Spent the afternoon in my #sewing room, making a pattern out of an existing pyjama top for my wife. I still need to trace out the sleeve, but I’m happy with my progress so far. Slow but steady. @sewing
Made progress on tracing out the sleeve to make a #sewing#pattern today. First, tracing along the seam lines with a needle point tracing wheel… @sewing
Once the seams are traced with a needle point tracing wheel, I use curved rulers to smooth out the curves and mark the seam lines with pencil. I also slightly flare out any hems so that when folded up, the fabric lies flat and the hems never pucker when sewn.
Next, I use a Clover adjustable double tracing wheel to add a seam allowance by tracing over my pencil lines. After drawing the seam allowance with an erasable pen and tweaking if necessary, I cut out the #sewing pattern. @sewing
Once the patterns are cut, I mark #sewing details/info on the #pattern (grainline, seam allowance, piece name, etc.) as needed.
I use a Curve Runner 8” rotary rolling ruler to measure the length of the sleeve curve so I can mark front & back notches at the exact half-way points. (The front & back pieces have these marked at exactly halfway too.)
Once the halfway points are marked, I space the two back notches exactly ¼” away from the centre mark so they end up ½" away from each other. @sewing
Once the #pattern is done, I create reinforced holes in the pattern pieces so they can be hung. This is usually when I’ll also create #sewing instructions (in the iPhone/iPad Notes app) for anything that isn’t obvious.
I don’t create a pattern piece for knit collars, since it’s just a small rectangle more accurately cut out with a quilting ruler, but mostly because I vary the collar piece length (using a formula) depending on how much stretch is in the fabric. @sewing
Next up, the collar. For knit shirts (t-shirts, pyjama tops, etc.), I use a simple formula for determining the correct collar length, which varies depending on the amount of stretch in the fabric. #sewing@sewing
Despite my efforts to keep it perfectly aligned, the collar seam at centre front shifted out of place during #sewing with the overlocker (probably from stretching the collar to match the shirt), so I think next time I’ll baste it in place first, since it’s right at centre front.
This was my first time doing a semi-v-neck collar (and since I’m copying a shirt, there’s no instructions), so I can forgive myself. ;-) @sewing
I was going to use pink cotton jersey to cover the collar seam, but decided to use pink twill tape instead.
I normally do this step using a chainstitch on my industrial coverstitch machine, or sometimes even using a compensating (edge) foot on my industrial straight stitch machine. This time, however, I decided to challenge/test myself by only using a domestic #sewing machine for this step. It was harder (because it’s not what I’m most comfortable using), but it still came out OK. @sewing
I did all that work setting up my domestic #sewing machine and figuring out the exact needle position settings to attach the twill tape, only to realize that I still needed to set up my industrial coverstitch machine anyways, in order to do a single needle chainstitch (to preserve stretch) for topstitching down the collar at the front. Oops! @sewing
The pyjama top that I’m copying for my wife has slits on the sides, so it took a tiny bit of reverse-engineering to figure out how to sew this one the same way. Nothing at all complicated.
First, the sleeve/side seams, up to the slit at the bottom. #sewing@sewing
Not a bad job hemming the sleeves in the round given how narrow the opening is, but if you’re super picky like me, you’ll notice the hem on the front & back panels is not perfectly straight. It’s too negligible to redo (even if pulling out a coverstitch is easy), but imperfect enough to mention. Don’t worry, I know! 😉 #sewing@sewing
Just the side slits remaining: overlock edges while trimming only ⅛”, mark the seam line & endpoint using heat-erasable pen, sew closed the top portion where the serged side seam meets the slit, fold over and press, topstitch it down, and finally, bartack along the top. #sewing@sewing
And here’s the finished pink fleece pyjama top! @sewing
By the time I got around to #sewing the top, my wife had worn the pants so much already (she loves them) that they had faded and no longer matched the top. We don’t think they look good together anyways — too much pink! So best to wear them separately.
I would have wanted to top-cover all the seams to match the pants, but it would have meant having to remove the side slits. I wanted the first pair to be as close to the originals I was copying, but next time I'll have to make the decision: remove the side slit and top-cover all the seams, or leave them in and forego top-covered seams. #sewing@sewing
…and of course, finishing a project means it’s the perfect time to vacuum, clean and organize my #sewing room! (Every time.)
I finished those pants in two days last weekend. (It took me more time to edit, caption & post the photos than it did to make the top!) So unfortunately the tidiness didn’t last long.
This week I’ve been making some woven pyjama pants for myself; I probably won’t post photos of those, though. @sewing
@DanielMenjivar
I'd really like to create some templates for myself like this. I took a class and got the concept but I made the mistake of not trying to do it right away!
My methods are a lot more precise/anal than the videos, (including walking seams, measuring, smoothing curves, etc.) but it’s useless #sewing punishment/perfectionism… 😉
@DanielMenjivar@sewing
Haha, I have a strict policy against punishing myself with perfectionism! I do want to get good at techniques that will allow me to wear my clothing for a lot longer (like French seams) but I refuse to look at wobbly seams or other items that nobody else would actually notice.
@EllenInEdmonton@DanielMenjivar@sewing my rule is that I only make it as perfect as feels fun. I just finished another pair of Thread Theory pj bottoms for my husband, and I gave them flat felled inseams and pinked all the other seams 😂
@EllenInEdmonton@DanielMenjivar@sewing Remind yourself how crummy the quality of a lot of clothing in the shops is - I always tell myself that even if my makes aren't perfect, they're better than a lot of things being sold nowadays.
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