New Look 6104 - anything but boring

I picked up this pattern because I love wearing woven sleeveless tops in the summer.  I had, in fact, ordered several 1 yard lengths of mid-weight linen from www.fabric-store.com just to make something like this.  This pattern kind of seems a bit "ho-hum" at first glance, but I really like the lines of it, the button front detail, the tucks and different front treatments.

Well, about a week ago I made a pair of shorts and then discovered that I had NO tops that would go with them.  I saw this pattern in my little box of "to-do soon" patterns and grabbed the piece of linen in the color called "chardonnay"

This top took me a little longer than I thought, but I really enjoyed making the front tucks and the other details that took a little longer on this top.  The smallest size this pattern comes in is a 10, but I really need an 8 or smaller across the shoulders. (Before you start thinking, "Oh, she's so tiny"  let me remind you that I am doing a FBA and grading out to a 14 in the hip.  I just have tiny shoulders apparently.)  I am really happy with the fit on this, so I immediately started thinking about making it again.

As you can see at the left, I also changed the button placement on this one.  Wow - I'm really stepping out of the box now (LOL)  Also, I turned the bias binding completely in to the inside instead of wrapping it around the top.  Not because I was being creative, but because I didn't read the directions very well!  Because of this wider binding, I used two rows of topstitching around the neck and armholes.










 I decided to look at some reviews on PR and got inspired by one review in particular.  Look at what this clever girl did with this pattern!!  This is from a review by ACBrown28.  She has some interesting details about this pattern on her blog (and she's a funny writer too!)




Anyway, I was very inspired by her versions and went on to version 2.

For this version I used a piece of cotton I had picked up last year from Beverly's. They mostly sell quilting cotton, but this piece is a bit lighter weight and has a nicer hand and drape. I bought it to make something for my daughter, but she hated the print. I like it.

(Oh, in case you're wondering what in the world I have in my hand, there is actually the most beautiful baby in the world sitting on a little car at the end of that handle. Not that I'm biased or anything.)

 On this version I added a neck ruffle and cap sleeves (both included in the pattern)

 I like the sleeves because they have a little pleat and nice shape.








 I also added a casing for waist elastic. I used bias tape and 1/4" elastic. Next time I need to move the elastic down about 3/4" Next time? Yes, there will be a next time. I also discovered on version one that I could easily slip this over my head and did not need the button front. So, version 2 here has a fake placket down the front and those buttons do nothing but adorn the blouse. They aren't really the buttons I wanted to use, but since I just had foot surgery, I couldn't run to the store to get something else. It's all about stash-diving right now!

Parting shot:  I just had foot surgery on both of my feet less than two weeks ago.  Even though I have to keep my feet up a lot, I'm still finding time to sew!  When I'm not sewing, this little Emma keeps me entertained!

Fabric Shopping in Uganda

Every year that I go to Uganda, I spend the first day looking for fabric that I will be using with the ladies.  There are hundreds of designs to choose from, but only a couple of types of fabric to buy.

The woman in this picture is wearing a Kitenge

1. Kitenge fabric (not sure of the spelling on that!)  This is what I usually buy in Uganda.  It is akin to quilting weight cotton - bad quilting cotton.  When you buy the fabric it has some kind of glaze on it and it is stiff as a board. There is no way to tell the texture of the fabric.  This comes in 6 meter lengths.  Sometimes you get a nicer weight cotton, sometimes it is just bad quilt weight, and sometimes it is as heavy as home dec.  No way to tell.  I think I paid 35000 Ugandan schillings for a length, which is a little less than $15.00.  The woman in the picture on the left is wearing a Kitenge.  These dresses come in lots of styles, but they can be one or two piece and usually fit close to the body in the top half.  They can be sleeveless or short sleeved.
2. "apron" fabric.  They don't call it that, but that's what they use it for.  The ladies often will wrap this fabric around themselves to keep their dress clean.  This is a lighter weight fabric and usually is polyester or a poly/ cotton blend.  It is usually sold in 4 meter lengths.
3. Polyester charmeuse.  They use this a lot for the "Gomez" which is the traditional Ugandan dress.  Sometimes you will see the Gomez made from cotton.  The two ladies on the floor in this picture are wearing the Gomez.  You can also see how several of them have the fabric wrapped around like aprons.
4. poly/cotton broadcloth - they use this to make school uniforms and to line the Kitenges.
5. On my last visit, there was some silk in one of the shops, but I was already out of money by that point, so I didn't even ask how much it was.  Next year I'll be checking that out.
6. I didn't have time to look this year, but we also walked by some places with beautiful sequined sari fabrics.  There are a lot of muslim and Indian people in Uganda.

Also, this year, in the city of Kampala, we hit a little fabric heaven.  We found a fabric mall!! I'm not kidding - a whole row of shops (probably 20) of all fabric shops.  This was under the street. I'm definitely going back there next year.  Also, the fabric was only 25000 at one of the shops there, so that would be only about $1.75 a yard.  We did buy some fabric there, but one of the other ladies has it and I don't think she has washed it yet to see what it is like.  Click on these photos to enlarge and see the beautiful fabrics.

The woman on the right helped Bea (the one on the left) pick fabrics for her Gomez.

A little bit of fabric heaven

Most of these fabrics are for Gomez

You can see the Gomez fabric on the left and right.  Kitenge fabrics are farther back in this store

This was my favorite shoe.  Look at all that Kitenge fabric!!

Parting shot - these sweet faces from the village of Busanna

Back from Uganda!

As always, God always does amazing things while we are in Uganda.  I could fill up weeks of posts about the trip, but I will only highlight some of what we did.  Today, Sewing in Uganda.  I had a few plans for sewing, but we were not able to accomplish all of them.

1. Christine Johnson, of CJPatterns was wonderfully generous and donated patterns and fabric for my trip.  My goal in Kampala was to work with one woman (Betty) and teach her to use the sewing machine, read a pattern, and work with knits.  We had limited time, but she completed a skirt and top while I was there.

2. I had planned on working with 3 specific women in the village to continue what we had started last year.  This year I wanted to teach them to make a dress b y reading a pattern.  Unfortunately, 2 of the women had moved away and the third didn't show up until later in the day.  I ended up working with some new women and teaching them.  They may never use a commercial pattern again, but the process got them excited about sewing and I know the sewing will continue.

3. Many thanks to generous donations, I was able to purchase 4 sewing machines and give them to the women.  One electric machine was given to Betty to practice and keep in her home.  Two more treadles were purchased to be used by the women of her church.  The fourth machine was purchased for the village (we purchased 2 others last year.)

Well,  I had many plans for sewing, but God had other plans for me.  The first week we were there, one of the women we were working with in the church fell down with a  seizure.  She was convulsing all over, but was still able to communicate.  Nothing like this had ever happened to her before.  Her name is Florence and she has a 3 month old named Sirus.  She is 20 years old.  When her convulsions did not subside after an hour, we decided to take her to the hospital.  THis was an all day affair, but I was glad I was there and glad I could help.  There is no way this family could have afforded to take her to the hospital.  They finally admitted her, but even though they didn't know what was wrong, they put her in the infectious disease ward where she was exposed to all kinds of illness.  As it turned out, they never did find out what was wrong with her.  She had this "seizure" for about 5 hours before it finally disappeared.  They gave her a saline IV,  tested her for malaria and typhoid; since those came back negative, they decided it was stress.  Stress!!!!????  You don't ever want to get sick in Uganda - believe me.

One of the greatest blessings of going this year was getting to bring along my son, Nick.  Nick is 25 years old and a pre med student.  He has never been to a third world country and has led a pretty sheltered life.  He got to do volunteer  work in the hospital in Jinja while we were there.  Not only was this a great experience for him, he also ended up being partnered with two native Ugandans his own age who are missionary interns.  He got the opportunity to work with them on bible studies and even led the study a couple of times himself.  This was a big step out of his comfort zone and exactly what he needed.  I just saw blessing after blessing on this trip.

Silhouettes Classic Blouse

can't believe I'll be leaving for Uganda in just over a week!  I've been trying to get some sewing done so that I have something to wear on my trip!!  For that reason, I chose the Classic Blouse by Peggy Sagers because I knew it was fast and easy to make.  I'm pretty much a tank-top girl myself in the summer, but in the villages of Uganda, the women do not bare their shoulders or upper arms very often.  In fact, pretty much never!  So, I decided I needed some short sleeved shirts.  Also, in the city, you rarely see the women wearing T-shirts.  Usually they wear dresses, two piece dresses or suits.  Yes, I know that sounds surprising, but the one thing that always stuns me is how well they dress. Their clothes may be old and used, and "out of date" according to US standards, but in the cities you always see their clothes to be very clean (surprisingly white with all that red dirt) and neatly pressed.  The men wear long sleeved button shirts and slacks and the women usually wear fancy dresses.  And by fancy, I mean - think "prom"!  THis cracked me up the first time I went there.  Some women were wearing regular street clothes, most were wearing skirts or dresses, and some (many) wore the kind of dresses that we would only wear to an event.  We're talking sparkles, beads, satin fabric, lace, etc.  First of all, this shocks me because it is so HOT there and I can't believe these women would want to have all of these tight-fitting, long sleeved, heavy clothes on.  The other thing that is surprising is that out in the villages, the traditional dress for the women is something called a "Gomez"  This is a dress made with yards and yards of fabric wrapped multiple times around the body.  The typical fabric for this dress?  Polyester charmeuse!!!  Could we pick a hotter, non-breathable fabric?  It's amazing.  Many of the younger women wear a dress style called a Kitenge (not sure of the spelling)  These are more like a fitted two piece dress made from a wax print cotton fabric.  Of course, they are lined with broadcloth, so they aren't' a whole lot cooler to wear, but at least cotton breathes.  This dress style is more "modern" and I believe it comes from Kenya - but I've heard different stories on that too.
Well, I won't be wearing any Gomez's or Kitenge's (even though I have one) on this trip.  I will be wearing long dresses, long skirts, and short sleeved blouses or tank tops with a blouse over the top.  I picked a poly/cotto broadcloth because it is light weight and should pack easily.  Hopefully it won't need to be ironed.

I have made this blouse before, but knew I needed to adjust the size.  I cut a 1 at the shoulders and 2 at the bust.  I used the "D" cup pattern.  On the blue blouse, which was my second version, I lowered the point of the bust dart by 1/2" and raised (lengthened) the vertical darts in the back.  

This blouse does not have a cuff, but you fold the sleeve, make a button hole, and then fold the buttonhole over to the button.  I had to take this out the first time because the button ended up under my wrist.  If you want to make the long sleeved version of this blouse, I would suggest that you pin that out first before you make any buttonholes.  

The collar on this blouse is one piece, meaning there is not a separate stand. At first I did not like this, but now it does not bother me, and it certainly is faster to make this way.

I will probably make more versions of this blouse this summer.  I have some silk I'd like to try for this.

The Africa Dress

Here it is - McCalls 3129.  In the last few years that I've gone to Uganda, I have taught the women how to make skirts and bags.  Last year I worked with three women in particular, Kathy, Florence and Phoebe, and taught them how to make children's, shorts, shirts, and a simple shift for girls.  I asked them what they wanted to learn next.  Well, they said "pants", but I think I would start an uprising in the village if I started the women wearing pants.  I don't even wear pants when I go there!  So, they said they would like to learn to make dresses.  I decided to find a pattern that would be very basic, could be made long, and would have princess seams or darts.  I found this.

I also wanted to make a long dress to take to Uganda this summer, as I usually wear skirts and tops.  A dress is just easier.  I had a few patterns picked out, but then I thought, "I better make the dress I am planning on teaching them to make!"  I had this fabric that I bought last year in Kayunga District and decided to use it.  I also decided to make it exactly how I will have them make it.  Well, I didn't use my treadle, but I did only use straight stitches and no serging!  I did, however, press as I sewed, which probably won't happen there.  The iron's in Uganda have to be filled with hot coals from the fire - well, at least in the villages.

This year I will also be teaching my friend Betty.  She lives in the city of Kampala.  I will be buying her a sewing machine when I get there.  Thank you for those of you who have donated to support this trip.  It is so greatly appreciated.  It is because of your donations that I can buy Betty and machine and fabric.   I still have a way to go to get all of my support, so if you would like to help, check out this post.  For the villages, we always use treadle machines.  Betty may want a treadle or electric.  I will find out when I get there.  But, either way, I still tried to make my dress as simply as I could.

I just turned facings under and stitched, and did a hand picked zipper. Most of the treadle machines have only one foot, so it's not much extra time to put in the zipper by hand - and much faster by hand if you end up having to rip out the machine zip and do it over!  I have a few princess dress patterns, but I like the neckline on this one.  The women there do not wear anything low cut, and this dress is high enough to be modest, but not so close that you feel like you are choking.  I chose to make the dress with sleeves since most of the women in the villages do NOT go sleeveless.  It is different in the cities though.

Surprisingly, this dress went together pretty quickly.  I did a FBA and lowered the shoulder a bit.  I probably need to lower the bust curve a bit (darn gravity!) and maybe add about 1/2" to the bust circumference.

Summer Top

It seems to go from Winter to Summer in just a couple of weeks here.  It's been in the 90s all week and looks like more of the same next week!  I'm not complaining though, I'm one of the rare ones around here that would rather have the heat than cold.  Even though I don't have the arms I did even 10 years ago, I still love sleeveless tops!  I need to make a lot of sleeveless and short sleeved tops since our hot weather lasts well into September and even October.  This is Simplicity 1806.  I was drawn to this pattern for a couple of reasons.  First of all, I really wanted to find tops to make out of wovens.  My favorite summer time fabric is cotton lawn, so this will be perfect for that.  I also like the princess seams.

While making this top, I realized that the "princess seams" are not quite that.  It is more like a center panel.  However, the FBA is still done the same way, and I really prefer doing a FBA with princess seams rather than having to deal with super big darts.

In this method, you slash the side front about 1-2" down from the armhole seam from the front edge just to the seam line.  You spread the front edge apart at the seam line 1/2" for each cup size above a B.   So, for a D cup, you would spread it one inch.  This creates a greater curve at the front edge.  Next, slash the Center front piece across the same spot and spread the same amount.  Because I have narrow shoulders and a large bust, I just trace my size at the shoulder (determined by upper bust measurement) and then continue the armhole out to my bust size at the side seam.  I have tried other methods for doing the armhole, but this one works best for me - of course, it depends on the pattern.

Right now I'm trying to make sure that I have all of the pieces I will need to take with me to Uganda.  Since I will mostly be wearing long skirts, and most of them are printed patterns, I need some solid colored tops.    I looked through my stash finding all kinds of prints that I wanted to use to make this top, but eventually fell upon a piece of embroidered lawn that I had left over from a shirt I made a couple of years ago.  I thought this would be a good one to try out the pattern.

This pattern is pretty easy to make.  The ruffle is cut as a flounce and is easy to insert.  The neck edge has a facing on this view, but binding on one of the other views.  I did use the facing, but cut it out of a lining fabric as I thought it would be too heavy with all the embroidery.  Next time I would probably just bind the neckline.  I'm not normally a fan of facings unless they are stitched down.  This pattern also has you bind the armholes, but I just serged them and turned them under.
I need to do a little tweaking on this pattern, but all in all, I think it's a keeper!

Would You Like to Help?

In less than 6 weeks I will be taking off to Uganda again.  For anyone new to my blog, this will be my fourth year going into the slums and villages of Uganda to teach women to sew.  I am excited about the new opportunities God will give me this year to encourage these incredibly strong women.  Several of you have asked, "How can I help?"

1. Pray for me and my team.  Conditions are going to be, well, uh, shall I say "challenging" this year.  We are staying where there is no plumbing, no running water, and no electricity.  (I can go without electricity, but I really like a toilet!)  Pray that we would have good health and good attitudes.
2. Pray for the women we will be working with.  There is, of course, the language barrier which makes teaching challenging.  Pray for their health and willing hearts.  Their circumstances are beyond most of our realms of imagination.
3. Financial Support.  Our trip will cost close to $3000.  Each.  My 25 year old son is going with us this year to give medical and physical therapy support.  He will also be helping with any kind of manual labor that needs to be done, and there is always plenty of that!  Since he is a starving college student, we will be covering his expenses as well.  We have raised part of our support, but are not even half way there yet.  Last year many sewing supporters gifted me with financial support in increments from $5.00 up to several hundred dollars.  Please consider sending a gift.  Every little bit helps and adds up fast.  Donations can be made in several ways.
1. Pay pal - probably the easiest.  My email address is nwinning at gmail dot com.  Donations can be sent directly to this email address through paypal.
2. Directly to International Messengers.  If you would like a tax deductible receipt, make your check to International Messengers and include a note that the donation is designated for Nancy Winningham (or Nick Sanchez, my son)
3. Mail a check to me.  Many expenses are incurred after we arrive.  Purchases like fabric, machines, and supplies are much cheaper there, but we pay cash, so the money sent to IM does not cover this.  (It does cover air fare and camp costs though)
4. Would you like to go?  You might be praying about whether or not this is something that God would want you to do in the future.  I plan on doing this for many more years, so let me know if you are interested in learning more.

I really appreciate the support, prayers, and encouragement.  It is almost like we are all going together.  Last year the women I worked with were so amazed at how so many people would come together to help me get there to be with them.  They were just in awe and very thankful.  They are so thankful to know that anyone thinks about them or even knows they exist.  It's pretty amazing.

This is our team. My son, Nick on the right.  (Kind of an old picture, but I don't have any others right now that I can find!)

Below, Karen, Bea, and me.

A Reversible Skirt

I am getting ready to go to Uganda and wanted to try making a reversible skirt.  I figured I would use two sheer fabrics that would be light weight, but solid enough that they could act as a lining for each other.  I had this border print fabric in my stash that I got in Mazatlan a number of years ago and figured it would be perfect.  So, I made a trip over to JoAnns to look for something to go with it.  My daughter picked out the pink fabric, so I went with it.














I've made the CJ A-line skirt before, so I wanted to use that pattern.  Since I'd be cutting the fabric on the crossgrain in order to utilize the border, I had to think about the sizing.  I checked the little chart that comes with all the CJ patterns.  It showed that I would need to make a 14 in order to have enough circumference around the hips, so that's what I cut.  (Well, I had already cut the pattern a smaller size, so I just guestimated the added seam allowance.)





Since both fabrics are sheer, I used French seams on both.  I should have trimmed the seam allowances better on the pink fabric, because I do have some fringy poke throughs.  The blue turned out fine though.    I sewed each skirt separately, then joined them right sides together at the waist.  I then treated the two fabrics as one and made a casing at the waist for the elastic.  I thought about just using the two fabrics as each side of the casing, but the fabric was too sheer and you could see the elastic.  I wanted the border fabric to peek through at the bottom of the other skirt, so I made the pink skirt 4" shorter.  I used a rolled hem (serged) on the blue fabric since both sides would show.  I used a regular narrow hem on the pink fabric.

I think this skirt will be great for my trip since I will be able to get double the mileage out of it.  The fabrics are polyester, so they will wash easily and dry without wrinkles.  Poly is usually hot and makes me sweat, but I've found that the sheers are more breathable, and since this is a fuller skirt, I think it will be fine (even though it's pretty hot in Uganda.)

Now I need to make some tops to go with the skirts!

Easter Eggs and Dresses

Well, my Easter dress did not get finished, but little Miss Emma's did! I used the same pattern as for her last dress (M5791), but omitted the hem band and sleeves. I also left off the tie in the back. Although I love the look of the tie, I can't imagine that it is very comfortable to have that knot in the middle of your back when your sitting in a car seat or booster chair. Instead, this one has a purple ribbon for trim, and that's it. Grace picked out the fabric, and she loved the dress. I think Emma loved it too since she grabbed it and played with it a lot. Of course, she Christened the dress by spitting up all over it, but that's what babies do!

This was little Emma's first trip to church, and she had to make a big impression by fussing and crying the whole time she was there. Oh well.

All in all, it was a great day, albeit that last day of my vacation and sewing time.

Here's some more info on Emma's dress. The dress is lined, and this time I lined the whole dress and not just the bodice. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the length of the lining and cut it too short. I ended up making a narrower hem and adding lace to the lining to help lengthen it, but I still wish it would have been about another inch longer.

For the leg and waist elastic, I did it differently this time. Instead of using seam binding and encasing the elastic, I served it to the leg and waist edge, turned it under, and stitched. This saved quite a bit of time on the panties.















































Here she is showing off her panties!