The Luscious Feel of Fabric

Hello there friends!

I am working on a Pendrell blouse with some fabric that I bought at fabric depot in Portland, OR last time I was home visiting my parents.  The other afternoon while I was running the fabric through Elphaba (who was doing a marvelous job of seaming), I got to thinking about how luscious the fabric felt in my hands.  It was soft, with just enough thickness in it to tell me it wasn't quilting cotton, just enough stretch to tell me that it was going to feel marvelous on my body, and just enough texture to make my fingers hum with excitment!  Do you ever let yourself completely drown in the tactile experience of exploring your fabric?  Does just the feel of a certain fabric make you dream up particular garments or projects or memories?

The fabric that has me gushing about texture

When I pre-washed it, I debated whether or not to use fabric softener in the wash.  I ended up using the fabric softener, but it did get me to wondering if my online sewing cronies had any thoughts.  Softener?  No softener?  What do you do with yours?  I love using it to help my fabric become even softer right from the get-go, but I am curious to whether or not it is a bad idea, especially with a very first wash.

So what are your thoughts?  Recommendations?  Horror stories?  Please, do share.

xo

Yellow Chalk, White Fabric: A little of what not to do, and how to fix it!

Hey Friends!

So, I had a dilemma.  I was using this pristine white fabric for a project that I am still working on, but when I was first tracing the pattern onto the fabric I couldn't see the white chalk, so I chose to use yellow chalk.  The fabric has a wonderful, intricate pattern on it, (white on white of course) and I tried to be really careful to mark only the "wrong side".  I was trying to squeeze a Pendrell blouse out of only one yard of fabric, and because I had to get tricksy with the cutting and folding and laying out of my pieces, I ended up marking the "right side" on two of my pieces.  (It probably didn't help that I was marking and cutting at two in the morning...) 

Anywho, I was stuck trying to figure out how to get yellow chalk out of my beautiful white fabric.  I had some scraps left over, so I decided to try a few different things, and luckily, I took pictures so I could share with you. 

So with much pride, and very little humbleness, I introduce... my first tutorial!

Working on a Pendrell Blouse

If you look closely, you can see the white pattern on the fabric.

My yellow Tailor's chalk.

Step One: Yellow chalk on white fabric.

Step Two:  I tried to use a toothbrush on the fabric, to try and brush out the chalk.
I saw this tip on the internet.  No such luck. 

Step Three: I even tried (on a different scrap) dipping the entire thing in non-diluted bleach.  Again, no dice.

Step Four:  I got my fabric wet and scrubbed on the chalk mark with the toothbrush.  Small progress.

Step Five:  I added a little Dawn Pure.  I happened to have this, because it is what I use for dishes, and in hind-sight, the pure (with no added coloring) is probably the best choice anyways.  Scrubbing with the toothbrush, Dawn, and a little moisture showed definite progress in getting the chalk out!

Step Six:  After seeing that I was able to get the yellow out (at least I thought so), I decided to see if ironing the scrap would a) not ruin the texture, and b) make sure that the stain was out and that it didn't set any color into the scrap.  I couldn't see the fabric well enough to tell if the stain was out while the fabric was wet.

Success!!!  The iron dried the scrap, there didn't appear to be
even a trace of the yellow, and the fabric texture was the same as when I began.

Suggestions that I would give...  Well, first I would obviously recommend that you not mark your white fabric, on the "right side" at two in the morning!  But, if you are as silly as I am, I would suggest trying a scrap first!  

When researching on the internet, prior to my little experiment, I found several fixes for several different types of chalk.  I am using the tailor's chalk triangles, and I don't think they are wax... I'm not really sure.  But either way, the other suggestions I found online didn't work (other than dry cleaning... I didn't try that one).  But this method seemed to work well!

Hope this helps at least someone out!  I know I learned something and had fun in the progress!

xo

The Turquoise Truffle Sorbetto

I'm sure that you are sitting in your chair (or laying on my bed as I do often while checking my blogs) and asking...

"Montana, don't you sew anything other than sorbetto blouses?!"  Truth time.  Yes.  Yes, I do.  BUT, when I'm short on time and need a sewing fix, there is nothing quite as satisfying, especially since I love love love them!  They are so fun to wear.

As you guessed it, here is another one!

I was planning on taking pictures along the way to show you the construction of the tucks.  But I got too excited and forgot.  Oops.  You'll just have to imagine if you will.  I originally wanted to try pin-tucks, but had an idea in my mind that I didn't quite have the fabric for.  So, I settled for just regular old tucks with a much smaller version of the original box pleat in the center.

I wasn't able to tuck in the perfect amount of fabric in order to use up all the fabric alotted for the box pleat, but that just meant that I had my roommate help me with the side seams, which ended up with an awesome fit that I love :)

Another fun adjustment is the back neck.  I have noticed that the back of my sorbetto's tend to gape slightly when my shoulders are not slouched.  Now, this may be a whole different fitting issue in itself like the slope of my shoulders, or an incorrect back width or between the armsyces (armsycies? armscye?  armsceese?!  Really, what is the plural for that???) or something.  I will really have to consult my Fit for Real People, one of these days.  But anyhow.  To quick fix the problem on this top, I just made a quick inverted pleat in the center!  It actually turned out way more adorable than I planned.  And, of course, this gave me just the excuse that I needed to put a fabulous, sparkly, vintage button on the back :)

And I shall name thee, the Turquoise Truffle Sorbetto.  And you shall be mine!

Cutting, marking, cutting, and marking...

Hey friends,

Just a quick check in!  I'm making progress!  After making three... yes, count them, 1, 2, 3! muslins, I finally got the fit just right on my peony :)  It seems a little obsessive, but I learned a lot about myself through this.  I am really hoping that now that I have really perfected this muslin, it will give me better ideas on what to look for a change on the first round for my next project, and the next!  I learned to fit better, I learned darts better, thanks to Carrie and Oona, I learned that I am short waisted, which helped.  I used my Fit for Real People a lot, and I now feel slightly more confident with fitting!  One project at a time, yes?

So, I just spent the last 3 hours tracing out the remaining pattern pieces, cutting the parts out of my fashion fabric, marking all the pertinent markings, and getting ready to sew the damn thing together!

Pictures to come soon I hope, but until then, something I thought was interesting!

This picture has been floating around Pintrest, you may have seen it.  I love that sewing allows us to use both sides of our brain.  We have to use the left in order to be methodical, mathematical, and logical with our sewing.  But, there is so much creativity involved!  We are allowed to be wild, crazy, creative, abstract, and express our joy through the fabric we choose, and the way we tweak our patterns!  Love it!

The Retro Sorbetto

Well, friends... better late than never, right?!

Several days ago I posted about the Sew Grateful Challenge.  I showed you a picture of what I was working on, and told you that I would show you the finished project soon.

*Confession*  I still haven't finished that project.  I started messing with the design, and I am perfectionist enough to want no top-stitching on the outside of this fabric, thus sewing all the seam bindings on the neck and arms down by hand.  Plus, the fabric is slippery and hard to work with... but enough whining and excuse-making.

So what is the silver lining you may ask?!  Well... I made a different shirt!  Following the same guidelines for the Sew Grateful Challenge; to use either fabric, or a pattern that had been gifted to me to make a garment.

Are you ready for the small details that make me giddy? (I'm sitting in my chair, giggling with mischievous anticipation)

The fabric was gifted to me by my grandmother.  I am not quite sure how old it is, but I really wouldn't bat an eyelash at guessing that it is older than I am.

I'm pretty sure it is some sort of cotton...

The thread I used was from my grandmother's stash that was given to me when she passed away.

The bias tape was gifted to me in my grandmother's stash as well... I have so many different colors of bias tape and rick-rack!  Again, all possibly older than I am.

The buttons!  Oh, the buttons...  They are just fantastic aren't they!  They were also gifted to me in my grandmother's rather sizable button collection that I really need to go through, organize, color code and find a way to store.

So, not only was absolutely everything I used gifted, but every thing I used was also retro... get it?!
Yeah, ok... I'm a dork sometimes.  But a charming one, I hope!

And now, for a few glances at the final project.  I hope you enjoy!  Thanks for stopping by.  And I would love comments of encouragement, or helpful fitting tips, or anything really.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

happy face :)

serious face.

Suprise!

 p.s.  I used Mena's pattern for adding sleeves to the Sorbetto.  She gave us the pattern with her 7 Days of Sorbetto Challenge that she featured on the Sew Weekly.  You can find that pattern here.

Fabric Shopping day!!

 Hello friends!
I had the pleasure of running around my old stomping grounds yesterday!  I am currently in Portland, OR visiting my parents which led a necessary shopping trip to the Fabric Depot!

Now, I feel extremely blessed to have even the limited choices of fashion fabric that I do have in walla walla.  Good ol' JoAnn's comes through pretty well now and again.  But, walking into the Fabric Depot today, my knees went weak, I started salivating, and had an intense urge to just up and move to Portland so that I could have this amazing experience way more often.