The New Metra Blazer in Scuba!

Pattern - Love Notions Metra Blazer
Skill Level - Intermediate
Fabric - Mid-Weight Scuba from Discovery Fabrics
Skills - marking wrong side, crisp corners, understitching, pressing

 

The new Metra Blazer from Love Notions looks challenging but it's surprisingly easy.  As usual, there are videos to help you.  Two collar choices offer a shawl collar and a stylish wide one.  The star of the show is the roomy pocket with its clever welt finish - who knew a welt pocket could be so easy!  And the burrito roll method gives you a lovely clean inside front.  It comes with a full bust option for those with a difference of 4" or more between high and full bust measurements and sizes XS to 5X.  What more could you want!

Of course I have to pass along some hints in my blog posts!

When it's hard to figure out which is the right side...

Discovery Fabric's Mid-Weight Scuba is amazing stuff.  It's made in Italy by Borgini and is positively delicious to cut and sew.  My scuba was a colour called Clematis - a lovely royal blue.

My big problem was trying to decide which was the right side since both sides looked the same to me - even under a magnifying glass!  I finally decided to pick one side as the right side and mark the other side with tailor's chalk for consistency.  

Since a lot of the stitchery was going to be with my sewing machine, I did some sample stitching and to my dismay, I got skips!  Okay - I was using a universal needle, so I switched it with a stretch needle and all was fine.

Steam Pressing

Since Discovery's solid colour Mid-Weight Scuba is 80% nylon and 20% elastane, you can't press right on the fabric.  Steam pressing while you're sewing is important so using a pressing cloth and a clapper is the way to go.

First, I steam pressed over a pressing cloth.  The cloth allows me to keep the iron on a little longer and really get the steam down into the fabric.

Then I quickly lift off the iron and pressing cloth, and put on the clapper.  My husband made mine from maple but you can buy them.  They provide a little weight and keep the steam in place, giving you a sharper finish.  With a fabric like scuba, they're invaluable.

Sharp Corners

Something else I was concerned about with scuba was getting a sharp corner on the bottom of the front, but a couple of the testers taught me a clever way to get that.

Stitch right past the end - no pivoting - and then start stitching from the other side.

Then clip the corner.

Now the part that gives you the crisp corner.  It's all in how you fold the seams inside.  I turn the garment right side out.  I fold up one seam, and then fold the other on top of the first.  A tiny poke of the corner finishes the process and I have a crisp corner - as soon as I do some understitching!

Understitching

Understitching makes pressing so much easier and when you're dealing with a fabric like scuba, it is such a help!   I wasn't able to get right into the corners or the back of the collar because it was produced by the burrito method, but I understitched where I could.

So what is understitching?  It is attaching the seam to the inside of the garment.  With the Metra Blazer, at the bottom of the front, I stitch the seam to the inside - the lining.  I fold the seam away from the outside and stitch close to the seamline.  

But then when you come to the collar, you have to reverse this because now the lining is showing on the outside.    What understitching does is make pressing so much easier and it makes a seam lie the way you want it to.  So let's take a closer look at the understitching on my Metra Blazer.  You can click on any picture to make it bigger.

With the bottom corner flipped back you can see the understitching - you can't get right to the corner but you can get pretty close.

It continues up to the break for the collar. 

After the break, I have to switch my understitching to the other side so that the stitching is hidden under the collar.

And when everything goes back to the way the Metra Blazer will be worn, the understitching doesn't show, but helps so much in the finish of the garment.  And look at that corner! Now instead of understitching I could have topstitched, but I decided that I preferred my blazer without it.

When I helped test the Metra Blazer, my first version was also made with fabric from Discovery Fabrics.

I used their Yoga Stretch for version one and did the lining and welt in Margarita Pink so that the lining would show on the lapel of the collar and contrast with the dark grey of the rest.  Just another way you can change up your Metra Blazer.

Surprisingly easy to make, the Metra Blazer is an excellent addition to any wardrobe.  Shawl collar or wide collar and lovely big pockets with a professional finish, it's a blazer that you'll love to make and be proud to wear.  You can get your copy through my affiliate link below.

Love Notions Metra Blazer sizes XS to 5X

Prisma becomes Rosie!

Pattern - Love Notions Prisma for girls
Skill Level - Confident Beginner
Fabric - cotton/spandex from l'oiseau fabrics
Skills - colour blocking, stripe matching

My friend's granddaughter is a voracious reader (actually "listener"!) and has an amazing imagination - you never know who she actually is from day to day.  Her mother told me that she's enjoying the series about Rosie Revere the Engineer and asked if I could make her a Rosie dress for her upcoming birthday.

As I was not familiar with that reading series, her mother sent me a picture and right away I could see that Love Notions' Prisma would be absolutely perfect!  And since mother was taking care of the head scarf, all I needed was white, black and red knit fabric.

Rosie's dress is very plain with black trim at the neck and sleeves but with alternate black and red stripes at the bottom of the dress.  Now that part would need planning!

I decided on 1" stripes joined with .25" seams so each stripe would be 1.5" wide.  The bottom black stripe would be 2" wide to account for the hem.  And then I would have to add 1.5" to the body above the stripes to account for the loss that the seams cause.  I taped the pattern pieces to my cutting mat and drew lines for the stripes, then cut for the addition to the body.  I was careful to write the colour on each stripe.

I also marked the stripes with numbers and F and B for front and back.  The Prisma version I was sewing is the A-line view, so all of the stripes would be different lengths and the outsides would have a slight slant to them.  I also made the hem straight instead of the slight curve to simplify things.

Then I placed all the pattern pieces with their fabrics.

Time to cut everything out.  The stripes were easy to cut - one at a time, starting with the largest and using the straight side of the previous cut for the next one.

Once everything was cut out, I placed all the pieces in their respective task.

I started with the stripes, going from bottom up and now you can see why numbers were important!  I serged the stripes together with a .25" seam.  And as I serged on each stripe, I steam pressed the seam down.

It's easy to get confused when sewing the stripes together (ask me how I know!) so here's a tip.  You are sewing the long side of the shorter strip to the short side of the longer strip.  When you do that, you should see a triangle of the stripe on the under side.

With all the stripes serged together, then they were serged to the body.  Now it was time to assemble the dress.

Front sewn to back and sleeves in place, the side seam needs to be sewn.  This is the tricky part!  I carefully pinned front to back and then with a longer stitch, sewed the striped section together with my sewing machine to make sure the stripes stayed put.

I did the rest of the assembly with my serger, but when I got to the striped section, I made sure the serging line was just outside of the straight stitching line.

A steam press and we're ready for the final bits - neckband, bands for the ends of the short sleeves and hemming.

I'm pretty pleased with how well it turned out and I hope "Rosie" likes it too!  Since it's a birthday present, I don't have a modelled photo, but if I get one, I'll update this post.

One final touch - a label which I purchased from Love Notions - which seemed totally appropriate!

If you don't already have this wonderful pattern for girls, you can get it from my affiliate link below.

Love Notions Prisma Dress sizes 2T to 16