My first Eleonore

I finally finished my Freaky February garment!  Actually I am rather proud of the accomplishment as you have read that I don't sew pants.  So instead of sewing perhaps a simple pair of pants, I should just jump into sewing jeans, which do require more fitting IMHO.

I still need to hem these jeans and tweak the fit considerably more, I thought I would show you how they turned out for the first pass at trying pull on jeans sewing.  I read and re-read reviews at Pattern Review which were most helpful.

Without further ado

Front view

I reduced the length prior to cut the fabric by one inch, after sewing the front and back pieces, I took out another inch before attaching at inseam and side seams.  There is a lot of fullness in the leg width and they certainly need adjusting.  I tried to lighten the photo to give you a better idea of the fit.

Back view

From the back there is considerable leg fullness from under the butt down.  I know many sewist complained about the size of the back pockets.  On me, I think they look like the right size.  I am pleased at how well I aligned them.  As others reported, I reduced the elastic for the back waistband by 1 inch which improved the fit.

Side view

The side view shows the fullness more in the upper back leg.  I have to read more about adjusting the fit in this area.  I am definitely a novice when it comes to sewing pants/jeans and appropriate fit adjustments.

If any one reading this has suggestions about how to do this, I appreciate your feedback.

So will I sew these again-MAYBE!  I am now going back to sewing more tops as I am wearing current tops to death; with spring/summer on its way, I could use some newer ones.  The top shown with the jeans has been in my rotation for over 3 or 4 years.  The knit is still in great shape and the fit is better than when I first made it.  

Progress

I was able to fix my error after adjusting pattern piece and thankfully I had enough of the fabric left over to do this.  This is why I buy more fabric than the pattern calls for when buying online.  Actually after writing that statement, I buy more in store as well.  There are no stores where I live that I buy fabric from that much as I only have JoAnn's and I don't seem to find much there when I go.  Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised.

I have now sewn the darts in the back bodice and skirt fabric and lining pieces and attached the back lining pieces together. I basted in a zipper in the lining and will soon baste shoulder and side seams for fitting.

Photos and more updates to follow.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!  Ours was relaxing and then yesterday visited family about 2 hours away.  I am definitely eating way too much and made it to the Y this AM to work in some exercise.  Today I rode a stationary bike.  Time to change up my routine.

Later!

Best Laid Plans....

did not work out on Sunday as I hoped.

I did spend time several mornings this week before work making a pattern adjustment here and there. I am pleased that I have one more adjustment to make and I will be ready to cut out the fabric!!  I am feeling a time crunch here, reunion is fast approaching; it is 2 weeks and counting.

I have not finished the hems on the McCall's dress which was a potential back up and may still be.
Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday and the weekend is here.

Tribeca Top in the Works

I normally do not sew a muslin. Most of the time I use a pin and fit method as described in the book "Fit for Real People". Perhaps instinct kicked in for this particular top and I decided to test the fit using similar knit fabric that I want to use when making the real garment. I am glad I decided to do that.

I used a knit that has been in my stash for awhile and was left over from another project that did not go so well. I traced the sizes I used for the Penny Pinafore dress pattern. I then cut out the test knit fabric and quickly serged the top. There were a few fitting concerns.

1. The sleeves were too long for a cap sleeve on me; I failed to shorten the sleeve in the shoulder area. I pinned that out on the test garment  and made the fit better.
2. I took a horizontal tuck in the upper chest and upper back to go with the shortened sleeve.
3. I made my usual sway back adjustment with the pattern before cutting out the fabric and found I still needed to take out another 3/8 of an inch in the back area above the waist.
4. The bust area was a little snug and decided to make a FBA of 1 inch.
5. I also made an adjustment at the hip using a fitting adjustment from a Craftsy video produced by Lynda Maynard. This was about an inch adjustment.

After making these adjustments on the pattern pieces, I had enough fabric left to cut out a new bodice front and back. I cut the sleeves from another solid knit fabric. The neckband that I cut previously will still work with this test Tribeca Top. Hopefully I can test the fit of that tomorrow.

Sewing progress

Yesterday evening I began working on the Simplicity skirt and continued the process this AM.  I made my usual alterations to the skirt pattern-swayback, back pillow fluff before cutting out the fabric.

Lately I find my skirts not hanging just right in the front.  I pulled out my trusty "Fit for Real People" and Sandra Betzina's "Fast Fit" to see if my front hanging issues are addressed and of course they were.  As one ages, body changes are inevitable.  I realized that my body has morphed again.  Some due to exercise-treadmill and elliptical machine at the Y.  Most due to age so I have a narrow upper back above waist, swayback and flat derriere (where did my bum go?). I have a larger front area at waist than at the back with a tummy.

I realized after searching through the two books how I need to adjust the front area and that with my right hip lower than my left is another simple fix.  Actually that is not surprising as my right shoulder is lower than left and yes I always carry way too much on the right side, so not balancing that out over the years has played a significant part in my morphed body.

Though many find fitting patterns time consuming and yes sometimes frustrating, in the end when you sew your garments you know the fit may prove to be the best than from RTW.

My mini-break from sewing is over so back to the sewing machine and my skirt.  More later.

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.

More fitting, more sewing

Let me say that I am going to like this dress once I get all the fitting issues taken care of.  This pattern runs large on me, especially from waist to hemline.  Some of the extra width is due to the FBA I did and I needed/should have adjusted the width for that.  20/20 hindsight is so helpful afterwards!!!!!

I also took two darts in the back neckline to take out some fullness there.  My front and back are two different pattern sizes.  Back darts were taken in also.  I ended up taking 1.5 to 2 inch seams from waist to hemline.  I recognize that this dress is styled more for A-line and not really a look that is good for me IMHO; I tapered the side seams from hip to hemline to make it straighter more so than  this /\.

Sleeves are basted in for fitting as the shoulder may be too long.  This may require deeper seam in that area or trimming and then inserting sleeve. Have some family 4th of July events planned today so sewing time will be limited. Updates to follow

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Testing was a good thing

Here is my test garment.  It was too tight through waist and hips.  Shoulder to underarm area was too long.  Neckline a little low before adding the neckband which I did not do as there were enough fitting adjustments needed for the bodice and sleeves.







The length of this top was too long even if I was going to wear it as a tunic and evening then it was just too tight to go over jeans well.

I really like the look of the ruffled sleeve and this was a little fiddly step.   Slow sewing was necessary so the gathers are sewn well.










The adjustments I ended up making before I cut out the originally planned fabric were:

1. Raise neckline an inch.  This created a challenge to raise the sleeve top by the same inch but it came out well.
2. Cut off two inches from the length.
3. Take a 3/8 horizontal tuck in the front and back bodice pieces and adjust sleeve by the same amount.
4. Add 1/2 inches to front and back from under the bust, which fit well, to the bottom.
5. Make my usual swayback adjustment which I failed to do when cutting out the test garment.
6. Adjust markings on the sleeves to allow for added inch at the shoulder point area for front and back so gathers will be sewn appropriately.

The fabric for the "real" top has been cut out and partially sewn.  I had some other things I had to work on around the house so sewing stopped there for the time being.

I hope your sewing weekend was a good one.

Mixed feelings

I am almost finished with the Butterick top (pictured in the upper side bar) and I have very mixed feelings about the top.  It will probably become one of those tops that I will wear mostly around the house.  We will see after I add the collar.

In previous post I mentioned that this is a short top!  I added an inch to the length and believe me it is still a short top.  You can see this with the model; and even pin fitting the top I thought that an inch addition would be sufficient.  With that an extra inch it comes just, I mean just, to the bottom of the waist band on my jeans.

There is nothing but scraps left over from cutting out the pattern, so not any extra to use creatively to lengthened this top.  I think it will look okay with a tank top underneath that is longer than this top.  These are just the mixed thoughts I have in wanting to make this top work.

The sleeves are very full from elbow down and I knew that they would be again from the view on the pattern envelope.  I wasn't sure how I would like them and I am pretty sure I don't.  I plan to mark from elbow down eliminating some of the fullness in that area. They are also very long and I always have to reduce sleeve length about an inch to 1 1/2 inches.  Even reducing the length they are still long.

I also like the asymmetrical top included in this pattern and plan to give that a try also.  I do know that I will raise that neckline and perhaps reduce the width of it as well.  I can tell from the current top before attaching the collar that it is wider and lower than I would wear it if it did not have the collar.

A few tweaks to be completed

Saturday night I serge finished all the seams for the skirt and the skirt lining.  Speaking of the lining, I did not have enough of the navy blue ambiance lining fabric and had to switch to black.  I now have a color blocked lining.

Yesterday, I made great progress on the skirt with front and back pieces completed along with the front and back lining pieces.  I then basted the side seams for fitting and found that the skirt was rather large and needed some tweaks.  The view I am making which is View B has several front and front side seams that I took deeper seams for a better fit through the front.  The upper back part of the centered back seams fits well but could be taken up from the hip down.

One of my normal fitting adjustments on most skirts is to reduced the length from waist to hip usually by about 2 inches.  Sometimes I add length to the hemline to compensate for the two inch reduction; sometimes I forget to do this and I end up with a shorter skirt/dress than anticipated.  This time I added the two inches and during the fitting, determined I did not need those two inches.  The hem is a two inch hem for this skirt and without adding the extra length, the skirt will fall at the appropriate place on my leg without the extra two inches.  So I marked and cut off the additional length.

That is where the sewing ended for the weekend.  Maybe this week will be  less stressful work wise and can find some energy to sew after work to complete this.  I want to make a top/blouse to go with the skirt next using some of the fabric recently acquired from Fabric Mart.

Photos and more later.

B5673 in progress

As mentioned in an earlier post, I was making some final tweaks. I had an opportunity to try on dress after work earlier this week and shot these photos with my iPhone. I still need to take up the waist area, but I need it more in the front and back and not so much on the side. I am going to baste in tucks to line up with the front and back center seams to see how that looks. I am ready to move on to something else and will be glad to get this finished.

Sorbetto

My time was consumed most of the day with making the Sorbetto top. (Pictures to follow).  I ended up making several fitting adjustments that included deeper shoulder seams and deeper side seams with from under the bust to hemline.  I even took a deeper seam at the waist area to make the top look less boxy.  I have attached the bias binding to the neckline and one armhole.  One more armhole and hem and we are done!

All in all I like this top.  I actually see a few more of this in my wardrobe for the summer transitioning into fall. 

Tomorrow I want to make the McCall's top. 

Vogue 8593 Progress

Slowly but surely I am making progress on the Vogue dress. The biggest challenge was making the FBA for a single pattern piece. I pulled out my trusty FFRP book. Though I never found FBA for single all in one front pattern piece example, I did run across an example for completing a FBA for dress.

Their process requires cutting off the bottom half of the dress pattern, make the FBA and then re-tape the bottom to top. I did that as well. Here's a shot of the front pattern piece and the FBA I made.

This shot shows where I evened up the bottom edge of the upper portion of the dress and then reattached the cut off pieces.

I sewed on the dress this AM and this afternoon. I had to make some additional fitting adjustments. I had to let out the waist and tummy area as I found the dress to tight in that area. The back fit well fairly well from waist down, though I thought the back darts at the waist and top of buttocks was snug. By letting the back darts out some at that area and taking a 3/8 seam at the waist area to top of hip eliminated the tightness at the front.

The upper back is a little to full and I may deepen the dart at the upper back to take out some of this fullness. The side darts resulting from the FBA seem to be a little low, but wearable.

I added extra width to the sleeves as I felt the upper sleeve area was rather snug. The extra in that area proved to be the right addition. However I do not need the fullness from the elbow down. So the dress will not be complete before I return to work. I need to make some of the tweaks noted above and I have to attach the neckline facing.

This leads to my concern over the neckline pleats. Carolyn-Diary of Sewing Fanatic-indicated in her review of her dress that she stitched the pleats down. I am still considering that for this dress. As much as I like the pleat feature and is what drew me to the pattern, I do have some concerns about those pleats and a full busted person. There is a dress in a 2008 BWOF that also included pleats at the neckline/chest area. I remember reading that it was suggested that if you are full busted person that you may want to stitch down the pleats. Carolyn also suggested a good pressing of the pleats and I think that is good idea as well.

I hope that I will have time during the week to work on this. My work schedule thus far for the week will hopefully accommodate my having a few evenings to spend 10-20 to 30 minutes on the dress.

Update and response to Simplicity pattern comments

I am making good progress on the refurbished Simplicity 2599 pattern.

I had problems with Simplicity 2594, another top pattern. The fullness is in the waist to hip area. The pattern is straight through those areas thus giving the top a boxy shape; at least on me it is. I normally cut a 14 in the upper chest area and then taper to 16 from bust to hip. With this pattern, I ended up cutting a 14 from shoulder to bottom on the second front and back pattern pieces. I still have fullness in the back and took a slightly deeper seam just below the opening area.

All I have left to do now, is hem the top and attach the ruffle edge around the neckline. I think I will leave off the tie as I think it will be too long and my fabric is silk dupioni and the tie will look somewhat thick. I still may try the rose in place of the tie.

Several commented that they have had issues with some other Simplicity patterns being too big. This is the second top I have made and my last one was too big also. I don't seem to have issues with dresses or skirts made from Simplicity, especially the Project Runway patterns. And to think I dished those patterns when they first came out!!! Now I really like them.

I wish Simplicity would print the waist and hip measurements on their top patterns. This way you can visualize the ease that has been added. More later.

Simplicity Wadder

This is status of Simplicity top with ruffle neckline---WADDER! Fortunately I believe I have enough fabric to cut another front and back pieces. This top runs large, just like the last Simplicity blouse I made.

I took the front pattern piece and cut out the 14 from below bust line to hip line. I did the same with the back piece. I also took a horizontal tuck in the upper chest and back area to better fit that area of this pattern. The 5/8 FBA was still necessary and I extended the length of the bust dart as that proved to be a real issue with the wadder.

I did complete all UFO's-hemmed the KS top; sewed button on DH's shirt; sewed hook and eye on McCall's skirt.

I re-cut the front and back pieces for the Simplicity top. Ready to sew and that is where I am off to at this time. Will post photos of KS top later.

Monday sewing update

Blouse is progressing along. I ran into some fitting opportunities. I had high hopes of finishing the blouse yesterday. Making fitting adjustments and then DH having a dental emergency took taking me away from sewing for a period of time.



Fitting opportunities included:

1. Taking a deeper shoulder seam.


2. Adjusting darts in back by taking a deeper dart-I have a narrow back.


3. Making the vertical front darts deeper.


4. Taking a deeper side seam from under arm to waist.


5. Trimming the sleeve cap by 1/4 inch to allow for deeper shoulder seam.

I also had to redo one side of the invisible zipper as the center back pieces did not line up correctly after inserting the other side of the zipper. In the past I may have let this go, now I find it unacceptable.

My plans this AM are to finish the blouse, provided DH's dental situation does not require some of my time.

I found my sewing room!

I made it into the sewing room after dinner last night. Progress to date:

Serger is set up for the Simplicity blouse. Sewing machine is threaded and bobbin wound.

McCall's shirt pattern has been adjusted with the fitting changes needed:
Swayback adjustment
Narrow upper back adjustment
Forward shoulder adjustment
Full bust adjustment

Will need to shorten sleeves as usual. So my fabric will be cut today. I will get these finished so I can wear the ensemble before fall!!!

Off to my sewing room.

The next projects

Well, I was able to cut out another skirt using the now perfected McCall's skirt pattern; and I was able to use a similar blue fabric. I have to admit I had forgotten about this blue fabric and glad I decided to "shop my stash".

I also started on this Simplicity top pattern.

I only needed to make a slight FBA. The back pattern piece is one full piece. That proved to be a little tricky with the swayback and narrow back adjustment but I think it came out well. The back piece can be cut on the straight or bias grain depending on the front pattern piece you use. I am going to make view C, the floral print one shown on the envelope. My fabric is a solid color in soft aqua or light teal.

I have cut out the front pieces and will do the remainder this afternoon. This top will go with the print skirt as well as the blue one. The over blouse will be a McCall's pattern and I need to work on pin fitting it. This blouse will also be worn on its own with the printed skirt and will go with blue skirt as well.

My second sewing project-completed!

Below are some photos of Butterick 5278. This was a bear of a project and was due mainly to "Operator Error" and not the pattern nor the fabric. I just failed to do some things when cutting out the pattern after making some pattern adjustments. For example I did not do a forward shoulder adjustment with the neckline pieces but did on a portion of the sleeves. I had to compensate for this by restitching the shoulder seams on these pieces.

Another issue was the FBA I completed. This of course increased the width and length of the bodice; that was necessary. The FBA required an adjustment to the center front piece which I made. What I did not do is adjust or correct the placement dot on the front bodice piece so that the ties would be placed differently at center front. This creates a situation with tying the ties that I notice right off but I think that others when seeing it will not notice as I do. Because of the way I attached the lining/facing center piece enclosing the front center piece by machine and thus no hand sewing, it is possible to correct. This would however require me to undo way too many pieces. So I will live with it.

These are things that I made note of but not sure that this pattern warrants more than one of this style dress. As mentioned in an earlier post, I had to cut another front piece and I was fortunate enough to have enough to do that. So I am happy that the project is almost over.

All that is left to do is to hem the skirt. I just ran out of steam and had other things I needed to do. So I will take care of the hem later this week. All in all I am satisfied with the dress.

I love the fabric. Amazing how sometimes when I buy fabric it will linger in fabric collection months and even years. This fabric I acquired last month from "Gorgeous Fabrics" and it did not linger long at all. The final two shots are of my backside. At the time these were taken the side seams were only basted in.

For some strange reason, when my camera was set on timer to take self portraits, the first of the two pictures always came out blurry. I have no idea why. So here is fuzzy and non-fuzzy view.

Sewing again

Well I have been sewing for a couple of hours this afternoon. The zipper insertion into the side seam is complete. My new zipper foot is so perfect for percise sewing, should have purchased it years ago.





After inserting the zipper I tried on the dress again and decided I needed to release some of the front seams as it was just a smidgen too tight. I think I may still need to take deeper seams through the back seams. I will make that decision after I insert the sleeves. Once that is done is hemming and yes, Virginia, it will be a complete dress.





I have already started planning my next dress though I have not settled on the pattern yet. The fabric is a cotton fabric of kiwi green, aqua dots on white back that I acquired from Les Fabrique in Charlottesville. I then saw the dress fabric at this site, made up in a child's dress. I like some of the contrasting fabric they used and decided I wanted to incorporate contrasting fabric as well. The dots along with contrasting fabric a part of a series of coordinating fabric by Michael Miller. So I ordered 1/2 a yard of three coordinating fabrics from The Quilted Castle.





You can see the fabric pieces in this photo.
Photo courtesy of The Quilted Castle



The upper right corner in the photo above is the main fabric and what I acquired in Charlottesville. The contrasting fabrics I selected are the three bottom fabrics.

Later, grilling dinner and got to run.