Ah well. Maybe next time.

(I started writing this at the beginning of October. Ummmmmmm...yeah.)

 

Despite having good intentions and sewing three of the five required garments, I did not finish in time to participate in the PR Mini Wardrobe Contest. I was on a roll and thought I'd have everything completed with enough time to take pictures and post reviews. Unfortunately, fussy fabrics got the best of me and I simply ran out of steam. Plus as Doctor T Designs noted, posting wardrobe plans on the internet is an almost-certain way to invite defeat. 😅

Fussy Fabric #1:  denim tencel twill (plan:  Burda 9-2006-108 / reality:  New Look 6299)

When I purchased this fabric, I was super excited to sew it. The drape and hand were wonderful and it washed well. There was a bit of crocking and bleeding, but I didn't mind in this case because it added dimension to the fabric. For all of its beauty, the fabric was a nightmare to control. It shifted horribly at the slightest touch and made it almost impossible to sew a straight seam. Patch pockets? Yeah, no. I tried interfacing the whole pocket; that made it too stiff. I tried interfacing just the seams for stability; the fabric legit laughed. 

 

fragile sewing mojo = not dealing with foolishness

It's a mathematical fact.

Fortunately the skirt front and back pieces were big enough where I could reuse them to cut New Look 6299.

The fabric was still challenging to sew, but I made it work. After it hung on my dressform for a few days, I was certain it was headed to the donation pile. But after I tried it on, I found that actually liked it. It's not at all what I wanted, but it's still a good basic that goes with almost everything.

Fussy Fabric #2:  rayon crinkle challis (plan:  New Look 6831 / reality:  New Look 6831)

 

 

I love sewing rayon challis. It has silk-like qualities with the wash-ability of cotton and there are often many wonderful, interesting prints. But it is a fussy fabric and has to be handled accordingly.

This particular fabric was EXTRA fussy, let me tell you. It had the dubious combination of being shifty and prone to stretching out of shape. 

 

Do you see this?! This is the side front panel stretched all to be damned. I didn't even handle it that much and it stretched a good 1.5 inches! The side front and center front panels had zero chance of matching. I had enough fabric to re-cut the piece and handled the rest of the garment with extreme care. Usually I pin cut pieces to my dress form, but I didn't this time; I figured gravity was an enemy.

 

I fused stay tape to the shoulder seams to prevent future stretching and will use stay tape around the armholes and other stretch-prone areas next time.

Once again, despite the difficulty in sewing this fabric, I really like the final garment. I used covered buttons since I couldn't find anything else that really went with the blouse.

 

Fussy Fabric #3:  lt. wt. cotton sateen (plan:  New Look 6704 / reality:  Simplicity 2599)

This fabric was the inspiration behind the colour scheme for the wardrobe plan and ended up being the biggest disappointment. Though it wasn't as fussy as the twill and challis, the fabric was oddly hard to handle given that it is 100% cotton. I used pins and weights to cut the fabric, but everything was still uneven. 

If I'm not sure about a pattern or fabric, I don't cut all of the pieces at once. I figure if things aren't going as planned, at least I have enough uncut fabric to do something else. For this garment, I only cut the bodice front and facing. I had so much trouble trying to sew the center front split and facing, I just stopped and changed directions.

I cut out an old favorite, Simplicity 2599. I'm almost finished with it (need to bind the armholes and hem), but I am 'meh' about the top. I still really like the fabric, but the whole experience has soured me and it's now been relegated to Area 51. This happens sometimes. 🤷

Without this piece, the rest of the wardrobe plan didn't make sense (to me) and was too monotone for my liking.

Fussy Fabric #4:  cream poly-wool crepe (plan:  Burda 6357 / reality:  donation pile)

The fussiness of this fabric was purely my fault. Washing it with a bright yellow-orange wide-wale corduroy turned out to be a terrible idea. See...I was thinking that since they're both light colors, I could wash them together with all other light colors. Terrible idea.

 

Not only did the corduroy bleed horribly (and permanently change the color of another light gray fabric to a puke pea green), the fuzz from the corduroy attracted itself to the poly-wool crepe. SMH

I tried removing the fuzz with a lint roller, but it proved to be more work than I was willing to commit. So the fabric is now in the donation bag. [See mathematical computation about fragile sewing mojo above.]

Of the original wardrobe plan, I completed Burda 8-2009-104.

 

 

I made this pattern before in a cotton shirting and really like it.

 

 

I wanted to make Simplicity 2339, but the fit was ridiculously off and I didn't feel like trying to make it work.

 

Simplicity 2339

Since I really wanted the double ruffle detail, I just took those pieces and added them to the Burda shirt.

 

Initially I used clear shank buttons for closures. After going through my button stash, I found these perfectly-matched blue and off-white two-holed buttons. I think I bought the buttons specifically for this fabric, but forgot I had them. Switching them out was the right decision.

Welp. 3 out of 5 completed garments isn't bad. I love what I made and everything works well with other clothes I have.

 

***

I have other sewn items (garments and handbag) to share along with the results of MakeNine 2022 and the annual sewing year-in-review. I hope to write about it soon. 

 

Happy Festivus everyone!

 

L

Kwik Sew 3558 (jacket): Complete

Many thanks to all of you who dropped by and commented on my skirt!  Here is a photo of me wearing both the skirt and jacket.

I super heart this look!  At first I thought the color combo was too stark, but now that I've sewn and worn the garments, I think these colors work very well together.  In fact, I am adding one more piece to my mini wardrobe:  a lime green tank top to go under the jacket and pop with the skirt.  Though there are more shades of blue threads in the boucle', the few green threads are the same color of my intended top.

Fabric/Notions

• 2 yards of medium navy cotton twill
• 1 cotton fat quarter for self-made bias tape
• 2 11" x 2" bias cut fleece for sleeve heads
• fusible weft interfacing
• 3 5/8" buttons, 1 1" button
• twill tape for the lapel roll line

Machines/Setup

• regular sewing machine with walking foot for seams
• 80/12 universal needle
• serger and thread

Since I wasn't going to line the jacket, I had this grand idea of binding the seams together and then topstitching.  I tested the idea on the center back and side back seams and realized that I would be sewing each seam four times.  Then I thought about this...

O_o

Yeeeeeeaaah.  I ain't got time for all of that.  I picked out those stitches with the quickness and proceeded with the serger.  =D  I did bind the facing edges and hem with bias tape, so at least there is a little bit of pretty on the inside.  On a simple jacket like this, going naught-couture works for me. Honestly, naught-couture pretty much describes my sewing style!

Alterations/Fit

Sizing

I started with a size medium and made very few fitting alterations.  I compared the bodice center and side front to that of Jalie 2559 and found that they were VERY similar - so much so that I considered ditching the Kwik Sew pattern and winging a peplum draft from the Jalie pattern.  I decided against it because...um...hmm...I really don't know why I decided against it. 

Alterations

The Kwik Sew back bodice pieces were much smaller than Jalie, so I first did a 5/8" broad back adjustment.  Remembering that the Jalie pattern was a bit blousy in the back, I removed the back adjustment and stuck with a straight medium.  The fit is spot on!

The two significant changes I made were to add a center back seam for a 1" swayback adjustment and an addition of 1" to the hem.  The muslin's cut length was where I wanted my jacket to end.  Adding the extra inch gave me the length I wanted.

The waist was a bit snug, so I added 1/4" to the front and back side seams for extra room.   

The shoulder seams for a medium were very long.  So I took 3/4" seam allowances at the front and back princess seams, tapering to 5/8" about an inch or so below the seam.  This corrected the problem and placed the shoulder point closer to mine.  

Lastly, I added one inch to the hem since I wanted the cut length as my finished length.  In cutting out the pieces, I forgot to add the extra inch to the facings.  At first, I thought I needed to remove the extra inch so that the jacket and facings would have the same length.  After looking at the directions again, I realized that I needed to trim the bottom of the facings after they were attached to the front.  So my not adding the extra inch saved me a step in trimming!  In the future, I'll add a 1/4" seam allowance to the bottom of the facing as insurance.

Construction

All seams except the sides were sewn, pressed to one side, and topstitched with regular thread.  I meant to press open the shoulder seams but had a duh moment and serged them together.  By the time I realized what I had done, I was attaching the collar and not interested in correcting my mistake.  The shoulder doesn't lie as flat as it could, but it's not that bad either.

Tailoring

I did a tiny bit of tailoring by taping the lapel roll line.  I didn't think to tape the collar roll line, but I will the next time I make this or a similar jacket.

Pattern Instructions

The instructions are very straightforward, though I followed a slightly different order.  I assembled the complete front and back, then attached at the side seams for fit.  The instructions have you sew the bodice front and back first, then attach the completed peplum.

The collar instructions are confusing at first.  Having sewn a couple of jackets, I expected to  sew the jacket, attach the collar unit, sew the facing unit, and then attach it to the jacket. Kwik Sew, on the other hand, has you construct the jacket, add the front facings, add the collar unit, then attach the back facing. I was nervous about following Kwik Sew's instructions but am glad that I did. For once, I sewed a notched collar that doesn't have any pulls, puckers, or gaps and lies completely flat. I think I will follow these instructions from now on when sewing a collar like this.

Sleeve Heads

In any structured jacket, I like to set my sleeves using sleeve heads.  Not only do they help ease the cap into the sleeve, they provide great structure for the cap area.

Sleeve and Back Tabs

The sleeve tabs are clever and give a casual look to the jacket.  I will have to re-do one of the tabs because the buttonhole is poorly placed and causes the tab to stick out.  Right now I have it tacked down, but I won't keep it like this for long.  I'll probably re-do one of the back tabs as well.  The buttonhole is too far from the point and makes the tab pull the left side too much.

Conclusion

I am very happy with my outfit.  The "scarf" is actually the fabric for the knit top!  If I have enough fabric, I will try to eke out a real scarf to wear with this look.

Now I need to find some shoes to wear with this!  I have a pair of cloth navy pumps, but no sandals.  I suppose this is a more pump-wearing outfit, but still.  It's summer and panty hose are not happening in this heat.

Up next:  McCall's 6078 in the floral rayon knit and the silk suiting skirt.

Until next time, peace!

L

Simplicity 2860 (pants)

Having worked on pants fitting for a few years, I am pleased to finally have a pair of good-fitting trousers.  There's still work to do with the back as the hamstring area is still too full, but at least the pants are wearable and comfortable. Plus, the front looks really good!

Fabric & Notions:

• about 2 yards of 100% striped herringbone wool suiting
• 7" nylon zipper
• walking foot to ensure even feed of fabric
• fusible interfacing for the outer waistband and zipper fly
• 80/12 universal needle

Sizing & Alterations:

I started working on this pattern a two years ago, so I don't quite remember all of the changes I made.  Incidentally, I started keeping more accurate records of my alterations in a notebook.  Anyway, for this pattern I cut a straight size 16 curvy and altered from there.  

• removed three inches in length:  1.5 inches above and below the knee
• shortened the fly area 1 inch, tapering to nothing at the side seam
• scooped the back crotch curve for comfort 

The first time I tried this pattern, I didn't make a muslin.  Instead, I left the 1" seam and fit as I sewed.

I didn't think the full legs looked particularly good on me, so I took a very large seam allowance on both sides.  Unfortunately, this distorted the fit and produced the result you see in the pictures above.  It's not too bad and I do still wear the pants, but improvement was definitely in order.

For the brown herringbone pair, I didn't take as large a seam allowance because I regained most of the weight I lost last year (stupid pounds have a GPS or something).  When I make this pair again, I will probably shape the legs a little to remove some of the fullness.

Waistband: 

Oh my.  Where do I start with this headache?  One thing you've probably gathered from reading my blog is that I don't give up easily.  I fight  the battles that are worth the time and effort.  I do know when to surrender, though, and have no qualms about it!  Such is the case with the clean-finish waistband method presented in two videos by Hot Patterns (part 1 & part 2).  I appreciate the time and effort Trudy extends to everyone by producing these and all of her videos.

Unfortunately, I just could not make this method work for me.  I watched the two-part video over, and over again and made sample after sample.  It seems like some information is missing and without this, I couldn't get it right.  I enlisted the help of folks on PR and Stitcher's Guild and received many wonderful and helpful replies.  Despite the tips given, I couldn't make it work.

Determined not to be defeated, I consulted David Page Coffin's book, Making Trousers.  The basic idea is to extend the center front of each waistband a couple of inches and wrap the extension to the inside.  Once the facing is attached to the top, the front edge is folded under and stitched in place.  DPC does a much better job of explaining the process.  I have plans to make this pair of pants again and when I do, I'll photograph and document the process in a blog post.

Construction: 
 
There's nothing extraordinary about the construction of these pants.  I pretty much sewed them as if I were sewing a pair of jeans - less all of the topstitching.  I finished all of the edges first before sewing the seams and sewed a blind hem along the bottom edge. I also added a fly shield.  The pattern goes together rather quickly as there are only four pieces.

Conclusion:

While I am very pleased with this pair of pants, I will tweak it a bit more to improve the fit.  S2860 is a good place to start if you're looking to develop and tried-and-true pants pattern.

Until next time, be well everyone!

L