Two New Work Shirts

This week I finished up two projects that had been hanging out in my "to do" pile for a while, a shirt from the Hot Patterns Deco Vibe Neat and Sweet Blouse pattern and also a pleated T-shirt from a new pattern company, Salme.

First up, the Deco Vibe blouse:

This is one of the Vintage Hot Patterns.  It's been in my pattern stash for so long that I don't even know if I bought it as a "vintage" pattern...or just bought an original version when it came out.  I have been loving the tie neck blouses of late (as evidenced by the vast number of them sewn last year).

For this quick version, I made it using a floral charmeuse.  The fabric did present a couple of challenges...for one, the rolled hem on the sleeve made the hem very stiff...and as a result, it doesn't drape as well as it does in the illustration.

Second, the back is very full.  It is small at the hem, but it seems like there is too much fabric above the waist and it poufs out.  You can see that the shirt could stand to be wider at the hem, so it would not bind up on my hips.  Not that I am going to let that keep me from wearing it...I just tucked it in and went to work.

The pants are a pair from the "2009:  A Pants Odyssey," when I made somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 pairs of pants trying to figure out fit.  This is a pair that I hadn't been able to get into in a while but I kept them anyway.  Given weightless, I can fit back into them but you can see what has happened to the back leg due to the change in body shape.

Second, the Salme blouse:

I used a feather printed poly crepe from a local fabric store.  One of the things I found when I was sewing is that the front pattern piece, after all the pleats are sewn into it, is about an inch and a half shorter than the back piece.  I ended up trimming off the excess, but you can see when the shirt is on that it is just about as short as you would want it to be.  In fact, it's too short to tuck in.  I missed it when I made my muslin because I just folded out the pleats on my pattern piece and made the front flat...the front piece ended up shorter, but I just assumed that it was me not being precise with my folds in the pattern piece.  I make my patterns using soil separator cloth, so it's not like creasing a piece of paper.

Overall, it is a comfortable shirt.  I think in future iterations I will scale down the the neckline and shoulders to a smaller size and raise the armscyes.  You can't lift your arms to shoulder height without lifting the entire shirt, and normally that means that the armscye is too long, or the sleeve cap is too high.  In the meantime I will just not pick up anything above waist level.

I probably won't get anything done this weekend, because I am leaving on a trip for work tomorrow...to lovely Utah.  I keep trying to convince the administration that the campuses that REALLY need training are the ones in London and Vienna...but so far it's been Kansas, Utah, and Arkansas.

Summer Sewing, Continued

After last week's progress made with pants, I took some time to make some plans for summer sewing and also to start to muslin a couple of patterns.

This weekend I worked on a pattern from a new (to me) pattern line: Salme Patterns.  They have a shop on Etsy, and when you order the pattern, you receive an email with a PDF that can be printed and taped.  The patterns do not include seam allowances, so they are very much like a Burda pattern.  I ordered the pattern for the pleated t-shirt:

On Saturday, I completed a muslin.  I cut a size 16, and made some small alterations after the muslin.  The most significant issue was a fold between the bust and shoulder, and I had to make some alterations at the armscye.  It really needs a bust dart, but the pleats make that very difficult.  If this turns out to be a pattern that I make more of in the future, I may attempt a dart like the horizontal one on the left, and see if I can line it up with the first pleat:

This image is from an article in Threads, Nov 2008, regarding fitting the armhole to fit the bodice.  You can find the full article here:  link.

One of the issues that I had to deal with is that the shirt is very boxy, which is not good for someone like me who is a bit heavier.  If I were tall and thin, it would not be an issue at all.  The side seams are perfectly straight, so I also contoured the waist (tapering in to a size 12) and added a slight amount (1/4 inch at each side seam) to the hips.

If you do the same, when you redraw the waist, to make sure your contouring is matching in the front and back, fold up the pattern so you fold out the pleats and then contour.  The resulting shirt is very clean, very simple, and could be very versatile depending on whether you use a solid or a print.  It is also a way to use some very decadent fabrics without spending an arm and a leg, since it takes only 2 yards of 45 inch wide fabric, and 1 1/4 of 60 inch wide fabric.

After completing the muslin, I purchased a navy poly faille from a local fabric store that was printed with multicolored feathers:

Hopefully I will have an opportunity this week to finish it up.

I have a small set of projects "in the pipeline" to hopefully augment my work wardrobe this summer.  First is a dress from this border print lawn:

I have already cut out Butterick 5612, with the blue border at the hem.  I also have a beige twill and a navy twill for pants, which I desperately need.  I am considering refitting either a basic Burda with a narrow leg, or the ubiquitous Alice and Olivia bootcut pant from Vogue:

Both of the twills came from my local Hancock's, where I also found on a clearance table to $6.00 a yard a very sweet silk chiffon.  I have enough to make a shirt with a tie collar, and two options for patterns...a Butterick with princess seams, or a Hot Patterns with darts and gathers at the shoulders and back yoke.

I also have a lightweight wool in a british khaki that matches a striped shirting that I have had in stash for a while.  I was thinking pants and a men's style shirt with white collar and cuffs, possibly even french cuffs.

There are also a few fabrics floating around in stash that may or may not see the light of day this summer. I have a pile of charmeuses and georgettes that would make lovely dresses....

And a couple of bottom weight fabrics that have been aging in stash for a while, including a blue striped ivory wool, a pinstriped taupe silk/cotton for pants, and a white pique that with lining would make nice pants:

For now, I am not going to make any massive plans, since I have been a bit slow to get back into sewing. I don't want to overwhelm myself with making a plan for a giant capsule.  If I get through the dress, 3 pants, and 2 shirts that I laid out above, I will consider that a successful summer.

Back to Pants Fitting

Over the weekend I made a version of Burda 7447, a narrow-leg pant.  I desperately need pants, as everything I have is either too small or too large.  But, I have been very hesitant to sew pants because I find them so difficult to fit.

This is not the first time I have made these pants, but the pair that I had initially made for the PR Endless Combinations Contest no longer fit:

For the original pair I started with a size 20, and added one inch at the side seams on the back pattern piece.  For the current pair, I removed that and used as a base for alteration a size 18.  While I am happy to be down in size, it is frustrating that I am pretty much back to "square 1" in pants fitting.

A few years ago, I dedicated myself to MONTHS of pants fitting.  In the process of figuring out how to fit my body, I made somewhere in the range of 35 pairs of pants.  And then, I gained weight.  After nearly a year of sewing almost nothing for myself, I am now back to sewing again.

I am currently losing weight,  but for the first time also working out, skating, and biking. I am back to a smaller size, but I can't just use those smaller patterns from before because  my body shape has also changed...now in addition to all the other alterations issues, I have to deal with full front thighs as well as a rounder bottom.

After racking my brain trying to decide what alterations and how much to make...I threw my hands in the air and just cut (cheap cotton twill from stash, if I remember correctly it was about $3.00 a yard from a clearance table, so no great loss if they were a disaster).

Surprisingly, they were much better than I expected.

Here is the final product, which gives me a base to determine additional alterations for future pairs:

Granted, the fit is better than anything I have purchased in RTW recently (no back waist gape at all, legs wide enough that I can actually pull them up), but still work to be done.  In the front, there are some wrinkles across the front thigh and radiating out from the crotch that are probably related to my having fuller front thighs.  This can be rectified with an alteration that widens the front pant leg piece.  Here is a link for a diagram at the Sewing Divas Blog: link.  I think I could also stand to extend the front crotch curve just slightly.

Part of the creases across the leg, especially in the back leg, is because of the narrow leg of the pant itself.  You can never get rid of all the creases in a jean, for example, otherwise you wouldn't be able to move.  Take a look at the model on the pattern cover...she has under-butt creases, too.  But what I have going on there can be lessened by better fitting, probably increasing the alterations I have already made.

As for those alterations already made:

1. I added a wedge to back to raise waistline
2. Increased size of back waist darts (I would have added these if the pant did not have them already)
3. Extend back crotch curve
4. Shift legs closer to center and redraw inseam and side seam ("knock-knee" alteration)

I think that I will also try my alterations on a pant with a wider leg, because I would like to know just how much of what I see in the photo is from the narrow leg (or, I guess I could just photograph myself in a pair of narrow jeans and compare).

I have a length of khaki suiting, and a length of navy suiting that will both make good pants for spring, so hopefully I'll be able to get the alterations figured out before the weather changes again.