Did Jamaica Nuff Ruffles?

I've been ruffling and sewing away on these bloomers, and now they are done! See?





That's going to be the cutest little baby behind in the South, don't you think?


A construction detail on these is the elastic application on the legs. I used 1/4 inch elastic and set my zigzag to the widest width, with a regular stitch length. After taking a few straight stitches at the beginning to anchor the elastic, I zigged and zagged about 3/4 inch around the leg openings, being careful not to stitch through the elastic. By stitching over it, the elastic is movable, just as if it was inside a regular casing. I really like this trick. Next time I think I'll try it with 1/8 inch elastic, just to see how well that would work. Here's how it looks from the outside:





And here's how it looks from the inside:

This is the finish you see in Ready To Wear--and we can do it, too!

After everything was done, Jamaica wanted to go out on the back porch and admire the begonias. Here she is, mid-swing in a garden chair:

Once she quit petting the cat, I caught this shot from the back:



Now that's cute, yall. And I think I made enough ruffles for this one--eleven!

Bluebonnet

Remember Bluebonnet? No? Well, here it is again:

While I was pondering what to cut up next, I realized that Bluebonnet had posed herself atop this pattern, and was already picking out embroidery floss!

Who am I to argue? I'm going to cut it out, of course.

A Perfect Mother's Day Gift

I've cut out my bloomers and have been busy playing with this attachment, a ruffler:





This is just about as much fun as a person can have for 30 bucks. If you don't have one of these for your machine, drop a few hints--Mother's Day is upon us. If one doesn't show up all gift wrapped nice and pretty, well , then buy yourself one on June 1st to celebrate the beginning of hurricane season.

I can tell you that you will easily spend an hour just fooling around with it. All those little geegaws and notches and screws all affect the size and placement of the ruffles. And it will gather two pieces of fabric together at once! Perfectly! Super Fast!

I should tear off about 20 muslin fabric strips, try out all the different settings, and label each sample so that next time I will immediately know how to set it up for perfect ruffles the first time. But I'm not going to. What's the point of having a toy like this if I can't play with it, huh?

I did actually make ruffles for the bloomers. The original pattern called for 5 rows of 1 inch gathered lace to be sewn across the fanny. Perfect excuse to use a ruffler attachment, right? Since I wanted my ruffles to finish about 1 inch, I tore strips 2 inches wide across the width of the fabric. Then I narrow hemmed each long edge. Then the ruffling began! See?





Five minutes later I had this:

Oh wow. I can tell already that I'm having a very ruffly summer. I'm gonna put these on everything!

One note about this pattern, though. The instructions said to stitch the gathers on the marked stitching lines. After 30 minutes of re-reading the instructions and looking at the back bloomer pattern piece (I'm being extra careful these days, due to the Huge Boo Boo I made on Baby Love), I finally realized that there were not any stitching lines indicated on the pattern piece. This is in fact a mistake on the pattern and instructions. I just thought I would mention it here so that if anyone else has this pattern they won't feel incompetent and stupid.

Rant Begins.

I will reiterate my position on this sort of thing--that if I have to pay 11 bucks for your pattern, I expect it to be free of mistakes. Especially if it has been in print almost 12 years. You've had time to correct it by now.

Rant Over.

So to help out others and make the world a more meaningful place, I drew a line on my bloomers myself--yes, I made this decision without any input from the experts--as to where to sew on the gathers. I decided to make the bottom row about 1/2 inch above the crotch curve on the back bloomer piece. And here's a picture of it, just for you (you'll have to click to really see it):

Hope this saves someone an hour of frustration. And have I said yet just how cute these bloomers are?

Bloomers, I Think

Busy days here at the salt mine. Falling asleep on the sofa as soon as I get home. Partly because I am exhausted from s-c-h-o-o-l, and partly because I couldn't face the house anymore. The males that share this abode never seem to notice dirt, or grime, or the need to clean a bathroom. They don't hear those crunching sounds when they walk around in the house. They are blind to an overflowing trash can. Just as they never notice the need to take a shower, or change underwear, or comb their hair. Just a bunch of Real Men. And Real Men don't do housework.

That leaves just me. Why, oh why, did I let those girls get married?

Mopping, laundry, bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting, decluttering every single surface, throwing away everything that I've begged people to put away. That's how I've spent my day. The kitchen is so clean it would be a crime to mess it up. So I didn't commit any crimes. We ate out tonight.

But I must say that the whole time, I was trying to figure out how to get a pair of capri baby pants out of a teeny little piece of fabric. It couldn't be done, but this could:




I'm making just plain little floral bloomers with nothing fancy on the front. The back, however, will be adorned with pink ruffles.

I'm off to make ruffles!

Jamaica!

I'm finished. Here's an inside view, for all those inquiring minds out there:





Yes, I used white thread in the serger. Here's a flat shot of the outside:





Here's an extremely poor shadowy shot of the hanger view:






And the back:




Time for ice cream!

I need a new project.

Kopy Kats, Part 3

Gee, after that million word post and all that math yesterday, I'm surprised yall are still here. I promise not to do that today.

But if you really want to know about Jamaica.........

I made parts 2, 3, and 4 of the bodice front in exactly the same manner as part 1.

There was one minor difference, but it's not something that presents a challenge if you are a smocker. That was the armhole shaping on part 2.

See how the ruffle on the second part follows the shape of the armhole? I gathered my ruffle to fit the bottom width of part 2, then basted across the top edge. Then I flipped it over and basted along the armhole--just like a smocked bodice. Finally, I just trimmed off the ruffle to match the armhole curve. See?





I really like this top. We may have to go out and have ice cream together.

You can see the seam allowance peeking out from under the ruffles above. Except for the bottom piece (part 4). That required a small adustment, which I'll explain later.

Next I sewed the four pieces together.

Then I sewed the side seams.

I serged one end of a long strip cut to the width of the top front facing, pinned on the strap, and stitched straight across the top edge:




I turned the top facing to the inside and pressed it, then cut off the extra on the sides (to match the arm curve). I trimmed the seam and edgestitched it.

I sewed the straps onto the back, then turned under the top edge of the back and added a narrow hem.

I folded my bias strips for the armholes in half, wrong sides together, and pinned it to the armholes, like so:




In this next shot you can see that I just folded under about 3/8 inch at the end of each bias strip (only one is done so far) and sewed it to the bodice:





Now I need to trim that seam, press it to the inside, and stitch it down.

Now back to the problem I found with the bottom piece of the bodice--the ruffles were too long and were going to get caught up in the narrow hem. So I used my friend, Mr. Seam Ripper, and took out about an inch of the side seams.

Then I put a little pleat in the ruffle where it joined the side seam, narrow hemmed it, and lookee here!




A neat little solution to the problem, don't you think?

All I need to do now is stitch down the bias binding, make 3 buttonholes, and sew on the buttons!


A-Line Challenge, Anyone?

It has occured to me that you could use a commercial pattern for an A-line dress or top, make a few adjustments, and have this top in any size your little heart desires. If anyone is interested in this, say so and I'll do it. Go ahead and dig out your basic plain-Jane A-line pattern.

No math, I promise (that's a lie, and yall know it). Of course there will be math. That's why we have all these measuring devices, isn't it?

Kopy Kats, Part 2--Jamaica

Dissecting 101 Class Now In Session

In case you've forgotten (or thought I had), roll has been called and class is now beginning. Today we are studying how to copy a ready-to-wear item, in this case a cute little ruffled baby top. Those of you who didn't play hooky today may want to go back and reread the April 19 post first.

Okay, class, let's get started. As usual, we will begin at the beginning. We have our supplies: paper, pencil, ruler, big eraser, random curved object (yall have seen what I use!), felt tip marker, pins, and a nice hot steamy iron. Don't burn yourself, I don't want to have to fill out a Student Accident Report Form in quadruplicate......

At this stage of the game, I use computer paper. Why? It's stiff. And it's sitting right here. Those are good reasons. If I am tracing something and I need a large piece of paper, I just tape a few sheets together. Yes, you can use newspaper. Dry your hands off first.......

Study your garment. Locate the center front and center back. Check out the grainlines to see if anything is cut on the bias. If so, make a note. Yes, you will be taking notes today. No, I'm not going to write it all on the board...........

Now fold the front down the center. Press well on the fold. Press flat. Flatter than a pancake. As flat as a piece of paper. Put the paper under the garment, and trace as close as possible around the edges. Use the ruler to straighten your lines. You lost your ruler? Well, borrow his ruler, okay?????????

Repeat for each piece. Sleeves are tricky, since you can't really fold them in half and get an accurate sleeve. Trace one side, flip it over, and trace the other side. Pay attention to armholes. Well, I know this requires a lot of pressing, but this baby top is sooooo cute!!!

Now cut out your paper pieces. Since these don't have any seam allowances on them, you should be able to lay the original garment over the paper pieces and check your drawings. Yes, you may have to do some of them over. I'll wait for you......

Now we'll measure things and make a lot more notes. Yes, you can sharpen your pencil.......

I guess you can tell what I've been doing all day......teaching school. Only 14 more days. Hopefully no one will get sent to the office.......

From this point on, I'm going to ignore all THEM. And concentrate on YOU, instead. YOU are a lot more fun.

My notes and measurements for this top:

• Seams are all 1/4 inch.

• The finished width of the straps is 1 inch, and it was cut on the fold. Its finished length is 5 5/8 inches.

• There are 3 buttons, 1/2 inch. The top buttonhole is horizontal, but the bottom two are vertical (that's interesting, isn't it?). The buttons are 2 1/2 inches apart.

• The finished width of the bodice front facing is 1 1/4 inches.

• The total finished length of the bodice along the center front is 8 inches.

• The finished width of the back fold-back facing is 1 1/4 inches.

• The bodice is divided into four horizontal sections as follows: part 1 is 1 1/4 high, parts 2and 3 are 2 inches high, and part 4 is 2 1/4 inches high. Go back and look at the inside of the front photo on April 19 and you'll see what I'm talking about.

• Each bodice piece has a double ruffle that is sewn into the seam. The bottom ruffle on each section is exactly the same height as its corresponding piece. The top ruffle on each piece is 1 inch high.

• The width of each ruffle is 2 1/2 times the width of the underlying bodice piece.

• The armholes are finished with bias binding.

Here are my thoughts on all this, in no particular order:

• By using the finished measurements, I can add whatever seam allowance makes me happy. In this case, I am liking 3/8 inch seam allowances a lot. So I'm going with that.

• Studying the original garment will help you decide sewing order of the pieces.

• I'm going to use 1 1/2 inch wide bias strips for the armholes.

• Instead of cutting all those ruffles, I am going to tear fabric strips. Easier, more accurate, and I like the way it sounds when I do it.

• I made sure the side seams of the front and back were exactly the same length.

Now that I have my mind wrapped around it all, I'm ready to add seam allowances and hems. To do so I had to cut my original front piece into four sections (parts 1-4).

One word of caution here: If you are copying something that was originally in a woven fabric, duplicate it in a woven. If you are copying a knit, duplicate it in knit. Make sure each knit piece has the same amount of stretch. May The Force Be With You if you're doing a knit....

A cautious person makes this up in muslin. I'm not that cautious. Here are my pattern pieces already cut out: four front bodice patterns, one back pattern, and one strap pattern. That's it.

I marked pattern pieces, fold lines, seam allowances, facing turn lines, little dots for the straps, etc.. Then I went over my neat little lines somewhat haphazardly with a Sharpie when I realized you wouldn't be able to see my pencil marks.

Each bodice piece is atop its corresponding ruffle sections.

I'm excited. So I started sewing on Jamaica!

I folded each ruffle section in half and pressed it on the fold.






Then I stacked them with the raw edges even:



Hmmmm.....not sure about this. I put in two rows of gathering stitches and pinned it to the top bodice piece and was not happy. It wasn't ruffly enough. I mean, if you're a girl, you want ruffles, right?

So I decided that 2 1/2 times the width of the bodice piece wasn't going to work for me. I cut off 4 times the width pieces and tried them. I also made the bottom ruffle a tad higher while I was at it. This next picture shows the difference:




The one on the bottom is much better. So I pulled up the gathers and soon had this, which is the part 1 (top) of the front bodice.




Oh, la la!

Since these are such fuzzy thoughts, please ask questions. I'm sure your head hurts by now.