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When is it too late for Linen?

September 3, 2018 By Gala Fabrics Leave a Comment

Here we are at the beginning of September already! I guess we are truly in the dog days of summer since Fall officially starts September 22 this year. The store received some gorgeous digitally printed linens that I simply couldn’t resist!

I had a bit of an internal debate as to if it was too late to make another linen outfit for this year but decided that making an easy project that I could complete in a day would mean I still have ALMOST one month to wear it. (no twisting my rubber arm on this decision!)

Having done the Pia dress numerous times already, I decided this would be a good pairing for one of the larger printed linens as this design has few seams to break up the print. And it is a quick pattern to put together. Bonus!

The only adjustment I did was to drop the front neckline by 1″.

Do you know what went through my head once I finished the dress and put it on?

“I feel pretty, I feel pretty ….” If you have no idea of what I’m talking about, it is a song from the iconic movie/play, West Side Story. Now if only I could dance.

Here is the full version of the song.

No need to thank me for the ear worm you now have 🙂

The Humble Beginnings

August 24, 2018 By Gala Fabrics 2 Comments

In my last post, I mentioned making a simple white T-shirt to be worn with the Marcy Tilton V9193 pants. Little did I know what rabbit hole I would fall into! After searching in all the pattern books we carry, I could not find what I would classify as a t-shirt. There were lots of knit tops but not the fitted T-shirt I was envisioning. I even searched some online stores hoping for a better selection. To no avail! But in all the online searching, I discovered some interesting history of the T-shirt.

Did you know that many think that the ubiquitous T-shirt (in RTW anyways) evolved from the basic union suit? The union suit was a one piece underwear garment for men in the 19^th century. While it was great to wear for warmth, it was too hot for summer or labourers so the garment was cut in half into what is now commonly known as long johns. With some experimentation, companies began making these garments with knit fabrics eliminating the need for buttons.

It wasn’t until 1904 that this piece of underwear truly caught the attention of the public. Cooper Underwear Company (later known as Jockey) published an advertisement marketing the undershirt to sewing-challenged bachelors. No buttons to fall off meant no sewing! And what institution had the greatest number of bachelors in their ranks at this time? The US Navy! About 1 year after the advertisement ran, the US Navy incorporated the white undershirt as part of the uniform. This was later adopted into the US Army uniform.

The undershirt only became popular as an over shirt after World War 2, when soldiers returning home made this garment part of their casual wardrobe. Then, of course, there was the release of A Street Car Named Desire (both movie and play) where Hollywood hottie, Marlon Brando, played Stanley Kowalski. Brando’s Oscar nominating performance in a tightly fitted t-shirt caused a spike in sales which put the t-shirt on the landscape as a sexy, outer wear garment.

So what did I end up using? I paired this new burn out knit with McCall’s dress pattern M6886, cutting it short, about ½” below the lengthen/shorten hip line. I liked the V neck detail so cut out the size 16 (the largest in the size range I picked). It is classed as an easy pattern, but maybe it was the instructions or maybe it was the smoke filled air (remnants of large forest fires in the British Columbia Interior) but I COULD NOT figure how to attach the neckband! I went on Youtube and found a few tutorials on sewing the V point but mine ended up a big mess! Instead, I got my French curve out, cut off the V-neck and made it into a U-neck.

I had to cut another neckband but that was easy. To measure the neckband size, lay out flat your T-shirt. With a flexible ruler or measuring tape, measure your neckline. Depending on how much stretch your fabric has, cut your neckband anywhere from 2 – 3” shorter. The less stretch, the less difference. Because my fabric is very stretchy, the neckband I cut was 3” shorter than the neckline measurement. Make sure you mark the center back and center front points. Pin to the matching points on your t-shirt. Measure the distance from the CB to a shoulder seam on the garment. Measure the same on the neckband but decrease by ¾”. Pin. You will need to stretch the neckband to fit the garment but to do so evenly, you anchor it at the center points and shoulder points.

I know many sewists have issues with hemming knits. One issue is the curling of the cut edge of the fabric. Even pressing doesn’t flatten it! I use the “magical” basting tape which holds everything in place then dissolves when washed.

Another hemming issue is when using a twin needle, the fabric peaks between the 2 lines of stitching or what is labelled as tunneling. This is because the bobbin thread that zig zags between the 2 needles is too tight and gathers up the fabric. One way to solve this is to use a narrower twin needle. The lighter the fabric, the narrower the space between the 2 needles. You can also try wooly nylon in the bobbin thread as this has some stretch. You can also try using strips of tear away or rinse away stabilizer to support the stitching area.

If the hem is rippling, it means the fabric is stretching as you sew. Try sewing with a walking foot. The walking foot is an even feed foot so there is no pressure or stretching of the fabric as it is sewn. Also try the stabilizer which will support the fabric as it’s fed under the needle.

As always, try these suggestions on a sample first to see what gives you the best result. Not all machines sew the same!

If you have issues with the needle threads tangling, try putting your spools so the thread is coming off in opposite directions. Check out Nancy Zieman’s article.

If you would like to read more about the history of the t-shirt, here are some interesting articles.

How the t-shirt was invented

History of the t-shirt

Who made that T-shirt?

And here is my white, tight t-shirt with the Marcy Tilton’s pants. Its debut was at a local fibre art festival, Fibrations. And I think it got a standing applause from the audience!

Too much of a good thing?

August 10, 2018 By Gala Fabrics Leave a Comment

Are you a linen lover? From my experience with selling the fabric, it seems to be one of those fabrics that people either love or hate. The haters are mainly concerned with the wrinkling aspect of the fabric. But those who love linen, call them status wrinkles!

I’m an all natural girl, so while admittedly, I don’t have a lot of linen outfits in my wardrobe, I’m not one to turn down the fabric if something exciting crosses my path! When this fabric arrived in store (it comes in black and dark navy), I immediately took home a piece of the dark navy (too much black in my closet) wondering what design I could use to showcase the two sides of this fantastic fabric.

I had the “ah ha” moment at one of the Sunday forums when one of the ladies (Thanks Marian!) showed her cotton top using Marcy Tilton’s Vogue 9193 pattern.

I liked the idea of split top where I could use the light side of the fabric on the top half of the garment, and the darker side for the bottom part. It also had an interesting in seam pocket detail. I chose to do the sleeveless top because it would be cooler to wear during the summer, and, quite frankly, because I didn’t have enough fabric for sleeves!

I also searched around for some fabric for the pants as the pants looked interesting with the repeating pocket detail. Unfortunately we didn’t have a dark enough navy in the linen, but I did discover the dark navy narrow silk noile worked well with the linen.

The entire project was easy to put together. The only thing I would suggest regarding the construction of the top, is to use a small piece of light weight fusible interfacing (I used sewer’s dream) to reinforce the “clip to stitching line” turn point of the pocket. It is not suggested in the pattern instructions, but I like to use it to prevent future fraying in that area.

So why the title of this post? Too much of a good thing? I like the top. It has an interesting design feature. I like the pants since they have the same design feature.

However, I don’t really like the two garments together. I felt there was too much fabric around the middle. And who needs extra bulk there? I could better see the top being worn with a simple pull on, narrower cut pant. Also, the length of the top hides the design feature of the pants. Or I could see the pants being worn with a fitted t-shirt or blouse. Either of which would take away the volume of puff from around the middle.

So now I’m off to make a simple white t-shirt because apparently my current wardrobe is lacking such a basic. Who’da thought!

Summer Sale

July 20, 2018 By Gala Fabrics Leave a Comment

Are you looking to escape the summer heat with some indoor sewing? Want to squeeze in some more summer outfits before the start of fall? Take advantage of our store wide sale to score some great fabric deals.

25% to 50% off regularly priced fabric

70% off printed canvases

Sewaholic, Victory and Colette Patterns all on for $10 each

Remnants are Buy One, Get One Free (of equal or lesser value)

Sale prices are available in store and on the web store with the coupon code SUNNY. Starts July 21 to July 29, 2018

Sunny Days, My Friend

July 11, 2018 By Gala Fabrics Leave a Comment

It is finally here. Summer! With sunshine and heat. Woohoo!

For a while there, although the calendar said summer, it seemed that the weather gods hadn’t gotten the message. But being forever hopeful, I got some summer sewing done so I would have something to wear on those balmy summer days on the beach.

One pattern that caught my eye was McCall’s 7562.

It is a loose fitting, pullover shift dress with the option of exposed shoulder ‘sleeves’ which is very on-trend this season. This pattern also offers different hem variations. I decided to try option C because of the open shoulder ‘sleeve’ feature. Suggested fabrics were something with a bit of body (chambray, denim, cotton blends) but I wanted something with a little more drape so I chose one of the new rayon prints we got in.

Then came the age old dilemma – what size to pick? My measurements (B=38″, H=41″) suggested I should make the L. But in checking out the finished measurements of the garment, I decided that M would be big enough without being too roomy.

This picture shows the bust finished measurement depending on size.

Here it shows the hip finished measurement based on size.

The actual construction of this garment is easy. The only part that may take some time is the front notched neckline. It’s not difficult, it just needs concentration 🙂

One thing I added when constructing the front notched neckline was some light weight fusible interfacing. Anytime a pattern asks to reinforce an area because you will be clipping it, I like to add some light weight fusible interfacing. I just find it helps with supporting that area. My interfacing of choice is the sewer’s dream since it is a non-woven and will not fray around the cut edges. I usually cut a piece a little bit bigger than the area being reinforced.

I also used the sewer’s dream interfacing for the curved hem facing. Since the rayon is a soft drapey fabric, I didn’t want to add any stiffness. It was just used to stabilize the shaping.

I didn’t adjust the length so I must be shorter than the McCall’s model since the length of her dress hits mid thigh.

This would be a great addition to your summer holiday wardrobe. Wear it while shopping in the outdoor markets of Mexico. Or when lounging on the beaches of Hawaii. It would also be great as a beach cover up.

Now excuse me while I go and catch some rays!

Going Plastic Free

June 28, 2018 By Gala Fabrics Leave a Comment

In case you haven’t heard, the City of Victoria is banning single use plastic bags starting July 1, 2018. (As a side note, since the store will be closed Sunday, July 1 for Canada Day, our sewing forum will be postponed to the next Sunday, July 8)

This means, if you go shopping at your favourite retailer in Victoria, be prepared to buy a paper bag or reusable bag or you will need to remember to bring your own shopping bag. We have made arrangements to be able to provide handled paper bags for purchase. Or we do have staff made fabric bags available by donation (suggested donation of $10) where 100% of the monies will go to a local animal rescue.

But, if you are like me, you have a stash of fabric which you could plumb for bag making candidates. Depending on how complicated and detailed a bag you like, you could make a bag in anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple hours.

Here is a previous blog post for a quickie bag option.

Grocery Bag, Book Bag or All Round Tote Bag

Here are some links to some free bag patterns of varied complexity.

Mixed-Up-Market-Bag

Renegade Tote Bag

Quick Fix Grocery Bag

A Handibag from a Pillowcase

(this also has a small pocket that the bag can fold up into!)

Cargo Duffle Bag

Shirt and Tie Tote

Do you have a favourite tote bag pattern? Share please!

Row By Row 2018 – The Creative Process

June 16, 2018 By Gala Fabrics 6 Comments

If you are a quilter, you may know of the international shop hop called Row By Row. Many quilt and fabric stores across North America (and even Europe and Australia!) have registered to participate by designing a quilt block based on a theme. This year’s theme is “Sew Musical”. Any sewer can participate as one of the really fun parts of this activity is travelling to all the stores to pick up their free block pattern or purchasing their fabric kit for the block. You only have to pick up eight different blocks, put them together in to a quilt, show the quilt to your nearest participating store to enter to win a prize! What a fun way to be a tourist in your home town or as you travel across the country!

This is our second year participating since we got to visit with many tourists from across Canada as well as the US and Europe. When the theme announcement was made, all the store staff brainstormed ideas as to what our block could be. And, of course we involved our very talented local textile artist and quilt designer, Susan Teece. How could we combine Victoria and music pictorially in a fabric block? We thought of the different music festivals happening in Victoria such as the Jazz fest, Ska fest or Rifflandia but how would we differentiate them from music festivals going on in other cities? Then we thought to try depicting the music used in native ceremonies such as the drums and rattles but all the native artists we asked were not comfortable designing something for quilting as their background was in fashion.

Then there was a news article about a local orca pod having a new baby resident. This was big news in the city as the Southern Resident Orca pod is considered endangered with only 76 whales. With all the news coverage of these animals, we decided to use their sounds as our music theme.

We based our block design on the upper image of this sound frequency picture from the Sea World Parks and Entertainment site.

Here are the various manifestations that Susan tried with the idea of appliqueing orca images over top.

Drum roll for the big reveal …. Presenting our final block design for the 2018 Row by Row challenge. Voila!

What do you think?

The Danger of Complacency

June 8, 2018 By Gala Fabrics 2 Comments

I’ve been sewing more years than I can count so I figure I’ve got it all figured out. I’m terrible at reading the instructions. I just merrily go on my way. So far, all the garments I have sewn have worked out in regards to construction. Granted some of the outfits were not my size or not suitable for my body type, but the garment construction was successful.

Well, it seemed McCall 7714 was my Waterloo. It’s a simple pattern – princess seamed bodice, small attached waistband, pleated skirt and invisible zipper in the back. What’s complicated about that? I should have been able to put that together with my eyes closed (well, not literally!) HA!

The reason why I latched onto this pattern is that the shop had received some border printed fabric but many customers are puzzled on how to use them.

First of all, you have to break high school sewing rule number 101 and use the crossgrain (fabric’s weft). That means that instead of laying the grainline of your pattern pieces parallel to the selvage, you are actually rotating them 90* so your grainline goes across the fabric. (Think of the neckline of your garment positioned along one fabric selvage and your skirt or pant hemline positioned at the opposite selvage.)

Another thing to think about is given the selvage is a straight line, your garment design has to take this into consideration. No circle skirts here folks! Fuller skirted garments are possible but you need different planning. It doesn’t pose an issue if the sample garment shows the use of a border printed fabric. (For some reason, Butterick currently has a lot of border printed sample garments.)

But how do you know if other sewing patterns can be used? You just have to do a little investigative work first. You have to look into the guts of the pattern for designs that have a straight edged hem line. This applies to dresses, skirts, jackets and pants. Note the skirt pattern pieces #9 and #10 of McCall’s 7714, have a straight hemline.

In McCalls’s pant pattern M7415, you can see the pant hems are straight.

So how was M7714 my Waterloo? For some reason, my waistband pieces were too short. I was missing a side seam allowance on all the pieces. I checked the pattern pieces thinking the pattern company had made an error. But no. Everything matched. Of course, I didn’t have enough fabric to recut those pieces since I had lengthened the skirt. So I added little rectangular blocks. Thankfully, with this print, you can’t really tell. Then my waistband pieces don’t match across the zipper. Agh!

Don’t look too closely but my pleats didn’t match my notches so the skirt pleats don’t match the seams in the bodice. And then to add insult to everything, the pleats were actually supposed to be sewn down. I had just basted which of course I removed upon completion. Thankfully, the dress still looks ok.

Lesson learned. Don’t get too cocky no matter how long you have been doing this!

The Eva Dress by Tessuti

May 31, 2018 By Gala Fabrics Leave a Comment

In preparation for a long hot summer (fingers crossed!) I have started my summer wardrobe. The same friend who recommended the Pia dress also suggested the Eva dress, both from the online store, Tessuti in Australia.

Here is the description for the Eva dress.

“This loose dress features a bodice that sits at high waist and a panelled, lantern-shaped skirt with side pockets. It can be made up in either a short-sleeved (A) or sleeveless (B) version. The Eva Dress is designed to be simple and stylish garment and makes for a comfortable and cool addition to your summer wardrobe. It’s best made up in medium weight crinkle and plain linens, textured cottons and cotton blends. For layering in the cooler months, Eva can also be made up in a wool crepe. ”

Talk about great timing! The shop also received some new colours in the crinkle linen. But what size should I make? Given that the XL size for the Pia dress JUST fit (measured for 101cm bust), I picked the size L since that was the suggested size for 101cm bust. So the required yardage of Vintage was cut and taken home to be cold water machine washed and dried. I chose a damp dry setting so the fabric would be easier to press should it be required.

Given the crinkle texture of the fabric, do you press and how much? The answer is probably best as “depends on what you want from the fabric in the end”. If you wish to have less texture in your garment, then press the fabric as much as you want realizing that the garment will require that much pressing after each wash. If you are in the “more texture is better” camp, then press as little as possible before cutting out your pattern pieces. The light pressing I did was because the fabric seemed to crinkle tighter near the selvedges so I tried to even the texture out.

The cutting and sewing instructions were clear with lots of pictures to help you along. (Make sure you mark your skirt pieces as they can be easily mixed up.) The only small hiccup was with sewing the pockets. Maybe it was just me, but I had a little head scratching with what to do with the side seam allowances when joining the front and back pocket pieces together. But all worked out in the end. There is a lot of pressing of seams which will flatten out the texture but remember the texture will reappear once washed again.

Here is my garment after having just finished all the sewing. With all the pressing I did, I found the dress to have even grown a size! Note how flat the seams are where pressed and top stitched.

Here is the garment again after being washed and damp dried. Note how the fabric crinkled up, shrinking in size? Personally I will try this pattern again, but in a size smaller (M) as I find it too loose fit for my taste. And I will consider shortening it a bit too.

Now, if only Victoria could get some hot summer weather. I’m waiting (as I look up to the sky)!!

Victoria, The Stork Has Landed!

May 9, 2018 By Gala Fabrics Leave a Comment

Spring has sprung and it seems to be the time for babies! I’m not sure if it is the time of year or just my circle of friends, but there seems to be a large number of babies being born this year.

My go-to gift for new moms is the simple receiving blanket. I usually use cotton flannelette as it is soft and cozy for the baby. And there are lots of cute prints to choose from although many of the new moms coming into the store are picking up non-baby prints. It can be used to swaddle the baby, as a blanket, as a breast feeding cover, as a spit up wipe, as ground cover when needing to change the diaper …

All you need is 1m of 115cm wide fabric, a pair of scissors, a serger or sewing machine stitch that will finish a fabric edge, some thread and a large eye needle.

With your 1m of fabric, just finish the edges using your preferred method. I like the serger because if you curve the corners, you can do it all in one fell swoop instead of sewing off one edge only to start the next edge. Use the large eye needle to thread the tail end of serger thread into the stitches. I think this takes me total of 5 minutes to make from start to finish! So I “labour” long and hard by gifting 6 blankets at a time.

Another gift I like to make is a baby bib. This is for a slightly older child (6 months) but it’s amazing on how quickly 6 months pass. The pattern I like the best is the Bapron. It is more labour intensive but does not twist around the baby’s neck when worn. It also provides great practice in making and sewing bias binding.

If you make your own bias binding, did you know about the bias tape makers? These little gadgets opened up a whole new world for me. No more burnt fingers or fussy measuring. You also have a choice in tape sizes – anywhere from 1/4″ to 2″ widths. (6mm to 50mm)

For the uninitiated, bias tape is made by using strips of fabric cut on the bias or 45* angle of the fabric weave.

This gives the tape some curving ease for projects such as the Bapron. These strips then have both long edges folded into the middle, making single fold bias tape. The sizes listed in the bias tape makers refers to the width of the finished single fold bias tape. Depending on what size tape maker you use, you will need double the width in fabric.

I use the single fold bias tape in garment sewing for finishing neck lines or sleeveless armholes. With the ability to make my own tape, I can guarantee a match to my fashion fabric. For demonstration purposes, I used 2 obviously different fabrics so you can easily see what I’m doing. Here I am using single fold bias tape to finish a neckline. You will probably have to trim down the seam allowance of the garment neckline so the tape fold line will match the stitching line. Once secured, you press the tape over on the stitching line so that none of the tape shows on the garment front. Top stitch down.

Double fold bias tape is single fold tape folded again. When folding over, have one side a smidge shorter (maybe 3mm or 1/8″) than the other. This way, when you top stitch on the shorter layer, you are guaranteed to catch the bottom layer.

My most frequently used bias tape makers are the 1/2″ for single fold tape and 3/4″ for double fold tape. For the bib gifts, I like to use the 3/4″ maker.

Here is a handy tutorial for making bias trim.

And if you need to make yards and yards of trim, here is how to make continuous bias tape.

If you make baby gifts, what are your go-to projects?

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