Simplicity 4059 - Men's Doublet (View B)

I saved the best for last in this three part project for the Simplicity 4059 pattern. This was such a daunting task. It loomed over my head like a black cloud because the amount of details and little things I would have to add to this project.

I started with the main fabric and built on that. I didn't know what to make the lining color as. I had found a nice bottom weight fabric in burgundy that matched the binding/edges of my fancy dress we bought at the Renaissance Festival two years ago. I had planned on using it to make the binding of the doublet so they had some thread that held the two outfits together. I tried very hard to find some red color that would match the doublet. No place had it. I was so disappointed. I didn't trust buying it online because of how many times I have seen someone order something thinking it was one color but turned out to be another. So I gave up and used something that was similar to the contrast edges of my dress.

The three layers of fabric used for the doublet

Close up of the main fabric.

I loved how the fabric looks like little flames. I assume its a floral design but it looks so much like flames that I refer to it as "the flame doublet".

When I started cutting out the main fabric I finally decided that since I had gotten extra of the bottom weight fabric I'd use it as the lining as well as binding. Until then I had contemplated using red or black broadcloth I had in my stash. In the end I made a good choice because it gave the doublet more of the stiffness I wanted. I didn't want a floppy doublet. I felt like it would be too costumy and cheap feeling. 

I cut out the muslin first and fitted it. The small was a perfect fit for Charles. I used a fabric that was slightly thinner than canvas as the muslin. When putting the pieces together I decided that I wanted to use the muslin as another layer in the doublet to give it more stability and form. The above picture shows all three layers I used while making the flanges.   

 

I drew the lines on the muslin for fun just to see what it would look like. It looked pretty good. I unpinned everything and started working on some easy parts. I was super nervous to put it all together with my top fabric. I received this fabric via a windfall and only had just enough to finish this project and that was all. So I started with the flanges which were easy to put together. The three layers plus the interfacing made it the perfect stiffness. I set those aside and started working on the trim for the front and back of the doublet.

I took one inch wide strips of fabric and pressed the sides in to make a 1 cm wide strip. It was tedious since I don't have a bias machine thing. I sewed the back two pieces of the doublet outside and muslin together and marked, with chalk, the lines the bias tape was going to go on. I pinned all of the vertical pieces on first and then sewed them down. Then I added the horizontal piece. I did the same thing to the front doublet pieces after ironing on the interfacing.

For the lining I sewed the pieces together at the shoulders and the back seam. I almost wish that I had cut one piece on the fold for the back. It seemed silly to have the back in two pieces since you are supposed to sew them together first anyway. I thought maybe you were supposed to put the trim on and then sew the two back pieces together but it didn't say that in the directions.

Once I had the lining and outer layer put together I sewed on the flanges and put the lining together. Then I flipped everything right side out and pressed everything down.

The inside of the flange before side seams were connected.

I had some issues connecting the side seams. I have no idea why it was being bunchy and weird. Eventually I just got pissed and did the best I could. One side looks perfect while the other side puffs out a bit. Still hardly noticeable unless you were looking for it.

Once the side seams were done I started working on the peplum pieces. I attached them all without any problems and slip stitched the bottom of the lining closed. For the peplum pieces I decided to skip putting a border around each piece and the top actually looked the better for it. I had also decided to skip adding a middle piece on the top trim and thought it looked better as well. Less flashy than it would have looked had I added it.

Once it was all put together I just needed to add the grommets. I found some really nice bronze ones at Hobby Lobby. They looked perfect for the top instead of shiny gold or silver.

The finished product was lovely. It was a very easy patter and I would definitely make it again. 

The whole outfit looks great on him! He said it was very comfortable and he really liked it a lot. 

Below are links to the previous posts on this pattern:
The shirt
The pants

Coming Soon

I had surgery two weeks ago today. I was trying to get Charles' doublet finished before then but that didn't happen. I have it very nearly completed. I only need to put in the grommets and finish writing up the post. For about 4 days after the surgery I was completely useless and lazy so nothing got done until last Saturday. Then, in a spurt of effort I mostly finished the whole thing last Monday. Now that school has started back up I doubt I will find enough time to make anything. However, I am trying to work on a hoop skirt before the Renfest in October. Juggling 5 classes and trying to get the rest of these costumes done is going to be quite a chore!

Happy sewing everyone!

Book Review - The Sewtionary By Tasia St. Germaine

About two weeks ago I was searching Amazon for sewing books and saw one that had a pretty cover. I'm all about pretty covers so I clicked on it. The title intrigued me so I clicked the icon that said "see inside". Usually I am not interested in books based solely on technique because in the past I have seen some that are very vague on descriptions and didn't have easy or clear step by step directions or reasons why things are the way they are. This book, "The Sewtionary" by Tasia St. Germaine, creator of the Sewaholic blog, was the exact opposite of those. The book not only tells you what the technique or item is, it tells you when and why to use it. It also gives you step by step pictures that are easy to follow and very concise.

After reading the entire preview I decided I had to have this book. I ordered it from Amazon for about $23 and got it two days later. I love Amazon Prime. This book has pretty much everything that a beginning to intermediate sewer needs. The explanations are clear and informative. Mostly all of the pictures are real life pictures, instead of diagrams, so you can see the details instead of having to infer them like some books do.

The writing is clear and concise and will reference back to previous sections so you can jump straight to the page. For example if one technique requires binding but the book hasn't talked about binding yet it will tell you what page to skip to to learn about the binding.

This book is fun, pretty, and informative. It is definitely worth the money if you are looking for a reference guide you can actually hold in your hands. I believe there is an ebook format as well.

Follow this link to purchase your own copy from Amazon. Or you can purchase the book directly from the author and get it signed as well!


I know my blog posts tend to be a bit wordy so I tried to make this one as short as I could.


Happy reading!

*All pictures were taken from the author's webpage. I didn't want to run into the issue of showing a page that was not authorized as a preview.

Red Cloak

I am so excited about this project! I finally made/finished something for myself this summer. I was working on some dresses but with how close it is to school starting backup and the Texas Renaissance Festival is a few months away I had to put those on the back burner and work on the stuff that really needed to be done.

After making two pieces for my boyfriend's outfit I decided to take a break from his costume and work on a small addition to my own. I wanted a cape because sometimes it gets freakishly cold while out at the festival. I was hesitant to make one at first until I saw the blog by Angela Clayton. If you are into costumes her website is a wonderland of beautiful ideas and dresses. Very inspiring. She updates her Tumblr account more often with progress pictures.

One of her posts was making this cloak. When I saw her post I knew I wanted to do a variation of her cloak. She added boning into the top to hold up the hood and that was an idea I couldn't pass up!

I went to the fabric store and purchased 5 yards of crushed red velvet. I wanted to make a burgundy cloak in the same stretch velvet she used but it was way out of my budget to purchase that particular material. So I settled for a velvet that was cheaper and closely matched my dress color. I've had bad experiences with velvet costumes and clothing in the past (not made by me) and I feared that it would be an ucky material to work with. Turns out whatever the costume stuff is made out of is crap in comparison to what they have at Joann's. This velvet I got was thick and soft and comfortable.

I got home and measured out the same measurements for Angela's cloak lengthwise. Her measurements were 67" X 118". I am guessing she is a lot taller than me because I still need to chop off a few good inches from the hem when just using 60". I didn't really follow any rules like you are supposed to for the nap. It looked and felt fine just using the fabric sideways so when it opened it was 60" X 118". I also left it all in one piece instead of making three pieces like she did. I'm assuming she only had to do that because her shoulder to floor height requirement is taller than mine. I'm only 5' 2". Leaving it as one piece didn't make a difference in the way the cape looked.

When that was done I used the hood pattern from McCall's #4698 since I was too lazy to draft a pattern myself. I cut out the hood in the velvet and a second for the lining in black broadcloth. I had this broadcloth in my stash for about a year since it was from last years Renaissance costume. I realized how much I have learned since then. The broadcloth from Hobby Lobby is the cheapest most paper-like fabric I have seen. I didn't realize it until I was trying to decide between that and some from Hancock. The Hancock fabric was way softer and didn't literally cut like it was paper. Still I wanted to use it though and it wasn't too uncomfortable for the hood.

I sewed both pieces together. I had a lot of problems with them matching up and slipping everywhere. I should have used more pins. Once that was together I flipped it right side out and basted the neck area closed. I decided that I was going to sew a gathering stitch at the top of the hood to create my gathers and give my boning channel a marking place. I made the gathers/channel closer to the edge so that the gathers wouldn't be so long in the front. I also top stitched around the entire top of the hood to keep everything in place and not look puffy. I pulled the gathers up to fit the piece of boning I was going to use. It looked amazing!

I especially liked how using a shorter gathering section kept it out of my face. I wish I had thought to make the hood more like in Angela's version because the boning has the top floating above her head since she used a longer piece.


I made a boning channel using a 1" piece of fabric and hand sewed it to the hood. I'm sure there is a better way to do this but I didn't want the channel's stitches showing through the top part of the hood. I shoved the piece of 36" industrial zip tie through the channel and sewed the ends shut.

I had been so excited while making this I didn't go to bed until 2 am! So I forced myself to go to bed and woke up early to continue working on the bottom of the cape.

Angela used cartridge pleating to gather all of the fabric. I did the same thing. I measured out every half inch and marked it on a piece of muslin I sewed close to the top. Then stitched only on the markings.

When I was done I pulled them all together and fixed any that were twisting so they were all in a compact row. I also turned in the sides of the cape 1/4" and then again 1/4" (1/2" total reduction) and stitched so that there would be no fraying or jagged edge showing.

To cover up the muslin I decided to attach a fold of fabric that would also act as a neck drawstring channel. I took a 5" piece of fabric and sewed it to the hood. I wanted a secondary way to tie it around my neck than from the hood. I felt more secure that way.

Then, because I'm barbaric and the stupid regular way to attach them wasn't working, I sewed the pleats straight across with my walking foot to attach it to the hood.

Then I folded over the black fabric to hide the stitching. But since I wanted there to be a separate channel to put a drawstring though, that didn't touch the pleats, I folded in the ends of the fabric on either side and folded the fabric down towards the stitching line that attached the cape and hood. Then I folded it over again tucking the pleating inside. Then I pinned and slip stitched the flap down to the cape. and it made a nice smooth collar/channel for the drawstring. You can barely tell that its supposed to be a drawstring channel. I did this so that if I find a clasp I like at the fair it wont look out of place.  

Once that was done the cloak was finished for the time being. Man it was heavy. There was so much fabric in the cape! When I had all the gathers together it almost was too big for the hood. It was a little long but I don't plan on trimming it down until I get my whole costume together to see how it would fit. I don't want to take too much off of the cloak.

This piece is my pride and joy and I am so glad I made it. Even if it doesn't get cold enough to actually wear it I will still have it for years to come. I also felt like Red Riding Hood and it gave me some inspiration for next years costume.

Better pictures will be coming soon!

I have also added new stuff to the blog! I made pages for awesome sewing resources, a detailed about me, and a main resource for my completed projects. I had just way too much free time the other day.

Keep sewing everyone!

Simplicity 4059 - Men's Pants

Well I managed to focus all my energy on sewing this week and was able to turn out this pair of pants.

This post is going to be less of a step by step instructional and more of a pattern review.

I found this pattern to be intermediate on the difficulty scale. This should have been a really easy pattern and it was shaping up to be until I had to put the crotch together. Actually the whole crotchal/fly region was annoying as hell. Once again, like with the shirt, the pictures are unclear and the instructions are vague at best.

You start off with the fly which should be easy enough but putting it all together felt like something was missing and wrong. The two pieces of the fly seem uneven in width and don't line up correctly. I sorta gave up with their instructions and did it my own way that I thought would work. It still looks a little messy but it works.

I used linen for the pants since it would be nice and breathable in the hot Texas heat. I serged the edges of all the inner seams since it was fraying like crazy. For the two main side seams I did a modified turned edge seam. Instead of turning and sewing so they are separate little flaps I sewed them to the pant leg to make two rows on either side of the seam. I thought it looked neat and professional. I was only mad that the inner leg seams couldn't be done the same way because of the crotch being jacked up.

I honestly couldn't even explain properly how to do the crotch. When I went to sew the inner legs together, the top of the legs was 1.5" - 2" shorter than the front part of the middle leg which made no sense because the picture shows it to be lined up perfectly. Then when I sewed from the fly down, that part was way over the top and didn't go together perfectly at all and caused a weird indent in the front of the crotch. So what I basically did was use the seam allowance as a binder to connect the back part of the crotch and the front. If I hadn't done it that way there would have been a hole where all the stuff met together. Then I clipped off the excess from the weird protruding part and it looked a lot better.

I think these pants look really sharp. They did end up being too big for Charles but the tie in the back should tighten it up once I get better cording. The outside design looks good, but construction wise it has some problems. I probably will not make these again. I might look at another pattern if Charles needs new pants.

Below are pictures of the front and back of the pants. When I get the entire outfit all together I will take better pictures and show how they fit.

My next project is a cape for myself. A post about that process will be coming very soon!

Here are links for the other pieces in this costume pattern:
The shirt
The doublet

Thanks for reading.  

Drawstring Bag Update

I finally finished the bag. I went to Joann's and they had ZERO silver grommets in the size I needed. I checked twice in one week but all they had was the starter kit. I finally just bought some at Michael's.

Here is the finished product!

My mom really liked how it turned out. I like how it is a lot more sturdy than the original. The original was basically two pieces of fabric sewn together without any interfacing and felt flimsy as heck.

Also, the original video I had for installing grommets dissapeared. It was a really good video and used the same kind of grommets I do. I searched online and found a similar video. The only difference is that he uses a different type of grommet. The process is still the same though.

Video:  How to install grommets.

I started working on the men's pants. Hopefully I will be done with them soon and can update. The fly was the most confusing part. And like most reviews I saw on Patternreview, I improvised and did the fly how I wanted. Also using linen....why did I decide that? It frays everywhere! Ugh. But the pants will be soft and breathable and that is what matters.

Til next time!

Simplicity 4059 Men's Shirt

So the last few weeks I've hardly touched any projects due to my mom being in the hospital for her knee surgery and we also had a death in the family. However, Friday I realized how short of a time period I have before the Texas Renaissance Festival in October. I hadn't even started anything related yet so I broke down and began working.

I started with the shirt thinking it would be the easiest and the cheapest thing to make. I had two patterns picked out for him and he chose the 4059 in a modified version A which is great because I've got some brainstorming ideas forming for a true matching set for us using the true version A and the Simplicity 2589 gown. Everything will be done the same as the true version A except the collar (no lace) so I will get the kinks worked out now instead of later. And boy am I glad I did. 

Everything went fine and I was on a roll until it came to actually putting the pieces together. The directions were VERY vague. I kept staring at the picture and then the directions and tried to figure out where to start. Normally the directions are very clear and the picture show you step by step what to do. These directions were accumulated into two pictures and two steps of directions that had like 10 sub directions under each. I thought I was following the directions pretty well until it was time to put the gathers in. Then I realized I did everything just wrong. 

So from here on I will try and explain the directions as clear as I can.

The first step is telling you to take the two front pieces and sew them together from the large dot to the bottom. You will do this twice. Once with the lining and once with the outer fabric. I got confused and sewed from the large dot up and sewed the lining and front together instead of separately and it went downhill from there.

The second step is to sew, separately, the lining and outside at the shoulder seams. So you will have two identically set up, but separate, pieces of shirt/yoke.

 

Now they want you to sew the two front pieces together so they make the V for the collar. Now is when you sew from the large dot up. You should be able to flip the piece inside out and it will be right. The two seams for the shoulders should be meeting up on the inside. So the outside and inside of the shoulders looks the same. No excess from the seams should be visible.

The next step is the gathering. Increase your top and bottom stitch length as high (loose) as it will go
and sew across at about 1/2" from the top. Do not back stitch. You want to be able to move the fabric along with the thread. Once you have done both pieces take one end of your string and gently pull it while sliding the fabric towards the other end. This will crinkle the fabric and "gather" it together to fit the shirt top/yoke. So crinkle away and make it fit the yoke. 

Once you have fitted it to the top/yoke, pin right sides together so the top and the bottom meet. When you flip back over the gathered part of the shirt will be on the bottom and the bottom hem of the top will be tucked under. Do this for the back side as well.

Now sew the pieces together using the 5/8" seam allowance. Flip it down and voila! it looks like a baby doll dress! HAHA!

Now on the inside/lining of the fabric take the bottom edge and fold it over to your 5/8" seam allowance and iron. Cut the excess down to 1/4". I did an extra step because my fabric was starting to fray a bit. I folded the bottom back to where I ironed it and then ran it through the machine to make sure the fraying would stop.

So this is what it looks like so far on the inside with the gathers sewn on and the inside lining ready to be hemmed and pinned. The picture also shows what the inside lining should look like at the shoulders too.

When I pinned the lining to the front I kept the edge right above the 5/8" seam line I sewed attaching the front the the gathers. This way I could hide the stitching because you are going to have to hand sew the lining to the front. So put on some good TV/Netflix and get to slip stitching.

Also, I as I was looking at attaching the collar I noticed I skipped a step. I was supposed to baste stitch the collar before slip stitching the lining. Oops. However, it didn't make a difference doing it after. Mostly that was because I had pinned the shoulders together.

Don't know how to slip stitch? Here is an excellent tutorial!

Now that you have all that done its time to sew the sides together! Match the two edges up and sew along your 5/8" seamline. Woo hoo we have a tank top! Lets go on to the collar!

Just to save time, I applied the interfacing to all parts that required interfacing instead of just the collar. Then, because the iron was still on I went ahead and pressed under the 5/8" seam on the non interfaced parts. Then I put them right sides together and sewed the sides and top keeping the folded edge open. Then I trimmed the seams and corner and turned them right side out and pressed them.

Here is the basted collar before and after clipping curves. I went in a little less than 1/2".

I attached the collar and then slip stitched the folded side. Now its time to work on the sleeves which are super easy. Sew together each sleeve from the big dot up. Take the section from the big dot down and press it open. Fold under the seams to the pressed line and press again. Pin that section and sew it like the directions describe. Since there were more pictures for these steps I felt more comfortable than that silly mess at the beginning.

Gathering time! Sew the top edge from dot to dot (this should be the middle of the top of the sleeve). Also gather the entire bottom of the sleeve. I had my machine gather the stitches for me and it gathered pretty close to what I needed. I had to tighten it up more though. It will look like this when done:

The next steps I did out of order which is fine because it doesn't screw anything up. I mostly wanted to just focus on one thing at a time. So I attached the sleeve to the armhole instead of finishing up the bottom of the sleeve. I did the extra row of stitches inside the armhole like it says and I trimmed the seam allowance down. Be careful and don't make your machine go fast over the tight ruffles at the top. I swear I almost broke a needle at first.

Now that the arms are attached its time to work on the cuffs. Pull or push out the gathers to fit the cuff and pin in place. This section was kind of tight when sewing so it pulled the gathers on one of the ends out of alignment. So keep an eye on everything when sewing this part. So when you have both of these sections done clip the seam allowance down a bit and fold over. Now slip stitch both cuffs.

I used a 1 inch hem for this shirt. I ironed the hem at 1" and then, because this material was fraying like crazy, I folded the edge of the hem to the ironed crease and ironed again. Then I used a long zig zag stitch over the folded section. I'm kinda mixed on if I actually like this or not. I was being adventurous. But this part of the shirt will be tucked in anyway so it really doesn't matter if it looks perfect.

All that was left now was the buttons. I got a new machine for Christmas, a Brother CS-6000i, and haven't had a chance to do buttons with it. I HATE buttons. I have my Singer Simple to thank for that. It was a nightmare using that machine. My bobbin always jammed and made birds nest no matter how many times I cleaned, threaded, and even respun the bobbin and housing. I hated the whole mechanism. My new machine has a drop in bobbin and I have yet to have a real problem with it. So I grabbed a scrap and got the button assembly ready. I selected the first button hole and pushed the pedal to start. I was tense and waiting for the machine to start freaking out but there was nothing. Nothing but pure wonderful button makingness! This machine even slows down when the button is finished to let you know its done! It was MAGIC! I love buttons on this machine!

Back to the shirt. Mark where you want your button and run it though the machine. Presto! Button holes! Take the seam ripper and carefully open the section in the middle. Now align where you want the button and hand sew it to the cuff.

 You are now done!!!

The finished product should look like this. As an option you can add the hook and eye to the collar to keep it closed but I felt like it would choke Charles so I omitted that. When I make another one of these shirts next year it will probably be with the lace trim.

My next project which I will be starting today will be the pants for this pattern. I also have a cape for myself that I will be working on. I also got my patterns for next years costume in. I most likely will be creating the farthingale (hoop skirt) and bum roll this summer so I can use them in my current dress.

For further reading here are posts on:
The pants
The doublet

Thanks for reading!

Drawstring Bag/Backpack

My mom asked me to work on constructing her a new bag to carry her water bottles in when she goes to work. She said she uses it daily and wanted a replacement for when the one she has wears out. So I went to Joann's and Hobby Lobby and got some cute fabric to make two new ones.

The original bag is about 14" x 10". I decided to increase the size to 17" x 13" with a 1/2" seam allowance. The original bag doesn't have any batting, but I decided to add some to keep her drinks cool. I also decided to omit the crisscross stitching pattern. The bars on the front of the bag however will have the lines sewn on.

I chose a cute patterned fabric from the 50% off section at Joann's for the first bag. I thought the nice teal color would look nice with light grey accent so I grabbed some of the grey Symphony broadcloth for the lining and accent lines.

I began drafting the pattern. I drew out the piece and added the current measurements to my sketch. Then I redrew the piece and used the measurements I wanted. Some parts of the bag I decided to keep the same or add just a few quarters of an inch to. The strap on the back just needed more length because I felt the current size would still work for the slightly larger bag. This is where my brain decided to shut down. Math and I are not the best of friends. The math is simple yes, but adding in for seam allowance and calculating how everything fit was giving me a headache. One day I will breakdown and buy a pattern making book, but not today.

Since this bag is mostly made up of linear pieces I decided to draw all the lines on the fabric instead of making a pattern to trace. Once I had all the pieces cut out I did a rough placement of how I wanted the bag to look. I decided to forgo cutting out the lining pieces and batting until I had a final measurement on how the top would come out. 

 

It looked pretty nice so far. I ended up making the top grey bars shorter by accident but it was easily fixed. The next step was to pin everything together and sew it. I wanted to make sure to do the sides first because any discrepancy in width could be made up by shrinking the middle piece or using a shorter seam allowance.  

Once I had it all together it was time to iron the seams flat and then attach it to the batting. I decided on stitching only in the "ditches". I felt like it would be too much to stitch along side all the seams like I originally planned. This was the first time I have ever needed to do this method. It is really easy.

The white arrow is pointing to a groove in your presser foot. If you line up the "ditch" with that groove your needle will follow it and you wont see the stitches. Using a long stitch helps and I found that it reduces puckering along the seam lines. 

Then I started working on the back. I made the strap by using 3" x 26" piece of fabric and folding it over wrong side out. I then use a half inch seam and stitched the two ends together and then flipped it right side out. I pressed it with the seam on the side and then ran it through the machine again on both edges 1/2" to tack it down. I then put the back pieces together with the strap down the middle. I really don't like this design so In the future if I make this again I will make it backpack style and put two straps or one more off center so that I can throw it over my back properly. But my mom likes this style and I did what she wished. After sewing it all together, I pressed open all my seams and directed the tail of the straps in toward the middle. I again attached the back to the batting as before but instead of stitching under/outside the strap, I sewed over the strap to secure it more in place and have less risk of it ripping out.

The white arrow is showing that the raw tail should be ironed that way so the stitching goes over the strap.

When it is done the back of the batting should look like this for the front piece. I already had trimmed off the excess batting and remeasured to cut my piece of lining. I then sewed the lining to the top of the back with right sides together. I opened it up so could iron the seam flat to make folding easier. I did the same for both front and back pieces. Then I folded it over and ironed along the edge so the top would be straight and the lining covered the batting.

I then took both pieces and put them together with the right sides together and pinned. At this point because of the batting and the layers of fabric my bag was very very thick. I felt that it would be a good time to use my walking foot since I wanted all the layers to stay in place. I hooked it all together and tested a few pieces to make sure it was working properly before I fed my bag through. 

Using a 1/2" seam I went all the way around the edges of the bag leaving the top open. I trimmed the edges down and flipped the bag right side out and popped out the corners. It looked excellent! The only thing left to do was to add the grommets and make the draw string. I will save that for the next post and add a tutorial on how I do grommets. For now here is what the bag looks like before grommets and the draw string. 

Happy Sewing!

Update 8/4/14 - The finished bag can be seen here!