McCall Bought Kwik Sew

Huh? Not sure how I feel about this. I love Kwik Sew for different reasons than the BMV brands. I have separate likes and dislikes for each of the BMV brands, but they are unified drafting and the quality of their pattern instructions, both of which can be a mixed bag. To me, what separates the BMV brands is design and, in some cases, attention to fit and level of difficulty.

Kwik Sew has simply awesome directions. They seem modern. They include instructions for serging, 1/4" seam allowances for knits, stabilizing techniques for knit tops, etc. I don't think I've read many complaints about Kwik Sew's drafting. Extra points for all sizes in one envelope and the heavier paper.

I don't own as many Kwik Sew patterns as I do Butterick or McCall's. (I think Kwik Sew falls somewhere between them in terms of classic and contemporary design.)  But I tend to use the Kwik Sew patterns as a reference for other brands.

Please, please let this be the case of best practices being shared across brands and not making the new acquisition fit into the old model. 

Spring Has Sprung (Somewhere)

So winter official starts tonight. However, Simplicity and McCall's have already moved on! In Chicago, we haven't had our first hard snow yet. No worries, I'll fondly look at these and think happy thoughts again in a few weeks.

I'll start with Simplicity

1909 -- Late entry for Pippa's dress. Style Arc and Butterick were faster off the block.


1913 -- I love this look!


1914 -- Amazing Fit

1918 -- More Amazing Fit


1920 -- Great coordinates, especially the neck ring and belt!


On to McCall:

6504 -- Gotta have that asymmetrical hem


6503 -- loving view D


6506 -- most definitely. Multiple cup sizes.


6507 -- yes please! Multiple cup sizes.


6514 -- thinking about these.



6510 -- loving this!

I Like -- New McCall's

McCall's Holiday 2011 patterns are here! Aren't these cute??!

M6489 -- love it! Very romantic.


M6464 -- Palmer/Pletsch. It will fit!


M6462 -- too short as is for me, but still cute.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward

So, I decided not to rip out the skirt on this muslin. I wanted to keep going so that I could practice the casing part. But before I jump ahead, here's where I ended up with my crash course on gathering yesterday.

It looks like I can sew, don't it? :-)  I measured the width of the front bodice and the skirt pattern pieces. Then, I divided those measurements in half. I adjusted the tension and stitch length until I could get a 9 1/4" test strip to be 5 3/4" after it was gathered. It took me about four tries. After I gathered the skirt sample piece to the right size, I sewed it to the bodice sample piece. Why don't they design gathering feet so that you can gather and sew with a 5/8" seam allowance? The foot for my machine gives you a 3/8" seam allowance.  Maybe it's just Pfaff.

This isn't perfect. I realized that with a gathering foot, the first and last 1/2" of fabric will not gather. In later tries, I found that if I stopped the needle just so, and pulled the threads, I could get those ends to gather a little.

See how nicely the edges line up? I have to point this out because that was so not the case with my muslin skirt and bodice seam allowances. Because the ruffled edge was so uneven, I had problems sewing the skirt to the bodice with an even 5/8" seam allowance and sewing the 1/4" casing.

Here's the other reason I struggle with the casing each time I attempt this dress -- I can't sew straight! I have the "sew slow" function engaged, I've tried using topstitching and seam guide feet, but I'm still all over the place. Before I made the sample, I blamed it on the poor gathering job I did earlier. Nope; it's just me. If you look closely below, you can see the sample seam is crooked too! I really am sewing special ed :-)

I've gone on an on about my inability to sew straight. Why does it matter? When I tried to insert the elastic into the casing, the tunnel was too narrow in some places for the elastic to go through. Uggh.

Actually, I'm not that upset. I want to go back and work on the front bodice some more. The beauty of the older version (besides the fact the casing was wide enough) is that it's really snug across the chest.  The neckline is too low, but I like the width. I also don't have to pull the shoulders back, which I was doing with this muslin.

The version above is a size 16. I spent a day back and forth between the mirror and the sewing machine as I adjusted the side seams and shoulder seams. I chose the size based on my bust instead of high bust measurements. Now, I'm trying to understand those changes on a flat paper pattern. Kinda hard for me to grasp. I wonder if this would be easier if I had been better at geometry.

Well, I've traced the bodice pieces in both a 12 (where I should start according to my measurements) and a 14 (reviews for the pattern say it runs small). Gonna start with the 12. We'll see how it goes. I'm giving myself until Labor Day to figure this out.

The Gathering Storm

Nope. This has nothing to do with Hurricane Irene. I've spent the week working on gathers. The great news is Nancy Zieman"s technique of gathering over the bobbin thread works like a dream. (If the link doesn't work, the technique can be found in her Sewing A to Z book and video.  The bad news is I have trouble keeping the gathers evenly distributed when I sew. After liberal pinning, I end up with this:

Maybe I didn't pin enough? How do you stabilize gathers? Am I not tying the thread tight enough? Before I left for work yesterday, I played around with my gathering foot and came up with this:

Aren't they beautiful? Now the trick is figuring out the machine settings so that the piece is gathered to the correct width. I can't find any info on how to do this. Is it trial an error every time? I guess everyone else has figured out how to do this without using the gathering foot.  I'm playing around with some scraps to see how it goes.

I guess the best news of all is that my narrow edge foot and I are besties. Slow and steady wins the race.

Now, let's talk about the pattern alts.  I started with a 1/2" square shoulder alteration.

  

Then, I went in for the dreaded prominent bust alteration. It's not that hard, but it was intimidating because in Fitting & Pattern Alteration, you get a whole column about how to do the alt on a simple bodice.

For the empire waist, all you get is a picture. Yes, I'm sewing special ed -- I like colorful pictures, but I need more details too.

Here's where I ended up.

I wouldn't mind the bodice maybe 1/2" tighter. I think I want to try it in something that has less stretch first. On a side note, this project has really shown me the power of a push-up bra. 

So, as I head to the sewing machine to practice gathers, I'm not sure how this will end up. I have no desire to rip out the skirt and fix the gathers. But, even if I figure out the magic formula with my gathering foot, I don't think I want to cut another muslin or even move on to my fashion fabric. The days are getting cooler, so I won't have long to wear this. 

McCall's Winter 2011

There are new MCCall's patterns to get you in the mood for winter sewing. How appropriate because yesterday, I realized a long-sleeved shirt would have been a great option for the weather. Summer is slipping away...

Anyhoo, here are my picks:

6436 -- Almost anything with multiple cup sizes gets a pass.

M6438 -- Although, I feel like I own something like this already.

M6441 - from Palmer/Petsch. This one is a maybe.

M6446 -- Rebecca Turbow for Generation Next. I love capes and wraps. The hood isn't doing it for me.

M6456 -- the black and gunmetal versions are awesome.

M6450 -- I am a hat kinda girl.

Comfort in a Muslin

I'm working on a dress, M5893 to be exact. I've made it before.  This time, I'm taking my time and trying to learn as I go.  So yes, I'm starting with a muslin.

It's been a slow process. This is a "1-hour-dress." I've spent that trying to figure out the narrow hem around the neckline, but I'm jumping ahead.  It started with the pattern alts.  When I last made this dress, I mistakenly cut a 16 and then adjusted the side and shoulder seams to get the fit I wanted. (I used my bust measurement instead of my high bust measurement.)

This time, my first muslin was based on a size 12 with an FBA to get me to the size 16. I used the pivot and slide method.  I also did a 1/4" square shoulder adjustment using the seam method. I had pulling under the arms and the bodice was about 1 1/2" too short.

Muslin #2:  I did a prominent bust adjustment (different from an FBA according to Fitting and Pattern Alteration) using the seam method. Talk about stressful! I got through it, but it seems like the most I could add for the length was a little over an inch.  I cut and sewed up the muslin and tried it on with bated breath. The bodice still didn't completely cover the girls, but I figured that with the weight of the skirt and gravity, I might not need to add the 1/2" inch. (I just really wanted to get to the sewing part.)

Now that I look at this pic, I should probably add more width and I'm going to add the length. I had to pull and tug to make this picture decent. What do you do when one breast is bigger than the other? I skipped the square shoulder adjustment. Not a smart move.

My machine is a little over a year old, but it hasn't seen much time in action. I get stuck on pattern alts and rarely make it to the machine. I started with a  wobble stitch to staystich the neckline and armholes.  What have I learned? Going slow around curves is key!

I'm keeping the 5/8" seam allowances, sewing the seams, trimming them to 1/4" and then sewing them with an overlock stitch. Once I get my pattern alts perfect, I'll trim the pattern to get 1/4" allowances for future use. (Yep, this dress is a keeper.)

Now for the narrow hem. This thing has been giving me fits! How do you turn up a neckline hem successfully around the corners?! Good grief. I looked at the old dress and I just did a topstitched hem. However, I'm thankful for this practice.

After spending an inordinate amount of time at ironing board, my time spent at the sewing machine was long and comical too. Perhaps I should machine baste first instead of sewing. Ha! I'm using my narrow edge foot to sew this narrow hem. Not sure if it is necessary, but I like trying out new feet. Let's just say I have go v-e-r-y slowly. Even still, I jacked up the curves. Since this is a muslin, when I realized I wasn't catching the edge, I just cut the threads and started over.

I spent yesterday morning at the sewing machine, so I think that is enough of a reprieve before going back to the land of tissue paper. For the length, I'm going to slash across the pattern, through the bust point. The darts seem a bit high, so I think I can kill two birds with one stone. Think I'll use the pivot and slide method to take care of the width and square shoulder. Wish me luck!

Not Waisting Away

Thanks to all who had input on my last post about finding my waist. The verdict? I had the measurement right the first time. I was delusional last weekend. Bend to the side; the part that folds is your waist!

Here are some great videos Patricia @Perfect Sew & Fit sent me to help determine where the waist is.

• http://youtu.be/TynnNZHuPjE
• http://youtu.be/Hur_ompEzNA
• http://youtu.be/w7njhM0jMF8

Other good news -- I was able to to get my hands on M6353 last night. I was so geeked that I misread the sales paper and thought the sale started Friday instead of today. The cashier saw how crestfallen I was and let me have it at today's sale price. Thank God for small miracles. I will have this dress for the July 4th holiday. I'm on the lookout for a killer rayon-Lycra blend in a super-saturated fun color. With five yds of fabric, I'm guessing color is important.While Jo-Ann's is the leading with Deep Lake, Blue Jewel and Calla Green, I was hoping for something more citrus-y. High End Fabrics has a nice selection of modal-spandex knits, but the colors aren't as intense. I've reached out to Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics for suggestions. I've ordered swatches from Spandex World too:

Today, I'm going to attempt a square shoulder adjustment on the KS3740 muslin. I'm so thankful for all of the help everyone has offered on this project. Carol @Fit That has suggested that I might get better results if I start with the medium instead of the small. There's more than one way to skin a cat, so I'll try this in a medium and follow her recommendations (as soon as I find muslin-worthy fabric). 

True confession: it's supposed to be 70 degrees today and 56 tomorrow. I might end up sewing tomorrow instead of today :-)