My first evah Wearable Muslin, New Look 6866

And it's even a hand painted wearable muslin!

If you've followed me through the ages, you know I don't believe in wearable muslins. The reason I caved on this pattern is because I wanted to find out how deep the back neckline was, did it show a bra band, and could I play with the design and get some "bump outs" to work. The original pattern is great on it's own. It is New Look 6866. Make sure you don't read that upside down!

It's a summery classic with neckline choices  and deep-ish looking back neckline. My original inspiration was this beauty I found on Pinterest:

I love the look, the "bump outs", the painting and particularly that deep, shaped hem band. Thank my sister for naming them "bump outs". Sounds appropriate to me!  I had some beautiful periwinkle cross dyed linen but I needed to work out the design before cutting into it. I did and will tell you what I figured out from my first wearable muslin. It was a worthwhile experience but a new one for me. I just don't do wearable muslins! 

Fabric:

I wanted something with some body as my linen would be underlined. Dig and dig. Well, if I am going to wear it, and surely just in the garden digging, I might as well use some off white denim I've owned for years.  I  bought yards and yards years ago with intentions of slipcovering the moon, I think, and it has been the gift that keeps on giving. But, oh, my, is it blah. The more I worked with it, the more blah it got. Hmmm,,,,,,,As I was experimenting with the pattern, placing, tucking, etc, I kept looking up and around to see all my painting supplies for another project I was working on. Paint, that's it! If it looks awful, well, who cares? I had a cute stencil for a dandelion puff and I layed some paints down on the dress front pieces  with dry brush techniques to give some color and depth to the dandelions. Then I decided to stencil in the dandelions on top of the colors with royal blue paint. The stencil had no stems so I had to paint them in as well. I was pleased and this was headed in a good direction. 

The denim was prewashed three times and the paint got my usual "make it stick" technique and that worked great. I have washed this dress three times, once in hot water, and the painting hasn't budged. Yay!

Signed my artwork, too!

Construction:

I tried to keep this simple, muslin being and all, but it was denim, and I was going to wear it. I went jeans style, stitching, serging and topstitching all the seams. This dress is rugged. It actually comes out of the wash, like a pair of jeans, with a shake and it totally wearable! 

Above you can see the hem band and I will do a post on how I managed that deep, shaped hem and the bumpouts in a few days. 

The arms and neckline were simply bound with a muslin quilting print turned and topstitched. 

This dress has no zipper and easily slips over my head. I did not use the facings included and simply pressed open the serged seams and catchstitched them down. 

Edited to add that I just did a blogpost on how to alter an A line shape for bumpouts. Here:

Bumpout alteration

In conclusion:

Lots of good take aways from my first ever wearable muslin making. 

   *It IS wearable, not perfectly fitting, but wearable. 

   *I need to raise the armscye to prevent bra show. 

   * I like the bumpouts but will make them a bit more shallow in the "good" version.

   *I LOVE the wide hem band. It is not from the pattern. I added that change. 

   * I will remove some volume from the back only. My SIL and I did some playing around and that    was much better.

   *I will make the next one shorter. I really thought this would be mid calf but it's not. Up it goes! 

   * I love the back neckline. I used to think my back was my best feature and still decent enough to bare on a hot day.  But not anymore..........My arms are my best feature. They have held more babies, comforted many fevers, hugged in wild passion, wrapped around the dying, and stitched probably a million stitches. You judge for yourself but I think they are my best feature. 

Simplicity 1484

I love skirts. But skirts mean legs and years of working on my feet during 12 hour shifts have taken their toll. But now there are awesome boots, leggings with flats and even Sally Hansen leg makeup, which I adore, by the way! So I am on a skirt tear. I've ordered some black cross dyed linen for a vintage look pattern but it won't be here until later this week. In the meantime, this stinkin' skirt bug has hit bad.

I pulled out all my bottomweights, opened them up and started measuring. I also pulled out all my skirt patterns. Could I find enough yardage to make the skirt I wanted, once I figured out what that was? It was like haggling at a yard sale, but eventually we had a meeting of the two participants. It would be Simplicity 1464  and the blue denim border  print you see above. I had just enough to make it in a longer length. I think it would be cute in the shorter length but it was the waist I was concerned about and I had thoughts that it could make this project one condemned to the back of the closet.

It's been a while since I've worn a full profile skirt with a waistband. This could be one of those reality moments that hit post meno. Fingers crossed, I proceeded.  That style was one of my favorite and most flattering in younger years as my waist to hip ratio worked well with that look. This pattern says the waistband sits one inch below the natural waist. I didn't want that. I was going to make this sit higher, closer to my natural waist. It needed to be fairly stiff so it wouldn't wrinkle with bending and would keep its crisp look. I would not do the band shown as the border print would add interest.

Fabric:

This fabric was purchased long ago, I think maybe from the now departed Fabric Fix in Manchester, NH. ( tears ). It is 100 cotton denim but very lightweight. It looks just like jean fabric but is the weight of a chambray, so nicer for the skirt.  It has little snowflakey motifs and a border. I like that I had to run the border on the length as I think it's probably a better look for my height. Where the little snowflakey motifs hit near a seam and in one case, the bottom of the lapped zipper, they looked more like unravelling denim. I took out a Tee Juice fabric marker and painted the motif that peeked out of the bottom of the zipper making it look like a poor installation. Worked like a charm!  Sewists need permanent markers nearby for these sorts of moments!  There is no lining, none really needed and the waistband is backed with a medium weight fusible cotton interfacing. It's working well to keep it all upright in the waist. I thought about doing boning but the interfacing has it under control. 

Pattern:    

This is Simplicity 1464. It has pants, shorts and  long and short version of this skirt, having bands decorating the lower part of the skirts. There are three box pleats in the front, three of the same in the back and a side lapped zip. It is unlined.  I added 8 1/2 inches to the short version to get the length I wanted. I like that the skirt is curved at the hemline, therefore falling much better than a simple tube. The pattern has shape to the sides, no tube here!

Construction:

This was really Sewing 101 and would make a great beginner pattern. I did things a bit differently to make sure the waist fit. I sewed the front waistband to the front skirt panel, then did the same for the back  pieces. The notches and seams  matched perfectly. There are only three pieces to this pattern, front and back being the same. This way I was then able to baste the two sides together to check fit. Good thing.....seems I imagined my waist to be much bigger and ended up taking out another inch on each sewn side seam, down from the size six. That was blended down into the hipline and also made the waistline raise, my goal. . This skirt has a really nice hipline curve. 

Seams were all serged before sewing started. They were then machine stitched and pressed open. The waistband facing was the last thing to happen and was serged at the bottom and then ditch stitched on the public side in the waist/skirt seamline. That made the waistband finished and the innards hidden. This has a lapped zipper that I ran to the very top edge, no snaps, tabs or buttons. I do that almost all the time as it gives a cleaner look. The 5/8ths inch hem was serged and topstitched, all very simple.

In conclusion:

This project gave me great pleasure. That is because it was very simple, great fabric, it fit in the end and most of  all went quickly. I don't espouse sewing fast nor do I belong  to the Make It Tonight, Wear it Tomorrow Club. But I really enjoyed starting cold turkey on something at 11.30 in the morning and having it nicely completed at 4:30, the same day.  I can't tell you the last time that has happened for me and I took my time, too. I think my lesson is: let the pattern and fabric talk. Choose a simple design, Don't race and just enjoy the process. And don't always feel you have to change it up, "make it better", embellish it further, or use a couture technique. This is real sewing that anyone can achieve. I like that. Highly recommend this one, a very enjoyable make. ...Bunny

The No grain jean jacket continues.

I thought I would share a peak of the progress. I have not touched this project or anything else for nearly three weeks, and trust me, it is killing me. I did manage to do a Hong Kong finish on the side seams to day and will do the same to the sleeve seams. I could have flat felled them but just wanted a bit of whimsy and finesse for the inside.  I took this jacket apart with a razor blade. Most of the recycle jean projects I have found specify just hacking the sucker with the scissors. The blade took very little time and I did it while watching TV. By doing that I gained the dark seam allowances to work with. I cut off all the details and repositioned them on other parts of the jacket, which made no logical sense whatsoever but is fun aesthetically.  For me, this design is all about the fun and nothing here is being taken too seriously.

This gives you a peak at some of the "painting" if you can call it that. I wanted just blotches of color, much like my original inspiration. I used Lumiere textile paints and once heat set they softened up nicely.  Next time I will mix them with fabric medium to soften them up. Every project there is something to learn, right? I did get some really cool iridescent textile medium, made by Liquitex, that I am anxious to try but this project is pretty much painted out at this point. I am chomping to use my new Inktense pencils and the irridescent medium.

Here you can see my Honk Kong seams , made without the benefit of an edge stitching foot, but on a galloping horse, it will be fine. As the side seam curves out for the hip there is a flat felled seam. Not easy to nicely wrap the binding around. I may redo that, we''ll see. Where is my all time favorite presser foot, the edge stitcher? Well, I am using my workhorse Kenmore which doesn't have such a foot while my Pfaff is at the spa in New Hampshire. I will pick it up in two weeks when we go down to visit. There is NO ONE around here that can fix a computerized machine within  50-60 miles. I think that alone is good reason to move, right?

We are still in fix up mode with the house and our hard work is starting to show. We are going for big curb appeal with landscaping changes, new front doors and other goodies. I think I've watched too many HGTV real estate shows.  We hope to have the house on the market March 1, although it's looking so  much better it's tempting to stay put. Realistically, however, we need to be closer to our children for several reasons and that's what we will do. This was our downsize home. We sold the big house on the lake some years back, still to the chagrin of our children, but we've all come to love this little beige box on the river and all it's wildlife and quiet. Our goal with this revitalization is to try and give this box some character and I think we have. In going over our papers on the house the other night, I found the original real estate photos. It was new construction and wow, I'm amazed we even bought it. The layout inside and location on the water sold us. We've always lived on the water and it was definitely the right choice. By Labor Day we will be done with a slew of August visitors and all the construction and hopefully it will be back to our usual quiet, laid back, creative lifestyle. I can't wait to seriously hit the sewing machine, yes!.......................Bunny

The Jean Jacket continues....

I managed to get an afternoon of painting in on my jacket and it is near done, so easy. This isn't the Mona Lisa, but soft big splotches of color. I experimented a bit and the Lumiere dyes gave me my best effect. All they will require is a heat setting 24 hours after paining. I may still use some of the Shiva paint sticks. We'll see. The vegetable peeler is what I use to remove the skin from the paint sticks. I have had sticks that are fifteen years old and fresh as daisies once they are peeled. They are supposed to be peelable, not just a drying out factor, and they last forever.  But I am not done.

I also ordered a set of Inktense Pencils which I am soooo excited about.  I want to thank Coco, of Coco's Loft, for introducing me to these via her blog. I can't wait to try them. You use them, sort of crayon like, or any colored pencil. Then you apply a bit of water with a small brush and voila - they turn to permanent inks which need NO heat setting or any other kind of setting to be permanent on fabric. You bet I am tracking this package! 

Denim Inspiration

I come from the generation of embroidered, slung low on the hips, bell bottomed jeans. I hated them as  they looked awful on me so I never owned a pair, que lástima! While I don't remember what I did wear for pants in my teens, it wasn't those. But I do remember being intrigued by the embellishment and maybe that's why I am enjoying making this jean jacket today. I have a definite plan: Phase One-piecing, Phase Two - painting and Phase Three - thread embellishment. Phase One is close to complete and I hope I can get some painting in this weekend. I will start with some experimentation before I  commit to the garment. I am really seeing just subtle blotches of color but evolution may kick in and turn it into something else. In the meantime, even though I have a pretty solid idea of what I want to do, I thought some research might be fun and started digging through Pinterest and Google. I saw some really interesting inspiration that fell into just a few categories and thought I would share.

Bleaching:

People seemed to have discovered the Tide Bleach Pen or using stencils and bleach in a spray bottle or even employing tie dye techniques. I really like some of these  effects. I will put a clickable link below each pic. This one uses tie dyeing technique and I like its simplicity.

courtesy yourstylehigh.com 

Simple technique, good tutorial

courtesy angel blue art on Etsy

I would love to see the effect with the arms down. Would it be so "birdlike"?

And for the real artist out there, what could be more awesome than this, painted on jean pockets?

closed Etsy shop, boohoo.....all gone.

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courtesy paintandpattern.com

This is a fairly easy project, good tutorial. 

Denim, once the possession of the hardest working among us, is worn by everyone today. Denim fabric and  garments are so amenable to making your own artistic statement whether you are capable of pockets with classic Greek portraits or simply want to tie dye with rubber bands in a bucket. So many opportunities and much very doable. 

Painting:

I think painting denim is what really appeals to me. It just offers so many possibilities and I've always loved painting.  While I am planning a subtle use of paint, like my inspiration jacket, anything goes as you will see in these jackets. Such fun!

You can commemorate  a favorite pet.

Express your faith.

Remember a place.

courtesy Coloradofinds on Etsy

Or honor a rock star like Pharrell. 

publishbrand.com

Painting a jean jacket just knows no bounds and they are just so much fun. 

Embroidering:

Embellishing the surface of your denim with embroidery has been around  for a long time. And, like painting, embroidery has limitless potential.  Many may feel more comfortable with a needle, be it machine or hand, when embellishing denim garments. An odd thing in my search though, embroidered jackets didn't have quite the artistic cache of the painted ones. Many were retail garments with a much smaller percentage being embroidered by the loving hands at home. Here are some  examples:

courtesy first dibs

This little puppy is Dolce Y Gabbana and I know many of you could do this sort of work quite easily. I love how it works with the distressing of the denim. 

I couldn't understand a word on this page so hope this is nothing objectionable. It looks like a combination of paint and embroidery.

This one, above, is just darling and indicative of the the classic embroidered look I found over and over. I like how they used the peak of the yoke. Many self embroidered jackets utilize the back and yokes as the canvas. Embroidery elsewhere is not seen quite so much.

Applique and more:

Fabric appliqued to the jean jacket base is also popular and really a quite easy way to get a bang of a look and I like the effect. They seem to be a bit more contemporary. 

courtesy crux and crow on Etsy, no longer available

This one claims to be vintage seventies. While I think the fabric and trims are, those studded areas on the sleeves don't ring true to me. They are a much more recent trim development, IMO. Either way, pretty creative. 

from London fashion week

This one sports machine appliqued flowers and I think its pretty cute and very doable.

sgcafe forum

Sometimes just a tiny bit of detail is the perfect amount.

polyvore

Messy sequins and tears , anyone? Awww, come on, it's only 1650.00. Oops, its also sold out.

Hopefully you've enjoyed this tour of the denim jacket universe and the exciting opportunities for creative expression it offers. Each is so individual and such a personal creative expression. I'll be back with more of mine soon...........in between carpenters and gardening, dump and delivery trucks, hammers, nails and trips to the nursery......Bunny