D-Ring Belt – A Quick Project

This is my favorite casual belt. It’s a humble little cotton webbing belt which originally belonged to my son.

It works well with a very casual jeans outfit (or even shorts) and fits perfectly around my hips as shown here on my recent trip to the Citrus Bowl (I’m 2nd from right) – ordinarily I don’t have the end flapping around like that, I swear!

Recently, the belt disappeared for a few days so I started looking around for d-rings in order to make a replacement. Have you seen the Dritz d-rings? Ugh, they are so wimpy! Luckily, I found these beefy boys in Lora Lee’s Etsy shop and they are perfect!

I didn’t have any 2″ webbing in my stash to use as a base but then I found IT: some seatbelting swiped from my friend’s shop last year (he keeps it on hand for testing machines brought in by auto shops). I had this pretty ribbon in my stash (from Cynthia’s Fine Fabrics) and fused it to the seat belting with Heat ‘n’ Bond. Fusing – or gluing – is really necessary because otherwise the ribbon is going to scoot along the slippery seat belting as you stitch.

I continued the ribbon around to the back for about 12″ since that side will show while the belt is being worn. Be sure you heat-seal both cut ends of the webbing/belting (I used a lighter that I keep in my sewing room for this purpose) before attaching the ribbon.

Then it was just a matter of edgestitching all around,

and attaching the d-rings. I sewed this on my walking-foot machine with a size 20 needle and #69 bonded nylon thread (not a necessity, I was just too lazy to change it). I don’t think this would be a problem to sew on a regular machine with a large needle and standard thread.

I’m really happy with the way this turned out and can’t wait to make a few more. I’m always looking for an excuse to shop for ribbons and trims!

Seatbelt belts – they could catch on!

Milly Blouse – Part VII

Or, When Disaster Strikes. I was just working away on the blouse yesterday, anxious to finish it. Because this fabric mars or stains every time you look at it funny, I was constantly washing my hands and cleaning my work area so as not to damage the blouse. Frankly, a week of that was enough for me so I was happy to see the finish line.

Now, normally, I am a very solitary sewer. I hole myself up in my sewing room and completely lose myself in the project at hand. Enter sewing room visitors in the way of my honey (who usually just silently pokes his head in), Winnie Whiskers and No No Bad Dog. NNBD has already learned that Winnie’s claws are painful so he generally ignores her. If she makes her Yoda face and growls, he runs away or hides behind the nearest human. Well, not yesterday. The dog was barking, the cat was hissing, you get the idea. During all of this chaos, I was attempting to restitch and smooth out the outer band seam (that little hitchydoo in the photo) and inadvertently caught the outer band in my stitching. No big deal except that you cannot, never ever, get pin holes out of silk charmeuse. No can do. So, I’m already upset but think that maybe I will do some channel stitching on the band and cuffs to cover up this mistake. And that’s when I see the stain. Yes, a stain! Don’t ask me how this happened when I must have washed my hands a dozen times yesterday. The cleaners could probably deal with the stain but then I still have the matter of the holes.

Needless to say, I am really upset and at a standstill. I have enough fabric for new bands but the seam has already been trimmed and graded. The very thought of ripping it all out when I have miniscule seam allowances in some areas gives me nightmares. What I’d like to do is toss the whole thing out and start with a fresh piece of charmeuse (because I really want this blouse!) but I don’t think I have any more solid pieces in my stash. Grrrr. I think I will set everything aside and work on a quickie project today just to clear my mind and put me in a better mood. Worst case scenario is that I’ll buy some new charmeuse but I’m too mad to think about that right now.

ETA: Apparently, my stash knows no bounds because I discovered not one, but two, pieces of solid silk charmeuse. I had forgotten about these but discovered them as I was looking through my fabric catalogue. I have 5 yards of the red (which is a very pretty lipstick red) and ten yards of the pale taupe (my silver sample is in the center). Which one I choose will depend on what I can get in the way of chiffon. Okay, deep breath. I will do some fun sewing today and then tackle this project anew as soon as I have a few uninterrupted sewing days in a row. And buy a baby gate to keep the dog out of my room.

Milly Blouse – Part VI

I am whittling away at the blouse. The cuffs are on and I will work on the neckband today. This morning I felt like doing something fun so I played around a bit with the front ruffle. I want the ruffle to be removable for cleaning so I’m planning on backing it with a piece of ribbon and using small snaps to attach it to the placket. Keep in mind that these are just test samples so they’re not very tidy!

I started with a 2″ wide piece of bias chiffon. I’m using polyester because a) it has much more body than silk and b) should I ever have to wash it, the pleats will hold their shape. I used two layers of chiffon for the first sample (on the left) and found it too poofy. The second sample is one layer only (on the right) and is exactly what I was looking for. Polyester chiffon doesn’t fray out at the edges as easily as silk so I just ran my fingernails over the edges to roughen them up a bit. I’m really happy with the effect!

Here’s the ruffle with the crystal beads that I originally purchased. Meh, just not enough sparkle for me. I mean, it’s okay but it doesn’t wow me. I’ll reserve these beads for something else.

These crystals, on the other hand, are perfect! I was only able to get 16 from this particular seller but I found a few more on Etsy this week. Even if I don’t need them it’ll be good to have a few spares in case I ever lose one. I don’t know how long this ruffle will be yet, I’ll decide that after I finish the blouse. Have I mentioned lately how much I love sewing? Love, love, LOVE.

Milly Blouse – Part V

I completed the front closure today, finally. If you remember, the original blouse has a hidden button placket. This detail is quite easy to add to any existing pattern. In my case, all I had to do was add two more button extensions and a seam allowance to turn under. I only interfaced the bottom extension to give some support to the buttonholes. You can see how I did that here on the pattern (I had to rotate the pattern because WordPress always cuts off a little on the right side):

Here is the placket open, showing the buttonholes. It’s easiest to make the buttonholes at this point, before the neckband has been attached. I’m using grey MOP shirt buttons but any flat, plain button will do. On the cuffs I am planning to use these big rhinestone buttons.

Placket closed.

Here’s what it looks like from the inside.

Milly Blouse – Part IV

Sad to say, I accomplished nothing this weekend! It was a big football weekend, which ordinarily would mean loads of ME time but, due to a series of unfortunate events, it didn’t work out that way.

Now, it’s Monday and I’m back on track! After wearing the test blouse, I decided that I’d like to lower the neckline about 1″. I figured 1″ would give me enough “breathing room” without compromising the look I’m after. If you go to the Milly site, you can see that the original neckline is pretty high. Mine’s going to be a lot lower so I may have to shorten the ruffle, which is okay with me.

Here is how I altered the neckband:

I drew a vertical (red) line just to the outside the shoulder seam and marked a match point across the line (also in red). I then slashed the pattern apart, marked another line 1″ below the match point (2nd red line) and slid the CF section down and trued the curves.

Here’s how the new and original pieces compare:

Tomorrow, I will alter the bodice front and then sew up a quick test garment to check my alterations. I also need to add the hidden placket. Then, it’s cutting time!

My new crystals arrived today! I lucked into these beautiful square Swarovski sew-on crystals at a really good price on Etsy. Unfortunately, the seller only had 16 but I think I can make that work. If not, I’ll save them for something else and use the crystal beads I already have.

Milly Blouse – Part III

The test blouse is done and I’m really pleased with it. I made a straight 8 with no alterations except my usual sleeve-shortening. When does that ever happen?

This fabric is extremely difficult to photograph from afar. After taking photo after photo, I almost decided to not even post it but I thought you might rather see a bad photo than none at all. The blouse looks really voluminous on the dressform but it’s not overwhelming in the least on the body.

I will probably always wear it tucked in but I thought I’d try it with a hip belt just to see how it looked.

The cuff with crystal button. For a little sheen, I used machine embroidery thread for all of my buttonholes.

To reduce bulk around the neckline I used a Hong Kong finish (with silk chiffon) around the facing instead of turning it under.

I also wanted to keep the hem very flowy (in case I ever want to wear it untucked) so I bound it as well and hand stitched with silk thread.

I’m going to give this a test drive tonight to see if there are any changes I might want to make to the final garment. Hopefully, I can get both the grey charmeuse and the brocade jacket cut out this weekend!

Milly Blouse – Part II

This evening I did all the gathering and attached the outer band. I don’t know about you, but I would say that gathering is the one sewing task that I do not enjoy at all. At least this pattern has loads of notches and dots to make it easy and a bit less tedious.

Look at how high the armscye is in this blouse. That was a really big (and nice!) surprise as blouses with this much fullness generally have pretty low armholes.

I popped into JoAnn’s yesterday morning and, it’s official, the majority of their buttons really stink. Sorry, I just can’t bring myself to put a cheap plastic button on a charmeuse blouse. Luckily, I had a job interview near Cynthia’s and was able to get buttons worthy of this fabric: beautiful black Swarovski crystal, yum.

Milly Blouse – Part I

A misnomer, really. I am actually still in the hunting and gathering phase of the Milly blouse. I knew I had some champagne silk charmeuse in the stash and I found it (with matching chiffon!) but, alas, not enough for the blouse. I found a ton of bronze silk charmeuse but it’s not my best color (someone gave it to me) so I had set it aside for nightwear (I wear a sleep mask so I don’t care what color my jammies are).

While I was hunting, I came across this beautiful leopard silk charmeuse still wrapped in tissue in the original bag from Cynthia’s. For shame! From the graphics on the shopping bag, Cynthia dated it at six years old, at least. Immediately, I thought “test garment” and that’s what I’m doing with it.

I’ve already come pretty far, the back fronts and sleeves have been joined in French seams and the armscyes have been sewn. I was going to serge them and then I thought, why not bind them with the champagne silk chiffon? I used a 1″ binder but cut my strips 1.5″ wide because silk chiffon narrows so much on the bias.

I think this gives the inside of the blouse a really nice look.

I did finally settle on a charmeuse for the Milly blouse, this silver grey which was purchased at Judy’s Fabrics a very, very long time ago.

The crystals were a bit more challenging. I did find the ones I really wanted at MJ Trimmings but, sigh , $$. I found these crystal beads locally. They cost me about $30 (about half of the ones at MJ) and they are big (12mm) and flat. I think they will work just fine. Cynthia has the perfect grey chiffon for the front ruffle which I’ll pick up on Monday night when I have my beginner’s class.

Working on…

Yes, I was quiet yesterday, no sewing. My Sunday started with breakfast in bed and was followed by the Washington Post crossword, a little reading (a sewing book, naturally), the British Open and napping before heading out to The Big Tomato for a mashed potato pizza and a couple of Martinis. Sometimes it’s rather nice to have a lazy day with no focus on accomplishing anything!

I’m back at it today, busy fashioning this:

and this:

Into something that resembles this:

I didn’t have any silk print in my stash that had a similar feeling but I did have this now-sold-out Paint Splashes Jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics! I really like this New Look pattern even better than the See top because it is less voluminous which can be tough to carry off when you are 5’3″.

If I like this look on me I really want to make another one in this faboo silk jersey which I do not own *yet*. See what I mean about the fabric addiction?

See by Chloe Blouse

I LOVE this top by See by Chloe! Wouldn’t my new vintage pattern be perfect for this? I actually like the pattern’s sleeves much better as I think the See top has way too much fabric for my small frame. Not to mention that it would make my chest look humongous! Adding a hip band would be easy. I’ll have to check my silk stash and see if I have any prints that are similar in feel.

If you’re interested, the See by Chloe top is available for $445 at Saks.com

Edited to add:

Well, my wrap skirt pattern came today along with a lovely surprise from the Ebay seller – a beautiful vintage handkerchief! A nice reminder to me to do the little unexpected things that may brighten someone’s day. 🙂