Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts

Saturday, September 1, 2012

that's a wrap!

have you seen this?
 
The Bina Wrap

I first ran across it on pinterest. i saw this pin,
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which led me to this tute
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i was totally intrigued. so i decided to research the original product, which i started this post off with. there are so many ways to wear this wrap. i loved the idea and the concept. so i went to my stash to see what knit fabric i had. i don't have many. i have a winter white that is a medium weight, a wonderful soft teal that is a light weight and a soft blue that is also a medium weight. i felt all would be versatile with my wardrobe and so i began looking at the tutes available to make my own.
i chose the winter white knit fabric. i decided that i liked the idea of having two side seams to help with the support and shaping of the fabric. the tricky part was trying to figure out just how much fabric to use.  the tute above gives the guidance of three time the width of your hips. but then i discovered this tute

Peaceably Pretty: DIY Bina Wrap Cardigan ~another tute on the bina. a little more helpful as far as measurements go
http://pinterest.com/pin/145381894192257870/

and she said she didn't feel you needed that much in the back. so i adjusted the width of the back. i ended up with a back panel that measured 48 inches and two front panels that were 24 inches. i made my armholes 13 inches wide. after all i began to realize that this was not an exact science sort of garment. i ended up trying a couple of the styles out of the wrap. did i take pictures? uh ho ho ho, uh no. i don't think so. but i will share some of my discoveries with  you.

 discovery #1:  the back needs to be wide because of the way you wrap this....wrap(embarrassed grin) around yourself.
discovery #2: you need a light weight knit. it is amazing how fast this garment gets heavy with the fabric bunched up on your shoulders and around your neck.
  discovery #3: even though the armholes might look big, they need to be at least big enough to slip over your head and to be able to dangle off one shoulder (for the tunic).
discovery #4:  that you can decide which length to make it, but it's a bit easier to achieve the looks with the garment on the longer side than shorter.
and discovery #5: the most interesting aspect of this wrap, that i wish i had noticed before i even began this experiment. this wrap is better suited to a thinner person.
it was one of those head slapping durh! moments. i suddenly noticed the very obvious. the one thing that all the tutes and the website itself has in common, all the models are THIN. i am probably best described as....curvy or rubenesque. or let say i would prefer to be described that way. i am, nor have i ever been, thin or svelte.
i was playing around with my medium weight winter white knit wrap. i was bunching here and placing my left arm there, and every time i looked in the mirror i suddenly had added an extra 5 to 20 pounds of wrinkle to my curvy self. yeah not really the effect i was looking for. i then decided maybe i had too much yardage. i decided to try the soft blue medium weight knit fabric. it was a smaller piece and a little bit lighter. on this piece i was feeling daring and just decided to cut the slits in the fabric for the arm holes as opposed to seaming. this second attempt was when i learned the reason for the large back panel. and no matter how much yardage i had or didn't have this was just not the garment for me. so i folded up my knit fabric and decided that's a wrap!

Cheers!


Tuesday, June 26, 2012

a single sheet

a little while ago, ok two years ago,


i purchased a fat quarter set of vintage sheets.
 i wanted to make a quilt. something simple, light weight and good for spring and summer. maybe a quilt to be used on a picnic or just spread on the grass to look at the stars.
fast forward to two garage sale-ing weekends ago



when i found this twin flat sheet. i'm not sure what it is about linens and me, but whenever i go to a garage sale i am always drawn to them. i found this single solitary sheet and thought well you can never have two many sheets. right? i mean sheets, especially flat sheets can be handy for soooo many things. they can be used to make quick tents, or the walls for forts. they can be used to make a fun and funky skirt, a light and breezy nightie or pajama bottoms. see there are so many uses for sheets.  have i rationalized my crazy preoccupation with sheets yet? (crickets chirping) moving right along.....

i brought home this solitary sheet and put it with it's other brethren in the already packed linen closet. then on sunday i suddenly had an urge to get out the vintage sheet fat quarter set. as soon as i saw them i thought of that sheet, low and behold, a perfect pairing. the colors are great together. 



 i realize my photography skills are somewhat lacking. (crickets chirping) again. ok they're horrible. but you get the idea of these fabrics compatibility.
you might notice that i added a plain ivory fabric, it's the one at the bottom. i used an vintage pillow case and cut it up to match the size blocks i am going to use. i am going to do some vintage embroidery designs on these ivory pieces of fabric. 


 i've picked out these three designs.


and this will be the floss palette. 
all in all not a bad project inspiration from one single bed sheet.

Cheers!

Monday, June 18, 2012

A sticky tip for sewing

i had decided some time ago that i would like to have a striped bateau neck t-shirt.  i shopped around for awhile and then decided i would be better off sewing one. minor problem, i had not machine sewn any knit fabric before. but i decided that wasn't going to stop me. i found a pattern, new look 6838, that i thought would work and some fabric. i cut out the pattern, and then it just sat there waiting for me to work on it. i even ran across this tip on pinterest about sewing on knit fabric and doing away with wavy seams.

then today i decided to try to work on the shirt. i got out the pattern, the cut fabric, my scissors, my pins, and my lovely featherweight. i am not a very experienced sewer, even though i have sewn for quite a few years. and while i adore my featherweight the needle plate does not have seam allowance marks. so i got out the handy dandy blue painter's tape to make my own seam allowance mark. 


as i started to sew the back seam the edges of the fabric were rolling like crazy. my mum had come to sit with me while i was sewing. she and i got to discussing how knit fabric was notorious for rolling. i mentioned to her the cool tip i had pinned on pinterest. then my mum being the clever and resourceful lady that she is asked why i didn't just try using the painter's tape.


 brilliant! that is exactly what i did, and it worked wonderfully. i simply tore off short pieces of the tape and laid it close to the edge of the fabric on the seam i was preparing to sew.


i also pinned the pieces together below the tape.


i then zipped it up on the sewing machine.


how it looks after it's sewn


then comes the fun part of taking the tape off. since i used a painter's tape, available at most hardware stores in the paint department, it is a low tack and is easy to remove. i simply tore off one side of the stitching.


and then the other side. as you can see the fabric started to curl up.


sometimes when you pull the tape off a wee bit of the tape gets stuck under the stitches. don't worry it's quite easy to remove. so there you have it a sticky tip for sewing knit fabric.

if you give this tip a try let me know how it works for you.


Cheers!