Just Sew It

Oooh myyy God!! What was I thinking!! I have never copied a rtw garment and while the pieces seem to go together fine, fitting a large breasted woman is not the easiest. First of all, I put one dart on the side of the top. So I ripped it out and placed it the right spot. I sewed the shoulders together, the sleeves are in, the bias facing on the neck edge is in, and I attached the front bottom.

I’m actually making two of these for her. The first one that I’m making is lining fabric. I’m not too happy with that. It is not very easy to work with. If it wasn’t for the IDT on my Pfaff, sewing this would be more difficult.

I did not take any photos as I was kind of stressed out. I hope this turns out. I have her coming tonight for a final fitting and then I want to finish the other one in the next two days. I’d like to have this for her on Thursday. She wants it for Saturday.

Well, at least my sewing studio is in the basement and it’s keeping me cool in our lovely heatwave.

Okay, I have been a slacker with this top and it’s time to get it finished (I’ve been hanging at the beach). The following photos show you how to copy a made garment by the tape method. I used blue painters tape. It has a medium stickiness to it and works very well with this process. I used regular masking tape on the edges on my first piece and that did not work so well.

In this photo I have taped the back piece but only half way since it will be cut the fold. The tape must be overlapped otherwise it will come apart when removing from the fabric.

In this photo, I removed the tape and set it one the floor for tracing:

I put tracing paper over the pattern piece:

I then traced by adding my seam allowances at the same time:

I have since sewn parts of it together and will pin other parts so I can fit this lady. I will be working every night until it’s finished because she needs both tops on Saturday. Wish me luck!!

The other night my neighbour came over with her friend. She asked me if I would sew a blouse. The blouse is traditionally called a Choli. It is worn under a Sari. I looked over the blouse and it is easy enough to sew. So, I said yes. I don’t have a pattern to follow and asked fellow sewers on my favorite sewing site what to do. They suggested I follow the tape method of copying the original blouse. Threads has an issue that has an article on this method. Thank god! I have that issue! The article is very thorough and I quickly read through it. Last night, I copied the front piece. I used masking tape along the seam lines and then blue painters tape for the rest. I had to lay the front piece as flat as I could but that was not easy as the owner is very busty. Once I had everything taped, I pulled the fabric off by slowing pulling it off. I taped the start of the taped pattern to the floor then pulled the remaining off. Once the fabric was completely off, I flipped the taped pattern over. I cut my darts and then spread the pattern flat. Oh god, I hope this works!

I then laid my tracing paper over the taped pattern. With my homemade tracing contraption, I added my seam allowances. Once that was finished, I labelled my pattern and then cut it out.

Today, I will finish taping the rest of the garment. Tomorrow, I’ll cut. Wish me luck! I’ll post photos by Sunday.

For the neckline, I completely forgot to take pictures. After twisting the top part, I attached the top part of the front to the bottom part of the front. I first basted it with my straight stitch and then serged. The very middle where the core of the twist is does not get stitched. This is left raw. I then attached the front to the back by stitching the shoulder seams together and then I stitched the side seams.

Next, I applied facing to the back neckline. I forgot to use steam a seam on my neckline in the back and this may have affected the outcome. When I put on my top to check for fit the back neckline was gaping. How the heck did that happen? Was it because I didn’t use the stabilizer? Don’t know. So I ripped my shoulder seams apart and pulled the back shoulder seams up approximately 1/2″ up. I crossed my fingers that this would help and it did. Whew!

Before I sewed my sleeves on, I finished my hem and sleeves off with a rolled hem on my serger. I used a pink wooley nylon in my upper and lower looper. The needle had regular serger thread. By stretching the fabric at both ends while I serged the edges, I get a wonderful wavy effect which is called the lettuce edge. I really like that finish. It was big in the 80′s and now it is back. More so on children’s clothing but I don’t care. I love it. I had some thread issues with my serger and used a looper thread floss. Without it I would have never been able to rethread my serger.

After an hour and half of screwing with my serger I finished my rolled hems. Now onto the sleeves. I pinned them and then basted. I always like to check to see if there are any puckers before I serge.

Well, after some final pressing my top is finished. I am so happy with the outcome of my twist top. No wonder this top is so popular with many members on PR.

Okay, after the first goal scored by the Hurricanes I had a strong feeling the oilers were going to lose. I was right. I sewed while I listened/watched the game. Good thing. Anyways, I finally started on my twist top.

My step was to finish off the upper front’s edge off with a serged seam. I put a tricot strip to prevent waves on my edge.

Next, I folded the edge over 1.2 cms and pressed. The instructions tell you to topstitch the folded over edge with a twin needle but I just stitched twice. If you look closely at the following two photos, you will see that I used the middle of the right part of the foot to measure the distance of 1/4″ from the edge and from the first stitching. Do I make any sense??

Once that is finished, gather the sides of each upper front until they are 8 cm in width. I then placed the upper front with the wrong side facing the RIGHT side of the lower front. The gathered side must match up with the side.

Then I did the same to the other side.

Now comes the twist.

Stay tuned for the next steps. Ciao!