More waistband finishes

I have pinned the waistband lining onto the back of my waistband ready to be felled.....I will just do about 15 minutes at a time because it strains my eyes. I only have the waistband to do and the hems and as I can only do a little at a time I will start on my white blouse.

I must say David Page Coffin's book on shirt making is very, very interesting and I am really enjoying it. The other 2 books I have bought (previous post) I have only briefly looked at but they will be very useful as well.....money well spent.

This is the back of the pointed overlap on the waistband, catch stitches and the point is hemmed, I will only take the lining to end of the catch stitches and square it off instead of trying to take it to the end of the point.

Closer view of the point.

This is the front of the waistband.

A better picture of my welt pocket.....the last one was terrible.

I have got my white fabric for my shirt in the washing machine, I am going to take it out to dry and have a cuppa.

New books

I have bought some new books for myself....they were all on special offer from Amazon and the

P & P was free so I think I got a pretty good deal.

I got them all for £21.60.

I am still, after all of these years of sewing, eager to learn new techniques. As I am a self taught sewer I need to buy books to show me how to do things, but as I have a budget I limit myself..... otherwise I would buy anything and everything in sight.

Inside workings

I don't like stiff waistbands.....I like them to be comfortable so I use two layers of very firm iron on interfacing. I always make my waistbands 1" wide and lately I have been backing them with lining fabric so that they are not bulky......I stitch the lining onto the waistband by hand with felling stitches. This takes quite a few hours of hand sewing but my waistband is not bulky and it looks very tailored, IMHO.

My thread is passed through beeswax a couple of times and ironed in between layers of muslin to remove the excess wax.

Waxed thread

This is what the inside of my waistband looks like before I have lined it........

The stitches are catch stitches holding the lining of the trousers and the waistband facing together, I also took out bulk from darts and so on before I did this.This is a clearer picture.....basting top and bottom of waistband, catch stitches holding fabric and lining together and the end of the waisband turned in and hemmed trying to keep the end of the waistband square. This picture is from the right side of my trousers.

Red nails

I haven't got lots of nail varnish but I am partial to a few strong colours.... I bought this last year

it's from Clarins and goes on beautifully....undercoat, 2 coats of polish and a top coat......actually the undercoat and top coat are the same clear varnish.....I wouldn't waste my money buying 2 bottles of clear varnish.......I also use my body lotion as hand cream.

Summing up

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Summing up what I have done over the last year.....which isn't very much, and I must do better this year.......3 pairs of trousers, 1 top and a scalf, it really is pathetic considering what some people sew. To be fair to myself my mother was very, very poorly and I can't concentrate on anything when I am worried.....then I spent several weeks trying to fit muslins for 2 blouses, I did eventually put them both to one side because I got fed up of them, I will get them out again to try. Fitting gets me so frustrated.

I am trying to get organized with my sewing so I am making a pair of Spring/Summer trousers from my TNT pattern and I am half way.

This is my welt pocket.....still with the chalk lines.......not a very good picture either. I am putting in a full loose lining and I 'm using bremsilk from MacCulloch and Wallis. I am wanting a white blouse (very loose fitting) to go with these, I also want a pair of navy flat pumps

This is the shirt pattern that I love and is probably out of print, I have had it for years and is only in a size 14 but it is huge and might be alright with a FBA. I have made view A before many years ago but it was far too big and I didn't have the know how to make it smaller so it was no good by the time I had finished with it, but I still love the relaxed design.

I think I will try view C this time but I will have to do a dreaded muslin before I start...oh how I wish I didn't have to alter patterns.....really, that is what takes up my sewing time ......tut!