Another vest for my dad. Modeled off of a navy blue zip up vest that he wears all the time. This one is made with three different yarns. A super bulky malabrigo in purples and blues, a worsted weight malabrigo in bright blue, and a lace weight madeline tosh in navy blue. All hand dyed yarns. I just love this particular combination. Both the texture and color combine and contribute to the beauty of the finished material. And knit on size 15 needles, the material knits up quickly, and has a particular firmness that is quite lovely.

The border has a few rows of garter stitch, and then the rest of the vest is stockinette stitch. To edge the front and armholes I picked up stitches (3 out of ever 4) knit a row, and then cast off. Quick, tidy and simple.

My dad chose the purple zipper, and I attempted to sew it into the knitted  material. My current method for sewing in zippers is to: 1. pin the zipped up zipper into the sweater/vest. 2. unzip and hand baste the zipper on both sides. 3. machine sew the zipper from the right side of the material, taking care to back-stitch at the beginning and end of the line. 

I know that there are different sewing machine feet for sewing in zippers, but I haven’t been able to figure them out yet, so I wrestle through with the normal foot…hoping that I don’t break anything.

I usually take over a spot in the house to lay out the fabric. My current favorite is the floor in the bedroom. I place the pattern down and trace it onto the fabric with a chalk spreader tool.

Then cut the fabric…baste, and sew. Below are the sleeves, basted and ready to pin into the bodice.

I really enjoy the process of pinning the sleeves. I have found that fabric is much more malleable than I would think, and pinning the sleeves allows for all kinds of adjustments and refinements.

I started sewing the bodice with blue thread, but it was the wrong color, and so I switched to orange. The contrast was pretty with the dark blue.

I hemmed the bottom of the dress and sleeves by turning the material inside out. I actually have enough fabric to make another dress with the reverse side out, and I might do that. I had a hard time deciding between the dark and light sides of the fabric..

The hem at the bottom of the dress was a little funny, and so I added some tucks around to even out the seam. I guess that they add character..

My brother found this little beauty for me a few days ago. It is a Singer 306W, and works for sewing denim, canvas and leather. Seriously exciting.

This particular machine was made in the 50s, and comes with a motor and light, and a nice little cabinet in good condition. Plus, it seems to be built like a tank.

I have been testing it out on one of my denim scraps (I have a collection now, and am planning some sort of project with them all..)

The motor is in good shape, and once I am able to tune it up (with help from my friend Pat) should run easily. The stitch length/backstitch lever was frozen and we had to do a little tinkering with oil and wd40, but we got it working.

The underside is pretty cool. The belt (far right) is in good shape, and all the parts are built to last! No plastic down here.

The cabinet is in good shape. There are three drawers on the right hand side, and the machine folds down into the cabinet.

The top has burn marks, and the machine and cabinet smell like cigarettes. I can imagine the former owner sewing late, getting tired, and letting the cigarette fall from his/her hands onto the cabinet top…

Today was beautiful. Misty, and almost rainy in the morning, then breezy, cool, and sunny all day. I was working at home, and wearing this dress, which I made a few months ago, but haven’t been able to wear.

This dress makes me feel like baking bread, or picking apples. Or roasting pumpkins. Things to look forward to!

The pattern came from a garage sale, and was a little bit too small. So I added a bit of fabric to different spots, experimenting to increase the size.

 The fabric is cheap flannel. There is something satisfying about making a dress for $12, plus time. I am hoping that the flannel will hold up to a little bit of wear though…you pay for what you get!

The front of the dress is gathered, and I added some fabric there to increase the size. I also changed the placket a little, and had to adjust it quite a bit more when I realized that the lines of the pattern weren’t matching up well…something more to worry about with plaids!

The sleeves are long, but need to be worn pushed up past the elbows. Otherwise there is just too much green going on! I never put buttons on the cuffs, and if I push them past my elbows and then pull some extra fabric down they seem to hold up well enough.

The pockets are awfully handy. They are conveniently located on the front of the dress, and can hold quite a number of things. The only problem is that the fabric isn’t too strong, and I am worried about the corners of the pockets tearing. I suppose I should have put some interfacing on the underside of the dress for reinforcement, but I didn’t think of that while I was making the dress.

The back is simple, with a bit of shaping at the neck. I was hesitant about putting that in, but I did anyways, and it seemed to work out all right. Again, I was having a little trouble adjusting the fabric so that the lines matched. I am going to need to be a little more vigilant about that!

Sometimes I am completely surprised by a piece of fabric. When I received the package of kanga fabric from my sister and her mother, there was one piece that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t make something out of…it wasn’t my style, etc, etc. The funny thing is, as I kept on looking at it, and adjusting how it was folded, and washing and drying and ironing it, I was inspired to make a dress that might be one of my favorites. Funny how that works.

When I started thinking about this one, I had an image in my head, with strong borders at both the top and bottom. A loose fit for warm weather, an open neck, and maybe pockets. Simple and comfortable.

I messed up and made the neck to wide, and had to insert strips of fabric to shorten it. The plus side was that the added strips made the neckline more sturdy.

My favorite part might be the border at the bottom. I sewed on an extra layer of fabric, so that it would keep with the heavy feeling of the thick mango border. One of my favorite things to do is hand stitch the hem. It creates a nice finish, and the length of the dress is exactly as it should be!

The sleeves were cuffed by folding back the border and making a little stitch into the layers of fabric to hold them in place. It was a bit makeshift and messy, but in keeping with the simplicity of the dress.

This skirt was made from one piece of kanga fabric. Usually they come in two pieces, one for a skirt, and one for a shawl or head scarf. This was one piece, and perfect for a small skirt. I cut the border off of the top, gathered the middle and bottom and reattached the top border piece after I had attached it to some interfacing for sturdiness.

The length was a little bit too long, so I folded it in half, creating a little bit more weight at the hem. The kanga saying is on the back of the skirt, and I still haven’t gotten around to translating it…

This was another dress, copied from a little dress that I had almost worn out. The dress is loose fitting, and perfect for hot weather.

I wasn’t too particular about the hems on this one, and the bottom of the dress is a raw edge, that has to be trimmed every so often. The sleeves were cut on the side edge of the fabric, and so didn’t need to be hemmed either.

The fabric starts out quite stiff, full of starch, and after a few washings it becomes very soft!

My brother found this for me at a garage sale for $30.00. And it works! (Just about perfectly…) It is an old Franklin treadle sewing machine, made by Sears and a knock-off of an old Singer. No electricity is needed to power it, just the up and down of feet pressing on the treadle, which is attached to the machine by a leather cord. I love being able to create power for a machine!

My friend Pat and I took it apart, and cleaned, oiled and put back together all the parts. It came with the worlds cutest oil tin (which I have since filled with machine oil), and a box of supplies (things to make ruffles, bias tape, and other things that Pat knows how to use!) The machine was missing a bobbin shuttle (I have since found a broken one, and still need a new one..) and had a broken belt. Other than that it is fully operational!

We went to the sewing store in Ottumwa and bought a new belt, and need to find a new bobbin shuttle (pictured above, looks like a bit like a bullet) somewhere.

The manual is in a mostly usable condition…which is amazing considering it is about 100 years old. Too bad a mouse got to it…some of the directions are chewed off, but you can mostly figure out what is going on by looking at the pictures and text together.

The bobbin threader might be my favorite part. It pops out and connects with the belt, and carefully rotates back and forth to evenly fill the bobbin.

The oak box is in really good condition. It has four drawers to keep supplies, and the top folds down to put the machine away. My dad is going to find me a lace doily for the top.

And now I will be happily sewing away during the next power outage. (I will probably make a point of it.)

I went to Iowa City, and bought another pattern and fabric for a dress.  This time it is definitely a summer dress. I won’t be able to wear it for a while, but I can keep it tucked away for fairer weather. It is a simple ‘sack’ dress. The pattern call it the ‘socialite dress’ but I don’t buy that…

The front and back both have gathers for the shaping, with a front ‘v’ and a circle in the back. The arm holes are a little tight, and if I were to make the pattern again I would definitely make them bigger.

I found the fabric by holding it up to my lap and imagining looking down on it as a dress. When I held one up that worked, I was set. This is my new technique. Also, to stay away from little prints, which I love, but don’t really work for me…

The best thing about this dress is that it has pockets. Two of them.

This is the dress out of the fabric that I purchased at Home Ec. Workshop in Iowa City. It is a linen cotton blend, made in Japan. I fell in love with the print, and the piece of fabric itself. (I had the strip of fabric lying on my floor for several days, trying to decide if I wanted to cut into it or not. I decided to cut.)

The dress is pretty much the same as the last one. The material is quite a bit stiffer and this changes the shape/drape/fit of the dress.

And there are helicopters, polka dots, checks, and stripes. Maybe a bit too much, but I think that I like it anyways.

Once again, I haven’t hemmed the sleeves. They seem to roll up nicely, and I like the idea of leaving something unfinished!

Now I need a new sewing pattern to try out! Or maybe I need to find some old dresses, and make my own patterns.

I have recently gotten back into sewing, and found a pattern for and made a little green dress. The bodice (I think that’s what it is called) is short, and when I tried a normal length sweater over it, the skirt rumpled up kind of funny. I dug into the knitting pile in my spare room this morning, found the unfinished orange sweater, tried it on, and it worked just about perfectly! The sweater sleeves are a little bit tight over my arms and the corduroy sleeves, but I think that I can manage, and maybe the wool will stretch a little.

The sweater is knit with Malabrigo lace weight yarn. I ended up using a little over two skeins of yarn, so have a bit left for another project…I knit the sweater on size six needles, starting at the top and knitting down. I added seed stitch at the bottom, sleeve edges, and around the front, instead of ribbing and stockinette. When I picked up stitches around the front, I think that I picked up a few too many at the bottom. The border extends down, making little points. I am actually growing used to them though. The seed stitch (on size two needles) was taking so long, and I didn’t feel like ripping it out, so I kept it.

The good thing about using such thin yarn is that you get a more delicate sweater, and it costs less. The three skeins of yarn cost about $8.20 each, so the total sweater cost was around $25.00. Not too bad if you ask me!

The dress was from a pattern that I picked up in Iowa City. I also purchased some pretty fabric to go with the pattern, but as of yet am unable to cut it. (I have a hard time cutting into new pieces of fabric.) I had some fine whale green corduroy (already washed and dried) sitting around, and used it to make a prototype.

I cut and laid out all the pattern pieces, and marked them with my new white fabric pen. Then I managed to sew everything together, mostly correctly. Only ripped a few times…

The front is made up of two pieces, with plackets on the back side (shown above). It is a simple, effective design. No buttons or other fixtures used! The back is one piece, and I very slightly gathered the sleeves and sewed them in once the front and back were attached at the shoulders. Then the skirt front and back. With reverse box pleats. Two in the front and one in the back (below).

When I tried the dress on to show my mom, we decided that we liked it longer, and she had the thought to run a band around the bottom to add a few inches. I tried this and liked it. The material is going in the opposite direction, and it creates a nice edge effect.

That’s about it. A quick and easy sewing project. I am happy with the fit, and am planning on making another one with my new fabric…maybe over the weekend. I had forgotten how fun sewing can be. And it goes very quickly, which is quite satisfying!!