Funky Tower

I started out by drawing a random 4 sided polygon with uneven sides.  I then extended out from each side a random amount of inches ranging from .5″ to 2″ and added an attachment flap and cut it out

I did the same thing for the bottom 2 tiers, but the only difference was each of them had to take into account the tower going through its top, which was solved by cutting out a shape from the top of each that was the size of the top.  After scoring and folding each section, I began to assemble the tower.

While assembling the tower, I ran into an issue.  I realized that, due to the protruding sides of each tier, that they would not fit through their assigned holes.  To fix this, I cut each hole bigger, relatively according to the size of the base.  Eventually, the tower fit together and was assembled.

i then drew notches in the tower, cut the tower apart to make it lay flat, and traced it onto pattern paper, including all notches and folds.  Once on pattern paper, I added 1/2″ of sea, allowance to each side except the bottom of each side (which I corrected in the last tower assignment).

i then pinned the pattern to muslin and traced it onto the fabric, including all notches, folds, and seam allowance.

after sewing along each seam, often stopping to fix bubbles in the fabric by cutting more notches, I ended up with (once turned inside out) a fabric version of my funky tower.

After reviewing my funky tower and pattern in class, I realized I had to make some revisions.

I started by remaking my pattern from the beginning.

Once I cut this pattern apart, I realized I could again not fit enough seam allowance between the sides, so I remade the pattern again.

After cutting it to lay flat, I transferred the outline, notches, and folds to pattern paper.

This one worked finally!!

I then transferred the pattern to fabric and sewed it according to the notches in the fabric to make my final funky tower sewn in my final fabric.

In conclusion of this project, I feel like I learned a lot about patterns and construction.  I never knew one could make a shape like the funky tower out of fabric, and especially not one piece of fabric.  I have been sewing for as long as I can remember, and I have always run into problems regarding having to sew a long piece of fabric to a shorter piece or just having the fabric fight with me, and I never knew the seam allowance had so much to do with this problem.  Learning that cutting the seam allowance in the sections that are fighting with me has helped me tremendously and I am happy to know that there is a solution to this problem.  Although I don’t think I will have any use for a shape like the funky tower in the future, the principals and skills I learned from this exercise definitely helped me understand construction more and made me a better seamstress.

2 Comments

  1. Kirk · February 26, 2017 Reply

    brilliant! Add a picture and close up of the inside seams on the final tower (when you get a chance)

  2. larsenk · March 19, 2017 Reply

    Also change a word… when you clip, nip or cut the seam allowance to release the fabric for sewing you are not actually cutting “notches” those are the original alignments marks and when you cut it the new cuts, they are not called notches. Great job!

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