flocking bird silk shirt with sleeve tutorial

January 28, 2013June 1, 201441 Comments

My next post as a member of the Britex Fabrics Guest Blogger Team is up today over on the Britex Blog, and I’m sewing with SILK! This gorgeous navy and ivory flocking bird print was completely irresistible to me, and I was so excited to make a beautiful flowy top out of it for my sister Laura. I’ve never sewn with silk before so this was quite a challenge – I had a lot of research to do before I started. The result is completely worth the extra effort I think!

I started with one of my favorite adult patterns, the Wiksten Tank. As I’ve done before, I decided to add three quarter sleeves, which gives the shirt a bit more substance and slightly more formal look, while maintaining the ease of the pattern.

Today I’ll show you my method for adding the sleeves.

First of all, if you’re working with silk, here are a few general tips I picked up. You’ll want to sew with silk or cotton thread, using a microtex sharp needle, so make sure you have those. Next, you’ll need to reflect all of your pattern pieces so you’re not cutting on the fold, but just a single layer of silk.

When you’re ready to cut, head over to my fellow Britex Guest Blogger Jen from Grainline Studio’s tutorial for cutting silk. It worked amazingly well! I cut between two layers of Swedish tracing paper with a rotary cutter and it was a frustration-free experience.

Now, to create the sleeve pattern.

1. Lay your pattern on the right side of your tracing paper and trace around the armhole curve

2. Lay your ruler down at a 90 degree angle to the pattern grain, mark a line as far as you’d like the sleeve (use another shirt of yours for length reference)

3. This is what your pattern will look like so far

4. I added a little extra loft to the shoulder curve to give myself room for a puff sleeve and to add a seam allowance. Draw a slight S to finish the arm curve, then draw a slanted line to the same length as your top line, connecting them with a vertical line (the lighter curve is my original tracing, darker line is my final pattern)

If you’ll be cutting silk, trace out your sleeve again with plenty of room to reflect the pattern so it’s just one piece. If making this out of cotton, you can just use the pattern on the fold. Cut notches where indicated to guide gathers (on your silk, mark these with chalk).

Sew two rows of gathering stitches between your markings, then sew the long sleeve seams together. I chose to serge each side of the seam allowance and press them open, as I thought french seams might be too bulky. Set each sleeve in, gathering what’s needed to match the armhole opening and sewing inside the tube. I then serged the seam allowances together to finish the armhole.

Finish the tank per pattern instructions – for the silk, I used a baby hem and navy cotton batiste bias tape to finish the neckline. You can either choose to hem the sleeve with a baby hem, or a wider one and thread some elastic through to hold it at your elbow.

Enjoy your pretty new silk (or voile, or batiste, or vintage sheet, or rayon) shirt! Thanks for modeling, Laura!!

Head over to the Britex Blog to see my post and leave some love over there if you’d like, and while you’re there be sure to peruse their sale section. The drape and beauty of this silk just can’t be beat (it goes on sale Feb 1).

**Britex Fabrics is a sponsor of this blog and graciously provided the fabric for this project.**

fat quarter pot holder mini tutorial

January 25, 2013January 28, 201314 Comments

my sister Laura is getting married this spring! we’re super excited, he’s a great guy. oh and i get to make another flower girl dress! yay! Em and her cousin are co-flower girls actually, so depending on the design complexity, i might be making two or my mom might make the second one. we’ll see. anyway.

she had a bridal shower last weekend, and i was actually on top of the present-buying for the most part. i had thrifted some great big vintage doilies for table decorations a while ago, as well as a mason jar with bubbles in the glass, both of which fit with her decorating scheme. i also got her a Silpat, since Laura loves to bake. and then because something had to be handmade, i made her some pot holders (starting the night before and finishing the morning of the shower).

i subconsciously matched the colors to the Silpat. haha. the main fabric is from Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley line, and i’m not sure what the binding is (if you know, please tell me!). both are from Bolt.

here’s a quick words-only tutorial for these simple pot holders, which are a great way to use fat quarters, practice quilting if you’re scared of quilts, or to whip up as a quick gift if you have a few supplies on hand. super easy, super fast.

fat quarter pot holders

this tutorial makes two hot pads that are quite large, you can scale them down in the “trim to square” step if they’re seeming unwieldy to you:

grab two fat quarters (FQs) – one for the body and one for the binding – some batting, and twill tape
cut four 9.5″ x 9.5″ squares of FQ, and four 10″ x 10″ or so squares of batting (for two pot holders)
make a sandwich – one FQ face down, two layers of batting, one FQ face up (try to line the FQs up on either side as best you can)
mark a diagonal grid starting corner to corner using tailor’s chalk or disappearing marker – mark lines 2″ apart
pin baste between the lines
quilt using a walking foot along the lines
trim to 9″ square (or smaller – i think 8″ square is standard)
cut 2.5″ strips of the second FQ for binding on the grain, enough to go around each pot holder (you’ll probably have to piece two strips together)
baste a loop of twill tape to the wrong side of the pot holder, and bind using your favorite method. i usually hand stitch to finish my quilt bindings but this time i zigzagged them for speed and stability – this tutorial is great if you need it
make another one
DONE

not too bad, eh? i love how puffy the double layer of batting makes them, and the zigzag stitch will keep them secure through washings.

mmmmm pillowy.

and here’s how i wrapped the gift up. i’m a huge fan of the old “make a wedding rehearsal bouquet from shower ribbons and a paper plate” tradition, and really love to wrap shower presents with fun toppers to add some pizzazz to the practice bouquet.

i wrapped the gift with simple brown craft paper, topped with white grosgrain ribbon and a pom pom flower with felt leaves! i hot glued the leaves to the bottom of the flower to make sure it all stayed put, threading the tails of yarn from the pom pom through a small slit i cut into the felt to tie it to the ribbon.

i’m so looking forward to Laura’s springtime wedding!

oh and if you make a pot holder using this mini tutorial, please add it to the flickr group. thanks!

winter white blazer

January 22, 2013March 22, 201445 Comments

because i had to.

remember when Em wore her brother’s blazer during October’s film petit? it didn’t quite fit her, but still looked so cool that i’d been wanting to make a girlified blazer ever since. finally, with Christmas sewing behind me, i got my chance!

i originally had it in my head that i wanted to do bright blue velvet blazer like this Crewcuts version, but when i went shopping at Fabric Depot with my sister in law, i spotted a creamy white stretch corduroy that i thought might look just gorgeous (and she agreed). the white shouldn’t pose too much of a cleanliness problem…unless her brother comes at her with spaghetti-o hugs.

the pattern is the popular Basic Blazer by Blank Slate Patterns (affiliate links) in a 3T (size chart here). it’s available both digitally AND as a paper pattern, if you prefer (i bought the digital version months back). i’d never seen it sewn for a girl before, so i ended up making some modifications both to girlify it and to put it together in a bit of a different way. i followed the instructions as written when i made it the first time and they worked, but you know how sometimes there are multiple ways of doing things and certain methods just click in your head because you’re more used to them? that.

here’s what i did:

cut the back on the fold, eliminating the center seam allowances
shortened the length by 1.5″ so it hit at her hip, redrawing the bottom front curves
moved the buttons up, marking where i wanted it to close during a fitting
interfaced the collar (both sides) and the jacket facings for structure
clipped into collar’s seam allowance before basting it to the jacket, pinned the collar 1″ from each front edge
added flap welt pocket on the right
lined the jacket using this method, a fab tutorial by Grainline Studio which includes finishing sleeves without hand-stitching (woo!)

i love this jacket. it’s the kind of thing i’d never spend $100 on at a store, but with a fabric store gift card and some elbow grease, i’m super happy it’s now in her wardrobe. i have no idea how often she’ll wear it, but it is very soft and i did make the lining very Em-like so i have high hopes.

i stitched around an elephant-stamped linen patch with metallic silver thread and added a hanger loop; the combo of both make it seem Crewcuts-y to me. the lining fabric itself is a gorgeous dec-weight Alexander Henry print (“Laurel Canyon”) that Caila sent to me around Christmastime because she’s just a super sweet gal. the buttons are a pretty metallic gold/silver flower design.

speaking of metallic, i definitely made her a super twirly (two selvedge-to-selvedge cuts) skirt from Nani Iro sparkly polka dot flannel that i had left over from the commuter cowl to go with the jacket. it’s double topstitched with metallic silver thread and she really loves dancing in it.

get your Basic Blazer pattern here (affiliate link) and please let me know if you make (or have made) a girly one – it’d be fun to see more little gals in blazers! there’s also a Blank Slate Patterns flickr pool if you need more inspiration.

she wanted to show off this sticker. i guess she’s now entering into her Disney princess phase?

social media friends and other stuff

January 19, 2013January 19, 20132 Comments

i forgot to mention that monday i was over at The Train to Crazy for her Social Media Friends series – a great way to link up and build your social media following.

she’s featuring bloggers and their different types of social media pages each week with a linky party to join in, and mine was Facebook! did you know that skirt as top has a Facebook page? i try to link my blog posts over there as soon as i can, and sometimes there are film petit previews and other fun stuff too – just hit like to follow.

taking a cue from Jessica and others, i wanted to share a quick WIP. right now i seem to have a bunch of things in progress (which sometimes bugs me – too many WIPs get me twitchy). but the most exciting thing i’m working on right now is next project for Britex – it’s sewing with SILK! i thought this was a brilliant plan until i realized i’d never sewn with silk before and i had no idea what i was doing. i’m taking my time and scouring the internet before i dive in and ruin some pretty fabric.

i’m finding some great tips from fellow Britex Guest Blogger Team member Jen from Grainline Studio – she made a gorgeous tassel scarf tutorial recently AND has a fantastic tip for cutting silk that totally works and saved me from a lot of cursing and drinking yesterday.

have a good weekend!

two t-shirt nightgown tutorial

January 15, 2013January 15, 201350 Comments

this post is part of the Stretch Yourself Series hosted by Miriam of Mad Mim and Miranda of One Little Minute – all last week they had fantastic and comprehensive tutorials to learn to sew with knits, and this week they’ve invited guest bloggers to share tutorials! Today Leanne and I are sharing loungewear projects. comfy comfy loungewear!

NewImage

when Mim emailed me inviting me to participate in the series, the first project that popped into my head was a simple nightgown for Em. she wants to wear a nightgown to bed every night, the cozier the better, and cycles through them so often hers are starting to show some wear. i wanted to put a little twist on a basic design, use what i had, keep it simple yet fun and modern. presenting the two t-shirt nightgown!

this nightgown is modeled after her favorite store-bought one, and also inspired by Heather. it’s made from two of my husband’s gray t-shirts that didn’t fit him quite right, which i stamped with sparkly pink hearts and stars (a la Celina). the style of it is quite versatile though; it could just as easily be a daytime dress!

if you already know how to draft a simple shirt pattern in your child’s size or learned how from either Mim or Miranda’s tutorials, do that first. i just used one of my favorite patterns, Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee (FBST) as a base. this tutorial will make a nightgown likely fit up to a size 5.

let’s get started!

SUPPLIES

two adult size t-shirts (one will turn into the bodice and sleeves, one will be the skirt – mine were men’s large)
rib knit or stretchy binding material (mine didn’t have quite enough stretch)
if stamping, also gather sticky back foam sheets, scrap cardboard, and fabric paint

INSTRUCTIONS

cut out the proper size of FBST or draft your own shirt pattern. create the nightgown’s bodice pattern by measuring 1″ down from the armpit and drawing a horizontal line onto tracing paper. trace the rest of the pattern, marking the fold and neckline of the original.

if all you have is boring man shirts like i did, stamping is a great way to add personality. it may seem tedious, but i always think it’s really relaxing!

first, draw an image onto the sticky foam. simple is good with this technique. cut one out, then use it as a template to cut another. stick those together for a double layer of foam. stick those to the cardboard, and you can fold up part of the cardboard backing as a handle if you want.

i mixed neon pink and glitter together on a plastic lid, then used a foam brush to apply the paint to the stamp – this helps keep it even. then start stamping the bodies of your t-shirts!

let the stamps dry, then heat set the paint by tossing it in the dryer or hitting it with an iron.

my nightgown’s sleeves have a slight puff at the shoulder – i used a technique similar to Rae’s tutorial, but I only wanted the shoulder puffed rather than the whole sleeve. to do that, i just angled the top of the pattern away from the fold by 1″, but had the bottom of the sleeve match the fold for its normal width at the hem. as i cut, i extended the shoulder line from the pattern, then used that cut sleeve as a pattern for the second one to make sure they matched.

cut the sleeves out, then add notches just down from the top curve of the shoulder to guide where to place your basting stitches. you can also add a little notch right at the top shoulder fold to help place it at the shoulder seam later.

cut out your front and back bodice pieces, then sew or serge shoulder seams right sides together.

sew two rows of basting stitches at 1/4″ and 1/2″ between the notches on your sleeve. pull bobbin thread to gather, lay the bodice flat and pin to the armhole opening, right sides together. sew/serge the sleeve on, then remove basting stitches.

pin the sleeves right sides together and sew, continuing down each short little side seam.

your bodice is ready for a skirt!

grab your second t-shirt. use a straight edge and rotary cutter (or mark and cut with scissors) to cut it off evenly under the armpits – this will become your skirt, already hemmed and everything! if you’re making this nightgown for a smaller girl, estimate your skirt length based on a dress she already owns.

gather the top of the skirt with two rows of basting stitches, pin to the bodice at the side seams, then distribute the gathers evenly and pin the bodice to the skirt, right sides together. sew/serge.