Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Joe's 7330 Simplicity Shirt Finale

Joe's Simplicity 7330 shirt came together rather nicely.  The french seams gave it a more professional finish.  I used my Greist buttonholer for the button holes.

Back View
Front View
As you can see, I like my top button higher than Joe does.
Comparing my 7330 to Joe's 7330

Close-up of collar 
Again, I really like this pattern.  It has no hand sewing.  It makes for a professional looking finish.  I have been doing the notched-collar version.  Next time I am going to try it with the collar band with  long sleeves.

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Sunday, November 25, 2012

French Seams For Joe's 7330 Simplicity Shirt

The shirt has been coming along quite well.  Today I decided I would try to do French Seams.  Actually, they were quite easy and did not take too much time.  It sure gives the shirt a nice finish.  Only thing left now is the armholes, but I think I will over-edge those.

First, I sewed the shirt with a 1/4" seam with insides together.  Then I folded the material good sides together, ironed the seam, then stitched a 1/2" seam.  I opened up the material and ironed the seams again.
That was it.

Stitch 1/4" seam with back-sides together 

Folded and ironed before stitching

Finished seam inside


Finished seam
I should have the shirt finished pretty soon.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Joe's 7330 Simplicity Shirt update

I have been working on Joe's new shirt over the past few days.  It has been coming along fairly quickly.  Since I made this pattern before, it saves some of those "Duh, that is what the instructions mean" moments.

I purchased a new iron a few weeks ago.  My old one was still heating, but the steam had not been working for quite a while.  What a difference a little steam makes!


Black and Decker Iron

I sewed on the pocket to the left side.  There was not enough material to cut the pocket out so the stripes would match perfectly, I did the best I could do.  Lines up pretty good.

One thing I like about this pattern is the steps it saves by having the front placket all one piece.  A person simply irons in the interfacing and folds over to form the placket.  No sewing the placket on.


A new trick I found on a informative blog   off-the-cuff-style.blogspot.com makes the collar points nice and easy.  I also watched a video on you tube by BrianSews.com  about this method.

Sew the long end of the collar.  Put a piece of looped thread against the seam and let it hang out as shown.


Sew the short ends.  Set the stitch to a shorter distance as you near the the looped thread. As you turn the collar right-side out, pull on the tails of the thread until the collar point pops out.  The looped thread just pulls out and you have a nice point.

Finished collar without all the trimming and fussing.

A nice sharp point.

That is it for the update.

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Monday, November 5, 2012

Starting a Simplicity 7330 Shirt for Joe

I found some material at the thrift store perfect for a shirt for Joe.  It had a little tag on it saying "Bamboo Shoots".  I think that is a perfect description.  It will fit Joe's personality.   As I mentioned in my last blog, I liked the Simplicity 7330 so much I made for myself, I decided to make a shirt for Joe with the same pattern.  I traced and cut out a new pattern since Joe wears a medium.

Cutting out Medium pattern

All pinned and ready to cut

Cut out

Interfacing
The Zip Snip cutter made cutting the material a breeze.  Now everything is ready to start sewing together.

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