No fabric and sewing magazine

I did not get to go to Waechter's Fabrics while in Asheville and found out later that I was probably only two miles away from them !!!!  Meetings went longer than planned on the last day and it is a 4.5 hour drive back to Roanoke, so  I decided to hit the road and travel home.  Too many critters out at night in the mountain areas for me to feel real comfortable driving late at night.

I had today off so I have a longer weekend to sew.  I am about finished with the Butterick dress.  Of course, it is still summer but when the calendar turns to September, I think the dress will not get worn.  Nonetheless, the fitting issues are resolved and I do plan to make this for fall.  I did not sew much today as I had a hair appointment and pedicure.  Time for some pampering.

I got the latest Vogue Pattern Magazine.  I am not sure that I am liking the new format.  The past issue was similar.  There are more articles on various subjects, some on fitting and stitching which are okay and helpful but I get that kind of information from Threads magazine.  Granted others may not read Threads so this may be useful to them.  There is a long article on making denim, nice but does not appeal to me.   There is just less and less showcasing patterns, and most of that is pushed to the back of the magazine.  I get more excitement going to their website than the excitement of looking at the magazine these days.  The last few pages of this magazine were of the patterns they released for fall which yes I have purchased several.  I would prefer they showcase those new patterns made up in different fabrics than what you see on the website and present more sewing ideas around the pattern---it is a pattern magazine.

I am always saying change is the only constant thing in life;  does not mean that I necessarily like it.  Hope your weekend is a good one.

No real sewing this weekend

I have to travel later today (by car) to Asheville, NC for a business trip, a four hour drive.  I will be there for 1 1/2 days and hopefully can stop by Waechter's Fine Fabrics on the way out of town.

It seemed like so many things had to be done before I could leave today that I just got in a wee bit of sewing.  The only sewing I did was to attach the sleeve lining to the sleeve for the Butterick dress.  After dinner with DH and some light packing before final packing today, I just did not have the mojo to sew.

This AM I have been catching up reviews at PR and ready blogs on sewing.  I think it is that transition time from summer to fall that starts to slow me down, though my desire and motive to start sewing fall is there the mojo just has not kicked in. 

The current dress is definitely a summer one and will probably wear it once or twice before I will feel that it is just not in season.  I made some final tweaks with the dress and do plan a fall version so the second one should go by quickly.

I hope your sewing weekend was a good one.

Craftsy Classes

I have purchased a couple of Craftsy Classes over the past few months.  Some were free. 

The first one I purchased was Lynda Maynard's "Sew the Perfect Fit".  I found this to be most helpful.  Yet I am not a muslin type gal, though I have made two or three over the years, particularly when not wanting to screw up a really, really expensive fabric.  I am truly a fan of the Palmer/Pletsch Fit for Real People pattern fitting approach.  I have found that taking Lynda's class is a great compliment to the pin fitting method.  I learned some other approaches to adjusting the paper pattern even though I did not make a muslin.

I think once you focus on and learn some pattern fitting techniques, you find that these adjustments are pretty much necessary no matter the pattern you use.  Having said that, there is variances in the various pattern company's patterns in terms of ease and the like; again speaking only for me, I know pretty much what those changes are going to be for that particular pattern by that particular company.

I am even learning this with the "independent" patterns being sold through the internet and in brick and mortar stores.  Many of the "indies" are specific in explaining how they drafted their pattern and the body shape they are focusing on.  Example Sewaholic patterns are drafted for the pear shaped person, which I am not yet I like her patterns and have learned to adapt the patterns to fit me.

The thing I really like about these classes is that you can take them at your own pace and once you purchase the class, you can watch it over and over again.  Let me clearly state here, I am not affiliated with Craftsy nor do I offer any sewing classes on the site.  I am just sharing my positive experience in taking this class and have signed up for a few more. 

The fitting techniques learned from Lynda's class have been helpful with my last two sewing projects, giving me some new insights on various ways of making a pattern adjustment work for the project at hand.

Got to run, time to get ready for work.  I have some updates on the Butterick dress to share soon.

More progress

Don't you love it when a plan comes together!  That's how I am feeling about this Butterick dress and the fitting adjustments I decided to make.  Sometimes my fitting adjustments are not good choices and sometimes I over fit. 

One fitting adjustment I made was to take a deeper and longer dart in the back bodice piece.  That worked well. I also adjusted the back bodice by taking an extra 3/8 inch  for the center part of the bodice tapering back to 5/8 right past the dart ending at side seam when attaching to the back skirt portion.  This eliminated the drooping I saw at the upper center back when fitting the basted dress. 

I then attached an invisible zipper.  I did take a 3/4 inch seam at the neckline tapering to 5/8 for the remainder of the zipper.  Side seams are stitched and now I need to insert sleeves and hem the dress.

I made important fitting notes on the pattern instruction pages so to remember the adjustments I made.  I will adjust the pattern for next version.  Yes there will be another version, one more suitable for transitioning to fall.

More photos to follow.

B5917 Progress

I spent some quality time in sewing room this AM and evening working on the Butterick dress.  The upper bodice is complete. The darts in the both front and back skirt portion of the dress were completed.  I basted top and bottom finding that I needed to make additional adjustments to the back bodice.  I have a narrow upper back and really could go down a size for the back pieces on just about everything I make.

After fitting, I took a deeper dart in the back bodice and I need to adjust the back bodice length.  I adjusted for sway back for the back skirt portion of the dress, but I saw some drooping where the back bodice attached the back bottom piece.

The front bodice and skirt were a perfect fit.  I had adjusted the front bodice by making a one inch FBA.  I may have to shave some off the shoulder width.  I am thinking I made need to take some new body measurements as some fitting changes are constantly occurring indicating I may need to go smaller with upper chest/upper back.  I have used size 14 for this area for several years now and 12 may be better.  Yet if I go with 12 sometimes the size 16-18 bust is not included in the pattern piece, requiring a larger FBA.

Here are a few photos I took during my sewing activity this AM

Back view before adjustments

Close up view of ruffles and gathers

Front view on Alma Marie

Wearing New Look 6150

I finally got an opportunity to wear the New Look 6150 top and to take some photos using the self-timer.  The wear-ability factor for this top was on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best,  a 5.

Hand in crossover to get idea of where this lays.

Semi-front view

The next view is the back and this was single layer fabric and no bra showing; making it work appropriate as well as casual.

And the obligatory side view

I do plan to make a few more of these tops for fall.

Ruffles

I am making progress on the new dress.  I cut out the fabric Saturday AM and started sewing  in the evening. 

I like to sew fabric and lining pieces at the same time when it does not require a thread color change.  I sewed the back darts in both back fabric and lining pieces, then attached fronts to back at shoulder. Next step is gathering the neckband to make the ruffles  and attach to the front neck bodice.

Here you can see the ruffle pinned to one side. Both sides now have ruffles and then I stopped sewng for the evening due to shoulder/neck pain.  I have to take frequent breaks when sitting at computers or sewing due to ongoing issues with this.  I called it quits for the night.  Sewing to resume later today.

Butterick 5917

I have seen two cute dresses made from this pattern. This one and this one.  I have made a few fitting adjustments to this pattern, making a FBA, FSA, raising the under arm by 3/8 inch and adjusting cap sleeve for this adjustment also.

I hope to cut out my fabric soon.  I believe this will be a fairly easy dress to sew.  It only calls for lining the bodice but I think I will make a full lining-bodice and skirt.  I think my fabric my need this and with a lining will hopefully keep wrinkles at bay.

I think after making this dress, I will begin to transition to items that will work their way into fall clothing.  I am so not ready for the fall.  July was the rainiest month this year and I feel like a missed a month of summer.

More information later.

Sewing Update 8-4-13

I finished the New Look pattern.  I had planned to take photos of my wearing it; DH was in a hurry yesterday to get and back home so will have to wait for later.  Let me say that I love the fit of this pattern and will definitely make another of this style and will also use the other style for tops as well.

I know it is hard to see the cross over of this top and when hanging it looks somewhat droopy; when wearing all of this pulls together very nicely.  There is no neckline gaping and for me it is a more flattering look.

 The ruching of the sleeves adds a nice touch to this top.  I used clear elastic; pattern instructions for this is easy peasy!

 This is the ruching on the side.

The flowers are like cut out pieces of knit and the black background is a mesh type knit.  I was very pleased at how well this sewed up.  The anticipated issues of not sewing well, edges curling etc. did not happen.  Yeah.

Last night I was going through dress patterns to decide which to use to make a dress from this.
I decided on two patterns, one a Burda pattern from stash and the other was a new Butterick pattern.  This AM I cut around the pattern pieces to make the Burda pattern and then changed my mind.  Some time wasted; yet I just was not feeling the love for it.

So I plan to sew up this pattern.  Fitting adjustments will only involve bodice pieces; the Burda was going to involve more than I was willing to bargain for at this time.

More to share later.

New Vogue Pattern additions

These arrived yesterday in the mail.  There were more in my cart but these survived.