Butterick 6172, Rust Dyed Top

Time to put this one to bed. It's been a long, interesting ride that started with dyeing an old linen damask tablecloth with rust. Since nearly every moment the past few weeks has been filled with demanding issues all sewing unrelated, this post is a bit over due and I thank you for your patience. You can see me standing in the corner of our new deck, one of two. It is not completed yet, but close and it made a good back drop. Hubby and I have spent nearly every waking hour totally remaking our shade garden and I will regale you with pics when all is complete. In the meantime....

Butterick 6172

Pattern:

This pattern is a three layered tunic with five different options. I went with View D but elminated the "tail". I still maintained the angles however. I did much different with this pattern than instructed and also reworked it after it was completed. I do love it. It's comfy in the heat and casual. I've gleaned a fair amount of nice feedback too!

Fabric:

This is made from a very old linen damask tablecloth that was in a table shape that I no longer needed. It has probably been washed a hundred times and is soft as can be. It had marvelous hemstitching on the edge which I wanted to bring into the design. I used that feature on the back and sleeves. It was a fun challenge to work in the rust patterns and the hemstitching. 

 This top has those three layers and I feared there would be too much bulk so for the middle layer I used a nude stretch mesh from Joanns. It also went on the sleeve edges. If I did it again I would make the mesh part of the sleeve longer and angled, a la Lady Macbeth. The mesh was an easy sew and I like the effect. 

The linen fabric was rust dyed by moi. I have been collecting odd hunks of rust since last fall, knowing I would eventually dye some hunk of linen someday. It was sooo easy to do with most of the work finding the rusty objects. Old Man Sun put in most of the effort along with his friend Mr. Vinegar. This has been washed and dried in hot hot water since dyeing and if you have ever tried to remove rust, you know it keeps it's stain forevah. I will definitely rust dye again and have my pile of objects hidden in the woods waiting for the next foray. For now, there are some other techniques I am anxious to try. I do love how the rusting changed this snow white tablecloth to a lovely soft peach all over. 

Construction:

This is where it got interesting as I completed the tunic, wore it to work, and by the end of the day felt it needed improvement. It was difficult for me to get on. I have narrow shoulders and a small head so don't quite understand this. When I put it on the first time to take pictures the struggle wrinkled up the top like this:

This pattern is designated for woven fabrics, not knits. You can see the sleeves are snug despite a bicep addition of an inch and a half (thanks, menopause) and by the end of my work day they were uncomfortable. I also didn't like the narrowness of the top in back and the flared hem,not my favorite silhouette. 

I did a narrow hem as the pattern instructed and despite my efforts it just seemed to curl up and I didn't like that. So two things had to be fixed: the snugness in the armscye and that curly hem. 

The snug armscye was corrected with the addition of a gusset cut on the bias, pinned then hand basted and finally topstitched on. 

The hem was handled with interfacing and a deeper hem, one inch. Next time I will interface the hem with the same tricot fusible but before I cut out the pattern to hopefully prevent the flare of the bias edges. You can see them on the pattern as well. That being said, I wish I had the length of the original curly hem not this shorter version. On a five foot tall person, that one inch makes a difference. 

Once these two things were done I was much happier and have worn the top several times and  very comfortably. The better back:

You can see I didn't get any struggle wrinkles getting into it this time and it is much more comfortable and flattering. Next time I make this I will not "petite" the pattern and I think that will solve the issues. 

A few more details:

Also regarding the construction:  I did not use the facings included. Instead I did a wide bias binding  on the neckline and I like that finish. 

Conclusion:

This is a great casual design. It took a bit to get there but I would definitely make this again, maybe in a knit combo of prints. I like the layered assymetrical effect but will do a bit longer hem next time but still no tail. I like the tail, I just find that I sew for the "long term" more than I used to and don't want to hand dye and make all the changes I made to this to make it work and have it be last years news in short time. Then again..........I could always just trim that tail off......hmmmmmm.......Bunny

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Sewing mesh and other tips!

This combo is my latest project, really a quickie compared to the last one. This top has caught my eye since I first saw it but the tail will be eliminated. Just a bit too trendy for the amount of effort I plan to put into this top. Do you look at the garments you are making that way? I do now. Like you all, I put my heart and soul into most projects and want to get more than a fleeting fashion from the results. I like the tail, but want this top to last more than a season. So I am going for the three layer top with sleeves but no tail.. The fabric will be from my recent rust dyeing foray.

The fabric is actually a WELL WORN damask tablecloth with some deep hemstitching around all the edges, all cotton. It's in perfect shape and just feels so yummy. I put the dyeing emphasis around the edges but the overall color of the piece has changed from snow white to a lovely soft peach. The fabric is soft, like a favorite old set of sheets and I think will be very comfortable to wear.

If you look at the pattern those three layers could add up to some serious weight. To bypass that I am doing the middle layer and some sleeve embellishment  with stretch mesh. It's not that wiry tulle but a poly mesh that slightly stretches and really really looks like expensive English cotton netting. so that will be the middle layer. I did a lot of reading as I hadn't really handled this fabric before and wanted to be armed with all the knowledge I could find. There was lots of info about double layering (this stuff's sheer), not finishing seams (no need to) and more. In the end I decided on one layer of cloth and a simple cut edge hem. Easy enough, right? But this pattern has darts, hidden darts. The bottom and middle layers of the top have bust darts. The topmost  layer hangs free from the garment on one side and does not have darts. The darts will  never show but I was really concerned about how to do them in the mesh. How would I mark them? How would I keep pins in them?

. Quarter inch masking tape to the rescue! First I outlined the correct dart on the pattern with a washable crayola marker, the better to see it and just in case it marked my mesh. I laid the single layer of mesh on top of the pattern piece. I am working wrong side up. I ran the 1/4 inch tape along the dart line on each side from the side seam to the dart point. The tapes  crossed at the tip.

Next you pinch the tip of the dart and match up the tape. Because the mesh has holes and the tape is sticky, the tapes stick to each other perfectly. NO PINS! Head to the machine and stitch your dart as you normally would from the side seam to the tip. Stitch right up to the edge of the tape.

Now simply slowly peel off the tapes. I only had one teensy piece stick and it was when I pulled the tape too fast. Pull slow. One dart all done, no pins, no marking on the fabric and easy peasy!

I did steam press the mesh with a press cloth on the lowest setting. Hope this little tip helps any of you sewing mesh and needing darts.

Here's a peak at a detail of the top. I think it will be fun to wear and can't wait to show you the rest. There were issues with the draft, rather blatant, and I will discuss those as soon as I do a review on the completed top. I can't wait to wear it with all its softness and comfort. But another tip from today's sewing:

This is one of those light bulb moments, at least for me. I keep interfacing scraps and use them to alter pattern pieces like you can see at the top of this post. But the other day I was very frustrated as I could not find my box of IF scraps. Did I use them all? Maybe I did. Anyhoo, if you have read this blog for a while you know I have no use for Pellon interfacing other than to put into bags and crafts. Well, this week I took my coupon and went to Joann's and bought one yard of their cheap pellon, a lightweight with those stinkin' glue dots on the back. I took my 1.75 purchase and cut it all into one inch strips with the rotary cutter and put on my cutting table in this little box. There are TONS of strips in there and I am now ready to alter any pattern any time. Wahoo! Hope this little nugget helps someone out there in organizing their sewing space and making alterations a bit easier. When I do my necessary shortening on every pattern I use, I just make the tucks and on the back fuse the strip to the back of the tuck. The one inch width seems to take care of all the "fixes" I need to do. If I need to change the alteration, as in make the tuck deeper, I just warm the interfacing with the iron and it pulls right up. Then I readjust the pattern and press it back down with the iron.

I will have more on the Layered Rust Top soon. It's going fast. The sleeves have been muslined and remuslined and hopefully will work fine.Can't wait to get back to this project......Bunny

Butterick 5387

The rayon top is done and got some good feedback. I will get right into the details.

Pattern:  

The pattern is Butterick 5387 and I have made it before. If you check PR, you will see that there are many who had issues with the collar band and center front opening. I did too but it made much more sense this time than the first time I made it. While I did it a bit differently, only because it is hard to understand the drawing and directions, I managed to get the necessary final effect on the band. 

One thing about this pattern to pay attention to: this is in direct relation to our NLS post #4 about patterns. If you look at the front of the pattern there are four views.  Only view A has what appears to be a center front seam. The other views show the front seam definitely moved to  the side of the bodice, looking like it's running right over the apex of the bust. Not...the only difference between views is the sleeve style. No view has a pattern piece making the seam left or right of center front. When I originally bought this pattern I was specifically looking for the assymetrical front. It doesn't exist. Beware!  Also, my pattern has two tops with the pleats on the left and two with the pleats on the right. It looks like Butterick has since corrected that. 

I used a size 6 with an FBA, basically the cheater knit one where you add more length to the bust by rounding out in the side seam on the front and adding a bit of length too. 

The pattern could be MUCH clearer in it's explanation of bringing the pleats  around the band. Steps 18 and 19 make you go huh?????? But somehow I got it to work but I ended up with the  seam of that whole debacle not being hidden. So I trimmed it, catchstitched to the band, and it works and looks just fine. This one is a real handholder, if you know someone. 

 

Fabric: 

True confessions time. This was in the Joanns clearance sale. It's a Rayon, lycra blend and while it wasn't passionate love, I felt it would mimic the blouse I saw in a Mary Ray post on the Threads website. So for a few dollars I gave it a whirl. The pleating and tucking are irregular and random.

It is very thin so undies and my dressform react to the camera and show through, much more so than in real life. In my pics I have on a nude cami which helps. Think tissue paper with pleat texturing and you've got this fabric. It stretches bigtime and this is a snug pattern but I am comfortable with that look in this one. Part of that is because of the godets.

The tricot fusible I used to line the hem shows through from the flash as well but really not at all in real life. I love that stuff. It is found in the quilt department of JAs and called quilt seaming tape. It is the exact same stuff that is sold for the big bucks on line as fusible tricot stay tape. It makes a great knit hem. I iron it on, turn up a knit hem and either topstitch or catchstitch.

Construction:

This was like herding cats to sew. I helped that situation by starching and ironing each seam before sewing. If I did it again I would do a "jello blouse" to quote someone more clever than myself. That is the technique where you soak your flimsy thin fabric in gelatin to give it stiffness and it works really well.

What veered from the pattern were the band issues already mentioned, the fused hem, and my addition of the the godets in the side seam.

This was simple and easy. I left open the side seam about nine inches, from the waist level to the hem. I then cut strips of the fabric 11 x 22 inches wide. That gave me enough length to run the strip from hem up  to the closed side seam and down to the other hem. I stitched it in easily. Then I opened the whole thing out flat and trimmed the godet hem so that it was circular and both equal. Starch and hem and we were done! As one of my friends said. it gives me some "swish" and she liked that idea. I just liked the idea of jazzing up a pretty simple design.

Would I recommend this? With reservations. This would not be a beginner pattern due to the neck band difficulties, IMO. But I think if you power through you have a nice top and I do promise the second one will be easier, maybe not made the way the pattern says, but easier. If it's your first effort get a more forgiving type of fabric. An ITY knit would be perfect and I may make another. I do like this pattern..........Bunny

Butterick 5960, the Cashmere Coat

Erma Bombeck is famous for saying, "the grass is always greener over the septic tank." Well, the snow always melts over the septic tank up here. Behind me is a still remaining, very icy foot and a half of snow. I couldn't stand on it for pics or I would sink in. The walks and drive are out as they are glare ice. And as it was, right up until hubby started clicking I had on my Yak Trax so I wouldn't fall and break a hip! So over the septic tank it was! 

I like this coat and know I will get years of wear out of it. It is very comfortable and has room to go over a suit jacket or big sweater comfortably and nicely. I really like the retro sleeves with their expanding length and deep cuffs. This coat is very warm.

Here are the deets:

Pattern:  It is Butterick 5960, a Katherine Tilton design.  What is it about those Tilton women that seduces me with their designs? I love them but have not always had good luck with them. This pattern had it's issues as well but in the end I am happy. The biggest issue is it's "bathrobe" nature. That's fine. It's a classic, no closure, shawl collared wrap coat, just like a bathrobe. But trust me, this pattern really needs more structure. I added what I could with tried and true tailoring techniques that you can see in the preceding posts, techniques like stays, lots of basting to control while pressing, padded hem,  etc. But the collar just does not know where it wants to go. It does not have a specific roll line. In the pattern photo it wraps back all the way down to the hem but there is really no structure to hold that look. I find the collar lays best for me with the back up and the shawl part going just to the waist. I basted it in to do this with silk thread and used a lot of steam. But if you can work out a taped roll line on this I think you would be very happy.

I do absolutely love these retro looking sleeves. They are the kind you often see on swing coats from the fifties and have deep cuffs and lots of room to accommodate a sweater or jacket. One fussy little thing to be aware of with this wide open cuff is that it does show the lining, of which mine is off white. If I did it again I would make the bottom 3-4 inches of the sleeve lining out of a fabric that matches the color of the fashion fabric of the coat, FWIW.

On Step 16, be aware that you  are instructed to close the top and bottom of the pocket with a "tight zigzag,...stitching through all thicknesses." This will put that stitching on in a way that will not let you sink your hands in the pockets. You only want to stitch through the top center pocket seam.  In other words, if you put your hand in your pocket, what is on top of your hand is what gets the "tight zigzag". 

The lining pattern includes an interior pocket between the facing and lining. I chose to not bother as I really didn't think I would use it and it would add more bulk.

Does it look like the pattern? Yes. It has the same roominess but I think mine is better controlled and the extra tailoring gives it a bit more polish.

Fabric:  The fashion fabric is a 70% cashmere/30% wool blend from Fabric Place Basement in Natick, Mass. Go there if you ever have the chance. It is one of the few remaining mega fabric stores in the country. You won't regret it.

This fabric is gorgeous and literally glows. I hope you can pick up on a bit of that in the photos. It feels and looks really luxe up close.

The lining is an acetate/poly called Kasha that I purchased online from Vogue Fabrics in Chicago.  They always have a great selection of colors on this often hard to find  fabric and the price is reasonable. Kasha is the lining you see in fur coats. It is a shiny, heavy satin on one side and a flannel on the "wrong" side, therefore providing a lot of warmth to the garment and still having a bit of finesse.

There is a strip of colorful binding between the dour black cashmere and the Kasha lining that is simple poly print charmeuse from Joanns.

I made a sash out of the fashion fabric on one side and faux black leather on the other side. That came from Walmart. Their faux leather is the only thing I ever buy in that fabric department and it really is quite nice.

The garment uses traditional hair canvas for interfacing and well washed 100% heavy cotton flannel for the interior stays. That provides a bit of extra warmth.

Construction: The garment construction on here is really pretty straightforward if you choose to just follow the pattern. Just watch out for that pocket issue. If you think the shawl collar "lay" looks not to your liking I would get a good sewing book, like Vogue or Reader's Digest and follow their instructions for a tailored shawl collar. Build in the roll with some stay tape and pad stitching if you can.

Another issue with the instructions is that the lining is never secured to the fashion fabric other than being stitched together at the facing edge. It will billow out and drive you nuts. I secured the lining to the FF (fashion fabric) in between the two at the lower armscye and along the collar neckline. I secured the upper and under collar, after matching their seams, with catch stitching and a bit of slack. I didn't want anything pulling oddly. I also secured the seam where the lining meets the facing TO the princess seam line, which matches, all the way from the shoulder to the hem. The coat fell much better once this was done. I used a catch stitch between the lining and FF.  That billowing lining  would have driven me to distraction.

Also, I ended up taking out my catchstitched lining hem and adding a facing so that the lining length was 3/4 inches longer. I faced the lining with some ivory Ambiance I had, cut on the bias. That was then catchstitched to the lining fabric. The reason why? The lining hem edge barely covered the top edge of the coat hem and I wanted it to cover it nicely, not some places yes and others no, just barely. I followed the exact measurements on the pattern for folding and cutting the FF and lining hems. I suggest you cut your lining hem 3/4 inches longer than the pattern specifies.

I added 1/2 inch shoulder pads which the pattern does not specify. This also helps remove the bath robe effect.

Here are some links to some of the construction posts:

Lining with Kasha
Interfacing with Hair Canvas
Marking and pressing
Padded Hem
Pocket Arrowheads

Conclusion:  This is a classic  design that is not complicated. There are no notched collars, bound buttonholes, welt pockets, etc but you still end up with a really nice classic coat. Again, I love the sleeves. Make this if you can go the effort to add in the additional tailoring to give it some more structure and keep it from looking bathrobe-y. I think it also looks a lot better with a belt of some sort. It is not a difficult to construct coat. I'm happy with the results.

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And what is that little tidbit of sparkle  that you've never seen on my finger  before, the one in the leather stitching photo? It's my new wedding/engagement ring. Same hubby, new ring! Many years ago he proposed to me with a really pretty Tiffany set diamond that his entire family chipped in for him to buy for me. I will never forget their kindness to him. I loved the Tiffany setting but as they can do from being set so high, the stone popped out  and needed to be reset three times over the years. The last time was twenty years ago. I decided to put the diamond in a safe deposit until I could get a completely different setting. College bills set in with the kids, etc, and it just stayed tucked in its box for years. 

Flash forward many years and not long before her death my Mom gifted me a piece of estate jewelry my father bought for her. He always loved estate jewelry and bought her numerous pieces over the years. This piece was a bit "different" and she seldom wore it but it had at least a lot of sentimental value. She wore it with my Dad when he was alive and then passed it on to me. It had one diamond slightly smaller than my ring and six smaller diamonds as well. When hubby asked me what I wanted for my birthday last year, I blurted right out " to get my diamond reset". 

We worked with a really fine craftsmen in New Hampshire, James Cook, and I am really pleased with the result. He is a true artist and you can see his gallery here. I now have my original diamond back and on the side are the small diamonds from my father's gift to my late Mom. To say this ring means a lot to me is an understatement......Bunny

Dibs and Dabs on B 5960

If you are thinking of making this coat and so far I would recommend this pattern, you may want to book mark these posts as I have done much that is not in the pattern instructions. Let's talk about stays first.

A stay is something that helps  hold a garment's intrinsic shape. It doesn't shape the garment, just helps it keep it's shape. Stays can go all sorts of places. There are waistline stays, pockets stays, all sorts of stays. Stays don't move, are flat and "stay" in one place. For our purposes here the stay will have a several functions. First, it will maintain the shape of a very heavy garment. Whew, I didn't know how heavy till I started connecting the pieces yesterday. This WILL be warm. To maintain that shape it is critical the stay is on grain with the garment. This is no time to cut a partly crooked piece from a scrap. Since there is no more howling wolf fabric I used a perfectly sized well washed piece of heavy navy blue flannel. I took the back piece from the pattern, laid it on grain just like the fashion fabric. This piece extended about 5 inches below the armscye. Cut!

Then I took my crotch curve and shaped the back of the stay at the bottom edge as you see above. 

Next, that edge was cut with pinking shears to help eliminate any transfer of the edge to the fashion fabric while pressing. 

Done! If you are one of my astute followers you have noticed that the pins on side are inserted differently from the other side. I will be sewing the stay on with a half inch SA starting at the center back neckline. As I detest sewing "on the left" I inserted the pins so those big yellow heads aren't in the way when I flip over the piece to sew the other side from the CB neck down. The bottom edge hangs free. 

Cashmere does not like much ironing so I am ironing my seams only at this point. that will change as I go along. I am trying to fuss as little as possible with this fabric. So that center back ridge will press out. 

Stays will also be put into the side front pieces. The second reason to use a stay here is to "fill in" my hollow upper chest. I learned that trick many years ago. In a more tailored jacket I would do the flannel stay and attach a "chest piece" of hair canvas. But this is a bathrobe type coat, not a trim blazer, so the hair canvas is left out. 

The third reason for the stay in this construction is to add a bit of good old fashioned warmth to the mix here. I've done this combo before, coating+Kasha+flannel interlining. It makes a very warm coat, even in my challenging climate. 

This project has had VERY little actual machine sewing but there has been much handwork. I wanted to make sure the upper collar favored the under collar so rolled it to the under collar, pressed it, basted it in place with silk thread and pressed it again on a thick terry towel.  It's looking good. 

Another bit of handwork I did that's not mentioned in the pattern involves the outer pocket. I basted the pocket opening shut. This is important to get the pocket bag to set right for topstitching. Ignore the lumps. There are lots of bigheaded pins underneath.

Next in the process is finish up the pockets and topstitch. They are a unique construction. That shouldn't take too long. Then it will be on to installing the sleeves. Now For some thank yous!

 

Check out this fabulous print that I won from Rhonda Buss! Her blog, Rhonda's Creative Life is fabulous. Rhonda loves to draft patterns and every week shares her latest designs with her followers. Stop by and check out her mad skills.  But if you have already been following Rhonda you will  know that besides her gifted design abilities she is one of the most generous people you could find. Her recent pillowcase project will blow you away. Week after week, day after day, she shared photos of the hundreds of pillowcases she collected, all hand sewn, and donated. There's lots about it on her blog. Recently she shared a giveaway for some of her Valentino prints and this lucky blogger was thrilled to have her name drawn. Thanks, Rhonda! 

I am not a machine embroiderer. Bless those who are, but it is just not my thing, at least at this time. But somehow I clicked on the Sew News site to check out something to do with machine embroidery. It seems they were running a 12 days of Christmas giveaway. Got my name picked for that one too, Day 3! I won two sets of fabric paint markers. They have brush tips and are permanent on fabric. I am looking forward to playing with them and my mind is twirling over what I could do. Thank you, Sew News!

I did go out and buy a few lottery tickets at this time but, alas, no such luck!

And last but not least, a peak at my next project:

Woohoo!....Bunny

Back to Sewing with Butterick 5960

Finally I am back to sewing and blogging. It's pretty interesting how intertwined the two are for me. We have had lots of visitors and the holiday has been priority for the past few weeks but I am ready to roar. I am finally excited about my new coat project. It is Katherine Tilton's Butt 5960.

It is rather bath robe-y, isn't it? But that's OK. I wanted something classic, waist defining but roomy and this fits the bill. My version won't be a stunning print like this one but an equally gorgeous wool/cashmere blend in black, ALL BLACK. Yes, much tweeking of the photos will happen so you can see the details as we progress. I have made my muslin and I will share that with you in a moment. I am using this, other than one tiny tweak, straight out of the envelope in the Extra Small size. I love saying that, "extra small size". Pattern land seems to be the only place I get to mouth those words! But an extra small has 46 inch hips and a 42 inch bust, all the better to fit my warm winter clothes beneath. I love the sleeves and they are very comfy.

The area on the upper chest at the join of the front and the side front has a bit of a bubble. I am always narrow there so I will push that over a bit when I sew up the fashion fabric. 

Above you  can see how I caught the fabric up when topstitching on the facing inside. I will be extra careful about that with the wool.

There are some interesting issues with this design but I still love it. First, the collar is having an identity crisis. It doesn't quite know it if is folded back all the way down as in some photos on Butterick or is it more a wrap style. The center front is also the facing and you can see the distinction with it being white muslin and the back, sides and sleeves being pale yellow. This is OOOooold soft sheeting and my wool will definitely work differently but I think I gleaned enough about the fit from this to proceed.

I have narrow, sloping shoulders. Shoulder pads are a given for me in any tailored garment. None are specified on the pattern. It looks pretty clear to me that the model is definitely sporting shoulder pads in her lovely version. The back is cut wide and the armholes low but not crazy low. The other day I wore a tunic to work that did not fit in the armholes of my coat. That won't happen with this coat. I like the cut.

Something odd about the pattern you can see above. The front armhole is way shorter than the back armhole. You can see how the sideseam is toward the front and the shoulder seam is toward the back. This is exaggerated on Miss Dumdum. On me everything hung right and looked OK. I realized this was intentional when the directions said to line up the underarm seam of the sleeve with a square that is set back a fair amount beyond the frontal side seam. Of course I realized this after the sleeve was installed.

Speaking of sleeves, that should be OK too. The sleeve has a two inch fold back cuff. You can see the correct length for me here, two inches beyond the hem fold, perfect. So I can make the sleeve as is and fold it up the two inches. I like that retro type of sleeve.

So I think I am ready to go. I am going to do the lining first. This simple looking pattern really needs you to read through the directions at least twice. Took me three times to get the pockets understood. I will save you some time and tell you that there are neat topstitched slot type pockets on the outside. But there are also big pockets in the lining on the inside, four pockets total. But  that isn't real clear in the pattern till the third reading, at least for me, and I found it very confusing. Anyway, now I get it and don't plan on any issues. Read this pattern if you plan on making it. BTW, there are no reviews yet on PR so I will make sure I get this up on there.

I am going to make and complete the lining first. It hangs separately from the coat. That can be easily changed but I think I will just go with the pattern as is at this point. I will be adding a few tailoring details that are lacking here and will post those as I go along. The fabrics in the very first picture are a cashmere/ wool blend, mostly cashmere but I forget the ratio. Sorry for the overcorrected lintladen pic. The wool  is lovely. The lining is Kasha, a flannel backed heavy satin. It makes a really warm lining. I've used it numerous times and love it. It is the same lining you usually see in fur coats.

And what is that bright colored business? That splashy shiny goody? That I am hoping will be my piping between the coat and the lining. Off white lining, black coat in the style of a bathrobe, gosh, I need something to jazz it up so that's what that fabric is bringing to the party. Hope to have more to share soon.

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It has been difficult being just too busy to blog and sew but the trade off is quality time with my family who are usually quite distant. I'll take that any day. I did re-discover, as has happened before, that when I don't have my creative outlet, I am not too happy. Just sort of a gray funk sets in. But get me to imagine making piping out of some extremely gaudy polyester and the rainbow sparkles and the sun sits high. I know you all understand.

Hopefully I will have more posting before Christmas so I will save my merry wishes until then. I will have a bit of a sewcation this week for a few days as I will not be seeing family until the second week of January when I have to travel for completion of some dental implant work. I am hoping to finish this coat during that time. It's great to be back!....Bunny

Butterick 5576 , A Soft Clutch with Chains

 

One bag done, several more to go. We'll see what time allows. I made this yesterday and it took about six hours. I don't know who will get this as a gift. I  am just going to make a bunch of bags and parcel them out once done. 

Pattern:  Butterick 5576, the same pattern I used for the felted wool clutch seen here.  Its easy but now that I have done bag number two I will complain. I don't like how the flap is cut narrower than the width of the bag. This causes the sides of the bag to stick out and I don't like that. If I do it again, and I probably will, I will cut the flap wider.

Fabric: A red/black faux leather from , of all places, Walmart, not my go to fabric source. But I tell ya', their faux leather is quite nice and I recommend it. The lining is a 100% silk paisley that has been in the stash forever. The chains look lots better in reality than on the comp. They are a black silver if that makes sense. They are photographing yellow and they are not. They are secured to the bag in the seams with waxed upholstery thread. I got the chains at WM too. They actually have a pretty nice bead department. 

Construction: Pretty straightforward with a few techniques specific to faux leather. I mentioned a couple in yesterday's post. Always "resquare" the pattern pieces after stitching. FLeather stretches easily. I recommend sewing it on a flat bed, not with the free arm, as just the hanging of the fabric to the side will stretch it out of shape. Make an effort to keep it flat as you stitch and you will be fine. Use large stitches so you don't perforate the seam line. Rub down your needle and foot bottom with Sewer's Ease and things will flow easily. Sew Slowly! It pays here. 

This bag has a wrist strap that wasn't completed when I did the pics. The hardware is all that silver black finish which I really like. I think this will be pretty versatile and hopefully make a nice gift.

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Today I started and finished McCalls 5019. Sophie, if she is a good girl, may get another AG doll for Christmas. She and her friends play with these dolls for hours. They have sleepovers. 5019 is a carrier for the doll and her accessories for when a young lady goes visiting. This worked up very fast and cutely. I'll have it up tomorrow. 

It's that time of year, gifts, dollies, and decorations... I'll post the carrier tomorrow. Think lime green, hot pink, and black and white.

Thanks, everyone, for the comments regarding my cutting mats. I do cut EVERYTHING with a rotary cutter and I am not exagerating so I may use them more than most. I appreciate all the feedback. I use an Ofa in several sizes. Maybe I will try another brand soon. I could use a more ergonomic version...Bunny

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