Burda 3/2017 #101

(Sorry for the accidental post and subsequent deletion!!)

It turned out. Whew. But boy oh boy! It was a bit of a winding road. 

I don't recall now what made me decided I neeeeeeded a cropped jacket (you know how it is). And I knew it had to be a neutral and *my* neutrals are blue and black and grey (this was written before my color post btw!). Well, I'd just made 3 new grey items so I went with this navy suiting with black and metallic yarns/threads woven through. I don't know about myself sometimes.

The shell by itself? I almost quit the project mid construction! The sleeve looked very bulky and ugly! Thankfully, the Bemberg lining (we'll come back to THAT) supports the stiff fabric well enough. After all my trauma (haha!), I cut out my lining sleeves and added the sleeve pattern piece to the existing pile of pattern pieces. And then I almost threw the entire pattern away! LOL!!! (People tell me I'm SO dramatic)

Why don't we just start at the beginning??

You all know how I feel about muslins in general. But pants? Fitted jackets? I will usually do it. I always need a full bicep adjustment. I usually insert one sleeve, make the adjustments and then insert the other sleeve. My other standard Burda adjustments are: FBA, shorten the shoulder & swayback adjustment. My swayback adj is almost always 5/8" and the FBA 1". For the shoulder adjustment I measure and then shave it from the edge on the muslin (grading to nothing at the notches), but on the paper pattern, I do it "right".

MORE bust room!! MORE room at the waist! :)

Here, the L sleeve is before adjustment and the R sleeve is after:

TIGHT sleeve and long shoulder

unaltered sleeve

swayback wrinkling

bust wrinkling

shoulder narrowed, sleeve adjusted

The jacket was a little snug all around. In my mind, I was adding a CB seam for the swayback adjustment...but I forgot to add seam allowance when cutting out the muslin. DOH! I did remember on the final garment and also added to the back side seam, 3/4" total.

The Basics

• I used a size 40 neckline and shoulder with a 42 for the rest.
• I did a 1" FBA which I ended up converting to princess seams
• I added a CB seam and did a 5/8" swayback adjustmnet
• I did a 1" other FBA (bicep)
• I shortened the shoulder 1/2'
• I drafted facings because I don't care for lined-to-edge  jackets

I ended up with a Big Honkin Dart.

You can see that the legs are over 3" apart. That resulted in an unsightly dart once sewn.

I tried to fix it but it was bad. I went searching and decided a princess seam conversion was the best 'fix'.  I always read a handful of tutorials and then go with what makes sense based on what they're instructing.

Excuse my chopped up pattern. It's all taped up from the FBA and then I misread the slashing part (it's not through the dart it's along the lower dart leg).  Ahhhhh. THAT works! However, you can see that my side front flares out at the bottom. This comes across in the final jacket. Darn it!

I also made notches before cutting the two apart so I could ensure I matched up. I added 3/8" seam allowances.

Here, you can see my work on shaping the facing:

And then, I didn't have enough fabric to recut my fronts. DOH.  But, NEVER FEAR! LOL! I'd originally purchased this 1.5 yard piece for a sleeveless sheath. But it showed up and I thought it was amazing and the next time it went on sale, I got 3 more yards. YAY!! (drama)

While figuring out my dart/princess seam dilemma, my enthusiasm waned, of course. Then I inserted a sleeve and liked it again. Yay!

Because I hate inserting shifty lining sleeves, I went ahead and did that BEFORE inserting the other jacket sleeve. I attached the two at the fronts and necklines and tried it on over a blouse and REALLY LIKED IT!! I was excited again! I went to hang it on my dress form for the night.
:what the heck: 
I had several tucks along the front. Ughhhhh. Fixed those.

Went home for lunch the next day and decided to understitch the facings "really quickly". Sighhhhhh. Have I learned nothing!?!?

So, this happened:

Why yes, yes my sleeve is sewn to caught in my understitching

UGH!!!!!

I ripped that out, fixed it, and sewed the sleeve to sleeve lining by machine. I sewed the lining to the jacket by hand. I haven't been happy with the hems on my last couple of items with bagged linings. Maybe I'm doing something wrong since I've been now relying on memory vs checking instructions??

It feels amazing on!! And it's so pretty!

So...Bemberg.  OMG! I didn't know!!!

I had a Fabric dot com order and decided to add a couple yards of this blue to get free shipping. Holy buckets! This stuff feels amazing!!! So silky and cool to the touch. Swoon.

Some time ago, Fabric Mart had polyester pongee in a TON of colors. I used it once for a lining and really liked it (it is much better than run of the mill poly linings) and bought A TON OF IT. And then Hancock started carrying it in a few colors and I stocked up there when FM no longer had it.

However, for basics / things I expect to have some longevity, like my upcoming basic black skirt, I'll definitely be using the Bemberg! :-D

photobomber!!!

Well, that felt like an epic post...but somehow, this simple little jacket turned into an epic undertaking. I wish I'd been able to keep the darted bodice; the princess bodice looks much better closed. But I really do like it and am excited to add it to the "fall"* rotation!

more photobombing! LOL!

* This is my life at the moment:

Skittishness and Contemplating Colors...

First, my sewing room is super chaotic. I finally organized and split my fabric (putting away light fabrics, bringing out dark/heavy fabrics) and fondling fabric will almost guarantee a sort of frenzied desire to SEW ALL THE THINGS!

I have the Burda cropped jacket assembled. It needs to be under-stitched and then I'm going to attach the lining to the hem by hand.

I also bought, assembled and traced off this Lekala skirt (4295)

I was sure I would have to do a muslin just for assembly but once I got it traced and started folding the lines, it actually comes together quite easily.

This long pleat? Well, it's a pleat on the photo and tech drawing and yet they call it a dart in the directions. It's totally being treated as a pleat!!!

I wanted to work on the jacket more! I wanted to start cutting out this skirt!! I wanted to trace another Burda!!!

But there was a pile on the floor of my (small) sewing room preventing movement and it needed to be handled.

OY!

All of these patterns (there were 9 by the way) are now put away where they belong.

Hopefully my brain will relax and I can resume some sort of order to my sewing!

********************

Do you recall my whining saga about losing all of my sweaters?? And finding them ~14 months later?? Sigh.

Today I brought them up because it is cold in Minneapolis y'all! We have lows below freezing predicted for the next 7 days.

There was one I'd forgotten about. I held it up and then snuggled it because of the color. It's close to this Pantene color, Shaded Spruce.

And then I remembered how much the Fall 2017 palette was right up my alley:

And earlier today, Rhonda's blog post was about the color red. So between her post and my lovely teal-y green sweater, I started thinking about "my" colors.

Now, for as long as I can remember (LONG before I started sewing!), I would encounter these conversations about colors and seasons and all that jazz and be utterly confused.

I finally figured out the confusion -- those "tests" were not for brown ladies! There was always ONE "dark". And it's supposed to cover all of us women of color. Like, really? The cool browns, warm browns, the olive-skinned...we're all just..."dark". And that's it.  So I've always just gone off of my reaction to a color when I encounter it and how I feel when it's on my body.

Hopefully by now the questionnaires have expanded a bit more ;)

Back to the Fall '17 Pantene report...

The grenadine I'd wear on my lower half. I love red pants and skirts! I do not own any red tops. I made this Vogue 8979 top two years ago. I really like this pattern! But, I've never worn it. Every time I pull it out it feels "too"...too bright, too much, too, too, too.

But pants?!? YASSSSS! I've always owned red pants!

Golden Lime is just a no, please. And Marina is too soft. I just put a cut of bamboo knit that color in the donate pile. I'll never sew it. I couldn't even get myself to make a pair of pajamas from it.

Tawny Port? Yes.

I always say I don't wear purple. I DO! I just wear this shade of purple and not "royal" purples. Again, it's just too, too for me.

Butterum and Autumn Maple? Check and Check.

The Ballet Slipper is also too soft. I remember when the spring 2017 colors came out and this Pale Dogwood was included:

THAT is MY pink! 

Someone commented that "virtually no one" would look good in that color. Uhmm, this toasty brown girl does!! I am very drawn to this color and it pairs well with SO many other colors!

That Navy and Grey are my neutrals. I adore both. I never tire of navy or grey - this lighter shade and especially charcoal! You'll see a few of these manifesting in my fall sewing. 

The Spring 2018 report has come out

Yes, No, No, YES

No, Yes, YES!, Yes!!

Swoon...yes, Yes, YES and YES!

Sign me up! Err, no thank you!, Ehhhh, maybe??, and Sure...

(I don't dislike white...but it isn't one of my go-to neutrals)

So, what's your color story? What do you think of the current palette? What are your thoughts about Spring 2018?

Vogue 1522 and Simplicity 1366

Fabric two-fer!

I first saw V1522 made up on Erica Bunker's blog, and then saw a couple more versions pop up. I was intrigued by the fit and that cute sleeve detail.

I bought this poly georgette because I was enamored with the print; even though I tend to avoid shifty polyester fabrics. I've had my fill of frustration with them. However, this fabric wasn't too tough to work with once you got it laid out on grain.

I had the larger size range in stash (I'm sure because I was interested in the pant too). Based on the grading between L, XL, XXL, I graded the neckline and shoulder down to a medium and did a full bicep adjustment. Beyond that, the only other adjustment I made was to shorten the top 3/4" once it was constructed. I could really see making this one again and if I did, I'd shorten the sleeve an inch. They are WAY longer than on the model!

Sorry, my camera lens was a little dirty!

I love it so much!

pants are V1411

Oh yeah, BLACK AND WHITE PRINTS ARE MY FAVORITE!!! :)

The top went together quite well...save for all the times I had to unpick stuff. My own mistakes, not the pattern's fault, at all. I'd sewn the bias strip to the first sleeve 'upside down'. I was NOT careful sewing the bias tape to my neckline and had to rip the whole thing out. I made some other weird, random mistakes too. Sigh.

Also, the pattern has you set the sleeve flat. I did, but on the left sleeve I sewed gathering stitches first and eased it. Now it fits weird compared to the right one. Sigh.

I'd done some sample serging and got my differential and tension all right ( I was not about to try to French seam this poly fabric...blergh). I sewed and serged seams then pressed to one side (vs pressing the seam open - that wasn't working). It took a press on the wool setting with steam and my block-of-wood-functioning-as-a-clapper. It is finished with a narrow hem (closer to 3/8" on each turn than 1/4" because of the spongy nature of the fabric). The sleeve flounce is finished with a rolled hem by machine.

It's so pretty!!!!

Bias strip + rolled hem

French binding on the neckline

This was the first time in a LONG time that I was focused on finishing a garment to wear the next day. I really, really like this one and excitedly put it on Monday morning. I have a bathroom selfie to prove it! Hahaha!

As I was considering fabrics for S1366, I thought...hmmm, I have a big enough chunk of this georgette left over...why not?! Because, b&w print! This pattern uses one piece for front and back-cut on the bias, has a pattern piece for the roleau straps, and a facing. I opted out of the facing and cut a 16 with 14 neckline/armholes. I decided to finish the top with binding and narrow hem. Because the print is good and busy, I bartacked the straps in place front and back.

I was of course, dubious about the same piece being used for front and back. Now that I've worn it, I DEFINITELY need to create separate pattern pieces. I will do an FBA on the front piece and need to figure out a swayback adjustment on the back. I don't want a CB seam though. Wondering if I can do a 'T' shaped slash (side seam to side seam and waist to hem) and overlap at CB?? We shall see. I may give the facings a try next time. I think I would be okay with binding if it were double fold...but I'd only make double fold bias tape in a natural fiber (too much drama otherwise!). I have to remake it though, for sure!!

I like the length as is...and the width on the back piece is okay...

Now, the front fits better with a regular bra. I put on my strapless but it is really meant to hike 'em up! LOL!! The front sits a bit smoother in a regular bra as well but it still needs some adjustments.

I like the overall fit, the length is just right, and I am a very happy camper! It will certainly make it again!

Fabric Love

I have TWO finished items to share but need photos--the post is ready to go.  I think I can get them done tomorrow - it does promise to be a super busy Saturday though so we'll see. But in the meantime...

I was feeling all extra good about my short list of wants. And work has been a little quiet this week and extra quiet today. I came home for lunch and decided to trace the cropped jacket (Burda 3/2017 #101). What do you know...my Fabric Mart order is on the porch.
Well, well, well! I am enamored with 8 of the 9 items and so here we are! lol! :) I have to resist the urge to not dump all of my plans and go the "OOH! SHINY!!!" route.

 

This large plaid suiting was purchased with the intent on making a skirt. Something that will allow me to play with that print. A Burda perhaps?? I'm not sure!

 

 

I liked this but almost skipped it because I thought it read "camo". Sorry - but I hate camouflage garments. Hate. Hate. Hate.

 

I'm glad I got it. It's a really cool color combination on this burnout jersey!!

 

I like this lightweight cotton sweater knit because of the colorway, the stripes and the appearance of texture. My initial thought was to make a cozy cardigan. I have 3 yards of it!

 

Twice I added, removed and then went back and added this suiting. I love the stripe effect and the not-realistic animal print. I think it's kind of bold for me but a fun way to wear the more classic dress styles I like. As mentioned before, I work in a casual dress office but I'm not much of a casual dresser. So something like this, paired with a cardigan or jacket would work.

 

This is a denim-look double weave suiting. I love the color and plan to use it for my trench.

I've spent a long time looking for a poplin or twill in *THIS* color. And, I plan on using it. I'll have to see of course how it reacts to interfacing and topsitching. Fingers crossed! This will certainly be an end-of-winter project.

 

Yes. Yes. YES! I love this so much. It is begging to be a fall dress, like, NOW!

 

Okay, this looks like not much of anything. But it's an ahh-mazing rayon/acetate/lycra suiting! The weight and drape is just fantastic. No immediate plans, but I'm happy I have it!

 

Clearly the description "leaf green" escaped me because I was surprised it was so light. This is my one 'meh' item.

SQUEEEEE! It's really soft and pretty. Ahhhhh.

 

V1569 perhaps??

I love their use of a vertical stripe.

AND, I somehow only ordered 2 yards (not sure why when I was certain I intended to order 4 yards) but FM being awesome, I got 3 1/8! Yay me!

 

And, V1569 along with 1574 (Betzina jacket), 9281 (off shoulder top), 9285 (top with SLEEVES!), 9279 (princess seamed dress) and 9278 (slip dress) are on their way to me! I woke up to that sale email from Vogue and don't think I had gotten out of the bed before I ordered! :-D

 

Here's a pic of S1366 on Lily...it's the same fabric I used for V1522.

 

 

We've had a stretch of 70+ degree weather. And while I'm definitely still sewing for fall, I have no motivation to sew the wool fleece Burda coat right now.  So now the plan is the cropped jacket and my daughter's M7627. That top has a whole lot of time commitment so I'll be happy to have something else going on for when I want to sew but can't muster up the energy to deal with that crazy top of craziness!

(where did October go?!)

Ottobre 5/2017 #4

This sweatshirt is from the most recent Ottobre woman. I thought it was a great casual item and knew it would be a great pattern for the black wool sweatshirt knit that was too thick for the pattern I originally intended it for.

This is my second Ottobre. I sewed the first with a 44 neckline/shoulder and 46 for the rest. The top was too large but I thought it was perhaps due to the very heavy knit I'd used. This time I used a 42 for the neck/shoulder and 44 for the rest. MUCH better.

I  could should have done a bicep adjustment. I somehow keep forgetting that even though it will "fit"-- it won't fit as intended / with respect to the rest of the pattern -- if I don't do an adjustment.

The front pockets are cool but your fabric needs to not have much drape in order for them not to collapse.  The front pattern piece has an extension and then you sew the other pocket piece to the lower front. You then attach the lower front to upper front, sewing the pocket bag together as you go. The front is then stitched with a zig zag (or bar tack).

I finished it, tried it on and was not that happy! The shoulder and neck fit beautifully but it was otherwise quite saggy.

It clicked that it was too long. I cut as much length as possible (couldn't do anymore because of the pockets)

sorry for the blurry photo

I then removed the stitching from the band

cut right along the seam line

I think it looks much better - I didn't get a before photo :/

It's quite a simple basic but I really like it! I think it'll get a ton of wear this fall/winter. It's SO cozy and I really like the fit!

I am working on the top from Vogue 1522 in a polyester georgette (wahhhhh!). I wrote out a big wish list (22 items!!) and sorted them of what I want NOW (the blue lines) :)

I then TRIED to sort the #1 items (pink highlighter) but couldn't! LOL! My short list includes:

Burda 8/2017 coat in red-orange wool fleece

Burda 3/2017 cropped jacket in blue textured suiting

Vogue 1522 top in black/white print poly georgette

Simplicity 1366 camisole I'm not sure yet...thinking either a neutral or a very bright color

Burda 10/2014 shirtdress in plum crepe

Burda 10/2014 knit dress with cowl in black/white print jersey

New Look 6524 dress in pale grey crepe

Burda 11/2017 skirt in plum crepe suiting

There's no outfit planning here; just focusing on holes in the wardrobe and wants based on fabric and pattern stash.