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.  

Camp Shirt, Vintage Simplicity

On an episode of All Creatures Great and Small a few weeks ago, Mrs. Hall was wearing a camp collar shirt. On seeing it, inspiration struck and got me started on a pattern search.  The shirt was not a standard camp collar shirt pattern--it had gathers at the shoulders in the front.  Most camp collar shirts are plain fronts with gathers from a yoke in the back.  Some don't even have a yoke, but do rely on a more relaxed fit in the shoulders to make the usual gathers or pleats across the shoulders unnecessary.  A look through eBay yielded a couple of patterns that were close to the one she wore.  It was not a surprise that the two patterns turned out to be twins.

That one above is a size 16.  It was uncut and quite promising.  However, in order to be sure another option was available, my order included the one below.  It is a size 14 and has a photo that looks like the illustrations on the pattern above.  Once  they arrived, a close look identified identical patterns, the top one published in 1983 and the one below published in 1986.  With that conclusion, it was a simple decision to start with the larger size and the long sleeve option that would stay in keeping with my summer uniform plan.

Since it is one size, cutting it does no real harm, except to cut the cute little scissors in half.  The cute little sewing machine foot will not be cut.  Vintage patterns often have little features that amuse me.  The ruler was there to measure the actual position of the cut line.  For a precise 5/8" seam allowance, the pattern should be cut on the outside edge of the cut line.

The fabric, which is in the photo above, wrong side up, is a block print voile in yellow and gray from Common Thread in Taos.  There were 4 yards for a total cost of over $60, along with lining fabric, a batiste in poly and cotton purchased at Hobby Lobby for this project.  That was 2 yards of 45" wide fabric for $5.98.  With the lining used for the pocket skirt, there was enough left for the matching shirt.  At long last, this shirt meant sewing with the good stuff.

The pocket skirt used the same construction as before but in a size 12.  The fit is good.  Another version could go smaller and reduce the pocket gape to have a slim fit, but this is great as is.  It was worn to the Sewing and Quilt Expo recently and held up well.  That excursion yielded a nice little button stash courtesy of one of the vendors.  She sells them for ten cents a button, but you have to search through the bins to find matching ones.  She will actually do the searching for you, but my cousin and I found several matching sets quickly enough. (trimsonwheels.com if you are needing buttons)

After the skirt was finished, the shirt was begun by applying interfacing to the fronts and sewing the pocket onto the left side.  The pocket is very cute, but quite small.  Next, the fronts and back were assembled and sewn together according to instructions.  

Following that, the collar was attached.  This is a camp collar, different from a collar with a stand, or a Mandarin collar, which is just a stand with no collar.  There's no neck facing.  After mistakenly sewing the front facings on the wrong side, let me remind myself that the facings have to be sewn on the right side, wrong side out, and turned to the wrong side (the inside of the shirt).  Once they were picked out and sewn correctly, they refused to lay flat.  Even after pressing, it was better, but there is a small kink in the lapel.

The sleeves are nice, fairly full with a nice narrow cuff.  The cuff attachment was a bit fussy because there is only a simple hemmed gap for a placket.  It definitely would be improved by a continuous lap bias binding.  As it is, the cuffs are tight, only widened an inch when unbuttoned due to the small gap.  The sleeves were attached with the old style, one row of gathering thread, eased in, pin basted, sewn twice and serged. It is my preference rather than the pattern instructions.  Whether it is the familiar comfort of it or the simplicity, this method is easier for me, even though there might be a pleat or two that has to be picked out and restitched.

The hem is straight, turned up all the way around through the front facing.  Again, this is my option, requiring that the front facing be folded over and sewn down to the shirt by hand.  The rest was secured by the buttons and buttonholes.  Just to be sure it is secured, the interfacing was catch-stitched down.  There is no topstitching to hold the facing in place.

The relaxed fit is comfortable.  This is a good pattern in a nice lightweight fabric.  The two pieces will work with several items in my closet.  Although sets are popular now, they don't have to be worn together.  The print is directional, but there wasn't enough fabric to cut both pieces if they were cut correctly.  Anyway, what is correct--which way should those flowers go?

an overshirt for my summer uniform, Simplicity 1538

If at first you don't succeed, toile, toile again.  However, I wonder if I am just charging on, making whatever I please with whatever fabric I please and using the excuse when it turns out less than expected:  oh, this was a toile.  Still, it is a very pretty toile.

This piece of fabric was 2 1/2 yards of plaid cotton blend, 60" wide. This fabric was milled in Italy for a NY designer.   When it came in the mail, it was 15 oz. total weight,  90" long, actually nearly 3 yards, for a total price of $13.  Fabric Mart described it as a Dusty Lavender/Dark Avocado/Dusty Rust/Black Cotton/Polyester Yarn-Dyed Plaid,  $5.25/yd.  Since it was initially very stiff, it was described as "will stand away from body".  At that point, it stood up on its own.  After it was machine washed and dried it softened to a taffeta-like consistency and remained 60" wide and over 2 1/2 yards long.  This is an unbalanced plaid so it was cut to flow from one piece to the next rather than plaid matching the pieces in the usual way.  

The first task was cutting out the fronts in the appropriate spots on the plaid to allow the plackets to fall in the black vertical portions.  The pockets are to be cut on the bias.  That is necessary because the dart lies under the pocket, making it impossible to match the plaid all the way around.  Instead, these are cut to match the front.  The bias cut did not look right in this unbalanced plaid.  The first pocket was sewed on the left front, starting at the corner immediately above the dart.  Lining up the plaid there put the mis-alignment on the side of the pocket toward the center.  The right-front pocket is marginally better aligned but brought to my attention that the plaid is not quite square.

Note:  The pockets are small, about 4" square.  

Cutting out the back, a large piece, made it obvious that the plaid is not quite square.  Probably why this was considered deadstock, perhaps another term for designer cast offs.  The difficulties in cutting made it apparent that plaid is not a good option for a toile, as it puts too much work into something that may not fit and may not be worth adjusting.  The yoke was cut horizontally, per instructions.

The sleeves seemed long, so they were shortened by 3".  Plaid matching is a guess, trying to put the prominent black stripe somewhere along the armhole since most of the front armhole sits in that stripe.  In hindsight, the stripes alongside (or below) the black should have been the point of match--maybe matching the sleeve notch would work?  The sleeves are too short, but not drastically so since the shoulders hang over about an inch.  

Note:  the continuous lap needs to be cut longer than the pattern piece.  The sleeves should be a couple of inches longer, but not as long as the pattern piece.

Plackets are on.  No real problems, except to say that sewing the right side of the placket to the wrong side of the shirt and then folding it over to the right side makes it quite difficult to cut it out so that the plaid matches.  As far as mods, there is only one line of topstitching because this shirt is less western and my topstitching skills are not that good yet.  Cutting out the band and collar, cutting the interfacing, and then fusing it on took as long as sewing the collar and attaching the band to the shirt. Collar, buttonholes, buttons, all done with no problems except that the buttons are hand wash only.  I wash my clothes in cold water and hang to dry.  However, the buttons may not be a problem unless the shirt is worn frequently.  That is doubtful because it is still quite stiff and a bit confining. The fabric has the feel of rip-stop nylon--high quality nylon, like a rain jacket.

Hmm, the verdict is pending on this shirt.  (the color in the photo above is off) It looks good to me.  If it turns out to be more comfy than it currently seems, it would be possible to cut off the short sleeves, thereby reducing the shoulder overhang, and add longer sleeves.  There is enough fabric left to make another set of sleeves and cuffs.  Extra fabric is a good thing!

My Summer Uniform, a plan

Now that my sewing output is more varied, encompassing a casual jacket or two along with the usual skirts and dresses, a plan for a standard "outfit" has come together.  (According to some, this is called a capsule wardrobe formula.) It's true, my idea is to formulate a plan for a summer wardrobe.  This plan has three pieces:  a skirt (or pants), a t-shirt, and an overshirt (or jacket, or sweater, or vest).  Adding the third piece, the overshirt, will provide a little cover, both for occasional cool temperatures and to dress up my usual casual attire.  It will take a lot of sewing, but if I work with what I have and stay on goal, it should be successful.

The idea came with my most recently sewn item, a simple gathered skirt with pockets.  The inspiration came from the fabric, a luxurious linen from Taos Adobe.  This skirt was my big sewing success, quick and easy to sew, comfortable to wear and easy to use (the pockets).  The pattern was the Pocket Skirt, a Paper Theory pattern available online from Peppermint Magazine.   The fabric was 2 yards of black linen with a total price of $26.00.  It was a lightweight, sheer linen that needed a lining (100% cotton broadcloth from Hobby Lobby, $11).  The skirt is not fully lined.  The lining was cut at the end of the side top piece, making it end at my knee.  The linen skirt is almost another 10" longer after hemming and provides a satisfying swish around my calves.  

After all 4 seams were sewn and the edges serged, the lining was serged to the skirt at the top edge.  Then the lining and skirt were stitched together along the fold line.  Finally, the band was folded over and topstitched down through the serged stitching.  The pockets are the right height.  This skirt took the full 2 yards, with maybe 1/4 yard leftover.  It is a successful toile that will be repeated. There's 4 yards of cotton voile in my stash that might be enough make a skirt and a shirt.

Quirks of an old sewing pattern and a sewing blog

First, there came a soft, thin cotton fabric that did not make it to my stash.  It was much nicer than I expected for a mere $3/yard, $9 total.  Fabric Mart described it as "Rainy Gray/White/Dark Blood Red/Wheat 100% Cotton Vertical Stripe Weave Shirt Weight".  The cut was slightly over 3 yards and remained very close to 45" wide after washing.  It irons nicely but reverts to a slightly rumpled look after ironing.  Sewing this into a shirt was a break from my Green for Spring theme, but it might fit into my closet considering the recent additions of a black skirt and black pants.  

The pattern is for a shirt from 1977, McCalls 5647.  Although a newer pattern would provide more options in sizing and styles, the vintage pattern was chosen for the short sleeves.  This fabric is thin and might be wearable in the summer heat.  It has pleats and 3 length options.  My earlier success with a McCalls pattern from the same era and in the same size made me think 5647 would be a good fit, both in my wardrobe and for me.  However, the style and cut in this short sleeved shirt were different.  The safe approach was to use this inexpensive fabric and hope for the best.

The sizing in 5647 seemed quite large for a 12, bust 34, but that is deceptive.  There is 10" ease at the front, but there is a 3" pleat.  The back is even smaller.  

Notes:  The stitching line around the bottom of the slash line measures 3/4" wide.  It is an inch high, but that probably does not matter.  Its purpose is to reinforce the bottom of the slash.  The 1 1/4" wide stitching lines below the placket, which are merely the front folded over, eliminate any way to match the stripe unless the stripe pattern repeats at 1 1/4".  The notch on the left front facing and on the front, the matching notch, are cut inward--a bit confusing and thus worth noting.

With the front placket completed, the pocket was attached to left front.  The raw edges on the inside were finished with a little zigzag to stop them from fraying.

Laying the pieces out for cutting was done in the traditional manner, with the stripes running lengthwise on the collar and stand, vertically on the front and back, and horizontally on the yoke.  Pocket stripes are vertical so that the pocket can be  matched to the shirt front.  

On thinking through the pattern construction steps, it is apparent that shirts have few exposed seams, just the ones on the side seam and armhole.  This is an advantage that makes me view sewing shirts more favorably.

Collar construction was tricky.  However, it went on smoothly.  Hand stitching the points on the stand neatened up the attachment to the shirt.  Although the collar facing was secured by topstitching it was also hand stitched on the edge for comfort.  Watching a Pattern Scout video revealed that the collar should be shaped by ironing it before sewing.  The video also included a neat trick for sewing the end of the stand around the placket by tucking the placket inside the stand, sewing the stand ends on the wrong side and then pulling the placket right side out.   

The sleeves are short.  There was enough fabric left for long sleeves, even after cutting out the short ones.  The thought of trying out one of each tempted me, but the short sleeves are fine.  The sleeves have a cuff that is hemmed in a clever fashion, encasing the raw edge of the hem into a tuck that forms the top of the cuff.

Setting in the sleeves is truly old school.  There is only one line of gathering stitches.  A thread is pulled at the top of the sleeve to gather the ease.  The stitching runs around the armhole, with stitch length shortened to form stay stitching in the lower armhole and lengthened to form gathering stitches between the notches.  This is such a novel, multi-purpose approach, much simpler than the current method of sewing in two lines of gathering stitches, one on each side of the seamline, and pulling the loose threads of both to make the easing even.  It worked well.

The shirt was hemmed about an inch shorter than the tunic length.  It is a basic wardrobe piece, but it is too close fitting for my taste.  Also, the pocket is too high.  My dislike of the high pocket is either an indicator that it is just too small for my proportions or it might just be me, because other shirts have pockets at this level.

I could get rid of this pattern.  There is no bust dart.  It is slim-fitting, making me assume that the size 12 only worked in the other pattern because the fit was oversized.  I could make it again, enlarging it as best I can, but I don't love the style enough.

If you are still with me, let me admit another failure.  I lost my blog post editing, temporarily.  I attribute it to a new security requirement.  Thanks, google.  In poking around my blog setting to try to determine the source of the problem, I noticed that I had failed to change my e-mail address--years ago.  All this time, I thought I had turned off the comments.  No.  I just didn't get the messages that I had a comment awaiting moderation anymore.  Now I am debating.  Do I need comments?  Can I even turn them off?  This debate is not major.  If you would like to comment or ask a question, I will get a notification now.  I can review the comment and decide whether to publish it.  I can also respond, most likely by posting a comment below yours, which is no use except to anyone who reads the comments later.  I may be able to respond directly if you have a profile linked that includes a contact address.  I have opened the comments to anyone, but they are moderated.  

My purpose here is to provide a record of sewing up a pattern as an aid in sewing up the pattern a second time.  Increasingly, I find that I remember the pattern steps when I attempt it again.  I do consult my notes here, but my skills are reaching the point where I don't need them.

All to say that if this blogging stops, that doesn't mean I stopped sewing and knitting.  Comments are nice, but I dress for myself now.