sewing to distraction

Ageless Patterns 1912 Evening Gown #1362 -- Update #1

2012-01-15T13:55:00.008-05:00

And so it begins...

Last night I decided it was time to start sewing the muslin. I had just gotten Coco Before Chanel in the mail from Netflix and decided that it was just the inspiration I needed to get started. Man, oh man, what a gorgeous movie for costumes from this era. Almost all of the movie focuses on the 1910's. Also a beautiful story and excellent acting. I recommend it.

So in my last post, I said that I was a little concerned about the directions that come with the pattern. They are translations from the original French, but it also seems that some new lining pieces have been drafted to the original pattern numbers referenced in the instructions no longer apply, so I've been winging it.

I made up the lining pieces first because those need to be fit before anything else can be fit over them. Fine.

There are three bodice lining pieces: a front with two deep darts, a side back, and a back. All pretty straight forward. I pieced them together, but they do not even come close to meeting in the center front. I was expecting this at the waist, but I am a very close match at the bust.

oddly enough, the back pieces are an almost perfect fit.

I fretted for awhile. Then I read the directions again and found this:

"THE BODICE IS LINED WITH FIGURES 1-3 AND ONE APPLIES TO THE FRONT LINING PIECE IN EMBROIDERED SILK AND ONE SEWS THE SLEEVE SEAMS"

oooookay...

Then it occurs to me that the bodice front piece (#12) is cut straight (presumably to accomodate the edge design on the original edged tulle. Anyway, I think, I wonder if the lining opening is meant to match up with straight bodice piece.

Oh... so that's not going to work:

Then I start to wonder if I need to lining bodice at all. I mean, by the time one adds the lapels and the front and back "plastrons" (the triangles in the front and back), the bodice should be pretty well covered.

If those 4 pieces were lined with the golden georgette and the lining fabric, there shouldn't be any real concern in terms of coverage. Here's the lapel piece pinned on top of the bodice.

A final concern

So my last concern is that there is no clear indication about how to handle openings for this garment. There is a slit in the skirt at the back waist, but there is nothing in the pattern instructions about how to attach the cross-over bodice pieces to the skirt to accomodate the opening.

I think that the closure is going to have to be handled with snaps or buttons at the back waist. Remember that the whole high waist area is going to be covered with some kind of belt. That belt can be used to cover a multitude of sins, but may also require some engineering.

The new plan

My new plan it to make this without the bodice lining pieces. The more I think about it, the most I think that they were added later. It may well happen that I soon find out why they were added, but for now, I'm going to see how things go without them.

Here is how I think the original pattern pieces were labeled:

Current piece Original Piece

12 (bodice) 1

9 & 10 (plastrons) 2 & 3

7 (skirt back) 4

6 (skirt front) 5

11 (lapel) 6

13 (cuffs) 7

8 (over skirt) 8

The additional pieces ( 3 lining bodice pieces, 2 lining sleeve pieces, 1 bodice under sleeve) seem to have been added later.

Let's see how far I can get with just the original pieces.

Ageless Patterns 1912 Evening Gown #1362

2012-01-11T19:24:00.007-05:00

The Wonder of Birthday Gifts

This year, for my birthday, my mother gave me the most exquisite hand-beaded trim. It came from my grandmother's stash, but it's likely that this trip actually came from my great-grandmother, Myrtle, who was a professional seamstress in LA in the 1930's. With that kind of provenance, I knew I would have to save it for the perfect project.

And then... the next gift I opened was a gift certificate to Haberman Fabrics which was right around the corner from my sister-in-law's, but very far away from my home. So clearly, a trip to the fabric store was a must. Then, there came an offer to cover the rest of my expenses on a project of my choosing. My mission was clear: I had to find a project that would allow me to spend my gift certificate and due justice to the trim.

I took an initial trip to the fabric store, and a plan was forming. I had recently watch the first season of Downton Abbey, and I was reminded how beautiful the clothes from the 1910's were. I realized that I couldn't just buy an approximate amount of fabric, I was unlikely to get back to Haberman any time in the near future. So, I went home and did a little pattern searching and found this lovely thing from Ageless Patterns:

I sketched out my idea for how to use a sheer overlay accented with the new trim, and was off to buy fabric.

The Fabric

After searching for 3 hours for exactly the right fabric (thanks to my DH, who is very, very good at that sort of thing), here's what I found. The under layer is a dark, golden wheat colored heavy silk georgette, which is transparent, so will need to be lined with a similar colored rayon lining fabric.

[transparent silk georgette under layer]

[rayon lining]

[transparency problem solved]

For the over layer, I chose a solid brown silk organza instead of an embroidered netting or tulle. I plan to use the trim as embellishment. I chose a golden colored silk organza for the triangular panels in the from and back, and I chose a warm dark brown silk charmeuse for the cuff trim, belting, trailing accents, and neck line accents. I may substitute some trim for the brown accents, but I'm going to want and see how things come together. Here is a picture of the fabrics layered appropriately with the trim:

The Pattern: Step 1 - Trace w/ wide seam allowances

This is a single sized pattern. As I have learned that my patterns always, always need some adjusting, I bit the bullet and started by tracing off the pattern onto another piece of tracing paper. I'll probable redraft parts of the several times, and I've found that it's really important to keep the original on hand and unmarked for reference. I always miss something!

The bust measurement is a good fit, but I will need to add at least 3" to the waist, so for the first muslin, I cut wide seam allowances. This means that I also need to trace all seam lines and major pattern marks so I can sew it together with all the uneven seam allowances.

[traced pattern]

[seam lines & waist line marked on fabric]

The only pattern issue I've found so far is that the skirt back pattern piece didn't quite fit onto my muslin, so I had to draft an addition (that piece is not shown)

Next Steps

The next thing for me to do is to get the under layer sewn together to I will be ready for our next craft day when I can get some help with pattern adjustments. I'm a little concerned about some construction details. I mean, click on the image below to get a larger version, then read these instructions. They're a hoot! To be fair, they are exactly as advertised: a direct translation of the original French directions that came with the pattern. I've worked with patterns like this before, but it may take a little work. I'll be sure to share any insights I get from this process.

Eva Dress 1887 French Bat Costume + Trundle Manor's Halloween party = Perfect Match

2011-11-11T08:56:00.010-05:00

In my last post, I had purchased the Eva Dress 1887 French Bat Costume, but I did not know what I was going to make it for. Then we got invited to the Halloween Party at Trundle Manor in Pittsburgh, PA. "Oh", I thought to myself, "that's what I bought that pattern for!" And I was right.

Before I get to the nitty-gritty of costume construction details, enjoy these photos from a fellow party guest. Is excellent, no?

Step 1: Hoop Skirt

I used the Laughing Moon Hoop Skirt pattern. I made a variation of View A. Following Eva Dress's suggestion, I left off the top-most hoop to accomodate the fact that the corset is intentionally worn over the hoops. I also shortened the patten by removing the bottom-most hoop section. The skirt pattern is intentionally short, ending around mid-calf, and I am also rather short (5' 2").

I used polyvinyl tubing from the hardware store (the stiffer stuff), which sells for about $0.35/foot. The internet seemed to think that if historical accuracy was not required in one's undergarments, then this was a perfectly functional analog to hoop wire ($3.75/foot). I deemed it that historical accuracy was NOT required, given the price differential.

I made the hoop skirt out of some red linen that I always assumed I'd find a noble use for, but since it has haunted my stash for at least five years, I was ready to see this as it's calling. Once I'd given myself that kind of license, I became a mad woman! I was making a garment that would not be seen, which meant that I could construct it for stability first, and looks second. I zigzagged that seam allowances open so that the tubes would be easier to insert. So ugly! So practical!

I folded the bian tape all the way open for maximum maneuverability.

I held the hoops together with a barbed connector. The biggest challenge was getting the tubing the right length. Too short, and why bother with hoops at all? Too long, and it would be easy to burst a seam (which I almost did). Other than that concern, this went together easily, and the tubing worked like a dream. The skirt was not terribly heavy, so I don't know when the plastic tubing might give up, but I'm sold on it for now.

Step 2: The Skirt

The skirt is a standard underskirt. It has been well drafted to work with the LM hoop, so I had no fitting problems there. Here is the skirt base over the hoop skirt:

Once the base was done, it was time to start pleating the ruffles. I had found the PERFECT silk for these pleats: light weight and translucent, but with a crisp enough hand to hold the pleats once they were ironed in. AND I found it is the silk remnants bin at G Street. The problem was that they only had 6 yards of the stuff, not the 7 recommended by the pattern. I knew that I was going to have to rearrange the plancement lines, but I also choose to simply zigzag over the finished edge of the ruffle strips rather than do a double fold narrow hem as recommended. If did the finished edge before a pleated, contrary to the directions, because I just couldn't figure out how I was going to finish the edges once the pleats were done without risking a major sewing disaster. In the end, for my fabric, it worked out well.

The pleating took a looooooong time, in the neighborhood of 12 hours. I couldn't do it in one go, so it took me three or four pleat-and-watch-Downton-Abbey sessions. Once I had the 7 rows of pleated material, I set about arranging them on the skirt. I also quickly realized that I did not pleat all the rows in the same direction, but through some sort of sewing goddess intervention, I did pleat 1/2 in one direction and the other 1/2 in the other, so I could alternate the pleats in the most visible parts of the skirt -- not a mistake, a design detail... yes.

Because I did not have the recommended 7 yards, I had to use the last strip to piece together the gaps in the back, but it all worked out in the end.

It was about this the time that I took this photograph that I started to see the pitfalls of making an all-black, detail rich costume -- it's very hard to photograph:

Here's another shot with more flash:

Step 3: Wings

At my raid on G Street, I found a novelty wool that had the perfect hand for the bat wings: solid enough to be self-faced, opaque, and just a little bit of stretch, but it was wool and not on sale so I bought exactly the 2 yards that the pattern recommended. I tested the wing pattern out on the dress form and I could already see that they would need to be shortened by at least 6" for my height. With that much to take out, I decided to decrease 1" every 6" from the adjustment lines down and then redraw the pattern lines.

Once those adjustments were made, I went to lay out the pattern. I soon discovered that there was a typo in the yardage charts. Eva Dress has corrected this error, but if you bought this pattern before November 2011, make sure you note in your pattern that the self-faced wings require 4 yards of fabric, not 2. To get everything on the fabric I had, I took some of the width out and gave up trying to match grain lines. After looking at Eva Dress's wing photos, I decided that the wings were going to be stretched in all kinds of strange directions and that my fabric already had a lot of give and that I did not want to drive the 90 minutes back to G Street in hopes that they still had more of the magic wing fabric. Here's my final layout:

I also cut yards of 1" bias strips out of a dark grey lining fabric, so I would have some shiny contrast to highlight the wing struts. I used the flexible plastic tubing from the hardware store, as recommended by the pattern. It worked like a dream and it really cheap. I suppose that it you wanted to be more period, stiff cording would work. In any case, hoop wire would be far too stiff, so avoid that.

The wings require a loot of fiddling bias tape finishing, if you use self-faced fabric, but what are you going to do? I also reinforced the center back section that attaches to the corset with some heavy denim. I knew that I planned to pin the wings to the corset rather than sew hooks & eyes into the corset itself, so I wanted lots of support for the pinning and re-pinning.

Step 4: Fichu

I made the fichu out of silk organza, which worked great. I tried it first with the novelty fabric I used for the polonaise, but the netting was too wide to work well with the pleats and darts. Nothing exciting to report on this stage.

Stage 5: Polonaise

The polonaise is just a draped section of fabric. I tried it pinned several ways before I found an arrangement I liked. Once I got that figured out, I just stitched the fabric to a piece of gross grain ribbon a the two key points. Again, the plan was to pin it to the corset or skirt instead of using permanent hooks & eyes.

Stage 6: accessories

The pattern includes a corset pattern and glove pattern, but I found a terrific pair of vintage gloves and I already owned a black corset, so I did not attempt those pieces. I also found a period caplet which I got at an antique store the day before the party for added warmth.

I scored an excellent pair of black Victorian style costume boots from the Spirit Halloween store for $25. Surprisingly comfortable and stable. I searched high and low for a chest bat, but never found anything I really liked. I bought an Alchemy Gothic pewter bat necklace and a few hat-trimming bats the day after Halloween, and them we were off!

Here's what everything looked like on my dress form (I pinned the wings to the heavy curtains to help the wing struts fall into shape):

As soon as I had the shoes, I needed to do a quick dry run. Thanks to my DH for taking these photos:

Trundle Manor Party Reflections

The final get up included some extra layers for warmth, since the party was going to be an indoor/outdoor affair. I bought thermal leggings, thigh high socks, a pair of flannel PJ pants, 2 scarves, a lace undershirt, and the caplet. By the end of the night, I was wearing them all and still a little chilly, but the party was amazing and we all looked pretty excellent.

Here are some photos of the final presentation:

A Final Thought

All black costumes are really hard to photograph and show off in low light. If I were to start this costume again, I would work with bat color schemes found in nature, like grays or browns. There are a lot of different textures in this costume, so it's still visually interesting in person, but since I don't wear it every day I feel that some of the impact in lost. Here are a few bat photos for palate guidance:

My new obsession: EvaDress's Cos80-1887 French Bat Costume, circa 1887

2011-08-31T07:32:00.002-04:00

For what event? I don't know. Clearly, that is not the point. This arrived yesterday:

Squuuuuuueeeeeee!

KwikSew #3531 -- My first commissioned work

2011-08-23T09:35:00.007-04:00

Earlier this summer, I put my services up for my church's annual auction. I belong to a tiny church, so most of the congregation auctions services & parties to each other. I offered 40 hours of sewing project time and a friend "purchased" it for, I think, $90. My friend is an avid quilter and had a pile of Japanese quilting fabric that she wanted to use to create a patchwork jacket. She picked out KwikSew #3531, which looks like this:

I forgot to take pictures of the construction process, but it was very straight forward. I did a muslin and made only minor adjustments for fit. I did a second muslin with the alterations, checked the fit, and then we went to town cutting out the fashion fabric. I was very glad to have her help. She got to design the patchwork layout just the way she wanted. I pieced it together and used the second muslin as underlining. There was some difference is the weights of the quilting fabrics, so I decided it would be a good idea to underline them for stability. I constructed the outer layer, and had my friend over for a final fitting. She wanted this to serve as a light jacket, so I added light shoulder pads and drafted a lining for it.

After the final fitting, I attached the lining entirely by hand. I know, I know, I could have bagged the lining, but this was my first time drafting a lining pattern from scratch and I was working with some very slippery charmeuse. It was just going to be easier to fuss with it slowly. Here are pictures of the finished piece, inside and out:

Finished on my dress form, which is smaler than my friend, but it does the job.

I hand-stitched the buttonholes, which were made in the seam of the collar -- very cool design detail. Note the OCD thread color changes.

Hand understitched facings:

Hand inserted lining. I lined the bodice in this cool fabric, not because I am awesome, but because I cut the lining wrong the first time I did it. I happened to have this in the stash from a Project That Never Was, so I think it all worked out for the best. I had enough of the original solid black lining for the sleeves, which was good, because I did not want to add yet another pattern that might be seen as she moved in the jacket.

I also learned how to do ladder stitches for the lining pleat. Fun!

The presentation...

And that's my first happy customer!

I really enjoyed doing this project. I learned some new techniques (drafting a lining & ladder stitches) and I also feel more confident about doing work for other people. I'm definitely going to donate this again next year.

TV 423 two-Tones bodice Air Hostess Final images

2011-05-23T09:23:00.003-04:00

I just returned for a very successful Steampunk World's Faire. The outfits were a great success. WE entered the costume contest and took special mention for best presentation. the group looked great and our props totally sold costume. Enjoy!

TV 423 Two-Toned Bodice (Airship hostess) Part 9 -- COMPLETED!

2011-05-03T10:11:00.003-04:00

So the beast is finally done! Here are the last few steps, wherein I do as many things backwards as possible.

Sleeves

I decided to interline the sleeves with my ticking, but not to line them because I didn't want the armscye to get overcrowded. This meant that I have to catchstitch the seam allowances and use bias tape to enclose the cuff seam.

This was a lot of tedious hand sewing, but I finally got that done over two nights.

only to discover that I had put one of the cuffs on backwards...

ARGH!!!!

I took one cuff off and reattached it and things were back to normal. Then I set the sleeves. Even after all the fiddling I did, I still felt that the armscye was uncomfortably tight. I was ready to "rage quit" this project, but William suggested that I leave it on the dressform to stretch out for a few days. That helped a lot. The arms aren't perfect, but I should be able to wear this for a few hours at a time now.

Buttons

I marked out the buttonhole spacing and put the buttonholes in all 1/2" from the left opening. I haven't checked yet, but I'm pretty sure that the holes were supposed to go on the righthand side. Oh well! As long as the other air hostesses do the same, we will match.

I also knew that I was going to need to use the button placement to do my last fitting tweaks, so I tested the button placement using safety pins. I thought this was rather clever. (NB: the 1/2" ball buttons needed the same opening as a 5/8" flat button)

Then I sewed the buttons on...

All finished!

And it's done. I tacked the patch onto the left sleeve and we're good to go. More full-costume images to come in a few weeks!

TV 423 Two-Toned Bodice (Airship hostess) Part 8

2011-04-15T08:56:00.005-04:00

I tried on muslin 2.0 to check the fit. There is a lot more ease, but I wanted to test the fit with and without boning. I think I'm going to need most of this ease to accommodate the three layers + boning.

Front fit looks OK:

But there seems to be waaaaay too much room in the back peplum:

I did my best to pin out the excess between the side and side back pieces:

and rechecked the fit. things are looking better!

Then I pinned in the boning and called it a night:

Yesterday, I was in the DC area and I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with the other two air hostesses, Eugenia and Tracy (who, by the way, had a much better time with their initial fittings than I did). Eugenia helped me redistribute the back peplum more evenly and then we turned our attention to figuring out the sleeve.

Sleeve notes

The sleeve is designed to have a front side (the larger piece called the "outer sleeve") and a back side (the smaller piece called inner sleeve) rather than a more traditional top side and bottom side. The front or outer side is the sleeve piece that is most visible when you look at the garment from the front. The inner sleeve still sits mostly on the under side of the arm, but about 1/2 of the piece is visible from the back view of the garment.

To add to the confusion, the pattern pieces appear to have been printed in a non-standard way. I am used the to idea that, unless otherwise indicated, the pattern piece is printed from the righthand side view. You lay the pattern down over the front side of your fabric and if you only cut one layer, you have cut out the righthand side of that pattern piece.

There were not layout instructions with this pattern, so there was no indication I should expect anything different from this pattern. On closer inspection; however, it became obvious that one of the two sleeve pieces must have been printed from the lefthand side perspective. After about 15 minutes of thinking about it, we decided that the outer sleeve was printed from the lefthand perspective:

and that the inner sleeve was printed from the standard, righthand perspective:

This may have contributed to the rotation issues I had the first time I made the sleeve. I cut the muslin and Tracy was kind enough to help me pin fit it:

This is a much more natural fit then my first attempt. Hooray!

I noticed that the last fitting issue seemed to be som extra room in the side front piece. It turned out that both Tracy and Eugenia had had to make minor adjustments in the same area. Tracy pinned out the excess and I think I will be able to just fold this little extra out of the pattern and not have to rotate it into the seam, but we'll see when I take this apart.

I am feeling so much better about this project now. I think I'm ready to make changes to the pattern and start cutting out for the final version either today or Sunday.

TV 423 Two-Toned Bodice (Airship hostess) Part 7 "A New Hope"

2011-04-13T11:32:00.006-04:00

Now that I completed the skirt, it was time to face the music again. I knew that the armscye needed lots of adjustments, but I put the bodice back on the dress form to see if there was anything I wanted to change since I was not committed to a complete redo from the pattern up.

The view from the back looks pretty good:

But you can see from the side view, that I need to drop the waist and take in the back peplum area:

I pinned out some of the excess in the back and tightened up the waist (effectively moving the narrowest part of the back waist farther down).

It's a little hard to see in the photo because I had to pin out, but the fit was much improved.

Since I was going to redo the whole thing anyway, I decided to redraft the front to bring the contrast section a little more narrow and closer in line with the concept drawing. This means a narrower center front and a wider side front:

Those adjustments made, it was time to transfer the changes back to the pattern. Again. This time I want to focus on the armscye fit, so I decided to trace off my sloper so that I could cut it up into a more princess seam shape and see where that put the arm hole.

tracing the sloper:

paper copy that I can cut up

Deciding how much to drop the waist:

D'oh! I forget to add a seam allowance at the neck edge (the sloper has no seam allowances). Maybe that is part of the reason the collar wasn't sitting right:

Widening the side front:

Narrowing the center bust & adding 1/2" to front opening (I want a little more wiggle room for the buttons).

And here's where all my troubles began

Seriously, you mean I have to read all the directions?

That's right friends, up until now I had been using 5/8" seam allowances on all muslins and the final version except where the instructions made a note about 1/2" seams. I bet if I could go back in time and start again with true 1/2" seams, most of my fitting problems might have resolved themselves. I have a brief moment where I thought that I might be able to just resew the current bodice, but then I remembered the clipped seams and the unfixable armscye.

Oh well.

I resolved to sew this muslin with 1/2" seam allowances and I expected things to be a little loose in the front, as I had transferred all the 1/8" seam increases I made as I was desperately trying to save the latest version. I saw how fast extra ease gotten eaten up with the lining and I'm going to add poly boning on this version, which will also add some bulk. I can take things in if it's still too loose in parts later.

muslin 2.0

Here is the latest muslin in ticking:

The back looks good and I like the extra length. It will make me look taller.

The side view reveals the extra room at the front. Some of these seams are now adding in 1/2" instead of 1/4" because I added the extra 1/8" to the cutting line before I realized that I would sew 1/2" seams instead of 5/8" seams. I'm sure some of this will come back out later.

I now have a 1 1/2" overlap in the front. 1/2" will be seam allowance, leaving me with 1" instead of 1/2" for the buttons. I like having the extra room for now.

Tonight I will try tacking in some boning and trying it on my body. If nothing looks outrageous, I look at sleeves again.

Question: do we want to keep a burgundy collar or do we want to go with a bronze collar so that it is more visible?

TV 291 Walking Skirt for Airship Hostess

2011-04-12T21:11:00.002-04:00

As promised, here is my quick review of the skirt for the air hostess costume. We are using Truly Victorian's Walking Skirt pattern (TV 291). It went together very easily. I made the MED size for the 26" - 28" waist range. I widened the placket piece and made the waistband 2" longer, as per the suggestion in the instructions. I like to have extra flexibility in costume pieces.

There was nothing tricky about this. I used a 2" seam allowance at the bottom hem to shorten the length just a little for more comfortable walking and so I could show off whatever saucy shoes I end up buying to go with this.

The only strange outcome seems to be that the waist circumference is much smaller than I expected. You can see here that the back doesn't quite match, but the waist is the right measurement. Huh. I'm glad I put in the extra wide placket and longer waistband.

Here are more shots and the finished skirt:

I to give you some idea what the final piece will look like:

I think we should add some of the burgundy to the skirt somewhere. I think we might all have enough to make some kind or trim. I think I got the bulk of the extra fabric, so we can spread it around.

TV 423 Two-Toned Bodice (Airship hostess) Part 6

2011-04-11T09:03:00.008-04:00

Oh such sadness!

Yesterday I went back to the bodice to attempt the fit the sleeves and finished that part off. I think I solved to rotation issue nicely, but I soon began to see that I had cut the armscye back to where the seam should be at the top of the shoulder.

I should have spotted this earlier, I now realize. Back in part 3, I had a pattern mismatch scare. I need now that I should have recut the side back them and there.

But no! Then, I cut what remained of the lower front armsyce seam allowance out, thinking that this would improve the fit.

Unknowingly, that left no seam allowance. I did get the sleeve pinned on successfully, which gave me hope, but when I took it off and looked inside, I had pinned the sleeve to the last 1/16" of the armscye. I tried moving it up, but the shoulder width was getting uncomfortably narrow.

It was time to face facts: I will probably have to rip this apart and recut all of the bronze regions: the side back, side, and side front. At this point, I might even decide to remake the whole thing.

balls.

Before I could even consider this option, I needed to know if I would even have enough of the bronze fabric to do this. Also, I really needed a taste of success again.

I laid out the pieces for the skirt pattern (TV 291: Walking Skirt) and it turns out I should have plenty of fabric left over for a complete remake. I spent the rest of yesterday making the skirt because I just couldn't face the bodice. I got all but the last of the hand sewing done. I should have pictures and a review of the pattern up by tomorrow.

Here is a list of proposed changes and approaches to TV423 bodice 2.0:

1. No linings, only facings. Adding the lining seems to bee the source of many fitting problems in the lower rib cage area, so I can see no real need for it in a costume piece. I'm also going to be wearing this for the first time in late May in New Jersey, so I should be plenty warm without it. Facing things should allow this tightly fit garment to flex a little more as needed.

2. Consider moving the back waist down about 1". It appears to have crept up when I adjusted the shoulder angle.

3. redraft the armscye using my sloper as a guide and then, and this is key, remember to leave seam allowances.

4. test the fitting changes with a muslin made out of the ticking fabric I bought for my last project. Once everything is fit, I might be able to use this as the interlining. (Fitting note: watch the ease!)

5. use the sleeve pattern as only a rough guide. Test fit and redraft the pattern from the muslin. After I finished adjusting the sleeves yesterday, the rotation was very far from the concept drawing.

Notice how my back sleeve seam meets the side back seam, whereas in the design drawing, the sleeve seam is much higher up.

6. Consider boning with poly boning. Once this has wearing ease, the waist might need some light boning to maintain smooth curves at the waist.

7. Check the fit of the back hip. Right now I've got a cute peplum look, but the design drawing has the back lying smooth. I may have to take in the back hip to get a smooth fit. I won't be wearing a bustle with this.

I'm going to try to keep my cool with this. I have two other air hostesses who are expected to do this pattern with me. However, if I can't get this successfully fit, I might request a different bodice pattern for the costume. I'm almost at my limit with this one.

TV 423 Two-Toned Bodice (Airship hostess) Part 5

2011-04-07T09:41:00.002-04:00

Update from last night...

I let out the side seams 1/8" (for a total expansion of 1/2"). That was good, but not enough.

I was going to let out the center front, but, of course, I had already clipped it. Instead, I let out the darts 1/8" (for an additional 1/2"). Things were definitely looking better, but I wanted to be extra sure that I had enough room for the buttons, so I let out the centerfront/front side seam 1/8".

This brought me up to a total of 1 1/2" extra ease in the lower rib cage area and I think I have enough room for buttons now.

I also marked where I think I would like to expand the armsyce, but I have actually cut it out yet. I'm going to try basting the sleeve in and see if it feels better. This also might help me solve the rotation issue I was having.

I didn't take any pictures because the visible qualities of the bodice haven't changed at all. One fitting note though:

now that the bodice is no longer "skin tight" the curved seams are more flexible and I'm reconsidering adding boning. Also, I noticed that the back waist is starting to creep up above my natural waist. (This makes sense, since I lopped off about 1.25" at the neck when I did the shoulder adjustment) I am little stuck about what to do about this. It's tempting to just take the back pieces in at the waist, but this might destroy the ease I just added.

Proposed next steps:

Step 1: fix sleeve fit at the armscye

Step 2: fix sleeve length

Step 3: install final version of sleeves

Step 4: add buttons, so I know that I will be able to close the bodice

Step 5: make the skirt. I dont want to make any more bodice adjustments that will effect the waist circumference (adding boning, or taking in the back waist) until I know how the skirt will change the way the bodice sits.

Once I have the skirt done, I think I will be in a better place to decide about further changes to the bodice.

TV 423 Two-Toned Bodice (Airship hostess) Part 4

2011-04-06T11:29:00.006-04:00

Let's get this out of the way right now: YYYYARGGGGH!

::deep breath::

It had been quiet... too quiet. This project has been full of fitting challenges, but somewhere between inserting the lining and adding the sleeves things have gone all FUBAR.

Design ease, where did it go?

This piece has no design ease. The bodice is intended to fit very closely over the corset. Fine. The joy of wearing a corset is that you can adjust yourself to the clothes a little when necessary. I had pinned on the bodice right before I inserted the lining. I had an even 1" overlap in the front all the way down. The pattern calls for just a 1/2" overlap for the buttons, so I assumed I was all good. I inserted the lining with a 1/2" seam allowance as directed and didn't bother to refit, because who wants to put on a corset at midnight if you're not going out?

Yesterday before starting the sleeves, I clipped my seams at the waist, finally satisfied that I was all fit. I should have known better.

I got one sleeve on and got laced up and ... the horror! I was laced to my regular measurements but I could no longer get the thing pinned closed. Ack!

After about 10 minutes of fiddling, I finally got it all pinned together.

Sure, it looks ok, but between my waist and underbust (the lower rib cage area) there are some places that are only pinned together by about 1/8".

I'm never going to get buttons on here!

What I find strange is where I am having trouble with the fit. I'm used to having trouble at the waist -- it changes size fairly regularly, or at the bust -- who's proportional anyway? But to have it fit those two spots just fine, but have trouble in between them feels strange.

Here I have pin marked the area that is too tight. I have some ideas about how to fix this that don't involve throwing it in the trash, but first...

Sleeves... WTF?!!?!

I measured my armpit to wrist measurement at the beginning of the project and came up with 17", which is the same measurement that the pattern says the sleeves are for... WINNING! Yesterday, I did a quick re-measurement and came up with 16"... CRAP!

I had already cut out the sleeves, so I decided to split the difference and and just take 1/2" off the wrist edge of the large cuffs. I constructed the sleeve, added the cuff, inserted the lining, and trimmed the seam before I tested the fit. Again, I should have know better.

Take a closer look at this sleeve:

This is supposed to be a full length sleeve. I've got, like, a 7/8" sleeve. This fashion statement is know as "gangly-teenager chic"... or not.

Apparently I do have a 17" undersleeve length. I can't just let out the cuff, because I clipped in already. I can recut the cuff and put it in, but before I do that, let's discuss the armsyce disaster area.

The sleeve cap is rotated waaaaay too far forward. I set and reset the sleeve, trying to adjust the gathers to fix this problem, but there seems to be a bigger problem than that. You can see the rotation issues better in this front shot:

Also, the bottom of the armhole is up too high. I didn't get as much room from the seam as I had hoped. All the extra room seems to be taken up with the 6 layers of seam allowance, go figure.

Solutions

Since all of these problems may be interlocking, I'm struggling to decide on the best order to try my solutions. If there is one fix that can solve two problems, I'd like to know. For now, here is my proposed plan:

Step 1: expand wearing ease in the rib cage

Step 1.a: Let out 1/8" from the side seam that runs under the arm. I'll let this seam out from the armpit to the waist. I don't seem to need extra room in the hips. This should give me a total of 1/2" more ease in this area. That's 1/8" on the right side, 1/8" on the right side back, 1/8" on the left side, and 1/8" on the left side back.

Step 1.b: Check fit, if I still need more room, go to Step 1.c

Step 1.c: Let out 1/8" to 1/4" from the center fronts to add 1/4" to 1/2" more ease

Step 1.d: Check fit, if I still need more room, go to Step 1.e

Step 1.e: Let out 1/8" to 1/4" from the center back to add 1/4" to 1/2" more ease, if this fails, we might be looking at a total pattern redo. The rest of the curved seams have been clipped (of course!) and so they may no have room to let out.

Step 2: Adjust armscye height

Surely making the armscye wider will affect the fit, so I don't want to drop it down before I widen that seam. I think I need to drop the bottom down about 1/2". I still want a snug, high fit, I just don't want it poking at me all day. I also may need to open up the front area a little more.

Step 3: Adjust sleeve rotation

I think that the main source of the sleeve issue is that is a notch on the front underside of the armscye that serves as the match point for the front undersleeve seam. As I redrafted the pattern, I may not have updated the location of the notch correctly. On the other hand, this problem may have solved itself after the other two adjustments that effect this area. We'll have to wait and see.

Step 4: Adjust sleeve length

Normally, I would just cut out two more sleeves and be done with it. I have plenty of bronze fabric, but I also need that fabric to make the matching skirt. Bother! Also, the other armscye adjustment might also effect the sleeve length. I have several options.

option 1: In the best of all possible worlds, I just need to add the 1/2" back to the cuff and leave the sleeves as they are. If that's not going to be enough length, I have to consider...

option 2: Laying out the skirt pattern to find out how much I really need. Do I even have enough to consider recutting the sleeve. I do have enough extra, I think I'd like to recut the sleeve. Depending on how much extra length I need after I've added the 1/2" back to the cuffs, I might only need to recut one sleeve and just use a narrower seam allowance on the other sleeve and I have sewn yet.

option 3: If I don't have enough extra fabric, I'm going to have to go with longer cuffs. This is my least favorite option because then I won't match my other two air hostesses as closely, but I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who will notice or care.

To my fellow hostesses. It is my sincere hope that my experiments will mean that your process will go much faster.

Today's Lessons

Don't clip or trim any seam until you absolutely have to, you never know when you might need it.
Leave at least an extra 1/2" of ease is to accommodate a full lining. It gets eaten up by the seams -- not really the seam allowances, just the extra space needed to handle the extra thickness of the seams when the lining is turned to the inside.

TV 423 Two-Toned Bodice (Airship hostess) Part 3

2011-04-04T09:53:00.015-04:00

... and we're back!

This weekend was a serious marathon sewing session. I can tell that it is going to take awhile to record it all. To pick up where I left off, I marked to tucks and adjustments on the muslin and then took it apart and traced those changes back onto my pattern. Here the muslin piece:

and here's the pattern piece over the muslin:

Moving the bust dart

The biggest challenge I've hit so far with the pattern was moving the bust dart that I had to fold in to make the last muslin lay smooth. I've seen people do this and it always looks like magic. I was nervous, so I went to the internet and found a few great sources. After reading and watching these sites, I felt ready to attempt is on my own:

Rusty Bobbin

Modern Twist

A Little Sewing

1. start by copying the bust dart onto the pattern.

2. retrace the pattern piece incase something goes horribly wrong

3. cut out the bust dart

4. cut a line from one of the dart edges to the bust point, leaving a teensy, tiny hinge in the paper

5. close the bust dart by sliding the top part of the pattern down

This moved the shaping dart up into the shoulder princess seam. If this were a regular full bodice front, I would have had to open up a dart somewhere else to maintain the shaping.

The last thing I did isn't really a part of moving the dart, but I also needed to expand the center front to create enough room for the button overlap. First I just added it to the center front, but then I started to worry about the grainline. I decided to add the extra fabric into the seam instead.

Muslin 1.3

I cut out the side front and center front pieces again and reattached them to the muslin. Then I started to cackle like a mad scientist in a bad sci-fi movie. It's alive! Muaaahahahhha...

My plan worked! I was so excited I could hardly believe it.

Fitting the shoulders

As I have discussed before, my shoulder slope and width differ significantly from my dress form and I can see no good fix for that. At some point, I have to fit things on my own body. I tried the muslin on without the corset to check for major issues and the arm hole was set too far back for me. You can see the creases at the front of my shoulder. The shoulders are also too long. The shoulder should only extend about 5/8" past my shoulder point and in the photo you can see that I've got cute little cap sleeves.

I put the corset on and enlisted my DH to help redraw the armscye, pin fit the shoulder, and redraw the back neck. He's getting very good at this now. I'm very lucky to have his help!

I took the muslin apart and transferred the changes back to the pattern. Here are some action shots.

midway through crosshatching the shoulder seam

reminding myself that I had marked the new seam lines, but that I would still need to add a seam allowance

the shoulder seams after I removed the pins

armscye shifted forward:

tracing the adjustments back onto the pattern

When your patterns start to look like this, you know you just have to bite the bullet and retrace them:

Final construction begins!

I was finally ready to cut this out of my fashion fabric, interlining, and lining. I got really sick of cutting and sewing this pattern by the end of the night. For some pattern pieces, I have cut and sewn them 9 times.

I used a medium weight twill I had in my stash for the interlining. I was very happy with the way it behaved.

I had a moment of panic during construction. I thought I had miss cut the side back because it did not match the front shoulder:

It turned out, after I tried it on, that I had cut the side front too large in the shoulder. I was very glad to hear that because it was much faster to fix. I just cut off the extra bit on the front:

bodice construction notes

Here it is! I've decided not to bone the seams. It's going over a corset and the interlining appears to offer plenty of support. I might do boning if I didn't want to wear a corset or if I had interlined with a lightweight muslin. Fellow airship hostesses should take this into consideration.

I'll say it before anyone else does. Deanna Troy. I like the contrast fabric in the front. It says "Coffee? Tea? Me?" but I'll be covered from neck to wrists to ankle.

I cut out and installed the collar and lining late last night. I loathe collars. They never come out well. *sigh*. I was too tired last night to take more photos. Tomorrow I shall attempt the sleeves and cuffs. If all goes well, it should be done except for buttons. I will have to decide about those with the other airship hostesses so we have a uniform look.

Then on to accessories! (oh, and the skirt)

TV 423 Two-Toned Bodice (Airship hostess) Part 2

2011-04-01T21:13:00.005-04:00

Now that I had copied off my pattern, I decided that the adjustments I was going to make to the back waist length were so dramatic that it was time to drag out my sloper. A sloper is a custom fit basic pattern and it is a very useful tool in fitting.

For the project, the sloper is just a very loose guideline because I will be wearing a corset which is distort my shape, but it should keep my back length about the same. I laid the center back piece over the sloper to get an idea of how much difference there really was.

oh boy! This is going to be a big adjustment.

Before I tried to shorten anything, I decided to get a look at how the three back pieces fit together.

OK, this looks plausible.

The waist is cutting in a little bit, but it looks like the back dart in the sloper and the corset should keep this from being a problem.

I folded out the excess back length and front length and laid everything out on the sloper to see if this still felt like a reasonable set of changes.

Everything looked like is was semi-normal. I left the front lengths a little longer due to the difference in my corseted shape and the fact that the sloper is darted but the pattern is princess seamed. It was finally time to bite the bullet and cut out muslin #1!

The good news

The good news is that is looks like the back length is dead on. The slope of the dress form's shoulders disorts things a little bit, but the back of the cover is where the nape of my neck is, so I make sure that the back neck is in line with this target.

We're looking OK from the side too...

But, it's the front that's the problem.

I am supposed to have a 1" overlap in the front for the buttons, but this is not going to even come close. I don't really understand why because this whose system is designed to fit the bust better on the first try. I took a closer look at what was happening in the front and found a few possible explanations.

First, I think I need to go up one pattern size on the front. That's easy to do, but it doesn't address all the issues. The main issue is that I think I shortened the front in the wrong place. Take a look at this:

Awkward camera angle aside, the natural waist mark on the pattern is now above my natural waist. This never happens to me.

Also, the bust point now seems too low:

I think I need to adjust the pattern so that the bust point moves back up to the green pin head.

Back to the drafting board

The back three pieces seems fine, so I concentrated my efforts on the side front and center front pieces. Using my sloper, I adjusted the side front pattern so that I was taking out more from the side waist than the front wait. I also made sure to take the excess out above the bust point so that I could maintain the original bust point to waist ratio.

Above is the side front pattern resting on top of my sloper. You can see that the bust notch is in line with my bust point.

Here the the same pattern piece laid out and taped.

Then I needed to adjust the center front piece so that it matched up with the side front. For some reason, I didn't photograph that step.

After cutting out and attaching the new side front and center front pieces to the muslin, I had better results.

As per the instructions, I pinned out the waist excess into the fron darts.

There was some gapping that the front so I pinned out that excess.

The pattern is suppose to maintain a 1" overlap in the front for the buttons. Clearly, I don't have that. I have two tasks ahead of me for muslin 1.2.

1. figure out how to rotate that new bust dart into the princess seam.

2. blend in some extra fabric on the center front to create a 1" overlap for buttons.

These two changes only effect the center front piece. I also have to adjust the dart on the side waist.

Once these changes are taken care of, I'll be ready to try it on to adjust the armscye and the shoulder slope.

TV 423 Two-Toned Bodice (Airship hostess) Part 1

2011-03-31T07:52:00.002-04:00

And for my next trick...

As part of my costumery for The Steampunk World's Fair, I am putting together a group costume with friend. Three of us are going to be airship stewardesses. We are also going to have a mechanic, a captain, and perhaps a co-pilot or SP TSA agent. It should be good times.

For the stewardess costume we are going to use Truly Victorian #423 for the top and Truly Victorian #291 for the skirt. I've just started on the bodice and don't have any exciting pictures yet, but here is the concept drawing from the Truly Victorian website:

We are using a brassy silk for the sides and sleeves and a dark burgundy for the contrast centers, cuffs, and collars.

I love the Truly Victorian system for choosing pattern sizes. Instead of having standard sizing based solely on bust and wait measurements, you take your bust, waist, back length, back width, and armhole circumference. For a bodice like this with multiple pieces that join together, you select back pieces based on your back width and then choose front pieces based on bust - back width. The idea is that you'll get a better fit if you understand that your total circumference is not evenly distributed.

For those of us that are bustier, this makes perfect sense. Of course more of my circumference is in the front! This pattern method allows you to start out with this fact taken into account and I'm very interested to see how it works out.

When we took my back length measurement, I came out at a 13.5" length which is absurdly short. It's 2" shorter than their shortest pattern option, so I'm still going to require some pretty massive adjustments.

I've traced the pattern pieces and I'm ready to get started on muslin #1 as soon as I have time to cut out fabric.

Ageless Patterns #1006 (Part 5 FINISHED!!!)

2011-03-27T19:06:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, we went to Trundle Manor in Pittsburgh to celebrate my husband's birthday. Trundle Manor is a private museum of oddities with a bit of Victorian/steampunk/rockabilly flavor. We had a great time and I highly recommend it!

Only a small taste of the wonders that await you at Trundle Manor!

I also got a debut the full outfit! But first, how cool is this idea? I'm stealing it:

And now, here we are all finished:

and some close ups for detail

Ageless Patterns #1006 (Part 4)

2011-03-25T10:12:00.007-04:00

I am impatient. I told myself I was going to make a third muslin to test the last round of pattern adjustments, but then Idecided I was confident enough to move forward without it. I really want to wear this outfit this weekend at my DH's birthday party.

I hemmed and hawed over how to match the stripes. My fashion fabric has uneven stripes and I've never had to match stripes before. (Of course it has uneven stripes! Why would I start simple and work towards more complex projects?) I consulted references. I played with layout. Finally, I cut and put the bodice together.

Stripes

I'm not unhappy with these results, but I clearly did not understand which elements of the striping would have the most visual impact.

I should have focused more on the horizontal seams rather than the vertical seams for this piece because (I think) of the extreme curves at the waist. There's no real way to match those and I would have gotten a lot out of matching stripes at the back shoulder.
Maybe it would have been better to keep the diagonal stripes in the side back to distract from the fact that the back and the side front (also visible on the back) are going to require different grain lines.
The front overlaps do mirror each other, but perhaps I would have made a stronger impact with this uneven stripe if I have matched the stripes. I suspect that this would have meant giving up matching the shoulder seam stripes, but it could have been another option.

Again, I'm not upset about the results, I just learned some lessons about stripes.

Fit

The neck and shoulder slope of my dress form is slightly different from my own and I'm not sure there's a way to fix that short of re-carving the foam core. Most of the time, this doesn't get in my way, but for tightly fitted garments, it starts to show. I tried the shell on and the fit at the back of the neck is much better on me, even though it looks worse on the dress form.

Facing/Lining

I decided that I didn't want to do a full lining for this piece.

It's a costume piece, so I should go for show over full tailoring.
Costumes are usually worn in spring or summer and can get really hot -- this bodice is already worn with a corset and two silk skirts. I will probably not catch my death of cold.
The pattern gives no explicit directions for inserting the lining. I've already had to make up so much of the construction details and I didn't want to complicate the process by trying to figure out when I should attach pieces of the lining.

However, a front facing seemed to be a good idea. It gives me something to anchor the vest piece to without risking visible stitches and it creates a nice finished look for any of the openings that might get casually exposed.

I faked up a lining pattern like this:

Revers/Lapels (wretched, wretched lapels)

I was just about to sew the facing to the top shoulder seam, when I remembered something: I had lapels and a collar to add. I would probably want the lining to go over those. I should add that it's hard to see from the bodice shell, but I hadn't sewn the shoulder seams yet. I wanted the facing to be securely anchored a the shoulder and not just hand sewn in later.

The lapels are ridiculous. They don't fold over from the main bodice like a modern suit jacket because they are "interrupted" by the neck line. I'm not describing this very well. Here's the design image again:

The lapel piece extends far beyond the opening, so it took a great deal of fiddling before I could get them to look reasonable. Here's the construction approach I finally chose. By the way, the instructions that came with the pattern said "attach revers and collar". Thanks.

Step 1) With lapel point toward center, sew right side of lapel to wrong side of fabric. This means that the bodice seam allowance will not be finished, rather just hidden by the lapel when it is folded to the right side of the bodice.

This does not thrill me, but I couldn't figure out another approach that didn't involve me redesigning the lapel pattern of putting deep slash in the bodice.

Step 2) clip the corner of the bodice opening at a 45 degree angle to release the seam allowance. (view from right side of fabric)

Step 3) fold the lapel to the right side of the bodice.

Attaching the facing

Then I sewed the facing to the bodice inside the seam allowance at the neck and shoulder.

Then I made and attached the collar. I forgot to take pictures of this part.

Sleeves & cuffs

I also forgot to take pictures of the sleeve and cuff construction. The one pearl of wisdom that I got from the sewing "instructions" that came with this pattern, was that they suggested attaching the cuffs to the sleeves before attaching the sleeves to the bodice. This made a lot of sense to me. I could tell that the cuffs were very narrow and they would certainly be easier to manipulate in the sewing machine if they were not attached to the rest of the bodice.

The sleeves went together without incident. I tried very hard to match the stripes at the elbow since I had gotten such a nice match with the ticking by accident. I got close, but not perfect. Oh well.

The cuff I made just like the collar, which means that I sewed one long end and two short ends together and then turned it. I forgot that this meant that the cuffs did not form a ring. Ooops! After consulting the design image, I decided that I could fake up some cute split cuffs and call it a design feature. This process took longer than expected and involved a lot of cursing.

Here's what it looked like after the cuffs and sleeves were attached:

Piping

The front flaps are clearly piped or at least finished with bias tape in the concept drawing. This is not mentioned in any way in the "instructions". The finishing seems to stop at the bottom opening, but since I did not line the bodice fully, I decided to continue the piping around the whole bodice for finishing.

I made bias strips out of extra under skirt fabric and then recovered some purchased piping that I had left over from another project. I actually thought I was quite clever for doing this. I have made my own piping before, but I just couldn't stomach a trip to the store for piping rope in the middle of this all-day session (this is all happening on Tuesday).

I had to hand sew it all in place because I couldn't keep everything in place in the sewing machine. After I had sewn the piping to the right side of the garment, I had to call it a night. That was about 12 hours straight of sewing project and I needed to teach in the morning.

On Thursday, I took the project to school. I have several free hours during the day on Thursdays. I usually have other things lined up to do with that time, but I sat in my office and finished attaching the facing and tacking the piping down on the inside of the unfaced edges.

Thursday evening, I chose some buttons and attached them. These buttons came from my grandmother's stash that she passed on to me. I only attached them to the overlap. I have learned that one often changes size slightly between costume wearings. The more flexible the closures, the longer the life of the costume. I going to pin the openings closed on the jacket portion. This also means I don't have to risk ruining the jacket by cutting the button holes all the way off the edge of the garment. I know, I know, there are ways to avoid it, but after a few ruined projects, button holes are the thing I am most afraid of.

Vest

The last part of the project is to make and insert the "vest" or dickey that makes up the blouse portion. I still had the pieces I made for muslin #1, so I stuck them in to see how things were looking:

AS I suspected from the beginning, the front opening does not look like the pattern includes a button overlap. Either that, or I'm exactly 1" larger than the pattern at this point. Who knows. I decided to increase the opening edges of the vest and vest collar by 1".

The vest is suppose to be tacked in place from the neck down along the waist dart. This is no longer a real possibility. I played with the vest piece for a while and decided that it wasn't really worth expanding the pattern on the inside and that I could just tack it in place at a different point.

The bottom edge, unfinished, is the perfect length, so I added 5/8" to the bottom edge so I could hem it.

At this point, I made a command decision. I was going to try to figure out how to do the pleated front, but I was now running out of time. The vest would be completed with a single layer of flat fabric.

Because I only had one layer of fabric and was getting rushed, I didn't bother to neatly finish any of the edges that wouldn't be seen. Instead I just zig-zag stitched them to keep them from unraveling.

I picked out buttons for the vest and pinned them in place, but I will need to try it on myself first before I commit to button placement. Once the buttons are on, this will be done!

Ageless Patterns #1006 (Part 3)

2011-03-20T16:42:00.006-04:00

Muslin Test #2

Joann's Red Tag Fabric selection was over priced and disappointing, so I went with ticking. It was $7/yard, but I had a 50% off coupon. I've decided that I really, really like ticking. It looks great and I need to remember it for the next time I want to use it for something steampunk-y. The fabric is an equivalent weight and hand to my fashion fabric. Here's how things are looking on the first dress form test:

I was really pleased, and then I turned under the hems and seams on the finished edges. I adjusted the hems until I like the lines I was getting.

Then I pinned on some buttons and ... squeee!

I was so excited, this is looking closer and closer to the design drawing.

I traced the desired finished edges. The original purpose of this muslin was to check the grain lines and the only piece that I really want to change is the side back. I'd like to get the bottom edges with the grain lines pointing more or less aligned, so I marked the change. Notice how I covered the skirts before marking, this occurred to me only after I just nearly missed permanently marking it.

I adjusted the sleeves by adding 3/8" to each cutting line at the armscye and blending that back to the regular cutting line at about the elbow.

The sleeve pattern & bodice patterns have no indications of the sleeve placement. This didn't bother me at first, but I attached the sleeves 3 times before I got them on right! You better believe I added those markings (front undersleeve, back undersleeve, and top of shoulder) once I was happy with the sleeve.

Then it was time to actually try the whole thing on. Luckily my DH was home to help me dress.

Overall, I was tremendously pleased with fit. A few thoughts right off the bat:

the unfinished sleeves are right where I wanted the finished length, this leads me to believe that seam allowances were not added to the cuff edges. Should be an easy fix.
the shoulders were too wide
it doesn't show well in the photos, but the upper back was creasing up around the neck line

I think we fixed the second two issues. By "we", I mean me and my very DH who helped with this part. After trying a few other attempts to fold out the excess, I detached the collar and then reattached them just at the neck openings. The collar was a pretty good fit, so I didn't want to redraft it. My DH then pinned the collar back down over the excess fabric the was creeping the back of my neck. He also had to pin out the excess into the shoulder seams as the upper back was getting too wide to fit in the collar.

The result isn't perfect, but I think this is going to be the easiest pattern adjustment. We marked the center back and the new collar line and should lines.

With the final changes made to this muslin, I changed and put the corset and skirts back on the dress form. Then I took the muslin apart and traced these changes back on the pattern.

You can see that back neck needed to come up about 1.5", not including the seam allowance. These adjustments mean that it's probably a good idea to drop the armscye a little bit more.

I think I need one more muslin to try out the final adjustments and do a full test (add lining to the front, do a full collar, cuffs, and lapels. If I'm happy with that version, that I can see if the blouse front pattern still works and I can work out the overlap for the buttons. If I'm feeling frisky, I can try to work out the pre-pleated fabric.

Ageless Patterns #1006 (Part 2) 1887 Corsage w/Pleated Surah Vest

2011-03-17T20:30:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I redrafted the pattern. I haven't cut it out yet. I'm thinking of getting something super cheap and striped from Joann's "Discount Fabric Bin of Lost Souls" so I can see how the grain lines are working out. My fashion fabric is striped, so I want to be sure that everything is straight.

OK, here's what the new pattern is looking like and how it got that way:

Step 1: mark the new seam line between back and side back by crosshatching with a marker.

Unfold and, voila!, new seam lines appear.

Then I went to work on the front pattern piece. This is where the bulk of the adjustments were made.

Step 2) Adjust the armscye. It occurred to me that clipping the arm hole open made for a good fit, but I had marked where I wanted the seam. I needed to add back the seam allowance so that I didn't over enlarge the armscye.

Step 3) Join the two front pieces (front and front extension) together to make a single piece. (I may regret this later in the pattern layout stage, but right now it makes sense). I also moved the straight across section of the neck opening over 2 5/8" so that I should get a 2 1/2" gap at the top on the finished piece.

Step 4) extend the bottom piece to (hopefully) match the top opening. I also added 1 1/4" to the bottom edge of all pieces to allow for a hem and/or adjustments to the final length. I also added the 1/8" to the side that joins the side front as planned.

Step 5) redraft the side back. You can see in these photos how I traced the changes from the muslin onto the original pattern piece and then created a new pattern piece by tracing and adjusting the old one.

Step 6) redraft the back pattern piece. I added 1/4" to the back seam and then realized that the back seam was getting pretty far off grain. I shifted the new curved seam and the lower half of the center back over 1/4". I decided to remove the back "flap" and see what that looks like. I'm not sure it's helping the bodice, especially since I want to show off the fancy overskirt.

The side front, I apparently forgot the photograph, but the adjustments were similar. I made minor change to the armscye, added l/8" to the side that joins the front piece, and added 1 1/4" to the bottom edge.

Possibly tomorrow I will make another muslin.

Ageless Patterns #1006 1887 Corsage w/Pleated Surah Vest

2011-03-15T16:34:00.018-04:00

I've started blogging about my sewing again. Things were a little busy for a while. I got married, we bought a house, you know, little things. I was still sewing, but I didn't have time to document the process.

Now I'm working on costumes for The Steampunk World's Faire which should be great fun. I've already completed two Truly Victorian patterns. You can see them on my dress form. The underskirt is TV221 and the overskirt is TV368. Both of those patterns went together very nicely and with no major alterations. They are both very simple patterns with just a few large pieces that go together to make some really great shapes. I added to optional ruffle to the underskirt, which in retrospect, was more trouble than it was worth. The skirt gathers in the back which means that it is very tedious to arrange the gathers evenly. In the over skirt, I added an interlining of 4 layers of netting to the back "waterfall" give it an added "poof". I don't think I'm going to make a bustle, so I'm trying to fake the look. I note on the TV patterns: I am 5' 2" with longer legs, but still shorter than most. The TV patterns fit exactly, so if you are significantly taller that 5' 2", you should consider lengthening the pattern.

For the top, I'm trying something more difficult than I've tried before. I'm working on a pattern from Ageless Patterns. They don't make complicated patterns, but they are reproductions of original patterns from the era. The patterns are often only single-sized and they come with the instructions from the original patterns. I'm making #1006 887 Corsage w/Pleated Surah Vest.

This pattern is labeled as "Bust 38 Waist 23". My corseted measurements are 38" bust and 27.5" waist so I figured that it wouldn't be too hard to adjust the pattern. I started by tracing off the pattern and then I followed the directions for adjusting the pattern. The instructions also mention that almost all the original patterns seem to have been drafted for short-waisted women. I am ridiculously short-waisted, so I decided to try the pattern with out wait adjustments for the first muslin.

I figured that I need to add 7/16" to each length-wise seam at the waist. I started added 7/16" of an inch to each side seam.

I took a second look and realized that adding 7/16" to every cutting line was looking like a huge increase. After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that if I was adding 7/16" to every cutting line I would be adding double the amount to the final circumference. I scaled back to adding 1/4" to every cutting line.

The vest portion is a separate piece, so I just added 1/4" to the front edge. I wasn't really sure what to do with that piece, but that seemed to match that amount that was being added to the front pattern piece.

The directions for assembling the bodice portion were straightforward, at least for the muslin. The final piece is supposed to be lined and there are no instructions for lining it. By that I mean that the instructions mention the lining, but they do not give any instructions about how to go about it.

So here's how the first muslin came out.

There is this unexplained back flap. There is a mention of a "pleated postillion", which I assume is this flap, so I tried a few different pleat arrangements.

just pleated

fancy bow folding

The overall fit is close for a first try, but there are some important issues:

The fit in the front is good, but bodice gaps significantly at the low back.

The arm holes are very tight.

The instructions are very clear that there is only one front extension, but the results don't look right.

I went back and added the second extension and then pinned in the vest muslin. Things were looking a little better.

I'm still not happy with the amount of overlap in the front. It's certainly not enough to put 4 buttons in link the design image. It's not that this is a bad fit for the waist circumference, so I think I will have to redraft the front bodice piece. More on the proposed changes at the end of the post.

I adjusted the back seams to take up the slack in the low back:

Then I tried the bodice on myself and wore it for a while, long enough to get the fabric warmed up and wrinkled. I used those wrinkles as a guideline for opening up the armscye.

Releasing the armscye improved the overall fit slightly. It also added 1 1/2" to the circumference of the armscye.

A note on the waistline. It's just about perfect for me. If I were being super picky I might drop is by 1/4", but it's close enough. now. Be forewarned, normal shaped people -- this is a short waist!

Here's where things stand now:

The pattern say that 5/8" seam allowances have been added and I think they have, but I'm not sure if the pattern really has had hem allowances added to the bottom of the pattern. I like the length of the muslin and wouldn't want it any shorter. In order to make the front of the bodice look like the design, I will also need to add at least 5/8" around the neck opening to account for the lining and lapels. Here is a list of my proposed changes to the pattern.

Add 1" to the total circumference to account for the thicker fashion fabric. To avoid distorting the seams any more, I'm going to add 1/4" to the center back cutting edge, adding 1/2" to the total circumference. Then I'm going add 1/8" to either side of the side front seam (1/8" on each cutting line). This should add 1/4" to each side front seam for a total addition of another 1/2".

Add 1 1/4" to all bottom edges to allow for a hem (except the the back "tail"). This might mean that I will have to cut the "tail" as a separate piece.

Add 1 1/2" to center front for button overlap.

Add 3/8" to each cutting edge of the 2 sleeve pieces.

Extend the section of the front that is parallel to the floor. In design image has this section extending almost all the way to the center front. I'm shooting for about a 2 1/2" gap between the two straight sections when it's finished.

Redraft the front overlaps so that there is only about a 2 1/2" gap at the bottom when finished. This should match the gap at the top.

Redraft the front overlaps so that at least the right one (the visible one) has the point in line with the lower left lapel attachment to the bodice.

Vogue 8353

2009-04-20T06:34:00.005-04:00

I am making this dress for a pre-wedding party in May. Right now it's still in progress, so a full review is forthcoming. Right now, here are some photos of the construction process.

Design view:

There is a LOT of hand basting involved to get the palid to line up reliably:

But it really helps stabilize the tucks during machine sewing:

This really pays off, even up close:

Here is the back pinned to my dress form:
The first fitting:

At the May Party:

we were having a great time. The party was sort of carnival themed (actually, we had a medicine show). My handsome fiance is standing on the strong man game. I had just won a fabulous fake mustache for performing very poorly at the strong man game.

I have reviewed the pattern fully on PatternReview.com. My biggest complaint is that you lose a LOT of width in the area of the tucks. I made the pattern for a 28" waist and measured when I was done: 27.5" Beware! Definitely go a size or two up in this. There are so few seams that it's not too terrible to adjust after the tucks if you have some room. This was a totally fun project and absolutely fit our party to a "T" .

BWOF 10-2008-114 Silk Jersey Knit top

2009-02-18T14:57:00.007-05:00

This is a much-reviewed and widely loved pattern from the October 2008 Burda World of Fashion Magazine. I was really excited to work with this lovely silk jersey knit that I found in the silk bargain bin at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, MD. Viva la Bargain Bin!

For full details, see my PatternReview.com review, for now. More here when I get a chance.

My delicious fabric... that came in a tube. D'oh!

I needed one piece on a different fold... there was nothing for it but to cut the tube.

On the advice of other PR reviewers, I left off the seam allowance on the underbust seam to compensate for my short waistedness. I also narrowed the underarm bat wing a little bit. I also left off the seam allowances on the side seams. In the end, I probably could have used them. I blended down to a 1/4" seam at the sides.

And... I'm quite happy with the finished product.

BWOF 11-2008-111 Red Wool Dress -- In progress

2008-12-31T11:35:00.005-05:00

This dress is part of my PR Endless Combinations Contest entry. After I cut this pattern out, I realized that I have cut 1 or 2 sizes larger than I needed; however, that was before I realized that BWOF do not include seam allowances. In the end, at all worked out for the best. This was not a petite pattern, but my series of happy accidents generated a muslin that needed only minor adjustments. I'm keep this trick in my hip pocket for petite-ing BWOF patterns in the future.

TIP! Making standard BWOF patterns petite
1) cut one size larger than your measurements indicate
2) do not add seam allowances
3) sew your muslin as if you had already added the seam allowances
4) adjust your muslin as necessary. You still can't skip the muslin step, but this should leave you with only minor changes in stead of more serious redrafts.

muslin front

muslin back

Pattern Adjustments I altered the armseye slightly and raised the front waist a tiny bit

In progres...

Simplicity 4059 UPDATE

2008-12-31T11:29:00.002-05:00

My dad loved the costume. He wants to get a hat and everything. :)

Here is is modeling. Very handsome.

New Look 6163 Skirt

2008-12-31T10:17:00.005-05:00

In my ongoing self-education attempts, I took a class at G Street Fabrics on making a pants sloper. In this class I learned the following interesting facts:

I need two small front waist darts to get over my pooch
I should not use back wait darts, which helps accommodate a slight sway back
my center line is farther back that most patterns. This is caused by my swy back and proportionally fuller abdomen

I haven't yet tried pants with this new sloper, but I was able to take this new knowledge and apply it to New Look 6163.

Here is the technical drawing of the skirt:

I noticed that by switching the front and back pieces, I got my standard adjustments with essentially no effort. I cut a size 14 out of the front (original back) and I size 10 out of the back (original front) in hopes of adjusting the center line.

I made a muslin and was pretty pleased with the results:

muslin front

muslin side taking pictures in a closet by oneself is hard... this explains the strange posture. I also disregarded the lapped zipper instructions that came with the pattern in favor of those on the zipper package ad I was very pleased with the results.
Notice how the side seam lines up better with my center line at the waist.

muslin back

I was so pleased with my initial adjustments that I went straight on to the fashion fabric. I got this fabric for free(!) from Gus Woolen in Baltimore. I had purchased a bunch of other wool and this piece was only 3/4 yard. I was determined to use it; however, because it is 100% cashmere. In order to fit the pattern on, I had to change the fold. Now the very subtle herringbone goes horizontally instead of vertically, but it still looks and feels FABULOUS!

I decided to use the left over fabric from this high concept, but only partially successful project. I only had one yard left, which was not enough to truly showcase the lovely print. The colors coordinated nicely, which makes me happy, even if I am the only one who will ever see it. The silk was not as wide as the wool and due to a layout blunder on my part, the lining is significantly shorter than the skirt. After an initial wearing on Christmas Eve, this turns out not to be much of a problem. The lining is still long enough to keep from riding up.

I went a little nutty with the finishing, but it was worth it in the end. The cashmere was so wonderful to handle that I didn't mind working through some Ugly Betty episodes while catch stitching all of this.

The cashmere was thicker that the muslin, so I could have used about 1/8" extra for the lap, but it still came out OK.

These aren't the best finished photos I have ever taken, but they'll have to do. The hem smoothed out considerably after hanging and I second ironing.

Simplicity 4059

2008-11-30T21:40:00.007-05:00

This is going to be a Christmas present for my dad. You can read the full review at PatternReview.com.

The Shirt

I added a tie so that my dad could close the shirt if he wanted to wear it without the doublet.

A close up of the cuff:

The Doublet

I left off the trim on the peplums and shoulder tabs, but they probably couldhave used to top stitching for permanent ironing.

Doublet and Shirt Together
Looking pretty sharp, even on my dress form.

Pants
close up of the front yoke.

cuff detail. There is no elastic, only a ribbon tie. We'll see how that goes over.

The back is made somewhat adjustable by adding these tabs which can be simply decorative or they can be tied tighter to take up about 3" of ease.

Endless Combinations Wardrobe Contest at PR

2008-11-09T07:30:00.012-05:00

In order to get myself sewing again, I have decided to join PatternReview's Endless Combinations Wardrobe Contest. I'd like to have some more clothes to teach in and I really, really like to get back to sewing.

Here is my proposal:

UPDATE 12/31
Both skirt and dress have been completed. Both were Christmas successes.

UPDATE 11/13
I traced off the BWOF patterns (Shirt 122 & Dress 111). I think I traced off the dress 2 sizes too big, but I will be making a muslin, so we'll see if I will need to trace it again.

UPDATE 11/21
Last night I adjusted the BWOF shirt pattern.

UPDATE 12/6
made muslin of the skirt (NL 6163). I used the pants sloper that I recently drafted in a class at G Street Fabrics. My pants sloper calls for two small darts in the front and no darts in the back (just a slightly shaped center back seam). That pattern has two small darts in the back and a flat front. I determined that I would probably get a pretty good fit if I just switched the front and back pieces. I then used my sloper again to determine that I needed to cut at size 16 front and a size 10 back. It worked like a charm! ::pictures to come::

UPDATE 12/8
I've completed the NL6163 skirt. I used a 100% cashmere wool and lined it with silk charmeuse that I had left over in my stash from a previous project. they both went together beautifully. ::pictures coming soon::

UPDATE 12/8
I made a muslin of the red dress (BWOF 11-2008-111). he muslin fit ridiculously well. I added 1/2" to the upper side seam for a FBA. I raised the arm hole slightly. I also shorted the front bodice by about 3/8". I also realized that I can move the zipper to the side seam, making this much easier to get in and out of.

I adjusted the pattern and cut out the wool crepe. Mid-way through the cutting process, I realized that I wanted to underline this fabric with some lining fabric rather than figure out how to draft a lining pattern. After I had the wool cut, I cut the pattern out of a silk bled that has been in my stash for ages and ages.

It went together like a dream. Now it's just waiting for me to get an invisible zipper, finish the arm holes, add facings, and finish the seams. That sounds like a lot, but I should be able to finished all that in another night of sewing.

new sewing room set up

2008-10-24T16:57:00.003-04:00

The transition to a new sewing space goes slowly, but I think it will all be for the best. Here are pictures from the current disaster.

I also have pictures from my recent trip to Gus Wollens in Baltimore. I bought a lot of wool for professorial suits and jackets.

Winter coats

2008-10-21T15:01:00.002-04:00

Well, I purchased the Ikea table and put it together, but I am still working (slowly) on organizing my office space, so I have yet to try it out.

Yesterday I finally got to wear my winter coat. It was delightful. My only thought is that I wish I have made the sleeves about 2" longer. When I bend my arms, the sleeve slide halfway to my elbow. I'm trying to look at it as an opportunity to acquire some fabulous, long gloves.

hiatus update

2008-09-05T22:40:00.002-04:00

So now I'm moved in to the new place in Hagerstown, MD. If anyone out there is in Hagerstown, I'd love to get connected to fellow sewers. I'm thinking of joining the American Sewing Guild, which I probably should have done years ago. I hear they meet once a month at the library.

My current problem is setting up a new sewing room. I need a good cutting table. I'm thinking of an IKEA model: This one.

Any other ideas? I want one that I can stand at and comfortably cut 60" wide fabric (so min width, 30").

Hiatus

2008-07-14T21:06:00.002-04:00

I will be on a (hopefully) brief sewing hiatus. I am packing up my stuff and moving to a new home city to start my very first teaching position. This is really so exciting.

I just finished Simplicity 3678, but my camera has been packed away already. The short review is that I am very pleased, but my rayon jersey has more than the recommended stretch, so I have some minor fitting quibbles. On the whole, very cool.

Back soon!

New Look 6407

2008-07-08T14:56:00.003-04:00

And so the quest for a decent shirt pattern continues... Enter New Look 6407. In the end, I got an OK shirt, but I don't know if this is really my shirt pattern.

Here is a quick look at the adjustments I made to the front:
In stead of blending from the size 16 bust to the size 14 hips, I just widened the dart about the same amount. I thought this was rather clever and it seemed to do the job. I also shortened the waist 1" and narrowed the shoulders by 5/8". I had concerns about the dart placement, but they weren't too far off from my sloper darts, so I thought I would wing it. After putting together the shell, I found that the "mini gusset" under the arms was more room that I needed, so I folded out of the pattern (front and back).

And then we come to the back adjustments. There was more going on here. I adjusted for my short back length. I have heard this called a sway back adjstment, but I don't think of myself as having a sway back. Note that once I took 2" out of the center back, I needed to add about 1" back at the hem to keep the length over my tush.

After I compared the back to my sloper, I decided to move the back dart toward my spine. I have "ye olde muffine toppe" and I didn't want a design element pointing directly to it. I also narrowed the shoulders 5/8" to match the front.

You may notice that there are about 4 different versions of the darts. When I rotated the pattern fr the center back fold, this took about 1" off the side hip. I was looking for a way to go down one size in the hips at the back, but I only needed to take off about 3/8" of the back pattern to accomplish that. When I put the shell together it was waaaay too tight at the hips. I almost had to call this a wadder, but then I remembered that I could let out a fair amount at the darts. The shirt was SAVED! Yaaaaaay!

So here's the finished product:

I think that th stripes in the fabric make this look at little like a baseball uniform, but that's my own fault. I'm not thrilled with the darts. I thought they would work because I carry a lot of my bust fullness to the side. I thought that having the darts more towards the sides would work, but it just seems to create this odd line. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Other issues aside, the back and side views are nice and it does not gap open in the front.

Unless I get some insight into what went wrong here, I will probably keep looking for another basic shirt pattern.

Purse Organizer

2008-07-02T06:52:00.002-04:00

This is a fantastic (and simple) purse organizer pattern that I found on The Giving Flower. You can download very nice pdf instructions from her site. I used some silk and silk brocade from my stash. I think this might make my life a little bit better. :)

New Look 6788 (dress)

2008-06-30T13:26:00.002-04:00

This pattern was acquired during the pattern splurge. I used some linen that I bought at the same store in Baltimore at which I purchased the wool for my graduation gown. I used some linen that I purchased over a year ago for the trim (the same fabric I used to my make shorts).

I cut the dress on the bias to get a little more flow out of it and to avoid looking like a table cloth. This was a bit tricky because the plaid is not even, but I was committed at that point, so I just went with it. I made a size 14 all over because the ease was set at 3.5" at the bust and I knew that with the bias, the bust would be uncomfortably large if I made the size 16 (my usual size).

I also had to shorten the straps for my height (very easy) and bring them slightly more towards the center back (also easy). I also shortened the bottom trim by half so that the dress would end where I wanted it to. I was able to use a button from my grandmother's collect, which always feels good.

I love the way this came out. It is a perfect sundress. Modest, but still light and airy. Perfect for outdoor summer fairs and festivals. The only minor snag was that the straps took some time to turn. I would recommend trimming very closely or perhaps even hand sewing if one planned on using a heavier fabric.

Front:

Side:

Back:

Button detail:

New Look 6244 (slip)

2008-06-29T14:18:00.003-04:00

This is an easy slip I made. I also attempted the over dress, but it was kind of a disaster. I'm not ready to blame that pattern yet though, I used a very loose weave silk and was all over the place.

For the slip I used a lovely silk crepe from the bargain bin at G Street Fabrics. Gotta love the bargain bin.

As you can tell from the photos, I'm still "honing" my skills with delicate fabric and bias cuts. I used the narrow rolled hem foot and it distorted the upper edge and lower hem somewhat, but seeing as this is a slip, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I also shortened the hem by about 6". If I had it to do again, I would only have shortened about 3".

McCall's 5391 (Shorts)

2008-06-29T10:23:00.001-04:00

This was my first attempt at pants of any kind. I needed another pair of shorts for the summer and this pattern was one of the few that included pockets. Honestly, why is it so hard to find women's fashion with useful pockets?!

This pattern went together very smoothly. I used some bottom weight linen that has been in my stash for well over a year. That always feels good.

I haven't taken a class to fit my pants sloper yet, so I just decided to take this one on faith. The only made 2 adjustments: to blend from the size 16 waist to the size 14 hips and to shorten th legs by 3 inches. Having made the shorts, I now realize that they sit so low that the waist measurement was not such an influence on the fit for me as it is for tops and dresses. I could have easily used the size 14 all over (maybe even a size 12, I have very straight hips).

You can see in the back and front that there are some odd psuedo-pleats being formed by my belt. I think I could eliminate much of this by playing around with the depth of the pleats on the back and moving a size down in the waist.

I belt carriers are also oddly wide and long, but I think they work just fine. All in all, I think this will be a very useful addition to my wardrobe. I'm going to keep this pattern around and play with the fit a bit.

McCall's 5480 Winter swing coat

2008-06-26T14:17:00.004-04:00

This was my second attempt at making a swing coat for this winter. It feels odd to be making a winter coat when it is 95 degrees outside, but I know that I will soon have to return to a hectic schedule and I don't want to bank on finishing an unfinished sewing project come November.

This pattern got great reviews on PatternReview.com and so I was hopeful.

Due to the shape of the raglan sleeves, I did not attempt to adjust them for my shoulder slope. Due to the fact that this is a tent, I didn't bother raising the waist or making a full bust adjustment.

I am tickled pink with how it turned out. I used a wool/cashmere blend I got last year at JoAnn's on an early spring winter fabrics super blowout, sunback lining, and a 3/4 yard double-sided silk satin from Thai Silks in Los Altos, CA. I picked up the remnant at least 2 years ago, but it might have been even longer.

I pattern does not call for contract cuffs, collar, and buttons, but I thought it would be a nice way to subtly spice up the blackiety-blackness. That pattern went together very smoothly and accommodated the fabric and lining which were slightly heavier than the recommended weight with ease. Even the collar went on right the first time, which might be a sewing first for me.

I also created fabric covered buttons for the first time and I was amazed at how well the little Dritz mold worked. It was $2.19 well spent!

And now... the pictures. I took my dressform outside because black clothes just do not photograph well inside.

trim details:

The lining...

Simplicity 4273 tank top

2008-06-24T18:59:00.003-04:00

This came out mostly OK. I wish I had made it about 2" longer and raised the armseye slightly. Other than that, nice and easy.

Scarf Dress Part II -- SUCCESS!

2008-06-14T22:50:00.003-04:00

The dress went together eerily easily. No, really. Just buy some scarves and make these.

As you can see from the photos, I need to work out some kind of bra solution. Right now, I'm thinking about the tape bras. I've used them in the past with great success. I want something to make me feel covered and somewhat supported. I don't envision ever having to wear this dress for more than a few hours at a time, so all day support is not that important.

Clearly, the madness has set in...

2008-06-13T23:51:00.004-04:00

I'm attempting to draft a scarf dress for myself. I saw dresses like this one on a hot summer's day and, man, did it ever look like good idea!

Also, G Street is having it's super summer sale with additional 25% off one item coupon, which lead me to buy 3 yards of this amazing silk charmeuse. (With discounts, now only $20/yard. A steal, right? Right?)

This is a work in progress, but I do think it should go together quickly.

First I draped with out cutting. I needed to make sure this was not a foolish idea before a cut into a piece of fabric that had many potential uses in other projects (a comfy art reform bathrobe was by back up plan).

I knew I wanted something with a high enough back that I might have some bra options, so I will have to add a fisheye dart or large tuck under the arms in order to keep the waistline flattering.

Satisfied that this could work, I cut the first piece as a perfect square. I knew it would be too long, but I didn't know by how much. I took off about 12" to keep the longest point off the ground. In then end, I bought about 1 yard too much, but it's really beautiful fabric and I'm sure that I'll figure out something I can do with this.

I then redraped the dress to see how things looked with out the extra weight. I pinned the estimated seams too. I'm not sure if I will need to put a zipper in the back or if the ungathered front with give enough ease to get it on over my head.

New Look 6728 remix

2008-06-13T23:42:00.003-04:00

I was so into this pattern that I made it again yesterday. It was interesting to note the fitting changes that occurred with the change in fabric, fewer buttons, and sleeves. They all contributed to slightly less ease in the garment. I will have to add a snap at the bust to keep it from gapping slightly. No biggie, though. Overall, I'm still very happy.

Here are pictures of the newest version:

New Look 6728

2008-06-11T21:01:00.003-04:00

I picked this pattern up during my pattern binge and I have to say that this was a GREAT purchase. I have a newfound respect for New Look patterns. This shirt pattern might serve as the basis for many, many shirt patterns to come. I was really able to adjust the pattern to my needs very easily and I enjoyed going so.

Here is my process:

My back waist length is a ridiculous 14". This is 2.5" shorter than most standard back waist lengths for my size (14-16). However, due to my bust size, this front waist length is usually only about 1" shorter that the pattern. So I've been experimenting with adjusting patterns unevenly. You can see here how the excess is taken out of the pattern.

When I make this kind of adjustment, I have to do more than just blend the waistlines back together. I also have to readjust the grainlines. I did this by drawing a line that matched up the grainline arrows on the traced pattern. This splits the difference between the two lines. My hope was that this would provide a reasonable new grain. This seems to have worked well.

I made a muslin from this pattern that came out looking list this:

I was pretty happy with this as a starting point, but notice the gaping at the armhole and the high hemline around the butt. The back waist was now sitting over my natural waistline, but I wanted the back hem to hang even with the front, so I simply added back 1" and the back and tapered it out through the side front, trying to match the proportional amount of the waist tuck in the pattern:

to compensate for the gaping armhole, I "rotated" a dart that was forming at the armseye into the princess seam line and the extended the shoulder length out 5/8" so that the front shoulder would match the back shoulder. This seemed to solve the problem.

I then went ahead and made th top in a blue handkerchief weight linen that I had left over from making the godet skirt. I used red thread for a design choice because the best buttons I had in my stash were the red ones. The pattern only calls for 5 buttons, but I used all 10. This makes the shirt very secure across the bust. I can reach and move without is gaping open, which is great for teaching. I made button thread button loops because I had trouble making fabric loops with the linen. It was just too thick.

The linen was also much more "wiggly" than the muslin fabric, so my tucks are not exactly symmetrical. This is kind of disappointing, but I don't think it's too distracting. The pattern piece for the front tucks is preparing first and then cut out, so in the future I might try different tuck arrangements when I figure out how to sew pintucks with my machine. All in all, this pattern in a keeper.

pattern splurge

2008-06-07T07:52:00.008-04:00

I went on a pattern binge a few days ago. Here are some of my recent acquisitions:

I've had my eye on this one for some time (Butterick 4859):

I'm intrigued by a pattern that offers possible street-wear adn costume-wear at the same time. I had to buy a pattern that could offer me an additional pair of pirate pants /and/ something to teach class in! (Butterick 4861)

Surely, I will need many evening dresses in my future life, right? I'm not just making these things for the fun of it, right? I'm not just looking for an excuse to use some of my silk chiffon, right? (butterick 4657)

I know I just made a godet skirt, but I also bought this pattern when I wasn't sure if the fitted waist bacd was going to work. As you can see from the previous post, I ended up making a hybrid, but I had some crinkle cotton in my stash that I might use for this skirt (McCall's 5566):

I've been in need of new summer shorts since last summer. This pattern came highly recommended by several people and it has pockets, which several quicky shorts patterns omitted (McCall's 5391).

This pattern will give me another shot and the swing coat I tried to make from HotPatterns (see earlier posts). The collar is a little different, but perhaps more sensible for winter wear (McCall's 5480).

I've been interested in making some tops for work. This pattern looks like it might have the right kind of seams for making some bust adjustments easily (New Look - Simplicity 6728):

The coat's a little housecoat-y, but the dress has potential (New Look - Simplicity 6760):

The dress, top, and pants look good, the coats also might work under the right circumstances (New Look - Simplicity 6788):

I saw this jacket pattern while I was interviewing for a job in Kansas. I took that pattern, but not the job (Indygo Junction ij740):

I think I'm ready to attempt a commercial corset pattern from Laughing Moon Mercantile. I've drafted and made my own, but I think I know enough about pattern alteration now to try one "off the shelf" what has more fiddly bits:

And finally, I have 14 yards of incredible red silk satin in my stash that has been crying out for me to use it. I'm thinking of doing a "red dress" series (hmmmmmm). Anyway, I love vintage dress patterns and this one was well reviewed, so I'm going to give it a try with this pattern from the Vintage Pattern Lending Library (VPLL 1920's fishtail evening gown):

McCall's 5274 Godet skirt

2008-06-07T06:59:00.005-04:00

So my latest project was this godet skirt by McCall's. I was intersted in doing a godet skirt because I originally wanted to play with pinning the godets in interesting arrangements to mimic a skirt I had seen on the street. Sadly, I didn't take a picture, so after fiddling with the godets for a day I had to admit defeat and just make the skirt as shown.

I used some blue handkerchief linen from my stash and the skirt went together without any problems. The only slight snag was the the waistband was not well drafted for the curve of my lower back. It either gapped in the back or sat unattractively low, giving me a Homer Simpson look:

My next sewing class is really going to be a skirt and pants sloper class, but until then...

I decided that I could fix the problem by just adding a drawstring in the waistband to pick up the 1.5" of slack and keep the waistband fairly smooth. A stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. :)

I made the drawstring by attaching two pieces of 1/4" ribbon to about 8" of 1/4" elastic and tying cute, small buttons to the ends so I wouldn't lose the drawstring in the casing (hopefully):

I then used a slightly smaller button as the guide for my machine buttonhole guide and added a buttonhole to ease edge of the waistband on the outside only:

I then sewed the waistband closed while making sure that I did not catch the drawstring in th stitching. Yes I know, I should have sewed this by hand, but it was getting late and I wanted to finish the project. Given my shape, it's unlikely that I will ever be highlighting the waistband on this skirt, so it should remain hidden most of the time.

"I love it when a plan come together."
This totally fixed my waistband gaps without distorting or adding much bulk to the waistband:

And here's the final shots with the seams finished and the skirt hemmed:

HotPatterns break up

2008-06-03T14:25:00.003-04:00

I think I'm "done" with HotPatterns. While I love their styles, I find their lack of pattern marking difficult and their directions sometimes unclear in important ways.

I tried to put the Deco Vibe So Pretty Dress together and it all ended in tears. I think I will have more luck just draping a similar pattern myself.

Major problems:

Illogical and confusing construction directions
/no/ design ease at the waist
waist far too long for me with no obvious way to shorten it.

*sigh*

Like I said, I may keep the pattern around as a draping guide, but I don't think I'll be spending any more money for very expensive, unnecessarily difficult patterns.

Yay for projects that work!

2008-06-01T19:27:00.006-04:00

I got a bee in my bonnet that I really needed to complete a successful project in order to restore confidence in myself.

I bought Simplicity 4273 a while back. It looked like a nice wardrobe and I really like the skirt pattern. The dress was a surprise bonus that went together beautifully in 4 hours from pattern prep to hemming. How nice to put something together so smoothly!

You can see my full review on PatternReview.com (check out the widget off to the side here), but here are the pictures:

The dress:

The jacket:

Actually, the pattern layout deserves special note. I only had 1 1/2 yards of the brocade, so getting all the main pattern pieces on there was a real challenge. The stroke of insight came when I realized that I could cut the facings out of a different coordinating fabric. I used the rest of the gold silk from the doctoral gown. Pretty sweet.

Hot Pattern Coat update

2008-05-29T22:15:00.003-04:00

So the deco vibe coat came sooooo close to success and then just fell short. I think it was a fault of the fabric I chose. The hem facing stretched considerably when I attached it to the hem and the threw the facing off and the coat just didn't hang right.

So very sad.

I might try it again some time with guidance, but I think I'm ready to move on to a new project.

what's next?

2008-05-23T15:27:00.002-04:00

Watch this space for other non-academic sewing projects. I've got lots in the queue.

Next up: adjusting the Hot Patterns Deco Vibe Cocoon Coat for heavy coat weight wool and liner.

TA DA!

2008-05-23T15:24:00.003-04:00

And here's what the finished product looks like:

finshing touches

2008-05-23T14:47:00.019-04:00

After graduation was done and my parents went home, I finished up the gown so that I can wear it again next year.

1) I finished covering the shoulder and back padding and sewed in the lining. This helped stabilize things a lot.

2) hem

I marked the hem with my mom, so it was easy to do. I cut the hem so that I had a 2.5" excess. I sewed seam binding to the raw edge of the hem and turned up the hem. I then sewed then carefully picked the hem to the wrong side of the garment with an invisible stitch.

3) back cord (part 1)
The cord that extends down the back of the yoke and ends in a button is usually attached through the collar seam, but I wasn't thinking faqr enough ahead for this. I attached my cord on the inside of the garment to the back padding:

I decided to use a different, less slippery cord, but the rattail was good for testing out the design.

4) fixing the collar roll
I tried a few different ways of pinning out the excess from the undercollar to get the velvet collar to lay more smoothly, but in the end I found that the best solution was just to tack it into place. I collar will almost always be under the hood and even if it's not, there's no big design need for it to be visible free-moving.

Look, Ma! No more rolls!

Once I was happy with the pinned location, I used the weft threads that had shed off the gold silk to pick-stitch the collar into place along the stitching line of the piping.

5) back cord (part 2)
Once the collar was firmly tacked down, I was able to sew down the back cord with some back silk top stitch thread and finish it off with a beautiful ceramic shank button from my grandmother's stash.

6) swing tacks
I put swing tacks in at the hem line to keep the front collar pieces from moving around too much. They really help the movement of the hemline.

7)hook and eye
I added a hook and eye (coat weight) just above the zipper stop. This helps stabilize the neckline.

8) shoulder hooks and hood pins
I'm still trying to work out the perfect system for balancing the weight of the gown. for now I will rely on the "bra trick". In order for the bra trick to work, the hood must also carry the weight of the gown. to reduce overall wear and tear, I sewed coat weight eyes onto the front shoulder and pinned a large pin through the eye and hood lining and front. I'm not really sure that the eyes are necessary, but they seemed like a good idea.

Future work:
I think I'm going to put this project away, but I still have a few things I might work on later:

* perfecting the weighting issue. I have tried constructing some weights for the front of the gown using steel BB bullets, but this has not really worked out. Lead fishing weights do not seem to come in convenient shapes.

* adding pockets. I think I will wait to see what I will need to carry in a graduation ceremony before doing this, because that will determing the size of pockets that I insert.

was it worth it?

2008-05-22T08:44:00.003-04:00

Nacho's Mama asked if I thought it was worth it to make my own regalia. She said she was able to find regalia on the interwebs for $300.

It's an interesting question.

I probably spent as much money on the project as I would have spent just buying the robes. You have to include all the costs: pattern, fabric, fabric samples, muslin, classes, notions, gas for fabric hunting trips & classes, trim, etc.

I think I got 3 main benefits from making my own regalia. Hopefully, these will help other decide if they want to attempt this project.

1) robes made of natural fiber. This is a real, long term advantage for anyone that anticipates wearing these robes once a semester at sunny, outdoor events or stuffy indoor ones.

2) expanded sewing skills. I'm more or less teaching myself how to sew and I really feel that I gained confidence and skill as I worked on this project.

3) helpful diversion while completing the dissertation. I really needed a secondary project to help me unwind and let me do that "back burner" processing that is often necessary when one gets stuck. It helped keep me motivated while I was slogging through sections of writing that I was less interested in.

I'm very glad that I did this project, but I must admit that I'm not sure that I would have been as motivated to start it if the fancy robes had been $300. I probably would have just purchased them and suffered with everyone else in their polyester, but it's really nice not to have to do so. And, I get great bragging rights. Most computer science grad students don't sew, so it was really neat to show off my crafty skills.

Nacho's Mama, I hope this helps you make a decision!

wearing the regalia

2008-05-20T12:02:00.002-04:00

I am extremely pleased with myself for choosing a natural fiber. Even though I am working with wool, it is a light weave and it really does breathe. I sat next to my friends who had the fancy polyester robes and they were almost ready to pass out -- and this was an indoor ceremony. I was quite comfortable.

Once the robe is on, the weight of the back of the garment, combined with the weight of the hood pulls the garment back so very quickly the garment is supported by the front of your throat, and not the shoulders. I did not have time to had the hooks and loops and buttons the support the hood onto the gown, but I don't think that would have helped much.

I ended up pinning the hood to the front shoulder of the gown. Then I rant the loop that came off the front of the hood down the front of my dress and ran my front fastening bra through it. This works like a charm. I understand that men often attach the same loop to a shirt button, but women don't always have that option.

My mom and I have spent a considerable amount of time considering other counterweighting measures and harnesses that could be sewn inside the robe. There will be more posted on this subject to be sure.

hooding ceremony post mortem

2008-05-20T11:23:00.006-04:00

It turned put to be a very good thing that I had not completed my gown by the hooding ceremony because it gave me an opportunity to take a close look at the gowns that other people had purchased for the event. It turns out that the actual gowns that were purchased for $800 were slightly different than the one that I took pictures of.

The piping color was actually a light champagne, almost silver bias braid piping. This drove me nuts. My local fabric store had tons of this stuff and it would have saved me hours if I had just been able to buy it. I think I could have made the appliques look very neat and tidy with this option. oh well.

The sleeves for my university's robes were almost identical to the Butterick pattern. They had a long cuff and the sleeve billowed down over it almost to the cuff.

The fabric was much shinier and looked more like the 4-ply silk crepe that I had fallen in love with, but decided not to use.

The front closing was very different. The zipper was hidden by a 1/2" flap and self fabric on each side instead of the velvet trim.

The pleating did not extend down the sleeve as far as I had remembered. I knew that I had over-pleated the back and sleeves, but I did it on purpose because it is much easier to remove a row of stitches that it is to add one later.

Now this doesn't mean that I didn't get lots and lots of compliments. And really, I didn't look very out of place on stage under all those lights. So it was fine, but a word to anyone who really wants to replicate their schools gowns: the sample gown is not always the same as the one you're buying. It woudl be very helpful to borrow a gown from someone who had purchased theirs very recently to get as close a match as possible.

The school's graduation ceremony was held Saturday night, so my mom and I had "plenty of time" to finish up the gown.

I started by removing rows of stitching in the pleats. I removed one from each side. and trimmed back to padding. In the end I decided to take two rows out from each side, but I definitely did is in increments.

I decided that I liked the length of the pleats in the back even though they were about an inch longer that the "store bought" gowns. I trimmed the shoulder pleats because they extended too far beyond my shoulder point and they made the gown feel unstable on my shoulders. I didn't shorten the back pleats because, well, they didn't look ridiculous and they were hard to do, so I didn't want to waste my efforts.

Once I had trimmed down the padding, we covered the padding sections with the lining silk. The padding material was made out of cotton and it was started to shed and shred. The covering should reduce the wear and tear and make this a garment that can be pulled out of the closet once or twice a year for a good long time.

Getting the padding covered took longer then we expected, so in the end, I went to my graduation with my hem still taped, but the sleeves were properly sewn.

down to the wire

2008-05-20T11:06:00.005-04:00

The family had arrived in town and Mom had come over to help me finish up. The hooding ceremony was at 1:30pm. It quickly became obvious that there was no way the gown would be finished completely for the ceremony, but we were willing to tack it together enough to make it through.

I basted in the yoke lining and left the collar sections unclipped because I could see that they were going to need some more attention. We threw the robe on and marked to sleeve length and hem line. Mom turned up the sleeves while I sewed in the front zipper. I managed to get the zipper sandwiched between the lining and the front so that it was fully enclosed.

We were working as fast as we could:

I basted the lining to the front and front collar down to the section of the front opening that was not involved in the zipper (very sloppily).

Then, we broke out the packing tape. I had to get changed and my mom threw on her dress and started taping up the hem:

My mom tacked down the yoke lining and finished taping pu the hem while we were in the car on the way to the hooding ceremony. It was pretty excellent. The cosmetic underpinnings held for the few hours of the ceremony and soon we were at the reception, showing off our new hoods:

first look

2008-05-19T21:34:00.007-04:00

Now that garment was almost all in one piece, I could put it on the dress form and see how things were looking:

The collar was just pinned into place, but I could already spot a few minor trouble spots.

1) major collar roll:

I was kicking myself for not drafting a proper undercollar pattern that could help roll the collar under instead of just cutting two collar patterns. I briefly considered redrafting another pattern, but I decided that since I needed to wear the robe in less than 36 hours, I should probably just suck it up and hope that once it was actually attached to the gown and covered by a hood, it would not be so noticeable. To those who might be attempting this, I strongly recommend drafting a separate undercollar pattern.

2) the front undercollar was on the bias and had stretched out quite a bit. I had to ease this back in because I could not recut the collar without scrapping the whole thing and I had already nixed that plan. So I just pinned in the ease and hoped that this would work out:

In my pinning madness, I got a little obsessed with having all my pins "organized"

time was running out before the gown needed to be worn to the hooding ceremony...

construction -- front

2008-05-19T21:27:00.003-04:00

The front was fairly easy to put together. I noticed that I wanted to move the front pleat as close to the armscye as I could get it without catching it in the seam. I did the by leaving 5/8" seam allowance and then measuring the depth of the pleat against the front yoke, making sure that the center fronts matched:

Then it was time to sew the front to the yoke, sew the side seams, and sew the sleaves to the front and back. Once I was happy with the seams, I trimmed them down to 3/8" and zigzagged over the edge (not to self: next purchase should be a serger).

construction -- attaching back and sleeves

2008-05-19T21:20:00.003-04:00

I mentioned before that the sleeve pleating worked like a dream. The back also pleated together easily; however, I forgot the check to pleated size against the yoke before I tied it off. I actually over-tightened the back pleats, so I had the fun of re-pleating the back a second time you'd better believe that I checked it the second time.

I attached the sleeve and back to the yoke using one backstitich through each of the crests in the pleating. I made sure that my needle passed through the pleat padding which kept everything very well anchored and did not put too much pressure on the wool.

construction -- collar

2008-05-19T20:44:00.012-04:00

The saga of the collar beings with the piping.

Once I realized that the braid I had bought was not going to work, I committed myself to making the piping for the collar from the gold silk. I cut many bias strips and inserted the cording by using the zipper foot. This is not difficult, just time consuming.

Attaching the piping to the collar was a bit tricking because I was back to working with the velvet. I basted the piping to the right side of the velvet:

Then I pinned the lining (made from the wool) right sides together with the velvet and hand backstitched the three layers together:

I thought that this was going to be enough to hold the collar together, but I decided to machine stitch it as well after testing it out. Because the velvet was now stabilized by the silk piping and the wool lining, it was much easier to work with and I just sewed over my backstitching:

Things were looking good:

I put the collar on my dress form to get an idea of how it was shaping up and let's hear it for incremental testing! I had accidentally cut the fabric 5" too short:

I was so confused! What could have possibly gone wrong? I went back to my pattern piece and found a little note on it saying "shorten by 5 inches". The only thing that I can figure is that I shortened it twice. *sigh*

I did not have any more velvet, so I had to go back to the fabric store. I got some more velvet, but I also picked up a few more choice pieces:
a silk/rayon brocade remnant

and a ombre dyed silk crepe:

My new problem was that my collar pattern piece was now longer than width of my velvet:

I had wanted to only have one seam on the collar, but I was forced to cut the collar in two pieces. I tried to cut the pattern and the same level that the yoke joined the front and this gave my plenty of fabric to work with.

In the meantime, I picked up this roller foot:

This $2 investment made my life so MUCH better by allowing me to work with the velvet on the machine. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I had to make more gold piping, but then I was able to machine baste the piping onto the velvet and machine sew the velvet to the wool lining. The process took about a third of the time on the second try.

I now had a collar piece that was the right length. And there was much rejoicing.

construction -- sleeve appliques

2008-05-19T20:11:00.009-04:00

After I had the sleeves pleated, I figured that it would be easiest to apply the sleeve stripes before I sewed the sleeve into a tube.

I implemented my first plan:

1) interface appliques with silk organza

2) hand sew gold braid onto right side of velvet (I quickly learned that I should avoid machine sewing the velvet as much as possible)
3) clip braid
4) turn and -- ta da! one applique ready

Unfortunately, this resulted in very messy looking appliques:

Frustrated, I took myself back to the fabric store to look for inspiration for a new plan of attack. I found some gold silk duiponi and I decided that what I needed to do was create two appliques and sew the velvet applique onto a gold, piped background. I increased the original trim template by 5/8" on all sides and cut that out of the gold silk.

I placed some cording at the seam allowance and folded the silk over the cording to create the piping effect on the background applique:

I then turned the edged of the velvet appliques under by hand and whip-stitched them onto the gold. This made for a much better looking trim:

I remade all of the trim appliques and pinned them into place on the sleeves:

I was able to sew these to the sleeves by simply topstitching in the "ditch" right next to the piping:

I then sewed up the sleeve seams and they were ready to attach to the yoke!

construction -- yoke prep & pleating

2008-05-19T20:06:00.002-04:00

Once I had my fabric cut, I interfaced the yoke with black silk organza by basting the two layers together.

I then pleated both sleeves and checked the gathered sized before tying off the running stitches. All went well.

notes from the class

2008-05-19T19:57:00.005-04:00

When we last left our heroine, she was waiting for the second half of her sewing class to get some help with the final pattern adjustments.

I went to class on May 11th can got some feedback about the adjustments I was thinking about making to the yoke and some advice about how to deal with the extreme angle of the sleeve cuffs.

I ended up making the yoke pattern 5/8" wider at the shoulder point:

That also meant that I had to return the sleeve cap to its original height:

In order to counteract the angle of the sleeve, my instructor suggested that I curve the cuff edge of the sleeve down 4" (we measured first to decide exactly how much to adjust it).

I spent the rest of the class redrawing the pattern and cutting out the actual fabric I intended to use for the project. It took about 4 hours to get everything cut out.

working in stages

2008-05-19T19:56:00.001-04:00

I'm going to try to get all of the steps I've taken in order, in short posts. Please bare with me.

other projects

2008-05-09T22:34:00.013-04:00

I've been on hold on the regalia project until I could get back to my second class to get some advice on the final pattern adjustments. But I've also been out of school, so I've had plenty of time on my hands. Here are the other projects that I've been working on in the mean time:

A modified version of the Hot Patterns Wong-Singh-Jones mandarin Wrap Top. I left off the wrap overlay because between my being a "short round" and the thickness of the velvet, it was not going to be attractive. I am very pleased with this, although the nature of the fabric demanded a /lot/ of hand sewing. Even though this is the least complicated project, I spent the most time tweaking the pattern and sewing it. I had to make some pretty major changes to the should slope and width on the kimono sleeves, which was a bit tricky.

I also made this top from McCall's Pattern 5586. I made it out of some silk charmeuse that I had in my stash. Actually, all the projects were about working through some of the stash. I am also ver pleased with this pattern. It wears very easily and I can see myself putting it on for dinners on hot, steamy summer nights.

I used McCall's 5618 to make the dress that I will wear underneath my robes on graduation. This dress is GREAT! It hangs well and looks super flirty, but the skirt lining is designed really well so that there is no danger of exposing oneself. I highly recommend this pattern to anyone with a proportionally large bust. The only caveat is that you will either need to be able to wear a strapless bra or you must own a Y-back bra and pull the straps together slightly at the high bust line to keep the bra straps out of sight (or make some design changes to the neckline).

I've also completed my muslin for Hot Patterns Deco Vibe Cocoon Coat, but I don't have any pictures of the muslin right now. I am taking it to class tomorrow for a little advice about how to increase the sleeve width to accommodate the heavy wool coating and Sunback lining I'm using. I'm hoping that this can be this winter's coat ( or at least one of them).

finalized muslin

2008-05-09T22:18:00.005-04:00

My battery needed to be recharged, so here are some pictures of completed muslin that was actually sewn together instead of just being pinned together.

I think I'm going to have to readjust the yoke pattern again and possible the sleeve cap height. I have my class tomorrow, so I should be making many more pictures and getting lots of good advice. This is good because I will need to being wearing my gown this time next week. w00t!

tam

2008-05-09T21:55:00.010-04:00

I got a request for pictures of the tam. I bought my own because I have not experience making hats. Anyway, here we go...

muslin revised

2008-04-24T10:43:00.025-04:00

Tuesday was a marathon sewing day. I didn't really expect it to be one, but I just. kept. going.

1) Pleating... Pleating... 1.2.3. Pleating...
So in a flash of inspired foresight, I thought that I should do a test run of the pleats with the wool fabric and batting that I intend to use. The test was worthwhile because it turns out that the wool actually compresses more than the cotton muslin.

No to worry. My experience with these pleats has taught me that is the trough stitches (the ones that show on the right side of the fabric) the ratio increases. So I kept the crest stitched (the ones underneath) at 1/2" and decreased the though stitches to 1/8". I also switched from the fleece batting to the 100% cotton tablecloth under-cloth.

Here is the new stitching pattern:

And here is the result. The pleats are actually a little less compressed than the muslin version, but this will work out fine since the cartridge pleats are starting to gap on my muslin.

I don't think that I am going to adjust the sleeve or back patterns in light of the new pleat compression. I will just pull the pleats tighter, which can only look nicer.

2) shortening bottom length
This was the easiest pattern revision and the one I tackled first. I took 5" off the bottom length of the back and front panels.

3) adjusting front pattern
I wanted to do several things to the front pattern

* join the two front pattern pieces together
* add back 1 of the two original pleats
* remove the front facing bits from the original pattern

Joining the two front pattern pieces together was easy. I just overlapped the seam allowances and taped. Done.

Adding back one pleat was also pretty straightforward. I untapped the outside pleat. After looking at my one-time use gown, I decided to move the location of the pleat closer to where the velvet trim will eventually be placed. (see picture below)

I moved the pleat by using the pleat guides from the original pleats as my inside and outside more for the new pleat.

Removing the facing pattern was also pretty easy, since I had a center front making, I just cut along that line. D'oh! As soon as I finished cutting I realized that I still needed a seam allowance there in order to sew the facings on later. So... I took out 5/8" from the section of the pattern that was still pleated out rather than taping on another 5/8" of paper (which also could have worked). Below is the rather bedraggeld looking revised pattern piece for the front:

4) redraft yoke pattern
I was sure that I have a good shoulder angle now, so I wanted to draft a new yoke pattern to get rid of the shoulder seam. I also wanted to adjust the shoulder width (see the previous post for details)

I redrew the shoulder seam by first marking the seam lines from my pinned adjustment (in blue) and then marking the new cutting lines 5/8" away from the seam lines.

Back yoke pattern adjustments:

front yoke pattern adjustments:

I then overlapped the should seam allowances and redrafted the full yoke pattern which is cut on the center back fold.

5) draft velvet trim pattern

I based the trim pattern on the width of the pattern's original decorative outter facing and the newly drafted yoke patter. I joined the two and voila!

6) draft front facing pattern
The front facing pattern is just the straight section of the velvet trim pattern. Easy.

7) trim & facing construction
I cut 4 of the velvet trim facing and joined sewed them at the center back. When I do this with the actual fabric, the outer layer will be cut in velvet. I may also decide to underline the velvet with some organza for stability. Then I will cut the second layer of the trim pattern in a lining fabric or possibly the wool. I would like to find something as lightweight as possible because I will be wearing this outside in the sun.

I sewed the outer edge with some old seam binding I had to simulate the piping and to help me estimate how much piping I will actually need. I clipped and turned it so that the trim was now right side out. This was so successful that I forgot to take a picture.

8) adjusting the yoke pattern... again
Once I got the yoke pattern pinned to the front in preparation for putting the zipper back in, I realized that my newly drafted yoke pattern needed to be adjusted just lightly so that the cutting lines matched.

9) front zipper insertion
This was the trickiest part for me. My spacial orientation skills are not as good as some, so it took several tries at reasoning this out before I finally figured out how I was going to be able to topstitch the separating zipper but not sew through the velvet.

At the yoke, it is simple to add the outer trim. The right side of the trim lining is on top of the right side of the robe fabric. Then the right side of the trim and the right side of the yoke lining are together when its sewn. That puts all the seam allowances between the robe and lining. (I know, I know a picture would have helped here).

I could extend this idea down the the front opening and the facing, but at the front facing I would also need to incorporate the zipper. I'll save you the many false starts and let you see the solution that finally worked: pinning and topstitching on the robe fabric, underneath the outer facing:

This is what that looks like from the wrong side of the garment:

And here is what it looks like from the right side:

10) draft arm trim pattern
I based the arm trim pattern off the sample garment I have. I will choose the exact placement once I have a sleeve pattern that I've settled on. I will need 6 arm bands for the final garment. Point to point, the bands are 12" long. The horizontal sides are 10" long and the band is 2" high. Those are the finished measurements. I then added the seam allowances.

11) shorten sleeves
I thought that I would need to make the sleeve shorter. I have short arms and I didn't need a ton of extra fabric for the poofy sleeve. I decided to take 3" off the outer sleeve pattern and an additional 2" off the sleeve lining.

12) draft sleeve lining pattern
The sleeve lining, I decided should be 2" shorted that the sleeve. that was easy to do. I then needed to take out some of the fullness in the sleeve. It still had to be full enough to accommodate a suit sleeve without clinging, so I wen tback to the original sleeve pattern from Butterick.

I pleated out all of the pleats on the original pattern. This tooka bout an hour. (ugh!):

I then drafted the lining pattern by tracing this and adding 5/8" to the top of the sleeve cap to accommodate that changes I had made at the shoulder (I also added this to the outer sleeve pattern):

13) insert sleeve lining
I trimmed one of my sleeves and ran gathering stitches around the bottom edge. I thine pinned the sleeve and the lining right sides together:

14) poofy sleeves? Hmmm...
I turned the lining to the inside to reveal...

A result that I'm not sure I like. It's definitely too short, but that could be fixed easily. The sleeve is also ahnging very unevenly, which could be due to changes in the sleeve cap height. But mostly, the sleeve is just too full. I know that the wool will hang very differently, but this just feels silly.

I double checked my sample robe (which is the cheap-o version) and it's sleeves are just open at the bottom. This is looking like a more attractive option. hmm...

15) semi-detached muslin
By the time I had the new poofy sleeve, I had been sewing for about 14 hours straight and I ran out of steam. I tidied up and pinned the muslin back together, but it hasn't been sewn yet:

16) TO DO list

* sew muslin together
I an concerned with how the sleeves are hanging after I took in the shoulder width. Also now that I have added the outer trim, much of the excess in the shoulders has disappeared and I think that the shoulder seams are too high.

* prep back in wool
I was going to do the sleeves as well, but I now that I am unsure of the sleeve cap height, I will wait on that until my class on 5/10

Yesterday I went shopping and cleared up that last few things on my list that I could buy before class starts: my piping, buttonhole twist navy thread for the pleats, and gold thread for the piping.