Simple Sewing 101 - Smash it out!

It's Slow Fashion October so this post could be seen to be badly timed. It's not. But it could be. I'm going to talk about it some more on Friday, but to me Slow Fashion October doesn't necessarily mean that your making needs to be slow. It simply means being considered about what you make. Once you've decided what to make then game on. 

That said, obviously sometimes I love to create in a slow meditative way. Slowing down, using my craft as a way to provide daily nourishment for my soul. Other days I just want/need to get. it. done! I had three kids you see, and they go through (as in wear-out-in-an-unmendable-way) a lot of clothing. 

So this last weekend my oldest kid needed shorts. Lots of shorts. He is an all-year-round short wearer, which when combined with sport and hooning around the playground, means that he is particularly hard on his outfits - as you are when you are small and having fun. Of course that makes me glad, but it often means that he brings me shorts with the bottom part missing totally, or with fabric so thin they are unrepairable. He always believes that I am capable of repairing them - bless! - so I have on occasion, just had to "disappear" them. They do get to a stage where they are best left to RIP.

So I often find myself making in multiples - to fill the need quickly. This weekend past I set the ambitious target of four pairs of shorts, to be made in an hour here and another hour there, and one evening stint that finished just after midnight. As I was making them I realised that when I'm doing this kind of "smash it out" sewing, I actually have a whole heap of techniques that I use to speed up the process, and be more efficient. I know you guys like a bit of a trick, so I thought I'd share. 

Keep in mind that while these techniques work a treat if you are making a single garment, they work even more splendidly if you are making multiples.

Get set up.

1. Pre-wind your bobbins so they are ready to go. If I am making multiples then I normally wind at least two bobbins, if not four. You can buy extra bobbins at your local sewing shop and they are a great investment. I have about ten for my machine, pre-wound with my "neutral" colours (see below).
    
2. Change your needle. You need to do this for every 8 hours of sewing but I find that changing at the start of each major project works pretty well for me. Who would actually know what 8 hours looks like? It's worth the expense - the machine will work better. Your stitches will be more even and get tangled less often.
    
3. Gather your other materials and read through the pattern to mentally combine the steps you can. 
    
4. Use a water soluble marking pen to mark the right side of your fabric with a big cross. This means that you don't waste minutes of your precious time trying to figure out the right side of your linen. 

Prewound bobbins, thread-snips, bowl for loose cottons and spare thread.  

Pre-winding.

My favourite water-soluble marker that I use to mark notches and right sides of fabrics.

Texta marks to show the right side of the fabric. 

While you are sewing

1. Where possible don't pin. Or pin minimally. This you can only learn with practice, but often you only need a pin or two for the seam - one at the start and one towards the end -  rather than 5/10/15 pins. Just hold the edges together as you sew with your right hand and use your fingernails to scratch the fabric into place rather than pinning.*
    
2. When you need pins, pin perpendicularly to the raw edge of the fabric with the pin head sitting on the outside of the fabric. This means you can take the pins out easily without slowing your sewing down too much. 
    
3. Minimise interruptions to flow. This one is critical. You want to minimise the number of times you need to get up and down from your sewing machine.
   
   There are basically three steps to sewing - pinning, sewing and ironing. You want to minimise the number of times you change from one to the other as it interrupts your flow. And flow is what it's about people.
   
   If there is pinning to do, then pin everything you can (as in the next two or three or even four steps of the pattern where you can) before moving onto the next step of sewing those pinned seams. 
   
   For example when I was making the aforementioned shorts I sat down and pre-finished all the edges the pattern suggested in one go before then moving on to the first step - which was to sew the pockets to the fronts, which I did without pinning, to save time. I then finished the edges of the pocket seam and only then did I get up from the machine to press them flat. 
    
4. Always ALWAYS snip your threads as you go. This could change your life. Depends on your life obviously.
    
5. Chain piece!!!! This is the single biggest thing you can do to improve your speed and output. It's super simple and probably easiest to explain through the diagrams below. 
   
   What chain-piecing involves is having multiple seams ready to sew, and then you sew them without cutting your threads in between each seam. It doesn't matter if they are the same type of seams or different seams. This is most easily understood by looking at the photos below.
   
   You still do a back stitch or two at the start and end of each seam where appropriate. But you don't then lift the foot, and pull up the needle, and cut the threads. Instead you sew 1cm without any fabric under the needle, and then guide the next seam you need to sew, into the machine. You do a backstitch so it doesn't come undone and then keep hooning through your seaming. When you are finished as many seams as you can then just snip the threads in between each piece. This is a technique borrowed from the quilting world that works beautifully with garment sewing.


6.  

A pile of pieces ready to be sewn. In this case they don't need to be pinned as I was finishing the edges with a simple zigzag.

Backstitch just as you are finishing each piece to secure the thread before leaving a cm of sewing. Then guide in the next piece doing a simple backstitch as the needle hits that piece to ensure the thread doesn't unravel.

This is the third piece being added to the chain.

This is six pockets and six fly pieces all chainstitches together using dirty grey cotton for three different pairs of shorts.

Up close showing also the thread between pieces and the  blue water-soluble text mark showing me the right side. 

Chain pieced fronts of trousers. 

Chain-piecing finished the edges after sewing the pockets to the fronts.

Some things about multiples.

If you can make multiples then do. The effort involved in making one of something versus three of something is really similar. At a guess I would say that I can make three pairs of shorts at the same time, in the time it would take me to make one pair, and then make a second.

This only works if;

1. You choose fabrics that mean that you only use one colour cotton. With the shorts above I chose kinda wisely. For the denim, duck-egg linen and herringbone shorts I used the same dirty blue cotton. For the yellow shorts I used an off white which meant that I needed to sew them separately. ** 
2. You choose fabrics that are similar in weight so you don't need to change the needle.

A couple of things to note.

*About pins - There are times when you need pins and lots of them. Gathers, bindings, waistbands that need to be spread evenly, set in sleeves AND every time you are matching a seam with another seam. 

** A note about neutral cottons - This is something that I do with all my sewing. I use six colours of thread no matter what the project. I call them my "neutrals", and they are off-white, grey, dirty blue grey, red, navy and black. My two most commonly used colours are off-white and dirty blue grey. They go with nearly everything. The only time I change to a matching colour is when I change the top thread only in order to topstitch a waistband or a hem. I don't change my bobbin colour as it is on the inside. Obviously this is for everyday sewing - special birthday sewing gets matching cotton. Sometimes at least.

All three skirts were made at once with dirty blue grey cotton. Obviously not the ideal choice for the yellow spot skirt, but after over two years of wear I've never had anyone look inside the garment and be appalled by my cotton colour choice. It meant I could make all three at once, chain piecing, which is infinitely faster than making things one at a time. I changed the top thread only to topstitch the waistband and the hem of the yellow skirt. Works a treat.

Anything you experienced sewers would add that I've missed? 

Felicia x

Do you have the courage.

You know those times when it feels like the universe is talking to you? Well I've been feeling that quite a bit lately. But up until today I haven't felt like I've been able to hear what it's trying to say. 

The last month or so I've been distracted and tired and a little off. Like my spark has gone on holiday or at least for a little lie-down. I haven't been able to finish anything and I haven't really been able to write. I just went back through the blog to see what I had managed to write about, and I realised I've been so distracted I haven't even posted all the photos of the retreat yet. Even instagram (usually my easy form of social media) has felt like too much. I've been able to post but I'm not responding like I normally would. I think I've been a little creatively and physically worn out. I'm sure you've been there.

Anyway, back to the universe. So in the tiredness I've been reading and listening to podcasts and audiobooks. And the same book - Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert keeps coming up again and again. I've seen it on instagram, been tweeted about it and even received a few emails about it - one while I've been writing the post. And so today I downloaded it on Audible. 

She tells the story of Jack Gilbert, an inspiring poet, talking to one of his students who says she wants to be a writer....

“Do you have the courage to bring forth this work. The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes.”

— Jack Gilbert in Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic

“Creative Living Defined.
So this I believe is the central question upon which all creative living hinges. Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you....but surely something wonderful is sheltered inside you. I say this with all confidence because I happen to believe that we are all walking repositories of buried treasure. I believe this is one of the oldest and most generous tricks the universe plays on us human beings, both for it’s own amusement and for ours. The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all and then stands back to see if we can ever find them.

The hunt to uncover those jewels, that’s creative living. The courage to go on that hunt in the first place that’s what separates mundane existence from an more enchanted one.”

“When I refer to creative living I am speaking more broadly. I am talking of a living a life that is more driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.”

— Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic

It turns out that like the people said* is just what I needed. I think I'm only about 30 minutes in and already it is soothing and inspiring the creatively tired soul. And reminding me that in order to live the life I want to live then I need to flex my courage muscle. Not this week - as I actually think I probably just need a rest - but soon. Soon I need to ramp up my next set of projects. The ones I'm afraid of. The ones that make me uncomfortable and the ones the feel most like me. The ones that mean the most to me. The ones that might fail. As I'm writing this, there is a spark of excitement in my tired eyes just imagining them all coming alive. But that will only happen if I'm courageous enough.

I need to say that although I'm only a little way into the book I think it's sensational. A must read. Already it's reminded me that I want to live a big life. A brave one. I can't help but return to that  beautiful and life affirming Mary Oliver quote "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" It's reminded me to step up. I think part of my tiredness has been fear of the next bit.

One of my ongoing experimental creative projects.

In particular the quote is ringing true for me in two areas; in my Slow Fashion October making AND in my "what's next for The Craft Sessions?" quest. I'll leave The Craft Sessions talk for another day and chat briefly about making. 

I've spoken before about getting stuck in middle of a project or even stuck in the dreaming. Dreaming but not doing. And inevitably I find that it comes back to courage! Courage to make mistakes, to practice and to take risks. To sit in the not knowing. 

Elizabeth Gilbert talks extensively about the connection between fear and creativity and that you can't have one without the other. That you have to step into the unknown to create! And that the unknown is not a comfortable place for fear. But she also talks about how you need fear. Of fear as a companion. I love this way of thinking. She says that if you give into your fear then your life will be so much smaller than you want it to be.

When I step into the unknown of my making, and try something, even though I have limited time and am unsure I am going to get the outcome I desire.....well that is where I really get to making the things that give me the most joy. When I experiment and let go of my need to control the outcome. Obviously there are disasters but it is also when I've made the things I'm most proud of. 

And for the moment that is a big component and focus of my making. Not churning things out but allowing myself the time to experiment and trying to be courageous and just get stuck in. 

I recently saw a beautiful example of the practice of courage and creativity and experimentation. We are renovating our house at the moment (another reason for the tiredness). It's a project that will take a few years, and a lot of research. So I've been spending a fair bit of my time getting quotes and looking up random things. Roaming around the internet looking at box shaped pendant lights or these beauties that I have just ordered for my kitchen (happy dance emoji)! One of those searches lead me to this amazingly innovative and beautiful house and the story of the two brothers who built it. Their story, which you can see in this video about the build (which is on the bottom this page) is so worth a watch. 

Three things that they said really struck me. 

“Chris - It is so rewarding doing stuff by yourself. I mean you don’t get the finish that a craftsman would, but you definitely get feedback, like tactile feedback, that you never do when you are sitting in an office.
Ben - It makes you a better designer. You learn from the material. There is knowledge that can only come from the hands. You can imagine all you like but...”

— Grand Designs Australia 2015 - Episode 1

You learn things through the physicality of the making about the shape/outcome of what you are making that you can't imagine at the design phase. I have come across this time and time again - especially while quilting. A quilt on paper is never the same as a quilt in the flesh. The materials I use are always forcing me to adapt as I make. Sometimes, before I've even started cutting, I get stuck in the fear it won't turn out how I imagine it, so I procrastinate. But the reality is that it won't. It can't. The only way to see it's final shape is to make it. Feel the fear and do it anyway.

“Anyway it is not that hard, building is really not that hard….….if you can ride a bicycle like you really can build a house. Ok we are not all going to be Cadell Evans. But.... you just undertake the process and you get there. ”

— Ben Gilbert - Grand Designs Australia 2015 - Episode 1

This point is one I think is so important - and his example is really similar to my running analogy from my post last year called "You're so talented" and other malignant myths. A post all about how talent is not a necessary component of creativity but getting in there and making is. 

“....a quarter of the build has been R&D, and that is what you do. You invest in yourself as designers and makers. ”

And finally that you need to invest in your learning. Both with your time and your materials. Making mistakes is not a waste! There is no such thing as wasted knitting time. 

I know this book is going to have many many more insights, so I'll share when I get further down the track but it sounds like it's probably one you should just pick up when you see it. In the meantime, I'd love to hear about your journey to live courageously, big or small. And also whether you have read the book?

Felicia x

*Thanks Brienne, and Pitch Perfect folks and Carolanne and Kate.

Slow Fashion October: Loved

I've had a really hard time posting this week, and I think it's because I've had too much going on in my head. Too much that I'm struggling to uncurl; too many thoughts about slow fashion, what it means, and why it means something. Actually that isn't entirely true. I've written the posts but they just aren't readable. They are like looking into someone's head.... Slow fashion is such an interesting topic.

This week's theme though is easy for me. Loved. I've written in the past about both the things I'm going to show you today. But in essence it is the outfit below. I've worn it over and over again. They both makes me feel good. And that's what I really want out of clothing - things that make me feel good. Things that make me feel like me. 

The outfit I love! Wacky iPhone photo colouring...

They are both really simple - simple patterns made with beautiful quality materials. Materials that in both cases have lasted and on a per wear basis would now be tiny. And both of them were altered by me to give me a fit that suited my style and shape.

The cardigan pattern is Vitamin D by Heidi Kiirmaier  and all my alterations can be found on Ravelry here. Simple alterations that made it more Me-like, so flap-less. And I can't talk about this cardy without talking about the yarn. This is by far my favourite yarn in terms of longevity and wear. And it feels beautiful. Silky and Soft. It is called Old Maiden Aunt Alpaca Silk and is a blend of 80% alpaca and 20% silk. It's a handpainted, semi-solid that looks as good today as it did when I made it. Crazy but true. And it cost me about $75 AUD. 

Photo taken in May.

The dress pattern is the Wiksten Tank Dress by Jenny Gordy made from a seasonal Liberty print. Based on the fact that I used just over a metre then it cost me about $40AUD. It's per wear cost would be minuscule. I used the arse adjustment alteration I mention in the Simple Sewing 101 post here. I wear it over jeans generally which you can see in the photo at the top with my women.

What is pretty random about this outfit (that means that I actually know how long I've had it for) is that I was wearing it when my partner asked me to marry him four-ish years ago*. A totally out of the blue event, as we had been together for ten years already (and three kids :)), so to me it was just an everyday evening at the park with the kids. This lovely fact means unlike most things in my wardrobe I know that I've owned them for at least that long as there is a photo!

I can't wait to read all your stories. I have the feeling this week will be a little sentimental.

Felicia x 

*It was our sometime around our ten year anniversary. 

Slow Fashion October : Small

So I tried to write this post earlier this week. And I wrote a whole other post about my plans for my frocks - but it didn't sit right and so I didn't post. I talked about my goals for Slow Fashion October last week on the blog and they remain the same. Focus and frocks. But how they fit into the bigger picture .....well I needed to give it some thought. 

So from Karen's setup post - this weeks theme is Small. 

“...we’re talking handmade / living with less / quality over quantity / the capsule wardrobe / indie fashion / small-batch makers / sustainability in every sense. ”

— Karen from Fringe Association

The more I thought about it the more I wanted to spend this month focused on the bigger picture. Not just making frocks at a frantic rate (I'm sewing faaaassst this week!) but sewing frocks that fit into the bigger picture of a quality wardrobe that will last over time. 

Before embarking on this process of making my wardrobe a few years ago,  I often used to go to the cupboard and find nothing to wear. This is no longer my reality.  I've slowly created my larger-than-necessary capsule wardrobe, in complimentary colours, and it works really well. I fell good about it. So now it's just a process of filling in the gaps. Which means not making lots of frocks but making frocks the right frocks.

That said I think part of the problem of desiring more and more is that I don’t think I’ve ever felt that good about my wardrobe. I’ve looked into it and  many/most of the clothes haven’t made me feel that good. I haven't put that much thought into them. I've impulse purchased and not planned. I've had that "I don't have anything to wear feeling" often.  Moving to a place where most of my clothing “sparks joy” Konmari style, and throwing out those things that don’t, has me feeling more grateful and less needy. Which means that I’m less focused on acquiring more (from a place of not-having-enough) and more focused on being joyful for what is there (from a place of gratitude).

I’ve talked a bit about my changing relationship with the idea of “enough”. A tricky concept to be sure. So while I’ve been meaning to make frocks for forever, when I’m finally about to make, I find myself wondering if I actually already have enough clothes. Eek!! So I want to be careful. Careful that I am making things that I really want to wear, will wear often, will be part of my everyday and that won’t date. 

I read this line in Women In Clothes this week when one of the editors/writers talks about how she believes that each person has a “deep style”, even if they don’t know it. I’m thinking a bit about what mine might be, so that I can make sure the things I’m making fill the gaps, and then last me. I’m hoping the formula leads to something like this.

Less + better* = Satisfied for longer and grateful

*Where better is something that fits me, my lifestyle and makes me feel joyful. Because joyful clothing is where it is at - non?

There is this other line in Women in Clothes (I can’t find where ) where one of the women says that her purchasing line is “will I like this in five years?” Isn’t that an ace yardstick with which to measure a purchase?

So I have a revised plan for my wardrobe - to fill gaps with deep style items I will like in five years. 

And the thing I was at risk of doing at the start of the week was planning on making a lot of things. Four frocks was my plan. And in time four might be a good amount - I already have a few. But after a few days of thought about enough/capsule/style/consumerism/responsibility/desire I am scaling the plan back to include the two that I most want and am most avoiding because I'm a little scared. Scared they won't turn out as beautifully as I want them to. I've been dreaming about them both for so long that making them into a reality comes with the risk that I'll screw them up..... Slow Fashion October to the rescue! Let's focus on the things that will make us happiest in the long term in order to kick the fear to the curb. 

Without further ado, they are...

The everday boxy tunic - in a gorgeous fabric

Over jeans, over tights. Loose box tunic with a stylish shape in a gorgeous fabric. Lou Box again – but altered to be more Georgia like. So a bit wider and with the cuff on the sleeves. I can’t remember how I came across Elizabeth Suzann originally but like many others before me I'm a little obsessed with her style. Timeless, fashionless, forever clothing that suits my everyday*. I want to make a long tunic kinda knee length frock in my favourite ever linen that I have been saving like the hoarder I am. It’s going to be simple and smashing. I've cut it out already and am very nervous that I made the neckline too big. "It's only fabric, it's only fabric, it's only fabric" is the mantra of the day.

Scraps ready to go....

 

my favourite daywear-to-dinner frock style - in a gorgeous fabric I made

Anna by By Hand London is the base pattern of the top of this frock! Again I’ve been wanting to do Anna for-ever. This dress shape is one of my favourites - but it needs a lightly gathered skirt like you see in the examples here that pair it with the Emery skirt.  I plan on doing a slightly gathered skirt as per my favourite ever Gorman frock and will lower the neckline a little. And the fabric.....well I can't wait to show you but I have plans for a masterpiece…..that is where the slow fashion comes in. It may not work but I'm going to finally give it a shot.

And then there is the dress that I don't get to make yet but may make before the summer.

the summer perfect summer frock - in Nani Iro 

Lisa by Tessuti. Frocks like Lisa would be my everday summer uniform if I had one. I have a jersey fushia number (I can see your shocked faces) that I’ve worn quite a bit. But I've worn it not because I like it, OR because it fills me with joy, but rather because it's there. Lisa will be joyful. She will be made from that gorgeous Nani Iro in the photo above, with a lower scooped neckline and possibly no buttons. I need to lower the neckline as I think Lisa suffers a little bit from Waist Boob on me. I tried the sample on in Tessuti's Melbourne shop. If only we could do that with all sewing patterns!  

Can't wait to see what you have all been up to this week.

Felicia x

*In time I plan on purchasing some of her sensational Clyde pants.

Why I love "Slow Fashion October": Focus!

I want to live a life I can be proud of. One where I can think back over the choices that I've made and know that they enriched my life. One where I didn't get so distracted by the buzz of the connected world that I spent so much time in my virtual life at the expense of my real life. And by virtual life I include time spent in my imagination. I want to be mindful of the life that is right in front of me. I want to make sure that I am prioritising what will make me feel fulfilled in the long term. And not get caught up in the quick fix.

I want to consciously build that life I'm proud of. Construct it. A construction that is a work in progress over the next fifty years. Making sure my values are at the core of it, and they enrich both my life, and the lives of the people around me. Especially my partner and my kids. My local community. And my environment.

I want my kids to understand my values and watch me walk my talk. I have no choice. Smart cookies that they are - they will see through me if I don't. 

And all this is why I love Slow Fashion October. 

Over the last year I've been writing about my journey in a project I called Stash Less. It's initial aim was to talk about my consumption around craft but it's scope also included ideas around what I was making, how and why. It's changed my making and furthermore it's changed me. I've learnt so much about myself and what I value - and yesterday on October 1st Stash Less was a year old! The very same day that Karen launched Slow Fashion October - such a lovely coincidence! 

In a very lovely and supportive way, Karen and I have been on a bit of a parallel journey around our wardrobes over the last year. It's something we both talk about in the Woolful episode we were featured in early this year. Ashley titled the episode "Handmade wardrobes, Intentional making, stashes and talent". And I think her title was perfect!! In it we both talk a bit about our evolving thoughts around concious wardrobe creation. I've found Karen's journey so inspiring! And I'm so glad she came up with the idea to create and host Slow Fashion October. It feels really timely to me.

Late last year, I wrote a Stash Less post called Selling Discontent. In it, I talked about how I felt that  even though I was hand making, sometimes my approach towards making was more akin to fast fashion than slow. That my crafting wasn't necessarily connected to my values. And how I was letting the time poverty of early parenting act as an excuse (a good one but an excuse none the less) to make at a frantic pace. Churning things out without putting as much thought as I would like to into whether I was creating a body of work (read: wardrobe) that I would be proud of and that suited my needs.

Me Made May this year showed me clearly that actually it probably isn't as bad as I thought. Over the last few years I've created wardrobe that is versatile and coordinated. There are a million outfit options open to me that mean that I'm not getting bored and I'm able to look like I want. However one thing I did identify in that post was that most of what i had made fell into the category of Simple Sewing 101. This is great, as that is mainly what I wear, simple clothes. However, when I look at my visual diary via Pinterest, I can clearly see there is a disconnect. The pinterest page shows I really, truly, love frocks. And yet my frock making tally consists of two frocks in total, one of which I don't wear. 

Frocks are my white whale (terrible analogy but go with it, I'm a little tired). They are the thing I never get to making even though they are the thing I really want to make, and really want to wear. I never get to them due to the hum of distraction and instant gratification. I prioritise all the easy stuff. The kids clothes, the sweaters, the cushion covers as I know I will get the result I want. I am yet to make a frock I love - I avoid the frock making as it is a bit harder. I will have to work on getting them to fit. And they might not work. The perfectionist in me is in full avoidance mode. 

 And so I live in avoidance land. In anticipatory hum of when I will get to the frock pile of fabrics and patterns. Oh the joy that will be had when I get there. And yet I don't. Get there. Because I prioritise all the easy stuff at the expense of the thing I really want. 

My commitment to Slow Fashion October!

I plan on using Slow Fashion October as a way to focus. I think the loose structure that Karen has provided gives a lovely framework within which focus can be found and intention set. 

Put simply, my focus is to do the hard stuff and to make the frocks that have been sitting on my wish list forever.

One caveat to my plan is that Slow Fashion October will not be a slow crafting month for me. October is a seasonal transition month in Australia. It is the month where each year I remake the kids wardrobes with the things they need for the summer. And there is a birthday which means special sewing. So as well as making frocks for me I need to make four pairs of small boy shorts, two pairs of small girl shorts and two small girl dresses - one of which is a birthday dress. That said, birthday dresses take time and are all about intention so that fits well. 

Lucky for me I love a bit of a deadline and I love me a bit of focused making. Also lucky for me the definition of Slow Fashion October is up to the individual (thanks Karen!) and may or may not include speed making. As long as that making is done with intention.

Cause that's point is really.... to think about what is meaningful!

My commitment to Slow Fashion October is to think about the intention behind the things I make and ensure that my making sits comfortably with my values. 

If anyone else feels like joining me in a bit of frock sewing I'm hashtagging it #slowfashionoctoberfrocks. A wordy hashtag to be sure but one I'm chuffed to be participating in.

Felicia x