Thursday, May 27, 2010

Ruby Sew-a-Long Day 3: Cut out fabric!

Day three of the sew along was cut out fabric day! On the advice of some of my fabulous commenters I went with the pink Polyester/Linen Blend. (By the way, this stuff is VERY stretchy. Hope it doesn't stretch out and give me saggy-butt later in its life.) This is a better picture of the color. Yay natural light.


Much prettier than the one I posted yesterday I think. I washed and dried my linen blend while I fixed some of my alterations on the pattern. Then I set to pressing. The fabric actually washed fairly well. Not too much fraying, which is a good sign for the sewing to come.


After it was all nice and pressed into shape I started to channel my Grandmother. You see, my Grandmother is capable of using half the recommended amount of fabric every single time she sews, just by moving around the pattern pieces. So I set to work. And BOO-YAH is all I'm saying. See that tape measure in the picture below? That's the one yard mark on 48" width fabric.


The pattern calls for 55" fabric, but I figured it could be done in less than 1 3/8 yards of that. Little did I know it could be done in less than one yard of a smaller width fabric. (Just to note here, I cut out a size 34"/36" combo and I'm not making the belt.) As you can see I still had to cut out pattern pieces 3 and 4 once more and 8 is not pinned down. That's because 7 & 8 are only required to be cut out once, so I cut out 7 double and then cut out 8 on one of the two pieces. I promise you it all fit in one yard of fabric. I can now call these shorts a one yard wonder!


And there you have all the pieces cut out and ready for sewing. I checked and I almost have enough fabric to make a second pair of shorts if I make them a little more Daisy Duke. Which-- lets not kid ourselves --will probably not happen. Here's the sanctioned sew along schedule for the rest of the week.

Thursday - Steps 6-8 (pockets)
Friday - Steps 9/10
Saturday - Step 11
Sunday - Step 12, done!

I will probably not be following this schedule, since tonight I have a previous knitting engagement. Instead my week will look something more like this.

Thursday - Nothing!
Friday - Pockets!
Saturday - Sew everything else together!
Sunday - Button holes and button stuff!

So no sew-a-long update tomorrow, but since I didn't do a Vinspiration Tuesday this week I'll do some Vinspiration tomorrow instead. See ya!

6 comments:

Kelli said...

Way to save fabric! So, whats that drop the price of your shorts down to? I wish I was gutsy enough to do the sew along but I have way to much on my sewing table already! I'm living vicariously :)

~Kelli @ Smidgens

Carlotta Stermaria said...

Oh, I always figured Burdastyle Patterns were without margins, like the ones they sell in Europe (I never used a burda web pattern myself, only the European ones)!
I'm glad you started this sew-along, I follow some of your companions and I'm looking formard to cut myself some shorts for this summer, so this is pretty instructive!

Jana said...

I'm loving your fabric/button combo; retro and summery! - my navy polycrap is starting to look like some kind of communist uniform...

Thai LOI said...
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Nancy said...

Kelly: That brings the total price of my Pink Ruby's to $14.40!

Carlotta: Well, the pattern says seam allowance included. I sure hope they have margins!

Jana: Oh no! I'm sure they'll look cute. Navy will make them look more nautical, which is very hip right now!

Anonymous said...
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