Black & Pink Plaid B5526

It’s time for my favorite pattern again! Butterick 5526! I tried to match my plaids on this shirt. I’ve made a plaid shirt in the past and didn’t match the plaids. I felt guilty about it. Especially after reading fellow sewing bloggers talk about how they hate unmatched plaid. 😳 Talk about feeling ashamed.

I bought this cotton plaid from Jo-Ann Fabrics during a red line clearance sale. Cotton is so easy to sew with and feels so soft and comfy.

I did change things up a bit with the matching. I cut the cuffs and the button placket on the bias. I wish I would have done the collar too.

The plaid matches from the top to the bottom! Woo-hoo

I thought I made it through this shirt without having to pull out the seam ripper. I’m not that lucky. I sewed the seam on the wrong side of the sleeve and attached it to the shirt. When I tried it on, the sleeve placket was on the inside of my wrist instead of the outside. Doh!

The plaid doesn’t match as well on the front but it’s not that far off. I think the button placket distracts from this because it breaks it up. Hehe

After fixing my stupid issue, we have a cute black and pink plaid shirt. By the way, I’m a super lazy sewist and this shirt has been done for a couple weeks. I needed to add buttons and button holes. It took me two weeks for my lazy butt to decide to.

Pattern Love

I’ve read several different places that you can make your patterns last longer by ironing interfacing to the back of them. I’ve been really hesitant on doing this because ironing paper, especially flimsy pattern paper seems really sketchy. I was afraid that as soon as I touched the iron to it, it would burst into flames. I didn’t say it was a rational hesitation.

I decided to start with my favorite, most used, I’m gonna bawl my eyes out if it ever falls apart pattern. This probably doesn’t sound too smart, but sometimes I’m not very bright. But really, if you’re going to do something, do it with a bang!

I bought the cheapest interfacing from Jo-Ann’s. It’s a whole $.99 a yard. I plopped on the floor with my iron and board. I first ironed the pattern pieces. I chose one of the lower settings because I was terrified. A couple swipes later I turned the heat up and my pattern pieces were smooth. This is going swell!

Next came the interfacing. I tried to maximize it by putting the pieces as close as I could together. If their edges touched that’s fine because they’ll be cut apart anyways. I rolled out the interfacing on my board, laid out pieces and started pressing. I was careful to get close to the edge but not so close that I would end up with a sticky mess on my iron. Once the pattern and the interfacing were stuck decently together I got out the scissors and cut around the pieces. The edges weren’t bonded together yet but that’s fine. After completely cutting around the piece I ironed the whole piece out. It really shouldn’t make a crinkly noise anymore. If it still has a crinkle sound, it’s not bonded somewhere.

I was so surprised at how flexible yet sturdy the pattern pieces were. I used this pattern immediately after doing this. It was easy to pin through the pieces and having the interfacing on the back made the pieces sit still on the fabric when I was laying it out.

I plan on doing this to to a few more of my patterns. It’s not very time consuming, especially if the pieces are already cut from use. The only issue is that the pieces no longer fit in the pattern envelope. I’ll have to make plans to figure out a better system for containment.

Hubby Feed Bag Rescue

My Hubby has what we call a feed bag. It’s a canvas bag he’s had for about 6-7 years that he carries food, a few magazines and who knows what else to work. He used to carry a plastic bag with his personals. I told him he needs something nicer so we picked up a canvas bag from Hobby Lobby and some patches to accessorize with. I did not make him a bag because this was prior to my sewing skills.

After 6-7 years of daily wear and tear he broke one of the straps and the other was getting dangerously close. I rummaged through my fabric stash for some black fabric. I didn’t have canvas but I had some sort of black, kind of heavy, stretch fabric. I figured if I sewed through it enough the stitches would keep it from stretching.

I measured the “good” strap to see the length I would need to cover. I cut two pieces 3″ x 7″. I serged all four sides in each piece. I turned the shorter end over and top stitched it.

For the “good” strap, I wrapped the fabric around the strap meeting the two sides in the middle. I turned the top piece under to hide the serger stitches and stitched down the middle. To make it tougher, I stitched to the left and right of the middle line.

For the broken handle, I sewed the new piece into a tube. I trimmed off the shredded ends and slipped the tube over those ends. I sewed the same way as the “good” strap. Three lines of stitching down the new piece.

Not too hard of a task but one that makes Hubby happy. Hopefully his feed bag will last another 10 years of torture.