Sew What Community Sewing Group September Project: Bias-Wrapped Jacket

Two days ago, our sewing group met for the September class to start a jacket project, "Bias-Wrapped Jacket," which is also called a "Fat Quarter Jacket."   With seven in attendance, and eventually three husbands stopping in to see what we do, we had a very good class!

This Bias-Wrapped Jacket is made in 100% cotton fabrics, with horse and horseshoe motifs and a plaid that color-coordinates with the prints.  I usually wear this jacket around Kentucky Derby time.  (I guess you know that since I live in Kentucky, we have a lot of Derby activities going on from Mid-April up to race day on the 1st Saturday of May!)

These jackets are so comfortable and easy to make, without much fitting necessary.  I have made several out of different types of fabrics, so they are truly versatile!

On this Derby jacket, bias binding was used for all of the edge finishes.  The plaid was used for the front/neck bindings and a wider bias band was used for the lower edge and cuffs.  I just realized the cuffs don't show up very well in this photo, but they are cut wide enough so they can be turned up on themselves.  Because they are cut on the bias, they turn nicely.

This Bias-Wrapped Jacket is made from rayon fabrics, which drapes so pretty.  I put a serger edge all around, using my Babylock self-threading serger.  It is a dream, by the way!

The stitch is called the Wave Stitch.  Two colors, black & white, were used on the front/neck edges and red/white were used on the lower and sleeve edges.  That makes the edges look like they have a separate trim sewn on.  The thread is a 40-weight rayon and seems to be holding up very well, even with all the wear I'm giving it.

This one is also very comfortable to wear and is easy-care.  I just wash it on gentle in cold water and hang to dry, which is how I wash most of our clothes.  I rarely use our dryer!  Maybe only two - three times a year.

This jacket is made from a suede-finished, hand-dyed, 100% cotton.  From a distance it looks like real suede cloth.  I put serger crochet on all the edges to finish it, using 12-weight cotton variegated thread.  The ruffle effect is quite nice, I think.  I do have to be a little cautious when wearing this jacket because of the loopy crochet edging, as it sometimes gets snagged.  But, when I take it off, the snags are easily pulled through with a tool called a "knit fixer," so I don't let that stop me from wearing it.

With all the muted colors, this jacket can be worn with many different outfits, so it's also very versatile.

This Bias-Wrapped Jacket is my favorite, but is the most delicate!  It's made of a lacy knit fabric that I just had to have when I first saw it, but had no idea what I'd do with it.  (Maybe you can relate to that?!)

Again, I put serger crochet on all the edges, but with this one the crochet edging is wider.  I believe it's eleven rows wide.  If you look closely at the bottom of the jacket, you'll see threads hanging down.  Well, that's where the ruffle snagged while wearing.  I really, really have to be careful when I wear this one!  But, it's good for dressy occasions and goes with almost everything in my color palette.

The flower is from Hope Yoder's Layered Flower In-The-Hoop design made from 100% cotton fabrics.  The center is an embroidered, covered button (flatback) from Hope's Borders and Frames design for her Button-Ups system.  I just glued it onto the fabric and then sewed a pinback onto the back side so I can switch it around to other garments.

I have also made two of these jackets for my mother out of upholstery fabric.  I don't have photos of them, but will take some and add them to a later post.  She loves wearing both of them and gets lots of compliments on both.  She says they really are warm.  We haven't tried to wash either of them, yet; but I'm going to try washing one of them, after washing some scraps and having success.  The other one has drapery trim on all the edges, so it will definitely have to be dry-cleaned.

All of these jackets were made on my serger, with some of the trims/bias bindings sewn on with a sewing machine.  There really is no reason this jacket cannot be made on a conventional sewing machine, so that's the way I taught it at our Sew What group this month.  When we have some more finished jackets, hopefully next month, I'll post photos of them.  This project is one of the more challenging projects we've worked on in our monthly group, so I'm hoping those who are making it are having success!

Sandy's Sanity-Saving Sewing Snippets - #1 Sew Flat

This is the first of a new feature I'd like to start of posting some tips for beginner sewists, as well as experienced sewists, where I'll share ideas gleaned from my years of sewing experience and teaching on how to sew faster, easier, and better.  I'm naming this series of bi-weekly (approximately) posts, "Sandy's Sanity-Saving Sewing Snippets."  I hope you enjoy the posts and learn some new information from them.  Please feel free to leave a comment on something you'd like to see here pertaining to sewing faster, easier and better.

Today, I worked with a beginning sewing student on a project.  The subject of sewing-in-the-flat came up.  What I mean by this is, sew together hard-to-access parts of your sewing project while it's still flat.  For example, it's easier to sew in sleeves before the underarm seams and side seams are stitched, or it's easier to install a zipper before sewing any seams.  Once the project has taken shape, some areas are more difficult to access.  Make your sewing easier to do, not harder.  You'll have more fun while completing your projects in less time.

As an additional tip, please go to this post http://sewnsan.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-keep-our-sewing-machines-clean.html to see a tutorial on how to clean and maintain your sewing machine.  This tutorial is especially important for all of you beginning and returning sewists out there!

Please let me know how I can answer your basic sewing questions!

Be creative - learn to sew,
SewNSan

Kentucky State Fair Winners for 2014

After an extremely busy spring and summer, I have finally gotten back to a slower pace!  In early April I taught a "Linen and Lace" camisole class at the "It's Sew Fine" Sewing Expo, then in late April I went to a four-day sewing retreat with Londa Rohlfing where I learned how to take a high quality sweatshirt, cut it totally apart, embellish it with lots of silk & wool fabrics and scrumptous yarns, along with some quilting stitches for the fabric panels, then sewing all the pieces back together.  To finish the sweatshirt makeover, I used bias binding made from the wool fabric to bind the bottom edge and the sleeve edges.  The mandarin collar is made from the ribbing that was cut off the bottom of the shirt.  Bias binding was used at the top of the collar and is trimmed with some of the red yarn.  The colors in the beautiful handmade clay buttons were the inspiration for the jacket embellishment fabrics & yarns.

The jacket was only partially finished when I returned home from the retreat, and with several private sewing students lined up to teach during the next 10 days, I wasn't able to get back to it.  On top of that, I came down with Influenza B, pneumonia & bronchitis!  That kept me out of commission for about five weeks!  At almost the last minute, I was asked to teach a week-long summer camp for youth sewing students the first week of July and along with many more private sewing students, I found myself staying up very late at night to get the jacket finished.  I had submitted it as one of my entries in our State Fair and the deadline to turn it in was August 11.  By the grace of God, I got it finished and turned it in about an hour before the deadline!  When Lee & I went to the State Fair a few days later to check on awards, I was pleasantly surprised to find it had won a blue ribbon.  Yay!!!

I also entered a T-shirt makeover that is made from two cotton knit T-shirts.  I purchased two identical shirts and cut one up to make flounces for the second one.  This is another one of Londa's ideas from her Neckline Treatments Talking Patterns (see www.londas-sewing.com).   I thought it turned out really well.  It won a third place ribbon (white).  I'm pleased that it even placed, since it's an unusual design and has raw-edges on the flounces!




 


My third entry, a ribbon purse made from grosgrain ribbon, came in with an honorable mention.  For some reason, no one seems to realize the amount of time and workmanship that goes into making these ribbon purses.  I've had three of them in a gallery at the Galt House Hotel for sale, and none of them sold!  Oh, well, I think they're very unusual and pretty, so possibly I'll find buyers for the six remaining purses if I set up my online shop on Zibbet!

Please leave me a comment on what you think about the ribbon purse.  Maybe it'll help me decide what to do with the ones I have left - thank you!

This is the three-piece American Girl doll outfit one of my 11-year old students made for this year's State Fair entry.  I was so thrilled to see that first place blue ribbon attached to it.  When choosing her fabrics from Austin's Sewing Center, she said she wanted something with bright colors.  Well, I think she accomplished that goal!  She did an outstanding job on her creation, not only with her sewing skills but also following the pattern directions.  This was the first time she actually sewed on knit fabric, but she didn't let that stop her!  Congratulations on a job well-done, young lady!

Sew What Community Sewing Group 2014 Community Service Project

Sew What Group has been extremely busy since the start of 2014 making cough pillows for the cancer treatment center at Norton Suburban Hospital in Louisville!  Recently, Lee and I delivered over 250 cough pillows to Norton Suburban.  The nurses and coordinator of the unit were absolutely blown away by the group's generosity.  And, for good reason!  Two of our ladies made close to 225, themselves!  There are six of us who have been making pillows. Yesterday, at our March meeting, more than 160 more pillows were brought to me to get delivered.  I am really looking forward to delivering this next batch of cough pillows.

The pillows are used by breast cancer surgery, heart surgery and prostate cancer surgery patients to hold against their mid-section when needing to cough or sneeze.  I'm told that the patients LOVE their cough pillows.  They take the pillows with them everywhere.  Some patients even give their pillow a name!  How sweet!

 Here are photos of the last group of cough pillows that were delivered.  Photos of the most recent group will follow in another post.

Some of the fabric was donated by the husband of a woman who died from breast cancer about 3 1/2 years ago.  I know she would be happy about how we're using her fabrics!