The Sleeveless Ruffle Tunic

During my home economics sewing class I had to complete two projects, the first  a plain white short sleeve T-shirt, the fabric for this was supplied by the teacher. The second project, a long sleeved jumper with ribbing at the neckline, sleeves and waist, fabric for this project I had to buy myself. I picked a black and white stripe fabric with white ribbing. The first project was a warm up and once we finished it, the teacher instructed us to begin cutting out the jumper project.  I laid out my fabric and began cutting just as I was finishing up this step the teacher came to check on my progress and informed me that I should  PATTERN MATCH my stripes. Crestfallen, I decided right then never to buy striped fabric again. 30 years later,  ordering fabric online being a couple of dollars short for free shipping I added  2 yards of a jersey knit fabric to my order,  My package arrived a week later I was shocked to see that I had ordered a stripe. A stripe, how did I do that, what was I thinking? After I calmed down I made a dress and pattern matched, it turned out well, I no longer fear the stripe.

The Pattern-Simplicity D0657 A. This pattern is for stretch fabric. I made option 3, the sleeveless ruffle tunic in a medium.
The Fabric - A 50/50 cotton / polyester jersey knit stripe, colour pink and oat, it's 59'' wide. The pink stripe is soft and smooth, the oat stripe is rough to the touch. It was $3.45 a yard from Fabric.com.
Stitching- I used a narrow zigzag stitch( length 3, width 1) for all seams and a straight stitch for top stitching (length 3). My needle was a ball point size 80/11 and for the hem I used a twin needle. Also I used a walking foot.
Final thoughts- no fit adjustments were necessary. I deviated from the instructions when attaching the ruffle because I was not liking the overlap hem above the ruffle. instead I pressed the seam of the ruffle up towards the tunic and top stitched it to hold in place.
This is my third make with a ruffle. I don't  like the gathering of fabric to make a ruffle but I do like the end result. so its safe to say If I can add a ruffle I will!

Shades of Green

I recently purchased this accessory set for my machine. To test my new even/ walking foot I chose to make project 11 from the 'School of Sewing' book- the placemats.
Not wanting to buy more fabric I selected fabric from my ever growing stash but had just enough fabric to make two with only a strip left over. Initially I was fine with making just two but when I saw my finished placements I loved the results so made two more using what little of the leaf fabric I had left.

 

To make my version of the placemat project you will need for the top piece one 4 x 21' strip and one 12 x 21' piece, using a 1/2 in seam allowance stitch the two pieces right sides together on the 21'' side. This will give you a top piece that measures 15 x 21''.

 

Next cut one piece of batting that is 1'' larger all around than the top piece. Cut  a bottom piece from quilting fabric that is 1'' larger all around than the batting piece.

Place the pieces in a quilting sandwich as follows bottom piece right side down on work surface, batting and then top piece right side up.

Pin the quilting sandwich together. Begin sewing from the centre out. I used  vertical rows of stitching. For the distance between the rows I used the edge of my walking foot.

Neaten edges by trimming place mat to 14 x 20''. Bind edges.  I cut my own bias binding but ready made bias tape can be used.

Enjoy