Sewing Pattern Alterations – Fitting a Jean Pattern for a Round Stomach

Sewing jeans are really easy once you get the hang of the process, but fitting the pattern can be challenging. The next few posts are going to deal with exactly that, fitting various body shapes. This pattern alteration is needed if you have a fuller stomach, in the old days referred to as an apple shape.  Although, I am not sure where the fruit terms originated from, I really don’t like them.  I would rather be a glass!  Wine glass, red wine glass, martini glass, goblet, water-glass,  I think you get the idea.  It just sounds a little more glamorous than an apple or pear 🙂    Anyway, if you made up a jean muslin and the pattern fit great in the legs, hips, and tush, but you just can’t get that center front closed … here you go:

Fitting a Jean Pattern for a Round Stomach

1.  Tape the front pocket in place.  Start by drawing lines on your pattern (don’t cut yet):

• Draw a line (green) across the hip and up to the tip of the side seam.
• Draw 2 lines (purple) perpendicular to the green line,

2.   Cut along the green line, cutting up to the side seam put NOT through the edge.

3.  Slide the pattern open.  Look what happens, you just gave a little more room in the front tummy area in the width and height of the pattern.

4.  The upper waist curve is too extreme if left like this.  Cut each purple line, down to the green line, but NOT through it.  Slide each line open until the waist curve angles down more like the original pattern.

5.  Redraw a new waistline and center front crotch curve (red line).

If you are having difficulty redrawing the front crotch curve, slide the pattern back together.  Mark the bottom edge of the facing area and trim off the front fly facing.  Follow all the steps and then tape the front facing back in place once the new center front is drawn in, lining up the facing with the marking on the pattern.  Draw a line extending the facing up to the waistline  ( I used this pattern piece, because I knew someone would ask about that).

Here is your new front pattern piece, use this for the front and left, of course one will have a front facing section and the other will not.  This is the same alteration for any pant style when you need a little more room in the tummy area.

How are your jeans coming along for March’s wardrobe challenge?  The judges are almost finished with February’s winners, hope to announce them this weekend.

SPECIAL OFFER FROM WAWAK SEWING!

Looking to stock up on jean sewing supplies – zippers, jean thread, jean buttons … WAWAK Sewing is offering $10 off the next order of $80 or more!  This offer is good until March 31st, use PROMO CODE:  WAGW314 when checking out.  What a great treat for the jean challenge!  Thanks WAWAK! 🙂

That’s all for today 🙂  Sun is shining and snow is melting, thank goodness!!!!

 

 

One Pattern, Many Ways!

This is my new DVD with Threads Magazine and this was a fun one. I took a basic pattern and teach you how to alter one pattern into 4 different styles. Click here for details and behind the scenes photos with the crew!

Which Iron for Perfect Pressing and Professional Sewing Results …

I recall a class I taught years ago, one of the students gave me a review “great class, she is a pressing fanatic!”  Well, that is true.  In reality, pressing is what makes your sewing look professional.  I thought I would share how I have my studio set up:

My all time favorite iron is the Hot Steam SGB-600 and I can’t believe how long I went without splurging on such a reasonably priced powerhouse steam iron.  This iron plugs into a standard outlet (make sure to check that when researching commercial steam irons) and has a water container that holds almost an entire gallon of distilled water.  The water container is attached to a wall and then the hose needs to hang from the ceiling or a high point.  I have ceiling tiles in my studio and I am using clips that would typically hold a plant, I think I found them at Ace Hardware.

The iron came with the rubber mat, which is nice!  I added the Iron Shoe which allows you press ANYTHING and it won’t leave shiny marks – even on cheap satin and poly!  I will share more about that later.

One more thing, this iron has a powerful burst of steam and it DOES NOT leak, yeah!  Have you ever ruined fabric  from a leaky iron?  Um, this brings back a memory … years ago, I was making a custom suit for a client.  Just visualize a rich colored brown fabric – silk, wool blend.  My iron was having a bad day and a few drips (or I should say a burst of drips) later the suit ended up in the trash.  Very expensive fabric, but I couldn’t get the spots out!  I have had this iron for quite a while and have never had as much as a drop.  

Did I mention, I can’t stand irons that automatically turn off!  What a waste of time, it’s never hot when you need it.  That being said I do keep around a couple inexpensive Rowenta’s
for applying interfacing.  They are easy to clean, very hot, and don’t usually leak (I say that with a squint in my eye as every iron seems to have its own personality, although out of about 30 Rowenta’s I only had 2 that dripped and 1 that caught on fire – another eventful day in the studio!).

Tip: keep a tube of Ez-Off Iron cleaner around – perfect for removing interfacing gook!

Do you have a favorite iron or a dripping horror story to share?

Introduction to WAWAK SEWING!

Some of you have asked about one of the generous sponsors of the Wardrobe Challenge and seeing my smiling face in the emails has peaked curiosity. I am thrilled to introduce you to WAWAK SEWING and yes, I am working closely with them on many new projects. WAWAK SEWING is an online resource for everything you need in your sewing and design room! Believe it or not, I have been buying from them since 1994, when I started my custom apparel business. I eventually expanded my business to include alterations and my two main sources for supplies became WAWAK SEWING and Atlanta Thread & Supply. I know a few of you were heart-broken when Atlanta Thread and Supply closed it’s doors. What you might not have realized is WAWAK acquired Atlanta Thread & Supply, now you only have to go one place for all the same supplies and the prices are still the best.
One of my missions with teaching sewing, alterations, and fashion design is to inspire people to sew. I will be working with WAWAK to supply you with sewing tips and even bring to attention some tools of the trade you might not be familiar with; yet will make your sewing life sew so much easier! You might have seen this on Pinterest, but I am giving you a glimpse of what’s coming … Sewing with Angela Wolf.  Make sure you sign up for WAWAK’s emails and monthly catalog, the sales are incredible and they offer free shipping on orders over $100. Actually, I have been scanning a few chat rooms and there was talk about a free cookie with their order. I had to check the facts on that, as I have not received mine yet 🙂 . In fact, they DO send a cookie with the first order over $75 (since my first order was 20 years ago I will give them a pass LOL). It’s like staying at the Hilton, order from the comfort of your home and the package arrives in a few days with a hot cookie!  Ok, probably not a hot cookie, but you get the idea.
For those of you enjoying the wardrobe challenge and you HAPPEN to be on facebook and twitter, if you have a second why not send WAWAK SEWING a quick comment thanking them for sponsoring my contest.  Although, I do think we should have another contest to see who can pronounce the name correctly LOL!
Do you have any sewing questions or tutorials you want me to consider for the new tutorials?

Cheers!

BTW how’s the ruching and shirring coming along?

Time-saving Sewing Tip! Pre-cut interfacing with Olfa in minutes!

I am thrilled to see all of the excitement for my 2014 Wardrobe Challenge! The month of January is so full of new years resolutions, crazy weather and catching up from the holidays, I wanted to make this month’s challenge simple and fun.  All you have to do is create a Pinterest board “wardrobe challenge 2014” and pin photos that inspire you. This is not a trick, just post anything that inspires you to design and sew, this can be absolutely anything.  Ideas: colors, animals, architecture, food (that is the downfall of pinterest, everyone posts such fabulous looking food, I swear I can smell it through the computer screen!)  Pin something from each sponsor – that can be a repin from their pinterest board or pin something from their website and leave a comment here or on my pinterest board with a link to your new board.  In case you need the links to the sponsors here they are again:  Brother, Threads and Sew Stylish Magazines, WAWAK sewing, It’s Sew Easy, Angela Wolf Patterns, and some of you couldn’t find my pinterest page.  Again, if you need an invitation to pinterest email me info@angelawolf.com.  For more details on January’s Challenge, there is still a week to enter, then we move on to February’s challenge!  Good Luck 🙂

Olfa 60mm Rotary Jumbo Cutter, Replacement Blade, and Cutting Mat from WAWAKsewing.com

Now, onto a quick time-saving tip.  When I sit down to sew, there are a few items that I quite often need and I find it faster to prepare these in advance.  One example is fusible interfacing: hemming jacket sleeves, plackets, zipper placement, bound button holes, these are just the first few areas I need the interfacing and to get up, unfold the interfacing and cut 1 strip is a total “time sucker”, my new word for the year!  For jacket hem’s I typically use 3″ to 4″ wide strips of interfacing and for the zipper placement 1″ to 1-1/2″ strips.

This is light-weight fusible interfacing (HTC fusi-knit) and with two layers you can still see through the interfacing to line up the 1″ grid on the Olfa cutting mat.

Keeping the grainlines and stretch of the interfacing in mind:

• cut strips parallel to the selvage 28″ long by 1 1/2″ wide.  The most common use for these strips is to support the center back seams on a dress when inserting a hidden zipper (I am hooked on sewing dresses lately!) and it is rare that I would need longer than 28″ for a zipper.

• cut strips perpendicular to the selvage 4″ long by the width of the interfacing (in this case 22″ wide).  These strips are perfect for re-hemming jackets and sleeve hems.  If you do alterations, this is really a bonus to have these cut strips on hand.

Store these strips in a photo box next to your sewing station and you are all set!

A few tips on the rotary blade:

Always clear your cutting area from pins!  It always amazes me how one little dent in the blade can ruin the cutting, but it is true.  Maybe it’s not quite as noticeable when cutting thick fabric, but try cutting bias strips of silk chiffon.  If the blade is damaged, even in the slightest bit, the cutting is fragmented and you end up cutting the strips over with scissors.  Pain in the tush 🙂   I used to try to sharpen the blades, but seriously I am trying to save time not cause more work.  The blades are not that expensive, especially this month they are 25% off at WAWAK sewing, time to stock up for a few months!  The replacement blades come in a nice plastic container.  As I am always fearful of throwing a blade in the trash, I use one of the containers to store bad blades.   See the blue dot in the photo above, that dot tells me this package is bad blades.  When its full, snap the container closed, add a piece of tape for extra security,  and toss with no worries.

Lastly, take extra precaution and close the blade cover when not in use.  It makes me crazy when anyone in my studio leaves the blade exposed when they are not using it!  I have a pretty long cutting table and I am often grabbing bolts of fabric and sliding patterns around, one slip could end up being a bloody mess.  Thankfully that hasn’t happened, but I have heard a few horror stories 😦

My question to you – Have you ever tried sharpening your old blades and did you have any luck or do you prefer stocking up on replacement blades when a great sale hits?

Have fun filling your pinterest board, remember to add #wardrobechallenge when sharing your experience!

cheers 🙂

 

Angela Wolf’s 2014 Wardrobe Challenge

Angela Wolf’s Wardrobe Challenge of 2014

I told you I had something in store for you, well here it is!  The inspiration for this challenge came when I changed my closets over from summer to fall.  I stepped back to admire the organized closet and realized I had made almost every outfit!  Wearing all my own designs has been a desire of mine from the time I started my custom apparel business in 1994, yet time has a tendency to hinder any quick results.  I blogged about my excitement with my closet of home sewn garments and received an instant response from many readers.  It turns out, many of you have this same goal of sewing all their own clothes, yet again time seems to be the crutch in achieving this goal.  Thus the idea of the wardrobe challenge came about.

The goal of the Angela Wolf Wardrobe Challenge is to inspire, mentor, and challenge you to fill their closets with your own home-sewn and re-styled garments … one garment at a time!

• The challenge will be run through my blog and other social media sites.
• The contest is open to anyone who is not directly associated with the sponsors (see the rules listed here).
• The entire contest is open to USA residents.  BUT, I can’t stand to leave out all my international friends, you are eligible to win the digital prizes  – these items will be marked with *, look for them each month.
• Participants are encouraged to share photos on flickr along with other social medial sites as twitter, facebook, instagram, and pinterest.  Use hashtag #wardrobechallenge when sharing your progress.
• There will be monthly prizes offered by our generous sponsors Brother, Threads Magazine, Sew Stylish Magazine, WAWAK Sewing, KS, Inc. Productions with It’s Sew Easy PBS series, and myself.  THANK YOU SPONSORS! 🙂

The challenge will start with planning a coordinating wardrobe (I can’t tell you how many jackets I have sewn and never worn, simply because they don’t match anything). Each month there will be a new theme with a certain garment to challenge you to sew.  Participate in 1 month, all 12 months, and/or just focus on a killer wardrobe for the overall challenge!  I will share more details soon, but I want you to get started on January’s challenge.  The details of the challenge are listed above and will take place on Pinterest.  Not on pinterest, no worries, email me at info@angelawolf.com and I will invite you.

January’s Challenge focuses on creating story board!  Pin anything you like that will inspire you to start adding to your wardrobe.  Fabric, Colors, Sewing Tips, basically anything that inspires you.

1 year … 13 challenges … GET INSPIRED TO SEW!!!!!

Are you up for the challenge?    Good Luck!

xoxo 

How to Prepare & Sew a Jacket Lapel (another giveaway)

When I asked what part of sewing jackets you find the most intimidating to sew, many of you left a comment about the collar and lapel.  I must have had a premonition, as this week’s episode of It’s Sew Easy gives you a few tips for success.  You are right, the collar and lapel is what really makes your jacket stand out … and the good news …  it’s easier to sew than you think.  In fact, sewing is only a minute part involved in tailoring a collar.  The most time-consuming part involves preparing the center front jacket, upper collar, and under collar pattern pieces with interfacing and twill tape, not to mention pad stitching if you are going the traditional tailoring route.  The weight of the interfacing will determine the thickness and stability of your lapel and collar, so be sure to test a sample first.  My two favorites for jackets are armo-weft fusible interfacing (shown here) and horse hair canvas (perfect if you plan on pad stitching – which I will show in a later blog post).  Fusible interfacing can be added in layers if you need more structure at the end of the lapel, keep that in mind if you interfacing supply is limited.

Despite adding interfacing, extra measures need to be taken to prevent the neckline and center front of the jacket from stretching out.  Twill tape is the perfect solution!  Look closely and you can see hand stitching attaching the 1/4″ wide cotton twill tape to the front edge of the jacket.  As I am hand stitching, I am holding the twill tape tight and allowing the jacket fabric to ease in.  Not too much easing though!  Make sure the jacket doesn’t change shape or become skewed.

What about that perfect roll on the lapel?  Again, twill tape is hand stitched to the roll line (the roll line should be printed on your jacket pattern)

When hand stitching the twill tape to the roll line, keep the twill tape tight (tighter than when we added twill tape to the center front and neckline).  Again, easing in the fashion fabric.  I use a pin to hold one end of the twill tape and start stitching from the other end.  You can see below how much I am easing!

Here I started hand stitching the twill tape in place, the main part of the stitch is on the twill tape and I am just picking a short fiber in the fashion fabric, then back through the twill tape.  You can barely see the stitching from the right side of the fabric.  When you are finished steam press the lapel roll using a seam roll.  Again, for more details see this weeks episode of It’s Sew Easy, scroll to the bottom of their page and click on the video.

Another Giveaway, this one is for my online class:  Sewing a Designer Unlined Jacket on PatternReveiw.com.  Does your favorite jacket style close in the center front or asymmetrically?  Just tell us your preference to enter the jacket class giveaway.  (A random winner will be drawn next Monday)   Congratulations to last weeks winner JRP53 who will be joining me in the  Beginner’s Guide to Sewing Jackets on PatternReview!   Good luck on your jackets!

Cheers 🙂

How to Sew a Curved Welt Pocket

Getting back to sewing jackets … by any chance did you happen to catch last weeks episode on It’s Sew Easy TV where I demonstrated adding a curved welt pocket.  Welt pockets can be a little intimidating because once you cut into the garment, you can’t change your mind! In case you missed the episode, here is a quick recap:

1.  Interface the entire jacket front and side front  pattern pieces (not only does that prevent the fabric from fraying, it supports the pocket).  Similar to a standard welt pocket, take two bias strips of fashion fabric, add fusible interfacing, and press in half.  Draw the curve line of the pocket onto the right side of the fashion fabric.  Turn the welts with the fold side away from the chalked in line (or make sure the raw edges are touching) and stitch along the center of the welt flap.  Notice how I have  also chalk marked the ends of the pocket opening.

2.  Turn the jacket over and on the wrong side of the garment you will see the stitch lines (I obviously used a yellow thread so you can see this :)).  Starting about 1″ in from one end of the stitching, cut into the fashion fabric.  Cut right in the middle of the stitch lines and end the cut about 1″ before the other stitch end.  Going back to the 1″ that we left alone, snip each corner from the cut line to the edge of the stitch line.  Do this for all four corners – as shown above.

3.  (See below) What is left is a slit with each welt on each side.  Pull the welts through the open slit, toward the wrong side of the fabric.

4.  Align the welts and press.  Run a basting stitch through the fold of each welt.  Now the pocket opening won’t slide around while finishing the pocket.

5.  Topstitch 1/8″ from the edge of the welt pocket.  The pocket shown above is a straight welt style, yet the topstitching you see would be the same on the curved welt.  Add the pocket lining.  That’s it!

This weeks It’s Sew Easy episode demonstrates preparing the jacket collar and lapel.  Have you been following along and sewing your own jacket?  On that note, I better giveaway another one of my online jacket classes:  Beginner’s Guide to Sewing Jackets on PatternReview.  Entering to win is easy, leave a comment below about what you find the most intimidating about sewing jackets.  (A random winner will be drawn on Friday).

Don’t forget ALL my PatternReview online classes are on sale for the rest of the week.  Why?  Just a special thanks to all of you that support my teaching.  Speaking of support, thanks to your votes in the Craftsy 2013 Blogger Awards, we won Runner-Up for Sewing Best Instructor’s Blog!  You all are awesome!!!! Thanks 🙂

Congratulations to Stephani the winner of my PatternReview class Create a Jacket Muslin !

 

Cheers!

 

 

Sewing Designer Jeans FREE CLASS Craftsy Giveaway!

I know you usually don’t hear about my new classes until the day they start, but not with this one!  Sewing designer jeans will start later this month on Craftsy and I am offering a FREE CLASS to one lucky winner. This class will take you from A to Z in sewing your own designer jeans.    Click here to enter!  (The contest closes at midnight on Sunday, October 6, 2013) and the winner will be announced next week.  Good luck!

So how did the shoot go?  Well, I was in Denver for the torrential downfall and it was heart wrenching to see the damage shown on the local news.  Fortunately downtown Denver fared with very little flooding despite the many dark, rainy days.

The Craftsy studio has been redesigned since my last taping Creative Serging and I had a great team to work with!  The set was equipped with the best of the best, including the Brother DreamWeaver XE Innovis-VM6200D sewing machine.  Although these are long days of taping, when you are having fun, the hours fly by.

Below you can see 3 of the best jean tools in the sewing room … a pink hammer, sand paper, and a tailor’s clapper.  Not only will this class walk you through sewing a pair of designer jeans, I show you how to distress the jeans as you go.  Once you sew a pair of stylish jeans that fit perfectly, you will be hooked!  Enter to win a free class today.

The blog has been a little quiet lately as I have been traveling A LOT lately … taping with Craftsy, It’s Sew Easy TV, and Threads magazine.  I will be back tomorrow with more photo’s and inside scoop on what’s coming out soon.   While you are at it … Craftsy is asking about your favorite blogs.  I would love your vote  🙂    Cheers, xoxo Angela

Embroidery Embellishment and Congrats to Serger Class Winner!

Getting new samples ready for It’s Sew Easy TV season 6 taping, I am finishing designing new dresses and experimenting with embellishing with embroidery.  I have had this purple raw silk for years and really like the color, but it’s SO bright by itself!  I will probably color block with black for one of the designs, but for this one I wanted to try adding a touch of embellishment.  This is the start (obviously I have not pressed out the embroidery hoop marking) …

I found this flower in the Brother Quattro sewing machine.  The flower was originally a medium size, so I tried to make it as large as possible for one of the flowers and as small as possible for the other.  This was so easy to do!  Using the touch screen I was able to enlarge the flower and move the design to the top left of the screen, which will embroider in the top left part of the hoop.

You can see below how the first larger flower is embroidering on the top left side of the hoop.

First flower looks great!

For the second flower –  I turned the shape upside down, made the flower as small and narrow as possible, and moved the shape to the bottom right side of the hoop.

Looks pretty good!!!!!  I used a silver metallic thread, although you can’t see that very well from the photo’s – clean and simple.

As far as designing, I cut the bottom of the dress to allow for a straight skirt or adding darts or pleats to the waistband.  I am definitely adding the darts 🙂   I will post photos when the dress is finished.

Congratulations Wilma Coats the winner of my Creative Serging Class on Craftsy!  Again, here is a coupon if you would like to join us in a fun, creative online class.