Bring on the Rain!

Well, I don't know about y'all, but my "sewing life" has been way less about sewing, and way more about working. But way back in June, my mom requested a raincoat. One that I make for her. One that matches some rain boots she has. I've been sewing every spare minute since Thanksgiving!

It wasn't until her visit to Atlanta in October that she chose her fabric, and well, it won't match the rain boots. I used the Amy Butler raincoat pattern that I made for myself and for Laura. She tried on mine, and while she really isn't any larger than me, she wanted it bigger, because she wants to be able to wear a sweatshirt underneath. People. She lives in Texas. It's hot there (recent ice storm notwithstanding). Oh, well... I think she'll be able to wear a sweatshirt.

Since I've already made this twice and blogged about it each time (click on the links for the posts), there's not much left to say. Gonna bullet-point it...

• I used laminate this time. A first. Wasn't too hard, but occasionally gave me problems.
• The sleeves were still a bitch. And not just because Mom wanted them looser and bigger.
• My sleeves were too short. Hers are extra long because she wants to roll them up to show off the lining.

• I used some of my previously traced pieces, and traced some from scratch, and had some weird things happen. They were fixed in the muslin stage.
• I was nervous about making the buttons with the laminate, but they went together like a charm.
• Don't worry about my mom seeing this ahead of Christmas... she never reads my blog. :/

And that's about it. No more sewing planned for 2013... the cutting table has been transformed into the wrapping table. If you celebrate Christmas, then you know what I'm talking about!

Happy Holidays and Happy 2014!

Weekday Roundup #1 -- Days 5, 6, 7, 8

These last few days have been a bit rainy and gray, and actually cooler than the entire summer. But who am I kidding? It will get hot again!


September 5

Top: Simplicity 2211, blogged here.

  Capris: Ann Taylor, several years old.

Shoes: I don't think I wore shoes all day.

This was the rainiest of the week, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee rolled through. My dancing partner is Danny, wearing his "thundershirt". He loves it! But I'm not convinced its helping with his dislike of thunder.


Thoughts:
The top is a twill, so a little bit hot in high summer. Today it was perfect. One weird thing about the top... when I first put it on, it feels a bit constricting, but as the day goes on, I stop noticing the feeling. Weird.




September 6

Raincoat: Amy Butler Raincoat, blogged here.

Top: Vogue 8536, blogged here.

Jeans: from the Gap, and they're at least 10 years old.

Maybe older.

Shoes: Merona from Target.

Thoughts:
The sleeves are a bit short on the raincoat, which is kind of annoying. The top has been in heavy rotation this summer. You may see it again. And the shoes... these are the most uncomfortable shoes I own, or at least in the top 5.


September 7

Top: Vogue 8151, blogged here.

Jeans: the same one's as yesterday. Yep.
Shoes: Liz Claiborne black flats. Better than yesterday's.



Sorry for the horrible picture. It's been gray most of the day, and lightly raining on an off. Blue sky has been spotted.


Thoughts:
You can't really see what the top looks like unless you click through to the original post. But it's one that I do really like.  The coverstitching has some issues, and I'm afraid that it will just start to come out unless I do a bit of repair work.


September 8

Dress: Vogue 2006 (vintage 1960s), blogged here.

Belt: Talbots

Thoughts: This is the first outing of this dress since I did a bit of remodeling. And with the belt, which totally improves the look. Other remodeling included taking off the front pockets, and removing the hand done top stitching that ran down the side seams and pulled them up oddly. Today was delightful weather, in the upper 60s F, and this dress is perfect. I underlined it with tricot, so it's a bit warm for those hotter days. My only other complaint is the too high neckline. Choking!

The Hat

I've been on a quest. A quest for a long time to find the perfect sunhat. Alas, I have a really small head, which makes it difficult. Plus, I find it very annoying to have sunhats blow off, so those cute straw hats with the big brims just never seem to work.


I thought I had found the perfect hat. However, my children gave me such grief about this particular hat when we were at the beach earlier this summer. I wore it every day on the beach anyway because who really wants a sunburned part! Has that ever happened to you? And then it peels? First it's really sore, and then you're combing gross bits out of your hair.


Here's the hat, also known as the Baby Hat.

Yep, the baby hat is the name my kids gave to this hat.


When we got home from the beach, I searched through all the patternmakers for a sunhat to make. This one is the best that I found.

So I made this one. I made the small, which Ms. Butler says should also fit small children. Sheesh. Then, you only use a tiny fraction of the fabric yardage recommended. And no need to buy a contrast for the lining, since you can't actually see it because it's on your head. Those are just some of my gripes.


I didn't use the canvas recommended, but a sandwich of stiff interfacing and fusible batting. I only used the batting in the crown of the hat.

OK, kids... better? I think it looks ok, but I'm really not a hat person, so I feel like all hats look a little foreign on me. Moving on, though, I devised something that addresses the wind problem.

I left small openings in the side seams near the brim and threaded a grosgrain ribbon through. I think it looks kind of cute from the back. Now for the horrifying view. If it gets really windy, I can adjust the ribbon, pulling down the inner bit for this:

Yes, I feel like this looks pretty ridiculous, but hey, I won't lose my hat.


I may have to keep looking for the perfect hat.

The Raincoat, Finally

And just in time for a forecast of rain! So sorry to have gone MIA, but life feels so complicated these days. The raincoat took about a week longer than I had wanted it to, but that must have been because I could only get up the energy to sew about 30 minutes at a time.

Flat covered buttons, denim blue topstitching. I made the large and altered the sleeves just a bit to make them bigger, and dropped the armhole. I also shortened the sleeves. More than necessary it turn out. Oh, sure, they look ok, but I wish I had made them a bit longer so I could turn them up. As it is, I like this next look for when it's warmer.

I made the hood less gigantic. I always hate when the hood is so big you can't really see where you're going. So that's good. Besides the sleeve length, I'm not in love with the pocket placement, and the belt loops are just a hair low. That's just being nitpicky though.

Finally, my friend, Denise, is hosting a fabulous giveaway over at her Blue Gardenia blog. Do you love vintage patterns? Silk? Red fingernail polish? If the answer is yes, you must check it out!

Raincoat Sneak Peek

Do you remember this pattern that I previously made for Laura?

Well, I've been working on mine all week with finally something to show for it.

I'm using the same black raincoating fabric that I used for Laura's, so this, obviously, is the lining. Originally, I had purchased this Amy Butler twill for a vintage shirtdress, but the reality is that the color is all wrong for me, and actually, I kinda don't like it. However, I do kinda like it for a lining. I wanted the sleeves to be slippery (lesson learned after I made Laura's), and had this silvery silk (poly?) charmeuse in my stash.

For the exterior topstitching, this is what I'm going with (ignore any wonky topstitching that you might see... I'm goin' with it):

And one final, nagging reminder to comment on the giveaway. I'll announce the winner(s) tomorrow!

Some Fun Reading

Not too much sewing has been happening here, so I thought I'd share some of the fun books that I received for Christmas and my birthday. I love reading, and was really excited to get a Kindle for Christmas, but some books just must be read in book form. Books like these:

Yes, my sister is totally enabling my new knitting habit. Speaking of knitting, I've almost finished my sweater. All that's left is to weave in the yarn ends, do a little blocking and find a great button. Here's a sneak preview (in it's non finished state):

I am rambling just a bit. My body is fighting off some cold germs, and it has made me a little ditzy. Or maybe it's the strange snow day we've had making this an unscheduled long weekend. Maybe I'm confused because my hubby is making sugar cookies while we watch the Auburn-Oregon football game. And they are really GOOD!

Oops, I lied. There has been a little sewing going on here. I did make a muslin of the Amy Butler raincoat which I would really like to finish by the end of this weekend. I think I know what I need to do. It's those darn armholes and sleeves again.

So, I'll stop here, and flip through the knitting books to decide on my next project. Don't forget to enter the giveaway! I forgot to mention that I'll ship worldwide, this is open to everyone!

Singing in the Rain

First, a health update for Kyle. My cranky toddler 20 year old is MUCH better and has several asthma fighting drugs on board. Also discovered that he has an ear infection. Fun.

Now for the real fun! The rain coat is finished and I love 90% of this Amy Butler Rainy Days raincoat pattern. Everything except the sleeves which are apparently drafted for stick people. Laura is thin, and the sleeves are too snug for her. I made the medium which is actually bigger than her measurements. She's between a small and a medium, so I went up, thinking she would get enough ease to wear actual clothes under her coat. No. So, I've brought it home to rip out the hems on the sleeve and bottom and hopefully there's enough seam allowance to get a little extra room. I'm strongly considering adding a gusset to the underarm area for a bit extra room as well. But don't you want to see it? How about a video?

And some stills:

And by the way, for readers of my blog, if you use the coupon code SEWINGBLOG15 you will get 15% off either of my shops, Jenna Belle Designs or Down the Street Creations.

Another Coat?

It's true! My next current project is another coat, but this one is proving to be pretty easy. I'm making Amy Butler's Rainy Day coat, and I'm making it for Laura. She's young, she's hip, she's trendy conservative. I thought she might opt for a funky laminate print, but no. She chose black. A high end, raincoating fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics, but black.

She's applying to graduate schools, and everywhere she's applying is in a much colder climate than she currently lives in, so I decided to add some warmth to this raincoat by quilting the body lining with this:

I've done a bit of machine quilting in the past, and this really isn't difficult. There are a couple of ways to go about it. The easiest way is to simply pre-quilt your fabric before you cut it out, but where is the fun in that? No, I cut out my lining pieces, and then proceeded to quilt them.

Some tips. You want to have your batting a bit larger than your pattern piece because it tends to draw up just a bit as you quilt. I'm only using batting and the lining without a third layer, as the edge of the lining is folded into the hem. Then there are the darts, front and back. I didn't want the extra bulk from stitching the darts in the batting, so I just cut them out and "sutured" them together. Like this:

This keeps the 3 dimensionality effect caused by the darts, but eliminates any bulk. Then I marked my quilting lines, and "basted" the pieces together with quilter's safety pins. These little pins are purposely bent to make them easy to use. To mark the fabric, I used a 24" long quilter's ruler, and marked diagonal lines every 2" using a chalk pen. I'm not sure the exact name, but it's like a little pen, with a chalk compartment and a little wheel on the bottom where the chalk comes out.

Are you just dying to see the lining fabric? Here it is, a Joel Dewberry home dec fabric from fabric.com that is a wonderful weight 100% cotton.

Make sure you mark before you pin, or it can be a real nuisance. Because this is lining, and will only be seen in limited amounts, I didn't obsess over the distortion caused from the darts, or the mistakes that I made. Especially the line that was marked 3" apart. Egads! Doing the machine quilting can become kind of zen like as I just made my way over the fabric, stopping just into the seam allowance (which was marked). I want to be able to trim away the batting easily in the SA.

Another cool tool I used was some quilter's gloves that have rubberized tips that help you guide your fabric. It's amazing how slick cotton can feel as you try to manuver it. (Ignore the dirty fingertips, please.) I think rubber gloves might work just as well. And almost forgot to mention, but if you have one, a walking foot makes this job so easy, and really does minimize the drawing up and "crawling" that one fabric can do over another one.

Tomorrow I plan to cut out the outside raincoating fabric, and could possibly have it finished by Monday or Tuesday! I'll be seeing her over the Thanksgiving holiday, so it would be great to deliver it in person.

Stripe Angst

For my next trick project, I want to try another vintage pattern. I bought this Simplicity pattern from eBay, because I love a good shirtdress, and I also love the raglan sleeves. But I've been agonizing over the fabric a little, and then decided to buy another stripe, mostly because it was on sale. I'm thinking that maybe wasn't a good reason. It's an Amy Butler twill and was a ridiculously low price at fabric.com. Hmmm, maybe there was a reason for that low price. People thought it was ugly.

Before you scroll down more and see the picture (oh, of course you've already seen the picture), I'm thinking of just using the stripe for the skirt, and doing a solid color for the "shirt". Maybe even in a cotton jersey? Maybe the light blue?

Oh, well, in the meantime, I know I'm going to need to make some alterations to the pattern, so I'll get to that and await your valuable advice.