Memorial Day 2010 - sewing and stash

It's a three day weekend in the United States. Monday is Memorial day, commemorating the men and women who have died in military service. For those who have died, we salute you.

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I've been sewing: I've made 2 Hotpatterns Sunshine tops and 1 pair of Hotpatterns Marrakesh pants. I'm really happy about the Marrakesh I'm getting ready to make another top. It's late, so tonight I'm going to make a knit top, using a TNT. It's too late to start a woven top, using a new pattern.

Yesterday, I also refolded a large part of my fabric stash. it's great--I know what I have it now. I really have a LOT of fabric. It makes me wish that I had a two bedroom apartment, so that I could devote 1 room to sewing and stash storage. I was very bad last weekend. I fell off the wagon and I'm rolling around in yardage.

Last Saturday, I went to Happy Stop in Oakland and I purchased 2 bags of fabric. I hadn't been there for about a year. Simon missed me! I bought some beige embroidered cotton, 2 1/2 yards that I managed to squeeze a pair of the Marrakesh pants (note: I really need at least 2 5/8 of a yard.) I also purchased some ikat style prints wovens (one pink and one turquoise), as well as some quiet rayon plaids, suitable for pants and skirts, or sheath dresses. I have a habit of picking remnants, even at fabric discounters. I'm really glad that I picked up the habit of pre-washing. After my purchasing spree, I went home, sewed the fabric pieces together and drove to my local laundry-mat. I loading 2 front loading washing machines, put in the laundry detergent and synthrapol, loaded my quarters, and I watched the water turn brown in one of the machines. The dye on three of the remnants ran--lucking none of the dye stuck to the other fabrics, but I have some yardage that is looks like a Deadhead caught in the rain. I'm really glad that I pre-wash with synthrapol. The washed out fabrics are probably going to Goodwill. I'm not upset about the remnants that ran--Simon bundled together all the pieces I selected that were less than 2 yards and had given me a special price. If I had paid full retail/britex prices, I would be upset. As it is, I resigned to the fact that I thought that some of the fabrics had a weird finish or hand to them when I folded them in the store. C'est la vie!

A week ago Friday, I went to an estate sale during lunch time--it was less than a mile from work and the craigslist ad mentioned fabric, so I decided to go. It turned out to be the estate of the owners of a Japanese gift shop. I managed to score several Japanese fabric, several yukata/kimono lengths of cotton (they were cotton--I could read the kanji), marked down from $168 to $10 each. The fabric is about 12 inches wide, and was rolled up and wrapped in paper. I think that the previous owners had cats, because I kept sneezing when I picked them up. They were part of the laundromat trip last Saturday--I did fold and sew/baste the fabric lengths before laundering, and then I spent a good few hours ironing them dry and re-rolling them before storing them.

I know that I'm jumping around in my timeline, but after I went to Happy Stop in Oakland, I decided to go to Fabrix in San Francisco. It was a glorious day--the sun was out, it was warm and it was a great day to cross the Bay Bridge. I bought some more fabric, most notably some knit yardage: a grey, black, and white abstract suitable for work clothing, and another printed knit that is reminiscent of Gustav Klimt. And more fabrics, mostly rayon wovens that are suitable for pants.

I hope that everyone enjoys a happy and safe holiday.

HotPatterns Marrakesh Pants part 2

I've finished two wearable pairs of HotPatterns Marrakesh Pants. I made the second pair from the mystery slate gray flannel. For this pair, I decided not to alter the pattern and trim outside seam at the hip line (and the pockets). I think that they turned out very well--I still have to sew on the hook and eye at the waistband. I'm glad that I removed a quarter inch from the front legs--the pants are still drapey, but they are not billowy. There is still some extra fabric gathered at the waist, but it's not excessive (altering the outside seam would fix that). After writing this post, I've viewed Trudy's Marrakesh Pants video and it looks like there is no extra fabric gathering at the waist. I may need to look at my draft again...

I've lowered the waistline on the pattern for the third pair, which will be made from linen. I consider this linen as the really good stuff from the stash, especially since it usually retails for $12 a yard (I got it on sale for $6 a yard earlier this month. This yardage hasn't aged at all in my stash LOL!). I shouldn't get too worried when cutting this out--I'm familiar with the Marrakesh pattern, since I've sewn it several times. I made the first two pairs from woven fabrics with crosswise stretch. The linen doesn't have any crosswise stretch, but I'll double check the fit of the pattern before cutting, as well as comparing pattern to the second pair of pants.

Fabric prep--I washed the linen the other night, and I've pressed it (with steam) to remove the wrinkles (suggested by Sandra Betzina's Fabric Savvy). I'm glad that I pre-washed the fabric-- the lint catcher in the dryer was filled when I dried this load of fabric yardage. It could have been the linen or it could have been another piece, but I'm glad that I'm not going to encounter that dust when sewing. Right now, I'm letting the fabric rest on the cutting table for two reasons: I don't like to cut fabric late at night (or early in the morning). The second reason is there has been some discussion on sewing blogs/boards that fabric gets stretched when it's tightly wound on bolts, so it should be allowed to relax and contract before it's cut into garments. Even if the fabric relaxed after I laundered it, I may have stretched it when I pressed it. So the fabric is resting, spread over and gently folded on my cutting table, with all the notions assembled and ready to go. I guess that sewist and the fabric should be relaxed before cutting.

I know--I don't have any pictures of my work. I'll try to get some up after the third pair. I'm in awe of those bloggers post with pictures every time!

Another Burda 7970, Pre-Washing, and Possibly Damaged Fabric

I'm close to finishing another Burda 7970, this time in a red cotton lycra (fabric purchased from Fabrics R Us in San Jose). This version has short sleeves, so I guess it's about 1.5 yards of fabric.

One of my goals is to develop a great fitting pair of pants.  This afternoon I decided to pre-wash the denim fabrics that I have in my stash.   Pre-washing is a good idea for several reasons:  

1. It pre-shrinks the fabric. Why spend a lot of time creating a garment that fits only once (before it gets laundered).  All of my clothing has to be able to survive the washing machine, so it gets tossed in the washing machine, on HOT if it's cotton.   I don't dry clean a lot of my clothing, so I try to be brutal when pre-washing.  
2. It gets rid of lint.  I try to clean/vacuum my sewing machine after each project, vacuuming the bobbin area, the needle uptake, etc.  I used to wonder where all the dust came from.  I buy a lot of my fabric from fabric jobbers, where the fabrics probably been stored in less than desirable locations (less than desirable = open air, on the ground, outside in parking lots, garages, etc.)  This means that the fabric picks up a lot of dust.  I don't store my fabrics away in a closet, they are pretty much out in open air in my apartment, so this means, MORE dust.  Pre-washing removes a lot of lint.  I pre-washed some corduroy (still unsewn) and the dryer's lint case was full.  Well, now I know the origin of the dust.
3. It removes any chemicals or sizing that remain in the fabric.  Some sewists have had problems with allergies, I haven't had problems, but pre-washing couldn't hurt.

I'm sure that there are other good reasons, but these are the reasons I do it.

Well, I discovered that one of the pieces of denim is crocked, that it it's shedding dye all over the place.  The fabric was fine (it didn't shed anything) until it was in the washing machine an dryer.   The washing machine was full of lint, but nothing unusual since I didn't finish the ends of the yardage before I tossed it in the washing machine.  The dryer was worse--after I removed the fabric, the dryer was full of a dry black dust--stuff that had flaked off of the black denim.  I had to wipe it down for about 10 minutes.  The lint case was full of black dust, not fibers, but dust.   And worse, when I put the fabric on the clothes line (did I mention that it was 5.5. yards?) the dust that was still on the fabric flaked off on my sweatshirt and on the clothes line.  Yuck.  I hope that the dye piece flake off the clothesline and don't stain my neighbors' clothing.   I folded up the piece as best I could and I put in a garbage bag in my car trunk.  I just could not face bringing it back into my apartment.

I purchased this piece of fabric online from a coop and I read that some of the other purchasers had reported  some problems when the fabric was washed.  It looks like there are two sets of black denim that were sold:  one set that is crocked and the other set that shreds/falls apart after being sewn.   I'm not certain if my purchase was from the group that shreds apart.  If it is, then I'll free-cycle it.   I was able to put some synthrapol in the washing machine, so the dye did not travel to the other piece of cheaper fabric chainstore denim.   

The next question, should the 5.5 yards count in my stash-busting?  :)