Setting in sleeves. How do you do it?

To be honest I have always had difficulty setting in sleeves. Often I catch the garment in the seam, and I always seem to have some little puckers in the sleeve head no matter how hard I try. The result is much frustration and lots of unpicking!

The method I've always used, involves sewing two rows of long ease stitching and pulling up to fit, then trying to smooth out the gathers to fit, and then pinning and machining sleeve side up.

Having failed to set the sleeve in successfully on my latest make, the Emery dress despite the following the excellent instructions on Christine Haynes' sewalong, I thought I'd see if there were any other methods that might work better for me.

Anyway after a quick Internet search. I found this post on Craftsy for a method that involves pinning only! I won't go into too much detail as the blog post on Craftsy is really thorough, but I thought it was worth sharing. 

The key thing to learn from this is that strategic pinning can replace using ease stitches.  The pins should be placed so that they straddle the stitching channel. It also helps to hand baste the sleeve first.  While this may seem extra work, if you are going to have to spend time unpicking your sleeve when it goes wrong, it seems like time well spent to me. Stitching the other way up, with the garment facing upwards, rather than the sleeve as normally advised, allows the feed dogs to help ease the sleeve into place.

One extra thing that I have decided to do from now in is mark the stitching line in with chalk pencil as I don't think previously that my stitching line was very accurate.

The basics steps are as follows

1.Stitching line marked with chalk pencil

2. Key points pinned first - notches, underarm seam, ease points and shoulder point

3. Then use lots of pins to ease the sleeve head in

4. The seam can then hand-basted and pins can be removed

5. Finally the seam is machine sewn with the garment facing, using the feed dogs to help ease the sleeve in. 

If you look closely you can see that I had to unpick the sleeve twice before trying this method!

6. The result is a sleeve that are set in properly with no little puckers or gathers. 

The good news my Emery dress is nearly complete and I will have a finished make to share with you soon.

Have you tried this method? I am converted. 

Catherine x

The Daisy New Look 6262

So I made New Look 6262 again! I finished this a few weeks ago and if you read my blog you will know that I am now stitching the Emery Dress but I thought I should blog this as I had some photos!

I have made New Look 6262 four times now and I am pretty pleased overall with the fit of this dress. It's a simple dress with bust and waist darts and a gathered skirt, so very wardrobe friendly. I have made changes to the fit of the bodice previously, if you want to read my post here.

It can be made with or without sleeves.This is the second time I have made it with the full sleeves and to be honest there is something not quite right about them.  They don't seem to sit quite right and they pull the bodice slightly I think.  I am sure that I read somewhere  that bodices for sleeve dresses and for sleeved dresses are shaped differently so maybe that is what is wrong as this pattern uses the same pattern piece both both styles of dresses.  Anyone know more about this?

 Anyway it works better as a sleeveless dress I think, although I am still pleased with this dress, and have been wearing it lots.  I think if I was to make it again, I would leave the sleeves off or stick to the little cap sleeves.

The material was lovely to sew with and is a fine cotton from John Lewis. It sticks terribly to tights though so I am wearing a full slip under the dress which may account for some of the odd looking rumples on the bodice.  The other thing is I have lost weight since I fitted this pattern originally so I probably need to go back to the original pattern and start again :(

I wore this dress out on a recent trip to London with my family.  A nice lady stopped me on the tube, and said "I like your dress", It was so nice to be able to say, "Thank you, I made it myself!"

Can you see Oscar photo-bombing?

Catherine x

Have you heard of The Foldline?

Have you heard of The Foldline?

The Fold Line is a fairly new site that was launched for sewers. I was recommended to me by Poppy in stitches after reading my post about organising my knitting stash on Ravelry, I'd asked if there was something similiar out there for sewers.

I use Pattern Review occasionally but it seems a bit dated and clunky to use sometimes.  Anyway so recently I signed up for The Fold Line and these are my initial thoughts.

It's much more modern looking. You can search through their database of patterns, and like Ravelry, you can add patterns to your own library.  The forum seems good and it's a good place for arranging meet ups with like-minded local stitchers. You can browse and follow members, designers and bloggers, and add friends to  your network.  There is a blog too if you want to follow that. There are also sewing resources that look quite useful, for example links to all your favourite Indie pattern designers sew-alongs. There is even some fun stuff like free sewing themed wallpaper for your computer and sewing themed playlists! I also liked the sewing city guides. I feel some fabric shopping trips coming on!

My initial thoughts about the Fold Line are I like it!  A lot of time and thought has gone in to developing this site.  Not sure how much time I will spend on there yet, but it's good to see a dedicated site like this for us stitchers.

Do you use The Fold Line? What do you think of it? Feel free to add me as a friend. You can find me there under Stylish Stitcher.

Catherine x

Spring/Summer stitching plans for 2016

Hi folks!

Progress is going well with my Emery dress so hopefully I WILL have a dress to share with you soon.  I am definitely into "slow sewing" at the moment, taking my time over it and trying to make things as well as I can...

Anyway my thoughts have turned to Summer. When there was a half price New Look sale recently, I grabbed a few patterns that I thought would be perfect for stitching up some summer clothes.  I am going to France in August, so with this in mind, I thought it would be nice to make myself some new summer clothes and also give myself plenty of time to do this! It's the first foreign holiday I have had for a few years so definitely need some new togs to wear.

Here are my picks for my Spring/Summer 2016 sewing:

First up, a sundress.

Misses' dress in two lengths with strap and trim variations.

I like this pattern as there are lots of different options. Which one would you choose?

My next choice is a gathered summer skirt. Again lots of nice options, and labelled "easy"so should be a fairly quick make.

Misses Skirts and Sash

I have some navy polka dot poplin in my stash that I think would be perfect for this.

Dare I make a jumpsuit? Again lots of options and a choice of halter or shoulder ties, with long and short length and an option for a maxi dress.

Misses' Jumpsuit & Dress Each in Two Lengths

I actually like the playsuit more, and think this will be great for the beach.  Need some drapy fabric for this to work I think though.

A couple of vest tops would be very useful additions to my summer wardrobe.

Misses' Knit Tank Tops

I haven't really made anything in knits before apart from my Coco dresses, so its time to conquer my fears! There are options to make it as a plain top or with a lace yoke or with lace trim.

Finally I think I should tackle some shorts!  I have this pattern is my stash for a while. I think the shorts might be a good option but maybe they are a bit tricky? I also like the skirt option that comes with this pattern.

I will have to have a think about the shorts though. Can anyone recommend a good pattern for shorts that's not too difficult?

I'd also love to know what you've got planned. 

Catherine x

Emery dress - I Made A Muslin

So I thought I'd update you with my progress so far with the Emery Dress.

Progress has admittedly been slow on sewing this dress as I have been doing a lot of reading in my spare time. I recently got addicted to the novels of Robin Hobb and have been working my way through them. Her books are amazing, if you enjoy fantasy novels I would definitely recommend reading them.

On other news, I am still following my diet and I have lost just over a stone in total now.  Still about half a stone to go but really pleased with myself.  I got a fitbit for my birthday last week too so I am finding it really interesting to see how active I am (or not as the case maybe).

Anyway, I decided to make a muslin for this dress as I have learnt from experience that this is a very important step not to skip if you want to have a wearable dress.

The material I am going to use for this dress was more expensive than I would normally buy, as I bought in John Lewis, and I really didn't want to spoil it. There is a sew-along on  Christine Haynes's website, and she also advocates making a muslin. I include a link to her blog post if you are interested.

This time I thought I would try making the whole thing, including setting in the sleeves and adding a zip so that I could get a proper idea of fit. It was a surprisingly fast process.

The muslin is made from an old duvet cover.  I cut a straight size 8 based on my measurements (36 bust).  This not a UK size 8 by the way, I think Christine has her own sizing or maybe it's an American size?

So what is the verdict? The fit is pretty good actually.  The bust darts seem to be in the right place and I don't need to do a FBA.   I am going to shorten the waist slightly as it the bodice is not quite hitting my natural waist, although I'm nervous about doing this as I don't want to shorten it too much! The only other change I need to make is sort out the dreaded back neck gape which I always seem to suffer from. Having searched the internet there seems to be loads of different ways to tackle this but as this dress already has neck darts, I am simply going to deepen them. This post here explains more about adding neck darts.

If you suffer from this problem too, check out this tutorial by By Hand London or this one by Lauren Guthrie as these look like useful methods too.

I will make my changes to my paper pattern and then hopefully cut out this weekend, so sewing can begin!

So do you always make a muslin or do you just go for it? I'd love to know.

Catherine x

Spring Knitting and Stitching Show, London Olympia

Hi folks.

Sewing progress has been a bit slow here recently. My latest New Look 6262 is still not complete, just the sleeves to set in and the hem so hopefully I will have a finished make to share with you soon.

I have also traced out the pattern pieces for my Emery Dress and hope to make a muslin of the bodice this weekend.

Anyway, on Thursday I took the day off work and headed across to London Olympia to attend the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show with my mum.  We tend to go every year, as you may have read my posts here and here.  It's a great day out, but best to set yourself a budget before hand as you can do serious damage to your bank balance!

So what did I buy this year?

First up is this lovely floral cotton lawn, a bargain at £6 a metre from Fabrictime.

I bought 2.5 m which is my go to amount when I'm not sure what I am going to make. I've bought from this company before and I think I will definitely be checking their online store out.

My next purchase was this viscose which has a wonderful drape from Fabrics Galore, again another retailer I have bought from before. You can buy this in their online store at the moment.

It cost £8 a metre and I bought 2.5m.   This fabric was made up into a dress on display and being a sad person, I thought I could make that as I have the pattern in the first Great British Sewing Bee book!

The pattern was Simplicity 2886. I'm not a hundred percent sure that I will make this but it's definitely one to consider for this fabric.

The cover photo doesn't do the pattern justice as I think the dress is a lovely design, but not keen on the bolero that obscures the dress.

I then popped over to the Sew Over It stand.  I bought the Betty Dress pattern which a lovely fit and flare dress with a circle skirt.

I have a lovely chat with Lisa from Sew Over It and I have to say she seems as nice in person as her youtube vlog.  I'm thinking that maybe I can squeeze the Betty Dress out of the 2.5m I bought from Fabrictime? Although the pattern says that it takes 3m of 150cm wide material, a quick internet search found people had made it with 2.5m so will see if I can squeeze it out, otherwise this material will become something else I am sure. Check out Lauren from Ghani and Guthrie's lovely version of the Betty Dress.

I also downloaded the Betty Dress Add-on pack the next day which costs an extra £5 as Lisa has recently brought this out.  You can change the neckline to a v-neck or scoop and add long sleeves, so thought this was worth getting too.

Betty Dress Add-on Pack from Sew Over It

My final purchase was some gorgeous lace weight yarn from Debonnaire Yarns. This business is run by a lady called Erica who hand dyes her yarns and designs her own patterns.

I bought this pattern for the Amble Shawl as I haven't ever made anything like this and fancied trying something different from jumper and cardigan knitting. You can download this pattern for £4.50 from her website.

Amble Shawl  Pattern by Debonnaire Yarns

She was very helpful when it came to deciding what yarn to purchase as I was a little confused by all the choice!  I chose this lace weight extrafine merino yarn.

All in all it was a great day and I think the show is on until Sunday so if you can get there it's definitely worth heading over there!

I'd love to know if you went and what you bought? x

A little update

Hello folks, thought it was time for a little update.  I started my new job on 4th January and really like it so far.  Have had little time for sewing, and have been curling up on the sofa most evenings getting on with a little knitting!

First of all, I have finished my slouchy pull on hat that I posted about here. Need to get a photo taken off it though.

Also on the needles is a plain sweater in this variegated yarn that I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show last year. I started this a couple of weeks ago.

The pattern is for a plain sweater, as I wanted something that would show of the lovely colours in the yarn and also that I could knit in front of the TV without having to concentrate on fancy stitch-work!

The yarn is called Marble DK from James C Brett which is not a company that I had heard of before. It knits up really well though. The pattern I'm using is Sirdar 9133.

I'm also using my Knitpro interchangeable needles that I got for Christmas.  These are gorgeous and a real treat to knit with.

Also on the needles is a cable sweater that I began in March last year, yarn also purchased at the Knitting and Stitching Show. I have knit the back and sleeves and now just got the front to finish. The front cable pattern is quite complicated and definitely one that needs concentrating on, so making slow progress with this one!

The yarn is Aztec Aran by James C Brett and the pattern is Sirdar 7188.

I definitely need this little great gadget to help me keep count! I got it a few years ago and it's been very useful.

I have bought some new sock yarn which is a lovely variegated Regia yarn, which is my go-to yarn for socks.

I got this free sock pattern with Simply Knitting magazine recently and think that these will be fun to make.

Finally I have finished this shawl neck waistcoat knitted in Sirdar Click DK.  The pattern is Sirdar 9249. All that I have to do now is sew a few ends in, add some buttons and block!

I do intend to do some sewing soon! I have cut out another trusty New Look 6262 and plan to get on with sewing it this week. I've made this three times now, so this will be dress number four!

The material was from John Lewis and was a bit pricey but the quality is gorgeous.

I have also purchased the Emery dress pattern as although this is very similar to New Look 6262, I really like the long sleeves and the collar. I have been keen to make this pattern as I've seen so many versions of this and I would also like to compare to my tried and tested New Look 6262 to see how the fit compares!

I'm definitely going to make a muslin of the bodice first and I've got some lovely fabric lined up for this one too.

I'll let you know how I get on with the Emery dress.

x