Phase 1, Complete

I should have called this blog "Phase One, Abort, Abort! Revert to Plan B!" But lord knows what kind of crazy searches it would turn up in if I had "Abort, Abort!" and "Plan B" in the title. It's kind of like the time I was teaching an Intro to Physical Anthropology class and didn't have any photos of Homo erectus remains for my powerpoint presentation. So, genius that I am, I did a google image search for "homo erectus." Yeah, not so many fossils turned up.

Anyway, back to the sewing....This past week I started on my first project in the plan I made for myself. Initially, I wanted to work on the red embroidered cotton:


But I discovered as I was laying out the pattern that the embroidery does not go all the way to the edge of the fabric. In fact, you lose about 4 inches on either side because of it, so you have to change your layout. No matter what I did, there was no room for the sleeves. I may try it again with a flat layout, and see if that helps. Or the fabric may become something else. What a bummer, though. I was all ready to get started and....nope.

So I switched over to the orange linen blend:


This one was super-simple because I had already made a pink version of the jacket, so I knew what I needed to do in regards to fit, and intended to do a MUCH better job on the top-stitching this time.


I am not going to buy any more of this linen blend crap. It feels nice in the store, but it doesn't look crisp at all, no matter how much you press it. So my lapels are kind of jacked up, and that is after using a heavier-than-usual interfacing, and also flipping the pieces so the interfacing is on the public side of the garment.

This pattern does not call for a lining, so I added binding to the seams to keep it from raveling:


I also hand-stitched the hem, and the front and back princess seams are flat-felled. The pattern calls for topstitching, but just like in the last version, why topstitch when it looks the same if you flat-fell it? AND you can hide the raw edges. I suppose that one day I will HAVE to break down and get a serger. Let me learn how to fit pants first. And stay off Craig's List looking for old Singers (I missed a 401 for $30.00 by 2 hours!!).

Next up, the Chado dress:


It is currently on the cutting table, I have separated all the pieces that I do not need. For the first version, I will leave out the lining, not make my own hand-knotted buttons, or the macrame belt, or the hem facing, or any of the other stuff that is just going to get in the way of me figuring out the fit and how to put together this crazy dress. It is just too complex to take the whole thing on at once.

I probably won't get anything more done today than cutting it out. My niece and nephew are here this weekend, so the sewing room is taken over with Sadie's projects.