All posts filed under: What I wear

Striped happiness

You would think that after all that precision and pattern matching with the pleated plaid skirt I’d be avoiding anything geometric and fussy. But no. Apparently I’m a glutton for punishment, because not only was this project super striped and matchy, so is the project I just finished and haven’t blogged about, and my next project, and the one after that. It’s all about stripes. Still, stripes are awesome, and they make me happy. How could this skirt not make you happy: The fabric is a cotton canvas I inherited from Nana. The stripes run diagonally on the fabric, so making them run in a continuous maypole stripe around the skirt shouldn’t have been too hard. The operative word here is shouldn’t. The fabric is just loosely woven enough that the stripes moved placement with pre-washing and didn’t match perfectly, so I had to baste every single stripe, check the matching, and then sew it. But in the end, I got the pattern matching absolutely precisely perfect, I even managed some seriously awesome chevrons at …

The ‘Rodeo & Wrangle’ Blank Canvas Tee hack tutorial — Part II — Construction

Published by The Dreamstress

When I posted the Rodeo & Wrangle & Ramble in Style outfit last week, I promised to post instructions on my ‘hack’ of Steph’s Blank Canvas Tee pattern. This is Part II — construction. Go here for information on drafting the pattern. Please note that knits are not my forte (I’m a historical seamstress after all), so this is not necessarily the correct or best way to sew this — it’s just what I did, and it worked. (though writing this tutorial I realise how much I do know, and how much is coming back from sewing knit dance gear for a costume shop 10 years ago). Unless otherwise stated, use a lightning stitch and a 1/2″ seam allowance. Step 1: Stabilizing the shoulder seams Cut a strip of interfacing 1.5cm wide and as long as your shoulder seam. Interface your shoulder seam to stablise it and keep it from wrinkling and warping. DO NOT interface past the turn of the shoulder seam, as this will affect the hang of your sleeve. Step 2: Finishing …

The ‘Rodeo & Wrangle’ Blank Canvas Tee hack tutorial – Part I – The pattern

Published by The Dreamstress

When I posted the Rodeo & Wrangle & Ramble in Style outfit last week, I promised to post instructions on my ‘hack’ of Steph’s Blank Canvas Tee pattern. This is Part I – drafting the pattern. Part II will be how I sewed it. Please note that knits are not my forte (I’m a historical seamstress after all), so the sewing in particular is not necessarily the correct or best way to do this – it’s just what I did, and it worked. This tutorial will be improving slightly in the future – tutorials need to be written, then photographed, then re-written, then re-photographed to make sure it all syncs up, and I still need to re-photograph. I used a size 35″ bust Blank Canvas tee for myself, so all of these steps are based on that. My inspiration for the hack was Marian Martin 9254. I wanted to create the look of a 1940s blouse with the ease of knitwear. I particularly liked the flutter sleeves and diamond cutout neckline. Step 1: Raising the …