Friday, September 9, 2011

Simplicity 2452: Two and a Half Days Left

There was no sewing yesterday. Tyler and I dealt with the insurance company, emptying the car, supervising the tow truck, and arranging a rental car. I never did get a nap, and fell into bed around 7:30 PM and slept straight through to 2 AM, at which point I got up and grumbled because I missed the opening NFL game. Then I was awake for a little while and watched some of Project Runway, until I fell asleep again. So, all in all, yesterday was a wash.

Tyler's doing well, spirit-wise. Of course he's not happy that his car is wrecked but he's not as bummed out as I thought he'd be, which in turn makes me feel a lot better too. He's already looking forward to the next car. lol But that won't happen for a while since this one has to be sorted out first and he's returning to Yuma AZ in a couple of weeks for a 6-week stint. He'll also be promoted to Lance Corporal while he's in AZ, which means a little more money toward the next car payment. By the time he's back from AZ, we'll be thinking about Thanksgiving so maybe I can drive north again and do another round of car shopping and turkey-eating with him. ;-)

This morning I was up early after all that sleep and sewed together the muslin. Below is Round 1 of alterations. I started with a 16 and then did a morph between Fast Fit for full tummy and another book I can't remember at the moment for the FBA (which is essentially the "seam allowance method," if you're familiar with that).


As you can see, there was a need for Round 2 of alterations. The full tummy adjustment gave me plenty of room across waist and hips, but there was not nearly enough room for the bust.


At that point, I had to take a break for a haircut appointment, picking up the rental car, and a lunch date with my sons. It's very hard to eat low-carb in a Mexican restaurant but I did very well. No tortillas, rice, beans, or churros for me. ;-)

When we returned from lunch, I went back to almost the starting point of the front side panel. I removed the full tummy adjustment because now I was going to use the Palmer/Pletsch princess seam FBA and that would add width all the way down. I did keep the seam allowance "bump out" at bust level. 


Here's my re-altered (and completely mangled) pattern pieces. At this point, I think there's more tape than tissue. As soon as I get off the computer, I'm going to re-cut these pieces and sew them onto the remains of the first muslin and evaluate. If it's OK, then I'll add the sleeves and see where I am. Fingers crossed that I can cut the real fabric tonight, and maybe even start sewing it.


Tyler is leaving tomorrow around 6 AM. I'll be up to see him off and then I'll be spending all day in the sewing room, hopefully emerging with a finished new jacket.

16 comments:

  1. I know you can do this! The skirt is the simpliest part so put all of your efforts into the jacket...it will work out!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! so they were very busy days, well ... everything back to normal sometime and you can show us the progress in this wonderful project.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's times like this when you say to yourself "I'm so glad I can sew". I always think of the people I see on the street that would be helped by sewing (and fitting) their own clothes. It's going to be awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, some progress is better than no progress, and I'm glad your son is OK.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What exactly did you eat at that restaurant if not tortillas, rice, beans, and churros? Just lettuce?

    ReplyDelete
  6. oh boy - I missed a few days of your posting and feel majorly behind.
    First of all - Congratulations on landing the job!
    Second - it will all work out.
    Happy Sewing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alterations can take such a long time. Can I hear an "Amen!" :) Sounds like you will make lots of progress this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Haha Tina - actually there was a salmon & spinach dish and I just subbed grilled veggies for the potatoes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your pattern fitting is always spot on! I know that you will make a great garment.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sorry you missed the game. It was awesome. THE PACKERS WON!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The jacket looks great -- I hope you got to cut your fabric and you're just sewing away today!

    I thought that beans were ok for low carb diets? I've done them before but beans were considered one of the "good" carbs.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Debbie, I'm so glad Tyler's OK. I did that very same thing when I was in college; I was driving my sister's '66 Mustang. Was I in trouble or what? LOL Boy, was she made. Luckily, I wasn't banged up too badly but had to stay down for a couple of days as my head cracked the windshield.

    You start your new job on Monday, I believe? You'll do just fine and will be an asset to whatever company you work for!

    Gail D.

    ReplyDelete
  13. sewing for fun (patternreview name)2:02 AM, September 11, 2011

    I found a really good FBA technique for princess seam at Brensan design patterns blog; See: http://www.brensan.com/blog/?p=1243

    I really like the curved inset - shaped like the bust, rather than the usual method... you mike like that technique - especially if you have smallish shoulders.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank goodness he is okay!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Catching up. First so glad Tyler is OK. Sons and cars, been there. Also congrats on the job and on your ability to do an amazing job with alterations. You are looking great these days and a good fit is going to show that off. Good luck tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  16. it is indeed a challenge to eat low carb at a mexican restaurant. fajitas can be a good choice.

    sorry about tyler's car... but glad he's ok.

    ReplyDelete

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.

To help keep spam comments under control, any comments to blog posts that are more than 30 days old are moderated and will not show up immediately.