Monday, October 28, 2019

The Floral Challenge

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This jacket tried to take me out...but I persevered and won!


Thus the title: "The Floral Challenge" 


Remember, fabric is an inanimate object, you are in control! 
After all the challenges, I am in love with it!  
I will definitely make it again and again!


I'm also entering it in a jacket/coat sewing challenge in the @sewmuchtalent group!
I used Simplicity 1421 and only made my normal sleeve length (too long) and waist (increased by 1.5 inches) adjustments.  
I was sew happy about that!




I love how the shiny silver buttons stand out!



 Gotta have that pop of color, even it's on the inside!









The floral print was purchased 2 years ago from Joann's. I knew I'd eventually use it to make a jacket - I just needed to decide which jacket!  

Challenge # 1 - Time! 
I had to put this jacket down several times over the summer, due to working on custom  garments.

Challenge # 2 - The fabric was much lighter in weight than I thought. 
So to give it some weight, I had to block interface it with Pellon EK130 - after I pre-washed it. 

The quilted look faux leather has some stretch to it.  I was a Joann Fabrics 2 yard remnant that I paid $6.00 for.  When I purchased it, I had no idea what I would with it...maybe a bag...I just liked it!











Challenge # 3 - Once I decided to use Simplicity 1421 (which had been in my pattern stash longer than the fabric) I checked to make sure I had enough of the faux leather for sleeves...I didn't!  But, the pattern has 2 piece sleeves and that excited me.  I had enough for the upper sleeves and the pockets!  I was in love!



Challenge # 4 - How would I do the finishing?




















No lining, but interfaced.  Of course I could have created a lining, but I chose not to.  Instead, I chose to do bound seams. I love brightly colored linings, sew of course I needed some color inside all of that black. I love the teal bias tape.  I also used a teal print inside the pockets! 😃




Challenge # 5 - Broken needles! 
The jacket and facings went together without any problems.

Making the 2 piece sleeves was easy and fast! 

But inserting the sleeves was a challenge.  There were so many layers - sleeve seams, jacket seams, binding on both! At some points, I think there were 6 to 8 layers of fabric to sew through,  But I chose not to use a denim needle, because I did not want to take the chance on creating large pin holes in the faux leather. So, I ended up breaking needles on each sleeve. But I got them in!  It's all inanimate and I was in control!  LOL!







Challenge # 6 - Buttonholes!
I love all the buttonhole choices I have on my Juki F600, but it did not cooperate that day! 

After changing tensions, using all the tricks I could think of and picking out 3 different types of buttonholes - I finally switched to the Brother machine that I use for classes to make them! It was effortless, but I'd stitched them in the wrong place!  😂

One more game of unpicking, remarking and re-stitching...I had perfect buttonholes!

I always use fray check on both side of my buttonholes before I cut them.




You can tell from the indentation on my little buttonhole mat that I use this cutting set quite often! 




Challenge # 7 - To Top-stitch or not to top-stitch!


Ok...that was not really a challenge, but a decision. I was pretty sure it would look great on the jacket itself, but I did not want to distort the sleeve hems by top-stitching them. In the end, I top-stitched the jacket, but left the sleeves un-stitched.















Challenge # 8 - Buttons!  Yes, buttons.
I posted the partially finished jacket in my group and asked for their opinion. I was thinking black or white. One of the group members suggested buttons with black and silver.  I ended up buying white buttons and black and silver buttons, but took all of them back and exchanged them for silver buttons! I love how they look against the print and the faux leather!




I then finished all the hems by hands and added the buttons. I held the sleeve hems in place with clips...no pins in the faux leather!

Because of the faux leather and layers, I used my Thimble Crown! I love this little tool!  No sore fingers and fits better than thimbles!



I don't like hand stitching, but I'm very happy with the hems!


Tada! I'ts finished!  I can't wait to wear it! I will definitely make this jacket again! 




Are you making coats, jackets, dusters or capes this season! Why? Why not? 
Feel free to leave your responses in the comments!

Happy Endless Sewing!



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Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Sew Say September


Sew Say September!

My SewSister, Elizabeth from @elizabethmadethis challenged us to share helpful sewing quotes on Instagram during the month of September. 

The "Sew Say September" challenge was just for fun and used to encourage other sewists!

 

We were provided with the themed schedule.  I'm happy to say that I shared a quote each day!
I hope they encourage you!

I've posted most of mine...in no particular order.


 




 










I really do hope you were encouraged by my quotes!  
To see Elizabeth's quotes, check out her Instagram page at @elizabethmadethis

Happy Endless Sewing!



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Let's Make and Wear a Kaftan

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click through and make a purchase from these links, I may earn a small commiss...