The Burgundy Coat

Each year my daughter looks forward to winter, because it means a new winter coat, and another opportunity for her to design her own. This year being no exception. The coat has been talked about for months now, but she has no idea I have started. She had said back in September that she would like red this year. Wow, a bold color indeed. As I tried to talk her into a more neutral color, she explained that it’s a burgundy color she must have. She got a hold of my Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool and studied color. I’m very glad she did, because her picture of red did not match the red or burgundy  I imagined sewing up.

In secret, the search began for the exact burgundy (maroon may better describe her color choice). She loves wool coats, and when we settled for a blend or a different fabric, we were both sorely disappointed.  So wool it had to be and I did not want to risk buying it online this time.  The feel, hand, and color are so key in coats–and can be so personal. Remembering the book “The Purple Coat,” by Amy Hest, I respected her choice. I also wanted the coat to be a happy childhood memory. Something she may one day reminisce about. Or maybe that’s my vanity talking.

Picture from Amazon.com

The search for the correct shade of burgundy took me miles away, but well worth the trip. The color is spot on, and the wool is the softest wool melton. I’m using Jalie 2680. So far the project is going smoothly. Sometimes I wonder how much of our sewing has to do with the tools we use. Without the proper tools, sewing can be a frustrating, exhausting experience. Sometimes not having the right tools can sabotage a sewing project, no matter the sewist’s skill level, no matter the effort.

For this project, a walking foot, sometimes called an even feed presser foot, is vital. The melton wool has nap and substance. The best practice a sewist can employ is sewing a test seam before sewing a stitch on her project.  Starting with a fresh, new needle is another key element to sewing. After putting in a new needle, a needle carefully chosen for the fabric,  sew a few seams with scrap fabric. This will illustrate what the fabric is going to do. Melton slips and shifts, despite pinning it in place. The walking foot keeps the top layer from moving under the presser foot differently than the lower layer. It moves them together, evenly.

Still contemplating the lining–or rather whether to line it or not. I was not able to find a  matching floral flannel –(yes, I know. I should use a slippery fabric to line at least the sleeves, but she insists on flannel. It is her coat and as long as she likes it, then why does it matter?) or one that isn’t a cutesy little girl print. Could not find any burgundy flannel to match at all. I found a navy blue flannel, which I think she will like and sweet buttons to match, but I hate to cover up that cozy wool. The wrong side of the fabric is luxurious, much softer than flannel. The only draw back for me is the exposed seams. Jalie did not draft this coat pattern with a lining, nor did she talk about possible seam finishes.   Lots of top stitching, which I love, however, I hate the unfinished look of the inside. Flat felled seams would perhaps be bulky and uncomfortable. My daughter has been known to completely reject garments that don’t feel right.

I keep sewing, debating and contemplating this decision. Having already drafted and cut out the lining, I think I will decide at the very last possible moment.

Yesterday, I ignored the pattern’s pocket instructions. The Jalie instructions just didn’t seem right to me. The Ottobre coat from a few years back was almost identical in style and detail, so I did the Ottobre method. She loved that coat *sigh*

Today, I will be constructing bound buttonholes. After said buttonholes are completed, I will hopefully have made a decision about whether or not to line the coat.

Feel free to make your opinion known 🙂

~Erin

Quick and Simple Luggage Tags

Two of my kiddos are off to the Western International Band Clinic (wibc) in Seattle. This called for luggage tags, since they will have at least 4 things to keep track of. Plus the thought of all those instrument and suitcases looking alike, made me think handmade ones would ease the stress of locating their own. I’m not sure how expensive or inexpensive those tags can be, but why buy when one can create? 🙂

I google searched and pinned on pinterest like a mad woman for days. I finally decided to forgo the “in the hoop” embroidery designs and go with a recommendation from a fellow sewing mama on sewingmama.com and use this tutorial from I Have a Notion Blog. I had all the supplies, except that MistyFuse stuff. Her tutorial was great–loved all the visuals.

I made them with premade bias tape instead of making my own, so it took a bit less time. I may make my own bias tape next time to see how it compares. I also used fabric glue to hold the fabric in place for sewing, since I did not have any MistyFuse. It worked just fine. The Timtex stuff is great. I received some to try out, and I think it’s super easy to work with. I’ll need to get some more, because it’s great to have on hand. It’s pretty widely available as well.  I could see it working well for numerous projects in my mental to do list.

I was very happy with the results as well. These sew up super quick and the tutorial is so simple and straight forward. I may have to get sewing some more for presents–a dual purpose: tag for on top of a present that can be used as a luggage tag later. Shown here without their name/number/school cards inserted.

My kids were very excited to see their send off presents. The music notes and cherry ones are for my daughter, and  my son thought his Steelers luggage tags were well, “those are cool!”

I’m very proud of them and what they have accomplished. My daughter (a junior)  placed 4th chair in the highest level band (which means 4th of all flutes that auditioned) and my son, a sophmore, is playing in the second highest level band. I’ve gotten texts from my daughter and it sounds like things are fun and exciting. Her highlights so far were going to a cupcake shop (she neglected to tell me the name of the shop) and ate the best cupcake in her life, ever! And she was given a solo–yay! I know she’s going to rock that solo. And she assured me her brother is doing well and having a good time, remarking that he’s even dressing nicely and looking good. This is nice to hear, as this is his first time being on his own and responsible for himself for more than a day or two. I had fearfully envisioned him cold (misplaced jacket), hungry (lost food money), and disheveled (woke up without time to shower). My sweet little ones are growing up. And evidently have become accomplished musicians along the way.

Thanks for letting me share 🙂

~Erin

Random Fall musings

Did I tell you another appliance broke? 2 weeks without a washer…not a pretty sight. It would have been more easily handled during the warm summer months. I searched and found the queen of throw back machines, Speed Queen actually. I was so done with the fancy computer mother board, front loading, pedestal sitting machines. I’ve owned 3.  1 was Consumer Reports’ Best Buy and the other was a CR recommended high end one. The latest one, was on clearance, and a well rated one. I knew better, but with all the rebates, it was a really good deal, or so we thought. We seriously can’t afford to buy another machine, let alone one that won’t last. When the mother board goes out, they want hundreds of dollars to replace. Our latest, needed a new belt, AGAIN.  Grrrrrrr. Last time it was $50 just for the belt, and another nice chunk for the hourly rate of a repair guy. This is one appliance that for a family of 6 is not a want; it is a need.

I did my usual and checked reviews, CR, and local stores. It occurred to me, why do all machines nowadays need replacing so often? Well, most likely because machines that need replacing more often are good for business. It makes us consumers, constant consumers. Think about it. If our appliances and machines lasted our lifetimes (much like they used to , like they did for our grandparents), then the business would no longer have us as consumers. So at some point, quality was taken out of the equation for good business models. And we are now a society of people who think like consumers and the things we buy as disposable.

I’ve had it with the latest and greatest, shiny and new. I don’t really care what my washing machine looks like, or whether it plays me a pretty song when it finishes. I just want a washing machine that is simple and cleans our clothes. That’s when I saw this beauty:

Oh, man!! This thing is build like a tank. Doesn’t it remind you of a laundromat? Well, maybe that’s because it a commercial machine. And get this, if anything goes wrong in the next three years, they’ll fix and  replace parts for free. With our track record of needing repairs every 2 years, that sounded better than the skimpy 1 year warranty other machines give you.

It works extremely well. After using a front loader for 12 years, I am wondering why I didn’t notice how not clean my clothes were getting. It also only takes 35 minutes or so to do a large load. Instead of the over an hour per load front loader.  It’s also a lot quieter and doesn’t have balance issues. ETA: different load size capability!  Forgot washers could do that. Perfect for when I have new fabric that I want to wash all by itself. My teenage daughter does her own laundry and now can customize the water level to the load she is doing. But the best thing is this:

It’s been a long time since we had a giant box in the house! The best toy ever!! My daughter has been practically living in it for days. She’s been calling for food delivery (she got a hold of someone’s cell phone and my husband’s been pretending to be different restaurants), and inviting visitors.  Not sure why someone decided her home address should be “666,” but her home was made in the USA (it says so right on the exterior).

Recently, she came home for a visit and made us this:

It didn’t last long enough for me to take any other pictures. She took this one and insisted it need to be blogged about 🙂 So it’s been blogged.

~Erin

Jeans Sew Along part 3: the waistband

So you’ve got your front and back side sewn together (parts 1 and 2), and you need a waistband to hold ’em on your hips.

Here are the other sew along posts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 2 and 3/4

To get started on part three, we need to do a little prep work. Belt loops, and pulling teeth.  You may have noticed my metal zipper is a bit too long for my fly and rise of the pants. But you don’t want to just cut it off. You’ll need to remove the zipper teeth, so that you don’t sew over them, breaking a needle for sure.   You also don’t cut the teeth out, because then the zipper tape will unravel, leaving you very sad indeed after a few washes.

Removing the teeth allows you to replace the  zipper stop at the top.  Otherwise you’ll zip right off your zipper and have to search online for a tutorial on replacing a zipper, lol.  This tutorial from Threads Magazine is pretty much all you need for what ever type of zipper you need to shorten. They explain it all and very well.

After you remove unwanted or unneeded teeth from your zipper, add a new stop. You can purchase these at sewing supply stores. I paid a whole 3 cents for each of mine. Using needle nosed pliers, I pinched them in place after my waistband was complete. I just have to remember not to zip up my pants until those stops are back in place.

Belt loops.

Cut a strip of fabric about 1 1/2 inches wide. fold into thirds and use a twin needle to stitch down the center. If you use a single needle, you need to do something else to finish the raw edges. Maybe sew the strip into a tube and turn it right side out? It’s a lot more work that way…you may want to become more friendly with a twin needle 🙂

Cut your loops into 3 inch pieces, you may want longer, depending on the size jeans you’re sewing. Check before cutting. Mine ended up about 3 inches long. Get the wonder tape and  tape them in place, right sides together, along the upper edge of pants. You can baste them if you want. I noticed some store bought jeans do not have the lower edge of the belt loops sewn into waistband. Those are sewn on after construction is complete.

Prepare waistband.

Sew sides of waistband pieces together–right sides together. do the same for lining pieces.

Finish lower edge of waistband as you choose. I finished the lower edge of my waistband lining with bias tape. You can see that I am also adding button hole elastic, so I prepared the lining for that as well.

Sew lining to waistband along upper edge, right sides together. Press seam allowances toward facing. I like to understitch (sew a row of straight stitches along the lining, sewing through the seam allowances, but not the waistband (as shown in pic).

Pin to pants right sides facing. Sew waistband  to pants, leaving the lining free. You should follow the markings on your pattern for waistband placement–the waistband should extend slightly past the zipper opening fabric on pants.  Press seam allowances up toward waistband.

Now fold waistband and lining together, right sides facing. Note the facing will be inside out, but the right side of lining fabric will be facing the right side of the waistband fabric.  Pin the ends together (center front). Sew along the center front edges on the seam allowances. (I don’t have a pic for this–please let me know if anyone wants me to add one.) Trim seam allowances and  flip the waistband and lining right side out. Use a corner turning tool to poke corners out. (a wooden knitting needle works also) Press.

Stitch the lower edge of facing to waistband. Best way I think is to stitch in the ditch with matching thread, working with the waistband facing up (right side of garment). If you added elastic, make sure you don’t catch it in your stitches.

Top stitch along the waistband. Remember to gently pound any bulky parts with a nice, light duty hammer.

Fold belt loops up, tucking the raw edges under and tack in place. Next time, I may not use the hammer and try to tack the belt loops without it. It flattened them too much, imo. Or I just was hammer crazy 🙂

Make a button hole and add your button along the waistband.  To complete your jeans, hem by folding under toward the wrong side of fabric, and straight stitch the hem.

Done and done 🙂

Thanks for sewing along!

~Erin