Returning To My Sewing Machine

 After being in a massive knitting rut and a lull in Etsy and Folksy sales I thought of taking a little holiday from advertising and making things solely to sell. I was starting to not enjoy what I was making which no crafter should ever experience!

I lasted the total of 3 hours on my day of without creating anything and then cracked the sewing machine out to finish the sofa cover (its not knitting so it doesn't count!). It wasn't perfect but it turned out really well!

Extremely bad photo and messy living room but you get the picture!

I haven't sewn anything since uni which was now 2 years ago, time goes so fast! But I remembered a couple of Burda patterns and fabric I had bought before christmas to make for spring. I want to start wearing all of my own makes so I bought a shirt pattern and basic dress and jacket pattern.

Three different blouse patterns smart, work and casual!

So last night I decided I wanted to make the tux style shirt, but with the regular cuffs so it is still wearable. I traced the pattern and and cut my fabric out in record time. Now to the sewing! I started the pleats for the front panels and lasted a total of 20 minutes before I realised I had cocked it up already! My pleating effort resulted in this:

What even is this?

Look how uneven and wonky those pleats are. I obviously got over excited so I turned to the instructions for help. After all I followed the pattern pleat and sew lines so I must have gotten confused. That is where I found the downside to this pattern, there is no explanation about the pleats and I still don't know what I did wrong, considering the panel ended up an inch out! 

I went and stared at my yarns for a bit, I find this tends to calm me down and give me ideas, mental I know but it works for me. And then I thought I need to take this into control and the only way I know how to get my pleats with mathematical precision would be with knitted pleats! I cant help myself. So I chose a white viscose 2ply with some clear lurex and knitted a pleated panel.

Much Better!

You can't see the lurex much in this photo because It is very subtle. I wasn't too worried with it being sheer because I had cut out 2 cotton panels to back the knit with so it could sit on the shirt front flush without pulling or distorting. 

I made the front panels by sewing the cut out shapes on the wrong side of my knitted pleats then cutting out the panels, this ensures you don't get a huge ladder and that the shape is correct. Cutting out knit is a nightmare without backing. You could also use bondaweb but you can sometimes see it under the knit and it can make your fabric a bit too crisp. 

I have set them into the fronts and they look great! So far so good and a good mornings sewing before work. It did only take me another 10 minutes to go wrong again but I might change the design to regular button stand rather than concealed just to make my life easier. As I will wear this shirt for every day rather than the black tie its intended for. 

But thats tomorrows problem!