Self Paced Sewing for Saturday

We had great fun on Saturday and as always got a lot accomplished.  Paula and Candy worked on their Active Wear Sew Along pieces using this McCall's pattern # 4261. 

Paula cut out and sewed up a pair of dusty turquoise blue pants to wear over her shorts.  She gets to warm working out in pants, but needed something to get her from the parking lot to the gym, so using this pattern as a "cover up" was just the thing.

Candy made the Capri length pants for her daughter, and the long sleeved t-shirt as well.  Both were cut out and the pants completed before the end of the day.  She even started sewing her top.  The directions call for the neckline to be turned and hemmed....curious I thought and so I had Candy cut a strip 11/4" wide to bind it with instead.

These are Candy's fabrics.  The solid purple was used for her top and the print was used for the pants.  The print is a tricot spandex, often used to make bathing suits,  and the solid  is a rayon Lycra.
Both of these were purchased at Jo Ann's.

Her one pattern change was to replace the drawstring waistband with a wider elastic one, which was sewn in.

Paula promises us pictures of her finished pants, but she is off to LA, so we will need to be patient.  I apologize that I missed getting pictures of Candy's pants....but it does get a bit busy in class, and is not always conducive to picture taking.

George has returned and is looking for some inspiration and companionship to get him through the long winter.  This is one reason why Sewing Cafe is so great....its a motivating and inspirational.  We really get a lot of support and encouragement from one another.

George started this shirt this summer, and during class he installed both of his sleeves, learning two different techniques. 
     1. Setting the sleeve in before sewing the side seams, as I did with my navy t-shirt for the active wear sew along.
     2. Sewing the sides seams first and then setting the sleeve.

 As a advanced beginner sewer, he found the 2nd technique easier.  This shirt pattern has a nicely fitted sleeve with no additional ease at the cap, but the cap height is a little higher then I usually recommend for the 1st technique.  He got both sleeves in beautifully, but just felt the 2nd was easier.  I believe he is down to his hems now and he will be on to the next project.  Hmmm. I wonder what that will be? 

Judy joined us as well, and as per her usual style knocked out several projects.  I believe she made 3 pillow covers from 3 different fabrics, this one at right being one of them.  Ireally liked this cotton print...the other two were done before I had a moment to look up..the sly girl.

Once her pillows were covered she started in on a quilt kit from Karen's Quilt Corner.  Judy expressed some skepticism at its claim of only taking 3-4 hours to sew up....but indeed she had it all cut out and mostly sewn up before the end of day...well under 4 hours!  Not a bad days sewing at all!  She also had the pleasure of working on a loaner Bernina for the day.  Her old, and I do mean old Pfaff has finally sewn its last stitch...what a trooper and so Judy is taking the Bernina out for a test drive.  We get a bit of a thrill when someone gets a new machine.  I am curious about this because we all like our old machines so much....but a new tool, is a new tool.

Cute right!  Our new beginner student Sarah has chosen this dress as her first exploration of dressmaking from a pattern!  Exciting I know!

Did she learn a lot in a half day of sewing?  You be the judge, she learned"

1. How to choose the correct pattern size
2. How to understand the pattern envelope
3. How to locate her pattern pieces
4. How to take her measurements
5. How to do a FBA!
6. How to alter the pattern for design changes...more on that one later
7. How to read the lay out instructions and then why you sometimes have to just ignore them-lol
8. How to cut and then mark her pattern pieces correctly.

So about those design changes.  After purchasing the pattern Sarah was concerned that the gathers over the tummy would be unsightly.  She wanted the fullness at the hem, just not at the waist, at least not quite so much.  When we measured the pattern along the top of the skirt it had over 2x the fullness..that is great for a children's dress, but a bit much for an adult, especially when making it from cotton.  So she learned how to slash her pattern to reduce the fullness.  She created 4 lengthwise cuts that ran from the waist to the hem, leaving a little hinge along that hemline.  Then she overlapped the strips at the waistline reducing it by 7 inches all together.  She will still have some gathers, but this created a more A-line skirt. 

This is one of her two fabric choices for this pattern.  The pink being used for the contrast midriff and band.  Love the batik, but then I always do.

I think that catches us up for this week.  Hope you all get to do some more sewing this week, but there is always our next Saturday class on the 26th.  See you then.