Summer Fun with the Roommate's Fun Summer Shirts

I was down in the basement looking for hiking socks (which I didn't find!) for our trip to the Pyrenees, but I came across a box of the Roommate's fun shirts...he has so many that we don't have them all in the closet!  He's supposed to rotate them every summer or so, but with all the upheaval of the kitchen re-do, that didn't happen. Anyway, I brought up & ironed three so that his wardrobe is updated for Spain.

I didn't make any of these. His tailor Mohammed is responsible for most of them. But the wonderful Brunswick repairman bowling shirt we got in an antique store in SFO years ago.  And one is from Ouagadougou--there's a sort of high-end tourist fabric shop there called Woodin and he got a few things there...

Bound Buttonholes for those who don't like handstitching!

Hey!  Okay, here's a fairly pleasing buttonhole, I think.  I made it using both Gertie's hints and some ideas from Sherry, at Pattern Scissors Cloth.  Before you read my modifications, check out Sherry's notes on bound buttonholes; my notes will make more sense.  Check out Gertie's excellent tutorial, too, but you have to pay for her lesson on Craftsy, part of the Starlet Suit class.  


I don't like hand-stitching & never feel it's as secure as machine stitching, so this post is about some changes I made.  

Basted lines for start/stop & placement

I did use Sherry's suggestion to draw straight lines for where the buttonholes should start & stop, then basting over those lines w/ contrasting thread.  I also drew, then basted, horizontal lines to show where the bottom of each buttonhole would be.  I did this after I had ironed on the interfacing, so the basting would come out easier.  And you should rip out the basting lines before you begin sewing the buttonholes "lips" into place on the right side.  


I used almost the smallest stitch I have on my machine (mine goes to .8, and I used 1.0, but I have no idea what that means in #stitches/inch).  I found that anything larger seemed to pull at the corners & didn't look as neat.  


Some other changes I came up w/ after playing & playing & playing with bound buttonholes (I made 12 practice ones after all!)...

1. Press the narrow sides away from the hole

1. I steamed & pressed the side pieces (narrow part) away from the hole, once I'd made the cut through both pieces of fabric. I just felt like it was in the way for the next part.  This is also a good chance to make sure you didn't cut into the stitching...if you did (I did!), you can turn the binding back through the hole & re-stitch with your machine to prevent fraying.  I'm even wondering if it would be better to stitch with contrasting thread? Then you can see where to stop when you're clipping the holes.  

2. Steamed, ready for machine-stitching

2. I did not manipulate the little mouth pieces that fill the gaps by hand, then tack them down w/ a hand-sewn back-stitch. Instead, I fiddled until they looked nice, then steamed them, so they'd stay put, then I used a very tiny machine stitch to stitch in the ditch. 


I found that with the weave of the fabric, it wouldn't bend that well & stay put with just pins & my fingers.  So I pinned & manipulated & steamed really well to keep everything in place for the next part.  

3. Machine stitched & finished!

3. The next photo shows a buttonhole after I sewed it with very tiny machine stitching.  I admit that the stitching shows, if you look very closely, but this was easier & feels sturdier to me.  


I did everything else pretty much as Gertie & Sherry recommend.  

5 bound buttonholes, all in a row!

I put in 5 buttonholes, as you can see in the last photo.  I like odd numbers; think they look better, and I really wanted one button right at the bustline...


Remember, you can always click on the photos to see the original, larger size. 

Some Starlet Suit Techniques!

I'm learning lots of new, fun stuff in my Starlet Suit class, so I thought I'd share.  I'm definitely no expert, but I'm enjoying learning about stuff that I may or may not decide to use again.

First, tailor's tacks.  Little bits of thread to mark stuff, especially useful when chalk doesn't show (your fabric is too nubby), or you are afraid of ruining the fabric (silk, perhaps).  Here are some marks for buttonholes I made on the front of the jacket, in the next step I did some thread-cutting to get the pieces of fabric away from each other & the pattern piece.

Second, here's attempt #1 at bound buttonholes.  This is definitely a practice run--there is no way I'd try this on the actual fabric on the first try.  I'm not very good at hand-work, due to a lack of patience & short attention span, so it will take me more than a few tries to get buttonholes that I'd be willing to wear in public!  I am going to give Gretchen's a few more tries, but also want to try Sherry's method.  Anyway, the photo shows the attempt, plus the little clippers/scissors I used.  Gretchen mentions another style, but I think these are pretty strong, so will try them a few more times to avoid buying yet another piece of equipment for this project!

And this is attempt #2 at a bound buttonhole.  (I am using non-matching thread just so I can see what I'm doing.)  This is actually a bit over-sized, just to play with.  It looks better, but it rather uneven (one "lip" is wider).  So now I'll try a few after I figure out what the correct size should be.  I figure if I get 3 in a row that look nice I'm ready to start on the actual jacket front!  

And attempt #3 is below.  I tried laying the "binding" fabric crossways...which didn't work, the grain & thickness of the fabric conspired to make it impossible to fold neatly.  Yikes.  This is why I'm making all these test runs--so my ideas get tried out before they matter.  You can also see that I didn't quite measure right for the size of the buttonholes.

Finally, I just want you to look at this stenciled floor my teacher, Gretchen did for her brand-new sewing room.  Amazalujah!  We've got hardwood throughout our house, all in very good condition, so I won't be trying this, but I almost wish I had a big stain or something because I'd love to do something like this somewhere...oops, I'd better be careful what I wish for.

A break from 7501: Fun Shirts!

When we lived in Abu Dhabi, fabric was about US$.27/yard (= 1 dirham/yard).  And yes, I had a huge stash, most of which got left in Istanbul when we fled...

Anyway, it was another $9 or so to have a shirt made for the Roommate...so guess what?!  He has about 30 of them (or is it 35? - we've never seen them all in one place).  I thought you might like to see just a few of the fabric patterns.  We call them fun shirts, you can probably guess why.

MMJ - West African skirt - I leaked into July

MMJuners, please forgive me.  I'll stop w/ the Mohammed-Made-June stuff, though there's quite a bit more in my closet.  But I do love this skirt.  It looks like Adinkra, which is stamped fabric made in Ghana, though this is batik, not stamped. (BTW, that video is great and even includes the symbol on my skirt.)  The symbols have meaning, and you see a large variety all over Ghana, on fabric, artwork, decorating stores, buses, labels in the grocery store--everywhere.  Anyway, the Gye Name symbol (on my skirt it's the non-square symbol) means the "supremacy of God."

Wearing this skirt is always a great opportunity to get out my green/turquoise sandals, my turquoise sunglasses and my turquoise (as opposed to green) turquoise.

MMJ - West African print jacket - worn last day of June!

Yep, my favorite jacket!  The problem with all these photos is that I can no longer live under the illusion that my hair always looks great.  This photo could win me an award for very doofy bangs!  Anyway, I love the jacket & it's over a dress from Coldwater Creek.  I also wear it a lot with a brown skirt (w/ or w/out a sleeveless top).

My roommate and I had dinner in NW DC, then hung out at Politics & Prose a bit, before we walked over to hear Hundred Acre Wood at the free Fort Reno concert (every Mon & Thurs at 7:15 between now & the 2nd week of August--but not Monday 7/4!).  Low humidity, cooled off a bit, plenty of bug repellant, good music, handsome roommate--a great evening, all in all.

Mohammed-Made-June - Return of the pattern II - and this time it's pink

On our back deck with a cup of coffee in the flattering morning light.  Or perhaps you're thinking, "Not flattering enough!"  Anyway, here it is again.  I think you've seen all 4 versions of this amazing pattern.  I have gotten so much use out of these dresses & find they go everywhere, they're cool so great for hot DC summers, and dressy enough to wear to work.  With a sweater, they last until October.  YAY!  Oh, and probably the most important part?  Now that I've left Abu Dhabi, I think this would be quite an easy pattern...if I could just find it.  Music:  Pink...hmmm...pink floyd?!  How about Sparklehorse & Radiohead - Wish You Were Here?

I'm like Tilly, rather tired of having to remember to take pictures every day.  My roommate's been very helpful (as usual).  So, tomorrow, one of my all-time favorite MMJs - a jacket made from some fabric I bought in Ghana!

More Mohammed-Made-June

Okay, for all of you me-made-June-ites who are taking this seriously, please don't be insulted.  I'm doing Mohammed-Made-June because most of my non-pret-a-porter clothing was not made by me, but by my tailor from when I lived in Abu Dhabi.  A funny thing about this outfit:  I do NOT know where I got the fabric!!  I have this suit, and a similar ikat-look polyester/silk blend that was enough for a jacket, but don't know where it came from.  I'm guessing from our last trip to SE Asia?  Anyway it turned into a gorgeous suit, and I always get compliments on it.  It's in colors I like, and works well with my large collection of turquoise jewelry (a benefit of growing up in New Mexico).  The great thing about Mohammed, (and Marc's Mohammed, too) is they looked at the fabric & figured out ways to highlight the fabric's pattern on the outfit.  So the color & the hem of the skirt show the end of the woven pattern--a nice detail that most non-sewers never notice.  Apologies that it's a rather bad photo--we'd just got back from a Youssou n'Dour concert & it was late & we were tired, so didn't take a good look at the preview on our digital camera.

New hair, old dress

Okay, I cut my hair...I've been threatening to do it for a while & the last time it was short was for our 4th trip to Africa (in 2006).  FYI, most people in sub-Saharan Africa have short hair--easy to take care of, stylish & cool.  Anyway, mine was quite long (I'll try to find an older picture), and now it's not so long.  I was threatening to do a Julie Andrews in Sound of Music look, but maybe next time.  In the meantime, this bob.  

MD at the WH

In honor of me-made-June, I'm sitting next to 2 quilts I made (folded on the back of the couch), using fabric purchased on that last African trip, in front of a painting by a friend of ours, Layton Hower.  The dress, however, will have to go in Mohammed-made-June, as opposed to me-made-June...I don't have enough clothing that I made, though I could go a few more days if I could wear quilts in to work!  Anyway, I am thinking of a Mohammed-made-July because during the 6 years I lived in Abu Dhabi, my tailor, Mohammed made my life very easy & fun.  What is better than taking in a picture (from a magazine, from a sewing book, from the web) along w/ some fabric, coming back a week later, and there it is--exactly what you had in mind!?  I'd have to do it in the summer...the coldest it ever got in AD was 65F, so I only have summer clothes.  I have formal dresses, lots of jackets, skirts & dresses, some pants, even some clothes for travelling (with hidden pockets!).  Unfortunately, some of them are beginning to wear out (especially the linen ones) and some really aren't in style outside the Muslim world (ankle length skirts), which is just another reason for me to start sewing more clothing. My husband also had a Mohammed, and he's got an amazing array of suits, dress shirts & fun shirts (see above), including a tuxedo from our time there...