Sew Paradise

We love Maxi Dresses in the summer! But we also don’t love wearing a bra in summer’s heat or wearing one peeking out of the dress spaghetti straps. Fortunately, even if your dress doesn’t come with an option, it’s easy to add a knit shelf bra to a maxi dress (with or without molded cups sewn in.)

1. Mark the underbust spot on your sewing pattern by holding the pattern up, measuring from the neckline or shoulder or up from the waist mark on the pattern to your underbust. This will be your finished shelf bra length
2. Mark a spot 2” below this on your pattern
3.  Trace the top of the dress front and the dress back to the line you marked. You’ll trace out a copy of each of these. These will become your shelf bra.
4. If your dress has folded-and-stitched facings, your shelf bra will replace these facings
5. If your dress has applied binding, you will sandwich the shelf bra and dress wrong sides together, baste the raw edges along the top of the dress and apply the binding to both at the same time
6. Sew the top of the dress and the top of the shelf bra.
7. Fold up the shelf bra bottom band .5” and press
8. Fold up the shelf bra bottom band 1” and press
9. Stitch around the bra band, leaving an opening to insert ¾”  non-roll elastic. You may also cut off the hem allowances and apply soft waistband elastic instead, stitching it directly to the raw edge of the shelf bra
10. If you’re using a casing, measure elastic around your underbust, and subtract one inch. This is your elastic cut length
11. Thread elastic through the casing and pin with a safety pin. Put on the shelf bra and try the fit. The band should be snug but not too tight.
12. Once your shelf bra is finished, you’ll apply this either as a facing, right sides together with the dress, stitch around the dress top/neckline and fold inside the dress, or you’ll apply this wrong sides together to the inside of the dress, baste the top edges and apply binding to the neckline and armholes.
13. If you are applying this as a facing, you can use the facing instructions for your dress OR apply the facing to the neckline only, then turn/press under both the armholes on the dress and the facing and stitch together. If you choose the latter, you’ll finish both the armhole edges at the same time.

I’ve used the Greenstyle creations maxi dress with bias binding.

Using a precious fabric bought on an Italian vacation, I made a sewing mistake. And I fixed my sewing mistake to become one of my favorite summer outfits!

Around the corner and up two twisty blocks from the Duomo in Florence, along cobbled streets, zig-zagged with crazy Italian scooter drivers and bicyclists, there’s a three-story fabric store. On the first floor, the premium fabrics – silks, Italian wools, leather and suede. The second and third hold better bargains. On the first floor, in the silks, I selected a beautiful silvery grey hammered silk with black and purple stripes. I bought two meters. Intending this to be a blouse of some sort, I figured that was enough fabric. I also bought gray windowpane lightweight Italian wool (still in my stash! Must sew!)

My two fabrics went home with me in a large gallon ziploc bag in my small 40-cubic inch “going to Europe” backpack.

The next spring, I sat down to sew the blouse, but it didn’t want to be a blouse at all. It wanted to be palazzo pants. I selected a no-side-seam pattern (now OOP, from Sandra Betzina, but a similar pant, with modifications, is the Christine Jonson Wide Leg pant #824.) Except, during cutting, I realized I didn’t have enough fabric.

At first, I pondered adding in a patch in each crotch seam. Too weird. Then, I looked at splitting the pattern at the side seam, and using actual scraps left over from cutting the pants, cut across the crossgrain of the bottom of the fabric to create long, ruched panels down the side of the legs.

The crossgrain panels put the stripes sideways, and the long lengths I had of these scraps I ruched from about mid calf to the hem. This ruching and crossgrain stripe ended up being the very best part of these otherwise simple elastic-waist wide-leg pants.

I had quite literally zero fabric waste on these pants when I cut them out (except for the crotch cutouts, and I’m pretty sure I saved those in a scrap bag somewhere to make, I don’t know, a bookmark or something.)

A complete screw up during cutting led me to making my favorite summer pants. This precious fabric became one of my perennial favorite summer garments, super lightweight pants with enough style to hold up a simple tank top and flip flops.

Top: Christine Jonson Flyaway Top and OOP Sandra Betzina pants (similar, Christine Jonson Wide Leg Pants #824 with leg width modified below the knee.)

I sewed my second Scout Tee from Grainline Studio this week. This one, in a raspberry silk noil I sewed in a smaller size than my printed cotton voile one here. Both fabrics I purchased from Seams Fabric in East Lansing (my Local Fabric Store/LFS).

Woven tee shirts are interesting. Over the years, I’ve purchased ready-to-wear woven ‘tee shirts’ in various (usually polyester) prints. They are dressier than a knit tee, which is their appeal. I made a commitment to making some of these woven tops (of various shapes or styles) in much nicer fabrics to build out my casual work from home wardrobe. They have all the look of a tee shirt, but a slightly more polished fit. The Scout Tee has a scoop neck, with bias binding, a cap sleeve, a fitted upper bodice and a flowy lower body to the tee. This means it hides a multitude of post-quarantine dessert-baking sins, and looks cute with jeans and a knit blazer – the Silverton Blazer from Straight Stitch Designs.

Prior to the pandemic, this jeans+tee+blazer was my go to for most of my work weeks. Since I no longer have work meetings anywhere but my home office desk, I fell down the (admittedly, comfortable) rabbit hole of track pants and sweaters for about seven weeks there. It felt good to put on a blazer and a tee with jeans that zip and button.

The Scout Tee is an easy sew, for a beginner, this tee will teach you how to set in a sleeve, and sew a bias faced neckline. As for making woven tees versus knit, the ease of hemming a woven fabric versus a knit, cannot be overstated, but the ease of sewing a set in cap sleeve in a knit or making a reverse-bound neckline on a knit cannot be overstated. So you’re trading one set of challenges for another with this tee. Neither is better or worse.

The silk noil is new for me, I’d never sewed with it before. Seams Fabric made this their January sew along project, and everyone and their sister in my town is sewing these Scout Tees in silk noil. Not wanting to be left behind, I bought two yards of it on my last pre-pandemic curbside order from Seams. I love the easy elegance of this tee on everyone I’ve seen make it in this fabric, and I wanted that same look for myself. I wasn’t disappointed – it’s exactly the kind of casual chic that I love. It sews up very well.

A few tips on set in sleeves: when you do the gathers on the sleeve, you sew two rows of gathering stitches near the edge of the sleeve cap inside the seam allowance. But then, you have to actually sew the sleeve in with those gathers in place. I recommend you sew from INSIDE the sleeve cap AND that you sew about 1/4″ or 1/2″ away from the stitching (yes, this means a bigger seam allowance than the pattern states) because it’s only there that the sleeve cap is flat enough to not cause bunching while stitching. If you try to sew right next to those gathering rows, you’ll end up sewing in some tucks you don’t want. However, if you sew from inside the sleeve cap (and 1/4″ – 1/2″ from those gathers) and curve the sleeve into the machine as you sew, you will find that this helps ensure the cap is flat without little tucks. Curving the sleeve means to hold it up off the sewing machine in it’s curved-sleeve-cap shape and roll it down and under the presser foot as you sew.

All in all, I like this pattern a lot. I did size down 1-2 sizes from my full bust measurement, and I tweaked this by cutting my “measured” size and then using a 3/4″ seam allowance on the tee. For finishing, I used pinking shears. I think pinked seam allowances are very underrated – they lay flat, they are kinda retro and they are simple to make.

The Scout Tee is worth your time to make it more than once. I would consider this a staple in my wardrobe, and I’m off to raid my stash to find all sorts of 1.5 yard cuts that I can squeeze a woven tee shirt out of.

Ruffled raglan waffle-knit tee with tailored trackpants Sewing pattern hack + review

I love waffles. Their puffy, soft nooks for butter and maple syrup to pool are so yummy. I hate making waffles. They are a complete pain in the rear to cook, and clean up after.

So, too, did I love this waffle weave knit fabric I purchased from Seams Fabric in downtown East Lansing. It’s so soft, a buttery, creamy color and it even has a bit of heft to it. But waffle weave knit itself is infuriatingly stretchy with zero recovery, making the choice in both pattern AND technique especially important.

I originally cut this into another pattern, but the pattern required a slightly more substantial (and certainly less soft-stretchy) fabric than this, so I used the same pieces and some of the fabric I had left over and cut a Christine Jonson Patterns Raglan Tee. The reason I chose this pattern is it’s ease of construction and excellent fit.

The pattern itself is designed for very stretchy knits with soft recovery (similar to this) so it has some interesting details that make it suitable for that.

The neckline is cut tight so when you sew with a soft stretchy fabric, it stretches while sewing (as it always does) but the pattern has accommodated for that. That, in my opinion, is brilliant design. I still modified the neckline to be about 3/8″ wider (trimming off 3/8″) and I used matching cream rib knit. With waffle weave, using a rib with some snap to it (not a lot, but a bit) was the key to getting a good neckline. I sewed this with a straight stitch, and because I used the 78% (roughly) measurement of neckband to neckline ratio, I stretched the ribbing while sewing, so I don’t really have to worry about stitches popping.

The ruffles are another Christine Jonson Pattern, the Ruffle Top. The ruffles are actually flounces, meaning they are cut on a circular inner shape, and when you flatten them out, the curve on the outside creates the ruffled effect. This makes it easy to sew onto the raglan tee – just straighten the inner flounce and sandwich the layers together as you sew the raglan.

I opted to edge serge the ruffles as the knit was a bit soft. Normally you just cut these with a rotary cutter on rayon/lycra knit, and that’s it! No hemming of the edges needed.

The other nice design feature of this tee is the shapely but slightly flared wrist opening on this tee pattern. This makes finishing the sleeve hem of your tee MUCH easier than most other finishing (other than a rib knit cuff). I edge-serged both the sleeve and the bottom hem, then turned and used Steam a Seam to hold and fix the hems in place for topstitching.

IMHO this Steam a Seam is a godsend for sewing knits. It permanently stabilizes the hem once ironed, is slightly sticky, and offers a stable base upon which to topstitch. Because the sleeve opening is flared, I did not have to worry about this edge being stretchy, unlike a typical tee shirt sleeve.

I also cut this tee about 2 sizes up – it’s a fairly fitted tee shirt in your typical size, so going up gave me a bit of slouch that I was looking for. Still shaped, but slouchy.

ETA: the knit was not pre-washed (boo!), I usually do this right away but didn’t, you know what happens next… It does, however, look fabulous on my 13-year old!

I’m wearing this with the HotPatterns Tailored Trackpant in rayon doubleknit and this combination is pajama-comfortable but casual and stylish.

#sewingpatterns #workfromhomeoutfits

I’ve joined the HotPatterns Secret PJ Club Sew-a-long for April 2020, during quarantine, and this is my first entry!

These Tailored Trackpants are just that, a classic jogger style with trouser cuffs. I’ve sewn jogger banded knit cuffs, which are optional; the pants normally have a narrow, ankle standard folded cuff (or turn-ups) which is super cute with flats or sneakers or flat strappy sandals, and elevates the pant to “wear at work” when we’re all done with this quarantine stuff.

For the moment, though, I sewed these RIGHT out of the envelope in a size 14. They are designed for woven OR knit fabric, so I made a muslin in woven in the 14, and I made just one teensy alteration – the pants have a curve upward at the side waist (you can see it in the line illustration on the pattern cover). If you are curvy in the hip, try this. If you are straight, like me, I took a small wedge out at the top waist near the side seam across both front and back. Basically I flattened the curve, LOL, see what I did there!? Ha! I flattened the waist shape so it went straight across to the sideseam, without that little upward curve. Otherwise ZERO alterations on these pants. A little gallows humor is necessary in these times.

I will admit I tried to make these 4 years ago, but I cut out too small of a size. Being the daredevil that I am, I cut the PAPER pattern (not a download!) and cut them off to an 8 (what was I thinking?) So I actually TAPED the stuff I cut off (at least I was pragmatic; I saved the pattern cut off) and RECUT (well, traced, this time) the size 14. I did cut it slightly generously to a 16 which, as it turns out, I really do not need, especially in a knit. I’m a 32″w, 41.5″ hip but HP goes way up into the plus sizes. This is why I’m a 100% download girl, and print-at-home to boot. Just print a fresh one if you need it.

I chose a lusciously soft rayon doubleknit from stash (I’d previously made a slim, front slit, midi skirt from this fabric too!) and used up just about all but tiny scraps. Feeling very WWII miserly in my fabric use on this one. The fabric is gorgeous, a deep heather burgundy, and it feels heavenly. Just heavenly!

Being that this is, after all, the Secret PJ Club, I drafted my own jogger cuffs, and, thank goodness this fabric is super stretchy because I had to stretch the cuff like MAD to get them on the leg openings. If you plan this, make sure you have a ton of stretch or narrow the lower leg before you sew on your jogger cuffs.

I measured my ankle with a tape measure, making sure the measure was not tight around my ankles, and I used that measurement as the long side, and the short side for me was 6″. I drafted a cuff that was 6″ tall (folded to 3″ before sewing onto the pants.) You can vary this to have a wider or narrower cuff if you prefer. I didn’t record my ankle measurement but I’d say it was 11″ x 6″ when I cut them out. I have skinny ankles as you can see, but these are not tight. Trudy talks a lot about these being secret pajamas, that you’d be taking naps in them at this time, and this is a VERY FINE idea. This time that we are in, during quarantine, is hugely stressful and I’ve admitted to taking a nap (during workday) at least once, especially when I was ill with a cold (or COVID-19, who knows!)

There are a few important waistband construction tips that I recommend that vary from the instructions. Full disclosure, I cannot FIND the instructions, BUT Trudy and Jeremy have done a great YouTube video here, sewing the Tailored Track Pant in it’s entirety in a video. A fellow sewist in the HP Sewing Club on facebook did send me the waistband instructions, but they aren’t as detailed as what I’m about to give you, so:

1. When sewing the waistband, attach it to the pants flat, before inserting elastic BUT SEE #3 for very important tip
2. Sew your channels, leaving them open, too
3. Do NOT sew the back 2″ of the waistband to the pants – you’ll need this open to insert the elastic channels above. I used two channels because my narrower elastic all got used up making health care masks during the quarantine, so I used wider elastic and made just two channels.
4. Use soft braided swim elastic or pajama elastic, not the non-roll kind. These are soft pants!
5. Make a muslin. Yes. Please do. Especially if you’re making these in a woven fabric! I tweaked the waistband and marked it later on my muslin for reference.

These are going to be my most-lived-in pant during quarantine – and once we’re done and I’ve decided against wearing jeans every day for most of my work life, I’ll make them with the turn-ups/cuffs and wear soft pants in woven fabrics forever. I got rid of all my dress pants a few years back, after moving my work home, and I have never regretted either decision! But these are way more comfy than my skinny jeans.

I’m wearing this with the HotPatterns ShirtTail Tee shirt, a classic cut-on-cap-sleeve with a cute cuff detail, shirt tail hem and a clever folded band neckline that makes sewing this type of neck a breeze. The hems of the curved tee are sewn BEFORE the sideseams, saving you any fussy hemming.

I love a good Boyfriend jacket. Back in the 80s, I lived in and loved jackets. I remember a particularly awesome one, a white crushed satin-y fabric that I bought at a popular teen clothing store, and wore over my paperbag waist acid wash tapered denim jeans and pastel tee shirts a la Miami Vice. Oh yeah! You know the look!

The Christine Jonson Patterns Boyfriend jacket is a favorite of mine now that the Boyfriend jacket has come back in fashion (same, too, with those paperbag acid wash jeans too!) I have made this four times, twice in a knit and twice in a woven fabric. The beauty is it works in both knit and woven fabrics.

I chose a vintage glen plaid that I got from a local sewing store, Seams Fabric in downtown East Lansing, from their vintage and reclaimed fabrics room. It’s a poly-rayon blend (it does want to wrinkle, and has a smooth feel, so I suspect more rayon than poly) I added a lined pocket to the front, matching the plaid to the jacket.

The Boyfriend is a straightforward sew. The only even slightly tricky part is the shawl collar – the back neckline and the facing come together in a squared off U when you sew them, and there are clear instructions on this. I mark well, clip where I’m supposed to and flatten out the U as I sew it directionally as specified in the instructions. The other key sewing tip is to use directional sewing for major parts of the jacket – for instance, I sew down the facing from CB to hem and CB to the other hem – I don’t start at one hem and sew all the way round to the other one.

One of my very favorite things about this jacket is that the unlined facing is completely topstitched down, so you have no floppy facings! I prefer pockets and there’s a free download template for one on the Christine Jonson website. I line mine because it’s easier to sew around a pocket hem than it is to fold under, secure and topstitch. I line it and turn it through where the lining meets the folded over top edge of the pocket, then slip stitch the opening closed.

I also made this, unlined, with pockets, in a pink tiny check wool blend that I got from a buy-sell-trade group on Facebook. It’s definitely wool (again, vintage, reclaimed fabric) but lightweight and a pretty pink that looks fabulous over a blue and white striped tee and jeans. Because the fabric appears more solid than patterned when you stand away from it, you can feel free to wear a floral or stripe tee under it. I utilized the selvedge for a fold-over facing on the pocket, for an interesting detail.

If you’re using a woven, a tip, measure the sleeve width BEFORE cutting, as the jacket is designed for stretch knit fabrics, and to push up the sleeves, you may want to go wider than the pattern is on your woven fabric so you can roll the sleeves comfortably. I have skinny arms so this wasn’t an issue, but my arms are fairly unnaturally skinny (smaller than my 9-yo’s wrists!)

I cut an S in this jacket in either fabric, but check your hip measurements using the enclosed Tissue Pattern Measurement sheet (they calculate what the measurements are flat on paper and add them up for you) so you can be sure you can button the jacket (if you choose!) in a woven fabric. I actually omitted buttons and buttonholes entirely on the gray glen plaid version as I rarely use them (mainly for decoration.)

I have made this previously in a cream ponte knit and a heather charcoal gray ponte knit too. Both of these are well-loved in my wardrobe, and the skinnier arm opening in my size works great to push up the sleeves on the jacket.

The slightly slouchy but STILL shaped jacket is just oversized enough to look like you nipped it from your rock band’s bass player’s closet. Wear it in cream over a leopard print midi pencil skirt and Vans sneakers or over a graphic tee shirt and skinny jeans. This jacket begs for a cool statement necklace and a graphic tee shirt.

The pattern comes with a boatneck shell sleeveless slightly boxy tee shirt – the shirt is slightly cropped and boxy, designed for stretch knit fabrics. In a stripe, it is a cool under layer to this awesome jacket. The boat neck isn’t too crazy wide, just flattering.

I recently broke out the Slit Skirt by Christine Jonson Patterns. Inspired by the Jan/Feb 2020 issue of Sew News magazine (I’m a print+ digital subscriber), I wanted to make a slim, front slit skirt to wear with oversized slouchy sweaters, unstructured jackets and cropped tees.

In the magazine, the model wears a slim sweater knit skirt with sneakers, a long sleeve v-neck sweater and a hand-dyed Wiksten Haori, which is next up on my list – both the hand-dye and the Haori jacket. (The cover of this magazine is soft pink with a model in a pink sweater and artfully frayed jeans.)

I love the modern, chic, yet casual skirt look. My job is to coach creative & health coaching entrepreneurs in building their businesses through technology. So I spend 100% of my day at my desk, sitting or standing. I need comfort and I love style. This skirt fits the bill (and so will the entire outfit once I’m done.)

I modified the skirt using the instructions at the Christine Jonson Patterns blog here.

My fabric is rayon/nylon/lycra ponte knit, and this ponte is LUSCIOUS. The rayon ponte is the only one you want, and this particular one is so deluxe it feels like sweater knit. Super luxe fabric makes a difference. You could also do this in cotton/lycra too.

The skirt is going to be my go-to skirt for long car trips and plane trips that I have this spring – it’s comfortable and cozy and still offers some venting, because, after all, I am running a little hot these days! It’s narrow enough to ride a bicycle in (this is important as I use bike share and/or bring my bicycle for city travel.)  And it’s perfectly suited for both work (conference) or casual (vacation) travel.

The fabric I chose is 65% rayon, 5% lycra and the rest nylon. It’s been in my stash a while, from back when Christine used to sell fabric as well. But so much great knit fabric abounds that you can find similar quality (look for mostly rayon in your ponte!)

This was an easy and satisfying sew. I modified the slit to be equal on both sides (not overlapping) and I added a security stitch across the front of the slit so it doesn’t pull out if it’s under strain. I sewed the hack as per the blog post and made no other modifications. I do recommend that you try on your waistband, and make it tighter than you think you need to, because tomorrow, it will feel looser!

After making this, and wearing it with a tucked-in v-neck top (also a Christine Jonson pattern) and a draped lightweight boiled wool vest (yet another Christine Jonson pattern!) I decided that I really should have more of these polished knit garments. I wear jeans and tees most of the time, or jeans and sweaters in the winter, and this outfit is both chic and comfortable.