The New Dress

Above, my latest finished garment, and I L.O.V.E. it!

Backstory: I have a RTW dress almost exactly like it. I like the RTW dress a lot too and have been wanting to clone it. It's really just a simple knit shift dress with an "open" vee neck with ties. This is the RTW below. I meant to take a pic of it on either me or Zillie, but I forgot. If I think about it later, I'll add such a pic to this post.

I decided I could pretty easily re-create the RTW dress with my TNT Ottobre tee pattern. (I have been using that TNT for ELEVEN years now, it's originally from the 02/2007 issue!) The RTW has sewn bust darts. My TNT does not – it has extra length at the bust area which is eased into the side seam at bust level. I prefer the non-dart version.

Below, is my visual comparison between the RTW dress and my tee pattern, and how I started to assess what was going to be needed in a pattern.

This pic is when I got more serious and took measurements, noting similarities, differences, and necessary landmarks. I'm being "thrifty" (lazy) and using some pattern tissue from patterns I'll never sew as my tracing paper. The red arrows show my lines for the new dress.The rest of the lines are from whatever was originally on the tissue.

I drafted a facing for the front neckline. It's probably really hard to tell what's going on with the lines from the original pattern on the tissue. The pic below is the facing overlaid on the front pattern piece.

Here it is by itself where you can hopefully see the overall shape of the pattern piece, ignoring the printed lines. The only "line" that matters here is where it I drew in "FOLD." Right above FOLD is where the vee shaping is, which is not cut on the fold. Clear?

This is what the actual facing looks like using the pattern piece above. It's interfaced and the bottom edge is serged. The vee is sewn (right sides together) and then turned right side out. The shoulders and armholes are basted together and sewn as one when attaching the sleeves and back. The neck opening where you see the binding is also basted together before the binding is attached. The binding is applied to the raw edge(s) of the neck opening. Easier to do than describe.

The RTW dress has back waist darts, which produce some nice subtle shaping. I measured the end and middle points and the uptake of the existing darts. I transferred those landmarks as big dots to the pattern tissue. The janky looking dart outline is just to give me a visual clue for what those dots mean. In case I put this pattern away for 5 years. Or a week. :-)

Here are the sewn darts. As you can see, there's not a lot of uptake, but enough to lessen the "sack effect" while still camouflaging the back rolls. Hah.

The sleeve is nothing special. Ignore those lines all over from the original pattern. I already had a long sleeve created for my TNT Ottobre. I just traced it for this one so I could keep all the pieces together. Sometimes I'm actually not lazy. It's just a straight sleeve to be elasticated at the wrist, so it doesn't need much shaping.

The elastic cuff.

Below is the RTW neckline. The binding is all one piece, attached in one go, leaving lengths past the neck opening which become ties.

My copy.

I'm still kind of in shock at how perfectly the binding/tie went on my copy. I truly expected to need at least 2-3 tries. I luuuurrvvve my CS machine and binders! And Lady Luck.

Much of the success lies with the fabric used for the binding. It's a Telio doubleknit which has nice body and drape at the same time. I bought this to make a navy Jalie cardi, which is next up on the cutting table, but it turned out to be perfect for this binding/tie too.

Here's the neckline/tie open. I made the point of my vee a little higher than the RTW dress so it's not All Cleavage All The Time with it open.

This is the reverse side of the binding.

It's hard to tell because it blends in so well, but the coverstitch looper was threaded with navy woolly nylon. Since the underside was going to show on the tie sections of the binding, I was hoping the woolly nylon would look more substantial and intentional than plain thread. It does. Yay. The random dog hair, on the other hand, not so much.

And on Zillie. I finished the dress Sunday, hemmed it Monday night after work, and wore it Tuesday (yesterday). I am so happy with it. Most of its success is the fabric, but a lot is the effortlessness of a well-fitting knit sheath. I already bought more of this fabric. It's from Cali Fabrics but going quickly. As of today, there are only 6 yards left. Cali Fabrics is quickly becoming my new favorite fabric store. Great quality, lovely customer service and attention to detail, good prices, and fast shipping to Florida from California! I only wish they'd show more pics of their fabrics so I can get a better feel for drape and scale. (I have never been compensated in any way to say that. I'm just an actual customer spending my own actual money.)

One more pic, in front of Alex's shocking orange truck. Which kind of goes with the dress, no?

Parting shot: Snow, here in Tampa a couple of weeks ago. OK, actually frost. But I still had to scrape my car windshield before work. This is not how it's supposed to work here in Florida.

The start of a mini SWAP with my Carolyn Skirt

After the wadder from last weekend's sewing, I went in a different direction for the pinstripe skirt after finding this inspiration photo on Pinterest. I'm calling mine the Carolyn Skirt because (1) pinstripes are very corporate and Carolyn is all about sewing a corporate wardrobe and (2) she's also all about finding inspirational fashion pieces and interpreting them for herself.

My skirt didn't need much interpretation since I already had this Butterick 4877 pattern stashed and my skirt is pretty much a straight copy. But I did have to do a bit of pattern hacking, first for the size and then for design details. The pattern is from my bigger days and the size range I bought is too big for me now. I graded it down two sizes, using the pattern's actual grading upward as my guide downward. That sounds a lot more complicated than it actually was. Essentially all I did was to chop off  1-1/2" from each side seam and shorten the waist facings to match.

I had previously made this skirt 2-3 times in the larger size range in a couple of the different views and loved the fit of them all so I had high hopes for a new smaller version. I wish it wasn't OOP because it's an awesome draft for women with curves. If you're curvy, I definitely recommend picking it up should you come across it. 

So, anyway ... my Carolyn Skirt. I started with View A (the white skirt), shortened the flounce by 5 inches, and then traced it and spit it so I could make the chevrons at the seams per the inspiration photo. I had to cut the flounce pieces (there's 6 of them total after the splitting) single layer so I could be sure my seams would create actual chevrons and not almost-chevrons.

I think I did very well with the stripe matching and the skirt copying. I added topstitching which the inspiration didn't have, but I wanted to really set off the seams. My skirt sits at my knee instead of above it, which is more flattering on me. And I'm as happy with the fit of my smaller version as I was with the original makes.

I debated a machined blind hem but decided for the faster method of just topstitching a narrow hem, figuring it blends with the other topstitching and, really, NO ONE is going to be looking at my hem. I'm not aiming for couture here. ;-)

I did think to take a pic of the serged/overlocked edge for anyone that's new to sewing a curved hem where the outside edge is larger than the turn-up. The trick is to turn up the differential on the serger so it very slightly gathers the edge and then to softly turn the hem under without straightening out the gathers. You can see in the photo below that the edge is already cupping inward. Work with that cupping so you can pin a hem that turns smoothly without actual gathers/ripples. Then press (up and down motion) it in place and sew it right side up so the feed dogs help in easing the longer edge too.

Next up is another Jenna cardi (in progress below), which will go with this skirt and another skirt already cut and waiting.

I'm hoping to finish the cardi in the morning, and that will probably be it for sewing this weekend as I have a bunch of errands to run and then dinner with a friend. Plus I'm hoping to do a little housecleaning too. But that's last on the list because ... well, it's housework. No pics on me until next week at the earliest since it's supposed to be still raining tomorrow. And one of my errands is to hopefully get a hair cut.

Banishing the Blues

A few of you commented that maybe my blue suit would be lucky. Which got me thinking that maybe it has been UNlucky. Well, I don't really believe that but I do know that I had wanted to NOT wear that darn blue suit again, luck or no luck. I was just tired of it. One thing I did come home with from Saturday's shopping marathon was a jacket I loved. Too expensive, but I bought it anyway to ... well ... dwell on it. I could always return it once I came to my senses. ;-) Well, I decided to throw caution to the wind (dollar-wise). Ya gotta spend money to make money, right? Haha.

So here's what I wore today. The ponte skirt and ITY drape neck top are me-made. The jacket is purchased. It's a knit with leather trim and faux welt pockets (which I wish were real but whatever). The silver necklace is new too. The burgundy shoes are not new.

I felt like a million bucks, and the interview went well. Not necessarily related, but looking good never hurts, right? And the jacket will join my permanent wardrobe, since I had to shorten the sleeves almost 3 inches last night, so I'll be enjoying and hopefully wearing it a lot soon. It will go with a lot of solid colors since I like b/w prints with colors. Just not on interviews. I like that it's knit, because it can be dressed up or down and is so, so comfy to wear. I can see me copying this once I can afford EmmaOneSock again. ;-)

So, I'll be returning the two blue print tops (aftering taking copious notes for a Jalie sweetheart hack) and keeping the jacket and necklace. And maybe a dress that also was a contender if I had been able to find a black jacket. ;-) But only if I get the job. Otherwise, it will go back too.

And now for something completely different ... here's me modeling the Jalie cardi hack. I think it could be a bit narrower at the sideseams. It's hard to tell since my hands are kinda pulling it downward.

Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes. I'll let you know soon if they worked.

Preaching to the Choir

I decided that I would go out today and buy a new suit. I have exactly ONE solid color suit for interviews. It's blue (not navy) and I'm not really a blue wearing girl. I don't know why, I'm just not.

So, I walk into JCPenney (cheap is highly desired right now or else I'd be shopping at Dillards or Nordstroms or a few others) and was overwhelmed in a good way by all the styles and colors. I saw A MILLION dresses I would wear in a heartbeat. And another MILLION tops. Prints and fabric combos I could never find to sew. And they were all already made up. No muslins, no pattern alterations. Hence Ready. To. Wear.Which made me seriously consider giving up sewing, since my stash is so depleted and I'm going to have to spend $$ to clothe myself one way or the other.

So, I start looking for suits. First of all, finding a suit (or separates) with a matching SKIRT is near impossible. I don't want a pantsuit. Not for interviewing. Not really even for not interviewing.

Second, RTW jackets don't fit me. Not unless they're Petites. Apparently, I have T-rex arms. Any RTW jacket sleeve is at least 2 inches too long. I would hem them, no problem, if there wasn't a vent/button thing going on that would interfere. I don't even want to try to learn how to deal with shortening those.

Third, what the HELL size am I? My already-owned blue suit is a RTW 18P, modified. The jacket fits mostly great, just a leeeeetle wide in the shoulders but, really, only I can tell that. The skirt was way too big when I lost all that weight so I did take it in and shortened it as well as taking in the sideseams of the jacket to give it more curves to match mine. The suit still fits fine. The pencil skirt is a little snugger now since I'm still juggling a 20-ish lb. weight gain over the last couple of years, but it's not too tight.

So, did ANY 16 or 18 fit me? Yeah, you know the answer: Not. Even. Close. Arghhhh. Even though I have other 16s and 18s that I wear regularly. And until the 20-lb gain, even 14s.

I tried on every jacket in Penneys. I went to Lane Bryant and tried on the ONE black jacket they had. Huge. I went to Macy's and tried on a bunch more there. Some of the jackets would've been passable (and significantly more expensive) but the skirts were a no-go. Either too tight or too short. (Can you believe I was considering buying TWO skirts to take apart to refashion into one? Yeah, me either. And why can't separates include one or two NON-pencil shapes? I love me a me-made pencil but my butt doesn't love RTW pencil skirts. What do the booty girls who don't sew DO?) I even ventured to Macy's "Womens" (plus) department. Which was on the third floor, waaaaaaaaay in the back corner in a completely separate room-type area past some ugly clearance section, like they didn't even want to admit they HAD a plus department. Which, apparently, they didn't, because OMG the hideousness.

After two hours of torture, it was clear that I wasn't buying a new suit today. So, I regrouped and decided to buy a new top to match my blue suit. I've kinda not had anything specific to wear with the suit (see above comment about me and no blue) and have been making do with a b/w top as contrast and to tie in wearing black shoes or my plain ivory SBCC Mimosa. The blue of the suit is a kinda hard-to-match shade of blue. Figures. I bought the suit ONLY because it actually fit me, not because I fell in love with the color.

After returning to the call of the prints (and prices) at Penney's, I brought home two knit tops with some blue in them.

The first one, here, reminds me of the Jalie sweetheart top, modified with a drape. I really like the shape of this top (just not the blue!). But ...

... for kicks, I decided to try it on inside-out in the fitting room to see how it was made, thinking about copying it later. (See Peter, you're not the only one.) And look at how COOL this is!! I had no idea until I was wearing it inside-out that the self-facing for the drape was asymmetrical like this. I am SO modifying that Jalie pattern and copying this.

This is the other top. It's one of those uber-trendy crossover drapey styles, which is hard to discern in this photo. It's not really conservative enough print-wise for an interview, so I considered this a present to myself just because I need one. I'm sure I'll be buying one of the patterns that are currently out for this style since I do like it on me. And I might end up returning this one to the store because, well, blue. And brokeness.

And, so to come full circle ... I still half-way would like to be able to not NEED to sew my clothes because there are so many pretty choices in the stores, but the reality is I can't. They just don't fit.

Oh, and why the sudden urge for a new suit? Well, I have an interview Monday at 3 PM, and I REALLY want this job. So, cross those fingers and toes again for me please!

Also, thank you SO MUCH for the kind offers of notions and fabrics. Please know that it really touches my heart and I sincerely appreciate the generosity. If this or another job doesn't materialize, I may just have to take y'all up on those offers ... but, really, the bigger concern will be paying rent next month. So, you may see me actually begging in a few weeks. But let's stay positive and not think about that yet. :-)

Simple Sewing

Yep, I'm still here. It's just that some life activities, chores (and football playoffs!) have zapped the blogging and sewing time/energy.

I started my latest project last weekend. A really simple sew with a "pattern" made by using a crayon to rub off seam lines onto tracing paper laid over a RTW cardi that I've wanted to duplicate forEVER.

This is the finished result, using a 2-yard cut of a lightweight sweater knit purchased from Fabric.com a couple of years ago.

And a little bit wider shot cuz I like sneaking a peak at others' homes too. ;-) But don't get too used to this view because I think Alex and I might be moving soon after my lease is up in May. I want to spend less in rent and he wants to be closer to work, so we're thinking about leaving Valrico after more than 20 years and heading across the bay to Pinellas County. We'll see. I know I'm NOT looking forward to packing again. And I can't believe I've been here almost 2 years already.

Here's the RTW cardi I used for the rub-off pattern.

And the copycat, but with long sleeves. Hey, it's been COLD here. Really.

The front and back pattern pieces I rubbed off. No seam allowances, of course, but I added them as I rotary cut the fabric.

The sleeve pattern was adapted from my TNT Ottobre tee since it's impossible to lay a sewn sleeve flat and rub off a pattern. Well, probably not impossible, but certainly more fiddly time than I was willing to spend. All I did to adapt the sleeve pattern I had was to measure the armhole opening from the pieces above and add to the underarm seam of the TNT sleeve so they matched. Highly scientific.

This is my TNT front bodice laid over the tracing to give you an idea of shape.

All of the outside edges of the cardi are finished with bands. On the RTW cardi, they are knitted in, but in a different stitch (or something ... I don't knit) so they look like separate bands. When sewing, they had to actually be separate bands.

I just measured the widths of the RTW bands and doubled that so I could fold in half for a finished edge, and then added seam allowances to the measurements. Then I measured around the outside pattern edges to figure the lengths needed for each section.I winged it for the sleeve cuffs. ;-) The neckline band is folded around the neck edge to create a shawl collar, and hand-stitched at the CB to hold it in place. This was done on the RTW cardi too.

To construct, you sew the body together like any other knit top, including sleeves and sideseams. Then the bands are pressed in half RS out and added to the raw edges like this: The bottom band (green) first, then the front (blue) band, and lastly the neckline (pink) band. The bottom edge of the front (blue) band has to be finished and turned before sewing on the band, and the same for the front edges of the neckline (pink) band.

And that's it. Really easy "drafting" and sewing.

Potpourri

Like a good Jeopardy! category, this post will be a little bit of everything.

First up, I present my much less piled upon ironing board:

All that remains is (1) a skirt that's too big but I'm keeping because I want to make it again and I'll use this one to judge the size I'll cut next, (2) a green slinky skirt that needs shortening, but I haven't decided if I'm willing to tackle the slinky again so I'm giving it more time, (3) a dress that I'm going to cut off to a skirt, (4) a too-big top, the print on top, which I want to remake into a smaller tee because I'm not ready to give up the print, and (5) the houndstooth skirt hanging off the side, but it's wool so it can wait a few months to see what size I am then.

Everything else was either put in the donate pile or I altered or finished or whatever it needed. Yay me, and less to pack.

This is the scrap pile from the alterations. And oh, that pretty print jacket I never wore should be in the ironing board pile too. I want to save the fabric and make a gored skirt from it.

First remake is this green skirt, after I decided it matched my new RTW top perfectly. I never did wear the skirt/top outfit I made last summer and it was huge now. I spent an hour picking out the coverstitched hem, the many, MANY coverstitched/topstitched panels, and the coverstitched elastic waist. I finally found a foolproof "reverse" coverstitching method that I'll share at a later time, for when you KNOW you're ripping out in the right direction but it still ain't working. I ended up sewing 14" out of the panel seams in total. Amazing, but now I have much skinnier panels. lol And now that my knees aren't so fat, I also shortened it about 6" cuz I'm thinking the shorter hems are more youthful for my ancient self. Oh, and more summery.

I hemmed this white drape-neck top I made a few weeks ago and shortened the RTW skirt 3" so I wouldn't have to keep wearing it up at my bra. ;-)

I took in the sideseams of this top about 12" total from the armpits downward. Unfortunately, the sleeves are still too big so I may cut them to short sleeves or I may still put it in the donate pile. But I didn't want to toss it without giving it a go. No, I won't wear it with the green skirt.

Another Walmart $15 dress. I did nothing but cut off the tags and wear it today. And received 2 compliments. Here, I look like I have no waist because the waistband doesn't photograph well. In person, it's totally flattering (hence the 2 compliments!), and the skirt is very swingy. I've lost more lbs. and this one is size 12. Woot!

Another Walmart purchase. It's a top and skirt, so I'll definitely get wear out of both pieces since I can wear the top on weekends with denim and white capris. Size 12 again.

The same top as above, same size, but a different print. There was no matching skirt available. This will most likely be weekend wear.I'm wearing two earrings but only one is showing.

Goofy face. Bright orange top, because I love me some orange. Definitely weekend, maybe office, especially if I do turn that print jacket above into a skirt.

First choice for necklace for the wedding. There are matching dangle earrings. The bluish tint to the beads will look good with the teal dress and the whole thing sparkles more than appears here, but not so much as to be too much. The cascade keeps the open feel/look of the sweetheart neckline of the dress.

Second choice if I decide to go for more sparkle, but I'm leaning toward this being a bit over the top. My sister will weigh in when we're together on Friday.

And now I'm actually contemplating trying on some of my bathing suits because my sister wants to lay by the pool at the hotel on Saturday. OMFG. ;-)