My First BWOF and McCall 5592

Today I was home sick with the WORST spring cold that I have ever had. By about 11 a.m., I was completely bored with lying in bed watching the 45th hour of the Today Show, so I got up and decided to work on some projects that were in progress.

First up, I completed BWOF 04-2009-117, a cropped, 3/4 sleeve, yoked jacket. I made mine without the pockets and flaps, because I picked a pretty busy pattern, a poly suiting from Hancock Fabric on sale for about $4.50 a yard:


It sewed just fine, although it stretched a bit in the crosswise direction, meaning that the hem and the neckline gave me a little trouble. Other than that it sewed up just fine. I also replaced their recommended snaps with three buttons. It also gave me a chance to use my button hole attachment for the Singer 401, that makes perfect little buttonholes:


It's a noisy little thing!! But all you have to do is attach it to the machine and hit the pedal. It does all the work for you, even moving the fabric in an oval around the template. There are templates for both standard buttonholes and keyhole buttonholes. This little gadget is my nephew's favorite thing in the sewing room. If I let him, he'd sit at the machine and make a 100 buttonholes on scrap fabric. When he helps, his shirts that normally have 4 buttons end up with 7.


The BWOF pattern instructions did give me some trouble...not unexpected. I was completely on my own in assembling the collar and stand, and the sleeves. Some nice touches were the two-piece sleeves and the full lining...yet another item the instructions were a touch skimpy on. I also initially traced a 44 and added 1 inch to each side seam, because according to the size chart, I was a touch large for the pattern. But, after trying on the shell, I ended up just taking that 1 inch right back out, so the 44 would have been just fine. I also did not do an FBA, Burda generally drafts for a larger cup size, so I thought I would five it a try. I didn't want to make too many changes, since this was my first BWOF.

If I make it again, I will nip the waist in a bit more, add the pocket flaps, and perhaps lengthen the jacket slightly. I may also make it in denim and leave the lining out.

A second project that I finished was another attempt in my "Quest for Pants." I have continued to work on my Vogue 2907, but decided to give a higher waist pant a try. I made McCall 5592, a wide-leg jean. I left off the belt-carriers and the rear pockets to maintain a dressier look, but used a black cotton twill, and did flat-felled seams which still leaves them with a "jeans" look, so they are more versatile.

These pants have a cut-on fly, which was super-easy to assemble (after wrestling with the separate fly on Vogue 2907, I will just draw a fly on mine. My pattern bears no resemblance to the original pattern anymore, anyway). If I make another pair, I will add about 1 1/2 inches in height to the rear to cover the junk in my trunk.

After sewing the crotch seam and the inseams, I basted the rest of the seams together and discovered that I needed to take out about two inches from the rear of the pants. I did this by re-sewing the rear seam and tapering out to the original back seam about an inch below the yoke. This gave enough of a curve to the rear to cure the "gap-osis" that the pants were suffering from. I also added a back seam to the waist band, so that I could contour it more.


Overall, I am pretty happy with how they turned out. I'm not so happy with how chubby I am! But I can't just keep waiting to sew until I lose the weight (so, I'll just wait to sew with the "good" fabric until I lose some weight ;). I think I will also add a bit to the side seams at the hip to see if I can't get rid of those crotch smileys. Of course, they are there after I sit no matter what. Overall, the pants are really comfortable. I am pleased with how they turned out, and with how easy the zipper was to insert with the cut-on fly.