Top is ready to sew-Vogue dress pattern met with catastrophe!

The Lutterloh top has been cut out.  I am using fabric from Fabric Mart acquired earlier this year.  It is an unusual shade of lavendar/purple; maybe a brown lavendar. I actually had thread to match, as to serger thread, I am using dark gray.  I was going to use another fabric that was brown and gold but I did not have enough to make the top.  (The photo was taken using my BlackBerry)

As to the Vogue dress, in my attempt to do a FBA, I really butchered the bodice pattern pieces.  So badly butchered, that I just could not get the pieces back to any resemblance of what they originally looked like.  My intent was good, execution was faulty.  So I will wait for Vogue patten sale and repurchase the pattern.  I will use plan B for FBA method, more along the pivot and slide method.

Lutterloh and Vogue

Next Thursday I am making a presentation at our ASG meeting on the Lutterloh pattern drafting system.  Now, I am no expert by any means.  Yet I think I have studied and played with it enough to provide information about how it works.  Unfortunately, my plans to sew several garments prior to the meeting did not happen.  I made a test garment and then I made a knit top that is wearable but could use a little extra at waist and hip.

I am completing the draft of this Lutterloh top that I want to wear under jackets this fall.  This is from their Supplement 273.  I am making the top on the right.  It is similar to a Burda Style top and actually one from Vogue as well.














I also want to make another dress from this Vogue pattern.  The fabric I am going to use is from Fabric.mart.  Unfortunately I cannot find a link to this on their site, nor did I have a current photo to show you what it looks like.  It is an off white background with black diamonds, some sort of silk shantung or faille.

As of late afternoon today, I have not yet it made it into my sewing room.  Hopefully later this evening.  DH and I have some shopping to do and having dinner out.  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.

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!

Started work on Lutterloh pattern

Today DH had to take care of some personal business and thus I had free time after work to sew.  First I stopped at Panera Bread for one of their great salads.  Then after getting home and getting into shorts and t-shirt I began sewing on the Lutterloh top. 

The knit I am using is rather lightweight and also rather fiddly.  The top has two tucks and one dart in the center at the neckline.  When adding a FBA to this top I removed the resulting side dart and moved it to the tuck at the neckline.  I was concerned when I sewed the tuck and dart that I had potentially made a mistake.  After attaching the front sleeves, I held the top up and I think that I am okay with the tuck and dart take up.  If not it can be easily adjusted.

That is as far as I got. Yet it was nice to have a sewing moment or two without interruption and after working all day.  I took this shot of the top using my cell phone.

Busy time in the sewing room

I finally completed the draft of the Lutterloh top. I then decided to pin fit Butterick 5219 also. I made the usual adjustments for this pattern that I make for all. I also added an inch for bust adjustment.

I laid out the fabric for the Lutterloh pattern. It is now cut out and ready to go. This is knit fabric that I acquired from Lucy's Fabrics earlier this year. I liked the feel of it that I ordered two other knit fabrics from her before she closed out her fabric offerings.

The knit for the Butterick top is red, black and white. This is fabric I acquired from Fabric.com a year or two ago. I am making these casual tops for my upcoming vacation and a general need for some casual tops to wear this summer.

Check the work in progress photo in the upper right hand corner to see what the fabric I cut out looks like and to get a view of the Butterick pattern.

Tracing

I began to trace the Lutterloh pattern you see in the Work in Progress photo. The first tracing did not work out well. I was not true to the system and thus the first pattern was just not right. So I then retraced the upper bodice pieces since those were the ones that I used my upper bust measurement to trace and not the bust as per the system's method.

The second tracing resulted in my making an error in the tracing of the front upper bodice piece. I misread the numbers that you use as a guide to draft the pattern. So the third one has been traced but I lost my energy and my legs were hurting from standing so long. It was time to take a break. Tomorrow I will try to finish the tracing and pin fit the pattern.

I have so many other patterns I want to sew. Yet I want to learn more about this system and to learn requires spending time working with the system.

Later.

Next up-Lutterloh Knit Top

I bought the Lutterloh pattern system on eBay many months ago, perhaps now over a year. I attempted to make one top that actually turned out pretty good. I did not complete it as it was just a muslin to test the actual fit using only the bust and hip measurements per their system.

I am still intrigued by the system; yet I continue to use already drafted patterns. I went to their website and purchased a few supplements. These are 14 to 15 new patterns that come out quarterly. There was a top and dress that I liked and was noted that it can work for knits as well.

So Sunday evening I started the process of drafting the pattern for the top. I did some more work on it last night. I have to work late tonight so not sure that I will get to do any more with the drafting today. I will scan and post the top that I am making.

Sewing today

I started on another Butterick skirt today. This is a silk tweed fabric that I think I purchased at least and probably more than a couple of years ago. I think I purchased it from Fabric Mart. I remember I purchased it to make a short sleeve jacket using a Sandra Betzina pattern. I had made that pattern before and thought this would make up differently than the original one that was a linen fabric. For whatever reason the jacket never got made and the fabric kept being put back in the fabric stash.

So now after 2 years + it has become a skirt. I really love the fit of the previous Butterick skirt I made. With fitting adjustments made from previous version, I made fairly good progress on it this AM. The fabric is proving to be easy to sew and not as ravely as I thought it might. Has good body to it and probably will not wrinkle as much as the linen for the previous version.

DH and I are having a date night tonight as I am going to be traveling for business tomorrow and will be back Tuesday evening. I will be in Fredericksburg, VA and I hope to do a search later to see if there is a fabric store near where I will be staying and meeting. The good news is that I am on vacation the remainder of the week when I return and have some sewing projects in mind.

I will post some photos of the WIP later. I also completed my test garment for my first Lutterloh pattern last night and will write more about that later.

To sew or not to sew

All week long I had visions of sewing various things this weekend. I will get to at least one. Even though I had the fabric laid out on cutting table with pattern attached for the Butterick skirt, I did not get to cut it out until this AM after returning from CURVES. I also cut out the lining fabric.

Today was 70+ today. After a snow storm last Sunday into Monday and to start the weekend with this type weather, I wanted to spend time out in the sunshine with no heavy coat on plus sweater, plus socks, etc. on. I am a lizard-give me sunshine and warmth. So I decided to give up some sewing time.

I took my company car to the car wash to get the salt, snow slush washed away. I was there with at least 20 other people with the same thing in mind. I then went to AC Moore to buy foam board. I am playing around with the Lutterloh system and find that this will allow me to insert the pin into the drafting tape and then into the foam board. This gives it more stability. This is part of their drafting system.

I then ran to grocery store to pick up some chicken breast for grilling tomorrow. Tonight I grilled cheeseburgers!

So after getting home around 3PM, I went to sewing room and tried out the foam board to redraft a pullover top pattern from the Lutterloh patterns. I then cut it out using some fabric I won through Burdastyle about a year ago. The fabric is interesting and feels great, it is just not exactly me! So if this pattern does not fit so well, I can use this top as a sleep top to go with pj's.

So I now have three patterns cut out and ready to go.

Sewing Update for midweek

Here's what I have done since Sunday:


I cut out the fabric for the KS pattern Sunday evening.

I have the skirt fabric ready to cut out for the next Butterick skirt. I set this up Monday evening. I had to travel to Staunton,VA Tuesday evening for an event today. I hope to do a little of that this evening after dinner with DH.

I have been playing around with the Lutterloh system and have drafted the front piece of a pullover top using one of the pattern designs. It looked like it drafted funny. Yet when I pinned out the dart, it seems to fit from just pinning to center front of my bra. I have some nice muslin fabric to test this out. I have been reading more about this system on the message boards at PR and found a Yahoo group as well.

I have been reading some blogs and found that I have been awarded the Sisterhood Award from Mary with Sewfast. I need to follow up on this and nominate some others so plan to do that later.

Got to go now and will post more later.

Feedback on Lutterloh System

I wanted to acknowledge and thank all of you who responded to my earlier post on the Lutterloh System. I plan to give this a try in the near future. As some noted, you still have to tweak the patterns for length and such. The styles currently offered in the start up version are nice and very current in some respects with pattern offerings from BMV and Simplicity.