From Wadder to Wearable

About those Vogue pants...

I did something that I rarely, if ever, do.  I picked the entire garment apart, save for the zipper, pockets, and back princess seams.  Okay, so not the entire garment...but still.

o_O

Proof!  You can even see the picked serger threads.

I don't sew enough as it is.  To pick apart and re-sew something in which I have little interest is breaking new ground.  For real!  I have a huge bag full of 'meh' and UFOs ready to be donated to whoever wants to use the scraps.

Why did I do it this time?  I figured that with the wonderful suggestions left in the comments, I would have to cut another muslin and check the fit.  Why bother with that when I already have a 'meh' garment headed to the donation pile? 

So there I sat, picking every serger and sewing machine stitch whilst watching Project Runway's Edmund piss away his dreams on a red carpet hoochie dress.  Bruh!

I digress.

Before and after:

I still have some tweaking to do, but this is miles better than before. The after picture (on the right) has some whiskers on the front because the waistband isn't attached.

Vogue 9032 has waaaaay less fullness below the hip.  Below is a comparison of the pieces:

 center back; upper and lower halves

 9032 on top of 2921

I don't know why the pattern in the second piece looks crooked.  I didn't press the pattern pieces (bad sewer), so maybe that's contributing to the optical illusion.  I was surprised to see the depth of the crotch curve on 9032.

 side back; upper and lower halves

2921 on top of 9032

I placed 2921 on top of 9032 to see the difference in hip curve.  2921 is essentially a chunky rectangle with no regard for curvy hips.  This style may look good on other figures, just not on mine.  In the picture on the right, the lower half could stand to lose more width.

 front

9032 on top of 2921

The difference in width is drastic and starts almost immediately below the crotch line.  I removed all of that nonsense.

I took off the pattern first, and then laid the pattern on top of the pants and trimmed away the excess.

I only made changes to the front to check the fit.  I'll unpick the back princess seams and trim away some more fullness.  I noticed that the back inseam swings to the front because the front hem length is shorter than the back - which means the back hem is too wide.

Going forward, I will use the front of 2921 and the back from 9032.  I suppose I could use either waistband, so I'll likely cut both and see which one gives the best fit.

I hereby dub this frankpattern Vogue 2932.  See what I did there? =)

Because I cannot seem to work on just one project at once, I am in the middle of another version of BWOF 8-2005-102 out of a navy blue wool.  I'll finish that first before resuming work on the pants.

Thank you everyone for offering suggestions.  I think this may be a TNT.

Until next time, peace!

L

Vogue 2921: Wadder

I've been searching for some pants with back princess seams similar to Vogue 9032.  Why not use Vogue 9032 you say?  Because angled side pockets have NEVER looked good on my hips.  Ever - not even 20 years and 50 pounds ago.

Vogue 9032

So when I happened upon OOP Vogue 2921 at the 2015 MPB Day pattern swap, I was elated!  My butt-princess seam pant pattern search was over.

Vogue 2921

Except no.  Big no. The cut of these pants is WAAAAAY too wide or something.  Only now after having looked at the line drawings do I realize that the cut is completely different.  V9032 appears to hug the hips more gracefully and taper at the hem.  The legs on V2921 are like stovepipes.

I started with a size 16 and have removed a considerable amount of width from the inseam, outseam, and princess seam.  The result?  Not good.

The photos are overexposed to show the detail/twist/WTFery.

I'm sure I cut everything on grain, so the twist that's happening from the knee down is probably from taking out so much width.  I don't think starting with a smaller size will help either.

This is actually my third time attempting this pattern.  The first time was a muslin that looked promising.  For the second attempt, I used rayon-poly-lycra suiting and it was a MESS.  The current pair is made from a lightweight wool suiting that I picked up from my recent splurge at my local non-profit art store (gotta blog about this latest haul!).

I could take all of the extra stitching out to retain the original width.  But then it looks like I'm all pants and nothing else.

I wonder if I can somehow trace the front of 2921 onto the front of 9032.  I'm hesitant to use the complete front of 2921 because of the leg shaping.  Hmm...

Any thoughts?  I could cut the legs off at the knee and make knickers.  But then I know I would never wear them! =)

L

 

Vogue 1250: Complete

This dress is super simple to make and extremely flattering. The front drape isn't too risque and the fit is superb. I knew I was going out on Friday and wanted something cute and special to wear. I made a mock-up last weekend, cut it out on Tuesday and finished the hems by Thursday. The dress really doesn't take that long to make; I just had to spread out my sewing time over a few days.

Fabric & Notions:

• 2 yards of navy blue ponte knit from Fashionista Fabrics

Alterations:

I traced a size 14 everywhere except in the bust and upper waist area near the side dart seam; in these areas I morphed out to a size 16 to allow for more room. The mock-up showed the need for only a couple of small changes.

1. I removed two inches of length in the front length because it was too long and created unsightly folds in the waist and high hip area.
2. I also did a 1.5" swayback adjustment because fabric was pooling at my center back. In hindsight, I should have just taken out the length completely across the back pattern piece because the horizontal seam at the back is actually a bit too low. I'll correct this on future versions.

3. I shortened the dress about 1.5" and took a 1" hem.
4. Finally when I cut out the fashion fabric, I placed the center front slightly inward from the fold. This gave me little more room across the front in case I needed it.

Construction Details:

I sewed this mainly on my sewing machine using a stretch needle, walking foot, and small zig-zag stitch. I used my serger to finish only the shoulder seams and horizontal/vertical back seams. My serger did NOT like working with ponte knit. In fact, I think my serger and I must part ways because it's been fussing about a whole lotta shit for no good reason. I love my Janome, but we're at an impasse and I'm over it. =)

The pattern has a piece for a back neck facing. You're supposed to fold the rectangle in half, stitch it to the back neck edge, and then understitch. My knit was mildly beefy and I thought all that fabric would be too thick at the back. So, I cut the facing in half and stitched it down. While this did reduce bulk, next time I'll omit the facing and just turn the seam allowance under and coverstitch.

Conclusion:

In all, I am very pleased with my dress. I got a nice compliment from my guy friend and I felt really good wearing the dress last night. Busty chicks have no fear! This pattern is a winner. =)

Up next: Lady Grey coat and something else. Y'all know I can't just work on one thing at a time.

Be well!

L