Linden Sweatshirt #2

It’s “soon”, right? Ahem. In my previous post, I showed two of the french terry fabrics that Jess had sent me from her latest fabric collection. Both were made into Linden Sweatshirts, this one being the short sleeve version. This one involved a lot of decisions, and many pics were sent to Jess for her opinions. For example, Jess wanted a self-fabric band at the bottom, so which way was the best to run that band? The differences were subtle, but here you can see the four possibilities. Can you figure them out?

Then there was the neckline, also self-fabric. The question here was whether to topstitch or not. It looked fine without it, but...

... the answer was yes, do it. Topstitching makes it look just a little more professional.

Topstitching was also then added to the band at the bottom, which defined the band a little more, too. You can see which placement selection was used here. It was upside down to the fabric of the main body, and placed for a little zigzag effect, which also helped set off the band.

Jess had seen where someone else had done a split band, which she thought was cool. It wasn’t that hard to do, so here it is with the split at the side seam.

Here’s the whole view. After some a lot of hair pulling during the process, I ended up very pleased with how it turned out!

I hemmed the sleeves with a double needle, which also finished the edge...

... and matched the neckline. Super neat!

Yeah, I couldn’t resist trying this one on, too. I needed to see if that size would work for myself. It does, and I may make one for me, but I want to make the neckline narrower.

Jess likes the neckline for herself, though. As well as the whole shirt.

So another success. Another comfy shirt. I love french terry!

Now I’m almost caught up blogging my makes. I have one more, but it hasn’t gone to its recipient yet, and though she’s seen a pic of the outside, there’s a little surprise inside, and I don’t want to spoil that, so you’ll have to wait. Oh, and Jess has plans for one of her knit designs, too, so there’ll be that, but she hasn’t sent me the fabric yet. But I always have plenty of things in the sewing queue!

Linden Sweatshirt #1

I realized a couple of nights ago that I hadn't yet blogged about a couple of Jess's latest fabrics! I had done a post about this one at the end of April, but then I was procrastinating waiting for Cloud9 to release her collection for sale, which got delayed, as everything did about that time, and then they just kind of slipped my mind. I couldn't even remember whether I'd posted about them here or not, because I did post them on Instagram, so I knew they were somewhere. Anyway, let there be no more delay in posting, because the fabrics are now available in stores (very recently, so I'm not too far behind). You can see the entire collection here. The french terrys and a couple of the knits are Jess's designs, the rest are not. Her name is under the pics of her designs.

This is the package I received in the mail at the end of March. It contained two of the french terrys and a package of Hamburger Liebe ribbing that Jess bought from an Etsy shop.

Jess chose the Linden Sweatshirt pattern by Grainline Studio for these fabrics. I don't like printing PDF garment patterns and having to tape the many pieces together, but fortunately this also comes as a paper pattern, and Jess bought that one. Modern patterns are not like they used to be when I used to sew a lot of clothes, where you bought just the size you wanted. Now they come in many sizes, and for a printed pattern, you either cut out the size you want and toss the rest, or you trace the size you want so you still have the other sizes. So I traced Jess's size, in case I wanted to use the pattern for myself sometime. I'd bought a roll of Swedish tracing paper (from Amazon) awhile back for just such projects. It seems expensive, but it's so nice and it really makes the tracing process (which I dislike also) less of a pain. For this raglan sleeve sweatshirt, there were only three pattern pieces, anyway. Yay! That made it quick and easy to trace, lay out and cut.

It was also very quick to sew, since I used my serger, finishing the seams at the same time.

I didn't try to match any print when I cut it out, because I thought any matching was impossible, but the side seams accidentally came out pretty nicely, anyway.

The ribbing, as you can see in that package above, was quite wide, too much so for the neck. So I had to get it sewn in just right along a stripe. It had to be straight, as we wouldn't want a wavy stripe along the bottom. I very wisely decided to baste it first. Here's the basted version.

I figured a serger's seam width would just cover that bit of red showing, and it worked out very well. See?

The excess was cut off by the serger. The sleeves and bottom cuff were the whole width of the ribbing.

I was very pleased with how it went together. When my kids were little, I took a class on T-shirt making, so I'd learned how to put ribbing on them, and I sewed quite a few T-shirts. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

I just had to try the sweatshirt on myself. Although I'd make a bigger size for myself, it still fit pretty well... other than the sleeves being way too long to accomodate Jess's long arms.

But somehow it sure looks better on her. :)

That was a successful project. The french terry is very nice to sew with, and also super comfy to wear. I did finish it in time for Jess to get a little wear out of it before the weather got too hot. I hope she'll get a lot more come next fall.

Yep, there was another fabric in that package. That project is also done, but it'll get its own blog post. Soon, even.

Pocket Pal

Once again I’ve tested a new pattern for Linds Handmade Designs. This one was quick and easy to sew. It was designed for leather, faux leather, cork, or vinyl, so there are no seams to finish... yet it’s fully lined. 

A couple of years ago or so, Jess bought a box of real leather scraps from Amazon. We intended to use them as accent pieces on a bag or something, but never came up with the right project for them. This little wallet turned out to be the perfect project, and the whole thing is made from just a small piece (plus cotton fabric for lining). So it’s a great scrap buster, besides being a very handy pocket-size wallet. It’s called the Pocket Pal, and here is my tester version:

I had never sewn with real leather before, so this was an experiment for me. It went very well - I had no problems sewing it at all. I did, however, have trouble photographing it - ha! I took the pic above with my DSLR camera, and it’s the only one that shows the true burgundy color of the leather. The rest are iPad pics, and it was determined to make the color brown. Oh, well.

There are three card slots and a zipper pocket for cash. The handy flap closure fastens with a snap to keep your cards secure. I used a spring snap, but KAMsnaps work well, too.

The pattern calls for a strip of 2-1/2“ ribbon to line the card slots, but cotton fabric works well, too, which is what I used. I cut it slightly wider and pinked the edges, but that probably wasn’t necessary because the edges are glued to the lining, so not really any chance of frayage or slipping.

It’s a very slim little wallet...

... and fits perfectly in your pocket.

I got in some more practice using edge coat, which I had done previously on the Slim Sling. It’s easy and rather fun to do.

I love this pattern! In fact, I may have already started a second Pocket Pal. I’ll show you that later. If you’re interested in making one, the pattern can be found here. I think the price is a great deal, because it includes SVG files that you can use if you have a cutting machine, and as always with her patterns, Linds has made a how-to video.

What to sew next? I guess I should finish up some masks that I’ve started. Have you made any? Maybe more importantly, do you wear them?