New Year, New Determination

Where was I in 2013? Apparently not sewing. Oh well. No use in crying over spilled milk. I have been watching a lot of Craftsy.com. I mean really devouring the courses. There are some great classes that are really helping me understand fit.

I don't think I'm going to set any sewing goals for the year, I just want to finish stuff. OK, well I do want to make some pants this year. It is really impossible to find lined pants! I also want some flirty, girly dresses.

Here's what I've been working on and what I hope will be my first finished project in 2014, B5523.

I thought this would be the dress I would wear to a funeral. The diagnosis changed (God is so good), but now I have a much more pressing need for it -- work clothes! Let's see how disciplined I can be in terms of working on this every day.

This easy dress has presented a few challenges so far. the process has been slow, because I am aiming for perfection, which means multiple muslins. The first is the neckline. It thought it was wide, so I made some adjustments. Ignore the wrinkles. I had to dig that piece out. I've been concentrating on the back bodice.

Next up was the shoulder fit. I knew I had square shoulders, but I think they may be narrow too. I may need to shorten them a bit more. Then came the back. I cut a 16 based on my upper bust, but I'm using a double knit with less stretch than the pattern requires. It was snug to say the least. I added 1/2" to the upper back and a dart to take in the excess at the shoulder.

I like this method of alteration. I got it from Craftsy's Custom Fitting:  Back, Neck & Shoulders with Kathleen Cheetham. I like that it gives me a sharper angle at the side seam.

So glad I added an inch to the side seams. I need every bit of it. My next task is to sew re-sew the side seams on the muslin using a 3/8" seam allowance. Hopefully that will allow it to skim over the rolls and then I can move on to the bust.

I' hoping this dress will become a closet staple. I want it in double knit and stretch velvet. Here are my fabric options ;-)

Stretch velvet from Fabric.com


Ponteroma knit from Hancock.

Santa Stopped By

Santa hit the Black Friday and other sales.  Lots of patterns and other goodies :-)

First up, plenty of Craftsy.com goodness! I was all over the Black Friday sale. There are still two more classes I want lol.






I finally got the Kenneth D. King Smart Fitting series!


Gifts for Crafters had practical



and cute!
                               
Fabric.com and Hotpatterns.com rounded things out with pattern clearance sales. Woo hoo!

Weekend Plans

I do have some errands to run today, but I think I'm going to put them off until tomorrow after church. I need to spend some quality time with my sewing machine. So here is the state of the three projects I'm kinda working on:

The priority for the weekend is the skirt.I did the muslin for V8882 way back when. I've made the waistband. And pinned the skirt pieces together for basting. During the pattern alts last week, somehow the front side seams ended up 1" longer than the back. I was going back and forth on raising the back waist and lowering the front waist, so I get how I made the mistake. Good thing it's an easy fix.

In my brilliance, I did cut on the center back stitching line instead of the cutting line, right up to the bottom of where the zipper is supposed to go. Not such an easy fix. I grabbed some Steam-A-Seam to tack the pieces together. I zigzagged over them as a temporary fix. I want to check the fit first before I come up with something permanent. I think I'll be okay if I take in that seam since the skirt is very full.

The fashion fabric is a black linen with embroidered pink and green butterflies. I gotta get a move on before Labor Day strikes. I am a firm believer in no white after Labor Day, but I also question linen. In the interest of time, I may go sans zipper. For the muslin, I omitted the zipper and sewed the center back seam. I pull the skirt over my head and it works. I haven't even started on the lining yet.

I didn't make a single maxi dress this summer. I have an altered pattern, M5893, just waiting to go. I just didn't feel like fighting with ITY, specifically laying out the skirt. The fabric I chose from the stash wasn't inspiring, so that also fueled the procrastination. I thought that just maybe I'd do a last ditch maxi effort with the Sewaholic Saltspring, but my pattern hasn't arrived yet and the sewalong started Monday.

Last but not least is the Colette Patterns Taffy Blouse. The muslin needs a ton of work. the back neckline is fine, but the front gapes. The dart placement is all wrong and I need more width for my hips. Back armhole gapes too. *sigh*

Although fall has been in the air for weeks here in the Chi (we didn't have much of a summer, which makes me think winter will be a beast), I want to at least finish the skirt and the blouse. Then I can start thinking about fall in earnest. Looking forward to ponteroma.