McCalls M7575 x M7980, Cowboy Shirt

Vinted fabric skort all ready to go for our last gig, I came a bit unstuck as to what to wear on top. Cue contents of wardrobe exhumed, and bedroom floor looking like I'd been burgled. In the end, a quick trip to the charity shops in Hillsborough found me a perfect stretch tee with cinching side ties (see previous blog post for combo), but the crisis left me wanting to be better prepared for next time. 

This got me thinking about what features my perfect gig shirt should have, and I came up with the below:

• Shoulders-> because as much as I love a strappy vest, when you're halfway through your set and sweat-sticky, guitar strap and sweaty shoulder can lead to increased friction, and this can make guitar swinging less effortless. In general, Shoulder + Fabric + Guitar strap = Reduced friction (+ better dance moves)
• Sleeveless -> Less sleeves = More movement + Less sweat
• Cropped -> Because I don't work out every day to hide my waist, and as much as I love tucking in a shirt for work, I don't want to have to be worrying about my shirt hem escaping my waistband mid-way through a track. Also less fabric, again = Less sweat
• Easy to get off-> Because after the show I'm sweaty, and don't want to have to wrestle my way out of my outfit 
• Black -> Because I've tried wearing other colours on stage, and regardless of how good I think they look at the time, whenever I look back on the photos I think 'Why on earth did I wear that?'
  
  
  

So with this in mind, and fabric left over from my Vinted re-fashion, I started to dream up a gig shirt that would team up with my skort and tick the above boxes. 

I had enough Vinted fabric left over for panels of some kind, and with this Aztec-type embroidery, it made sense to utilise it as a statement yoke on a cowboy-style shirt. With no front-yoke or piping expertise in my arsenal, I knew I needed the help of a good pattern. I chose the McCalls M7980 as I have good experience in the past using McCalls shirt patters, and this one had the double whammy of being both suitible for men or women. I got the pattern for my birthday and began tracing it off soon after (wehay for Birthday annual leave). 

Once I'd traced the pattern pieces, I thought it a good idea to compare the size to a shirt pattern that I know fits well. Come to the stage M7575, my trusty old friend. What became very obvious straight away was the M7980 was much larger, and featured no bust darts. The plan all along was to knot up the front at the waist so it sat cropped on me, and the extra length would be helpful for this, but the bagginess would lead to likely gaping arm holes (I planned to finish the arm holes with bias-binding instead of inserting sleeve so that I could be sleeveless as planned). 

The resolution for me was clear, I would cut the M7575 pattern, omit the sleeves, draft front yoke pieces by using the M7980 as reference, and extend the front piece so that the placket could be better tied at the waist. Without any real plan for how long to extend the placket, I made the shirt front pattern piece 10cm longer, adding a curve to omit extra fabric and make more of a tie-shape. I extended the placket pattern piece by 10cm to match this, and will admit it was by total fluke that the front piece of the shirt graded out to a point so nicely. 

I made a slight change to the collar piece, making the collar points a little more, er pointy. I have had these collar tips in my stash for how long?! Feels good to finally install them onto a well-deserving shirt. 

All my life, I have thought that the front yoke on a cowboy shirt was attached to the bottom half (like a traditional back-yoke) of the shirt via a seam, NOT that it was a piece installed over the top like a patch. It all makes perfect sense now after thinking about it, and reading some hand hints on the Sneum Shirts Website, which explained the yoke was to reinforce and add durability to the areas of the shirt likely to get worn out when yipikaye-ing your way around the wildwest on horseback. 

So with yoke pieces cut perfectly symmetrically (utilising the centre back seam of the origanal skirt on the back yoke piece), it was time to investigate something else new to me: Piping. 

I bought this silvery piping from my go-to stall at the Sheffield Market (is there nothing they don't have?! I don't think they have ever let me down!). Initially I was looking for something more of a satin-sheen grey, and was a little worried this silver was going to look a bit fancydress, but I think it's come out really well, adding just the right amount of pizazz to link up the silver collar tips to the buttons, to the white embroidery and the glammy beads in the matching skirt. 

I enjoyed applying the piping. I was nervous, but with the use of the zipperfoot and the changeable needle position on my machine, I was able to get the stitch line really close to the er, pipe(?) and the result looks really effortless. The back was a little harder, as the back yoke is faced with another piece of fabric, and when you attach this you can't see the edge of the piping at all. The machine does a lot of the hard work though, with it naturally using the raised edge as a guide. At least it was a nice straight line- the front pieces did take a little more concentration to get around the curves, especially while trying to ensure complete symmetry! 

I used the exact same linen to make the plain areas on the shirt as I used on the skort. I found out at hem time that linen hems curves like an absolute dream! The hem is quite curved at the side seams, and the new front tie piece I drafted also curved, but linen has magic powers and seemed to enjoy being told what to do. 

It behaved nicely when attaching the collar too. I was slightly worried the interfacing in the collar and placket would make the shirt a little tooo sturdy and not relaxed enough, and it does feel a little more bulky than other shirts in my collection, but I think this was required to help support the weight of the heavier, embriodered yoke pieces. With a bit of wear any rigid areas will loosen up nicely. 

I added bias binding to the arm holes and slipstitched this down by hand so the seam line wasn't visible from the inside. I managed to buy the exact amount of binding, down to the millimeter (hmm someone measured the raw edge of the arm hole not the stiching line before going to the shops....), which I think stressed me out a bit when attaching the second band and maybe caused me to stretch it into the arm hole more than I should have. The back armhole kicks out a little bit. I think this gape could have been avoided by taking a little more of the seam allowance off before attaching the binding (I took off 1cm, allowing for the 1.5cm seam allowance which would have been used if inserting the sleeve). I think due to the sturdiness of the fabric, when I first put the shirt on this gape was a little more noticeable than after I'd had it on all day on one of the hottest days of the year and the fabric had started to relax into my body. 

I wondered if the buttons were a little understated against the jazzy silver binding, but there was nothing with any more character grabbing my attention at the market stall. Once they were on though, I thought they worked quite well with the yoke pieces, adding a bit of a nod to work-wear style (or practical wear for lassooing cattle on your ranch if that so happens to be your line of work). 

The buttonhole function on my machine played nice, I had my heart in my throat as this was the final hurdle and arguably the one most likely to cause unreversable damage. It was essential the button at the bustline lined up exactly with the start point of the piping either side of the placket... the most central and visible area of the shirt! It was a pretty hot day in the studio, that got increasingly hotter during buttonholing! Hey, my fray-stop glue dried pretty quick though! 

The shirt is a winner. I had toyed with the idea of making the back piece shorter so there was less fabric to accomodate when the front is knotted, but in the end I kept the length, as when the front is not knotted, the shirt can still be tucked into jeans and function as something slightly more formal. The additional length I added to the front for ties also doesn't look too weird if I'm wearing it buttoned up and untucked either. Options! 

I was absolutely delighted to get this combo all stitched up before the Chris Isaak gig in Manchester this July. The man himself is known for his western style tremolo and his fantastic suits, so it absolutely made sense to debut the two-piece at his show. It seemed to do the trick - I was invited up to dance on stage with him for Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing!!! He is my ultimate fave, so it was a total honour to dance with the king in a me-made that had so much 'me' and considered design in it. Check out the Youtubes below and see if you can spot me! 

x

Location: Holme Lane, Sheffield
Currently listening to: Loser, Tame Impala

Self-drafted Cat Cushion

Instagram followers may remember my ultimate thrift shop find a couple of years back, when I fell in love with a spooky-looking mid-century plush cat-shaped door stop. He was moth eaten enough to look like he had a few tales to tell, formed ears that looked a little like horns (enough to make him look slightly demonic if you were a burgler breaking in at night), but the cutest little cheeky face that made me know he needed to come home with me (before you say it, yes we're still describing the doorstop, not all my ex-boyfiends, OK?). 

Since the cat doorstop became part of my life, I have found myself idly doodling that little face, the almond shaped eyes with the square pupil, the lush embroidered eyelashes and whiskers, and of course those pointed ears. The character had already become part of an applique design I added to a calico cushion for my sofa, my first attempt at an air-dry clay model, and preliminary drawings for a future sticker design, but on sorting out my fabrics in the studio, I had a great idea to use that cat shape to use up some of this black fake fur. So the 3D cat pillow was born! 

I started by taping together 2 sheets of A3 paper and filling the space with my drawing. I made this deliberately oversized as I needed to take seam allowance into account, as well as the 3D-ness when he was stuffed. The shape is sooo satisfying to draw, though the ears always take me a few attempts with a tendancy to over exaggerate! I drew on the facial features so I could use this as a template for the felt face pieces. 

I also cut the face pieces out of interfacing to add to the back of the felt before attaching, to ensure they kept their satisfying shapes! 

Browsing my thread stash, I found the only creamy oloured thread I had to attach the facial disk was was a tiny, low quality thread that my machine practically spat out. I was aiming for a perfectly placed zigzag stitch all the way around the face, but the machine kept skipping stitches! Soooo I ended up having to turn the hand wheel all the way round, and then go backwards to re-stitch every time it skipped! This was super infuriating, as the applique was the bit I was most looking forward to, and it turned into a bit of an ordeal! BUT that said, The result is exactly what I wanted and I am proud of how neat each stitch turned out. 

Once the face was attached, the square pupils, eyelashes, nose, mouth and whiskers were embroidered on. One slight wobble and you can seriously affect the cat's entire personality! I used the original cat for close reference, especially on the eyelashes, though the features on mine are all generally a little larger than the orignial. 

The front and back cat pieces are then just sewn right-sides together, turned through and stuffed! The little stuffing hole then hand stitched to finish. 

Making freinds has never been so easy 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

x

Location: Junk Photography Studio, Sheffield
Currently listening to: Charmer and the Snake, Velveteers

Thank you to Chris @Junksheffield for the spooky studio shots!📸

Clothes Clone, Spotty Skort (Instructions)

One of the great things about literally picking apart a garment step by step, was that it gave me a good insight to how I was going to assemble to garment once I had everything cut out. As I was essentially putting together the skort with nothing but the disassemblage process and my past knowledge as instructions. I decided to keep note of all the steps I followed so that when the time comes, I'll be able to make the next in my skort collection without too much head scratching. I wrote these out on the plane to Berlin to stop me overthinking about being 10000s miles in the sky, but hopefully they will make sense when I come to my next one! 

Seam allowance: 1cm throughout
Suggested fabric: Something with some body but also a slight bit of stretch
Fabric requirements: 1m fabric, small bit of interfacing
Notions: x1 7" zipper & thread to match fabric

1- Interface:

• Waistband front x1 back x2 (L&R)
• Seamline on fron x2 back x2 (use a 1.2cm strip of interfacing)
• Bottom edge of top flap and underflap (3.7cm strip of interfacing)

2- Stitch darts in back pieces and press

3- Stitch waistband front and backs at side seams

4- Press hem of flaps (2.5cm)

5- Overlock:

• Bottom of waistband  (optional- turn under the overlocked edge  on waistband and stitch a narrow hem)
• Centre back of waistband (L&R)
• Short edge of each flap hem
• (Fold up short edge) Overlock long edge of underflap hem ONLY)
• Raw edges of front / back leg hem
• Centre back of L&R back pieces down to the notch

6- Unfold upper flap hem, and stitch to the underflap. Overlock the seam. 

7- Stitch front pieces together along front rise, leaving a gap before reaching the the leg seams to allow room to stitch the inside legs together later.

8- Match notches at the front side seams to notches either side of the upper flap

9- Baste 0.5cm seam allowance, ensuring flap hems are folded under. Baste the top edge of the flap to front leg pieces, fitting the slight curve and stopping and restarting at the centre front, so the seam allowance can be overlocked later. 

10- Place back pieces overthe top RST and stitch seam. Match hem at front and back / top and the notches. Press the seam and overlock the side seams.

11- Stitch front to back at inside leg seams

12 - Overlock inside leg seams, press.

13- Overlock legholes

14- Match inside leg seams, pin and stitch back rise from the notch (end of the overlocking), to the front rise.

15- Overlock the rise seam allowances together, from the front to the back (to the beginning of the single overlocking at the zipper area)

16- Match centre front, side seams and centre back of the waistband to the top edge of the skort RST. Pin and sew.

17- Understitch the waistband to the waistband seam allowance and press.

18- Pin and tack invisible zipper to left side centre back. Ensure the top of the zipper sits at the top of the waistband opening. Stitch using invisible zipper foot as far as it will go.

19- Pin and tack zipper to right side, ensuring waistlines match at the top. Sew as far as possible

20- Change to a standard zip foot and secrure the top of the zipper area. Flip the end of the zip tag out of the way and stitch from the bottom of the zip to the backrise seam, backstitching for security

21- Flip facing RST at zipper opening and stitch from the lower edge towards the waistline seam - as close to the zip as possible to secure the zipper ends. Turn back out

22- Check waistline matches before clipping bulk from the inside of the top of the waistline opening. Turn out again and press

23- Turn up 2cm hem on each leg and press

24- Blind hem the leg hems by hand

25- Blind hem the lower flap hem

26- Blind hem the folded edge and hem on the upper flap

Finished!

x

Location: Bakers Hill, Sheffield

Currently listening to: The Moon is Full, Hindi Zahra

Clothes Clone, Spotty Skort

If you're a girl in a band, or if you're used to performing on any kind of stage, I imagine you will have a certain amount of familiarity with the term 'up-skirt'. You'll know that if you have a gorgeous skirt that you feel fantastic in, chances are- despite wantingt to show it offf to the world, you've put it back in the wardrobe when planning your gig-wear, or you've dug out a pair of lycra cycle shorts to wear underneath it, so that those front row 'toggers don't get a perfect shot of your knickers while you're performing. 

Or, if you're like me, you've turned to the trusty skort to create the chic vision of a mini skirt, but with all the practicality of a pair of modesty protecting shorts while you're towering above your audience. I love skorts. They seem to baffle men which I always find amusing, and they are so un-restrictive, which makes them ideal for wearing while you're playing guitar and having a dance. 

One of my favourite gig outfits from years gone by featured this Top Shop skort which I found in a charity shop the day before our show. It fit the brief perfectly- tease-y like a mini skirt, practical like cargo shorts (sorta), created a nice silhouette and fit perfectly on my waist. And it was houndstooth to boot! The Top Shop skort has made a few appearances on stage since, working both with and without tights. I have found however, that it's maroon tones doesn't go with every outfit, and I haven't wanted to present as a one-skort-pony , "Oh look, Angela's got the gig-skort out again" - cue eye roll. 

So that got me thinking, what I clearly need is another skort that I can wear for shows, the same style and shape but perhaps in a more versatile fabric. The seed was sewn to recreate the pattern - its only small, how hard could it be? Searching Top Shop Skort and scrolling through Vinted, I soon found what I was looking for - the same Top Shop skort on sale for £1.00 (!!), that I siftly ordered, unpacked and unpicked so that I could draw around the pieces and re-create the pattern. 

This is the first time I have completely disassembled a garment in order to recreate it. I found the whole process really quite cathartic. Essentially I was making somthing I already knew fit like a dream, so although I did make a toile to check my theories, I felt confident that the pattern was going to create a garment that I loved - and let's face it, sewing something from a paper pattern doesn't always provide that certainty. 

Carefully unpicking the seams allowed me to keep the seam allowances intact, so I could draw around the pieces without having to add any extra on. It was clear from the folded lines when unpicking the darts exactly where and how wide they needed to be, and taking time unpicking also allowed me to better understand the construction of the garment and what order I would have to piece together the front layers in order for the faux-wrap to work. 

I made the toile from calico, which I found didn't have as much give in it as the original, so this helped inform my fabric choice. I already had a stash of this black and white linen blend fabric from a previous project, the monochrome also hitting the mark in terms of the versatility I was looking for in design. 

Having seen the guts of the original, I felt much more assured in where to place my interfacing, how wide my strips should be and what areas required extra reinforcement. This attention to detail resulted in my finished skort having really crisp lines and angles which was integral to the design. 

I'm super pleased with the outcome, it was exactly what I wanted and I really feel like I learned from taking the skirt apart and recreating my own. We played over summer in the back of a truck, it was absolutely scorching so the legs out option was much appreciated. We keep talking about touring and I have visions of making another 6 in different colours so I have something different but equally reliable/sexy/versatile/practical/'me' to wear each night. 

What's more is I gained a lot of confidence and inspiration from the process, and now feel like I could take absolutely anything apart and recreate a pattern to make my own. Due to mass production and fast fashion, I have found it really easy to find a 'back up' version of garments I love on Vinted at really cheap prices. It's really exciting to think that clothes that I know fit and feel great that I have bought on the high street can be recreated by my own hands, adding that me-made element to an outfit that means so much to me. 

x
Location: Bakers Hill, Sheffield
Currently listening to: Midnight Sweat, Satllites

New Look 6843, Mini Skirt Hack

Yet another autumnal mini skirt using my heavily modified New Look 6843 patternm which features a slightly A-line cute, an inside facing band rather than a waistband, and is fully lined. 

I was on the hunt for the perfect autumn skirt fabric and I knew I'd found it with this. Upstairs in Abakhan Manchester I found this brown, almost felt-like fabric, which was half price!! The colour was perfect and with it being a bit felt-ier than other fabrics I have made skirts from it was already giving me winter-warmer vibes before I'd even laid the pattern pieces out. 

I was a little bit worried how heavy the fabric was would cause the skirt not to hang quite right, but I was already dreaming about matching it with a brown beret, and did I mention it was half price?! Already in my basket was a slightly textured plain black wool blend from downstairs, and the faun-flecked wool blend from my previous post. I knew all three would spice up my autumn wardrobe even more than a spooky-season Costa menu, and the wearability of a mini skirt in each fabric was high; suitable for work and play! So I felt no guilt in buying all three fabrics and the concealed zippers ot match. 

Knowing how much wear I would get out of these made me feel much less creative-guilt for deciding to make the same pattern a further three times (I already have two 🥲). 

Lining choices were a bit sparce in Abakhan that day, so I had to wait to sneak a trip into Hillsborough Fine Fabrics and get this, all linings were half price that day! Honestly this skirt was such a bargain make! 

In between securing the fabrics, I set-to cutting out the skirts in a kind of conveyour system, which I knew future me would be grateful for (who else hates sitting down to sew only to find, oh shit need to cut my interfacing😑). This was by far my most efficient cutting out and sewing together mission. I had piles of each pattern piece and sewed each step on each skirt before moving onto the next step. So you know that feeling you get after finsihing a garment (that fits super well!)?? Well I got that three-fold when I had finsihed sewing! 

This fabric was little harder to handle in places given the thicker nature of it. I used the overcast stitch on the normal sewing machine rather than overlocking as this just seemed to match the fabric really well (cough, overlocker fear on bulky fabric, cough). 

Despite it's qualities, the skirt does hang well, the body of the fabric making the shape definitive, creating a 60s silhouette. There isn't much give in the fabric and the facing adds a bit of bulk, particularly around the darts. This perhaps makes the skirt sit a little higher on my waist than the others do but that's not at the detriment to comfort or style. 

If you've ever spent time in my company, you'll know I'm a big fan of fast-walking (who has time to amble, really?), and the fit of these skirts allows for a wide stride, which is also great for the cooler seasons when you just gotta keep moving to keep warm! 

Something tells me these three skirts won't be the last I see of this pattern. These little mini skirts are already the best thing about autumn. Now, if only I could find a sewing pattern to salvage winter! 

x

Location: Ponderosa Park, Crookes Valley Park
Currently listening to: Man on a Mission, Black Keys