Burda 1/2019 #116

I have several Ogden camis and it's such a great pattern but I knew that I wanted something different for this piece of Atelier Brunette viscose challis (colorway is Moonstone). I poked around the pattern collection and the internet quite a bit but, Burda to the rescue (as per usual)! 

I just could not get the color to pick up correctly taking the pics solo with my phone!!

This is a petite pattern but I only needed to adjust the waist because I'm a bit short from shoulder to bust anyway. I used a 40 for the neckline and a 42 for the rest. I'm not wearing a bra here (yay! reduction!!) but I did try it on with a bra. The back was fine (we all know that the band should sit below the shoulder blades, right?) but the front sits low, I'm not sure what the "right" bra would be for this style top.

I ended up shortening the straps about 1.25", topstitching them in back and hand sewing them in front. 

I'm not a purist y'all. I will sew french seams when french seams need to be sewn...I just don't care that much. LOL!!! So serger seams it is. I used a mix of dark grey and blue since I didn’t have a match. 

The pattern is cut on the bias but includes half pattern pieces. Be a good sewer and make full pattern pieces :-p I'm not so I cut one half, mark the center line at top and bottom, flip the pattern piece and cut the other side. 

You can see in the pic above that the bodice lining has a dart...and in the pic below that the main piece has pleats. The bodice and lining are sewn together at the neckline and armhole and then attached as one to the lower bodice. The side seams are sewn, then the back facing folded over. I tacked it down at the side seams by hand. 

I didn't do a *great* job matching the font at the center. If I make it again I'll baste by hand and sew both sides in one pass. Also, I accidentally pressed the pleats the wrong way and they just did not want to go back. WAHHH! We'll see how it goes the first time I wash it.

The upper part here is the back facing and I did a rolled hem on that piece. On the hem, I tried the Banroll method where you use the little comb and stitch and turn and stitch and meh. It's a little more stable than the rolled hem on this delicate fabric but it's cumbersome and I don't know the situation in which I'd say it's preferred. YMMV. 

I'm working on seaming up my sweater...may take me a bit. but it's coming!! 

February Wrap-up and March Plans

This month I sewed 5 items for a total of 6 3/8 yards.
I sewed:

• McCall's 6044 shirt for my son in law - 1.5 yards
• cotton shirting
• buttons

• McCall's 6016 shirt for my grandson - 5/8 yard
• cotton shirting
• snaps

• Simplicity 8529 top - 1.25 yards from stash
• black and olive french terry

• Burda 6990 top - 1.5 yards
• teal and tan rayon jersey

• Burda 8/2016 top - 1.5 yards
• cotton jersey

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Those shirts for my guys! They turned out really well and I did my best work on them! So excited to see some pics.

Also, I DID NOT BUY ANY FABRIC or PATTERNS IN FEBRUARY! Woohoo!!!! I am still waiting for my Ottobre mags that I ordered 1/25 :( Apparently, they weren't aware of some new USPS rule about declarations of contents. Ugh.

FAILS: Burda 8/2016 is a giant fail. I do not sew cotton jersey (aside from loungewear or leggings) and I need to stick to that. I have never been happy with a finished garment made from a cotton-lycra knit. And I really splurged on this fabric. I won't consider it a total waste though. The pattern pieces are pretty big so I'm thinking I'm going to cut a t-shirt for Bert and maybe a headband for me. 

FAVE: Aside from the shirts, I'd say the S8529 top. I really love the color blocking! 

(I pressed the hem out after this pic! LOL!)

The Burda 6990 may not make an appearance soon so I'm posting it here. I really wanted the teal on top but didn't have enough of the scraps and now I'm not as happy about it. 

Burda 8/2016 was fully finished but this pic shows the blahness that is the neckline. It just does NOT look good on. And I had a couple of people message me on Instagram that their versions didn't turn either. 

And, y'all know me, I move on!

March Plans

I've finished my first project - a bias cut cami from Burda 1/2019 in an Atelier Brunette challis that I picked up from Stonemountain and Daughter. It was a fun make and I think I'd use this pattern again. I'll do a full review!

And I haven't forgotten about my goal of a finished machine knit project each quarter. I am SO intimidated by my lack of knowledge with this craft! EEK! It's so unlike me to be cautious like this but I just feel there's so much I don't know. 

I'm using a pattern that 1)I've tried before (but I used a yarn that was too lightweight and it was too short and too small) and 2) that's actually pretty simple. The front and back are rectangles resulting in a dropped shoulder look and the sleeve is a simple, gradual increase. I'm going to see it through to the end. Even though I knit one panel and it came up 2+" longer than I expected (and I made a swatch!!)

I also need to finish my brother's club covers. I got held up with how to work with the nylon fabric but a microtex needle and slightly longer stitch seems to be the way to go.

I also want to sew this jacket from Burda 6/2018:

I have a few Cricut projects to work on this month as well...

Burda 1/2018 #119 in POLKA DOTS!

I made this hoodie a few years ago (here). WOW, time flies! I wear it ALL THE TIME and have intended to make a 2nd one for forever. 

I picked up this polka-dot sweatshirt fleece on my trip to Fabric Mart in 2018, so it was long overdue to be sewn up. 

I used a straight size 40, same as last time. I added 1" to the sleeve length and did a slash and spread vertically on the pocket to add an inch. Look at the difference! So much more useful now!

Everything about this pattern is just so perfect to me! I love the shoulder line, the sleeve, the binding, the curved seams, the length, the hood fits...it's just AWESOME!!

I didn't have any black bias tape and was going back and forth on adding a pop of color. Ultimately, I decided to just take advantage of the white dots. I actually used an off-white as the white seemed to be too bright. I really love the binding details included on this pattern!!

I went with a black nylon zipper, eyelets for the drawstring, some white cording, and silver cord stops. 

I am coming to like dropped shoulders now that I am less busty. The sleeves are nice and roomy. The have this large pleat at the top and the lower edge is eased into a cuff.

I wear this one all the time too and sometimes there's a little competition between which hoodie will win the day :-p 

This is what I wore to work today but I had a solid cardigan on hand that I swapped out for the 2 interviews I held! hahahaha! No one knew I was sporting leggings and sneakers. I guess there's a silver lining to be found in eternally working from home :-p

Burda 1/2021 #120

I'm so far behind on blogging! GAH! And then on Saturday, it was really bright and I knew I should have gotten some photos taken but didn't. What happened Sunday? It snowed all day and was overcast. Grr. 

I sewed this pattern earlier this year for my daughter here. I knew that this Veronica Beard fabric that I'd been hoarding was a perfect pairing to the pattern.

Here's a VB jacket using the fabric 

And V9286

I don't remember the composition and it was on FabricMart as a boucle. The Nordstrom's site lists the jacket as a cotton blend tweed with the following composition: 64% cotton, 27% linen, 8% polyester, 1% elastane.

It was a really great fabric to work with! I may have enough left over for a skirt! We'll see!! 

I used my normal Burda sizing - a 40 neckline and bust, graded to a 42 waist and 44 hip. I ended up adding a CB seam to do a swayback adjustment (5/8") and add some shaping. 

It's a pretty straightforward sew. The darts. AH! It has bust darts and the sleeve has 7 darts (3 on each side and one at the hem). That was not fun. It was totally not fun in this striped, ravelly fabric. But I do love the finished product, so it was worth it!

I adjusted the belt width to fit the 1.25" D-ring I had on hand (I think the pattern called for 2"). But otherwise, sewn as per the pattern!

I've already worn it several times since finishing it. It's so cozy and fun to wear, and the stripe makes it fairly versatile with bottoms in my wardrobe. 

I have a host of finished things to blog, making a list here to help myself! :)

S2892 top

Burda 3/2011 dress

S9011 dress

Burda 1/2018 sweatshirt

S8529 sweatshirt

Burda 6990 top

My plans for February included muslining a jeans pattern for my husband. But then we found a pair that fit him really well, and I bought 2 so I'm not sure this is a priority for now. I am almost done with the golf club covers for my brother:

And, I was sewing a shirt for my son-in-law's birthday! I hope to get photos of him in it but for now, I have some detail shots. I used McCall's 6044, a TNT for many sewers, and a Brooks Brothers cotton shirting from SR Harris. 

I got these Kylie & The Machine labels from Maker Mountain Fabrics on etsy. The "You Can't Buy This" label was perfect for a gift!

shout out to the edge-stitch foot! It's a game changer!

I used a technique from a 1986 issue of Threads (I have the archive) for the collar. It's very clean, though also, the shirting was pretty rigid and that made it a little tougher to work with cleanly.

I used french seams throughout that I then serged and topstitched. One time I did flat-felled seams but I just don't care enough to go through all of that. 

For the hem, I stitched at 5/8" then turned twice and topstitched. 

For the buttonhole side, I reversed the sewing of the band. I attached on the inside first, turned it out, then pressed under and topstitched. It adds a little bit of texture. 

Excuse the excessive wrinkles in this pic but, I was doing my final press and scorched the front right above the pocket, and I was doing all sorts of stuff to get it out. By the time I noticed these wrinkles, I had already turned the iron off :) I did press them out before packing up the finished shirt!

I very rarely do a buttonhole on the collar stand. I often find that area  little too bulky to do it well but it worked out fine this time!

For the sleeves, I stitched at 1/4", folded under and pressed, then turned up the remaining 1" hem allowance and topstitched. 

For baby, I used McCall's 6016, in the smallest size, and used snaps instead of buttons. 

The collar stand on this pattern. Gah. It took so much effort! AND, I had to actually sew ease stitching to insert these sleeves! Ugh! They really should have been able to be sewn flat. 

I have an Ottobre pattern for shirts that I'm excited to try in the future. It starts at ~2T but at the rate Bert is growing, that won't be too far away! :)

Can't believe this month is almost over!

January Wrap-up and February Plans

This month was an interesting one...I sewed a total of 8.25 yards and 6 items. The interesting part?

I only sewed Burda magazine patterns this month. This was not intentional! Just...getting good use of my sub I suppose! :)

• Burda 1/2021 top - 1.25 yards (reviewed here)
• floral crepe ITY knit from FabricMart (stash)

• Burda 1/2021 cardigan/jacket - 2 yards (for my daughter, reviewed here)
• Cream/light tan cotton boucle from SR Harris
• D-rings, twill tape, sew-in snap

• Burda 1/2021 cardigan jacket - 2.25 yards (for me!)
• striped cotton blend boucle from FabricMart (stash)
• D-rings, twill tape, sew-in snap

• Burda 1/2018 hoodie - 2 yards
• black polka-dot sweatshirt knit from FabricMart (stash)
• zipper, eyelets, bias tape, cord stops

• Burda 6/2014 jumper - 0.75 yards (baby)
• denim blue jersey knit from Fashion Fabrics Club (stash)
• Cricut iron-on, zipper

• Burda 6/2014 jumper - 0.75 yards (baby)
• Black & olive cotton lycra knit (considered scraps so not counted in fabric total)
• Cricut iron-on, zipper

Favorite: Whew. This is tough. It was a SUPER successful month. If I had to choose an absolute favorite, I'd say the hoodie. I've wanted another (sewed this pattern before, here and here) and it has come together so well --save me managing to not have a 22" separating zipper on hand, buying a Coates & Clark (meh) one from JA and it turns out it was NOT separating,  unpicking it, and then waiting on a new one from Wawak. 

FAILS: None! Woohoo! Unless I want to hold that flub above with the zipper against myself :-p

Accomplishments: I think that I sewed simple projects this month, but infused some life into them. I really love how everything turned out. AND, 5 of the 6 were from stash fabrics/scraps. Can't beat that!

I think I wore my Burda cardigan the day after finishing it! :)

This hoodie is SO epic! 

Literally love everything about it. I'll get the zipper inserted this weekend.

One of the jumpers as a WIP :-D

This month, I purchased 8 yards of fabric:

• 1.5 yards of a Japanese striped knit from Marcy Tilton. I was inspired by Renee of Miss Celie's Pants and her awesome travel wardrobe. I have heard good things about the fabric at M.T., but never ordered. I placed my order on Saturday, January 16th and it didn't ship until the 30th. I wasn't too pleased with that and if Covid is affecting their output to that extent, it may be awhile before I order again. Not saying I don't understand or ragging on the company - *I* don't expect to wait ~3 weeks for a fabric order. 
• 2 yards of a printed cotton woven from Fabric Mart for my travel bags
• 2.5 yards of (amazing!) Brooks Brothers shirting from SR Harris for a birthday shirt for my son-in-law and a matching one for baby.
• 2 yards of boucle woven that was used for my daughter's Burda jacket

None of this fabric will be stashed - woot!

I purchased 5 patterns and 2 Ottobre kids magazines.

• Ottobre really is the best bet for kids patterns.  I paid $28 with the shipping and exchange rate (WEAK US DOLLAR ALERT!) but for $14 each, sooooo worth it. There's some good stuff in these 2 issues, especially for a California baby (hello bucket hat!). 

• I also purchased a tee/bodysuit pattern from Brindille and Twig. I've heard good things but at $7.50+ per pattern, Ottobre is hands down the better option. And now, Bert and other babies that I've made gifts for have worn the garments, and I have a better idea of their sizing. 
• I purchased 3 New Look patterns (I'm a fan of their patterns, the sizing/fit, and the price!)

I also purchased McCall's 6016 for baby as I've seen a ton of great versions and I must've purged that baby shirt pattern that I had in stash (grrrrr!)

I had a machine knitting lesson this month where I focused on learning to use the electronics of my machine - part of the issue is that I have what is technically a KH910 but the board is a KH950. So it has the capabilities of the 950, which isn't in the 910 manual...but it looks like a 910 so the 950 manual wasn't "right". I now know how to use the 950 and 910 manuals together, but there are still things I have to do manually e.g., in the fair isle swatch below, I have to keep track of how many rows to knit before changing colors where as the 950 notifies you of color changes. 

I  feel confident enough to try out a project. For now, I'm thinking something with a bit of fair isle near the hem because I still have to learn how to do decreases while working in a pattern.

A hot tip I posted on IG today:

The phone (in my case iPhone) camera, zoomed in, is an excellent resource for checking needle details!

My January plans from my last post:

finish my cardigan - DONE

knit a cowl for my mom - DONE

make some golf club covers for my brother -   Muslined. He had to cancel our fabric store trip so we're going today. 

make a hoodie - DONE (okay, fine, needs its zipper)

My February plans:

Sew M6044 for SIL

Sew M6016 for baby

Sew the golf club covers

Muslin Thread Theory Fulford jeans for my husband 

Make a pair of plaid, pleated trousers. I'm not sure on pattern yet but I know I did NOT like M7726. Maybe I'll give M7982 a go (previously muslined, never sewed them up). 

Until later!