Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Neckline adjustments

I found myself with time on my hands after work tonight.  DH had to work late so after a quick dinner from Panera takeout, I decided to sew up those fitting adjustments needed for New Look 6230.  I also took side seams from 5/8 to 3/8.

I am happier with the neckline fit.  I decided to post photos of the adjusted neckline.  With the neckband to attach next I will be happier with this fit.
The red line drawn above is intended to give you an idea of where the neckline was falling before the adjustments.  It truly was almost falling off the shoulder.  The specs are from my mirror-fire the housekeeper! That would be me.

Here it is without the red line
I

If I was young like the model on the envelope then probably lower neckline would work. But this was really large.  I am happy that I was able to save this as I really do like the fabric; unfortunately it is not showing up so well in the photos.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

New Look top

Sunday AM:  I have almost finished the New Look top.  I have a few fitting adjustments to make at the neckline.  I made a pattern adjustment to that area prior to cutting out.

I raised the neckline an inch on the pattern pieces.  It is still rather wide; I pinned and will baste a deeper seam at the front and back sleeve to bodice seam lines and if necessary will take a deeper seam at center back.  I basted the side seams at 5/8 inch but may have to reduce that to 3/8.  The pattern notes 3/8 seam allowance at neckline and overall instructions state seam allowance is 5/8 unless noted on the pattern.

I did not make a FBA and cut at size 16  from underarm to bodice bottom.  There were no finished measurements for waist and hip printed on the pattern piece only for bust; I went by the sizes noted on the envelope which are close to mine and even a little larger.

Other adjustments made were swayback and horizontal 3/8 tuck in upper chest and back area to reduce the underarm length from arm join.  This was done on the sleeve as well.

 Sunday Afternoon: I worked on the top making fitting adjustments, the neckline was just huge.  I should have taken a photo of how it looked and how it will look. I was not camera ready.  So the next best thing----
This is the front view with sleeves attached and side seams basted. 

I am using the metallic side for the bodice and the other side for the sleeves. I have not decided what side to use for the neckband.

When I stitched the sleeves to the bodice front and back, I serged them at 5/8 inch. I then basted another 5/8 inch starting at neckline tapering to original stitching about 1/2 half way down the sleeve seam line.  I did the same on the back.  After trying on again, I ended up basting a full inch at neckline and then tapering to 5/8 inch ending at original stitching close to the end of the underarm on the front and back sleeves.  There is center back seam and I basted about 5/8 from top to about 2 inches deep before tapering to original stitching.  It was amazing how these adjustments made the neckline fit much closer and better. 
I then marked fabric close to basting stitches so I can remove then and then restitch.   Obviously this pattern was not drafted for a petite person.  I used a 14 at the neckline as I do with most all patterns. This time that was not the right size for this neckline style on me. Even raising the neckline about an inch did not take into account how wide this was going to be.

The other fitting adjustment will be to reduce the side seams to 3/8 inch instead of 5/8; that is a personal wearing preference with this knit fabric.  More updates to follow.

 


Patterns from the postman

My newest pattern acquisitions came this past week, thank you Mr Postman!!!

I saw this skirt in Nordstrom's catalog as well as on website; I pinned to Pintrest and when I saw this Vogue pattern
I thought I could use this as the jumping off point to make a similar skirt; I don't have the models legs anymore so I will be adjusting so the split is noticeable but not NOTICEABLE!

One of my favorite blogs is Sew & Style by Toy.  She is always posting fashion styles which helps inspire me as well.  She also has a YouTube site where she does a great job of sharing her sewing journey with a particular pattern.  She recently made this pattern in a black ponte knit and a faux leather fabric.
I had planned to purchase this pattern previously but failed to add to my shopping bag and thus with latest Club BMV sale I snapped it up.  My interest originally was in the sleeveless color blocked dress.  I don't wear sleeveless as much as I use to as I have these "old lady biceps" that go with this "old lady".  I would use the sleeve but shorten for spring/summer.

This was another dress pattern that I probably have something similar as well already.  On Pattern Review they had a LWD -little white dress contest that I signed up for and then wondered why as I normally do not wear white or off white dresses.  I think they make me look wider/bigger and why do I want that?  There were some great entries for this contest and I did vote for my favorites. 

I also purchased a few patterns from Simplicity.  Their patterns seem to fit me better and they use to; I just don't go to their site enough to see their collection, plus they have New Look and Burda on their site also.

I was inspired to pin this top and as soon as I saw it I remembered this pattern from Simplicity.  I thought it was a gook knock off pattern.  Again I will add short sleeves. The other pattern has received good reviews on PR so decided to give this one a try also.









Sunday, February 16, 2014

Up next= New Look 6230

I have wanted to make this pattern for a month or more now.  I cut out the pattern pieces this morning and pin fitted it for necessary adjustments.  I have a knit fabric I acquired from Mood Fabrics last year.
It is a grey metallic viscose knit with one side shiny and the other matte.  I plan to use both sides for this top.  I have focused on knit tops lately as I really need to replace some tops I that have been in my closet for some time now and are getting worn out or I am tired of wearing them. 

After I complete this top, I plan to shift my attention to this Vogue pattern, a close fitting, lined dress.  I have read reviews by a few others and I think I can eliminate the lining, though I do have some stretch linings in my stash.  I think some others eliminated the zipper as well.  This dress will become my March garment of the month.


Saturday, February 15, 2014

M6796 Complete and wearing

I completed M6796 this morning.  I wanted to wear it today.  It is a great top for the colder weather using a sweater knit.  As noted previously this is fabric from EOS.

Here are a few photos of the top hanging once I had finished hemming it and give it a final press.

I was not sure that I wanted to add buttons as I did not want the buttons to be a focal point.  I want the fabric to be the focus.  Searching through my button stash which needs beefing up, I found these buttons.  I only had two and found that to be sufficient for this version of the top.

DH and I had some errands to run since this is the first time in two days that we have been able to get out of the house and off our street since the 20+ inches of snow we had dumped on us for almost two days.  I got him to take a few photos of me wearing.


I would love to say that I planned the front layout with the designs centered down the front.  My biggest concern was that I did not have any designs centered over the bust point that would become a focus point.  I am pleased with how it actually looks.


Here is the back view.

And side view.  On a scale of 1-5, I will give this a 5 for wearability. Sweater knit feels marvelous, neckline did not pull back-I made a 5/8 high round back adjustment as well as 5/8 forward shoulder adjustment.

The way the collar is attached, I was concern that there would be potential roll over. So I edge stitched the collar seam to top as the collar would cover that stitching.  Also where the back and front collar meet at the left shoulder, there was some roll over so I tacked that edged to the shoulder seam.

I am not sure if I will make another long sleeve top; I will consider making the short sleeve version for spring.  I have so many other top patterns I want to sew and plan to move onto another pattern next.

Snow, snow, snow

Not necessarily sewing related-thought I would show a before and after photo


Can you see my car?  I parked it next to my neighbors car in their driveway as I could not drive mine up our steep driveway.  I can't see either car but they are there; they were covered with snow by the end of the day on Thursday. This was taken late afternoon on Thursday.

Yesterday with the snow ending and snow starting to melt from the sun, here are the cars.
Today they have finally plowed our street so we can finally get out of the neighborhood.  Weather predicted for next weekend--in the 60's F.  I am so ready for spring!

Friday, February 14, 2014

Snow days and sewing

Wednesday and Thursday the Southwest area of Virginia where I live got hit with a heavy duty snow storm.  We got 24 inches of snow.  I know many of you in the Northeast region have had more than your share of snow.  I have not been able to get out of my neighborhood to go to work yesterday and today.

So I worked from home Thursday-got to love technology.  Today was a vacation day of sorts as well as Valentines.  My valentine and I spent the day shoveling snow out of our driveway and off of our vehicles.  I did get some sewing in today and my February garment of the month is almost complete.

I am pleased with the fit of the top.  The extra I added at the bust proved to be unnecessary; reducing the length of the collar was a great idea for me.  The fabric, a sweater knit from EOS, has been great to sew.  I am almost finished with the top; I only need to hem sleeves and bodice.  If I make this again, I will narrow the shoulders about 1/2 inch.  It's not bad now but with McCall's patterns the shoulder width is usually a little wide on me.

Photos to follow.  I am thinking about my next project-a dress, skirt or another top?  So many things I want to sew it is hard to narrow it down.  More later.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Under the weather

My best sewing plans for Sunday did not happen.  I woke up with a headache that just would not go away; then I had stomach ache and then chills.  Ended up being rather sick and lost several hours for the day.  All I can say is that the fabric is cut out, machines are on ready to go and hopefully will find some time before the weekend to do a little sewing.

I hope your sewing weekend was a good one and will be roaming blogs to see your latest creations.  I was able to rally and go back to work today.  I hate my lost sewing time.


Sunday, February 09, 2014

Renfrew Version 3

I completed my third version of this top.  I did not add the hem bands with this one and coverstitched the hem using a 5/8 hem allowance.  I added an inch to the bottom when cutting out the fabric in order for it to be the length I wanted without the bands and after hemming.  I also shortened the shoulder length by 1/4 inch and I think that is perfect for me and future versions of this top.  I am going to give it a rest for now!

Just finished cutting out M6796 and plan to sew it this afternoon.

Saturday, February 08, 2014

Weekend sewing

Two days on the road this past week and long business meetings yesterday, can make a girl go crazy!  At least that is the case for this girl.  I was so happy to leave work on Friday and to start the weekend.  DH and I had dinner after doing a little bit of grocery shopping Friday evening.

After putting up the groceries I went to the sewing room to finish the Renfrew 3 top.  I attached the sleeve cuffs and then set up the coverstitch machine.   I still have to hem the bodice as coverstitch and I were not working well together. I knew if I kept fiddling with the machine I would get cranky so decided to wait another day.

Next up is M6796.  I steam finished the fabric in my dryer and it came out softer to the touch.  Why I had not thought about this previously, I don't know.  I read a post on another blog about how they were pretreating wool fabric by using the steam feature on their dryer.  I also learned I could wet two worn lint free towels to put in the dryer with the wool and put on high heat setting to pretreat.

This top is my Garment of the Month for February.


Sunday, February 02, 2014

New fabric from Mood

I took advantage of a fabric sale from Mood earlier in the week.  I was pleasantly surprised when I found in my mailbox yesterday a package with this new fabric.  This was a quick turn around--thank you Mood!

The fabric colors were not as I thought they would be and actually they are more of what I prefer.  I know I will make some sort of blouse/top from this, just not sure which pattern I will use.

Without further ado, here is the fabric--



It is a repeat design not a true border print.  The fabric is a silk with lycra blend.  I also have two fabrics I got recently from Michael Levine in Los Angles.  I forgot I had not taken photos of this fabric.  Adding this to my to do list.


Renfrew Top #3

I have made great progress on my third version of the Renfrew top.  With this version I cut it an inch longer and decided that I would not add the hip band to this one, will coverstitch the hem.  I did keep the sleeve cuffs; I still need to attach them.

Here is the work in progress:

I took a close up of the neckline to provide a better view of the textured knit fabric.
This knit has great stretch and recovery; it has been a very nice knit to sew.  This is a knit I purchased from Waechters in Asheville, NC a few years ago.

Since I have made two previous versions I felt that I could whip this up by serging all of the seams.  Previously I stitched using the sewing machine, then edge finished the seams with serger.  This definitely reduced sewing time.



August Sewing Simplicity 7295

 I am not doing well as a blogger. I have been working on this project since July 30. Today, I finally finished it. It has been a stop-and-g...