CarmencitaB: shirt

Mini Tuto : Le Ourlet de Chemise / Quick Tutorial : Hemming a Shirt Tail

Hier, j'ai fait la liste des trucs que j'aimerais me faire cet été et j'ai pris peur. Je n'aurai jamais, jamais assez de temps pour coudre tout ça. Mais, étant de nature optimiste, je veux bien essayer d'en coudre quelques uns.

I made the list of what I'd like to sew this summer and got scared. I will never ever have the time to sew all of that. But, being of an optimist nature, I'll try to sew a few.

Maintenant la question du jour : Comment obtenir un ourlet de chemise fin et régulier? Avec un peu d'aide.

Now the question du jour : How do I get these really fine and regular shirt tail hems? With a little help.

Méthode 1 : avec mon pied quart de pouce et je trace un repère de repassage à grand points puis je marque le ourlet au fer avant de le coudre. On peut retirer le fil de repère quand on a fini. Sur un tissu de chemise fin et transparent, c'est la méthode que j'utilise.

Method one : with my quarter inch foot and a long stitch, I make a thread mark which I use to turn and press the hem before sewing. You can take the thread out after. On a light transparent shirting this is the method I use.

Méthode 2 : sur un tissu de chemise qui ne craint pas la transparence, je surjette, puis je marque au fer. C'est simple rapide et ça marche à tous les coups.

Vous avez d'autres questions? Je vais essayer de répondre à quelques unes d'entre elles quand je les rencontre dans mes projets.

Method 2 : On thicker shirting, I serge my quarter inch then use that as my pressing tool. Simple, fast and works everytime.

What other questions do you have? I'll try to answer some of them when they come up in my sewing.

Butterick 5526 The Second / Butterick 5526 Deux

Hello Kitty!

C'est quoi toutes ces chemises?

Pendant des années, je suis restée à la maison et je me suis consacrée à mon fils. Je n'avais pas besoin de vêtements de travail alors j'ai cousu tout et n'importe quoi au gré de mon inspiration, des apprentissages que je voulais faire et de mes envies et je n'ai pas fait attention à une quelconque garde-robe idéale hypothétique. Un jean en hiver, une jupe à gros motifs en été, des super baskets, un t-shirt délabré et un pull, je n'avais pas besoin de plus.
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What's with all these shirts?
I have been a stay at home Mom for years. I didn't have a need for workwear so I just sewed whatever I wanted, was inspired by or wanted to learn. I had no desire to make a hypothetical ideal wardrobe. A pair of jeans in the winter, a big print skirt in the summer, cool sneakers a battered t-shirt and a cardigan or a sweater was all I needed.

Atelier fermeture invisible chez Self Tissus Lorient

Avec mon nouveau statut de Meilleure Couturière Amateur de France, la représentation de marques et les cours que je donne, je me retrouve dans des lieux remplis de couturières avec une réputation à tenir et je n'avais rien à me mettre. Rien de bien pratique, de chic et bien fait. Non, pas bien fait, extrêmement bien fait. Je sens une pression énorme de faire les choses extrêmement bien. Je suis, jusqu'à la saison 2 en septembre, supposément la meilleure et je me sens étrangement investie d'un devoir de représentation "couturesque", un peu comme miss France. Je ne peux plus laisser aller les petits détails, c'est devenu maladif.
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With my new status as French Sewing Bee Winner, big brands backing me and sewing classes, I found myself in rooms filled with seamstresses and a reputation to uphold and I had nothing to wear. Nothing chic, practical and well made. Nan, not well made, extremely well made. I really feel the pressure to make everything extremely well. I am after all and until season 2 in September the so-called best and I strangely feel it's my duty, a bit like Miss France you know, to make the best bar none. I just cannot let go of the smallest details, it's become pathological.

J'en rigole, mais dans les faits, ça me rend malade. J'étais pointilleuse avant, mais là c'est pire, je suis devenue maniaque. Je vous en parle parce que je vais être complètement névrosée si je continue sur cette voie. J'aspire au calme intérieur et aux nuits avec sommeil. En parler, ça va me calmer.
Ceci dit, les chemises remplissent très bien le trou dans ma garde-robe alors je fais des chemises. Comme l'été arrive, la prochaine sera sans manche.
Merci d'avoir écouté.
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I'm laughing about it, but the truth is it's made me a nervous wreck and the only reason I bring it up is so I can let go of it before it makes my sewing life unbearable. I was picky before and now I have become finicky and it has to stop. I need calm and nights with sleep. Talking about will help.
That said, shirts are good at filling that hole in my wardrobe, so I have been making shirts. As summer is on the way, the next one will be sleeveless.
Thanks for listening.

{Le tissu est de ma collection personnelle, les boutons et le fil sont de chez Self Tissus / The fabric is from my personal collection, buttons and threads come from Self Tissus}

Butterick 5526 The First / Butterick 5526 Premier

Quand on ne peut pas aller en Floride y passer l'hiver, on appelle Lily Pulitzer!

Les lecteurs de longue date reconnaitront le joli coton offert par Mike's Mom. Un imprimé magnifique parfait pour ce chemisier printanier. Le patron c'est Butterick 5526 rendu célèbre par Lladybird qui en a fait plein et qui m'a vraiment donné envie de m'en faire un quand je l'ai rencontré cet automne. Elle coud vraiment bien et le chemisier qu'elle portait ce jour-là était fantastique sous tous rapports.

When you can't winter in Florida, channel Lily Pulitzer!

Longtime readers of this blog will recognize this great springlike print offered by Mike's Mom. Perfect for Butterick 5526, sewn many time with great success by Lladybird. Lauren sews very well and when I met her, she was wearing a really fantastic one which made me want to sew it.

J'ai fait une taille 12 avec des petites modifications. Le seyant est presque parfait et pourrait me servir de patron de base si j'en enlevais l'aisance. J'ai utilisé le tutoriel de Sew Maris pour faire une jolie patte de boutonnage, du coup, j'ai maintenant des pièces patron différentes pour le devant gauche et le devant droit. J'ai réduit un peu l'embue de la manche qui me paraissait excessif. J'ai vraiment essayé de faire attention aux finitions.

Puis à la pause des boutons, j'ai vu ça.

I made a 12 with very little modifications. The fit is such that if I remove the ease, I could use it as a slopper. I used Sew Maris' tutorial to make a cut on buttonhole placket, I now have a left front and a right front pattern piece. I removed some of the sleeve ease which look a tad too much. I really tried do do my best with the top stitching and all.

Then when I was sewing up the buttons, I saw that.

Vous savez, c'est pas la peine d'aller faire la "finfinaude" à la télé pour rentrer à la maison et faire des bourdes pareilles! Bourdes que j'ai corrigées assez rapidement parce que j'ai utilisé le tutoriel de Kathleen pour les monter alors je n'avais qu'une couture et un peu de déco à reprendre. Mais bon... j'étais pas contente.

Vu le succès, j'ai tout modifié le patron pour utiliser les méthodes de montage pro (que j'explique ici). J'ai un joli coton offert par Marie-Noëlle lors de notre rencontre qui m'appelle et des petits moutons offerts par Camillette qui me font de l'oeil et des Hello Kitty qui jouent à cache-cache aussi...

Je vais essayer d'en faire une avec L'Ovation pour voir si j'y arrive.

Frankly? It's no use to go show off on French television to come home and make mistakes like this! Mistakes that were easy to correct because I used Kathleen's tutorial to sew them up, so I only had one rom to undo and some topstitches. Still...I wasn't happy.

Appart from that, it's a success, so I modified my pattern pieces to make them pro style (I talk about it here). I have a nice bit of cotton Marie-Noelle gave me when we met. Camillette has sent some of her very cool sheep to sew and I recently bought some Hello Kitty playing hide and seek...

I'll try to make one with the Ovation to see if I can.

Aloha!

World Champions

Aren't they spectacular? World class literally as the girls are former Hobbie Cat 16 World Champions. Go girls you're quite a team!

The shirts are pretty good too, I'm quite happy with them as they did turn out as well as I envisioned them.

Facing just sewn in right before stay stitching the sides for sleeve insertion.

I've said pretty much everything I have to say about shirts recently, but these presented a new challenge as I wanted to insert a yoke without hand sewing and though I know how to put in a yoke when there is a collar stand, merci Marie-Noëlle, this model doesn't have one.

Once again, I have to thank the Internet God of Google Generosity for showing me how to do that with elegance. Thank you so much Gigi!

Collar, facing, pocket details

I never thought I would say this, cutting is not my favorite part, but this time, it was fun. I went for placement which required a lot more fabric and quite a bit of concentration, but the result is great.

I managed to get that matching pocket by glueing the pockets seam allowances in place. It's much better than pinning, there is always some shifting when you pin and once dry, it'll act as one piece which lessens that feed dog thing.

Sewing over a needle to make the shank

Fine details included corded buttonholes, felled shoulder seams, curved collars and spurred by Catherine Daze, I tried that foot I have never used. Thank you too Catherine!

It was a great project, lots of fun to make. Now I'll go try to figure out what I'll do with the great scraps this generated...more Galactica coming up!

Liberty Pucci - Vogue 1394

So I went to this party and people asked me if I had made my shoes.

It was a given that I had made my top but they couldn't understand how I got my shoes to match my shirt. It was pretty funny.

It was my first time cutting into some Liberty and I must say I was really nervous. I also new that patterns from that era need a few changes for them to feel comfy so I did a muslin, which proved me right.

I took extra care in finishing it and used that technique I saw in a dress I refashioned last year. I serged, I pressed and then I sewed the seam allowance, which is a very fancy, very crisp clean finish. I understitched everything that was humanly possible.

Then, I sewed some pretty red vintage buttons and that made me very happy.

I am not a shirt person, I don't feel right in a shirt, I am always cold in a shirt, I am a t-shirt person but, I really love this and I might just change my mind.

Only idiots never do.

The Finished Shirt - McCall's 6044

It was a quick project because I felt pressure from MrC : "It's going to look really good eh! Do you think I'll be able to try it tonight? Will I be able to wear it for my big meeting on Thursday you think? Would you make me a white one? So how is it going with the shirt? Did you have a nice day, how about my shirt?""Your shirt had a nice day too dear!"

Sometimes I wonder who is the kid around here!

I had never made a man's shirt and on last shirt I made, when I was 16, I made a total mess of the collar and that was enough to keep me off shirts for the rest of my sewing life so I took my sweet time and studied the difficult parts like the cuffs, the collar, the pocket flaps and the felled seam armhole.

The only modification I made to the pattern was to lengthen the sleeves 4 cms and make a band collar as MrC didn't want a real one, which is a shame as I had studied the collar thing quite a bit. So I used the same method for putting it up as the cuffs and that worked quite well.

I'm quite happy with the result and MrC was able to make it to his meeting with his brand new shirt with bird of prey buttons because MrC likes birds of prey.

The next one will be even better, I will have changed some details (or chosen another pattern!) : the sleeve vent is not pretty and the back yoke is a decoration which means less fitting, and mostly the order of construction doesn't make sense, this one by Mrs Fasanella does.

I have said this and I'm saying it again, everything she says is gold, not immediately because you sometimes have to work things out, but the more I sew, the more I learn, the more I find the logic.

Her information is unavailable in French and that's too bad!