trouble with flat-felled seams ?

A whole industry has sprung up to provide alternatives to the usual "hospital green" or blue scrubs. Colorful prints, often with a medical theme, are popular. Scrubs with toys, stuffed animals, etc., in the print are big in pediatrics where they found the usual white uniform or monotonous scrubs was causing anxiety in the young patients. In addition to a wide variety of ready-made scrubs, there are patterns for scrubs. One of my sons used to like scrubs for pyjamas.

psst! Good pressing is half of sewing! Some days, it's 95% of sewing! I suggest you might want to view Cecelia Podolak's Fearless Pressing and Mary Roehr's Pressing to Perfection.

And do you have a clapper, a point press and an ironing board that does not have one of those wretched metalized or teflon covers on it?

I doubt you've passed my record for first shirt yet... I managed to get the left sleeve in inside out (and in the right armscye) four times... The next one was definitely better.

Kay

Dear Kay,

I used to tell my students that if they were too lazy to put up the ironing board and press each step of their projects, they should put away their sewing because it would end up being a homemade garment. They tried to argue that they could get a garment assembled and do all the pressing at the end. After a few demonstrations of not pressing as they went, they finally got the idea. Glad you mentioned that.

Teri

Thanks for the tip. Coffin does point that out, but I will look for those two books.

Yes, I have all three, as well as a "steam generator" iron (i.e. boiler separate from the soleplate. My board is 52 x 19 inches, bought from a tailor supply.

I dunno Kay, I have a pile of discrete pieces that look REALLY amateur, and attaching the sleeve is quite the task. As I said in reply to another post, the fine shirt goes on hold,and I'm moving to a camp shirt. Thanks for your comments!

I learned that one fairly early on in my sewing career. Mom could sort of sew, but astigmatism made it very difficult for her. Her best friend (and my "second mom") was very good (she's the one who taught me bluff pockets) and I was learning mostly by myself. And I was used to ironing -- had never really noticed the difference between that and pressing.

Anyhow, I dragged a nicely sewn but oddly fitting wool shirt over to Dorothy one day to try to figure out how I was making such a mess of things. The sewing was accurate, but the shirt looked like it had been used for a dust rag. Dorothy started pressing it and showing me the difference between pressing and ironing (and she had this miraculous thing called a clapper!), and all of a sudden my shirt started looking really good.

Which is when I got the pressing bug.

Kay

oops, sorry, those are both video productions. You might want to take a look at the islandersewing.com video Shirts, etc., too... the techniques are adapted from ready to wear sewing, and are quick and painless. I believe Coffin credits Margaret Islander's "burrito collar" in his book, fwiw.

It's not too bad if the pattern has been correctly drafted to begin with. Some of the commercial shirt patterns, though -- well, I've met a few lawyers I might wish those patterns on, but I doubt you're one.

You might also consider a wool shirt. And before you look at me like I'm crazy, tropical weight wools are wonderful to wear, and wool is a dream fiber to sew with. It just plain cooperates. :-) Silk twill is another cooperative fabric that I like for shirts, but you absopositively need to cut it on paper for accuracy.

Kay

Here in the middle of America, there's a strong tendency for medical office staff to wear scrub-style suits.

Practical idea, to my mind: the comfort of casual clothes, the statement of a suit-and-heels.

(Personal vendetta: anyone who wears high heels on *any* occasion needs to have her head examined.)

The "ditto suit" was casual wear, about equivalent to scrubs -- think "polyester liesure suit" for the social impact of wearing one. And jeans were strictly for dirty work and active play.

Today the ditto suit is called a "business suit", and advertisers consider it remarkable when it's possible to bend over while wearing jeans.

Notice that there's a trend to making scrub suits that actually fit, and choosing nicer fabrics that aren't necessarily autoclavable . . .

Joy Beeson

The ones I make for DD are cotton/poly (but very little poly) poplin in solid colors which she chooses. I have a basic pattern and just make small changes to the hem, sleeve or neckline to give them a little flair. She likes pockets, so I put pockets in both the tops and pants. She also prefers tops which button up the front rather than having to struggle pulling them over the head, so we find pretty co-coordinating buttons. These are *hers*, she pretty much has complete say in how they look. And she gets lots of questions from others at the hospital about where she buys such nice-fitting and well-made scrubs.

Her answer: "BEIDesign Boutique" ;-)

Beverly

So we have already reached the stage where you'd change out of your scrub suit, or at least put on a cover-all apron, before washing dishes.

Joy Beeson

At my doctor's office, for several years, the nurses and assistants all wore different, bright colored designs of scrubs until this summer. Two other doctors who joined the practice. Suddenly, all nurses & assistants are now wearing uniform scrubs, solid colors with a white stripe on each sleeve. They seem to have chosen their own color to wear, since they've had the same color on every time I've been there. It certainly changes the scenery; I think they look more professional, although just as comfortable as the scrubs they used to wear. Emily

I love aprons and have made many over the years, both for me and others. The one I never use, though, I didn't make. When my youngest DD's children were small, she bought aprons at Michael's and paints for each of them to paint something on them for the grandmothers and their elderly great aunts. The daughter, who was almost 7, painted a red heart and her initials underneath and she was done. The older son, age 4, painted a street with a house with trees, & a van in the driveway. He asked for some yellow paint to paint the stripes in the center of the street because he said, "It's important to stay on the right side of a street." The younger one was too young to use paints, so his Mom helped him put his handprints and footprints on it. I have a hook in the kitchen to hang it when they visit. We have a great time discussing "THE" apron, and I make photos of them next to it. They're now 22, 19 & 17; it's funny to see how they react to it every year. Emily

White T shitrs are particularly prone to acquiring stains that contain tomato, turmeric, or both...

I make her co-ordinating aprons, too. ;-) And she actually uses them. I have aprons, but I usually forget to put them on, resulting in T-shirts with bacon splatter, spaghetti sauce spots, etc.

Beverly

One summer my sister sent her two boys up from Phoenix for a visit and I helped them and my own two make t-shirts for Gram and Grandpa. I painted the soles of their feet with acrylic paint and had them walk on the shirts, waited til they dried then did the reverse side. Later I added some text. Grandpa's said, "My grandkids walk all over me", Gram's said "I *AM* in charge here!"

That's a great story! I have treasures made for me by my DGC, and like you they never get "used" but are kept and enjoyed.

Beverly

What a great idea for birthday/Christmas or whatever the occasion. Emily

I read an article many years ago on woman who used lace tablecloths daily. I think that she was raised in India where it was common to eat curries daily, therefore there were lots of curry marks on the white tablecloths. A sit in the sun would make these stains disappear. I have tried it and it does work even after the fabric has been through the wash :-(.

Dee in Oz