On the fly... oder wie man eine Fliege stickt

O.k. this post is going to be bi-lingual again, since this is a tutorial on how to stitch a fly (if that is the English term for it. Please enlighten me, so that I can change the wording if necessary)

Was ist eine Fliege? Eine Fliege (nähtechnisch gesehen) ist eine Verstärkung eines Schlitzes, z.B. bei Diorfalten oder Paspeltaschen. Sie hilft, ein Einreissen des Schlitzes zu verhindern und ist dekorativ.

What is a fly?

A fly (at least sewing wise) is a backing for a vent, for example with dioresque pleats or welt pockets. It helps to prevent a vent from tearing and is also a decorative element.

Was benötigt man? What do you need?

- Perlgarn, Knopflochseide oder wie in meinem Fall Stickgarn
- Eine spitze Nadel mit großem Kopf (wg. des dickeren Garns)
- Nähgarn in passender Farbe
- ein Geodreieck
- Kreide
- Bügeleinlage
- wenn vorhanden einen Stickrahmen

(wie man an meinen Fotos sieht, habe ich die letzten beiden Punkte nicht berücksichtigt und das sieht man jetzt leider auch)

- Buttonholesilk/thread, embroidery thread (either the shiny or the not so shiny version)
- a pointy needle with a big eye to accomodate the thicker yarn
- Sewingthread
- Chalk for marking the fabric
- a set square
- Interfacing
- if you have: an embroidery hoop

(if you look at my pictures, you can see that I learned the last two things while trying out this technique. Unfortunately it shows :( )

1. Schritt

Die Rückseite des zu "bestickenden" Stoffes mit der Bügeleinlage verstärken. Dann zeichnet man ein gleichschenkliges Dreieck auf den Stoff (na, müsst ihr auch erstmal gucken wie das geht? Mathe lohnt sich doch :) ) d.h. alle drei Seiten sind gleich lang. Am einfachsten ist das mit einem Geodreieck.

Step 1:

Interface the backside of the area, where you are going to do your "embroidery". Then draw an isosceles triangle (I had to look up, how you do that too. It pays off to pay attention in math class. An isosceles triangles has 3 sides that are the same length. It is the easiest to use a set square fot that)

2. Schritt

Mit der Nähmaschine dieses Dreieck entlangsteppen.

Step 2:

Using your sewing machine, sew along the marking of the triangle.



3. Schritt

Beachte: Arbeite immer gerade ausserhalb der Maschinennaht!
Jetzt wird es ernst:

Spanne dein Nähstück in den Stickrahmen ein, fädle Dein Stickgarn/Knopflochgarn ein und steche von der Hinterseite nach Vorne an der linken unteren Ecke ein und dann an der Spitze bringst Du die Nadel wieder auf die Rückseite des Nähprojektes. Alternativ kannst du auch die Nadel ein- und gleichzeitig wieder ausstechen, so dass die Nadel wieder vorn ist. Ich habe aber, nachdem ich das Foto gemacht hatte, gemerkt, dass es sinnvoller ist, die Nadel auf die Rückseite zu bringen, den Faden durchzuziehen (vorsicht: einigermaßen locker lassen, nicht zu straff spannen) und dann von der Rückseite die Nadel gleich wieder neben den Faden nach vorn durchzustechen.

Step 3:

Now the handwork beginns. Attention: Always work just outside the machinestitched lines!

Put your piece of work into the embroidery hoop, having the area with the triangle taught. Using the embroidery/buttonholethread already attached to the needle, bring the needle from the wrong side to the right side at the lower left corner, then, at the tip of the triangle, bring the needle to the wrong side and pull the thread to the wrong side, beeing carefull not to pull it too taught. Next bring the needle from the wrongside back to the right side, just next to the thread. Alternative: Poke the needle thru horizontally (as shown in the picture but I find, I get better results with the step by step method)


4. Schritt:

Jetzt den Nadel an der unteren rechten Ecke wieder durchstechen und den Faden durchziehen. Hierbei wieder darauf achten, den Faden nicht zu stark anzuziehen.

Step 4:

Bring the needle back to the wrong side at the lower right corner and pull the thread thru. Be carefull not to tension the thread too much.


5. Schritt

Bringe die Nadel von der Rückseite wieder nach vorne. Steche hierzu innenliegend neben den Faden in der unteren linken Ecke ein. Danach wieder zur Spitze, dort die Nadel wieder direkt neben den Faden einstechen ( nach "unten" )

Step 5:

Bring the needle back to the right side, poking it thru just right from the previous thread at the lower left corner. After that, bring the needle back to the wrong side, just outside the thread at the top of the triangle (going "down")

Wiederhole jetzt Schritt 4 & 5 bis das ganze Dreieck gefüllt ist. Vernähe den Anfang und das Ende des Fadens. Fertig!

Repeat Step 4 & 5 until the whole triangle is filled. Secure the end and the beginning of the embroidery thread. Done!

As you can see: this fly would have benefitted from using a) interfacing and b) an embroidery hoop :)

Wie man sieht, hätte ich bei diesem Stück sowohl Bügeleinlage wie auch einen Stickrahmen gut gebrauchen können.....


I hope that was somewhat usefull. Please give feedback. I'm not really good at explaining things!

A pro is a pro, is a pro!

And sometimes it is good to pay the pro, don't you think?
(showing the glory of the 45cm tummy circumfence I gained! o.k. and the couple of kilos.....)

just 11 weeks to go

or more likely 7 weeks :)



Life has been busy here the last few weeks and days. I had my last day of work yesterday, so I tried to get as much done as possible there and was pretty exhausted in the evenings. By law every mother is granted a period of 6 week before the estimated due date and a 8 weeks period after the delivery at full payment (the health insurance -mandatory in Germany- pays part of it and part of it is payed by the employer. And I also had 5 weeks of vacation left for this year, so I was able to leave yesterday (I'm going on a seminar for 3 days from work in June but other than that, I can relax at home)

If been to a flea-market just for baby stuff and got some more onsies and rompers as well as a uhm "chair" where you can lay the baby into and feed it and it dips up and down, so it might calm the baby too.

We (meaning Heiko) assembled a closet and a drawer for the babies room and I need to abrade the wooden changing station that my sister had in her attic before we can install that :)

I have to admit, that slowly things are getting exhausting. I gained around 15kg so far (I hope, that it is mostly twins + water ;) ) and my tummycircumfence is at 109.5 cm (so that is 45 cm more than before the pregnancy). I think, that explains, why I'm so exhausted in the evenings (and I have a couple of more cm to gain in the next few weeks, since the twins had to develop their vital parts first and now they gain weight. I'm so happy, that I made it this far without major problems!) and why my sleep is so unsteady (turning around in bed means waking up ;) )

As for fiber arts:

Knitting:
I'm still working on baby blanket no.2. I'm at skein 8 of 12 and I'm ready to poke my eyes out with my knitting needles ;) I think I will finish knitting the 8th ball and start the edging then, just to be sure, that I have enough yarn for the edging.

I haven't knitted a stitch on my socks. My feet are swollen like a ballon in the evenings and so the socks won't fit if I try them on, so discouraging. And I want to get the blanket done ;)

Sewing:

I have a finished top but it is in the laundry basket (plus I don't like the fit of it. I promise I will show it to you once it is washed and ironed!) I have another shirt (pattern like my recent review) cut out and will sew it soon, since I need short sleeved shirts for summer. I just was lucky, that the weather as so cold the last few months ;)

Spinning:

I finished spinning some space-dyed roving, that Heiko gave me for christmas. It's plyed and dry -> just need to take pictures. Will do that soon!

O.k. enough for this update :) Hope to be back soon, now that I have tons of time LOL (need to blog now, before I have 2 wee babies to care for here)

A ray of light in a dark time

Hi everybody,

back at Heikos pc :) Mine is at our friends house but he is ill with bronchitis and I don't want to catch that :) and next week is full of doctors appointments (check for diabetes and checking my kidney :( but at least I'm pain free at the moment), so he will come over the week after that.

The weather is dull the last few days and that resembles my mood. Last weekend I got a call from my mum, that my uncles conditions (pancreatic cancer) got worse and that they had to take off one of his legs. Since I could not sit in the car for more than 5 minutes without getting really severe pains in my back, Heiko and I decided to visit him this sunday, hoping that my kidney would get better (it is...).

My sister and my mum visited him last sunday and he did not want to live any longer, the aches and pains where just too much. He was ready to go. Last thursday, he passed away.

On one hand, I'm sad, having lost another member of my immediate family to cancer (cancer 4: my maternal family 1 ->me) on the other hand, I'm happy that he does not have to suffer more than he had in the last year after the diagnosis. Chances where high, that he would have lost his other leg too.

I know, that pancreatic cancer is hard to detect, but most other forms of cancer aren't. My other uncle died of gullet cancer and he had detected knots in his body early. He might live today if he had visited a doctor early.

I'm alive because I went to see my ob-gyn early. I go to my regular check ups! I have my skin checked every other year. Get yourself checked regularly if you are a guy or a woman. Having fought cancer and having lost 2 of my uncles to this dreaded illness I can tell you, that both is not fun!

A ray of light is the second babyblanket I'm knitting:

and that the movements of the twins are getting more and more. This feeling is beyond words...

Patternreview: Maternity shirt, burda 08.2006 mod. 125

Pattern Description:
Maternity top with gathers at the side seam, modest v-neck and 3/4 sleeves
Pattern Sizing:
European 36-44, I made a size 38 based on my pre-pregnancy measurements.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Absolutley and I'm very happy with that, although now at 27 weeks pregnant with twins I already look like a whale whereas the model has a nice little bump.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
They were o.k. The shirt on the picture is my second one and I changed the way of how to attach the binding at the neckline.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I think, for a pregnancy shirt, this shirt is kind of stylish without beeing over the top or unwearable. It is very comofortable to wear and with some minor changes to the neckline or the sleeves you have a tnt pattern for your maternity wardrobe in no time!

Dislike: I need more space for the twins but that is not burdas fault and I should be able to modify the pattern quiet easily.

Fabric Used:
Cotton-lycra blend from my stash. I really can't remember when or where I bought this fabric:

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

First I cut off the added s.a. at the neckline of my pattern because somewhere in the instructions you have to cut the s.a. off anyway and why should I add s.a. and then cut it off again??

The instructions say to close one shoulder seam, add the binding and then close the second shoulder seam. This is what I did with the first version I made. Not the best look (or my best work).
So on this shirt I closed both shoulder seams, pinned my binding unstretched to the neckline and marked were the "seamline" should be. I unpinned, substracted 20% added seam allowance and cut off the extra fabric. I made a tube, folded it in half and pinned that to the neckline and again and sewed it on . Then I serged the seam, sewed the little triangle for the v-neck and topstitched everything in place.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I have already cut out the third version but severe pain in my back, due to a blockade of my right kidney, had me take a break from sewing or anything else, since the chairs in my sewing room just made the pain worse!

Conclusion:

Great maternity pattern! I highly recommend it!