Gathering using the overlocker/serger

I remembered while I should have been sleeping that I forgot to mention how I had gathered the ruffles on the aprons. I used the overlocker to quicken up the process.

This is a great way to gather large amounts of fabric using your overlocker. The picture above shows what happens after it goes through the needle.

Use these settings (or fiddle around to get what works best, or check your manual)

Stitch length 5
Needle thread tension 6 to 9
Upper looper tension 3 to 4
Lower looper tension 3 to 4

then serge away! Just keep a reasonable lengths (tails) of chain at the beginning and the end so that if you need to reduce the gathers you have enough thread so it does not unravel. Much faster than stitching 2 rows of basting stitches and pulling up.

In fact the gathering for all 6 aprons would not have taken more than 5 minutes! Got to love that!

Christmas sewing!

I have just spent the weekend (in between shopping, cooking, sleeping) making aprons. Each year I make gifts for staff at work. I usually make the same thing for everyone. Luckily there are only about 10 of us. And this year it is easier as one in on maternity leave, and the boss in in Thailand.

So for the girls....


I made ruffle aprons. This is a tutorial by Morgan that was featured on Sew,Mama,Sew! Aprons seem to be a very popular gift this year as there have been quite a few appearing in blogland. I pretty much followed Morgan's tutorial but made a couple of changes. I overlocked the ruffles rather than hemming- quicker when you are making 6! Also I accidentally cut the ruffles an inch too narrow. Not sure what came over me but these things happen I suppose and not hemming helped out!

I also made one long tie for the top of the apron. Morgan has you add a band and then attach the ties to that. Again I was after speed and this seemed simpler to me.

One long tie made with the centre left open to insert the apron.
You need to be careful when topstitching to also catch the back of the tie.
Close up of the band (a different apron) sewn at the top to secure.
And here are 3 pretty maids all in a row. The other 3 that I made are similar. Now onto the one male apron that I need to make - will post about that one tomorrow!

Latest Ottobre tshirt

Thank you all so much for your very kind comments and congratulations. We really do appreciated tham all. Ellen has been lurking and reading your comments and it really has added to her excitement!

She will need to do a short film next year for her final year at high school and she is still considering what it should be about. I have tried to convince her a story of the process of turning a flat piece of fabric into a finished garment would be interesting (and nobody else would do that) but she is not convinced! lol!

Anyway, on a more mundane topic - I finished another Ottobre 2/2007 tshirt over the weekend:
I purchased the poly onionskin type of knit from Frou Frou on our Pattern Review weekend. It was in the remnant bin - gotta love those remnant bins. It is a lovely turquoise colour.

For the trim I cut some strips from another fabric I purchased from Darn Cheap on the same weekend. I simply topstitched the strips onto the front of the tshirt.

And here you can see it with my skirt that I completed last week.

I am going to try and get a couple more tops done this week, then work on a sun frock for Christmas.

Great news!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes we have the Internet back after a week offline.......


But much, much, much better than that.......Ellen won the Shakespeare competition I posted about a while back. The competition was to interpret a line of Shakespeare anyway you liked. And my baby won the national competition. So now she is in the money and her school also wins $10,000. I think she will be popular with the principal now :) Not bad for a 16 year old...mummy is very very proud.

In case you missed the film and you would like to see it go here

McCalls 8972

I have finished my linen skirt using McCalls 8972. Sorry the photos are not very good. I took them this morning and uploaded them at work (still no Internet access at home) and can't go back and take better ones as the skirt is at home and I am not.

Overall I am pretty happy with how the skirt has turned out. It was much shorter than I anticipated - should have measured! So the hem turn up is minimal. Also I had trouble getting the hem straight. The linen wanted to "bubble" along the edge

I underlined with silk organza using Shannon's method of sewing right sides together of each piece, turning out and making up as usual. Thanks Shannon! I didn't line as I think the underlining is enough.

The belt is not perfect and I would have redone it if I had any more fabric. I found that the belt changed shape due to it being cut in a curve, so some parts stretched. I think it would have been better to cut the shape out of a very firm sew in interfacing and then use that as the sewing guide. Well I know for next time! Also the belt is a bit thin for the buckle, even though it is the right size per the pattern.

Ann asked "...I see allot of people have presses, do you recommend them?". Yes I would recommend one if you have the room and the money to buy one. It is not a must have sewing accessory but it sure does make fusing interfacing a breeze. Mine is only new and hasn't had much of a workout yet :)

Off the Internet

The phone lines in our area have been down since Wednesday and as we are on ADSL we have not had Internet connection. I am typing this from my office (on a Saturday). The girls have been having withdrawal symptoms so I have brought them into the office to catch up with their MySpace etc.

The phone company is telling us it will be Tuesday before anything is fixed! So I will only be able to catch up with blogs etc in the office.

On the sewing front, I have almost finished the skirt mentioned in the previous post. I still have to do the hem and make the belt. It is looking good! Now to try and catch up on some other posts (but I don't have my feeds here!). Oh how quickly we become dependent on technology!

Mini wardrobe plan

As I am on a roll with my cream suit and co-ordinates I thought I would expand it into a mini wardrobe plan a la Carolyn.

The next item I will make is an old McCalls pattern 8972. It is a really versatile pattern and I haven't make it up before. I noticed that the date on the tissue of the pattern is 1997. 10 years isn't too bad and I think the style is still current. I will be making view C - the black and white with the belt.

I will be using a $5 remnant of pure linen from Materialise of Camberwell, a belt buckle from Darn Cheap Fabric in Heidelberg and left over poly crinkle from Brunswick Fabrics in Brunswick. All of these were purchased on our Pattern Review Down Under weekend.

I was telling Ellen about the skirt and she laughed! I asked her what was so funny and she said I WAS! - I always have everything so matchy matchy. Mmm, daughters! So yes, I confess I am a matchy matchy girl....and this skirt WILL match my jacket!

Yesterday I also at long last took my steam press out of its box and pressed up the linen. Worked like a charm. In the photo I have the linen showing with what I have chosen to be the wrong side. The lighter side matches best with the jacket. I plan to underline the linen with silk organza to help reduce the crushing factor. If anyone has any better ideas please let me know. Thanks ;)