Sienna Maker jacket, upcycle; Jalie 2212 pullover remnant buster;

 It seems that when I am sewing something more challenging or stressful, I do a detour project with something less high-stakes! This week the detour was using up my gorgeous knit remnants to make up the Jalie 2212 pullover for myself this time, as I slowly worked through the Kilt upcycle.

Sienna tartan upcycle

Cutting out the kilt... this was a super stressful event since this project 

a) involves intense pattern matching

b) is for a friend, using an authentic Scottish kilt.

So I spent a decent amount of time examining the fabric and the pattern pieces, placing them to make sure I would have enough fabric, and deciding how to proceed.

There was also some work unstitching (nice job to do sitting on the front step), and PRESSING! Getting the pleats pressed out has been a challenge. There are still signs of the pleats, but pretty negligeable. 

One decision we made was to make ONE of the sleeves with the pocket. (You only need one, but given that we are not doing any other pockets, it is very useful). Good thing, too, because I don't think there would have been enough fabric to make both sleeves with pockets.

So I placed the pattern pieces on the folded fabric, then cut out sections for each piece, to make it easier to work with. The first piece I attacked was the front. (Note to self.... in future, start with a less conspicuous piece!). I carefully lined up the side seams (yes, you read that right!), so that they were beautifully matched, then cut each piece. And only THEN realized.... the front pieces don't meet at the side seams, but at the centre frong.

Lo and behold, it was off by a bit. OH NO... this did not make sense, though, since I had also carefully line up the grain lines, so they should have also matched up at the front.... I have a fix, though, but I decided to move on to the other cutting and come back to this later.

The rest of the cutting went brilliantly. I am not sure if there is a right or a wrong side (meaning, it is not overtly apparent... fortunately)! 

I bought some lovely 'silky' cotton poplin for the facing, and it really is delightful. So I cut out the facing pieces, and used the new and improved method to make continuous bias tape (the method I linked to in the last post).

shaped buttonhole

I decided to start the sewing with the sleeves. Step 1 - attach the bias tape as a Hong Kong finish. Then I sewed the right sleeve (which is where I am fortunate there  is no difference between the right and wrong side... I had cut it backwards. )The reason that it matters is that it is easier for a right-handed person to reach across into a pocket on the left side! I did a brilliant job sewing up the right sleeve! And also a lovely job on the sleeve pocket where I added a SHAPED BOUND BUTTONHOLE! I have decided that all the buttonholes will be bound, since the fabric frays, and I am never 100% sure about my machine made buttonholes (sometimes when I slice them open I slice the thread...)

matching plaid

The back is also finished, and looks good. I unstitched the back vent in order to install bound buttonholes. These turned out okay.... except the bottom one is a bit askew 😓. For the inside, I made little 'windows' in the facing behind each buttohnole, then stitched around that window to the back of the buttongole.

view from good side

Next is the front, and back to the uneven pattern matching. Then the collar, and installing the sleeves.

inside

see the windows

all the ugly bits!

Jalie remnant busting 2212

I had nice-size pieces of the twisted lines fabric (from the sewing bee round 1), green bamboo fleece (from the first Jalie pullover) and of grey French terry (from the second one.) I decided to combine these lovely soft bits into a Jalie pullover for myself. I knew it would look a bit random, but I just wanted something practical.

I decided to shorten the sleeves, about 5 inches. Which was just a bit too much BUT, I don't think the main yoke piece would have fit on the fabric otherwise. As it is I was into the selvedge area (which is white, and can be seen in a couple of places.) I also needed to piece together the lower sleeve, so there is an added seam line there. And, because this was a "salvage the scraps anything goes" project, I put some pieces on the cross grain which should have gone on the straight of grain. The stretch was similar in both directions, so it only matters if you look closely and see the somewhat different colour. I am not telling you where, though!

I have no photos on me, at the moment, so only the mannequin photos...

"Twisted lines" 

twisted lines, and bamboo fleece