I'm Back...Kinda...

I've been a touch out of commission, because I have been out of town. This week I went to Portland, Oregon to visit some friends.

We really had a fantastic time, and since my friend Laurie also sews, I got a chance to visit Fabric Depot, Josephine's Dry Goods, and Bolt. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of fabric to show you, since Laurie is mailing it to me. I don't "do" checked bags, so my enormous box of fabric will be arriving later this week! All except for my two yards of Liberty from Josephine's that was safely stashed in my computer bag.

We stayed in a fantastic hotel called the Ace Hotel, which was smack in the middle of downtown and right around the corner from Josephine's. Their rooms were a great value, and we had a rather roomy double for a very good price:

We also spent a day at the coast in Gearhart, at the Gearhart Ocean Inn. It is a wonderful place where the rooms are like little cottages.

We rode bikes, we ate great food, I fell off my bike, you know...a typical vacation! Overall, we really had a fantastic time.

Now, however, I am back...I am waiting for my friend to ship my huge box of fabric, and I am ready to get sewing...just as soon as I get back from San Antonio. Yes, I have to leave on Wednesday for a trip for work. Bad timing on my part, yes, but once I get back it is smooth sailing through the end of the year!

Finally, Pants Success!

This weekend I got back to sewing pants. If you recall, I have been working on achieving the perfect fit in pants (I won't even link the blogs because there are so many!). I went through about 5 iterations of a copy of a pair of RTW pants that I liked the fit of, and had gotten a pretty good fit from that, however I still couldn't get rid of all the creases from the back of the legs. Chelle at Smoking Needles recommended widening the back of the legs so I tried that with this pattern.

I started by tracing the pattern for BWOF 07-2009-102, in a size 46.


I then compared the tracing to my "tape pants" pattern, and added about 1 1/2 inches in width to the back leg, and extended the front crotch curve slightly. Other than that, I made no changes. I sewed a pair in black cotton twill, and here are the results:


While I had gotten rid of all the "crotch smileys" and the back fit fairly well, the upper hip and waist was way to large. Plus I have a case of the droopy-bottoms. They are not unwearable, but there was about 3 inches of additional ease in there. Normally, I like essentially zero ease at the waist, grading out at the hips. I may just try washing and drying them on really high heat and see if that makes them more comfortable.

So, it was back to the drawing board. I increased the width of the darts, and narrowed the back at the hip just slightly. The red lines on the pattern are the alterations:


I then cut a second pair from a gray flannel that I had picked up from FFC about a hundred years ago. Every time I rearrange the "stash," I have to stop and pet it, it is so soft. So, I decided that it would become a pair of pants. Too bad I couldn't sew them inside out!

Here is the second version, with the wider dart, and taken in slightly at the hip and waist:


It's a good fit, both front and back. I will probably continue to use this pattern, I am very pleased with how this pair turned out. The way the pockets are constructed, they do not gape at all. I do prefer a wider waist band, and may try and decrease the top of the pants and increase the waist band. If nothing else, it will be good to compare to "new" patterns to match the crotch curve and for other necessary alterations.

No More Shirts for a While

Today I finished my third version of the BWOF shirt made from bargain table chiffon from Hancock's. This is the first time that I have sewn with chiffon, so it gave me a little bit of trouble. However, I outsmarted it!

There are a few things that I did to make working with this fabric a bit easier:

1. I starched it before I cut it. This is the same thing that I do with charmeuse. It makes it a lot easier to handle and press, and it won't slither all over the place if you do that. I just throw it in the washer when I am done with it.
   
2. I did not hem it, I just used the selvage edge for the bottom of the shirt.
3. I interfaced both the front and back pieces of the collar and collar stand, this made it a lot easier to sew, and to crease to turn under for the interior finish.
4. I hand basted a lot of seams, including setting in the sleeves and on the empire seam. The fabric is so light, it doesn't like to hold onto a pin.
   

Even with all that, it was still a total pain to work with, and I am glad it is done. Here is the finished shirt:


All the pieces were cut on the cross-grain, without the fabric doubled. I did this so that I could line up the pieces exactly the way I wanted them, so that the border print would fall correctly.


You can see here that I cut the sleeve pieces so that the cuffs were in the border print, and laid out the sleeves so that a portion of the border was on the bottom...I used the first version of the shirt to determine where I wanted the border to fall, based on where the sleeves hung in relation to the hem:


I also converted the back pleats into darts. Here is the original shirt, with the pleats:


And here is the current version, with darts:


I am very pleased with how this shirt turned out, and also pleased to have triumphed over a fussy fabric. After that last charmeuse shirt, I always have starch handy in the sewing room!

But now, I think it is time to return to either the UFOs that are still lurking in the sewing room, or get back to fitting pants. I have made so many pairs of "tape pants" I would really like to try a new pattern, and am really drawn to this pair from the July issue of BWOF:

Addicted to this Pattern!!

So, I am making yet ANOTHER version of the BWOF 05-2009-110. I don't know why I am having trouble moving on to another pattern, but hey...it's not like I don't need shirts!

I picked up a piece of poly chiffon off of the sale table at Hancock's (95 cents a yard, so if I eff it up, it doesn't even matter!). It looked really cute, with it's border print and bright pink. I had never really worked with chiffon before so I figured I'd get this, if I find out that it's too difficult to work with, then no great loss if I throw it in the trash!

I started out by changing the back of the shirt to have darts rather than the long pleats starting at the neckline:


The way that I did this was that I folded the pleat out of my pattern piece, and traced around the neckline, armscye, and the hem, not tracing the side seam. I then laid the back pattern piece from McCall 5138 under the tracing material, aligning the center back, shoulder, and bottom of the armscye. I then used this pattern piece to trace the contour of the side seam, and the placement of the back darts.

For the front pieces and the sleeves, I had to align the pattern pieces so the pink border was falling in the appropriate spot on each piece so that it would align:


I also decided that since the selvage was very clean and neat, that instead of hemming the shirt, I would just used the selvage as the hem.

The original shirt has lots and lots of topstitching on it, but I think it may be distracting on this fabric with so many different colors. Whether I use white thread, black, or pink...somewhere it is going to stand out. So, I am considering not topstitching on this one.

I may have to think on this some more...I am sure that I will have plenty of time to think while I do all the handsewing on the front band!

I've also been sewing on my new baby, my Singer 503:


I love this little machine! Not as much as my 401, mind you, but it really is a fantastic machine.

McCall 5809 as a Dress

Yesterday after finishing my "Exception to the Rule" shirt (thanks, Carolyn for the name!), I decided to work on a project that has been floating around the sewing room ever since I got my shipment of Vera Wang fabrics from Fabric.com.

One of the fabrics that I got was a 4 yard length of "satin twill" which is a cotton-poly blend that has a definite diagonal twill weave, with alternating lines of matte and shiny fabric. The inside has almost the feel of a brushed cotton, and is totally matte. It is a touch too heavy for a blouse, but too light for a pair of pants. It is also machine washable. So, I decided to make a "Little Black Dress" (or, a not-so-little black dress, as ever since I have been on steroids for my HS, I have completely grown out of my actual little black dress).

I decided that I would use McCall 5809, which is a pattern for a shirt that I have used before. When I made the shirt previously, I had all sorts of problems attaching the waist band. come to find out, I was putting it on upside down...but I mixed it up because the bottom edge in the back is missing the notches, so I managed to flip it.


Ever since I made the first shirt, I kept thinking about how it would make a great dress, with a bit of a retro vibe, if I could just get the skirt right. So, I decided to give it a shot.

Since I had made the shirt before, I was fairly confident regarding the fit, and set out using my altered pattern (slashed and tissue added to lower the empire line, and the back narrowed by adding a center seam rather than cutting on the fold). I also extended the peplum to skirt length, and then cut both the front and back on the curve. I ultimately ended up shortening the skirt by about 4 inches, to just below knee length:


I got the dress finished up and put it on the dress form, and....something just wasn't right:


There was a big bulge under each arm and the front was gaping. I was so upset! How could this have happened, I made it with exactly the same alterations as the original! And I hated the thought of removing the zipper to make alterations, because dammit, that invisible zipper was perfect!


A little hint for getting the seam above and below the zipper to lie flat without making that little bubble that sometimes happens at the bottom of the invisible zipper? Sew the seam with your adjustable zipper foot, with the foot to the left of your needle. You can sew almost right up to the start of your seams for the zipper that way, and the bulk of the zipper won't shift your seam over by bunching up against your presser foot.

I couldn't figure out why the dress fit so poorly, so I got out the original shirt and guess what? Because I was working without notches, I did not do any gathering at the bottom of the bust, so the front bodice had a bigger overlap than in this version (you know, the version in which I actually followed the instructions, and inserted the waist band properly):


I picked out the seam at the bottom of the bodice, took out the gathers, and sewed the pieces back in with no gathers and the same overlap as in the white version. Please ignore in the following photo that the dress is in need of a good steaming and about three layers of Spanx:


Overall, I am really happy with the way the dress turned out, even if I forgot that I neglected to follow directions in the original version! I hate what the flash of the camera does to this fabric, it really is NOT that shiny, but I guess it's either flash...or no pic! I think that this will be a very versatile dress, and could be dressed down with the addition of a cardigan, or dressed up with the right shoes and jewelry.

BWOF Shirt, Version 2

Today I finished version 2 of the BWOF 05-2009-110.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was "breaking the rules" and using a quilt cotton for it. Because of the stiffer fabric, this shirt would not drape as well as the batiste version so I cut it 4 inches shorter overall than the first version.

Here is the longer version, hitting low on the hip:


Here is the second version, with a shorter length:


I also made a change to the cuff in this version. In the first shirt, I used a very small button, so was able to do a double button on each cuff:


On this version, I used a larger button, and also didn't have enough buttons to double them on the cuff, so I narrowed the cuff and used a single button:


In that photo, you can also see the continuous lap, that is made from a strip of self-bias, and then mitered at the top corner on the inside of the sleeve.

Here is a close-up of the gray buttons that I used:


As in the last version, I top stitched the front band, collar, collar stand, and cuffs:


The back is slightly problematic. With the heavier quilting cotton, the back pleats do not hang nicely, and I am considering stitching them down further on the shirt to keep them from making a little tent back there:


If I continue to use this pattern as a "TNT," I might draft an alternate back with darts at waist level and use that when not using a light, drapey fabric.

However, I think that this shirt illustrates some of the things that I mentioned in the previous blog about using the "right" fabric for garments....it's the exception that proves the rule!

1. The print is not too cute or quirky, and with the Asian flair, it also doesn't look like I made it out of my grandmother's curtains (that is something I always worry about with a large floral. Give me a small floral and I will immediately dub it "Too Little House on the Prairie," however, so there is really no pleasing me!). But, it is a relatively adult print considering its source.

2. There were also a couple of aspects of the pattern that I had to change because of the texture of the fabric, including the length of the shirt. The first shirt made an airy tunic, this shirt is stiff enough that it stood out from my body like exoskeleton. By removing 4 inches in length, I took away it's tendency to do that. However, the pleats on the back are still problematic and want to "pop open," so I will need to do some work on that.

I am quite happy with the shirt overall. I have two pairs of gray work pants that it will match very nicely, and provide a pop of color and an interesting print for the weekly work wardrobe. It would also be nice under a gray blazer that I have.

In completely unrelated news, last night I forgot to put away the little dish of catnip. And I woke up to this:


Courtesy my very large, and very ill-tempered cat, Ollie (a.k.a., The Mad Pisser and the reason that the dining room carpet got removed:

Exceptions to the Rule?

One question that often inspires intense discussion on the Pattern Review message boards, and in other blogs is choosing the proper fabric for patterns.

Many people seem very opposed to purchasing fabric online. I don't comprehend this. What you can get at Hancock's and JoAnn's is 90% complete garbage. The other 10% is polar fleece. Seriously, how much polar fleece does one store need to carry? There are a few things that I consistently purchase (and am happy with) at Hancock's, and that is twill for pants. They always have huge tables full of cotton twills that are just the right weight for pants, and when they are on sale 40% off, that makes them just over $2 a yard. Great for my quest for "the perfect pant." Everything else I purchase there, I hold my breath until it comes of of the washing machine in tact. And DON'T even get me started about fabric from Wal Mart. Did I mention the denim that pilled? I know I have, because I am STILL filled with rage over that!

But back to the opposition to purchasing fabric online...if you won't, then how would you get quality fabrics if chain stores are all you have??? Seriously, if it weren't for Fashion Fabrics Club, Fabric.com, and Gorgeous Fabrics, I wouldn't sew. No you can't feel the fabrics. Yes, some of the colors may not be exactly represented on your monitor, but that is something that I am happy to live with in return for access to reasonable, and attractive fabrics. For me, the key to purchasing fabrics online is to never spend more than I can afford to lose. I also have a rule, that I never spend more than $10.00 per yard if I am purchasing without requesting a swatch. Sure, I've gotten some duds (and not just from FFC, I've gotten the unexpected from all the companies I order from except Gorgeous Fabrics), but if you aren't spending too much you can always use it for muslins.

But lately, I have seen a couple of discussions about using quilting cottons for clothing, and I agree...this is not the best way to make great clothing. Quilting cotton is stiff. If you purchase good quality, it can cost upwards of $8.00 a yard, meaning that there is no significant savings in using quilting cotton over apparel fabric once you take into account the additional you need given the 45 inch width. If you purchase cheap quilting cotton, it will fade almost immediately. Not to mention, you will walk around looking like my grandmother's couch.

It is difficult, however, to convince people to use good-quality garment fabrics as opposed to quilting cottons, namely because there are a number of exceptions to the "no quilt cottons" rule.

One exception is kids clothes. I make clothing for my niece and nephews all the time using quilt cottons...because they adore the prints on them. My nephew has shirts with skulls, shirts with race car wheels, dragons, flames, motorcycles...and did I mention skulls? He LOVES those crazy outfits, and quilt cottons are the only place to find those prints.



Another reason that it can be confusing is that sometimes the pattern companies themselves will show quilting cottons in their pattern illustrations! For example, in this McCall's pattern...I SWEAR I have seen that print in the upper right hand corner on a quilting site:


And this Vogue...the black, white and grey dress is made from a Michael Miller print:


And the floral skirt in the lower right of this one...I have walked past that EXACT print in the quilting section of my local independent fabric store:


And don't forget about Amy Butler!


So, how do you convince people that quilting cottons are neither the best nor most inexpensive options for sewing clothing when even the pattern companies are using them?

For me, the answer is that quilt cottons are USUALLY not the best choice for a garment. Except in the case of a pattern that specifically requires a crisp cotton...a structured shirt, or a skirt that needs that stiff, a-line shape.

What adults should avoid though, are the quirky prints that are so cute for kids. Nothing marks a garment as "home sewn" quicker than a fabric that is CLEARLY out of step with current ready-to-wear trends. As much as I might think it would be fun to have a shirt with skulls with pink bows, or cupcakes, "Becky Home-ecky" is not the look I am going for.

So what am I working on now? I'm working on breaking my own rules! I'm making another version of the BWOF blouse that I made last week with....a quilting cotton!


It's cool though, if it looks ridiculous, I'll just give it to my mother!! Plus, the awesome thing about sewing rules is you can break them whenever you want...just do it with full knowledge that you ARE breaking a rule, and be prepared for the product to turn out quite differently than expected.

Last Project of the Long Weekend

Today I had a chance to spend a pretty big part of the day just sewing, which I think is a fantastic way to spend the holiday! Because I had an uninterrupted chunk of time, I was able to finish a BWOF shirt that I started tracing off on Saturday.

I have been needing some basics in my wardrobe, and I thought that BWOF 05-2009-110 would fit the bill nicely:

I recently purchased a white cotton shirting with a little zig-zag embroidery on it, and decided to use that. I originally purchased 5 yards, and still have enough for another long-sleeved shirt (love the FFC sales! I got enough shirting for 6 shirts, for about $40.00):


This particular pattern was drafted in sizes 36 to 46, so I traced a 46, which is the appropriate size for my measurements. After tracing the pattern, I did some quick flat-pattern measurements, and decided to add 1 1/2 inches of tissue to the upper front bodice. I then folded that same amount out of the lower bodice, because I didn't want the entire shirt to be lengthened, I just wanted the empire line to be lowered to accommodate my bust:


My dress form is much shorter-waisted than me, so it is impossible to put it's boobs where my boobs are, but trust me, the empire seam hits in the right place when I have it on.

The shirt itself went together incredibly easily, and had some great touches like a collar stand and front button band. The way the collar stand and band were attached also hid all the raw edges, and the pattern did not use any facings at all. I like this a lot about Burda patterns, the safari dress I made recently was the same way.

Some other nice details include two large pleats in the back:

And a cuff with continuous lap:


Even though BWOF instructions can sometimes seem like deciphering hieroglyphics, I did not have any trouble with these. However, once you have constructed a traditional shirt like this once, you don't really need instructions anymore. There are only so many ways to sew on a cuff!

Back to work tomorrow, but at least I'll have a nice, new shirt to wear!

Edited to add: Sue had requested a photo of me in the shirt. I suppose this is better than my dressform with the wonky boobs!

Vintage Advance 5828

Today I completed Advance 5828, a 1950's era yoked shirt with convertible collar, pleated detail, and sleeve options. I made it from a black batiste from Fashion Fabrics Club, that ran around $4.00 a yard.

The pattern is a size 18, which mean a 36-inch bust. Unfortunately, my bust is 43 inches, so I figured there would be some significant alterations. Surprisingly, a simple full bust adjustment was all that was needed. I also took in the waist at the side seams, but I have to do that with everything, so I don't even think of that as an important alteration anymore. If something fits my bust or hips, then it inevitably has 2-3 inches too much ease around the waist.

After rescuing the shirt from my moronic "serger incident," I was able to finish up the sleeves and complete the shirt.


Here is a detailed shot of the front yoke with the pleats:


The pattern indicated one pleat in the sleeve, but I added an extra one:



Here is the back detail, with the yoke I added to cover the serger massacre:


I am really happy with how it turned out. Here is the shirt on. Make sure you have the right underclothes, though! A black bra is a must:


Surprisingly, the back is still slightly wide. I could stand to take in the back pleats more, but that might also create some fullness at the shoulder and hip. What would be better is to take a bit of tissue out of the center back.


Overall, I am really pleased with the fit of this shirt, considering the different proportions between the 50's and today...not to mention, the original pattern is quite a bit smaller than I am. I think I will definitely use this pattern again, especially since it has a long sleeve option, or I think you could make the yoke without the pleats. Or you could try not to hack a giant hole in the back of it and be forced to add a back yoke. You know, just for a different look!