Saturday, October 31, 2015

A wadder and then we move on!

I have hit a brick wall with the McCall's crossover v-neck top!  I don't wear V-neck dresses or tops much, normally too low and just not flattering on me.  Putting that aside I wanted to make this top-M7249.

I read Ann's review on PR and her post on her blog.  Her dresses are lovely and she like me is shaped like a rectangle.  From an earlier post I was using a lovely knit fabric from Fabric Mart and was a nice knit to work with.  The issue was not the fabric but the dang v-neck and how the overlay attached at that area.

I sewed the heck out of that neckline trying to get dots lined and stitching to end where it would should until I ended up cutting a big honking hole at the neckline.  I decided I will put this aside for now as the frustration with myself and the pattern is not getting me any closer to finishing this top.

So on to the next project and I don't know what I want to make.  Perhaps I should say that I have several items I want to make I just am not feeling the vibe as to what single thing to make now.

Maybe after walking away from this project I can give it proper attention.

More later.

Monday, October 26, 2015

A Glimpse of Progress

I finally finished cutting out the McCall's top. I was able to make a start on sewing it Sunday.  I hoped to be further along than I am.  Neck and shoulder problems slowed me down yesterday.

Here are a few photo shots of the front pieces

front bodice with darts sewn

Overlay with one facing side folded and basted.




The colors of the fabric don't show up so well with my camera.  Played around with photo program on my computer.

I basted the darts and the front bodice to back and the fit was pleasing.  Hope when adding the overlay that the results turn out well. 



Sunday, October 18, 2015

M7249 FBA

Here are two photo shots of the FBA I made for the base top and the overlay.  I think this will work.  With the overlay, the dart will not be seen.

FBA on Bodice 

FBA on Overlay, moved the resulting dart to opposite side where it will be part of the gathers.

Have not had time to cut out fabric--fabric is on the table ready for the pattern pieces!

What's next

I began pattern fitting and adjustments yesterday and this morning for my next top.  I am using McCall's 7249.  I am making the long sleeve version.



I had to make several adjustments to this pattern-forward shoulder, swayback, narrow back, FBA. The challenging fit adjustment was the FBA.  The base front piece will not have a dart as a result of the bust adjustment.  I did not want the overlay to have a dart so I moved that to gathered edge of this pattern piece. I also adjusted the neckline by one inch as well. I will post some photos of those adjustments later.

I am using a knit that I recently purchased (September) from Fabric Mart; this one did not stay in the collection very long.  This is not the best photo of this fabric.  It is a lovely light pinkish beige with tones of light and dark gray.
My plans are to cut out the fabric this afternoon.

Presto Popover Top-take 2

I completed the Presto Popover top and had the opportunity to wear it yesterday.  DH took some photos of me wearing after having worn the top for several hours.

Back

Front
This is my second version of this top.  The first being a wadder; too many pattern adjustments made to the first to really mess up the fit.  With this one, I kept the shoulders as drafted for the medium upper chest and shoulder size.  I drafted a large for the remainder of the top.  I also did a 3/4 inch swayback adjustment.  There are still some fitting adjustments I need to make before I attempt this one again.

The reason for my hands being on my hips for the back photo view is because I really need for hip room in the back.  It rides up while wearing as there is not enough width at the hip area to sit well especially over jeans.  DH wanted me to hold the back piece down so the tell tale wrinkles did not show.  

The front needs a little more bust room.  I made a FBA and eliminated the resulting dart. I can see the wrinkles under the best pointing to the need for more room. I think I can do a vertical adjustment to correct this.

The collar was not as bothersome as I thought it might be. Once you turn the neckline into a shawl time collar it works well.  I still think I will pleat out some of the width on the next one.

The knit used was a sweater knit/rayon fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics.  It wears well but fiddly to sew.  The sleeves are still a little tight for my liking and will adjust those more next time.



Monday, October 12, 2015

Columbus Day sewing

I was able to do some sewing this weekend and completed my second Presto Popover top.  I posted about the first one which was more of a test than the actual planned top.  Interestingly I ended up using another rayon knit fabric in blue acquired from Gorgeous Fabrics in 2014.

This version turned out much better than the previous one.  I stuck with the pattern as is, meaning all adjustments I made previously with the shoulders, I did not do with this one allowing the yoke to fall in place as designed.

I still have a lot of fabric at the neckline and I had a ureka moment after I completed the top.  The next version, and there will be, I will pleat out some of the fullness on the pattern before cutting out the fabric.  The height of the collar in the back is just too much for my liking.

Sorry no photos of the finished top.  Once I completed it, I had several other things on my holiday list to do.

I did wash some knit fabrics that I recently posted about, getting them ready for my next projects.

Back to work tomorrow!  If you had the opportunity to have today as a holiday I hope it was a good one.


Saturday, October 10, 2015

Test Garment

I have been away since Wednesday attending a business conference in Greensboro, North Carolina. Returning yesterday after unpacking I decided to spend a little time in my sewing room. I basted the side seams for the Presto Popover Top. That was the last step in the process to determine the fit.

I took some photos and made some notes on the fitting areas for the neckline. I used a medium size for the neck and shoulders and upper chest. I then blended to a large about an inch from the underarm to the bottom of the top. An earlier post I showed you the full bust adjustment I made. The issue is the back collar. There seems to be just too much fabric for the back neckline for me. Or perhaps the center neckline seam needs to be taken up. Perhaps I need to trace the small for the neckline and use the medium for the shoulder and upper chest.

One of the fitting issues in sewing the test garment, I had to re-do the back attachment to the front piece and in doing so I ended up cutting about 3/8 of the yoke seam which I knew would impact some of the fit. This is also a very thin burnout knit and most likely the recovery in re-stitching the front to the back twice impacted the look of the neckline in the front as well as the back.


I really appreciate and want your constructive feedback about what you see from the pictures below. Are you seeing what I'm describing or something else? Let me also say I made a forward shoulder adjustment which may not be appropriate for this pattern. I can see from the photos as well as in person that the shoulder area moves forward. Again I'm not sure that this is an appropriate adjustment for this pattern. I've looked at several reviews of this pattern on Pattern Review and it's hard to tell where the back yoke needs to fall.

Thanks again for reviewing and your feedback.



Sunday, October 04, 2015

Presto Popover Top

I have been working on the Presto Popover Top this weekend. I printed this pattern several days ago and Friday evening I taped all of the pages together. I then traced around the medium and large sizes that seem to fit my measurements. I then pin fitted the traced pattern and decided I needed to make a small FBA.

My first attempt at the FBA was to use my usual method which results in a bust dart. I then decided to eliminate the bust dart and take off the extra from the side that was created. However something went wrong in this process and the side seams did not match up. I really did not want a bust dart. I decided to try another method using fitting book by Sandra Betzina. 


If you click on the photo you will be able to see how this method works to create a FBA. Here's what the front pattern piece looks like using this method.





I decided to use another fabric to test so this pattern. This is a piece that is from my stash that's a burnout rayon knit that I purchased from JoAnn's Fabrics. I made some adjustments to the shoulder as well as a sway back adjustment.  Because of these adjustments I decided that it was best to test the pattern. From reading reviews at PR, I know that there is a tricky part with the neckline and attaching it to the back. And of course it took me three tries to finally get it correct. In doing so my cheapo fabric stretched out a shape somewhat. I am happy that I have figured out how to do this so when using other fabrics I should not have this issue.

I still need to attach the sleeves and during the pin fitting process I determined that I had traced the wrong size and had to trace another sleeve pattern. It does seeing from the reviews that the sleeve may be tight so I adjusted for that as well. Once you sew in the sleeves flat you then sew up the side seams and hem.  Then presto!  you have a completed top.

Here's a picture of the fabric that I'm using; it's hard to see the burnout areas and the knit is very thin. However it has served its purpose as a test for this pattern.






Thursday, October 01, 2015

New fabrics

I recently gave in to the urge to buy some fabrics taking advantage of some sales. I purchased quite a few knit fabrics from Fabric Mart. Here are some photos:

Faux leather knit

deep royal blue ITY

Gray and beige floral print knit

nude rayon knit

red slub rayon knit
I also purchased some fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics.

Beige textured knit

Jacket weight black knit
I already have plans for three of the new fabrics. I plan to sew the red slub rayon knit using the Presto top pattern from Savage Coco. I took advantage of the Pattern Anthology bundle sale as seen here.
I plan to sew the Denver dress if I have enough of this material which I think I do if not it will become the Denver top.

Let me end this post by saying thank you to all of those who responded to my previous post about Instagram. Hopefully by trying some of the suggestions that were given I have eliminated my following of other Instagram-ers that I had never selected to follow. I have also blocked some.

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