Burda 02/2013 #135 Polka Dot Top

Hello Again.  Just trying to post my backlog of projects.  Can you tell?  It's Xmas in this photo.   Hey, do you like our first Christmas tree? The Boyfriend and I went to a tree farm and chopped it down!  We decorated it with vintage ornaments we purchased at local flea markets, ornaments from my childhood, and other ornaments my mom generously gave up because she has hundreds.  Literally hundreds of ornaments.

 Anyhoo, My boss bought me a gift card for Liberty of London fabric for Christmas in 2012 and I've been searching for a perfect pattern for the print I chose.  It needed to be simple, because the print is very busy and it's repetitive.  Instead of choosing a typical, tiny floral print, I ended up choosing a print that is a large, repeating scallop.  I essentially have to treat it as a stripe.  Ugg, why am I so attracted to stripes.  Such a pain in my ass!

I used Burda 02/2013 #135 for my first test garment because it is simple and I thought it looked cute in the magazine.

I'm not too impressed with how the top turned out.    I used a super cheap ($1/yd) cotton fabric I bought at the swapmeet years ago.  I think it's one of the first fabrics I purchased there.  Once I got the top mostly made, I realized the neckline was really bad.   I  chopped the neckline down to fit these crazy lace collars I bought at the swapmeet for probably 25 cents.  Yup, they were very cheap.  I hand stitched them on, and even though it took a long time,  I sort of enjoyed it.  Instead of stitching the binding like the Burda instructions stated, I sewed it right sides together and then flipped it entirely to the inside and topstitched 1/4" away from the neck edge.

In a different fabric, this may be cuter.  It's comfy, but it does wrinkle easily.  I don't wear it much, but it was fun to make.

My Pattern Review is here.

2 Legit 2 Legit to Quit

It's Hammertime....2012 style...

I've been wanting McCall's 6514 for some time now, and bought it at the Joann's sale.    I can't get motivated to start working on my own slopers again.  I would love to design my own clothes, but right now I just want to sew and make things, so commercial patterns it is.

I cut a size 8 (ViewA- girl in the hat) and made no adjustments at all though I should have shortened the legs about 3 inches before I did any cutting.  I planned for them to be a wearable muslin...lounge pants really. And I used a very drapey gabardine that I picked up at the swapmeet for $1.50/yd.  It only took a few hours to construct them, and once I tried them on I realized I needed to narrow the leg a more and take in the crotch a bit too.  I only narrowed the outseam, because I was too lazy to pick the already overlocked and topstitched seams of the inseam and crotch.  Oh well, like I said, they are a wearable muslin.  And man...they are comfortable!

I really like the pleating on the front, but I think the elastic on the back makes my butt look long and saggy.  :(  I don't know, they are kinda cute in a weird hammer pants kind of way.  If I ever make them again, I'll definitely narrow the legs on the pattern itself and adjust the crotch for a better fit.  I do want to make the wide leg version also pictured in a nice jersey.

pocket and pleat detail.

I can't decide if these pants are Awesome or Awful?  Any opinions?

Review here.

Thanks to my newest followers too!

Marie
Jill
tshania_sedai
Lara G
Rachel-Lou

Check out their blogs!

A Fugly Muslin M6246

I started working on a muslin for this jacket.  I'm making view B, the pink jacket in the corner.  

For the muslin I used a winter white wool I bought at a Goodwill for $3.00.  I think there was about 5 yards and I used 1.5 for the muslin.  :)  

I measured a jacket that fits me well and flat pattern measured.  I decided a size 12 would be a good starting point, but I think its huge, especially in the back.  I also HATE the sleeves.  The darts are just weird.  I have very sloping shoulders and did not do an adjustment because the princess seam to the armhole was making things extra complicated. I did put in a temporary 1/4" should pad, which didn't do much.  Since I've been drafting my own patterns for school, I discovered I hate seam allowance.  I think I'll start making Burda patterns.  It is so much easier to manipulate the pattern before the seam allowance is added.   

I need help! The princess seams are in the wrong place, the body is huge, the sleeves are huge, the back looks awful... How should I adjust this muslin?  I'm thinking I should start again with a 10, but I'm not even liking the sleeves. I'd also need to shorten the pattern.  I might just switch to this pattern:

M5525

At least this jacket/coat has reviews on PR. Well, everyone and their mother has made it so I assume its a good pattern.  What do you think?

My New Favorite Pressing Tool

I love my new sleeve board.  It's the best $4 swapmeet purchase ever!

Perfect timing that I bought it on Saturday right before I worked on my bodice and sleeve sloper for school.  In class we drafted a bodice front and back using the dressform measurements and then after class I drafted the sleeve.  Our assignment was to complete the drafts and sew up muslins of our sloper (or block).  I used the sleeve board to iron those narrow sloper sleeves and to press and shape the armsyce seam.  It was wonderful!

Slip the sleeve on the board.

Position armsyce seam around curved edge and press.

Great for pressing seams open!

I don't know how I ever lived without one.

You can buy one here:

Heavy-duty Ironing Board




By the way, here is the sloper on my mom's dressform.  It was not made for this form so the fit isn't perfect, but I know it will be perfect on the FIDM forms.

The Humble Beginnings of a Sloper

I finally have been inspired to draft a sloper.  For those of you who do not know, a sloper is a basic pattern block of 5 pieces (front bodice, back bodice, front skirt, back skirt, and sleeve) without seam allowances.  From this perfect shell of your body, you can draft ANYTHING! I love my pattern drafting class and I thought, "What better way to practice than to draft my very own sloper."  The back of my book, Patternmaking for Fashion Design (5th Edition), has a personal measurement chart to fill in with every possible measurement!

I followed the directions from the book and started by drawing CF and CB lines down a tight fitting tank top and leggings.  I added bust points and a piece of elastic around my natural waist as a guide.  I had help drawing dots and lines on my neck, back, and shoulders to complete my human dressform look.  My helper measured anything I couldn't measure myself.  39 measurement points with some having 2-4 different measurements.  It took a while, but we just finished.  I'm excited to start by drafting a basic skirt.  I've already done it for class twice and it is very quick and easy.  If I can get it to fit soon, I'm going work on drafting a high-waisted pencil skirt as my first real project! In between my classes, homework, and a possible internship....you know, when I have time...HAHAHA!

To prove that I drew on myself with an emerald green marker:

I photoshopped out the bust point X's.  It looked too pornographic for blog post.

Just a few more followers until my vintage pattern giveaway!  Yesterday we bought 2 huge boxes of older patterns (one box was a dud though) with 60's, 70's, and 80's patterns.  I'll pick some of the nice ones from there and from another stash of patterns we bought a while ago.

Maybe it will coincide with my 1st Blogoversary on April 23rd!

Goals

Do you remember this from June of last year?  Geez, still a UFO, but night before I went to visit The Boyfriend in Northern Ca (still here btw),  I worked on the muslin.  I think I actually got it to fit! I had to take in the skirt (and straighten out the curve in the hip area), lengthen the skirt back darts and narrow them, narrow the skirt front darts, take in the bodice side seams, and take in the CB seam gradually from the waistline to the neck.  I hope this doesn't throw off the grainline, but it seemed to work in the muslin. I should probably slash it in the middle of the pattern piece at the back, overlap the amount I need and then add back to the CB line to keep the grainline straight.  Yeah, that's what I might do.  Does that make sense? I'm not sure it does.  I also decided to raise the waistline up 1/2".  Oh, and I made a hefty sloping should adjustment and I shortened the skirt by 2".

I have 3 whole days at the Craft Center and I'm going to sew! I have the fabric and lining picked out for this dress, and I plan on making muslins for a Cynthia Rowley dress, and a vintage shirt dress.

 Who knows how far I'll get, but I'll take pictures along the way. Unfortunately,  my cord to my camera is still at home so I won't be able to upload any time soon.  :(  I'm so excited to have time and a place to sew again.  Its like a mini sew-cation!

I also get to go to the Alameda Flea Market on Sunday! HOoray!  I hope the weather stays nice!

And since I have nothing new to show you, here's Pearl: