u/cicada_wings

Not perfect, but I’m still really happy with these—I’ve worked out how to cut a full pair of shorts for me out of a single pair of my partner’s old pants! (He’s an office job person, so they usually wear out at the seat and cuffs before the knees.) Only works if they’re wider/relaxed leg rather than slim fit, but that’s still quite a lot of fabric I can reuse this way.

Pattern is the Taylor Shorts by Greenstyle, which fit me pretty well as drafted with a tweak to the back waistband. (Actually, I think my hips may have expanded a little since my last pair, but I know this fabric will relax more when it’s line-dried so no worries in this case.) To cut them out of the original pant legs, I simply split the front and back leg pattern pieces down the middle! The side back seam incorporates the waistline dart. The split pattern pieces are narrow enough to fit across the width of the original leg pieces. I also changed the front pocket from a bagged style to a bias-faced patch pocket to save on fabric.

The fabric is a cotton-linen blend I’d been coveting ever since the original pants were new if I’m honest, haha. I fully deconstructed the original pants with a seam ripper (except the waistband, fly, and back welt pockets, which I cut out—not worth the effort), then pressed the leg pieces flat and laid everything out rather painstakingly to get it all to fit. I did put a center seam in the waistband, and the back patch pockets—a last-minute addition—are pieced and partly cut cross-grain.

The fly button and zipper are recycled from the original pants. I could have used the original pocket fabric to face the waistband too, but went for a leftover scrap from another project instead because the pocket stuff feels like a poly blend and I thought it might be sweaty next to the skin. The only “virgin“ materials in the project are the thread and waistband interfacing.

All the exposed seam allowances are overcast and faux-felled with topstitching. I’ve made this pattern several times and added a few other usual embellishments that make them feel more finished: a double layered fly shield, belt loops, and back patch pockets yoinked from a different pattern.

Feedback welcome, since I’m sure I’ll eventually make more of these out of the stack of khakis and jeans in the recycle pile.

I worked on a spot at the edge of the neighborhood drainage pond that I don’t get to that often, because I have to scramble through a thickety thorny spot behind the corner of the neighbor’s fence. But I can easily see it from my side so it’s been bugging me. I grabbed as much as I could reach and then slightly more (overextended and swamped the top of my boot, sigh). I could pick so much more out there if I had tall waders… although knowing me that might just lead to overreaching and sinking up to my neck instead of my knee, haha.

My “after” photo from the same angle came out a motion blur because dusk is the only tolerable hour right now and the light was too dim, so picture 2 is the view from across the ditch. Picture 3 is the second load of two. Mostly typical USA roadside trash—chip bags, bottles and cans, takeout packaging, plastic bags, a few toys—just wetter and muddier after washing in and steeping in pondwater for an indefinite amount of time.

There is also a creepy drowned doll that has been down there for months, far enough out that I can see it but not reach it. I have not totally ruled out the possibility it may grab me and drag me under with supernatural strength if I try.

It just… feels really good to use? So fast, such straight lines, maybe a little bit dangerous…? (particularly the bobbin winder, which I’m still mastering, haha.)

I keep meaning to make a post about how nicely the machine cleaned up and then forgetting to take any pictures until after dark when the natural light is all gone. But it did (mostly with denatured alcohol, sewing machine oil, and a couple of coats of car wax) and I’m loving it.

Finished one project in some slidey 1.8oz nylon, now on to cotton-linen with lots of topstitching; would have expected the former to be way harder to feed neatly than the latter, but it really doesn’t seem to make a difference to the 301A.

Can you pros reassure me that there isn’t a secret challenge I’m missing here that will make me regret going ahead with giving this new friend a good bath? Or if there is a secret catch, forewarn me?

I‘m new to ‘sewing machines older than me’ and just scored this 1953 301A on Facebook marketplace for $75—along with the original sewing desk and all the random notions in the drawers, haha. I gather it only ever had one owner (who passed at 99!) and had been unused for a few years at most. There was a lot of surface dust so I’ve given it a tentative wipe down with a damp cloth, looked inside, and tried it out, and it runs beautifully as far as I can tell. However, it still feels a bit tacky/grubby on the outside, has a bit of that auto shop machine grease smell, and I understand that old grease and oil buildup on the inside aren’t necessarily great for these guys. Best guess is that it has also spent most of its life in our very high humidity local climate.

I’ve been doing a bit of research and started watching the Andy Tube series in which he cleans a 301A by taking off the covers, pulling the motor and wiring, and treating the inside with krud cutter, and then literally just hoses the whole thing out with water, dries it thoroughly, and reapplies grease and oil. Is it really that simple? Because I feel like I could definitely handle that, but part of my brain is like “there must be a catch, it can’t possibly be that easy.”

I know the exterior paint job of this machine isn’t in mint shape, and I’m not a collector— I picked it up on impulse because I hear these guys sew a lovely, speedy straight stitch (based on playing with it so far, definitely true) and my 2000s- era electronic machine leaves something to be desired in that department. But I do want to keep it in decent condition, so it will be pleasant to work with and maybe last another 73 years.

Edit: it sounds like the general consensus is that I should be okay to just oil well and spot clean inside/outside gunky spots without doing a huge semi-disassembly project, so I may start with that!

If you haven’t seen a floor turtle, it’s basically a terrycloth towel stiffened with a top layer so you can slide it around the kitchen with your foot to mop little spills. But make it turtle for some reason (because turtles are great).

No specific pattern—I’d seen a few (probably including on here) and just googled several tutorials for ideas, embraced imperfection, and winged it, since that seemed to be in the outsider-art spirit of the thing. I used a singed dish towel on the verge of giving up the ghost, almost matching buttons from old pants, and scraps from the overflowing project scrap bag (because one piece big enough for a turtle back could be a whole pocket or something! Must use the tiny bits to justify hoarding them!). He’s a bit over a foot long from nose to tail and he might be my favorite make in quite some time.

I‘d never done any patchwork before and this was kind of addictive. Might try a proper quilt top some time.

Tl;dr: what do I need to tweak next around the bust and upper back? I really want this to be the summer I finally crack shirt/top pattern alterations so I am taking another run at it... and feeling stuck again. Could really use any and every suggestion/insight on what to do next.

This toile is Burda Style 7509, a simple pull-over bias cut tank top with about 4" of ease through the bust (more than that at the waist). The fabric is a microfiber sheet, which is a good weight for this test but not very drapey on the bias, so it really isn't hiding any of my fitting sins.

I have two connected fitting issues with almost all tops. One is a full bust, in relative/sewing terms (37" bust, 33" overbust, ~30" underbust, so a sewing D cup). The other is an upright(? or narrow?) upper back, or maybe shoulders set far back relative to my rib cage (?)--anyway, in a neutral standing position, back necklines often stick out away from my neck while vertical folds form between my shoulder blades. These two problem areas are the front and back sides of my body at the same height and are balanced against one another, so it feels like I can't really be sure I've solved either of them until I solve both. So, in this toile, I've committed the sin of changing two things at once instead of tweaking one thing at a time, and I think that's also making it harder to figure out my next move.

(Sidebar: I once made a sleeveless button-up with a 2" full bust adjustment in the front and no changes in the back, and it fits great... as long as I stand with my shoulders rolled or slouched forward slightly. When I straighten into my natural posture it still pulls at the bust a little, and makes the vertical folds down the back while the back armscyes bind uncomfortably and the side seams don't fall straight. Just a FBA alone doesn't quite do the trick for me, in other words.)

For the toile in this post, I traced the size 12 pattern (34.75" bust--the size 14 bust is 36.25") based on my upper bust measurement, then made a 2" total FBA, widening the existing armpit dart and tapering the extra ease down to zero at the shirt hem. It seems to me this dart still actually might not be big enough--I think I can still see and feel slight drag lines from the shoulder and armhole to my bust point. I clipped the left side armhole seam allowance but not the right side, so you can see it's better on the side with the seam allowance released. But it still doesn't quite look right to me. I need another pair of eyes on this, I think!

I ALSO made a 1.5" "narrow back" adjustment to the upper back as described in Betzina's Fast Fit (3/4" each side), which involves taking a vertical fold out of the pattern from shoulder to waist and then redrawing the side seamline to connect the new armscye point to the original waist. I've seen a different "erect upper back" alteration that instead takes vertical length out of the CB, but that didn't quite seem right for solving vertical wrinkles, so I went with this one. Still, I'm not sure whether it's working for me. Betzina has you ease the unaltered front shoulder to fit the narrowed back shoulder, but this seems like a lot of easing for a tank top--and it doesn't lie well, as you can see in at the front of the shoulder straps in the first three pics. Meanwhile, in this toile, the back of the shirt does not form vertical wrinkles between my spine as much as usual (good!), but the back neckline still looks slightly ... droopy? Did I take out too much/too little/in the wrong place? Would I solve more of the issue if I took that width out of the back below the neckline instead of below the shoulders? Then I'd have a neckline wider in front than in back, though, which usually seems to be Not Done.

Another thing I'm not sure about is that, in adding width to the bust but also taking away from the upper back, I've actually only increased the bust circumference by 1/2" overall (when in principle I should have added 2" or so), and indeed it does feel snug. What do I do about this? Add it back in with even larger bust darts? Go to the next size up and alter that?

Please don't mind the mismatched side seams--I screwed up tracing the new bottom hem of the front piece after doing the FBA, but this should have no effect on the fit up above.