bamboo shirt

so as mentioned in my last post I purchased a few new patterns. one of which was simplicity #1692.

so I got right down to it with a bamboo print polyester I had in my stash. its a light weight soft knit with little stretch, which is not in the fabric recommendations for this pattern but I thought would look nice anyway. the pattern calls for a side zipper but I figured with the stretch in the fabric I really didn’t need one and I was right. which made the whole thing go together a lot quicker. I originally put it together exactly as the pattern indicated (minus the zipper of course.) but realized because of the type of fabric I used the neck facing needed to be cut down. especially around the sleeves. the pattern had the facing going a good three inches past the placket and was squared off on the ends. which made the sleeve hang wonky. again I think this is just from the fabric I used. a cotton probably wouldn’t do that. I went ahead and cut the facing down to about an inch away from the end of the placket and rounded it up nicely since the square points stuck out funny.

you can't really see it in the photo but it stuck out really bad.
the other issue I had with the pattern which essentially changed the entire look of the shirt was its length. okay so this was my own stupidity I should have checked length before cutting the pattern. I knew I wanted to be able to wear the shirt with my modern jeans and that this was a vintage reproduction, that should have cued me in to the fact it would be shorter then I wanted. but I didn’t even give it a thought till it was finished. it hung only about a half an inch below the top of my waist band. which would be fine if I stood still and never moved. but yeah that’s not going to happen. plus I wanted to be able to wear it to work, where I definitely wouldn’t want it riding up. since I had a bit of left over fabric, I decided to add a band to the bottom. which I think actually gives it a slightly more finished look then the original hem I had in it. the buttons were also from my stash. as I was putting the shirt together I was thinking how nice red buttons would look on this shirt, but then I couldn’t find six matching red buttons in the right size, and didn’t want to buy any, so I went through the brown ones and really I love the ones I chose. the color is just perfect and once I held them up to the fabric I liked them better then I would have the red, so yea for not having the red.

I want to make this pattern again using view D and A, also using one of the recommended fabric types and lengthening it before I cut. I wonder if I can get away with not putting a zipper in it without stretch, or if I will not be so lucky next time. its not that I can’t do zippers. I put them in things all the time its just so much easier and more comfortable to wear something without a zipper.

time for halloween already?

For Halloween this year I have decided on Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph. I found the perfect fabric on ebay for the skirt. its pre pleated which is a plus for me since pleats and I don’t seem to get along very well. they never stay put, or fall right. maybe I should try looking up a tutorial or something on how to make perfect pleats. I mean I see others do it so why have they eluded me thus far? that of course can wait till I need it. this fabric it ready for use, in all of its pleated goodness. I have seen this type of fabric used a lot in formal wear, but never in my local fabric stores, so I was unsure if I would be able to find it or not. but once again ebay saved the day. its amazing all the thing one can find on that site.

as for the leggings I’m going to try and buy some minty green ones and paint the stripes on. I found some paint that is supposed to be good for that and not make the fabric stiff. I’ll write more on that once I get the leggings and try it out. I also need to find some fleece for the hoodie. I looked at one fabric store but they didn’t have what I wanted, so I must look at another later. I did buy a hoodie pattern though, for 99 cents. I love when they put patterns on sale like that except I always end up getting to many. I bought four this time, and that was without looking through the entire pattern book. had I looked at the whole thing I probably would have bought the limit of ten. I worked a bit on the skirt today. which included vetoing the black fabric I had pulled from my stash to use as the under layer. though I had originally wanted to use a dark brown I was content with the black. that is until I tried to use it. the stuff was so full of static it popped and crackled as I tried to iron it out, and when I picked it up it made my hair stand straight up! and it was a good two feet away from my hair. I have enough trouble with static without choosing something like that. especially with leggings underneath and I don’t want to be pulling at my skirt all day. so now I need so get fabric for under skirt as well. I did go ahead and cut the lengths I need for the skirt, then did a rolled a hem on the serger. now I’m at a stand still, Halloween is about ten weeks away, so I have time but I need to make sure not to put it off to long these things somehow just creep up on me really fast.