Learning to use my New Cover Stitch Machine

Christmas gifts I received recently included a Janome CoverPro 2000CPX cover stitch machine... something I had been dropping lots of hints about in the lead up to Christmas. I also received the clear view foot, as everyone on IG had suggested it was a necessary accessory. I did hubby's Christmas shopping for him and ordered it online from sewingmachines.com.au for the sale price of $849.00 with free delivery. This sale price is still current and goes up to $999.00 on 16th January, so if you are after one you had better get in quick. My daughter sent me this adorable Liberty pin cushion shaped like an apple along with a gift card for Spotlight. My son has ordered The Tunic Bible by Sarah Gunn and Julie Starr, which was out of stock, so I am looking forward to receiving it mid February. These were all very welcome additions to my sewing room.

I squeezed the CoverPro in between my overlocker and my sewing machine on my sewing desk. I think this set up works ok, even if it is a little crowded. I just have to be careful to use the right foot pedal with the right machine.

I'm so glad I got the clear view foot too. It makes it so much easier to line up the stitches when sewing in the round. I really knew very little about cover stitching so I searched for info on the internet and I discovered that Craftsy had a new course for beginners on sale, at the time, so I bought it straight away. I'm so glad I did, as it was very informative, explaining the basics as well as showing the more decorative ways of using the cover stitch.

I decided to sew a nice simple project for my first go at using the CoverPro. So a Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono Tee fit the bill nicely. I have made this tee before and I have tweaked the pattern to improve the fit on me, by lengthening it and scooping out the neckline.

The fabric is a lovely 100% cotton jersey purchased from Spotlight. As it had no lycra or spandex component I used a scrap of white cotton/lycra for the neckline binding.

I used Bondaweb T10, an iron-on adhesive to secure the hems before cover stitching. I buy this from Knitwit. This resulted in nice even stitching with no tunnelling.

I did find it difficult to keep the stitching straight and wrap over the raw edge consistently. I found that it's better to sew slower rather than faster for the best result. I used a piece of tape as a hem guide which worked just fine. I'm not sure it would be worth the cost of purchasing the accessory specifically for this purpose. I did a pretty rough job of cover stitching the seam allowance of the neckline binding down, completely missing the raw edge in places. It looks ok from the outside so I left it as it is, vowing to improve that on the next one.

I was keen to try again, so I dug this red striped cotton jersey out of the stash. This is another Spotlight purchase from a few years ago, but it was printed terribly off grain. I thought I could make it work in this simple tee, so I cut it out, ignoring the grain and focusing on matching the stripes.

This stripe matching business adds so much time to what should have been a very quick sew. I meticulously pinned every stripe and sewed the side seams on my sewing machine, later finishing the seams on the overlocker once the stripes were matched.

Both pairs of shorts worn with these tees are RTW, purchased from Rockmans in the 50% off sales leading up to Christmas. These are the first RTW garments I have bought in ages but I could not have sewn these myself for less than what I paid for them.

The sleeve hems were cover stitched before the side seams were sewn.  

Knowing the difficulty I had with cover stitching the neckline on the first tee, I took particular care with this one, achieving a much better result.

I can see that my skills will improve with practice. I am so glad that I watched the Craftsy course before I started practicing as I didn't have any significant issues at all with that new found knowledge fresh in my mind.

I have had a lovely two and a bit weeks off work for the holidays. I managed to sew two dresses and two tees, participate in Christmas and New Year festivities, enjoy family visiting and do some gardening. Well, all good things come to an end and it's back to work on Monday.

Jean

Maria Denmark Edith in Blue

As I was rushing out the door on my way to work this morning, I managed to talk my darling husband into putting on his photographer's hat and taking a few shots of my third attempt at the Maria Denmark Edith Dress. 

You can read about my earlier attempts here and here. As the saying goes "third time's the charm". I am really happy with both the fit and the fabric for this one.

The fabric was purchased locally at Patchwork on the Bay. It is a lovely soft 100% cotton chambray. The colour is a lovely blue with black undertones. The bright blue threads can be seen along the selvedge. This was a lovely fabric to work with. It sewed and pressed beautifully... a very well behaved fabric which certainly added to the pleasure of sewing.

My pattern alterations can be seen much clearer in this version with the plain fabric. It was rather difficult to see the details of dart placement etc in my second version with the jungle inspired print.

I only had 2.5 metres of this fabric (112cm wide) so I had to piece the self made bias binding together to finish off the kimono sleeves. This worked out fine and I'm glad I went to the extra effort to do this.

I found these blue buttons at the same shop that I purchased the fabric from. They are a perfect match and the shop owner even threw in an extra button, no charge, as it was the last one left in the tube. This could come in handy if I ever lose one. Love the service at Patchwork on the Bay. I did some research on which direction button holes should be sewn and I discovered that garments with a button band usually have vertical buttonholes as there is not enough room to make horizontal buttonholes. That made complete sense to me, but this dress doesn't have a button band, it has a generous facing that allows plenty of room for horizontal buttonholes. I thought horizontal buttonholes would be safer...less likely for any wardrobe malfunctions if the buttons are put under any strain.

I have had some fun accessorising with different coloured necklaces and scarves to change the look. I think the blue is a little plain on it's own and benefits from a splash of contrasting colour. Very happy with this one!

Happy Sewing

An Edith Dress for Jungle January

After my initial attempt at the Edith Blouse and Dress pattern by Maria Denmark here I was enthusiastic to try again with a few changes. I purchased a jungle inspired print from the bargain shelf at my local Bargain Box Fabrics for only $5.00 per metre. It was some sort of cotton? I think, with a lovely drape. Perfect for Jungle January.

As I noted after making the blouse, I made a few changes to the pattern. Firstly, I retraced the pattern in the bigger size B44 ( and added 1.5cm seam allowances). I hope I didn't mislead people in my last post regarding the sizing of this pattern. I think the pattern corresponds well to the sizing chart, I was just in denial about my actual size. As a side note regarding fabric requirements, Maria only provides fabric requirements for 140cm wide fabric. I used 112cm wide fabric and I cut the blouse easily out of 1.5m and the dress out of 2.5m. (This did not allow for making bias binding).

In order to address the issues of the bust darts being too high and the armholes being too small I did a very simple alteration to the pattern pieces. I simply slashed the pattern horizontally above the bust darts and through the armholes and spread it by 2cm.

I also cut off 7cm at the hemline to allow the hem to finish above my knee. 

I am really happy with the fit now. 

Sorry about the wrinkles but these photos were taken after wearing the dress all day at work.

I did have enough fabric to make some bias binding to finish off the sleeves. 

The darts at the back shoulder create a nice fit.

I used white thread for the construction and top stitching. I did think about using black thread to sew the buttonholes because I was using black buttons, but I am glad I went with white as they are quite unobtrusive and disappear into the print of the fabric.

I turned the hem up 1.5cm twice and top stitched. This is a really comfortable dress and I am so glad I tweaked the fit to make it work for me. Well worth the effort.

This jungle print is certainly something I wouldn't normally wear...not really my colours, but I am pleased with the finished result. I already have another Edith cut out in a completely different fabric for a totally different look, and I have a few more blouses planned as well.

It has been fun to participate in Jungle January too.

Many thanks to my daughter for taking these photos for me.


Happy Sewing

Maria Denmark's Edith Blouse: A Wearable Muslin

After admiring the Edith Blouse and Dress out there in blogland, I have finally had a go at making my own. I loved Paola's dresses at La Sartora here and here and Heather's blouse from Handmade by Heather B here. Let's just call this a wearable muslin.

This is a PDF pattern, but I must say the pattern tiles fitted together much better than any other PDF patterns I have tried. My only gripe being that you have to add your own seam allowances. I found this just another tedious step that certainly added a lot of time to the process. You have to print the pattern, tape it together, trace off the required size and then add seam allowances. I don't understand why they are not added in the first place. Imagine how many hours are wasted if you added up the time it takes each individual person to complete this extra step, when it could have been included in the pattern. As you can probably tell, I was very annoyed.

Anyway, getting back to the blouse...the style really appealed to me. Fitted, but not overly fitted and no sleeves to set in. I thought this would make a great blouse to wear to work.

I thought I would start with the blouse to get the fit sorted, before I tried the dress. I bought some cheap pink poplin from my local Bargain Box Fabrics specifically for this and I cut a size B42 with 1.5cm seam allowances. I did add 5cm extra length at the hemline because I prefer to wear my tops a little longer. After sewing all the darts (8 in total) I decided I would just machine baste the shoulder and side seams to check the fit. I am so glad that I had the forethought to do this because it sure made the unpicking a lot less painful. This size was way too small. I don't know what I was thinking when I cut this size. Maybe I was thinking it would be like the Big Four patterns which have loads of unnecessary ease. I almost binned it at this stage until I realised I had added quite generous seam allowances so maybe it could be saved. I proceeded, with a new determination to make it fit.

After unpicking the basted seams, I scooped out about a cm from the bottom of the armhole as these were very tight. The shoulder seams were re sewn with a scant 6mm seam allowance which effectively added another cm of room to the length of the blouse. I decided to finish off the sleeve hem with some purchased bias binding. (I didn't have enough fabric to make matching bias binding). I did this step before sewing the side seams. The curve at the bottom of the armhole is quite tight and I thought this would be quite difficult to attach the bias binding in the round. Then I sewed the side seams with a scant 6mm seam allowance, effectively adding another 4cm of room to the width of the blouse. I was careful to line up the seam evenly at the underarm to create a nice neat finish. To stop the seam allowance peaking out at the underarm, I fold the tail of the overlocking threads under the seam allowance and then stitch the seam allowance down for about a cm to keep everything in place.

Another quick try on and I decided I could definitely make it wearable. This is actually quite an easy blouse to sew. None of the techniques required are terribly hard and I was enjoying the sewing process. I attached the collar and the facing and all was looking good. I must have started to rush as I could see the end in sight...a bit like a horse bolting for home, because I got careless. 

I was grading and clipping the seam allowance after attaching the facing...snip snip snip *#%@! I had snipped two little slits in the back of the blouse. I had invested too much time and effort into this blouse to abandon it now. What to do??? The slits were right at the top of the back of the blouse, almost covered by the collar on the outside and totally covered by the facing on the inside. My solution was to iron a small circle of fusible interfacing over the slits on the inside. So far they have held together and it has been through the wash twice now.

I made the buttonholes as close to the edge of the front as possible and positioned the buttons to provide as much room as possible. When sewing the hem I curved it up at the side seam. I thought this would look more flattering than a straight hem all the way around. The fit is still a little too close. The bust darts are too high but it's passable...a wearable muslin.

I have a renewed enthusiasm to try this pattern again. Notes for next time: 

• Cut the larger size
• Add 2cm length to blouse by cutting and spreading approx halfway between shoulder seam and top of front darts. (Do this to front, back and facing pattern pieces).This will do two things: lower the darts by 2cm and add an extra 2cm to the armhole depth.
• Add 3cm of length at the hemline.
• Curve hemline up at side seams.

Looking forward to making a much better fitting Edith soon.

Happy Sewing

Rachel Comey Skirt and Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono Tee Take Two.

Front in seam pockets.

After reading the many rave reviews of Vogue 1247, and seeing the multitude of various takes on this pattern in the blogging community...I was persuaded to try it for myself. I will only be discussing the skirt as I have not made the top yet.

Line Art

Invisible zip

This skirt is super short. I added 10cm (almost 4 inches) to the length. This has still resulted in the skirt being quite short, and I will add more length before I make this again. I also added a bit of flare to the side seams to exaggerate the A-line shape.

Side view

Originally I cut a size 16 which fitted well in the waist but was quite loose at hip level. I took the side seams in quite a bit to fit better at the hip line. In hindsight I should have cut size 14 and graded the waist up to size 16.

Inside front showing pocket bags.

I didn't bother with using bias binding to bind the raw edges as instructed. I just overlocked the raw edges to finish them off which has worked out fine, just not as pretty.

Inside back

The fabric used was a non stretch denim purchased from Spotlight quite a while ago. It was really too heavy for this skirt. It is quite stiff and tends to ride up a lot when sitting, and is not very comfortable to wear. The waistband was cut with one edge along the selvedge of the fabric. You can see the green stripe along the edge of the waistband. I secured it by stitching in the ditch from the right side and because the raw edge did not require turning under, this method eliminated some bulk. The hem was hand stitched.

Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono Tee

With the remaining white cotton lycra from my quest to find the perfect white T-Shirt, I have made another Kirsten Kimono Tee by Maria Denmark. 

Side view

I have made a few adjustments to the pattern to improve the look and the fit. Firstly, I lowered the neckline by 5cm (2 inches) at the centre front, using a french curve to redraw the neckline. When laying the front pattern piece on the fold of the fabric, I skewed the centre front slightly so that it pinched out about 1cm from the neckline and added 1.5cm width to the centre front at the hem line. I also did a swayback alteration according to the last method in this tutorial. To balance the extra width added to the hemline of the front, I added 1.5 cm to the side seam width of the back at hem level, blending back up to the waistline. 

Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono Tees

In the photo collage above you can compare my first version with my second version, after my alterations. I think the second version definitely looks and fits better. 

These two additions to my summer casual wardrobe work well together and can be combined with many other tops and bottoms as well, making these very useful garments.


Happy Sewing

A Tale of Three White Tees

My wardrobe was seriously lacking some basic white Tee shirts so I set about to remedy the situation. I had four metres of a lovely quality cotton lycra jersey purchased from Spotlight back in July. I really splurged on this fabric, paying $20.00 per metre with the idea of making some good quality T-Shirts that would stand up to lots of wear. I had several patterns to choose from in my pattern stash and first I chose the popular Kirsten Kimono Tee by Maria Denmark.

This is a great pattern...simple design, easy to sew and comfortable to wear. I cut a straight size BL based on my bust measurement.

There does seem to be excess fabric pooling at the lower back. Probably should do some sort of sway back adjustment before I make the next one.

Although the front is sitting nicely in this photo, it was a little too firm around the tummy and did gape slightly at the front neckline. To fix this problem for the next one, I thought I would angle the centre front edge of the pattern when positioning it on the fold for cutting, so that the neckline is reduced and the hem line is widened. I love the kimono sleeves (no sleeves to set in). I finished off the neckline with the binding as instructed in the pattern. All seams were sewn first on my sewing machine and then finished off with the overlocker. Hems were all sewn with a twin needle. This fabric was easy to sew and behaved very well.

My second choice was the Style Arc Ann T-Top. 

I cut a straight size 12 which is my usual Style Arc size. I got over confident and overlocked the neckband on without first attaching it with the sewing machine. This would have been fine if it had been the right length but it was way too long and resulted in a very loose neckband. This involved a lot of very tedious unpicking. I reduced the length of the neckband and resewed it, (I may have been a tad over zealous as it looks a little too short now, creating a slight gathered look). I am happy with the fit through the shoulders and chest but the lower portion of the shirt is too loose and saggy...bordering on frumpyville.

The back fits nicely apart from being a little clingy to the lower back fat. (I was very disappointed when I saw this view, better get back on the treadmill)

The sleeves are a nice length too and there is plenty of fabric to do a decent 2cm hem which looks nice. I do like how the shirt is loose around the ribcage area which does camouflage a bit of excess padding in that area. The gathering at the side seam is done by sewing on some clear elastic (stretching as you go) to the seam allowance before sewing the side seams. This step was quite tricky to do neatly. 

For the next one I will need to add some width to the lower back piece and reduce some width from the lower front piece. Then I think I will have a flattering fit and remove the frumpy factor.

The third pattern I used was another one from Style Arc. The Style Arc Polly Top. 

This was probably not the most ideal fabric choice for this pattern. Something with a bit more drape would have worked better. I made a straight size 12 as usual for Style Arc patterns, cutting the short sleeves which are a cute shape but only allow for a very narrow hem. This pattern was a bit of a brain teaser to work out the front pleat but if you really study the line drawings in the instructions it does work out. 

I was a little concerned that this looked like a maternity top but after looking at the photos, it's not too bad. I like the way it skims over my fat rolls. I had read that this top had quite a low neckline...not on me however. Maybe this is due to the effects of age and gravity?

I am super happy with the back view...not a fat roll in site. Maybe I should substitute this back pattern piece in the Ann T-Top. 

In the photo above you can see the neck band more closely. It is quite narrow and initially I had planned to turn it completely to the inside, but with the very bulky seam allowance this was impossible. The gathering doesn't sit quite right and this may be because my bust is sitting lower than the pattern was designed for.

In the photo above I am trying to show you how the pleat is constructed. There is a triangular piece that is stitched to the neck binding and is then hidden by the extended pleat section being folded over the top and secured to the inside of the neckline.

This has been an interesting exercise and I have learned a lot from comparing these three patterns and studying the photos and the way they fit me. I have a little over a metre of this fabric left so hopefully I can apply these lessons learned and create the perfect white tee for me.

The skirt I am wearing in the photos was made pre blog and it is McCalls 3341 sewn in a cotton sateen.

Happy Sewing