Appliqued Heart T-Shirt

Here's the second piece in my "t-shirt series".  This shirt gave me a little trouble from the start.  I used a white cotton t-shirt that I bought at my local thrift store, but it was a little too big to give a good fit.  I tried to take it in a little, but there's not much you can do with a too-low armhole.  I ended up cutting it open at the side and underarm seams (leaving the neckline uncut), adding a bust dart in the armhole, sewing it back up again and putting in a new hem along the bottom.  It still doesn't fit as well as a shirt made from scratch but it will do.

The design is from a stencil I ordered from istencils.  They have a large selection of stencils at very reasonable prices, and you can order the stencils in a range of sizes.  I cut the heart pieces from some fabric scraps leftover from a previous skirt project and appliqued them on with buttonhole craft thread.  It was a challenge to work with the tiny little pieces.  This will be a good casual addition to my wardrobe.

I have several exciting sewing related notes to report: 

• I've finished stitching the fourth panel of my Alabama Chanin dress (2 more to go);
• I am participating in an online class with Susan Elliot (who does beautiful hand embroidery and has a wonderful blog, Plays With Needles) and we are making a needlebook inspired by the Japanese ceremony of broken needles called Hari-Kuyo (I'll be posting about this once I've finished the book).  Thanks to Daphne (who also has an adorable blog at The Imperfectionary) for introducing me to Susan's work;
• I leave on Friday for a three day class with Sarah Veblen.  It's been almost 2 years since I last worked with Sarah, and to say I'm excited would be an understatement.  Those of you who know Sarah know what a wonderful teacher she is.  And having three days away (and with my great pal Joyce, too!) is just a real treat.  Thanks to my husband for keeping the home fires burning while I'm gone.  You'll get a full report when I return.

King Cake for Mardi Gras

Each year our church celebrates Mardi Gras with a music-filled party and King Cake.  I volunteered to help make one of the cakes several years ago, and today found me in my butter- and flour-filled kitchen making another.  The recipe I use is by John Folse and can be found on his website.  It is rich and luscious with an easy-to-work dough.  Here are some pictures of the process along with some of the changes I've made to the recipe.

You begin by making a very soft dough with lots of butter and eggs.  After rising for an hour you roll this out into a large rectangle.

The recipe calls for brushing the dough at this point with melted butter and sprinkling on cinnamon sugar, then cutting into three long strips.  Instead, I cut the three strips first, then use softened, but not melted butter, and spread a layer of butter onto each strip.  I sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar keeping it away from the edges of the strips.

The long edges of each strip are now brought together and sealed, enclosing the sugar mixture.  By keeping the edges free from melted butter and sugar, I have found it much easier to get a good seal along the seams.  When I used the method described in the recipe I found the butter and sugar interfered with this goal.

The next part is probably the trickiest but really is not all that difficult.  The dough is very easy to work with.  Begin by turning the seams to the bottom, then bring three ends together and begin braiding the tubes.  Once the braid has some length, begin forming a circle.  Continue braiding to the other end of the tubes and then bring all of the ends together.  Don't worry if the join does not look perfect -- imperfections get lost in the rising and baking of the cake. 

You will brush an egg wash over the dough now.  You don't need to use two eggs as called for in the recipe.  One egg is even too much.  This would be a good spot to use some liquid eggs if you have them.  Combine with about equal parts of milk.  Now this undergoes another rising and then it is ready to bake.  DON'T overbake!

Fresh out of the oven:

The final step is to apply a glaze and some "bling" (though I think the cake is at it's most beautiful at this fresh-baked stage).  The glaze is another area where I divert from the recipe.  First, the quantity that is made from the recipe is enough for a dozen King Cakes.  I make a much smaller batch.  I also omit the cinnamon after trying it both ways.  The cinnamon makes for a very dark brown glaze that I think detracts from the colored sugar added at the end.

You'll need a really large serving plate -- I've covered a pizza box bottom with parchment foil to make a platter large enough to hold this colossus.

You've still got time to whip up one of these cakes in time for dinner tonight, or bookmark this for next year.  This is a project that will give you a great sense of accomplishment, along with a really tasty treat.  So, enjoy this last day of plenty before the start of Lent.  Just remember, everything in moderation -- there's a reason it's called Fat Tuesday.

Embroidered Labels

Many years ago I asked a friend to digitize a little piece of clip art that I used on my business cards at the time so that I could stitch out labels for my handmade clothing.  My logo was a simple hanger embellished with a flower.  Back when I was doing some dressmaking for hire I used the business name Juliet, Couture and Bridal (JCB being my initials).  The first label I created looked something like this:

This was stitched on ribbon.  I went on to stitch the design out on various fabrics.  This was my favorite,

stitched on a pale grey and white checked linen.  I particularly liked using a patterned background.

Last week I realized I was out of pre-stitched labels and sat down at my machine to make some more.  For some reason, my old design was not speaking to me, and I decided it was time for a makeover of my label.  I still wanted to use a hanger design and found an appropriate one on the internet.  I'm currently loving the floss stitch designs I got from Jolson's Designs so I used one of those.  Once I got the design looking the way I wanted, I started concentrating on color and fabric choices.  I looked at my local fabric store for some light colored checked fabric like the one I used above, but didn't find anything in the color I was looking for.  They did have, however, a subtle paisley print cotton duck which I thought would work well.

I used colors similar to the designs here on my blog.  Here are the labels all stitched out and waiting to be cut.

and here is a completed label.

I particularly like how much depth and interest the print background adds.  I backed the fabric with a fusible tricot interfacing, cut the edges with pinking shears and then applied a thin line of Fray Block around the perimeter. 

While hunting through my closet for examples of my former labels, I was dismayed to discover how few of my garments actually have labels in them.  So, I'm hoping to do better this year and remember to sew labels into my creations.  I am also going to go back and "retro-fit" some of my older clothes with some of my new labels where possible.  After all, what's a designer original without its label?

Mindful Choices

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the choices I make in my life.  One of my long term goals is to try to incorporate as many sustainable choices as I can, be it decisions regarding food, cleaning products or clothing.  I realize this process is slow and made up of lots of little changes rather than one big lifestyle change.  Along those lines, my closet really needs a major overhaul.  It is full to capacity though I probably only wear about 20% of what’s in there.  I’ve just started the process of discarding items I will no longer wear.  More importantly, I am determined to only add items back in that really match my lifestyle and that will get worn.  To that end I’ve taken stock of the type of clothes I like to wear and have made a plan to add to my wardrobe in a mindful way.

First, I’ve made a vow for 2012 to buy no clothing from a chain store.  I’m planning to limit my purchases to the excellent local thrift stores in my area.  Anything else will have to come from my sewing room.

My lifestyle as a stay-at-home-mom doesn’t require a lot in the way of wardrobe choices.  In the winter, my “uniform” usually consists of jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt topped with another layer.  As anyone who reads my blog knows I am really in love with the hand-stitched clothing of Alabama Chanin, and I think t-shirts would be the perfect place to start my clothing plan – something that can be completed quickly and will be useful additions to my wardrobe.  I envision using appliqués, stencils and embroidery to create unique designs.  Remember all of those t-shirts I bought recently at my thrift store?  Those are my raw materials.

This past week I finished my first shirt.  It was a fantastic experience (though my finger is still a bit sore from all of the hand stitching).  It did not take nearly as long as I thought it would, and the process was so enjoyable.  I began by deconstructing two t-shirts, one long-sleeved, the other short.  Let me tell you:  if you have never cut apart a t-shirt you have been missing out on life.  There is something really gratifying about slicing into heavyweight cotton.  Once I had the shirts in pieces I cut out the "new" t-shirt from a Burda pattern I fitted a number of years ago.  I cut a double layer for the front and back but only a single layer for the sleeves.

I traced the stencil design that I chose (the Bloomers stencil from Alabama Stitch book) onto what would be the top layer of the shirt.  I layered that with the corresponding underlayer and began stitching.  I first stitched the bust darts through both layers.  I slit the dart and felled the dart legs open.  Next I used a running stitch around the larger leaves, then completed the reverse appliqué by trimming away the top layer.  For the smaller designs I cut the shapes from scraps of the green fabric and appliquéd them on with a parallel whipstitch.

The construction was all done by hand.  It went together pretty quickly, maybe 1.5 hours which included felling the shoulder and side seams.  The most time-consuming part was putting on the neck binding.  The chained feather stitch was new to me, and it took some practice before I got into the rhythm of the stitching.

All in all I spent about three days working on this shirt, not the 3 hours needed to whip one up on the serger but not a large investment of time for a really unique garment.  I know I will get a lot of wear from this shirt, and I can’t wait to start my next one.  I’m hoping to complete 3 or 4 more before the spring when I’ll start on my short-sleeved versions for the summer.  Watch for more coming soon.

A Dress Form for a Fabulous Fit

Last evening and earlier today I spent my sewing-room-time working on a different kind of project.  Many pounds, inches and two children ago I had a dress form that suited my needs well enough.  It didn’t really mimic my silhouette, but I could dial up the right circumference measurements anyway.  I never used it for fine fitting but did find it useful for pinning in hems, displaying garments, etc.  Recently while working on my blue wool crepe dress I realized that the form was really very far from my size and decided to try and do something about that.  That “something” came in the form of a Fabulous Fit kit which provides a form-fitting cover and lots of pads to custom create a dress form in my image.

This post is going to “expose” a lot more of me to the internet community than I’m strictly comfortable with, so I may as well start now.  One of my fitting challenges is a very low bust point.  I need to move my bust apex down quite a lot on commercial patterns.  My “dial-up dolly” had perky breasts that bore no relation to where the actual anatomical parts reside.  I was able to use the pads provided in the kit, along with some hefty shoulder pads and lightweight quilt batting, to get a pretty good replica of my figure, low bust and all.  It’s not perfect but it’s a lot better than what I started with.

The process starts with a very stretchy and form-fitting cover that you wrestle onto the dress form to about the shoulder line.  Then, following the instructions provided, you take a series of measurements and start adding padding.  The provided shoulder pads were too square for my shape so I used some shoulder pads I had in my stash.  I was lucky also to have a very detailed set of measurements that I use for drafting patterns with my Wild Ginger pattern drafting software.  I used some quilt batting to “flesh” out some areas, and also adjusted the underlying dress form’s circumferences as I added padding.  As you work your way down the torso you roll the cover down to hold everything in place.  Once you’re finished there is an additional princess-line cover you can use over top of the whole thing which aids in designing.  You can also mark various landmarks on the form as I did with the waist.

Here I am with my double (I drew the line at posing in a white mini skirt – the dark exercise tights will have to suffice).   I still think the hip area needs some work – I need to reduce the front-to-back distance and add more padding on the sides.

Here’s my blue wool crepe dress modeled on the form.  I can tell you it looks a whole lot better than it did a few weeks ago when I was working on it.

I found the pads and covers provided with the Fabulous Fit kit easy to use, though I think you could accomplish something similar with lots of batting and homemade pads and covers.  I found the best price for this product on Amazon.  I’m happy with how this project turned out, and am looking forward to my new best friend’s help in the sewing room and for showcasing some of my garments here on this blog.  Happy weekend everyone!