Retro Ruffly Tunic, a Vintage Pattern

Many years ago, I made a cute ruffled sleeve top from a McCall's pattern.  At the time, cash was short. I was living on a grad school assistant salary -- half went to my rent, half to food.  If there was any left over at the end of the month, I bought a pitcher of beer for my friends.  Those were my halcyon days.  All I could afford in the way of fabric for the top was muslin*.  Yes, actual muslin that is used to make mock-ups of patterns.   I splurged on some lace for one of the ruffles--or maybe I salvaged that from somewhere--I am not sure.  Once the top was finished, and often worn on hot summer days, I was surprised by the number of compliments it earned.  I don't know where that top went.  Worn out and tossed, I assume.

And, many years later, the pattern went the same route.  As a working mom, the only sewing I did was mending and alterations and a few drapes and such for the house--and lots of Halloween costumes.  I finally came across the pattern a few years ago when I was cleaning out a closet.  I posted a photo of that pattern, along with several other old patterns on IG, asking if they had any value.  When no one responded, I threw most of the patterns away and deleted the post and the photo.  You have seen the ones I kept, since I used them when I started sewing again after the pandemic.  Those were simple patterns, straight skirts and such that don't go out of style.  As I learned the value of vintage patterns, I came to regret the loss of the discarded patterns, especially that one for the much-complimented top. To ease that regret, I tried looking for a copy of the pattern in eBay, Etsy, and vintage pattern sites.

Without the pattern number, searching for the pattern was a long and frustrating process.  I spent a couple of  years searching now and then, looking for "smocks with ruffled sleeves" or "square-neck smock".  It wasn't until I left out "smock" and just used adjectives that I found it again. In a size 6.  (I wear 12 to 14 now, even 16 or 18 in some patterns).  I decided not to buy the too-small pattern.  Then I found it in a 10, but priced a little too high.  Too small and too expensive put me off an immediate purchase, but I reasoned it wouldn't hurt to make a low offer, like a little more than half of the asking price.  I wasn't surprised when I got no response.  That was last spring.  Last month I was astounded when my low offer was accepted.  The seller waited four months to accept my offer.  I didn't even know that was possible.  However, she wanted to sell it, and apparently no one else is nutty enough to want this old pattern.

McCalls 3526

But I have it now, and I am making--you could have guessed--a "muslin", with leftover fabrics.  

There was not a lot of leftovers, forcing me to cut the body pieces shorter than the pattern length, about 22" long.  To adjust for the shorter length, the pockets sit a little higher and the hem is only 1/2" deep.  The fit is snug, even though the shoulder seams were sewn at 1 mm (3/8") to drop the neckline a bit. 

A solid version, with lace in the ruffle, would be nice for the Spring.  That one should be improved by:  marking the corners when sewing the facing to the top neck, so that I don't have to guess at the turns when sewing; cutting the armholes 1/2" deeper; and basting the ruffles together, gathering them in one unit. Once it has been worn a bit, other modifications will be apparent, such as making the shoulders and the yoke longer.  As far as technique, it will be nice if the yoke facing would cover the ruffle seams.  Those are unfinished seams exposed in the armhole, just stitched twice and cut close to stitching.  The seam is a little uncomfortable.

The side seams in this one are French seams.  Serging, bias binding or Hong Kong finish would also work.

The back yoke sits a bit low, and the back seam, as is often the case in my shirts, is a little narrow for my shoulders.

The fabric for another version could be a lightweight cotton, since this shirting worked very well.  The shirting and the black sateen, both lightweight, are better for the ruffles and body than the heavier printed cotton.  The printed fabric made a great yoke, but not so great pockets and less great ruffles.  Still, all three of them are lighter in weight and more loosely woven than quilting cotton.  

This does bring back memories.  It's my halcyon top.

*That's why they're called "muslins".  I prefer to call them toiles.  To me, muslin is a good fabric. 

Denim Skirt knock-offs

Since my making of the last tiered skirt, there have been a few tiered denim skirts floating across my screen.  Tiered, Denim!  There's an idea.  These skirts look like jeans that have been cut off above the legs and sewn to tiers of gathered fabric.  In my closet hang a couple of pairs of denim shorts. They are too tight as shorts but will fit as skirts.

The first one is 33" in the waist, and snug in the hips.  The second one is larger and stretchier.  The waist will fit, the hips kinda sorta.  It was cut it off above the crotch and below the pockets, like the tiered skirts online.  The cut off portion will go to amend the first one.  Then there's fabric for first skirt:

2 yards cotton spandex twill railroad stripe in indigo/ivory, $26.00, 8.26 oz/sq yd, 280 gsm. 52" wide,  and 1 1/2 yards cotton/spandex denim in bright blue, $16.80.  50" wide. Both cuts came from Stonemountain and Daughter.  I used them to make skirts, leaving about 1/2 yard of each.  There is also 1/2 yard dark blue denim from JoAnn Fabrics, purchased for another project but never used.   Never recorded, no info on cost.

This is a good bit of fabric, enough for a color-blocked skirt, the only one cut to a pattern, Simplicity 1887.  There was enough of the dark blue denim to cut out the front and back at the shorter length.  Those two pieces used all of the dark blue.

The pocket and waistband were cut from the railroad stripe twill, leaving the medium blue to use in the upcycled skirts.  Skirt and pocket assembly followed the pattern instructions, but the waistband uses a wide elastic waistband in the sides and back instead of the casing and elastic.  

Sizing--This is a 12.  (I was worried so I sewed the top of the side seams with a 3/8-1/2" seam, moving to the 5/8" seam further down the side.  That wasn't necessary, but didn't seam haha to do any harm.  This meant a 3/8" seam on the waistband so it would match.)

Rather than following the pattern instructions as I did for the pants, I learned from that experience and avoided a cumbersome triple layered seam at the waist.  Instead of folding the waistband in half and sewing it to the skirt, I sewed the band on then turned the facing down and hand sewed it to the back of the band, enclosing all the seams and making for a completely flat, I.e. normal, waistband seam.  This followed a little thought and fiddling in which I learned that the wide elastic can be sewn to the skirt downwards and then folded up to enclose the seam neatly. 

Luckily there was just enough navy blue bias binding in the stash to add to the hem--this skirt is short! With the binding, there is a 1/2" hem, topstitched down.  Total length is 18" after accounting for the lower waistline in front.  It is really the perfect skirt, short enough to be cool, long enough to be modest, well-fitted and cute.  I will definitely be making this one again.

For the other denim skirts there were two pairs of jean shorts, different lengths, different shades of denim but very similar since they are the same brand.  Upcycling shorts to skirts requires a lot of ripping.  The inseam and the crotch seam must be ripped out, the crotch seam realigned and the inseam filled in, joining the legs.  I have done this multiple times with jeans, but this is the first time with shorts.  Using shorts meant I was short on fabric.  (Haha again.)  With a jeans to skirt project, the legs can be cut off and used to fill in the inseam.  For these two shorts, cutting the legs off one made fabric available for the other.  The legless pair was cut off just below the back pockets, eliminating the need to change the crotch seam.  The legs were used to fill in the inseam on the longer shorts.

There were style differences in these two shorts.  One had flat felled seams on the inseams, with the outside seams stitched once and pressed open.  The other reversed it.  The result will be flat felled seams on the outside seams and more at the skirt front and back.  There's a nice topstitch stitch on my machine and topstitch thread in blue and gold in my stash.  One pair had topstitching in gray and one in blue and gold.  I'm going with the blue and gold to suss it up. The topstitching on both skirts is sewn with three strands of thread. There is a matching stitch in the embroidery mode of my sewing machine.  Coupled with topstitch thread and a topstitch needle produces:

Hemmed to a length 21" from waistband.

My fourth skirt ideas were getting too desperate, so after finishing one that I don't like as well as these two, I will quit this venture.  The weather is cooling off too much anyway and my machine needs to visit the repairman for a checkup.

Done!

Yah, it doesn't match, but denim fades.  As does my denim skirt enthusiasm.

Another Tiered Skirt

This is the second version of a skirt that I have nearly worn to pieces in the last two years.  The first one I made in 2022 is literally worn every week, sometimes twice a week.  It's a gem of a skirt, made from the one piece of thrifted fabric that has worked out for me.  The fabric is unique.  It was apparently made from a piece of lightweight white cotton that was tuck stitched in a diamond pattern, embroidered and over dyed blue.  Over dyed because there is some black printing that remained before the fabric was stitched and dyed.  Maybe it was flour sacking or something similar?  It is extremely boho and worked well for a simple boho tiered skirt.  

It is gratifying that these skirts are still in style.  Even though there are other simple elastic waist skirts in my wardrobe, there's certainly room for another tiered version.

For this version, there was 3 yards block printed cotton in green and white, purchased from Common Thread for $44.00.  At Taos Adobe Quilting, there was some heavier cotton that I used for the lining -- 2 yards for $18.  

Instructions for the first skirt, from my blog post about the project:

The first tier should be 1.5 times the waist measurement, the second 2 times the waist and the third 2.7 times the waist. Although these instructions are fairly consistent across various sources, the length of each tier was less consistent. 

My original post contained complaints about the amount of time spent gathering long lengths of fabric.    This time, I gathered the pieces on my serger.  To set up the serger for gathering, I followed instructions from various videos.  Basically, the differential feed controls the gathering.  Adjusting that, along with the stitch length and thread tension, will provide various levels of gathering.  Using scrap material, I found that I can easily gather a short length of fabric between 1.5 and 2 times.  In other words, a 20" length can be gathered to 15" or a 30" length can be gathered to 15" by adjusting the differential setting, with the stitch length at max and the tension just slightly tighter than the normal range.  Different brands of sergers have different numbers on their settings.  Mine is the most basic model of Janome.  Usually the dials are are set pretty low, with the tension around 3 for all four threads and the differential on 1.  I never change the stitch length, leaving it on 1.  For gathering, the stitch length is set to 4, the tension dials to 6 for the needles and 3 for the loopers.  I changed the differential between 1.5 and 2 to get the gathering for the samples.  

It was easy to adjust the length of the short pieces I was testing after they were gathered by stretching them out several inches longer, depending on the length of the thread tails.  This adjustment is possible on longer pieces but will be proportionally less forgiving.  I also found that the effect of re-serging an already gathered length on the same end gathered was less predictable.  If a piece is not close to the length I need, it might  be better to cut off the gathering before re-serging.

With the practice serging behind me, calculating the cuts was next.  That began with my waist, which was about 33".  Using the instructions above, adding an inch for seams, the first tier should have been 51" x 15", the second tier 67" x 10", and the third tier 90" x 12".  This would take about 2 yards of fabric.  (Actually since I wrote this, my waist is down to 31".  With that measurement, the first tier will only need to be 47", or 48" with a seam allowance of 1/2".  Possibly, depending on the fabric width, a single cut across the fabric would be enough for the first tier.  The second tier could then be 61" and the third tier 79".  1 1/2 yards is enough with those measurements.  That's notes for another tiered skirt, maybe for next summer.)

Cutting out the pieces challenged my measuring and math skills.  The print is in 8" x 8" blocks and the blocks are very obvious.  I cut along the blocks as printed and tried to match up the print on the seams as much as possible.  In the end, the top piece was a few inches too long and 2" too deep, measuring 56" x 17".  Then a decision to make that work by lengthening the middle piece failed to take into account that the bottom piece would have to be lengthened as a result.  However, once I realized that the gathering ratio is much smaller than I had thought, more like taking 30" to  20", I adjusted the serger accordingly and got by with just adding a few inches to the middle piece.  Another misstep was setting the serger up for gathering, not realizing that there will be seams to be finished.  

For the next time, the proper order is to cut and seam all pieces, serge the seams, then set the serger up for gathering.  The final settings on my serger for just gathering 1.25 to 1 are the differential at 1, stitch length at 4 and tension dials at 3 all the way across.   Of course, the loopers can be a little more or less depending on fabric.  I think the reason there is so much difference in the differential setting, other than miscalculating the amount of gathering needed is that this very light fabric gathers quickly and easily.  The bottom tier, on these settings, came out the perfect length, no adjustments of gathers needed.

The lining extends a few inches into the second tier, ending just above my knees.  The waist is definitely too big, resulting in more gathering there than I need.  However, the gathers will smooth down once it is washed and hung to dry.  To hasten that process, I am wearing this cute little skirt now and will wash it soon.

Yet Another Shirt, New Look 6232

Here is yet another shirt pattern worth trying.  It is a more masculine approach but sized for a woman.  For this first try, there is 1 1/2 yards of Latte Lyocell from JoAnns, at a total cost of $13.20.  It was transformed from smooth and silky to thick and wrinkly by the prewashing.  That transformation, and the worry that it might not be enough, even though it is 54" wide, led me to combine it with the leftover 100% silk jacquard.  There's a top made up in this fabric that can be worn with the shirt.   Altogether, the piece cost $32.38 from Taos Quilting.  The top will work better with the shirt without the sleeves, inspiring me to transform it into a cap-sleeve top.  Once the sleeves are removed, a sleeve band might be a nice addition.

As far as interfacing, there's some featherweight sew in interfacing for the silk and the same in a fusible for the rayon.  As usual, the fusible interfacing seems heavier.  Is it due to the glue or simply that the glue must be applied to a heavier fabric than the sew in interfacing?

The pattern, New Look 6232, actually offers only one classic shirt version.  The basic design varies in that there is a men's shirt and a women's shirt, with two views of each.  View D, one of the women's views, has contrast collar, cuffs and placket.  The back is not pleated but there are darts.  View B, the men's version, has contrast only on the inner cuffs, collar and button placket.  The back is pleated.  This approach still limits the amount of main fabric needed, but the design doesn't carry through on an overshirt.  Since the shirt is worn unbuttoned, both plackets are exposed.  Cuffs and collar should match.  Collar band, band facing and collar facing could be in either fabric, as long as the turned down collar is in the contrasting fabric.  With these options in mind, it was time to place the pattern pieces on the fabric.

As it turned out, there was enough rayon for all the body pieces, leaving the cuffs and the button and button hole bands to be cut from the silk.  The collar and collar band are cut from both--one collar and band in silk and one set in rayon.  The rayon will be the facing or lower pieces and the silk the upper pieces.  The yoke facing was cut from the silk. (The color in the first two photos is off, but the details are visible.)

Once the pockets were prepped, there was an oops moment when I realized the dart should be sewn first.  Even though the darts needed to be a little lower (1/4" lower was the aim, but it was maybe only 1/8" in the end), the pockets don't sit over the darts.  That's a relief.  Darts distort the fabric enough to make the pockets more difficult to sew on.  After the darts in the back were sewn in, no cuts were made to make them lay flat.  (While the pattern suggests cutting across the middle to release, some suggest cutting open and pressing flat.)  Probably the pliable rayon was easier to shape than cotton would have been.

The pattern has the yoke attached to fronts and back with the burrito method.  The turning out to the right side was much easier than the last time I tried the burrito method, probably because with this pattern, in a size 18, the yoke is deeper and the armholes are larger.  The slippery rayon and silk pulled right through.  

The tower plackets in the sleeves were difficult to construct.  However, after following the pattern instructions for the first sleeve and watching a couple of you tube videos on tower plackets, the first one was only slightly bumpy.  The second one (after a couple more videos) was much smoother--except it seemed that the grain on the placket wasn't straight.  It might have been a distortion of the rayon, which has raised warp lines along it, or more likely, the second placket was on the bottom layer and the grain was not aligned with the top layer.  Either way, with the folds and seams straighter, the second placket looks a little off.  Overall, it doesn't matter because the rayon is a dream to iron.  Ironing it erases all of my errors.  

The attachment of the sleeves to the body was so easy.  This shirt is constructed like a hand-knitted sweater.  The sleeves are sewn in before the size seams are sewn.  Then the sleeve and side seams are sewn as one.  Finally, the cuffs are attached.  Quite different from the other shirt patterns I have tried and much easier.  The construction success distracted me from top stitching the shoulder at the sleeve seam once the sleeve was sewn in.  Once I realized the omission, I had already sewn the side and sleeve seam and decided skip the top stitching.

On attaching the button plackets, one video suggested attaching the button hole band to the wrong side and the button band to the right side.  Since this method provides for an unattached edge on the buttonhole band, similar to RTW, that's the method I followed.  Bands are 1 1/2" wide.  Cuffs should be buttoned at 9" circumference.  Actually, they could be 8", but my watch doesn't fit under the smaller cuff.  Even though working with the silk is difficult, the silk was worth the effort.  The silk on the inside of the cuffs and yoke feels so very smooth.   I'm now convinced that every shirt should be lined in silk.  Additionally, the rayon has now reverted to its original smooth feel.  It must have responded to the handling during the construction process.  Regardless, this shirt won't see much water.  Neither the rayon nor the silk responds well to a washing.

With the collar attached and the facing hand sewn and topstitched down, this shirt is complete.  The combination of hand sewing and topstitching looks a bit messy here.  The silk pulled over from the hand stitching, making tiny ripples in the fabric.  I see this effect much less on the cotton shirts, but it is still there.  Probably one or the other method of securing a facing should prevail--either eliminating the top stitching or managing to top stitch neatly with just pins, rather than hand sewing to secure the facing down first.  Nonetheless, this is the best collar turn of all collared shirt patterns I have tried.  Look how it just sits so perfectly.  It's not ironed out like that, it just turns out naturally.  Is it the fabric or the cut?  I plan to use this pattern again in other fabrics, so that question will be answered when I use this pattern in other fabrics.  This is a size 16 in the bodice graded to a size 18 in the hips.  It turned out a bit too oversized.  The next one should be at least one size smaller--a size 16 everywhere.  No modeled shots, sorry, it is just too big--but comfy.

Checking this one against other shirts I have now made, it is apparent that 27" is the ideal shirt length for me.  

I am considering this "ideal" shirt construction.  This one could be the ideal, or it might need to borrow some features from the other shirts I have made.  Based on this morning's try on, the traditional banded collar is a better fit than the camp collar.  Possibly a fuller sleeve with a small band, similar to the blouse option on the camp collar pattern, is simpler to construct and therefore better.  For an overshirt, the fuller sleeve and certainly a larger armhole is desirable.  Definitely sewing in the sleeve before the arm and shirt seams is simpler construction.  Whether there should be top stitching on those seams is undetermined, although it could be done after serging and make a super neat finish.  But Hong Kong finish or French seams would be nice in a lighter weight material.  Either of those seams could be top stitched.  Another finish I'd like to try is a bias band over the inside seam between the collar band and yoke.  With this pattern, those extra efforts would be worthwhile.

Repeating the Vintage Camp Shirt, Suprisingly Oversized

There were 2 yards of 90% lyocell, 10% rayon fabric in my stash.  It is blue with a white ticking-style stripe, 56" wide (machine wash gentle cold, line dry, cool iron).  Actually it was two pieces totaling a little over 2 yards, found in the remnant bin at JoAnn's last summer.  Total cost was $16.50.  It's just enough for a camp shirt, using the same old pattern as my first camp shirt.

The other copy of the vintage Simplicity 7662, this one from 1986 in a size 14, has been used--View 1 is cut.  Size 14 is probably not large enough for an overshirt.  In fact, my first version of this pattern, though a size 16, could be looser.  My plan was to trace the main pieces out onto pattern paper, enlarging it by 1/4" or so.  The funny thing is, however, that View 1 of this pattern was cut larger than the 14.  Cut quite neatly, enlarged by 1/2" on the sides, with the notches transferred (cut outward, as is my preference) and the lines carefully extended.  It must have been owned originally by my fairy godmother.  The yoke is not larger.  That might be a problem for my square shoulders.  Let's not spoil me too much--a pattern with the main pieces cut to my plan is enough of a gift.

During an extremely careful cutting process, with each piece cut separately on a single layer of fabric, as many times as needed, it was easy to add a half inch to each side of the yoke.  Getting the stripes straight was impossible but they were close enough to straight that they were sewn straight.  Since the pocket is small, it was cut out last--shirt pockets aren't strictly necessary.  However, since there was a good bit of fabric left, the pocket was cut about an inch wider and longer.  The pocket in my first version seems small.  Following the current striped shirt trend, the stripes on the pocket are horizontal.

Assembly went well, with most of the sewing done on my vintage Singer.  Since getting it out of storage, it has proved a revelation in comparison to my Janome.  There is no catching of the bobbin thread at the start of a seam, an annoying problem that creates a nest of bobbin thread that must be picked out if it shows.  This happens consistently on my Janome.  The Singer does tend to stall at the start, especially if the edge is thick.  A hump-jumper would help, but a bit of cardboard will substitute for one.  Seams are straighter, probably because the Singer has a straight stitch foot.  That and a straight stitch throat plate would be a good addition to the Janome.  Speaking of throat plates, the simple markings on the Singer are so much easier to use.  On the negatives, the Singer is noisier, seems to rattle, even after oiling, and lacks some of the special features of the Janome.  Automatic thread cutter for one.  But then, Janome blames the thread cutter for the little thread "nests" at the start of a seam.  They suggest securing the bobbin thread under the foot will solve that problem.

With this fabric, the foot pressure was causing the top layer to stretch out, especially when the lower layer is interfaced.  This problem diminished with adjustment, but the Janome does have a foot pressure adjustment that is easier to gauge.  This rayon fabric is very prone to biasing.  Much of the problem with foot pressure and crookedness can be written off to that.

The collar went on ok,  but the method of assembly in this pattern means that the facing is actually the visible side, not the collar.  Picking out the better looking cut for the collar piece that was interfaced did not work.  It will be hidden under the collar once the collar is folded down properly.  The less better looking collar facing is on top. 

Side seams were first basted in so that the fit could be checked. The fit checked out, but the stripes were not symmetrical at the sides.  After ripping out the basting, stripes were matched and sides trimmed.  Then the sewing and serging resulted in two seams that are at least each symmetrical, though not matching one to the other.  Since the rule is to match horizontal stripes at vertical seams and vertical stripes at horizontal seams, this one was a bonus--vertical stripes aligned symmetrically at vertical seams.

The hem for this pattern is straight.  My preference is a shirt-tail shaped hem.  To achieve the curved hem, the hem from another shirt pattern was cut into this one.  There was plenty of fabric to allow cutting, since the front and back were cut 4" longer than the pattern.  This made for a more difficult hemming job, even with stitching 1/4" in and folding on the stitching.  However, the rayon is malleable enough to fold smoothly along a curved hem.  The curve is much more flattering than a straight hem.

The sleeves were modified by using a continuous lap on a slit instead of the 1" gap provided in the pattern.  The cuff is 2" longer, which made it easier to insert the gathered sleeve and allowed for enough room to slip the cuff over my hand without unbuttoning it.  Attaching the sleeves to the shirt was made easier by using my vintage method.  First, sew around the sleeve cap 1/8" inside the seam line, lengthening the stitch length to baste after the first notch, going back to a regular stitch length after the second notch.  Then, pin the sleeve in place, gathering the excess sleeve fabric by pulling up on the basting stitches as needed.  Finally, sew on the seam line, with the sleeve on top, arranging the gathered fabric to avoid puckers.  Works like a charm, no tucks in the sleeve, no pleating around the armhole either.  My vintage singer forced me to try this method because it doesn't have a free arm.  The sleeve insertion was finished off by serging around the armhole.

Unfortunately, the Singer doesn't have an automatic buttonhole attachment either.  For that reason, the plackets are basted and topstitched in place and the cuffs are sewn together through the attached button.  

Not that I haven't done dozens of buttonholes on this machine.  It is just that I have been spoiled by the buttonholer on my Janome.  Once it's back, I will add all the buttonholes.

None of the modeled photos show the detail that I admired so much on the camp shirt that inspired me--the gathered shoulder seam.

There, isn't that pretty?  It was an appealing detail on "Mrs. Hall's" shirt.

The fit is great, but those stripes--they either remind me of pajamas or prison stripes.  

Weaving a floor runner

The successful completion of my Riverside rug left a good bit of Churro wool yarn.  There was almost enough for another rug.  Riverside was small, but just the right size to fit in front of the coat closet door.  With the remaining yarn assembled, I reasoned that Riverside could have a companion that would be longer and fit as a runner between the front door and the hardwood floor.  A couple of problems later (not enough weaving time, not enough yarn, and a broken warp thread), there is a finished runner--Mountainside.

Last summer, I photographed the start of this rug, a promising stripe that used the leftover Churro and some nice hand spun Churro warp from a fiber festival vendor.  Although the warp was thin in a spot or two, it seemed strong.

However, as the time came for the rug to be set aside, there was a noticeable looseness in one spot.  Once the project was resumed, the broken warp thread was obvious.  Since this loom uses a continuous warp, one broken thread affects the surrounding warp progressively until it is reinforced.  Reinforcing about a dozen warp threads was enough to secure the warp and allow weaving to continue.  Luckily, the warp didn't loosen until the rug was well past center, with just about 1/4 of the weaving left to go.  The loose warp threads hanging out of the weaving in the photo below show the spot where the reinforcement was added.  All the weaving from there to the fringe was done on doubled warp in that spot.

Since the warp was thin, as was the cotton used to support it, there isn't much of a difference in the work after the repair.  More of a problem was the yarn supply.  There was a lot of yarn left, but there should have been more at the mill store.  To my surprise, the mill store has sidelined yarn and is selling imported woven garments.  After a disappointing trip there brought no additional yarn, the internet yielded some nice Churro in a matching weight from Rainbow Fiber Coop in Arizona.  They were mostly sold out of their dyed yarn, but there was enough natural for a white stripe in the center of the runner.  It's good that it coordinates with a white and brown rug I have, it's bad that it is so different from Riverside.  Let's call it the snow on the Mountainside.

After warping there was half a skein of the warp yarn left, plus another full skein.  Yes, I bought two.  Although I should have just thrown the offending yarn away, I reasoned it would make a nice fringe, filling out the thin fringe that would result from fringing with just the warp.  Also, since the runner used every inch that could be woven, the fringe was shorter on one side by just a couple of inches.  After adding to the fringe, there's only about half a skein of the warp yarn left.  That's not enough to warp the loom, so it isn't likely that I will forget this experience and use it again.

The number of ends in a rug this size is disturbing.  However, with sticky Churro wool, they don't need much weaving in.  They are mostly secured during the weaving and just need checking to be sure they cover the last warp string before cutting them off.

The cut off ends make a colorful pile.  With all the loose fibers, pieces of this yarn can be spliced together easily.  Splicing was my method of joining two strands of the same color.  A splice or a Russian join might be helpful to splice together all the ends in the future, thus avoiding weaving in ends.  That's something to try in my next rug project.

Mountainside in her place in the entryway, alongside Riverside.  I am really enjoying the appearance and the comfort of this rug/runner.  Those stones are very uneven and uncomfortable on bare feet.

The runner measures 25" by 52", actually 60" if you include the fringe.

13 Buttons on my Over-shirt from New Look 6449

Following the pattern acquisition from eBay, there was a couple purchased from Simplicity.com, New Look patterns that looked promising for over shirts.  The one used for this shirt was 6449, which, as it was designed to be an overshirt as well as a dress, has more ease.  My shirts so far are around 42" in the hips.  The popover shirt has barely enough ease, as much as the camp shirt, but the button down shirt (with the too-short sleeves) has the least.   My hips measure just under 40".  In other items, 42" might be enough ease, depending on the style and fabric.  In an overshirt that may be worn over a couple of layers of clothing, 42" is not enough.  This shirt, in a size 16, has a finished hip measurement of 45", according to the info on the pattern itself. Did you know that the current big four pattern style is to put the actual measurements on the pattern pieces?  That saves us from measuring and doing the math.

This shirt used 2.5 yards of Hokkoh Ternion Lawn, 44" wide (a mere 42" after prewashing), 100% cotton, purchased from the Confident Stitch for a total of $52.50.  As I wrote in my last post, it is the good stuff, a Japanese lawn so light it floats.    See this Seamwork post for information about sewing cotton lawn.  It is a lovely print, with all my favorite colors in it, green, blue, black, and khaki on off-white.  

It is quite soft and light but a bit crisp at the same time.  The pattern printed on the fabric does not follow the grain, a problem that was somewhat solved when cutting but still popped up during the sewing.  Any crookedness is the result of sloppy cutting or unaccounted pattern quirks.   One side of the neck needed to be trimmed 1/4" to have the collar sit at the same spot in the pattern.  The collar is sewn on with a 3/8" seam, something to note in the future when stay stitching the neck.

Before cutting, 2 1/2" was removed above the waist and 3" above the hem to approach a 30" length.  That should be tunic-length on me.  With the fronts, the back, the yoke and yoke facing (my addition, in a poly-cotton lining fabric) and the pockets cut, sewing began.  The pockets call for ribbon trim--a feature I did not notice before beginning the shirt.  It is amazing that though there is only one spool of 3/8" ribbon in my stash, it happens to match this fabric.  

Once the pockets were trimmed and sewn on, the shirt yoke, fronts, back and yoke facing  were assembled with no problems.  The back is pleated before attaching it to the yoke, but the pleat is not a full box pleat.  It is more like two small pleats that form a faux-box pleat.  This pattern calls for top stitching above the seam between the back and the yoke. It was a simple modification to seam the yoke facing to the shoulder seam allowances and pin the folded facing to the back seam.  The top stitching secured it in place, avoiding the burrito method.  Not that the burrito method doesn't work, it is just more trouble to me to pull the entire shirt body through the armhole than it is to either hand sew or top stitch one seam.

Next, the collar band (mandarin-style) was cut out and interfaced.  This is the piece that has only a 3/8" seam allowance.  Thank goodness I got trapped watching a (thankfully silent) sewing video about this pattern and wondered why they kept specifying sewing a 1 cm seam.

Cutting out the cuffs, button tabs and continuous lap pieces took ages.  That is mainly because I was matching the print, which doesn't run on grain.  The painstaking effort should pay off in appearance.  Cuffs were modified to be a bit deeper and not as large around--2 1/2" deep and just short of 10" around.  This meant deeper pleats in the sleeve and a tuck at the sleeve seam to make the sleeve fit the smaller cuff.  As with the body side seams, the sleeve seams were french seamed.   As with the collar, cuffs were hand sewn down on the inside prior to topstitching.  Of course, no matter how many pains taken, something isn't right.  The continuous lap on one sleeve wasn't folded under as it should have been.  It's going to stay that way, since the seam was trimmed and topstitched before the mistake was apparent.

After the cuffs were topstitched, the sleeves were attached.  It only took one go for the sleeve insertion this time, using my one row of basting method. The sewing didn't go quickly, but it went well.  The seam allowance was serged after double stitching the armhole.  Why not?  My rtw shirts have serged armhole seam allowances.  The bottom is hemmed with a narrow hem.  The button/buttonhole plackets are apparently not interfaced since they have 3 folds of fabric.  However, this fabric is so soft, it needed interfacing.  Due to the crooked print, there are still 3 layers of fabric in the placket, with the interfacing placed 1/4" in, the fabric folded over the interfacing and stitched down, securing the interfacing while the garment is being constructed.  The plackets are about 1 1/8" wide with prints that almost match.   Also, the sleeve tabs, -- this pattern has sleeve tabs!

The sleeve tabs make it possible to wear the sleeves rolled up without worry of them falling down.  The shirt is quite comfortable with the sleeves rolled up.  It's long enough to be a mini-dress, or at least a tunic.

But it also looks good as an over shirt.  And, yes, its nickname is 13 buttons.  It was supposed to take 14 buttons, but one wasn't needed when I shortened it.

The next time I make this pattern, which I hope will be soon, I will add enough to the back to make the pleat a full size pleat.    Also, maybe I will add a hanging loop above the pleat.  As it was, I almost didn't have enough of the 2 1/2 yards of fabric left for even that small additional piece.

That's all that was left after I pieced together the tie belt.  The belt might not ever be worn, but it looks ok, considering it has 4 pieces instead of two to make the length.  There was less than a yard of the spool of thread.  This shirt uses a lot of thread.