Bag Hardware

What you see above is a bag fresh from the thrift shop. I paid fifty cents for it. The hardware will be removed by cutting the bag apart. Then I will clean and  polish up what is clearly very dirty hardware and add it to the collection. 

I like to keep as much of the hardware as I can in little plastic ziplocs otherwise the pieces will scratch each other. I also buy hardware as well. Here are a couple of resources:

Emmaline

Bringberry

Bagmakers Supply on Etsy

That nasty bag I just showed you....here's why I bought it:

Is this not the coolest? It is a key fob permanently installed into the interior of the bag. I love it, snake chain and all. I would put one of these in every bag I make if this were available. Hmmm,,,,I think I need to talk to my resources, don't you? 

I have been busy with the fur backpack and it is nearing completion. I have learned that I really need to hand baste seams for the machine to give me accurate seam allowance widths. 

Above you can see how I shaved the fur off off the body of the bag. That is because I decided to add two slip pockets on the exterior and it would be too much bulk otherwise. I have learned that many furs are backed with knits, so really need some substantive interfacing. I've added Peltex all over most of this bag and like the effect. It gets much more shape this way and otherwise it would be a sagging ball of fur. I've also found hand basting is critical to deal with all the layers of fur/lining/suede. This has a nap, albeit much longer than a velvet, and needs that security of basting just like a piece of velvet. Binder clips and/or pins are fine but this really needs to be handbasted. I am liking and enjoying this so much I may make another with a different fur I have. We'll see. Spring will probably call first! 

I would normally have the bag complete at this point but I am remodeling a bathroom, pretty much  on my own. My husband is not in a position where he can help me physically and I really don't want to spend 14,000.00 for this, the cost of my last bath redo. So I am pretty much on my own here with lots of wonderful feedback and encouragement from him and that's great. I have spent the last three weekends working on the bath and then sewing. I ripped out aging ugly wallpaper. Remember Venetian plaster, as in faux wallpaper? I swear I will never wallpaper again. Then it was remove the glue from the walls with two days of work and two different cleaners. That brought us to today which was mudding the sheetrock and letting it dry. Next weekend will be sand and remud as needed then hopefully start to paint. While we have a pretty good idea of what we want for knobs, paint, faucets, etc.....we will go shopping next weekend for all those goodies and see what sticks. It will be a four day weekend for us so hopefully we can make some major headway on this project. I definitely want it done soon so I can concentrate on other distractions. I will keep you posted and hopefully will have that bag done soon. I am really liking the results so far.......Bunny

Do you thrift?

I love to "thrift", recycle, shop the op shop, whatever you would call pouring through racks of worn clothing in sometimes off scented stores in search of the rare gem. I know how those guys feel when they find gold up there in Alaska, or when the bells ring for you at the casino. S C O R E !

And the entertainment value is incredible. Where else can I go and spend 25 cents to a dollar and get such joy?  I started thrifting in my teens. I had a voracious passion for really nice clothes and therefore sewing. But, alas, I had no money. My large family wasn't poor but with 8 kids and Catholic school, well, the guilt would set in if I asked for anything, another by product of being Catholic. Took me years to get over that but that's another story for another time! In the meantime I would spend hours after school at Hadassah Thrift or the Goodwill searching through the piles. I remember once buying a man's full length cashmere camel coat for less than a dollar at most. I brought it home and remade it into my own cashmere coat. I was sixteen at the time. I enjoyed taking apart the seams and planning my remake.  I got a little housekeeping job for a neighbor, the textile designer at one of the local mills. She brought me fabric samples of her work they would run off, gorgeous stuff. I cleaned her tiny house for fabric and it was win/win.  I made friends with a man at a men's coat factory and through the loading dock I could get a ride up to the fifth floor where I could pick the woolen scraps and bring them home. I was one thrifty sewist who learned networking for fabric before the word was invented, and very proud of it. I hewned my skills in my teens. I still enjoy the hunt today and have finally found out how to work our one local option to occasionally get a score. It's the "who you know" plan that  works for me. 

I also have a good friend who knows my penchant and every now and then shows up with amazing things  for me in just the right size, like this custom made cape made in Ireland of Irish wool tweed. She, good friend as she is, will never tell where she gets this stuff and I have my instructions to not ask, but it is always excellent quality. I ask no questions and the garments keep coming. She knows that I will buy garments just for the fabric or just for the buttons and gets it. But she has a great eye for what I like too and that's I got the above cape. She doesn't care what I do with this stuff. No strings attached. The coat fabric is gorgeous. It fits perfectly. The buttons are ugly but can be improved. There is enough fabric to make something else. Do I keep it for clothing and risk looking like yesterday's news or do I cut it apart and make something else? Would you look at those welt pockets? Nice! It's the perfect length too!

It says" Warranteed to be a Pendleton, Trademark U.S. Patent off. app., Pendletone woolen mills, Portland, Oregon, 100% virgin wool, Made in the USA."

She also brought me this week a GORGEOUS black wool Pendleton jacket. It also fits quite well but I make take the shoulders in. The fabric literally glows with that glow only 100% fine wool suiting has. Check out the buttonholes, beautifully hand made;

 It's a classic look with welts, pewter buttons and princess seams. Here's a shot of the inside with it weft insertion fused full front, hair canvas back stay, and shoulder pads, hand made ones:

Lightened for better viewing

I think this could work nicely with some black jeans for work this winter. 

Those two pieces were from my friend. This next one I found this week for the grand price of twenty five cents. It is two layers, self lined, real silk charmeuse, new as can be and the trim is fabulous.

When I thrift shop, I try to keep an open mind. Will I really be going anywhere that would warrant this type of garment? Do I dare be the talk of the village in my backless wonder?

 Probably not. But I can #1, admire it, #2,  use that amazing trim, and #3, have a truckload of silk for Hong Kong seams  and bindings. In the meantime, my fantasies live, and all for the expense of 25 cents! A better entertainment value just can't be found. 

I would love to hear your thrift stories and even if you thrift at all. Does sewing go hand in hand with thrifting?  I know many wouldn't be caught dead in something someone else has already worn. I'm not that proud here and can always appreciate quality, no matter where it comes from or what it costs..............Bunny

Simp 2153, the No Grain, No Pain jean jacket upcycle!

This has been a fun, no rules  project every step of the way. I am pleased with the outcome and as soon as the weather cools a bit I'll have a great throw on  jacket for going to the town dump or a run for groceries. I really didn't follow the pattern or a lot of rules you would normally follow when sewing but that was the whole point. Girls just wanna have fun! Let me share all the fun deets with you.

Pattern:
This is Simplicity 2153 and my third iteration. The first was my winner for the Threads Fall Jacket Challenge. Then I couldn't resist using it for the Ikat Jacket you can see here.  Have you figured out  I love this pattern yet? I wear these two jackets A LOT. I think every sewist needs a good anorak pattern in her stash of TNTs (Tried and True patterns). It is such a versatile style and I think you would agree that the three variations are each quite different. And, I've yet to make it in rain gear or a woolen winter version! I will let the two links tell you about the pattern. I wanna get on to the fun!;)

For this design I did not follow the pattern at all. The collar is my own design and the rest, well, it is whatever landed where I put it!

Fabric:
For this garment I went to our local St. Vinnie's, a weekly Friday habit I have before I go to work, and for one dollar got a XXL sized man's acid washed jean jacket that looked like it had never been worn. Score! It had to have enough fabric for a jacket for five foot tall me, or so I hoped. I pulled out my trusty box cutter and started to take apart every seam. I've seen a lot of jean upcycles and the tutorials usually have you just hacking out the pieces with your scissors. In the case of this jacket I wanted to preserve the very dark seam allowances hiding under all those acid washed flat felled seams. So, I ran the edge of the box cutter blade along the felled seam while the garment was flat on the table. One evening to do that and a bit of TV and every section was apart and preserved. I did not take apart the smaller details, like tabs, waistbands, pockets, etc. I did take those and re-place them in non traditional spots on the bodice and sleeves, very unlike the "normal" jean jacket. I used them to bring balance around the jacket. As a matter of fact, all the pieces of the original jacket were reused but in different ways from the original.

The jacket is not lined. What jean jackets are? But I  did do a Hong Kong finish on the side and sleeve seams. I also faced the hem as well as bound the neck seam and for those tasks I used some quilting cotton in the stash. This was all part of my effort to deal with the bulk and keep it down.

Construction:
The first decision for making this jacket is I broke all the rules, really. After all the pieces were cut out from the original I decided on a three prong plan of attack, first piecing it back together, then painting what I had pieced, and then final embellishment from additional stitching.

The closure is a center front heavy aluminum jacket zipper from Zipper Shipper.  One one side of the zip is the original button band. On the other is the waistband from the original jacket.  One bodice front was used for a sleeve, Tabs were placed wherever I needed a bit of balance. No rules, remember! All of this had to fill each piece of the Simplicity pattern and it took a bit of ingenuity to make that work. Pieces were added from scraps here and there and for the collar I used a bit of old denim from some of hubby's discarded jeans. I like the contrast it gives on the collar.
Speaking of that collar:

  I love it. This was the one area I didn't have a clue how to make work. In the end I pieced what I had left in scraps to make a collar about 175% the size of the original pattern collar. It was at least 12 inches longer and 2-3 inches wider. I then connected it to the jacket with lots of lapped zigzagging. Tucks were made at the neckline sides to make the big long collar fit into the much shorter neck. I left one side longer to get that asymmetrical thing happening and closed it all with a rivet button and thread loop. I love how it turned out, the contrast from hubby's jeans and how the point falls right between the two buttons. A bias strip covers the zigzagging.

Sleeves were sewn on using a mock flat fell. First I serged the edge of the sleeve. Then I stitched it into the armscye. I trimmed back the non serged layer and pressed the serged layer over it. I then double topstitched from the outside. The sleeve seams were bound HK style. I did all this topstitching and edge stitching without the aid of my edge stitching foot. Talk about withdrawal, but my Pfaff was in the spa and my Kenmore, a bit of a monster, was better at dealing with heavy bulk anyway. So all top and edge stitching are eyeballed. 

With piecing done it was time to switch gears to painting. I used Lumiere paints and just brushed them on in the direction of the twill. It filled in better that way.  I used a hard stencil brush to get the paint down into the fabric.  I also used a smaller stiff brush to paint into a lot of the flat felled seams to give them a bit more dimension.This was totally hit and miss and really took no time other than drying and getting heat set with the iron. Easy peasy!

 Finally it was time for Phase Three, the stitching embellishment. This was simply back and forth straight stitching.  and some odd zigzags here and there like you can see above. This also went rather quickly . In areas where a lot of bulk happened I literally cut out some of the layers and pieced in a single layer of denim. On these areas I topstitched with big zigzags to cover up the cut away areas. You really can't see them at all. This was very necessary where the above pocket and its flap went into the armscye seam allowance. I also banged a lot of the bulk out with a hammer and the cement basement floor. If you give yourself permission to sew rough and ready, it all works out in the end, at least if it is a conscious decision. Accidentally, not so much. 

When I installed the zip I really didn't have room for a second line of topstitching. So I decided to do some more of the embellishment zigzagging in the zip seam allowance to further secure it. This is a heavy jacket and it definitely needed more than one line of  stitching to keep the zip from being pulled out. In this pic you can see where I did that in the SA left and right of the zip with the red arrows.  That band left of the zip is the bottom band of the original jean jacket. 

Conclusion:

I REALLY enjoyed throwing out the rules, getting all asymmetrical and painterly, and just having fun making this version of anorak pattern Simp 2153. Just for the creative joy of it all, I would suggest this type of project, with any pattern. First, find your garment and a simple pattern. Then do the piecing, painting and stitching in that order. Don't get all couture-y and just enjoy the creative flow of it all. 

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 It did take forever to get this jacket done, didn't it? We are now done with all construction and landscaping and are really happy with those results. We have had loads of guests as well as travelled out twice this month  to New Hampshire and Mass. for long weekends with family. Hubby has been having extended health issues that hopefully will be relieved soon. Then there was dealing with the whole excaped prisoner debacle right in our neighborhood and at work and everywhere else we travel in the area.  IT'S BEEN A BUSY SUMMER! But I am now ready to get back to sewing and our usual quiet lifestyle. I am looking forward to all sorts of projects and can't wait to share them with you. Next up is a Marcy Tilton top. It's flat pattern measured, cut out and ready for interfacing. More to come. It feels good to be back and I hope you all had a wonderful summer. Happy Labor Day!...Bunny

No grain, bit of pain, upcycled Jean Jacket

The jean jacket continues. With all the construction and work happening around our home I am only getting to sew on the weekends and that's if it rains! That's OK. The Decks are  near done, then there are new doors, a bit of hardscaping and some tree work and hopefully we will be done soon. The goal is August 1st and it looks like we will make it. In the meantime, today being rainy and uncomfortably warm upstairs, I retreated to the cave for Phase one of the jean jacket. My focus today was to get every pattern piece cut out and I almost made it. Here's where I am now. Keep in mind that I basically have three phases going on with this. First there is the cutting of the original jacket and piecing it to work for my particular pattern sections  and that's what you are seeing today.

This front bodice is waiting for the arrival of the zipper for center front. I have left the collar and hem edges on one side undone. This is the side where I am using the waistband for the CF band. I know, its wacky. It will have a silver zip up the CF. I hung the pieces on my dress form and they look better there as you can see where all the oddities end up and if they work or not.

On the back bodice I did that crazy curvy thing like I did on the rust dyed top back bodice. It is part of the original CF band. When this is done there will be closeups as I have done some  cross hatching here and there on the pieces that you can't pick up at this point. But this is no where near the finished product. You can also see here, this was not cut symmetrically and that was intentional. In 3D it works.

The sleeves were fun. I hope that pocket on my upper arm doesn't look to crazy. If it does I can always take off the flap or entire pocket. On the right sleeve you can see a bit of the old CF band. The sleeves look different colors. They are not, a camera thing.

This is phase one, the piecing and fitting phase. Obviously I added details from the old jacket for interest.

Phase two will be painting and there should be a lot.

Phase three will be more stitching in various bright colors. So this is nowhere near done or looking like the final product. Let's just hope it's not an epic fail.

This is all that is left of the XXL men's acid washed jean jacket. Out of this I have to make a LARGE collar. Fingers crossed!

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A few years back I worked for a company that went under. The night before the liquidqators were scheduled to come in management gave permission to the sales staff to help themselves to any non sku'ed merchandize and there was plenty. One of the things I took home was this old rusted sewing machine that was used for display in the store. I  use it now to hang my more costume-y jewelry on, much of which I've made. I think it's a fun use of the old Singer................Bunny