This is fabric (in case you wondered!). Aren’t they cute? They look like such a happy little couple.
Wordless Wednesday: Happily Married?
February 3rd, 2010Sewing Tip for Tuesday, February 2, 2010
February 2nd, 2010Your thread doesn’t necessarily need to match your fabric. As long as the thread won’t show, it can be any color. Your results will appear neater (on the inside of the garment) if you use a color that blends, rather than clashes, with the fabric. If your fabric is light, use a light thread to prevent little contrast dots along your stitching line. If your fabric is dark, use a dark thread. If your tension is set correctly you shouldn’t have much show-through unless there is a significant contrast between the thread and the fabric. I use white and black thread for almost everything.
The Lingerie Contest: The Muslin
January 31st, 2010Finally, a picture of my muslin. Definately not wearable. 
Wordless Wednesday: African Violet Leaves
January 27th, 2010
The Lingerie Contest: The Lace
January 26th, 2010Here is the lace I plan to use. I’m still not sure about it. I don’t trust my imagination! I don’t think I will know for certain what I am going to do until the gown is finished and I can lay the lace on it just as it would be. We’ll see!
I have ungathered, prewashed, and pressed the lace so it’s all ready for the fateful moment.
The Lingerie Contest: Tracing, Layout, and Alterations
January 25th, 2010Tracing the pattern pieces.
Because the fabric is so sheer, I am adding a lining. I wanted the lining to have less fullness (in the yoke seam) than the outer gown but before I removed any fullness from the pattern I needed to determine the minimum width of the lining piece at the yoke seam (so that the lining would be at least as wide as the yoke). Here I am measuring the bottom of one of the yoke pieces. I turned the measuring tape on its side so that I could measure the curve. 
I later realized that although I don’t want a lot of extra bulk in the yoke seam, I also don’t want a drastic difference between the lining and the gown. So, I’ll have to compromise between these two issues. I have since added some fullnes back in on my lining piece (which is just a copy of the gown pattern piece).
Layout! This fabric is not fun to work with, since it is slippery. However, that isn’t my biggest layout challenge. I don’t have a lot of fabric to work with here and it has some flaws. I’m glad I already decided not to use the sleeves ~ I wouldn’t have room for them.
Alas! I just couldn’t make it work. So, I removed some fullness from the gown piece and shortened the gown a lot from what I had originally planned. Also, when fitting the muslin, I decided to take in the side of the gown some. I was just going to take a wider seam allowance but after the layout problems I went ahead and removed 1/4″ from the side seam. I’ll probably do French seams, and since I don’t think I can do that with a 1/4″ seam allowance, that will probably shave off a little more and (I hope) make it just right.
Now, if I can just make it all fit this time!
Works In Progress: January 21, 2010
January 21st, 2010
Wordless Wednesday: Killing the Fatted Squash
January 20th, 2010
The Lingerie Contest
January 18th, 2010(Wasn’t that an inventive title?)
I’ve entered PatternReview’s Lingerie contest which started January 15th. I haven’t sewn a stitch yet but I have been working on the preliminaries (which I should have been doing before the start date!).
I hope to blog about my project two or three times a week.
Before the contest began, I chose my fabric. I got together a lot of potential fabric and trims, and tried various combinations until I eliminated nearly everything! lol I chose a purple sheer curtain (that was in my fabric stash because I liked the color but had no use for it as a curtain) and some off-white or ivory lace.
Here is the fabric, hanging over my shower curtain.
A close-up shot. The darker is the right side of the fabric.
The fabric is very sheer. In fact, too sheer for a single layer, in my opinion. It just doesn’t look good. I will be making a self fabric lining.
I’ve also chosen to use Kwik Sew’s Beautiful Lingerie to make a short gown. I was originally going to have sleeves but I have since decided against it, so I think I will being going mostly with “Gown A”.
Gallery Updated
January 15th, 2010New samples, plus I rearranged the gallery. It now has individual pages for each pattern company.
