Burst Mini Quilt Top

At the beginning of July, I taught an online workshop about using freezer paper for paper piecing (it's like magic!). During the workshop I made two blocks for a mini quilt using my Burst pattern. You can get the Burst pattern as a PDF or a printed pattern in my Etsy shop.

I have a counter where I put sewing things when I can't be bothered to put them away and last week the mess finally hit that critical mass where it gets overwhelming and I have to clean it up. At the very back of the pile, I found those two blocks, along with the cut pieces and the fabric pulled but not yet cut and I decided that I'd just finish the quilt top rather than putting the various bits away. Since it's a mini quilt, it came together really quickly. It makes me wonder why I put it aside for so long!

I love how the bright yellows and oranges look against the Riley Blake solid navy. They just glow against the dark background.

I love working with scraps from previous quilts. These swirls were part of a bundle I bought from Connecting Threads years ago, back when the Canadian dollar was strong enough that ordering from the States was a possibility. I love a good swirl fabric!

There are lots of Island Batik scraps in this mini, like these circles. This one isn't quite so neon in real life, but I could not get the colour right in the pictures at all.

This one that reminds me of fireworks is also an Island Batik scrap. The same print in yellow is in the quilt, too.

I can't even remember where this floral print came from, but I know I've had it for years and years. It's fun to mix those older prints in with the newer ones.

Speaking of newer ones, here's a piece of the yellow from Kristy Lea's Create line. I used it as the center of the plus blocks in my Level Up quilt.

It was a bit windy this morning when I was trying to get these pictures on the front deck of the Airbnb we're in this week, so I taped the quilt top to the wood. The wind was still trying to take it 😄

This is the last week before Paul and I go back to work, so we took the week to go across the province for some hiking and other fun. We took a puffin and whale watching tour - our first one even though Paul grew up in the province and we've lived here now for 15 years. It was amazing! The puffin colony is home to more than half a million puffins, so they were flying everywhere and floating all around the boat. I didn't bother trying to take pictures, because it was so much fun to just take it all in.

As for the hiking, that has been wonderful, as always. I love the ocean views in Newfoundland. We hiked out to North America's most easterly point, the Cape Spear lighthouse. You can drive there, too, but hiking it is more fun. You can just barely see the lighthouses (old and new) on the point in this picture.

I've never seen so many blueberries on trails before! They're everywhere! It's almost painful to walk past them and not stop to pick them all, lol. I have probably eaten close to my own weight in blueberries this week, just picking them and snacking as I hike along.

We'll be headed home on Sunday and then I have to decide how to quilt my Burst mini. My original Burst quilt has my first attempt at spiral quilting and I think I want something different this time. I'm not sure yet what that will be, though. 

Don't forget, if you want to get the Burst pattern, it's available in my Etsy shop in either PDF or print versions. I offer free shipping on the print version, too.

I'm linking up with TGIFF, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and Beauties Pageant.

Temperature Quilt 2020 - Playing Catch-Up

 I was doing pretty well keeping up with my 2020 temperature quilt until the summer hit. Then I didn't touch it at all for a while and ever since then I've been playing catch-up. This is what it looks like right now. It's getting easier to photograph now that it's not one 2" by 30 ½" strip.

That last block represents June 23 and you can definitely see that it was getting warmer 😊 I love the progression of blues - purples - pinks. There will be some reds added for July and August, once I get them done.

I like how it looks from the back, too. This post explains how I'm making my blocks, if you're interested. Everything is done by hand except, once the rows are finished I'm stitching them together by machine.

From June 23 - August 21, the blocks are in all possible stages - from just the circles cut out to finished and ready to be sewn into the rows.

The July and August month initials are ready to be embroidered, too, and I figured I might as well get the S block ready for September, since it'll soon be here (how did that happen already??). 

We're headed out of town for a week tomorrow and there will be copious amounts of driving time, not to mention lazy mornings and evenings in our Airbnb house, so I'm hoping to be pretty close to caught up by the time we come home. The listing for the house also shows pictures of blueberries, so I'm hoping there will be some nearby since the berries are ripe now. The house is right on the water and they say it's a good spot for whale watching, so it should be quite the spot 😊 That may interfere with stitching time, lol, so we'll see how much progress I actually make!

Allegro Skirt, Allegro Shorts and Harmony Blouse

 It has been a garment sewing few days around here and I've had some wins and one, well, not-win. Not really a loss, just not quite what I was hoping for. But it's all part of the process of learning something new, right?

I used cotton poplin from Riley Black Designs for everything in this post. I had never heard of poplin before I started making clothes, but I quickly learned that it's a beautiful woven fabric that acts just like quilting cotton for cutting and sewing - no slipping around or stretching! - but it has a nicer drape, so it hangs better than quilting cotton, which tends to look boxy when made into clothes. It's the perfect fabric for quilters who are interested in learning garment sewing. In fact, one of my first ever garments was made with poplin. And yes, you can learn to sew clothes, too 😊

I used two new-to-me Love Notions patterns for these garments. I've mentioned before that I love their patterns and these two are no exceptions. Their patterns don't assume you know what you're doing, so every step is spelled out very clearly and there are links to videos that help with trickier parts, which is a great feature.

I started out by making the Allegro knee length skirt. I bought a cheap sheet at a discount store to use for making test versions of these garments so I could check the fit before I cut into the poplin. I almost didn't bother for the skirt, since there's not a lot of areas for fit to go awry in a skirt, but it was still nice to be sure the waistband was going to fit before I cut my good fabric.

The Allegro pattern, which includes two skirt lengths, two shorts lengths and full length pants, uses 1 ½" elastic inside the waistband, and then you stitch right through the elastic, while stretching the elastic out. I had serious visions of snapping all that thread the first time I actually tried to put the skirt on, but it works perfectly. 

I love the skirt! It's so comfortable and light feeling. And the charcoal grey poplin will go with just about everything, so I know it's going to get a lot of wear. I wore it the day after I finished it, actually.

And did I mention that it has pockets???? Oh, how I love a skirt with pockets! These ones are deep enough to hold my phone.

Feeling rather pleased with myself, I moved on to the Allegro 5" shorts. I have had the Allegro pattern for a couple of months and the poplin since mid-July, but I procrastinated because I've heard that fitting pants is a lot more complicated than shirts or skirts. There are so many different factors in play with pants. I'd read in the Love Notions FB group about people 'scooping' the crotch curves, lengthening the rise or shortening the rise. It all seemed a little overwhelming. But I really want to make most of my own clothes and I wear pants a lot, so...

I started out by making a test version. Having made the skirt in a size 12, I knew I'd be good with a 12 for the shorts, at least for the waist and hips, but there were probably going to be other issues. The test version was really tight in the legs, like uncomfortable to walk tight, and looking at the back they were twisting weirdly from the outside of my leg towards the inside. I also had a bit of a wedgie. There are no pictures (you're welcome, lol), but there were definitely some fitting issues!

I posted in the Love Notions FB group, asking for help and one person recommended a video series that covers a lot of common pants fitting issues. It's a great resource! Right away I learned why I'd often try on pants in stores and find they were really baggy in the front crotch area (it's caused by the front crotch curve being too shallow for me). Then I put my test shorts on again to check and, sure enough, they had the same problem, I just hadn't noticed because I had been so focused on the tight legs and weirdness in the back. So, I scooped the front crotch curve on my pattern, in preparation for my second test version. And now I know what it means to scoop a crotch curve 😊

I watched the videos a couple of times, trying to figure out what I needed to do about the other issues. I needed to add width to the leg, which it seemed would also fix the wedgie problem. So I made that change to the pattern and sewed up test version number two. It was better. The front looked perfect and there was no wedgie, but the legs still weren't hanging straight in the back. I added more width to the legs and made test version number three. When Paul told me the backs were hanging straight on that version, I felt like dancing!

I cut the poplin and sewed the good pair. When you make a test garment, you don't do all the finishing details, like cuffs and even pockets, so I was so happy to see this pair of shorts come together. I love how the cuffs finish them off so nicely.

But I can't wear them 😞

When I walk, the legs still feel a little bit too tight and they give me a wedgie when I move. I'm thinking that means I need to do some adjustments to the back crotch curve, but I can't really do that on this pair now that they're finished. I guess I didn't walk around enough in the test version to realize that I hadn't adjusted everything I needed to. Darn! I'm not giving up, though. This pattern is just too cute to abandon and now that I've made the shorts I'm even more interested in making the full length pants at some point. There will be more test versions eventually and I will wear them for an extended period of time to be sure they're comfortable when I move and not only when I'm standing perfectly still. I don't know about you, but I don't stand perfectly still very often, so I need pants that are comfy when I move, too!

These fit issues aren't a problem with the pattern, by the way. It's just a reflection of how every person is shaped differently and patterns can only be drafted to suit one particular shape. If you don't match that shape perfectly, then you will need to make adjustments. This is why trying on clothes in the store can be such an ordeal, since ready-to-wear clothes are also drafted for one particular shape. It also explains why we can sometimes find a brand that fits better than any other brand - it has been drafted for a shape that is closer to how we are actually shaped.

After that disappointment, I moved on to the Melody Dolman blouse. Another thing I've learned since starting to make clothes is that a dolman is a type of shirt where the sleeves are not a separate piece, rather they are part of the front and back pieces. That makes for super simple construction of the shirt. I was a little intimidated by the collar on this one, but I watched the video that was linked in the pattern and I was pleasantly surprised by how easily it came together. I love how professional it makes the shirt look!

I was seriously intimidated by the buttonholes, too. And the worst part about needing to do buttonholes on a blouse is that they are the very last step...so if you mess them up, you've messed up an almost finished project. The automatic buttonhole maker with my Janome (and many other machines, I think) makes creating them a breeze, though I was concerned about getting the position right. I had removed 1 ½" from the length of the blouse (because I'm shorter than the 5'5" the pattern was drafted for), so I couldn't just use the placement guide included with the pattern. No one wants their blouse gaping open, after all! I wouldn't mind adding a 6th button next time, just for a little extra insurance, but it's good with 5.

I do find the shirt hangs pretty much straight down from the bust, so from the side it looks too big. I think that's a fit issue, too, but I'm not sure yet how to fix it. I've mentioned it in the FB group, so hopefully I get some suggestions. I would love to get this pattern to fit just right because I definitely need more shirts that are dressier than a tshirt and this fits the bill.

In the meantime, this one looks cute tied at the front!

Thank you to Riley Blake for sending me this poplin fabric to work with. I had a lot of fun making these garments, even with the fit issues. Learning how to adjust patterns to fit me is a process and I'm having fun learning 😊