Do you have some garments you've sewn that just STAY in your wardrobe??? Well...I have!
Left Photo: July 1979 with my newborn son
Right Photo: June 2009 with my #1 Grandson
Not exactly the same top - but made at the same time, from the same fabric - I KNOW the Striped T-Shirt I'm wearing today when we snapped that right photo was worn - has been worn every season since 1979! My hubby won't let me forget it every time I wear it, actually!
Construction Techniques
At the time I made these 2 knit tops - it was a beginning venture into sewing with knits - quite a different experience from the silky long sleeve, cuffed, bow-tied collar blouses and lined wool jackets and skirts I was making clients in my dressmaking business. I also KNOW the knit is a nice cotton/poly interlock from Leiter's Designer Fabrics. Leiter's was top quality fabric that was sold by independent delaers like myself in 'showings' from samples of the fabric that traveled around between us reps.
The seams are constructed WAY pre-serger! (Didn't acquire a serger until 1987 or so!) A very narrow (.5) width zig zag of about 2.0 long stitched the seams, and then I zig zagged the seam allowances together with a zig zag of about 1/5 wide and 2.0 long. 100% metrosene polyester thread - I remember that as well. Not one of the seams has popped either!
The neckline was finished by cutting a cross grain strip of the stripe about 2" wide and stitching it onto the right side of the top - binding the edge towards the inside, then stitching in the ditch - and OH MY GOSH - leaving the raw edge on the inside! THAT was monumental to me at the time - a RAW edge!
It doesn't really appear - nor do I remember, cutting the ribbing any smaller than the neckline - but then the neckline was a pretty deep scoop anyway. Those techniques came later.
Hems are not stabilized in any way - and just turned up and stitched with straight stitching.
For techniques I'd use today, click HERE - a FREE INFO page at my website.
Find more valuable FREE INFO HERE.
Sew it occurred to me this would be a fun sharing/contest topic! If YOU made something long ago - say even 10 years ago - that still resides in your wardrobe and that you occassionally wear, please share about that as an entry!
Here is how the contest will work...
1. Comment on this post below with YOUR story! Include what you made, and why it is still in your wardrobe. Include techniques you used to stitch it, and what you'd change technique-wise if you made it again today of the same type of fabric. Be sure to sign your post with your first name. Please know that I have this Blog set up for me to approve all posts before they show up - so don't expect your comment/entry to show immediately.
2. Send me YOUR photo - to my email at londa@londas-sewing.com. I will copy your comment and add your photo to the CONTEST Blog Post so that all can see/enjoy/learn from your post. I don't expect you to have a photo of when you first made it - but for sure take a photo now - even if it is only of the garment - and not on you.
3. I need a minimum of 10 entries in order for this 'contest' to be operative, so tell your friends!
4. Winner will be decided by vote of my 'Customer Advisory Board' - of 5 people (which includes me!)
PRIZE is $50 Gift Certificate for the winner.
ALL participants will will win some type of prize!
Enjoy the memories!
1 comment:
I made the white chenille jacket either 11 or 12 years ago and it remains one of my favorite things I've ever sewn. I still love lots of things I sew, but this jacket is just an ongoing favorite even more than 10 years later. I had to get rid of a lot of things I made 10+ years ago because I'm happy to say that I lost a lot of weight and they don't fit anymore - in a good way! I've kept the weight off for about 6 years now. But this jacket is loose fitting and can be worn still. I used four layers (if I remember correctly) of white inexpensive muslin and sewed bias lines every 1/2 inch or so. I chevroned some areas as well. Before sewing I layered colored cotton cutouts for the flowers, stems and leaves on the front and back, stitching through them with the muslin. I then cut through every layer between the stitching lines except the bottom-most layer, leaving that as the anchor base. All seams and edges are covered with bias tape for a finished look. I then washed and dried the jacket and it fluffed up to create the pretty texture and watercolor look of the flowers. I added an unusual button a friend bought me on a trip she took and some twisted rattail cording for the closure. It is warm without being too heavy and gets comments most of the time I wear it. I have since made many other chenilled items, but I just love this jacket the most. I recently (last week) made a new chenille jacket, this time from rayon, and used 3 layers, cutting through two of them. It is drapier and lighter weight. I also left the seams exposed and trimmed them so they fluffed and blend in nicely with the rest of the jacket. The edges of the new jacket are sewn with contrasting bias strips - one on the wrong side and two on the top side, rather than finished with folded bias tape. This way the edges have the fluff as well. It was much easier! I will continue to make bias chenille items but will probably not do so much channel stitching and cutting as in the past, but rather play with the bias strips of fabric instead. It's just faster and easier and has more room for flexiblity and creativity.
Debbie
Post a Comment