Pages

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Social Distancing Sewing

On Friday, March 6th, Minnesota confirmed it's first covid-19 case. On Friday the 13th, we were up to 14 and I decided I was working from home. On Tuesday, my company officially input a WFH plan and by Wednesday (3/18) we were up to 77 cases. I think we're nearly at 300 now. 

Many have commented how they aren't "worried" about getting sick. I am absolutely worried about getting sick. I understand statistics, I also see 30, 40, 50 somethings becoming critical or dying. I am risk averse, I don't want to chance getting sick because its likely I'll overcome it. I'd rather not find out! So I've been at home. 

Last weekend I got some groceries from Trader Joes (which they were only letting a couple people in the store at a time!) and went by my machine knitting instructor's house to pick up yarn (that she'd left in a bag on the portico!).  

Otherwise, I've been working -- My job is largely reactive so I've had a few days that were pretty quiet -- and snacking (haha!) and sewing!!!

I've been wanting to use up this navy ponte from Ginny's since I bought it and had that fail of a pattern from Burda. I decided to go for it with this Burda plus pattern from the 12/2016 issue. It's meant for stretch wovens (grr Burda and always requiring stretch for the plus pants!!) so I figured this mid-to-heavy ponte would work well.

I traced a size 44, removed 3/4" from the CF rise and added 1" to crotch extension in back. I ended up sewing the side seams at 3/4" vs. 5/8".

I don't normally add hem allowance to Burda except for pants. I'd added 1 1/4" to the pattern and ended up removing 2" and sewed a 1 1/4" hem. Love the finished length.

Not much detail to show on these - invisible side zipper, deep yoke that was understitched and ditch stitched. 
Then I made McCall's 7975 - the ever popular twist front top. It turned out very cute but I didn't like the construction. There's a u-shaped bit that you have to hem. That's INSANE. Then you hem the entire front, stitch it, then hem the back, then sew the side seams. Meh. I'm almost certain the fabric is from Fabric.com but it's been in the stash for awhile.

I used a size medium, standard for me, added 1" total to the back hip via a slash and spread, and did a 1.5" bicep adjustment. The finished sleeve was only 13"!  Geez! The neck binding went in well (often Big4 drafts them too long).
I  had a small gap of skin showing and ended up tacking the twist and hand sewing a bit of the seam leading into the twist. Hard to get close enough at the sewing machine.

The twist is nice!

hand tacking

Next up was a cardigan that is in timeout. I hope to finish it -- the band has to be topstitched down and is fine on the straight sections on lower front but I cannot get the angled areas stitched nicely on this ribbed super-stretchy knit. This fabric laughs at the walking foot.

M7476

Then Simplicity 2255 was up next with this 1 1/4 yd cut of swiss dot cotton I scored for $4 from SR Harris. I've made this pattern a few times before. The first time I made it I could NOT understand the mandarin collar and just did bias binding on the neckline! Ha!!
paired with the navy ponte pants and a RTW jacket
I couldn't get pics without the blinding sun. Shrug!

I sewed a size 14 and undid the (HORRIBLY EXECUTED AND INCORRECT) FBA.  I also added to the hip line via slash and spread - 3/8" in front and 3/4" in back (I could use a bit more hip room). I also did a 1/4" forward shoulder adjustment. 




I finished it with a narrow hem, bias binding on the armhole and a bunch of topstitching. I wanted some yellow buttons but...sewing from stash! I figured if I really wanted to, I could swap the buttons out later. But I love these buttons (I have a ton of em! LOL!)

I finished up the Burda dress that I'd muslined in my last post and it is AMAZING and I LOVE it! Hope to get pics soon!