July 24, 2020

More Adventures in Garment Sewing

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Garment sewing is so quick, compared with making a quilt! I've been sprinkling in making some new clothes lately and I love getting to wear the things I've made 😊 My parents were here for a weeklong visit, so Mom and I did a little photography session this morning before they left. Usually I have to get Paul or one of the boys to do these pictures, but Mom has a lot more skill and patience than they do.

Before I show you what I've been making, let me just say it feels really odd to write a blog post that includes so many pictures of me. I'm much more comfortable with having an abundance of pictures of my quilts!

First up, I made another Summer Basics dress, pattern by Love Notions. This is the fourth of these dresses I've made and I love wearing them. This one is made of a polyester jersey knit that is really light and flowy, so it feels great on. Being the novice that I am, it never even occurred to me to try to match up the print at the front of the dress. Oh well! I think the print is busy enough that it doesn't really matter. That's what I'm going with anyway, lol.
Summer Basics tank dress | DevotedQuilter.com
Summer Basics tank dress | DevotedQuilter.com
I've also used the Summer Basics pattern to make a couple of tank tops. The first one is made of a rayon jersey knit and it flows nicely, too. Bonus that it was fabric left over from making myself a dress last summer! Once a scrap lover, always a scrap lover, right?
Summer Basics tank | DevotedQuilter.com
With this one I have a really hard time telling which is the front and the back. I need to sew a label into the back to make it easier, lol.
Summer Basics tank | DevotedQuilter.com
I decided to get a little creative with the next tank top and added a bit of reverse applique to the front. I wish I had positioned the heart just a little higher, but it was hard to tell where to put it before the top was sewn together. At least it's easy to tell which is the front and the back on this one!
Summer Basics tank | DevotedQuilter.com
I started by drawing the heart on the front piece of the tank, then pinned the pink behind it. I stitched around the heart, then drew lines across the heart and stitched them. Cutting away the green, then, was a little nerve-wracking as I was worried I'd cut through stitches 😊

This version is made with cotton-lycra jersey knit, so T-shirt fabric, essentially, and it's a fair bit clingier than the rayon version even though they were both made with the same size of the same pattern. In the FB groups for Love Notions and Patterns for Pirates, I've read so many times that fabric choice makes a big difference and I can really feel the proof in these two tank tops.
Summer Basics tank | DevotedQuilter.com
Before Mom came over from Nova Scotia, she went fabric shopping for me, bringing me a few different athletic knits (the type of fabric that workout clothes are made from). She brought some for her, too, so I have a few things to make for her while I make mine.

While she was here, I made us tank tops using the Essential Tank pattern by Patterns for Pirates, which has the racerback style straps that Mom wanted. This pattern has a looser fit than the Summer Basics pattern, mostly around the waist and hips.
Essential Tank | DevotedQuilter.com
I made mine with the straight straps. It's quite a dramatic difference! I need to work on getting rid of the ripples around the edges of the straps. I'm not sure what's causing them, but they happen on every tank I sew, though sometimes the fabric or the print makes them a little less noticeable.
Essential Tank | DevotedQuilter.com
This pattern also includes dress options and I could definitely see me making a dress version someday. I love how many options most patterns include, whether it's for sleeve length or dress length or the style of the hem or neckline. So many options!

Next up, Mom wants another tank top, with the straight straps this time. Then I plan to make some shorts for both of us, using the Peg Legs pattern (it's a free one). After that...who knows? 
Essential Tank | DevotedQuilter.com
It's fun to mix garments in with my quilts, that's for sure 😊 I've always liked having different projects at different stages so I could work on what I wanted and I guess this is just another version of that. Do you make things other than quilts?

5 comments:

  1. I think you are inadvertently stretching or twisting the binding as you attach it with the second stitching. Keep at it, you'll get better. I no longer have much patience for sewing garments. Used to do a lot.

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  2. Isn't it great to be able to sew clothing? I did that for years before turning to quiltmaking. I miss making clothes, but I really don't need any. Shorts and tops are all that's needed in Florida. I'm glad for you to have the skill to sew exercise-wear. Believe it or not, I used to make my aerobic clothes, when I led aerobics at the YMCA. Sewing is a great skill to have, and apparently you learned it from your mother. I did. I sure can see the mother-daughter resemblance between you two! Sharing a mutual interest is wonderful, and I'm glad you had a good time together.

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  3. Wow! Look at you go girl! Like the first two commenters, I used to sew. A lot, pretty much made all my clothes and my girls' clothes. Once quilting snagged me, I rarely made another garment, unless it was a combo of quilting and garment-making like the quilted jackets I had on a TBT post last year. These patterns are great, with a great fit. I loved working with knit fabrics too. And boy, can I relate to having someone like your mom take photos. She got you smiling so naturally, and looking all modelly, (new word ha).

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  4. I'm impressed too! I like the dress pattern a lot! I’m not good with knits and jersey! Maybe practice helps, and I have no real need for more clothes. Though, if this quarantine goes on much longer, I’ll need a bigger size of bottoms! ☹️

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  5. You’ve done a great job on all these clothes. That first dress is my favorite. So pretty. (And I liked all the pictures of you, but would also be hesitant to use that many pictures of myself.

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