Hit and Miss

My two latest sewn pieces, made to be worn together, are a hit and a miss.  I love the pants and they are a versatile addition to my wardrobe. As for the top, I am not feeling the love.

I am always sewing a new pants pattern  hoping it will be the one that makes me look like I envision myself in pants; slim hipped, flat tummy, curvy butt. Reality is the exact opposite; wide hips, curved tummy and flat butt. There are ways to create the illusion with seaming and style details, but I am still trying to find that magic combination.

I wanted a slim fitting pair of bright blue pants, inspired by pictures of Peter Wu and Carole's lovely version.


PeterWu Pants

When I make slim legged pants, the issue I have is the sudden transition of my wide hips to skinny long legs. My  eye always settles on the widest expanse of fabric, right across my hips. So I thought vertical lines through that area might break it up. The pattern I decided to test this time was from the Italian pattern magazine, La Mia Boutique, Dec 2011.



La Mia Boutique Pant 1237

The pant pattern, # 1237, is designed to be made with a stretch fabric. There are top stitched creases on the center of the front and back legs. I did make a muslin and the fit of the lower crotch and legs was great. But the crotch was too short by 2 inches in both back and front. That is not surprising given my height.  I remember feeling like a giant in the land of smaller people, while in Italy during the 2006 winter Olympics. And there was too much darting in the waist and hip area. So I took the easy way out and morphed the legs of the La Mia Boutique pants on to my trouser sloper starting at the crotch line. It looked something like this.

The sewn crease can be done on any pair of pants.  Fold the front along the straight of grain at the midpoint of the leg.  Use the bottom of the pant leg to determine the center of the leg. Sew close to fold line the length of the pant leg.  A edge stitch presser foot, which rides along the folded edge of the fabric, makes it easy to maintain straight stitching along the fold. 

Top stitched Crease

La Mia Boutique pants

The latest issue of Burda Style magazine features this sewn crease on a pair of pants, and also  a pair of bright blue slim cut pants with a seam in the center front and back leg. A similar look to my pants.

BurdaStyle 8 2012 129

Ah, the coordinating top.   I like graphic prints and I like border prints. I found a fabric that combined both. I chose a simple pattern to highlight the print. The pattern is a 1970’s loose fitting top with gathering at the shoulder controlled by a drawstring. 

Butterick 6037

Butterick 6037 blouse

 

I am going to have to be in the right mood to wear this top. I like the loose silhouette, but the print is a bit bold and bright.

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.

Lazy, No! Hazy, Yes!, Crazy, Yes!

Where are those  lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer?  Lazy is not the kind of summer I am having. The end of school  tests, concerts  and picnics seemed to go on forever. School finally  ended  a week ago.  Then I found out I was going to be a

Eldest son was accepted to James Madison University after spending a year at a local community college.  So we are trying to line up an apartment and get him signed up for classes several months behind the regular schedule for everybody else.   We did find  a sublet and he had a meeting with his advisor last week. 

Hubby has vowed to have, fresh from the vine, tomatoes and peppers  this summer. No matter what it takes.  So he has built the ultimate tomato cage.  So they won’t escape.

Ultimate Tomato Cage

  Just kidding. It is to protect the vegetables from the squirrels and deer.  The neighbor leaned on the fence and watched him build it. And suggested if it did not work for its intended purpose, it could be used to raise chickens.  I implemented a backup plan and signed up with The Farm Table. A program that delivers boxes of fresh vegetables and fruit, from local farms, to my home every week.

As to sewing , I was looking for summer styling ideas for red pants and I saw this picture of a sheer black with white polka dot blouse worn with a red skirt.

 Once the idea of a sheer polka dot blouse was planted in my head, I saw them everywhere on the
 on the Internet, and in recent issues of pattern magazines.  Ms. Stylebook June 1012 issue, BurdaStyle May 2012 - blouse 134,  and Patrones  Issue 315.  There were black polka dots on white backgrounds,

Black polka dots on white

and white  polka dots on black backgrounds. They were shown worn with red pants, white pants, jeans, white shorts, black pants, turquoise pants. They were worn as an over blouses, tucked in and tied at the waist. I was inspired by what I saw.

White Polka dots on Black

Though I would have preferred silk, when I spotted (pun intended) some polka dotted poly chiffon in Hancock’s for a very reasonable price, I bought it. I chose Burda 7351 blouse pattern to keep the style rather conservative with such a distinctive fabric.  The shoulder yoke and back and front bodice gathers is sort of a retro look.  The shirttail hem  of view B allows it to be tucked in, worn out or tied at the waist.

Burda 7351

The pattern instructions are okay, not wonderful. There are pictures for some steps.  I like lots of pictures. Things I did that were not in the instructions -  I used French seams to clean finish the side seams and I lined the yoke. I used black silk organza for the collar interfacing.  I did not use interfacing in the front placket as instructed.    The buttons are concealed under a turned back layer of the front placket.  Each placket is 4 layers. Not too stiff when buttoned up, in the light chiffon fabric. But if I were making this blouse of a heavier fabric I might make the under placket two layers only   I did use additional interfacing under the button holes when I made them. There are three buttons and the top one is a bit far from the top. I plan to wear a camisole under the blouse, so that did not bother me.  The sleeves are slim fitting. Not uncomfortable, but not as loose as I would have preferred. Sleeve tightness is not a problem I usually have, so I didn't check the sleeve width before cutting.

Burda 7351 front

Burda 7351 back

Burda 7351 closeup

As Over blouse

With Red Pants

Just having fun. A Chicas Pin Up, I am not!

  Quick, to get that last picture out of your mind, here is another top.

 I admired it in a catalog one morning and later that day found similar fabric at the store.  Another poly chiffon.  The inspiration top fabric was a mesh knit.  I used New Look pattern 6025.

New Look 6025

Wide necklines can be a disaster on me. With a thin neck and small shoulders, they look bad and tend to fall off my shoulders. So I always check them using my sloper and generally make them smaller and in proportion with my body. On View D, I moved the neck opening in toward the neck 1 inch on the shoulder seam, and shortened the V neckline by 1 inch too. I added a casing for elastic using vintage rayon seam binding. I have a friend that is active in a Baltimore area quilt guild. She always thinks of me when sewing notions like this show up on the give away table. Thanks Urs!

Rayon Seam Binding

Seam binding used for elastic casing

This pattern is definitely a quick and easy sew. Sorry no picture of it on me.  I have reached my limit on posing outside in the humidity and warm temps today. 


New Look 6025

Vogue 1309 Issey Miyake Tunic

One of the other sewn garments I took to NYC was an Issey Miyake tunic  made from a recently released  Vogue 1309.  I wore it to dinner on Sat night. It is described as a pullover tunic with front and back cut-in-one, no shoulder/side seams, square armholes, left side back zipper, shaped hemline, stitched hem, and unfinished and continuous bias finished edges.

I have been a big fan of Issey Miyake garments and patterns for many years.  They are intriguing in the way they are constructed and the fabrics used  are often quite unique. They are often more works of art than garments. Some are wearable, some are not.  The Vogue patterns allow me to experience the creativity of the design and  construction for myself.  Every time I successfully complete one of the patterns, I marvel at people who can think so "out of the box",  and lament my inability to do so.
I always enjoy the construction/process and  feel these types of patterns force me to use my weaker  creative sewing skills, compared to my fully developed process/ production sewing skills.

The tunic in this pattern is constructed using a huge rectangle, a small rectangle and a square.  The largest rectangle has a slit down the middle of its length which you finish with 1/4 bias binding. It forms the central section of the tunic. The smaller rectangle and square form the underarm section /gusset/ and stays for all the draping. 

Tunic starting point

Recommendations

1. Clearly mark all the dots and their associated letters for your size. My pattern was printed in blue ink rather than the normal black and the letters A-G were teeny and not located right next to the dots as I would have expected. The letter/dot combination is critical to putting this together correctly.  My fabric was busy and textured. I used little pieces of scotch tape with the letters and arrows on them to mark the dots. I peeled the tape off the fabric after sewing the seams.  All seam allowances are ¼ inch, and some are covered with bias binding so my normal marking method,  snips into the seam allowance, was not an option.

Underarm gusset and markings

2. Mark the little squares too; they are for the shoulder shaping. They are really hard to locate on a partially constructed garment, after the pieces are twisted, turned and sewed, Ask me how I know.

3. Read the direction through completely so you understand the whole construction process. Some steps make more sense when you know where you are going with subsequent steps.

I cut the three pieces out of muslin in a roughly 1/5 scale and went through the construction.  Example : Size 14 main rectangle  19.5 x70 in , My sample  4” x 14. It was like making an  Issey for Barbie.  That helped me  a bit.

 I failed to notice that the instructions start with the shaping of the back. I was doing the draping and pinning together on the dress form. I assumed the construction of the garment started with the front. There was a bit of confusion until I read ahead to the end of the instructions and realized you start with the back.  Needless to say, the shaping made a lot more sense when I put the fabric on the dress from correctly.

All seams are ¼ inch. My fabric is a sheer/solid stripe poly in variegated colors that had been permanently pressed with random crinkles. I purchased it at Jo-Ann Fabrics a couple of years ago.  I serged (3 thread) all the edges that were not finished with bias, to prevent raveling. For some of the seams, you are sewing 2 bias bound edges together or an unfinished edge and a bias bound edge. This puts the bulk of the bias trim in the seam allowance. I used a zipper foot so that I could sewon the seam line,  next to the bias bound edges.

I did put in the zipper, but it is hard to see against my fabric. I can pull the tunic over my head easily without unzipping it.

zipper

Front

The garment was too big in the bust area, but I fixed this by doing some creative tucking of my own and taking bigger seams on the side panels. There is a big droop of fabric in the back that I think is unflattering , but for someone with more of a bottom, it would be filled and look great. This is one of those garments that will fit different body types, but may be looser or tighter on one person than another due to the bias draping of the fabric and the wearer's height, and size and location of hips, bust, etc. Ann  has also made this pattern successfully in both a knit and woven and they look great. She is a very different body shape than me and she mentions some issues I did not have. I really enjoyed making this and like the way it turned out.

Vogue 1309 Issey Miyake

Side View

Back view

Simplicity Sewing

I just got back from a wonderfully PatternReview.com weekend in NYC.  One of the activities was a tour of the Simplicity pattern company.  The suggestion on the trip discussion board was to wear something made from a Simplicity or New Look pattern for the tour. I looked though my pattern stash and was surprised to find I have quite a number of Simplicity and New Look patterns.  Most of them are what I call wardrobe patterns.   On the tour I learned they are called “lifestyle” patterns....the ones that include pants, top, dress and jacket in one pattern.

Simplicity 2443

For my tour outfit I made the very popular Cynthia Rowley jacket from  Simplicity 2443, and a top from a lifestyle pattern. The jacket fabric is a chartreuse cotton/silk woven. One of those impulse buys from Fabric.com, which when it arrived, was nothing like I imagined.  It had a shifty grain and a stiff hand for such a light weight fabric. Washing it created lots of little wrinkles which I could not iron out. It was like the cotton fibers shrunk, but the silk did not. I decided to use the texture as a "design feature".  I interlined the jacket bodice with Bemberg rayon to make it a little more stable and easy to slip on over tops.  The closures are supposed to be tabs and ties.  The ties reminded me of the strands of fluttering banners around a used car lot.  So I omitted them, and wore the jacket in NY without buttons. I stopped by the MJ Trim store and found the perfect buttons there.

The top is Simplicity lifestyle pattern  3505. It must not be a very popular pattern, as the only review on PatternReview is for the shorts, back in 2009. 

The top has a lined yoke with shaping done through released princess seams and tucks.  The fabric is a silk twill print of gray bubbles on a molted chartreuse/olive green background. It reminded me of how liquid mercury beads up when it is not contained. The fabric appealed to me because of the odd colors and unique print.  Most people would probably look at it and say “ugly!” for the exact same reasons.  I wear a lot of sleeveless print silk tops under jackets in the summer. I will definitely make this  top again, but will raise the bottom of the armhole about .5 inches for a bit more coverage.

Simplicity 3505 Front

The tour guide did recognize the jacket I was wearing as the "first Cynthia Rowley jacket"  She also mentioned they do read the reviews on PatternReview, and they do fix legitimate pattern errors when contacted about them.  Other tidbits learned on the Simplicity tour:  The New Look patterns are designed by a woman living in England, which they feel gives the designs a different aesthetic.  She sends the design sketches to NY and they turn them into patterns.  New Look patterns will fit differently than Simplicity patterns in the same size. According to our tour guide,” the New Look form is larger, but the fit is closer”.   I have found that New Look patterns do fit me differently than Simplicity. Though not in a bad way.  I love New Look knit top patterns because they are very close fitting and often have a center back seam for shaping the back. I don’t have to remove gobs of fabric in the bust and arms like I do with Simplicity and McCalls.  On the other hand I have to check the measurements of the New Look pants pattern pieces very carefully, and often add fabric in key areas because the pant fit is every bit as formfitting as the tops.

Walmart is definitely back in the fabric/sewingsupply business.  Simplicity participated in a big joint promotion with Walmart recently that required all kinds of overtime and weekend work.  That sounded familiar.  When Walmart says "Jump!", most suppliers will ask “How high?”  Walking around the Simplicity office, I was happy to see rooms with fabric on shelving is untidy stacks, just like in my sewing room.   Simplicity will often work with Jo-Ann’s or Walmart and make the garments shown in the catalogs out of fabrics being sold in those stores. But they also buy fabric “on the street in NY”.   Their lead time from conception to pattern is, I believe, around 6 months, but if they see a trend on the streets of NY they think will be big, they will expedite a design through the process.   They have a library of sewing techniques they use to create the pattern instructions.  If the pattern requires a unique construction method, it will be written for that pattern’s instruction sheet.

As for the PatternReview weekend, it was fabulous, as they always are. There were great group activities set up by hardworking volunteers. It was so exciting to meet old  PR weekend friends and other bloggers.  You could talk sewing as much as you wanted,  and no one got bored. There were so many shops selling fabrics, trims, notions, tools, and books, that we were only able to visit a fraction of them.  I was restrained with my fabric purchases, just a few select pieces.   But I bought quite a few German and Italian pattern magazines at the Around the World magazine shop.   And the latest Marfy catalog and several pattern drafting/fitting books at the FIT bookstore.  I now have lots of great reading material for the car travel time of my upcoming Memorial Day holiday.

Sewing Interruptus

It has taken me over 5 weeks to complete my latest sewing project due to a bad case of sewing interruptus - A disruption of the normal sewing process by external distractions. The distractions were good for the most part, a vacation and out of town technical conference, and some were even sewing related. A wonderfully inspiring two day workshop with Rami Kim creator of award winning Art to Wear garments,  plus I started a 8 week pattern drafting class that has significant homework. All this contributed to a slow pace on the blouse from Vogue pattern 1294.

The blouse is described as semi-fitted, and lined, with a back neck band, pleated flounce, front band with snap closing and very narrow hem. Contrast flounce and bias strip for side front/side back seams/sleeve hems. I used a mint color four ply silk from Fashionista Fabrics for the blouse itself, and a teal silk organza from G Street Fabrics for the contrast flounce and bias strip seam insertion trim.

Blouse Front

Blouse Back

The pattern is designed for light weight fabric that would require a lining. The lining finishes the neck edge. I did not line my blouse because the 4 ply silk was quite beefy, so I created my own facing for the front V neck. Bias cut raw edge strips are inserted in the princess seams as trim. I attached them to the side pieces with a three thread serger stitch which also finished the edges at the same time.

Inside Finish Details

There is an inset neck band on the blouse back and the flounce is folded and inserted into the shoulder seam of that band

Side view

The front closures are snaps and the directions recommend covering the snaps with the blouse fabric.  My fabric was heavier and this is a blouse, not a couture garment, so I chose to use clear heat resistant nylon snaps. The recommended snap placement was a bit unusual. Instead of being evenly spaced down the placket, the three top snaps are located closer together in area where the flounce is sewn to the placket. The closer spacing certainly prevents any gaps in this area. I made a mental note of this for future use. I know I tend to blindly follow the sewing "rules" or standard practices, even when a more creative or unusual solution would be more effective.

Snap Spacing

The pants are made from wool polyester blend twill purchased at Mary-Jo’s Fabrics in NC. My pants are a very similar style to the Vogue pattern but are actually made using a pattern I created by taking apart a pair of well-fitting RTW pants. I compared my pattern to the Vogue pant pattern. The waist band and leg width were exact duplicates. The difference was that my copied RTW pattern already reflected the changes I make to remove excess fabric from the butt and upper thigh area of commercial patterns. I have a piece of boucle fabric that I hope to make into a coordinating jacket and a couple pieces of blouse fabric that coordinate with the pants.

The yard is full of wonderful scents this time of year.  In the flower beds, the sweet william's, confederate jasmine and an extremely fragrant old rose, rescued from an abandoned farm house in  MD, are blooming.  In the field behind the house,  honeysuckle and some sort of scrubby white flowering tree were competing for olfactory attention.   I took the pictures there to enjoy the scents.

 Looking at the pictures, I have decided the pants need more tweaking and I should shorten the blouse by an inch or two if I plan to wear it as an over blouse. It’s bottom edge is cutting my body in half. I prefer the 1/3 top, 2/3 bottom proportions for tops worn out.