WIP: Burda 6/2022 Vest

I don't actually have much to show :-p

I have been itching to sew but not motivated enough to do it. I had SO much on my list for summer and didn't get much done. I'm ready to move on to fall sewing considering how slow going things have been. I decided to work on the vest/tabard from Burda 6/2022. I am using a wool suiting that I scored from SR Harris (2 3/4 yard for $8!). It's a medium weight and is perfect for this pattern. I may make a matching pair of shorts from the pattern I'm using for my daughter. 

I have pretty standard Burda pattern adjustments. I tissue fit the pattern to my dressform and so far, the changes I made seem to be working out. 

This weekend I traced, made pattern adjustments and cut the paper pattern out. Today, I started cutting the fabric out -- I cut the fronts, side fronts, back and tabs. I interfaced all the bits that needed interfacing. Then I got ahead of myself and sewed one of the front and side fronts together - I forgot the pocket!!! DOH!

Looking good!! I LOVE this color!

Still have tons to do...but I hope that I can finish the outfit and the jackets for the babies before the end of September. 

In other news...

I WON FIRST PLACE IN THE MINNESOTA *~STATE~* FAIR!!!!!!!

Y'all! I was too excited! And if you follow my IG, you know this already! LOL!!

I have Blue. Ribbon. Socks.!!

Here is the Rav page for them: Blue Socks

I ALSO placed for my sweater (3rd place)!

Rav page HERE

I was about to melt trying this on for pics though! LOL!!! 

The wool is toasty warm! Can't wait til December!

Joy.

Is it possible to correct my posture at this late stage in life? LOL!!!

Also, these jeans are MY FAVORITE and their from American Eagle and I laugh every time someone says a store is "too young". Pfft. Buy what fits/works for you!

The judges commented on the different stripes on the sleeves - they called it very attractive! And they noted how well the stripes were matched :pats back:

I lost points on the marled ribbing - which was not a design choice, it was a mitigation. I'm happy with it though, but was frustrated that it pooled differently on the second half. 

Also, they didn't like my band of light pink on the right sleeve...but I always add some little tweak or detail to things that are just for me. 

I also placed 3rd for the girl's ballet sweater (photo HERE, Rav project page HERE)

I am so grateful for the wins and proud of myself for entering (I almost talked myself out of entering!). I can't wait for our next MK meetup so I can hear all about other's projects and wins. <3

I finally finished up the sideways knit that I'd been blogging and it's CUTE! Woohoo!

A Couple of Birthday Dresses!

I almost always make a new dress to wear on my birthday each year. For 2022, I was seeing a musical production of Twelve Angry Men, and I wanted to have a "special" day dress and something for the show. 

I went to a recent make, M7834 for the day dress. When I finished the paisley version, I knew I'd be making it in this cotton clip dot from SR Harris, and leaving it sleeveless. It's such a cute pattern and I loved how the original turned out. 

I made no changes other than narrowing the shoulder as I mentioned in the last post, but I should have! I've said it myself a thousand times, FABRIC CHANGES FIT! The first one was made in a heavier rayon challis with beautiful drape. This cotton one pulls a bit at the bust. 

A woman stopped to tell me I looked very pretty, and that she's inspired to get a white summer dress now. 
yes! yes! yes!!

And the pretty blue purse I treated myself to as an early birthday gift! 

It turned out pretty-ok and I loved wearing it! I started the day with a trip to my favorite bakery for a pastry and a latte, then I went and got the Benz shined up! :) Afterwards, I worked that day until about 2 or 3 and started to get ready for dinner and the show.

For evening, I sewed Burda 7/2022 #106. I know I've gained some weight, it was endo-belly time, and this dress is fitted. So I traced a 42 neckline and armholes and a 44 for the rest. I should have known better but I was short on time. I ended up having to blind stitch the surplice down in front because it was huge and gaping. I am a 42 on top in Burda with the waist graded to a 44. Doh. The ties were tied really tight, too! LOL!

I used this rayon challis that I got when I visited SR Harris back in 2018. I sewed the side seams a little larger through the bust, did not add hem allowance on the skirt but hemmed at 5/8", and tacked down the front as mentioned. 

Since the fabric and lining (cotton voile) are so lightweight, I used the "trick" learned some time ago and trimmed 1/8" from the neckline edges in lieu of understitching. It works well when both fabric are very light and takes a press well. 

I don't know what point the surplice serves though as it has a side zipper. I think it would work fine as a v-neck. 

Speaking of...I've read lots of "fear" type things about side zippers, but it was easy peasy! I tacked the bodice lining to the waist seam by hand.

And it has twirl factor!! Woot! 

I just spent 3 days at a machine knitting camp and it was AWESOME! I'm going to do a separate write-up for that.

Burda 10/2021 #114

Finally photographed my first completed garment of 2022. Me? ONE item in a month. WHEW :)

I needed a palette cleanser while working on S1325 for A Dozen Drafts and this was one of a few patterns from the October 2021 issue that jumped out at me. I had this piece of brown silk (charmeuse? georgette? crepe de chine? IDK!) from SR Harris on hand. I'd gotten 1.5 yards forgetting that silk tends to be 44-45" in width so I couldn't make the tie-neck top I'd planned. I figured this color would be nice layering, a neutral that could stand out or blend in depending on the rest of the outfit.

I traced a 40 front and 42 back. I tissue fit the pattern to the Beatrice form and realized I didn't have enough back neck room...I never have enough back neck room. I posted to IG and got tons of suggestions and LIGHTBULB! High round upper back adjustment - yes! I'd considered whether or not I needed this before but never have made the adjustment. Now, the instructions for this adjustment have you create a dart, but I don't need the dart sewn, I need the extra width. Apparently, I have a larger than average neck at 15.5". I googled "average neckline circumference for women" and found lots of info and then head to a sewing resource that I'm familiar with.

In-House Patterns (which I love!) has a very comprehensive size chart. I pulled it up and without worrying about the height/cup size side, just highlighted my body measurements (if two are highlighted, I fell in the middle):

Now, part of my lack of alignment is due to my reduction. In some ways it results in a very different relationship and in other areas, it completely changes things. Like my FB measurement hasn't changed much, but the volume has decreased and the relationship of FB to HB and UB has changed (avoiding using the b-word to try to stave off spam).

But my neck and biceps have always been larger proportionately (even as a skinny teen), I just didn't realize it. 90s choker trend? PFFT. There was no way those things were going around my neck. I mean, my 18" necklace falls 1.5" below my collarbone. I have a large neck. My biceps are actually much closer to 14.5" than 14.25" so again, completely outsized in comparison. 

I have this short armhole depth (hello armhole dart!), short back length, I'm all over the place! I'm sure the larger measurements (neck, waist, bicep) are partially due to fat accumulation. But again, this isn't really new info, I just had no words for it in my pre-sewing days. I just knew that shirts that fit my body didn't close around my neck. And sleeveless garments needed to be "pulled up" at the shoulders. And dresses never fit quite right. I'm SO glad I'm doing this project now!

And *I* know it, but lest you forget it, NOTHING is wrong with my (or your) body. A clothing or sewing pattern company makes decisions about what measurements to use and just because I don't fit within those predetermined measurements doesn't mean my body is the issue. Another plug for In-House, Alexandra has some great free content and that is one of the things she discusses often, how sizing is created in the industry. It's basically a law of averages! Who wants to be average!?! :-p

Back to the pattern review, I used this Threads tutorial to make the adjustment of 5/8" and just as their tutorial says, the back adjustment that resulted was about half the width of the neckline adjustment.

where I notice the issue

Adjustment according to Threads 

(though now I will sometimes cut right thorough the back armhole and narrow it a TINY bit)

The finished length on the top was 25". I happened to have just purchased a similar style top that I felt was a tad too long (but I'd be tucking it in most of the time) and it also measured 25". I shortened this top 2" by folding it out on the pattern (1.5" would have been better). I made no other adjustments.

Paired with a wool B5760 skirt and teal shoes, which match everything!

It's so hard to maintain the color and light balance when taking photos solo!!

The armholes are finished with french binding (cut on the bias, folded in half, stitched to the right side, folded in and topstitched).

The neckline is more complex than it looks! The front has the collar attached. It's sewn at CB and the neckline sewn after the shoulder seams. Then, I pressed in the SA and turned to the inside, handstitching from shoulder seam to shoulder seam. 

The front edge that's sort of on the bias is left raw. I had to press that edge really well to stop it from flipping out, and hand tacked CF just a tad. I don't know a better way to finish this area if you don't like raw edges. Burda instructs you not to press the collar/front fold.

I did french seams and had a fun time sewing it all...until it got to the hem. It was SO freaking bouncy and difficult to press into place. It took forever to hem this dang thing

I'm almost done with S1325! I did all the hand sewing this week (bodice lining to skirt and lining to zipper. I just need to hem. I'm putting it off because, semi-circle skirt! Wah! But I will be topstitching this hem, I can't do that much hand sewing. 

Next up is McCall's 7834 in this rayon challis I got from Fabric Mart when I went to Sew Camp in 2018. This bodice? OOOOOOOH buddy! It's what led me to a bunch of the discoveries discussed above. 

More later!!

Burda 2/2013 #143

Have I mentioned how much I love Burda plus patterns for my lower half? well I dooooooo! :)

I was doing wardrobe assessment number 317 an realized that while I have a lot of pants -- I have 6 pair of black pants (they are all different silhouettes, leg shapes, fabric types), 4 pair of blue pants, 3 pair of camel/tan pants -- they are different, but there's so much repetition in color! 

I first sewed a Burda plus pant pattern back in 2017, HERE. That crotch curve was such a great match that I often check the Plus section for pants. The only problem is, they very often call for stretch wovens which is kind of annoying. Bleh. 

I have a lower left shoulder and higher right hip

I had a pair of ponte pants in a similar color awhile ago but they never fit quite right (not enough crotch depth), so while I wore them all the time because of the color, they just weren't comfortable. And as my sewing and fitting has evolved, I absolutely refuse to wear uncomfortable clothing. 

I'd located a couple sources of ponte in this shade but on an impromptu trip to SR Harris recently, I saw this suiting and jumped on it! Initially I thought it was a little too thick, but it works SO well. I was very tempted to go back and get more to have in stash should I decide on a jacket or wider leg pants in the future. So far, I haven't caved :)

I started these right before Christmas and they got to the basting stage at prime-PMS bloating time. I have a serious knack for this, it's crazy! On December 27th I started feeling bad and on December 28th I tested positive for Covid. So this is a 2021 project (I have yet to sew anything for 2022!).

I cut a size 46 with a 44 front crotch. I also decreased the leg width and now, I can't remember by how much! I measured a couple of ankle-length, cuffed trousers, searched online and found leg widths for a few pair of pants, and then narrowed it based on that. I'm thinking I removed 3/8" from each seam, or a total of 3". 

What makes these pants REALLY awesome? I used the Singer Reference Library, Sewing Pants that Fit to construct them. GET ACTUAL SEWING RESOURCES WITHOUT DEPENDING ON PATTERNS FOR CONSTRUCTION INFO!!! Sorry for yelling in bold. 

But for real. The more you expand your knowledge, the better sewer you will become. You will be able to construct as instructed by the pattern designer, or you can sub in something equally or more(!) suitable. 

For the cuffs, I pinned the hem up to the desired length. I ended up removing 1/4" when serging the raw edge. I then folded up a 2 5/8" hem, blindstitched this hem, then folded up 1.5" and tacked at the inseam and side seam. 

The pockets, the fly front, the waistband...all of it turned out so, so well. I ordered no-sew trouser hooks on eBay and while waiting for them to arrive from overseas, I ordered some from The Sewing Place. They are larger/more heavy duty and the sets that I received later are a match for my RTW pants. And of course, the day after I decided to go for it and insert them, the sets from eBay showed up. They have to be inserted prior to finishing the waistband as you stick the prongs through the fabric, add the backer, and fold in the prongs (I used a needle-nose plier).  My waistband was a bit narrower than my RTW pants so that's something I'll keep in mind for the future.

I also decided to add double-fold bias tape to the facing AND took the time to insert it properly. :-p -aka- in 2 passes. I stitched it to the right side, folder over and pressed, then topstitched. It's so much better than my lame attempts to try to keep the facing sandwiched between the bias tape for the entire length of the facing!

I decided to do the fold over on the front waistband and it took me forever to figure it out - COVID brain!! I got it all pinned out and it was nighttime and I refused to cut the excess. WE DO NOT CUT FABRIC AT NIGHT! Lol!!! The next day I was able to tackle it and finish up the pants.

And this pattern will for sure become my TNT trouser pattern. Adjustments to make for the future:
-allowance for high right hip

-tweak front darts
-tiny extension on the back crotch point to resolve those small folds at the upper inner thigh
-adjust waistband and facings to allow for the fold over style
-trace off another copy with a slight bootcut

I am SO excited to have a pair of pants this color in my wardrobe!! I think I'll be wearing them VERY often :)

Burda 2/2020 #117 (and failed S9373)

Can we talk about how awesome this issue was? I was on the fence about resubscribing for 2022 because 2021 was SO lackluster. Looking at some of the 2020 issues only reaffirms that (Feb, Mar, May(!!))

While this is only my second garment from this issue, I do have fabric and plans to sew the Balmain-esque blazer #102, there's a casual jacket on my radar #120, and I ADORE that shirt with a tail #110. 

I planned to sew this right away but had some reservations as finished objects started to post. When I decided to add a red top to my wardrobe and found this cut of ITY (Fabric Mart) in the stash, I knew I would use this pattern. Upon a closer look at other's garments, I think that some may have been concerned with the neckline or just didn't want it too low and raised it. For me, it works as-is.

I sewed the sleeve and body in one pass and used a 1/4" seam allowance instead of the 3/8" I'd added because I was worried about it fitting. I think I need to go in at the underarm and take it in *just* a bit.

I used a size 42 (should have used my normal size 40 neckline, it's a little loose around the neck), and a 44 back from the armhole down. I did a slash and spread on the back below the waist to add about an inch. I also added 1" to the bicep (this pattern had a 13" finished sleeve width. EESH!). 

Changes from the pattern only involves leaving off the sleeve ruffle. I like it, it's just not practical for wearing under a coat, especially at the shorter length. There's nothing more aggravating than having your sleeve stuck, rumpled up in your coat sleeve!! Also, it's the TUNDRA so I may need to wear this under a jacket or cardigan sometimes. 

I really love the tie belt too! I am often not a fan of self-fabric belts but this just seemed right for this pattern. I did thread chains for loops but placed them at the waist/where the surplice hit and that's technically too high, but I just loosened the belt a bit and it seems fine. I'm certainly not cutting them out and redoing them. 

I am really thrilled with the outcome of this top - simple but effective and especially in this bright red! I remember, years ago making a red top and thinking, OMG NO! I cannot wear that! :) It felt way too bold. Now? Tuh! I love it!!! 

This is fantasy because there's no possible chance of bare legs in the tundra :-p

I am SO HAPPY to have my mojo back y'all!!!! 

It's not about feeling like I have to sew, it's about genuinely enjoying the process, making things that fit my body (today! right now!) and spending my free time in a way that makes me feel good. 

Plus, I've finally made the decision to apply to grad school next year and I think the fear kicked me into "making overdrive". hahahahaha! In reality, I am getting to a much better place mentally than I've been for about the past 3 years and it feels great. 

Already completed and ready to photograph is a turtleneck maxi from Burda 10/2018, and I am in-progress on a pair of pants from Burda 2/2013.

Oh. The disaster that is Simplicity 9373. Meh. It's enormous and boxy in a bad way. The sleeve cuffs are RIDICULOUS!!!!!! They are enormous. I removed 2" in width and still, they just...ugh. I was sad I wasted my chartreuse sweater knit (SR Harris) but once I pulled it out of my sewing room trash (really, LOL! But I *only* put fabric and thread and stuff in those trash cans and never empty them until a project is complete done!) and took these pics and realized it's SO enormous that I can very likely get a cute little top from the deal. I'm thinking NL6314 because I've made it before, wear those 2 tops all the time, and this fabric doesn't have great recovery so that pattern will pair well.

THIS COLOR THO! 

If you celebrate, I hope you have the merriest of Christmases! If this holiday is tough for you, for whatever reason, take good care of yourself because you deserve it <3

Meh - McCall's 8042 Top

Let's start by discussing "negative reviews", shall we? On the one hand, people often say that "No one writes negative reviews." Personally, I often figure out a project isn't worth completing before it's done and I just move on without much fuss. Other times, I keep going because I'm unsure, or because I think that mayyyyybe, I can salvage it. But, sometimes, things just don't work out. 

• The style itself may not quite work 
• The fabric might be uncomfortable 
• The color may be "not quite right"
• The fit may be off. Even if it fits "fine", it may not be the preferred fit

And sometimes, you just aren't feeling it despite everything "appearing" to be good. And a lot of times, there's a lot of good-natured attempts to reassure. By the time I bring a wadder to the blog and label it as such, it's a done deal. I'm not trying to figure it out (though I do ask sometimes and appreciate the recommendations on things to try!). I've tried it with all the things in my closet that it can be tried with. I've tried whatever sewing-related adjustments I can make to make it work. 

In this case, this top is too fussy. In the few minutes that I've had it on to try it out since finishing, I am constantly adjusting the collar or the ties. I do not do fussy clothing. So, it's a wadder.

I took a trip into SR Harris recently to grab some cotton voile for a dress lining and thought this clip dot voile was really pretty. They had it in white too and I got some of that! The white is much more like what you'd expect a cotton voile to feel like. I'm probably not going to sew a dress from it this summer (how is it almost September already!?) but it'll be fun to have in stash for next year (do not get me started on all the summer things I did not sew).

This fabric behaved like cotton in a burn test but it has quite a bit of drape. And while that makes some elements work well (the flutter sleeve and the gathers created by pulling up the drawstring), it makes the most dominant element (the collar) unworkable. 

The color is GORGEOUS!

I didn't realize the vacuum was there til after I put the tripod away! It was the most accurate color representation so... :)

Not enough hip room

I cut a medium with the hips graded to a large. This is still not enough hip room. I'm not sure why they make these tops straight down from the bust but they are long enough to hit the hip. I raised the front slit by an inch and shortened the pattern 2 inches (through the waist).

Still not enough, LOL!

This way may actually be the most wearable 

(with a tank underneath)

First, the front pattern piece is a disaster. There's a muddled mess of lines for the front slit, stitch lines, fold lines, collar lines, hemming lines, blah, blah, blah and for ALL sizes. MESS! The construction on this thing is bananas. And I don't mean that in a good way. It's just some weird stuff happening. The collar is extended from the front, back, and sleeve pieces. Hemmed at 1/4" and two rows of topstitching to create a casing. 

The sleeve ruffle is hemmed with a narrow hem (No thank you! This is the ideal scenario for a rolled-hem), gathered, and sewn to the raglan. 

But theres this area that is left unfinished. I presume it's for range of motion. The cinching of the collar can change the feel through the armhole/sleeve.

So you're supposed to use bias tape on this little area. OY VEY! Just, foolishness! I inserted the ruffle, serged the whole thing, trimmed 1/8" off the section to be finished with bias tape. I used some pretty floral tape from Bessie Pearl Textiles. 

I wanted to love it (that color!) but, it's been hanging there for 2 weeks and I have had no desire to wear it. Blergh.

My current WIP, NL6551, is working out well. I am not FULLY loving it, but I am not unhappy with it! I love the fabric, the color, the style.

I have the collar partially attached. Once that's done, I have the other sleeve to hem, buttonholes, and buttons. Yay!