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Groovy Daisy - Part 2
2007-04-28 07:37:33
So, my “components” are at home. I machine washed all the fabric for the dressess using warm water and the normal cycle. I didn’t use detergent or fabric softener. I dried the fabric on the regular cycle and removed it promptly, to prevent wrinkling and ironed it to make cutting easier. I do admint, washing/drying/ironing is an extra step and it takes away time from sewing, but if the fabric wants to shrink it’s going to do it now.  I drafted the pattern myself and hopfully I’ll have it ready for download soon. These are the pieces I’ve cut for the smaller dress: bodice front on a fold 1x in Groovy Daisy fabric bodice front on a fold 1x in solid purple bodice back 2x in Groovy Daisy fabric bodice back 2x in solid purple front upper ruffle 1x in Groovy Daisy (rectangle 0.60m wide and 0.16cm… high) back upper ruffle 2x in Groovy Daisy (rectangle 0.34 wide and 0.16cm high) bottom ruffle 2x in Groovy Daisy (rectangle 1.05 wide and


Groovy Daisy - Part 1
2007-04-25 14:15:44
Well, I thought I’m working on reducing my sewing stash… but instead I went shopping and got some new fabric! A new blog deserves new fabric, right? I went to my favorite sewing store and fell in love with a Groovy Daisy cotton. This is going to be perfect for a girl’s summer dress. I purchased the Groovy Daisy cotton and a solid cotton in pink and in purple. I’m going to make a summer dress for a 4 years old and a 7 years old girl. The dresses will have a lined bodice (Groovy Daisy outside and solid purple inside), two gathered ruffles, a back button closure and a hem in solid pink. I’ve… also found a nice rick-rack, in a pale pink-blue-purple colour, that I’m planning to sew on the bottom edge of the bodice and the bottom edge of the upper ruffle. Material purchased (girl height 104cm; age 4) 1m Groovy Daisy 100% cotton (106cm wide) 0.40m solid purple 100% cotton (112cm wide) 0.20 m solid pink 100% cotton (112cm wide) 1 rick-ra


Welcome to ZigZagFoot!
2007-04-25 07:18:27
It is spring in Vancouver, BC, and cherry trees are in full bloom. It’s a great time to start my blog. Welcome to ZigZagFoot!  My name is Anna and I love sewing and the internet. I’m going to write about my sewing projects on this blog and share my passion with other sewing enthusiasts. One of my goal is to describe my projects from their inception, getting the idea and material, to their end, the finished garment. This is a good way to keep myself motivated and finish the projects before I start new ones. The blog may in fact help reduce my sewing stash. I’m looking to hearing your comments. The blog will be better with a lot of feedback. And I will listen to it.


Groovy Daisy - Part 3
2007-04-29 18:29:26
Everything is cut now and finally I got to sew this project. The fabric is absolutelly gorgeous, it feels great and it’s easy to sew. Since I currently don’t own a serger, and yes it is one of the things on my wish list, I use zigzagged finish on my fabric pieces. This is to prevent frays  and nonetheless, zigzag is one of my favorite stitches.   I transfered a line from the pattern to the fabric to mark the 3cm fold on the upper back ruffle for the button closure. Well, I guess I could have just measured it and ironed it… but insteadI used tailor’s tacks to transfer the line to the two layers of fabric. I guess its the perfectionist in me… At this point, I started working on the bodice, by first sewing the two side seams on the inside and outside part of the bodice and later by pressing it. My little model tried on the bodice and it turned out the bodice didn’t need any adjustments! I like that; good fit. Here, I pinned and then sewn t
Read more: Groovy , Daisy

Groovy Daisy - Part 4
2007-05-01 19:15:59
Hooray, I’m half way through this project. My little model is checking the progress daily and she can hardly wait for me to finish it. I think we will need some more sunshine and warmth for her to wear it in April but she seems determined  :grin:  The bodice is done so I’m off to sew the frilly skirt. I love all the frills you see on ready-to-wear garments this Spring.  Just before I started working on the ruffle I realized that I need to iron the bodice hem to the inside so that its easier to connect it to the ruffle. This is a little shortcut instead of sewing the right side of the bodice and the ruffle together and then turning to slipstitch the lining of the bodice to the ruffle. I layed the upper ruffle front and two back pieces facing right sides together and pinned the side seams. After sewing the side seams I pressed them opened. Now it was timeto gather the ruffle. I believe the proper way to do that would be using two basting seams but instead of that
Read more: Groovy , Daisy

Ironing board cover - Part 1
2007-05-06 05:24:32
While doing my last project, the groovy daisy summer dress, I realized I cannot take pictures on my good sewing companion, the ironing board. The poor thing is used heavily and needs a better “outfit” for my blog and that is how my next sewing project came to life. A new project justifies a trip to the sewing store, right? That is what I thought too and so I went there on Saturday looking for some nice 100% cotton for my ironing board cover. Initially I wanted to buy something colorful and I was looking around in the home decor section of the store. A friendly sales lady suggested I could use muslin instead. That’s a good idea I thought, and besides, I have muslin at home. Not only that, but I also have batting at home! I ended up only buying a contrasting quilt binding, thread and twill tape since everything else I already had in my stash. Hurray for the stash! Here is the material for the ironing board cover: muslin thread batting 4 yards of 2-inch-wide rea
Read more: Ironing

Groovy Daisy - Part 5 (Final)
2007-05-04 06:07:35
For hemming the dress, I’m using a pink contrasting fabric. I’ve sewn the side seams and ironed them out. I then folded the fabric in half lenghthwise and stitched it to the bottom of the ruffle. We found some groovy buttons for this dress; they are little daisies in pink, purple and pale yellow. Very cute. I marked the buttonholes on the back and used the buttonhole sensor foot to sew them.  Usually I try one or two buttonholes on a scrap fabric piece to test the lenght and to reherse (and I do that every time) that the machine will sew backwards.  Obsession? Maybe…  After sewing the buttons the dress was finished. Voila! My little model was so happy and when she found the finished dress on the hanger she immediately put it on even though it was only 14C (57F) and overcast outside. Well, she was wearing it only in the house. On a sunny day we’ll take a picture of the finished dress.
Read more: Groovy , Daisy , Final

Ironing board cover - Part 3
2007-05-11 03:59:12
I layed the muslin and the batting piece flat, keeping all the edges even, pinned them together and basted the muslin and batting together around the outer edges. I connected the two 3ft bias bindings together since my ironing board circumference was around 4ft. The prepared bias binding was easy to sew and the result was neat. Unfortunatelly I was able to buy bias bindings in solids only. It would have been more fun to apply a nice patterned bias binding to the muslin but I would have to do make it myself. Oh well, an ironing board doesn’t need that much attention… To apply the bias binding I’ve first folded 3/8 inch of the bias binding edge onto the wrong side. This will be the part where the two bias binding edges will connect together on the short end of the ironing board cover. With the batting side of cover and the wrong side of binding facing up, I pinned the binding to the edges of the cover starting at the center of the short end and working all around
Read more: Ironing

Ironing board cover - Part 2
2007-05-09 06:19:01
I traced the shape of my ironing board on a big piece of paper. This was to make my paper template. I then layed out and pinned the template on the muslin adding 5cm (2 inches) all around and cut the muslin. By the time I finished the project I realized adding 7.5cm (3 inches) all around would have been a better option. Oooops, I also soon realized that I didn’t prevash my muslin. Was that bad?  Next time I have to remember to prewash the fabric that goes into my stash… I layed my muslin template on the batting to cut out the piece in batting and that completed all the steps I needed to do before I can start sewing. I have a sense that this project will be a short one and that is nice after sewing the dress which took several days to complete. Well, I could have done the dress in a day or so if only life wasn’t taking time away from sewing. Cheers, Ana
Read more: Ironing

Ironing board cover - Part 4 (Final)
2007-05-15 07:09:24
I stitched the bias binding to the right side of the cover using a narrow stitch all around. To thread the cotton tape into the biased edge of the cover, I used the good old “safety pin method” by first attaching one edge of the twill tape to the safety pin and threading it all around the cover edges. I spread the twill tape evenly around the edges (this requires some pushing and pulling) leaving approximately two 8 inch edges free at the closure point. After that I hand sewn (slipstitched) the two bias binding edges together on the wrong side of the cover up the the folded edge of the binding. Ta-da! It is nothing fancy, its only an ironing board cover, but I’m quite happy with how it turned out. I’ve placed the cover on top of my board (and trashed the old warn-out-ready-made-flowery cover) and pulled up the twill tape so the cover folds underneath and fits tightly around the board. As I said in one of my earlier posts, the fit would be better if I had a
Read more: Ironing , Final

Groovy daisy in a bigger size
2007-05-18 07:42:41
I’m off to sew the groovy daisy summer dress in a bigger size. After all I promised it to my 7 years old and I better keep my promises, right? The bodice for this dress is longer and reaches the waistline as opposed to the one I’ve done before when I’ve made the empire waist. I inserted a band of solid pink in between the bodice and the upper ruffle. In my mind, the pink stripe will give a “belt” impression. We shall see… I’ve also tried to do a better job when turning the bodice around, through the shoulder openings, by making sure I neatly trim all the seam allowances and clip all the corners. Before slipstiching the inner bodice shoulder seams, I ironed out the seam allowances. As for gathering the ruffles, I again tried to do a better job then last time. This time around I used machine basting by stitching two parallel rows, one in the seam allowance and the other one 1/4 in (6mm) above. I left an extra long thread on both sides of th
Read more: Groovy

Groovy Daisy Dress in a bigger size finished
2007-05-24 00:32:50
Groovy Daisy dress in the bigger size is finished! I would love to post a picture of it, actually the picture of both dresses on my two little models but the weather in Vancouver, and especially during the weekends, is not cooperating. Last weekend we had 12C with rain; not the kind of weather to sport a sleeveless dress. Making the two dresses enabled me to “perfect” my gathering techniques so I decided to blog about gathering in one of my subsequent posts. Blog you later, Anna
Read more: Groovy

Serger threading 101
2007-05-29 01:04:33
I got a new toy!!! A nice person who bought her serger seven years ago and used it few times since, lent me her serger for two months. I got to try and and play with it as much as I want. How fun! The serger is a PFAFF hobbylock 4760. It is a 4 thread serger that is quite smart with adjustable stitch length, adjustable differential feed, adjustable seam width and several sewing feet for elastic tape sewing, taping, blindstitching, beading, cording, shirring, lace sewing, string thread sewing and thread spooling. All of these features sound really compelling to me. The serger appeared to be in mint condition but unfortunately, when I got it, it wasn’t threaded. So off I went to read my manual and to figure out how to thread it. I played for good two hours threading and re-threading the machine but only to get some poor results. The stitches on the face and reverse side were looooose. Surprisingly enough the manual indicated I have a possible threading tension problem. Originally


Gathering fabric 101
2007-05-27 01:07:52
I used the following gathering technique for ruffles but you can use it for waistline, cuffs or yoke. By definition, gathering is the process of drawing a given amount of fabric into a predetermined smaller area to create soft, even folds. Fabric is usually gathered to one-half or one-third the original width. Gathering is done after construction seams have been sewn, like sewing the side seams in ruffles. Since gathers fall best on the lengthwise grain the basting runs across the grain. The basting seam varies from 6 to 12 stitches per inch or 2mm to 4mm depending on the fabric used. Decreasing the upper thread tension and using a strong polyester thread in the bobbin helps draw the gathers easier. Working on the right side of the fabric, stitch two parallel rows in seam allowance, one just above the seam allowance, the other 1/4 in (6mm) higher. Leave long thread ends and don’t baste the seam allowances. Pin the basted edge to the corresponding straight edge (ruffle edge t


Serger had a timing issue
2007-06-04 00:31:34
Hi there, I picked up my serger on Saturday. It had a timing problem and it is fixed now. It turned out they adjusted the timing needle bar, sharpened the blades and cleaned and tested the serger. The service person left a scrap fabric under the sewing foot that was perfectly stitched using the 4-thread overedge seam. I tried the 4-trhead overedge seam myself at the store and it turned out perfect. The serger was working properly at last! For the 4-thread overedge seam, the machine was setup with all 4 needle threads tensions on N as well as the stitch length and differential feed setting on N. Even thought the sales person said she seldom changes her serger to other settings, I’m very curious to experiment with different seams and sewing feet on the serger. The instruction manual for the Pfaff hobbylock 4760 lists 16 different seams and several sewing techniques, like elastic tape or shirring foot sewing, that I’d like to play with. I also have several “serger”
Read more: issue

Children knit pants in two hours
2007-06-10 22:37:17
Hi friends, I can’t believe it. The knit pants for my four years old were done in two hours. One thing is for sure, sewing kids knit projects with a serger leads to quick results! The pants are quick and easy and here is how I did them. I used the 4-thread overedge seam on my Pfaff Hobbylock 4760 to sew the pants. First, I sewn the in-seam pocket to the front and to the back of the pants making sure the front and back pockets match together. I pinned the side seams, including the in-seam pockets, with the front and back of the pants right sides facing together. I stitched together the side seams pivoting the fabric around the curves where the in-seam pockets connect to the pant. Sewing curves with a serger is not as easy or accurate as with the sewing machine. The serger is forgiving though, and you can redo a seam easily without ripping it open. You just position the seam you want to redo under the sewing foot and serge as long as you need to and finish wherever you need to
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Children knit pants using the serger
2007-06-08 00:36:51
Hi there, I’m still playing with the serger and, to that end, I’m going to make a pair of simple children knit pants with the elastic waistband and in-seam pockets but instead of using the sewing machine, I’ll use the serger. Before I had the serger I would usually sew knits using a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine. The seams were fine but not perfect and they were lacking stretch. I’ve traced the pants pattern myself and raised the front and back waistline for 2 inches to allow for the insertion of the 3/4 inches wide elastic. You can see the raised waistband on the picture (the two horizontal lines on the top). I tested the knit fabric using the 4-thread overedge seam and it looks great. The knit fashion fabric is mainly orange so I purchased two spools of orange serger thread (in addition to the orange sewing machine thread on the picture). I’m also going to use the needle for stretch fabric. I re-threaded the two looper threads using the orange sp
Read more: Children

Google Reader for reading (sewing) blogs
2007-06-13 01:55:05
Hi friends, Some of you reading this blog may already be familiar with Google Reader . I came across this neat tool a few days ago and would like to share my experience with you. The beauty of this tool is that you get a centralized view of all your favorite blogs and what is even nicer is that all the new postings appear in a list format, much the same as new e-mails would. It is a freebie and all you need is a google account. The interface looks like this: On the left hand side you can see the list of the sewing blogs I usually read. There are two ways to add the subscription aka feed to it. The easy way is to click on the RSS feed link on the blog you want to add. The… other way is to cut and paste or type the URL of the blog to the ‘Add subscription’ menu in Google Reader . New postings from my favorite sewing blogs appear as a list of items: Each item can be viewed directly from the reader: If you like to organize your favorite blogs in folders you can do so


Yellow Mellow Mango Jello T-shirt
2007-06-18 01:35:08
Hi sewing friends, My DD had a Tropical Theme sports day at her school. Her team color was yellow. We didn’t have a bright yellow T-shirt at home so there were two options; to go shopping for a RTW or to make one. I often find that when you look for something specific in RTW you have a hard time finding it. You find things you don’t need at that particular moment. In short, instead of searching for a RTW I bought a yellow knit and off I went sewing. I used a 22″ long and 50″ wide (70cm long and 120cm wide) piece of fabric. The fabric is bright yellow as you can see on the picture. I used the basic bodice pattern for a 7 years old and altered the sleeve and neck opening to make them bigger. I purchased a press on flower felt appliqué for the T-shirt. In theory one would only have to press it but I don’t think it would stick after you wash the garment so I’ve stitched it around the edges. I serged the side and shoulder seams using the 4-thread ove
Read more: Yellow , Mango

Pants alterations
2007-06-24 00:36:39
Hello sewing friends, Do you like doing alterations on RTW? I don’t particularly like alterations but I sometimes do them for my family and friends. Some RTW pieces are hard to alternate since most seams are serged and are hard to rip open. Some are more suitable for alterations like this pair of pants I worked on a few days ago. It is a pair of man black slacks purchased in Gorizia, Italy some ten years ago. My DH was going through his wardrobe an was about to toss this pair of slacks because they were too tight (everybody gets a few pounds in ten years). It turned out this particular pair of pants was so beautifully finished and was worth alternating. The fact that these pants were made of 100% wool made the alteration easy. The fabric was very forgiving and steam pressing made the ten years old seams magically disappear. On this picture you can see how the right seam allowance still shows the old seam crease while the left one is no longer visible. Opening the back center s
Read more: Pants

Nonna’s Pincushion
2007-06-26 21:59:55
Hi Sewing Friends, This is my grandmother’s pincushion and I inherited it Being the only grandaughter and knowing that my mother is not into sewing or fiber crafts I was the only hereditary in line. I believe it is at least 60 years old and is made of carved wood. Originally the pouch that holds the needles was filled with cornmeal  . I replaced it with a muslin fabric filled with PolyCraft batting. You can tell I’m attached to it since I’m dedicating a post to it and in fact I’m planning to use it as my sewing blog logo. How fun marrying the old with the new! Talk to you really soon, Anna
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Teacher’s apron
2007-06-30 01:31:26
Hello sewing friends, Yesterday was the last day of school for us and my DD gave her teacher this apron as a token of appreciation for the great year she had at school. DD finished grade 2 and she had a truly amazing teacher. I used McCalls 2233 to make this medium size apron using the following material: 40″ (1 m) of solid red cotton 20″ (0.5 m) of a novelty “school print” cotton thread 2 metal D-rings (for the strap) My alterations to the original pattern were: lined pockets instead of single layer pockets (this is mainly due to the fact that my novelty fabric had a lighter weave) left upper pencil pocket (this detail seemed suited for a teacher, and besides, it is… practical) few appliqués (I sewn few cut-outs from the novelty fabric using a decorative stitch on my SM) longer ties (this is so that one can wrap the tie around the body and tie a bow at the front) interfaced novelty fabric ties (again due to the fact that the novelty fabric wa
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Space apron and Kool Katz pillowcase
2007-07-04 01:14:00
Hi sewing friends, I’m working on two new simple projects; the Space apron and the Cool Katz pillowcase. These are going to be a gift for two wonderful daycare teachers that have been part of our DD daily life for the last two and a half years. I have to finish both by next Friday when DD has her last day at daycare. She will graduate from there I’m making the Space apron in size small and I’m planning to use the following material: Space notion cotton fabric; 21″ (50cm) long 42″ (108cm) wide Solid green cotton; 31″ (75cm) long 42″ (108cm) wide Thread 2 metal D-rings I’m using the same pattern as for the Teacher’s Apron, which is McCalls 2233, that I graded to size small. You can see that I’ve shortened the apron for 2 inches and took in 1 inch on the side seam. I also raised the underarm curve and pockets accordingly. The neck strap is 1 inch shorter and the ties are longer; from the original 5cm wide and 75cm long to


Kool Katz Pillowcase
2007-07-08 02:32:51
Hi there, I was able to spare few hours today for sewing and looked into the pattern for the pillowcase. As I said in my previous post, I was originally inspired by the contrasting fabrics on McCalls M4483 D pillowcase. When I read the pattern instructions for this pattern I realized that they make an outside pillowcase with facings and ties and an inside pillowcase in contrasting fabric. What I didn’t like in this pattern is that the inside pillowcase is not reversible and therefore one cannot wash it. Therefore I decided to modify this pattern by cutting the following pieces (mind you, my pillow form was 18″x18″): 2 panels 17″x19″ in Kool Katz for the front and back 4 ties 3″x19″ in Kool Katz 1 panel 14″x19″ in contrasting solid orange for folding 1 panel 6″x19″ in green for the facing Construction: The basic rule I followed was to have the finished front and back pieces equal the size of the pillow form, plus a 5/8


Space apron
2007-07-15 00:29:54
Hi sewing friends, I finished the Space apron and the gift was ready for Friday as initially planned. Here is the picture of the apron: The apron is based on McCalls 2233 but graded to a smaller size. If you are interested in reading about how I graded the apron please click here. Here is a picture with some cutouts that were fun to sew as decorations (note the globe under the large pocket, the boy and girl on the strap and Saturn under the two D-shape loops): The Space apron wraps up the series of gifts that I was sewing lately. I’m done sewing aprons for a while and I’m off to sewing knits and playing with the serger. My next project will be a swimsuit. I was originally inspired by the June/July 2007 Threads issue on swimsuits and after reading Dawn’s posting on serging I got myself the book “Sewing with Knits” by Connie Long and I believe I’m ready to go. On a more personal note, I would like to share with you that I left my corporate job on


No internet access :-(
2007-08-14 13:49:55
Hi, my friends, We are in the process of moving and I am currently without internet access and without my sewing machine. The internet issue should be sorted out by early September, however it will take some time before I get my sewing machine back. Until then I will enjoy my “forced vacation”, spend some time on the Adriatic coast and write about other fashion related things whenever I can get online. See you in September, Anna


Fall/Winter 2007 Wardrobe
2007-10-24 03:53:05
Hi there, I am an impulsive sewer and up until now I would go to a fabric store, get some ideas, buy some fabric and/or patterns and sew. Many times I’ve bought fabric that I never used. I’m sure you know I’m referring to the growing stash of fabric that I accumulated during the years. Well… since planning is a good thing and getting organized is even better, I decided to take a somewhat different approach to my sewing. It seems I’m starting everything new this year so I better do it well or better at least. Without further ado, I would like to present the items I decided to sew for my Fall/Winter 2007 wardrobe. Pants, Easy Fashion Fall/Winter 2007 They also call them “Marlenhose” or Marlen Dietrich pants. Have you seen any other names for these? I’m going to do a combination of option B and D since I prefer the waistband from D and the length from B (I’m too cold to wear shorts in the winter). 119 Jacket, Burda Moden October 2007 I have to admit that
Read more: Wardrobe

Sewing magazines
2007-10-21 06:54:40
Hi sewing friends, Being the new kid on the block, I had to start from scratch, so I wandered around town looking for sewing magazines, fabric and notion stores. I found a few fabric stores but I have a feel there is more… The good news is that I can get sewing magazines at the newsstand. I can get Burda Moden, Burda Easy Fashion and Ottobre Design. It gets even better. Some sewing magazines sell in Italian which is much easier for me to understand then in German. Burda Moden sells for €3,60 while Burda Easy Fashion (I found it only in German) sells for €6. Unfortunately I can not get the Threads magazine here. I was hoping they import Pattrones but it turns out they don’t. If someone is interested in getting Burda Moden, Easy Fashion or Ottobre Design I’ll be very happy to mail them for Threads or Pattrones. Here are the magazines I managed to get recently: The Fall/Winter Edition of Easy Fashion features modular patterns for a jacket, two different styles of pants, a skirt
Read more: Sewing

Back in the bloggosphere
2007-10-20 08:46:16
Dear sewing friends, I’m happy to be back in the bloggosphere and back into sewing. We moved to Europe in August and are nicely settling in. During this long sewing and blogging break we’ve done a few things: we have spent some time on the Adriatic coast, the kids started going to their new school and daycare, we remodeled one room in our new-old apartment and I started tapping into the local job market. Here is a picture of the place were we spent ten days in the summer: During the time I was “away” from the bloggosphere I occasionally visited several of my favourite sewing blog sites. You guys completed some wonderful projects! I’ll try to catch up with reading and visiting your blogs and most of all I’ll try to catch up with sewing. I’ll wrap up this post with a picture of chestnuts that we recently picked in the neighbourhood. The thought of roasted chestnuts warms me up on this cold but sunny October day! A warm hug to all, Anna


No internet access :-(
2007-08-14 13:49:55
Hi, my friends, We are in the process of moving and I am currently without internet access and without my sewing machine. The internet issue should be sorted out by early September, however it will take some time before I get my sewing machine back. Until then I will enjoy my “forced vacation”, spend some time on the Adriatic coast and write about other fashion related things whenever I can get online. See you in September, Anna
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