Bloomin' patterns...... and a back up plan

Still no joy getting the McCalls pattern.  It was ordered last Friday for first class delivery next working day - is a week pushing it to be classed as next working day?!

So I need a Christmas party wear back up plan:

This arrived on Monday! Yay!!!  A lovely book which everyone is blogging about at the moment.  Very simple styles and easy makes. 

So, this is the back up plan:



In soft navy blue satin




In navy lace.

 I'll leave it to the weekend before I get the scissors out!!

Moral to this tale - a girl always needs a back up plan

How to get your mojo back...

It's simple.  2 hours, 1.3meters of printed cotton lawn and McCall's 5977.

Phew, I think I'm back.  This week I have made a navy pencil skirt (own self drafted pattern) and another McCalls easy-peasy-lemon squeezy top.  They don't go together at all, but in times of sewing crisis you just have to go with what you need to do....

Navy skirt is way too boring to blog about, so here's the top

This top reminds me of liquorice allsorts.  I'm thinking about the brown and black one (I actually don't like that one at all!) and the yellow and black one!

Nothing exciting to report about it.  I used french seams at the sides and shoulders and turned a narrow double hem on the frill.  Because the frill is so curved I stitched 1cm from the edge with a long stitch and pulled up the bobbin threads to draw it into the curve to make hemming easier.

That's it for now.  Except to mention that I went fabric shopping earlier this week and found a couple of bargains which are hanging on the line drying as I type.  More on those later.

Have a lovely weekend all.  I hope those of you in Central and Eastern America are managing in the heat - we are hearing snippets of news of it being incredibly hot right now.  Our summer's disappeared again - I'm wearing joggers and long-sleeved top again today (sigh....)

Burda 05/11 101A

I fell in love with the May edition of Burda and read it cover to cover on the train to London when Esther and I went to see the Wizard of Oz at the end of May.

I knew our plans included Liberty of London so a great edition of Burda and Liberty = fabric buying.  I know, I know, I'm working through the stash, but you can't pass up an opportunity like that!

We hit the scarf dept first and then topped for afternoon tea.  It was delicious and included teeny tiny macaroons - here is Esther tucking in and you can see just one chocolate macaroon left (I was very gracious and let her have it!) SO elegant!

Once we were completely refreshed (and a tad full) we visited the fabric department.  My sister is such a star, she can't thread a needle but ooo'd and aahh'd in all the right places.  In fact she got quite enthusiastic about some of the (ahem, childrens') sewing kits so I bought her one which will be saved for Christmas.  Anyhoo, this is what I purchased.  Tana Lawn 137cm wide so I bought 1.6 meters.  It's nearly £20 per meter so I wanted to get exactly what I needed!

So here is the line drawing of 101A.  It's a tunic top, with a BIG neck opening, one button closure and grandad collar.

 My neck opening ended up being quite wide, so I used two loop/button closures.  I know it's to be worn with a vest/Cami so am not worried that it is very long/low.

I cut a 40 and decided to shorten the length by approx 1" and of course I shortened the sleeves by 1" too.  I cut out VERY carefully placing the pattern pieces so that I had some symmetry with the fabric pattern and made sure the two sleeves had identical pattern layout.  The fabric was an absolute dream to work with.  It presses beautifully and my overlocker liked it too.  I mitered the ends of the sleeves for neatness.  Although I did overlock and turn up a single hem, you could quite easily utilise a rolled hem with this soft fabric.

I boobed with the collar in that I sewed the bottom edge, thinking it was the top, and pressed and trimmed before I realised what I had done.  To be honest I just couldn't be bothered to cut another one so I trimmed 1cm off the neck edge and finished it with a strip of fabric cut on the bias.  I may change my mind about that once I've worn it!

It will be lovely and cool, easy to wear and look fab with jeans or white linen trousers.  As ever, here it is on Vivienne for now.  Watch out for it in MMJ!

Why does this look so tiny?!  It does fit, but it looks as though it's a size 8?!

Enjoy the rest of your Weekend.

Butterick 5497

Also entitled:  "My eyes, my eyes".....  Please someone remind me that small stripes make your eyes go funny.

A super easy knit top.  Easy to make and easy to wear.  I made the long sleeved version.  I cut a size 12, shortened the sleeves by 1" and shortened the length by 1.5".  I also had to grade out the hip area to a 14 at the hem.

Do you remember I have already commented "I don't do knits", well I was determined to crack it and after lots of trial and error with needles, tension, overlocker differential feed etc, I think I finally have - yey!

It's not me, it's Jennifer.  She really does not like knit fabrics.  But Betty has come to the rescue, good old Betty.  Oh, perhaps I should point out that Jennifer is my Janome 1660P and Betty is my lovely old Bernina 730.  I don't have two ladies hidden away doing all the sewing for me!

Trust me, Jennifer and I tried everything we could think of, ballpoint needles, blue tipped ballpoint needles, stretch needle, normal needles all to no avail. Ollie (the overlocker) tried and he did much better than I expected.  Bearing in mind Ollie only has 1 needle (shamefully the same one since I have purchased him over 20 years ago) and squeeks when helping me, He was a winner with this project.  BUT  you can't use the overlocker too much on this one because of the casings for the elastic at the arm and underbust points.

Anyhoo, Betty saved the day.  Here it is modeled on Vivienne for now.  I'll be wearing it over the next week so you will see it in the MMJ page shortly.

It looks much better on a real body!

Elasticated shoulders

Enjoy the rest of your day and hope the weather is as good for you as it is for us today. Bye from a sunny, warm Wiltshire....

It's a dogs' life!

A Question of size.... Butterick 5147

Wednesday 25th May - Quick Update. 

I wore the linen top all day yesterday (with a little grey cardi that I made to go with, more on that later) and guess what?  THE most strange thing, it didn't crease or wrinkle - at all?!?!  Do you suppose that's something to do with the muslin linterlining?  The outer fabric is most definitely 100% linen, I just tested a remnant in my hand and it did stay creased.....

And more good news re this top - It fits b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l-l-y, the neck pleats worked out well. So much so, I will be making it again, in the same size, with the neck pleats.....  Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

Okay, Mrs Smug is off for a cup of tea and next project planning.

Happy Wednesday all.

Finished!

Also entitled "Blimey, the more books you read, the more confusing it gets!"

I like the Palmer and Pletsch series of fitting books, but have just read Fast Fit, properly, for the first time...  I think I prefer this book.  I found it easier to follow and laid out extremely well.

Cards on the table, I have a method that works everytime for a full bust adjustment, swayback, full tummy, full bottom, lengthening and shortening patterns and grading to a larger/smaller sizes.  I use these tried and tested methods for customer toiles and in class.  BUT  why can't I get it just right for me?  Am I being overly fussy?  

Here's an example where I though I would bite the bullet and cut a size 14 top.

 
The pattern used is Butterick 5147.  So looking at the envelope measurements (and finished garment measurements) a size 14 should fit me perfectly at the bust point, waist and hip (ahem, adding just a little extra at these two points...)  Yes, yes I know you are supposed to use your chest measurement as the bust measurement, but bear with me....

I decided not to line the linen I used as per pattern, but to interline it with muslin (washed 3 times to avoid any shrinkage) and finish neck and arms with a bound edge.

I tissue fit it, having pinned all the darts and seams very carefully, and guess what?  By jingo it fit!!!  I checked all my usual fitting "issue" areas and it was almost spot on.   I always need to do quite a large sway back adjustment and take out a fare old amount down the back seam from the neck to the waist.



So I got stuck in as quickly as possible, pieces cut and tailor tacked, I placed all 3 pieces on the ironed muslin, hand tacked in place and then cut the muslin.  It's going well isn't it?

I stitched it all together and used a concealed zip down the left hand side.  I hand stitched the hem in place - lovely, stitches hidden in the muslin, just perfect. 

Next I marked 1.5cm seam allowance around the neck and arm edges, folded my bias strips in half, pinned in place, stitched, trimmed, pressed open, pressed flat, pinned again and machine stitched one last time, it's all going brilliantly and such a quick project!  Do you think I should try it on?  Okay, I'll have a quick look before I go to bed. (I should mention I started this project yesterday evening.  I am not in the habit of going to bed during the working day!)

Mmmmm, as suspected, the upper chest area is too big.  I suppose I might get away with it.  But all that effort, I think I should do something with it.  I know, I'll put a couple of pleats in the neck before I bind it.

What do you think?  Have I got away with it?!

Neck pleats.  Approx 1" each.

Typical back adjustment for me.  Remember the New Look
white satin dress?

Interlined with muslin, side seams overlocked and neck/arm
edges bound with bias binding.  I'm sewing from the stash so the neck edge
is bound with ivory binding - well, who's going to see it?

Moral to this (long-winded) tale?  Stick with what you know best, don't try and re-invent the wheel!  Next time I will make a size 12 and go with my usual adjustments!  BUT  this has been a good learning curve.  If I need a pattern that crosses sizes I may go with the larger size and do an upper chest adjustment, that way the bottom half will fit with less grading out for my ample thighs....

Happy Monday everyone!

McCalls 5977 - I jumped on the bandwagon!

I've seen this little top dotted around blogland over the past year, and as I already own the pattern and had some lovely black cotton voile in the stash I thought "why not?"

I made view B.  Because the fabric is fine I decided to use my overlocker to finish the bottom and side hems of the frill.  I have never used fraycheck before and tried it on the corners not realising it would dry so very hard!  I'm hoping it may soften a little with the first wash.  No biggie but I don't think I will be in a hurry to use that product again.

Side and shoulder seams are finished with french seams and the hem is turned up double.  My only gripe with the finished garment is the pattern piece for the sleeve bindings. IMO they are too wide and when I make it again I will reduce them quite considerably.  Fortunately they look better on me than modelled by Vivienne below.****Oopsadaisy!  Updated comment below....

Without further ado, here it is

The light is making the  fraychecked corners look worse than they are....



See, those bindings are too wide.

Nothing more to say about the construction of this top other than "Easypeasy, Lemonsqueezy"!

So, next up is the green, black and white print I purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics.... I'm hoping the two will go well together!

Enjoy the rest of your day and if you have 5 mins take a look at Hand Made by Carolyn's Vblog.  It's interesting to hear each over over the web!

****  Oh dear,oh dear.  This is the first garment I have made without reading any of the instructions - and the last.  Those sleeve bindings are fine, it's me that's wrong.  They are folded in half and hand stitched to the machine sewn line, not completely folded over and hand stitched.  I'm just about to re-do them properly!

New Look 6892. Quick and Easy

Or:  Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!

British Summer is here, ie it's gone cold.  So I need a couple of things; long sleeved, light weight tops and a few casual jackets/cardigans.

To set the ball rolling I used New Look 6982, view A. 

This is the second summer I have used this pattern, but made the short sleeved tops last year.  The fabric for this project came from my stash (I'm stash shopping at the moment) So I ran it through the washing machine last night ready for this morning.  It's a lovely quality light weight cotton with a slight crosswise stretch.

The only change I made to the pattern was to the sleeves.  I don't like the bias strip placed on the inside for the elastic, to give the look of that frill, so I just put my elastic into the bottom hem.  I made my own bias binding for the neck edge and because I still haven't taken out the black thread from my overlocker I decided to do french seams everywhere (well, there really is only 6 seams!)

Here's the results - on Vivienne again.....

Inside out to show the neck bias binding and the french seam for the sleeve setting

Sleeve french seam and elasticated hems



DONE!

This is a super easy pattern to make and wear.  I'm not into too much fuss so I haven't added the bow at the front, anyhoo I think the fabirc really won't take anything more!  I needed an easy project after my dress and this was perfect.  It will go great with jeans, linen trousers or even a straight skirt.  Note the "green theme" is still going on......

I'm working on Vogue 1203 in brown linen next.  I started it before the dress, but had to wait for a delivery of zips.  Metal ones in 9" are not easy to find!

More later, have a good day all....

Next!

I'm just about to cut the pattern pieces for a BurdaStyle skirt from September 2010 Style 106, view B.  It's not a difficult pattern.  I like the lines and have an idea for the top stitching.

As I want to make "outfits" this year (I make too many separates from fabrics I love and then nothing really goes together!) I will also make this McCalls blouse - I've had the pattern a couple of years and have run out of excuses not to make it.  I'll be making the blue version.  I particularly like the fact that this pattern has pieces for varying cup sizes.

And here are the fabrics I will be using.  It sticks in my throat to say it, but they came from Hansons - the shop with bad customer service.  The green is 100% wool soft tweed to be lined in pink and the batik print is 100% cotton, just going through the washing machine at the moment.

Photographing on Mum's pale green carpet!

As ever with Burda I'll have to make a toile, but with McCalls I will tissue fit.  If I have any concerns at that stage, that's when I may make a toile for a pattern I haven't used before.

Posts to follow!  Enjoy your day.

PS  Purple Coat is still in the box....  It hasn't moved since coming back from Mums.  I am suitably embarrassed.