Pinafores

Recent sewing at TAFE included a Pinafore. They provided a Size 12 pattern, and it did not fit me, so I added a centimetre to the side seams and a centimetre to the seam at the bodice.

I'm not sure what the fabric is, TAFE provided it, but it's a winter weight, possibly acrylic / polyester. I omitted the facings and added a full lining. I'm having lots of trouble uploading photos that have been rotated from Landscape to Portrait - kind of weird ..... so this photo isn't the best.... there are side panels and a front and back bodice - we cut the side panels on the bias, and made sure the stripes lined up at the front and back. Here's a photo with Big Louis - look how much he loves being held and cuddled!!

Anyway, I thought I'd make another one. Fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics. There is an invisible zipper at the back, and we've been taught to insert invisible zips in a different way than we usually do it, that is, don't sew the seam, insert the zip, then sew the seam. Here's what we do ...... Mark a point about 2.5cm up from the end of the zipper tab - when the zipper is undone. That will be the point to which you sew the CB seam, with a 1.5cm seam allowance.

The pin shows the top of the zipper puller, so mark a line 2.5cm above and sew from that point to the hem for the CB seam.

This photo shows the lining pulled up to show the interfacing fused to the neck and armhole area, and a strip of interfacing fused to the wrong side along the CB to support the zip.

This photo shows the CB seam sewn ready for zipper insertion.

The zipper coils are placed 1.5cm from the raw edge, which means the edge of the zipper runs along the edge of the overlocking.

This is the end - and you can sew as far as the beginning of the CB seam, so there's a fair length of zipper tail that is not sewn.

At the junction where the upper bodice and skirt meets, I hand tacked the zipper in place just for a few centimetres. Ready for the other side to be inserted, of course, if there was no junction in your pattern, you would not do this.

Ahhh , not perfect : (

So here's the tail - stitch the ends to the seam allowances of the seam. So the point is, you don't have to change feet back to the regular zipper foot to finish the process, seam done, zipper in!

OK, incredibly frustrating that I can't load these photos properly ..... so tilt your head to the right.........

And I am now sending feedback to Google ...... happy sewing!

Style Arc Jane Over Shirt

Magyar Jumper

And sew it seams that there is nothing better than a Long Wet Weekend to blitz through some sewing.

 Miss 15 requested a Magyar Jumper like the one I made at TAFE earlier.. so a quick email to Rosemary at Chic Fabrique provided me with some great lacey jumper knit fabric - perfect!!

 Do you ever use the Differential Feed on your overlocker? Well, this was a perfect time to change settings to prevent the wobbly edge as shown in the photo below - makes a huge difference.

Differential Feed used on the Left edge and No Differential Feed on the Right edge.

 She didn't want the large cowl neck as the original one had, so I just did a small collar - probably could have done it a bit tighter - or maybe just the open knit structure was never going to pull in the collar ...? In any case she's happy and I'm happy.  A great quick and easy project.