Gambler shirt

[Angel Outlaw]

Has anyone made one of these from the Folkwear pattern? darn pleats are getting the best of me, not sure if the pattern is off or I am :18

[Black Hills Barb]

I use the Buckaroo Bobbins pattern and don't even follow their pattern lines anymore. I measure off the creases, draw lines with my fabric marker, iron them in, and then sew them 1/4" from the crease. I get along with the pattern much better since I took things into my own hands! :18

I haven't seen the Folkwear pattern but you might need to consider doing the same.

[Angel Outlaw]

Thanks BHB, my friend told me to do the first pleat then fold the others to cover the sewing of the previous one! this was my first attempt at pleats and boy was I confused. I hope to get back down there later this evening and try it again.

We put up 300 bales of hay this weekend and I was also in the process of canning about 8lbs. of figs! I didn't have a lot of time for sewing this w/e but wanted to try my hand at the pleats b/f I cut the whole shirt out.

[Mark Flint]

I am just now getting the hang of pleats. They were very foriegn to me at first and they still present some difficulties, but I am improving-I iron a lot and use a lot of pinswith the two pieces of fabric held together in the proper positions relative to one another. Only when I am totally happy with it do I even start to machine baste things together.

I still prefer pleats to gathering though!

[Lizzie Marie]

Gotta love a man that sews...and knows all of the terminology also....

[Angel Outlaw]

hehehe, that's true!!!

I tried again last night, I got it right this time, I also realized I was pulling the pleats apart then I ironed them so the second I made is ok I just need to reiron! yeah, I can finally get that shirt going. Oh, and I did the bib in white with black stitching, the shirt will be black, it looks too cool.

[Black Hills Barb]

Another trick I had to learn was that I sew the first pleat from the bottom to the top, the second one top to bottom, 3rd bottom to top and so on. My fabric would shift if I sewed them all from the same direction and they I would have a devil of a time getting the "bib" back into shape so that it would lay nicely on the shirtfront and both sides looked symetrical.

Am I the only one that had that problem?

Angel,
Using the contrasting thread makes a great looking shirt. I did an all black shirt in red thread and it sold the first day I hung it on my rack!

[Mark Flint]

Sewing with a contrasting thread is a great way to force yourself to get each and every stitch af close to perfect as you possibly can. (That's why I am afraid to do it!)

[Angel Outlaw]

That dang shirt STILL isn't finished!!!! I like pictures for each step and Folkwear doesn't have them! I have taken apart as much as I have sewn! grrrrr. I just have the collar, sleeves and cuffs left. My tab looks a little funky but after taking it apart a few times I figured it was black and wouldn't show up much :re

This one is for Firestick anyway, he would wear a hot pink one as long as I made it for him - well maybe light pink :)

Hopefully my next one will look much better.

[Mark Flint]

THAT'S A GOOD ATTITUDE! I made a pair of pants, that somehow came out too small in the waist even thought they were supposed to be 2" too big by the pattern! Waist of time ;) anyway, I did learn enough that yesterday I was able to do major alterations to a pair of similarly constructed pants and the results were much better than I might have otherwise been able to accomplish. Just learn something every time and it isn't a waste!

[Black Hills Barb]

I'll finish a gambler shirt tonight. I tried a black and natural print and made the collar, pleated front and plackets in natural and top-stitched them in black. So far it's looking pretty sharp.

[Angel Outlaw]

Thanks Mark! I try :re

Barb can you post a pic of yours when you are done? maybe a close up of the tab????? :bow

[Black Hills Barb]

I'm still not finished, but I'll post a pic when I do finally get it done. My real life seems to have intruded on my fantasy life at every turn this week. Then, last night when I was bound and determined to finish the shirt, my serger decided to break a thread in one of the loopers. That took over a half hour until it finally cooperated. By then finishing the shirt had become a vendetta! It was getting late and I still had things to clean up in the kitchen so I went down there and slammed stuff around until I felt better! Not even the dog came near me until the house finally got quiet! :re

[Lizzie Marie]

Oh Barb...I feel your pain about the serger....I hate when that happens and you finally get it rethreaded and something is still not right....I usually go watch the tv about that time...

[Black Hills Barb]

I ran through every cuss word in my mind and probably mumbled a few out loud. And ya know what can really get me steamed.....stuff like this happens and the phone rings and a voice from downstairs (probably from the couch, remote in hand, less than 2 feet from a phone) says "Are you gonna get that? It's probably for you anyhow!"

If that would have happened last night, my house would have imploded and you would have heard about it on the news!

[Nellie Blue]

Sergers! Such a love/hate relationship! :18

[Tatted Lady]

BHB, did you unthread the needles before rethreading the loopers?

With my serger, I don't pull out the needle threads, just pull them up and out of the way of the loopers, then rethread the looper and then bring them back down in the right position, My book tells me to do this, it has something to do with the threads crossing over each other wrong!!!!

I haven't had any more trouble since I started doing it. :007

[Black Hills Barb]

Yes, I keep things threaded. I try to avoid ever unthreading anything when it comes to my serger. What irks me is when that one looper somehow manages to break or unthread somehow. When that happens I can manage to have the worst time getting things running again. I'll remember your trick of bringing the needle threads UP out of the way. Maybe this is at the root of the problem.

[Greeneyed Gypsy]

The sew up then down method of pleating is the way I sew bones in a corset too... I sew up one side the down the next it helps keep everything neat and even...I read that is the way you should do it somewhere...maybe in the directions?? I cant remember, you know you research too much when you can no longer remember the source of the information? :18 :re

But it Works great!

[Angel Outlaw]

BHB, you finished yet????? :) I showed my partially done shirt to one of the fellows who asked me about making him one, he loved it and promptly asked me to make one!!! buttttt, he wants one with the bib and no pleats? hmmm, I will have to play with that, I guess I could measure the pleated one and cut the bib that finished size, heck, he might just get a pleat or two :w2

[Black Hills Barb]

Yep!!! Gotta wash and iron it and then I'll take a pic for ya. Gimme a day or so. Camped at the club for the weekend and that put a big crimp in my sewing, etc for the few days proceeding the weekend. Now it's raining here today and I still like to hang my laundry out on the line. Hopefully it will be nice tomorrow and I can get caught up on my laundry.

[Angel Outlaw]

K, THANKS :bow

[Black Hills Barb]

Finally!!!!! :re Hope this helps you Angel.

[Duzy Wales]

Beautiful work Barb!!!! :bow

Hope Darcy is getting there and you all have a very special visit! Duzy :)

[Angel Outlaw]

OMG, that is sooooo cute! well, handsome :) My bib isn't that big, what pattern did you use? I like the black stitching on the collar, I will have to remember that!

[Black Hills Barb]

Angel,
It's the Gambler version of the Buckaroo Bobbins pattern. By now I can sew this shirt in my sleep and I've got almost 50 in various views cut out and stacked around my sewing room! :18

http://www.buckaroobobbins.com/page12.html

[Ida Hands]

Fabulous job! :bow It is impressive in those fabrics. I am suitably impressed!

[Angel Outlaw]

I see why I went nuts with the pleats, mine are like accordian folds you can't see the stitching on the next one b/c the first one is over the stitching ??? make sense? my bib is much narrower b/c I IRONED THEM WRONG :kbutt

I had it right the first time :18

[Iron Ed]

Finally!!!!! :re Hope this helps you Angel.
Wow!!! I gotta get that pattern to Mom soon!