Completed red clothes

I finished the red print skirt, one of the knit tops and the knit skirt. All 3 are comfy and I enjoyed have more red clothes. The 2nd knit top is in time-out and in danger of becoming a wadder. The print skirt didn't need a slit as I cut it with a slight flare. I did use some bias hem facing because I wanted the skirt as long as the fabric was. I have a rayon or rayon/poly blend gabardine that is almost the same color as the knit. I may make a top and skirt from the gabardine.

Dyed rtw, dress form and new project

I am not sure the color is okay on the rayon blouse and skirt . I didn't get them out of the dryer until after dark so I will check the color in the morning. I think they may not be dark enough. If the top matches last month's skirt I may wear them to church tomorrow.

I need a break from finding a skirt I like with the cross-over empire bodice. Inverted box pleats do not work on my body. I undid part of the waist seam on the right side and played with the pleats until I think I have a better pleat. I have no desire to continue with the skirt right now so I decided to sew something else and let this muslin wait.

I have enough red knit to make 2 tops and a skirt. I have a coordinating stretch woven cotton print for a skirt. I am making the woven skirt first. This will be a straight skirt, long as usual. I cut the skirt out and have the pockets almost sewn. These are simple slash pockets like the ones in this post except there is no pump opening. With skirts I just clip the pump to the waistband.

I am going to use a narrow waistband on this skirt. I rarely put a zipper or pocket opening in this casual of a skirt but I might check the zipper stash for a matching zipper. I am going to sew a slit instead of a vent - I didn't remember to cut a vent.

More Dyeing - a project and some WIMS (works in mind)

A couple of weeks ago I dyed a rayon challis skirt and top from Dharma (NAYY) using their new procion mx color mixture called Caribbean Blue. The color was a bit duller than I like and a not quite as blue as the blue rayon skirt I sewed last month. The color was also a bit blotchy. I like un-even dye results but I don't like large splotches.

Last night I put the fabric in a bath with ProChem's Brightest Blue procion mx mixture. I used more wather than the first dye bath since I want more even results. I left container in the tub overnight. I did some initial rinsing this morning and think I will like the results. I will run the top and skirt through the washing machine tomorrow and see if I like it as well when all the dye is rinsed out and the fabric is dry. Fabric looks a couple of shades darker when wet so I wait until the fabric is dry for final decisions.

One of the fun things about dyeing is that a fabric can always go in another dye bath if you don't like the results. The rayon skirt and blouse aren't my first time overdying a less than successful result. 3 years ago I had a teal blouse that took 4 dye baths until I liked the color. I started with a color mixture called teal with a horrible yellow green result. I then over-dyed with Turquoise MX-G twice and then Blue MX-G with the final result a wonderful deep teal. The final color had a wonderful depth with some color variation. I also have a rayon challis that I dyed, discharged and overdyed. The result is a dark navy on the green side. The fabric is pretty but I haven't decided what to make with it.

I have several ideas for more dye projects - there is a reason for the title of my blog. :-)

2 years ago I did a sample of rayon challis with 2 low water immersion baths, one with lavender and one with lilac (both procion mx mixtures from ProChem). The result was a fabric that is a perfect for a top to match a skirt I want to make from a 4-ply silk in my stash. When I start looking at transitional clothes next month I will be considering a using the silk and dyeing the rayon challis.

I have several ideas for screen prints. One is to sprinkle a variety of star and triangle shapped confetti on an overhead and copy the overhead. I will use this to create a screen. I want to try something that can be an overall design without having to register design repeats. I think this idea should work. I am also thinking the it would be fun to mask off outlines of shapes on fabric and print an overall pattern within the outlines. Another idea is some rough brushstroke like patterns that can be printed over a un-evenly dyed fabric.

I have several PhotoEZ screens I made a while ago that haven't been used or have only been used for samples. I want to dye some silk charmeuse with an almost plaid design using purple one direction and turquoise the other in a shiborri pattern that will leave a pattern with lines in it. Where the 2 colors cross the fabric will be blue. Over the turquosise and purple dye I will print some blue japanese inspiried images. I made a sample with a ColorHue silk dye thickened with shaving cream. I loved the results. I had some problems getting the turquoise right when I tried to dye the silk last fall, it is time to try again. I have plenty of silk, I just need some times.

I have 2 fabrics waiting for a swim in a discharge bath. One fabric I will bleach - the fabric is dyed with red mx 8b. This color (called fushia by ProChem and Dhharma) discharges to a yellow green I don't like with thiox. The other fabric is a mixture that uses either red mx 8b or red mx 5b (Dharma's light red, ProChem's mixing red). I will probably toss both pieces together. Last month I bought new gas/vapor cartridges for my respirator so I am set to discharge dye without irritating my respiratory system.

New skirt for the cross-over empire bodice

I really like the cross-over empire bodice but I am not very happy with the skirt. I am making another muslin using my princess line block for the skirt top. This skirt has only a little flare with box pleats on the side front and side back seams. A quick basting of the skirt to the bodice with the pleats not sewn into the seam showed the pleats worked nicely but needed to be sewed closed a bit lower.

I had gathered the under bust gathers into an area 1/2 inches wider and didn't like that. I have now re-gathered them back into the same length as the first dress. The pleats are sewn down longer in the bodice with the depth of the front pleats increased to match the tighter gathering of the bodice.

I am putting pockets in the side seams of the skirt. In the August Sewalong thread on Stitcher's Guild, Melinda posted a link to Sigrid's side seam pocket tutorial that helped me see how I can put a pocket in the skirt.

I like the top of the pocket to be sewn to skirts and dress at the waist seam. Pockets just hang better, especially when I put the insulin pump, keys or cell phone in the pocket. I have been doing an angled pockets and an angled pocket won't work with an empire waist.

I stopped doing in-seam pockets because I had consistent problems with skirts tearing at the bottom of the pocket opening. Sigrid's way of doing in-seam pockets is a bit different and I hope this will solve the tear problem. I have a similar pocket in a RTW rayon challis skirt that hasn't torn in 3 years.

One of the 2 pocket pieces goes up into the waist seam, the other stops a couple of inches above the pocket opening. I didn't sew the top of the shorter pocket piece to the longer pocket piece so my insulin pump should slip easily into either pocket.

Hopefully I can finish the 2nd pocket and baste the skirt back into the bodice tonight.

10 gore skirt

A few weeks ago I was wearing an 2 piece dress I made last summer (details here). The skirt is an 8 gore skirt with some fullness. I decided I wanted a 'twirly' skirt and a 10 or 12 gore skirt would be a good way to make one. I had Thursday and Friday off last week so part of the long weekend was spent drafting and sewing a 10 gore skirt. I used the 8-gore skirt to get an idea of how wide to make the top and how much the waist and hem should curve. I used these 6 gore skirt instructions adapted for more gores. The first muslin showed the gores were too flared and didn't hang well. I narrowed the gores a bit and love the result.

I made the skirt with some rayon challis I bought last summer. I put slash pockets in the side seams and an elastic waist band. I had the skirt all finished except for the hem last weekend and hemmed it Wednesday night. After finishing the skirt except for the hem I tried to make a matching blouse and ended up with a wadder*. I have a print that should match or I might try to dye some rayon to match. The only summer top I have that goes with the skirt is a white t-shirt so a blouse to match is high on the things to sew list.

* A wadder is a sewing project that doesn't turn out - something you wad up and throw away.

Dyed Dress

I dyed the dress last night by squising it into a rope, twisting it and wrapping it around a pvc pipe. I used rubber bands to hold the dress on the pipe. I used a pre-mixed royal blue and squirted it on all the exposed fabric. I then let it batch until this morning when I un-twisted, hand rinsed twice and then washed and dryed the dress. The colors are a bit spotty so I will probably overdye in a semi-even way with the same dye. The already dyed areas will darked but the contrast should be more pleasing.

The picture below is an opening in the right side seam for pump tubing. With no pockets I will need something to anchor the pump, but at least I have an opening for the tubing. I will probably try a safety pin first, if that works I will then look at a permanent attachment for the pump.

Finished Dress

The picture above is the cut out sleeve with the basic sleeve on top. Below is a picture of the finished dress before dyeing.

The dress form isn't shaped exactly like me, the dress fits a bit better on me. The dress is going into the washer tonight and hopefully will be dyed before work tomorrow.

Cross-over bodice changes and adding a skirt

Last weekend I moved some of the armhole dart to the under bust gathers. I also shortened the bodice a bit. I have the hopefully wearable muslin bodice ready to gather. The neckline is finised as are the shoulder and side seams. The next step is to gather the bodice and sew it to some twill tape to stabilize the seam before I add the skirt.

Last night I cut out the skirt. I measured the length of the bodice front to determine where to start the skirt on my princess line block. I decided I wanted a dress and not a top so I lengthed the skirt to be 36 inches below the pattern waistline. This may be too long but I would rather cut off extra than end up with the dress too short.

No pictures yet but I took some of the side back pattern pinned on the fabric and the new cutting lines for the skirt drawn on the fabric.

Drafting a crossover empire waist bodice

Someone on Stitcher's Guild asked how others used a sloper. I am working on bodice for the Pattern Review My Pattern contest and just drafted the bodice yesterday. Here are the details.

My bodice sloper is an armhole princess. I placed the side and center fronts together, matching at the bust point. I moved the side front so some of the dart equivalent in the princess seam formed an armhole dart with the remaining dart amount under the bustline.

If I were starting from a darted block, I would have rotated 1/2 the dart amount to the armhole and half to where a waistline dart would go.

I placed my tracing fabric over the positioned pattern pieces. I traced the armhole leaving the stitching line for the dart unmarked. I also traced the neckline, center front and side seam and marked the apex. These were traced on the seamline, not the cutting line. I then determined where I wanted the waistline and marked that seamline with a curved ruler. The sloper pieces were then removed from underneath the new pattern.

I folded the pattern at the center front and traced the waistline out several inches. The neckline was next, I measured (on me) how high the v-neck needed to be so the neckline wasn't too low. I then drew in a slightly curved line from the neckline just below the shoulder seam to the extended waistline. I measured back from the apex and marked the point of the dart and drew dart lines out beyond the armhole seamline. I folded the dart, and traced the armhole seam in the dart from the armhole seam below the dart.

I then put the side and center backs together in a smilier way leaving the dart excess unmarked at the waistline. The dart amount for my back is minimal and often not needed.

I added seam allowances around using my normal amounts (2 cm on shoulder and side seams, 1.5 cm on armhole and 1 cm on neckline).

The first muslin showed the waist was un-even and the bust gathers were too close to the center front. I pinned waistline changes so the waist was even and marked where the gathers should be moved to. I made a second muslin and basted the underbust gathers. The waistline now even but was too low. I also needed waist darts in the back. I measured how much to shorten the waistline and pinned darts in the back at the waist so I knew what size darts I needed. I made those adjustments to my pattern and have started to cut out a test bodice. I am using fabric I will wear if the pattern works okay that will be okay if it doesn't work.

The 1st muslin was off the bolt I bought last fall when Joann's had muslin on a good sale. That muslin was a bit stiff for this design so I used some softer muslin I had left from a gored skirt muslin/slip. In addition to muslin I buy $1 and $2 fabric from Walmart and check the red tag section at Joann's when it is 50% off.

Sari

I bought this sari on ebay earlier this month. The colors and the block printing were the main reasons I decided to bid on this. The picture is from the ebay listing - the colors are close on my monitor. Click on the picture to see block printing details. There are a few stains on the sari, the listing warned the sari was used and therefore could have stains and other flaws. I have no idea what I am going to do with this fabric. I don't think a sari is a flattering style for me. I will probably hang the fabric where I will see it often until I get tired of looking at it or decide what to make with the fabric.

Deflected Double Weave

I just finished a class in Deflected Double Weave. I have several samples from others as well as the samples I wove. The draft for my second sample can be downloaded in pdf and wif. I will get pictures of samples posted.

Projects

I finsihed weaving a chenille shawl for my niece the last week of February. I am waiting for DN to decide if she wants a cream shawl or if she wants me to dye it another color. I ordered some rayon seam binding on Friday to finish the ends. I used some tricot to finish the edge before sewing a narrow hem on a chenille shawl I wove for my Aunt last spring. It really turned out nice for a no-fringe finish.

I am alomst done with the royal blue dress. The lining is done and the dress just needs the bottom hemmed and a final press.

I started a sample with 2 white rayon boucles, 1 smooth white rayon, 2 black rayons and a unknown cellulose black yarn in the warp. The 2 black rayons are small (20/2 I think). I am using the smooth white and a black rayon yarn for the weft. I am finally using the 2 bobbin shuttle I bought at SOAR 2+ years ago.

Progress and National Wear Red Day

The blue dress is finally moving along. The waistline was a bit of a pain to get even. The pleats were pretty easy (pleats are done as the skirt is pinned to the bodice). The facing is done and will be sewn on before I go to bed. That leaves the sleeves and the hems. I want to enter this dress in the PR One Fabric - Wool contest that ends Thursday. I am looking forward to wearing this dress.

I won't be wearing the dress on Friday. Friday is the annual National Wear Red Day. Heart disease is the number 1 killer of women in the US. National Wear Red Day was started to raise awareness of this often silent epidemic.

Fiber Diet

My stash is too big. I am officially on a fiber buying diet. This is inspired by a thread on PatternReview's message board. During the discussion some of us talked about some wonderful fabrics we have in our stashes. It was suggested we call it a 'Fabulous Free Fabric Feeding Frenzy'.

I have added a in/out list to the sidebar to help me stay on the diet. Saturday I am going to a workshop by Linda MacPhee sponsored by the local ASG chapter. ASG members who have attend her classes in the past say she is great and has lots of embellishment ideas. They also say she will have patterns, fabric and embellishment supplies to sell. I will need some good willpower (or is that won't power?) on Saturday.

Last week I started a dress from the wool gabardine I bought last month. I am planning on entering this dress in the 'One Fabric - Wool' contest on PR. The bodice underlining (5mm silk habotai) is cut out as are the pieces that I am underlining. 3/4 of the underlining is basted to the wool.

I have also been working on dyeing rayon challis to match a fuchsia pink wool skirt I made last month. I am debating bleaching or over dyeing my second attempt. I really like both fabrics, they just don't match the skirt. I think it is past time for some samples.