Tag Archives: skirt

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:

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.

An invisible zipper that’s actually … well … invisible

Projects, Techniques, Today's progress, Vintage Separates Project June 10, 2012 Comments: 4

I hummed along so quickly during my afternoon of sewing today that instead of stopping before the invisible zipper installation (the better to steel myself for the battle), I continued right on through it.

Previously, I’ve had little luck with invisible zippers:

Zipper outside

The not-so-invisible zipper of my polka dot skirt. Sad, no?

But today was a breakthrough:

Can you see a zipper in that seam? Neither can I — whoo-hoo!

The trick was the ironing of the zipper before application. The directions that come with the zipper show a timid iron tip just crossing from the zipper tape over the teeth. That has never worked for me, so I gave up on the ironing and ended up with a very visible invisible zipper.

This time, however, I aggressively ironed that zipper tape and attached coils. Mashed the heck out of those suckers with my iron, in fact (at the proper synthetic setting, of course). The zipper tape flattened right out. I was a little concerned by how incredibly flat it was, but proceeded to attach the zipper, which was held to the fabric with Clover Wonder Clips. So much easier than pins!

This is the spot where I usually run into trouble. I have an invisible zipper foot, but the stitches would catch the coils. No more! The stitches glided right alongside. I was a little apprehensive when I tried to close the zipper, but it zipped up like a dream!

Yay! My first successful invisible zipper. Now I wish I hadn’t chickened out of getting the blue zipper. The zipper pull looked snazzy in that color, but I settled for a cream color in case I screwed it up again.

My self-drafted pockets also worked, and the length and fullness at the hem are looking promising. Just a few more hours of work are left on this wearable muslin. I’m sensing a success. Oh no! Did I type that out loud?

Gemini note (because sewing isn’t everything): We finished up my second-grader’s baseball season with the team party today. Such a fun season! Nice coaches, nice kids, nice families. We had a blast, made some friends, and my baby played in the AA All-Star Game. Love the opportunities the ‘burbs provide for my kids.

Separates: Changing a contour waistband from a side to a back opening

Vintage Separates Project May 29, 2012 Leave a comment

In my quest for the perfect vintage-style skirt for my Separates project, I found McCall’s 6438.

Although the actual sewn garment looks terrible on the model (Why is she wearing a contour waistband so high on her waist?), this pattern has the elements I wanted:

  • A contour waistband, which isn’t strictly vintage but works better on my not-so-hourglass figure.
  • A long skirt that’s full at the bottom, but smooth at the waist. (I don’t need any extra fabric there, thank you!)
  • A seam at the center back of the skirt, so I can easly change the skirt to a back closure. The better to add side pockets.

Today’s task was to redraft the pattern from a side to a center back closure and create the pockets. First up, the skirt pattern piece:

To change the skirt pattern for a back closure was just a matter of moving the circle for the zipper end. This looks a little fuzzy primarily because the pattern is under the Swedish Tracing Paper, though truth be told, some of that is operator error with my new camera!

Next was redrafting the waistband. The back waistband had the underlap extension on the side, so I used the front waistband for my base pattern.

I traced the front waistband pattern to create two back waistband pieces, one with an underlap, one without.

I had to add a seam allowance to the center back line for the left side. I added a seam allowance and 1.5 inch underlap to the right side.

Overlapped at the center back, the new back waistband pieces are the same size as the front waistband.

With that done, I moved on to creating slant pockets. I could have used a piece from an uncut pants pattern, but instead I drew it freehand with a few of the dimensions based on the nicely sized pockets from a pair of ready-to-wear pants with a contour waistband that I have. (Don’t you hate pockets that can’t actually hold anything? I at least want my phone to fit in there.) It was easiest for me to envision if I drew all the lines right on the skirt pattern and then traced those to create the separate pieces.

To draw the lines for the various pocket pieces on the skirt piece, I used a combination of freehand and my design ruler. I can use this whole pattern piece for the back skirt pieces and trim off the little slant area for the front skirt pieces.

Here are the resulting pieces:

My new slant pocket pattern pieces.

In my head, I know how all this will go together because I’ve sewn a slant pocket before. I THINK it will work just fine. (If you see a flaw in my drafting, please let me know!)

The pattern piece that won’t show on the outside, marked A above, can be done in a lining fabric. I have an idea of using a self piping for the slanted edge. The skirt will be done first as a wearable muslin (some quilting cotton), but I just checked my project bag and found lining fabric, but no zipper.

Now the question becomes: Invisible or regular …

Gemini note (because sewing isn’t everything): I am currently obsessing over the BBC production of Sherlock, gleefully egged on by my friend Kim!

Stealing construction techniques from J.Crew

Techniques August 14, 2011 Comments: 2

A friend of mine needs the kick pleat of a skirt mended, so she has turned to me for help. The pink cotton twill skirt is from J.Crew. I’ve never purchased anything from there, so I was not familiar with the quality of the garments. I took a look at the ripped seam from the inside and found lots of interesting construction details:

❦ The contour waistband is faced with a completely different material: a satin polka dot. The seam was offset, so there is no chance of the facing showing on the right side. It appears the facing was attached the same way as in this tutorial on the Coletterie blog. I love the use of the contrasting fabric. It’s pretty, and it saves the fashion fabric.

Contour waistband facing on a J.Crew skirt

The contour waistband has a contrast facing. Note that the area for the zipper insertion is interfaced.

❦ The zipper area and kick pleat are interfaced with fusible tricot. After putting a zipper in rayon recently, I thought a fusible interfacing might be a good idea to stabilize the fabric and eliminate unraveling. I’ll definitely do this for the next zipper I put in.

The interfaced kickpleat of a J.Crew skirt

The kick pleat has also been interfaced.

❦ The pocket pieces are joined with a French seam. The seam was first sewn with a serger, then turned to do the French seam; however, the edges of the seam allowance stick out of the second stitching. This is inside the pocket, so no one will see it; but a French seam that actually fully encloses the first seam allowance would be nicer.

The french seam on the construction of a pocket in a J.Crew skirt

The pocket pieces have been joined with a French seam. The first seam was overlocked.

The inside of a pocket on a J.Crew skirt.

The inside of the pocket shows that the first seam allowance isn't fully enclosed by the second stitching of the French seam.

Better ready-to-wear garments can be the source of good construction techniques. In this case, there are some great ideas that I intend to incorporate into my sewing. All for the price of a little mending for a friend.

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