So a few Saturdays ago, I woke up with one burning idea: I needed to hack the Cashmerette Turner dress to have a six-gore skirt with patch-ish pockets.

Why? No earthly idea. If it were the beforetimes, Id at least have the excuse of frequent air travel, but at this point I havent been on a plane since February of 2020. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is my second shot at the Turner—I made a wearable muslin a while back just to kick the tires, so to speak. It was so easy to put together (and fit so well, with minimal adjustments) that I thought huh, how can I make this more difficult?

But even splitting up the skirt and adding on-gore pockets cant overcomplicate the Turner. Its SUCH a fast sew—I think I spent more time winding stretch thread on bobbins and remembering how to use my twin needle setup than I did actually putting it together. It definitely took me more time to trace and hack the pattern than it did to construct this dress!

This fabric is thick (think old-style Hanes Beefy-T, heavier than jersey) knit cotton with some lycra or spandex in it; it has a nice recovery. (It was on super-sale at Cali Fabrics, so of course its not available anymore.) There are some drag lines in the picture above, but thats mostly because my dress form is a bit small now (it broke and is no longer adjustable, or, rather, I am more adjustable than it is, although over a longer time period).

When I make this again (and I probably will, if I can find the right fabric it would be cute in a lightweight sweatshirting which Im pretty sure I already have in my stash) I have some further hacks the pockets would be better if they started a bit higher on the inner edge, or I might play with having them integrated into the gore instead of on top. I meant to reinforce the side seams along the pocket seams with some clear elastic, but I ran out after the waistband, so it will have to wait until I buy some more. The skirt could also be shortened by a few inches (I dont mind the longer length, but I dont really need it, either).

The heavy knit means its not very staticky (my main complaint about jersey knit dresses; evidently I have an electric personality which results in clingy, shocky knits), and it hangs nicely. Its also very comfortable (I mean, why wouldnt it be? Its a giant t-shirt with pockets!)

I definitely feel late to the sewing knits is great party. I dont wear a lot of t-shirts so the gateway project of make a custom tee never caught my eye. And until recently, I didnt have a rotary cutting mat big enough for my cutting table, so cutting knits was always fraught—I always seemed to pull them out of grain when cutting with scissors. And the revelation that is stretch sewing thread! (Kids, come onto my lawn, I need to tell you about how I used to have to wind bobbins uphill, in the snow, both ways!)

Also, the knits available for home sewing have gotten a LOT better, especially for natural-fiber snobs like me. (I remember walking through the fabric store touching knits and hating the scratchy, oily, slippery hand of everything I could afford.) The prints are better now too, she said, at the end of a post about a plain black dress.

Chip: There! Over by the canapés! Quick, before the next chukka begins!

Dip: Are you sure his is the only thumbprint that can activate the collar release button? He looks sweaty.

Chip: Its too late for me—save yourself!  

[Pattern courtesy SusysSewingEphemera on Etsy.]

This is one of my favorite fabrics (and favorite patterns). (You might recognize the fabric from this dress—which I still wear—and this one, which I took apart and from which some of this yardage was recovered.)

The pattern is the Grainline Farrow, modified a bit to turn it into a jumper. (The Farrow has a sleeveless version, which is not quite the same as a jumper version )

Because I didnt have much fabric, I kind of took a this is deliberate approach to just picking a stripe direction for each major section and rolling with it. The center front stripe below the pocket isnt quite right but eh. Good enough for Zoom, thats my new motto.

Ive made a few other Farrow jumpers, mostly in denim/heavy twill/corduroy, but I dont think Ive blogged any of them. Theyre pretty utilitarian, but make a great work-from-home uniform with a long-sleeved tee and leggings underneath. (If youd told my eighteen-year-old self that someday I would wear Birkenstocks and socks every day for a year, BY CHOICE, Im pretty sure she would have looked at you with horror.)

Ive been trying to plan out more projects that will sew down my stash/remnant pile. (I thought that making a metric faceton of masks, a braided rag rug, and enough 2 squares for a king-size quilt would have taken care of the remnant problem but lol no. Comments are open for suggestions ) This is the first of two (the other is a buffalo-plaid Fringe that I hope to finish this week, its all done but the neck facing/waist seam/hemming/shouting).

blows dust off top of blog, hits power button

Well, Ive gotten two shots (shoutout to my Pfizer Pfriends) and in a week or so I can perhaps consider leaving the house, so I suppose its time to start sewing again?

I have basically been wearing the same seven dresses for a year, mostly in shades of gray and black, and I am assured that at some point I will emerge (like a cicada, only quieter) into the light of the sun. So this seemed like a relatively sunny fabric to start with.

I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but Im not sure.

So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. As you can see I also turned the facing to the outside so I could play with stripes and piping.

Ive actually done a tiny bit more sewing since putting this together—I finally bought a cutting mat large enough for my cutting table, so I am now a late convert to the Church of the Rotary Cutter. (Wow, those things are neat!) Rotary cutting means that a bunch of knit projects I always bought fabric for and then dismissed as too much effort to cut conventionally are now within reach—I made my first jersey knit dress in more than a decade (a Cashmerette Turner) recently, and it was such a quick sew! (I also acquired some stretchy bobbin thread and a jersey double needle for topstitching, which was extremely satisfying.)

Anyway, in addition to not sewing, Ive mostly been spending my time this past year appreciating how lucky Ive been and trying to quash my incandescent rage at those who made the decisions that caused other people to be hideously unlucky. Also, as is now required by statute, I started a newsletter. (Its free.)

Howve yall been? Ive missed you.

Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling How To Look Like Youre Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records!

In this course, youll learn how to:

Order now and get our special bonus booklet: How To Listen Without Giving Any Sign of Encouragement That The Speaker Should Continue! Perfect for public transit, work break rooms, and large family gatherings!

Hi folks! Like everyone else in possession of a sewing machine and any amount of free time at all, Ive been sewing masks! Ive been using the NYT pattern not because I necessarily think its the best, but because it was Good Enough, and I found myself falling way way way down an internet hole of different patterns, techniques, etc. . which was not getting any masks sewn!

Im very lucky in that I have tons of leftover/scrap high-quality cotton fabric, and literally MORE BIAS TAPE than I knew what to do with. I also have (as regular readers know), vast quantities of piping, and much love for same.

I also wear glasses, and was interested in maybe having a mask with a nose wire so that I could fit it tightly and limit the amount of glasses-fogging that could occur. Plus (and this is the important part) I had some leftover wire from a project that I dont even remember doing. The only problem was, the wire was thin and sharp hmm what to do piping!

By adding wire to piping and piping the top line of the mask, I could have a tighter-fitting mask, not poke myself in the eye, and also have piping! Win-win!

Heres how to do it:

(I had yards of this fine white cotton fabric and wasnt sure where it had come from, and after cutting quite a lot of it for mask linings I realized that it was leftover from the surplices my husbands grandmother used to sew for her local priest )Sew the piping sandwich. I use a narrow foot. If your lining fabric is thinner, put that side up. Basically you want to be able to feel or see the edge of the piping, so that you dont sew over it.
IMPORTANT: there is a slight chance you could break a needle if you accidentally hit the wire (I havent yet) so do wear some eye protection! 

Pivot the needle at the center seam:
Turn and press:
If your fabric is likely to fray, you can finish the edge with a narrow zigzag. If youre feeling super-ambitious you can also edge-stitch the lining, but I havent.
Finish as you otherwise would!

I hope you find this helpful! Stay well!

With a few small adjustments this mask would handle both airborne virus particles and help a LOT with social distancing!

NOTE: THIS IS A JOKE PLEASE DONT MAKE ONE OF THESE INSTEAD OF A REAL MASK. GOT A GREAT MASK PATTERN? PLEASE PUT IT IN THE COMMENTS!

(If you really want to make this—I dont know, social isolation does weird things to people, no judgment—the pattern is available on Etsy from seller PatternGrove.)

Flora: Soon my date will be here! Little does he know this will be the last prom he ever attends! My Boutonnière of Death shall ensure it!

Nora: If I can just get this electric collar off must warn Bobby!

Image is from our old pal Sandritocat, on Etsy.

Lara: If I just made these sleeves a little bigger—like, five or so feet, thats not even two yards!—I could leave the house! Nobody could get close to me!

Sara: Ive heard dumber ideas!

[Pattern available for sale here]

Hello! Happy New Year! Well, 2019 has been a blur, hasnt it? I did more sewing than I did blogging, thats for sure.

TAGS:dress Day Dress day every nearly 

<<< Thank you for your visit >>>

Hot Websites