Ode to a Sewing Chair

 

It’s been 10+ years since I’ve had a decent sewing chair, and it’s hard to believe how much nicer my sewing experience has become and harder still to understand what took me so long to get here.

Back in the day, I had a secretarial chair, brought home by DH when his office redecorated. It was sturdy, comfy, cushioned, and rolled easily on our floor - just about perfect. Nothing lasts forever though, and it rolled its last just before we moved here. I was too busy to choose a proper replacement, and ended up getting a cheap, hard plastic desk chair ‘for now’. It had no cushioning, no support - for back or tush - and every time I bent forward to get something from the floor or a low drawer I felt like I would slide right off the seat - yikes! But no more.

Now I’ve finally come to my senses and gotten a new chair. Spurred on (probably) by the incomprehensible tariff threats of the current WH resident, it seemed to be sensible to get a new chair while they were (a) still available and (b) still affordable. So (drum roll) my new chair - a Reliable SewErgo 200SE. Designed and manufactured in Canada (proudly, I expect, as that is how most Canadians roll). It is sturdy, easily assembled and comfortable. The only thing that keeps it from perfection (in my eyes) is that it doesn’t come with wheels - which is honestly mentioned in all the descriptions of it I’ve seen (again, that’s how Canadians operate) - and in any case, you can get wheels that fit it pretty easily. In fact, since I took that pic it’s been tricked out with some slick rollerblade-type wheels.

So thank you Canada, for making a very nice chair, at a reasonable price, and sending it across the border to a sew-er who appreciates the chair, and appreciates you as a neighbor. 

A Verona for Summer

 

It’s definitely pushing the season — we’re barely into a proper Spring here — but when I saw a lovely cotton eyelet fabric at LA Finch a while back I just couldn’t resist.

I wanted a simple, airy pattern to show off the fabric and went with the Verona by Style Arc. It was a good choice for what I wanted to create, but I did run into a couple of issues — mostly due to my own decisions.

First up, I had more than enough fabric length for this pattern, but neglected to check the width — doh! Not enough to cut out such a full sleeve, especially on the bias. So, first pattern alteration was to narrow the sleeves. It’s still a full sleeve, still bias cut, just not as full as the designer intended. I also needed to cut a contrasting yoke for the back to insure I could lengthen the body to the finished length I prefer. I had some handkerchief linen that I was using for the hem facing and the neck binding, and that worked well for a back yoke. 

Pattern instructions call for a double turn of the sleeve hem to insert the elastic. I didn’t want any visible elastic so I used some voile scraps to make bias casings for it instead. It’s fine, but I think a better look would have been to gather the sleeves into narrow bands of the linen. I was tempted to re-do it that way, and still may, but I’ll need to test it out on my scraps as I’m not totally sure it would look any less stiff done that way.

And then we come to the neck binding. It is folded in half and first sewn to the inside of the neckline, then turned over the outside of the top and machine edge stitched. I have no issues with that method in theory, but the width of the bias strip when folded is very narrow when allowing for 2 ‘turns of the cloth’ and going around curves. Soooo, re-cut the binding and re-attach, and of course forget to stitch it to the inside of the neckline first — what a dumb move on my part! I ended up leaving it sewn to the outside and hand stitching it down to the inside. A high price to pay for my inattention.

Still, with all that, I made it to the finish line and I’m pleased with how it looks. Now we just need a pleasant summer day!

Gratuitous close up of the fabric: 

Almost there

 

One more detail and then it’s done — I’m waiting on delivery of some buttons to finish things off.

I’ve surprised myself by how (relatively) quickly this has come together. Very glad that I went with a different stitch pattern from my inspiration piece as the v-neck shaping was not too difficult for me. I was able to find a stitch pattern for the trim that mimicked the squares in the main pattern and also provided spaces for eventual buttons — so, no worries about buttonholes either.

Keeping things simple in both stitch choices and garment shaping has allowed me to come up with a piece that fits my original idea and will be a pleasure to wear. It has also provided me with a pleasurable activity for much needed respite from the craziness we find ourselves in these days. 

Details: Yarn - Silk City Fibers Cotton Bamboo & Linen, color - denim. Sport weight on 1.1 lb. cones - 1,650 ypp. Used 1 cone with leftover yarn. Main stitch pattern - #86 from “Crochet Patterns Book 300” Trim stitch pattern - Block Edging from “The Crochet Stitch Bible” by Betty Barnden. Crochet hook size E (3.5mm)

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Thought it might be of interest to add a screenshot of the original cardigan which inspired my recent project. Not too great to see details, but it was the best I could find.

An Optimistic Beginning

 Right now it’s just a small swatch, but I hope eventually it will become the inspiration for a summer cardigan. The yarn is a cotton/linen blend, and the color is a denim-y blue.

Last autumn I was watching The Marlow Murder Club on PBS, and I was taken by the wardrobe of the lead character. A ‘woman of a certain age’ (although I suspect less of an age than I am!), who dressed attractively in clothing that suited her and the life she leads. I was particularly smitten by a crocheted cardigan, and decided I could use something similar in my own wardrobe.

My first thought was to suss out the exact stitches used in her garment and copy the style of her cardigan. Go big or go home, right? And I did find two stitch patterns that echo very closely the stitches used in the inspiration piece, but discovered that actually working them didn’t give me much pleasure. I was also concerned that I would have trouble working out smooth shaping in those particular stitches. So, I made the sensible decision to go my own way and try something that works for me and my life, climate, etc., etc.

It will take a while, and I may not get there in the end, but here I am, all optimistic and ready to begin.

And, as a comparison, here is a swatch of the stitches I think may have been used in the original:

Lovely patterns, but that spider web stitch would have given me fits in any neckline shaping.

Take Two

 

Continuing with my experiment in adapting my darted blouse block pattern to tops for early Spring wear is a cotton voile shirt. (Fabric from Mood)

This one has a round neckline with front slit. No closures, it slips on over the head with the neck binding extending into tie ends. In real life the ties don’t blend into the background of the body quite as much as they do in a photo. Sleeves are slightly lengthened from the previous shirt and are gathered by elastic in a casing. The sleeves are a single layer of voile, but for modesty the fronts and back have been underlined with batiste. Not sure how necessary that was due to the dark navy background of the print, but better safe than non-wearable. 

I think there may be one more top using the darted block before I move on. I have a nice cotton shirting with a thin stripe that could be fun to play around with for a short sleeved collared shirt. I keep being enticed away from that by seeing some pretty tops with scalloped edging that I’d like to try in a solid linen, but I prefer to sew solids using my shoulder princess seamed block, so we’ll see which top wins out.

Blocking It Out

 I rarely make resolutions in the new year, but this year I decided it was time to get serious about learning how to adapt my basic patterns (also known as “blocks”) into garments I’d like to have in my closet. Specifically I’d like to concentrate on tops, as I seem to have a fairly good selection of slacks already. As always, I like to start with a simple garment to maximize my chances of success.

It’s still winter weather here, but thoughts turn to Spring. My first attempt is a top seen while browsing the British retailer Nobody’s Child. Not particularly Spring like in fabrication (neither in the modeled garment nor my rendition), but it appealed as a loose, somewhat billowy shape for those mild first days of the season. 

I started the project with my basic blouse block from Fashion Patterns by Coni. 

I had to make several changes to the pattern to get close to the styling of the top, but I felt they were simple enough that I could do it.  I’ll just mention the steps I took to alter the block, as I don’t feel competent enough to give pattern alteration lessons, but I often use “Make Your Own Dress Patterns” by Adele Margolis and “Patternmaking Made Easy” by Connie Almaden-Crawford (yes, the same Coni as above) when I need guidance for simple changes and drafting.

First, the back - separate the back into a back yoke and lower back. Add seam allowances where separated. Rotate shoulder dart to armscye then add amount to shoulder seam to create wrap to the front. Add a few inches to width of lower back to allow gentle gathers when attaching to back yoke. Create back neck facing by tracing back neckline and adding width (I used 2 inches as my facing width).

Front - remove the same amount to front shoulder seam as I added to back. Add fullness for gathering to front ‘shoulder’ seam by rotating fullness from the bust dart. I have a ‘generous’ bust dart & was hesitant to rotate the full dart take-up to the shoulder in case it would appear too full in a smaller space. Add seam allowance to center front and redraw neckline to a slightly curved vee - I did not free hand this, but traced what I wanted from a different pattern - no need to re-invent the wheel! Create front facing by tracing new center front and adding width. Draft a tie strip and a ‘modesty’ underlay for the front opening - both simple rectangles, but requiring math to determine dimensions.

Sleeves - I traced the sleeve cap from the block, but frankenpatterned the lower arm fullness and length from another pattern in my stash. I was very fortunate that both patterns had very similar sleeve caps - I basically just had a small discrepancy at the underarm to fuss with. Created a narrow sleeve cuff - again, just another rectangle.

And here’s what I ended up with - 

I’m sure it’s not an exact copy, but I think it comes fairly close. Fabric is from LAFinch - Two Tone Chambray.

Notable differences - shorter ties for closures. Narrow band for sleeve - I ‘think’ the original may have an elastic casing? And mine has a bust dart in addition to shoulder gathers. 

I’m happy with how it turned out and look forward to warmer days to wear it! 

What Took So Long?

 Back in November I was looking forward to sewing with an organic cotton fleece fabric that I had ordered from Stylemaker Fabrics, so this simple top has been looooong in the making.

I decided to go with Sew House Seven Toaster sweater pattern. I’ve made it before and enjoy wearing my previous makes, plus it seemed well suited to this thick cotton fleece. 

So, what took me so long? There were (still are) a lot of strong feelings after the disappointing election we went through here in the US, which probably contributed to sewing inertia. Then again, maybe I’ve just come around to the idea that I have enough clothes for the life I lead. Who knows? I really do need to think more about needs vs. wants especially in matters of wardrobe — closet space is not infinite.

In any event, embarrassing as it is to have taken so long to complete this top, it has proven to be a soft, warm, comforting piece of clothing. I do wonder if it will hold up well, or start pilling — only time will tell.