BrambleStitches

One of my most favorite customers (hi Kate!) send me a mohair sweater that she was sentimental about, and asked that it be made into something she could use. The sweater itself had accidentally gone through the wash, so was considerably fulled and very distorted. My apologies for the rather poor photos. I took them after midnight in my under-illuminated garage/studio.

Step One: This sweater has a "v" neck, so I cut the body of the sweater off at the base of the "v." For a crew neck sweater you can cut across at the underarms for a slightly deeper purse.

Step Two: As this sweater is fulled, but still has space between the stitches, I wanted to line it. I used a 23" souvenir scarf, because it was approximately the right size. This will keep whatever goes in the purse from getting covered in mohair, too, since this sweater still sheds rather profusely.

Step Three: With pins, outline a pleasing shape for the finished purse. I rounded the corners, because I intend to pleat the top edge when it’s done, and it will look more like a slouchy hobo bag this way.

Step Four: Machine sew and trim away the excess, leaving about 1/2" seam allowance. Turn right side out and steam the seams so they lay flat.

Step Five: Sew the side seams of the lining, then miter the corners. 

Step Six: You could just round the corners of the lining, just like for the
outside of the purse, but by mitering I still get a roughly equivalent
shape, and I don’t have to cut the fabric at all, so I don’t have to
worry about the rayon fraying. The mitered corners are soft enough that
they won’t be noticeable when the purse is assembled.

Step Seven: With wrong sides together, pin the lining into the sweater. The lining is slightly smaller than the sweater edge, so I’ll just ease the knit to the scarf as I sew. I don’t want the lining to show from the outside, so I’ve pinned it about an inch below the edge of the sweater.

Step Eight: I machine sewed the lining in place, because I intend to cover the stitching line with additional trim anyway, but you might prefer to hand stitch it in place.

Step Nine: I’m afraid I didn’t photograph the next few things very well, so I will do my best to explain.  I pleated each side to the center, and pinned it in place to check the effect. The top of the purse would have been much too wide, otherwise. I also found this beautiful ribbon in my stash, and sewed it on as a handle. I sewed vintage white rick rack around the top of the purse, directly over the lining stitching line. The rick rack stitching holds the pleats in place, too.

That’s it! I steamed the purse a final time, and now it’s done! Sentimental sweater revived, mission accomplished.

Sewing

I inherited most of my Baba’s sewing notions and fabric, and included in the many bags and boxes of supplies were dozens of vintage zippers.

I, not being one to let vintage supplies go to waste (but then who is?) figured out a little project to use some of the zippers up.

Thus the zippy pouch was born.

Sewing

I know that in some parts of the country it is still snowing, and in some parts of the world, winter is just getting underway. But here in the desert spring has sprung, and that means it’s summer. It seems to arrive earlier than we expect it each year. It’s been pretty warm for a couple of weeks, now, and we’re dying to turn the swamp cooler on, but none of the hardware stores have filters yet. So until then, we’re keeping the fridge stocked with cold beer, and we’ve even broken out the popsicle molds. But the real point of all this is that I’m in the mood for summer sewing. Today I whipped up this totally adorable sundress for the shop, and I’m going to make one just like it for Olga’s birthday next week. I think we’ll have a whole closet full of these sweet dresses by the end of summer.

P.S. There’s no pattern for this dress, it is just a different take on the traditional pillowcase dress.

Sewing

I’ve finished another little outfit for the reconstruction project. This time, its an outfit for a newborn boy (size 0-6 months). I used a sweatshirt and a ladies flannel shirt for these.

The pants are made from the arms of a heavy sweatshirt, and they were super quick. I just estimated the crotch curve, then compared them to an existing pants pattern I have. I thought some knee pads would be cute, so I used the tops of the sleeves to cut out patches, then sewed them on with a three-step-zigzag, so they’ll be nice and stretchy. I serged some elastic onto the waist, then turned it to the inside and top-stitched it down from the right side. Easy as pie.

The shirt turned out so cute! Since I intended this to be for a boy, and since the original garment was a ladies shirt, I turned this upside down before I cut it out, so I could use the original buttons and button holes. (Ladies and mens garments button on different sides.) There was even enough to cut out a hood, and I think it’s so cute! Since drawstrings aren’t safe, especially on baby things, I made a casing with elastic in the hood.

I love this set!

Sewing

I finished the little red dress this evening, and it came out even cuter than I had hoped! See here for the original post. Both of the fabric proved to be incredibly fiddly to work with. Velvet is always fiddly so I expected that (side note: I love stretch velour–it is a dream to work with) but the houndstooth skirt was unexpectedly slippery. It wiggled all over the place, and frayed like crazy. I finished all of the edges with my serger, so that should keep everything in check.

The lining fabric I had in my stash worked wonderfully. I also used it for the underside of the collar. It helped to keep everything the right shape, especially with the aforementioned wiggling. As it was, I still had to unpick my basting stitches twice before I got the neckline to match up properly.

I love the ribbon I used to accent the front. I didn’t have very much, and I guess I’ve never paid much attention to this ribbon in my stash, because I realized when I pulled it out that much of it was damaged along the edge. My original plan was to insert the top of the ribbon in the waist seam, but I liked how the ribbon looked on the bodice, too.
Do you see that I tucked a little bit of gathered lace into the top edge of the ribbon? I planned it to look like a tiny corsage. This is a fancy baby’s dress, after all!

Sewing

Last week I cut out a bunch of shoes, but I didn’t get a chance to work on them until last night.

I’ve got some brights, some vintage, and some Saint Patty’s Day shoes coming up. Some are already in my shop.

I’m also really looking forward to receiving a big ribbon order I put in recently for pretty grosgrain ribbon. It’s for my new style of fancy baby girl shoes.

I’ve tweaked the pattern just a little since I made this pair, to include a little bit of elastic in the heel. So not only are they totally adorable, but they’re just as practical as my original shoes. I’m loving the vintage/retro look for these, so I’m scouring my stash for tiny bright calicoes, tone on tone geometrics, and pindots. The eyelets are applied with my vintage Bates eyeleter, inherited from my Great Aunt Becky.

Sewing, Shop updates

I’ve pulled together a few things to make the first thing
for the reconstruction project. Kate sent this wonderful velvet shirt and crinkly
houndstooth skirt. I pulled this wonderful wide ribbon out of my stash, along
with some sort of odd lace. It has a ridge just off center down the whole length, and I think it is meant to be folded in half and used as insertion. I
also found a lovely red lining fabric from my stash. This is going to be a baby
dress. The skirt will be the bodice, lined with the lining (duh), and the
velvet will be the gathered skirt. Buttons from the skirt will go down the
back, and I’ll use the lace and ribbon to dress everything up and tie it all
together. I’ll add a peter pan collar, too, I think.

I really love this project, and it’s making me think a lot about my own wardrobe. There are a lot of things I have in my closet that I can’t wear, but keep for other reasons. Many things I just don’t have the figure for (I can fit into them, I just can’t fill out the curvy bits). Some of them are delicious fabrics, but totally frumpy. And some are just too rough. Ever since my bout with shingles a couple years ago, I’m very sensitive to rough spots on fabrics. I especially notice rough seams, and I’ve had to throw away several things because I just couldn’t tolerate them. When I finish this project, I’m going to take a serious look at my own things, and see what I can remake out of them. Maybe I’ll finally be able to wear some of the things that have been in my closet for years.

Sewing

I have taken on a new project, and I’m so excited about it. A client approached me with the idea of transforming some of her old clothes into something else. What else, exactly, is up to me.

I finally had a chance to take a good look at the things she sent today. These are mostly heavy-weight, long sleeved shirts and over shirts, and mostly neutral colors. Beautiful quality, but all are damaged in some way.

Do you see these? I’ve got to know the story with all those sweaters! I just giggled when
I saw that every one of them had a chunk missing on the back. At first
I thought, "gee, one of her dogs must have snagged this." Then when I
saw the second one I thought, "hmm… I wonder if she sits in a sort of
broken chair that sometimes pinches her clothes." And then I thought,
"maybe this is some sort of strange secret society initiation… cut a
chunk out of clothing at every meeting…" (Okay, so I didn’t really
think that.) Now the only conclusion I can make is that these are store
returns, and the little chunk got mailed back to the manufacturer. What
a score, though! They’re beautiful!

I went to the source to find the real story:

[condensed] "My husband runs a very large catalog company group. Two years ago- he asked me to quit my
job to come help open
a store in his building to sell the products that were returned and/or
non-refurbishable for resale. So- I got the first pick of many many
things- clothes were a major influx into mine and my friends lives for
about 9 months.

However- I also got the first pick
(I love being the boss’ wife) from the "perfect sample room"- this is
where they kept a perfect sample of any item sold in the catalog.
Sometimes there were items that were discontinued from the catalog so
they would be removed froom the perfect sample room. Well- if there was
a hole in stuff (which the manufacturer would do to prevent the sale of
the extra item included into the shipment)- we couldnt sell it really-
as we did try to have a nice store. But I couldnt bear to part with
clothes that only had a small hole in the back. I tried to be cool
about wearing them- saying things like "I dont care" or "no one will
notice"… But alas, both statements we not true.

Well, I was
always given those clothes free- I vowed to fix them myself with bits
of material that I bought from walmart in the discount bin- but never
did it.

The co-workers used to make
fun of me because I would dig in the garbage to pull out the shirts
with holes after a newbie would have thrown them away. Pants were saved
as well. I figured I could always cut them off for shorts.

And that is the story of how most of the clothes I
send you will have holes. Or rips, or tears. I should have made a very
creative one up about dogs chasing me and ripping out bits from my
back…."

Sewing