Saturday, February 14, 2009

Still a Keeper

Happy Valentine's Day!



I wish I could take credit for making these beautiful cupcakes, but nope, wasn't me. DS#2's girlfriend made them and brought them over for all of us. And at midnight, there's even still some left! I wouldn't let anyone eat one until I snapped a photo. They were just so pretty.


* * * * *

So, I have actually been sewing a bit, still working on Butterick 5300. I cut and sewed a muslin and decided I was good to go on the bodice. The wrinkle you see below is a bad pin job - look at the bottom edge of the blouse!



The sleeves were still an unknown until the muslin. The finished bicep width is printed on the sleeve pattern pieces. My pattern armholes were size 1x but my actual bicep width plus ease falls between the 1x and 2x measurements. I also had made that tuck across the bodice mentioned last post and so I scooped the bottom of the armhole to compensate and cut the size 2x sleeve to give it a try.

In the pic below, the sleeve on your right is the 2x with no adjustment. Way too much cap ease. That's a big pleat at the top making it stand up.



The sleeve on the left is the 2x but I didn't force all the ease into the cap and instead let about 1/2" of each underarm seam fall into the seam allowance. In other words, what I ended up with was this morphed sleeve below. I also shortened it considerably because I hate those "long" short sleeves that scream frumpy to me.



While I was taking pics of pattern pieces, I also snapped this one to show the difference between the A/B/C cup piece (left) and the D/DD cup piece (right). Oh, and those are Dani's nose and toes at the top of the pic. ;-)




I still haven't found the fabric I really want so I pulled a second choice from the stash. Here's where I am as of tonight.



When tracing the pattern, I overcompensated at the hips so it's flaring out too much. I already sewed the front waist darts all the way to the hem and I'll sew deeper sideseam allowances. I think I'm also going to purposely lose the vents at the bottom. I don't need them. I also still need to sew the back waist darts.

I made the view with the back yoke since it was different, and added piping because after sewing the yoke on the first time, it got lost and what's the point of a yoke if it can't be seen. But I think on the next version, I'm going to lengthen it. It looks a little short and out of proportion, don't you think? But that's a style choice and an easy fix, so I won't blame the pattern for this one. Much.



I also decided to pipe the collar. You can't really see it in the full-length pic above, but it does actually show up in real life.



I'm going to finish this tomorrow. There's no more football to distract me. (Sob!) Both sons will be with their girlfriends I'm sure, and DH is out of town. It will just be me and the dogs, and the sewing machines.

11 comments:

  1. Looking good - the cupcakes and the blouse, lol. The yoke does look a bit high in proportion. I look forward to your post tomorrow with the finished project. ;)

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  2. Drooling here over not the yummy cupcakes but the beautiful blouse fabric and piping no less. You never disapoint with any of your projects. That blouse looks better than those on the Coldwater Creek mannequins. My company and the two grand dogs have not even arrived,the church hall projects are piled high and I already am wanting sewing time instead (sigh). I am so happy you told about this pattern early so it is in my hot little hands already. And just thinking about not having to do an fba and heaven knows what else is making me lightheaded. Lol!
    You have such a sewing fan club online. I study one of your older posts almost daily between updates. I wish I could clone your fitting/ sewing skills and have them put into my brain. Thanks for the peek at the new blouse. mssewcrazy

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  3. Cute cupcakes! My son's girlfriend is not so talented. And I like the blouse - no FBA! I must get that pattern!

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  4. You are right on about the back yoke - a longer one would give you more bang for the buck. I love, love, love the piping at the back yoke and on the collar! What color buttons are you using?

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  5. Nice cupcake treats. Love that she did something yummy and handmade. Is this the one who sews too?

    I love the fabric on the blouse, the piping really adds to it. I agree the yoke looks really high.

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  6. Where have you been? I've been waiting on your post about the blouse. On your advice I did buy three of the patterns and have sewn two muslins. Purchased some fabric on sale but have to finish the project on my cutting table before I can continue. I'm opting for the D cup because the DD is huge! Also think I'm going to have to extend the shoulder a bit. Other than that I should be good to go! Yours looks great especially the piped detail.

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  7. I made this top a few days ago - and had major issues with the sleeves. I have made other CC patterns and had no problems whatsoever so it really caught me off-guard....but on this one, the sleeve just isn't right. I had inches of ease, and yet the final result has the bottom of the sleeve sticking out away from my arm. Good thing you always do muslins! Yours is very pretty, by the way.

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  8. Saw you on PR and of course had to trot over to see what you've been up to this weekend. :D That fabric is so familiar...I think I had a failed muslin out of it a couple of months ago. Can't wait to see the finished top!!

    ps...Happy Vday ;)

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  9. Nice of the girlfriend to bring cupcakes. Love the piping on the blouse; it's a nice touch.

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  10. love the fabric in your new blouse. I bought that blouse pattern by cc today. Maybe no FBA for me either. Will make a muslin tomorrow.

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Thank you for each and every comment. I appreciate them all, but I have to be honest and let you know that I'm usually bad about answering questions. I hope you understand that there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.

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