Vacation

Today I start my vacation!  This time DH and I are actually going somewhere that will require overnight stay for several days- the beach!  Today is running around getting car cleaned, filled up and ready to pack.  I am getting a mani-pedicure this afternoon; got to have those hoofs and paws looking good!  Some last minute food supplies and we will be ready to go bright and early tomorrow AM!

Sewing is taking a back seat for several days.  The dress bodice is basically complete; I need to hem the dropped sleeves.  The skirt should be easy to attach, though there is a casing for elastic to be sewn before that is finalized.  I also need to find an appropriate belt buckle for the belt I am making to go with the dress.  I will have time when we come back to finish this dress to get some wear from it before summer slips into autumn.  I am trying to gear up to start some transitional sewing; I love summer even though it has been a hot one, so will hate to see it slip away.

Grosgrain: The Reporter Frock Grosgrain Giveaway

Grosgrain: The Reporter Frock Grosgrain Giveaway

This is a beautiful dress.  I love the green with black and white fabric.

Flounces

I wanted to share how the flounces turned out using the fabric as lining.  It has given them some body which I think was necessary and makes them more like the ones on the dress that I am copying imitating. 

I stitched 1/4 inch from the outer edge of the lining fabric pieces and then trimmed the outer edge right up to the stitching line.  I attached the lining fabric together at the shoulders per the instructions.  I then sewed the outer edges of the two layers together.  After pressing the seam allowance I then turned under the lining fabric to match at the upper edge of the flounce.  This method allowed the upper fabric to turn under about 1/8 of an inch as I stitched the two outer edges together using 3/8 seam allowance.

I then basted the flounce to the upper bodice side front and back pieces which also had been stitched at the shoulder.

Family time

Sewing has been creeping along this week.  I have done a few minutes of sewing here and there.  Today we will visit my MIL in Danville as we will be going on vacation next weekend and want to make sure everything is set for her while we are away.  SIL does a lot for her as well, but DH is the oldest son and she still leans on him a lot.

I hope to get some sewing in, late evening when we return.  I am hoping my design idea with the flounce is going to make them look better than they would with a narrow hem with this particular fabric.

Is it me? Am I not marching to the same beat?

I am NOT getting excited about the new fall patterns I have seen at McCall's and Vogue.  Maybe I am just not in the mood to give up summer.  But I think what I have seen so far looks like everything I have been seeing for quite some time now.

Having said that I did buy one of the McCall's fall patterns-this dress.  I did see a review for a knit top on another blog and on pattern review that interest me but not one of the fall line up patterns.  I also bought a couple of Simplicity patterns several weeks ago-this one.  I also purchased  this pattern but again I don't really see it as a fall pattern.

I am sure there will be more to come; I definitely hope so.  I notice that Butterick has not promoted their fall  line up so maybe something to look forward to.

Simplicity 2360 Progress

Instead of spending way more time at my computer this evening, I spent time in my sewing room.  It was only 45 minutes but in that time, I sewed the center front and center back pieces together at the shoulders.  I then sewed the front and back flounce pieces together at the shoulder. 

At that point I decided I was not going to like how the flounce was going to look with a tiny rolled under hem.  I decided to cut out another set of front and back flounces from the linen/rayon fabric to use as self fabric lining of the flounces.  I think it will give the flounces more body like the RTW dress that I am imitating.

Here are a few shots I took with the single layer flounces pinned at the shoulders to the center front and back pieces.

Center front with flounces pinned to front on Alma Marie

Back piece with flounces laying across back.

More later.

Yellow dress

I made pretty good progress on the yellow dress today.  I made all the pattern fitting adjustments yesterday.  A FBA required adjustments to front and side front pieces, also required adjusting the front flounce/ruffle piece also.  It is always important to remember all the pieces that can be impacted when you make an adjustment to one pattern piece.

I cut out the fabric and the lining fabric this morning.  That was quite a process as there are a lot of pattern pieces to cut out. Because I decided to line the dress, then I cut out several pieces twice.   I am going to use the lining as interlining.

I attached the lining fabric to the bodice pieces this evening.  I plan to do some bits and pieces sewing as time allows next week.

Once upon a time or back in the day

Once upon a time, and long, long time ago, I could take a size 10 pattern straight from the envelope and make garments without FBA's, upper round, forward shoulder adjustments.  Advance forward many, many years.  Now I take a multi-sized pattern and normally use a size 14 upper chest/shoulder then shift to 16 for bust and waist and then taper back to 14 on some patterns at hip to hemline.  Sometimes I just cut out the 16 from waist to hem and adjust the seams as necessary when basting and sewing garment during sewing process.

Today I pin fitted the Simplicity 2360 pattern and determined that I needed FBA of 1.5 inches which required adjusting the side front piece first, then adjust the front piece, which then required an adjustment to the front flounce piece.  No cheater FBA for this; I used the FFRP method that works well for me.  Once you adjust one piece you must remember all the other pieces that will be impacted.  Before doing all of those adjustments I lengthened the all of those pieces by 3/4 inch as I felt it was a little to short waisted.

That took over an hour to complete.  The front, side front, back and side back bodice pieces are pinned to the fabric ready to cut out.  The fabric I am using is a rayon/linen blend.  I had some matching yellow lining but unfortunately no where near enough.  I have some pale yellow lining that I will be using.

I am getting ready to watch a movie with DH.  Update tomorrow.

Michelle Obama Changed From Jason Wu to Thakoon Yesterday

Michelle Obama Changed From Jason Wu to Thakoon Yesterday

I love the Jason Wu dress.

Taking Advantage of Time

This AM I had to attend a meeting and ended up with some time to spend in sewing room before traveling to the meeting.  I began cutting out the Simplicity dress pattern pieces so I could then pin fit the pattern later this week.  I was able to cut the front, side front, side back and flounces. 

For whatever strange reason, the center back piece is drafted with size 12-14 on one back piece and there is another back piece sized 16-20.  My issue is I need the 14 and 16.  I will overlay the two patterns so I can blend from the 14 to the 16.  All the other pieces have the multi sizes on one piece.  Go figure?!  The other potential dislike for this pattern is the skirt front and back pieces are the same.  This may create some fit issues, we will see.

One more thing

Dana left a comment regarding the Butterick 5219 top about the neckline.  I meant to comment about that.  Like she did, I too assumed that the neckline may be very low.  When pin fitting the pattern, I changed my mind and decided to leave it as is.  The neckline looks low on envelope but too me it is not, especially compared to some of the Burda Style pattern necklines.  Thanks for commenting on that Dana.

Butterick 5219 is now complete

I finished this simple top but not in record time.   You can go here to see some photos of the completed top.

This was a quick and easy top; for me not so quick as I had so many stops and gos with it.  If you have interrupted time you could easily complete this in a few hours.  This is a casual top for me to take on my upcoming vacation to the beach.  I think I am done now with clothes to wear for that. 

As with most patterns, I am not always following their directions to the "T".  I don't like directions that have you stitch an non-interfaced piece to the garment body, then stitch the interfaced piece to the non-interfaced piece and then "slip stitch the edges".  For some reason, slip stitching instructions annoy me.  I want my clothes to look like ready to wear.  I actually try for better than, as not all RTW is created equal. Slip stitching is not seen in RTW.  I paid good money for the machine, the serger and the coverstitch machine and I plan to use them to their fullest.

So the neckband pieces were sewn together at the neckline, then I basted the neckband edges together and then serged them to the bodice front and back.  I attached the knit sleeves with serger and not in the round. I attached the front and back bottom band pieces as I did the neckband.  I used coverstitch machine to topstitch the front and back bottom bands. Hemmed the sleeves before sewing the sides seams together.  Again my method reduced several separate sewing steps than their instructions. 

I will be resuming my career/work garments sewing again.  I pulled out some skirt, blouse and dress patterns.  I decided I want to tackle this Simplicity pattern next.  I saw this dress in a Nordstroms' catalogue and when I saw this pattern, I thought I had to make that dress.  The fabric I will use, a linen blend,is from Fabric.com as is the lining.

Weekend Sewing

Yesterday DH and I visited his niece and her new husband; a two hour trip.  It was a social event to celebrate the newly weds with friends and family.  My sewing time was limited to incremental sewing in the AM.

This morning I resumed sewing in between household chores and fixing "stuff" on DH's phone.  Butterick top is almost complete and will post photos later.  Back to the sewing room.  Hope all are enjoying your weekend.

Wednesday before the Governor's committee

This past Wednesday I had to make a presentation to a Governor's committee on workforce development.  Normally I wear a suit or a jacket and dress combo for this type of presentation.  With the extreme hot weather we have been experiencing, never knowing if the a/c will be working appropriately at the place where you are speaking and just anxiousness about presenting, can cause me a "power surge", I chose to wear my recently completed KS top and Loes Hinse skirt. 

The knit is wrinkle free, so after two hours of driving, I step out of the car just as fresh as when I got in it.  If a/c is rather cool, I have short sleeves to keep my shoulders comfy.  The outfit makes me feel stylish and self confident thus reducing my anxiety over speaking to this group of strangers. 

All in all, it turned out well, mission accomplished.  Glad I wore it and proud that I made it.

Afternoon sewing- July 5

I began sewing on the Butterick 5219 this afternoon. Yesterday evening I cut out the pattern and interfaced those pieces that required interfacing.

I remember when I purchased this fabric, now two years ago, I was going to make a knit dress. Funny that when time passes  the original plan can diminish and morph into something else.

This top has gone together fairly quick and smoothly thus far. The knit fabric is not too fiddly to work with and actually has some nice body yet drapes well also. I attached the neckband much differently than the instructions would have you do. I sewed the interfaced and non-interfaced neckbands together at the shoulder seam. Next I stitched the neckline of the two pieces together, then trimmed, press and understitched the interfaced neckband (facing). I then pressed the neck edge and then basted the bands at the bottom edge. After stitching the shoulder seams of the bodice pieces, I then attached the neckband unit to the bodice neckline.

I needed to take a back break. Next steps: 1) attached the sleeves, 2) take 5/8 sleeve hem,3) sew the front and back bottom bands together, 4) attached to bodice pieces, and then 5) sew the side seams. Done.

More later.

Fourth of July sewing

Well I am celebrating the 4th by sewing.  Hope everyone is having an enjoyable day, no matter how you are celebrating!!!

I completed my first Lutterloh garment.  I am satisfied with the outcome; there are still some fit issues and I learned some things with this pattern system to use for my next garment.

First here is a front view of the completed top.  I was still in my pajamas so the top is not intended to go with what I had on.  Because of the no makeup, no styled hair look, I cropped the photos so as to not scare anyone.

There is some gaping at the neckline.  I took up the front tucks, dart and front sleeve to bodice seams, resulting in improvement of the front neckline fit, but the neckline is still gaping.   The bottom bodice is a little fitted and I would like a little more ease in that area.  Here is a side view shot:

The back has a center back seam with back tucks.  I ended up making the upper back tucks deeper by 1/4 inch each.  I also took in an additional 1/2 inch in the center back seam from upper back to waist.  The back length was too long for the upper bodice so I took off an additional 1/2 inch from the bottom edge of the upper back piece.   This is not a great shot of the back since I am looking into a handheld mirror and twisting to point the camera over my shoulder to take the shot!

The pattern called for facings at the neckline.  I decided to use bias binding instead.  With all the additional alterations I made at the neckline, the facings that I had cut out would not fit and this was easier to do than remeasure and cut out new facings.  Sleeves were turned under by 3/8 inch and topstitched.  The neckline and hem was coverstitched using my Janome coverstitch machine.

Some recommendations from a Lutterloh group is to use your upper chest measurement when drafting from the middle of your armsyce to shoulder and neckline.  Use bust measurement everywhere else including the waist, below waist per this system you use your hip measurement.  So the next top I make I will use those measurements.

Next up-Butterick knit top.

Added more patterns for sale

I have added more patterns for sale to my Pattens for Sale page.  Spring cleaning again!

Thank you for responding

Thanks to all who responded regarding my issues with Blogger.  It is interesting to learn how different browsers show or don't show the followers and/or, in some cases, Flickr.  Now if I could only get Blogger's attention to look into this issue.  I am seeing that this is an issue for some others as well.

Need your help, please respond

I need some feedback and appreciate your taking the time to comment.

I have on my right sidebar a posting of followers, like many of us to using Blogger. On mine I titled it "Folks Who Read My Blog".  Last Sunday it seemed to have disappeared, the heading is there but photos of you guys are not.  I immediately contacted Blogger as apparently others have also.  As usual, I don't see where anyone has attempted to help me with this issue.

If I go to my blog through Windows IE, it doesn't show up.  If I use Google Chrome as my browser and go to my blog with that, it shows up!!!!  BUT, going through Google Chrome, I lose my Flickr photos on the left sidebar.

My request is, please let me know if you are seeing the followers on my blog and if you are using Windows IE instead of another web browser.  Thanks!

4 Day weekend-priceless

Yesterday I took a vacation day in order to have another 4 day weekend!  I needed it.  My DH injured himself on the job over a week ago and had to be out of work all last week.  He does not handle pain well and becomes a "little whiny".  Perhaps you understand where this is going; between work and home it was time for a day off.  He was actually in better spirits yesterday so the day worked out well.

I did get some sewing in on Thursday evening and last night as well.  I have almost completed the knit top and the Lutterloh pattern worked out fairly well.  There are no real sewing instructions for this pattern so I basically sewed the top pretty much like I sew all other tops with raglan sleeves and upper and lower bodices.

The length of the top is a little too long for my taste and I will shorten it about an inch.  I added an inch for the hem. So I will remove that and then take an inch width hem.  I will try to take photos later.  After hemming I will then determine whether I am going to use the facings that are drafted for the neckline or add bias binding.

I used 3/8 seam allowances throughout the top.  I made a forward shoulder adjustment, raised neckline 1/2 inch, made a FBA of one inch eliminating the resulting side dart and moved the dart to the tuck at the neckline.  I eliminated a side zipper that was shown as part of the pattern draft.  Not sure why they included that since they noted the pattern was suitable for a knit fabric; even using a woven I don't think necessary because neckline is rather low and wide which makes pulling it on easy and most appropriate.

Today DH and I are making a brief visit to see his mother and then we are visiting one of my cousins in NC for a steak cookout.  So I am glad that I got in sewing time yesterday as today will be family time.

Updates and photos later.  Enjoy the 4th of July holiday!