Stashbusting musings

Some entirely unplanned sewing this week. I finally had to accept that, despite my best efforts at patching and mending, my summer dressing gown had disintegrated beyond repair and a replacement was urgently needed. I didn't have a suitable pattern for a woman's robe, but I did have the pattern I had used for D's thank you present last year. I reasoned that a dressing gown is hardly a fitted garment, so I used that and omitted the lining. A delve into Deep Stash unearthed a remnant of pink flowered cotton with a slight stretch, which was the perfect weight for an unlined robe.

The pattern called for 3m of 150cm wide fabric. I only had 2.6m of 140cm wide fabric, but I knew that I wanted to shorten both the body and the sleeves, so thought that this would be enough. Unfortunately, when I came to lay the fabric out, I discovered this.

The printing fault explains why this was in the remnant bin

Clearly the fabric had creased on the roller while it was being printed. The fault carries on down the full length of the remant, so now I was down to 2.6m of 130ish cm wide fabric. Tricky. However, after a few experiments with cutting layouts on a single layer of fabric (it takes longer, but there's far less wastage), I managed to squeeze everything in.

My leftovers - mostly the strip with the printing error

Pretty though the fabric is, I did worry that the end result would be a bit of a flowery blur. Taking my inspiration from the pattern, I decided that adding binding would sharpen things up a bit.

Vogue 8964 - binding on collar, pockets and sleeves

I knew that I had quite a lot of pink cotton bias binding left over from making a petticoat years ago, and intended to use that. But then I found that I also had 4m of emerald green satin binding. I have absolutely no idea when or why I bought this, but I used it instead of the pink, and I really like the contrast.

Binding on cuff and pocket

The green was definitely the right choice

I'm really pleased with the end result, but it has got me thinking. This project was started before non-essential shops in England were allowed to open last Monday (15 June), which is why everything had to be sourced from stash. My local fabric shop, Abakhan, is now open, but to the astonishment of everyone who knows me, I haven't been in it yet.

In this day and age, it is rare to have a fabric shop close to where you live*, and I'm well aware of just how lucky I am in this respect. However, the downside is that it is so easy to 'just pop in' there whenever I need something, rather than look through what I've already got. Making this dressing gown, and planning out an entirely new idea inspired by the Vintage Sew a Dress a Month (details coming soon) during lockdown, have highlighted that although I have a substantial stash of both fabric and 'sundries' such as trimmings, it is rarely my first port of call for supplies - and this needs to change.

This isn't to say that I will not buy anything more until my workroom is bare; indeed another order from Ditto Fabrics is currently somewhere in transit. What it does mean is that in future I want to make a conscious effort to begin new projects by 'shopping my stash', and not just automatically going for the new and shiny.

Stashometer update

* - When Abakhan first opened a branch in Chester, it was in the first shop that I came to as I walked into town from home. Then the whole area was earmarked for redevelopment, and all the shops were closed. Abakhan did not immediately move to new premises, so I was back to having no local fabric shop. In the meantime, we moved house. When Abakhan re-opened, it was in the first shop that I came to on my new route into town! Mr Tulip was utterly convinced that they had delayed acquiring new premises until they knew where I'd moved to, and nothing I could say would persuade him otherwise.

Saying 'thank you' with sewing

Readers who have stuck with this blog through the long process of my Masters dissertation (thank you!) will have seen references to the Dissertation Police. These are the two friends who kept me going while I wrote it, using a judiciously applied mix of encouragement, nagging, mild threats, cups of tea, and occasional alcohol. Some time ago I promised that I would make something for each of them as a thank you once I had completed, and the first of these makes is now done.

F loves teddy bears, and has asked me to help her to make one herself, which is going to be a learning curve for both of us. However she is busy at work until Christmas, so this is a project for next year. D meanwhile asked for a dressing gown.

For the pattern I settled on Vogue 8964 - partly because I like Vogue patterns and have had good results with them, but also because the dressing gown is lined. D lives in a cold Victorian house which is even colder than my cold partly-Victorian house, so an extra layer seemed like a good idea. He also dislikes synthetic fabrics, so my plan was to make it up in some sort of thick cottons. However, it was only when I had actually arrived in the fabric shop that I realised that I had forgotten to ask him what colour he wanted! Proof of how rarely I sew for other people. The reply to my hastily-sent text was "claret". I found some cotton remnants which fitted the bill, plus a roll of plain thick cotton twill. The colour was listed as 'burgundy', but I decided that this was one occasion when I could safely mix my drinks!

The pattern and the fabrics

My plan was to use the twill as the main fabric, the more subdued remnant on the left as the lining, and the brightly coloured remnant for the cuffs, revers, and pocket tops. I did worry that D might think the second remnant was a bit much, but fortunately he loved it.

The dressing gown comes in two lengths. Vogue patterns are always too long on me, but D was happy to go with the longer length, to make the end result as warm as possible. I also thought that the sleeves might be a bit too long, but again D saw the idea of extra coverage as a bonus.

The thickness of the cotton twill provided certain challenges. Making the belt loops by sewing them right sides together and turning them through proved impossible, so I folded the raw edges in and in effect top-stitched them. Similarly folding the fabric twice for the hem was not going to work, so I turned it up once, and enclosed the raw edge in bias binding.

Belt loop

Hem

The twill also proved a nightmare to press. The slightest touch of an iron was enough to create a shiny patch, so I needed my press cloth at all times. Pressing the seams open also left a mark on the right side, so I improvised a seam stick from a length of dowel wrapped in a piece of cotton - the curved shape means that the iron only presses against the centre section.

The pattern was straightforward to put together, but when it came to attaching the facing/lining to the main garment I realized that there was no allowance made for turn of cloth. Vogue Patterns, I expected better of you (although to be fair, the pattern is intended for thinner fabrics). This was easy to improvise by pinning the facing slightly inside the main piece.

DIY turn of cloth

The pattern does however include instructions to attach the lining at the top and bottom of the sleeve seam with French tacks - a nice couture touch.

French tacks secure the lining to the main part of the garment

None of the issues encountered were really problematic though, and I was very pleased with the end result.

Showing the lining, and the fabric-conserving facing

It was only when I came to photograph it that I realised something. Vogue 8964 is a decidedly modern pattern.

The pattern envelope

However, with the choice of colours and the contrast sections, I had produced something more like view A of this pattern (albeit minus the breast pocket).

Vogue 8753, circa 1940

Spot the similarity

It's as if I just can't stop myself from sewing vintage styles!

Because the dressing gown was finished earlier in the week it meant that I was, finally, able to participate in a Sewcialists theme month challenge, namely November's Giving Challenge. I've watched previous challenges come and go but been too busy to take part, so it was great to have both the time to do it and the perfect project.

Also on the giving theme, I decided that the Stashometer wasn't going to turn to the positive in the space of a month without help, so I had a destash. A bit of a cheat I know, but desperate times require desperate measures. Several lengths of fabric that I knew that I would never use except for mock-ups (which seemed a waste as they were perfectly good fabric, just no longer part of my sewing plans) were donated to charity. Hopefully they will be just what someone else wanted.

It's green - woohoo!