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.

Sew Much To Do

I am the type of person that can read more than one book at a time. I pick them up and put them down based on my mood. I kinda think I'm that way with sewing; we'll see. In the very near future, I need three things: a top, another skirt and a maxi dress. These are all currently in various stages of pattern alterations. I actually have a skirt muslin. I realized a couple of nights ago that I forgot to divide the amount I needed for the maxi dress FBA in half, so that will have to be redone.

I am one pattern alt away from getting to the muslin for the Colette Patterns Taffy Blouse. It's one of the patterns in The Colette Patterns Sewing Handbook. I've done a square shoulder alt and added room for the girls, using a Y-dart FBA from Fit for Real People. I just need to finish the hip.

Whenever I do square shoulder alts and FBAs, the armhole looks so wrong! I use the pivot and slide method for the square shoulder. Here are better shots of the before and after the FBA. I had real trouble squaring up the dart legs. So much so that I scrapped the first attempt, retraced the pattern and started over.

Closeup of how the armhole hinge moved.

The only thing that is kinda scaring me about the construction is the bias tape. Not sewing it, but making it. The blouse fabric is from the stash (woohooo!) It's a silky from Jo-Ann. I just can't see using good ol' Wright's bias tape on this.  

I have a bias tape maker. I'm just praying that I can cut and sew the 5.5 yards correctly! I've never made bias tape before. I'm also wondering if I have enough fabric to make that much bias tape. How much fabric do you think I need? Y'all, I'm scared of this like I am of hand sewing. I wish there was another way, but I think I need to use the same fabric for the bias tape in order to get the look I want.

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 5893 Rewind

I live my life by consulting three pattern books (ranked in order) -- Fitting & Pattern Alteration, Pattern Fitting with Confidence/Fitting Finesse and Fit For Real People. The one thing I can't get a consensus on is the order of alterations.

• FPA (seam method) 
• Work from the bottom up 
• Even length changes 
• Uneven length changes
• Then, working from the top down
• Even width changes
• Uneven width changes 
• Nancy Zieman's Pattern Fitting with Confidence/Fitting Finesse (pivot & slide method)
• Hem
• Center (front or back)
• Neckline
• Shoulder
• Armhole/Back Width
• Bust
• Waist 
• Hip
• FFRP (slash method)
• Back
• Bust
• Width Around Middle
• High Round Back
• Waist Length
• Shoulders
• Skirt

Is there a unifying theme that I'm missing? Seriously. It's not obvious to me (y'all know I'm sewing special ed.) So, if I assume the order of alterations is based on what method you use, what if I want to use multiple methods to fix my pattern?  On the bodice, I need to do alts for square shoulders (pivot and slide method) and prominent bust (seam method). Which should I do first?

I decided to go with the square shoulder adjustment first. It's the easiest! I think it's a length adjustment, so it should come before the bust adjustment according to FPA and it should be first according to Nancy Zieman. (Don't you just lover her?) Two out of three ain't bad!

PFWC suggests that for square shoulders, you do 1/4" or 1/2". I couldn't decide, so I traced both yesterday! Think I'll move forward with the 1/2".

Gonna make some tea (gotta get my mind right) before attempting the prominent bust alt.