Patterns

A Craftsy Review: Design & Sew an A-Line Skirt

~ Michelle ~ 6 Comments

I have a lot of Craftsy classes, and I know I’m not alone in that. In fact, I know two other bloggers who also have a lot of classes, and we’re teaming up to post monthly (we hope) reviews of the classes we’ve taken.

Reviewing along with me are Marsha of Flying by the Seam of my Pants and Naomi of Barely Beige. Marsha and I have done a few blog tours together now, so I think you’ll all recognize her. Naomi is just getting started. I hope you pop over and read both of their reviews, and please make Naomi feel welcome .

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Now, let me share with you our real motive behind our plan to do these monthly class reviews – it’s to really watch all of these wonderful classes we’ve bought, and really get the most from them; you know – do the projects, make the wonderful makes, and not just have a lovely Craftsy class collection (as wonderful as that would be on its own). Is there anyone else out there who has classes they haven’t watched yet? I’m so guilty, but don’t tell my hubby!

So, for our first review we’re covering Design & Sew an A-Line Skirt, which was one of my first Craftsy classes.

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Of all the classes I’ve taken on Craftsy, this will probably be the hardest one for me to review. The reason for that is I’d like to just say great things about this class, or any class. It’s a little harder for this class to do that. Here are my first thoughts on the class from a couple of years ago. And here are a few more thoughts from that time.

However, I like to focus on positives, so I’ll share some really good things about the class now. Let’s cover those first.

One thing I like about this class.

One of the things I really like about this class is it taught me to put in an invisible zipper for the first time. I’d avoided them until this point. A regular zipper was fine, but I had been too intimidated to even try an invisible one. Just the name itself had scared me off.

Deborah’s instructions were very clear on how to install the zipper and I had no trouble. Her instructions were great really.

Here’s an old photo showing the zipper. (Sorry for these terrible photos – I was having camera trouble back then.)

invisible zipper

That zipper is about as perfect as a zipper can get. That’s a great aspect to the class.

I made a skirt that fit.

I did finish my skirt. That’s another positive for the class. Not only did I finish the skirt, but it fit as well. Here’s another (terrible) old photo.skirt

A personal dislike.

The skirt we make in this class sits a couple of inches below the natural waist, and I don’t love that. That’s simply a style preference.

Positive reviews with cautions.

This class is rated for beginners. It has reviews from 87 people and they have given it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. That’s pretty positive. However, there are comments in those reviews questioning whether this is really a class for beginners.

Maybe not for beginners.

The reason reviewers are saying this class isn’t for beginners is this instructor wasn’t answering questions. The fact that so many don’t receive answers makes me think this class might be better suited to someone with more sewing experience.

I had the experience of not having my questions answered when I ran into a bit of trouble. With this class, I made my first sloper. I’d had no previous experience with slopers.

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Here’s a screen shot from the Craftsy class showing Deborah squaring up the pattern she’s making. This was the first area where I had trouble – ‘squaring up’.

My sloper was so curvy (like me) that squaring it was rather hard. I asked my question and didn’t receive an answer. I decided to simply move ahead even though my sloper wasn’t perfectly squared up. I did run into more trouble, and again didn’t have an answer to my question.

I contacted Craftsy about not getting answers.

Craftsy customer service.

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Have any of you had any experience in dealing with Craftsy when a problem comes up? Craftsy is great! They have phenomenal customer service, and they came through for me with my unanswered questions.

When I emailed Craftsy with my frustrations over not having my questions answered, Craftsy checked and confirmed I did in fact have unanswered questions. Then made things right for me. That made me a happier customer. I still didn’t have answers to my questions though, which left a bit of a negative feeling about the class. That’s why this class review is a bit of a struggle. I have some negative feelings about this class.

However, to be fair, there are a few really great aspects to this class. So again, let’s focus on these:

  • I drafted and made a skirt that fit me.
  • I installed my first invisible zipper (and it looks great)!
  • There are a lot of positive reviews for the class.
  • With this class you make a modern A-Line skirt.

I think if you’re a competent sewer, there would be a lot you could learn from this class. So despite a bit of a negative experience, I, along with many of the other class reviewers, will recommend this class with a caution – it’s not for beginners.

I will let you know, we decided to start with our reviews but are taking December off. We’ll pick this up again in January. So no review in December.

Happy creating!

A Visual Comparison of Two Patterns

~ Michelle ~ 6 Comments

Every since my hubby’s business trip to Germany when I placed an order with Sewy, I’ve been thinking about the Sewy Rebecca pattern.

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I’ve been wondering exactly how it differs from the Pin-up Girls Shelley because both patterns are very similar – power bar, lace upper cup, full band…

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When you have a question like this, it’s just the kind of question to ask your very own Fairy Bra Mother. So I did. I asked her, “What is the difference between a bra that fits more shallowly (from my experience) and one that doesn’t?”

Beverly Johnson, (The Fairy Bra Mother), said she thought it all came down to bottom cup depth. Hmm. That gives me something to check into.

Now, let’s take a look together to see how much of a difference there is between the two patterns. I’ve compared them by wearing them, but not pattern piece to pattern piece. Well, there was one day when I measured all kinds of things on both patterns… but I didn’t trace them both out and compare.

Anyway. I’ve had a cold, felt terrible and didn’t want to do anything, but still wanted to get something done… so I pulled out my patterns and traced them off.

The Results

Here are the upper cups one on top of the other. The Shelley is traced onto  purple paper, and the Rebecca, yellow. Since the Sewy patterns don’t have a seam allowance, the Shelley has been trimmed of its seam allowances. I also made the split lower cup into one pattern piece.

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The Shelley pattern piece barely peeks out from under the bottom of the Rebecca pattern piece, so to help us all out visually, I traced the Shelley onto the Rebecca with the dotted line. You can see the Rebecca is also straighter along the lower edge of the upper cup and is longer too.

You know how I said I had a cold? I had a little trouble naming these photos when I was saving them. I kept calling them all ‘Upper Cups’, so this one has the creative name of ‘No Really Upper Cups’.

Here are the lower cups of both which were saved under the file name ‘Upper Cups’. Sigh. upper-cupsThe Shelley definitely has more bottom cup depth. The Rebecca is longer along the lower edge. Again, The Shelley pattern is on the purple paper in behind.

Lastly, here are the power bars, which I caught before I saved and changed their file name from Upper Cups.

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I hope this helps anyone else wondering about the differences between the two patterns.

Happy creating!

Another Pair of Panties

~ Michelle ~ 6 Comments

When I’d made my recent matching bra and panty set, I only had enough beige cotton for one pair of panties. That was all I made.

Full set on table 2

However, this pair isn’t perfect. Wearable, and pretty, but not perfect. As well, I do like a second matching pair for my sets.

Do you remember I showed you the two gussets overlapped?

Gusset

I’m going to add length to my gusset. I found the longer one is more comfortable.

When it was time to re-draw my pattern, I pulled out the original KS 2286. Interestingly, I compared both pattern pieces (my drafted one, and my traced KS 2286) to the original pattern. My traced 2286 pattern is narrower and shorter than the original. My self-drafted one is narrower still. I’m going with the self-drafted pattern piece for the width and adding back some of the length.

 I had just enough lace left over from making my bra and the first pair of panties to make a second pair of panties. I forgot to mention, the gorgeous lace I used for this set came from Merckwaerdigh‘s store. The cotton is from Bra-Makers Supply, and the lace trim is from Frog Feathers on Etsy. Three of my favorite vendors.

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Here are my new panties. I’ll include a few other photos so you can compare.

Here’s my first drafted pair.

panties on table

They look similar, but there are differences. The longer gusset makes my new pair look more French cut than my first pair. Although they’re both Hipsters.

Here are a few construction details:

Again, this time because I’m working with a lace front, I reinforced the sides of the lace with a knit interfacing, and add some lingerie elastic to the inside of the front waist.

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I’ve also used my pinking rotary cutter to trim away the extra cotton Lycra for a nice neat look behind the lace.

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Lastly, these are done and just what I want. They are bow-worthy.

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The bow is from the same polka dot tulle I used to make my version of the Heather bra. It’s a pretty and very delicate touch.

Happy creating!

Revisiting McCall’s 6516

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Last year, I made a jacket I love. I wear it often. It’s my McCall’s 6516 jacket.

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I love my jacket, but my hubby doesn’t. Now, before everyone jumps all over him, let me tell you exactly what it is he doesn’t love.

He doesn’t love that unfinished look to the flap. ‘Add some lace,’ he says. I have no desire to take the jacket apart to add some lace.

You can see here, the materials shown on the pattern’s envelope don’t have any large white ‘unfinished’ looking flaps, but I love this material.

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I do have to admit I don’t love the white flap either. I decided to revisit my jacket. Out came my little black fabric marker.

Here’s my jacket half done.

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 I’ve been sitting and relaxing while I draw inside the jacket. Okay, it does look better.

Here is it all done and laundered.

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It did fade a bit in the laundry, but it still looks better. Have you used a fabric marker on anything? What was it? How did it turn out?

Happy creating!

Happy Thanksgiving/National Handbag Day

~ Michelle

Craftsy is saying it’s National Handbag day and has a great blog post with some free bag patterns. It’s Thanksgiving Day in Canada. I’m good with celebrating both!

Here’s a wonderful free bag with a tutorial.

THE MANHATTAN ZIPPERED CASE

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This pattern comes from the instructor of Craftsy class Mix & Match Clutch Bag Techniques, so you can bet it’ll be a great tutorial! The small handbag is perfect for quick trips when you need just a few things.

Happy creating!

A Baby Shower Gift

~ Michelle

 A very dear friend of mine just became a Grandma. It was time to make a baby shower gift.

My TNT baby gift for the better part of 20 years is an idea from Sewing With Nancy.

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A beautiful hooded towel. I don’t have this great-looking book, but saw Nancy make one of these towels on her show, and I’ve been making them since.

They’re a great gift. I’ve heard back from Moms that they love them and use them for years. I’ve even had Moms ask for one for their next baby after receiving one.

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Isn’t this cute? I’ve never made the bear style.

For the towel I made, I was told the colors were black, white, and pink. I found a pink towel, black ribbon, and used some white thread to embroider on the ribbon.

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After embroidering the ribbon, I attached it to the towel and facecloth.

To make it a little different than simply sewing on the ribbon, I gave the ribbon a little twist every few inches. You can also see here I didn’t embroider all the ribbon.

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Here’s a close-up of the twists in the ribbon before it was sewn down. I used pins hold those twists in place.

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Here’s how the front of the towel will look. There’s a single embroidered ribbon on the other side of the towel.

And of course there’s the matching ribbon and twist pattern on the washcloth/hood.

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Here’s the hood. I draped this over my dress form, Catherine.

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I think it looks adorable. Here’s the whole hooded towel:

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That’s nice and long to wrap that little baby up for a few years.

Do you have a TNT gift you make? What is it? I wonder how many of our TNTs come from shows like Sewing with Nancy? Do you love her show?

Happy Thanksgiving & happy creating!

A Little Upcycling

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

I love to find a new use for something. I love to go to thrift shops too. I really like a good bargain.

Here’s my latest find. It’s an old wooden spice rack that will now happily serve as a thread holder. And look at how much more room I have! The little plastic thread box I had was full. This is much better.

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How do you like my little toy dress forms? They add the perfect touch of whimsy to my thread rack.

Recently, I was inspired by reading Emerald Erin’s blog. She was going through her closet and working towards a capsule wardrobe. That is something I’ve been thinking about doing too. I have a full closet, but open the door and feel like there’s nothing in there.

After reading Erin’s post, I went through my closet. The problem was, although there were things in there I really had no problem getting rid of, there were some things in there I really did. Even though I never wore them, I loved the material. I didn’t want to get rid of them.

I set them aside. I had three piles on my bed. Pack away. Give away. I don’t want to give away.

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I was not going to put that third pile back in my closet or pack it away. Then I thought of what I could do. Upcycle!

I have Betz White’s class on Craftsy.

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As well, I just bought a new pattern. (ClubBMV has too many sales!)

I’m sure I can use some of this material towards something like this:

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Or maybe more like this:

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This second pattern is used in the Craftsy classes The Ultimate T-Shirt and The Artful T-Shirt. Both of these classes are by Marcy & Katherine Tilton.

In the photo for the Artful class, they show this same T-shirt with a lot more piecing.titlecard

I’m thinking there must be a way to use some of these materials I love so much and make something new.

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There’s one other thing in that hard-to-give-away pile: a silk skirt. The blue floral material? That’s silk. I’ve been holding onto it for years. I think I wore it once, maybe twice. This is going to make a few lovely bras.

Time to get cutting out. Have you upcycled anything? How did it turn out? Do you love it? Will you upcycle again? What’s your favorite thrift store find? I’d love to hear.

Happy creating!

Canada Cups Posts for Sunday, September 18th, 2016

~ Michelle

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Here is our wrap-up post for the tour. What an incredible week it’s been! Don’t forget to enter the give-away and come back for some wonderful prizes.

Sunday, September 18

  • Linda, the instructor from the newest Corset-making class and owner of her own Corset business, is doing our wrap-up on Farthingales.

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All of the talented bloggers on this tour have done a fabulous job!

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If you’re looking for any of the past posts, here they all are.

Follow the magical tour to see what we all have under our clothes

Canada Cups Logo Draft

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Sunday, September 11

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Monday, September 12

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Tuesday, September 13

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Wednesday, September 14

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Thursday, September 15

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Friday, September 16

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Saturday, September 17

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Sunday, September 18

  • Linda, the instructor from the newest Corset-making class and owner of her own Corset business, is doing our wrap-up on Farthingales

Whoohoo! It’s giveaway day today!

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Monday, September 19

Have you entered the giveaways yet? Today’s your last chance.

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Tuesday, September 20

Giveaway winners announced on all the blogs:

Life of a Fairy Bra Mother, Little Heart Threads, Glitter in my Coffee, Michelle’s Creations, Mrs. Weaver’s Finest Unmentionables, Braphoria, Gracious Threads, Élégantine!, Shelaine’s Designs, That’s so Venice, Sprouting Jubejube, Flying by the Seam of my Pants, The Wild Stitch, Farthingales Corset Blog

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After September 20

  • Come back to visit all the blogs for followup posts. It’s always fun!
  • Craftsy class discounts expire at midnight Sept. 30

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Happy creating.

A Review of Sewing Panties Construction & Fit

~ Michelle ~ 125 Comments

Welcome to Michelle’s Creations for the Canada Cups – Cross Your Heart Relay blog tour, 2016.

banner-improvedI hope you’re enjoying all of our makes and reviews so far. This time around, I’m reviewing Beverly Johnson’s new Panty class and so is Deb, my booty buddy, from Sprouting JubeJube. Make sure after you read my post, you hop on over to read Deb’s thoughts on the class. If you started with Deb’s review, welcome here!  I do know Deb has been really busy with all her makes and has them all here in a separate write-up than her class review.

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Don’t you love Craftsy? It really is the best. They offer online classes that never expire, and in so many different categories (sewing, cooking, gardening, painting…); the instructors they get are the best and they answer your questions; Craftsy offers kits and supplies as well. They really are great!

You’ll see in my sidebar menu, I’m an affiliate with Craftsy. I decided to do this because I can do this without any compromise. I really do think they’re great. You won’t see me stand behind everything. But Craftsy, I do.

Back to Sewing Panties Construction & Fit. I started watching. I watched the class half way through the first night. Then got up the next morning and watched the rest of it. I felt ready and confident to draft my own panties which was something I’d wondered if I could really do before the class.

Beverly assures us that drafting our own panties isn’t hard. It’s just a few simple measurements. Then she proceeds to show us just how to do it. This photo is from Craftsy showing Beverly making her master panty pattern.

She was absolutely right! It’s not hard.

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The drafting of the panty is very reminiscent of Suzy Furrer’s Sloper classes. Once we’ve drafted our pattern, Beverly moves on to show us the three basic styles of panties – Brief, Hipster, and Bikini – and how to make each one from our own master pattern.

From those three styles, Beverly shows some more variations like making your own French cut panties. There is also a style with the seams in the front. I had just been looking at the Make Bra DL21 pattern. I’d read great reviews on them and how the seams didn’t show at all. I’m going to try my hand at drafting my own!

My big question is how will my class-drafted pattern compare to my favorite pattern?

Before I made a pair up, I wanted to compare my class-drafted pattern to my favorites: Kwik Sew 2286.

Here are both back pattern pieces – the black outline is the class-drafted pattern; the white pattern piece is my 2286 pattern:

back 2

The pencil wasn’t showing up very well in the photo, so I redrew the lines in black on my computer. The class-drafted Hipster hits the center back exactly the same as my 2286s. The hip sits a bit higher on the class-drafted pair. As well, the class-drafted back is a bit wider in the hip and gives a little more cheek coverage. I had no idea my 2286s were cheeky!

I was thinking about the size difference, and remembered Beverly does suggest in the class to start with a 20% reduction when drafting the pattern. Clearly, my 2286s have more than 20% reduction, which shows even more on the front piece.

Front

Again, the front is bigger on my class-drafted pair. And the Hipster line sits a little lower. The leg opening on the front of my class-drafted pair (again, outlined in black) is definitely lower, and that would be something I’d want to change.

Gusset

The class-drafted gusset is shorter and although you can’t tell in the photo, it’s a touch narrower as well. I’d even narrowed the gusset pattern piece on my 2286s.

For my panties, I’m going to use my favorite 2286s like I often use my sloper – to help me get the fit I want. I will change the leg opening on the front, lengthen the gusset a tiny bit, and since I haven’t found my 2286s to be too small at all, I will narrow the class-drafted pattern.

It’s time for new panties! New, drafted-to-my-measurements, incorporating-all-the-aspects-of-my-favorite-pattern, and matching-my-new-bra new panties. These are not just any panties!

panties on table

Oh, I like these. I incorporated the lace application on the legs the same as my 2286s, and did a lace front panel to match my bra.

I wanted to show you a few more details. One of the things I’ve learned making my own panties is the side seam is a weak spot when you’re using lace on the front like this. So, for these panties, I used a 1/2″ strip of knit interfacing to reinforce the seam.

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As well, having a lace front isn’t quite the same without some elastic. It will often be too loose. So a little bit of lingerie elastic behind the lace is hardly visible, but makes a big difference when you’re wearing them.

Elastic behind the lace

I like everything to look as nice inside as out. I pin my lace out of the way and use my Pinking blade to trim away the excess fabric.

Pinking the edges

There’s only one more thing to add. This is one of the bows I made for my bra.

One more thing to add

Here’s my matching set.

Full set on table 2

 I love them both!

Set on Catherine 3

I loved making self-drafted panties, but that wasn’t all I made. As well as making these panties, I reviewed a pattern.

 

 Here are the panties I made:

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Yes, it’s the Pin-Up Girls Boy Short Collection.

Along with covering Beverly’s newest class, Deb from Sprouting JubeJube and I are both reviewing panty patterns, but not the same pattern. I’m reviewing the Pin-Up Girls Boy Short Collection. Although I know what pattern Deb is making, I’m not going to tell. You’ll have to go to Deb’s blog to see her pattern review and all her makes. She really did make some lovely panties, and we found out we love the same materials. Really. We have the same Cotton Lycra stash. That’s all I’m saying.

Let me show you the Boy Shorts I made.

Front of panty

 They look just like Boy Shorts, but they also looked bigger than what I usually wear.

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And they are bigger. To be totally honest here, they looked HUGE to me!  It’s mostly the different shape. Boy shorts have material over the leg and what I usually wear doesn’t. Oh my! Here they are being compared to my favorite Kwik Sew 2286s. I know what size not to use so my next pair will fit.

The best part of these panties is the back. I made view 4. They really have a super cute back and I will use this feature in the future.

Back lace detail

Isn’t that a lovely detail?

I want to thank Bra-Makers Supply for providing me with the Pin-Up Girls Boy Short Collection, and Craftsy for providing me with the class Sewing Panties Construction & Fit.

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Tour Schedule Itinerary

Follow the magical tour to see what we all have under our clothes

Canada Cups Logo Draft

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Saturday, September 17

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bloggers

A big thank you to our wonderful bloggers. They’ve all done such a great job!

Happy creating!