Completed project | Jeanne Marie’s Sewing Studio

Quick and easy peasant blouse

Completed project August 2, 2015 Leave a comment

I recently finished a quick and easy peasant blouse out of cotton lawn, No. 2 on my summer top sewing list.

The pattern promises “easy,” and it really was. I made View C.

I made a muslin (from an old sheet) primarily so I’d know where the bust point was (important for fitting) and to check the overall length. The only changes I ended up making were a full-bust adjustment with the new French darts I tried on the last project (still love them), and to lengthen the bodice and the sleeves an inch each.

The whole project, from muslin to final, took only two weeks, with the sewing of the fashion fabric taking only two days!

(I had high hopes of sewing up the fashion fabric in one day, but alas, I’m just not built for that level of concentration.)

New Look 6179. It’s difficult to tell here, but the sleeves have quarter-inch elastic in the hems.

The neckline is quarter-inch elastic in a casing, with skinny ties attached to the end of the elastic. The elastic comes nearly all the way to the keyhole front and the fabric ties are plenty long enough, so I think I’ll cut the elastic 4 inches shorter than the guide for the next go around.

In this closeup of New Look 6197, you can see the keyhole detail and the ties.

This blouse is actually a direct replacement for a very similar knit top that I have. But that originally OK-fitting top has shrunk and shrunk and shrunk in the wash so much that now it’s a crop top!

A HUGE benefit of sewing is making clothes that fit my full bust (without excess fabric at the waist or the hemline rising up in the front) and is long enough.

I’m so pleased with how this classic style turned out, that next up I’ll be making another one from ivory eyelet, bought during the same trip to Fabric Outlet in San Francisco as the cotton lawn.

And since the pattern is already fitted, I can make another in about the same amount of time it would take to find a ready-to-wear version that kind of fits.

Maybe I’ll be sick of the pattern after that, but I’d really like a third version in chambray blue with three-quarter sleeves.

For you sewing enthusiasts, how many times in a row can you make a pattern before you’re tired of it and want to make something different?

A quick new polka dot top

Completed project July 14, 2015 Comments: 2

Even an “easy-to-sew” top can benefit from the making of a muslin first.

In this case, the east-to-sew top was Simplicity 2594:

I made View C but in the longer View A length.

By making the muslin (from an old sheet), I discovered:

How much of a full-bust adjustment I needed to make.
Construction changes I wanted to make.
That the pleats I was thinking of replacing with gathers looked really sharp.
That the center front of the neckline was a half-inch too low.
That the length was sufficient.

Of course an FBA complicates any pattern, especially when trying a new dart position. FBAs create darts, and I usually make them horizontal or at a slight upward angle. In this case, I made them from about an inch above the waist, up to the bust. These are often called French darts.

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Experimenting with a new dart position has resulted in one wicked-looking dart. #SewingLife

A post shared by Jeanne Marie Tokunaga (@jmsewingstudio) on Jul 5, 2015 at 4:38pm PDT

I trimmed the dart after construction and finished the raw edges with my new favorite stitch: the three-step zig-zag. (My vintage Singer can’t do that.) I’m very happy with the dart placement:

Gene the Dress Form has a higher bustline than I do.

I like it a lot better than the other darts I’ve done, so it’s my new go-to.

As for the construction, I decided to sew the yoke, yoke facing, and front facing to the bodice differently than instructed. The technique for the front facing was hard to execute without catching fabric that shouldn’t be in the seam.

The yoke instructions called for the bodice to be machine-sewn to the yoke facing, then the yoke to be top-stitched down. I didn’t want to use topstitching for construction, and I didn’t like the resulting uneven neckline where the bodice front meets the yoke:

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Muslin of #Simplicity2594 is looking good. #SewingLife

A post shared by Jeanne Marie Tokunaga (@jmsewingstudio) on Jul 3, 2015 at 8:08pm PDT

I changed the way the pieces were sewn together and did some hand-sewing.

The yoke facing is hand-sewn. The instructions called for the bodice to be machine sewn to the yoke facing, then the yoke to be top-stitched down.

A view of the inside: The yoke facing is hand-sewn.

I’ve never regretted the times I’ve opted to hand-sew rather than machine-sew. Without a presser foot in the way and with the ability to pick the precise location of each individual stitch, you have so much more control. I have a notion to construct a whole garment by hand some day. Not a complicated garment, mind you.

The fabric requirements allot for the tie belt, but the fabric was 54 or so inches wide (I didn’t pay that much attention), so there was plenty left over to make a matching scarf. My head is too flat in the back to wear a scarf as a headband, so it will end be tied around one of my hats.

Here’s the finished top on Gene:

I’m not sure if I’ll wear it with or without the tie belt most of the time. Gene has an hourglass figure, but I don’t.

The back is gathered into the yoke, rather than pleated like the fton.

The back is gathered into the yoke, rather than pleated like the front.

I wear capris all summer, and this will go well with either my navy blue or white pair. Too bad I couldn’t get this done in time for the Fourth of July.

This was a fun, quick, and satisfying top to make. Even with the muslin, it was done in less than two weeks. And now that this basic top pattern is altered, I can whip up new versions pretty quickly. But I have some other easy top patterns that are waiting their turn.

This red polka dot fabric is a lightweight cotton from Fabric Outlet, purchased during a recent trip to San Francisco. I came home with four different fabrics that are destined to be tops, and this was the first. Here’s the next one:

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Next project, using more fabric from @fabricoutlet

A post shared by Jeanne Marie Tokunaga (@jmsewingstudio) on Jul 9, 2015 at 8:21pm PDT

I’ve already washed it, and it’s time to get started on the muslin.

I used a 1924 Singer to sew a skirt

Completed project, Vintage style June 26, 2015 Leave a comment

I was gifted a 1924 Singer 99 electric several years ago and recently had it serviced to be sure it was in good enough shape for me to sew a garment with it.

Here’s the machine:

This is a Singer 99 sewing machine, built in February 1924 with a ton of accessories!

The Singer 99 is a smaller and lighter version of the Singer 66.

The skirt is complete, and it was a delightful experience to create it using only a vintage machine and hand-stitching.

What I liked about using the Singer:

The moving parts just glide, particularly the hand wheel. When people say “like a well-oiled machine,” this is what they’re talking about. It has a wonderfully smooth motion.
It’s gorgeous. It has a shiny black body with elaborate gold detailing and an embossed faceplate. It’s a pleasure to sew with something so pretty.
I was able to connect to history in a real way. Although there are many bells and whistles available on new sewing machines to make sewing a little easier, the actual process of creating a garment isn’t really any different now than it was 91 years ago. I enjoyed experiencing sewing just the way people did back in the 1920s.

Here’s a video of the Singer in action:

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Kickin' it old school with my 1924 Singer #sewinglife #vintagestyle

A post shared by Jeanne Marie Tokunaga (@jmsewingstudio) on May 26, 2015 at 8:06am PDT

What I missed about my Fancy Damn Viking:

The foot pedal. It was really hard to get used to operating the machine with a knee lever (really, a thigh lever). Ergonomically, I think it would take a while for using it to become truly comfortable, let alone second nature. When I put the Singer on my sewing desk, I unplugged the foot pedal from the Viking but left it in place, so I kept trying to use it out of habit!
The reverse button. The Singer is just a few years too old to have a reverse lever on it. Starting and ending a line of stitches was a little cumbersome because at first I opted to flip the entire garment around in order to stitch backward then forward. After a while, I decided to sew forward about a half-inch, then raise the needle, move the fabric without cutting the thread, and restart the seam from the beginning.
The presser foot button. I’m now accustomed to using a button to raise and lower the presser foot on my Viking. (There are three different heights I can raise it to!) Using a traditional back lever was not a problem except for its proximity to the exposed light bulb with metal shield on the back of the machine. Ouch, that’s hot!

What seemed to be a drawback but wasn’t:

No zipper foot. At first I was dismayed to see that the Singer did not have a zipper foot among its accessories. Zippers were not yet used in clothing in the 1920s (according to Wikipedia anyway), which explains why it didn’t have one originally. (I could probably buy one that would work.) So, I sewed the zipper in by hand. This is my first time hand picking a lapped application; but in general, I’ve found that hand-sewn zippers are more successful for me than sewing them in by machine. The zipper slider isn’t in the way of a hand needle, so it’s easy to maintain a straight stitching line. I’m not particularly eager to sew another garment zipper in by machine.

Now that the project is complete, the Viking is back on my sewing desk, but I have no doubt I’ll be using the Singer again. I’m thinking it would be wonderful to make a quilt with it.

Next time, I’ll share the project that I sewed with the Singer.

Linen skirt sewn with a vintage Singer

Completed project June 26, 2015 1 Comment

I found an irresistible embroidered linen at Jo-Ann’s a month or so ago.

I thought this blue linen with cream embroidery would make a pretty top.

I thought this blue linen with delicate cream embroidery would make a pretty top.

I really need to start looking more closely when I buy fabric, because when I was prepping it for washing, I discovered that I had actually bought this:

When I was prepping this fabric for washing, I discovered that the fabric wasn't quite what I thought!

Whoa! That was a surprise.

It was really too heavily embroidered for a top, so I decided to turn it into a skirt: Butterick 5737.

I made view A on the left, which I’ve made twice before.

I was about 1 1/2 inches short of fabric, so I let the hem of one pattern panel hang off the cut edge. Some of the seams end up on the bias, so I’d have to let the skirt hang and trim the hem even anyway.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to use the 1924 Singer 99 electric for all the machine sewing:

Sewing the side seams
Finishing the side seam allowances with rayon hem tape
Attaching the waistband
Sewing single-fold bias tape to the hem edge

The rest I did by hand:

Inserting the lapped zipper
Finishing the waistband
Sewing the hem
Attaching the hook and eye

I have found that on embroidered fabric, the embroidered design doesn’t go all the way to the selvage edge. In this case, there was a rather wide area that wasn’t embroidered, so I worked it into my cutting strategy.

I decided to cut the skirt panels so the edge of the embroidery would run along, but not into, the center front and back seams. I also decided to cut the waistband from an area with no embroidery at all.

Here’s a good look at the center front seam:

The edges of the embroidery along each selvage were really different, so this doesn’t look quite as good as I’d hoped.

And the waistband:

There aren’t supposed to be tucks at the center front, but I needed to ease in the skirt panels and tried to do it with pins instead of ease-stitching. You can see how well that worked out.

And here are some of the other details: