Minerva Bloggers Network - Red Vinyl Valentine

For this months Minerva bloggers project, I've been hanging out with these ladies:

Simplicity 8412, from 1969 - I think the condition would be described as 'well loved'.

I made the coat in this pattern once before in the 90's. That time I used a black plastic-y snake effect PVC. I remember it wasn't totally successful, probably because the fabric was too flimsy for the style. I think I turned it into a shorter zip up jacket, then who knows where it ended up!. At least I don't have it any longer.

And did I learn my lesson about unsuitable fabric? Of course not!I found myself being drawn to shiny plastic yet again, this time in the form of red PVC from Minerva. This is much heavier, a more suitable coat weight. In fact, it reminds me of the stuff you see on outdoor cafe tables - sturdy and weatherproof!

And is it shiny! Here it is in full effect, gleaming in the night:

I'd never sewn with this sort of material before and realised through a number of test swatches (and mistakes)that there are several things you can't do:

• no pinning - it leaves holes
• no ironing, unless you want a sticky mess
• no mistakes that involve unpicking - again, holes, etc
• you can't ease in larger pieces to smaller pieces - this fabric just doesn't like it, making sleeve heads a pain! But you can stretch a smaller piece to fit a larger piece, to some extent.

One of the many holding techniques I used! Sellotape was also employed.

This fabric tests all of your fabric handling powers. It was a bit like sewing a big, thick, unruly plastic bag, or a tyre inner tube. It sticks to itself when you don't want it to, and sticks to the presser foot. I found out too late that a walking foot was needed for this project, but as my machine is old and no equivalent is made today, it's hard to find the right one. Instead, I employed a low-tech solution for top stitching - tissue paper:

I laid it on top of the seam, sewed through all the layers, then tore it away. And I used a lot of tissue for this coat because there was a lot of top stitching. As is the way with old patterns, there's little in the way of advice on seam finishes. The nature of the fabric is such that seams don't lie naturally flat. Ironing is out of the question, so I trimmed one side of the seam away on the wrong side, folded the other side over flat, and stitched through all the layers, using a top stitching thread.

I also stitched down the darts at the back neck and on the sleeve:

Close up of neck darts

Other than the hem, I didn't finish the seams at all because the fabric doesn't fray one bit!

Inside of the coat - no overlocking, pinking, zig zagging, etc, because there was just no need

I did finish the hem with some lovely satin bias tape for no other reason than it looked nice.

Coat hem

Because the coat is essentially a big plastic bag and therefore was going to be a bit - ahem - sweaty, lining was out of the question. For added 'ventilation', I made a sort of cotton dress shield (kids, ask your grannies...) from some scraps:

I attached this with the sleeve seam to the inside of the body of the coat, then applied 2 eyelets through all layers under each arm:

Eyelets inside...

...and on the outside

With no ironing allowed, that meant no interfacing. But I wanted to add some body and weight to the collar and front facings. Solution: a layer of lining inside the front facings, neck facings, and collar:

Inside the front facing

For the moment, I haven't used any closures because basically I can't decide what to use. Until I do, the belt will suffice:

I really, REALLY wanted to get some photos of the coat in the rain, but it's been pretty dry here in London recently. But for the sake of research, I found a way to test it's properties and can confirm they are up to standard:

And it was a complete fluke that this coincided with Valentines!

See you soon!

A Suit (of Sorts...)

Believe it or not, I'm a responsible person at work, in charge of 11 people and all of their training, payroll, issues, etc. For years, I've been able to get away with not dressing like a grown up. Skirts with a cardigan and the odd dress have been fine but recently I've been sifting through my work clothes and I think they need a bit of attention. So for this project I thought I'd break my own personal rules and make a (sorta) suit for work. 

It's a combination of patterns - for the top I used this bolero from Vogue 8721, which is fast becoming an old-standby:

I used the bolero on the bottom right

Then I used the skirt from this pattern, a 1970's does the 1940's Simplicity 6110:

I made the skirt with the pockets, but I love all the styling on this pattern - I might have to make everything!

I used some black twill that I picked up at Fabricland in Bristol. (Which by the way was great - check it out if you're ever in the Bristol area.) Not sure what it's made from, I think it's a wool and poly mix, but the weight and drape was perfect for this project.

We're currently experiencing cold but these photos were taken a few weeks ago when it was unusually warm:

It looks like a pretty simple project, and it should have been if I hadn't put my self-drafted bolero lining together wrong way round, and then stretched the right front facing out of shape. This made the jacket sit all wobbly on one side, but was fixed with a lot of unpicking and re-cutting of the lining and facing, and some sneaky piecing together.

Inside view of the bolero - you can just see a sneaky seam on the lower right of the photo where I had to piece a replacement facing together.

The curves at the front wouldn't stay 'sharp' when I ironed them; I was already hugely frustrated by this outfit, so I decided to use spray starch on them. The directions on the can says not to use it on dark fabrics, but I tested it and it seemed fine. Result - lovely front curves! (sounds a bit rude...)

What's so great about the skirt is the pockets, which are usually filled with scraps of scribbled on paper at the end of a days work:

I've been a bit slow at posting recently, so this outfit has already had a few outings at work. It's my new favourite work outfit! It sounds odd, but there's something about having a matching ensemble which makes me feel 'grown up'. Maybe suits aren't such a bad thing after all...

See you soon!

Catching Up On Stuff

How's everyone been doin'? Thought I'd just do a post about the bits and pieces I've been up to recently. It'll mostly consist of a whole lot of stuff I've started, but haven't actually finished! But I've also been to exotic places - well, Budapest - and not so exotic places - Bimingham, eaten some great food and bought some cool sewing stuff.

Let's start with sewing-

Simplicity 6110, circa 1973

I'm finishing off the skirt from this pattern, which I bought a while ago from Raystitch. I love the styling on this pattern so much - someday I'm going to make the ensemble on the far right, turban and all. But for now I'm making the pocketed version in a black twill for work, with a matching bolero jacket.

It's also been time to cull the wardrobe, and I've found a few bits which are either totally worn out, or they can be re-modeled into something better, so expect some posts in the future about re-making and so on.

Knitting-

I finished another pair of socks!

They took a fair while to finish, not because they were hard but because I'm slow. I used Debbie Bliss 4-ply; they went on their first trip outdoors the other day and I can confirm they performed well!

And so I'm straight on to the next project:

I've started this pattern from a 1960's Woman and Home leaflet in a 4-ply wool mix from Drops in this mustard, which is a slightly ugly colour but I love it.

Travel-

I visited Budapest in August for the 3rd time. I love this city! It's beautiful, cheap, and has great cake:

Wonderful cake!

Just your average coffee shop

But they do modern as well - the new underground station

And I traveled not so far to Birmingham for Charlotte's SewBrum meet-up which was fab. 

I'd never been to Birmingham before and I have to say the selection of fabric was excellent. I'm kinda regretting not buying some of this beauty:

It was a lovely day, and I met a whole new set of sewing enthusiasts and bloggers. And if it wasn't for Birmingham, I wouldn't have the next bit to write about-

Shopping-

Singer Overlocker

While chatting to Sarah from a Million Dresses, I found out that Lidl was going to be offering Singer overlockers for the bargain price of £129. That Monday, I was up before sunrise and on my local branch's doorstep for 8.00 am. I seemed to be the only sewist in Hackney there at that time - everyone else was clamoring for the Tefal irons - but if Instagram is anything to go by there were quite a few purchases up and down the country before 10.00. I haven't opened it yet - I'm one of those really annoying people who can wait to open presents - but I've got some ideas for jersey projects so watch this space. I also picked up some cheap overlocking thread, and an eyelet and rivet tool.

And that's pretty much it for now - see you soon!

Minerva Bloggers Network - the Russian Dolls Blouse

For this month's Minerva project, I decided on something small and sweet, namely McCall's 6020, version C.

Version C in white (top)

On the recent Minerva meet-up, I admired all of the cute little prints they had in stock, particularly this one:

And so I turned it into this:

The blouse was pretty simple to put together, with a some bust darts and little tucks at the waist, front and back, for shaping. The trickiest part was the unusual front closure, which called for lots of clipping to produce these crisp right angles:

The sleeves went in really well - the fabric has a tiny bit of natural stretch, so they eased in without the usual puckering and gathering:

I used a catch-stitch to hold the sleeve hem in pace - you can just see a few of the stitches in the picture above.

I can already tell that there's going to be one thing that will drive me mad when I wear this blouse - the collar. The design pretty much relies on interfacing and gravity for it to stay in place, but of course as you move, it moves. I just know I'm going to be fiddling with it constantly!

But on the whole I'm pleased with how flattering this design is - it makes my waist looks freakily small in these pictures!

To finish, I added 3 little red buttons:

And that's it! Just in time for a short break I've got planned in Budapest at the end of the  month, where there are Russian Dolls everywhere you look (don't know why...)

See you soon!

Summertime Shift

It's scorchingly hot here in London at the moment, and I'm terrible at dealing with it. All of my clothes feel too heavy and restrictive. This weather calls for something light and less fitted, something like this:

Vogue 7372, 1960's.
I love how the girl in the beret looks impatient, like she's thinking 'Hurry up , b****es, I've got my driving gloves on so I can drive to Paris in my E-type and steal a painting with Peter O'Toole'

The envelope drawings look pretty structured, and the instructions recommend it to be underlined for stability, but I decided to skip this or it would have been too heavy. 

And here it is:

I used a navy cotton I picked up on a recent diversion to Abakhan's with Katie of What Katie Sews. It's super light without being see-through, and is even a little stretchy on the weft. Best of all, it's sprinkled all over with little apples:

The dress appears pretty straightforward, but being a Vogue Pattern, and therefore aiming to emulate high-end designers, there's more to it than your average shift. Where other dresses would have stuck with a couple of darts here and there, this dress has princess seams front and back, pockets in the seams, tiny little bust darts, and a side zip. There's also a tricky button placket which was a pain to do, but I got there in the end:

And I love the apples so much I even made covered buttons emblazoned with them:

From this...

...to this!

I cut the pattern as is, without any adjustments - the fit seems fine:

This is me doing a 60's model pose

A few construction details-

French seams are my preferred method for finishing seams, but that was never going to work with the curves of these princess seams. Instead, I stitched them as plain seams, finished them with a 3-step zig-zag, then top stitched them close to the seam so they would lie flat:

Inside view of seams

Top stitching detail, with a bar tack at the base of the pocket.

It was a bit of a squeeze fitting the whole dress into the fabric I had - I bought it without knowing I was making this dress - so I had to save space by making half of the pocket with some scraps of red lining fabric:

Pocket detail

And finally the hems - I turned under the raw edge about 4 mm, machined this, then attached the hem to the body of the dress with a catch stitch:

And that's pretty much it!

Have fun in the sun, and see you soon!