Tag making clothes

New activewear: The Power Sports Bra from Greenstyle Creations

bellecitadel 5 Comments

Hello again! I wasn’t planning on splitting my leggings and sports bra into two posts, but there’s actually a fair amount to say about the bra, so it seemed logical in the end. I’m just going to dive right in and start by saying that my bra size is normally a 36DD or 38D in ready to wear, so I have a decently-sized pair of boobs (in case you hadn’t noticed) and I find it rather difficult to find a good sports bra! Sound familiar?

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My requirements

I’ve tried all different sorts of brands and shapes – some are pretty good and some are totally useless. But the pretty good ones are also pretty expensive! Like a lot expensive. Expensive enough for me to know that this is potentially the one…the ONE… area I might save money by making something rather than buying it. We all know we don’t sew to save money, no sirree. Continue reading “New activewear: The Power Sports Bra from Greenstyle Creations” →

Me-Made May 2018 Round-up: my results and a sprinkle of musings

bellecitadel 2 Comments

Time to add a small post to the plethora of Me-Made May round-up posts that hit the blogosphere once we breach the banks of June. I had a really fun May and, owing to the up-and-down weather we had here in Washington state, managed to wear almost all of my me-made garments, or at least that’s how it seemed. It was so much easier to take photos this year in my new house, as our kitchen worktop is just the right height for a little mobile phone tripod. I just set the timer and snapped a couple each morning or evening coming in or out of the house.

Results

My pledge was to wear a whole outfit each day for Me-Made May (outer clothes, not underwear/shoes) compared to last year, where I wore one item per day. I found it fairly easy to mix my me-mades up, but I also dragged some out of the closet that I wasn’t too sure about to give them a whirl and decide if they should stay or go (or be refashioned).

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MMMay collage

Me-Made May 2017 vs 2018: Since last year was my first year, it’s interesting to compare my findings with what I found then. My biggest shocker last year was that I had a virtually monochromatic me-made wardrobe. I love colour and hadn’t really realised. This year I was expecting more of the same in all honesty, so I was (pleasantly) surprised to see that there was definitely a good deal more colour in my wardrobe this time round. Continue reading “Me-Made May 2018 Round-up: my results and a sprinkle of musings” →

New jeans: Closet Case Pattern Morgans

bellecitadel 16 Comments

Woowoowoo!!

I did it! I made a pair of jeans and squeezed them into 2017 (and squeezed into them in 2017) by the skin of me teeth. Hemming occurred on December 31st, heh heh. They were on my #makenine list for last year and I was determined to get them done, if only to please myself, since there was no other real reason. I made this somewhat easier to accomplish by signing up for a jeans workshop at Drygoods Design here in Seattle, which ran over three evenings and then I finished them up at home. I had intended to post them pretty soon after, but then decided to wear them for a few weeks and see what happened, so there is a little time-travelling going on in this post… just so’s you know.

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Continue reading “New jeans: Closet Case Pattern Morgans” →

Discoveries of a novice: finishing knits with a twin needle

bellecitadel 2 Comments

Here’s a little technical post today. I don’t write these often because I’m a beginner and almost everything can be found fairly easily on the Internet these days. Now and again though, I come across something that took me a while to find or didn’t quite answer all my issues and hopefully what I’ve done will be useful for others. Today it’s the turn of… hemming knits with a twin needle! Woah! Grab your Moscow Mule and take a seat!

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The Issue aka Hemming Hell

Alright, so, in a nutshell, here was my problem. I had been using the twin needle to hem t-shirts and other knits, using many hints and tips I’d read in articles or books. The stitch seemed to work pretty well and looked okay, but, then, after just a few wears, the threads would snap. The first time I thought perhaps I was using the wrong type of thread on one of the spools or the incorrect width of needle, but it slowly happened to everything I had sewn. In addition, sometimes when I was sewing I could feel that one of the threads was a bit “tight” and was pulling a little, but couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Gah! Continue reading “Discoveries of a novice: finishing knits with a twin needle” →

New make: Linden #2 – a mixed affair

bellecitadel 4 Comments

You know sometimes you make something and you’re not that keen and then you see the photos and you think, “Actually, it’s not that bad…”. Well, this was the opposite for me. I was really chuffed when I finished this Grainline Linden sweatshirt and now I’m… less so. And there’s a simple reason. I love the fabrics, I like the shape of the sweatshirt anyway – but the sizing/shaping is completely off on this one. The neckline is the worst. I mean, it’s not terrible, but it’s too big and droopy. It’s partly the fabric – there just isn’t enough recovery in the knit I used and I should absolutely have used ribbing. But I also think there’s something afoot with my pattern pieces, because this happened with my last Linden too (which I didn’t finish/ blog, because the neckline application was B.A.D). We adjusted the pieces as part of a class and I think I need to go back and check them. I may also have traced the long sleeve badly. Something is going on.

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Continue reading “New make: Linden #2 – a mixed affair” →