Tag: sewing

The Canton Moto Jacket

I just completed maybe the most complicated project in my sewing career, the Canton Moto Jacket by Cashmerette. (Maybe jeans would have been harder if I hadn’t made them in a workshop with the inimitable Lauren of lladybird.)

I have had this pattern printed out for a while, but wanted to wait for the weather to cool off before I started it. I’d even ordered the fabric for it, some denim from Mood. But then I had a couple of thoughts about using denim:

  1. I’d have to set up two machines, one for sewing, one for topstitching. I am lazy and didn’t want to.
  2. Would I be able to wear it with jeans? Or would that be weird?

So I decided to rethink my fabric choice and go with classic black. But not (p)leather (though that would have been awesome too). I went with a black twill from Promenade instead. And the lining was this Pantone-chart print from Spoonflower that I bought on a whim with no purpose in mind about a year ago.

Finding all of the zippers was a challenge, the right lengths and all in the same finish. I ended up with gold, but had I been able to find silver ones I’d have been happy with those too.

Actually, everything about the zippers was a challenge. You haven’t lived until you’ve had to remove the teeth from a few inches of heavy duty metal zippers. Or bent a needle accidentally sewing over one.

So what made this the most difficult make? Well, the zippers, mostly. But also it was one million pieces. I was forced to be organized to keep everything straight, which of course isn’t a bad thing. The twill was the same on both sides, which is challenging, and I had to cut three of some pieces, and there was lining, main fabric, pocket lining, and interfacing to keep track of.

(I didn’t want to use the lining fabric for the pockets, in case it peeked out, and I wanted something lighter than the twill, so I went with some of the cotton sateen I’d bought at Mood in June.)

I really wanted to get it done over the weekend, but after donating blood on Saturday, I had no energy (which is weird, it doesn’t usually affect me) so I could only do a little bit at a time. Which was probably a good thing. Rushing through a project like this would not have been good.

But I got there in the end, and finished it up last night. Miles took some pictures of me in it.

And a few more detail shots:

(I realize that making this in 6 days wouldn’t merit a “finally fucking finished” tag for most people, but it felt like an eon to me.)

So, I say this was challenging, but thanks to videos and a sewalong and the usual excellent instructions, it wasn’t impossible or overly frustrating (except for the removing zipper teeth part.)

I’m quite proud of how the lining came out (isn’t peeking out anywhere it shouldn’t) and even though the pocket and sleeve zippers are far from perfect, they function and aren’t a total mess. So all in all, I’m really happy with how it came out!

What we did in July

I feel like July was another busy month. I definitely drove a lot. I mean, I went to three different Buc-ee’ses. (Not sure how to pluralize Buc-ee’s.)

The boys finished up the classroom portion of driver’s ed. Still waiting to schedule their road time with the instructor. In the meantime, we took them to drive around a few times. Only sort of harrowing. And at the end, they were only sort of mad at me for laughing so much.

There was the fourth of July (nothing exciting, the boys were at a sleepover, I watched fireworks through the bathroom window), then the boys went to the beach for a week with Grandee and Larry and I spent some time in Terry’s pool. I also made a bathing suit top real quick. (The Sandpiper from Helen’s Closet)

I drove to Orange Beach for a couple of days at the end and spent some time by the pool before bringing the boys home. We tried fishing but spent more time watching sharks and sting rays and a blue heron.

Then this past weekend, I took the boys on a short trip to Atlanta to see a pro soccer game. (Atlanta United vs Cruz Azul, a team from Mexico.) We had a great time.

We stayed the night in Birmingham on the way there to see Mary Catherine and her people, and it was wonderful. Don’t tell the boys, but it was my favorite part of the trip. So nice to see friends. Of course we got a picture of the boys with Millie, and I got to catch up with Ann Fran. It was all very lovely and for a minute, we all wanted to move to Birmingham.

Then we headed to Atlanta, and went to IKEA on the way into town, then relaxed in the hotel room (it was storming), then the next day, wandered around downtown. We went to the World of Coke, which was entertaining, and the boys gazed longingly at the College Football Hall of Fame, and then I felt terrible for not taking them there instead but it was $30 a person and also, for me, snoozarooni. But Miles got a hoodie, at least.

That evening was the game, which was at the big fancy stadium where hot dogs were $2 and giant refillable sodas were $4. Glorious to this cheapskate. I was rooting for the other team, and they won in a penalty shoot out, which was so nerve wracking it reminded me why I don’t really like sports.

(I guilted them into lots of group pictures, heh.)

And then yesterday we wandered around Georgia Tech, snuck into the stadium, then drove home and that is July!

Other random things: we discovered Miles has a silver spot in his hair; Ziggy is still cute; we did not escape the escape room; the broken door finally got replaced in the vanity, so it’s done!

August means the start of sophomore year of high school! Eep!

February

Well, it’s the last day of February and I did vow to write a recap post every month, so here I am. February was mostly Mardi Gras, but some other stuff too.

George and I went to lunch for my birthday.

I started physical therapy for my back (that will continue through March.)

I made a puffy vest.

Mardi Gras happened.

I redid this shirt from sequins to fringe.

I made a big obnoxious hat and a tiny obnoxious hat.

We watched the varsity team lose the state final. 😦

Club soccer started up again.

March will be my 30th high school reunion (!) and more soccer.

January in review

How on earth is it still January? I feel like this has been the longest month ever.

Started out flying home from the Dominican Republic, and finally getting Ziggy back home. We missed him a lot. He…did not seem to miss us very much at all. I guess he had fun. He was hoarse from all the barking (or something, maybe a mild case of kennel cough, the vet said, he’s all better now in any case.)

“You could have left me there.”

Soccer started right back up, and then on Sunday the 8th, we took the boys to their very first Saints game ever. It was also the first time they’d ever been inside the Superdome. It was a not-great game, but we had fun anyway. Except we walked to the dome from the ferry and it was sprinkling so by the time we actually got to the game, we were all kind of wet and cold. No big deal.

Later that evening, I flew to Austin for a work meetup. Got in close to midnight, just a few minutes before my birthday!

Woke up the next morning, said hello to my colleagues, picked up a chocolate croissant from the Whole Foods down the road, worked, was surprised (sort of, I mean, I kind of demanded it) by a beautiful cake, had a nice lunch and later a nice dinner. This was my fourth work meetup on a birthday!

The rest of the week was more working, yummy food, bonding with coworkers, getting a spur-of-the-moment tattoo with Vanessa, bowling, puzzle assembling, scooter riding, renting a Tesla with Beckett and Karen, driving a Tesla, visiting our friend Elizabeth and finally meeting her daughter. I gave her a quilt I made her with bees and she seemed to like it.

IYKYK

Back home, more soccer, then another tattoo the next week (that I had originally scheduled for my birthday, but the had to push back a week because of the work trip) and more soccer and more soccer.

pink hydrangea

This past weekend was the end of school soccer, and the very last game was between the freshmen and sophomores. Under Miles’s coaching, the freshmen won! And I got some great pics of Coach Miles.

maybe my favorite picture ever.

I did some sewing. Made some shorts, bought more fabric I don’t need, but that’s okay. We had a bit of an issue with mice, but I think we resolved it. I don’t ever need to see tiny mouse bodies stuck in traps ever again.

Also I have someone cleaning the house again and it’s wonderful and it really is good for my stress levels because, let’s face it, it’s not exactly my forte.

I wrapped up the month by making a king cake yesterday. On to February!

2022 in review

Better late than never, I suppose. I barely posted at all last year, a mere 28 times! And 12 of those were monthly pics, so only 16 other posts? Actually that is more than I would have thought. Anyhoo, I’m going to try to post more in 2023. (For context, in 2014 I posted 342 times.)

January

We were in the middle of that Omicron wave so my birthday was low key. Obviously that’s the only important day in January. But it was a lovely day anyway, sitting outside with friends and drinking margaritas and eating king cake.

Also I got a new sewing machine. Love.

February

I took an amazing jeans making class from the inimitable Lladybird. It wasn’t just the sewing tips but also the camaraderie from other sewists and just being around happy people that was so lovely.

Mardi Gras. Parades came back!

March

Technically Mardi Gras Day was in March.

I found a really cute video of Miles that I could watch one million times in a row.

I visited Kiki after her mom passed away. I was happy to see her, but not happy why.

April

I went to visit Kiki again to help with her mom’s memorial celebration. We cooked a lot of fancy food.

The boys went to a dance.

May

The boys finished 8th grade, and had their last day at Lycee Francais. The end of an era!

Oh, and they all got Covid, one by one. George and I did not, somehow.

June

We got a new oven.

July

We went to Virginia! I stayed with Kiki, the boys went to Camp Aunt Jenny, and we all had a great time. (Kiki and I also went to NYC.)

August

The boys started high school. And competitive soccer again.

I got a tattoo.

September

My brother and Ellie came to town.

I made a coat, it’s beautiful.

October

I gave out candy on Halloween for the first time. (with Steph)

November

Went to Denver for my first work trip since January 2020.

Got another tattoo.

December

Took another sewing workshop with Lauren.

My babies turned 15.

We went to the Dominican Republic.

I did sew a lot this year, but I didn’t always blog about it. Here are some more things I made:

It was a bigger year for quilts than I would have thought!

The perfect coat

Due to a shipping snafu, I ended up with six meters (instead of the three I ordered) of a gorgeous teal melton wool from Blackbird Fabrics. Last fall Two falls ago I made a cape with it, and I love it, but capes aren’t the most practical and I’ve wanted another teal jacket/coat since I “outgrew” the one I wore to my bachelorette party, 17 years ago.

After making the Chilton trench last year two years ago, I always thought I might make another one without all the bells and whistles (the epaulettes, the belt loops, the cape, the flaps, etc) and a bit shorter, since I had enough fabric for that.

Figuring out what to line it with was tough. The matte satin I lined the other one with was a nightmare to sew with, and my pockets have torn at the seams a couple of times, and it frays incessantly. But satin really does make the best lining so it goes on smoothly. I wouldn’t have minded a cotton lawn, but Joann doesn’t carry cotton lawn and when I want to make something I want to make it ASAP so I didn’t have time to order any.

So. I went with the infamous rainbow stretch satin that I’ve made a dress from before. It’s so dreamy, I love it, but I wasn’t sure if it was the vibe I was going for, and I was reluctant to use another satin again.

But I’m so glad I chose it. It doesn’t fray as much as the other satin I used (maybe because of the presence of stretch?) and it’s really soft to wear on bare arms, much nicer than the other stuff. And it looks incredible.

I do wish I’d used a darker solid color inside the pockets, but I couldn’t settle on anything so I just went with the rainbow satin. It’s all good.

It all sewed up well (I cut and sewed it almost entirely in one ten hour day) and the lining came out much better than the last time, and I really paid close attention to the details (like the bits that need to be hand sewn) and so I’m really proud of it.

But the last part, closures, was the hardest. I really didn’t want to make buttonholes. I contemplated sending it out to a tailor, and if I had settled on buttons as closures, I think I would have done that in the end. But I liked the idea of toggles, so I ordered some brown leather ones from etsy and I adore the way they look. It took me a while to figure out the placement, and then some time to muster up the nerve to sew them on, but it finally got slightly cool here (to be clear, not cool enough for a wool coat) so I just went ahead and did it last night. (Thanks to my friend Jen for helping me troubleshoot the placement.)

This morning I hung it on the soccer goal outside to get some good pictures of it. The color is just so beautiful! I love everything about it, and I can’t wait to wear it for real.

I actually bought a clothes steamer but obviously didn’t use it today.

Sewing lately

I’ve been doing some sewing, but haven’t done much blogging about it. (Couldn’t, really, since some of it was gifts.)

I made quilts for my mom and sister (Mother’s Day and 50th birthday, respectively), both using patterns from Kitchen Table Quilting.

Grandee’s quilt.
Jenny’s quilt
Fuck yeah
I love the back and binding fabrics
I love the fabric so much I made a little pillow from scraps.
My helper

Also I made a jacket. It’s kind of a test version, because I wanted to make one out of denim, but now I’m not so sure. Only because it’s designed (I guess?) not to close all the way (I know I picked the right size) but it hangs open, which is fine, but probably I don’t need two. Or maybe I’ll make a shorter version. Who knows. Also I added an inch to the sleeves (I guess in my head my arms are freakishly long) but they ended up way too long so I guess I should hem them.

I used IKEA fabric again (this is the second Helen’s Closet jacket I’ve made out of IKEA upholstery fabric) and I barely got it cut out with the slightly less than 3 yards I had. And then I realized I’d only cut out one yoke, not two, so I used some denim for the inner yoke. I like the way it looks.

So yeah, I guess that’s it. I thought I’d sewed more. I did make shorts and t-shirts earlier this summer, but that was ages ago.

Next up? Who knows.

Intense jeans making

Apparently the Mardi Gras parades started in earnest this weekend. I can’t say I noticed. I spent the whole weekend sewing instead.

As background, I’ve been following Lauren Taylor (lladybird) on Instagram and her blog since I heard her on some sewing podcast a while back. She cursed a lot, and I’m pretty sure that’s why I decided to follow her. Anyway, she has been teaching these jeans workshops for a few years, and every time she posted the yearly schedule I’d eagerly look for New Orleans and then would be sad when it wasn’t there. So imagine my excitement when I saw the 2022 schedule and New Orleans was on it! I immediately went to the Papermaple Studio site and signed up for the class.

Blah blah blah you don’t need to know my journey to this class but originally it was scheduled for next weekend, which for Mardi Gras reasons would have not worked well at all, so I’m very glad it was moved up a week.

Because it was amazing. I wish I could express how good I felt leaving the studio yesterday with a completed* pair of jeans. (Fine, I still need to hem them. Close enough.) Not just because I had a pair of pants (frankly, I don’t even wear jeans very often) but because I was around this amazing group of women, and I got to meet this sewist I’ve been following for so long, and who, frankly, I was a bit starstruck to meet. This was one of the first social things I’ve done in, well, a long time, and it was really healing to the damaged inner extrovert in me. I needed it.

So! Why should you take a jeans workshop from Lauren if you get the chance?

  1. You will learn so many little tips and tricks that not only apply to jeans sewing, but to all kinds of sewing. (For example, I learned why my top stitching has always been horrible in the past – my thread was too heavy!)
  2. You will make friends with other sewists. This is 20 hours of intense sewing over 2.5 days. You will be taking your pants off in front of them a lot. So you can’t really not be friends.
  3. You’ll come away with a pair of jeans that fit well (maybe not perfectly, but you’ll know how to make the next ones perfect!)

PS We made the Ginger jeans pattern from Closet Core Patterns. (I also had the option of making the Ames jeans from Cashmerette, but I was happy that the Ginger jeans did fit, which I didn’t expect, as they’re not designed for an extended size range. But stretchy denim is stretchy! Not that I would have minded making a plus-size pattern when everyone else was making “standard” sizes, but at least this way we were all using the same pattern pieces and the same seam allowances, etc.)

Some pictures from the weekend:

The studio where the class was held is tucked away in the French Quarter, and is run by the fantastic Leisa. I can’t say enough about her and the gorgeous space where the class was held. We even got a little private shopping with Cole from Promenade Fabrics. (I got a bunch of this red stretch twill that is destined to become a dress of some kind.)

If you can ever take a workshop from Leisa or at Papermaple, again, I can’t recommend it enough.

Now I guess you’re going to want to see my new jeans, huh? They’re very dark wash, so it’s hard to see the detail in a picture, but I’ll try.

Bar tacks! Belt loops! Top stitching! Pretty pocket lining! Rivets!

(I don’t really have a good picture of them on because I need to hem them and wash them so they shrink up a bit, but you get the idea.)

Quilt number 2

After I made my first quilt, I thought I probably wouldn’t make another one for a while.

I lasted a whole month before I started a second one. But it was fine, it would be so easy, because it was just a baby quilt, for my friend Erica’s baby who is going to be born in a couple of months or so (or weeks, I don’t know, what is time?) A small quilt would be a piece of cake!

Well, it should have been.

One evening in early December, I drank some wine, then got an email from Spoonflower saying they were having a sale on fat quarters that ended THAT NIGHT so I started looking around, found some adorable pit bull-themed fabrics, and hit “order.” Easy peasy. (Erica has a beloved, adorable, goofy pit bull mix named Francis.)

Francis.

One print was pit bulls working out, because Erica and her husband like to work out. Another print was pit bulls and pizza because Erica likes pizza. Or, I mean, at least this one really yummy pizza place in NYC that she’s taken me to a couple of times. And another print was pit bulls in Philadelphia, because I remembered that Erica and her husband lived there. (Put a pin in that.)

The fabrics came, I got the rest of the fabrics I needed, I cut, I pinned, I sewed, and before too long, I had a quilt top.

Hooray! That was easy! I showed some friends.

And that was when I was reminded that Erica and her husband had bought a house in New Jersey. They no longer lived in Philly. They hadn’t lived in Philly for quite a while. I knew all about her house hunt. I knew she moved. In August 2020. So why did I order Philadelphia-themed fabric?! (I blame the wine.)

So. I went online and ordered a different pit bull fabric and painstakingly removed 11 of the 12 Philly-themed squares (gotta leave one) and while I was at it, decided to throw in a couple of other squares.

That’s better.

And then I finished it and hand-stitched the binding because that’s what you’re supposed to do and never has this tag been more appropriate.

And that’s it! I hope Erica’s sweet baby boy (and Francis, his canine big brother) enjoy snuggling with it.

And yes, I am working on quilt #3 now.

My first quilt

I have made scores of clothing items, from easy things like pajama pants and t-shirts, to more complex pieces like dresses and a coat and a bathing suit. But I’ve always been particularly intimidated by the idea of making a quilt.

And then, a friend on Instagram let me know that Joann’s had Schitt’s Creek fabric, and, well, that was that. I didn’t need another Schitt’s Creek shirt or more masks so the only thing to do was tackle a quilt. Particularly since there were five different prints. I mean, what else was I going to do?

The middle five fabrics are from Joann’s and the ones on the ends are from Spoonflower.

I was scared of quilt making because it seemed so precise. At least with clothes you can fudge seam allowances (usually) and it’s ok if your lines aren’t straight. But I assumed with quilts if you were off by 1/128th of an inch, then you might as well burn the whole project in a fire.

Turns out, when you’re making a quilt for yourself, it really doesn’t matter if it’s perfectly square!

a lot of squares.

Also the whole batting and sandwiching and quilting and binding…was I going to have to outsource that? That sounded expensive, especially because I had no intention of making a small quilt. Oh no, I’d I was going to make it big enough to sleep with!

two by two

And so I bought the fabric and consulted with my IG friend and got advice from someone at Joann’s and just went for it.

It ended up being about 73” wide and 100” long, which is a lot of 5” squares. I didn’t really plan my layout, just figured I’d make them random, but was trying not to put dark squares together or light squares together but by the time I was putting the strips together I ended up with identical fabric squares next to each other. So lesson learned – if you care, you have to plan ahead. (I didn’t really care.)

figuring out where to put what

I ended up using about 6 yards of the fabric from Joann’s and about a yard’s worth of scraps from fabric I’d gotten from Spoonflower. The backing fabric came from Joann’s (handy that I took up this project when the Black Friday sales were happening) and the binding fabric from a small, local fabric store.

I went through almost 1000 meters of gray thread and now I know why some sewing machines have giant bobbins. My sewing machines performed admirably, though I had to replace my walking foot, after it sprained its ankle or something. (that’s a sewing joke.)

quilting!

I decided to quilt it myself and while I maybe wish I hadn’t decided on parallel lines roughly an inch apart, I’m happy with how it looks now that it’s done. (90 total lines, 100 inches long each, that’s a lot!)

I didn’t think I’d be up for doing this again anytime soon but I think I would like to try a smaller quilt, and maybe, you know, plan the design ahead of time.

For now, I’ll cuddle on the sofa with this beast and watch Schitt’s Creek again for the one millionth time.

PS Soccer goals make good quilt display tools.

Making an outfit (accidentally)

In the past couple of months, I’ve made three items of clothing. It just so happens that they all kind of go together. Well enough to put them all in one blog post, anyway.

Item 1: Calder shorts by Cashmerette

This was the second pair of Calder shorts I’ve made. Because I’m shaped like a rectangle (no waist to speak of), the first pair I made was sized not exactly right (not really too small, but, well, okay, a tiny bit too small) so I wanted to try again, this time just maybe making some minor adjustments to the seam allowance. I didn’t want to go up a whole size, as that would be too much, and also I’m very lazy and wanted to use my existing pattern.

In the end, it worked out fine, maybe they’re a little too big, if anything, but no biggie. I definitely need to hem them a bit more though. If I have them pulled down to where my waist would be if I had a waist, they’re too long.

I made them with a cotton flannel from Joann’s. Shorts in flannel? Why yes. I live in Louisiana where winter shorts are totally a thing. (A thing I made up, maybe. I think these would work really well with tights.) I love this fabric – it’s super easy to sew and it comes in a million patterns and it’s soft and inexpensive. Oh, and I lined the pockets in some leftover supima cotton that they don’t seem to sell anymore but it’s so silky, I love it.

Item 2: Blackwood cardigan by Helen’s Closet

This is my second Blackwood cardigan – the first was appropriated by Linus. He likes to wear it around the house. I made this one out of some french terry I bought a while ago from some online store and have been sitting on (not literally.) I decided to put the loop side on the outside so it would be a darker red. (The “right” side is more white/red variegated.) I like the way it looks, but the loops do tend to catch on things and get snagged. Oh well, live and learn. I love the rainbow serger threads I bought, they make for a really fun inside view!

Item 3: Akita top by Seamwork

A couple of weeks before my friends and I went to the fake Rosebud Motel, I ordered some fun Schitt’s Creek-themed fabric from Spoonflower. I was going to make a skirt or something to wear when we went. Well, it didn’t come in time, and I decided I didn’t need another skirt. I wanted a shirt, and I remembered how much I like the Seamwork Akita. I’ve made it a few times but those don’t, uh, fit anymore. So now I have one that does! And I absolutely love the fabric.

It’s a really fun pattern to sew. If you have non-directional fabric, it’s just one pattern piece, but because mine is directional, I had to add a shoulder seam. No biggie. Then you bias bind all of the raw edges and sew up the sides. Super easy and I like the shape. I didn’t get any good pictures of the sleeves but you get the idea:

Well, you get the idea.

(Turns out this pattern isn’t on their site anymore. Not sure why!)

Well, turns out they all kind of work together – the red in the cardigan is the same as the red in the shirt, and, well, gray goes with everything. So there you go, I accidentally made a whole outfit!

Sewing project: Seamwork Camden

Apparently I’m really into sewing outerwear this year.

See, when I was planning to make a coat, I wanted to make it out of teal wool. But I couldn’t find any teal wool that wouldn’t have cost an absolute fortune. So I went ahead and made it out of a cotton flannel, and I love it! BUT THEN. I was perusing the Blackbird Fabrics website in September and LO AND BEHOLD they had teal wool coating fabric! It was even reasonably priced! (Thank you Canadian dollar.) So I ordered three meters and waited for it to arrive. I waited, and waited, and waited, and finally in mid-November, after an investigation from Canada post, the fabric store sent me a new bundle of wool. (They have amazing customer service and beautiful fabrics, I highly recommend shopping from them.)

(And then the other fabric showed up after two months! And I got to keep it!)

I still didn’t know what to do with it. I debated between making a lined Pona jacket and a cape. Why a cape? Who knows. Why not? I found the Seamwork Camden pattern and ultimately chose that. Then I had to wait to get it printed on large format paper because I was not about to stick together 60 sheets of letter size paper together.

Meanwhile, I went to Chateau Sew & Sew (my favorite local fabric store) and picked out the lining. I wanted something colorful and fun, and ultimately went with a geometric pattern.

And then…I sewed it up. I mean, it was pretty simple, really. No major roadblocks (shockingly). I did debate for a little while on doing bound buttonholes vs sewn buttonholes, but in the end, I went with the sewn. I used my grandmother’s buttonholer, which made really lovely buttonholes and how many times can I say “buttonhole”? BUTTONHOLE.

And here’s the finished project! (I noticed after I took the pictures that the top wasn’t laying flat, so then I took some more on the other side of the yard so you could see that it’s really fine.)