Mimi G Style S8889 and pants

As soon as I saw Simplicity 8889, a MimiG Style pattern, there was something about it that said "petite" to me. I loved the detail, the high collar buttoned shut, the interesting hem band. I even liked the high low bottom edge, not my usual taste in hem finishes. It all just seemed a bit downsized for a petite shape. I also thought it would be the perfect foil for the rayon print pants I just made.  It would go well with some pale green I had in the stash. It would also allow the full length of the cropped pants to show. The sizing would  require a bit of adjustment for petiting but that was nothing new.  I will review the top first here and then the pants. 

The top

Fabric:  

This is made with a fabric that someone, can't remember who, gave to me. It looks like Brussels Washer Linen, or so I thought. Once I started working with it I realized it had a fair amount of Spandex fiber and that was all on the crossgrain. I DO NOT LIKE Spandex but it was in there and I was emotionally vested in the project so went with it. It was a pain to iron and at the end drove me nuts on the last horizontal collar stand buttonhole. ugh. I found it behaved like a linen blend on the straight of grain but had a springy bounce to itself as well. So, in the end it was OK but I would not have bought it. I thank whoever gifted it to me. The hemband, collar and placket were interfaced with sf 101. I bought a bolt of this for bag making and it was handy. It worked fine enough. If I did it again I would interface just behind the specific buttonholes as the three layers of cloth for the hidden placket plus the interfacing made for a lot of thickness. Add in the spandex spring and it was a bit thicker than I would have liked but it came out OK. 

Pattern:

This is where it got very interesting. This pattern has no darts. It is what I call a box top or box jacket style. If you are anyone who has a C cup bust or more you know a dartless woven top does something special. It hangs straight down from the peak of the boob as you see above. This extends the bodice out into space as you can also see on the dress form. Do you want to show skin? Wear a light cami as I will ? Does it flatter? Did you forget this style does this? Did you notice how this was hidden on the pattern cover photo?

 Here's my version:

See that skin peeking out?  You can also see the top trying to make a bit of a dart, extending out, and hanging straight down from my boobs. Do you see my flesh at the side slit? I brought that slit down an inch or so. It is what it is. I have a white chiffon cami I will wear with this next time. Don't get me wrong. I still really like the  top. What get's me is that I didn't follow my own often spoken advice to really read the pattern photo on the cover. Guilty.  I'm not sure I would recommend this pattern for a newer  sewist. The directions are excellent, very clear, nothing missing. It is a bit challenging on the step where the hidden placket meets the hem band but it is all laid out. The good thing is MimiG has a youtube video sew along and you can follow the entire construction if you like.

Fit:

I flat pattern measured and actually decided not to petite the upper chest of this pattern. It worked out fine. 

* I did an FBA adding  1 1/4  inches to the bust. I take a C cup. 

* I shortened the back length by 2 inches. Why? The hem it came with would have put the hem edge right at a full part of my hips and shortened my "leg look length". By raising it, it ends up in a more flattering spot for me.  Five footers fight for all the leg length they can get!  It is still very hi-lo.

Remember, if you shorten the length of the top, do it in the area above the hem band and below the armscye. 

* The last fit issue I dealt with was adding more room in the hips. I found I wanted just a bit more ease in the back so the easiest way was to just make the pleat deeper. I added one inch to the depth of the back pleat and to the hem band in back at the same spot.  

Construction:

This is a pattern where you really need to follow the directions. There were 26 steps. I liked the challenge of all the detail. I chose to topstitch most edges with the heinous "stretch stitch" , aka, triple stitch. It is great for topstitching,  giving a thicker look to this seam finish. For the less experienced sewist, the curved hem band meetings at side seam can get a bit futzy and there is always the fun of a traditional collar with stand in this pattern as well. That is the one place I veered from the pattern and did the Nancy Zieman method which you can find in my tutorials. It gave a nice crisp finish as it always does.

Once again I did my buttonholes without a buttonhole foot and they came out beautifully, except for the one on the collar stand. That part of the stand is on the bias. That and the stretch spandex insisted on a wavy BH. I ironed it away but it was definitely  not as nice as the ones hiding in the placket. I would use a lighter interfacing or just behind the BHs, next time I do a hidden placket like this. I cut down the pocket a 1/4 inch all around, the petite scaling thing. I didn't do the collar as I liked it as it was. The construction went smoothly, just following directions. They were well written. 

The Pants

Fabric:

The pants fabric is Telio Kahlo slub rayon in "seaweed" coloration. I was inspired by a pair of loose, cropped pants I saw Linda Lee wear on a video. Matching this print was a near impossibility. It would have worked just fine if I went the no match route. but my inspiration pant had a soft large print match around the knees and I wanted that. I found in this fabric a couple of large motifs matched but there were tons of random splotches that defied any sort of repeat. I went with the large motif I wanted to match and didn't worry about anything else.  Results below. 

This fabric, 100% rayon,  is quite lightweight, I believe in the low 4 ounce range. It is near sheer. Lee suggested lining these near sheer rayons with polyester mesh. I'd never heard of such but gave it a try. It worked out great and I will do that again. The lining is a relatively heavy fabric so hangs nicely, doesn't ride or stick to anything and does it's lining job well. There is a lot more information on the fabrics I used HERE.

Pattern:

For the pants I used my Sure Fit pants sloper to start. I did a simple gathered waist and cropped leg with a 1 1/4 inch deep machine hem, no pockets. I rarely do pockets in pants as they add bulk and width to my already wide hips. I love this style and it's soft folds on the hips and legs help even out my proportions. I do think a short top makes it work. 

Construction:

These pants were very very easy to construct. They were classic  drop one leg into the other pants sewing. I have seen people on youtube making pants in such difficult other ways. Most patterns tell you to do the leg in leg method. It is so fast and easy. I don't get it. Oh, well, to each his own. 

For these pants the toughest part  was establishing the print layout. Once I had that done it was pretty easy. I made the lining in the exact same method. I dropped the lining into the pant and basted them together at the waistline, not the seam.  I attached non roll waist elastic, cut 2 inches smaller than my waist, to the top edge of the pant with a triple zigzag stitch. I turned it to the inside,covering up the top raw edge of the lining. I stitched the bottom edge again with a triple zigzag. Done and so easy. 

The hem was serged , then folded to the inside 1 1/4 inches and stitched down at the top edge. I liked this deeper hem on such thin fabric. The extra weight of a deeper hem helps it hang better. Oh, I let this rayon hang out for several days before hemming.  The mesh lining was simply cut with a rotary cutter about an inch and a half shorter. 

I love this outfit. I like MimiG's  pattern and it's clear directions.  While I wouldn't recommend this normally for a newbie sewist, if they want to sew along with MimiG's video on youtube, I think they can pull this off. I'm not crazy about my top fabric of these coordinates but I do have a lovely and short sleeveless top in olive green linen that I made a couple years back. It  goes really well with these pants.  I think I will get a lot of wear out of them. I liked this fabric so much that I went right out and bought another few yards of a different print but still Telio Kahlo slub rayon. it will become a tunic. I recommend this pattern with the caveat about the fit of the bustline that happens to box type tops. I will live with it and wear  a cami underneath. 

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My husband and I have been devoting nearly every spare minute lately to painting our home. I'll post before and afters when we are done. This is a 1962 ranch house that was painted  mint green with maroon trim. I can honestly say I lived in a very ugly house.  You can see we've gone whole different route. We love how darker homes look in wooded settings and it worked out well here. This cedar sunburst was black with mold and had never been cleaned or treated since the day it went up. My husband got off all the years of crud and will be sealing it tomorrow.That will bring out the beautiful cedar even more. My job will be painting the last side of the house on the left, yay!  Almost done!........Bunny

Let's Talk Thread, NLS #2

Welcome to Next Level Sewing #2. What is more basic to sewing than thread? Yet using it well can definitely add a bit of polish to your garment. These are simple skills that you won't find in a pattern and if lucky will stumble upon on the internet. I've tried to gather them together here for a more cohesive lesson for you.  If you have any questions or would like to share your experience please feel free to do so in the comments. There is a definite dirth of info on the web about thread.


Thread from the spool.   Whenever handstitching, always thread your needle the way it comes from the spool. Cutting a length of thread, letting it fall in a loopy situation on your work table, and then picking up any cut end is not a good habit. By feeding the leading cut end of the thread into your needle and knotting the end that is closest to the spool you eliminate aggravating knots and kinks. Thread is made with a twist. When you thread the needle with the end that is closest to the spool you are constantly fighting the natural twist and it is a battle between you and the thread's urge to get back in line with it's twist. Guess who's going to win?

Want to make your handsewing a bit couture? If your handstitching is for finishing, like a hemline or buttonhole, run your thread through a piece of beeswax. Beeswax is available from any of the chains. Then pass the thread under a warm iron to meld the wax into the thread. I would not use this technique for heirloom sewing of lightweight fabrics but it is wonderful for finishing hems on anything wool or more tailored like a jacket. When I iron the thread I do it over a few layers of scrap fabric. I don't want that wax to telegraph to the ironing board cover where it will later be released while ironing something else, not good. So do this over a towel or a few layers of cotton scraps.

Thanks to the late Anita Boucher who taught me this 25 years ago when she saw me thread my first needle for hand stitching a quilt! The end of twisting, knotting thread was glorious!

Knot those puppies!  In the past few months I have seen two very well known sewing teachers topstitch a pocket and just snip the threads off at the corners when done. No, people, No! Once this garment is washed, and in both cases seen it was washable  jeans and pants, I promise you those unknotted threads will pop out and fray. Then the pocket or whatever will come lose from it's stitching and in no time that garment you put all that effort into will look like Walmart's latest fast fashion after a run through the washing machine. Again, not good.





How to do this correctly? Simple. I always keep a pincushion next to the machine with a couple of crewel needles in it. Why crewel needles? They have big eyes and are quick and easy to thread. I don't want to futz with needle threading while at the machine so make it as easy as possible.  When finished stitching a seam, one that is on that outside and will show, leave about 8 inches of thread before cutting. One thread, the bobbin thread, will already be  on the back. The other is on the top and gets threaded with the crewel needle. Run that thread through to the back of the garment in a way that looks  like another normal stitch . Once on the back do a square knot  with the two threads. Square knot? Right over left, left over right. Clip the threads now.  A more couture finish?  Run the threads between the garment and come back up on the wrong side about an inch away. Clip them  to keep the ends hidden. You now have your threads tied off and your beautiful topstitching will hold up to cleaning and look good for a long time. To make my point here I sewed up a simple pocket, a la quick, and on the right  side I tied the topstitching threads to the back. On the left side I clipped them as I saw the two well known Craftsy Profs do, down to the quick. Then I put the pocket in the wash for one wash and one dry. Look how this came out after one washing. The stitches on the right that were tied to the back are solid and holding. The stitches on the left are a mess. This pocket is doomed to separate from the garment with a few more washes. This is what happened after one wash. You work too hard and put too much into your sewing to have it fall apart and look shabby like  this.

Don't Backstitch.   I know. This is against what you have been doing for maybe years. But backstitching, particularly at crossed seams, can add bulk and make for a not smooth seam intersection as well as uneven seams. Remember Couture Sewing Maven  Roberta Carr's number one rule of sewing, "Reduce bulk whenever possible". Not backstitching reduces bulk. But my seams will fall apart!!! NO! See the next paragraph.

Dial down your stitch.   OK, this takes a little getting used to but the results are worth it. I promise you, in no time you will be doing this without even thinking. When you get between a half inch and a 1/4 inch away  from the end of a seam STOP.  Same goes for starting seams. Dial down your stitch length to 1.5 or even 1 and continue stitching till you meet the edge. This will give you strong seams and will eliminate the bulk of backstitching. Cut your threads right at the edge. Once pressed, intersections will have a smoother appearance than those that are backstitched  and seams will lie flatter. Have you ever seen backstitching in a retail garment? While I really don't think they do anything to strengthen stitches in manufacturing other than hand the piece off to the next stitcher in the process, we continue to bulk up our seams with all this unnecessary thread. So dial down that stitch length for a more professional look to your seams.

In the pic above you can see the difference this makes.  This is a cotton chambray.Do you see how the backstitching has added bulk to the right seam and is not letting it lay flat? This has been pressed open just like the seam on the left. By dialing down,  the stitch length the entire length of the seam is exactly the same width and presses beautifully. By backstitching, three rows of thread are making the width of the seam unequal and pressing flat not doable without bubbling. Yes, you could press the life out of this and probably bring it back to look a little better but it will return with each washing. You don't want to do that every time you iron, do you?

How old is my thread?   If it's on a wooden spool, too old! Save those and put them in a lovely glass jar to admire and accessorize your sewing space. All decorating aside, THREAD GETS OLD. At least once a year, usually twice, I will go through every spool I have and give it a yank. If it breaks pretty easily, it gets chucked. You could save it for basting but there are better options and how many spools do you need  just for basting? Thread gets dry rot. I have heard of people actually keeping their thread in the freezer to prevent this. While I don't go to that extreme it is important to be aware that thread has a lifetime, like us, and does age. You inherited a huge collection of thread from 97 year old Aunt Ida who recently passed. Better give those babies a yank before using them to sew a garment on your new age machine. If they don't pass the test, into the pretty glass jar they go! This is particularly important with sewing children's clothing where you want strength and hopefully a garment made well enough to pass along to the next child. Cotton threads are more likely to dry rot than the  polyesters. Yank test on your threads once a year!

Thread fades, particularly cotton thread. All those lovely thread holders that hang on the wall next to your big window over the sewing machine? Not the best thing for your thread. It is best stored in a dark space, free from dust. You can get thread organizers that stack and fit into cabinets nicely. Mine are stored with each color in its own box and inside of a cabinet. Sewing in the basement? I did for years. Fluorescent  lighting will fade your threads, particularly the silk ones. BTDT. It does a wicked number on silk and silk thread.

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There is a surprising lack of information on threads on the web. There are many different kinds of threads, too.

The poly or poly blend threads most of us use to do our sewing are quite strong and have elasticity built in. They are great for knits because of that factor. But because of that elasticity, extra care has to be given to winding your bobbins. Wind your bobbins at a slightly slower speed. We are always in a rush to fill a bobbin, an aggravating interruption to our sewing. Slow down with the poly threads. At high speed the thread is stretched before being wound on the bobbin. Then when you go to sew you see the puckered pulled tight seams. That is because the thread is too taut on the bobbin. So wind the bobbin at a touch slower speed. Careful, too slow and your bobbin won't be tight enough and the next thing you know there is looping in the bobbin case.

Our newer computerized machines can be temperamental. They don't like thread lint so you need to clean your machine after each garment. Some machines definitely have a preference for their thread brand. At one time my machine would only be happy with Gutterman thread. Now it will use both Gutterman and Coats and Clark. Turns out C&C implemented some change that made my machine like it again. So experiment to see what works with your machine best. DON'T use cheap thread. It is made with very short staple fibers that will lint up your machine and can cause an expensive week or two at the machine spa. It's not worth it. Good newer  thread only!!!

Cotton threads have a matte finish and offer a rich look for button holes and topstitching. Their bit of fuzziness helps fill in the spaces on machine buttonholes and can make a lovely finish. I've heard more than one expert suggest cotton thread for sewing silk blouses. I've done this and really like the way it works and looks. Cotton thread is not for the construction of much used children's clothing.

Silk threads are lustrous and extremely strong. They are what you use when doing  basting that will then be pressed in as in a hem or other tailored applications Why? Because they do not leave indentations in the fabric when steamed. Heavy steaming is required in many steps of the tailoring process and regular sewing thread will leave indentations in the garment that are hard to remove. Regular silk sewing thread avoids this. You can get Gutterman silk threads for this at the chains. Silk buttonhole twist is what you want to use when going to the effort of hand buttonholes on couture garments like a Chanel style jacket.The next sentence is a bit controversial but I agree with it. Because it is so strong, the silk can actually cut threads in your garment fabric and is often recommended to NOT  be used for actual construction. I would use a high quality cotton like Mettler silk finish thread on silk fabric, not silk thread.

Threads come in different sizes. The higher the number the finer the thread. For  heirloom sewing size 80 and even a 100 threads are used. They disappear into the fabric when doing pinstitching and other heirloom treatments, so lovely.  This allows the "holes" to be seen and not clumped up with thread.  These are sometimes called "fine embroidery thread" but are not machine embroidery threads. That is a whole different animal that I know nothing about as I don't do machine embroidery.

Most regular threads are size 50, Machine embroidery threads tend to be size 30. Remember, the lower the number the thicker the thread. Remember though, other than for heirloom sewing, I haven't found the number to be particularly important to know. What you do need to know is that threads are marketed not by size but by use as in multi purpose, buttonhole twist, topstitching thread, quilting machine thread, etc, etc, etc. There is a thread for each type of sewing being done out there and it's not hard to find the correct thread without knowing a size. Just shop for thread by it's eventual use and fiber content. Heirloom sewing is the exception. Specific thread sizes are often recommended and are available from heirloom purveyors like Farmhouse Fabrics.

Basting threads are a wonderful thing to have on hand and not available in most stores. I thank Claire Shaeffer for introducing me to the wonders of skeined basting threads. They have a loose twist and a very soft finish. They won't leave indentations when pressing. They are also easy to remove and break easily so you don't have to bother picking up and putting down your scissors when all you want is a quick baste or are thread tracing. The soft thread is great for tailor tacks as they don't pop out like regular thread tacks can. This stuff is hard to find and is Japanese in origin. I bought mine through Claire's class. Susan Khalje sells it in her web store here.  Spoil yourself and get some great basting thread.

I hope this post about thread has helped you improve your skills and knowledge. Join in the convo and let us know your tricks, experiences or questions. Till next Monday...............Bunny

Jeans (?) done!

The jeans (?) are done! First, a big thank you to my husband who took all sorts of hair done, made up face, look at me photos. Unfortunately the pants outside just seemed to disappear into the dark foliage, grey sky, I don't know. So I took more photos, bad hair, no makeup, down in the family room but you can see the pants a lot better. The reason there is a question mark is that these have all the jeans details but not quite the fit. More in a minute on that. 

Some deets:

Pattern:

I used  my Sure Fit Designs sloper along with their Jeans DVD that I purchased in addition to the pants  kit. Glenda's instructions were to take it down a size, which I did, and to cut back the leg width. I have some deep dark emotional issue when it comes to cutting into patterns the way my gut tells me too. I thought the legs looked to wide so I took an additional inch out of each one but I feel there is still too much volume for a pair of jeans. Nice pants, but not a jeans fit. That's OK I still really like these. I have since tried on numerous jeans of mine and have picked out the pair to copy on the next go round. I don't fault Sure Fit as Glenda says she likes her jeans more like trousers and did recommend cutting them back more in the leg if desired. I just was not quite sure what would work for me and I feel it shows. 

I did use Sandra Betzina's Power Sewing to aid in the fly zipper and construction sequence and that was a big help. I also used her method for a pants stay across the tummy and that was described in previous posts. 

Fabric:

This is 97% cotton, 3% lycra from Joanns. I really liked the print. I will not make the next pair with any lycra at all. I am all ready with my 100% cotton denim. I swear these pants stretched out just working on them. They do feel very comfortable. I do not like lycra! I'd rather be uncomfortable than baggy, vain woman that I am!

The stay and pocket lining are a "railroad engineer" looking cotton. Remember those striped Oshkosh Begosh coveralls on your kids? That fabric! 

I used rivets from Taylortailor and they worked great. I like that you can buy small amounts from them. None of them broke or gave me grief. There are several youtube videos for attaching the rivets that were very informative. I learned a lot from them and recommend checking them out. Just search "jeans rivets".  I did not do rivets on the back pockets as they are known to rip and scratch leather upholstery. 

Construction:

Construction was pretty straightforward with the addition of lots of topstitching and the rivet installations. Here you can see the fly. It is so easy to do using Betzina's method. I did not do a fly shield this time. I just wasnt' sure about the bulk but I think in my "real" jeans to come, I will have that shield. 

For the topstitching I used regular Gutermann thread and the "triple stitch" on my machine. This is the stitch that goes back and forth three times making the stitch and before it moves to the next stitch. I think it is more difficult to control than a regular straight stitch but I do like the heaviness of it all. I think I may use jean topstitching thread and a single stitch  for the upcoming denim pair. 

I did a lot of snoop shopping on jeans before I made these. There are many, many variations in the way the topstitching and riveting is done. Consistent in most jeans I checked out was to double topstitch the full inseam from ankle to ankle. On the side seam, the topstitching was done only to the end of the stay/pocket bag and then finished with a bar tack like you see above. Works for me! I wasn't about to try to topstitch a side seam on a closed up pant leg. 

The topstitching thread I used was a perfect match to the deep pink but  the flash makes it look a lot lighter. Not so!

I did my best to work with the pattern of the fabric and think it looks pretty good. It was unmatchable so I just tried to keep the positive and negative areas next to each other and I think it looks fine. 

Also in my snoop shopping was a lot of looking at pocket placement and shape. The Sure Fit sloper gives a patch pocket for jeans but I did not use it. I found the most flattering pocket on my ample hips was one that was a half inch less wide at the bottom than the top. It also needed to slant out slightly at the top. You can see that the top corner of the pocket is higher at CB than at the side toward the side seam. I found a lot of jeans like that and found they were the most flattering for me. Different hips will certainly work differently with their pocket alignment. . 

In the end, I think volume needs to come out of the area from the thigh to the ankle on my next pair. The rivets and topstitching details that were intimidating me now are old friends and I am ready to skate right through that on the next pair. I am ready for my first official pair of denims! Whoo hoo!........Bunny