Category Archives: Projects

Replacing a Coat Lining

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I knew it was time to replace the lining of my coat when I stood in the pouring rain outside my door and, fishing for the keys, realized that they’d slipped through a hole in the pocket to end up swimming in the hem somewhere :-(

I’d imagined the job would take days but it turned out to be simpler and quicker, for three reasons:


1 Unpicking the old lining:

Using the seam ripper to remove the old lining isn’t the careful, slow process it would have to be if you were unpicking a mistake that you had to re-sew. A slapdash slash will suffice and you’ll be done in 30-60 minutes.

Tip: once the lining is off, you may discover that the inside of the coat has deposits of fluff, dust, grains of sand from historic visits to the seaside: all kinds of rubbish that dry cleaning didn’t expel.  Give it a vigorous beating, followed by a going-over with a lint roller.  Then, press seams open if they’ve flipped, fix shoulder pads in place and carry out  little satisfying bits of maintenance that will help keep the coat in shape.


2 Creating the Pattern 

Unpick the pieces that make up the lining, press them and you have a template for the new lining, seam allowances included.  You only really need to do one half, i.e. one sleeve.  Pick the pieces that are in better condition, usually the left side if you’re right handed.  Unless your lining is complete coleslaw, you’ll be surprised how even the more destroyed-looking pieces look fine once pressed.  But (tip) do leave your iron on a low heat or else the lining will melt onto it 8O


3 Sewing

No need to finish off the seams when sewing the lining together: just press flat (to get rid of any puckers) then press open.

 


Further Tips from an Observant Newbie:

 Pockets 

The pockets will be the first bits that you’ll sew.  If you’re new to tailoring (like me :-) , unpick only one pocket to begin with.  Make new pocket pieces and use the original to copy from.

 

Bagging a Lining

Until I asked for your help at the start of the month (thanks for your comments!), I had no idea that this is the name of the easy method of attaching the lining to a garment.  Jen of Grainline has a clear and well illustrated bagging tutorial here but there are others.  My favourite bagging tip is to sew the garment and lining together inside out then slash open the underarm sleeve and turn garment right side out through the hole.  This way, you have two perfectly pressed edges to slipstitch closed.  This is a trick I’m going to apply on everything lined!


Lining Fabric

I’ve heard a few complaints that there isn’t enough choice in lining fabrics.  We  dream of silks in interesting patterns then find that they wouldn’t go with the clothes we wear under the lined garment.  Silk is in any case expensive and not durable enough for an everyday coat worn under a heavy bag.  Acetate is cheaper but snags and can be sweaty.  I took this complaint to Jeff and he immediately offered me Cupro: again, a new discovery.  It cost £8 a metre and I needed 1.5m though would recommend 2m.  Cupro is tougher than acetate, it’s apparently breathable and I found it easy to sew.  More on Cupro and an interesting discussion on lining fabrics in men’s suiting can be found here.

And in case you’re wondering, yes I probably will be wearing my coat this summer :-(

Cobbler’s Children

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I used to work on customer satisfaction surveys and once remarked to a (US) colleague that our agency never carried out market research with its own clients.  He agreed, saying, “Cobbler’s children wear no shoes.”  The expression, with hints of wretchedness and medieval-style child neglect, amused me no end.  Though it’s not in use here in the UK (that I know of), I’ve thought of it every time I’ve had occasion to wear my old leather jacket but couldn’t bear the risk of friends who know I sew glimpsing its shocking insides.  Which, once removed, looked like this:

Yes indeed, nice bum cheeks… 8O

But the jacket itself is going strong.  If truth be told, it’s acquired that slightly sickly whiff of leather in thrift shops but we have a history, my  jacket and I, and never will I tire of its petrol-slick shimmer. 

I gathered the courage to make a new lining for it after seeing this article.  I didn’t need to follow the tute too closely, as my jacket is very simple.  I was mostly spurred on by this promise from the contributor Cal Patch: “once you learn to reline your coats, you’ll never again have to carefully fold your coat over restaurant chairs so no will see the tattered lining inside.” 

Good grief, so I’m not the only one?!  Meggipeg recently commented that she rarely has time for making her own alterations so I was wondering if you too have a shaming equivalent to “cobbler’s children”?!  Are you perchance a hairdresser with inches of roots?  An IT specialist with years’-worth of photos dumped in hundreds of incorrectly dates folders?!  Or do you also remove your coat with stealth!?


Tips for Sewing with Leather

I have no wish to teach granny to suck eggs here (to use another favourite expression), but I’d like to finish with a few tips I picked up from sewing leather for the first time.

1. Buy a pack of leather needles.  I broke the first one immediately when it got caught in the glue with which the pocket welts were stuck to the inside of the jacket. 

2. Keep stitches long, slightly short of the basting stitch.  Your machine will seem to advance in leaps as a result, so if you can, keep your speed slow for control.

3. Keep the lining on top.  When sewing leather to lining, keep the lining on top if you don’t have an even feed/walking foot.  Otherwise, the leather will advance more and the lining might stop short of the jacket.

A Quick Alteration

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My mother asked if I could shorten her Liberty Lawn dress to make it less swamping.  The original (top left) was nearly floor length.  The fabric is fresh and the colours very much classic but the voluminous, dropped waist style….  With shoulder pads??  I didn’t dare whisper the embarrassing question: “Mum, is it from the eighties?!”  8O

We agreed to slice off 20cm which would have been a 15 minute job had I just taken them off the hem.  But that would have made the dress unbalanced, with a long waist and a relatively boxy skirt.  Instead, I took 10cm off the bodice and 10cm from the hem, a more time consuming job which involved:

1. Basting the skirt pleats in place

2. Unpicking the bottom of the zip from the centre back bodice

3. Separating the bodice from the skirt, trimming off 10cm from the bodice, creating a centre back seam in the skirt and re-attaching the zip to run into the skirt

4. Shortening and hemming the skirt

I’m not sure if the alteration (top right) is a particularly flattering improvement as I haven’t yet seen the dress on, but I hope that it gets a few outings over this summer, something this dress hasn’t had in a while.

The job took 2.5 hours.  Ok, so I did stop off for at least one dreamy tea break during which I wondered how much I’d charge for this kind of job had it been for a client rather than mum.  “Twenty quid?  For shortening a dress?  I can get a new dress for that,” I imagine the indignation. 

When I came back from the kitchen, I found this:

And this:

Stuart Skirt

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So, tonight The Great British Sewing Bee reaches its final only 3 weeks after the show’s start.  4 episodes!  Is that all we get?!  How apologetic!  Did the commissioning team have doubts that anybody would watch?!  Oh, how I wish I’d been on that commissioning team.  I’d have demanded that the show based its format on the worst excesses of the Roman Empire, with an exit policy straight out of the song Hotel California, so that each contestant, after counting themselves lucky to get in, can never leave, not unless a self-sacrificing member of the audience volunteered to step in and proved a like-for-like replacement.  So, for example, a handsome amateur tailor of Matrix-style costumes could take the place of Mark, a fellow-blogger could replace Tilly and as for the lovely Stuart, he’d only be allowed to leave if some kind of sewing equivalent of Paul Hollywood could be found. 

But enough of my sick fantasies.

Daughter and I had the idea to design this skirt after the Tulip Pocket Embellishment made by Stuart in Episode 2.  I was curious to see how long it would take: as somebody who’s thinking about sewing professionally, I try to keep in mind how long a project takes so should I get a commission, I’d know to charge more than the minimum wage. 

Here’s the breakdown of the Skulls as Pockets applique, a total of 1 hour 40m not including the making of the skirt.

Design of skulls: 10 mins

Making and attaching the skulls: 1 hour

Sewing the ric rac bodies on skirt:  30 mins

I did also spend some extra minutes looking for bits, blaming the kids for taking my stuff, coaxing Blogstalker off my work and lint-rolling the residual hairs….

After I finished, daughter immediately named this her “Funnybones Skirt”.  And then I remembered that the skeletons in the book had a dog.  How brilliant it would have been to have the skelly dog on the back of the skirt!?  But that’s the sort of idea you get when you have the benefit of time.  As Ann said, “I like having time to think.” 

I made the pattern for the A-Line skirt by first making a Basic Skirt Block and then adapting it.  I’ve been asked if the formula can be used for a child’s skirt and having now tried it, I’d say yes, but it helps if there’s a real difference in waist and hip measurements otherwise the skirt will be more of a tube and will slide off!  The other thing to bear in mind is that the dart has to be shortened: here I made it 7cm.  One advantage of sewing a girl’s A-Line skirt is that it’s so quick: this one is lined and it took an hour!

The Great British Sewing Backlash

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For an oversensitive creature like myself, the downside to The Great British Sewing Bee is that our gentle pastime is attracting attention outside our circles and provoking derision and sneers!  Oh yes, what the world right now needs of its women is delivery from nuclear perish; perhaps one brave volunteer could ensnare into a honey trap and disarm the-not-as-cute-as-we’d-thought Young Kim?  Not – as my favourite radio show mocks - sit sewing with programmes about retro midwifery on the bleedin’ telly!

And you, Punt and Dennis? :cry:

Whilst I rarely wish to take part in Guardian-bashing, I’m bristling (a bit) at its treatment of TGBSB.  In his TV round-up, Andrew Collins skims over the content and whines ”I don’t care!”  And the Guardian’s TV guide previews  the programme with an incredulous: “Who still has time to sew?!”

Er, I do! 

For the past two weeks, I’ve been looking after a varying collection of 8 to 13-year-old children, some of them mine.  It’s a nice job, requiring not much more than checking for blood, providing meals and a daily airing.  During this time, I was faced with the usual conundrum of what to do when a child has a friend’s birthday party coming up: do I buy or do I sew? 

Option 1: My Usual Stand-by

What do you buy a child who has everything?  Well, more of everything…   A packet of Moshi monsters and a novelty pen from my most-adored stationers.

Total cost with card and giftwrap: £7.50 to £10, depending on whether the Moshis are on sale.

Advantages: quick, easy and once the gift is bestowed, you can forget about it, unless… you’re the type to be guilt-ridden about adding to the plastic toy reject mountain.  Catholics and hippies are particularly prone here, and I’m a bit of both…

Option 2: a Personalized Cushion Sewn by Someone with Too Much Time on Their Hands

Total cost: slightly cheaper than option 1 if you don’t count the hourly sewing rate.  You need to buy (or make or reuse) a cushion pad.  I’ve also used an old concealed zip but you wouldn’t need one for an overlap design like on this Space Invader cushion.  For the fabric, most of us have stash, though I found that the Guitars remnant I’d  set my heart on simply didn’t provide a good enough contrast (see right).  Instead, I bought half a metre of a “dragster cars” print from Rolls and Rems.

Time taken: 3 hours, half of which was spent planning and unpicking the concealed zipper from an old dress.

Advantages: unique and useful.

Disadvantages: the uncertainty.  Will Sonny like it?  My kids reckon yes and strangely, I find I care less than I would with the plastic toy mountain.

Option 3 would be some money in a birthday card, but then the question would be how much money?  I wouldn’t hesitate to give a tenner to a child of 12 or older  (so they could treat themselves to some fags and alcopops :-)  )   But turning up to a-nine-year-old’s party with money seems like handing in an entrance fee.  What do you think?

 My New Favourite Font

I’ve made personalized pressies many times before but one thing I’ve learnt from planning this project – which will speed things up if I make a cushion like this again – is to adapt the design to the age and gender of the kid.  Out went the rounded letters, in with the Collegiate Border font.  It’s a good one as it won’t use up much of your printer ink.  The free download is here.  For 7cm tall letters like mine (on a 41cm square cushion pad), select a font size of 200, print and cut out to make templates.

Facing Magic

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I needed a simple bodice for the dress I’m designing and used this cowl idea from Pattern Magic 2.  It’s from the Different Facings, Different Looks chapter in which Nakamichi demonstrates how with some simple dart manipulation, you create a garment front which is a different shape from its facing, though, crucially, the two are the same length at the point where they’re stitched together, i.e. the neckline.  The method can be used to achieve different looks - a V-shape or a square, for example.  I went for the simplest round facing.  This is how it looks in the book:

And here’s a tutorial for how to do it: 

1.  Start with a copy of the basic bodice block.  If yours has shoulder darts, move them away from the neck and shoulder lines.

 2. Draw the neckline for the facing.  Approximate measurements are given below; you can vary them slightly.  Carefully measure the length of the new line, e.g. xycm.  Close waist dart.

3. Trace this line and make a pattern for the facing from it.  Remember to add the fold line and seam allowances.  It should look something like this:

4. Draw a line from the bust point to the neckline which meets it at a right angle.

5. Cut at the neckline then cut along the new line.  Close the armhole dart, either part-way, or completely for a more dramatic look.  Now, place on a larger piece of paper and extend the centre front upwards.  Draw towards it from the shoulder side of the neckline.  It’s important that this line is the same length as the facing neckline, i.e xycm from step 2.

Now trace the bodice outline and complete the pattern by adding seam allowances, cutting instructions, a foldline and the grainline.  Unless your fabric is very drapey, cut the bodice front on the bias.  

You can alter the back bodice by the same method for a lavishly cowled, open neckline: I kept the original basic bodice back.


I hereby declare this bodice my February contribution to Project Pattern Magic.  Have you checked out this challenge?  Lisa’s project for this month is a beautiful dress featuring the Bamboo Shoot.  If you’d like to join us, remember no project is too small (nor big!) and you have months to prepare.  Just blog about it on the last Wednesday of any month or, if you’re blogless, send me an email with your pics and I’ll host a post for you.

Check in next week for the details of the rest of my dress: I’m hoping it’ll fit me better than what’s-her-face Boleyn!

Two Peas in a Pod

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“It’s a fine line between being fashionable and looking like you can’t dress yourself properly.”

This damning quote came not from some enfant terrible of Brit fashion but from my own DH who during a quiet moment in a waiting room took a leaf through my Pattern Magic Stretch, saw this and laughed out loud:

“What about this?  Two peas in a pod,”  I asked.  I was looking for a quickie with which to join Lisa of Only the Small for the first installment of her monthly challenge Project Pattern Magic.   

DH paused thoughtfully then said, “that would look good on really skinny people.” 

Well I made it anyway 8O Here:

How to Make

1. Shrink the stretch bodice front pattern to 65% of original size

2. Enlarge the back to 135%. 

3 Gather the back with ease stitches and sew to the front. 

Easy peasy :-)

4 You may then use cuffs, waistband and neckband to finish. 

I used my Renfrew pattern, now I know it fits me, and included sleeves as I didn’t fancy the kimono style in the book - too much excess in the armpits!  One advantage to using the Renfrew pattern is that it includes seam allowances (though not on the sleeve which I cut in half at the shoulder then added the SA).  Once the front and back were sewn together,  the original-sized Renfrew cuffs, neckband and waistband fit the new T perfectly.

Tip: I recommend using a copier with an A3 bed, i.e. one large enough for naked drunks to sit on at office parties… oh how I miss abusing work facilities!  Doing it piecemeal on an A4 machine was the only time consuming part to this project. 


The Verdict

Two Peas in a Pod is an ideal Pattern Magic project if you’re in a hurry, especially if you have a TNT stretch pattern that you can quickly shrink and enlarge. 

The nicest design features, in my opinion, are the ruching on the inner side and the horseshoe neckline.  The downside?  Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that the shrunken front appears under a certain glare like a tiny person – my inner teeny dancer if you like - waiting to get out.  

If ever it does, I’ll stamp on it!

Gifts IV: Cossack Hat

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Only two sewing days till Christmas!  What to do?!  How about adding to the mayhem and stress by making a Cossack Hat?  You know… so as to stylishly meet the oncoming Siberian winter?!  Here is daughter’s, rustled up from the leftovers of her coat. 

The thick, fluffy fur is from Jeff Rosenberg.  I used leftover acetate lining for the inside.  You can get away with a quarter metre of fabric and lining, though you might need twice more if you’d like the nap of the fur sweeping in a particular direction. 

For my hat, I used shearling-like fur leftover from a Christmas stocking I once made.  Whilst daughter is Empress Lara, I’m more Taras Bulba! 

Since the fur is doubled at the point where it wraps around the head, the outside of the hat is bigger than the inside.  When making your pattern, base the inner part on the hat size and make the outside larger, tapering towards the crown.

 

The Pattern

You’ll need paper, a compass, a ruler and a pencil.

Step 1 The Crown 

Begin by measuring the head circumference, work out the radius then using a compass draw a perfect circle the same size as your head.  If you’re making this as a surprise for someone, use one of the online hat size charts like this one to estimate.  Head size can vary quite a bit but if someone looks like they’ve got a big head, they probably do and vice versa!  Big or thick hair also adds on a bit! 

Just for reference, my head is 55.5cm, the dummy’s is 55cm, daughter’s is 52cm and OH is 60cm!!  My radius is 8.8cm, i.e. 55.5cm divided by 3.14 (Pi, or Π) divided by 2.

Once you’ve drawn your circle, add a seam allowance of 1.5cm (the compass comes in very handy for this as you can draw another, larger circle around the first one), or more if your fur is very thick.

Step 2  Pattern for the Side of Hat and Lining 

If you aren’t in a rush, you might want to experiment with a few paper shapes.  The simplest thing would be to cut a rectangle, the width of which is the same as the hat size, plus seam allowances.  I made such a hat out of paper and thought it too Pork Pie (Pork π?) so I decided to go for a slightly tapering shape (above right).  As for the height of the Hat, anything over 10cm looked a bit Nefertiti (left) atop of my small face.  A height of 9cm looked just right: this on the inside is 3cm of fur sewn to 6cm of lining.  A shorter hat might blow off your head in the wind!


Making the Hat

1. Sew sides of fur.  Fold on fold line and try on for fit.

2. Sew sides to crown. 

3. Repeat 1 and 2 with the lining fabric. 

4. With right sides together, sew lining to fur, leaving an opening of 20cm.  Turn right side out, pin at fold line below opening and slipstitch the opening closed.

Tips for Sewing Fur

  • Sewing faux fur gets a bad press but I think it’s very forgiving on those seam lines which hardly show.  Using a seam ripper, when necessary, is pretty quick too.  Trim fur at the raw edges if all that lovely fluffiness is obstructing the seam guidelines on your machine.

  • Use a medium zigzag stitch.  On the right side, comb out the fluff around the seam.  I use a wire pet brush or a pin.
  • Vacuums and lint rollers ready!  If you’re secretly sewing fur for someone who lives with you, allow plenty of time for clearing up.  Otherwise, your loved one might come home and wonder what poor creature you sacrificed!
  • Buying fur: white fur looks great on very dark or very pale skin but may not be great for the in between complexions.  Check fur colour against your skin (and teeth).  Avoid grey fur if this is close to your hair colour as people might confuse the hat with your actual hair and will think you’re looking unkempt!  Avoid faux leopard if you resemble Mobutu Sese Seko.  Kids on the other hand look good in anything, especially monster fur.

Merry Christmas, everyone x x

Gifts III: Quick Pencil Cases

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These pencil cases are super easy and great for using up leftovers of favourite fabrics.  It’s also a good project for beginners wishing to practise sewing zips; however, do watch out for fabrics with a geometric pattern that has to match across the two sides of the zip (such as in the top example).  An irregular print will be easier.

Buy an ordinary zip, not concealed, and bear two things in mind.  Firstly, it has to be of a sufficient quality to put up with frequent use.  The other thing to remember is that the zip has to be the length of a new pencil, or slightly longer.  Mine are 24cm.


Step 1: Cutting the Pattern and Fabric

Make a paper pattern for a rectangle that’s the width of your zip plus 4cm and the height of at least 24cm.  Do make sure your angles are square!  Cut one rectangle of your fabric and one of your lining.  My lining is babycord which is velvety and soft yet with helpful parallel lines:

Next, trim just one zip side of the lining by 2mm:


Step 2: Sewing the Zip

Open zip.  Put the fabric and lining wrong sides together, raw edges even.  Using them as one, and with the fabric and zip right sides together, edges even, sew together.  Start with a back stitch.  On approaching the zip pull, leave the needle in, lift up zipper foot, pull the zip closed and sew to the end.  Backstitch.  Repeat on the other side.

Tip!  If you can’t get the zip pull past the zipper foot even when it’s raised, you could try doing as I do:  pop the foot off, close zip, replace foot.

 


Step 3: Making Pull Tabs

This step is optional – skip if you’re in a hurry!

Find or make a design for your pull tabs, adding a 2cm seam allowance.  Interface a scrap of fabric (this is where to use up those off-cuts of interfacing that normally get thrown away).  Draw your tabs x4, cut around them and sew.

Turn inside out (I use old tweezers) and press.

Pin tabs over zip ends, keeping raw edges together.

 

Step 4: Sewing Short Ends

With the pencil case inside out, sew the short ends using your 2cm seam allowance.  This should cut out the unsightly silvery stops at the ends of the of zip.

Two things to note: 1) keep the zip exactly in the middle.

And 2) Very important: remember to leave your zip partially open!  Otherwise you’ll sew the pencil case shut inside out….

Trim seam allowances.

 


Step 5: Making Corners

This is another optional step by which you convert from a flat to a boxy shape.  Still working on the wrong side, pinch each corner so that the seam is in the middle and the short end seam allowance is away from the zip.  Sew with either a 2cm seam allowance (for a boxy shape) or 1.5cm (for a flattened box shape as in my first image).  

Trim seam allowances, turn right side out and you’re done!

Let me know how it goes… and how long it takes!  I made four in an hour.  The first was to jog my memory and took up half the time.  The other three were a production line.  If you’re making several at once and in different fabrics, it helps save time if they all take the same thread.

Gifts I: Uke Cosy

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If your loved one’s instrument of choice is a Stradivarius or something equally priceless, then a gift of a padded gig bag isn’t a good idea.  But a banjo or a ukelele player would most probably be overjoyed to receive a custom-made gig bag in which to keep their instrument safe, especially if it gets lugged about a lot on public transport or in school.    

The uke is becoming a popular beginner instrument and in some primary schools in the UK, it’s replaced the recorder in music literacy classes.  Hm, if you were a music teacher, what would you rather have?  A classroom full of gently plinking ukeleles, or an equivalent number of peevishly whistling recorders?  :-)

When you buy a uke or a guitar, it usually comes with its own gig bag which helps to get the instrument home but then falls apart (usually the zip goes).  If you’re planning to make a gig bag, shop around carefully for a good quality zip.  It needs to be at least half of the outside measurement of the bag, two thirds if possible.  The first place I looked for such a zip was charging a whopping £9 (the uke cost £25!).  Luckily, around the corner in Shepherd’s Bush market, there was a stall where a similar chunky zip cost £2.50.  Look, you can customize further with a zip pull!

To make a gig bag for a small ‘soprano’ ukulele like this one or a banjo, you will need 0.75m of fabric, the same of lining and light-to-medium wadding, and  a good 2.5m of bias binding.  I used leftovers.  

The binding took very little time but as for the rest of the project….. let’s just say it was more intermediate than beginner’s.  Or maybe that’s just me as I do find wadding annoying.   

Much as I’d like a print fabric gig bag for our guitar, I think the price of a sleeping-bag zip would make it not as cost-effective as buying a good quality gig bag in bog-standard black.  If however a rock star were to commission one from me (in return for a small chunk of his or her fortune), it’d be pretty much the same job as with the baby bag, but with added shoulder straps. 

P.S. If you make one of these, don’t forget to start off with a pocket for the picks (or cake sale money…)!