Silly Me

As I was continuing to think about the sleeves and how the adjustments I made to the pattern may have affected the armhole, it dawned on me that I traced the wrong size pattern! I know this doesn't have anything to do with the the easing issue, but it does explain why the shoulders seams extended too far.

When I traced the pattern last summer, I correctly traced a 12 for the bodice. When I started the pattern this month, I threw that tracing away because I thought I needed a 14. The culprit? I keep confusing my bra size with my upper bust measurement! Duh! I even updated my measurement chart recently and put my bra size instead of my upper bust measurement.

With that said, I traced a new bodice yesterday. I'm not happy with the FBA. Earlier, when I got ready to attach the muslin skirt to the bodice, I realized the extra width at the waist from the FBA was a problem. I thought I could ease the bodice in. That isn't really working for me; the skirt waist has to be eased and easing both is confusing me.

Should I add a vertical dart or take it out at the side seam? That was the question I went to sleep thinking about. When I woke up, I decided I would try the pivot and slide method for an FBA, which doesn't seem to change the armhole or add as much width to the waist. That will be tomorrow's project.  

An Update on the Sleeves - B5454

It dawned on my that the problem with my sleeves may be because I widened the back armhole!  Also Faye was kind enough to point me in the direction of Power Sewing and Sandra Betzina's notion that many commercial sewing patterns have too much sleeve cap ease.  I think I have a solution, but it will have to wait until the next muslin. (Yep, I've decided to make two. This is why I love $3 fabric.)

In the meantime, I not clear on Betzina's instructions. Here's where I'm confused:

Draw three vertical lines from the sleeve cap to the hem leaving a 1/4" hinge at the bottom sleeve edge.  

Huh? The way I take that is to draw the lines from the top of the sleeve cap to the hem line and then cut 1/4" slits into the pattern from the bottom. However, the picture shows the vertical lines running the entire length of the pattern piece.

Cut the sleeve apart and overlap the pieces.

Cut from the top of the pattern to the hinge? Faye, if you and any other readers can explain this so that I understand, please help.

Here are two other resources I found:

• Crimping technique in Singer's Time Saving Sewing it's also in The Complete Book of Sewing Shortcuts, but I need the picture from the Singer Book.
• Tutorial from Made by Monet

Y'all know I'm special ed when it comes to sewing, so of the three above solutions, only crimping is making sense to me right now. I'm wondering if it will work on knits.

You Got Me Going In Circles - B5454

Because I'm having the hardest time setting in a sleeve. It has taken me days and I'm still not done. I guess the time I did it here was a fluke. I thought pin basting was such a breeze. Now, I'm ease stitching and pin basting. I'm taking a break to blog.

I have one sleeve in and one that's in except for half of the ease. I really don't want to rip it out and start over because the other half of the ease is perfect and the side seam and the sleeve seam match perfectly. Grr. Of course the one that's in isn't all that hot, but I do feel like I've accomplished something.

I promise you that I really did press that seam. Although part of me was hoping that this muslin will be wearable, knowing that this is a practice run takes some of the pressure off. I'm really enjoying the learning process. I feel like I can experiment. And right now, I'm experimenting with Steam-A-Seam 2 Lite.  It works great for basting. I'm not in love with it for hems on ITY.  Or it could be a case of over pressing or even my struggles to sew a straight line.

SAS worked great on the tie opening, once I figured out how I should use it. I'll be going with the method I used on the right side, plus some better topstitching.

I'm using fusible knit tape on the neckline and armholes. I'm getting better at the application of it.

I've been watching my Threads Industry Insider DVD and I learned that I need to stab pin into ironing board and then I can press the pins down with the iron.

The pin heads need to be pressed toward the seam allowance because they do leave marks when you press them down.

I've also been playing around with clear elastic. Through trial and error, I realized that the easiest way to apply it is by using my nonstick foot instead of my elastic foot.

This project and my work on M6078 have also impressed upon me the need for lighter weight thread. I wish I had done my research before I purchased the thread for the real dress. The C&C Fine thread I'm using for this is a 60 wt.  I wrongly assumed that Mettler Silk Finish would be lighter. Nope, it's the same as Mettler's  Metrosene, 50 wt. Guttermann Silk is a 30 wt! There is so much to learn about sewing.

What I need to learn is how to use my Hump Jumper.











After working hard to match the seams with pins, they shifted when I tried to stitch over the bulk created by the tuck and dart.

Back to pinning the other sleeve ...

I so want to have the muslin done and adjustments made before the Friday Night Sew In. I want to work on the real one for that.