Sewist's Process

Now that Joann's is gone, where do we go for fabric and notions? Having the urge to sew and/or get inspiration, I took myself shopping.  Our Michael's is like a mini-Joanne's and has some quilty fabric, some (icky acrylic ) yarn, some notions, but nothing I had to have, altho the price of their batiks were pretty good, at $6.99 per yard. Their sales are enticing, and if things are ordered online, a good % is taken from the price. No patterns for sale there. 

So onto Hobby Lobby, which does have a variety of nice fabric and someone waiting to cut it, which makes such a difference not having to find that person. I was happy to see that they have some woven striped linen/cotton, as well as multiple colors of woven gingham, being chiefly a gingham girl myself. Nice quality and a great price. Then I saw their McCall's patterns were 99 cents so I sat and scoured the look book. I wanted a shirt dress pattern and found this one with raglan sleeves which will make for a nice change in the construction. 

 I already have the fabric which is a tablecloth from Walmart, in the Pioneer Woman series. Yes. A tablecloth. A quality heavy woven 100% cotton 60x102" item for like $18.  Speaking of Walmart, I particularly like their Waverly Cottons, many of which are pre-cut into fat quarters, yards and 2 and 3 yard packs. I didn't intend to cut into my tablecloth on a brand new untried pattern, so I prewashed a two yard piece of aqua Waverly cotton to use as a tryout. $5.64.

Then after jiggering my new studio to sew,  I started getting the pattern ready to trace.

I never use the pattern without tracing, as I want to make marks, cut off the seam allowance and find the right size lines before cutting. I use Pellon's Easy Pattern paper which I buy by the bolt, again, from Walmart.

I know the construction of this garment will mostly be sewn on my serger, so I trace my size from each pattern piece and then mark the new seam allowance which is 3/8" less than the 5/8" on the pattern. I have marked my ruler with this orange line to use as a measuring guide. 

What a lotta work, you say. I agree, but as a process person, it's all part of what I do to make sewing a smooth and enjoyable effort.

Here's my aqua cotton, and the pattern piece for the sleeve. I never make the full length sleeve on any garment as I famously have tyrannosaurus arms. Plus, two yards just isn't enough to fit the full pattern, so I often add a cuff from a waste area of the fabric. 

 Shown here is about half the sleeve pattern which I have cut using my pattern weights rather than pins. I have adjusted the tapered sleeve to flare a bit because I know I will be adding fabric for a rolled up cuff, later. 

...and then it was time for Dave's caregiver to leave, so I have to wait to sew this into a shirt and see how it fits and if my gingham tablecloth is shirt worthy.