Mini Lounge Collection! Keeping Cozy this long winter - Part 1

Last weekend I had all to myself and decided to sew up a great cozy and comfy mini-collection. The winter in Chicago and the ongoing pandemic just has me crazy fun, comfortable and stylish lounge wear. Something soft and lovely against my skin as we just keep enduring this never ending time of being extra careful just gives me some extra good feels.

I made 4 garments:

Closet Core Plateau jogger, View A with the elasticized hem.

Closet Core Mile End Sweatshirt, View C the hoodie.

Jen Stern’s Easy fit and sew tank top (my TNT tank top pattern)

Self Drafted boat neck top- design inspired from a Sarah Veblen zoom class on developing a boat neck neckline.

I’ll talk about the Closet Core Patterns in this first installment . I must say that I am a bit of a fan of Closet Core patterns. I find them to be very interesting, with well thought out details, great seam lines and always some part has a different way of construction. It’s kind of like sewing with a pattern that goes “what if” we did it this or that way instead of the way 99% of the other patterns say to do it.  Heather Lou owner of Closet Core Patterns is a really great person, also quite interesting! Just like her patterns.

I made no fit changes to the joggers. I cut the size indicated by my measurements and the fit was spot on in the French terry I used. I plan to make another pair in a ponte and see how those fit with just adding a little length at the hem line.

For the hoodie, I cut a size smaller than my measurements indicated. This decision came from comparing the size measurement chart and the finished garment chart. This design has a generous amount of ease. It is a super fun and updated fit with a boxy design and slightly cropped length.

The designs of these garments are fun and i did not make any changes in design, no need too! The hoodie features a side seam that wraps from the underarm around to the front and the sleeves are 2 piece with the front inner sleeve having dual elbow darts and  a dropped shoulder. The front cross over piece has an interesting construction method that I was initially thinking was weird and unconventional. Once made I really appreciated it. The only place you have multiple layers of fabric from the crossover is above the pocket! Definitely not the type of construction that you would see in RTW.

The joggers have an interesting pocket construction that makes for a nice smooth side seam. The pockets wrap around and the back wraps around to form the pocket facing area. Making for very little bulk, a strange looking pattern piece and interesting construction that you need to pay attention to, but very little bulk! Which I appreciate since that is where I carry my extra bulk :)

When planning for my garments, I almost always do some planning and keep a record in a sewing journal. This is a working journal, which means that i write out any planning info, my intentions, a print out of any Procreate sketches and just general thoughts. Then as I progress along the project I add in notes of things I may want to change next time, any notes that I think are important or pertinent, as well as what my next steps are. I almost never finish a garment from planning to start to finish in one go. So I like space where I can keep progress notes. My brain just doesn’t retain all the details and information like I would like it too! 

Fabric for both is a Oeko Tex bamboo/cotton French terry called Limeade Graffiti from online retailer EmmaOneSock. It is sooooooooooooooo soft!! I don’t want to take it off, I think it may only last one season from all the wear it is going to get. The French Terry is also light enough to last well into spring and the print is so fun and so me.

On the joggers I only used 2 small squares of interfacing about 2inches by 2 inches to interface the area of the grommets on the waistband. I used a medium weight fusible tricot(which is the heaviest i use for garment sewing). I fused the squares on top of each other rotating them 90 degrees so that i really controlled the stretch in the width and length. In my test I only did one square and I was able to pull out the grommet. 

In the hoodie, I used a variety of SewkeysE knit stay tapes. I used them on the kangaroo pocket edges, the shoulder seams and the front crossover neckline opening. I took a hands on class with Emma Seabrooke maybe 20 years ago, when she just had a few of these tapes. It was a knit serger class on controlling hems and seam lines and since then I have used these in my knits and swear by them! There are also some other brands or you can cut your own. I won’t sew knits without them. 

Not a lot of notions needed. I used grommets that I had in my cupboard that I am sure were just a package of cheap ones from JoAnn’s from years ago. The lime green drawstring came from an Etsy seller. What would we do without Etsy???

I also used 2 of my favorite labels from the Kyle and The Machine advent calendar. GoGo Juice!! 

Construction wise these came together pretty easily as long as you followed the directions for the tricky parts. By tricky I just mean unusual construction methods that have reduced bulk and gave us sewers something to keep us on our toes. 

Some seams were done on the sewing machine and some on the serger using a 4 thread overlock. The sewing machine used a reduced pressure on the presser foot to keep the fabric from being pushed about and the serger had a differential feed of 1.5. Area where I used the sewing machine are always the shoulder seams. This lets me press the seams open and reduce bulk at the sleeve and the neckline. Also anywhere that is enclosed, like the cuffs and waistband. All other seams are serge constructed. 

Hem finish on the hoodie is a band and the joggers have a stitched elasticized hem. With the elastic serger to the raw edge then turned up and stitched.

I am definitely making more of both of these! I have so many knits of so many different types and I find it endlessly interesting trying different knits and seeing how they will behave in the same garment design.

Next blog post will have the details from the tank and short sleeve boat neck top.

In the meantime I have a couple more ideas on the work table and ready to go. Hint… more joggers and another view of the MileEnd sweatshirt. Still craving the comfy winter clothing especially after the trip to the paradise of Costa Rica!

Happy Sewing!!

Enjoy this pic of The Princess and I wearing our matching aprons and cutting onions for chili  with swim googles on so we don’t cry! LOL!! The things I do for my granddaughter!

Yellow mohair and wool challis dress- Self drafted

This dress was so much fun to make and even more fun to wear! The design started in spring of 2018. I purchased the lovely lightweight printed wool challis from Emma One Sock and brought it with me to Design II workshop given by Sarah Veblen.

I instinctively knew that I wanted to pair the panel with a yellow fabric and I also knew that I wanted some textile that had a different texture. During the Design II workshop we had a day to spend at Michael's Fabrics/ A Fabric Place and between doing my fabric exercises, fawning over all the amazing fabrics and shopping I found a wool mohair by Ungaro that was the most perfect shade of yellow and had such a delightful texture. I fell in Love!! And bought a 1/2 a yard which actually turned out to be more like 3/4 of a yard when I measured it at home! (Thank you Jonathan!)

My original idea was a fitted princess seam bodice with a fitted 2 piece 3/4 length sleeve with a shaped fuller skirt attached at the shaped empire seam and curving around the body to hit at the lower back. I had to modify my design a little bit because I felt like the mohair was going to be overworked and some too hot in a closely fitted sleeve. I played with a bunch of different sketches and finally came up with the idea of using a dolman sleeve. I used Armstrong’s Pattern making for Fashion Design to draft the dolman sleeve and then made modifications for the fit that I wanted. Luckily, I had just enough of the yellow Mohair to cut out the longer sleeves which ended up being somewhere between 3/4 length and bracelet length. 

I made one muslin of the newly drafted bodice and then moved into my fashion fabric. Yippee!

I underlined the entire bodice with silk organza and the entire skirt pieces with imperial batiste and then lined the dress in a bright yellow china silk.

After I cut out and underlined all the pieces with hand basting I pinned them onto my dress form just to get a visual of how they would look. AND... It was OK. Just OK. Not amazing and it felt a little flat to me. Which totally bummed me out since I was really excited about the entire project. SO I left it on the dress form for a while just to let it marinate and speak to me. Thankfully I had an ‘aha’ moment and pinned in strips of the printed wool challis to see what that would look like and it was perfect to my eye! It was just missing that pizzazz. I cut bias strips out of the leftover wool challis and used rat tail cording to create beautiful piped princess seams and piped neckline. This detail really brought the design together and made it cohesive.

The dress was done in time for the Haute Couture Club of Chicago Autumn colors challenge, was worn to a Broadway in Chicago Musical and to the Opera over the winter and also worn in The Haute Couture Club of Chicago annual fashion show. For the fashion show, I paired it with a beautiful fascinator that was made by another member of the club for the raffle. It was so much fun wearing the fascinator on the runway!

Designing, sewing and wearing this dress really ticked off a bunch of boxes for me!

- I let the fabric ‘speak’ to me and adjusted my design to what the fabric would be best in doing.

- This led me to drafting dolman sleeves

- Dolman sleeves are out of my normal fashion box, let me push my boundaries.

- Took the time to assess my design midway through the process.

- Sewing piping into princess sleeves using mohair as the fashion fabric required accuracy and patience!

- I had FUN

Happy Sewing!!

The Princess turned 5 in June and we celebrated her birthday on the beach with a bunch of her friends and had a lovely day!! I can't believe my grand baby is 5...

A pair of Tremont Jackets

This is a fairly easy pattern from Linda Lee and The Sewing Workshop: The Tremont Jacket.. I usually find that I need to do too many pattern modifications to get a good fit for me for this type of garment.  However, I gave this one a go for a day long class at Sewcial 2017 winter workshops in Michigan and I ended up really liking it!

I needed to make a item for the ASG Chicago Chapter sewing challenge. The theme this year was all about sewing Green. I had this fun knit from Emma OneSock that fit the bill for the color and decided to sew it up for the challenge. My original plan was to make it reversible but i really did not like the look of it! To me it just looked like one side was the right and one side was the wrong... I have seen many garments made this way and worn reversible and I honestly never like how they look. 

At the same time as this was happening, my daughter asked if I could make her one as well. Due to her stature, I had to take some length out, as well as take it in in some areas. The longest part about sewing up her version was deciding how to place the plaid design. As you can see in the photo below I alternated the direction of the black and white stripes for the front.

Here are some additional details on the version I made for me. The front band is cut on and just turned and sewn. There is a side split and all the corners are mitered, making the inside nice and tidy and eliminating bulk.

I added a little bit of shaping at the side seams just to make it fit me better. I did not overdue it, otherwise I would have needed a bust dart and then the entire silhouette would have changed. 

Here it is on me... I have since changed the button to a black one- see the very first photo.  This green one just bothered me a bit, stuck out a bit too much on this side of the fabric. I also lowered the button a little bit. For this type of garment I really dont like the button to be right smack between my boobs! And that single green button was like a beacon...LOL!

In this last photo you can see the differences between the one I am wearing and the one for my daughter. The overlap is in the other direction and it is overall an inch and a half shorter.

I am thinking of futzing with the sleeves a bit. The folded back and tacked cuff is nice but in my textured knit is feels a little bulky. I will have to wear it a couple more times and maybe pick out the stitches tacking it up and seeing if I like less bulk. and the 3/4 length sleeve versus this half length.

The Princess and I spending time together! I took her to get a Christmas dress and shoes and we a great adventure together :) However... no Santa pictures! She wont touch that with a 10 foot pole!!

I am off on Holiday to London and The Netherlands so check my Instagram feed for holiday photos! You can find me on Instagram as Siouxzeegirl. 

Happy Sewing!!