Keep Calm & Sew On bag: DONE!

It's done peeps!

And I went with ORANGE piping!

That was because it was the only piping I had that actually matched a color in the bag.  It's lined with canvas to give it some structure.  I was going to try a zippered pocket, but ran out of time.

It's Simplicity 8331 from the 90's.

The fabric is Timeless Treasures. I bought a half yard on ebay. Little scraps are left. This fabric was not printed on grain, and it veered off toward the edges. So it's not perfectly, er, level.  Also I had to make the bag handles in different directions due to lack o' fabric.

I've made one of these bags for each PR weekend I've attended. and one for Christmas.

Family bag reunion 

And this is what a woman who's about to go on a 2 week vacation looks like:

First stop:

I will be tweeting!  #prwknd

And yes, I watched all 4 epis of the Great British Sewing Bee.  And I *loved* each and every one.  More please.

Be well!

Keep Calm Bag in progress....

Several asked about the fabric:  the fabric is from Timeless Treasures--not sure what the name of the print is but if you can find it on ebay with "timeless treasures fabric keep calm". It comes in two colorways: multi and black/white.   I bought it on ebay.   (Lee, I recognized it on your blog!)

Here's the progress I made tonight after work:

Handles interfaced and sewn; top of bag lining interfaced and sewn; top of bag lining sewn to bottom of bag lining.
I was going to put in a zipper pocket but I am running out of time.
I might finish it tmw night.  I only have two nights left to sew it...and clean my house...and pack...and return my library books, etc etc etc.  Oh and work, yes, work....

Thank you for voting!!  Here are the votes so far on the piping:
 
(votes are from last night's blog posting plus twitter; a half vote is when someone voted for two colors:
Black: 5
Orange: 1.5
white : 3
pink : 3
turquoise: 3.5
red (not pictured, but I do have it, suggestion per my mom, via email): 1

I'll keep you posted!
Be well!

What color piping shall I use???

Here's the fabric:


Here's the start of my bag and my piping options:

What color piping should I use??? Comment away!!!
The colors are :
black
orange
white
bubble gum pink
turquoise

(and yes, it's all pre-packaged because I'm running out of time....and tis also good to use up stash supplies) .

Oh, and LinB, your story cracked me up (about your sister feeding the "squirrels").  I'd contact you directly but I don't know how to contact you...but that was great!

How to clean finish the loops on McCall's 6078

Can you stand another post about this shirt??
A funny thing happened with McCall's 6078. I went to work yesterday with the loops in this position:
And by the end of the day, it looked like this:
The loops moved, on their own, all the way up to my shoulders!!
I actually wore with a brown shrug, which goes a long way to tame the wildness of the print:

It was pretty funny. It does change the way the cowl looks, depending on where the loops are. I think this fabric is so slippery, that the loops are free to roam.
The 1" reduction in cowl is not quite right for me either, I think my next attempt (if there is one) will be 1.5".
 (Here's where I took a 2" reduction).

Oh, so I also wanted to mention, the directions for the loops are to fold the fabric on the fold line and sew, then turn inside out and hand-stitch the loop closed. Yeah, I wasn't going to do that. here's how to clean finish it:
I followed the instructions up until step (x).(I'm writing this while having my car serviced...I'll update the step when I'm back home).

I turned the loop so the right side was out and the sewn edge was on the inside, and in the middle, then I pressed it flat.
Then I put it around the strap like this (you can see the sewn edge is straight down the middle), and the raw edges are together:

I serged the raw edge:

I then used Fray Check to keep the serger tails from fraying. (I haven't mastered the technique of enclosing the tails in the serger chain. Yet.  But I've watched that part of my White VHS tape a few times...)

Then I turned it so the right side was out and the serged edge was inside, positioning the seam to the back.

I guess it would best to actually sew the loops in the place I want them to be....but haven't decided if I prefer the loops at the shoulder or further down.

Hey, look at what's in bloom, my amaryllis!

Such a great red color!!!




Be well!!!

Take 3: McCall's 6078 view C changing cowl again

This fabric has a story....it was draped on the mannequin outside of Kashi's during PR weekend 2012.  I asked if there was any more of it left.
The answer, no.
I asked if I could have the piece.
Initially his son said no, but I asked Kashi and he said, "it's not even a yard."
I asked again if I could have it.
This time the answer was YES.

It was 35".
PERFECT for McCall's 6078.

I liked the loops, but last time taking 2" out of the cowl was too much and I couldn't really do the loops.

This time I took 1" out of the cowl.

I put the pieces back together again, and folded on the fold line, and drew out 1 5/8" this time (instead of 2 5/8" like last time.  The 5/8" is the SA.)


Folded on the line I just drew:

Opened the piece up and drew on the fold:

Cut that bit out:

Was feeling smart because I checked that the shoulder seams matched, so I cut out the back as-is. But the shoulder seams only matched... on the pattern. Depending on how you finish the back seam, they might not match in reality when you're sewing...as was my case and I took another tuck in the shoulder seam to make up for it.

So here was how it looked before I added loops:

And here it is after adding loops:
Tucked in:

I'm wearing my J Stern Designs brown cords... they go together well.
Untucked:

I centered the flower on the back. Not sure if that was a good idea or not:

Here's how I finished the back edge:

And here's how I bound the armhole edges. I used a version of Deepika's method for the armholes:

Here's a closeup of the loop. It's actually Halloween fabric, used for making Pocahontas costumes. I used it for piping my argyle dress last year.

I might put darts in the back for my sway back, but maybe not. It's done for now.
Photobombed!

I'm cat sitting again.
Buddy helped me feed the squirrels today!

Be well! Good night!

McCall's 6078 view C take 2: changing cowl depth

Emma, left, wearing last week's McCall's 6078 with loops; 
Big sister Izzy, right, wearing tonight's McCall's 6078 with reduced cowl depth (reduced so much, loops are not possible)

Lots of interesting responses regarding changing cowl depth from my last post.

Thanks to all who left ideas.  I went with debbie's advice....here's the photographic evidence:
Here's the pattern piece for the front of view C:


Fold along the fold line:

I drew a mark at 2 5/8" (5/8" for SA; 2 inches for reduction in cowl length).

Draw a line diagonally across:

I folded on the newly drawn line:

Opened and drew on the fold:

I cut that bit out:

Ha ha ha, so now the shoulder seam is longer on the front than the back. Sadly, i had already cut out the back, and no more of this fabric remained.

It was a 'make it work' moment:
View B has pleats; so I took up the extra length on the front SA by pleating it out:

Now the cowl isn't plunging:

But it's not long enough to put the loops on. Maybe next time I will try with 1" instead of 2" and see if that leaves enough for the loops but isn't too plungetastic.
I do like that my bra straps are covered.  and bending over doesn't put on a show.
And it was less than 2 hours cut to finish.  When was the last time I sewed a garment in under 2 hours?  Hrm.
I think it's cuter with the shrug:

Happy Spring!!
 
Be well!!