Category: sewing

fashion, life, mod, sewing

Refashioning a big t-shirt

christinahopgood
I know there are heaps and heaps of tutorials on how to do this online… but I thought why not add to them!
As you know, I recently went to Sydney to see They Might Be Giants.  I bought a Flood t-shirt (a great album of theirs from 1990) but unfortunately they only had mens size large.  I am not a mens size large you guys!  I bought it with the intention of modifying it (or using it as a sleeping shirt).
It is even too big to sleep in!  I can imagine myself rolling around in it and getting all twisted.  See how huge it is on me?
Let the tutorial commence.
First find a t-shirt that you DO like the fit of.  Just make sure that it doesn’t have raglan sleeves: that is, make sure the sleeves don’t join to the neckline.  This will be important later.
Iron your shirts and fold them in half lengthways.  Put your little t-shirt on top and trace around it.  Fold the sleeves inwards and trace around the curve where your armhole is.
Take away your little t-shirt and pin your big t-shirt so it doesn’t slip around.  Cut around where your drew the outline, through all 4 layers. Make sure you leave a 1.5cm seam allowance!!  Since my t-shirt was super long, I just extended the line to the bottom of the shirt – so it can be either a long shirt or a short dress.
Now open it out and pin up the sides, with the RIGHT SIDES FACING.  If you do it with the wrong sides facing you’ll end up with an inside-out looking tshirt.  Sew up the side seams but don’t sew up the armholes!

Try it on for size.  I was really happy with how this fit so I proceeded.  If you’re not happy, take it in a little more.  If it’s too small, you can still unpick and sew closer to the edges.
 Yay it fits!

Now sleeves.  Take your small t-shirt sleeve and lay it on top of your big one, matching the edges together.  Trace and cut (leaving a seam allowance).

 You should get something that looks like this.  Turn them inside out and sew up the shortest edge.
Here’s the hardest bit.  Now turn your sleeve right-side out and your t-shirt inside out.  Put the sleeve INSIDE the t-shirt, matching the side seam of the shirt with the seam you just sewed on the sleeve.  The raw edges should match up.
 Pin it in place… it should look like this.  Complicated right?  It takes a few goes before you really understand what’s going on!

Sew around your armholes!  It took me a while to make the sleeves actually fit into the armholes, they kept being too big or small!  I had to adjust the size of the sleeves quite a bit.  But finally it worked!
Yay a dress!  Or a nightie?  I’m not sure if I’ll wear this out but I love it to bits!
sewing

I bought an Overlocker!

christinahopgood
I swear I didn’t go to Lincraft intending to buy an overlocker.  But then there was this Toyota “differential feeder” on mega-sale and I thought why not! Overlockers seem like super fun!

 Here’s all the stuff that came in the box: three warranties, a manual, pedal, cover, and packet of some bits and bobs.

 It came threaded so of course I went ahead and did some overlocking!

 There’s a threading diagram on the inside.  This is not nearly as difficult to thread as the ones at CIT (no tubes to thread through thank goodness).  However, I am having some issues with it.  A few times it would stop catching the bottom thread mid-seam and just sew nothing.  Each time I re-threaded it and it started again for a while.  I *think* I identified where I was threading it wrong, but if this keeps happening I’m going to have to call up the 1800 number.  

Each time I re-threaded this it took about 15 minutes… it’s hard threading an overlocker!  You need long tweezers to get the thread where it needs to go.  I’ve already broken both needles, so at least I now know how to change them!  I am having fun but it hasn’t been all smooth sailing… we’re going to have to work at this relationship!

cambie, haul, sewaholic, sewing

Fabric haul! Cambie dress progress!

christinahopgood
Yesterday a friend from church emailed me saying she was going through her fabric and I should come over and take whatever I wanted!  It seems that she’s had a lifetime of sewing and doesn’t want to do it any more, and her children and grandchildren aren’t interested in sewing.  Of course I rushed over to have a look and I ended up with quite a large pile:
So let’s go through it!

Cotton – about 1 metre of this cute 70s print fabric.

Broderie anglaise

2 huge lengths of seersucker.  I really love the pattern on the left one – a pretty pale blue – and I love the deep forest green of the other.  What should I make with this?

These two bits of fabric were obviously bought at the same time with the intention of making some kind of contrasting garment.  Blue with green and white spots and green with blue and white spots!

Similar to above, these two also match – navy with white spots and white with navy spots!

I love this printed cotton – it’s a bit stiff though.  I’d like to make some kind of top or even dress.  Is it too busy for that?

This is a very big yardage of a very soft cottony silk fabric.  I’d love to make a blouse of this, it reminds me of the kind of thing my mum wore in the 70s.
“Federated Fashion Fabrics” – sounds very Australian to me.

This is a jazzy dark green polyester with geometric shapes and lines!  I’d love to make a full on dress out of this, it’d be amazing!  (“jazzy” chrissy? you sound like your nana)

More broderie anglaise, with a cute cameo on it.  Pity there’s only a tiny amount. 

This one still has the price tag so I guess it wasn’t used.  Cotton dot fabric in a peachy tan colour.

And lastly this enormous length of a floral linen fabric.  It’s huge!

There were a couple more that were too puny to show you.  What am I going to do with this??

 Also, here’s the progress on my Cambie dress.  I bought this lovely fabric from Lincraft which is a cotton-elastine blend.  I adore the print but I’m worried it’s a bit thick for this pattern. 

The shell of the dress is nearly done – I just need to sew in the zipper (which I suck at) and take it in a bit at the sides.
Isn’t the fabric gorgeous?  Unfortunately it marks, so whenever I have to unpick something I can see the white elastine showing.  I’m a bit upset about that since this fabric was really expensive – $22 per metre!  I really need to find some good online places to buy fabric.
CIT, life, sewing

My new courses at CIT!

christinahopgood
So this semester I’ve started two courses at CIT (Canberra Institute of Technology) as part of a Certificate IV in Clothing Production. Since I’m only doing it part time, two evenings a week, I’ll be doing my Cert4 for about three years!  Full time students finish in one year.  But I’ve got to pay the bills (which I now have, living in an actual rented house)!

The two courses I’m doing this term are Fibres and Fabrics, and Clothing Production 1.  We started three weeks ago now.

In our fibres course, we learn about different types of fabrics, what they are made of, and their qualities.  We also learn about the production of fibres and fabrics.  Last week we all had to present some research on any natural fibre of our choice (I chose cashmere), and it was really interesting.  That session was great because I got to learn about bamboo, angora, abaca, jute, hemp, ramie, mohair, and more.  I’d never even heard of abaca or ramie! I also learnt that just because something is from a “natural” source (plant or animal), does not mean it’s environmentally friendly or cruelty-free. Bamboo is a good example – it’s very renewable because it grows so fast and in such quantities, but to make soft delicate bamboo fabric they use harsh chemicals which are very damaging to the environment. The same is true for cotton.  And there was a lot of talk about cruelty to Merino sheep, which I had no idea about.  We need to think about where our clothing comes from if we want to be environmentally responsible.  It doesn’t just appear in the shop!  Does anyone remember that song from Sesame Street, Bert’s Blanket?  That’s what this class was like.


Also last week, we did some felting with unspun wool! I thought I’d put up a tutorial on how to do that when I’ve done some at home.  I don’t want to be a felter, because I don’t really like the results, but I’ll do some experiments and see if I can do something good.

In Clothing Production 1, we have been learning how to operate the big industrial sewing machines. We’ve only had two classes and the first was entirely talking about OH&S, like don’t put pins in your mouth, tie your hair back, etc. There were so many horror stories about people swallowing pins and getting scalped by the machines and it was scary!  This week we actually did some sewing – on practice sheets, but at least we got to do it!  The industrial machines are quite different from your home machine.  They do one thing – go in a straight line.  Fast.  They are SO fast!  The teacher gave the analogy of going from driving a Barina to driving a tank. They’re pure guts!  The sewing we did was all in straight lines to get used to the speed and how to stop without massively overshooting.  I think we’re doing practice stuff for a few weeks before we get to start on real fabric.

Otherwise in my life, I’ve started reading Overdressed, because I saw some other sewers talking about it on their blogs, and I have a (bad? good?) feeling that it’s going to drastically change my shopping habits!

And that’s what’s going on!  It’s also why I’m so crazy busy!  But I got some yarn in the mail today from Bendigo Woollen Mills (it feels so nice and smooth, it’s going to be so nice to knit with) and I’m going to start a new cardigan – because that’s what I like to make and wear!
sewing, skirt

ANOTHER Half-Circle Skirt!

christinahopgood
This is my THIRD half-circle skirt.  That makes one and a half circles, you guys!
My first one (includes instructions to make your own!)
My second one (with an elastic waist)
Pics!  Sorry for looking slouchy and sad, I was feeling a bit slouchy and sad.
Fabric: About 1.5 metres of tartan knit, I don’t know what the fibre is but it’s soft and warm.
Pattern: My own circle skirt pattern
Time to make: a couple of hours, if you don’t count when I had to rip the hem and do it again because it was SO AWFUL.

 The waistband was also cut on the circle.  I just followed a pattern instruction for how to put it together.

 The innards.
So here’s my question: Should I wear it with the tartan vertical (zip at the back) or diagonal (zip at the side)?  Here’s the diagonal view:

I think I prefer the diagonal view, but I might have to re-jig the zip a bit. Please tell me your thoughts!