August MAGAM

This jacket is so old that I don't remember when I first started making it, but am pretty sure the fabric came from the flat fold table at a Woolworth's store! I also long ago lost the pattern that I made it from, however I liked it enough that I took the jacket apart and traced the pieces in case I want to make another like it someday.

I've been not only trying to mostly make things from my stash lately, but also finish some of the things that have been sitting in my UFO boxes for a very long time, and having finally completed this garment is a very good feeling, even though I'm sure it started out as a jacket with buttons and buttonholes down the front, since I've unfortunately grown quite a bit in size over the years.

I've also forgotten what fabric I used for this jacket, but am afraid it has quite a bit of polyester in it since it doesn't wrinkle at all and smells when I iron it, but it's a bit linen like so something I might actually wear, esp since it's a color that I planned to use as the "accent" for the neutral 6 pac wardrobe of browns and grays that I am going to make for the online Artisan's Square autumn challenge. One down, five to go...                                                             

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July MAGAM/Patriotic challenge outfit

I recently decided to make a pair of white capris using my Sure Fit Designs Pants pattern and the wonderful elastic waistband from Louise Cutting's One Seam Pants pattern and was fairly happy with how they came out, but I needed something to wear on top, so thought I would use a piece of patriotic fabric from my stash to make a vest since the challenge for my July Garment Group meeting was to make something patriotic. Here are the results of my efforts:

I used my Fit for Art Tabula Rasa jacket pattern without the sleeves for my vest since the front and back panels were narrow enough to fit on the small piece of red, white, and blue striped fabric that I found in my stash, a size that also determined the length of my vest, but I think that is a pretty good length for a vest that I will probably also wear with dresses

I made the vest reversible (my favorite approach to vests since all the edges are finished and you end up with two rather than just one garment) but used a plainer print on the other side so I could wear the vest the rest of the year too.

I had to piece some of that second fabric for the side panels since it was an even smaller piece of fabric, something that must have come from a skirt or dress someone once made since it still had a metal zipper in the middle of one of the sections, but I don't really know its history since that fabric too was bought at a rummage or yard sale, my usual approach to fabric shopping these days.

I did buy the fabric for my white pants at a real store, though, since I had nothing like that in my stash, but our only choice for clothing fabric in the Albany NY area is JoAnns and they didn't have a heavy enough white linen to use for my pants, my original plan.  The piece I bought is a cotton and lycra blend which is quite comfy and isn't as see through as even a thick piece of linen might have been, always a concern when making light colored garments.

June garment(s)

When I first joined ASG, I thought people actually did the yearly Simplicity pattern challenge that I read about in Notions magazine, so I decided to try and make a jacket from one of the patterns chosen for 2003, (Simplicity 5687) however just now finished it and amazingly enough it still fits!

I did know where to find the rest of the fabric that I used in that jacket despite all the time that had passed since I first started it, so I was able to make a pair of matching pants (from Louise Cutting's One Seam Pants pattern) and eventually plan to make a top from the fabric left from making the front band that I added to the pattern by following instructions on Asian clothing in an old Sew News magazine. For the moment, though, I was pleased to find a thrift store shell in my stash that worked fairly well with this outfit.

I also just finished working on another project, one that I didn't do from scratch, but which took so much time that I thought it also deserved to be mentioned here.

I purchased a blue linen dress and jacket from the Salvation Army recently for $10 since I loved the fabric and lines of the clothing, but it was much too big, however after taking off about 6" from the side seams and 5" from the length (jacket and dress) I now have something else I can wear and enjoy, esp. since linen really is perfect for the hot humid weather we've been having.

May Garment of the Month: Tabula Rasa jacket

I've owned my Fit for Art Tabula Rasa jacket pattern for a long time now, think I first heard about it on one of my online digests as being a way to use things like quilting cottons and blocks without the unflattering style lines and drop shoulders that so many art to wear patterns seem to have, and when I pinned that pattern together and tried it on I was quite impressed by the fit.

I wouldn't really know what it was like until I made it from fabric, though, so I decided to use a $2 church rummage sale orange linen tablecloth for a muslin even though I wanted to save that for something "special" but this seemed like the perfect color for a "Merry May" garment and I have got to start using the fabrics I like, not saving them until I no longer like them.

I wanted to use the hem of the tablecloth as the hems in my jacket body and sleeves so had to decide what length jacket would look best with the dresses I usually wear this time of year since I wouldn't be hemming the jacket after it was sewn together. That also determined the length of the sleeves but they actually ended up being full length even though I cut a lot off the TRJ sleeve pattern, something I have to remember next time I use this pattern.

I had to use some of my orange quilting cotton for the side panels so I would have enough linen for the rest of my garment (since it was a pretty small tablecloth), but didn't like the way that fabric looked with my much softer linen fabric nor did I like the way the jacket fit in size XL, so took it apart and cut a smaller size and was able to cut the side panels from some leftover pieces of the linen in that size.

I was pleased with the way my second attempt at my jacket looked when I added the front band (made from the same cotton fabric I first tried using as the side panels) after I cut the smaller size, but I'm afraid it doesn't look all that great in the photos I had my husband take of me this morning, since even though I've ironed this jacket a ton of times during construction and hung it on a hanger when I wasn't working on it, it still looks horribly wrinkled and the seams don't even lie flat, all things that probably have to do with the fabric I used, something that makes me wonder if my tablecloth was actually linen or a good enough linen to make a garment from. I think I read somewhere that if you wash linen too much, it becomes permanently wrinkled, though, and perhaps that's what happened with this tablecloth, but since it's just another 'wearable muslin", I'm not unhappy with the way it turned out.

Fit for Art patterns provides a pdf file with tons of instructions on how to make their Tabula Rasa jacket fit properly, but you are supposed to start with a literal muslin that you draw horizontal lines on where you can make adjustments by following their detailed directions, so I will be able to make changes to the pattern to perfect the fit the next time (and there will be a next time!) I make a jacket from this pattern.