I spent the first weekend of the semester sewing, studying, and doing homework.  I hope I can keep up these good work habits for the next four years.

I mounted the 125 swatches in the kit for my textiles lab.  Hopefully they are still in the correct order.  If by the end of the semester I can identify all 125 swatches I will consider my tuition money to have been very well spent. 

I am quite fond of flat-felled seams, but they were by far the most difficult part of the project.  I do not know if I will be using them for any of my class projects this semester, but I plan to work on them a lot at home.  One year ago I would have laughed at the notion of having a favorite seam.  Now I look forward to learning additional types of seams, and I wonder if I will find any of them as pleasing as flat-felled seams.

Tags: swatch kit | flat-felled seam | seams | tote bag | fabric swatches | textiles

I continued work on my tailored shirt in class today.  That shirt is not the ugly one; the ugly shirt is the one I made at home this past weekend.  My shirt for class will be beautiful.  I will get to the ugly shirt soon, but first a few words about today’s class.  I attached a pocket and finished the two front pieces.  I also had time to take my serger threading test.  Students must thread a four thread serger to pass the class.  I threaded the serger.  My instructor’s lesson about serger threading made me think the process would be difficult, but the moment I got my hands into the serger’s guts I realized that threading it is easy.  Just follow the color coded threading guide and there is nothing to worry about.  I have not yet threaded a five thread serger, but I expect it will be no more difficult than the four thread one.

This past week I tried to make a tailored shirt at home.  My goal was to gain experience and pick up a few tricks that will make the shirt for class a little easier.  I did not expect my first attempt to turn out too well, but I have to start somewhere.  The shirt is no good, but while making it I learned a lot.   I will make at least one more shirt each week, and as long as each one is better than the last I will call it a success.

I was going to use muslin for my first shirt, but at Walmart I found a print for three cents per yard more than the muslin.  It is polyester, and the print is horribly ugly, but I have not worked with prints or polyester before so the fabric presented me with two more things to learn from this project.

Read more for additional details and photos.

Tags: sergers | seams | buttonholes | polyester | tailored shirt