Good T-Shirt and Good Sewing Teachers

Here's the first completed Pamela's Patterns Perfect T Shirt that I wore out to lunch this week.  I came out of the workshop with an almost perfect fitting T but had to make a few minor changes.  I lengthened the size Small to the Medium length, I added a center back seam with a swayback adjustment of about 1" total and widen the bicep of the sleeve 3/8".   


I like the fit but I did not like this knit fabric.  I bought it on my recent NYC visit at Metro textile but it's very thin and wants to grow as I wear it.  Shoulders and hem are stabilized per Pam's instructions but the knit itself is just thin and very stretchy.  Overall, however, I'm very pleased with the basic pattern and have plenty of ideas for future knit tops in my wardrobe.   

My center back seam adjusted for that back curve

Pamela's workshop was such an enjoyable experience.  While I was adjusting this pattern I was thinking back over all the sewing classes I have taken over the last almost 20 years and evaluating those many instructors.   I did not have good home ec experiences with my 9th grade sewing teacher....I'm sure some of that was my fault and some of it hers.   When I returned to the world of fashion sewing I was inspired by Sandra Betzina's Sew Perfect cable HGTV show.  But mostly I was inspired by her personal fashion sense and her good will towards all.  She didn't insist on one right way and she was creating fashionable, chic garments that fit her lifestyle.  Both of those elements, attitude towards students and a personal fashion sense are important to me in a sewing instructor.  I've taken classes from a well known instructor who had that fashion sense and always wore beautiful garments that she had created herself....but she was snobbish, judgmental, petty and unkind to people without her taste or supposed social standing.   Sorry, I just can't support those values no matter how nice you look or what a great fashion resource you are.  I've also seen both of those things violated by a  few instructors.  Perhaps they had great sewing skills and techniques but their classroom outfits were so unflattering, unfashionable and dowdy that I couldn't whip up the enthusiasm to enjoy the class.  Perhaps shallow on my part but I have plenty of alternative instructors out there.  And then there's at least one instructor who I can recall, another industry expert, who appalled my by talking demeaningly about former students and other  sewing industry participants.  Hey, you can impress me with your superior knowledge by showing me how well it works on real women, not by talking down the techniques of others!  


So who does inspire me?  Well, I'm adding Pamela Leggett of Pamela's Patterns to a long list....Sandra Betzina, Shirley Adams, Susan Khalje, Judy Barlup, Sarah Veblen, Rae Cumbie, Patti Palmer and Marta Alto, Linda Lee, Stephanie Corina Goddard, Nancy Zieman, Marcy Tilton, David Coffin and the late Fred Bloebaum, Shannon Gifford and Roberta Carr.   
What does it take to inspire you in a sewing class?  Is it strictly the topic or technique?  How does the teacher's style and attitude affect your learning?

Lining a Stretch Woven Sheath

My how this week is flying by.  I was intending to quickly sew up two more of my summer sheath dresses then move on to the new Pamela's T-shirt pattern.  Somehow, the rest of life got in the way and I'm only half way there.  So let me share where that is....
My new love, McCalls # 6201     This pink one is two weeks old and what I'm wearing today to run errands.  Unlined and quick in a Fabric Mart woven stretch fabric.

The blue one is the first of two for this week.

It's lightweight cotton lycra blend from FabricMart.  This was probably meant to be blouse weight fabric but I'm loving the stretch wovens for this sleeveless sheath.  So I knew I wanted to line it (not underline it, because I like the little "give" for this dress.)   I have some stretch silk chiffon, another FabricMart stash building purchase, and cut out an exact copy of the sheath then narrowly zig zag stitched it to the facings I have cut and interfaced.  Both fabrics have slightly different stretch factors so I didn't attach them at the bottom of the facing.  The lining worked perfectly.  It gave the fashion fabric a little more "ooomph" to stand as a dress but didn't sacrifice the stretch factor that I'm liking for a casual summer dress.

I also wanted to share two great resources for making this dress easily and nicely finished.  Nancy's PR tip with great pictures is how I sew a lined sleeveless dress.  Thank you,  Nancy, for doing the photo explanation for me:-)

Nancywin PR tip                         Nancy's Picasweb tutorial

The Sewing Lawyer shows how to understitch the facings in her beautiful sheath dress.
The Sewing Lawyer blog: understitching entry

This is a step not usually mentioned in pattern directions but makes such a difference in the finished outcome.  I use a narrow zig zag to understitch the neckline of my sheaths but I hand understitch my armhole area.  I have some sharp narrow turns in that underarm section and combined with a stretch woven that can move quite a bit, I find hand stitching gives more control.

Another cotton lycra blend with that stretch silk chiffon lining.  Not hemmed yet.

These dresses are definitely casual summer dresses that won't last too many years, what with weather and laundry and such  But I have two more planned before I'm willing to calling it quits for this pattern this season.

So what about that T shirt plan?  I did get my minor pattern changes this week and did cut it out.  That's it so far.  If you want to see how nicely this T shirt fits, check out Julie's blog entry and her great result:
Julie's finished T from Pamela's Perfect T shirt pattern

Temps the last few days in Baltimore have been record breaking scorchers.  I'll have to give in early this summer and put that light blocking window air conditioner into the sewing room window if I want any relief there.  We had a four hour power outage on Wednesday evening, starting at 7:30 pm.  At first we could sit on the deck and fan ourselves in the stifling heat but when it got totally dark around 9:30 it made me humble enough to be grateful for just electricity for a fan, never mind AC.   Thank you BGE!

Lining a Stretch Woven Sheath

My how this week is flying by.  I was intending to quickly sew up two more of my summer sheath dresses then move on to the new Pamela's T-shirt pattern.  Somehow, the rest of life got in the way and I'm only half way there.  So let me share where that is....
My new love, McCalls # 6201     This pink one is two weeks old and what I'm wearing today to run errands.  Unlined and quick in a Fabric Mart woven stretch fabric.

The blue one is the first of two for this week.

It's lightweight cotton lycra blend from FabricMart.  This was probably meant to be blouse weight fabric but I'm loving the stretch wovens for this sleeveless sheath.  So I knew I wanted to line it (not underline it, because I like the little "give" for this dress.)   I have some stretch silk chiffon, another FabricMart stash building purchase, and cut out an exact copy of the sheath then narrowly zig zag stitched it to the facings I have cut and interfaced.  Both fabrics have slightly different stretch factors so I didn't attach them at the bottom of the facing.  The lining worked perfectly.  It gave the fashion fabric a little more "ooomph" to stand as a dress but didn't sacrifice the stretch factor that I'm liking for a casual summer dress.

I also wanted to share two great resources for making this dress easily and nicely finished.  Nancy's PR tip with great pictures is how I sew a lined sleeveless dress.  Thank you,  Nancy, for doing the photo explanation for me:-)

Nancywin PR tip                         Nancy's Picasweb tutorial

The Sewing Lawyer shows how to understitch the facings in her beautiful sheath dress.
The Sewing Lawyer blog: understitching entry

This is a step not usually mentioned in pattern directions but makes such a difference in the finished outcome.  I use a narrow zig zag to understitch the neckline of my sheaths but I hand understitch my armhole area.  I have some sharp narrow turns in that underarm section and combined with a stretch woven that can move quite a bit, I find hand stitching gives more control.

Another cotton lycra blend with that stretch silk chiffon lining.  Not hemmed yet.

These dresses are definitely casual summer dresses that won't last too many years, what with weather and laundry and such  But I have two more planned before I'm willing to calling it quits for this pattern this season.

So what about that T shirt plan?  I did get my minor pattern changes this week and did cut it out.  That's it so far.  If you want to see how nicely this T shirt fits, check out Julie's blog entry and her great result:
Julie's finished T from Pamela's Perfect T shirt pattern

Temps the last few days in Baltimore have been record breaking scorchers.  I'll have to give in early this summer and put that light blocking window air conditioner into the sewing room window if I want any relief there.  We had a four hour power outage on Wednesday evening, starting at 7:30 pm.  At first we could sit on the deck and fan ourselves in the stifling heat but when it got totally dark around 9:30 it made me humble enough to be grateful for just electricity for a fan, never mind AC.   Thank you BGE!

Pamela's Patterns T Shirt Workshop

As you may have noticed by now, I love getting together with my sewing girlfriends....for any reason, sewing related or not.  So when the Northern Virginia chapter of ASG put together a trunk show evening followed by a full day sewing workshop, I was going to attend.   The presenter was to be Pamela Leggett of Pamela's Patterns.  Pamela's Patterns   I had seen her article in this month's Threads magazine but had only glanced at it.  I knew she had a pattern for remaking oversized T shirts into more flattering, feminine ones but I will gladly admit that I was not overly excited about constructing a T shirt yesterday.  I mean, a T shirt?  There are so many other patterns out there calling to me.  How interesting or informative could this be?  OK, once again my preconceptions take me to the wrong place.  Wow, great workshop, terrific patterns and I'm thrilled with everything about the event.   I don't have a finished product to show you yet but I'm going to be cranking out a number of these items in the upcoming weeks.
What did I like about this T shirt pattern?   Hooray, Pamela has done the work for us.  She's put those common adjustments into the pattern so I don't have to mess with making them on the paper pattern at home (the chore I dislike the most.)  There's already a forward shoulder, a darted front option, a widen sleeve bicep, some "essence of waist" shaping and some hip room.  She measured us at the high bust (and a tip, do this snugly) and selected a pattern size for us and advised us to make a petite adjustment if needed (most of us did) which was already marked on the pattern and advised us to use either the plain or darted front (again, most of us needed the darted front.)  She had excellent advice about sewing a side dart in knitted fabric, one of my personal challenges, great pressing tips and by the end of the day everyone had a fitted, but not over-fitted, feminine flattering T without the usual excess underarm fabric or droopy shoulders.  I don't have finished pictures since I'm going to do a center back seam for my swayback and a little tweak for that lower right shoulder adjustment but will do a full pattern review soon.  In the meantime, nothing but pictures of people learning, sewing and having a fun, productive day.  If I'm going to spend a full glorious day in June indoors, then this was the best way to spend it.

Pamela shows us the T shirts and all their variations

Her trunk show

Not a T shirt but a pattern for a stretch woven or stable knit pencil skirt....I had to have this pattern, too.

And I had to have this pattern for a tank top just like my favorite Chicos tanks

What I've Been Sewing, Reading and Eating

"We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave, the temperature's rising..."  If you're of a certain age or older you might be hearing Marilyn Monroe crooning those words while doing a samba across the stage....or you might hear me whining about the sudden heat wave here.  Our Maryland house is more than 60 years old, plaster and lath and has poor insulation with temperature extremes.  My sewing room feels like the tropics this week.  I have a window air conditioner but I hate installing it in the spring since it blocks half of what little natural light I get in that room.  Slower than usual sewing means knits.  I wanted two sleeveless exercise tops so I pulled out Simplicity 2603 and sewed up three new items, two exercise tops and one sweater knit cardi that will be my JAM #5. 
Simplicity 2603 has almost 100 reviews on Patternreview with good reason.  I think it's adaptable to all seasons and many styles.  My sleeveless versions take a yard or less and  don't even have a finished hem.  I like having a loose fitting but not tentlike top when the weather is this steamy.   The black and fuchsia print is a lovely design but the fabric was snaggy and a PITA to sew.  I can see why it was on the G Street sample table and doubt that it would pass for garment production.  The blue purple is leftover Fabric Mart Vera Wang knit, terrific to sew and wear.

I've adjusted the cardi in S 2603 to make the neckline and front edges narrower and shorter so that the drape of the fabric is not overwhelming.  It's a poly sweater knit from Hancock's closing in Florida a few years ago.  I sewed up one of these knits and couldn't believe how hot it was despite the open weave.  Gave a bunch of them away but I love the colors of this green one.  But I won't even consider modeling it for pictures.  I'll wear it when the weather turns chilly in the fall with a twist tip in olive green and jeans.

Since my sewing room has been so hot, I have been doing more reading than usual each day.  Here's what's on my nightstand:

This is the third of the Outlander series and I'm hooked.  Historical novels with intrigue, history and culture and passionate romance.  perfect summer steamy reading.  This one is more than 800 pages.  Reminds me of the summer I was 17 and read Gone with the Wind in a few late evenings after working each day.

If you like reading Anne Lamott then Kate Braestrup is an author you would most likely enjoy as well.  Her first book, Here If You Need Me is about her life as a community chaplain for the Maine Forest Service and recent young widow.  Funny, tender, caring, she's the person I would like to have by my side through life's most difficult moments.

 I've been listening to this one in my sewing room.  It's my book group selection for tonight.   Joseph Priestley was an astonishing scientist, religious thinker, politician and friend of all our Founding Fathers in the US.  One of the most remarkable things he discovered, although he didn't even understand the full scope of it, is the astonishing connection between animal and plant life....the ecosystem which supports our lives.  His home experiments noticed that a plant left in a vacuum still lived for days and days while a living animal did not survive for more than a few moments.  Fascinating story although I would recommend reading it in hard copy rather than listening to it since it is technical in many parts.

 And lastly, I was cooking up a storm last week.  Each year our church has an auction and we try to offer an activity to share among members who have the winning bid.  For the past few years we've been offering a "Floribbean dinner" with a menu that is a little spicy, a little Southern and lots of fun.  Saturday we had six guests and here's the menu:
Drinks and appetizers on the deck:  ice tea, homemade sangria, beer, wine, cheese coins, shrimp, mango, avocado appetizer with chips.
Dinner inside is Cuban pork roast,  rice, bean and corn cold salad, tossed green tropical salad, bread & butter, followed by Key Lime Pie for dessert.  These are recipes from our beloved Cooks Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen cookbooks and website...except for the great appetizer recipe which I've linked for you.

appetizers waiting to go outside

The most requested recipe of the evening:
mango-avocado-and-shrimp-appetizer recipe

Ok, let's close with a sing along and samba along for the day...