Sunday 23 September 2007

Shirt making 101

After a little difficulty (I really must buy a fabric pencil!) I got my three main pattern pieces marked and cut out on the material. I wasn't really sure how you were meant to mark the places for darts (since I was making this up as I went along) so I cut them out of the pattern and marked round the inside of the cut paper - it seemed rational.

Pattern pieces

I stitched up the front darts but thought it would be cunning plan to pin the three pieces together and see what it looked like before sewing the two back darts which turned out to be a very good idea. Once, pinned on I stopped worrying that it was going to be far too big and started worrying instead that it would be on the small side. The back darts, therefore, will be left unsewn.

Pinned in place

Mum was a great help in all this as she was able to share the secrets of her dress-making past!

Also, very excitingly, the parents suggested that I might like a sewing machine for Christmas* (would I!) so I'll be researching that in the next few weeks. If anyone has any personal recommendations I'd be very interested to hear. The budget is between £100-£200 and I'd be using it for quilting and clothes making.

* this, of course, could just be a cunning ruse to stop me cluttering up their home with sewing stuff every time I come to visit!

1 comment:

Kirsty said...

I'm well impressed by your pattern drafting efforts!
Re sewing machines: I have an Elna (the second cheapest one from John Lewis, bought in 2001, for my 21st), which is OK but not amazing. The top speed is not very fast, and the tension is a bit temperamental. It's plastic, which means it's portable, but also wobbles about like crazy if you try to push it fast.
It has a one step buttonholer, which is very exciting, but a bit erratic, and about 20 fancy stitches I don't use.

If I were you I'd look for a second hand metal Signer, my Mum's one (bought for her 21st, in 1969) and my Grandmother's one (upgraded in the very early eighties) are both still going strong.