The denim dress...

Ok, just for grins, here's what I started with.  The pattern is for a shirtdress, with a copyright date of 2001.  Um, Yeah.  2001.  It's been in the stash a while.  But I have always liked the lines of it, so when I was looking for a pattern to use for my denim shirt dress, it was the one I ultimately pulled.  

Here are the pattern pieces I had to work with:

 

There were optional fisheye darts in the front and back; the sleeve length options were full length, elbow length or sleeveless.

I cut the dress off at the 'lengthen/shorten' line, which ended up being right at my knees...pretty close to the length I wanted to end with.  The first muslin showed that I needed to move the bust shaping down about an inch, and shorten the dart considerably as the point wrapped way too far past where it should.  And I needed to give myself just a pinch more ease.

Because it was going to be a wide, fairly short dart, I decided to rotate that puppy to a princess seam.

I will add that this is the first time I have tried this, and I did learn a lot.

I had to lengthen the center front section...and this was after it had already been lengthened once for a full bust adjustment.  I thought that was odd, but walking the seam after I closed the dart clearly showed that I was going to have to lengthen it.  Also, the top buttonhole was pretty much at full bust level, so I moved the collar shaping up about an inch and a half.

Wouldn't you know, the next muslin showed that the bust shaping was now about an inch too low.  So I moved that back up to where it started, basically.

Hind sight...maybe I used the wrong pivot point?  I might should have researched that a bit more.  I didn't put the sleeves on the first muslin since I was just checking bust dart placement and girth, but the second muslin showed that there was too much ease in the sleeve cap; the sleeve had to be slightly gathered to fit the armsceye (not shown at all in those lovely smooth sleeves on the pattern photo...).  So I shaved down some of the curve, and cut a bit of the length off the front underarm so that it matched the dress (not sure if the mismatch was my fault or the patterns at that point).

And, of  course, I added an inseam pocket.  I also eliminated the front facing and just cut the center front pieces twice so I could sew the facing into the princess seam. Plus, I wanted a shirt tail hem, with the back slightly longer than the front, so I curved the hemlines accordingly.

However, I was somewhat short on fabric and I had to shorten those curves a bit from my original plan just to get it to fit on the fabric.

Here  are the pattern pieces I ended up with:

 

The fabric was an indigo blue cotton/lycocel from JoAnn's.  Not at all cheap, either, at about twelve and a half bucks a yard.  But I'd bought it for one thing and ended up using something else for that project, so it was available.   I was disappointed to see that it wasn't square; I tore both ends for a straight edge and when the fabric was laid out with the ends even there were terrible ripples down the fold.   I had to offset the selvege ends by about 2" to eliminate that rippling.  So I am attributing any wonkiness in the hang to that little issue. 

I had to change up the sewing order considerably; I sewed the CF and CB together at the shoulder seams; added the collar and put the facing on and pressed it well; basted together the raw edges on the CF seamline.  Then I put the pockets on the side front...putting on the facing piece, then the pocket so the pocket opening is finished off and the pocket becomes the sideseam. Then I sewed the side front/side back together at the shoulder seams, then sewed the sides to the centers.  Then I did the side seams and inserted the sleeves.  Hem, button holes and buttons.

Sounds simple, eh? LOL. 

 The dress, emphasis on the added pocket:

 The June outfit, bracelet, earrings, shoes and bag as well:

The bust shaping still feels a shade low to me.  Not enough to really worry about, but I'll probably adjust it if I make up the pattern again.   The sleeves bind a bit if I raise my arms, but that is just something I ALWAYS deal with on woven garments.  I haven't yet figured out the magic combination of ease here and fitting there to keep that from happening.

And you can't tell about the shaped hem at all; it's just not pronounced enough to show, although it does look just  a wee bit longer in the back if you look close.  

These pics were taken very late last night, after birthday festivities, so it is a bit rumpled.  But it was very comfortable to wear.  I expect to wear it at least a few times this summer.

I hate making muslins.

Really.  I don't like using fabric on something I'm going to throw away, ultimately, even if it's long-stashed fabric from the now-defunct dollar table at Wal-Mart.  That fabric could have been an nice shirt...someday, right?

I don't like taking the time to cut out a muslin, sew up a muslin, and pin up a  muslin to see if the alterations I made to the pattern are gonna work.

But do you know what I hate worse than muslins?

Wadders.  Garments that I had high hopes for but then didn't work.  Spending time on fabric that was NOT a dollar a yard, only to find that the garment doesn't fit/hang right.

So I'm making muslins of the whacked up McCalls shirtdress pattern.  I am dragging myself kicking and screaming, but I AM making a muslin.  I would be beyond stupid to just assume that all this pattern whacking is just miraculously going to work.  I mean, I took a bodacious front dart and rotated it into a princess seam.  Not a minor adjustment.

SO...I have the second muslin about half cut out; I need to get ON with it because I run out of June in a week....and this IS the June outfit.

Between what's left of tonight and then tomorrow after work, I'mma gonna be workin on the muslin.  Because I don't want a wadder. 

I recut the CF and CB from the original muslin, but the sides gotta start fresh....

And I want to make sure the pockets are in the right place.

And the combined collar is going to work.

And the sleeves are the right length.

Oy.

Denim dress (June Outfit) progress

Well, this is the pattern I selected as being closest to what I envisioned.  It's from, um, 2001 and LOOKS like there are some bodacious shoulder pads in it, to my eye, but shoulder pads are not called for in the pattern.

There is also a knee-length cutting line, so that's what I used (LOL...in hindsight, I realized that is the shorten/lengthen line.  But it worked).  Did a FBA on the pattern and threw together a quick muslin.  Now, the P/P patterns come with a 1" seam allowance on the side seams...and, as you can see, the largest size in the envelope is a 12.  Well, I haven't been a size 12 in a NUMBER of years, so I used a 3/8" seam allowance in stitching up the muslin and omitted the front and back waistline fisheye darts.

Well, firstly...that bust shaping has to go down about an inch.  And the dart was way too long.  So  I lowered it an inch and shortened it up.  Much better.  It doesn't seem to be too small, but I think one more inch of wearing ease would give me some breathing room.  So I'm going to add 5/8" to the side seams, which will let me increase the ease by 1" AND use 5 /8" seam allowances...much better for adding an inseam pocket.  Which you KNOW I will do.  And the shoulder seams are about 3/4" too long...which is common for my absurdly narrow shoulders. I do NOT have to do a square shoulder adjustment...the square shoulders on the photos were true square shoulders, I suppose.

So that pretty well takes care of the fitting.  Except, I now have a short fat bust dart, which I believe will be nigh impossible to press without a dimple at the end.  So I've pretty much decided to convert the dart to a princess seam.  And cut the front double instead of using a front facing.  If I want to sew the facing into the princess seam ala Loes Hinse's techniques, I will need to create a princess seam on the back as well, so I can  just do the center bit and sew in the collar before sewing the princess seams.  Thinking on that one.

But I've a bit of styling I want to do differently, besides just adding the side seam pockets.  I want a shirt tail hemline, with the back a wee bit longer than the front.  And possibly cap sleeves.  Gonna pull out a shirt tail hem to copy for the bottom...and I may find a cap sleeve to copy or I may just play with cutting the existing sleeve down.  All decisions that will be made on the fly.

So, that's my sewing project for this weekend...finish hacking the pattern.

Fitting Fail

Ok, item number one on the denim cotton knit...

I decided to go with McCall's 6844, the popular cardigan from a few years back.  I'd made the long straight version and the short peplum version  with some success; I'd done a cheater FBA on it just by adding a bit of length to the front but, um, well, the scales have crept up again so I decided I'd do a real FBA, since I was going to do the short, straight version and I didn't want to mess with the shaping on the bottom.

And, you  know, FBA's are not that tough.  I did, however, mark the bust point at 1.5" below the pattern marking because, well, that's what I do routinely on McVoguerick patterns.

Or at least on Vogue and Butterick.  Maybe I need to rethink McCalls.

After I got the jacket assembled to the hems, I tried it on.

Now, mind you, I'd done the 'hold it up and check' thing several times and was expecting a very nice fit.  But...well, obviously I wasn't holding it up at the right spot.

The arrow points to the end of the (very nicely executed, I might point out) dart.

Which is a good 2" below my full bust.

Um.

Now, I thought about wearing it as is, on the assumption that 90% of the folks I encountered would just register the cardi as being slightly frumpy.  But, you know, I think I can rotate the dart up a bit.  Might not fix it entirely, because, well, you know, fabric was added  at what I thought would be the place it was needed, but at least it will be in the right line.

But as it turned out, black is allowed as a base color this month, along with the denim and mustard gold, so I'm not in quite the wardrobe dilemma I thought I was in.  Generally, we don't wear black in October because it looks so Halloweeny, but this year we had a change.  So I wore black with my jeans and some gold jewelry and I was ok.

So I'm doing some frog stitching (rip-it, rip-it) today and I'll resew the darts and have another go later.

Puttin' on the Glitz...

Well, for the second month in the last 8, we're wearing black and metallic gold for choir.

The first go round, I bought one RTW t-shirt, which was not entirely successful, and otherwise made do with a few oddball things I had about. But when it came 'round again, I thought, 'Ok, I guess I need to put some gold stuff in the closet'.  So I ordered a couple of pieces from fabricdotcom.

When the box arrived and I opened it, I had to grab the sunglasses.  There was some serious glitz there.

And, after as much dithering as I could allow myself, I made the serious glitz up into McCall's 6844, the short peplum view.  I've made that cardi 4 times now -- two with the peplum and two of the longer straight cut -- but still haven't reviewed it.

It's still serious glitz.

Worn with a RTW sweater shell and RPL ponte knit Loes Hinse Oxfords.

I think I need to tack down the reverse bits; the whole collar assembly wanted to flip to the outside, which exposes the seam.  Not a good look.

I didn't do a single-layer cutting layout;  the knit is not pricey and the jacket is basically stage wear and I didn't have much time.  So the zigs could've met up with the zags much better in a couple of places.  It's a foil printed scuba knit which was much more comfortable to wear than I had anticipated (I really expected it to be icky and clammy and plasticy, but it wasn't).  Still...this is not likely to be worn much outside of choir.  I'm not that blingy in real life. ;-)

I actually did something I HATE doing...I pulled the thread off the machines for the WIP white blouse and bagged it up before it was done.  So the white blouse is still going to be on the UFO list for a while longer.  I need to sew up some of the other pieces of fabric that have arrived already this year.  I'll get to the white blouse...eventually...

Choir Wardrobe 03 06 16

March colors: black, gray and mint green.  We've done mint green...or close enough...off and on in the last 3-4 years and, while I've made mint green stuff  I've never really been happy with it.  So I decided to try again and ordered a couple of pieces of mint green, which arrived early last week.  Friday night I traced/altered McCall's 6844 (there are 140 reviews for that on PatternReview; I'm late to the show...).  Yesterday I cut it out and sewed it up from one of the new arrivals, a matelasse double knit.  I wore it with  a Jalie 2566 t shirt, made up in one of the pieces that arrived in January, a wonderfully yummy viscose/lycra jersey, and gray Lee jeans.  And a sort-of-mint-green necklace that had belonged to my grandmother.

I have to admit, the matelasse fabric reminds me of jackets worn by grandmas who wintered in Florida (yeah, my grandma was one) back in the 70's, but it's the right color so I went for it.  And the cardi pattern, while not wonderfully flattering on me from all angles, as shown by the side shot with the horizontal line right where I really don't need any emphasis, is at least not a 'leisure suit' type of jacket that would've been worn 40 years ago.  I really think that one of the other views without that waistline seam might be more flattering on me, although I will say that that granny fabric made a wonderfully comfy jacket; it's a rayon blend and doesn't feel  plasticy-polyestery like those 70's double knits at all.

And a random lady from the congregation complemented me on the jacket; said she thought it was really, really pretty.  I'm trying to pretend she wasn't probably 15 years older than me...

Workwear 22

I said maybe I'd get another McCall's 6559 Maxi made before the summer was over...just squeaked it in last week...

I've recently seen references to the 'Dazzle' or 'Razzle-Dazzle' camouflage paint used on wartime ships during WW1...the black and white random graphic designs were visually confusing and made it difficult to determine how many ships were in a particular area and even what way they were going.

Of course, with the advent of radar and satellite imagery, that's all old stuff, but, well, I had a piece of black-and-silverish stylized print rayon/lycra jersey and I thought I could do with a little dazzle camouflage myself.

These are very nearly instant dresses.  They only take a pinch longer to sew than a tank top.

And I love them with a denim jacket...

I bet I use this pattern in different lengths...but maybe not this year.

Fall sewing beckons. :-D

Workwear 21 - A totally frivolous dress

Here's a dress that will likely never be worn for choir; just not a color combo that will get worn in tank top season.  But I wanted one nonetheless.  A striped maxi in an old catalog was the inspiration, and when Fabric Mart put this stripe on one of their crazy sales a year and a half ago I got five yards...intending to use a chunk of it for the McCall's 6559 dress.

But it languished.  Choir projects took priority.  Then Carolyn made a boatload of 6559 Maxis  and I was inspired.  I had to make mine.

This is actually a frankenpattern of McCall's 6559 and my TNT Jalie 965.  The neckline is Jalie; the shoulders are Jalie, extended about 3/8" towards the shoulder to brastrap-friendly the shoulders.

I actually prefer binding on knit necklines/armholes...it feels like it stabilizes it a little bit.  Alternately, you could sew clear elastic into the turned-and-stitched hem, but binding is easy.

Assuming, of course , that you cut it to the correct length.  I could use the Jalie pattern for the neckline binding, but the armholes were a mashup so I measured and, despite knowing better, cut the binding the same length.  So of course they were horribly floppy and gappy.

Pulled 'em off, shortened them 2" and put 'em back.  Not perfect, but acceptable.

I steam a seamed basted the hem and then double needled it.   Even with redoing the armholes, it was a really quick sew.

Wore it to work today w/ my CWC denim jacket.  Loved it.

I may make a couple more before the summer's over...lol...

Finally...something 'done'...

It's done, it's pressed, it's in the closet.

I need to go check a couple of things on the pattern before I write the review up, but my first iteration of McCall's 6436 finally gives me something to put in the 'done' column.

So, it's the pre-review photo discussion...

Not horrible, but a LONG way from TNT status.

The fabric is a lovely shirting that came from one of Michael's crazy sales about 12 years ago...but it's 100% cotton and so has no stretch whatsoever.  

This pattern comes in muti-cup sizing; I cut out the D cup and still need a wee bit of a FBA,   The darts are about 3/4" too high, too, and maybe just a bit too long.  Hard to tell, since they're not quite pointed right.

The shoulders fit fairly well, which is something.  I believe I did a little work on those, but I'll have to check my notes.  I cut it out before Christmas and now I'm not sure what I did to the pattern...

I left the back darts in and it's just a hair snug in the back.  I think I'll add a wee bit to the side seams, though, and leave the dart shaping there.  It at least gives the suggestion of a back waist...

I took a good bit out of the circumference of the cuff; it was huge.  But I think I need to put about 1/2" back in, just in case I want to wear a wristwatch. 

And I will change up that sleeve vent.  I've finally figured out what is wonky with that Palmer/Pletsch 'Painless Placket' that is used in virtually all their long-sleeved garments.... There is a seam along that vent line, and the opening is actually just a finished off bit at the bottom, not a true placket at all.  So, when the cuff is buttoned up, the sides of the sleeve are actually pulled into an overlap...creating a dart.  And, like all darts, it makes a bubble. Which means it's really just a gappy slit.

So, before I make it again...I'ma gonna tape the sleeve pattern up along that seam, which is perfectly FINE, as there is no shaping in it whatsoever, and put a true placket on it. 

Even a continuous lap lays flatter than the PP slit... and there was no mention of easing the sleeve cap, which was absolutely necessary.

The other issue is the collar bit that I pointed out a couple of days ago.  But I still need to verify that it was a problem with the draft and not my error.  Either way,  I'm not terribly happy with the collar directions...too much handwork, and it still doesn't have that professional polish I'm looking for.

But I'm not awfully disappointed.  I like the overall shape of the shirt and the fit in the shoulders is better than I've had in earlier shirts.  It's definitely wearable under a vest or a sweater.   I may very well make some pattern changes and give it another go before too long.

But first I think I'll sew up some quick knit tops.  I want to get some 'yards out' recorded...

A little work, a little indulgence

Hope springs eternal.

Even though my sewing is proceeding slower than a snail on Benadryl, somehow I manage to justify fabric purchases.

Behold the latest acquisitions:

4 pieces of knit...left to right...

Cream rayon/lycra jersey.  On sale from a vendor I haven't tried before, the service and quality were fine but, oh, my, the shipping.  Took that piece of fabric from the listed price of 8.96/yd to 13.89/yd, once the math was done.  Sigh.  Don't know if there's an optimal amount to purchase to minimize the shipping cost...may or may not try them again to find out.

All in search of a white or near-white knit that is not translucent.   Still searching.

The rest are from Fabric Mart's recent knit sale.  The first, a cotton/lycra interlock knit in a bright cherry red; thinking comfy tunics but we'll see.  The other two pieces are a true windfall...I ordered 2 1/2 yards, but as it turned out, my order came in just as the bolt of poly/rayon/lycra double-sided doubleknit was at the end of the road...and they did not have 2.5 yards in one piece.  So they sent me 2 - 2yd pieces.  Black on one side, burgundy on the other.  It feels wonderful.

I see something colorblocked in my near future from this. ;-)

But I am working away on a project...little bit by little bit.  You can see the pattern behind the fabric; I'm tracing/doing the first-pass alterations on McCall's 6436, looking for the Basic Shirt TnT pattern for the white shirt that was supposed to be in the SWAP in the early part of the year.  I've been tracing about one-two pieces each time I can grab a minute...I'm about done tracing.  I'm going to pull out some of the inexpensive shirting I've got stashed and make a test run on it.  So far I've shortened the sleeves, narrowed the shoulders and adjusted the curve on the front hem slightly.  I will have to reduce the circumference of the sleeve cuff; true to what I have observed with the Palmer/Pletsch patterns, the cuff is HUGE.  It looks like I'll need to shorten it about 1 1/2 inches, and adjust the sleeve accordingly.  But I'm almost ready to put fabric on the table.

This fall is shaping up to be really, really busy; I think all Saturdays in October are booked.  I'm beginning to despair of getting my last SWAP plan finished before the next one kicks in...

Finally...something in the 'FINISHED' column!!

Both the Loud Jacket and the Simplicity Tank top made it into the finished column this weekend.  I literally sewed that jacket about 10 - 20 minutes at a time; sometimes less.  One night all I did was set the machine up for buttonholes.  Another night I managed to sew on two buttons.  It was like that pretty much start to finish.

And, since I'm currently on a choir hiatus, it didn't matter that I finished it the evening of the last day that the choir wore lime green and purple.

I wore it to work today, anyway, with the green challis tank, even though I don't think the lengths worked together very well. 


I decided to put side seam pockets in it because I HAVE to have a place to stash a kleenex, my office keys, my cell phone and possibly a communion set.  This was not the most comfortable place to put these pockets; they're really too high to be useful for parking my hands, as you can see.  But so long as I can carry what I need to carry when I need to carry it, that'll work for me.

After I had the front partly assembled, it occurred to me that it would've been easy to put a patch pocket on the inside between the side seam and the side front seam for carrying stuff.  Maybe next time....

Or, maybe I'll lengthen the jacket a bit and put welt pockets in the side front.  That would be the most natural hand-parking spot.

I really do like this pattern, (OOP McCall's 5191)  though.  So long as I use a fabric with some Lycra in it, it doesn't seem to mind the middle age creep as much as some of my other jacket patterns.

(ETA:  Just didn't have the oomph to take another picture and upload it last night, but I'm pretty stinkin' proud of the pattern matching, even if I am probably never going to wear it buttoned up.... :-)...back to original text  )

I should've had my Sweet Baboo take a photo of the top by itself, but, well, it was late and he was on antihistamines and I just didn't have the heart to ask him to do a lengthy photo session.  The shoulders of the top are just about right, now (I just whacked off about an inch and a quarter off shoulder seam at the arrmhole and tapered it down to the existing cutting line on either side).  There's still some wonkiness at the bottom of the armhole, though.  It looks like I need to scoop the lower front curve just a bit and perhaps even rotate a very small dart out of it.   And I think it would be more flattering with a shirt tail hem instead of straight across.  So I have at least one more iteration to go before it  achieves Wardrobe Workhorse status.  But it's close.

Then, as I was poking through my spreadsheet for the year I found a piece of Home Dec fabric listed in the 'fabric purchased' column...and I didn't even remember what it was.  Found it with the new purchases and decided that, shoot, it only takes a few minutes to turn it into a table cloth...just trim the corners and run it through the serger...so I did.  Boom.  Another 2.5 yards into the 'OUT' column.

And then I put it on the table and suddenly remembered that I don't need 2.5 yards of length...I really only need a fuzz under 2.25 yards, but I've learned to buy 2.5, in case the ends are cut crooked.  This had been cut pretty straight and I didn't loose any length to square it up.  So I had to whack off the extra and then reserge.  So it took a little longer...

 But, before all this hit the 'out' column, I had a teeny bit more creep into the 'In' list.  What can you do if an on line vendor posts a 'Crazy Priced Fabric'  that is pretty much exactly what you've been looking for to use for a specific pattern?   You buy it, of course, and  it has to have a traveling buddy...           

So the 'IN' box now has some rayon/lycra jersey stripe that will be dead on perfect for my new Sewing Workshop cardigan pattern...and it was such a good deal that I have enough for a maxi dress or a couple of tops as well...

The gray is a wool shadow stripe that has a nice springy hand; there's enough there for a serious jacket, or maybe a not-so-serious jacket and a pair of pants.  We'll see.

 So, yeah, the discrepancy between 'In' and 'Out' still got bigger...Think I'm going to work on some of the UFO's next...least till I get a chance to spend a day cutting...

Finally...something done...

I finally finished McCalls 5522, sewing on all 11 buttons while sitting in the endoscopy waiting area at the local hospital whilst My Sweet Baboo endured the Routine Over 50 Health Procedure Everyone Hates.

I have to say, the shirt looks better than I expected. At various times in the process of constructing it I was sure it was gonna be a wadder. I don't think it's a wadder, but I'll have to be careful when I wear it, as it's definitely Not There Yet, fit-wise.

The first issue I had was when I sewed the horizontal seams; I was sure those stripes w/their near-matching would just be too jarring and was really wishing I'd cut the lower pieces on the bias to minimize that. Then, when I added the front band, I found that the stripes were not quite matching up vertically there, either...and I was afraid that'd be jarring. Oh, if I had only added the ruffles, they would totally have masked the variations in stripe widths at the band seams. Then I realized the collar is cut on the wrong grainline; those stripes should be horizontal, not vertical. That's the way it's marked; it just didn't register that, for a striped shirt, I'd really want them going the other way.

And so on.

But, once it was all together, it didn't seem as bad as I thought. Except for one slight problem.

The dreaded Binding Sleeve. That is All. I. Can. Raise. My. Arms.

I've hit this problem over and over again on regular fitted shirt sleeves. It feels like there's not enough fabric in the sleeve, and too much fabric in the shirt, right at the underarm. When I raise my arm, as you can see in the circled spot, the shirt pulls and the sleeve twists over the upper arm.

But I went through several of the reviews for this pattern, and I didn't find anyone else who made the long-sleeved version who mentioned this problem.

I've read several opinions of what causes this but I haven't really seen a solution...a pattern fix...for it. I don't want the sleeve to be looser; it really isn't tight until I move my arms.

Aside from that, I found that I hadn't added enough ease in the back just above my waist (that old lady back fat thing is starting to happen...sigh), and I don't think the stand is high enough for the collar. It's not intended to button all the way up, and it's a good thing, because if it were buttoned at the band the collar bends and crinkles unattractively. Open, it's fine.

So, yeah, this one gets a C+ for fitting, although that's not really the pattern's fault. It's not really drafted to fit a pudgy middle aged lady, and I haven't been a pudgy middle aged lady long enough to have the fit routine nailed down.

I'll get the review done and explain the alterations I did in more detail later on tonight (I hope).

Meantime, it sure feels good to put something in the 'done' column!

Blessings of Light

A functional light really helps! Here's a hint of what the jacket's going to look like. Of course, the color's wrong but you can get the idea. I've got it constructed to the second round of topstitching now. So far, so good.

And thanks to Carolyn for the good wishes comment on yesterday's post! I faced this day with some trepidation, but decided it's the Year of Jubilee and I'm going to see how many ways I can make that concept apply to the next 12 months...

Hitting the Queue

How long has it been since I sewed something from that queue? 'Bout time I did something from it...

Since we're using brown in choir for the next two months, I thought it would be a good time to sew my brown-embroidered denim...and I have a test of McCall's 5191 jean jacket that I cut out of a printed cotton/lycra sateen back on Feb. 28. I've got New Stuff to trace and cut, but until I can manage to get into tracing mode, I thought I'd sew up that jacket.

So far, all I've done is fuse on a couple of pieces of interfacing, but I expect to get the thread changed on the machines today and get into it. ;)

After my routine dentist visit this morning. sigh.

Moving On

There has been a tragedy in my sewing room; I'm hoping that I can resolve it but it's gonna cost me.

Remember the silk Chopin blouse I was working on back when Pippin costuming hit? I put the pieces all back in a corner, out of the way, so I could work on the Pippin stuff...and I decided to pull it out and finish it up whilst I was on the blogging break.

Only...the lower back piece has disappeared. I've looked and looked; cleaned around in the sewing nook (it's about 80% back to organized) and still no back piece. I do have a remnant that *might* be long enough to cut a new one...but I can't find the pattern, either. I could see the fabric getting tangled in something and accidentally taken away, but the pattern? It's GOTTA be here someplace.

Otherwise, it's a trip to Textile Fabrics w/my fingers crossed that they'll still have some of that stripe, and an order to Sewing Workshop for another pattern.

Meantime, the blouse-in-progress has been moved to a zip lok bag and returned to the 'WIP' box. But it hurt.


So I pulled out a couple of things to compensate; the slinky dress was a great boost, so I got brave and I cut into the black and white jacquard check fabric for a peplum jacket; it's McCall's 5529, which looks wonderful on the size 4 model and kinda meh on me, but it's ok. We're in black and white w/jeans for this month in choir, and I thought that would be a nifty thing to wear over a cami or lightweight t. I just have to make sure that the waistband on whatever pants is not ending right at the gathers on the flounce; that doesn't help the look any. I really think the jacket needs to be worn by someone with a skinnier waist in proportion to hips than I've got...at least the gathered version, anyway. But it's not *horrible*...just not *wonderful*. I'll wear it.

I've also cut out the now OOP Hot Patterns Artful Dodger Purity Blouse. That was one of their earlier releases, and it definitely had issues. I tissue fit the blouse and found that I could not even get the armsceye up my arm; I had to trim away close to an inch from the circumference in order to get the blouse ON...which meant I had to add about three inches to the sleeve width. I finally got something I hope will work, and cut it out of some cotton batiste...that's next up.

And some costuming...which I'll talk about tomorrow ;)