Avengers Assemble: Phase 2

Well, the boys got their hero shirts, and I was going to make one for Mitch next, but I was still not happy with my pattern choices for him, so while I was considering those options, I decided to go ahead with mine.

Again, I used the combination of black Laguna jersey and printed Marvel jersey, both from fabric.com. The bindings are also the Laguna jersey, although this wasn't an ideal choice. The recovery is great, but it was a bit curly and thin, so getting it through the coverstitch binder was a bit of a hassle.

The pattern is from the 02/2015 issue of Ottobre Woman. It's a pattern I've been meaning to try, and the shoulder yokes were perfect for the little splash of Avengers jersey. It's otherwise a very basic cap sleeve tee with bound, scoop neckline. The armholes are also bound.

As far as sizing goes, I made a straight 38, with the exception of lengthening the shoulder line out to a size 42 for a longer sleeve. Since the style isn't otherwise particularly fitted, I didn't make any other adjustments. I could have added a dart, but I dislike darts in jersey, so I'll live with the armpit fold. That's hard to get rid of in a kimono sleeve anyway.

Cool points if you recognize the reference of my decal! If you don't, feel free to watch it here - but there's NSFW language!

Y'all see Cap there on my shoulder? He's watching my language...

Avengers Assemble! Phase 1

A few months ago I came across some Marvel Avengers themed jersey at fabric.com. Although we are generally a DC family, we'll admit that the Avengers can be pretty awesome as well. Shirts were needed.

I started with Logan. His shirt is from the 03/2010 issue of Ottobre. It's a short sleeved raglan tee with a neckband and sleeve cuffs. I elected to do the sleeves only in the Avengers print. The remainder of the shirt is Laguna knit from fabric.com.

I could pretend I mixed the fabrics to make my Avengers print stretch farther, but the truth is, I wanted to add an HTV decal with my Cricut. I love that thing. Black makes a nice dramatic background for red!

When I was selecting patterns, I almost passed this one by. I wasn't sold on the sleeve cuffs. I'm really glad I went ahead and did them though. I like the ringer effect of the band.

The fit of the tee is long and slim, which has a nice modern look, despite the fact that the pattern was published 6 years ago. Ottobre is always ahead of the game! Duncan's tee is from the same 03/2010 issue, but his is number 18. It's the same style, but in a different size range.

The two fabrics are well matched in weight and both are nice quality, which means the boys are happy and comfortable in their new shirts.

In order to keep things extra comfortable for my sensitive guys, I made size tags out of scraps of HTV to iron onto the inside of the shirts. I had been using woven tags to keep track of sizes, but I like this so much better! No more itchy tags!

Duncan approves. And there's lots more Avengers fabric left to use! Stay tuned for more Super Sewing!

Ottobre 03/2016-25, the Paper plane dress

One day last month, Myra had a rough day at school. My Ottobre magazine happened to arrive that day, so a mix of chocolate and retail therapy was clearly in order. I let Myra pick a few favorites from the Kitschy Coo web shop and make some plans for summer sewing. She chose this fun print with just this dress in mind.

This is pattern # 25 from the 03/2016 issue of Ottobre. It's a drop waist dress with a short, semicircular skirt and gathered flutter sleeves. The sleeves are finished with a rolled edge and the neckline is bound and then darted into a v shape.

The fabric is a cotton-lycra jersey from Kitschy Coo and the binding is interlock from Chez Ami. The pink in the print was a perfect match for the binding fabric! I love it when the stash comes through!

One interesting feature of the pattern is that the front and back are the same pattern pieces, so it can be worn in either direction. Myra prefers the bird side, but if she were in a more floral mood, she could wear it that way too! The v neckline is repeated on both sides, which is a pretty detail in back.

My only real beef with the pattern is how very short the skirt is! The picture in the magazine shows a just above the knee length and Myra isn't quite as tall as the size I made her, so it should have been plenty long. The pattern piece looked short to me, so I added an inch to the length, which turned out to be a good thing or this would have been indecent!

Despite the length, Myra loves her new dress and has already requested another, although she'd like it to be a bit longer next time. Yes, ma'am.

Jalie 2918 and heat transfer vinyl

In March I made Mitch a tee, and the pattern dissapointed me in several ways, so I decided to try the Jalie Men's tee pattern, with my trial run being in a somewhat smaller size...

And it also gave me a chance to try out Heat Transfer Vinyl in my Cricut! How fun is that?!

First let's chat about the pattern. Overall, it's good. I've generally found Jalie to have consistently good quality patterns and this was no exception. It went together well. The fit is slim and modern with a nice sleeve length and a comfortable neckline.

On Duncan (who had already gotten himself covered in mud before he even made it to school), you can see the nice fit. The neckband is slim without any bulkiness and fit into the neckline well. When I initially put the shirt on him, I thought it might  be a bit too long, but in wearing, I think it's just right. RTW shirts tend to be shorter, but I like this length better, It keeps his belly covered, which RTW doesn't always.

In this pic you can kind of see my one complaint about the drafting. The sleeve and armscye are symmetrical front to back. It's not an absolute dealbreaker in an unfitted tee, but the sleeve would hang more smoothly if it was shaped properly. I haven't yet found a men's tee pattern with a properly drafted sleeve, so maybe our guys are just used to their clothes not fitting...

The other fun part of this project was the decal! If you follow me on IG, then you know what a maniac Duncan can be, so when I saw this design on a Facebook page I follow, I knew Duncan had to have it. I used my Cricut to cut the decal from heat transfer vinyl(HTV) and ironed it onto the shirt front before assembling the shirt. It was super easy and I LOVE the way it turned out! Since I don't have a heat press, I used my regular iron. You do have to use a lot of pressure, so instead of pressing it on my ironing board, I used a cookie sheet, which in addition to being a hard surface, also reflects the heat back onto the shirt, strengthening the bond onto the fabric.

Despite the sleeve issue, I think this pattern overall is a win. And I will definitely be working more with HTV! So fun, so easy and such a professional looking result!

Simplicity 3503

I've made this dress a few times, and I wear it so often, I wore my favorite one completely out! So it needed replacing.

The fabric is an ITY print from fabric,com. It's a nice substantial fabric, and it was nice to sew. The weight is pretty much perfect for a dress, so I'm glad I bought enough for a maxi.

Pocketses, precious.

The only change I made from previous versions was to omit the shoulder tie. I raised the back neckline significantly when I made it the first time, so the tie doesn't actually serve a function, and it was always coming untied.

And with that - let the summer dress season begin!!