>An experiment… lotus blossom welt pockets.

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Morning assorted sewey sewertons. Today, lacking anything better to blog about, I’m all about process. No finished projects, just documentation of a sewing experiment. I’ve been a busy bee, working on Mr. Bug’s coat as well as a raincoat, but these projects all take time rabbits, and that leaves me with nothing to blog about! So I’ll show you my first attempt of drafting and assembling a set-in welt pocket with funky, curved welts. They look like lotus blossoms to me… here’s my first practice pocket –sorry for the odd angle (the point of the pocket should point down!) and bad light!

You may be wondering at this point why on earth I’m working on chevron pockets, as lovely as they are. Well, it’s the spring palette challenge. As I mentioned in my recent existentially dreadful post I originally planned on a nice grey skirt with a flippy little ruffle. Maybe linen. I ended up buying some nice pewter linen/rayon blend that appeals to me but is a very heavy weight – nearing denim. Flips and ruffles were no longer an option, but I still wanted something fun with a few quirky details. After looking around I found this skirt on the anthropologie website.

[image Anthropologie]

For the last few days, I’ve been working out the details of the skirt. I started with a simple straight skirt and added a cut-on fly. I putzed around with waistband ideas and played with the width of the darts. I finally decided tonight to tackle the pockets, which really are the main draw of the skirt. Here’s a closeup of the pocket, with a nice view of the external darts…

After looking around online and in my various reference books, I decided to use silk organza to face the cut out part of the welt. Then I relied on the edgestitching detail to secure the rest of the pocket pieces to the skirt. I snapped photos along the way, and while I’m happy with the result, feel MORE THAN free to chime in with suggestions, for I am certainly no wizard of pockets!

Cutting and facing the pocket opening

To determine the size and shape of the pocket, I started out by stretching out the image from Anthropologie to 19” high in photoshop. After I got it ‘life sized’ I drug guides to form a box around the pocket and used those to determine the size of the inspiration pockets. I drafted a pattern piece from that and traced it onto a piece of muslin. Next I pinned a piece of silk organza (it’s dark brown) over my tracing (on the right side of the sample) and sewed along the pink lines. On the real skirt, I’ll interface the other side, but I skipped that for my test pocket.
     

I flipped the sample over and cut as marked in yellow below. For anyone who’s done a welt pocket, you’ll recognize the general idea of what I did – I added two more cuts at the points to help me turn the fabric.

I turned the organza through to the other side and pressed the heck out of it! I think silk organza is really necessary for this step, it takes steam so well! Here’s a shot of the organza pulled through and pressed from the front and the back.
      

Preparing and inserting the welts

Next I prepared and inserted the welts. I had drawn a pattern piece for this as well, and it worked well enough, although on my next version I’ll make the welts larger. To start, I cut four of the welts, then sewed each pair together along the top edge with a quarter inch seam (marked in yellow in the photo on the right.) I notched the curved edge, turned and pressed.

I tried putting the welts into the opening separately, but they were all over the place, even using double sided tape. I ended up attaching them at the center by positioning as well as I could, then stitching inside the fold of the welt that was on top – my stitch line is circled in yellow in the two photos below, I hope these photos make sense!
 

To attach the welt, I positioned where I wanted it and edgestitched along the sides and bottom (shown in yellow in the photo on the left.) On the right you can see how it looks from the wrong side. mmmm…. pretty….
  

Making and inserting the pocket bags

Next up, pocket bags! I cut a facing out of the muslin for the ‘back’ of the pocket – the side that is attached to the top of the pocket and is closest to the body when the garment is worn. This facing covers up the gap left after inserting the welts. Here is the facing and the pocket lining material for the back pocket piece. And a mis-labeled pattern piece sitting by the scissors.

I sewed the pocket facing and lining pieces together and pressed (on the right below.) I used that completed piece as a template to make the front pocket lining piece.

Next I attached the front pocket lining piece (the all red piece.) This piece is closer to the garment when worn and is attached to the bottom of the welt. I had a hard time envisioning how this would work, as I haven’t sewn a lot of inner/outer corners to each other. I ended up just doing one side first, starting at the point and pinning well, then stitching close to the edgestitching attaching the welt to the ‘sample’ garment. Below you can see how I attached one side – the yellow line shows the stitching.

When I went back to pin the other side, I had to clip a bit to get the fabric where I wanted it (clip circled in yellow below.) Once clipped, it pinned on very easily.

Here, both sides are attached and pressed. You can see a bit of rippling in the middle by the point, which doesn’t bug me. For one thing, it wouldn’t be noticeable on the skirt and for another, I drafted the angle of the curves a bit ‘freehand’ so my drafting might have just been off a bit.

Next I attached the pocket piece with the facing. That was much easier. I just lined it up neatly behind the pocket opening, pinned and finished edgestitching as shown by the yellow line below. I’m tempted to make this pocket facing in something fun (polka dots, anyone?) but may try to keep it toned down a bit…

The final step was to sew the two pocket lining pieces together. For anyone who has done a welt pocket before, I didn’t have to deal with sewing to the triangles to close up the sides. Since I edgestitched down to the bottom of the pocket opening in the last step, the sides were already secure and stitched. I carefully folded back the garment sample piece (all the muslin and organza) and pinned the pocket pieces together so they would hang smooth and straight. Then I stitched around the edges (shown in yellow.)
 

And I’m done! The pockets were surprisingly perfect in size. I thought I’d made the lining pieces way too short, but they feel great! I’ll pin the sample pockets onto my muslin to make sure, but they seem really well sized. I’ll do a lot more interfacing on the final as well and will try to plan my sewing time so that I have access to a serger for finishing a lot of the pieces as they will be exposed inside an unlined skirt.

Here’s a shot from the back. Not the most lovely sight. I cleaned up all the extra fabric with pinking shears.

A little peek inside the pocket. I think the facing is the perfect width!

One more shot to tide you over until I have a finished skirt in my sweaty little paws to show off!

>Simplicity 2601. An FBA on a gathered bust, doing the pivot and slide and is checkiness a word?

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Hello kittens! I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this… but a week or two ago I bought a lovely (funky? kindergarten child-like?) piece of green 21-wale corduroy with cherries printed all over it. I plan to make it into another hybrid Jenny. So of course I need a shirt to go with this skirt, which, lets face it, will probably be a fall 2011 garment for me, knowing my sewing speed. Nevertheless, I utilized my normal unproductive shopping technique of envisioning what fabric I wanted for the shirt, then driving to every fabric store in the metro area to find it. Turns out, red gingham silk charmeuse does not exist. But! I did find some mystery rayon at our local scary fabric warehouse of suitable red checkiness to be worn with a cherry-cord skirt! Wow!

So. The pattern. I really, REALLY want to get makin’ my Pendrell which has been nicely cut up and waiting for the wax paper treatment for a few weeks! And as much as I love the pattern, AND think it would be adorable in mystery-rayon-with-red-checks, I wanted a shirt with a little more structure. Enter Simplicity 2601, which has been stewing, cut but unloved, in its envelope since July. I actually cut this pattern while I was on my honeymoon. Yes, chickadees, I brought patterns to cut while I was on my honeymoon. That’s how I roll. In my defense, Mr. Bug ran a MARATHON during our honeymoon! Here’s a line drawing of the version I’m doing. I’m telling you, I have never seen a midriff band that I didn’t love.

So this post is all about my pattern adjustments, super-generous wearing ease and other little tidbits. First, to acquaint you with the pattern, here are most of the pieces laid out – I didn’t put the underlap (for under the loops and buttons on the front) or the loop placement piece on the table for the pic, but I think I got everything else…

I started out my ‘adjustments’ while cutting the pattern. I cut a size 18 though the neck and shoulders, then veered out to a size 22 on the side seam of the bodice pieces – the midriff and the bottom of the shirt were all originally cut on the size 22 lines – here’s a photo of my ‘veering’ on the bodice pieces –

Figuring the adjustment amounts

So once everything was cut, I did a little math. I had cut the shoulder/arm/neckline at a size 18 because the size 18 bust measurement matches my high bust, as many of you know. I needed to add 5 inches to the bust area to get to my actual bust measurement. After looking at the envelope, I decided to add another 5 inches to the waist, and six inches to the hip area. I calculated these measurements by just adding to the sizing measurements on the envelope – I wasn’t sure how much ease the pattern had and this is one of those annoying patterns that only lists the finished bust measurement, which wasn’t helpful at all!

Full bust adjustment – gathered bodice

For anyone new to the game, there’s a general order to your adjustments. When adjusting a blouse pattern such as this wacky animal, you start with the bust, then the waist then the hips. This particular pattern is nice, because it has a midriff piece (easy to size!) and the bust shaping is created with gathers – so getting the measurements perfect isn’t as key, because you can just adjust the gathers. Or rather, I can adjust the gathers. Unless anyone wants to sew a shirt for me?

I snapped photos along the way in hopes of being informative. I was doing the FBA from memory (even though Fit For Real People was sitting RIGHT THERE on the cutting table!) I’ll go through this fast, for a more detailed FBA tutorial (although for princess seams, not a gathered bust) check out my Lady Grey tutorial.

First, I made the cuts shown below – Cut 1 is from the bottom of the bodice piece, up to the bust apex (the fullest part of your bust, basically.) Cut 2 is from the bust apex to 1/3 of the way up the armscye. Stop about 5/8” from the edge of the pattern piece, then cut from the edge in  to where you stopped cutting, in order to leave a small paper hinge and not lose pattern pieces if a brisk breeze starts blowing for some reason in your cutting area. Cut 3 is from the side in to the bust apex, again leaving a little paper hinge (pretty easy to see in the photo!)

Next step is to start securing the pattern. Most books and other smart people will tell you to use pins to secure the pattern piece to a piece of cardboard while you’re working. I don’t do that. I use wax paper for my adjustments and it’s easy to peel scotch tape from wax paper, so I usually will just put a big piece of wax paper under the area I’m working on and use tape instead of pins to keep everything in place – sometimes I tape the wax paper to my work surface to keep that in place.

For this step, secure the area I’ve circled below in pink – it’s on the side where the center front is.

Now for the actual FBA part! I had determined that I needed to add 5” total to the shirt to make it fit. That means I need to add 2.5” to the front bodice piece – on this shirt, there are two pieces that make up the front bodice. Sometimes there’s four (like with a princess seamed shirt) so I’d divide the total needed by 4 instead of 2.

To add the width, slide the left side of the pattern over until the two vertical straight edges (highlighted in pink below) are spread apart by the amount needed for your FBA (for me, 2.5”) – see how I used the grid on the cutting mat to help line things up? Once you get everything all lined up, go ahead and tape where I’ve circled below. Once you make this change, the bottom of the bodice that’s on the side where the center front seam is (the right side in the photo below) will be much shorter than the other side. That’s because you need extra length in your bodice to get over your bodacious bosoms. Make a horizontal cut (outlined in pink below) and slide the bottom piece down until it lines up with the the other side. Tape onto the tissue and wonder for a while what’s going to happen with that giant wedge on the other side of the pattern.

Closing that wedge is actually quite easy. At least, it is for what I’m doing. You just swing it shut and tape it. You may wonder why the cut was even made in the first place, I did. If we had just made the cut from the bottom to the bust apex to the arm, and swung the pieces apart 2.5 inches, we’d just be adding width, no length. And the length is a very important part of an FBA – nobody likes a weenie seam right across the bodacious bosoms, right?

Final note before moving on – that whole giant amount of wax paper at the bottom of the bodice piece is in the area where there are gathers. This pattern was easy to work with as most of the bottom edge of the bodice piece gets gathered while sewing everything together. If you’re working on something with just a small area of gather, you might have to be more creative in the placement of the cuts you make as it’s nice to bury all that extra width on the bottom of the bodice in something like a gather or dart – for that lovely wasp wait look, right?

Adding width to the waist /midriff piece

FBA done, it’s time to add width to the midriff piece – the waist point on this pattern is actually right below the midriff piece, but I went ahead and added my five inches to the midriff piece. The adjustment was pretty easy – I slashed the pattern piece and spread 2.5 inches and taped up. I had to redraft the curve a bit. I really need to buy a french curve, I always eyeball this stuff!

Here’s the photo – the center front is on the right side. I’ve shown in pink where I sliced off a little point of the original pattern. I sort of chose the position of the adjustment arbitrarily – I thought it made the curve look nice.

Adding width to the hips

Final step is to add width to the hips. I always want MORE room around the hips, and my calculations had said to add 6 inches to the bottom part of the shirt. I started out by adding 5 inches by slashing and spreading the bottom front piece in the same place as the midriff piece. I lined up the pieces using the notch marks. The pieces don’t line up exactly because there is gathering that happens to the bottom piece.

 

The Pivot Method

I still needed another inch, but really wanted to give myself more wiggle room. I decided to use the Pivot and Slide technique. Well, really, just the pivot technique. I remember reading about that and not knowing what it was for the longest time, so I snapped a bunch of photos while I was doing it!

First, I outlined the side seam (ok, I just marked the corners!) of the bottom shirt piece on a piece of wax paper. All of this is shown in purple marker on the wax paper. I slid the pattern piece to the right so you could clearly see the markings!

Next, make a nice vertical adjustment line to the left of the pattern piece. I decided to add 1 inch to the bottom hem of this piece, so my line is 1 inch over.

Next, slide the bottom of your pattern piece until the very corner meets up with the vertical line you just drew. Keep the top corner stationery while sliding over the bottom corner. This is the ‘pivot’ part and you might find it helpful to stick a pin in the upper corner to hold the pattern piece in place, yet allow it to move freely. The ruler is just doubling as a paperweight in the photo.

Now trace the outer edge of the pattern piece! Must trace this time around – marking corners won’t cut it! transfer any notches, etc.

Now return the pattern piece to it’s original position (line it up with the first marks you made) and continue the hemline in a natural arc. Tape everything down and cut that baby out! That’s it! That’s all there is to pivoting (note, again, most guides would have had a cardboard backing and a nice pin involved, I just skipped that part!)

OK, you’re not quite done. Since we made the change to the side seam of the front, we need to also change the side seam of the back pattern piece. I usually do that by making a wax paper sandwich. Adjusted piece on the bottom, sheet of wax paper, then unadjusted pattern piece on top, perfectly lined up with the adjusted piece on the bottom. Trace the new sideseam of the adjusted piece to the wax paper (you’ll be able to see it through the wax paper!), tape the pattern piece to the wax paper, make sure everything is lined up. I tried to take a photo, but it’s sort of hard, what with wax paper being transparent and all…

Other adjustments

Just in case any of ya’ll are actually making THIS shirt, and want to use THIS guide, I snapped a photo of the other pattern pieces that should be looked at – the underlap and the loop/button placement template. Since we substantially altered the length of the bodice, neither of these pattern pieces will be perfect. I will probably just eyeball/freehand to fix. I also will line up the paper collar piece after doing an FBA to make sure that none of the seams that touch the collar were altered – they weren’t in this case.

How’s it look?

Adjustments made, I whipped up a nice, one-armed tablecloth and safety pin version. Tres chic, as they say. Here’s the result (and also, the most flattering photo…)

Main complaints: midriff band is too loose, the arm is too tight and the top of the midriff seam (again) is hitting me just where I don’t want it – here’s a closeup so you can see what I’m talking about – I’ve marked in pink the way I ‘d LIKE the midriff piece to fit!

Here’s a few more views…

Where! Lots of pictures! Up tomorrow – the second round of adjustments and another muslin. Also, in local news, I finished my Negroni today! We didn’t have time for a photo shoot, though! I also ticked one more item off my to-do list – a rick-rack bedecked, mini peplum having, thermal floral knit tank top (cut last summer, sewn today…)

Good night, porci-penguin friends…. {I’m feeling spikey and avian today}

>MORE utilitarian sewing (and a tutorial!)… a messenger-slash-tote-bag for the lugging of snacks and computers and all good things.

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Sorry folks. I agree. Dresses are more interesting than bags. But the only dress sewing I’ve done this week is the cutting out of Parfait, a supremely unsatisfying task. I hate cutting. I use a rotary cutter and mat, which makes it slightly easier, but I still hate it. And it doesn’t make for blog photos (unless you’re in to looking at piles of scraps…) So I’m going with a recent project. My super-utilitarian messenger-slash-tote bag. Here’s me modeling it in a Willy Wonka-esque manner.

Very utilitarian, no? As many of you know, I recently started working at a real, live, awesome sewing studio and by the very nature of the job, I end up lugging a ton of stuff back and forth to work (have I mentioned that the shop is only a block from my house? I’m a lucky girl!) and I started to have tote bag issues. I have one giant tote that’s good for projects, but once I tossed in my laptop (in it’s cozy case), some snacks, my wallet, camera, ipod, cords, chargers, and other accessories, my giant tote didn’t seem so giant any more. I decided to make a bag specifically for computers and other electronics. And snacks.

Here were my requirements:

• Big enough for computer plus snacks
• Lots of pockets for electronic things
• Strap long enough to wear diagonally across my body
• Strap wide enough to not cut into my shoulder and hurt me.
• Appropriate use of funky Japanese fabric

I totally scored some awesome Japanese fabric and a funky Anna Maria Horner cotton for the lining. I looked at a few patterns at our shop and online, but I’m working on an Amy Butler messenger bag as a shop sample and it sort of makes me to want to smother myself with some cheap acrylic fabric, so I decided to just wing it. Here’s a brief tutorial for anyone wanting a giant, easy to make bag for the lugging of computers and snacks.

Materials

Outer bag fabric – I got about one and an eighth of a yard of fabric for my bag (21.5 x 21.5 inches) and super long strap plus a few small pockets on the strap. We make a similar bag at the shop in one of the classes and the students make theirs 18 x 18 inches, which is a more traditional size tote.

Lining fabric – I don’t remember precisely what I got for lining, but it was probably around a yard and half, with some left over – the extra was needed to make interior pockets.

Pocket lining fabric – I used about a half a yard of scrap fabric to line the pockets

Interlining/interfacing – since the bag is meant for lugging of precious equipment (apples bruise if they drop on the ground!) I went to town with the interlining. I used some denim that I had on hand – I suppose I used about a yard and a half.

Notions – velcro, thread, 22” zipper

Constructing the strap

I made the strap first. Here’s what I did.

-Figured out how long I wanted the strap by modeling a tape measure in a manner which completely baffled Mr. Bug. I decided on 55”

-Used my rotary cutter and a ruler to cut 4.5” strips of the outer fabric. Since my straps were 55”, I needed 110” total. I pieced my strap fabric in a way that worked with the funky pattern.

-Cut 55 x 4.5” of denim for interlining.

-Next I added the pockets to the straps. I cut one piece of the outer fabric, 4” x 5” – then I cut a rectangles the same size out of denim and my pocket lining fabric. I laid out the denim, then the two printed fabrics right sides together (three rectangles, total.) I stitched around the two long sides and one short, trimmed seams, turned and pressed, being sure the one open end was tucked under, nice and neat. Then I topstitched the upper edge shut, lined up where I wanted it on the strap and topstitched the whole shebang onto the strap on three sides, leaving the top open for future iPod insertion. Here’s a photo. You can see that I also added a bit of leather trim and used a leather and velcro application as a closure.

Constructing the interior pockets

I won’t go into super detail about how I did the interior pockets, but I WILL show photos of them! They’re pretty easy pockets. I used the same three layers of fabric (lining, pocket lining and denim) for all the pockets. Here’s a shot of the first pocket – the one for electronics. If you do the same type of pocket, just be sure to measure your electronics! Mine almost didn’t fit!

On the other side of the lining, I put in one giant zipper pocket.

Interlining the bag

I think what I did could technically be called underlining, not interlining, but it sounds better to interline a bag for some reason! I just layered a piece of denim and a piece of the outer fabric together and then basted along two edges. Then I treated as one while constructing the bag.

Putting it all together

Putting the whole thing together was pretty simple, with a few magic tricks!

First, assemble the outer fabric bag, and then the lining fabric bag by placing the squares of fabric right side together and sewing around three edges with a half inch seam allowance. If you’re using a directional print and/or made pockets for the interior, be sure to pay attention with sewing so the opening is where you’d like it to be!

Once you have two ‘bags’ – one of outer fabric, one of inner fabric – it’s time to square off the corners. This is super easy, but seemed really odd the first time I did it. Take one of your bags (still turned inside out, so the right sides are together.) Hold by one corner and pull on each side of the bag, bringing the side seam and the bottom seams together. Use your fingers to feel the seams and make sure they are nice and lined up and then smooth the whole thing down on a worktop. Pin everything flat. Then measure three inches up the seam from the corner and draw a line on the fabric perpendicular to the seam. Sew along the line you just drew. It’s probably a good idea to reinforce that seam by sewing again (although I didn’t.) Do it again for the other corner, then turn the bag right side out to make sure everything looks OK. If it looks good, trim the corner. If it’s messed up, well, may I introduce you to Ms. Seam Ripper? If you did pockets on the lining, pay attention to where the pockets are when stitching. Here’s my lame attempt to illustrate this rather confusing maneuver…

After you’ve finished making the corners on the lining and the outer bag (four total!) it’s time to baste the strap on. Choose one of your bags (doesn’t really matter which) and pin one end of the strap to the upper edge of the bag, raw edges lined up and right sides together. Then match the other end to the other side of the bag, raw edges lined up and right sides together. I made sure my strap wasn’t twisted and I slightly offset the placement of the straps from the sideseam and it isn’t perfect – so play with it a bit. Once you get it where you like it, baste the ends to the bag with a quarter inch or so seam allowance. Here’s my masterful drawing, intended to amuse and confuse…

Almost done! Now take the other bag – the one without the strap – and turn it inside out (so the right side is on the inside.) Keep the bag that has the strap attached right side out and stuff it inside the non-strapped bag. The right sides of the bags should be facing each other, and the strap should be pretty much invisible inside the bag. Match up the side seams of both bags and then match up the raw edges of both bags, pinning all around. Take it to your sewing machine and sew all the way around the top, leaving about 5 inches unsewn on one side.

Now turn the whole thing right side out by tugging the right sides through the hole you left along the upper edge. Once you’ve gotten everything turned so (you can’t see the wrong side of the fabric,) stuff the lining in the outer bag. Press along the upper edge of the bag, turning under the edges of the opening you left. Topstitch everything down. Finished!

[This is the same bag, the two sides look different because of how the print was on the fabric!]

Obviously, I made this more difficult with the inclusion of pockets, interlining and a lot of top stitching. You could skip all that and this bag would be a quick project, if you just are needed a quick project! And if you go down to the 18” size, you just need a half-yard of fabric!

And with that, I sign off. Hope this is helpful. Also, here’s to hoping I have some actual dress-blogging for tomorrow. I have such a hankering for real, live sewing!

>Revisiting the Parfait.

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Back to sewing. I made my alterations to the Parfait and am still not satisfied… to refresh, here’s the fine photo of the bodice of muslin #1 all laid out with my changes marked – remove the gap from the underarm area and add some length to the bodice in order to drop the empire seam. I know this photo is a crowd pleaser and am particularly happy with how this will show up in everyone’s blog readers, all cheerful and granny bra-esque!

The goal

A couple of you had mentioned in the comments of the last post that it looked like the empire seam should have been raised, not lowered. And I sort of agree with you – ultimately, the curve of the seam doesn’t work for my large bosoms – at least, it doesn’t work the way I’d like it to! I took one of the pictures from muslin #1 and drew (in green) where I would like the seam to be – this follows the, um, underside of my bustline. I really don’t like how the seam was hitting me sort of halfway down the boobage area. Like jeans that are too short, this empire seam in the wrong place is a lifelong fitting problem that I’m determined to conquer. I’m getting there…

Drop the empire seam

My first alteration before making muslin #2 was to try to drop that seam a bit. I cut the front and back bodice pieces straight across on a horizontal line. I spread the pattern pieces about an inch and filled with tissue. I determined the additional length by measuring from the existing seam to where I had marked while fitting the first muslin (the purple mark was in the photo above.) Here’s a shot of the altered pattern pieces – the new gap is shown in green.

And here’s the result. While it’s an improvement, it’s still not working for me. I would like the midriff piece (the one with the curve) to lie snug against my ribcage, but the ‘hump’ on the midriff is too curved. I’m throwing in the towel for this first version – it’s a sample for the shop, and won’t be something I’ll wear – just WAIT ‘till you see the fabric!! For future versions I will attempt to redraft with less of a curve on the midriff piece to improve the way it lies on my giant mono-boob. I hope you’re enjoying all the boobage talk!
 

Fixing the gap

The next alteration was to remove all the excess fabric that created a gap in the underarm area. This alteration took a few steps. First I measured the marks that I made when fitting the first muslin – the legs of the fold that I marked were about 2 inches apart.

Next I laid the bodice pattern piece over the muslin and traced the wedge.
 

I redrew the wedge to move the point toward the bust apex and then drew a line straight down to the bottom of the bodice piece. I moved the apex so that the fullness that I’m adding in the next steps will be in the part of the bodice that gets gathered when attaching the midriff.

I cut out the wedge and then cut along the straight line, leaving a small hinge at the point of the wedge to allow the two halves of the bodice piece to pivot freely.
 

The last step of the alteration was to swing the wedge shut, tape and fill in the new wedge along the bottom half of the bodice. I redrew the under-arm seamline, using the sideseam of the back bodice piece to decide how to angle the underarm seam.

And here’s the results! Excellent!
 

What’s next?

As I said, I’m planning on going ahead and making a real version out of some foxy brown corduroy with giant pink and orange flowers to wear with my matching orange and pink striped turtleneck. Some pink leggings and a pair of orange chucks are definitely in order as well. Once I’ve gotten that out of my system, I’ll be able to decide what alterations to make for future versions. I have a nice piece of purple and black  plaid that’s aching to be made into a parfait.

Up next… more utilitarian sewing (magnet cozy, magic wallets, giant totebag), unveiling of the most excellent present from Mr. Bug (hint, hint… it has a cord and a foot pedal) and plotting to officially begin for spring clothing. I’m calling quitsies on this awful weather. Full circle skirts and voile, here I come!

>A post of penance and last minute boy toys…

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Hello all! I’m still alive and crazily discombobulated. Props, as they say, to all y’all who faithfully blog, even with your full time jobs! I’m having a hard time keeping it together blogging with my 20 hours a week job! And my job is sewing related! You’d think it’d be a snap! I’ve progressed through my second Parfait muslin and have come to the conclusion that the curve of the midriff has to be redrafted to fit the way I’d like. I’ll be back with that later. Tonight, I’m playing Santa.

Let’s talk Christmas. My shopping is mostly done. Mother-of-the-bug already has her presents in hand and has transported them across county lines. Stockings are stuffed, Mr. Bug has constructed a top-secret satellite Santa workshop in the basement and I’ve put up some police tape to keep him out of my closet. But there are a few last minute things I’m trying to get done that led me to a bit of internet usage using the phrases ‘handmade for boys’ and every iteration thereof. As penance for my recent radio silence I’ll share some of my favorite finds from the day… I tried to stick with projects that are quick, easy and require supplies that can be obtained in your garage, sewing room or big box store. Details after the jump.

[top row, left to right]

1. Ooooo… the magic wallet. Yes, yes… there’s cool leather ones at J.Crew too, but why buy new when duct tape will do? This tutorial shows how to make one from duct tape, and could be easily converted to a fabric-style with some fancy zig-zagging, some industrial strength interfacing and a bit of corduroy fabric.

2. OK, if the magic wallet is a bit too magical for your guy (nephew, uncle, co-worker, mailman…) then a plain old duct tape wallet will do. There are a ton of tutorials out there, not all of them with photos. Here’s one that looks good to me!*

*no photo to match this tutorial! This pictures was just stock from the interwebs…

3. I will concede that miniatures are not necessarily the first thing I think of for my man, but who can resist a mini red toolbox? Perhaps not the most handy thing for the storing of tools, but maybe your guy is a suit-wearer and needs a place to stash his collar stays? Or just needs an upgrade on his mint storage system? Here’s the tutorial to make from an Altoid tin.

[middle row, left to right]

4. Who can resist a bowtie, I ask you? This is a picture of the David pattern on Burdastyle (posted by baobab). Or check out this pattern and article on the LA Times. From what I understand, the little slidey clips are available at Joanns. I’m tempted to make one out of skull fabric. For myself. And one for Lucy.

5. Again, this particular coffee cozy is a little girly for some guys, but pick some boyish fabric or wool felt and something funky to use as a clasp (an old skeleton key? a miniature GI Joe guy? An old coin? leather strap and belt buckle?) and it could be a good present for a coffee swilling man. Here’s the tutorial.

6. This thumb wrestling ring totally cracks me up and seems easy to do with yarn or hair elastics, dowels, felt and hot glue. Or perhaps there’s an easier way. I just cracked up when I saw it! No tutorial, sorry.

[bottom row, left to right]

7. Yes, Martha, we love you too… I love jar-related gifts. At least, I love the idea of them. Layers of powdery ingredients that will make up a theoretical batch of cookies or brownies. How clever. These little jar sewing kits are adorable, but perhaps a more practical version is in line for the mancub so he’ll stop wandering around sans-buttons? Simple thread and needles, some buttons, fusible hem tape, safety pins… and a little instruction sheet on how to do basic fixes could be a nice addition for the bachelor types. Of course, if your man lives with you, he probably already knows how to sew on a button (just ask you!) or maybe he handles the button sewing? Mr. Bug came equipped with one of those singer button attacher thingies….

8. Ah, the old coffee can wearing a stocking cap… a winner every time. This coffee can survival kit totally rocks (and fits the jar-theme, right?) Probably more handy for us cold-weather types but that’s, like, half the world, so it works right? Am I right? Amaright?

9. And jerky. The perfect gift for most boys. I found this wonderfully unappetizing photo and oven-based recipe to fit my low maintenance (i.e. no dehydrator required)  criteria. Happy meat toasting!

>The Colette Parfait, a muslin.

>

Hey! Remember this post? The one with the giant orange and pink striped turtleneck and a yet-to-be made dress to go over it by my recent pattern-designer-obsession? A few of you got it right – I’m making the Colette Parfait, a cute little dress with straps, buttons and what should be a flattering fitted midriff piece. Here’s my first muslin (sans-skirt – what’s the point until I get the bodice to fit?)

Plotting

OK, let’s begin at the beginning. I knew that I’d have to grade this pattern up a bit as the Colette size 18 is three inches short on my waist and hip measurements, although it’s fine on the bust, actually a bit big. Here’s a line drawing of the dress, for anyone who isn’t familiar.

And here’s a photo of the pattern pieces laid out. The strap pieces are off to the right and the non-essential pieces (facings, pockets, etc.) are stashed away.

I decided to start out by fitting the midriff pieces (the skinny ones in the middle) and taking it from there. Here’s a shot of me double-checking the fit of the unaltered pattern piece. The envelope has the finished measurements printed on it and there’s only a half-inch of ease on the waist, so I was pretty set with my plan before this step, but I thought it’d be worth it to double check!

 

Step 1 – add 3 inches to the midriff pieces

I added three inches to the midriff by cutting the pieces and adding .75 inch of wax paper to each piece. I was careful to take the existing notches and darts under consideration and try to avoid those when adding my wax paper. I also wanted to make sure it the upper curve on the front midriff piece stayed the correct shape and curved  under the bust area like it was supposed to, so the width was added over to the side.

 

Step 2 – add to the bodice back piece

Next I added width to the back bodice piece – the same .75” as the midriff piece. I added to the same spot on the back bodice piece by lining the two up. The photo is a little confusing, sorry – the bodice back piece should be laying ABOVE the midriff back piece, not below it like they are laid out!

 

Step 3 – mini-FBA, draw lines and cut

Next I wanted to add a little width to the bottom of the front bodice piece, since I had added to the front midriff piece and the two match up. I was a little unsure about this, since the actual bust measurement is fine for me, and with the gathers on the bottom of the front bodice piece, I thought there might be enough fabric that I could fudge the extra .75”. But then I fought off the lazy and did a modified FBA. I drew a line (shown in blue below) up to the general area of the bust apex, then angled off towards the arm area. I was careful to avoid any existing markings. I cut along the blue line up to where the arrow is pointing, then snipped from the edge in to the arrow to leave a little paper hinge.

 

Step 4 – mini-FBA, anchor and measure

I taped along the edge on the left side, then measured .75” from that edge and drew a nice, straight line (shown in pink.)

Step 5 – mini-FBA, finish securing pattern edges

I swung the right side back and lined the bottom edge up with the line I drew in the previous step and taped everything down. See? A little extra width on the bottom, none on the top, a little in the middle. We’ll see how it goes.

{we interrupt this mini tutorial to bring a possible drafting issue to to your attention}

Here are the bodice front and midriff front all lined up. I noticed what I think is a drafting error that was confusing. Presumably the notches I’ve circled in green are there to help line up the two pieces. The problem is, the midriff front piece is not intended to be gathered, and if the notches line up, the midriff piece would have be be gathered… what’s more, if you look at the bottom of the midriff front piece, you can see a notch that would line up PERFECTLY with the bodice front piece! I think the notches were flipped at print, perhaps? In any case, I just attached the bodice and midriff pieces smoothly between the notches on the BODCIE piece, and then I gathered to make the ends meet. Worked like a charm.

Analyze the muslin – an overview

So here’s the first fitting. Looks foxy, doesn’t it? While the fit is fine in terms of ease, I do have a couple of concerns and will be doing a few more alterations before the second muslin. First is the gaping next to the strap. I don’t know how visible it is here (there’s a better photo below.) This is something I’ve noticed on a lot of the finished versions I’ve seen, and makes sense, what with the general bust roominess that seems to be a Colette thing. The other problem I’ve noticed on other versions (and mine) is that the top of the midriff seems to sit a bit high, which I think adds to the droop factor, something I’m trying to avoid (via expensive underoos, clever dressing and plain old photoshopping, if necessary). Again, it’s not super obvious in this photo (better one below), but there are some issues around where I drew the pink horizontal line below!

Analyze the muslin – a problem in the empire

More empire waist pictures – you can see a bit better from the side the issue I’m having. I’d like the midriff piece to fit smoothly against my torso, with the bodice and gathers covering the bust. The seam is running a bit high for my taste on this version. I made the pink mark to show where I’d like the seam dropped.

Analyze the muslin – huge underarms

And back to the gaping in the underarm area. Here I’ve pinched out the excess, to show a bit better what I don’t like. After I pinned, I made marks on either side of the fold (where the pin is) so I could see the issue once I took everything off and got it laying flat on the table.

 

Granny called, she wants her bra back

Here’s muslin #1, laid flat on the table. Tomorrow I’ll pick back up with the alterations, using the marks I just made! This looks a bit like a granny-brassiere, doesn’t it? An over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder? Note to self… do not make a white Parfait…

>Utilitarian sewing… a cozy new cover for my ironing board.

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Back to my recent spate of utilitarian sewing projects. I have a confession. I have actually spent time photoshopping the stains out of my basic white ironing board cover before posting pictures to my blog. Yup. Ten minutes of using the clone stamp so that all y’all don’t think I let Lucy the hound use the ironing board to take care of business. I finally decided to do something about it after finding a nice bolt of red ticking at a local fabric shop (red ticking! how awesome!) First, an action shot. Then after the jump, how I did it…

My tutorial assumes you have an old ironing board cover around that fits. If you don’t, scroll down to the tip headed “Check your sizing” to see how much overhang I had on my cover. You should be able to use this as a guide to draping your own cover!

Materials –

• Main fabric: around 2 yards of cotton fabric… (Note: My ironing board is 54” long and 14” wide. You’ll need a few inches overhang  on either end on on the sides. I bought two yards of fabric. If you cut well, you could probably make two covers from one length of fabric… )
• Casing fabric…you’ll have enough scrap to make the casing from the main fabric. Or if you want to make the casing in a contrasting color, you’ll need less than half of a yard of contrast fabric to cut on grain, more to cut on the bias. I cut my casing on the bias, and it made it easier to shape the fabric around the corners and curves, but if you use strips cut on grain, it’ll work since everything gets all gathered anyway and all of this is out of sight on the bottom of the ironing board.
• String and closure – if you’re reusing an old board cover, you’ll reuse the string. If you’re not reusing, then you’ll need something… 5 yards or so of elastic (string or 1/4”), yarn or twine. A cool plastic cord stop comes in hand too!

Wash well. Wash hot. Dry in the dryer until it’s nearly on fire. You’ll be ironing this, so you want to get all the shrinking done before hand.

Buy fabric. Wash and dry. Remove string.

I bought two yards of red ticket and prewashed in hot water and then toasted well in the dryer. I wanted to get everything to shrink as much as possible prior to future iron use. I ironed my freshly toasted ticking, then laid it out on the table and laid my old ironing board cover on top of it. Looks pretty sorry, huh?

I also removed the string and set aside to use on the new cover. My particular cover had an elastic string fastened with one of those plastic cord stops that usually shows up on outerwear purchased at REI.

Press well.

Next I pressed the old cover well. I’ll be using it as a pattern piece, so I want it to lie as flat as possible. I considered cutting off the velcro straps to reuse as well, but decided that I didn’t really need them.
 

Cut out new cover.

I used the old ironing board cover to cut out the new cover. My old cover had a little casing sewn into the hem. I just cut around that using a rotary cover and a plastic quilting-type ruler to add about an inch for seam allowances. The ruler I’m using has a handle (that’s the purple thing I’m holding on to.)

Here is the new cover, all nicely cut out (the old cover is sitting on top of it.)

Check your sizing.

I thought it would be a good idea to make sure that the cover was the right size – although if it was too small, I guess I would have been out of luck! I draped it over the ironing board to check. If you are starting from scratch (no previous ironing board cover with which to make a pattern), you can see from this photo how much overhang I had on my cover.

Prepare casing.

I decided to add on a casing in a contrasting color to thread my elastic string through (the one I removed in step #1). I cut about 800 yards of 2 inch strips out of some red cotton. My continuous bias strip technique definitely leaves something to be desired. Here’s a not-very-instructive photo of a pile of bias tape sitting on top of my new cover. I think I cut about five yards and had a lot left over.

Press and attach casing

I pressed the 2 inch strips into 1 inch strips (you know, fold in half, press, burn finger, wonder why you didn’t take up a hobby that’s more healthy and safer. Like rollerblading.) Line up raw edges of the casing to the raw edge of the cover, right sides together and sew along the edge. I used a serger and 3/8” seam allowances. You could just as easily use a regular machine and a straight stich, although that would leave a pretty unfinished seam, I guess**! I left a gap of a few inches on the flat end of the cover (you can see what I mean below) to string the elastic thread through.

**If I actually was sewing this on a regular sewing machine, I probably would have finished the edges of the cover with a narrow hem then folded over to create a casing out of the fabric. Or else made the red strip into double fold bias tape and encased the raw edge of the cover in the bias tape, just overlapping the cover fabric and the bias tape a bit  to make a nice casing for the string. But I’m obsessed with nice inside finishing. Just doing it my serger way, but with a straight stitch would work perfectly well and the unfinished seams would not show once the elastic string is threaded through and tightened.

Put the cover on, thread elastic and tighten!

Last step! Thread the string/elastic back through. If you use a plastic cord lock, you can just secure one end of the string to that and use that to fish it through the casing. If you don’t have one of these, use a safety pin or something like that to make it easier to pull through the casing. If you are starting from scratch there’s really no reason a piece of regular twine or yarn wouldn’t work to tighten the cover. You might have to tighten occasionally, but it should do the trick!

Put cover back on – you can see that I just re-used the pad that was on my ironing board. Note – you can also see in this picture the gap that I left to pull the strings through.

Admire!

Here’s my requisite finished photo, complete with bad lighting! Can you just hear the Barry White? This project was SUPER EASY and I highly recommend that everyone who has been thinking of recovering their ironing board to get out there and do it! As sewists, it’s just one of those things that will make our days a little brighter!

>Moo. A holder and a tutorial

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OK. So does anyone know about moo.com?? It’s a company that prints business cards. Really cool business cards. Less business card, more trading card. They come in two sizes. Regular and mini. The regular size are normal business card size (3.5 x 2 inches, or about 8.89 x 5 cm.) Mini moos are teeny tiny and awesome – around 2.75 x 1.125” (6.98 x 2.85 cm.) ANYWAY. The cool thing about them is that you can upload different files as your ‘artwork’ – so you can get a pack of 100 cards with 100 different pictures on the back. They are especially nifty for working artists and crafty sorts – in fact, the site even allows you to download image files directly from Etsy! I ordered a bunch with my little hand drawn (ok, drawn in Illustrator with my clever fingers and my mousepad) illustration set against some of my favorite colors. The flip side just shows my name, my email address and my website. I meet a lot of people and always am looking for a pen to jot down my email or web address – now I have a little mini moo to pass out! Once I got my cards I realized I really wanted a case that could hold some of my personal cards as well as some of the full size cards from the shop where I’m working… here’s a picture of what I came up with – along with some shots of my mini moos…

The construction of the case was pretty simple – the one in the picture was my third try… Here are my pattern pieces:

Steps for construction…

• Cut the outer pattern piece and pocket pieces from main color (mine was pink wool)
• Cut inner piece from contrast fabric (mine was chocolate brown flannel with white polka dots)
• Cut interfacing
• Stitch the pocket pieces to the ends of the inner fabric (as shown in the cutting layout above) – I used quarter inch seams.
• To sew on standard sewing machine – lay pieces in the following order… interfacing, then outer fabric (right side facing the ceiling), then the inner fabric/pocket fabric piece (right side facing table). Sew around two long edges (1/4” seams), one short edge and part of the final short edge. Press, trim seams, clip corners, turn and press. Slipstitch opening.
• To sew on a serger (what I did) – lay pieces in the following order…outer fabric (right side facing the table), interfacing, then the inner fabric/pocket fabric piece (right side facing the ceiling). Serge around all edges (1/4 inch seams)
• Turn up pockets pieces. Press.
• Topstitch around all four edges.
• Stitch the pocket ‘separator’ for the mini – moo side.

If you just want to make to fit standard business cards on both sides – or business cards on one side and money, ID, etc, in the other, follow the same instructions, just cut the main fabric and interfacing .75 inches shorter – 4.25” x 9.5” – and cut the two pocket pieces the same size – 4.25” x 2.25”.

I will say that I have definite ideas to make it better – adding an elastic band to keep closed and integrating some stretchy knit fabric on the pockets and in the center (where the fold is) to make it more adjustable, size wise. I looked FOREVER, though, to find some basic measurements to start from, so maybe this’ll be helpful to someone else??

So that’s part of what I’ve been up to… I have been sewing (you know, actual clothing…) but what with the reason for the season, I’m unable to include photos of what I’m really working on {hello snoops.} Updates will happen… just not yet. So stay tuned for more utilitarian sewing… and some very cool dream jobs posts in the near future!

>Utilitarian sewing. A tale of two laptops, a fast car and a pretty princess.

>

Back to sewing. Sort of. Part of what’s taken up my sewing time over the last week is the construction of cases for our new laptops. It was a fun project and allowed me to indulge in my affection for funky Japanese import fabric. Here’s the result. Can you guess which one is mine and which belongs to Mr. Bug?

[two snug laptops]

I tried two methods of construction. I haven’t done a lot of sewing of accessories, so I was winging it! I made Dan’s first and for his case I constructed the shell, then the lining, then attached the two layers at the opening. For my case I attached all layers for each side (lining, stabilizing layer, batting and shell) the sewed right sides together, finishing the exposed seam and trimming the top with bias binding. I’m not sure which way I liked more, although I’m leaning towards the method I used on Mr. Bug’s case. I took more photos of construction on my case, so that’s what I’m including in this post.

The best part of these cases is the zipper-pocket I included for bits and bobs and the cord. I hate how the foam cases at the stores don’t have a place for the cord. Plus, it’s another opportunity to include polka dots in the case… always important when sewing for computers!

[I totally raided my pajama fabric stash for the pocket lining.]

 

Here’s a quick overview of the construction steps.

First I gathered supplies. I used about 3/8 yard of the lining and shell fabric and about half that of the pocket lining. I needed about that much batting – I used wool batting because that was what was on hand. I had a bunch of heavy white cotton on hand and used some of that to stabilize the shell  fabric. Finally for my case I used a 22” zipper, 2 yards of ribbon, a packet of bias binding for the interior and some fun gingham bias binding tape to finish the edges of the opening. For Dan’s case I just needed a bit of velcro and the scraps to make the straps

After cutting the fabric into rectangles (I cut around 17 x 13” for our laptops which measure about 15 x 10”) I prepared the zipper. First I made a horizontal cut as shown to the left. I cut matching pieces of the heavy white cotton and sewed where the zipper opening is, right sides together. I trimmed the seams, flipped and pressed so that the finished edges would line up nicely along the zipper tape.

 

 

For the next step I assembled the sides.
Zipper side – I layered the pocket lining (pink polka dots), batting, then lining fabric (the bird fabric)
Non-zipper side – I layered a piece of heavy white cotton, batting, then lining fabric.

I drew X’s as a guide, then stitched along the X’s to quilt the fabric together.

 

Next I assembled the whole thing and  sewed the bottom seam.

I layered the shell fabric with the quilted squares, pinned together, then sewed the bottom of the case right sides together.

Then it was time to do a fitting! I tucked the laptop in to the case and checked the sides. It turned out the size was perfect for my computer, so I sewed the side seams, right sides together.

 

I finished the seams on the inside using bias binding. Olive was the only color I had on hand, and I decided to suck it up and use it anyway. Nobody will see it, after all!

Did I mention the bird fabric is flannel?

 

 

 

I decided to make finishing the top easier by zigzagging the edges and trimming close to the zigging. I used a very cool bias binding that I bought already made! I don’t like making that stuff.

 

 

 

 

I attached the ribbon closure by making a small loop in the center of my length of ribbon and sewing along the top. I like the simple ribbon because I can wrap around my case, and tuck a notebook in too, if I’d like. I used shorter fabric straps and velcro for Dan’s case.

The ribbon is hot pink and FUZZY!!

 

 

 

 

Yay for snug laptops!

>Baby it’s cold outside. Sprucing up the dog-walking coat.

>

OK folks. Back to non-glamour sewing. It’s cold here. It’s cold for about 10 months of the year. I own three pairs of Uggs. I knit wool socks. Mr. Bug’s and my main fight is over whether 78 is too high to set the thermostat (I say nay.) Accordingly, walking the dog requires sportswear similar to that needed to climb mount Everest. Or so I imagine.

My winter dog-walking coat is a toasty, puffy, boring, $35 dollar LL Bean find. It’s black and white and reversible and filled with down. But it’s going on seven years old and dingy. I’ve looked for a new coat, similarly warm, lacking in excessive ties and not ruinously expensive. I found nothing. Nada. Apparently all down coats are only meant for fashion these days, not warmth. I gave up the search and decided to just make what I already have work – it’s still warm, just dingy. Behold what a half yard of organic cotton flannel and a nice sharp sewing needle got me… before on the left, after on the right. Yes, that’s a pile of wool batting laying on the floor behind me on the right. That’s how I roll.

 

Here’s a close-up of the terrible dinginess on the white. It was so bad it made me feel icky wearing it, even at night when nobody but Lucy the hound would see it. Ewwwww…

Here’s a quickie step-by-step of what I did to accomplish this amazing transformation.

	Step 1 – cut the facing to the right length Lay a piece of the facing material (about 6 or 7 inches wide) over the coat (folded in half on one long edge) and trim the length even with the bottom and the top of the coat. Cut along the fold to separate the two facings.
	Step 2 – Draw a neckline on the top of the facing Trace along the neckline (shown in pink.) Not pictured – cut along that line. I cut it a bit more straight than the neckline to make it easier to attach the facing pieces to the collar.
	Step 3 – Measure the length and width of the collar and cut collar facing Measure the collar length and height. My collar measured 24” wide and 3” high. I cut out a strip of fabric 26” wide and 4” high to give myself a little extra room.
	Pictured – measure the height of the collar.
	Step 4 – Lay out the facings, attach and sew Lay out the facings as shown. Attach right sides together (flip collar facing down and lay right side over the front facings) and sew the facings to the neckband, leaving about an inch unsewn on the inner corners to fold back the edges in the next step.
	Step 5 – Press seams and topstitch Press seam allowances towards the neck band and topstitch the neck band seam allowance. Fold the long inner edges over twice, press and topstitch. Do the same to the bottom edges of the facings. Once done with this step the only unfinished edges left will be the upper neck and outer front facings.
	Step 6 – Pin facing to coat and sew. Pin upper edge of collar and outer edges of facing to the coat, right sides together. Sew the facing to the coat with quarter inch seam allowance. My coat closes with snaps, so I used a zipper foot to sneak past the snaps.
	Step 7 – Finishing Flip the facing to the inside, leaving a bit of the facing showing. Use zipper foot to stitch in the ditch (or close enough) to leave a bit of facing showing and give the edges a bit of body. Tack the facings down on the inside. For my coat I cut a little hole for the covered up snaps to poke through. I tacked the facing down around the snaps and finished the hole with some fray stop stuff.
	Step 7 – Cut cuff facings and finish one side. Cut rectangles (mine were about 5” by 18”) and finish one long edge by folding over twice, pressing and top stitching.
	Step 8 – Attach cuffs. Pin cuff facing to cuffs, folding under the short end underneath (so it looks nice and neat when folded out!) Sew onto cuffs with a quarter inch seam allowance. Turn facings to the inside, slipstitch the open short end shut and tack the facing to the inside of the sleeve. If you’re up to it, slipstitch the entire long edge of the cuff facing to the inside of the sleeve so your hand doesn’t get stuck inside the facing when you are putting on your coat!

That’s it! Quick and easy and a nice way to stretch out the useful life of a coat! Yay for reusing!