I am, in fact, still alive! I also still am really over talking about knitting, so we’re not doing that here right now. Now it’s sewing summer school!
I’m mostly cataloging my side project—becoming a better sewist. I have sewn, and I know the basics of sewing, I am also super frustrated while sewing, so it’s a struggle. But I’m trying to work past that. Ultimately I want to be able to sew my own clothes as I have a lot of issues finding ready to wear clothing that fits me the way I want.
But having sewn in the past and been incredibly frustrated with the process, I’m trying to go slow and build up to not hating the whole experience. To that end, I’ve set a “course” of low to medium intensity projects to work on over the summer to get myself in the mindset of sewing.
Summer Sewing School: Getting Started
I started with these apron kits. I purchased them from Joann Fabrics probably 10 or 11 years ago and never got around to making them. The apron pieces and instructions are printed on cotton fabric, instead of using pattern pieces. You just cut everything out and sew it together. Did you know that aprons are kind of difficult to photograph? Here’s my best attempt.
I’ve got two more of these kits and am currently about a third of the way into the second one. And since I can never ever leave well enough alone, I’m changing up the instructions a little bit. Mostly just changing when I sew the straps on, so that they’re sewn into the seams rather than as afterthoughts. That will hopefully make them more sturdy in case this apron is ever used.
Future plans
By the end of the summer, I want to sew a pair of the Peg Leg(gings) from Patterns for Pirates. Not only do I like that they have “pirates” in the name but the pattern sizing on this site is incredible. On another day there will be a lengthy and redundant rant about the sewing pattern industry and the lack of sizing for anyone larger than 44″ bust measurements. I already bought the fabric for them, because I was having A Day and decided to give myself something to work toward. The leggings are my “Final Project”.
I also plan on making:
- Patterns for Pirates Walk the Plank pj pants out of some cotton that came from somewhere and has polar bears on it.
- This DIY Headwrap pattern to practice sewing with knits. I bought about a half-yard of extra fabric so I could experiment sewing with knits.
- Patterns for Pirates Wee Lap Tee to practice making clothes with knit fabric.
- And I’ll probably make the Patterns for Pirates Petite Pegs go with the shirt.
- Various and sundry small other pieces along the way—a sunglass case for my mom, small zippered pouches that I’ve made before and have the pieces cut out.
Crowd sourcing for Sewing Summer School
Anyone have any “required reading” (book or sewing blog) or online classes they’d recommend? Please note, I am 100% uninterested in sewing a freaking pillowcase. This falls in line with “don’t make people start knitting dishcloths or scarves unless that’s what they want to knit.”
Addendum
Let me list the other patterns that I currently own and will work up to in another “term” (can you tell I’m the child of two teachers?).
- Monroe from Colette/Seamwork. Depending on how much progress I make, I may work on these over the summer, since I have a “pants” theme going.
- Mojave from Seamwork. I’ve been trying to get someone else to sew this for me for ages. 😉
- Juniper from Seamwork. Look I have a problem finding pants that I like that fit me. This is what inspired the whole thing. But the sizing on these may be a smidgen tight, and I want a slightly higher rise, so I think this will be a more advanced project for altering patterns.
- Kenedy from Seamwork. This one really isn’t my style at all but it seems like such a simple piece. Maybe my fall/winter “term” will be dresses, because I also have Mesa and Phoebe.
- Almada is the pattern that was at the center of my unfortunate sewing meltdown from a few years ago. I’d like to tackle it again with a better fabric and a little more patience for pressing all the fucking seams. Seriously a lot of my problem with sewing just comes from the amount of incredibly inefficient starting and stopping that has to happen to iron every thirty seconds.
- And finally there’s the York tee.
You have my admiration.
I had to alter the sleeves on a dress today. It took three hours and much profanity.
I have a dress on the way I know I will have to hem and I’m DREADING IT.
Yeah that was a lot of my last sewing experience. And I haven’t even gotten to anything where I have to print out and piece together all the freaking pattern pages before anything else gets going. So I’m sure there will be frustration. But I’m hoping I’ll get through it and be able to make clothes so there isn’t always just one little thing that I hate about all my clothes because they don’t really fit right.
Oh man, I love this! I’m lol-ing at the “pillowcase” sewing. Yeah, um, who wants to do that, unless they NEED new pillowcases? I think picking a project and then just working through, slowly, is the way to go. You’re motivated to make something you want to wear or use, and then you acquire skills as you go. I have the Colette Patterns Seamwork membership, and that has been pretty awesome, in terms of resources and variety of patterns. And usually their sizing is very inclusive (fuck those pattern companies who are not!).
That’s basically my approach to teaching people to knit! “You want to knit a sweater, we’ll knit a sweater, no problem.” I had a Seamwork membership but then I got really mad at sewing (their Almada pattern is what did it, though I won’t blame the pattern, I’m just saying that’s the situation that made me angry at sewing… that was like two years ago?) and also wasn’t using the credits because I was mad at sewing so I stopped subscribing. I should add their Monroe pants to my list, since that seems to be what I’m making this summer. But maybe after I work through the basic things I have (the aprons, sunglass case, and pj pants) I’ll sign up again as I’ll have more time “study” as well.
Yeah, I am also trying to NOT buy any more patterns/yarn/fabric until I work through some of the projects I have queued. (Lol, like that will ever happen.) So I support you. Seamwork will still be there when you’re ready to re-enter the Colette world.
I am digging the project plans you have – I’ve also got pj pants on the brain (including a pair in a fabulous pink stretchy jersey? Fabric that is covered in octopus.) I’m a total newbie. Big dreams though. May I copycat and sew along with you?
Yes, let’s do it! 😀 Love the idea of octopus pj pants.
Sewing books from the 70s are the best (Vogue, Simplicity, or Reader’s Digest). Also, I highly recommend the Curvy Sewing Collective site; they have great fit tutorials and info about pattern companies.
Indie patterns have way better directions (and often sewalongs on their blogs for more info) than Big 4. And I know I’m going to get flak for this, but I’d avoid Colette and Seamwork; there are known problems with their block. (Look up Rue on non-Colette sites for more details.) My first let’s-get-into-sewing project was a Cashmerette Appleton; it’s a pretty simple wrap dress.
I have looked at the Curvy Sewing Collective, but haven’t really done serious reading there (especially since in terms of bust adjustments, I have to take everything in—not all fat girls have big boobs!). Eeenteresting about those C/S patterns. I think most of my friends who have made Colette/Seamwork patterns are all smaller so maybe they don’t have a lot of problems with them? I don’t know. I’ve been impressed with the range of styles and sizing from Style Arc, at least on a superficial level (since I haven’t purchased any of them), and New Horizon Designs (I think I found them via a list on Curvy Sewing). I also came across Named Clothing recently via Instagram. I don’t know anything about them but they do dip their toes in the plus-size range.
Yeah, they do seem to think that a FBA is the cure-all for everyone’s fitting ills; the reviews and pattern round-ups are good though.
Coincidentally, I have the Named Kielo next up in my queue; I’ll let you know how it goes. (Also, if you really want a Mojave, we might be able to work out a project swap…)
Ironing is why my sewing always looks a bit off. It’s not like I was going to iron the finished object anyway. 🙂
I like Love Notions’ patterns. I use the basic Forte as my go-to t-shirt pattern and I’m working up the energy to sew a Harmony.
Friend of mine (Joost) is big into sewing. He’s extremely tall so makes his own clothes & shoes. He has a pattern website where you can put in your measurements & get a customised pattern.
https://freesewing.org
[…] may remember my Sewing Summer School plan from last year. It was great in theory! In practice, I forgot to take into account how much […]