I thought I'd make a new post for this since the last post had got quite long. There will be more crappy phone pics here, sorry. I've spent most of the day working on some Opulent Monsters AIOs. They are HARD. I knew from reading the instructions that attaching the inner sections together was going to be difficult and I wasn't looking forward to giving it a go. The first one I basted in was tricky but I thought it looked okay, no tucks or folds or anything. Once it's basted you're supposed to overlock it. That ruined it. It's really hard to see what's going on with my overlocker so it ended up with loads of tucks and looked terrible. I ended up unpicking all the overlocking and starting again. This time I decided that after basting it, I'd stitch a line of permanent stitching at 1/4 of an inch and then overlock. It looked okay after I did the line of stitching but I chickened out with the overlocking. I did a zigzag over it instead, because who is going to look at it? None of the fabrics I used will fray either, so it's not like it was needed to prevent fraying. I did the same thing for the second one, but this time, for some reason the soaker petals weren't completely even, so when I finished stitching, one of the layers hadn't caught in the stitching. Of course it was the layer that was facing upwards. So more unpicking, trimming and then re-sewing was required. This really wasn't a fun day!
I stitched together one and my jackalope pocket nappy and installed the elastic. I still need to top stitch them though. You're supposed to do that before installing the elastic, but I usually make the casings, put the elastic in and then top stitch later.
I'll probably sew the other one together tomorrow. I still have one to do though. Thinking about sewing that inner makes me want to cry! I'll just have to be brave and get it done. I'd consider myself a fairly advanced sewer (or sewist?) but I find this part insanely hard. It's the corners that are the worst. The front corners seem to be tighter than the back ones. There doesn't seem to be any better way to do this and still keep flap out soakers. Rocket Bottoms has a pattern modification you can buy to make something similar--a contoured section set into a PUL layer, but the soakers just sit on top, so it's not so neat and clean looking. I suppose you could have a hidden soaker, but then it would lack the quick dry feature. A back pocket maybe? Then it wouldn't be an AIO... I definitely wouldn't recommend the AIO to beginners, well, actually it's probably do-able if you don't mind having little tucks and folds at the corners. The pattern has a non overlocked version, which I think has you just zigzag the soaker section on top of the PUL. I think that would be easier. Like a tiny bit easier. It wouldn't look as pretty though. I imagine it's something that you can get better at with practice though. You as in someone who isn't me! I don't think I want to sew this again. I have another three (i think?) cut out. Unfortunately (or fortunately?!) I don't have any bamboo fleece left so I can't finish them. I think I'll have to finish them at some point if I want to pay back what I owe to my credit card.
I was a bit disappointed by all the wrinkles caused by the elastic. It looked so nice before!
These are the flap out soakers, which are hidden underneath when the nappy is in use. They're not too hard to tuck in, especially if you pull them from opposite ends rather than trying to stuff them inside.
I stitched together one and my jackalope pocket nappy and installed the elastic. I still need to top stitch them though. You're supposed to do that before installing the elastic, but I usually make the casings, put the elastic in and then top stitch later.
I'll probably sew the other one together tomorrow. I still have one to do though. Thinking about sewing that inner makes me want to cry! I'll just have to be brave and get it done. I'd consider myself a fairly advanced sewer (or sewist?) but I find this part insanely hard. It's the corners that are the worst. The front corners seem to be tighter than the back ones. There doesn't seem to be any better way to do this and still keep flap out soakers. Rocket Bottoms has a pattern modification you can buy to make something similar--a contoured section set into a PUL layer, but the soakers just sit on top, so it's not so neat and clean looking. I suppose you could have a hidden soaker, but then it would lack the quick dry feature. A back pocket maybe? Then it wouldn't be an AIO... I definitely wouldn't recommend the AIO to beginners, well, actually it's probably do-able if you don't mind having little tucks and folds at the corners. The pattern has a non overlocked version, which I think has you just zigzag the soaker section on top of the PUL. I think that would be easier. Like a tiny bit easier. It wouldn't look as pretty though. I imagine it's something that you can get better at with practice though. You as in someone who isn't me! I don't think I want to sew this again. I have another three (i think?) cut out. Unfortunately (or fortunately?!) I don't have any bamboo fleece left so I can't finish them. I think I'll have to finish them at some point if I want to pay back what I owe to my credit card.
I was a bit disappointed by all the wrinkles caused by the elastic. It looked so nice before!
These are the flap out soakers, which are hidden underneath when the nappy is in use. They're not too hard to tuck in, especially if you pull them from opposite ends rather than trying to stuff them inside.
It's quite trim really, even with seven layers of bamboo fleece. I'll get the top stitching done tomorrow and put snaps on the wings. The jackalope turned out nicely. It's made from very lightweight PUL and even the wicking fabric is very lightweight. It's from a different place to where I usually get it from. The whole thing is light as a feather. You can see the navy one lurking in the background here, just waiting to torture me...
After I've top stitched these two I might take a break and sew something else. I've had the New Horizons TAMI Revolution hoodie cut out for ages. It's for E and it's going to be made with a black and grey sweater knit that I bought from a co-op years ago. I might work on that, even though it's not contributing anything to my shop. It's cut out ready to go though. I think I deserve a break after all the torture of today.
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