Tried and true... Ottobre faded stripes tee

I have a need in my wardrobe for some new summer casual clothes.  I have well and truly worn out the current ones I have!  I have devised a plan of action to add some more tees and some casual pants to my wardrobe which is my preferred week-end wear.

First off the block my TNT Ottobre faded stripes tee.  I have made this four times already and only one is left in the wardrobe now looking very tatty!  You can see them all here if you are interested ---> Tees.

I have traced off the larger size I need now (oops!) and to make it a bit interesting I have used my new to me cover stitch machine for hemming and for the bindings.

This first one is in a cotton jersey bought from The Fabric Store.  I really like the finished tee, but sewing it was a PITA.  The edges rolled mercilessly and I ended up using a lot of spray starch to try and make it behave.  For this one I added the bindings in the more traditional sewing machine way that Ottobre instructs in their tips section, but chose to use the cover stitch machine to top stitch the binding instead of using a twin needle like I have in the past.  I was pretty happy with the result.

Next up was a cotton jersey which I am pretty sure I bought from Wattle Hill Fabrics.  It is very bright but I think I can make it work for week-end wear.  

This time the fabric was a bit better behaved so I decided to take a deep breath and use the binding attachment I have.  I practised a heap of times and then dove in.  First the neckline binding...

Success!  Then the armhole binding...

Ba-bow... The stitching sat in the binding to start with but went off track and I ended up with one stitching line on the binding and one on the fabric.  I have decided to leave it as it is. With this fabric print I am hopeful it is not real obvious.  Any tips on what I could have done to stop this happening?

Any other cover stitch or binding tips are most welcome my stitching friends.  Ciao for now kittens...

Holiday sewing

Just before Christmas I was offered an opportunity I could not turn down.  A chance to buy a great second hand Cover Stitch machine.  It was from a good sewing friend who has upgraded for various reasons so I was happy to take it off her hands.  It arrived just before Christmas but I had to wait until after Christmas to give it a try.  BTW it is a Brother 2340CV, before you ask. 

I have decided I will concentrate on getting the hemming reasonable before moving onto any attachments.  I played with wovens until I managed to get it stitching and then moved onto a jersey.  I know I should probably practice more before moving onto garments but I am too keen to sew all the things, so I made Vogue 1179 for the third time.  The first time here and the second time here.  I love this style of dress and it is so easy to wear.  The only difference in my third effort is that I had to make the collar less full as I did not have quite enough fabric.

...and to show the fabric in more detail...

 At this stage I won't show the CS hem but it is reasonable enough.

No more cover stitch again for a little while but I did do a make-over on a dress I sewed back in 2015 - this one.  I have worn this dress a lot as it is so cool and easy to wear.  However, being silk it didn't take to the heavy wearing and the fabric gave way at the backside.  I must sit too much!  I decide it was too good to throw away so I hope I will get a few more wears out if it as a top.  I marked and cut a new hemline (hi-lo) and sewed a narrow hem.

And as I am a bit of a messy sewist I decided I needed a little caddy to sit near my sewing machine to put all the bits and pieces I use often.  That way hopefully it will be easier to tidy up and dust than having it spread all over the place,

I did read some tutorials on-line and you can find many.  I just based this on those that I had read and made it to the size I needed.

A good way to use up some quilting fabric remnants.

Well I may be back soon with more cover stitch trials.

Ciao kittens... Happy 2018!