6 posts tagged “diy”

Pin, press, seam.  Then pile on the floor, chair, or equipment to trim, pin, press, & seam.

I suppose one could sew one garment at a time, but for some reason, I sew everything with black or white thread 99% of the time, then pin & sew all the black thread projects together at the same time.

For some reason, these Christmas gift-making months, I've been OBSESSED with making only stashbusting projects.  Take this Dianna Shawl by MaweLucky/Jane Araujo.  I KNOW I'm not making the most attractive version possible.  I KNOW the color combinations are a little wacky, but for some reason, I still fully believe that I can pull it off for my gal pal whose birthday is next month, who doesn't celebrate Christmas, and who can't stand animal hair of any kind against her skin.  So I pooled together all my single skeins of Elann Lara, a cotton yarn, and decided they looked well enough to attempt this shawl.  I like how Kaffe Fassett pulls together a lot of colors by finishing some of his gorgeous sweaters and cardigans with striped ribknit bands using the remnants of all the yarns he used.  I plan to do that, too, and hope that it will come off well enough that V will actually wear this shawl where she lives in the Central Coast of California.

I briefly showed this scarf to my gal pals last Sunday over crafting and potluck brunch day (we do this once a month). It's my blue acrylic yarn stash buster.  Granny gave me so, so, so, so much yarn but a lot of it is acrylic and so I have been knitting and crocheting as much of that over the years as I can for guy gifts.  (Guy gifts meaning, gifts for guys that are handmade but using yarns that hold up with lots of roughness, machine washing & drying, etc.)  I asked them, "would a guy wear this?"  "No," they chorused.  "What if he's gay?"  "Yeah... probably."  Sigh.  Oh well.  It might not be nice enough, but he does live where it snows....  I'd like for him to keep warm!  But I can't spend a fortune buying merino wool and alpaca for all my friends.  Not when I have all this yarn from Granny:  scratchy vintage wools, acrylics manufactured so long ago that the companies no longer exist, nylon-mohair blends in colors I'd never wear....

My Poffertjes for AJ is another attempt to bust up the yarn stash from Granny.  The white circles turned out to be fun to knit but the diamonds suck.  My first one looked a bit dismal.  I know it just takes practice (and seems to look better with DARK YARN which I'm unfortunately not using) but I still put the project down for the time being, anyway.  I need to mail AJ his present by the day after Thanksgiving.  That way, I'll have missed his bday by a few days (ANOTHER Thanksgiving-time bday friend!  why is it that most of my friends have birthdays right around xmas?!) and I'll be early for his xmas....  That way, I can catch him before he goes home for the holidays....

Why do I suddenly dream up new stashbusting yarn combinations during meditation?  Sigh.  Then of course, since I've got about 40 sewing projects to finish up plus all my xmas/bday-time presents to complete I won't get very far....  But this was the perfect combination:  the shedding angora that made my eyes water tamed by the splitty Berocco Lumina and the overly slippery Filatura di Crosa Silkyna....  But now that I've cast on, I want to frog and put it on circular needles!

My god, I love doing this!

Materials:

•  Rib Knit or jersey/knit fabric (this is what t-shirts are made of & the collar is rib knit) with good stretch about 45" wide and about 14" long (have the fabric store cut you 7/8ths of a yard and you can cut that in half to make two) 

•  Fabric shears

•  Sewing Machine that can zigzag or serge

•  Slightly contrasting thread color 

Actions (practice on a small scrap of t-shirt you may have cut off an old t-shirt)

1.  Cut material to desired width.  The width of the jersey has now become the "length" of the scarf/stole.

2.  Thread the machine.  Set the machine to zigzag.

3.  Start at one corner and zigzag the fabric.  Your goal is to LETTUCE-EDGE the fabric by pressing slightly on the fabric.  Let the feed dogs of the sewing machine pull your fabric through and using your index finger, offer a soft resistance, enough to create the lettuce edging or rippling effect of the raw edge.  DO NOT PULL the fabric from behind the needle or offer so much resistance that you begin to throw off the delicate tension maintained by the older model machines between the upper and lower thread tensions.  If you sew a straight seam and the tension is off after running your practice sample, then you know you offered the jersey fabric too much resistance.

4.  Without disconnecting the seam, when you reach a corner of the fabric, simply stop the machine, lift the presser foot, turn the corner, and continue zigzagging the raw edges.

Note:  the selvedge edge will barely lettuce edge.  Let that be.  It's the raw edges are where you'll create the most ruffling of the fabric.  

This is as great quick birthday or xmas/winter holiday present.  I've gotten a lot of compliments from my own and oddly enough, this is one of the simplest, most no-brainer projects I've made.  <sigh>  I guess it's the process that counts ;-)

This is a stack of about 10 summer & winter pants, or since I'm in Los Angeles, 9 months a year weather pants and 3 months a year wannabe cooler weather pants.

Pile-fabric (pile doesn't mean piled on top of each other, you non sewers!  pile means the fabric has a miniature lawon on it -- fabrics like corduroy [cord du roi], velvet, velveteen, and velour) scraps (from various projects) duvet cover.  This will make the top.  The back will be black rayon velvet that Erin H. gave me last year.

(Apologies for the blurry photos & the deleted ones I couldn't retrieve that show the finished product).  [Mr. ESB:  read no further!  This is your hidden Xmas present!]

1.  Pick out your fabrics and make sure they'll meet your desired measurements for front & back of the comforter.  Standard sizes for completed comforters are:  

Twin: 65" x 88"

Full:  80" x 88"

Queen:  86" x 93"

King:  104" x 93"

California King:  98" x 97"

Baby:  18" x 18" to 36"' x 42" (this depends on where you're using the comforter.  You want to measure it based on the crib size if that's where you'll use it.  If you're just tossing it over the baby in the carriage or car seat, the smaller version is more reasonable.  The larger version is if you're kind of swaddling/wrapping the baby up in it and carrying him/her around.)

(helpful weblink:  http://www.denverfabrics.com/pages/static/yardage-estimator-bedspread.htm but note the fabric estimates are based on 54"-width fabric.)

2.  Sew the front and back together in a u-shape:  the top edges minus about 24" (or leaving enough room for you to stuff the comforter with batting), the sides, and the bottom.  This makes a kind of comforter shell that's similar to a pillowcase.

3.  Decide the batting thickness you want to use.  Quilts use up to 4 ounce-thick batting so usually comforters are heavier.  6 ounces plus.  I chose 10 ounces.

Next put the batting into the comforter.  It takes a bit of time.  And before you do it, just remember that unless you're making a baby comforter or a lap blanket, the batting won't be wide enough for your project, so you'll have to buy double the length of your sewn comforter shell.

I prefer to do this step at a friend's house with lots of space, my home being too small.  It so happens that my exercise studio owner-friend loaned me her space a few consecutive Tuesdays in a row.  (Remember it's always nice to vacuum after you're done for the day.)  I used her exercise equipment weights to hold two corners of the comforter shell down while I stretched out the other two corners.  (See photo of comforter shell above).

Be sure to bring fabric scissors, thread, & needle, too.  If you're going to tie the layers of your fabric together in this same session, have a tapestry needle and your chosen yarn or ribbon on hand.  (Avoid fuzzy yarn as it tends to fray and slide with agitation of the layers.)

4.  Roll out the batting so that it slightly overlaps the edges of the comforter shell.  This is done to your aesthetic.  I love fluffy, over-filled things so I overlapped the comforter shell edges by about the width of my hand.  This is round 1 of laying down the batting.

5.  Trim the batting so you can roll out the batting for Round 2.  Make sure that you don't cut the comforter shell as you do this.

6.  Trim the second layer of batting to meet the desired width overlapping the comforter shell.

Notice I've overlapped the two layers of batting.  This is very important.

7.  Whipstitch the two layers of batting to each other where they overlap.  Avoid attaching the comforter shell at the same time!

8.  (This is an optional step that I like to do at this point in case of layers shifting.)  Trim the second layer of batting to meet the desired width overlapping the comforter shell at its width.

9.  Now the quasi-athletic moment when you stuff the batting into the comforter shell.  Wear loose, comfortable clothing that allow your legs to straddle the whole project at times.  (!)  (You can also use this in the future for putting down comforters into duvet covers.)  Make sure that your comforter shell is inside out.

Roll the corners toward the center, leaving the comforter shell opening at the top handy for you to pull the batting through.

(You can see my pants, calf, and green sock!  Ahhhhg!)

Usually it ends up being a bit like a diamond shape, but this time around, the project kept unrolling on me so I rolled it up tight like a mummy.

10.  Now go to the top where the comforter shell opening is and flip the fabric right side out.  See blurry action photo!

11.  Now stick a yardstick or wooden dowel inside the comforter shell to push the batting into the far corners.  Careful not to rip the batting while you do this!

This is what the comforter shell looks like with the batting inside, puffy corners because of my preference for big batting overlap at the corners.

12.  Decide how far apart you want to space your ties.  I usually do a square distance of my hand length, but you want to make sure your hand length will result in even ties from one side to another.  I begin at a corner farthest away from the comforter shell opening, preferring to sew from right to left, I start at the bottom right hand corner.  I measure one hand length up from the bottom of the comforter and one hand length in from the side edge of the comforter.  Then I look for a visual mark on the fabric and push the needle through all 3 layers at that point.  

Start to sew the layers together with your tapestry needle.  If your fabric is particularly difficult to pierce, use pliers to help pull the needle through.  

This is a blurry photo showing how I tie a knot with my yarn.  In the past, I've used quilting thread.  That required several hours of piercing the same spot over and over again.  I don't recommend it.  I strongly encourage using yarn or ribbon (thin spaghetti ribbon, but NOT rayon rattail as that's just too slippery!).  I'm an avid knitter but I just use scrap or waste yarn -- even crafter yarn for latch hook rug making because I'm looking for durability versus a sensuous, soft hand to the yarn.  

13.  When you've finished sewing the ties of yarn/ribbon from bottom to top of the comforter, you can machine sew or hand sew the top of the comforter together to seal the remaining raw edge.  (Apologies:  this photo got deleted) and you're done!

It's true that a lot of designers have cut back on ruffles, fullness, fabric.

It's true that retail sales are low this year.

In this DIY age with DIY knitters, newbie DIY crocheters and some courageous, new DIY sewers, you CAN make something fun for very little money.

Victoria wears her clothing extra-small so it doesn't take her a lot of fabric to wrap around her body, but these garments are for small to medium sized women.  

The wrap skirt I sewed from fabric that I LOVED when I found it in the store.  Unfortunately, it was the last on the bolt and barely made a yard.  I didn't want a miniscule skirt so the creative solution was simply to use extra fabric placed on the inside part of the skirt.  It's a complementary rose color and since it's on the inside of a wrap skirt, the fabric I loved gets wrapped over the top of it.  You only see the extra fabric when moving with a big stride.  

The floral top was constructed of vintage polyester fabrics I inherited from my grandmother.  They were in great condition and as part of my desire to construct clothing and costumes 99% with existing materials in my stash, this got added to the collection.

Because I limit myself to materials on hand, I'm constantly finding creative solutions to interesting design challenges.  Meleesa of Meleesa the Salon asked for several square tops like the one Victoria is modeling above.  It wasn't a top I would have considered making on my own, but because of her suggestion, I looked through a stash of fabrics that I had not slated to use, whipped them up, and they organically merged with the other garments slated for the show!  What a blast!

I know a lot of designers sketch and plan ahead.  Because of the resource constraints I give myself, I start with my resources first and my vision bends and expands to the evolving process.  Lastly, during the fitting week, I start to adapt the garments to the model or throw things out, making new items to suit the model better.  It's a process that reminds me of making dance costumes for performance:  improvising on the spot when costumes got lost on tour or the choreographer wants something really bizarre in 2 days.

The moral of my story...

Or, buy smart.  LotusMonkey dot Etsy dot com will post whatever you request that's for sale on the flickr account (www.flickr.com/photos/24269199@N02) and for a fair price (you're not paying for my labor at minimum wage -- it's comparable to what you can buy in the stores that's similar but mass-produced, hint-hint-hint).  Some second hand stores have INCREDIBLE steals for under $30.  On the other hand, a lot of second hand stores are aware of the cachet of wearing vintage so their items are overpriced.