An October check-in

[nou]

Hello sewists! What have you all been up to recently?

I’ve been very very slowly cutting out and doing the darts in a top for myself from the oil-green crinkle linen I mentioned in our last check-in. It is such a monumental pain to mark — it doesn’t like to take the chalk at all — but my top pattern has eight darts in total and I like to mark them all. Sleeves and front are cut and darted, just need to cut the back and then sew it all together.

Comments

[shermarama]

I've sort of made a pair of joggers in a light-brown merino-poly-elastane mix - which is to say I've done almost all of them, but have stalled on the very last finishing bit of pressing and topstitching the waistband. The thing that interested me was making a leg pocket that has a covered zip sitting vertically; I'm thinking these will make good outdoors / camping / hiking trousers, being warm and quick-dry and stretchy, and with the cuffs keeping the hems off the floor of, e.g., the long-drop toilets in conservation campsites... but then I like to have a zipped pocket somewhere in those sort of trousers, to reduce some minor paranoia about losing keys in the middle of forests, and that seemed hard to manage in a stretch fabric. It's got the least stretch vertically, though, so I've put a vertical zip in the side of a leg patch pocket, and that seems to work well.

My only issue now is something I wasn't expecting about the main hip pockets. The test version I made of this pattern was in a dark fabric with quite a high-contrast pattern on it, and I hadn't realised how much work the pattern rather than the fabric or shape was doing to disguise all the stuff I'm normally carting around in my pants - wallet, keys, phone at a minimum. I only put a zipped pocket on one side, which I quite like from a style point of view, but the top of the patch covers the bottom of the hip pocket underneath it and does a similar concealing job to what the print does on the other ones... But now it feels like whatever's on the non-zipped pocket side, usually my phone, looks like an obvious blob in there. I mean, I'm sure I can get over this in use, or I could open up the leg again (lightning stitch on the inside leg seam, though, which is a nightmare to unpick) and put another leg pocket on, but, I'm just mildly annoyed that I didn't see the issue.

Otherwise I am a) resisting ordering dark purple corduroy off AliExpress (for some reason I really like the idea of having some dark purple trousers, but am struggling to find any suitable fabrics from NZ sources) and b) gearing up to having a think about trying out some freesewing.org patterns, while also c) having a bit more of another think about getting a pattern projector. I mean, I'm quite at home with a lot of digital stuff like 3D printers and laser cutters, I've used printed OHP transparencies to project large pattern pieces onto paper stuck on walls before, but the idea of there being sensibly cheap projectors for doing this, and being able to use them for other weird maker-stuff projects too, is really tempting me. But, I'd have to digitise a lot of my existing patterns to not be frustrated that I can't just Use The Thingy, and I'd have to work out the toolchain to do the extensive list of edits I do to paper patterns, in digital ones, and this seems like a lot of hoopla.

[nou]

Ugh, that pocket thing sounds frustrating. Good luck for finding a solution.

Have you bought fabric from AliExpress before? I’ve considered it but never tried it.

I’ve also considered getting a projector for pattern pieces, if only to save on all that paper. But yes, I can see that if you don’t currently work digitally it’d be a bit of a pain to convert everything and learn a new workflow.

FWIW I use Gimp to do my pattern alterations since I already knew how to use it, and although it isn’t really intended for this sort of thing (e.g. if I want to measure the length of a path I have to export the path and use a different tool), it works well enough for me. So if there’s something you’re already familiar with that can do SVG, you could probably just use that even if it’s not ideal.

[shermarama]

I'm also at the stage of having considered it but never tried it, yes. My partner buys a lot of bike parts off there, with varying results, but he keeps a considerable and ever-changing fleet of bikes going, so even if the thing he buys turns out not to do the intended job very well, it usually finds some other purpose elsewhere. At the prices, too, it's worth taking a punt, especially when some of the parts turn out to be functionally identical to much more expensive branded stuff. I'm thinking I should try, anyway, and maybe just end up with some extra stash if it's unsuitable.

I'm somewhat familiar with Inkscape, from laser cutting stuff, and I know there's a lot of support for it in maker things, so I'd probably use that. I'm also interested in some more sewing-specific software, though, and Seamly 2D is looking like it might be interesting?

[nou]

Mmm, yes, I have a strict limit on my stash to stop it growing too big (enforced by it having to fit into three specific boxes) and I’m not sure I want to risk unsuitable fabric. But if you don’t have that constraint, then sure, why not give it a go!

(And TBH the last time I wanted to get rid of fabric, I put it all out in a box in front of my house and it all went within the day, so I’m sure I could easily get rid of more the same way.)

Seamly 2D sure doesn’t make it easy to actually find their software... I found it on Github in the end. It looks to me like it’s intended more for people who want to make multi-size patterns than for people who want to tailor patterns to just one or two people, but please do report back if you try it.

[shermarama]

Results of ordering my first piece of fabric from Aliexpress: it's unusable junk :( It was some purple corduroy, and matches what I expected on colour and wale size and stuff, but it's much, much thinner than specified, and it's got damage all over it - not just minor flaws, but big runs and actual holes, like patches of damage the size of my hand, and spread all around the length. I can't see that I'm going to be able to use any of it, except I might be able to piece together a cushion cover or something. Still, now I get to find out what the dispute process is like...

[nou]

Oh, how disappointing! Thanks for reporting back. I hope you manage to get a refund.

[yhlee]

No real sewing, just a tiny bit of embroidery (backstitch and satin stich so far...) to test whether I can usefully trap tiny embroidery in resin to make resin baubles. /o\

[nou]

Ooh, do report back on that if you get it working. I have friends who like playing with resin (they made me some sparkly purple buttons from it!) and they might be interested.

[shermarama]

Ooh, definitely interesting!

[a_natural_beauty]

Next month I plan on fixing up a pair of pants I have. They have a small hole or two in them that I need to patch up.

[nou]

Good luck! Yay for mending :)

[a_natural_beauty]

I agree! :D

[fred_mouse]

Tiny bit of quilting, tiny bit of repairs, and I made a bag. Used the end of an old queen sized quilt cover, seam up the side (carefully folded, so there is no seam on the outside) seam across the bottom (I chose not to be so tidy with this one), then added a long strap. This is to carry the dog blanket that goes with partner's (relatively) new service dog.

I have plans to be doing more, but have been focusing on a different set of tasks.

[nou]

That bag sounds very useful, and hurrah for repurposing unwanted textiles. I should also do some quilting — my cushion cover went on hold because I wanted some more variegated thread for the quilting part, but that has now arrived, so all I need to do now is actually do it.

[fred_mouse]

Every now and then I have a task that justifies the ridiculous amount of scrap fabric I keep. I'm so glad to have had this to hand, and just been able to make what was needed, with no stress on the acquisition or any of that. And yet, I have too much fabric. *sigh*

Variegated thread for the quilting sounds fabulous! I'm a very lazy quilter - I just use the same (poly)cotton thread I use for everything else.

[nou]

The variegated thread is really a topstitching thread (Gutermann Deco Stitch), but I had some on hand that I’d used in a shirt for bob, so after failing to work out what colour to use to quilt a multi-coloured thing, I tried the Deco Stitch and it looked great.

[fred_mouse]

I will have to keep that in mind. I think the next quilt will be quilted in purple, all going according to plan (and me being able to remember where the purple cotton is).