A Quick Reminisce on sewing a Lace Dress...

 Late last Thursday night, as I was nearing the finish line, I commented something to My Sweet Babboo about the craziness it has been sewing three out of the four Mother Of The...dresses.  The Rayon Maxi dress had zero drama,  but the other three...oy, there was drama.  With the first one...it was just my own bone-headedness, which included things like twisting the dress before I sewed in the invisible zipper.  Then there was the Aunt Lena Quasimodo dress I made for the Flute Player's wedding...but I am blaming those problems on the fabric.

Rayon crepe is bad enough when it's cut meticulously on grain.  Cutting it cross grain, which I had to do because of the orientation of the print, just was hopeless.

And that brings us to the black lace dress...

My first problem was probably that I picked the wrong pattern.  I picked a really fitted sheath dress...

Here's the pattern, which I actually purchased because I was smitten with the jacket:

The reviews I had read of this dress looked to have very nicely fitted shoulders/ upper chest.  Bingo.  I'd just leave those vertical darts out and maybe add a bit of width and I should be good to go, right?

Nope.  LOOK at the curves in that dress.  

I. Am. Not. Curvy. Like. That.

I had to straighten out the hip curves considerably after sewing up the first muslin and seeing the poufs I had. The second muslin was better but I probably would've gotten along MUCH better if I had just started with a less shapely pattern.

And, to be honest, I probably should have just made a black sandwashed silk dress and used the lace for a duster coat.  Although I probably would have needed more lace fabric; I had bare inches of scraps left over after all was pieced up and done. 

But...back to  my lament to My Sweet Babboo about the drama.  He just looked at me and said, "Why?"

And that pulled me up short.  Why DID I do that to myself?  Well...I hated to drop what would likely have been $250 bucks on the MOTG dresses I was eyeballing.  (I got that lace at a significant sale price) And those RTW dresses were 100% polyester.  My dress was poly lace over sandwashed silk, lined by rayon bemberg.  Much nicer than just being wrapped in plastic.

And it fit.  I think that was the biggest thing.  The dress fit ME.  

And for some strange reason, I just wanted to tackle a lace dress.

You know,  I learned a lot.  I'd never really tried this type of construction before.  The Flute Player saw the dress just before it was finished...and gasped.  'How long did that take you???' 

'A lot longer than I expected,' I replied.  Then she spotted a scrap of the fabric and looked at it closely.  'OH!  The fabric has the little dangly leafs.  I thought you sewed all those on!'

Well, no wonder she was shocked, lol.

I have come to the conclusion that there must be a lot more engineering in the couture world; I think they must either engineer the patterns so that the seam lines hit the fabric just so or engineer the fabric so that it accommodates the pattern.  Each of the little leaf motifs is sort of framed by scroll work and  I ended up with several small void places...where I had to trim out the motif to sew a seam but there wasn't enough room to replace a motif in the now much smaller framed area after sewing the seam.  Granted, it's not obvious with the black background but if you look closely you can spot them.  And I just don't see any way to avoid that...unless the math was done before hand. But that would be way over my head, lol. 

If you look close, you can see that I'm sewing down a motif that I had to trim away from the only conventional seam on the whole lace overlay.  I just trimmed one side off, sewed the seam, and then tacked the loose side down.  It overlaps the scroll work a bit but from a distance...on the black background...it doesn't show. 

But here's a repeat of a picture from an earlier post.  The void spots jump out with the white background; there isn't room to attach a motif without overlapping another motif, which is lumpy.  Fortunately they are not nearly so obvious with the matte black silk.

 One of the things I learned... I am NOT a couture-level seamstress.

I *did* finish and it *did* look just fine and either no one noticed the void spots or they were polite enough to not mention them, lol.   And, should a suitable occasion arise, I will happily wear it again. Assuming, of course, that it still fits at that point, lol.

Unfortunately, aside from the windblown picture I posted Saturday night...I don't have any pictures yet. 

But now...I have a HUGE mess in my sewing room.  It is staggering how many little motifs are EVERYWHERE.  On the cutting table.  On my sewing machine table.  On the ironing board.  All OVER the floor...I can't believe I cut that many off.

And I did manage to throw a bunch of them in a little box as I was trimming, so ...crazy.

I have a dress to hem for a friend's daughter before I pull the black thread out of the machines.  Gonna pin that up on Wednesday and sew it whilst My Sweet Babboo is off primitive camping this weekend. 

So...I'll do that, and I'll clean up all the little leafy scraps.  Gotta come up with something creative to do with those...somewhere down the line...

Deja vu....

 Welp, I did it again.

This time it was a rotary cutter.

I don't even know how it happened; somehow, whilst cutting the very tight inner curve on the front facing, I caught the far side of my left pinky and cut right through the fingernail.  Then my fingernail wrapped up in the blade and tore loose from the nail bed...I think.  I have a nick on my actual finger, a horizontal cut into the fingernail that suddenly goes up at an angle and then turns again parallel to the first one.  I don't know how much of my finger underneath is cut...or if it just ripped up the nail.  I wasn't going fast with the cutter, but it was a brand new blade, 'cause I was cutting silk...

It's going to take that puppy a minute to grow out.  Gonna be a nice look for the wedding next weekend. :rolleyes:

So I didn't finish cutting the silk shell out until tonight.

But.. I have the lining put together, and I got the darts in the front and the back seam ready for the zipper. before I decided it was time to quit before I messed something up.

The next two days are pretty full; I'm going to try and get the zipper in after I get home tomorrow, then I can put the front and the back together on Thursday...and maybe get it hemmed. Then Friday morning I can baste the lining in...and start the process of cutting and piecing the lace.

I'm gonna be hand sewing all weekend.  And maybe Monday and Tuesday evenings.

At least the bummed up pinky shouldn't interfere with that too much.

It's gonna be a puzzle...

 I've got the patterns with the final edits...it's not perfect but I haven't got time to tweak it four more times for perfect.  I think it's going to be at least as good as ready-to-wear, so I'm calling it good enough.

And crossing my fingers that the final fabric doesn't do something weird that wasn't showing in the cotton muslin, lol.

But I do have a dilemma.  My lace is a very scant 40" wide.

Which means I have this problem:

I put the pattern on just to see how things were going to work.  The hemline is at the bottom, but the top kinda runs off the edge.

I have been puzzling over this. all day.  Finally, driving home from work, I recollected that two years ago I added 6" to the girth of a bridesmaids dress with crazy piecing.  I figure if I can do that, I can piece a bit on the shoulders.

The underfabric is a sandwashed silk with a gorgeous drape that's been in the stash for...ages....  I think any piecing should disappear right into that matte background.  

It's going to be lined with a lightweight Bemberg.

I also made a tracing with no seam allowances; I will lay that on the lace and thread trace the seams. I am probably going to be sewing the lace overlayer pretty much by hand.

But this weekend is the annual women's conference at church...so not much sewing is likely to happen. I will probably cut and sew...at least as far as I can...the lining and the underlayer before I cut the lace. If it turns into a disaster, I will omit the lace and just have a black silk dress.  

I may splurge on a dressy jacket if that happens. But I'm hopeful it will work.

The wedding is two weeks from Saturday.  Deep breaths.

In which some progress was made...

 So, I have slightly less than 4 weeks until I need the next MOG outfit.  This wedding is at a state park in the next county, so it's a bit closer to home.  But it's also a bit fancier.  IE, the bridesmaids...and the MOB...will be in black, mostly so they will show up against the sky behind the bluff on which the ceremony will take place.  But they are all wearing long black dresses.

So, yeah, I'm gonna hafta go a bit more upscale.

Now, I *do* have a failsafe;  we went to my hubby's 50 year class reunion two weeks ago and I wore something that I can just dress up a bit more with a better topper, shoes and jewelry...Under the Chico's sweater are a couple of Loes Hinse patterns...a black slinky Twinset shell and a Swing skirt, sans flounce, added pockets from the Oxford pants.

Not quite as uptown as I would like but if I have a fiasco in the sewing room it will do...because I'm doing a technique I haven't tried before. I am starting with this Vogue dress pattern; 

It's a simple sheath dress...you can see it better in the line drawing:

Today I finally got around to doing the first go at alterations...I did my normal narrow square shoulder adjustment, a FBA, and added some extra width.  I also added an underlap to the center back slit...I prefer a vent to a slit.  There are only two pattern pieces.

I had a huge chunk of nondescript gray cotton fabric that I bought 3 years ago to make face masks...I have no idea why I got so much?  It must've been on sale, lol. Anyway, it will do fine for a muslin.

I added a seam allowance to the center front; I will sew up the back seam and leave the front unsewn so I can just pin up the center front to close up the muslin.  Save messing with a zipper.  I'll put the seamline on a fold when I cut The Good Stuff.

I am omitting the vertical darts... I don't need that shaping (thank you middle age spread), but after doing the FBA that is one honkin' big bust dart.  I would  just convert it to a princess seam but...the whole reason I'm doing this simple pattern is because I am doing a lace overlay (which I have not done before) and I want to keep the structure as simple as possible, to not interfere with the lace.

We'll see how it looks once the muslin is sewn up.

Funky Pants for the Wardrobe

 The 'February' selections for the 'Start with a Scarf' wardrobe included a pair of 'ankle pants'. I wasn't sure what to do but I stumbled across a Vogue Marci Tilton pants pattern (8712) that I had started altering up...sometime back in the past... and decided to give it a go.  I had some very drapey rayon 'denim' that I'd purchased to make a shirt back about 8 years ago, but it was not quite right for what I wanted so it just went into the stash. Bingo.

I had to go back and review the alterations I'd made (and undo some of them...no idea what I was thinking at the time) and I cut them out back in May...and they waited whilst I made diapers and the pink shirt.

But they were rather quick to do, and I finished them up today.  They are a bit longer on me than on the envelope models...I can't remember if I shortened them or not.  (update...I shortened them one inch) But they hit around my ankles, which is exactly the brief for the selection, lol. 'Ankle pants'...

Of course, I will NEVER wear them with a top tucked in, but you can kind of see the lantern shape and maybe, if you can zoom in, the interesting pocket.

The pattern guide called for a narrow hem; I wanted a little extra weight at the bottom so I cut the angled cuffs twice and used the extra ones as a facing. If I were going to just hem it, I think I would use some bias tape as a narrow facing because it is pretty sharply angled and curved.  Just my opinion, lol.

They are very comfy and I'm going to enjoy them.

Since my hubby was handy to take a picture, I put on the pink shirt for a quick shot as well.

Lawdy my hair!  The humidity has froofed it...even in the AC, lol.  I didn't bother putting any product on it today since I wasn't going anywhere.  Wasn't expecting to have to take a picture.  But this is about the duds anyway, right?  

On the Cutting Table...

You may have noticed that bodacious number under 'Fabric In' for this year on the sidebar.

I can legitimately claim that 12 yards were purchased for sewing facemasks; I am slowly whittling that down...but the rest represents a lot of wishful thinking.

One of the pieces that I bought early in the year was a printed knit from Gorgeous Fabrics.  I can't just make a plain ol' T shirt out of it; I think the impact would get lost.  It needs to be a part of something that will set it off...then, if I have any left, maybe I'll make a sleeveless t or something.

I pondered and I pondered...but the pattern that kept coming to mind was

Vogue 9108, the view with the full back (not the criss cross straps):

I read the reviews, thought it over, read the reviews again, pondered a bit, and then finally went looking through the stash to see if I had anything that would work with that print.

I think I found enough:

The print 'reads' as light in intensity, for all that the colors in it are bright; I have purple knit that matches the bit of purple in the print and it could work, but I think it would fight the print for attention.  The gray is  more on the right intensity level, I think.  Then the stripe and a bit of blue on the bottom; I've got both a hot pink and a green ribbon; I'll play with it when I get there and see what looks the best.

I think I am just so weary of cranking out masks...and I haven't even made a fraction of what some folks have done...that I'm ready for something a little bit weird and a whole lot fun.  My only hesitation is that all of that rayon knit could possibly be heavy and droopy. 

If I can just mix a little fun sewing in amongst the masks, I think I will enjoy it all a whole lot more.

And maybe I would quit wandering into temptation on those fabric sites...lol.

I Think I Found The Wild Goose...

I happened to spot Ann's post reviewing these pants and did a double take.  Except for the buttons being on the front seam instead of the side seam, they were nearly identical to the pants I'd spotted at lunch the other day.

So, of course when I had to make a trip to the other side of town to feed The Princess's kitties for her whilst she was away for the day, I added an additional loop to swing by JoAnn's and pick it up.

I spent last week tracing off a Hot Patterns pants pattern...the exact name has escaped me and I'm too lazy to run upstairs and check...but I have never made up any pants from their line yet and I was guessing where to start for the size.  I was at the point of finding some junk fabric for a muslin mock up when I spotted Ann's review and threw the brakes on that project.  I at least have a clue of what I need to do to a Vogue pattern.

And, besides the usual fitting tweaks,  I will do a lot.
1) Move the placket to the outseam
2) Add Pockets
3) Add a waistband with at least some elastic (I am losing weight...very slowly...)
4) Move the zipper to a more accessible position.  Who EVER thought undoing a zipper blind and behind you under possible urgent duress was a good idea I do not know.  I may just put the zipper in the pocket that I will be adding.

So, basically, I will not be making THESE pants but I will be making pants based on these pants.

Oy, I have a lot of work to do lol...

The Arcadia Green Top

 I actually finished it week before last, but we  had some tasks that pulled us out of choir last Sunday so I didn't wear it until today.

Vogue 9057; I added a front seam and topstitched it just to give the solid fabric some visual interest.  The sleeve length was determined solely by the amount of fabric I had; that was as long as I could make 'em.  Which, given the fact that spring is very slow to get in gear this year, is just fine.

That's the first time I made that view; I kinda like it and may use it again.  The only tricky bit is mitering the front corners;  I don't know if the instructions are to miter them or not; I didn't look. LOL.  Mitering corners is just what I do.

All in all, I'll call the experiment a guarded success.  It took two tries, but I did get something the right color.  I may very well try it again if I have a hard-to-match color....and I used a white knit that was just too grayish (literally, it looked like it had been washed with dark colors and took some dye) to use as it was, so just finding a purpose for that was good.

 I kinda like that green.  It's fresh and springy.  

Choir Wardrobe 10/23/16

Wow!  An actual Choir post on Sunday...lol

I decided to wear the two Vogue 9057 tops together...in the only way that really works for this set.  The tank top has to be on the bottom, because for whatever reason the neckline is higher on it.

Which is kind ok, as that shade of yellow (colors for November are burnt orange, spicy mustard, and/or warm taupe with brown) is not particularly flattering on me, so covering up most of it probably is a good idea anyway.

I love wearing that brown top; the knit (which had been in the stash for something like 5 years, waiting on a great pattern) is sooo yummy.  I have recently purchased some Telio knits from Fabric.com that are similar in weight and drape, although they strike me as being a bit more shiny (that elasticity shine...know what I mean?)  I used this one for a tank/cardi twinset and loved it so much I bought more and it's just been sitting around.  I finally decided it's time to sew it up...and I needed brown...and I had that great Tilton Vogue pattern...so...the yellow fabric was horrid, but the brown is nice and I'll wear this until that asymmetric top screams 'old lady'.  Which I will be by then, so it will still be good.
The scarf is a remnant of a burnout poly that I picked up at Hancock's, may they RIP.  I really don't like wearing poly scarves, because they feel hot and smell funky, but the colors on this are so perfect that I deal with it in October.

I put the two tops together, like, Friday and looked at them hard.  Wished I had brown jeggings to wear with them.

Wouldn't ya know, I had to make a Wal-mart run yesterday, which I do about once every six weeks, and walking through the store on my way to the dairy section from health and beauty, I walked right by a rack with $13 jeggings.  And the brown was right in front in my size.

Now I've officially moved into the 21st century, fashion-wise.  They have back hip pockets, so I've got someplace to stash phone/keys/leadership badge/kleenex, and belt loops so I could run a belt through to clip my pedometer onto.  It's hysterical...I get about 12,000 steps over three services, just because we move back and forth a bit (the 'choir sway') during the worship sessions.  So despite the hokey useless front faux pockets, the jeggings are rather practical...so long as I'm wearing a long enough top.  And that's all I'm going to say there.

The brown suede boots once belonged to The Princess.  She apparently decided they didn't suit her wardrobe at some point about a year and a half ago and gave them to The Flute Player.  But Flute Player has size 8ish feet, and these boots are a size 7 W.  She put them in a bag for donating...and I noticed them, saw the size, which happens to be mine, and discovered they fit me fairly well.

Into my closet they went.

Is that a hand me up?

I can't review those tops just yet; I suspect the neckline issue is my fault.  I need to check the patterns against each other to verify my hypothesis...and maybe make another tank to test my theory.

Because layers are good in winter anyway...right? LOL.

Choir Wardrobe 7/3/16

Well, a faulty light setting results in a kinda muted picture, but you can get the idea.

July colors are black, gray and hot pink. 

For some reason, I was suddenly seized with the need to sew up another new purchase and, at about 9 PM last night, I cut out the latest iteration of the Vogue 9057.  The changes on it so far were to use short sleeves and scoop out the neckline slightly...for this T, I folded 1 1/2" out of the length, and cut it out of some sparkly rayon/lurex/lycra jersey...and proceeded to sew it up.  Which, of course, meant I had to wear it today, even if it did mean  grayscale dressing with black Lee jeans and the black vest from the Burda 05/09 magazine.  Pink accessories brightened it up a little...

But I'm happy with the T.  It's  MUCH less sloppy than the longer length on the first two....whoda thought a teeny inch and a half would make such a difference?  This is really, really close to the relaxed fit T I'm looking for.  There's an unsewn dart in the armsceye, which creates a small pleat in the underarm area...but it's exactly  like a RTW T would fit so I'm not sure it's worth fiddling over.

The only other minor problem is that the neckline is really too curved for the width of the neckband; it buckles a bit in the front.  I need to either make the neckline a wider scoop ....more U ish and less V ish...or cut the neckband skinnier.  I think I  like the soft V shape, so a skinnier band will no doubt be the solution.

But those are minor tweaks.  I'm calling this a TNT and will probably make a bunch.

Workwear 28

But first, an update on the 10 year anniversary giveaway...

I went by the post office today and dropped off Marilyn's box and the 4 pattern consolation prizes :-).
That means everyone's prize is in the mail EXCEPT DEBBIE'S.  I still need Debbie to resend her mailing address to tig77LW at yahoo dotcom;  yahoo and I had a bad day about a week ago and the original email with your address apparently disappeared.

The tattersal wool plaid is in a box, waiting on an address.... :-)

But I had a delightful conversation with the mail clerk...who sews and asked for the blog address so she could stop by.  How cool is that? :-)

But...today's work-with-the wardrobe SWAP post...

The Pac B pants, with a mixed-texture T from the Old Version of Coldwater Creek and my turquoise wool gab Vogue 1100  jacket, which I love but seldom wear because it's hard to put with pants.  But I really like this combo; the top matches the button on the jacket and matches the stripes in the pants.


So...I have a new combo.  Win.

No work wear tomorrow...I'll be wearing utility black-and-white, as we're serving an appreciation luncheon for local social workers and others who work with children in foster care or crisis situations.  All church staff become wait staff for this event...which we've been doing for something like 10 years now.  Which is hard to believe... But it's cool to thank some folks who seldom get much appreciation.

Workwear 23

:-)  I haven't worn new stuff in what seems like forever.

But, fresh off the machines...my second rendition of Vogue 8691, which I really, really need to review.

I wore it with The Sewing Workshop's Helix Pants,which I also need to review,  made out of a  pretty cheap double knit.  A new pair is in the SWAP plan, with a much nicer fabric queued up for them. I added pockets and really, really like these pants a lot. I'm even wondering if they'd work out of a stretchy woven...

The Unadorned Suit

Here's the steampunk costume with no steampunking yet.  The Jacket is Vogue 1132, and the skirt, well, I started w/ Folkwear's Walking Skirt and made it actually big enough to fit and, in a questionable move, added front inseam pockets, as there is no sideseam and the thought of making an entire outfit w/no pockets in it made me feel claustrophobic.  But I set them a bit low and they're not as invisible as I'd like.  Still, it would do to hold a kleenex in a pinch.

The jacket needs more structure.  There is interfacing in the collar, and on the front facing, and, with the shoulder pads, that's it.  I thought about adding more but given the time constraints and knowing that this jacket will not see much actual wear...costume not couture...I just went with the instructions.  Were I to actually make it for real life, I would interface the entire front and add a bit to the upper back and possibly put a floating shield in the front upper chest to eliminate the drapey business that shows up  in the photo.

And I would insist that the photographer make sure the pepblum is arranged nicely before photographing it.

We have no choir tomorrow; the set for the family event takes up the entire platform and there's nowhere for us to stand.    But I will hopefully have a photo of the whole outfit all costumed out for the data processing chief, Agent Abacus.

Close enough for costuming...

After a three-muslin-still-not-fitting jacket marathon, it was a treat to slap this  jacket together and have something that comes this close to fitting (it really is slapped together.  I wasn't going for pretty):

There is really very little I need to do here.  The sleeve needs to be shortened about 3/4" below the elbow dart, and maybe slimmed down just a bit in the forearm to trim the wrist.

 I might add a pinch more ease at the waist.

But that's it.

Boom.

I will be cutting out the good stuff tomorrow.

New Venture into Steampunk...

A quick post here, because I've got to hit my cutting table...

Ten years ago, we did a family crusade at church with a pirate theme.  We split the congregation into two teams, and the competition rose to amazing, incredible, hilarious heights as the kids learned about God's love amongst the hilarity.

We all joined in the fun...here's flashback photo of all of us, on what just happened to be the 25th anniversary of our wedding day...

Wow.  Ok, I had to have a moment there.

But it's been ten years.  And the time has come 'round again for a full out family event.

Only this time the theme is kinda Rocketeer-ish steampunk.  'Sky Kids - Saving the world of Tomorrow'.

And this time, I'm on staff.  I"m actually going to be over all the data entry and point tracking for all the kids who come; the top five point-earners will get some pretty cool prizes.

So I'm working on a costume.  I may or may not be actually interacting with the congregation in my role as 'Record Keeper', but I will be part of the backdrop.

Steampunk ain't as easy as Pirates...I'm just sayin'.

But I found that wonderful superfine wool in a perfect sepia brown, so I'mma gonna give it a go.

My inspiration is Mary Poppin's red Day Out suit...and that's just what it is, inspiration.  I'm going to make the jacket out of Vogue 1132, which has a pretty pronounced back peplum...which some reviewers called 'bustle-like'.  Kinda awkward for daily wear, maybe, but for a costume...perfect.

And, check this out...it is a shoulder--princess cut with long sleeves w/elbow darts.  Ya'll, this could be the basis for a TNT jacket.  Without the peplum, of course.

And Vogue is a sloper I'm used to; I more-or-less know what I need to do to alter up the patterns to fit.  I've decided I'm going to do one more adjustment...a forward shoulder...and then I'll cut out the lining to see how it does.  Then the jacket.

And, me being me, I seem to have mislaid the pattern guide sheets.

Whee.

Here goes.

Little switch...

So, I have the in-need-of-alteration Hot Patterns top on the cutting table upstairs, but I'd already switched out the thread in the serger so I decided to get something else out of the queue.

Made it on Monday, but, as yesterday was St. Patrick's day and I had to wear green to celebrate my1/16 Irishness, I wore it today.  And took a crummy bathroom selfie, but you can get the idea.

Katherine Tilton's Vogue 8691, made up in a marbled cotton/lycra jersey that was kind of a last minute 'oh, what the heck' addition to an on line order late last year.

Very good impulse, that time.  It feels wonderful and was very nice to sew.

My only complaint about the top is that the band is just a teeny bit too wide for the curve of the neck and buckles slightly.  But not bad enough for me to take it off and trim it and certainly not at all difficult to edit next time.  

Back to the LaStrada  top...

The Grad Dress, Part 1...fail

There is not much time before graduation...it is a week from Friday.

The Flute Player requires a white dress.

She'll wear this dress at least 4 times this summer...graduation, her Girls Ministry Gold Medal award ceremony, the Honor ceremony at state girls camp and the advancement ceremony for our local girls ministry program.

The church related events have requirements...no off-the shoulder, wiggle, or above knee dresses.

Time being short and all, I just figured we'd go shopping.

We'd planned to go tonight.

However, she had a ton of work to do on a powerpoint presentation due tomorrow and it became apparent about 7 that we were NOT going to make it shopping tonight.

So I decided to give a muslin a go; if I could find a dress that worked, I could make it about as quick as we could wander over the city shopping.

So our first go was Vogue 1348, a Tom and Linda Platt dress that I thought would make a nice dress for her.  I guesstimated her size, traced a 10 w/ no adjustments and whipped up a muslin.

It fit great in the shoulders but was too small everywhere else.  So I let out the seams as far as the pleats, which helped a bit, but it was still too snug in the hips.

And, you know, it just looked sorta meh on her.  She's a pear, and the snug fitting bodice and fullish skirt really kinda emphasized that.

So, after an evening of work, I've decided that dress won't suit her.

So I'm back to square one.

and we won't have a chance to go shopping until Friday...

Adri jacket done

Twelve teeny mitered corners later, and I have a jacket.  Actually, it's more of an overshirt than a jacket, but for summer choir wear it'll be just about perfect.  Once I decide I can live with the inevitable linen creases. ;-).

I finally decided to skip the bias binding on the neckline; if I'd had the time and the inclination I could've made some samples and figured out a way to miter a binding-meets-hem corner, but the linen was stable and pressed very nicely so I decided to just turn the seam under and go.  Here's a detail shot of the collar/neckline/mitered corners; you can click to make it big enough to actually see.

This will probably show up in tomorrow's choir wardrobe post.

Mitering Away

I'm making good progress on the Adri jacket.  It's really a simple thing to put together EXCEPT...all the seam allowances are pressed open, then they are turned under and topstitched.

Except for the neckline seam, which has a single fold bias binding over it.

And I'm fussy when it comes to points that show like that, so I'm doing little bitty mitered corners.

Counting the front lapel, there are 12 mitered corners.

Except I can't figure out how to miter that front lapel corner.  It's a double turned 5/8" on the front edge, and the single fold bias binding on the  neckline edge.

I have Linda Lee's little booklet on miters, which covers several different corner arrangements, but bound edge meeting hemmed edge is not one of them.

I may skip the binding and just fold under the neckline seam, too.

Pondering that while I do the other 10 corners....

Tangerine for Choir

After realizing I couldn't make the Vogue 1250 yesterday, I mulled over my options for getting SOMETHING sewn on the holiday and decided to make a top for choir.  I'd purchased some VERY NICE poly matte jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics earlier this year and, as I need tangerine for June, decided it was time to sew it up.

Only I could NOT decide what to do with it.  Finally, I pulled out one of my new pattern purchases...Vogue 8669 and realized that it has somewhat in common with 1250.  And the sleeveless top takes 1 yard, which was what I had available.

So I looked at the reviews for it; there aren't really very many yet.  And I noticed that the cowl is quite high, as opposed to the 1250, which drapes very low.  I really didn't care for the high edge of the cowl, so I decided to reverse what I did for 1250 and rotate the shoulder AWAY from the center front in order to elongate that top edge.  And, while I was at it, I decided to add a deep self-facing to the front as well; 8669 calls for a 5/8" narrow hem.

 Also, the drape is just gathered into the shoulders on the 8669 top; I converted the drape ease to pleats.  This is not a great photo, but here's the original pattern and my modification side-by-side:

So I cut it out of the orange jersey and made it up.  It was very, very quick:

I should've done a FBA.  I thought about it, but decided to try it without first.  Next time I'll add that.  I'll also tweak the armholes a bit; they're too far forward at the bottom and flash lingerie if I'm not careful.  This top will be worn as a bottom layer, though, so I should be ok.

I have another piece of orange fabric that I may get sewn up: but there's another 'oh, what pattern shall I use?' decision to make...