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January 22, 2017

A Slouchy Hoodie: Jalie 3355

パーカー作りました。またシマシマ。どうもニット生地が縫うごとに伸びてしまって、予想よりもかなり大き目な、ゆるゆるパーカーになりました。
ユキも写りたいの
I made a hoodie. While I really like it and have worn it a few times already, it is pretty big and off my shoulder.


The fabric I used was a cotton 100%, labeled as sweatshirt knit, but the back side has loops so is it a French terry? While this fabric is really nice and cozy to wear, maybe because it has no Lycra in it, the fabric just grew and grew while I constructed, resulting in an unexpectedly slouchy hoodie.


The pattern is a Jalie 3355. which comes with a hoodie, sweatshirt, and sweat pants. See the pattern cover photo below. It shouldn't have been slouchy...

型紙のモデルはこんな感じ。
I cut a size S. I'm bigger at the waist but it's not fitted so no grading up.
Stripe matching 2 projects in a row. I traced the pattern off without a fold and cut the fabric with single layer.

ストライプ柄は線を合わせるのが面倒くさい。
I used my coverstitch machine to top stitch over the hood seam. The first 3 attempts miserably failed with a lot of skipped stitches so I put a scrap pattern tracing paper under the fabric and sewed it together, which worked.


In the middle of the construction (attaching the hood to the neck line to be precise), my serger made a big clunking sound. When I opened the front cover, the stitch finger sprung out. After that, the timing of the loopers and needles went all wrong and needle was hitting the lower looper... I don't even know hot to open the plastic cover off my serger so what am I supposed to do?

Let's face it. My serger is a Brother 1034D, costs less than $200 brand new. Considering the possible repair costs, I might as well just buy a new 1034D... For 2 nights, I contemplated real hard. I checked the Craigslist, and I also considered (and leaning towards) maybe getting a slightly better serger since I do use my serger quite often.

The third night, the Man of the House rolled up his sleeve (only figuratively) and fixed my serger. He has no knowledge of sewing machine mechanism let alone a serger (which to me more complicated). I mean, he does not even know what the loopers are.

Anyway, it is fixed. I lost my excuse to buy a fancier serger.

ロックミシン、しばし壊れる。
Back to business. To stabilize the pocket opening, I added a twill tape and I did so on the right side to break down the stripe a bit. I like the effect.


I also added a fusible tricot on the wrong side to stabilize.


 A strip of twill tape is also added to the shoulder/back neck seam as well.


This was my first hoodie, and it was much easier than I expected, construction wise. While the fabric has stretch, it just did not have much recovery so this is permanently slouchy. But, as I mentioned above, it's actually pretty nice as a lounging hoodie and I am reaching out to it over other RTW hoodies I already have. I  definitely want to try again with proper fabric.

January 1, 2017

New Year Renfrew

あけましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願いします。
今年は40という節目の年ということで、ぐうたら度低め、生産度高めな年にしたいと思います。

ちょうど1年前にも作ったカットソーの型紙の長袖・Vネックバージョンを作りました。
ほんっと言うとまたカウルネックを作りたかったんだけど、布が足らなかったので今回はVネック。
ミシン、ロックミシン、カバーステッチミシンと3台総出でアイロン台もミシン台として大活躍。
I had to use my sewing machine, serger, and the coverstitch machine so my ironing board became a sewing table too.
Funny that I made another Renfrew again around the New Year. New Year tradition now.


Last one was a cowl neck with 3/4 sleeves. I wanted to make another cowl with long sleeves but due to the fabric shortage, I made a V-neck version with long sleeves.


I am happy with the stripe matching.


The pattern was Sewaholic's Renfrew.
I cut a straight size 6, and lengthened the bodice by 1" this time.
This was actually my first time using the long sleeve pattern and I love the length of the sleeves. If I pull the sleeves, I can totally cover my thumb. If I wear it normally, the sleeve hem band nicely comes down to metacarprophalangeal joint (base of thumb).

The fabric is a navy blue and white stripe cotton jersey with 5% Lycra. Very nice and silky smooth and works well as neck/hem/sleeve band as well.
However, I only had 1 yard of fabric (59" wide). The fabric requirements suggested I needed 1 3/4 yards...
I traced the pattern and then cut the pattern with 1/4" seam allowance.
Oh, they fit! (Mostly thanks to Fabric Mart who gave me a few extra inches.)


I added a twill tape along the inside of shoulder and back neck seam to stabilize those area.
I also used my coverstitch machine to sew down the twill tape and top stitch around neck and hem.
The neck band is attached using the Jalie method where the ends of the neck band overlap instead of meeting at the center front. I added a little piece of tricot fusible interfacing at the point of the V neck

I still can't figure out how to get rid of the wrinkle from the underarm without adding darts, but other than that, I am very pleased with the results.