Category: Sewing

 

Not too much is left to do with the Passion Play costumes…

Let’s see, I still need to understitch the neck edge on the angel costume, blind stitch hems (resurrection and angel costume) and one last toss into the washer and dryer. Of course, they’ll need to be ironed and pressed once more before they’re whisked off to my Lutheran church for the people who’ll be wearing them.

The director wanted “shiny fabric” for both costumes and seemed to be gravitating towards satin. Satin has been around for centuries, I don’t think it existed in the first century, which is when Christ was on earth. However, even though I’d have preferred to use linen, I honored his request and I still had fun with this project.

Next up on my list are sewing a few pretty outfits for my daughter and I’m planning on designing a few outfits for myself to.  I really love how my sewing machine (Brother PC420) and my serger/overlock (Brother 1034D) did with these projects.

A few of the costumes that I’m designing for the Passion Play have neckline facings.

 

Facings are great to use when turning or creating a professionally finished hem is impossible. I like using facings around armhole openings or necklines since it’s quick and produces professional results.

Neck and armhole facings: Don’t forget to clip or notch the edges

 

 

In the above picture you’ll see the notched edges around this costumes neckline. Why make notches? Doing this step enables the facing to curve and lie flat against the garment. This is a step you really don’t want to skip since if you avoid it, you might notice that your facing won’t lie flat and an unnotched/unclipped facing can cause the fabric to pull in odd ways. I’ve noticed with the major pattern companies they leave out this reminder since at times they assume that a sewer will know this. That’s not necessarily true, especially if the person is new to sewing.

 

I used my old Wiss pinking shears that I inherited from my mom. These shears are older than me (over 43 years old) and they’re still doing a great job. I really love these pinking shears, they’re heavy and they’ve obviously lasted a long time! If you don’t have pinking shears you can either make notches (using scissors) like the ones above or simply clip close to the seam.

I must say that the seams that my newly acquired Brother sewing machines did was excellent. My Brother PC420 did a wonderful job sewing straight seams and my Brother 1034D serged everything quite nicely. Thus far, since I’ve used these machines, the only issues I have were my fault and those mistakes were easily corrected.

 

 

Well… it looks like I’ll be headed back to the fabric store today. I decided to modify the costume for Jesus’ ceremonial robe, so that’s why I’m headed back.

I’m short about one yard (the director wants the robe to have a hood).  Since I need it ASAP, I’ve decided to purchase the fabric locally at JoAnn Fabrics. These days, most of my fabric is purchased online I can find better deals and much better quality fabric at reasonable prices.

Fabric Mart, is one of my favorite places to purchase fabric online. It has great customer service, nice selection of fabric and a quick turnaround time. It helps that the fabric store is located in Pennsylvania.

The good news is that I should be finished the Passion Play costumes today! Yesterday, I received my vintage skirt marker. It’s in like new condition. Oh, I’m really loving my chakoner, I’ll have to write a post about that soon, and of course, take pictures of the lines it makes.

Tomorrow, I most likely will start creating my daughters Easter dress. I purchased some lovely fabric from Fabric Mart, I just haven’t had a chance to post a picture showing the fabric.

I was hoping to have all the Passion Play costumes sewn by now, but it looks like I’ll just have them completed by this Saturday. Which is perfect since the first performance is Sunday evening. In all fairness I didn’t get the last set of measurements (angel costume) until this Monday.

Mary Magdalene’s costume was done and was worn at the full dress rehearsal last night. Christ’s resurrection robes will be finished by tomorrow. They would have been done by now, but I decided to tweak my own design a bit. Let’s say I received additional inspiration while watching the full dress rehearsal last evening.

This weekend, my nephew will be hanging out with us for a few days and so my daughter and I are both looking forward to spending time with him.

Here’s hoping I actually remember to take pictures of the remaining costumes before they are given to those who’ll wear them. At times, I get so caught up with the creation process that I forget to stop and take pictures.

My chakoner aka chalk wheel finally arrived.

 

The first thing I noticed was the packaging, isn’t it pretty? It’s nothing elaborate but I’m impressed by the little touches. When I had my natural skin care company, I received a lot of compliments on the little things I did to make my customers experience memorable. So yes… my packaging was always attractive.

 

 

I ordered my chakoner from Sarah Veblen, I found her site when I was searching for chalkoner’s. I sent her an email asking did she have any in stock, and she responded quite quickly to assure me that she had. She also told me she was forwarding my email to her assistant so in case I placed an order it would be processed quickly. I thought that was thoughtful! Included with the package was my invoice and Sarah’s assistant, Marcie, included a nice note. I thought that was a very nice touch. Thank you! 🙂 I used to do the same thing with my business.

So yeah… I’m already having warm fuzzy feelings about Sarah Veblen’s clothing originals.  An added bonus is that she’s published a sewing book about sewing perfect fitting patterns and she teaches advanced sewing classes, and she lives in Maryland.

I’m not being paid to link to Sarah in fact you’ll find me linking to various sites quite often on Celebrate Life. I notice that some people are quick to complain when they receive poor service and that can be helpful since it alerts the reader of issues they have, but I think it’s important to recognize exceptional service too. Jennifer, over at My Blissful Journey, is really good at doing this too.

But on to the chakoner. This  handy chalk wheel chakoner came at a perfect time, since I’m sewing costumes for my Lutheran church’s upcoming Passion Play. Hopefully this weekend, I’ll have a chance to post pictures of it in action as I mark up the fabric that will be turned into costumes.

 

My daughter attends a Lutheran school…

The children are required to wear uniforms, which is fine by me since it means I don’t have to spend more money for school clothes. Private schools can be pricey. Throughout the year, the school has “casual days” it’s a chance for students to wear “regular clothes” at school. It’s quite popular and most students take advantage of these days even when they have to pay ($2.00) on some of the casual clothes.

Contrary to some peoples beliefs not all private schools (or those who attend them) are “rolling in money.” Various fund raisers are given throughout  to assist with teachers salaries and the general maintenance, equipment and upkeep that goes on at a typical school

 

 

Tomorrow is casual day at my daughter’s school and since I’ve finished sewing her jacket yesterday she asked could she wear it tomorrow. I’m not thrilled about this fabric, but my daughter likes it… As you can see she’s already chosen the outfit she’ll wear it with tomorrow and I think she did a nice job matching up the dots and pinstripes. If you look closely, you can see the leggings peeking through the top of her dress.

 

I still need to press the jacket and use a smaller hanger next time I take a picture. You see how the hanger has pulled up one side of the jacket? These pictures were taken immediately after it was washed yesterday so it had some wrinkles, but once it’s pressed I’ll hang it on a much smaller hanger and give it to my daughter.

Even with the unfortunate events related to my Aunt, life still goes on…

I’ve always found working with my hands to be soothing, even in stressful situations.

Yesterday, I started sewing a simple 100% cotton jacket for my nine-year old daughter. It’s a simple bolero jacket and I drafted my own pattern. I used my newest sewing machines for this project; the Brother Pc-420 to sew the seams and I used my Brother 1034D aka serger/overlock machine to finish the raw edges. I love these sewing machines!

All my fabric is washed before I use the material. The main reason is because the bolts can get dusty sitting on the shelves and it can be handled by a lot of people before it reaches me. Yuck! Another reason (although minor) is that some fabric will shrink after it’s been washed. I’ve had some fabric that wasn’t supposed to shrink, but the material shrank after it was washed! Good thing, I prewash fabric, right? Otherwise I’d have had an outfit that might not fit. Because of those experiences, I don’t always believe fabric labels. 🙂

One key to making professional items is to press each seam right after it’s sewn… while it adds to the total production time, the end result more than makes up for the additional time that’s added.

 

Adding a lining is another way to add to an outfits longevity. In the above picture, I’d just sewed the lining to the jacket. I’ve placed the garment on the ironing board and am about to press the seams. I usually like really wild fabric linings, but my “wild fabrics” are being used for a few other projects and so I selected plain fabric for this garment. Yawns, ho hum… My daughter chose the dotted fabric and was thrilled when I told her I was going to make part of it into a jacket. The background color perfectly matches a long dress that she has.

 

After finishing the body I moved on to the sleeves. I use double seams on most outfits and this jacket was no exception. And although the raw edges are hidden (because of the lining) I serged all edges.

I’m thrilled to say that her jacket is complete and once the outfit is washed, I’ll take a picture and post it on Celebrate Life.