Some new sewing, broken into five minute sessions

 Is it sewing if it's altering?

It was a hot mess of fray inside and I fixed it

The Sven holiday sweater: I haven't worn it yet, but it needs to be shorter. I have folded it to where I want it to hit. I may just cut off the lower snowflakes and reattach the ribbing. I would miss those test tubes, and it makes an easier cut than adding a ridge and removing the MeTV logo.

And I seem to have bought more pants fabric

Ventana Twill is the diggity bomb of winter pants fabric. It softens right up, the colors are deep, and it doesn't seem to pill or distort (although remember, I don't put the finished stuff in the dryer after I prewash and dry the bejebus out of it.
It also comes in solid colors and I need some boring pants. Prints and prints are too busy for my boss' eyeballs, and I have other fights to fight at work these days. He actually commented yesterday that this was the first time I dressed normally for work (leggings and a big sweater is normal?). I reacted to it as  if it was a compliment although I don't think it was meant as one, and today I made sure I wore something in too many colors. Sorry, didn't have time for photos.

It was nice to have a couple of actual days off this weekend, so I focused my energy on finishing a shirt.

 I have a couple of long sleeved shirts cut out and half sewn, but it's too cold at work for shirts unless i can wear a down vest over them. Is a down vest not normal clothing? Still puzzling over that....

Which explains why instead of working on the sweater, I am handbasting  the fly on the new Ventana twill pants. Still too much work to do, so this is happening in five minute blasts. This is a skill I developed when the kids were toddlers, and while it's not as satisfying as a long bath of sewing, it scratches the itch.

Sweater Remodel Number Christmas

You can alter an intarsia knit sweater. Really.

You pick the seams apart, and it's hard to see and very boring. I unraveled enough of the collar to have enough to sew it back on after altering, and I'm glad I did: yarn has more flex than thread, and why go look for more when I have more right here?

My fashion neck line template, which I thread traced

I did this before with an Edgar Allan Poe sweater from Archie McPhee's and it's held up well. Also lighter so you can see the details better on it than the present project.

The body has a little extra from where I moved the armseye down and did not want to cut into the knit on the vertical. It feels fine with this extra flap in the armpit.

I just trimmed off the cuff and rolled the edge up and secured it. I push my sleeves up a lot, and left cuffs off the sweaters I had knit for myself before.

The Interior of the neck line has held up very well.

And here's the exterior front

The yarn is not cotton. It's also not itchy, and it hasn't shrunk or needed blocking, so it's absolutely perfect.

So here's the shoulder/neckline of Santa Abe in process

And then you cut off the extra. It worked on the Poe, it will work here. I do two rows of stitching before I cut it though.

I am attaching the collar by hand,in this photo picking up the stitches and putting them on a waste yarn in a contrasting color on the open side to tack them down.

Test to make sure it's going to fit over your head

Not quite

...and you can buy your own....

https://mcphee.com/collections/clothing-accessories/products/santa-lincoln-sweater

or

https://mcphee.com/collections/clothing-accessories/products/edgar-allan-poe-sweater

 

ReMake Nine: Some Challenge Thing Results

Last year, Green Violet did this

I remake stuff all the time, so it was a fair idea.

This is what I was going to do

Make a pullover bra from underpants

Remodel / resize t shirts

Transform a skirt into a hat

Reweave some sweaters

Make socks into mittens

Refashion one thing into another

Make two tshirts into one

Mend something into usefulness from the bottom of the pile

I have no bingo, even with a wild card in the middle.

Unders: I have photos, for my reference only. It does not quite work, but not for the reasons I thought. 

Simply: I like a wider bra band than an pair of underpants can provide. That waist elastic is too skinny for me. BUT THIS DOES WORK. You do need to put fold over elastic for the neck straps, and extend them past where the crotch fabric goes, but for a light day bra, yeah.

T Shirts: oh yes

 Slice em off and hem em up. Rinse and repeat. Although this one was a mistake, as when Spouse raised his arms to swing golf club, previously too long shirt raised to show off navel.
Note to self: do not alter too-large golf wear.

The best one this year was the Poe sweater from Archie's: it was too big by half, but not anymore.

I took it apart into pieces and moved the whole body up three inches (or lowered the neckline: pick one, same thing).

Cut carefully. Plan your piece cuts carefully. Make pattern pieces just to be safe.

It's a pattern for the neckline, so I can replicate it three inches lower.

Save any yarn you can to resew the neck back on 

(so it will stretch)

The redone shoulder and top armhole seam, interior.

Transformed: Skirt into hat: Not yet.

Years ago (2014), I cut a wool miniskirt into chunks to make a hat. The parts resurfaced when I made this grid. And then it disappeared again. No, I can't find the pieces. I could have sworn I still had photos on this blog. Apparently not.

Reweaving: oh yesss, Very overexposed to show the stitches.

This is the fun one.
Apparently I did not blog this one?

Now I have.

Feet into hands: Socks into mittens: did not work. It could, but I lacked patience. 

 Made mittens instead, cause needed mittens.

Refashion: kind of a  meh

Turned tote bag into dog rain coat. It would have worked better with dog for measurements. I got it back all chopped up to better dimensions

This is the before photo.

After's note: "We bought a good one so no thanks"

That's my second son.

Just like his ma.

The sweater was a success

Two into one:  not yet. I need to toile one

She is my inspiration for the better version that I will make, vs the 'eh' one I was thinking of.

From the bottom of the pile: oh yasssssss

The neck on this Tilton V8813 just cut into my neck, so for a quick win after a couple fails, I put in a back neck facing

Made a paper pattern first! Yay me!

Mostly just stitching to seam allowances, although I did open up the back neck seam to slot this in.

I could enjoy this dress now. It's a light weight shirt fabric, so I'm not wearing it now, but I've got a tablecloth to make this my Pao Tribute Dress.

God I hated sewing this dress.....so maybe not yet.

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My sewing plan for 2020 is I'm making a Chanel style, Western decorated jacket, I'm making a toile or two first, and I'm going to take way too long to make it. 

so this blog will get really boring.

Well, we will still have mending...

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We'll see exactly how long this lasts.