Sewing day

Why did nobody tell me sewing stretch fabric is easy? I've always been nervous of trying it, but today I put a shiny new 'stretch' needle on the machine, looked up stretch stitches in its manual, and gave it a go. And it was fine! A little slow, because you need more stitches in a stretchy seam than in a non-stretchy one, but you don't need to iron anything, so I think it winds up faster overall!

I used one of my favourite second-hand tops as a template, because its bat-wing shape is really comfy, and suits my shape too. :) I folded it in half, and traced around it onto paper. Then I folded my fabric into quarters (stretchy silver sparklyness, oh yeah), pinned the paper template to it, and cut around it leaving a half-inch margin for the seams. Then I unfolded the fabric, pinned the front and back pieces together, and sewed the shoulder seams and side seams using a 'stretch overlock' stitch.

I tried it on, and cut the neckline lower at the front. Then I sewed around the edges of the cuffs, neckline, and hem using the same stitch. These edges aren't super tidy, so I might fold them over and re-hem them later.

I repeated the process with some dinosaur tshirt fabric I've had for ages. I made this one a little longer, and shortened the sleeves. This time I folded over the edges before sewing around the cuffs, neckline, and bottom hem.

Ready for cutting

 

My super-handy pincushion (I love it so)

Seaming the front and back pieces

Hemming

Ahem

All done! Each one took about an hour. :)

Next on the sewing agenda is a laptop bag. Here's a peek at my fabric. I'm tempted to put actual crocheted granny squares on the pockets!