Waisting Time

Life after my holiday staycation keeps getting in the way of my skirt. However, I remain thankful because my job allows me to continue to buy fabric and sewing accessories! I have a new fabric-hoarding philosophy, but that will be a later post. Back to the skirt.

In my infinite wisdom, I originally traced the size 24 waistband and promptly lost the pieces. In a second stroke of brilliance, I decided that after so many alts in the waist and high hip areas on the skirt, I should trace the size 26 waistband and size it down. 

When I tried on the skirt muslin, without the waistband, I was very excited because the skirt at least resembled the picture on the pattern envelope. Then I noticed how the grain line and CF markings were pulling to the right. Also, my right side seam pulled to the front at my high hip. It was odd because there weren't a ton of horizontal wrinkles indicating tightness. I guess when I was tissue fitting, which took days, I must have pulled, tugged and pinned without paying attention to the CF line and grain line.

The swingy side seam is something that happens on every skirt. It does the same in my RTW jeans. Carolyn often mentions how she has to adjust patterns for her "bodacious biceps;" I have TTT -- tremendously thick thighs. They are as big an issue (almost literally) as my rear.  

But this post is about the waistband. I remembered that during my Thanksgiving Craftsy Marathon, Sandra Betzina, in her Pants Fitting Class, said that she starts by fitting the waist. She makes up a test in the actual fabric, including interfacing and stay tape, and fits it to make sure she got the size right.  

I made up a 26 --- waaay too big, 18 -- waaay too small, 22 and 24.  (I am having a glorious time wasting my poly crepe muslin fabric. Seriously.) I'm getting pretty good at sewing around curves and adding stay tape. 

I was utterly confused about the sizing because I need a 24 minus 1/2" at the top of the band, but the bottom of the band was a different issue.  Thank goodness I found this resource. I think it's from Pants for Real People. Of course I have the book, but I never would have thought to check it because this was a skirt. Silly me.

Here's their illustrated slash and spread. 

Here's my actual. This is the back.

Front and back together.

Front with adjustments for my high hip. *Sigh*

I'm tracing these onto Swedish tracing paper. I will cut them out in the muslin to test the fit. Then, my evil plan is to lay those pattern pieces across the skirt pattern pieces and adjust the skirt to fit the waistband. We'll see ,,,

Practice What You Preach *Learn* (Know)

Hope your Christmas was awesome! I've finished the pattern alts, tissue fitting and more pattern alts on Burda 8269. My tissue fitting was shocking. I'd spent all this time meticulously adjusting the pattern based on measurements I took so carefully. Why was the skirt still too tight? 

I'm in no way bold enough to say that I'd done all the width adjustments correctly. User error was probably a component, but I think the bigger issue is that I do width adjustments first and then length. Given that I have to add 3" at the center back, I should probably do that first. That way when I add width, I'm adding it to the right place!  

I know this! In Fitting and Pattern Alteration, the rules are simple: first make even changes in length, then uneven length, follow with even width and lastly uneven width adjustments. I know this by heart. Why didn't I put it into practice? I know exactly why. To me, it's the hardest of my alts. This is why I save it for last. 

I think there are two ways to do it, cut the pattern at the waist seam and add the length or use this method from Burda. To get this pdf and more helpful ones like it from old Burda World of Fashion magazines, join the Burda English Yahoo Group. 

Back to the tissue fitting. I have some 'interesting' contours. After adding the length, I still had to contend with the extra fabric at the waist. I tried to dart it out and I ended up with crooked darts. 

I've never seen crooked darts before, so I'm going to assume I need to fix this. I will just trace them straight when I do the first muslin (notice how I'm assuming multiples).  When I was looking for the Burda article above, I ran across the one below again. I'll give it a thorough read in a few hours.  I'm also going to check Sewing and Fitting with Darts.

I'll start the muslin in a few hours. More to come!

10 Count 'em 10

That's all 10 pieces of Burda 8269 traced and seam allowances marked. All ready for fitting.
I tried to alter the pieces for my waist and hips. I know I need to do to the sway back and full backside alts, but I need to get the puzzle pieces together first.
On to pin fitting...

My Mind Is Made Up. No Turning Back

I decided on Burda 8269 as my Christmas break sewing project.  While it's a more distinctive (aka memorable and can't wear it as often) as Simplicity 2152, I think it is a better match for the eventual Vogue 8815.

This Burda skirt is supposed to be an easy project. The sewing is. It's the tracing and altering 10 pattern pieces that's a bit challenging -- four down, six to go. I have a relatively quick transition to make from waist to high hip. Luckily, it's just one size. From high hip to full hip is where it get's interesting. That's three sizes, which is two sizes bigger than the pattern! I'm being very methodical, so I hope it turns out really close when I get everything done. I'm using Swedish Tracing Paper, so I'm just going to baste that together for the first fitting.

I bought silk organza for the underlining. This skirt is happening!

Peplum Pondering

I'm really late on the peplum trend.  Here's why: when it's worn with dresses and skirts, the skirts tend to be straight. Straight skirts are not my thing at all.

               

I got really, really excited about V8815 because it's part of my favorite Craftsy class.


I found this beautiful poly print for it at Hancock.

                               

I already have brown poly poplin that matches. I even have Ambiance lining in the stash for my skirt. Now the question is: which skirt? I kinda had my heart set on this as my Christmas sewing project. I knew it would go great with a knit top. I have doubts about it with a peplum.

                           

Then I remembered my love affair with this Burda skirt, 8269. It will be not be as quick or easy to sew, but I think it wold be a better choice with a peplum.  I've attempted this skirt before. I cut it, sewed it and was ready to put the zipper in when I realized that I was using a brushed twill fabric with a no nap layout. Live and learn! I guess I was too ashamed at the time to post about my error when it happened.  

       

On a side note, I noticed that on Craftsy, the instructors really champion the use of natural fabrics. Is polyester really that evil? I love rayon and cotton too, but for these projects, aren't poly and her girl ester okay? 

That leads me to the extra time it will take for this skirt versus the Simplicity skirt. I can't remember if the instructions tell you to press the seams open or to one side. I do know pressing can be an issue with polyester, so I'm thinking about underlining the skirt too. Then, the seam allowances could be pressed open and attached to the underlining with a catch stitch. They'd stay flat forever. (It's amazing what you learn on Craftsy.  Got that technique from The Couture Dress. I couldn't keep myself from buying the class.) 

What fabric should I use for the underlining?  The fashion fabric is poly poplin and the lining will be Ambiance.  Silk organza means dry clean only, which is okay. I'm just clueless about what silk organza will do for the fullness at the bottom of the skirt. It also seems weird to use silk to underline polyester, but whatever. Lightweight cotton? Seems like wrinkle city, but that would happen anyway because of the Ambiance right?                             

Checking In

Like most, I have to go back to work tomorrow.  So far, I've got three new projects traced and cut out:  KS2856, M6078 (not looking forward to the swayback adjustment for this) and M6076 (September sew-along). I'm making my alterations to Burda 8269. This has worked my last nerve, so I'm taking a break to write.

As usual, mo to do list was too long and my love of sleep and ability to waste time on the computer too great.  I wanted to knock out the alterations for the new projects, complete this skirt and finish KS3740, which has been hanging around forever.  I have some things in the alterations/mending pile I wanted to get to as well, including a friend's jeans.

I'm proud to say that I've completed the following. None of them aided a project, but I feel better because they're done:

• Hung all of the WIP. Thanks to Ann's tip, I can see my couch and dining table again!
• Created an index for the last Sew Stylish and Threads (Yep. I'm that anal. How else can you find the article you're looking for?)
• Wrote a couple of notions reviews for Amazon.com
• Picked up a couple pieces of very cute and very cheap ($1.99/yd & $2.99/yd) fabric and waxed tailor's chalk at Vogue. I used the tailor's chalk today and I love it.

I got this one from Vogue earlier this year. It was in the cute cottons stack, so I'd thought I'd show you. $3.99/yd!

• Grabbed a few new patterns

Here's what I'm ashamed about: I went through my catalog on Pattern Review.com and made sure each had a picture and the picture I wanted. This has been a small but growing pet peeve with me. When I buy fabric, I browse the catalog to figure out what I'm going to make with it. If there's no picture, I skip the pattern. If the picture is one view of four options, I might skip over the pattern because I don't like the particular view. However, I might have chosen the pattern if I could see all of the views.  This is especially true with the wardrobes.

Alright, I'll calm enough now to go back to the skirt.  I'm having the hardest time with is adjusting for my small waist and large (okay huge) front thighs. So far, I've added two extra darts, let a side seam out twice and adjusted the seam that goes across my right thigh.

Here's how I had to change the front right side seam (high hip).  The red line is the original stitching line.

Here's the top of the thigh seam.  I took it apart and pulled until the wrinkles went away. Left seam allowance:

Right seam allowance:

The pink and green highlighter marks show that I'm still working on the swayback adjustment.

I'm fixing (yes, I'm Southern) to work on both side seams and tweak that thigh seam. I'm praying that when I try it on again, I can sit down more comfortable and the wrinkle pointing to my left thigh is gone! The good news is that the side seams are straight.

Getting Started -- Burda 8269

I finally got all the pattern pieces cut out for the next skirt, Burda 8269. (The pattern has been discontinued, but you can get the smaller version as Burda 8407.) Getting the pattern pieces ready for alterations is the part I dislike the most I about sewing. (I know this is not an original thought.)  I like to trace all of my patterns onto Swedish tracing paper.  You can sew and even wash this stuff, so it's pretty durable. My evil plan is to use it rather than making a muslin.

It also takes me a while because I include some markings for sizes 18, 24 and 26 (on the appropriate pieces) until I figure out what size I really am and where. Well, the pieces are all cut. I can start the super-easy fitting process now. *side eye*

Moving On!

Okay. I gave in to my fears. I am not ready to make a lined a jacket. I couldn't even push myself to seriously start on it. It has to be made by Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, I'm ready to start the other pieces of the outfit, Burda 8269 and Kwik Sew 3573.

I decided to work on the skirt first. The musline for the skirt was actually cut before I started the jacket.
At first, I just pinned the muslin together. Then, I invested in some basting tape. Faster than a needle and thread, but it's not perfect.

I did not go to kindergarten. I say this because I missed out on that whole round shape/round hole, square shape/square hole exercise. I learned not to be ashamed of this deficiency a long time ago. It has not stopped me from putting together furniture and attempting to sew. This skirt has 10 pieces and I admit struggling with putting the pieces together.

This is my first real fitting challenge. Here's what I have going on: small waist, full hips, a high hip, full thighs, and a full butt. When cutting the pattern, I tried to taper from the waist to the hips, but my angles were too pronounced. How do you get from a 20 to a 24 without a severe angle? I guess I'll figure it out soon enough. Amazingly, I didn't get super-frustrated. I know the skill comes with time. Fit is one of the reasons I picked up sewing, so I may as well take my time on this part and learn it right. I'm so hoping Santa drops a dress form down my nonexistent chimney this Christmas to speed the process.

Anyhoo. here's me trying to adjust the muslin. The lines are my actual curves. I didn't know what to do with those lines after I drew them, but I thought they'd be helpful someday.