Sheer Summer Blouse!

Cat toy, because cats

Bathroom selfie, of course.

I think Dee was kind of scared when I was making this, and not just of the scraggly way the neckline looked before I added the neckband. She may have been rehearsing how she was going to tell me that there was NO WAY I could wear such a sheer blouse in public.

My sweet wife doesn't understand the Way of the Cami. 

This is Simplicity 1315 in a super-sheer Goodwill Mystery Fabric (that I got for $2). I'm thinking it's a synthetic organza or very light chiffon. It has absolutely no stretch and a light body with a relatively crisp drape. 

I cut the size for my high bust and didn't make any alterations for fit, since the design ease on this is so generous. I French-seamed everything, even the neckband. I simply folded it in half and applied it a lot like a t-shirt band. That made it narrower than the photo from the packet, but I prefer that look.

Hems were a little tricky. I tried to hem the sleeves using my narrow hemmer foot, and it was ok, but there were a few spots where the fabric didn't fold all of the way under. So, I turned it under one more time and did my best. For the lower hem, I made the narrowest turned-under hem that I could. 

To keep the fabric from acting up, I switched out my throat plate for straight stitching and used a straight-stitch foot. I followed everyone's advice and used a completely fresh sewing needle. I don't always do that, but it made sense for this project. 

I machine-washed the fabric on gentle and dried it on low before I started. I will probably handwash and hang the top to dry. The fabric did this weird crinkly thing along the cross-grain when I put it in the dryer and I definitely don't want to have to press all of that out, again. For the record, I hang about 75% of my clothes to dry, but I don't  handwash a lot (except for qiviut socks).

If anyone out there needs an extra reason to try Goodwill as a fabric source: when it's this cheap, you're not afraid of messing up your fabric. You just go for it. 

Changing Horizontal Elbow Dart to Vertical Dart

p. 112

Source

Vertical Darts (Including Princess Seams)

p. 84-85

I can't claim to really understand  how this works, but it looks cool!

Reading this book has made me feel much less stingy about buying patterns. This is a lot of work!

Source

Changing a Bust Dart Into Shoulder Dart Tucks

p. 62

Source

Fitting: Two Problems with Sleeves

Sometimes, it's not the pattern's fault.

p. 36

Source

Fitting: Armhole Too Tight or Too Loose

p. 36

Source

Fitting: Neckline Too Low or Too High

p. 35

Source

Fitting: Size Too Large or Shoulders Too Big

p. 35

Source

Identifying Fit Trouble

p. 32-33

"The most important characteristic of a well fitted garment...consists in its absolute freedom from wrinkles or puckers...Having made a tentative decision...magnify the trouble by pulling or pinning at the seat of the difficulty to verify your own opinion. If this causes a deeper wrinkle you are probably right and to correct the trouble you can release the garment to the point discovered. If this doesn't remove the wrinkle, pull or lift the cloth in the opposite corner and pin it over to note results."

A friend of mine told me she gave up on making clothes for herself because she would have trouble making a dress fit and couldn't figure out how to fix it!

And, a little parting note at the end of this section:

"Time, technical skill, human labor, intelligence and inspiration are the secrets of producing distinction in a well-fitted dress."

Source

Fitting Tip for the Bust

p. 31

"It is very easy to fit the blouse too closely through the bust at the first fitting, because the sleeves are not basted in place. After altering the blouse pin sleeves in place to check on this point."

Source

Testing for Overall Fit

p. 30-31

"Garments fitted too closely tend to slip up when being worn. Try sitting in a chair to test tightness over hips, and crossing the arms to touch the shoulders with the finger tips for tightness across the  back. Bend the arms and try to reach over the head to test tightness of sleeves."

Source

Yoga Shorts - Finished!

These "Yoga" Shorts are strictly for sleeping and lying on the couch while watching movies with my baby. Perfecto!

They were easy to sew and included with this Craftsy class. 

Paper Fitting Tip

p. 17

When paper fitting: "In general cloth will appear larger and looser than does paper."

Source

Re-Made Tshirt

I'm happy to report that the "test" from last week went fine, so I went ahead and recut a men's 2X t-shirt into a shirt for myself. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself!

Often, buying an existing garment and cutting it down is cheaper than buying new fabric. It's weird, but that's what the global economy has wrought! 

Sizing Up

I love how she can't resist the admonition: "If all this seems too much trouble, how much more sensible it would be to purchase the correct size in the first place!"

Source

Making A Muslin

Testing out a sizing/FBA issue on some really, really thin and kind of not-pretty jersey I picked up on sale at Hancock Fabrics. 

Siege of Sewing!

Happy Thanksgiving, to all who celebrate it!

p. 6

I just think this is cute.

"Each season before beginning a "siege of sewing", which most of us indulge in at intervals, study the fashion magazines to note style tendencies. If possible, secure a high class French fashion portfolio, several high class American fashion magazines, and several pattern quarterlies which are available in every local community, noting advertisements in magazines and newspapers as well."

All good advice, I think!

Source

Reading Practical Dress Design: A Laboratory Manual in Fitting and Free-Hand Pattern Making, by Mabel Erwin (1933)

Ok, lovelies. This is the kind of thing that used to drive my coworker Joyce crazy. I think she thought my interest in old drawings/photos/books was a bit strange, and certainly not blog fodder.

The "vintage"  Math4Knitters shows have all been replayed! I'm working on a new series that I will launch at the beginning of 2016. 

In the interim, my Throwback Thursday posts will be all about me reading this sewing book from the 1930s. It seems to have a lot of great information in it on fitting and design details. I have a copy from my local library, but there's also a version online here. 

I'm ignoring her "purchase a new corset" advice and taking away the parts that I think seem useful! I think, at this time, a lot of sewing patterns were sold with just one size at a time, so grading in between sizes was harder. But, it still seems like sound advice for choosing a size to start from a multi-size pattern.

p. 5

How to choose the best size, when you are in-between sizes. 

- Try tightening your measuring tape to the smaller size and loosening it to the larger size, to really see the difference between the two on your body. You may be comfortably closer to one or the other. 

- The larger size can usually be altered easily by adding a tuck.

- In general, choose the best fit for the section of the dress/garment that has the most design details. For example, if a dress has pleats or yokes in the hip area, choose your size based on the hip measurement.

- If your measurements are very different from the ones in the pattern's size chart (bust is one size, waist is another, hip is yet another), try to choose dress patterns that have a waistline seam and gore lines, so that you'll have a better time fine-tuning the fit. 

The larger size might be best when:

- You have wide shoulders. (That's me!)

- Your body is shaped more like an oval than a circle.

- You have a high bust.

The smaller size might be best when:

- Your body is shaped more like a circle than an oval.

- You have a low bust.

- Your hips are small, in proportion to your bust.

Sometimes You Rip, Sometimes You Sew

Here's one of the many things knitting taught me that also applies to sewing and life.

When you don't like what you're getting, and you can do it over, just do it over. 

Otherwise the bad job you did on that seam/gauge swatch/email will haunt you for as long as you care to think about or use the thing. 

My Appleton Dress!

So...

About 4 months into my sewing journey, I took most of last Sunday and made this. 

I was a little afraid to spend that much on a kit, BUT, I had already pinned the same fabric from a different website with a note: "buy 2.5 yards and make a dress for yourself."

It felt like fate! I was afraid it might be too hard for me, but the instructions were clear, with diagrams showing every step along the way. 

I only made two changes: I added 1" of ease to the biceps and I cut about 6" off one of the ties. It was just too long. My mega arms have made dresses and shirts hard to fit since I was about 6 years old, so I'm totally ok with making that adjustment. 

The curved neckline is super comfy and the skirt length is perfect. I was a little nervous at having a "straight" skirt, but it fits well. I generally like my skirts to have at least an A-line, but I'm thinking that what really matters is the correct fit. 

I especially love the novel feeling of not needing to wear a cami under the dress. I know some people would do that, but the neckline is so snug that I don't mind wearing it as a deep v-neck. Us short, curvy girls benefit from that neckline shape! I have other wrap dresses that really need a cami underneath and I think it makes the overall fit not nearly as awesome. Plus, I spend all day pulling it into place under my dress. Or maybe I need higher-quality camis in my life. 

And, for those of you who wear tights with their dresses - this fabric doesn't cling to tights. At all. Ever. 

So, to sum up: Great fit = no safety pins or cami needed!