Why Do I Get Myself Into These Things?

The past few weeks I have been working frantically getting together a shirt that will be featured in a silent auction to benefit the roller derby team that I skate with.  In a fit of insanity, while we were planning our fundraiser, I said "I can make an embroidered western shirt for the silent auction."  Then 20 minutes later I came to my senses and thought "WHAT HAVE I DONE????"

Anyway, I pulled myself together and thought..."I can DO this!"  Here is the final product:

The embroidery is based on classic tattoo flash:

In making this shirt, the first challenge that I had to address was that I had no pattern for a western shirt.  I wasn't enamored of many of the patterns that I had in my stash from the Big 4, so I checked some of my old issues of BurdaStyle, and found in the August, 2009 issue this pattern:

Granted, this looks absolutely NOTHING like a western shirt, but without the pocket and ruffles, it was a good starting point, with a nice shape.  So, I just drew my own pattern for the yokes and then traced the artwork that I wanted to use onto my fabric:

Then I just started stitching:

Three years later, I was finished.  The shirt was cut from a straight size 44, and made from a black stretch sateen.  I used purchased piping in lime green, and the yokes, cuffs, and collar were a fairly stiff quilting cotton.  I chose quilting cotton because I wanted it to stand up to the abuse of the embroidery.  To keep the stitching from coming out, I fused interfacing on the back of the stitches after the embroidery was complete.  I used pearl snaps from Snapsource.com for the closures.

Because I wanted that shirt FOR MYSELF, I couldn't help myself and made a second (non-embroidered) for myself:

For this one, I used pink piping rather than lime.  The skull fabric is a quilting cotton purchased a million years ago, which then languished in the stash since I thought it was adorable, but had no clue what to do with it.  I also got HOT PINK pearl snaps from Snapsource.  Their packages of 10 are exactly enough for a shirt:

This shirt was made from exactly the same pattern as the first except I gave it a touch extra room from the waist to the hips.  When I tried on the first one, the back bound up a bit because it wasn't wide enough to drop down over my hips.  So, about an extra inch in total (so really, just 1/4 inch on each side seam) was plenty.

The auction is this Saturday, and hopefully the embroidered shirt will bring in some good bids.  I'll let you all know how it goes!

Two Things...

First things first...This week I have been working on a project completely unrelated to any of my planned sewing.  I have been working on an embroidered western shirt that will go into a fund-raising silent auction.  I have until March 31 to finish it, and right now I am about 2/3 of the way finished with the embroidery.  The silent auction is part of a fundraiser for my roller derby team, so given the audience I used vintage tattoo flash to create the embroidery.  Here is the tracing:

I used the more traditional motifs, such as nautical stars, roses, and sparrows.  I have a black stretch sateen for the shirt itself, and some lime green piping to go along the edges of the yoke.  I am using a BurdaStyle pattern for a shirt with both bust and waist darts for shaping, and I have pearl snaps for closures.

The yoke itself is just an overlay that goes over the shoulders, so I just used the shirt pattern to trace off the pieces.  It was simple enough to transfer the pattern to the fabric, I just laid tracing paper underneath my drawing and used a knitting needle to run over all the lines...the pressure then transferred the tracing to the fabric.

Here is a closeup of one of the finished front yokes:

To keep the stitches from coming out with wear, I took a piece of fusible interfacing (Fashion Sewing Supply, of course) and pressed it over the stitches on the back.  It won't show, because that will be in between the layers of fabric on the yoke.  Here are the finished fronts:

The eventual results will be very similar to this shirt I made for my husband:

I did say that I had two things...the second thing is a shout-out for Fashion Fabrics Club.  I know that a lot of people hate their slow shipping but let me tell you how awesome they are.

I recently purchased four lengths of fabric from them, and because their warehouse is about 4 miles from my house, I always just go into their front office and pick up my order rather than have it shipped.  Their slow shipping is because of some unholy alliance between FedEx and USPS...they always have my orders ready to pick up in a couple of days.

Anyway, I have a terrible habit of not entirely READING the fabric descriptions and one of the fabrics that I selected was laminated (how did I miss that?).  So when I got there and saw it I was a bit confused.  The ladies in the front office took a look and one of them said "Oh, you know, we have that exact fabric in a non-laminate.  Let me get one of the warehouse guys to get it down."

Except it was 10 minutes till 5, and the warehouse was already closed and locked up.

So, rather than saying "Sorry. Come back tomorrow" she opened up the warehouse, climbed all the way to the top shelves, pulled down the fabric along with 3 more similar ones just in case I wanted to look at those, brought them to the office and rolled it out and cut it right there on her desk.

Anyway, I know that going TO the warehouse isn't an option for most people, but even if I did have to wait for shipping, I would still be a loyal customer at FFC.  Their prices are better by far than most other vendors, and occasionally you get one that isn't exactly what you expect...but with their prices, I just use it for muslins (and let's face it, normally when I get one I don't expect, it's because I didn't read the description to begin with and made assumptions based on the photo).  But, reopening the warehouse at 10 minutes to five is really above and beyond; not to mention with thousands of fabrics, WHO can actually look at something and say "Oh, yeah...we have another version of that one?"

I'll have a finished western shirt soon...stay tuned, and I hope the rest of the embroidery turns out well...

Making Tentative Plans

Since I have slowly been getting back into sewing, I have been tentatively making plans for upcoming garments.  By this time last year, I would have had 40 different fabrics laid out, making plans for spring and summer sewing!  But this year, since I am just getting back into the swing of things, my plans are much more tentative.

I also just. can't. pass. up. a fabric sale, and I succumbed to the recent cotton sale at Fashion Fabrics Club and got two pieces of lawn (plus additional for underlining) for summer dresses.  Although this one makes me think of the Portlandia skit "Put a Bird on It," it looks very "Anthropologie" to me and I think it will make a great shirt dress:

Thanks to the super-sale prices, I also got some ivory eyelet, and ivory lawn for underlining:

I am leaning towards using McCalls 4769, a pattern that I have made before:

I've made the shorter version in the past and the shape and fit is very nice.  It's also a classic, so with the right styling you can get a retro vibe without resorting to vintage patterns with the challenges of having to completely change the proportions, working with only a single size in an envelope, etc.

I won't get a chance to do much this weekend because I am leaving for a conference for work on Sunday, and will be in Arkansas through Wednesday.

In other news, our very first exhibition bout will be March 11th for our roller derby league.  I have been working hard to pass my minimum skills tests so that I can play.  The big stumbling block for me right now is speed.  You have to be able to do 25 laps in 5 minutes, and so far my best time has been 5:21.

I'll keep you posted on the progress with the dresses...and the 25 in 5.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!