A dress for March.

It has been ages since my last post and not all that time has been spent making my dress. I finished it a week ago but it takes me forever to get the photos done.

The dress is another old Style pattern. Number 1134 from 1975 again. I seem to have bought a lot of patterns around that time when I was looking at dresses in the shops and saying to myself  "I can make that!". I actually did make this dress a couple of times before and had wanted to make another one. The fabric has been in the stash for some years and was always ear-marked for this particular pattern. Now they have finally been united, but it was a long-winded affair.

First I dithered over whether I would be sorry after I'd cut the thing out. What if I didn't like it or it didn't fit, the pattern is 30 years old and my middle is 30 years older also. I spent hours measuring and re-measuring the pattern and myself. Then I allowed extra at the side seams just in case. This proved to be unnecessary so the finished dress is as the pattern size.

The only alterations I made were a forward shoulder adjustment, took the centre front seam in a little at the neckline to fix some gaposis and made an all in one facing instead of the separate neckline and armhole facings.

 Not too sure how flattering this dress is. I am lucky to be still slim at my age but I am rather shapeless having next to no waist or hips, a true column or rectangle. I love the colour, it's one of my favourite shades of  blue and I am currently building a holiday wardrobe around blue so it fits in with the general theme. Whether I will wear it is another story.

Next project is a pull-on  A-line skirt in stretch crepe with blue scribble. I only have 1 metre so a couple of the patterns I considered won't fit.

  I really fancied Style Arc's Gorgeous Gore skirt, but that needs 1.3m and will require major manipulation of the pattern and fabric. I enjoy that sort of challenge. Failing that there is always Vogue's 1247 leaving out the darts and zip and inserting elastic at the waist. I can do that, or finally an old A-line pattern with the side seam straightened and an elastic casing added which would be simplest. The options are endless as is the decision making.

The quest for the perfect pants

Several years ago I made a gingham check muslin from McCalls 2953 Palmer/Pletsch 3 hour Perfect Trousers fitting shell which included their flat bottom tuck down the back leg. What I learned from the exercise was that my hips are completely flat at the sides and my waist is 3 sizes larger than the pattern for my hip size. But I still suffered from droopy bottom in every pair of pants I made thereafter.

After I finished my January top I decided to have another go at the muslin which, when I put it on, wasn't too bad and seemed to hang fairly smoothly at the back so I made a few more alterations.

Raised front waist 5cm tapering back down to the side seam.
Added width to front waist (size 18) tapering to size 14 at hip and size 10 at leg. I later removed the extra and brought the waist back to size 16.
Added to back waist height but took it out again later as not needed.
Cut back size 14 tapering to size 12 at hip then size 8 at leg.
Took in 2 cm tuck through back and leg as per Palmer/Pletsch instructions.
Left out back darts - not needed. I'm very flat across lower back.
Lowered back crotch a bit (this was a guess, it wavered between size 12 and 18 and didn't follow any particular measurement)


I made another muslin this time using some grey check fabric that has been hanging around for a long time. I wanted to use the check so I could see the horizontal and vertical lines easily.

  

I used a New Look pattern from 2000 that had been a dismal failure the first time I made it.  At that time I made View B  with pleats - shudder - my tummy and I don't do pleats. Lesson learned. However the pattern included a pair of flat front pants with darts and straight legs, which looked possible . I cut the pattern using the alterations and measurements from my fitting shell and made them up without any further adjustments except for length.

New Look 6736

To say I was surprised is an understatement. Before I put the waistband on I stitched the side seam at the waist a little closer and added my usual tiny dart either side of the centre front to bring the waistband in over my high round tummy.

See the straight side seams and the horizontal lines

I have a slightly crooked spine and twisting to take the photos didn't help, but just look at how smoothly the back of the legs fall. I'm ecstatic.

These pants aren't perfect but they are the closest I have ever been. I have learned so much about my weird shape, especially how to cope with a little basketball for a tummy and a flat as a board bottom. They still need one or two minor tweaks. They are a bit roomy and the waist is actually a little loose but that is easily fixed and I might increase the flat bottom tuck by a further half centimetre, but all in all I can't think of many more improvements I could make. If I fiddle too much I take the risk of over-fitting. I'm so pleased with these I may tackle the tapered leg pants on the right some time.

One more look at the back

I'm hoping those those curving lines at the back of my right leg are because I'm twisting sideways.

Thanks for reading through my babble. It is mainly so that I can remember what I did right so I can do it again next time. I'm very bad at taking notes and usually rely on my memory which good as it is, isn't always infallible. 

For February I think I'm making a dress, that is unless I change my mind. ;)

Cheers everyone.

Vintage Style

The top I have made for January MAGAM is an old Style Pattern from 1975. I have quite a few Style patterns in my stash all dating from the mid 70s to 1991. Some I bought new myself and some used ones I got from the op shop.

This was a very quick project. The fabric is cotton jersey from Spotlight  and the pattern is just four pieces. It is suitable for woven and jersey fabrics. Because of the loose fit I straight stitched the seams then finished them with the overlocker.

 The neckline is more boat-shaped than the illustration would suggest, but it isn't too wide. It was supposed to be finished with bias binding but I made a skinny facing, understitched it, topstitched it and trimmed it back with the overlocker. 

My husband took a few photos for me as a nice change from mirror shots.

This is a very comfortable top, easy to get into and get out of and is just right for part of a cruise wardrobe.

Not quite the pattern illustration.

I am very pleased with this simple little top. So easy to make and so easy to wear. It is a pity it is no longer available, although I did see one copy on etsy.  It will definitely go on the make again pile.

Bye for now ;)

November MAGAM skirt ..then nothing

I finished my third Rachel Comey skirt Vogue 1247 towards the end of November, then ground to a halt. My mojo packed her bags, said "hooroo" (that's aussie for goodbye) and vanished out the door. I had made the skirt for Christmas so felt no urgency to chase after her, instead choosing to mess around in my sewing room doing precious little.

I kept postponing my photo session and when I finally put the skirt on I discovered to my horror that I had added a little fluff around my high hip/waist and the skirt was now a bit tight. I sucked everything in and took the pics then hoping to shed the fluff between the beginning of December and Christmas I put it aside and on Christmas morning put it on. Nope, no better. 11.30 am found me sitting in my undies at the sewing machine letting the side seams out from the waist to the hip seam, turning what had been 1.5cm seams into 6mm seams. It took only a matter of minutes and I could breathe again, literally as well as figuratively speaking.

I wore the skirt on Christmas Day with a black top. The green one is tucked up around my waist for photography purposes.

The fabric was another remnant from Spotlight. As I had only 1 metre and the print is directional I had a lot of fun fitting the pattern onto the fabric. I did a lot of clever folding and made it fit with only a few scraps left over.

 It is a quite firm cotton with bunches of cherries or similar and looks quite festive, I think. It fits comfortably now and coped with Roast Turkey, Plum Pudding etc.

 The New Year sees me with a navy and white wide striped top cut out and waiting to be sewn, but after that I'm not sure where to go.

An old pattern from 1975 I'm making the blue top on the right.

I have made a garment every month since mid 2013 when I joined Sarah Liz's Style the Stash Sew-a-long followed by the Make A Garment A Month Challenge in 2014 and my wardrobe is bulging at the seams. :) Apart from shopping trips and a fortnightly visit to the library my clothing needs are more of the retired lady of the house variety and I have an abundance of those. I have whittled down my stash to a few cold weather pieces and a dress or top length or two but I don't need anything more at the moment and I would be sewing them just for the sake of using up the fabric.

Now that MAGAM has moved across to Facebook I think I may take a break from a firm commitment and just make something when I really want to. I have a lot of quilting stash so perhaps I'll piece another quilt top. Or maybe I'll buy some real fabric and make something special for our next cruise in April. Meanwhile the navy and white top is calling me so I will finish it and see where we go from there.

Happy New Year to all and may your sewing always be a joy.

Whittling down the stash.

October was a busy month for me, with three family birthdays and quite a bit of sewing and I have finally made myself sit down and write about the sewing part of it.

First off I made my Style Arc Slip on Suzie dress which I introduced at the end of September. This is a very nice dress which caused very little trouble except for a bit of gaposis at the crossover neckline. This I managed with a few stitches to hold the wrap in place and will take a tuck out of the pattern before the next time it is made.

Thinking that it looks a little shapeless on my shapeless body I made a tie with the excess I cut off the hemline. Not sure if it looks much different.

Either way I like the dress and found it very easy and comfortable to wear. The fabric is a Retro printed stretch poly which is very stretchy, easy to get into and out of.

Next I dipped into my lucky dip basket and came up with, you guessed it, another jersey. This time a nice lemony yellow which was labelled as Colorado Cotton Jersey, colour Butter. The pattern I had matched with it was an old Vogue 9904. Both pattern and fabric are from my stash. I have had the pattern for several years and have used it once before, so I was quite happy to cut it out without hesitation. The only alteration I made from the original was to straighten the side seams as they curved out to fit an hourglass shape, which I am not! However I should have allowed a little more ease as it is a bit snug across my tummy.

 I really must do something about getting a remote for my camera as these mirror shots are not wonderful.

On to the next item. The inspiration for these was a Craftsy Sewing Kit, a pair of linen pants.

This outfit really caught my eye, especially with the navy top and I thought I might buy the kit which was half price at the time. Well the postage was more than the sewing kit and made the total over $60. As Spotlight was selling McCalls patterns for about $6 and I had some natural colour cotton linen blend in my stash which had been there since forever, I said forget it, I'll make my own version.

The pattern is McCalls 6843 and while the picture on the envelope looks like pyjama pants the finished pants look something like my inspiration.

It's a pity McCall's didn't get their sample maker to press the seams before the photo shoot.

The slight bulge in my side seams has been removed since the photo was taken. I trimmed the seams twice before I was satisfied with the end result. I don't know why I didn't cut the legs to a smaller size in the first place. Anyway I am quite satisfied with the finished pants and think they will be quite pleasant to wear in warm weather. The cotton component stops them from wrinkling too much. I made a pair of shorts from the same fabric some years ago and they have worn well.

I have bought some nice navy linen for a top after the style of my inspiration pic but have yet to find a suitable pattern so November's sewing project is another Vogue 1247 skirt in a print fabric.

Until then....

Lucky dip.

A few weeks ago I looked at all my patterns and all my fabric and couldn't decide what to sew next. I always have trouble deciding which pattern would be the best match with that particular piece of fabric and if I went with that one maybe I would be sorry and wish I had gone with the other one. So I started to match up some of the fabric with patterns I thought would go nicely together and ended up with twelve pairings. A couple of these had an alternate pattern or fabric. These I wrote down on a Project Planner sheet that I printed off from the Craftsy website. I can't supply a link as I can't find it anymore. Luckily I downloaded the pdf.

Next step was to decide which project to make first so I wrote them all down on bits of paper, put them in a basket and drew one out. The winner was...

A striped top made from a Japanese premium knit jersey using New Look 6779 OOP, my sort-of-TNT top. I have made this top 4 or 5 times before and I like how it fits but the neckline has been changed a few times. I cut a size 12 but should have added a little extra ease around the tummy.It's a bit snug but not tight and it clings to the knit fabric of my skirt.

I had a few problems while making this top. First, jersey curls (and curls and curls). Second the pattern has 5/8" seams so in the interests of accuracy I had to pin the seams every 1/2" to make the fabric lie flat enough to sew. Finally I wanted to overlock the seams and trim them back to 1/4". While doing the back seam and concentrating on keeping those pesky curls under control, suddenly disaster struck. Ohh nooo! I'd caught a fold of the back under the knife and cut a half inch slice in my top.

I cut a scrap of material and a piece of fusible webbing and patched the cut from the wrong side matching the stripes. Can you see the repair?

I'm so relieved that I was able to save this top.I think I will give jersey a miss for a while.
                                        


Next one out of the hat is Style Arc's Slip on Suzie a faux wrap dress in a Retro Printed Knit Polyester, another Spotlight special from a few years ago. The minute I saw this pattern I knew it had to be made in this fabric. Wish me luck!

August stashbusting

The theme for August was stashbusting, so I took the opportunity to scrounge among those pesky remnants that we all manage to collect and came up with a couple of "colour blocked garments".
Naturally I couldn't find any pieces that were big enough to make something that looked reasonable so I just hacked a bit off here and there and came up with this for my granddaughter.

Kwik Sew 3234

The pattern is a girl's pyjama top but I figured a top is a top and it was the only kids pattern I have anyway.

Kwik Sew 2965

Next I salvaged a few pieces in 3 colours and cobbled together this top for myself. Suitable for around the house in summer.What else can I say.

While I was in salvage mode I lopped the bodice off the house dress I made last year. I only wore it twice. It had an acute case of gaposis at the back neckline and the long back zipper was more than my bad shoulder could cope with.

It will be much more useful as a summer skirt. I finished the waist with some pale blue bias tape from my collection.

Let's hope September will be more inspiring.