Thursday, November 1, 2012

A White Ruby Slip

Or rather, a camisole. I wanted to test this before making a full length version, because well I am now unable to make a pattern without first making a toile first. There. It’s funny, until 3 years ago, I’d made only …ONE. And I’d made many skirt suits, 3 winter coats before then. I have been converted. But I digress.

Back to the Ruby Slip/Camisole.

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It’s a *tiny* bit snug under the bust, but it’s good everywhere else. Not bad for a toile! The lace wasn’t wide enough so I had to piece it, and it actually turned out fine. Too bad the lace isn’t very soft. But the (poly) satin is really nice, and I’ve got enough left over for another one.

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The fabric was actually pretty easy to hem, it didn’t slip around as much as I’d thought it would. Following Sherry’s sew-along for the slip was great.

As I was making the tubes for the shoulder straps, I stumbled upon an easy way to turn them right side out. After following Sherry’s directions I used a large needle (wool?) and tied the long thread around the eye in such a way that made it easy to remove at the end. Here’s some pics…

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Make sure you leave the tail end of the seam’s thread at least as long as the tube. Push a loop of thread through the eye…

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…and hold the needle hard against your finger.

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Take the loop and wrap it over the top of the needle…

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…then pull it tight. When you insert the needle, eye first, into the tube the thread will not come loose.

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Here’s the neat part, after it comes out the other end, you just need to pull the needle back and release/pull the thread loop back over the eye. It’s a good idea to wrap the thread end around your finger twice so it doesn’t just slip right back inside.

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And wiggle/turn it right side out.

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One very important point I will need to remember next time I make tubes, is to make sure to sew it down the middle of the folded strip! My tubes are a bit tightly packed with the seam allowances, and I wasn’t going to trim that skimpy seam!

Next time, I’ll show you the transformed RTW top I bought that was too big!