A post in 4 parts.
Act 1
It is so fun for Meg to feature Antoinette and me on her fantastic blog Shop the Garment District--go check it out! Thanks again Meg for your awesome map. You're like the Lonely Planet guide for the Garment District!
Act 2
I started working on Vogue 1236 yesterday during my day off. I cut it out in a straight 12. I should have cut a 12 grading to a 14 for the hip. Sadly there were no hip measurements on the printed pattern. Thanks Vogue! Sure, I could have measured them myself. Anyhoo, I wound up doing minimal seam allowances in the hip area on down.
I felt the neckline was too low so I took an inch off the straps. Now the dress feels like it might be too short. LOL.
Here's where it's at now; it needs understitching, then to be stitched at the shoulder seam, a belt and a hem. It has side pockets but the right one is kind of messy. Sigh.
The directions say to baste down the pleats, but I stitched them down. I mean, why not? Kind of a nice detail there. (Also the directions never explicitly say "and take out the basting stitches later).
It really feels like a Cindy from Colour By Number dress, doesn't it?
Since I was low on fabric, I got creative with the pockets and sewed two pieces of fabric together.
The facings are obviously a different color than the exterior fabric. I'm hoping once I understitch and iron that the facings will be totally hidden. We'll see. I'm kind of feeling like this one might need some time in Mary Nanna's magic closet...
Act 3
Any ideas on how to resolve the thread twisting back on itself as it comes off the cone thread? Maybe cone fillers would help?
How to resolve this? The looper thread is not kissing up against the cut edge of the fabric. I tried playing with the stitch width but the width doesn't actually seem to change.
I thought I'd throw it out there to you guys...
Act 4
My dinner tonight. I just made a fresh batch of lemon chicken orzo soup after work tonight, and am eating it with cukes and bread from Whole Foods:
As I usually make two dishes at one time, I also made some vegan corn chowder tonight. I used Antoinette's leftover almond milk.
I read somewhere never to buy kitchen gadgets that have only one purpose. Therefore I should not have bought my lemon squeezer, but how can you NOT love it? Its yellow color makes me happy! It's one of those Michael Graves for Target things. And since I FINALLY cleaned out the kitchen cabinets, I have a dedicated space for it, yeah!
Good night and be well!
I do like the pleats stitched down. I still can't believe you kept that serger a secret. I'm not for sure what is keep the loops of your thread further away. I'm pretty sure it's an adjustment - stitch width, mayber. But I do highly recommend the book Sewing With Sergers by Palmer/Pletsch. It's my go to book.
ReplyDeleteI'd try fiddling with the tension on the thread (it's one of the loopers) that needs tightening up. I think if you tighten the tension just a bit it will help. If it is too tight it will fold the edge over, too loose and there's too much thread (like you have now).
ReplyDeleteHmmm I don't know what causes that looping but mine has started doing it too - now that its due for a service I'll get the mechanic to sort it out - I have a vague feeling it's something that happens to the machine after a while if you use poor quality serger thread (guilty your honour).
ReplyDeleteI meant to write earlier about how lucky you and Antoinette were to be able to get together and go fabric shopping. Bet she kept trying to drag you into a second hand shop to buy something to upcycle though. You were very brave to go with someone who might talk you down from buying something frivoulous and (gasp) wasteful!
Just kidding - but you knew that didn't you???
Hi, I am a new reader of your blog, and this is my first time commenting :) Regarding your serger question, it looks like the serger knife cuts too much into the fabric. It happens to me from time to time, and I just adjust the knife's button that lets me move it a bit to the right. Go check the manual to see where is that button on your serger :) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOlga(RO)
The pleats look nice! Clever to seam together fabric for the pockets. I'm no help on the serger front. My old serger always had a loop in the right needle thread and I never figured out how to fix it (short of actually taking it in for repair, which I did not do).
ReplyDeleteI like how you stitched the pleats down. Othrwise, they tend to stick out. Oh, that soup!
ReplyDeleteI'm another one who likes your stitched-down pleats.
ReplyDeleteMy only advice re serger troubleshooting is whenever I have problem, I try EVERYTHING under the sun with tension/stitch length adjustment, and it doesn't work, and then I remember to change my needle and rethread and suddenly it comes good.
Is it me? It looks to me as if your threads are right about where they should be -- at least, I find that my best serged edges look very much like yours.
ReplyDeleteIf I can't see any looping at all at the edge, normally that means my tension is too tight, and the allowance is getting pulled to one way or the other.
When I refer back to my serger class, I see that the samples provided, and the ones we made, seem to confirm that this is what a properly serged edge looks like. (It's important that the loops are even, of course.)
I'm not sure about the cone thread twisting. My newish serger came with nets to put over the thread cones; I think they are supposed to prevent thread twisting, but I've never had to try them, and I'm not sure I'm convinced they'd work.
Is the twisting causing problems, or just annoying to see? (I'd hate seeing it!)