your DD ? I make things for my grandson , and if you learn to deal with stretch , there is loads of great material ( and patterns) out there ! I have done Captain America , Marvel and have just bought some panels to make him something for his birthday . Lots of lovely galaxy materiel around too. If woven , there is also a good selection. This is a sunhat I made him a couple of years ago - a free pattern from Waves and Wild ( sandcastle bucket hat )

@bookbook thankyou so much, I wanted to make her a sun hat to match. These are my forat 2 dresses, as you can see very basic. The spiderman one was far to big so had to think if a design feature to get it to fit. On the plus side now when I undo the buttons it will grow with her, didn't want to unpick as decided to sew french seams 😩.

Not sure how I feel about stretch yet, still have trouble with simple hems. Although I did learn from my forst protect to just use binding around the neck and arms.

Wow look at you with your fancy french seams! Seriously though, very well done! You're ambitious and it's paid off, your projects look great, and how smart to make them with room to grow

Hope it's OK to pop on here?

I've been sewing for 50+ years but not done much recently apart from a few patchwork quilts which I enjoyed.

Sewing Bee has re inspired me to have another go and I have a cocoon dress pattern I'd like to try. Was thinking of doing a toile (?) and maybe getting a charity shop duvet cover to use. I just wondered if anyone calculated the amount of material in a single/double duvet cover to save me trying to work it out.

This seems a lovely friendly, encouraging group and I'll be happy to share my makes with you.

Thanks.

Welcome @Wilma55 and @Outandabout43
duvet covers are great sources for toiles, and some even wearable. I don't know how much fabric is in them though.

I've been too lazy to sew at the moment (and still shy about measuring myself). Kind of need to go fabric shopping because I want my next make to start with a chance of a wearable toile.

There’s about 2m each side of a duvet cover and they are about 1.4 (single) to 2.3m (king size) wide. There’s scope to juggle most projects out of them. Fitted sheets are less useful but I’ve had a couple of tops from one.

I bought about 5m of extra wide polycotton sheeting for toiles which lasted a good few years but nowadays I’m using up bedding from MILs house. They won’t result in wearable toiles as vibrant peach and pink isn’t my preferred colour

Thanks@Jins , I will go scouring the charity shops!

Here's a couple of my patchwork quilts. I didn't do the quilting myself. The black and white one was done at a monthly group and the other one was a postal block of the month.

Great dresses @Outandabout43 and the more you do, the more you should learn.

I'm in awe of your quilts @Wilma55 . They're just stunning and there is so much work in them.

Thise are amazing quilts @Wilma55

I haven't had much time over the last few weeks and am waiting for payday to buy more fabric but in the meantime I am doing a toile of a shell top from the sewing bee book. It looks simple but has darts and will be the first time I have used darts so a new skill. I am going to make a tiered peasant dress (free pattern) for my daughter too.

I feel like I need to build my pattern and fabric collections a bit more so I have a few different options to try.

@Frumpyunicorn it’s a slippery slope. I started out buying some things to practice with, now I have a sewing room, a stash of fabric that must be 100m, physical patterns, digital patterns, plus buttons and zips and bias and notions and gadgets.
Saying that, I do find it a hugely rewarding hobby and love wearing something I’ve made, or being able to make my kids something they love.

Today’s project was a very simple pair of Tilly and the Buttons Safiya trousers. I’m really pleased with them and they cost a grand total of about £8.

They look great!

My FBA experiment is a success! Wasn’t sure if it was going to fit at first, but it’s pretty spot on. I could probably add another inch of ease around the bust but I’m pleased with how it turned out. Will be doing an FBA for everything from now on, plus the pattern I’ve hacked will be a great base for future hacking.

Tomorrow I’m planning to try the top-down-centre-out method to fit the jumpsuit trousers. Will report back.

Didn’t do top down centre out but I did try tissue fitting - and glad I did because it’s ridiculously low at the centre back (quite a common fit issue for me, am large of derrière) and I’ve added several inches. Might have gone too far but we’ll see.

I have abandoned the maison fauve tilda blouse. I got one sleeve on and tried it on, the shoulders are too wide so the sleeve puff sits in the wrong place and looks ridiculous.

I’ve now moved onto re-working my failed peppermint jumpsuit into a pair of trousers. I didn’t enjoy taking out the perfectly inserted invisible back zip, but I should have realised long before I started it that a waist less loose fit jumpsuit would make me look like a toddler with a full nappy.
I am eyeing up the True Bias Shelby (I’m always years behind trends) but I’ve got the DD Sirocco and the Named Kielo patterns so I should try those first. I am worried the Kielo won’t suit me though, my measurements are 40/30/41 but I have a short waist.

I know from experience and many mistakes in my youth that jumpsuits aren’t for me but I’ve found myself hankering after one recently. The toddler with a full nappy description is perfect @OperationalSupport. I’m fairly short and have no waist so it’s a challenge to look good in one. Having said that I picked up LN Sunday romper on sale and I’m going to make one as a pool coverup and to use up some of my ancient stash of jersey.

I got back to a delivery from Pound Fabrics and I’m really pleased with it. Especially the nylon viscose mix which has got quite a lot of stretch so will be perfect for the shorts I bought it for (I got the denim blue). I have to confess to an impulse Abakhan purchase while I was away. I’ve topped up the swim Lycra drawer with 2m of really good quality black swim fabric for just under £10.

Hello all,
Not done any sewing as I've been travelling for work for the last 2 weeks but home now and my new quilting fabric has arrived. Very excited to swap out the colours I didn't like from my quilt top and get it finished!
I would also now like to have a go at a top, feeling more confident after my dress was a success.

Another great make @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie and I do admire the quilters. Something I haven’t tackled at all, as yet.
I surprised myself by finding a toile I made of the Sauvie dress bodice. This is unusual as I am a great thrower outer. Still fits so I’m quite pleased that I can use the traced pattern pieces from my ill fated, double gauze debacle last summer. The poplin viscose from pound fabrics arrived and has been pre washed so I need to get cracking.

My week of sewing didn’t exactly start off brilliantly. I sat down behind my machine around 10 this morning, but machine & pattern issues meant I didn’t really get going until 4 hrs later. Ugh! I hope the rest of the week goes a little better 😂

My planned sewing day yesterday went a bit haywire yesterday as well. I’d economised on getting one page of a pattern printed as I thought it had all the pieces I needed. It was missing one 🤦‍♀️

As I’d committed to a sewing day I found a large remnant of striped viscose twill in my stash and managed to squeeze some LN allegro trousers out of it. Waistband, elastic and hemming left to do.

I had another go at making my Seasons of East dress on Sunday, but made such a hash of putting the zip in (I foolishly followed their method, rather than the one I usually use) I spent last night unpicking the zip, and trying to go back in time.

I’ve just completed a job I’m not keen on in record time thanks to this gadget. Sewing through waistband elastic used to take ages but it was super quick using the guide instead of marking lines which disappear when you’re sewing.

Proof below 🤣

Ooh @Jins if you have any tips on waistband elastic I’d appreciate it. In the past I’ve tried sewing through it and it seemed to stretch it out.

@OperationalSupport it does stretch out a little so I tend to cut it a bit shorter than I need. 4 or 5 cm usually but I haven’t found the sweet spot yet. I stitch through with the elastic stretched just enough to stop any wrinkles in the waistband fabric and I use a longer stitch length, usually 4 or 4.5.

This one is about right. I cut a piece that was comfortably tight then took 2cm off each end when I threaded it through and stitched the ends together

Thanks @Rosenspants

Double Gauze Debacle / weren’t they a 1980s Sarah band? If not, they really should have been.