ernie k designs

Saturday, November 6, 2021

Summing up summer sewing and summarizing autumn's: more of the same stuff from last year

Summer sewing is starting to skip a season.

I have rebuilt this dress collar twice, and am going to try a third

This dress was started last summer in August 2020, worn once, redone, worn once again, and hated the way the stand collar felt. So I ripped it out and am going to scrap together a collar similar to the Italian spread collar that Peter Lappin has been working on. For next summer.

Peter Lappin, from Instagram

This Felix dress is stalled, as the print I made for it on Spoonflower just doesn't work with the big print (cute idea, wrong color) . So I have a different solid fabric for it, but .... it's going to need picking apart and...well, it hasn't been warm lately. It's not raining, it's just cloudy and cool. So after all the redrafting and tracing I did to make this pattern work better.... it's going to be a next 2022 summer dress. Like the Tokyobots dress was 2020, finished in 2021.

Hair touching selfie style. The whole building is in shades of depressing beige and gray.
Dune: office planet

Shown above: made and worn pants. Same one piece baggy pants, now in brussels washer cotton/rayon, which is a fabric that will not wear well in the long run as pants, but will be comfy and beige in the short run.

Shirt! Made shirt! Made some REALLY AWFUL BUTTONHOLES and that was awful. The test ones on the faux placket with the Bernette buttonhole device were beautiful, and when we got to the actual placket, totally stalled out. Nothing to make you really feel your sewing oats than failing at buttonholes. I'm going to use spring snaps on every damn shirt from here on out (and you'll notice the pullover shirt does not need buttons or fasteners FOR THIS VERY REASON.

Bought new to me corduroy jacket, considered replacing ring snaps (which jingle) with spring snaps (that don't) and just sold the jacket. Ring Snaps are off my list now. Having supply issues with Gold Star and KAMsnaps regarding size and material, but isn't everyone everywhere having trouble finding things? I am pretty sure I will survive.

More darts in RTW jeans. Seems to be my specialty.

Fun with zippers? Replaced zipper; hated it, replaced that zipper with different zipper. Did it for each jacket.

BT's jacket

Doug's jacket

The key thing I learned this summer is that I need to handbaste a zipper with thread. Not pins, or clips, but thread. And be very cautious about sewing it in with the machine.

I think they are lovely. Certainly sworn and sweated over.

Mending crotch of pants that has needed mending for longer than I should admit (so I won't)

Pre ironed facing foldover, so fewer fiddling

It's the basting buddy.

Made work jacket. This replaces work jacket I used to own, smoked in, and gave up on it's ever not smelling like an ashtray. It is boring and poly crepe, just like previous edition, big enough to wear over regular clothes on work nights. And it has SNAPS because buttonhole fail. Eventually it will be made out of wool crepe, and have welt button holes.

Miyake shirt still in time out pile.

And the dresses are arriving. Actually I am almost done.

So that's been the sewing. Oh, traced off a pattern from a pair of Em's pants, mended pair with part of the other. That's another post, when I make the new pair from the pattern I made.