Author Archives: Janice

McCall’s 4994: The Joan Holloway Inspired Anti-Valentine’s Day Dress

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Front view.

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Front view, #2.

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I found this Trifari brooch at the thrift store down the street. This is one of my favorite brooches that seems to go with everything.

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Pattern used.

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I’ve been watching a lot of Mad Men lately, which has definitely inspired styling some outfits and a lot of what I’ve been sewing. I finished this last week for the Sew Weekly challenge and only had a chance to post about it now here.

The Facts

Fabric: Tropical wool, $12/yd, 60″
Pattern: McCall’s 4994
Year: 1959
Notions: Invisible zipper, $1
Time to complete: 20+ hours. I made a muslin of the bodice first, but after that maybe 8 hours.
First worn: I haven’t worn this yet.
Wear again? If I can get over the weird sleeves, yes.
Total price: $37

I greatly dislike Valentine’s Day, but anything for Sew Weekly.

I had some five yards of red tropical wool that was languishing in my closet since my failed Lady Grey sew-along, so I decided to make McCall’s 4994 in red. I made a muslin of the bodice first. I lowered the neckline about one inch and adjusted the waist.

The sleeves are my least favorite part about this project. They look strangely bunchy and I didn’t tweak the sleeves because I didn’t want to sacrifice mobility.

I got over all of my insecurities and wore it to work last week. I got some comments that it was “very Jackie O” so I suppose it’s a reluctant success.

Edit: After further perfectionist reflection, I’m going to have to fix those bunchy sleeves. Ugh.

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Pattern review:

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow? Probably. I didn’t read the instructions.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I love the kimono sleeves.

Fabric used: Tropical wool that I’ve been hoarding for the failed Lady Grey sew along

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: The top could stand to be more fitted. The sleeves are really bunchy and actually bother me a lot.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I’ll be making this again at least one more time (maybe more once I perfect the fit). It came together very easily and would do just fine if the sleeves were adjusted.

Spring 2012 SWAP, Revised

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After taking inventory of my fabric closet, I’ve revised my sewing with a plan yet again to include even more plain and basic separates and tied the silhouette together even further to look more 40s.

Spring 2012 SWAP:
4 bottoms – 2 pants, 2 skirts
4 tops – 4 blouses
1 dress

There’s nothing more inspiring than watching Hoarders while trying to organize your stash. Most of the fabrics on there are also remnants that I found from sorting my stash over the weekend.

Sewing Related Injuries

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Sewing can be a dangerous hobby. I’ve stepped on a pin that fell on the floor (that really hurt), stabbed myself with a pin during fitting, pricked my fingers countless of times while picking up some fabric to sew, and now finally burned myself.

Last week I burned my hand on the lightbulb of the Singer Featherweight while I was trying to untangle a thread jam. Oddly enough, a week later that same lightbulb finally burned out and I haven’t yet found a bulb to replace it.

Here’s how my hand has been doing the past few days.

Day 1, looking really pink and red.

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Day 2, looking kind of disgusting.

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Day 5, after jiu jitsu. (The bandage is just to make sure the band-aid stays on, nothing bad happened during jiu jitsu.)

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Day 8: Hello Kitty band-aid.

Singer 221-1, the Featherweight

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Singer 221-1, the very photogenic Featherweight.

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I passed my jiu jitsu belt test a few weeks ago and decided it was a good excuse to buy myself a new machine. At least two of you out there are already the proud owners of a Singer Featherweight. I know it’s very popular amongst quilters and it produces a beautiful straight stitch. I also wanted to return to the feel of sewing with a machine with a substantial feel.

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The Singer 201-2.

I learned to sew on a Singer 201-2, a huge black machine that comes bolted to the table. It only sews in one direction and is probably from the 40s. (More on this machine in the future.) The 201-2 ended up with electrical problems (which I later fixed a few months later) and in the interim I bought the total opposite of this machine: a pastel green Hello Kitty Janome machine that is meant for children who are learning how to sew.

The super cute Hello Kitty machine.

At this point I wasn’t sure how long I’d stay with sewing, since I’ve been making patterns that didn’t fit me for months and months. I wanted something that wasn’t too expensive and wasn’t too complicated to use. Compared to the 201-2, the Hello Kitty machine is fairly loud and sews very very slowly.

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The Featherweight came in its original case.

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The top part holds the foot. The machine goes in the middle part, and on the side is a box that has bobbins, the instruction manual, and some feet.

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Front view.

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It also came with some buttonholers. It looks similar to the buttonholer in the Singer 201-2, but I have yet to compare them.

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My Esteemed Sewing Assistant likes to inspect all new things.

Clover Pants: Postmortem Analysis

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Oh, Clover pants. In retrospect this project turned up just fine, but we all know something is wrong when the in-progress shots are of the project wadded up, folded or sitting on the windowsill. I’m still calling this a work in progress and not a fail in progress, though it’s certainly heading that way.

I’ve made about two muslins so far for Clover, so what went wrong this time?

  • the crotch area is now way too high (my math must have been totally off?)
  • the muslin I’ve been using is far too stretchy than my fashion fabric
  • the front part pooches out (way too wide?)
  • the hips are too wide and pooch out also
  • I basted everything before starting, but instead of using one inch seams like my muslin, I didn’t think my fashion fabric was stretchy enough and used 5/8 seams

This disaster didn’t come about but for lack of trying. I own about three pants fitting books, did the sitting on a chair measuring your crotch thing (that sounds worse than it actually is), measured everything really carefully and still my math was off.

I then decided to compare it to a pair of ready to wear pants that fit pretty well. In comparison, the crotch depth was way off. I started again with a standard size 4 in Colette patterns, measured the crotch curves of the green pants (pants that fit) with the Clover pants and tried again. This was the only method that worked for me.

I made a quick muslin out of some leftover cotton sateen that was slightly stretchy. These are more shorts than pants because I anticipated making 10000 more muslins after this one, but it turned out pretty well.

Colette Patterns Clover: The Blue Pants of Many Muslins

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Side view.

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Front view #1.

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Front view #2.

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Faux bakelite bracelet, pink lucite bracelet with gold confetti glitter.

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The Facts

Fabric: Blue Twill, $7/yd, at 60 inches/yd
Pattern: Colette Clover
Year: 2010
Notions: Invisible zipper, $1
Time to complete: Three months? Ok maybe more like 4 hours once I got the fit down.
First worn: I’ve already worn this twice since.
Wear again? Of course!
Total price: $20, but it would have cost less if I didn’t need to cut the pants twice due to mistakes

I started these pants around October last year, three months ago. I had a hard time with fitting. I made three muslins and the last one worked out, but something must have gone wrong because my first version of these pants in the blue twill were very very large. The waist was way too high. It sat in the corner of my living room for another two weeks in its organized plastic bag until I went back and made two more muslins.

I finally used a pair of ready-to-wear pants as a guide to fitting these and copied the measurements exactly. It worked out pretty well and I finally made pants that fit. I had to harvest the invisible zipper from the first pair to use in this version.

These pants almost didn’t make it this week, making it a true UFO challenge.

(cross-posted at Sew Weekly)

What I’m “Sew Grateful” For

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I’ve decided to participate in Sew Grateful Week by reflecting on all the things I’m grateful for.

Sewing Blogs

I’m a self-taught sewist. I have only one friend in real life who sews who I see rarely, and if it weren’t for the huge community of sewing blogs that have offered tutorials, tips, pictures of projects (both failed and successful) I don’t think I would have come this far on my own.

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Jiu Jitsu

Current rank: Bumblebee (unofficial name, it’s really Yellow with Black Stripe).

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I’ve been studying jiu jitsu for a few years now and it’s taught me so much in terms of discipline both on and off the mat. The hardest thing for me is learning to come to class regularly. I’ve had to compromise time with friends, family, freelance work and sewing so I can come to class regularly and it’s well worth it.

I learned how to defend myself and how to feel empowered knowing that if push came to shove I can defend myself. I also learned how to meditate on the mat, how to focus on what’s in front of you and how to quiet your mind in times of stress.

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Arnis

From left to right: training machete, stick #1, stick #2, training knife #1, training knife #2. Possible combinations: machete, single stick, dual stick, espada y daga (stick and knife), dual knife. (I’m just waiting for the day I get stopped on the subway as a potential terrorist and it’s the day I’m going to stick and knife class.)

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I’ve also been studying arnis, the Filipino art of stick and knife. My dad was in the military in the Philippines and I see this as part of my heritage. Learning knife-fighting has taught me to get out of the way (the best stances are useless without footwork), how not to be intimidated by weapons and is very empowering.

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My Friends and Family

Me and Nanay (mom).

My mom was diagnosed with cancer last year, but as hard as it was on everyone I learned that family sticks together when times are tough.

My friends were the ones who texted me back at 3 am whenever I was upset/angry/sad about whatever was going on. They watched Game of Thrones with me, sparred with me on the mat, helped me with my belt test, helped me draft my bodice and skirt sloper, made me dinner from frozen Trader Joe meals and watched martial arts movies with me on a dying Playstation, invited me over to meet their 8 cats, came with me to Fall Fashion Week and generally were very supportive in times of trouble.

Spring/Summer 2012 SWAP: Revised

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Spring 2012 SWAP:
4 bottoms – 2 pants, 2 skirts
4 tops – 4 blouses
1 dress

Since most of my blue twill is suddenly gone (more on that later), I decided to revise my Spring/Summer choices. I also included more versatile bases like high-waisted pants in denim and a more plain skirt. I included Simplicity 1554 a few times since I only have 2 yards of the cotton voile each (and maybe less for the polka-dot rayon) and wanted to make the best of it.

Simplicity 1578, circa 1945: The Summery Polka-Dot Sundress

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Front view #1.

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Front view #2.

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Front view #3.

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Closeup view: lucite bracelet and faux bakelite black bracelet. (The bruise is probably from getting beaten up at jiu jitsu.)

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The Facts

Fabric: Navy and white polka-dot rayon, $5/yd 60″ wide
Pattern: Simplicity 1578
Year: 1945
Notions: Navy invisible zipper, $1
Time to complete: 16 hours, maybe more
First worn: Never been worn yet!
Wear again? Yes
Total price: $11

Pattern used:

It’s the middle of winter here and since every week has been 30 degrees and freezing. It’s refreshing to work on a summery rayon polka-dot sundress.

I’ve made this pattern once before unsuccessfully. This time around was different.

Construction details:

  • made a muslin (which accounted for the 16+ hours)
  • basted all the seams before sewing it up
  • inserted an invisible zipper in the back
  • used seam bindings for the armholes
  • serged the seams
  • used some leftover navy gabardine for the neckline facing
  • hand-tacked the facing at center front to prevent it from flipping up

Using a fabric with good drape and hand was crucial. The rayon is lightweight and has good drape. This pattern also reminds me why the 40s is my favorite sewing era. I have enough leftover fabric for a skirt, a blouse or shorts and the silhouette is vintage enough to be authentic yet doesn’t look costume-like or overwhelming.

I don’t know how many sleeveless sundresses I’ll be making but this silhouette is definitely a win.

(Cross-posted on Sew Weekly.)