Sew A Long - Post 5 - Starting on the "real deal"

Thanks for hanging while I went on vacation. It was AMAZING!! We had so much fun it is crazy. And for the first time in a long time I feel ready to tackle my life rather than just slug through it. 

I am going to be honest. I have a dress all cut out and ready to sew. But have not managed to sew a stitch. Why, livin my life people! livin my life! 

But I am not going to let life get in the way of sewing forever. I am working on balance. 

And today for me balance was going to work out while kid played with a friend and writing you this somewhat abbreviated post. 

So here is he fabric I chose. Yes that is Unicorn Houndstooth by Michael Miller, in pink. Very grown up, I know. I bought it for a steal $6 a yard at the Gail K out in Norcross or wherever the hell I was out there. 

So how are you doing on making your changes to the fit of your Washi? Any progress you feel ready to share? Any problems you need help with?

I promise more tomorrow on my actual making on my Unicorn Washi. But for now, know that I am thinking of you guys! And hoping you feel inspired to find balance in your life too. 

Peace Out - C 

Sew a long post 3 Putting together your "muslin"

My muslin, out for some sun, enjoying the breeze! 

Yes the word muslin has two meanings. It is a type of fabric AND it is a "practice garment".

No you do not have to use muslin for your "muslin", but it is a good thing to use. I used quilting cotton, but it was cheaper than muslin and I thought it would photograph better. Sorry if the term caused confusion. I am also going to do one straight up muslin to show you some things next week for the fitting post.

I often do use actual muslin. It is easy to work with and not expensive. One important aspect is that muslin is easy to make marks on that are easy to see. You do not want to use a fabric that is hard to see marks on because you are going to want to make marks to make changes.

For the purposes of encouraging you to sew your own clothes I made a muslin and while making my muslin I learned several interesting things.

First, you really should just make it out of muslin. You do not want to fall in love with the garment in the process of making it and be sad that it does not fit.

Making it out of muslin ensures that this will not happen. I tell my students this all the time. I broke my own guideline. I wanted my muslin to magically work and be a finished garment, fight that feeling! It is a first pancake, an experiment, a first draft. Make yourself treat it as such. I know it's hard.

I will tell you more lessons I learned as we put this "muslin" together.  Let's get out your directions and go through them.

See it says right on the directions, step 3. "make a muslin". She suggests just the front bodice piece. I suggest the whole thing and that that is what I am going to do. I know it's a lot of fabric, but I already warned you I don't do things the cheap way. But I am cool if you want to just do the bodice. However I suggest you do enough of the back piece to include the shirring. You can practice your shirring and you can see how it will really fit.

Then she talks about bust adjustments. We will talk more abut those next week after we see how your muslin fits.

Lets take a look at the bodice first.

Here is your bodice piece. All cut out and marked. Fold your fabric, right sides together and sew the dart.

If you do this method the lines you drew on will be your seam allowance.

Read the "Dart Hints" in the pattern directions. She is right this is how you should sew it.










I personally prefer to leave the fabric in the dart. I also made a muslin of the tunic version. This one is made of muslin.

To add back in the fabric on this dart, I pinned the pattern piece to the fabric, then I folded the pattern and the fabric so I could draw a line

When you unfold it you will have something like this.

At this point make sure you mark your dart points through the hole at the apex of the dart.

See those little black marks near my pencil point? Those are your seam line for the dart. Go ahead and mark those as well.















Then you will connect your dart apex and the seam line marks that you made. So you will have a triangle marked on your fabric.

Doing it this way actually moves your dart apex up 1/4 of an inch. So check it against yourself to make sure that still works for you. It works better for me, but you know I a rather busty person.

Then you will fold your dart. Lining up the seam line marks.

That is my somewhat silly ironing board cover you are seeing there.

You then sew your dart. Again follow the instructions in the Washi directions for this. Here is a picture of how I press my dart over an ironing ham.

Don't have a ham? Well they are not all that expensive, they are about $10 at Joanne's. If you are going to be doing lots of garment making they are a great investment.















Once you have your darts sewn on both sides, you are done with the bodice for now.

Next you will want to go ahead and do the shirring on the back.

It will give you a chance to practice without risking messing up your for real fabric.

You should have your marks all ready to go on your muslin. Your fabric should look something like the picture to the left.

If not go back to the last post and read about marking your fabric.

Rae, the designer of this pattern, has already written a lovely tutorial on shirring, that I suggest you take a look at.

She came to the same conclusion that I eventually did, you do not need to adjust the tension on your bobbin case. So those of you who were worried about messing up your bobbin tension, there you go problem solved!

But this is why it is good you test it. You and your machine may not come to the same conclusion. You may need to buy an extra bobbin case, which is cheap for most machines.

Here are some more tips about shirring from Craftsy.

To get started you need to wind your bobbin with the elastic thread. You wind by hand, don't pull it and stretch it, just wind it. Then you use it just like any old bobbin.

I tried this in both my drop in bobbin and front loading bobbin machines. Both turned out about the same.

Here is why you need your marks on the right side of your fabric. 

You want to be able to sew along your lines.

My tip is I do back tack at the beginning and ending of each row.

Your elastic just sits at the back of the fabric, and does not pull through like thread. So if you don't back tack you risk pulling your elastic out. And that would suck. But you would learn.

 Here it is two rows in. Starts to look like it might actually turn out to be something!

But it also starts to get weird, but just smooth it out and keep going.

It sort of sucks when you run out of bobbin elastic mid way through. Sigh.........

I just re-loaded and kept going. You may be more of a perfectionist and may want to pick out that row and do it again. Your call.

I used blue thread so you could see it. You may want to use something that better matches your fabric. But on the muslin go wild.

This is the shirring I did on the drop in bobbin machine, looks remarkably similar. It really is easy. Don't psych yourself out. Just try it.

If you are just doing a bodice you would now sew your shoulder and side seams and try it on an check it out.


















If you are making an entire test garment you next you make your pleats in the front skirt.

You pin them and them press them in place. Page 7 of your instructions has very clear and easy illustrations of this step and the next one. You simply sew the bodice front to the skirt front.

Easy peasy.

Then you sew the shoulder seams and the side seams. You sew around the pockets.

After that you get into finishing details. Which I did on my muslin dress to test them out. So it is up to you if you want to test how your finishing will look. I was skeptical of the U in the front neckline. I think it is very cute on smaller people. On myself however, not so much.

But I am happy I tried it.



As the directions indicated I interfaced my facing, then sewed it is and under stitched it before I cut out the notch. This is a wise way to do this and works great, so follow the directions if you are finishing your dress in this manor and want to test it before you cut into your real deal fabric.

Then if you are adding a sleeve that is your last step. Again the pattern directions are great! So use them for this step. I am here to guide and encourage, not re-invent the wheel.












I am not a huge fan of facings typically. They tend to flip out and bunch and do other annoying things. But this one looks nice if you sew it down. I tried it so I could see if I like it. And I do. I think it looks pretty as well as being functional.

Since this was an experiment I used teal thread and tried a bunch of fun stitches for top stitching. I had just told my pal Ella that I really wanted to get into more embellishment and boho type embroidery on cloths and this managed to be the perfect place for trying it.

Sadly my fun teal thread ran in the wash. You can't see it so much in this picture but it looks like there is a fuzzy marker line where ever the thread is.

This is what I get for buying thread with no label from someone who does not really speak English. But it is such a beautiful color! However I have learned my lesson and will buy thread with labels. So I know what it is made of. But really who has ever heard of thread color running before?!?!??

 Here you can see the running and the embellishment a little more.

I have learned a lot and done some fun experimenting. Which I would not have done if it were not for you! This is the aspect of sewing I love. The social, community aspect.

I would love to see pictures of your progress. If you feel comfortable with the other sewers seeing them please post in slack. That way everyone working on it can see your issues and see if anyone else has suggestions on how to fix it.

Next post will be all about fit. What changes should you make, if any, and how to make them.

Or are you the rare magical unicorn who can wear things straight from the pattern?

Just because I can!! 

Sew A Long - Washi - Post 1

Hi! And welcome to our Washi Dress (Made by RAE pattern) Sew A Long.

First a little bit about me and why I am doing this sew a long. My name is Chrissy Weeks, I am a wife, mom, volunteer and seamstress in Decatur GA. I have one wild little girl and an annoying dog. Somehow my sweet husband puts up with all three of us girls. When my daughter was about two I took back up sewing because nothing fit her. This is still the case and I still make clothes for her, my husband and myself.

A couple years ago I was looking for some friends to sew with and in that process I found "The Stash Bash". Though it was a group of mostly quilters they said I was welcome to come and sew whatever I want. I did and I am so glad! I have met lots of cool people and made a few really great friends.

Hopefully a few of those friends will be making guest appearances in the sew a long. Many of my quilt-y friends wanted help making clothes. And I was not able to help everyone at the last Stash Bash. So I offered to do this Sew A Long.

Just a few points I want to make before we get started:
- If sewing was easy, everyone would do it. Be kind to yourself if you "mess up". I have in my 10,000 hours. You may be in at 2,000 or 5,000 or 100. So encourage yourself as much as you would encourage everyone else. And I still mess up, such is life and sewing.

- I apply the first pancake theory to sewing. I have made hundreds (maybe thousands by now) of garments. However, I still make a muslin. Just like no matter how many time you have made pancakes, typically that first one needs some adjustments. Might need more butter or less heat. Your muslin is just that, your first pancake or rough draft. Whatever term you like it is practice.

- Sewing is not a cheap hobby. Well I guess it can be. But not the way I do it. I love great fabrics and customs fits. So I think all the money and effort is worth it but making my own clothes is not cheaper. Except that I do sometimes get Nordstrom level quality at Macy's prices. Really depends on what you want.

- My way is not the only way. But it is the way I know how to do it. I mostly learned sewing from my grandmother, great aunt and mother. I have taken a few classes but the bulk of my knowledge really came from practice (back to that 10,000 hours thing.) If you are not familiar with the theory of 10,000 hours you should Google it.

- This sew a long is not to teach you how to sew. This is to encourage you and walk you through the process of making this dress or tunic. You may learn things along the way but you need a basic understanding of sewing to be able to keep up.

This week we are putting together the pattern and gathering fabric and supplies for our muslin and the real deal.

Have you bought the pattern yet? If not go HERE and buy it. Not only is it tacky to "share" the pattern it is stealing. So let's not do that. We want to support small businesses who make great things.

First print page 14 and check the one inch measurement in the corner to make sure that your pattern will print the correct size. I have made this mistake. Do not skip this step!! Every time!!
Just sayin........

Next put your pattern together. I use a paper cutter and glue stick for this. The paper cutter gives you a nice clean edge. But cut as you go and leave one side with the margin so that you can glue them together.

We will talk "which size should I cut out" next week. But make sure you take your measurements. If you can have someone help you with this. Measuring yourself can be less accurate.

Once you have your pattern pieces all glued together you can cut the pieces apart but don't cut down to your size just yet....unless you are totally confident you know what you are doing.

I am going to tell you the truth that I start with an XXL and make adjustments from there. I cut out an XXL and made a muslin following all the directions, just for you guys. I will walk you through putting the muslin together next week.

That brings us to options. Sewing your own clothes is really all about options. You need to choose what options you would like to try and test those with your muslin. Keep in mind not everything looks good on every body. Some people look great in a cap sleeve, some look better in sleeveless.

Also your fabric will guide some of these choices. I have discovered that a bold pattern is too much for the cap sleeve and I go sleeveless with bold fabrics but I love the cap sleeve in a solid or more subtle print.

CHOICES to consider: 
Choose your fabric, neckline, sleeve or not, to shirr or not to shirr (I suggest the shirring), pockets or not, facings, lining or bias binding and length. I cant choose for you. And if you suck at decision making either get better or sewing may not be your jam.

I made my muslin using inexpensive quilting cotton from Jo-Anne's. I strongly suggest your muslin be of similar weight to your finished product. For example if you plan to make your Washi out of rayon you need to make your muslin out of rayon. And so on and so forth. I would suggest you stay in the mid - light weight fabrics. But this is your dress so do what you want.

I have made the Washi out of light weight denim, quilting cotton and rayon. They have all turned out lovely. It really is a simple pattern that is easy to adjust.

The Made By RAE website has some tips on the different options you can check out: Maxi or this Maxi tutorial,  The Washi expansion pack gives you more necklines and sleeves.

With the light weight denim I did a facing for the bodice.

I did a rounded neck that I ended up adding wee bit of a gather to the front, basically because it was too big. So I gathered it and then made the facing the size of the newly gathered neckline.

I did the pockets and cut them out as part of the skirt pieces. I did the shirring on the back. Which I love and the length is the pattern length which happens to be perfect on me.

The glasses fabric Washi is made with quilt weight cotton. It is sleeveless with store bought bias binding at the neck and arm holes.

I did the pockets, cut as part of the skirt pieces and again the pattern length.

I am currently finishing up a rayon maxi that will have either self bias binding or black I have not totally decided yet. I did not do pockets in the rayon because it was so light and airy I did not want to add any bulk to it. It will be ready to show you by post 2, I hope.

Next I want to try the tunic, but I am trying to find the right fabric for that one. I may go shopping or I may just dig through my stash. We shall see.

That brings us back to fabric selection. Which options you choose will impact how much fabric you need.  A tunic will need less than a maxi...etc. The fabric at the store may speak to you so keep all your options in mind.

I would suggest sticking to fabrics you know to start and then maybe your next attempts you could branch out. You don't want to be battling with your fabric while you are working out fit and general sewing issues.

My go to place in the Atlanta area for apparel fabrics is Fine Fabrics, thats where I got the light weight denim. It is on the access road at Jimmy Carter and 85 near the Rooms to Go Outlet. At $5-$6 a yard for 60"-72" wide it leaves you a lot of room for experimenting.

I have heard good things about the new Gail K location in Norcross GA. Fabric World out in Stone Mountain is really hit or miss. There is a Jo-Anne's a five minute walk from my house, however it is not my favorite, again hit or miss.

Online I buy a lot from Fabric.com (glasses fabric and my rayon where purchased there). And Beth who owns Stash Fabrics is great.

Whilst you are shopping, grab some elastic thread. I have used both of these and they both work fine. On the left is black Gutermann and on the right is Sewology from Hobby Lobby. Get enough to experiment with, you don't want to run out.

I have come around to not adjusting my bobbin tension because it just does not need to be changed. If you loosen the tension it does not put enough stretch on the elastic thread. It took me lots of experimenting to get here. But the Made by Rae tutorial on shirring says this so if I has just read it I would have been better off. However as she points out this may not be so with really light weight fabric.

If you end up ahead of the game go ahead and check out this tutorial and do some practicing.

















  

JUNE - Washi sew a-long

Hey Peeps -

Yes it has been a while. I have not been ignoring you, I have been doing all sorts of living my life. I could bore you with all the details but you really are just here for the sewing.

I went to The Stash Bash back in April and had a super fab time. I have been sucked in by my quilt-y friends and actually designed and made my own quilt top. Weird, I know! More about that another day. But I still say "I don't quilt".

While I was there I got LOADS of requests for help making clothes. Quilters like certain types of clothes patterns in particular and there are a few that are big hits among them. A few are The Washi Top / Dress, The School House Tunic,  and the Esme Top. This is largely thanks to Karie Jewell (and her obsession with the Washi and the School House) and now she has started the Wiksten Tova craze, it is quickly climbing the charts, so I may have to try that one out too.

I was not able to walk everyone through all the clothes making they wanted to do so... I offered to do a sew a long. We are starting June 1!! THE WASHI SEW A LONG!

I am going to make a muslin straight from the pattern size closest to mine and then make adjustments from there. I really think this will help you guys more than me trying to show you all the flat pattern changes I make. Your changes will be different. Having your own muslin will help you see where you need to make changes.

Here is what you need to do before June 1.

1. BUY the pattern - either for download or buy the printed pattern and get it shipped to you. Either way is fine, it is your decision as to which you would like to do. I will walk you through how to put the home printed one together since that is what I have. Everyone needs their own copy of the pattern. Sharing is stealing, we are supporting our fellow artists by buying their pattern.
- if you are doing the home print you need glue sick and masking tape, yes Wahi tape will work too.

2. Gather Materials
- Muslin - If you would like to make a tester you can make it out of muslin. Please use decent quality for your muslin, if it is too different from your final fabric it will not give you a realistic idea of what your final product will look like. And the fit may end up different.
- Woven Fabric - light to medium weight: shirting, voile, double gauze, quilting cotton, linen or rayon. *The biggest size of the longest option says to get 3.5 yards. so measure yourself and round up. I know some of you will be gasping at buying such big yardage not for a quilt back. But I never buy less than 3 yards. I usually buy 6.
- 1.25 yards of 1.25" wide bias tape or plan to cut your own. (you need this if doing a facing or the sleeveless option. Do not need it you are doing a full lining).
- lightweight interfacing (if doing the neckline cut-out)
- coordinating thread, there is debate about quality. But personally I use serger thread for everything.
- elastic thread (and if you are weird about bobbin tension, get an extra bobbin case for your machine they are like $5 and shirring is so fun and easy and amazing) If you are not weird about it we will change the tension on our bobbin case ever so slightly. I change mine all the time but apparently some people think I am insane.

3. Now - Sign Up! send me an email c@chrissyweeks.com tell me your name and where you are from and I will send you an invitation to our Slack channel where we will have discussions.

So that is the basic, basics of getting started.

Here is my plan for making this happen.

June 1 - Putting together your pattern and choosing what size to cut. Discuss all the options! *pre-wash your fabric or muslin to be ready for next week.

June 8 - Cutting out and marking your pattern pieces.

June 15 - Sew it together! With the shirring on the back.

June 22 - What changes would you make? Cut out the Real Deal!

June 29 - Talk amongst yourselves b/c I will be on vacation.

July 6 - Sew together your real deal Washi!

This may be ambitious? I am not sure, I have never done an online sew along before. And if anyone in the Atlanta area wants to come over and sew with me for real, let me know! We should do that!

Alright....see you June1!!

Hugs - Chrissy