Plaid Trials

I've avoided plaid until now.  I've never sewn with patterns that need to be matched before.  But, there was a nice plaid at work.  And it was the end of the bolt, so I got it at 75% off.  So I decided to give plaid a shot.

Well, I cut very carefully.  And went to pin it together, only to realize that the fabric must have stretched at some point.  There was nothing I could do to get the horizontal stripes to line up perfectly.  But. half an hour later, I did in fact have a passable side seam.  And I am fairly happy with the skirt overall.

I think perhaps the pleats could use an ironing.  And I wish there was a little bit more fullness to the skirt.

Final Notes:  Don't expect to see a lot more plaids around here... I like the look, but half an hour for one side seam just isn't worth it!

Better Fit Friday - The Full Back

Today is the first Better Fit Friday from the Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book.  As I mentioned in the last episode, we're going to start at the beginning and just run through all of their fitting changes.  I'm using the quarter scale slopers from Adele Margolis' book Making Your Own Dress Patterns.

Better Homes and Gardens begins alterations with the bodice back.  First they lengthen the bodice back so that the side seams are long enough.  This is done with a slash and spread just above the tip of the waist dart.  The first thing they look at then is the full back, which is what we are going to fit for today.

A Full Back adjustment may be required if the Bodice Back appears to be tight across the shoulders and there are pulls in the fabric under the arm scythe.  This fitting issue is caused primarily by rounded shoulders, which means that the shoulder darts need increased shaping to fit properly.

Deepened Dart (Orange)

The first thing that must be changed is the shoulder darts.  Start by deepening and lengthening the dart.  This may mean that the shoulder back is smaller than the shoulder front.  We'll adjust for that next.  However, for now, adjust the darts until they fit comfortably.

Next, determine how much width needs to be added at the shoulders.  Reach your arms forward and around to insure that you will have a full range of motion.  Then, check your side seams at the waist.  If they also pull to the back then you need to add width to the waist.  The amount required may be different.

Slash the Bodice Back from shoulder to waist, close the the arm scythe.  Make sure you leave both of the darts intact. Spread the two pieces based of the measurements you took above.  If the amount to be added is not the same at the waist and shoulder, angle the pieces so that more or less is added at the waist.  However, they must be gently angled lines, not a curve, or sharp angles.

Equal Adjustments (Left), Less Added to Waist (Right)

And there we have it!  Stay tuned next week for the Broad Back, Narrow Waist Adjustment.  (The people at Better Homes and Gardens had such creative names!)

Long Awaited Portrait

Today I bring you the long overdue reveal of my portrait blouse.  This is the first pattern I attempted from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing, and I've mentioned my trails with it briefly before.  

The Portrait Blouse.

I made at least 2 muslins, and am fairly sure, though have no evidence, that there was a third in there somewhere as well.  Admittedly my fitting process was not particularly methodical, however, by the final muslin I was fairly happy with it.  

To the left is the version that Gertie recently posted to her blog, made from a stable knit, which is likely the best comparison to what mine should look like.  You can read more about it here.  I also used a fairly stable knit.  It has some stretch to it, but hangs and feels much like a cotton.  During fitting I lost the cap sleeves.  This was, I'll admit, accidental.  I did a narrow shoulder adjustment while fitting, because the shoulders seemed broad and I was getting pull lines.  However, I think that these are just part of the style, not necessarily a fitting issue.  In any case, by the time I moved into my fashion fabric I was happy with the muslin.

I'm not entirely sure what changed, but I'm significantly less happy with the final version.  The biggest flaw I think is that no matter which I do, the bust darts stand out and make an unattractive point. They also aim to a point far higher than my bust point.  It doesn't seem particularly noticeable in the picture, however, it is one of those flaws that can be all I notice.  Luckily, it isn't a complete scrap, as I can still wear it layered under other things, such as the cardigan in the first image (which I don't really like as I think it hides my waist, but will keep wearing until I replace it with something nicer). 

The other flaw in the top is that I didn't do a narrow hem, as instructed.  Instead, I used some narrow twill tape as hem tape.  And while it looks nice, and would have worked perfectly on a slightly heavier fabric, here it just turns the hem out a little bit, making a tiny ruffle.  Luckily, I usually wear it tucked in, and when I wear it out over jeans the ruffle is almost completely unnoticeable. 

Conclusion: I'd like to try this again, with a lighter fabric (like a crepe), before passing final judgement.  I''m not sure if my issues with the pattern are completely from my haphazard fitting methods, or not, but I do think at least a few of my issues are from the pattern.  I'll discuss that a little more when I post my full review of the book.

Better Fit Friday: Gertie Edition

Hello, and welcome to the first edition of Better Fit Friday!

For the first edition, I'm going to go through the Full Bust Adjustment Method that Gertie outlined in her book, Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing.  In future installments, I'm going to go through the Better Homes and Garden's Sewing Book.

I've cut out quarter scale sloper pieces, from Making Your Own Sewing Patterns (my review), and I'll be preforming all of the adjustments on these small patterns.

Onward!

New lines in Orange!

The Gertie FBA

Step 1:  Identify the bust point.  This is usually half and inch, to an inch about the tip of the dart.

Step 2:  Draw a line from the waist dart, through the bust point to the arm scythe.  Draw another line from the bust point, through the bust dart.  And a third line across the bodice from the first line.  Your bodice should look like the one to the right.

Step 3:  Cut up the first line, leaving a hinge at the arm scythe.  Cut across the second line leaving a hinge at the bust point.  And cut all the way across your third line.

Step 4:  Tape some paper behind your pattern so that you can fill in the gaps you're about to make.

My lines is in blue.  And a little short...

Step 5:  Now we add the width.  In this example, I'm going to add 1/4 inch.  So, measure over 1/4" (or however much you need to add) from the line through your waist dart, and make a parallel line.

Step 6:  Open your waist dart, from the hinge at the arm scythe, until you are on the line you drew in the last step.  The tip of your bust dart will have shifted over and down.  Tape it down.  Your waist and bust darts will both be larger now.

Step 7:  Shift the other piece of your pattern down until it is level with the section you just moved.

You will need to true your darts, redrawing them so that they still go to the bust point.  And voila!

The finished pattern is to the left.  All of the space we just added is coloured in to make it easier to see.

If you have any questions, leave a comment below, and I'll do my best to clarify. And I hope you enjoyed today's edition of Better Fit Friday!

In a Funk and Un-Historical

Well, as you can tell, I'm not doing so well with Historical Sew Fortnightly.  It seems I have fallen into a little bit of a sewing funk, well to be honest, a general funk that has affected my sewing.

I've realized that the projects I'd planned for the Historical Sew Fortnightly were mostly just projects to fit the themes, not necessarily projects that I would make us of.  And, at the moment, that doesn't make sense for me.  With my limited funds, and limited time, I don't want to waste either making projects simply to have met a challenge.  Right now, for me, it's more important that each piece I sew can be put into my wardrobe.  So, at this point, I'm bowing out of the challenge.

However, today will not be a day only of doom and gloom.  I have some good news as well.

Firstly:  I'm employed!  I started working at a fabric shop in mid January.  It's right near where I live, which means I've been walking to work most days, and there are some awesome perks once my probationary period is up.  Of course there is a staff discount.  But there is also the Garment Display program, where I can make current patterns (from lines the store carries) and my supplies will be given to me either free or at cost in exchange for them having the garment as a display for a month.  I'm really looking forward to giving it a try.  I'll be able to make my first in April, which is the same month the new catalogs come out, so I'm not certain if I'll be in time to make anything from this release or not, but either way, it should be an awesome way to get some sewing in.

Secondly:  I may be starting a second job!  I've always heard that they best way to find a job is to have a job, and maybe it's true.  One of the ladies I work with also works doing alterations at a dry cleaners.  They were looking for another seamstress, so I've been introduced to the boss and I'm to start next week.  I'm a little nervous, but we'll see how it goes.  Stay tuned.

Thirdly:  Just because I haven't been sewing Historical doesn't mean I haven't been sewing.  I've finished my Portrait Blouse, so stay tuned for a reveal post and a review of Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing soon.  And I've got a finished plaid skirt to show you as well.  And two more projects underway, including my first authentic vintage pattern!

Fourthly:  I'm considering starting to do a Better Fit Friday series where I go through pattern adjustments on 1/4 scale patterns.  Would there be any interest in following along?

Christmas Circle Skirt

In all of the kerfuffle around the holidays I forgot to show you the circle skirt I whipped up.  It was a quick job, finished the morning before the family Christmas party.  I'm fairly happy with it, though I did learn an important lesson about sewing machines.

Photographer-fiancee is still in training...
I'll remind him to back up next time ;)

I've almost never sewn on machines that weren't a similar price point and technical level to my own.  My best sewing friend has a machine that's similar to mine, though a different make.  And the machine I learned to sew on was my mother's vintage machine she inherited from her aunt, but that hadn't been for a tune-up any time in my memory.

As was bound to happen eventually, my mother's sewing machine finally bit the bullet.  She doesn't sew a lot any more, so she decided to replace it with one of the super-cheap Walmart sewing machines.  I didn't discover this until I couldn't find the sewing machine in the basement because I was looking for the wrong one.  Now, the new machine does in fact sew, and even has a few different stitch options.  However, I did notice some things were lacking, primarily the foot pressure and the feed dogs (that move your fabric through the machine).  This resulted in uneven stitches that tended to jump around at little bit.  I also noticed some skipped stitches.

Now, to be fair, this was fabric I had gotten at Walmart to test out.  The fabric itself worked fairly well for this project though.  It was really more of a canvas-type fabric, which helped give the skirt a lot of body I think.  However, it frayed terribly, so I do need to go back and add bias binding to the waist seam.  The waistline also seemed to have warped quite a bit between when I cut it out and when I unpacked it at my mother's to finish sewing.  I had probably an extra 4-6 inches, so I added some gathers while attaching it to the waistband, which I think turned out nice enough.

I used a pattern generously posted here by Casey of Elegant Musings.  The pattern is from a 1954 Smart Sewing booklet.  Instead of the traditional circle, the waist line of the skirt is a little bit more of an oval, which makes the skirt hang a little bit differently.  It is still just as quick to sew up though.

Now I just need to make a day wear petticoat to go under it.  The one I have is shortened from my step-mother's wedding dress, so is a little full to wear from day to day!

The Not-Historical Fortnightly Dress

I don't really want to show you this dress.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had a project that just doesn't seem to work no matter what you do?  Well, this was one of those dresses.  I did have it 'finished' but I couldn't wear it to dinner Saturday night.

It also occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to submit this as my Historical Fortnightly entry this month as it was no longer made from a printed pattern.  More on that later.

As I mentioned, I'd decided to use the jersey fabric I had in my stash and drape a pattern myself.  Well, it took me a little while to realize that I could trace a tank top that I already know fits me to make the pattern for the base of the dress.  And then, being so excited by this brain wave, that I forgot to widen the straps into kimono sleeves before cutting the front piece out.  Fine, I thought.  That's fine I can work with that.

Not what I had envisioned, but so far, it
doesn't look that bad...

I got the base sewn together, and could not for the life of me get the gathers to lie flat on the base.  I did the best I could and moved on.  The skirt went fairly smoothly, which was nice, because that means at least something did with this dress.

But once the skirt was sewn on the whole dress pulled forward from the weight.  Well, that's ok too,  I can just add a waist stay.  I'm not sure if my fabric stretched, or if I added less ease to the waist stay than to the waistline of the dress, but the stay was a few inches shorter.  So, rather than sewing it in, I just tacked a few places across the front and at both side seams.  Which, lead to a lumpy and unflattering waistline.

Sadly, it's back to the stash for this...

So, I wore a back up dress to dinner, and will likely be taking this back apart and making something else.  Perhaps I'll try something with a pattern...