An Offbeat Jacket

My mom sent me a box of fabrics with a pattern that she had planned on making. Since she lost interest in making the jacket, she thought that I might be interested in making the jacket for myself.  Instead, I decided to make it for her as a surprise gift for Christmas.

The pattern is Vogue 8863 by Katherine Tilton. I do NOT recommend this pattern since the directions to the pattern are poorly written and difficult to understand in a couple of steps.

I made one change to the zipper since I don't like the composition of the design for the zipper. Even with this change, I'm not thrilled with the overall effect.

I installed the zipper on the inside of the right jacket flap by machine-stitching close to the zipper teeth and then sewing the other edge of that zipper strip down by hand.

I do love the choice of fabrics that my mom picked for this funky jacket. 

A Redcoat

My son needed a Redcoat costume for his AP History oral presentation. After searching numerous places, I found a red jacket at the Goodwill shop to use.

I'm almost finished; I just need to add buttons and sew the inside flaps down.

 The finished coat.

Quick and Simple

I finished this yesterday and wore it today with a black top and black jeans. Since the sleeves were so easy to sew into the garment, the project went quickly.

This easy pattern is Butterick B5498.

Ugliness

Yes, these drop crotch pants are uuuggly. In my opinion, any drop crotch pants are ugly. So, why then did I spend hours making ugly pants?

1. It was on my son's Christmas wish list, a pair of drop crotch pants.
2. A way to save money since the online prices are ridiculous for a pair of ugly pants.
3. The Burda pattern was on sale along with the fabric.

 I surprised him with a box of fabric and pattern as his Christmas gift. This week, I was able to work on the ugly pants.

He kept pulling them down to hip, and I kept telling him they are waist pants as stated on the pattern.

 He loves them...so much that he slept in them last night!  At least he loves them. For me they are still uuuggly pants that he isn't wearing out of the house.

Zippers

Normally it doesn't take me six hours to install a zipper.  The longest on record for me is two hours to correct sloppy stitching, but this dang zipper took me hours. Since this zipper sits on the fabric as part of the decorative design, I had to conceal the raw edges of the zipper first before installing. This task shouldn't have been so utterly grueling, but today it was for me. I did this same procedure the other day in less than a half hour. Well, at least the sewing of the zipper onto the bulky material was a breeze- all thanks to my Singer 201, bless her soul.

What's This?

A secret! I used my Singer 201 to make that bright orange piping and sew it into place. I also sewed that almost perfect orange 90 degree corner. I've been busy helping my daughter sew a line of clothes that she has designed for a college fashion show. Her work is avant-garde. She loves to play with fabrics, colors, and textures. So while she creates innovative designs, I get to sew some of these modern looks with my vintage machines. Yes, I'm treadling that Singer 201!  While the plastic Janome sewing machine that my daughter uses keeps struggling and coughing to sew through some of the thicknesses of fabrics and seams, my Singer 201 effortlessly rides over the thick seams. Not bad for a machine that's around 70 years old, and the treadle irons are even older.  I swear that machine is smiling. I can hear it hum. That hum brings serenity to me, the reason why I love to treadle vintage machines!

Countdowns

For Christmas this year, I totally surprised my son.  He had been interested in a designer hoodie that was priced at $200. It's too high a price for his or my budget. So, he asked me if I could make one. Well, that was months ago, some time late summer. Just before Thanksgiving, he said "You have all these sewing machines, and you don't use them for sewing."  Man! Nothing like a major meltdown from a kid as a reminder that Christmas was coming quickly.

He didn't know that I had saved the image of that hoodie so that I could copy the pattern. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas while my son was in school, I had my countdown to producing "the hoodie".   Monday-Friday daily for two weeks, 2:30 P.M. became my alarm. I would clean up all materials and vacuum up all the threads. At night, I worked on socks for my dad and daughter. I didn't want a nosy kid discovering my gift to him.

On Christmas, he opened a huge box with a pattern sitting on top of tissue paper, under that was "the hoodie". My son looked at the pattern in total  surprise. A "what's this" look came over his face. I told him to look under the tissue. An astonished kid stated, " And here I thought you were just knitting socks all this time. I thought you were the slowest knitter...which would make for the most expensive socks."




















Yes, I'm not the fastest knitter, but who really cares since it's my time, my countdown.

With that, I leave you with a countdown that I can't control, a new year.
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!  May 2013 be peaceful, healthy, and prosperous for all.

Summertime Pants

Finished my comfy pants in time for summer!!

A peek inside the pocket.  I love lining the pockets of my pants with different fabrics.  This time, I selected a lining fabric close to the weight and colors of the pants.

 Now, back to bra making; the pattern came in.

The 1 Hour Dress

...more like the two day dress.  Reading the small hint on pattern package would have clued me into the fact that it takes more than an hour.

I decided to make myself a couple of dresses for summer.  This is McCall's 9172, which states the "1 Hour Dress*".  I just get a kick out of McCall's use of the *.  Their way of sneaking in the important footnote at bottom that reads," sewing machine time only".   Well, this might be true once alternations have been made on muslin, but this dress from start to finish took me two days.  It took me a day for laying out the pattern, cutting, sewing, and altering; and a second day for the hemming, making thread loop for button, and sewing on button. Heck, just to get the thread loop for button correct took over an hour.  The dress is easy to make and comfy to wear.  It looks great on the mannequin since the mannequin's waste is smaller than mine and bust is larger than mine. Well, I'm no spring chick anymore, and I don't notch my belt like seen in picture, but this dress works for me.

Obake!

This isn't a ghost.  The term obake is a Japanese word for "thing that changes", but is also used in reference to ghosts.

  Well, I did it! I made my first jacket and my first anime costume.

I thought installing the zipper would be the most difficult part of this project, but it wasn't.  I spent hours hand stitching sections of the lining...augh...glad that is over since I dislike hand stitching.

It's done and I'm happy!!

Progress

Somehow all of this will come together.  This is the first time I have sewn with pleather.  The material is very easy to sew through with my vintage ladies. The seams are sewn together using the Two Spools, and the top stitching with the Singer 201.

I have been working on the lining for the past couple of days. I incorporated two jacket patterns that call for buttons; but since this jacket calls for a zipper, I had to make some alterations to jacket and lining.   

Here is a peek of the shoulder area of the jacket.  And yes, I do have some nails left.

For the Little Ladies

I took a detour while waiting to use my 30% off total price discount from JoAnn's Fabrics on the material for my son's costume.  While waiting for sale date, I got busy making little girl dresses for my nieces' kids.

A pretty floral dress for a little lady who loves her dresses.

And daisy theme for the sisters.

 I took the easy way out on the hems by inserting the double folded bias tape to the end of dresses, running a straight stitch to hold tape in place, and then going over the straight stitch with a decorative stitch from my Necchi.  I love how this turned out!