- Mundane Sewing Discussion -

[Elennare]

Love the apron! I have some of the pirate fabric too!

I need some assistance. I'm making a ritual robe for a dear friend, out of Simplicity pattern 9887 view B. The material is a silky feeling fabric (he bought it, so I'm not sure of the content). He also bought some black silky feeling fabric for a lining. He's hoping to add weight to the garment, and have it be reversible. The pattern says nothing about a lining, and I've never done a lining before.
I'm assuming I'll just make the lining identical to the outer robe, then turn them wrong sides together and attach them. Is this correct? Where all should I attach them? I'm thinking at the sleeve hems, neck, hood opening, across the shoulders, at the line across the chest to help hold the weight, and the bottom hem. Sound good?

If I was going to make that reversible, without seeing the pattern pieces/instructions, this is what I would do:

Cut an "outside" and a "lining" of everything.  If there are interfacing pieces, I'd skip those.  Maybe baste the edge where it's supposed to go.

-Put the sleeves together first.  Sew the cuff end together, wrong sides together.  Turn right side out and baste the shoulder ends together.
-Hood next.  Sew the "face" edge together inside out, turn, baste the "collar" edges together.
-Assemble the 2 bodies, but don't sew them to each other yet.
-Now the tricky part starts.
-Start with the outside body.  Put the sleeves in as normal.  Sew the hood to the outside body, right sides together.  Turn this all inside out. 
-Sew the lining to the sleeves in a way that when you turn it right side out the seam edge will be inside the fabric (sorry, can't figure out how to explain this better w/o having it in front of me.)  Turn everything right side out. 
-Flip the lining up, such that you can sew the collar seam with right sides together.  Fold it back down.  I'd topstich along the collar and across the shoulder seams to help hold stuff together, but it's not necessary.
-Turn everything inside out and sew together the front edges and most of the bottom hem.  Be careful not to catch the hood or sleeves in this.  Make sure any seams you have (like the chest one) are lined up when you sew everything together.
-Turn it right side out through the hole you left in the hem.  Fold in the seam allowance and sew the hole together.
-Topstich where you think it's needed for strength and/or looks.

Keep in mind that there might be something about the pattern that this won't work for, so you may need to modify a bit.  I also have had very little formal training in sewing, so I'm sure there's all sorts of stuff "wrong" with the above, but I've done stuff like this before and it works, at least for me.  Hope it helps!

[Ms Trish]

Figured this would be the best thread to post a question - since you guys are all so very clever!

I need to attach a jute webbing strap (3.5" wide) to leather and it needs to support considerable stress. The only thing I can think of myself is an industrial type stapler (which I don't have). Sewing isn't really an option as my machine can't hack it and I don't have the patience to do it by hand.  Thoughts and opinions?

Thank you kindly!

[isabelladangelo]

How much stress?  Like enough to hold your average adult?   Or enough to hold Mom's purse of stuffs? 

You probably need an awl and will end up having to do it by hand.   Your basic awl can be found at any craft store and then tend to be great later on for making eyelets in bodices.  ;-)

[Kate XXXXXX]

And remember that for THICK leather, you can always use a craft drill and drill the stitching holes...  Far less stress on your hands, that.

[Ms Trish]

Thank you! I'll poke around at it with those ideas in mind. I appreciate the assistance!

[Elennare]

Hi Ladies and Gents.

I need some advice for a skirt I am planning on sewing tonight.

It's going to be more-or-less A line, but with a bit more volume, and hit a little bit above my knee.  It's also going to be 2-layered.  The top layer is going to be shorter than the bottom layer, and with a petal-style overlap/gap to let the bottom layer peek out.

My question is, how much overlap do you think I should have?  I know I've seen this style for sale, but now that I want to recreate it, I can't find any pictures.

Thanks!

[Elennare]

Well, I got the skirt made.  If I have some spare time (ha!) I think I might take it apart and tweak it a bit before next year.  There's a little bit too much material in the back, and it ended up a couple of inches shorter than I would have liked.  Both fairly easy to fix, though.  And at the rate I'm losing weight, I'll have to take it in before I can wear it next year anyway, so I'll be pulling it apart for that.

All that said, I was still pretty happy with the result, and if it wasn't perfect, it WAS fun.

[Auryn]

Great job Elennare
you look super cute

[LadyStitch]

I've been sewing up a storm for baby stuff.  I'm also selling these on my kids clothing store. 

My MIL wanted matching dresses for all 3 of the youngest grand kids, here are 2 of the 3 dresses.


My 3.5 year old niece wanted more play clothing, so I made her a new jumper for her upcoming birthday.

[Elennare]

Very cute!

[Elennare]

Been a bit since this thread's seen anything, so I thought I'd show off the baby carrier I made!

Finished sewing:


And in use:


It reverses to a leafy pattern, modeled by the teddy bear (this was right after I finished sewing it, late at night after the baby had gone to sleep and I wasn't about to wake him up for a picture.

[CenturiesSewing]

Did a bit of modern sewing today, a purple knit "infinity" dress, which can be worn about 20 different ways, Just need to let the hem drop. I used this tutorial: http://sewlikemymom.com/little-red-infinity-dress-tutorial/ with a few tweaks.

[isabelladangelo]

Looks lovely!  I adore the color and the drape. 

[Pinn]

I have an issue I am hoping someone here can help me with. I am working on a double breasted vest and it gaping horribly under the arms.. If I adjust for that..it doesn't fit like it should in the front.. what am I doing wrong?

I don't have access to photos right now.

[Elennare]

Is it for a man or a woman?  What does it do in front when you adjust for under the arms?