A bit of a #sewing update.
The backpack is finished and has been used a few times, and I'm quite happy with it. I'm still writing the instructions to publish on my website, and then I'll post on the blog.
Today it's the patron saint of the city of the place I work for, and in Italy it's a holiday (even if I don't live anywhere near that :) ) so I decided to work on the other backpack.
Yep, because I had already cut the fabric for another backpack, this time to be sewn by machine, and I sort of need it (or rather would like to have it) for a deadline, so having a free day to free up the room for the sewing machine and actually doing some sewing was pretty useful.
This is the front component of my original idea for a two part backpack, inspired by an IKEA model, that started ages ago with the base component documented at sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/…
The base ended up being big enough on its own, but I still wanted to see if the idea was viable, and I have uses for a small backpack anyway.
The basic aim for today was to sew the sides with the zipper, and that's done.
#MYOG
my preciousssesssss
(I'm in a hurry, if somebody can describe the individual stickers in a comment I'd be grateful #alt4me )
@Walter Tross this is something where the English speakers are wrong and the Continental way is provably superior, and I'm not ready to die on this hill, but I'm definitely ready to suffer very mild discomfort :D
thanks for making me notice the dash bit, I've fixed that part
After careful consideration — and some procrastination — I decided I had to do it.
#StickerStandard #mdash #fuckAI
(sources on git.trueelena.org/crafts/hex_s… )
@Sini Tuulia @Anne Deschaine it's where I've bought mine, when I stocked up on things from them just before brexit!
(I bought both sizes, and then only managed to cover the smaller one — or maybe I should say I only managed to make a wearable mockup using the smaller one)
(it was also stored badly during the move, and I've only just found it again, so the ruffle has been squashed around)
I may have done a new #hexagon?
it's not very legible (but better than the previous attempts), but the font I've used is appropriate to the topic, so I'm not 100% sure
Questo è l'aspetto che aveva alla fine della mattinata
adesso anche l'altro spallaccio è attaccato, e la cinghia sotto è attaccata a metà, ma ho dovuto interrompermi per la cena.
il pannello verso la schiena è quasi finito!
This is what it looked like at the end of this morning
now the other shoulder strap is also attached, and the second lower strap is half-attached, but I had to stop for dinner.
the back panel is almost done!
stauts attuale: ho finito di attaccare i nastri al pannello posteriore, preparato uno spallaccio e ho iniziato a cucirlo in cima al suddetto pannello.
Ho già tagliato il nastro per la chiusura, da cucire in alto al centro, ma devo preparare l'altro spallaccio prima di poter finire quella cucitura.
current status: I've finished attaching the webbing to the back panel, assembled one shoulder strap and started sewing it to the top of said panel.
I have already cut the closure webbing ready to go at the center top, but I need to make the other shoulder strap before I can finish that top seam.
Honeycomb shirt
Posted on May 25, 2025
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:sewing, FreeSoftWear, GNU Terry Pratchett
After cartridge pleating, the next fabric manipulation technique I wanted to try was smocking, of the honeycombing variety, on a shirt.
My current go-to pattern for shirts is the 1880 menswear oneI have on my website: I love the fact that most of the fabric is still cut as big rectangles, but the shaped yoke and armscyes make it significantly more comfortable than the earlier style where most of the shaping at the neck was done with gathers into a straight collar.
In my stash I had a cut of purple-blue hopefully cotton [#cotton] I had bought for a cheap price and used for my first attempt at anhistorically accurate pirate / vampire shirt that has now become by official summer vaccine jab / blood test shirt (because it has the long sleeves I need, but they are pretty easy to roll up to give access to my arm.
That shirt tends to get out of the washing machine pretty wearable even without ironing, which made me think it could be a good fabric for something that may be somewhat hard to iron (but also made me suspicious about the actual composition of the fabric, even if it feels nice enough even when worn in the summer).
Of course I wanted some honeycombing on the front, but I was afraid that the slit in the middle of it would interfere with the honeycombing and gape, so I decided to have the shirt open in an horizontal line at the yoke.
I added instructions to the pattern pagefor how I changed the opening in the front, basically it involved finishing the front edge of the yoke, and sewing the honeycombed yoke to a piece of tape with snaps.
Another change from the pattern is that I used plain rectangles for the sleeves, and a square gusset, rather than the new style tapered sleeve , because I wanted to have more fabric to gather at the wrist. I did the side and sleeve seams with a hem + whipstitch method rather than a felled seam, which may have helped, but the sleeves went into the fitted armscyes with no issue.
I think that if (yeah, right. when) I’ll make another sleeve in this style I’ll sew it into the side seam starting 2-3 cm lower than the place I’ve marked on the pattern for the original sleeve.
I also used a row of honeycombing on the back and two on the upper part of the sleeves, instead of the gathering, and of course some rows to gather the cuffs.
The honeycombing on the back was a bit too far away from the edge, so it’s a bit of an odd combination of honeycombing and pleating that I don’t hate, but don’t love either. It’s on the back, so I don’t mind. On the sleeves I’ve done the honeycombing closer to the edge and I’ve decided to sew the sleeve as if it was a cartridge pleated sleeve, and that worked better.
Because circumstances are still making access to my sewing machine more of a hassle than I’d want it to be, this was completely sewn by hand, and at a bit more than a month I have to admit that near the end it felt like it had been taken forever. I’m not sure whether it was the actual sewing being slow, some interruptions that happened when I had little time to work on it, or the fact that I’ve just gone through a time when my brain kept throwing new projects at me, and I kept thinking of how to make those. Thanks brain.
Even when on a hurry to finish it, however, it was still enjoyable sewing, and I think I’ll want to do more honeycombing in the future.
Anyway, it’s done! And it’s going straight into my daily garment rotation, because the weather is getting hot, and that means it’s definitely shirt time.
I may have done another hexagon
source svg at git.trueelena.org/crafts/hex_s…
clipart of the pattern at openclipart.org/detail/351608/…
font used: Latin Modern Mono (of course)
Chiusura sul davanti fatta!
Devo fare ancora un paio di righe di smocking, e poi posso prosegure cucendo assieme il davanti e il dietro (sui fianchi, e solo un pezzettino sul bordo del davanti) e inizerà ad assomigliare ad una camicia.
E poi le maniche.
Front closure done!
I need to do a couple more rows of honeycombing, and then I can continue with sewing the front and back together (on the sides, and just at the edge of the fronts) and it will start to look more like a shirt.
And then sleeves.
Nella categoria: lavoro professionale fatto bene, giusto?
non presente nella foto: la batteria (che sto ricaricando)
Filed under: a well done, professional job, right?
not pictured: the battery, that is currently being recharged.
POLARVIDE modular jacket
Posted on April 28, 2025
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:sewing
Years ago I made myself a quick dressing gown from a white fleece IKEA throw and often wore it in the morning between waking up and changing into day clothes.
One day I want to make myself a fancy victorian wrapper, to use in its place, but that’s still in the early planning stage, and will require quite some work.
Then last autumn I discovered that the taxes I owed to the local lord (who provides protection from mice and other small animals) included not just a certain amount of kibbles, but also some warm textiles, and the dressing gown (which at this time was definitely no longer pristine) had to go.
For a while I had to do without a dressing gown, but then in the second half of this winter I had some time for a quick machine sewing project. I could not tackle the big victorian thing, but I still had a second POLARVIDE throw from IKEA (this time in a more sensible dark grey) I had bought with sewing intents.
The fabric in a throw isn’t that much, so I needed something pretty efficient, and rather than winging it as I had done the first time I decided I wanted to try the Modular Jacket from A Year of Zero Waste Sewing (which I had bought in the zine instalments: the jacket is in the March issue).
After some measuring and decision taking, I found that I could fit most of the pieces and get a decent length, but I had no room for the collar, and probably not for the belt nor the pockets, but I cut all of the main pieces. I had a possible idea for a contrasting collar, but I decided to start sewing the main pieces and decide later, before committing to cutting the other fabric.
As I was assembling the jacket I decided that as a dressing gown I could do without the collar, and noticed that with the fraying-free plastic fleece I didn’t really need the front facings, so I cut those in half lengthwise, pieced them together, and used them as binding to finish the front end.
Since I didn’t have enough fabric for the belt I also skipped the belt loops, but I have been wearing this with random belts and I don’t feel the need for them anyway. I’ve also been thinking about adding a button just above the bust and use that to keep it closed, but I’m still not 100% sure about it.
Another thing I still need to do is to go through the few scraps of fleece that are left and see if I can piece together a serviceable pocket or two.
Because of the size of the fabric, I ended up having quite long sleeves: I’m happy with them because they mean that I can cover my hands when it’s cold, or fold them back to make a nice cuff.
If I’ll make a real jacket with this patter I’ll have to take this in consideration, and either make the sleeves shorter or finish the seam in a way that looks nice when folded back.
Will I make a real jacket? I’m not sure, it’s not really my style of outer garment, but as a dressing gown it has already been used quite a bit (as in, almost every morning since I’ve made it :) ) and will continue to be used until too worn to be useful, and that’s a good thing.
In teoria la gonna era quasi finita da un po'. e poi l'ho provata.
Credo che lo si possa sistemare rifacendo solo una parte dell'arricciatura. E al massimo aggiungendo un po' di stoffa sotto. Spero.
In theory, the skirt had been almost finished for some time. Then I tried it on
I think I may be able to fix it by just redoing part of the cartridge pleating. And possibly a bit of a placket. I hope.
È iniziato un nuovo progetto
o forse ho fatto progressi su un progetto esistente? la parte elettronica è stata iniziata qualche settimana fa (e sta bene o male funzionando da un po')
A new project has started
or maybe an existing project is progressing? the electronics bits have been started a few weeks ago (and have been mostly working for some time)
Ho finito di cucire un risguardo all'orlo, e uno in cima perché sono a corto di stoffa, quindi pensavo di essere praticamente pronta per iniziare l'arricciatura.
Il risguardo in cima:
(credo che scucirò solo il pezzetto sopra alle giunte e ricucirò quelle nell'altro senso, e poi riattaccherò il tutto alla gonna)
I have finished adding a facing to the hem, and one to the top, since I'm short of fabric, and I was almost ready to start the cartridge pleating
the facing at the top:
(I think I will just unpick the bit over the joins in the facing, sew it back the other way around, and sew it back to the skirt.)
E tra l'altro, perché ho deciso di rifinire i margini di cucitura con un punto indietro spaziato anziché con il solito punto da orlo che è molto più veloce? Dal dritto l'aspetto è diverso, ma non *così* diverso.
(e sì, non sto usando filo in tinta, perché non ne avevo, e per questo progetto voglio usare solo cose che ho già, anziché la regola che sto usando di recente in cui devo già avere la stoffa principale, ma tutto il resto può essere acquistato)
Also, why have I decided to neaten the edges of the side seams with a prick stitch instead of a much faster hemstitch? The look from the right side is different, but not *that* different.
(and yes, I'm not using matching thread, because I didn't have any and I want to do this *completely* from the stash, rather than my recent rule of “main fabric from the stash, everything else is fair game”)
MOAR Slippers
Posted on March 7, 2025
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:sewing, FreeSoftWear
A couple of years ago, I made myself a pair of slippers in linen with a braided twine soleand then another pair of hiking slippers: I am happy to report that they have been mostly a success.
Now, as I feared, the white linen fabric wasn’t a great choice: not only it became dirt-grey linen fabric in a very short time, the area under the ball of the foot was quickly consumed by friction, just as it usually happens with bought slippers.
I have no pictures for a number of reasons, but trust me when I say that they look pretty bad.
However, the sole is still going strong, and the general concept has proved valid, so when I needed a second pair of slippers I used the same pattern, with a sole made from the same twinebut this time with denim taken from the legs of an old pair of jeans.
To make them a bit nicer, and to test the technique, I also added a design with a stencil and iridescent black acrylic paint (with fabric medium): I like the tone-on-tone effect, as it’s both (relatively) subtle and shiny.
Then, my partner also needed new slippers, and I wanted to make his too.
His preference, however, is for open heeled slippers, so I adjusted the pattern into a new one, making it from an old pair of blue jeans, rather than black as mine.
He also finds completely flat soles a bit uncomfortable, so I made an heel with the same braided twine technique: this also seems to be working fine, and I’ve also added these instructions to the braided soles ones
Both of these have now been work for a few months: the jeans is working much better than the linen (which isn’t a complete surprise) and we’re both finding them comfortable, so if we’ll ever need new slippers I think I’ll keep using this pattern.
Now the plan is to wash the linen slippers, and then look into repairing them, either with just a new fabric inner sole + padding, or if washing isn’t as successful as I’d like by making a new fabric part in a different material and reusing just the twine sole. Either way they are going back into use.
Hexagonal Pattern Weights
Posted on February 24, 2025
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:3dprint, craft:sewing
For quite a few years, I’ve been using pattern weights instead of pins when cutting fabric, starting with random objects and then mostly using some big washers from the local hardware store.
However, at about 22 g per washer, I needed quite a few of them, and dealing with them tended to get unwieldy; I don’t remember how it happened, but one day I decided to make myself some bigger weights with a few washers each.
I suspect I had seen somebody online with some nice hexagonal pattern weights, and hexagonal of course reminded me of the Stickers Standard, so of course I settled on an hexagon 5 cm tall and I decided I could 3D-print it in a way that could be filled with washers for weight.
Rather than bothering with adding a lid (and fitting it), I decided to close the bottom by gluing a piece of felt, with the added advantage that it would protect whatever the weight was being used on. And of course the top could be decorated with a nerdish sticker, because, well, I am a nerd.
I made a few of these pattern weights, used them for a while, was happy with them, and then a few days ago I received some new hexagonal stickers I had had printed, and realized that while I had taken a picture with all of the steps in assembling them, I had never published any kind of instructions on how to make them — and I had not even pushed the source file on the craft tools git repository.
And yesterday I fixed that: the instructions are now on my craft pattern website, with generated STL files, the git repository has been updated with the current sources, and now I’ve even written this blog post :)
