Off the Clock

I know I haven't posted in well over a month, but that's just a sign of the time of year.  Yes, things get crazy in December.  I did manage to do a little sewing but I didn't get any pics.  Everyone in the family got jammie pants and I repaired my stepson's snowmobile cover.  That counts, right? Anyway I went to the fabric store to buy another ruler cutting guide this week and I saw this purple knit faux leather that I just had to have.  I could immediately see it as contrasting sleeves on a (what else) New Look 6735.  I wasn't even deterred when I read the label that said hand wash only.  I took in the top a bit in the sleeves and the bodice because I keep finding my tops are stretching out after being washed once or twice.  The bodice is actually a much nicer fabric than what I usually buy so that may not be a problem here but I took it in anyway.  It looks great in the front, although it shows my bra lines in the back.  Hmph....

I know I'm supposed to be working on my Angela Wolf jeans but I had to buy some more denim and I got sidetracked with Style Arc's Barb's Stretch Pant in the meantime.  I got this pattern as a free download for signing up for their newsletter. I have mentioned that Daughter has been losing weight.  I took in a couple of pairs of her black work pants for her (rather substantially) but they are hanging on her again.  I figured it's time for new pants for the girl, and knowing that she needs something comfortable but office appropriate I've been eyeing this pattern.  The pattern is drafted for a stretch woven, and recommends Stretch Bengaline.  Fabricland had their members 50% off sale yesterday and I went looking to see what they have.  They don't carry Bengaline (not that I even know what that is), but the staff recommended either a ponte or the "Symphony" fabric I ended up chosing, a poly-lycra sturdy knit with a nice weight and drape and a beautifu...

Vogue 8669 & New Look 6735 Nothing for three weeks and then you get two posts in one day. After yesterday's success I was really excited to experiment a little more with tee necklines.  I have quite a few knit top patterns I haven't tried yet, mainly because every time I try a new one I decide I don't like it as much as my basic New Look 6735.  I guess I'm just a basic tee girl at heart.  I have Vogue 8669 in my pattern stash waiting to be test driven, but I am not in love with it.  As much as I like a nice cowl neck this one seems a little frumpy to me.  The tee is a loose fitting top with a very shallow cowl.  I've seen a number of interpretations online and haven't fallen in love with any of them - they just aren't my style.  When looking into cowl necks I found  this tutorial from Threads Magazine  but I'm a little bit leery of starting from scratch.  In the end I decided to take my TNT NL6735  and frankenpattern ...

I have a hunch I've probably used that title before. Anyway, I got back into the sewing room last night. I want to start on a pair of jeans using Angela Wolf's Angel Bootcut jean pattern , but she recommends prewashing and drying the fabric at least twice. I have some blue denim as well as some black denim in the stash that have been prewashed once, so I got them into the washing machine. I'm not sure if I am going to have enough fabric. The Wolf jeans calls for 2.75 meters. I only have 2.3 meters. I'm not sure why the difference. At first I thought this was because I bought according to the fabric requirements for Vogue 1204 but I just looked that up and that one calls for 2.6 meters. Maybe I did buy more but it just shrank that much in the first prewash? *(Oh wait, I just looked up my other jeans pattern, McCalls 6610 (which I haven't made yet), and it calls for 2.3 meters. That explains why I ran short on fabric making my first version of Vogue 1204 . I e...

I haven't been in the sewing room in over three weeks! I had to be out of town on business for a week and was madly scrambling to finish up Butterick 6049 early so that daughter could wear it for a Halloween party. After being up working on it until midnight the night before going out of town she did get it early but without the lining being sewn down at the waist. What started out as a fairly straight forward project ended up being a bit of a fitting nightmare. I don't have a full pic of the final version but this one (to the left) is close. I took in the bodice for a snugger fit after this pic was taken. You may remember I had hand stitched the neckline opening to make it a bit more modest but that just ended up giving it a funny shape once she tried it on, so that stitching came back out. As always I try to figure out what went wrong with a project. In this case I think part of my fitting problems came down to the fact that I used a regular cotton weave for the muslin but...

The saga continues on this dress, but I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. I was up sewing until 12:30 last night and I'm down to the homestretch. Daughter tried on the bodice yesterday and the poufs at the sides of the bust are more pronounced in the fashion fabric than they were in the muslin, likely because of the multiple layers. She didn't mind but I want perfection, darn it! This dress definitely needed a full bust adjustment for her but I have no knowledge of how to do that with the style of this bodice, so once again I just flew by the seat of my pants and added darts to the sides of the bust. I also sewed the white bust sections together for an inch or so at the front to make it a little more modest. Daughter is so busty that you could see through her cleavage almost to her waste. Ok, bit of an exageration, but you get the point. She is coming over tonight for a final fitting. In the mean time I have the skirt assembled and attached to the bodice. ...

Point is starting to look pretty good I've been continuing on with Butterick 6049 for daughter. I was having difficulty getting the points to turn out nicely, so a few more trials were in order. I didn't find anything in the sewing books I already had on hand, so I researched what I could find online. I found what I think is the best advice in this video . After getting a decent point I wanted to adjust the pattern for the gaping under the arms. Daughter is quite busty and I think that is what was causing the gaping. I decided a couple of darts were in order. I darted the muslin and had her try it on. There is still a little bit of puffiness in the triangle but it's not really obvious. I had done the full two inch adjustment in one dart on one side of the muslin and divided it into two darts on the other side. She and I both preferred the double dart as it seemed to absorb the extra puffiness better. Next up was to transfer the darts to the paper pattern. I was h...