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February 22, 2012

Serger R & D: Arm Warmers and First Sleeved Shirt

Last night I took a night off from grading and sat down at my retro (and recently tuned up) New Home Serger. It was time for R & D. My first productive procrastination involved two sets of arm warmers, in different sizes.  To start, I designed a few patterns based on some arm warmers I already have.

My arm warmers, as it turns out, are a lot longer in length than previous ones I sewed or the ones from Canari, Sugoi or Primal, which I looked at for education and inspiration. The longer length (22 inches) has its advantages as the extra length can be pulled over chilled hands and pushed up onto wrists when not needed. I also explored sewing on the rubberized elastic bands. These help immensely. 

When I ran Stone Cat marathon last November in my signal orange arm warmers, I didn't have the special material for the upper arm area. While it is NOT essential; it helps keep the warmers on da pipes.

Before I get too itchy to make stuff for others I need to practice practice practice. I have some amazing printed spandex material and want to be sure I don't waste it away with silly serging slip ups.  The Gator-Bait Gaiters are also getting a sweet overhaul in their construction, thanks to my little serger friend. Any newly sewn gaiters from this point forward are more durable at the seams and edges. Considering a blow-out spring sale of the last edition and start a new. Working on an Etsy shop (still in the noggin') where I plan to sell versus the way it's been happening so far. Good news for folks who like PayPal.

For my first shirt with sleeves, I deconstructed an old tee shirt and reworked the pattern, added a funky collar, changed the sleeve length, etc. I bought the fabric back in 2003; it stretches slightly,  is a super vented knit with a shimmer. The collar worked out quite well as I did not want the wonky look of a "guess-timated" cover stitch.

Next time I will add length but didn't have enough fabric to do so with this sewn experiment.

Bottom line: I am that much closer to justifying the purchase of a high-end serger.

2 comments:

kZ said...

Serge on, girlfriend :)

RawBodyGoddess said...

LOVE!!!! :)
How hard would it be to include thumb holes in the sleeves? I heart thumb holes...(though I will be purchasing some of your sleeves regardless...)