Capstone Project: Adding a Waistband in Shorts

Yesterday I met with my mentor at her house. She reviewed with me on how to use the machine and use different techniques. After we reviewed the basics, she looked at both the shorts that I made. I explained to her how I made them and some techniques that I used. She told me they were very nice and we decided to finish the first shorts that I made. All I had to do is add in the waistband and do some finishing touches. Sylvia let me use one of her elastics to use as a waistband for my shorts. She reminded me that, to add a waistband, you have to finish the edges first, and I can do this with a by doing a zig-zag stitch. I was able to use her serger to finish up the edges instead of using the zig-zag stitch; it was  more easier for me to do this. After finishing the edges, I folded the shorts on the elastic and start to sew them together. Sylvia taught this technique to me and it was much easier than the one I did with my second pair of shorts I made. After I put in the waistband, we did some securing. I restitched the bottom part so it would be more secure. She helped me with the parts that I hand-sew because, before, I kind of randomly hand-sewed the places where I couldn't use the machine. She told me how to hand-sew with the material that I was using. She taught me where to insert the needle so the edges won't fall apart or fray. The material I was using was hard to hand-sew because of how stretchy the material was.
After, Sylvia told how to secure the ends by  putting a knot where the two threads hung and cutting the access thread later. I knotted and cut the access thread that hanged from the sided of where I sewed. Sylvia said that when I get home or when I have free time, I should restitch all the places where I sewed to further secure the shorts. This would stop them from breaking easily.

Hours finished today: 2 hours
Total hours completed: 25 hours

Capstone Project: Making my Second Pair of Shorts

Yesterday I worked on a different pair of shorts another sweater. The last pair I made were shorter than what I wanted it to be so I tried to cut the sweater so the shorts would be higher up the waist. I took quite I while to cut the sweater because I wanted it to be the right size. I measured the sides where I have to cut and I made it a bit wider than what my pattern I made before. I did this to make sure I had some seam allowance. Instead of using the pattern to trace where to cut, I used it as a guideline. I wanted the shorts to fit better so I looked at the other shorts and see where it could be more loose or more tight. I took the pattern and cut farther away from it where I needed the shorts to be loose. I kind of just eye-balled where to cut. After I got the material cut to the pieces I need, I went on the sewing machine and set it up. I practiced a bit on a piece of the sweater to see how the material acts when I sew on it. I did this so I'll what setting is best to use on this material. After I practiced a bit I started putting together the shorts. I had a hard time when sewing the bottom of the shorts together because there was a part in the material where it was very thick. The presser foot in the sewing machine made the material unable to go through. I decided to skip the thick part of the material and hand-sew it later.
While using the machine, I had a lot of trouble. I had to change the thread a couple of times because they ran out and I had to refill the bobbins. The sewing machine ofter got jammed and I had to take it apart to fix it. It did this a couple of times. I kind of got frustrated when the machine wasn't cooperating with me. Sometimes the bottom thread would go up where the other thread is. I didn't know why that happened but I managed to fix it after a little while.
After sewing the shorts together, it was time to put in the waist band. I analyzed other pairs of shorts I had and see how the waistband was attached. It looked like some shorts were folded so a waistband is able to go through a small opening. Before actually attaching the waistband, I knew I had to finish off the raw edges so they won't fray. I remember my mentor telling me I can finish the edges by using a serger or if I didn't have one, a zig-zag stitch (during our first meeting). I practiced finishing the edges with the zig-zag stitch using the sweater material before actually doing this to the shorts. I finished the edges of the shorts but they started to curl on itself. I thought it would be fine as long as i fold it and sew it in place. The elastic I was using was one inch thick so i folded the sorts to leave room for a one inch thick waistband.  I folded and sewed the shorts and I left about an inch and a half open so the elastic can go through. For the elastic to go through the tube of the shorts, I pinned a safety pin on the edge of the elastic and and wiggled the pin across the narrow opening of the tube. The elastic made it around the shorts and I closed the one and a half inch opening. The shorts were finally finished.

Hours completed today: 5 hours
Total hours completed: 23 hours