Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Rookie Mistakes

 

Nothing but sewing disasters here.  I can't believe what rookie mistakes I've made.  I am sewing a sweater knit top with little stretch and I made it too tight.  So , I figured I'll add black rayon knit bands down the sides.  Perfect.  I went to pick up the sleeves to sew and I had actually cut a piece out of one of them. I wanted a sample for my board.  There are plenty of scraps, and I cut it out of the sleeve.   Can you believe it?  What a disaster.  Of course I don't have enough extra to cut another sleeve.  Marcy Tilton still had the fabric the last time I looked but I am not sure I even want to order another yard to fix this.  My ufo double top was great, shown above Burda 112 8/10 until I went to hem it. The outer fabric is hard to sew and hem so I figured I'd just leave it unfinished. It's semi sheer.  I  cut too much off and it's ok, but the bottom rolls up unevenly and looking in the photos it looks  like it is uneven. I swear it isn't.   My tnt pants developed a drape at the bottom of the leg after I split it down the middle to make it larger. You can see it in the picture as well.   I re balanced the leg after I did this but why it is in the later pair of pants and not the earlier before I made them bigger I can't figure out.  I did play around with how they hang on my body and they the inseam appears to be too long.  When I pinned it in horizontal dart that drag line disappeared.   Grr.  I need to get my sewing back to even good here before I tackle my wedding finery.  I think that II am just going to let the knit top go.  I don't love it enough to buy another yard of fabric to fix it. 

I do like the fit on the Burda double top so I am going to make another top, but a single layer.  Simple two sleeves and a nice neckline using the new technique I learned in
Lynda Maynard's The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques  I found a copy  in the new book section at the  library.  I  used her single fold binding on knit fabrics for the tops.  It's a really great technique.  Easy to do and it looks very professional.  It's far easier than the methods where you quarter a circle and apply the binding as a circle. and it lays flat and close to the body and even on hard to sew fabric like the textured layer on  my double top.  I was not stupid enough to try and use it with a strip of self fabric, but delved into the scrap bin and used a nice white rayon and lycra knit instead.  A note on fit here.  There are no darts on this top, but my DD cup bust needs darts no matter what I am making.  I added short darts in the front armholes to take up the folds there when I was tissue fitting the top.  Somewhere on the internet, I think it's under David Paige Coffins You Tube videos, there is a video of Marcy Tilton fitting a knit top.  She tissue fits them and she shows how to add these darts.  They have to be small and short and they work.  The only thing I am going to change on  this top is to widen the shoulders a little.  I have very narrow shoulders and the  seams are just past my shoulder bones.  I think that a little more width might be flattering.  I can always cut it off if I don't like it.
The book itself is a strange amalgam of techniques and imop poorly organized.  Sigrid used the pocket staying technique which worked  beautifully as well.  Kenneth King has a similar technique on the Threads website.  Is it worth buying the book?  I don't know but Amazon has it for a good price, well below list.

6 comments:

  1. I have this book at home; I'll have to check out that binding technique as I am sewing knit tops again (but still hating sewing knits). And we all still make rookie mistakes.

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  2. My sewing adventures seem to be one long saga of rookie mistakes, so I feel better to know that everyone does this sometimes! Any new techniques for getting a nice finish on knits are very welcomed. I like to wear knits, but I don't feel confident sewing them. Aren't libraries great? Why buy a book when you can borrow one?

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  3. It's so not fair when bad things happen to good garments! I'm sorry you've had a few 'disasters' but it is nice of you to share and it's cheering for me to know that it does happen to other people, even people as skilled as you, your work always looks so lovely!

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  4. Hey those things happen to all of us. And with me, they seem to come in "bunches" similar to your story. It will pass (and I hope real soon for you).

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  6. We've all been there. You will rebound from this. I went through similar with my February pants and can sympathize. It was like " do I know what I am doing?" Just keep on sewing and it will all come back better than ever. (My first post was loaded with spelling errors!)

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