Facing one's fears Part 2

My snakeskin slippery fabric has been successfully made into a nice little top.It was cut out in January and sewn in February. All the anxiety caused by the thought of the tricky fabric proved to be premature and I had no real problem.

 

 I used french seams throughout as the cut edges were prone to whiskers, a few of which I had to trim from the french seams, but otherwise it was no trouble at all. I used a 75/11 universal needle and changed the pressure of the presser foot to 1 which was recommended by my manual for lightweight fabrics like chiffon and georgette.

The Elegant Escape dress  has had the side seams taken in a little and I lowered the front of the neckline. I scooped it bit too much and lost the boat shape which is unfortunate but it doesn't strangle me any more and I will wear it now. 

I am off on a cruise in two weeks so will not be sewing for a little while. I will use the time to consider what I would like to make next.

Facing one's fears

Christmas has been and gone, the New Year has been and gone and here it is almost February. I eventually finished my Elegant Escape dress but I fear it looks better on Myrtle than it does on me. I may salvage the fabric for something else one day but in the meantime it goes into the magic wardrobe.

I foolishly promised myself I would join Jungle January this year and had a piece of snakeskin georgette and New Look 6035 ready to make a little sleeveless top. Well every time I picked up that soft, silky, slithery georgette I backed away in terror. I swear the longer I sew the less confident I get.

To take my mind off it, I resorted to sewing a very make it up as I go along quilt top from some strips I originally intended for a border for my grandson's quilt. It is now sandwiched and waiting to be quilted. It's likely to wait a long while. I love piecing and don't like quilting.

This brings me up to last week when I faced my fears and put scissors to fabric. The sky didn't fall in, the fabric didn't slither off the cutting table and in fact it wasn't difficult at all. At present I have a centre back french seam, staystitched neckline and gathering in the front. I expect to get it finished in no time at all.

Stay tuned.

Best Laid Plans...

Sometimes the plans we make don't work out and we end up doing something completely different.

My original November MAGAM was the Elegant Escape Dress and I got as far as cutting it out. However when I prepared to sew it up I realized I had completely overlooked the need to pattern match the rather large leaves on the fabric. With a seam centre front and centre back this was hideously noticeable. Myrtle was not impressed and lurked in her corner muttering things like "What did you think you were doing?", "You should have known better" and "It's not as if you didn't have enough fabric."

At about that time Fadanista started a Japanese Knot Bag sew-a-long in conjunction with Facebook group "Sew-A-Longs & Sewing Contests". Just what I needed to take my mind off that badly pattern-matched dress.

I had a remnant of border fabric left over from a quilted back-pack I made in 2008.The pattern and the fabric came from the Perth Quilt and Craft Fair that year.

Front

Back

I downloaded Fadanista's pattern and joined the sew-a-long.

 

 The result is a cute little bag which could be quite useful and a nice way to use up a remnant I had been saving for something special.

 No sooner had I finished it than I injured my back helping to shift some furniture  - very bad idea - I have been out of action more or less since. After two weeks I am gradually improving and managed to make a quilted case for my 7" tablet using a tutorial I found on the internet and that is the extent of my sewing for November. 

I may tackle the dress for December MAGAM but I've rather lost interest in it. I know the mismatched pattern centre front and back will mean it never leaves the house. Will have to see what happens.

Myrtle's first modelling gig.

The theme for the October MAGAM was UFO (Unfinished object.) I had this length of Mule Sandwashed Linen I bought at Lincraft five years ago. I had intended it for a pair of light pants but it stayed in the stash and didn't see the light of day. When the October theme was announced I thought I would use it for a skirt, which would get more wear here in summer than long pants, however lightweight.

Having made the Rachel Comey skirt Vogue 1247 three times with the waistband and zip I decided to simplify things with an elastic waist.

There is a little too much fabric at the waist as my waist and hip measurement don't vary by much so I have skimmed a tiny bit from the side seam on both sides since I took the photo. I will trim my pattern back by the same amount for next time. The rest of the pattern was made as instructed but of course I overlocked the seams instead of binding them.

A couple of mirror shots to show it does fit me as well as Myrtle.

The top is a free pattern which has been made by just about everyone in the sewing blogosphere. Colette's Sorbetto Tank Top. I myself have made it four times. It is a lovely top for the hot weather.

My next project is the Elegant Escape Dress by Savage Coco which is available here.
I am currently trimming the pages and sticking them together and have the fabric picked out ready to go.  

My new best friend

I have a new best friend and her name is Myrtle.

She came to stay yesterday and today I adjusted her measurements and checked the fit. The top was made in September 2004 and it is still one of the nicest fitting tops I have ever made.

I am very happy as I have wanted a dressmaker's model for a long time. It's only a budget model and I bought it on ebay, but I am delighted with it. An added bonus is that it comes with an adjustable stand so you can put trousers on it which might be very useful next time I tackle pants.

Now I have to sew something so I can use Myrtle.

Moving on to New Look 6407....

This proved to be quite a lengthy project and not without it's difficulties. The first problem I struck was the pattern itself. It is a multi-sized pattern but the sizes are grouped onto two separate pattern sheets. Thus, 10/14/18 on one pattern sheet and 12/16/20 on the other. I need 12/14 which involved grading between the 10/14 lines or the 12/16 lines. I did both and kept one as a spare. Using the 10/14 with the 12 drawn in I gaily cut my usual size 12 neck and shoulders angling out to 14 for the bust and waist. First mistake, this is a New Look pattern not ButMcV.

After I stitched the seams and darts I tried it on for a fitting. I couldn't get the fronts to meet in the centre. Take it off and restitch the seams at 1/4 inch and sew the vertical darts smaller front and back finishing the back ones 5cm from the hem. Try it on again, it fits now but there is a lot of gaposis at the back armhole. Unpick the shoulder seams and take a small dart in the back shoulder. Restitch from the neck leaving a small wedge of fabric dangling at the armhole where the front is wider than the back, barely 1/2 inch. Don't worry about it now, just trim it to match .


The sleeve view I chose has an upside down U shaped cut out which is bound with bias and a sleeve band with ties. Didn't fancy bows on my arms so planned to shorten the band/tie piece and stitch the band across the gap. Second mistake, the bias didn't like being forced around the U shape and by this time I was totally fed up so I closed the gap with a dart, which effectively made the bottom of the sleeve the right size and I finished it with the previously shortened band. Who needs a U-shaped cutout anyway.

Meanwhile I had been struggling with the collar. I have never had a problem with a collar before but I did with this one. No fault of the pattern. Just me. It is a separate collar stand and collar and I couldn't get everything to line up nicely but perseverance is my middle name (actually it is Cecilia, but it should be perseverance) and I got there in the end.

After all that I was really worried about the sleeves and the buttonholes but mercifully they went in without a hitch. I hemmed the bottom, sewed on the buttons and it was finished. Heave a big sigh. As a final tweak I removed the front vertical darts for slightly more ease at the front.

Why did I have so much trouble with this pattern? I don't know! I seemed to do everything wrong right from the start and I can't really blame the pattern. If I made it again  I would make a 14 to 16 as New Look doesn't seem to have the excess ease that the others have. It's a sweet little blouse but I think it needs a spell in the magic wardrobe until I have forgotten the trauma.

I didn't fall overboard

Two months ago we returned from our nice long holiday overseas. Six weeks on a ship from Fremantle to Southampton via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean and then two weeks in England visiting my husband's family. We had a wonderful time and it took quite a while to settle down to ordinary pursuits after we got back home.

I got myself organised eventually and have made a Kirsten Kimono Tee and finished a print cotton fitted blouse - New Look 6407.

I am semi happy with the Kirsten Tee. Both Lisa and Sew Jean Margaret have made it with lovely results so I was hoping for the same. I cut size M (94 cm) and remembered to add 1 cm seam allowances. I added a centre back seam which fits my shape better and overlocked all the seams. It went together very smoothly and the neck band behaved itself. It's a little more fitted than I expected from looking at the photo, especially at the hip which should be 100 cm whilst I am 94 cm, but it looks OK so I will wear it and maybe try the pattern again with different fabric and see how it goes. Perhaps go up a size.

My sewing machine decided to behave badly just as I got to the sleeve insertion. I took my foot off the pedal to readjust the fabric on a curve and the machine kept going. What!!??? Had to switch the power off to make it stop. This happened twice so I ran screaming to my resident handyman, Mr Schu. He has fixed this problem once before so I had every confidence he would do so again. It proved a little more tricky this time. It seems the little gizmo in the foot pedal that controls the stop start thingy wasn't going right back to the stop point so the machine kept going. Clear? Hmmm, yeah! but he fixed it and that's all that counts. Bless him.

Next up is the print cotton blouse which is a whole other story......