Side McCalls

Side McCalls
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

You can see the upper back fullness here. Some of this is forward shoulder issue. My upper back is narrow. With princess seams it is easier to make fitting adjustments for this. Sometimes I adjust the pattern in that area, particularly if there are not princess type seams, prior to cutting out the fabric.

AnotherView

AnotherView
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

I am making slow progress on my jacket. I have had to refit the back and back side pieces. Too full in the upper back. I may also take a deeper seam in the shoulder. McCall's jackets seem to run large on me. The pattern calls for a small shoulder pad. With this jacket you have a gathered sleeve cap and a thick shoulder pad I think will be to much.

Fabric is great to sew with. Not a lot more to do. I have topstitched the front and back princess seams. Lining unit is complete. I only need to add sleeves to this then attached both units.

V7975

V7975
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

This is the other pattern recently purchased from Vogue. I have used a pattern for similar jacket I drafted with PMB software. Decided I wanted to review this pattern and perhaps morph with my self drafted one. There are things I just can not get corrected with the PMB one.

V8332

V8332
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Here is another pattern I purchased from Vogue Patterns online during their recent sale. I loved the article in Vogue Patterns Magazine regarding stripes but did not particularly want the jacket pattern they used. I have had my eye on this one for sometime now.

V2989

V2989
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

One of three new patterns purchased during the Vogue pattern sale a week or two ago. Just I am a Patternaholic.

You have to see this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_733OuJKH2g

M5477 Progress

I am happy to say that the jacket sewing is picking up steam! I completed the facing/lining unit Friday night. I did some sewing yesterday AM, I skipped CURVES. DH and I needed to go to Danville to visit his mom so I wanted to get some sewing in before we went.

I was able to start on the jacket back piece before we left. Last night I did a small amount of sewing, not much really. However this morning I made considerable progress completing the back piece. I started on the front piece and now ready to sew the side front to the front piece.

I have not worked much with gathers in some time now. This jacket has front and back gathers where you attach the bottom of the side front and back pieces to the front and back. The gathers are not that difficult it is sewing the side pieces into the curved areas after the gathers that is a little tricky. I found it does require snipping the front and back pieces to accommodate this more easily.

Even the sleeve cap has gathers. I have to admit I did not pay this much attention when I purchased the pattern. In the lining unit the gathers were not extremely noticeable but does give a little fullness in the sleeve cap. I am undecided whether I will need shoulder pads or not, pattern calls for them. We will see how this goes with the sleeve gathers.

Photos later.

Shoes

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of my second Simplicity dress. Carolyn asked me to post a photo of the shoes that I was wearing with the dress. So I decided to post photos of three black pairs of shoes purchased within the past three months. One can never have enough black shoes.

Here is link to the Donald Pliner wedges-love 'em-. Here is another view. They are truly very comfortable even thought the heel height is higher than I normally like to wear for comfort.

This is another pair of shoes purchased around the same time-J.Renee' Luxe in a faux eel skin look. I have only worn them once, I feel they are more of a fall/winter shoe. Look at this great sole.

These feel like gloves and are so comfortable. They were so comfortable that I ordered a pair in brown.

I now need gray and navy. I am on the hunt for the right ones.

Sewing like a turtle

That's how I feel I am doing in the sewing arena. I sew a little here and little there, slow but not steady. Get to it when I can. Here's a few photos of my progress and actually have sewn more than the photos reveal. The lining back has now been attached to neck sides.

Front view of front facing and side front with interfaced collar.

Another view of the facing and front lining.

Progress slow but steady

I decided to follow a tip from PR and to make the lining unit first for this jacket. The lining is a China Silk that I purchased on my recent fabric shopping event with my ASG friends. It was a challenge to cut out as it is rather slippery. I also decided to make a fitting change with the front lining piece so I had to re-cut the front piece. Good news is I bought a good amount of this lining to use with the dress pattern, when I finally decide which one that is going to be.

The front facing and the front lining piece have been sewn together. My next step is to attach to the back lining piece. I am following the pattern instructions, at least for now, on attaching these pieces together. Because of the odd shape of the pattern pieces, the lining sewing is a little different than I would probably do it without reading the directions.

I hope to take some photos this evening of my progress thus far. Using the make the lining first tip from PR will allow me to make some fitting adjustments if necessary before tackling the outer jacket unit.

More updates later.

Jacket Cut and Ready!

All fitting adjustments have been made to the jacket and all pieces have been cut out. Now all left to due is thread the machines and sew! I have to decide on the dress I am going to make to wear with the jacket. It will be a sheath style, just not sure of the neckline or whether to make sleeveless or with sleeves. Decisions, decisions.

I have a tried and true sheath pattern drafted from PMB that I have made numerous times with a change to bust dart locations on occasion. I have also made the dress in a sweetheart neckline that I don't think will work for this jacket. Probably with use jewel or scooped neck. I am making View C of the jacket with the shawl collar.

I won!

I won! Recently I subscribed to the Well-Heeled Society after learning about this site from reading Shannon's blog-Hungry Zombie. By subscribing I was registered to win a book called "New Shoes: Contemporary Footwear Design". I learned yesterday that I was the winner! See announcement here.

I am again tickled pink about winning. Next to fabrics, patterns, cosmetics, I love shoes. I mean one can never have too many of any of the above.

Mary Jo's trip

Yesterday I took a trip with about 30 other ASG members to Gastonia, NC. We went to a fabric store called Mary Jo's that was loaded with fabrics for all sewing enthusiasts whether for garment, bridal, or quilting. Also items for knitters and hand embroidery. Let me just say it was a great "candy" store. Also in the same center was a Bernina dealer with numerous items for sewist as well.

We then visited Longcreek Mills, also known as the Thread Man. What a sweetheart he was and his staff were. great also. They are probably one of the few remaining thread manufacturers in the USA. Such southern hospitality was offered up. I walked into the store and was simply amazed. They had wall to wall thread. Thread for sewing, thread for upholstery, thread for embroidering, bobbin thread, woolly nylon thread in numerous colors, and more. Every imaginable thread color was available also. I loaded up because the prices were fantastic and the quality truly was great.

Here are photos of my fabric purchases. The first two are knits, somewhat like slinky, yet have more "body".

Grey is the color for fall and thus I purchased a plaid/golden brown and beige plaid wool blend fabric for a jacket. Of course, I needed a grey dress as well, the grey is wool crepe.

I also bought liningfabrics. One is China Silk, one is Hang Loose and one is Ambiance!

Of course, they had buttons on sale for 20% off so I purchased buttons that simply appealed to me and not necessarily will they go with what I have in my fabric collection.

I also purchased two books, one related to serging and one to free motion embroidery. It was a great trip and we are thinking G Street for a spring trip.

Fall Projects

Yesterday I cleaned up my sewing room. Here is a photo of unfinished summer projects.

Removing these and putting them back in the storage stash, I then pulled out some fabrics that I want to make up in the next several weeks.

One is this McCall's Jacket. The fabric is a rayon-polyester that looks like a snakeskin. I also want to make the plaid dress but I don't really like plaids so I will make it up in a chocolate brown gabardine. I fell in love with this dress and jacket when I first got my Aug/Sept Vogue Patterns Magazine. In the photo, the boucle fabric does not look like it goes with the golden brown crepe, but in real life it goes with it well.

Today I began the process of cutting out the patterns and beginning the fitting process. It feels good to have some sewing plans again.

A few more photos of my latest dress

I thought I would take a moment to show some photos of me wearing my latest version of Simplicity 3775. I wore this earlier this week. Even though sewing this knit was a little more of a challenge than the first version of this dress, I have to tell you I love this knit. It was so soft, swooshed when you walked and I just loved the feel of it. I acquired this from Gorgeous Things earlier this year.

It is extremely hard to take a good picture looking in the mirror, trying to see into the view finder, hold the camera with one hand and take the shot without a crazy look on your face. Plus I find it hard to hold the camera steady and then click it to take the shot and keep your hand steady. So if the photo looks blurred, it is!

The knit jacket I am wearing is a Misook Jacket that worked great with this dress.

The shoes are Donald Pliners and I love the wedge heel, so retro looking to me. The wedge heel has a patent leather look while the rest of the shoe is a microfiber. I would love to have them in red, green and navy!

Sleeve lining tutorial

I wrote about preparing a tutorial to show how to install a sleeve lining if you are going to use the 'bag a lining' method. Several people have written they like the bag a lining method but just can't figure out the sleeve part.

Let me say that this "video" is my first ever trying something like this. With my new computer I have a lot of new "toys" or programs to play with and I thought I would try this. Blogger has now added a movie upload feature so I thought let's give it a go. As I have written before, you all know I am not a great photographer. Someone else could probably really jazz this up. I used this method on my recent McCall's Jacket.

Hope you find it helpful. I hope it works!




I reviewed this after posting. It looks better on my computer because it is on a wider screen. Some of the printed comments included in the photos look a little blurred in some. I think you can still get the gist of it. I can send this as an email attachment if you have an interest. Just post your email in the comments.

Made It Work

I was bound and determined to complete this dress and make it be wearable.

First thing this AM, I cut out the neck band in the black knit from my stash. I cut it two inches wide. I pressed in half, wrong sides together. I then placed the folded edge of the neck band to the edge of the neckline, stretching it as I went. This is the neck band application method shown on the THREADS website and I wrote a tip on it at PR years ago. This method works the best for me. Once determining the appropriate length, I cut the end at that point and then stitched 1/4 inch seam. Then divide in fourths, divide neckline in fourths, pin neckband to neckline matching quarter marks. Then stitch either using your sewing machine or serger. I used my sewing machine.




I then cut another piece of black knit using the tie belt pattern cutting it on the fold and using the width of the piece. I then folded this in half, serged the edges, turned right side out and then stitched the edges, stitching 1/4 inch from the edges.


I then stitched 5/8 from the hem edge using fusible thread in the bobbin. I then used this stitching line to turn up the hem evenly all around and pressed adhering the thread to the fabric. I then topstitched the hem of the dress.


I tried it on and I am once again happy with the look of this dress. Here are some more photos of the completed dress.

This is FOE used around the sleeve edge.




This is the back of the dress. Alma Marie is a little fuller than I am in the back.

This is the completed dress with the black knit sash. I think it works okay with the contrasting black at neckline and sleeves.





This is the dress without the band.

My Favorite is not so favorite at the moment

DH and I went riding on the motorcycle today on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Weather has changed some and not so awfully hot, but warm enough for me. Upon returning home, I went to work on my dress.

From my last time in the sewing room I had to make some fitting adjustments. After making those I attached the cap sleeves and then used black fold over elastic instead of turning up the hem and topstitching.

I decided to do this on the neckline. What a disaster that turned out to be. The neckline does not lay flat and looks ripply with this elastic. I cannot get the front waist tie to work right either. The back is still too full also. My mantra during all of this is "make it work", "make it work". So I decided to trim out about 3/8 inch from the back midriff at the side seams. I decided to eliminate the front belt tie and will make a belt/sash to use instead. My idea is to make it long enough to wrap around my waist and tie in the front, helping give some definition for the midriff. The knit fabric is so light and thin that the ties insert as directed just droop when inserted.

I also cut off the fold over elastic at the neck. I found some black knit fabric in my stash that I plan to use as the neckband. My hope that this is heavier than the current knit and will lay flatter to upper chest/neck area than the current fabric would, given the amount of stretch I am seeing. Plus it will, I think, work with the black elastic on the sleeve hems.

I was getting so frustrated with this that I decided it was best to leave it for now and do something else. I thought I will post what is going on here and if anyone reading has any suggestions, please leave a comment. All help, suggestions, support is greatly and always appreciated.