More Progress

I was so busy sewing and not sewing, I forgot to blog this weekend's progress. To recap, I gotten the shoulder seams closer to where they belong, did the FBA and realized I had a back problem.

Yuck! Here's where I landed. It's not perfect, but I can deal with it for now. There's a seam down the back that will stay for this first dress. 

Next up is the armhole. The girls are wreaking havoc on it.

The fix is to pin an armhole dart and rote it to the side seam.

It looks so funny.

                                         

Transferred it to the pattern.

I don't have a lot of shots of the magic, but the steps are here. The shorter dart in pencil was the final dart.

                                                

  

I made another muslin and I wasn't completely happy with the dart. I'm tweaking it and I think I'll have a finished bodice by the weekend.

Figuring It Out

Not much progress to report. I got a suggestion to do a bigger narrow shoulder adjustment. I suspect a high round back is the culprit too.

Did the back pattern alt this morning. For the sake of time, I'm going to curve the CB seam. Once I figure out how much to add, I will straighten the seam and add a neckline dart. I'm starting with a healthy 1/2."

Used a curve get things nice and proper.

Let's see if I get it cut and stitched up tonight.

Back It Up

Undid the broad back adjustment. I didn't think I needed it. Decided to take a 1/4" inch out of the FBA. Now the garment measures the same as me in the bust. 

I now have a knit bodice that fits snugly like it should. I think :-) I figured I should work with a fresh muslin before I got serious about the armhole dart.

                                      

                                           

What a dart it will be. Check the side out.  Wait is the bodice too tight???

                                           

Okay. So my arm is in the way. And no, my $17 pink phone case was not worth the money. However, I have discovered a big problem. What the heck is this? 

                                           

                                           

Why is the neckline standing so far away? In the two pics above, I did tug a bit to tease out all the excess fabric. The third pic from the top shows a more natural view. Either way, it's just WRONG!  Seriously, is the bodice too tight???

I did lower the neckline when I lowered the shoulder seams. In the front, I raised the neckline and shoulder seams by the same amount.

Looks like I'll be reading sewing books on the train this morning in hopes of figuring this out.

Bustin' Out

Still working on this dress. I need to hurry up and finish it :-)That brings me to the next challenge -- the armhole. But first, let me recap what I'm happy with:

• Shoulders -- seam placement and length. Although please tell me if my narrow shoulder adjustment was too much or too little. It's amazing how confused I get.
• FBA and side bust dart. Crafty's Adjust the Bust really helped me get the dart placement right. It ends a whopping 5.25" away from the bust point.  
• Sidebar: I have discovered the Butterfly Bra from Ashley Stewart. If your girls are ... let's say substantial and you have an issue with bulging under your back bra band, this is the bra for you! It's the only bra I'll consider wearing with close-fitting knits. I have two only complaints -- the amount of padding in the cup; it adds inches compared to my old bras. The second complaint is the colors. There's nothing in white or beige.

                                     

As you can see above, I needed to add a lot of length during the FBA and I wasn't quite sure how to true it with the side seam. It's still a work in progress.

I wasted time with the broad back adjustment; I didn't need it. I forgot that knits are supposed to be a bit snug. The good news is that without that adjustment, the shoulder seams match. This is a relief because I couldn't seem to draft a back shoulder dart and my gathering technique still needs a little work. I can't seem to keep the presser foot from crushing them and making them uneven.

Now we come to the next challenge: Gaping front armhole. I've read that the larger the bust, the bigger the gaping. Thanks Butterfly Bra for the extra inches. Anyhoo, here's me trying to pin out the excess. Not bad huh? 

                

The side view might be a different story, but I will chalk this up to trying to fit myself as I wear the garment.

                           

So today task is rotating that dart to the side seam. I have a couple of resources:

• Subtleties in Drafting Sleeves
• Add Side Dart to Fix Gaping Armhole

Wish me luck.

A Break In the Action

Still working on alterations, slowly and methodically. I always thought my waist and hips were challenging, but it's amazing to see what all I have to do to get a bodice to fit. Because these are new alterations for me, I had to go to a garment with a more basic bodice -- my double knit dream dress, B5523. I made a completely rookie mistake by starting with the wrong pattern size. What a testament to how much weight I've gained.

Anyhoo. This is a small break in the action for some celebrating. It's my birthday! Anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with pink (and green). It may not agree with my skin tone or hair color, but I loves it! How fortuitous that my birthday is in October -- the pink month. I do my part by snatching up Breast Cancer Awareness sewing stuff. This year, I found pink Wonder Clips. Who wants my old red ones?

Now for those who may not be able to stand all this pinkdom, brace yourself.  How awesome is this??!

                           
Even though I have a steam generator, I briefly tried to justify purchasing this iron. My workroom is pink and pewter. I'm just saying. Sadly, reason and good sense won. Boo. However, don't let me stop you ...

Back to reality. My sewing machine is in one room, but I do alterations and cut on my dining table. I'm always leaving something in the wrong room, so I've been thinking about an apron for a while. I found this cool pattern on Connecting Threads.
       
                                                      
My workroom is pink and pewter, so I headed over to fabric.com in hopes of finding fabric with that color combination. Just look at this loveliness.
           
                                     

I went to Jo-Ann's after church Sunday and what did I see? A sewing basket just for me! Talk about absolutely meant to be. So below is my first round of birthday-stuff. Yep, I celebrate all month long.  What you don't see is my wool crepe. I got some tan yardage for practice and some black for the real thing. 

                            

Oh Happy Day!