The Lily Diaries Part 4 - All is rather quiet...

...on the sewing front. Actually, I did try to work on my dress this week, but got stopped by an ironing mishap.
On thursday evening, I had decided to cut my pocket and neckline flaps in advance so they would be ready when time comes to sew the whole dress together,and when the moment came to press, I was all, "why the f*** is this bloody iron leaking like that???" Frequent answer to this kind of question is, RTFM. So I did. Handbook said, "your iron might be leaking because it's not hot enough". OK then, let's heat it up, shall we?
Well, heating up did stop the leaking...but it also burned my fabric and left a huge stain on the sole plate of my iron. You could guess how disheartened I was when I saw that my neckline flap was useless due to the huge hole in it...so I went to bed, and that was all for this day.
The next day I reported my adventures on the CP Forum...and was lucky enough to get an answer from Helen, thanks to whom I shall be much more careful when using my iron in the future. Thank you again, Helen, for reminding me that the steam CAN be switched off.

Therefore, during the week-end, I hacked off the burnt part from my neckline flap and replaced it, and was able to press all my flaps nicely. I also started basting my underlinig on my fashion fabric, and understood that I had overestimated my abilily to get this dress finished over the week-end. It seemed to take me AGES, and it's not even over yet - but probably because, a) I'm doing it for the first time, and b)I'm trying to keep the print as matchy-matchy as possible. I'm lucky I had ordered twice the amount of fabric necessary fo the Lily, because it seems the first piece of fabric I cut will not be enough (hopefully, once I'm done with the dress, there should remain enough fabric to make a shirt for my boyfriend...fingers crossed...)

On the right of the image, you can notice my already-underlined side-back bodice pieces, which I tried to  overlap on my fabric so I can place the back bodice pieces close to them and make it so that the print matches.

Well...all in all, that was quite a wordy post, especially seeing that I had not much to say, actually. So I will leave you for the moment with pictures of hot rods, music and even burlesque (well, after all, my blog is also supposed to be about rock'n'roll, isn't it?) from an event I attended this week-end.
 (NB : these are bands and artist I actually saw live during the week-end, but as I could'nt get to take as many pictures as I wanted, some of them will be from YouTube and so not my own.)

A friend's hot rod. The organizers of the event  had decided not to invite  many car owners this year, so there were mostly customized bikes and only 2 cars in addition to this one. As i like cars better than motorbikes, I was a little bit disappointed.

Hope you enjoy the music!
And this week-end, I think I should be able to finish my dress...just wait and see!

The Lily Diaries Part 3 - Fitting the muslin

Hi everybody!
Last week you were left with a picture of a strapless and zipperless Lily...but I worked at it during the week and here's how it looked on Saturday :

Sorry for the mirror picture...on top of this it's the only full-length mirror in my flat, and not the best thing in front of which to take pictures. Maybe it's not really obvious, but the waist was actually too high, which makes my hips look huge.

So...Here are the critics for this first muslin :

• waist is too high
• skirt is not long enough (but this is only a matter of personal taste)
• there seems to be some excess fabric at the back just above the bum, but this point apparently is only the result of the waist being too high.

Therefore, after taking a few measurements (how much length should I add for the waisline to sit at my natural waist, and for the skirt to fall just a little below my knees for a (in my opinion) kind of more authentic 50s look?), I sat with my non-woven pattern, pencils, scissors, tape and more non-woven interfacing and started slashing-and-spreading my pattern where it was needed. I proceeded that way :

First I drew a line on my pattern pieces. I chose to draw it 2cm above the bottom of each piece.

Then I cut...

...And taped it onto my sheet of checkered non-woven interfacing. I love this stuff, it's really so useful! And after taping, all there's left to do is re-draw the lines between the upper part and the lowest, cut it...

...and voilà! My four bodice pieces, with extra length added! Seems like they're going to match quite well, won't they?

Then I did the same to add some length to the skirt. Afterwards, I traced my new bodice on my muslin fabric...

Why do cats always choose to sprawl on your fabric when you're doing something that requires focus like tracing or cutting? Luckily, this is only muslin fabric...

...and then ripped apart the bodice from the skirt on my muslin, to sew the new bodice on. (I chose not to make another muslin for the skirt part, as I didn't think only lengthening it would dramatically alter the fit).
And by Saturday evening, when I went to bed, everything was sewn in place except for the zipper.

Having a busy Sunday (due to a meeting of the organization I am part of, which is currently organizing a gathering of hot rods, custom cars, choppers and so on, with garage and rockabilly concerts, DJs and other cool stuff), I could't sew a lot, but still managed to hand baste my zipper so I could try on my muslin, and...

IT FITS!My hips don't look as huge as they did now, do they?

And from the back, no sign of too-much fabric left anymore! It might look a bit tight , but that's because I left a big seam allowance as I sewed the zipper on. I won't let it that big when I sew the dress for good.

All in all I had the time to get a good deal of work this week-end, as I even traced the patterns pieces on my underlining fabric and cut them roughly before going to bed. If I can find the time this week, maybe my dress shall be ready to be worn next week-end...

Have a nice week everybody!

The Lily Diaries Part 2 - A muslin...and a name for my sewing machine

Hi everyone!
Well, this time I tried to keep to some sort of a schedule, so this post still relates recent event (more than in last week's post at least).
I think we were talking about the Lily, weren't we? Well, here's how it went so far.
On Saturday, I drew the pattern pieces on my muslin fabric and cut them...

This is Gipsy, who seems to think my muslin pieces make a purrfect cat bed. She got all cranky when I  made her get up to take what I needed.

 And by 6 PM on Sunday, this is how far I'd gotten :

No straps and zipper yet, everything is held together at the back with a few safety pins, but  it looks as if we're going to get there, doesn't it?

Pockets!These were so much fun to sew in place!

Once this was done, I began sewing my straps. I had noticed my bobbin thread was a little bit loose...and this is when my machine chose to give me a bit of a fright. As I had taken the strap I was working on back from under the needle, my machine began to sew by itself (I swear, my foot wasn't on the pedal!!!!), the motor revved up and didn't stop when I switched it off. I had to unplug it and it had gotten so fast the needle broke and the bobbin holder began smoking.


So this is how my machine earned herself a name : Christine. I know, she's not a '58 Plymouth Fury. But she's red. And she's got a bitchy temper.


That same evening, after going out for a drink with my boyfriend, and letting Christine some time to cool down, I managed to sew my straps on (sorry, no pictures) and began hand-basting my zipper.


Have a nice week everyone, see you next week-end to talk about fitting!

The Lily Diaries – Part 1 : tracing and cutting the pattern

Last weekend was the kick-off of my Lily project (sorry, I promised news before Monday in the last post, but I lacked the time to…do it on time, actually). After fabric shopping (off-white cotton voile to underline my main fabric, fusible interfacing, black satin for the contrasting flaps, a zipper and some fabric for my muslin…oh, and the infamous invisible zipper foot mentioned in the post before last, though I have yet to understand how to install it on my machine…maybe I’ll go back to the shop and ask the guy who sold me the machine for advice…) I started tracing my pattern on non-woven interfacing (I just cut roughly around the pattern pieces and didn’t cut them to my size. You never know, in case I had a dramatic weight variation or had to make something out of this pattern for somebody else…) and then I cut it. I now have the main pattern pieces (just bodice, skirt and shoulder straps) cut in my size and, if needed, it is my non-woven version of the pattern that I will alter, and not the original.

Pattern tracing workshop coming soon…

I also used tracing paper (not pictured here) but chose to do without the tracing wheel after a while because the markings were too faint.

In progress...

 …And here are my trusty pattern weights. Yay for canned tuna and soy beans!

Next weekend: cutting the muslin and putting it together. And maybe start to work on fitting, if I have the time.

See you!

Happy birthday…and some sewing news !

Last weekend, I celebrated my birthday (I’m now 29, if you care to know). I was rather spoiled, as you can see.

(Sorry for the blurry phone pic. You might have recognized Colette Pattern's Lily, Sencha, Violet and Ginger, as well as Sewaholic's Lonsdale. Yeah, I know. None of these patterns are actually listed in the to-sew list I tried to make a while back…)

And of course, among what you can see, is my next sewing project…a guess, anyone ? No ? Well, here’s another clue :

Ah, this is becoming clearer now, does’nt it ? I think the Lily would look quite great in this fabric, and I’m even happier with my choice since I saw that a well-known blogger lady, whose good taste cannot be questioned (in my humble opinion at least), is also going to make a Lily in a Hawaiian inspired fabric.

Now here is what I will do : I will try to cover all the steps in the construction of this dress, from  cutting the pattern pieces to sewing the final hem on the finished dress. I won’t be calling this a sewalong, as I am not yet a skilled enough sewer to give any sort of advice. However, of course, you will be welcome to bear with me as I go through the steps until my Lily is done, and comment as much as you like if you have any piece of advice that might be useful.

Having a rather heavy work schedule, I have to warn you that the process will be a slow one, and that I will probably not be as well organized as other bloggers might be. But keep your eyes peeled, I’ll try my best to give you more news before next Monday !

See ya, all !

XX

Introducing...my faithful sewing sidekick.

...There you go. Apologies for the somewhat cluttered background  - I never claimed to be a well-organized person (well, in some areas of my life, such as at work, I try to, but given that I work far from my home and don't spend a lot of time here...well. To the point, now.)
This is what I bought, about one year ago, when I decided to get into sewing. After my birthday, I came into the shop of this sewing machines retailer which I had noticed a while ago, and said, "Hello Sir, what could I get for 200€?" and the answer was..."If that's all you got, then don't buy a new sewing machine, you woudn't get anything but crap that will fall apart after 6 months!". OK then..."However, you can have a second hand machine with a one year guarantee for 100€". Agreed!
And so this is how I got my first ever sewing machine. This model is a Husqvarna Vanessa 5610. I don't know how old it is...I'd say it's from the 70s or 80 judging on how it looks ( a guess, anyone?).
Not having an extended experience of sewing machines, all I can say is that I like it well enough, and basically it does what I want (well, sometimes the main thread and bobbin thread kind of "knit" themselves, if you see what I mean, but apart from that...). It is rather simple to use, with no electronics ( I hope the fact that it's entirely mechanic will allow it to last for some more time...fingers crossed!). It was sold with a handbook, which has come in handy more than once. It doesn't do automatic button holes, but having never used a machine that does, of course this isn't something I miss. The thing that confuses me for the moment is the feet. I have 3 or 4 feet, which do not exactly match those listed in the handbook (well, I understood what the regular foot and zipper foot are for, but I'm not sure about the 2 others), and I think I will have to buy an invisible zipper foot for my next project...stay tuned for that!

Another one down, 12 to go!

Yes, I'm referring to my to-sew list.



Introducing…my version of Gertie’s « layer cake crinoline ». Slightly modified. As I was in the process of making it, I actually decided I didn’t like the length of the « slip » part. So I shortened it by 10 cm (about 4 inches) and added a 3rd tier at the bottom, the same length.

What I’ve learned from this project :

· working with a fabric I really wasn’t used to – organza (I think my organza is a synthetic. Polyester maybe). At first I really thought it was a pain in the…um…neck, because the fabric is so thin, frays easily and is so hard to keep in place.
· And working with elastic. Which was fun, in my opinion.
I wasn’t sure of what it would look like at the beginning, but overall I am rather pleased with the result. From the outside and if you don’t look at the inside, that is. My seams on the inside are actually quite messy, and there’s one thing that confuses me. In the tutorial, to gather the tiers, Gertie advises to sew a piece of cotton string, using a zigzag stitch, on the top of the parts you want to gather, and then pull to gather the fabric. So I did (used kitchen string), and it worked. But once everything is sewn, what to do with the string ? Leave it in place or take it off ?

Well, I’m off to ask Gertie herself !

XX