Simplicity 4059

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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)

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)

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

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...