The Wheel Has Already Been Invented

Today's post features nothing but stolen borrowed photos from around the interwebs. But that conveniently ties in with my theme today: Don't Reinvent The Wheel, so I'm going with it.

First up, Michael's "muslin" arrived in NYC yesterday and he and Peter were kind enough to quickly take some pics so we could all evaluate the fit.

From the front, not 100% great but not too bad. Cute doggie tail though.



From the back, HUGE! (Yes, Michael, this shirt *does* make your butt look big. Gasp! I didn't say that out loud, did I?)



Compare with the Liberty shirt Peter made for him last year (and Michael's much cuter little tush):



Peter tells me he made NO alterations to this pattern. Quite a difference in fit right out of the envelope from one to the next, wouldn't you agree?

To refresh memories, the green muslin is KS 3244, here:



I used the size which corresponds to Michael's measurements. Unfortunately, it's the smallest size in the envelope but still too big on him. I was afraid of this while making it, because Kwik Sew does run big in the men's line. But since it was already here and on-hand, I opted to give it a try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? And I did have a fun weekend in the sewing room with the return of my mojo because of this project.

To go smaller with KS 3422, I'd have to bring out the rulers, cutters and tape. While technically I *could* alter/grade it down, the better option would be to begin with a pattern that fits better from the start and spend my time on perfect collars and sleeve plackets.

A quick Ebay search last night for a copy of vintage McCall's 6890 turned up nada. But Etsy came to the rescue, and in exactly the correct size and for only $2.50. I think my altering time is worth at least $2.50, plus $1.00 shipping. Without hesitation, I bought it. This is Peter's copy of the pattern. Mine should be the same and will hopefully arrive by Feb 1, in time to officially start the Sew-Along.



Meanwhile, my sewingpatterns.com order finally arrived from the slow boat to China. Sheesh. I ordered — and paid — for these December 20.

First up will be knocking off this jacket, hopefully making substantial progress this long weekend. (And the gods laugh hysterically.)



Pattern, Kwik Sew 3764:



Somewhere in the immediate queue will be Kwik Sew 3823, to knock off Knip Mode 2008-08 and Lillian's lovely interpretation of it here:





This will take a little fudging because on the Knip Mode pattern and Lillian's version, the tie hangs freely. On the KS version, the tie is sewn into the center front seam. I prefer the former. It won't be too hard to alter the pattern for that, and much easier than me trying to source that issue of Knip Mode before our fleeting winter temps fleet back out. Because it's a KS, I probably will have to alter for fit too. Look at how low those armholes are in the pattern pic.

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Thanks and photo acknowledgement to Peter, Michael, Lillian, and Kwik Sew.