Burda 02-2013 #127 Gathered Raglan Sleeve Top

This pattern was both a wadder and then a success.

I thought I had found the perfect pattern to use for the striped fabric below:

I really liked this grey and white stripe knit.  I purchased it in Maui years ago, and have been holding on to it.  When I finally got to working with the fabric, I realized the grain was horribly distorted, probably because it was originally a circular knit and then it was cut to roll on a bolt.  The Boyfriend and I tried pull the fabric back into shape, but we failed.  I decided to cut the pattern out anyways and put the pieces on grain as best as I could.  Construction was going fine until I realized that the fabric had no recovery! I finished the top, minus the hem, and tried it on.  It was a hot mess!  I tossed it right away along with the rest of the fabric.  I was so sad.  

I decided to try again with a black Rayon/Lycra knit I had in the stash.  This fabric was drapier, and had nice recovery.  I consider this one the success.  Not sure I love the raglan look, but it fits and looks good.  All the pictures are completely washed out to show some detail.

Changes I made:

I shortened the body drastically and shortened the sleeves by 2".  I could have shortened the sleeves more.  I also shortened the neck binding by 2" as recommended by someone on PatternReview.  For this version I sewed the sleeves on to the body first and then stitched the sleeve and side seams second.  I had to take about 1.25" out of the underarm.  I felt there was too much fabric and it was hindering my movement.
I used a twin needle on all hems.  

Link to my PatternReview.  

Sorry for all the washed out photos.  It was the only way to show the detail!

Lavender Waste of My Time

Please ignore the shoe choice.
I threw on the first pair of heels I found just to give me some height.
Also the wrinkles are atrocious.  The dress was balled up on my desk for
over a week before I took these pictures.  Excuses, excuses, excuses...

Eww. 

I'm still here, just not making as many things as I would like.  I've been working for 2.5 months as a Technical Design Assistant (woohoo!) and spending the evenings with my family and the Boyfriend.  This dress took me 2 weeks to make, just because I would work on it for a little bit, quit for a few days, work on it some more, quit, etc., etc., etc....  

I bought the fabric for I believe $2/yd. at the FIDM Scholarship store in L.A.  It is a yummy rayon/spandex blend I think.  Feels great, but wrinkles like crazy.  It was purchased with the intention of it being "muslin" fabric, specifically with this dress pattern in mind.  Oh, I forgot, the pattern is McCall's 5974, the Palmer/Plesch Faux wrap dress.  I thought I would try the pattern and if I liked it, I would use it with a gorgeous bird fabric I purchased from EmmaOneSock.  The pattern was good, but I don't think I will ever use it again.  

I'm calling this dress a wadder.  It just isn't flattering on me.   The style and the color feel very "mother of the bride."   I made the smallest size and I feel it is still too big in the bust, arms, and waist, but it shows all my lumps in back!  In this fabric (and the potential bird fabric) I would need to grade down another size or two.  The ties were also entirely too much around the waist.  Wanna here something funny?  I asked my mom to try it on and it fit her really well and flattered her figure.    

My review will be up on PR in a day or so.  In sort, I didn't follow the directions on the tie construction and used a self binding instead of hemming the neckline.

I'm currently working on New Look 6130, the peplum blouse.  I'll share pictures of how I redrafted the facings to be an all-in-one armsyce/neckline facing soonish.  On the blouse, I have to just take in the side seams a little more and hem it.  Almost done....

Thanks to the new Followers! I'll give a proper shout-out next time when I'm not falling asleep as I am typing.

Don't Sew at 2am...unless you have to...

My second project in my pattern drafting class was to create a torso block (a combined bodice and skirt block that goes down to the hip level with fisheye darts for shaping and no waist seam) and then use the torso block for a design of my own.  I decided to create a fitted multi-seamed little black dress.  Here's my technical sketch:

Imagine this dress with contrasting piping, cute huh?  Or contrasting topstitching.... My original idea, which I backed off on because of time constraints was ruched side panels.  I decided that since I didn't have time to make a muslin, it wasn't worth trying...and possibly failing.  

So now for the dress.   The pictures were taken with my horrible phone camera.. Very blurry, but you get the idea.  I'm so NOT Happy with my sewing.  Sewing all those curved seams in a very very very stretch cotton sateen was a pain in the ass.  I thought it would be easier.  Next time, I'll use a wool crepe. My corner seams (I used my tutorial!) were beauteous!  My first invisible zipper in a year and a half (inserted at 2am) was pretty damn good.  My facing was great....the hem awesome! BUT THOSE CURVED SEAMS RUINED THE DRESS!  And it wouldn't press well...And I think in my haste I cut a panel off grain.  Ugg, so much to hate....When I finally make my own sloper, I'm making myself this dress.  

So yea, not too happy, but elements of it were good.  And I got an A on both the pattern and the dress. I thought I deserved a B, but I'll take an A.  

Next up, the plaid dress lining pictures, and the Valentino Bustier....

McCall's 6069: WADDER!

I was so excited to get started on my McCall 6069 dress.  All the other versions I have seen are great!

And then one bad thing after another happened until I decided to quit and call it a "wadder."  Let's see where I went wrong:

1)  I decided to use a thin, drapey cotton jersey ($1/yd) my Mom bought for me;  an ideal fabric for this project.  It is a blackish grey with a interesting motif in white going crosswise along the fabric.  Border print!  I thought, "This will be perfect! Drapey, nice border print, light-weight, great color...." I tried to lay out the pattern as shown in the layout and realized the print was off grain.  Stupidly, I decided to try it anyways because, hey, the fabric was free to me and the pattern was $2 on sale.  To get the border to line up, I had to cut the fabric in one layer.  I couldn't even cut on the fold.  It took forever, but it looked like I had done a good job.

2)  I cut the pattern in a size 8 at top grading to a 10 at the bottom.  With a style like this I should have cut a straight 10 or even a 12.

3)  I didn't follow directions at first and accidently sewed the back strap on incorrectly and then had to pick out the stitches.  In doing so, I made little rips in the fabric.  Uggh.

4)  The layout was ridiculous!  I tried to avoid the weird motif centering on my boobs, but I never thought about how it would look on the bottom.  Even though it was off grain, I did match up the motif well, but look what it does on the skirt portion.  Totally ridiculous!

Anyways, here's me in the "dress."  It's not actually put together, but I tried to give you an idea of what it would have looked like.  It's a monstrosity...

Oh well, you win some and you lose some.  I just wasted a few hours today, but I'm not too worried about it.

Next up:

The stripey dress and the doggie outfits!  I finished the Vogue knit dress a few days ago, but went out of town this weekend and it's been too hot here to wear a long sleeve poly knit dress around.