Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Purple on my Curple

It has been very hot where I live. When it is hot outside, I stay in and sew. Except for running outside to move the soaker hoses in my flower beds every few hours. My recent sewing projects were a couple of cool, cotton blouses and a hot colored jacket. One of the blouses was a pretty floral print with lots of purples in it. I made a short sleeved version of McCalls pattern 3799. A pattern I picked off the donation table at the sewing guild meeting.
McCalls 3799
The colors in this blouse prompted me to go "shopping from my stash". I found a coordinating linen fabric. It was really old, so I washed it several times to see if it would lose color or fall apart. There was no color loss and surprisingly few wrinkles.  The jacket pattern I chose was from the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of My Image pattern magazine.

 I have several issues of the magazine and have purchased patterns in envelopes from the web site My Image but never made any until now. I liked the style lines of this jacket, but was turned off by the ill fit of both jackets shown in the magazine as well as the line drawing, which made it look blocky and unfitted.

I wanted a pattern for a V neck jacket and I kept coming back to this one. For some reason I am really attracted to jackets with faced inserts in a open neckline, that suggest a collar shape.  Here are some similar necklines in my inspiration file.


When I was tracing the pattern, I was happy to find shaping in the pattern pieces. This prompted me to go to the next step, which was to compare the pattern to my sloper and measure the pieces to determine the wearing ease built into the pattern. From the My Image Help page. "Do not compare your measured sizes with the pattern, but with the size charts. The patterns are made with some extra, depending at the model." I traced a size 44, bust 40.6 in, waist 33.1 in, hip 42.9 in. As a comparison, a Burda size 44 is Bust 39.25, waist 32.25, Hip 41.75. My measurements match Burda's.   I remembered  hearing in the Simplicity pattern company tour that some pattern lines use a bigger block with less ease for a given size (New Look versus Simplicity) and wondered if that was the situation with My Image.  To determine wearing ease in the finished garment, I measured the pattern pieces at the bust, waist and hips, and compared those measurements to the body measurements for that size. Ideally, the pattern measurements should be several inches larger than my body measurements. There was minimal ease built into this pattern.  Only half to 3/4 inch over the bust, waist and hip measurements. Yikes, not enough for me! I swell that much on a good day. I like 2 to 4 inches of wearing ease for jackets, so they can be worn comfortably over blouses. So I add some extra width to the pattern pieces when I cut them out. I also traced a My Image  pants pattern and it had the same minimal ease.  I suspect this is the norm for this pattern company.

The pattern pieces were easy to find on the insert, and trace. My only complaints were that the grain lines and fold lines are labeled in Dutch, not French or English. And the waist was not marked. I always compare my sloper to a pattern because I have a long back and shoulder differences. The waist and shoulder neck point (SNP) are key to this process. The SNP was hard to find because of the wide open neck line. The waist I had to infer from the curves in the side seams. The English sewing instructions are not wonderful. It appears they were translated  from the another  language using an on line translation program. Seams extrude rather than extend. We are told to cut off the seams unevenly. Hey, that is what my serger does when the cutting blades are dull! There were spelling errors.  Tokes instead of yokes. Hmm, maybe tokes is the cause of the translation issues. Sorry, I couldn't resist that one. Writing directions is hard in any language, but then to translate them... I do have sympathy.

The pattern draft was excellent. All seam lines matched up perfectly and I enjoyed putting the jacket together. I did not do all the top stitching recommended and I left off the pockets. Things I did that were not in the instructions; put a pleat in the back lining instead of the seam, and added 3/4 extra length to the lining pieces to provide ease of movement.

My Image 1211

My Image 1211 back



BTW - curple refers to 1) the small of the waist before the flare of the hips or 2) a derriere, rump or behind.

35 comments:

  1. It's a lovely colour on you and a very flattering style. I like it very much.

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  2. Both pieces are great.
    I can see why you picked this jacket. I would have done the same. It's really flattering and the colour is wonderful.

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  3. That color is fantastic on you. Lovely combination. And curple - what a great word.

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  4. Curple is a new word for me!

    That purple jacket looks really lovely. I love how you've styled it. Thanks for the detailed review. I hope that all your flowers survive the hot weather.

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  5. Your jacket looks super chic. And the color is gorgeous on you!

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  6. Lovely jacket, fits you beautifully. Thank you for providing all the information about how you checked the pattern. I'm new to sewing and finding fitting the most difficult part so it's good to hear how some one more experienced goes about it

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  7. Your jacket looks better made than the original . This jacket has lovely curved and angular seams and you have fitted it so well.

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  8. Beautiful jacket! The colour and the cut suit you perfectly!

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  9. Beautiful pattern! I checked out this magazine myself and it seems like a nice one! Great to see new players. I won't mind if the instructions aren't *that* great. Most magazine don't offer English instructions at all, so I see this as a bonus :)

    Great price too.... €4,95 for 16 patterns. I often pay twice the money for 1 pattern :P

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  10. Your jacket looks wonderful! Taking the time to figure out the fit of a pattern before cutting certainly pays off.
    Oh - love that blouse!

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  11. OOoh, "curple!" What a perfect word to describe that body ... part? indentation? I will file this away with "philtrim": the midline groove in the upper lip that runs from the top of the lip to the nose.
    I've made that McCall's blouse many times.
    The midbust gathers do NOT respond well to an FBA, at least not in anything with a stiffer hand than a batiste! One of the blouses looks as if I am sprouting a shrubbery in my bra when I wear it, which is (understandably) not often. I think I'll just make the next size up, and alter down for the shoulders and neck, next time.

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  12. I love them. And that color on you looks FANTASTIC!

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  13. I'm doing the same thing as you- only going outside to move my soaker hoses. I love your jacket. The shape of it is so nice. Very flattering. I just had an experience with not checking the ease on a pattern that was a hard lesson to learn.

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  14. Can I first say how great you look in your pictures especially since you took these yourself! I am much impressed. I can never get my faces right by myself...

    And of course both pieces are lovely...I especially love the floral print blouse but that's probably because I'm into florals this year! Thanks for sharing the construction information with us, I truly appreciate it!

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  15. You jacket is very flattering. The style is not one you see everyday. Good choice for the linen.

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  16. There is nothing smarter than a cropped, fitted jacket in a bold colour. You look perfect.

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  17. Pella - Lovely jacket, the colour is great on you. My Image has some interesting patterns.

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  18. Tia Dia - Ooo! I learned a new word today! And I love your purple jacket.

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  19. Summer Flies - That colour is beautiful on you and the jacket and shirt match so well together. You did a fantastic job on that.
    I wonder how you know such a word as "curple"? Where does that come up!

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  20. Curple, what a great word for scrabble.
    Your jacket and blouse look terrific on you. I love the colours together, and the shaping on the jacket is gorgeous.

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  21. Fabulous jacket. Amazing fit and color.

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  22. You are so good at spotting potential! I would never have noticed what a great shape that jacket was from the My Image model. Also how gratifying to have rescued that orphaned pattern and made a new home for it where it could be useful. Whenever I go thrift shopping and hunt through the vintage patterns it never ceases to amaze me how many never got made up. Pattern stashing clearly has a long history.

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  23. That jacket looks fantastic! You did a great job and it looks beautiful on you. :)

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  24. Fantastic job on that jacket. I love the color, and thanks for the tips on measuring for ease.

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  25. Beautiful outfit! Isn't it fun to get free fabric and make something wonderful from it?

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  26. Love the jacket, beautiful colour on you. The blouse is pretty too.

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  27. Great pieces! I love how you styled the jacket. I made a My Image knit dress, I had the shoulders turn out too big, I have to go back and recheck the fit against Burda shoulders.

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  28. I really appreciate the information shared about My Image and measurements. I have that copy of the magazine. I keep wanting to make a few of the dresses.

    Your jacket looks great. Beautiful color. Thanks for 'plaing curple!!!

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  29. I have this issue of My Image, but have to admit I hardly looked at the jacket pattern twice. I think the fit looked stressed and wrinkly, although the shape is cute. Your version looks perfectly fitted and the color is lovely.

    I made the cover dress of this issue and did find the ease to be a little less than Burda's.

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  30. What a beautiful and beautifully fitting jacket! It looks great with the black skirt. I only recently heard of the My Image mag and pattern line. Their clothing is similar to those of Burda with interesting lines.

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  31. Love the outfit! The blouse looks so comfortable in this heat. I enjoyed your amusing take on sewing a My Image pattern.

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  32. what a flattering jacket. Love both color and line.

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  33. The style is so perfect on you. I love the colour and the nipped in waist You look fabulous.

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  34. I know this is an old post but I just had to say I liked this jacket on you so much I saved the photo of you wearing it for my inspiration board. I have never done that with people's projects before; I only do it to magazine photos and the like. You've changed me!

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