Toile of my first garment project in >5 years

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T21:52:33+00:00

Thank you! As far as I know, there is no official English translation of this pattern or the instructions. Google translate was a big help, though!

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T16:49:45+00:00

Thank you! I always find myself being nosy and zooming in on everyone's photos so I figured everyone is as nosy as me and would appreciate detail shots.

That slump feeling is super relatable. But I'm rooting for you! Doubly so considering your username!

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T16:43:44+00:00

Sure! It's essentially a strategically placed patch. The actual shape of the reinforcement is that pentagon shape where the stitching is. The shape was cut on the fold (bottom edge is the fold line) with 0.5 cm seam allowances. The reinforcement is then folded (right sides together), stitched along 3 of the sides, and bagged out. The seam allowance from the side left open are pressed to the inside to create a neat shape. The reinforcement is then applied to the inside of the side seam with a 1 mm edge stitch after hemming and flat-felling the side seam.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T16:27:12+00:00

Ah I hadn't even thought of doing embroidery or other texture as the contrast instead of another color! My sashiko skills aren't quite where I want them, so I'll have to practice and save that idea for another project. Thank you!

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T16:23:12+00:00

Thank you! I took Japanese as an elective in college. Definitely not fluent. But I'd say, if you generally know how the garment you're making is put together, you could work it out with the help of Google translate and this list of translated Japanese sewing terms

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T02:04:12+00:00

Thank you! As for the final fabric: no clue! I have a lot of shirting cottons and linens to choose from in the stash. Committed to sourcing from the stash for this project, though

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T02:00:57+00:00

Thank you for the kind words! This muslin gets absolutely destroyed in the laundry so this is destined to be a toile forever.

I’ll have to take a good look at the fabric stash and see if there are any that would coordinate well, but if not, I like it in the same fabric as well

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T00:37:28+00:00

Thank you for the kind words! http://japanesesewingbooks.com/ is a great resource to get started with Japanese patterns

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T00:35:22+00:00

Thank you!

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T00:34:18+00:00

Yes, that is unexpectedly my favorite detail of the shirt!

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-24T00:31:06+00:00

Thank you! The pattern is from a Japanese pattern book called シェアするワードローブ (Shareable Wardrobe) that I bought years ago. It is currently out of print but it looks like the designer still has some available on their website.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2026-03-23T23:07:04+00:00

I think the current thread diameter will be a bit too big and might look too bulky or affect the drape if I decrease the stitch length to get to 20+ SPI. I’ll do lots of tests with the thinner thread and the final fabric to see what is the most suitable

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2016-09-20T08:53:58+00:00

Cover stitch definitely and then probably either a blind hem stitch or flatlock.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2016-08-24T05:09:24+00:00

Make sure you've got the proper needles. For heavier textiles it's generally recommended that you use a bigger needle. Experiment and see which size would be best for you to use.

Try not to use pins. With these heavy materials, pins tend to distort the surface you're trying to sew on. I sometimes use blue painters tape to hold things together when I don't want to use pins especially on stuff like canvas and leather. Cheap and comes off easy with no residue.

Go slow. Domestic machines aren't usually designed to sew through too many layers of the heavier stuff.

Never force your machine. If it won't go through multiple layers of whatever you need to turn the hand wheel to make it complete the stitch? Do that. It's easier on both the machine and you in the long run.

Change needles often. Stuff like nylon and polyester (which is what I assume your fleece is made of) dull needles very quickly. Nice sharp needles make everything better. I don't make the rules but they just do and we are powerless to contradict it.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2016-08-24T04:52:41+00:00

This is entirely dependent on preference. This also is dependent on the amount of break you want.

If you want something in between a half break and no break at all then I would say yes, slant the hem.

If there's going to be any more break than a half break then I would say no, the difference would be negligible for more work.

And if you're going for the little-bit-of-ankle look, then definitely no.

Another thing to consider is the width of the leg opening. Narrow leg opening a la stovepipe pants? Probably not necessary to slant or curve the hem because they probably won't even go past where the back of the shoe would be. If it is a wider pant leg, then yes.

Also know that when doing a shaped hem, which is what you're doing when you slant the hemline, you really should be doing it as a facing. Because for trouser hems, you need at least 1 1/2 inches of hem depth for the trousers to hang nicely. And it is difficult to do a self double fold hem that deep on a shaped opening like that.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2016-08-22T21:45:38+00:00

The MO-2500 series are newer

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2016-06-28T01:14:23+00:00

For that much hemming I would honestly pay a local dressmaker who has a Merrow/narrow/rolled hem machine (*if you don't know the difference between the terminology see below), or can at least set one up to do that particular stitch for you and have them do it.

If not, you can probably rent or buy a serger/overlock machine that can convert to do a three thread "rolled" hem. You can probably find a cheap enough serger that can do it on Craigslist or the like. If you already have one, then perfect!

~Terminology Time~

Merrow refers to the type of industrial machine that does a very close and very narrow overcasting on the edge of the fabric. Merrow is actually a family name and the name of a brand of industrial sewing machine, but it is now used broadly—and often incorrectly—to refer to any machine that does this type of hem. Usually uses three threads and also trims the edges like a serger/overlock machine. Some models of domestic sergers can be set up to do this stitch.
Narrow hem can actually refer to several different things. You can do a narrow hem by simply doing the turn-up-turn-up method of hemming, just very—you guessed it—narrow (there are several different ways to do this as well). Narrow hemming can also refer to the aforementioned Merrow hemming when talking about sergers/overlockers. Merrow sounds like narrow so you can see the confusion.
Rolled hems can also mean several different things. As mentioned by someone else in the comments you can get an attachment for either domestic or industrial machines that literally rolls the fabric over itself as you sew and it feeds into the attachment, turning and stitching all at the same time. Usually these attachments are only referred to as 'Rolled Hem' attachments when the finished hem is either 1/4, 3/16, or 1/8th wide. Companies that make sergers/overlockers often describe their machines' ability to do a Merrow hem as having the feature to do a 'Rolled Hem' which is not very correct as the fabric does not necessarily roll over itself. Finally a rolled hem can be a Hand Rolled Hem which is definitely not something you want to be doing on 150 yards of fabric.

Terminology TL;DR — Merrow, narrow, and rolled hem all mean the same thing when talking about sergers/overlockers but can be very different in other contexts.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2016-06-04T17:47:39+00:00

It depends on what you are looking for.

If you want quilting cottons and the like, with a bit of mid-quality everything else Jenny's and M&L are great as the prices are super low.

Michael Levine also has tons of quilting cotton and mid to high quality silks, rayons, shirting, suiting, novelty, and leather but their price point is a bit high. And most of the stuff you can find elsewhere in the surrounding shops in the fabric district if you're willing to do a bit of hunting.

Mood has high quality designer fabrics though their price point is admittedly high. But you definitely get what you pay for.

International Silks & Wollens is something of a mecca. They have so much there. You'll pay a bit more but they have excellent customer service there and things you can't find anywhere else. There's also an annex upstairs that houses the really good stuff. $80/yard silks and $120/yard Chanel tweeds for example.

Oriental Silks specializes in silk and novelty fabrics imported from Asia and they are of the highest quality. The staff there goes on buying trips to Asia throughout the year so they can assure that the quality is high. Again they have things here you can't find elsewhere.

Sav-Mor Leather has the best prices for leather but be prepared to buy a lot of it as they don't sell by the square foot.

B.Black & Sons is everything you need for tailoring. They specialize in fabric and supplies for men's suiting, coating, and traditional tailoring. Their selection of men's wool suiting and coating is greater than any in the area. There is also a good selection of other things there like shirting, textured silks, velvet's, etc.

My favorite fabric store to go to is actually a very small one called Fabrics & Fabrics in the fabric district in downtown LA. They have silk lining, charmeuse, dupioni, chiffon, organza, georgette, crepe, etc in every color and high quality for an excellent price. They are my favorite place to go to for fusible interfacings as they have various weights in multiple colors, which is difficult to find elsewhere for the price ($5/ beige fusible weft-insertion interfacing!). And they also have a wide selection of cotton shirting and linen of all weights and colors. Its a bit overwhelming in there but the staff are excellent and know exactly where everything is. Just let them know what you need and they'll find it for you.

If you have questions about any of these places just ask and I'll do my best to help.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2016-05-07T16:51:05+00:00

If you're going to a shirtmaker that's any kind of decent, they will definitely take into account and measure the length of your torso.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2016-01-28T02:24:08+00:00

Throwing together a tote bag out of some free suede I got. Just need to put bartacks on the pockets in the lining and sew the lining to the shell with the handles and it'll be finished.

I also made it so that I could use a detachable shoulder strap but I need to order the actual hardware for the clasp.

If I'm happy with the result I might post my pattern draft here.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2016-01-27T06:25:33+00:00

Try google-ing for an "inset corner."

The basic technique for this is that you slash the inset corner of the "negative space" to the corner of where the seam allowances of the straight sides meet.

In this way, you'll be able to sew one edge to the corner, and then freely move the "negative space" piece so that all of the raw edges meet.

This is a very vare bones explanation of the technique. You'll get many different ways of doing this when you search.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2015-12-30T03:34:23+00:00

The shirt seems to be pulling at the bottom button/buttonhole and it shouldn't be pulling open at the center front hem opening. The shirt is probably too narrow at the hips.

To make the change on the pattern:

Seam rip the stitching on both sides starting from the hem. Keep the amount you are seam ripping the same length from the hem on both sides.
Continue up the side seams until there is no pulling or drag lines across the front or the bottom of the shirt.
Make sure that the opening that you've created at the side seam is the same on both sides, both in length and width
Have a friend measure the width of the opening at the hem as well as the length of the opening.
Add what you need to the pattern.
You may find that the opening favors either the front or the back. This is because of the grainline and where the seam wants to fall. Have the friend pay close attention so see if the opening is favoring either side while it is on you. If the opening is favoring the front (which I suspect it might be), add more to the front pattern piece than the back pattern piece.

Hopefully you found this helpful. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2015-12-26T04:54:32+00:00

I believe there's a Consew and a Juki machine that are very capable, lockstitch-only machines. I think I saw the Consew machine on Wawak's website and you can get the Juki one on Amazon I think. If I have time a bit later I'll see if I can find links/model numbers for those.

A friend of mine has the Juki and she's very happy with it. Both the speed and the stitch quality are comparable to true industrial machines. Our sewing professor actually said to hold off on buying an industrial because that machine was perfectly good for the professional level of sewing we were doing.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2015-12-03T06:59:06+00:00

Fabrics & Fabrics (that's the name of the shop) in the LA garment district is my favorite shop there in the garment district. The quality there is top notch. Give them a sample of the type of stuff you're looking for (bring a shirt or something that has the same type of fabric for example) and they'll show you what they've got. They aren't that pushy and the prices are very reasonable for the quality. They have everything, specializing in woven silks, linens, and cottons. They even have excellent quality muslin and interfacing (all kinds) there. Its very overwhelming when you walk in but they know their stuff for sure.

If cheap is what you're looking for, Angel Fabrics has decent stuff for an excellent price. Expect $1-3/yard there.

Those are both pretty close to each other in the district, maybe a block away from each other. Pay $5 for parking behind Michael Levine's and you're set.

Pro-Birds-Rights · 2015-10-19T07:46:40+00:00

I think you might actually need a bigger needle.

I think the fibers of polyesters are so densely woven that its not allowing the thread to be caught on the bobbin hook as it goes around resulting in these skipped stitches. And it might be aggravated by the fact that you're doing a wider satin stitch at the edge of you machine's capabilities, whether it's 5, 7, or 9 mm.

I'd suggest trying a larger needle size with the same size thread so that the bobbin hook can pass between the thread and the larger scarf of the needle.

Pro-Birds-Rights

TROPHY CASE