A Double Dog Dare!

 Yes, I have been stalling on my September white shirt post.  I made my September shirt as part of our Threads Digital Ambassadors' Challenge this year.  Threads invited us to make an outfit/garment using a designer of our choice as the inspiration.  Now that the articles have been posted on the Threads website, I can share my shirt here.

We were asked to write three different posts about 1. the designer we chose, 2. the way we interpreted the designer in our design and 3. a technique that we used in making the garment.  I will send you to those posts on the Threads site rather than redo them here.  The four inspirations are very different, but very much reflective of their authors.  It is really fun to see them as a group.

I chose Isabel Marant for my designer and this was my inspiration image.

Marant's designs are often dripping in lace and layers...very different from the things I make and wear.  I am intrigued by her use of textures and mixing of different materials to create her garments.  It was definitely a challenge to use her as my inspiration.

I chose Isabel Marant because she seems to strike a balance between very feminine, and surprisingly masculine elements in her work.  Her garments are over-the-top lacy, yet they are anchored in strength with broad, exaggerated shoulder lines and wide leather belts.  I had a really tough time figuring out how to make a garment that was inspired by the very lacy Marant garments, without using lace!   I had a huge collection of lace but just couldn't get it to feel like me.  I ended up doing a faggot stitched vest worn over a layered tunic with raw edge details.  I wrote much more about the inspiration and the final design in the Threads posts, so please take a look over there for more of the gory details!

Here is my final design.  The folks over at Threads took some lovely pictures that they sent for me to show here.  (They always make my things look so good.) 

So this is my September white shirt.  I knew that it would take a bit more time than some of the other months and that is why I wanted to figure out a way to make a twofer.  Something that would be part of the Threads challenge and also part of my monthly white shirt challenge.  

I also made a little video of me dancing around on my new deck with my Isabel Marant outfit....kind of corny, but you can see that over at Threads as well.  HERE is a link to the Threads article.

So now I move on to October.  It has been quite warm this month so far, so I may not be moving into fall quite yet...we'll see.  

Not A White Shirt

 My September white shirt was planned way back in February when Threads presented the Digital Ambassadors with the 2021 Challenge Project.  Just a little hint...we were asked to pick a designer to use as inspiration for a garment/ensemble.  Stay tuned and once the challenge has been posted on the Threads website, I will share my September white shirt.  

For now, I did make an 'almost white shirt' at the end of August.  So maybe it can be the "late summer" white shirt.  I say 'almost' because it does have a few colorful accents that keeps it from being a totally white shirt.

I started with a square linen (I think, it could be a cotton linen blend) tablecloth with cute little yellow tulips embroidered in the corners.  I can't remember where it came from.  It could have been another piece from the things I got from my mother-in-law. Or I could have picked it up while trolling around in an antique shop at some point.  Regardless, it is probably 1950ish vintage and has a nice open stitched hem around the edges along with the tulips.  

I have played around with it forever.  I thought about a skirt, I tried several patterns using the tulips in strategic ways as pockets or collars, I even thought about pillow cases at some point.  I would pull it out at the beginning of the summer and put it back in the stash in September...until now.....

While I was packing up my sewing room at the end of May I came across several 1940/50ish cotton prints.  They were in those wonderful colors that I remember from my grandma's kitchen.  Just a bit off primary with pink added in for fun.  I was making piles for different quilting friends and I just couldn't figure out where they should go.   When I pulled out the tablecloth...again...this year those prints popped right to the front of my mind.  The yellows in the prints were perfect with the tulips so I started once again to play around with ideas.  It took the whole summer but I finally came up with something that I really like.  It ended up being really, really simple and kept the tablecloth mainly intact.  Maybe the simplicity is why I like so much.  Anyway, I used the prints and the tablecloth and made a "white-ish shirt."

I cut the tablecloth into thirds and used the pieces with the finished edges for the sides/sleeves of my shirt and the middle third for a vee shaped inset to hold them together.  I used the cotton quilting prints to bind the cut edges of the 'sleeve' pieces and that's it!  No hemming, no fitting, loose and flow-y, perfect for end of summer heat...I love it!

The binding on this shirt is just enough 'quilting' to remind me why I run for the hills when someone asks if I make quilts.  I love that there are people out there who do amazing, gorgeous quilts that I can admire and fawn over, but I am pretty much a one square and out gal.  Real quilters should not look too closely at my wobbly seams it will illicit scoffing and tutting!

Tablecloths from the middle of the last century are so lovely and drapey.  They seem to form around whatever you put them on...a table...shoulders!  I really enjoy reimagining them for my tablecloth-free life style.  It will get much more wear on me than it would on a table!

Scraps from the Past

 I actually made my August white shirt at the beginning of the month.  However, finishing the shirt did not auto-magically mean the blog post would be written.  So here I am cramming it into the last week...again! 

I was hoping that we would be closing up our house sometime during the month and might not have a lot of sewing room days.  My wish came true!  We have spent some long days moving the last of the furniture and "hoovering" (as my British son calls it) ...which is way easier when there is no furniture in the room!  I am very happy that  the house has sold, but there are so many emotions that have been swirling around as we have been moving and closing that chapter of our lives.  I guess it is to be expected, we have spent 25 years in this house and a lot of memories have been made.  It is a strange mix of happy-to-be-moving-into-the-new and sad-to-be-moving-out-of-the-old.  A bit of a roller coaster at times.  The one thing I know for sure is that when we do this again we are going to have 'people!'  I'm pretty confident that my back won't handle another 'self-move.'  Thank goodness for strong, young son and friends!

Anyhow...my August shirt!  I have been enjoying my linen scrap box this summer.  There was a time, in the not too distant past, when 100% linen fabrics were very difficult to come by.  Anytime I found some I hoarded it and when there were scraps, even the smallest little bits, I squirreled them away.  Now I have a significant pile-o-linen that is fun to play around with.  I started my August shirt by pulling all the white and off white scraps out of the box to see if there would be enough to squeeze out a top.

Along with the linen scraps, I encountered a piece I had gotten at an art fair awhile ago.  The artist paints mandalas using fruits and vegetables as the different rings.  I loved the work and couldn't resist the designs that she had printed onto squares of muslin.  The one done with pears seemed appropriate for late summer.

I arranged and rearranged my scraps several times and finally settled on a design that was centered on the front, but made up of asymmetric stripes on the back.  I cut all the pattern pieces on the bias so I wouldn't need to have a closing.  The v-neckline and the stretch of the bias made it possible to get in and out without any additional openings.  I also found some of the edging that I had saved from the giant tablecloth that I used for dresses last summer and used it to outline the mandala painting and the neckline.

As a mom I know it is not PC to pick "favorite children" but if I'm being a "bad mom" I would say my August shirt is now my favorite!  (of course we have a few more months this year, things may change!  How fickle!)  But as the temperatures have risen I have been pulling this top on quite often.  The bias makes it really comfortable and the linen is so cool.  It is going to be hard to top this one in September.

Movin' On Up and a May White Shirt

My May white shirt is finally done!  We will ignore the fact that it was actually made in June and move on.  May was spent loading boxes and laundry baskets of stuff from our home of 25 years into the car and carting an hour to our summertime house that is now our everyday house, in preparation for selling the aforementioned 25 year home!  The run-on sentence is kind of how the whole process felt.  What are we doing today?...loading the car and carting stuff up 40 steps...what about tomorrow? ...loading the car and carting stuff up 40 steps!!!!  If you think I'm kidding about the steps...

Anyway, since my sewing stuff spent the month of May in boxes and laundry baskets I did not have a chance to make my May white shirt, so we will pretend that it happened in May and hope I can get the June installment in books before July!

Before I get to my shirt, let me show you my new sewing 'cupboard.'  As part of our move to our former summer cottage, now everyday house, I said good bye to my sewing room and moved into a large closet on the third floor.  The loft room was planned as a multipurpose room so some days it's my sewing room and other times it is the yoga studio, or an office.  So all of my sewing paraphernalia is now on wheels and rolls neatly into the closet when I finish working.  I am liking the discipline of cleaning up after a project and starting with a clean slate.  It seems to make sense in my new downsized lifestyle.

Good bye old sewing room....

Hello new sewing cupboard...everything folds and rolls...

When it's time to sew, my treetop loft becomes a lovely sewing oasis...

At the end of a project, it all folds back into the cupboard to make space for whatever comes next...

So that is where my May (ahem...June) white shirt happened!

I really liked the Closet Core patterns that I tried in March so I got them out again.  My plan was to make the sweatshirt, but with a little wiggling I managed to get a pair of shorts and a tank top as well.  I got a really lovely rayon French terry in a creamy white and a matching rib knit for the bands.  It is soooo luxurious.  It has a bit of sheen and amazing drape, I feel very special when I wear it.

The tank top is a self drafted pattern.  Basically, I cut arm holes into the sides of the circular ribbing fabric.  It was a bit of an experiment, but I am happy with the results.  I like the neckline of the tank under  the sweatshirt which has quite an open neck edge.

The patterns are quite oversized and while I like my new shirt and pants, I think I might go down a size or even two for the next go round with these patterns.  They feel a bit overwhelming!  I really like the way the pockets and side seams are done on the pants.  It was a bit of a head scratcher the first time, but once I figured it out, it was very slick.  I'm not sure how many "lounge" outfits I'm going to need now that we are coming our of Covid hibernation, but for now I am loving these cozy pieces.  ...on to June!

Spot On for April!

 I'm on the third month of my white shirt challenge and it's April and it's getting pretty warm in Key West.  It's definitely T-shirt weather!

This white shirt starts with two T-shirts.  I found some really light and really soft T's at the Gap store.  I got a white one and an ivory one in the largest size they had so I would have maximum jersey real estate to work with.  My plan was to do a 'slow' sew' project ala Natalie Chanin.  I love her embroidered garments with the all over designs, I just don't have the stamina for them and it was already mid April, I certainly wasn't going to get anything terribly elaborate finished in two weeks!  

I carefully took apart the shirts thinking I might want to use the ribbings.  I cut two fronts and two backs out of the white and one front and one back out of the ivory.  

For one side of the shirt I layered the two colors and stitched my design through them and then cut away the interior of the shapes.   On the other side I appliqued the design onto a single layer.  I wasn't sure how well the concept was going to work because the two fabrics were really close in shade.  Once I got it together I think the idea became apparent.  

Because I was using circles, I was particularly careful about the placement of the design, especially on the fronts.😏 I cut out a bunch of paper circles and scattered them around to make sure I liked it before I started stitching.

I used a double running stitch to make the center, side and shoulder seams.  I was standing in front of the mirror pondering what to do to finish the edges and decided I WAS finished.  I left them raw.  The fabrics are so light weight I was afraid that too much stitching on the edges would just make them droopy.  I also like that they echo the raw edges of the appliques.

I was half thinking this would be a 'car project' for the drive back to Michigan, but now I'll have to come up with something else.  I'm glad I have it to wear right now...it is nice and cool!  

That's the April installment, a white on white tank top....now on to May!

Color Blocking with White

 When I decided to challenge myself at the end of February to make a white shirt once a month I thought four weeks between shirts would be plenty....Wow....I can't believe how quickly the four weeks slipped by.  I'm going to have to pay attention and not waste any of my weeks.  It's easy to say, "I'll do it next week."  But when you only have four, you can't push it off too many times!

I did have to wait for my white fabrics to arrive, so I couldn't get too much of a jump on March.  I ordered several versions of white fabric from "Gorgeous Fabrics."  I had a hard time choosing, there were lots of lovely pieces, but in the end I restrained myself a bit and picked out four to get me started.  The fabric came right away, it was lovingly packed in tissue and plastic to keep it white, and Ann from the store sent me a very nice thank you email which I thought was extra special.  I felt a bit bad about unwrapping them and shoving them unceremoniously into the washing machine.

Here's what I got...

The bottom right hand corner is an ivory rayon twill.  It has lots of body and I already have an idea for how I want to use it.

Next to that is a soft cotton batiste.  It is very fine and sheer, almost a voile.  It is more lofty than the rayon and has a matte finish.

Next, a silk organza.  I really wasn't thinking about using it for the challenge, but I needed a new press cloth so I ordered it up to help get to the 'free shipping' level!  It might find its way into one of the shirts, we'll see.

The luscious stuff next to the organza is a silk georgette heavily embellished with tropical leaf embroidery.  I was afraid it might be stiff, but it is wonderfully soft and drapy...I'm going to have to think hard about what to do with this one.  Maybe just look at it!

And finally a great handkerchief linen.  It washed up beautifully, as did the batiste and the rayon, and has that telltale crumple that screams "I'm linen."

As I pondered what to do for my March project, I realized that it is the detail that distinguishes a white shirt.  It would be easy to end up with a whole closet of the same shirt.  With that thought in mind I, decided to use both the linen and the batiste.  If they were two different colors I would say that I was going to 'color block' them to add interest to my shirt, but I'm not sure what you call it when all the fabrics are the same color?  Anyway, that was the concept I was going for.

I chose my cut-on-sleeve, pull-over top as a starting point.  I made the yoke seam before cutting out the pattern which gave me nice clean edges to work with.  Because the batiste was so sheer, the seams became a focal point.  I spent a lot of time measuring and folding to get them relatively the same width.  I was planning to use a twin needle to do the top stitching, but the zigzag that is created with the bobbin thread actually showed through the sheer seams, so I ended up doing double rows of single needle stitching to finish the seams.  The neck is finished with a bias facing of the batiste and I added linen cuffs to finish the sleeves.

I am very happy with my "color-blocked" white shirt.  I think the two fabrics are great together and the seam detail gives it some interest.  I think I will enjoy wearing this one.  No rest for the wicked...on to April!

A Little Challenge for 2021

 2021 has been looking suspiciously like 2020.  The main similarity being the inability to plan anything!  I do realize that there are yogis out there who spend their whole lives trying to be present in the moment, but the present moment does not inspire me right now!  I need a heading, something to point my compass at....nothing monumental or earth shaking, just a little something out there in the wilderness to make my way toward.  Since traveling is still a big unknown it can't be an anticipated vacation, or visits with friends and family.  After considering a few options I landed on a sewing challenge.  What and when I sew is pretty much in my control and that is what I need, something that doesn't depend on "acts of God" or the whims of politicians.   I have been having a bit of trouble getting my 'sewjo' going and thought some kind of challenge for myself would get me moving and keep me going.  

I thought about joining in on the "make nine" challenge that many people do, but it requires that you choose nine patterns and nine fabrics that you want to make over the year.  This is just not possible for my brain.  I never really know what I will be sewing until I'm doing it.  The idea of choosing NOW what I want to be sewing in September?...I don't see it.  

I have a sewing buddy who got herself a whole bolt of white linen.  She wants to make a pile of white shirts.  Ever since she mentioned this it has been rolling around in my head.  I decide I would do a 'white shirt' challenge this year.  I made a few last summer and it was fun and challenging to make each one it's own thing.  I love playing with different textures and weights of fabric, the style possibilities go on and on, and choosing white fabric on line is much more doable than trying to match colors!  I am targeting one shirt a month...doable but not strict...I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't get 12 in the year.  In fact, since this is March already I only have 10 months left anyway! 

This idea took shape during the last week of February.  If I was going to start in February it was going to have to happen right away.  C'mon sewjo don't fail me now.  Not at the starting line!  I masked up and made a quick trip to my corner (literally on the same street) fabric store and came up with a white canvas duck cloth.  ...I said it was going to be a challenge!  I also found some metal buttons and twill tape, here we go.  Talk about staring at a blank canvas...😏

The weight of the fabric suggested a shirt-jacket of some kind.  I pulled out my Tabula Rasa pattern as a starting point.  I love the sleeve of this pattern and it would work well with my canvas.  Topstitching also came into the plan...back to the corner for heavy duty thread.

One of the things I really like about the Tabula Rasa is the sewing order.  I like getting the collar and front details finished before adding the bulk of sleeves to the mix.  

The metal buttons had little slots that I threaded the twill tape through.  I stitched the tape to the center front between the buttons.  I got all six buttonholes perfect in the first go!!!  Too bad they were all 1/2" to low for the buttons!!!!  Argggggggg.  The sound one makes when ripping out five perfect buttonholes!  

Once the fronts, back and collar are ready, the sleeves and side panels are connected and the seam is done in one pass from the front hem over the shoulder to the back hem.  No fussing around in little confined arm holes.  This construction method is also great for adding topstitching details.

I added some extra topstitching to define the pocket....(hard to see it with all the white!)

So there you have it, the first of my white shirts (I'll have to come up with a catchy name for my challenge, maybe for March.)  A white canvas shirt-jacket.  I think it will be perfect for breezy evening walks to the beach.  

I'm not sure if it will continue the rest of the year, but having this little challenge got me motivated and sewing in the last week of February.  I'm already ruminating about the March shirt.  We'll call it a good start!