August Projects

My main plan for August was to make a pac-a-mac. I looked all over for one to buy and couldn't find anything I liked at an affordable price. The affordable ones I tried didn't actually fit, as with most clothes, even if they are in my size they are tight on the hips or chest. I looked all over for affordable waterproof fabric and didn't find anything I liked for a low price. I ended up searching for a shower curtain that I liked. I ruled out the plastic ones as I wanted the coat to roll up really small and plastic was a bit bulky. There is a huge choice of fabric shower curtains, I looked mainly on Amazon and Ebay, I ended up with quite a long shortlist but in the end I chose one with an octopus on it, mainly water and tentacles. Here's a link to the same one on Amazon though I got mine on ebay for £9.99. https://www.amazon.co.uk/MORESAVE-Octopus-Waterproof-Polyester-Bathroom/dp/B01N0Z26TO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1534010436&sr=8-5&keywords=octopus+shower+curtain

I sorted though my patterns and found a basic coat, mine is Butterick 6835 view A with view D cuff and a different pocket. I cut a piece of old sheet to the same size as my shower curtain and cut out the pattern, I wanted to make sure I could get everything I needed from a piece 180x180cm. When I sewed the toile together it turned out to be way too big so I was happy I had enough fabric. I pressed my shower curtain and cut out the pieces one at a time moving it around and folding it to get the parts of the design I wanted. I had wanted to have a fish across the front but I had my pattern piece the wrong way up, I ended up with half a fish on one hip and half on he other, really annoying but not the end of the world. I drew up a pocket pattern piece and used some of the off cuts for those.

I used my new sewing machine to stitch it together on quite a long stitch, I used a stitch for fabrics that fray on the inside seams, though this curtain didn't fray as much as ones I'd used before. I put pockets in the side seams instead of patch ones on the front as in the pattern. You can change a pattern in whatever way you like, I used the neat cuff from another view as I didn't want a big turned over cuff, and I didn't want patch pockets to mess up the print on the fabric. I had got a 30'' zip for £3 from a little craft shop in Hinckley, the first place I went in had one for £8.40, too much for me. I hate putting in zips so I usually work them out of the pattern, but the coat needed one so I tacked it in and got everything lined up before I stitched it on the machine. I hemmed the sleeves, hood and around the bottom, then went around and finished off with my anti fray stitch on the inside.

Octopus Pac-a-mac front

Octopus Pac-a-mac back

Octopus pac-a-mac bag

As the pockets were likely to poke below the hem when they had something in them I decided to add some ribbon inside running from the top of the pockets to the armpits to prevent it dropping too low. I used some of the left over fabric to make a little drawstring bag so I can truly pack the jacket away. I'm so pleased with this make, I have no idea how waterproof it is as I haven't used it yet but I think I will use it quite a lot as a light coat, I think it's really cool.

I looked out a shirt pattern for the yellow check cotton but I am going to get on with some designing before I start on that, I really need to start my next special project soon as it's going to take a long time to do. It will have a blog post of it's own that I have already started and will add to as I go along.

I finally got my netprinter voucher, I'm supposed to make an order and they will refund the cost, not the way I'd prefer to do things but beggars can't be choosers. I spent an age looking for free download patterns I liked, I chose a cross-back Japanese style apron from porcupine patterns https://porcupinepatterns.com/collections/all?sort_by=price-ascending , a jacket and a top off the mood fabrics site https://www.moodfabrics.com/blog/category/free-sewing-patterns/ . I uploaded my patterns, chose the cheapest printing options and went through all the choices but the order wouldn't confirm. I tried many times, deleted my cookies and history etc, allowed pop ups, did it on different days but I can't get it to confirm. I have emailed a couple of times for advice as to what I'm doing wrong but got no reply. I shall try from my mums computer but if that doesn't work I don't know what else to do.

I used my mums computer to do the netprinter thing and it actually worked, I don't know why it wouldn't go through on my laptop, but instead of just paying with my card I had to sign up to paypal, something I didn't really want to do. These patterns better be worth the hassle.

The patterns arrived this afternoon, they are cleanly printed on good quality paper, were well packed and arrived quickly, I haven't tried sticking them together yet so I don't know how well they match. All in all I think the product is good.

netprinter patterns

There are lots of choices on the website for size of paper and colour of printing, I chose all the cheapest options as I can't afford a large outlay even if it does get refunded. For example if I'd chosen A1 paper for the jacket pattern it would have cost £37.20 before VAT, A4 paper was £3.10. A larger size would have been useful but the price was prohibitive. I chose the cheapest option for postage which was nearly half the total cost, (if your local you can collect for free). I wasn't too happy about having to pay upfront, I think a voucher should mean no money changes hands. To be honest I don't think I'd use them again, I'd either print myself at home or go to the library, the cost per sheet might be more but there would be no postage.

I haven't done too much you can see this month, I've been working on my other project and doing lots of job stuff. Next month I'm going to a sewing get together with a friend of mine to hang out with other sewing people and swap patterns. It's been organised by Crafty sew&so in Leicester, they were the ones that organised the factory fabric sale I attended earlier in the year. Me and my friend are not great at mixing so we shall see how it goes. Also, I will stick my patterns together and I might use the sleeveless shirt one with the yellow check fabric.