Monday, June 29, 2015

Swimsuit Fix

Summer is here and I just realized my swimsuit needs a little work. I bought this swimsuit last summer. Since then I've lost some weight, and the top is very loose. You're probably asking yourself, "Why doesn't she just go out and buy a new one?" Well I have bought several over the last few years, and I never felt like the fit was the best until I got this swimsuit. This was the one suit I truly enjoyed wearing, so why not fix it. The thought of trying another swimsuit did not appeal to me at all!

I've been pondering how I was going to fix it. The solution lies in the side seams. Each seam has boning sewn onto it, so trying to figure out the best way to take it in was a challenge. (Boning is a plastic strip that gives the seam support.) I played with it for a little bit, and finally decided the best way to fix it was to pull the back seams forward. This would overlap the boning giving the illusion that this new seam had been there the whole time. Now to figure out how I was going to sew it.

I thought the best way to sew these seams would be to hand sew them with a Blind/Slip Stitch. This stitch is mainly used for hemming or closing seams when finishing such things like pillows. This stitch is mostly invisible on a hem except for tiny tick marks made by the thread when attaching the two folds of fabric together.

Supplies needed:
Pins
Scissors
Thread
Needle


Blind/Slip Stitch 
Great tutorial from Sew It Love It at http://www.sew-it-love-it.com/ladder-stitch.html




First thing I had to do to get started was to try my swimsuit on. This helped me to visualize how much I needed to take in.





I then took it off and pulled the back of the seam forward, overlapping the boning and the original seam. I placed pins where I thought they were needed. Once the pins were in place, I carefully pulled the swimsuit on. This is very tricky because I'm trying not to jab myself with a pin. It's like playing a game to see who will win, the pins or me.





Time to get my thread ready. For swimwear I have read that polyester thread is best. It resists all things such as mildew, the sun, and won't deteriorate over time. The closest thing I had to polyester thread was nylon thread. It resists most like the polyester, but it may decay over time. The only supplies needed here are scissors, pins, thread, and the will to get the job done. 





I cut a good length of thread measuring about two arm lengths. Then, I threaded my needle. Usually this becomes the hardest part, but luckily I didn't have any trouble this time. I doubled my thread, matched up the ends, and tied my knot.




I pulled my needle through the inside of my fabric, so that the knot would be hidden.




Now to start the Blind/Slip Stitch.




Once the top was stitched, I moved down the side seam.




Working on the side seam.





When I reached the end of the side seam, I repeated the Blind/Slip Stitch by going in the opposite direction. I wanted these seams to be as sturdy as possible, so they could withstand the weight of water when being at the pool. 




Sewing my way back up to the top.





Now that the side seam was finished, time to sew the overlapped fabric. This would help every seam to lay down flat. Once everything is sewn create a knot and clip your ends.





Tick marks of thread on the inside of my suit.




 All top seams sewn together.




Finished seam.






Voila! After all seams a sewn, it's time to press each seam. Set the swimsuit on an ironing board and place a pressing cloth over the seam. The pressing cloth keeps the iron from burning the fabric. Iron each seam down to get that professional look like it came right out of the store.

Now that my swimsuit is finished, I can head to the pool. Time for some much needed relaxation in the sun. What have you found is the best way to tailor your clothes to you?








Thursday, June 25, 2015

DIY Fabric Dye With Crayons

Since my experiment of adding paint to fabric with my Gelli Plate, I have been wondering if there was any other unconventional way to add color to fabric. I remember batiking in high school, and thought why not dye fabric with crayons. Being a mom and an artist/art teacher, we have accumulated a lot of crayons. My kids have a whole shoe box full of crayons. Most of which are broken with the paper torn off. Perfect for this little experiment!

Supplies needed:
Crayons
Pan
Freezer paper
Muslin
Extra Cotton Fabric
Iron
Ironing Board
Paper Bags
Tongs
Gloves
Scissors (Might Be Handy)


I got down a pan to get started, and went through their box of crayons. I picked out colors in the same color family while adding in a little while. Once I found what I was looking for, I placed them in the pan.




I then put the pan on the stove, and turned it on to medium heat. The waiting time begins.🕐





I could see the crayons starting to melt, so I gave it a little stir with my plastic fork. 






While the crayons melted, I got my freezer paper ready. I laid the paper on the stove next to my pan with the shiny side-up. This would allow me to have something close by to lay out my fabric once it was time to take it out of the melted crayons.






When the crayons were melted, I added a piece of muslin cotton into the pan. I stirred the fabric around with my plastic fork. This would be a great time to use those gloves and tongs, both of which I didn't have. Try not to slosh the fabric around in the hot wax. You will get burned! True story.






Keep moving the fabric gently until all of the melted wax has covered the fabric. I didn't realize that my plastic fork would melt. Thank goodness for trial and error.






I removed my fabrics with two forks. This is where metal tongs would have come in handy again because this is going to be HOT! You make do with what you have.






Let dry, which won't take long. I had enough left to dye one more piece of fabric. I repeated the process and laid it out to dry on another piece of freezer paper. After using up all the wax, make sure to wash your pan right away while it's still melted with hot water. This will make cleanup a lot easier.



Dyed Fabric Piece #1


Dyed Fabric Piece #2


When the fabric was dry, I took it to the iron. All of the wax has to be ironed out, or you will have one stiff, crunchy piece of fabric. I grabbed a larger piece of cotton, and sandwiched the wax fabric in between the cotton. 






I turned my iron on making sure it was a dry iron. There shouldn't be any water in the reservoir. 
Place the iron on the fabric and press until you see the wax appear onto the cotton fabric.






Make sure to move the cotton fabric around, so that you are always ironing onto clean, wax free fabric. You don't want to iron the wax back into the muslin.






When I moved the cotton fabric around, I noticed I was dyeing my ironing board cover. Whoops!






When I finished the first dyed muslin, I moved on to the second dyed muslin. I switched to a green fabric this time to release the wax.






Repeat the process of releasing the wax.






When I was finished with the green cotton, I noticed some awesome texture! Why not get another dyed piece of fabric out of it. This time I sandwiched the cotton between a cut up paper bag. This worked a lot better than using the cotton fabric.










Place the iron onto the paper bag. Move iron around until you see the wax coming through. This might take a little longer to see because the paper bag is thicker than the cotton fabric. Keep going until the paper bag doesn't show anymore wax.






So excited to get four pieces of fabric, two dyed pieces and two printed pieces!



Dyed Fabric Piece #1



Dyed Fabric Piece #2




Printed Dyed Fabric Piece #1




Printed Dyed Fabric Piece #2


Once again I have learned a lot from this DIY.  Fabric can be dyed from crayons, and it kind of gives it a tie dyed effect. Just make sure you have the right supplies before you get started. Paper bags work better than cotton fabric in soaking up the wax from each dyed piece. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these pieces, but I surely got some interesting texture out of each. What unique processes have you found to dye fabric with?







Monday, June 22, 2015

If Cutting is the Crime, Then Sewing is Your time!

Teaching N The Basics of Sewing.

On a day off from school during winter break, N decided during nap-time that she would cut up her play tent. She got this bright idea from watching the Hobby Kids channel on YouTube. I was furious to find that while we were napping and having quiet time that she got out the grown-up scissors to cut huge holes out of her tent. She also climbed on the counter to get the liquid glue, so that she could glue all of her pieces together to make a replica of the earth. When she was done, she came and got me out of bed. She showed me what she had done and was so excited about her creation. I WAS FURIOUS to say the least! 

After I cooled down, I realized that cutting up her tent wasn't the problem. It was the fact that she went climbing again and got out the grown-up scissors which were both dangerous things to do when not being supervised. At the same time, I couldn't help but be completely proud by her creativity.  It was wonderful to see her so excited by what she had created. After going through all these different emotions and having a long discussion with her that this was not an acceptable behavior to have during quiet/nap-time, I decided that she was going to have to fix her tent. She was going to get a chance to design her own tent. I explained to her that we were going to have to cut pieces of fabric to replace the ones that she had cut and sew them back together. We decided together that we would replace the large holes with a door, window, and a skylight.

The first thing I had her do was to pick out the fabric she wanted to use to sew with.  She chose an orange and white polka dot and a super hero fabric that I had left over from making her brother's curtains and bed skirt. N also decided to use red embroidery thread to sew with. 

The next step was to cut out the fabric into pieces for the door, window, and skylight. I eyeballed how big the door would be and cut a large rectangle. I did the same for the window. Then I cut out a circle for the roof.  She wanted to have a hole in the roof for a telescope, so I cut a small circle into the center. 

Once the pieces were cut, we pinned them to each section of the tent. After pinning everything together, I got the embroidery thread ready.  I explained to her that we were going to be using these  three stitches and showed her exactly what to do it. We used the running and double running stitch to attach the fabrics to the tent. The whip stitch was used on the raw edges of the skylight opening.

 Running Stitch 
  • Stitch up and down along the fabric in a line, keeping even spacing between the stitches.
The closer you make your stitches, the stronger and more stable your seams will be.  Extant medieval garments usually have between eight and twelve stitches per inch.
Medieval Hand Stitching - Basic Stitches (Start Here), Running Stitch Illustration, by Sidney Eileen

Whip Stitch
  • Stitch at an angle, creating a zig-zag pattern.
The closer you make your stitches, the stronger and more stable your seam will be.
Double Running Stitch
 
This is when you sew with a running stitch, and then sew a second running stitch to fill in the empty spaces.  In medieval sewing this is most often used decoratively, often in a contrasting thread, anywhere that you might use a regular running stitch.  It is also sometimes used when a seam is expected to bear extra weight or stress, and added strength and stability is needed.
(All of this great stitching visuals and information came from By Sidney Eileen.)



Here's N Whip Stitching the two fabrics together for the Skylight.



N is now Whip Stitching the raw edges of the Skylight.



N hard at work and looking fab in her headband.



N completely focused for the moment at least.


One excited little girl ready to play in her "new" tent.







Looking at the inside of the tent. Getting ready to cut off all of the embroidery thread tales and excess fabric.



N peeking in through the skylight hole playing Peekaboo.


Here is the Skylight after cutting the excess fabric off and trimming all of the embroidery thread tales.


N extremely happy with the results of her "new" tent.



N's first chance to look out her new window.



Close-up of N's stitching on the Skylight with a little help from Mommy, of course.



Close-up of stitching on the window.



Close-up of stitching on the door.



This project took use several months. I am very proud of my little girl and myself for having the patience to stick with it. There were several times that she had trouble keeping focused, and I thought we'd never get finished. Keeping a five year old on task like this was really a challenge, and I was terrible about getting frustrated with her constant distraction. There were times I just wanted to take the needle and sew it myself, but she wouldn't have learned anything from that kind of attitude. So I tried hard to keep my cool. I think she did an awesome job, and now she has something unique and awesome to play with. She is really proud of the work she did, and now she can really show it off.

Have you ever had the opportunity to teach your child through creativity to solve a specific problem? You both might just learn more than you did before.