Alex, I'll Take Potpourri for $400

(Blogpost title referring to Jeopardy! and the mish-mash stream of consciousness that follows.)

It's been 3 months since my last confes.... kidding!... blogpost. Not as bad as last time when it was more like 6. I always want to blog but feel like I don't have enough thoughts to meaningfully fill up a post. Then a month goes by and I forget half of what I wanted to share to begin with or life just moves on, or both. So, here I am. Bear with me if things get ramble-y but I'm determined to get this done and posted.

The biggest news of the last few months is that (1) Tyler is out of the Marine Corps after 7+ years and (2) he got married. I'm not sure which he was happier about. KIDDING! He also just bought a house in St. Augustine and he and wife Angela moved in last week. He's now an actual Florida resident again and is less than 3 hours away. My (step)son Michael and his wife and son also live in St. Augustine so all of my boys are in the state and an easy drive.

The official wedding pics aren't available yet but I'll share the few I have. I didn't take many pics that day, knowing I'd be able to borrow from everyone else's cell. I just wanted to enjoy the day, not the phone.  

My boys, Left to Right: Michael, Alex, Tyler. The "baby," Alex (25), turned out the tallest. A fact he never forgets to mention. Tyler had as his groomsmen his brothers and two Marine buddies, one of whom was his best man. He's definitely made some lifetime USMC friends. Rah. Weird that he's now a former Marine.

Tyler and Angela in St. Peter's, an historic Catholic church in Beaufort, SC. They both looked beautiful. :-) Loved Angela's romantic and very tastefully feminine dress.

On the church steps.

Arriving in a 1957 Chevy to the reception, which was held at Traditions on Parris Island.

The Hollywood kiss!

After the reception at the "after party." Angela had changed into this dress. Tyler kept his tux on.

And, no. I didn't make my dress. I thought about it but my sewing time is so limited that I really didn't want to pressure myself. So I went shopping. Where I found even more pressure. Hah. I must have hit the stores in the drought of fancy dresses right after June brides and before the Holidays. There was almost nothing. But I did find the above dress at Dillard's and tried it on. I don't know that I would've tried it on had my choices not been so limited. It's basically a sheath and I don't usually go for those. But this was actually not bad, and ... on sale for $49. Seriously. I couldn't believe it was so inexpensive. So even though it was too big, by at least 2 sizes, I bought it because I knew I could do the alterations. (I wouldn't LIKE doing the alterations but I knew I could do them.)

I spent one entire weekend unpicking the CB seam in the dress and lining, removing the really long CB invisible zipper, taking in the dress at CB and sides, and re-hemming dress and lining for me and my sparkly shoes. I also added gathering to the shoulders of the cover-up so the armhole seam wouldn't be 3 inches down my arm. It worked in a pinch, looked pretty, and actually held up for the whole day/evening.

The funniest thing about this dress? It is pretty much the EXACT color of the bride's mother's dress. You would think we had planned it. And both of us matched the groomsmens' vests. Once we get the final formal photos, we're all just going to be so color coordinated! And puffy-eyed from bawling our eyes out. Her mom and I are criers. Even Tyler was teared up as Angela came down the aisle. Tissues for everyone! LOL

Moving on to sewing …

I started this McCall's 7381 well before the wedding. I thought I might wear it to the rehearsal dinner. Yeah, that didn't happen. Which is OK. It was actually on the cold side in SC that week so I would've frozen in this anyway. It was actually below 60 degrees F. Brrrrr.

I did finish it this past weekend and lucky you, you get more work bathroom photos. Dark, blurry, and so unflattering.

The dress is OK. I don't think it's super flattering on me but it's not the worst either. It is comfortable and it does fit. It's just got a bit too much waist floof to be my best silhouette (which you can see better on Zillie below). The dress may grow on me and I love this fabric, but even if it doesn't, I'm happy I made it. I liked the dress pattern when it first came out and I've wanted to try it. I'm not sure how I'll feel about ironing it when it comes out of the laundry. If nothing else, that may relegate it to occasional wear only. Not a big iron-er here anymore. Press-er when sewing, yes. Ironing, newp.

Pattern notes: I sewed it without too much pattern alteration. I did alter for my square shoulders since this is a woven (rayon challis from Fabricmart). I blended from 16-ish neck/chest to 20-22-ish at waist hips. I recall the pattern being lettered (S-M-L-etc) instead of numbered sizes, so blending was kind of an "by eye" thing. I also added about 6 inches to the above-knee view, since I wanted below-knee. I did not do an FBustA, but did a FBicepA (hah, so witty) of about 1 inch. The sleeves eased in very well, probably due to the give of the rayon. I haven't sewn a set-in sleeve in forEVER and I was not looking forward to fighting with excess ease. Luckily, I didn't have to. Dodged that bullet. All in all, it's a good pattern. I would recommend it.

It should be obvious in the pics above and below that I added pockets and have my hand jammed down in one. Pockets. Yay!

Here it is on Zillie. See the waist floof? It's kind of blouson-y, kind of not. I think it would be much better if my waist didn't have its own blousons.

Closer view of the bodice. I'm not sure if you can tell without me pointing it out, but I did sew down all the pleats (shoulders and waist, 12 total). I was not about to press pleats each time this comes out of the laundry, on top of regular dress ironing. No way.

Next up is the True Bias Hudson pant that's now a couple of years old. Nancy mentioned on Instagram that she converted one of her TNT woven pants patterns to a pattern for knits. I could do that, but I also like to just sew new-to-me patterns. Especially new-to-me *popular* patterns. I like to see for myself if the bandwagon is worth jumping on. I'm guessing I'm not alone. I'll keep you posted.

Signing off for now. I'll be back when I've got more wedding pics! I bet you can't wait. :-)

KS 4026 aka My Broke Woman's Myrtle

Here's the finished dress. I'm not in the love with the fabric, so that has a bearing on my feelings for the dress. It's just a crappy thin rayon knit that feels like a nightgown. I would like the dress much better in an ITY. The print is cool, which is why I bought the fabric to begin with. But it's definitely a low-quality knit and nothing will change that. I expect I'll make it again whenever I can afford to buy some new fabric because I do actually like the style of the dress on me, if not the fabric.

I hinted in a previous post at showing how I used my TNT tee for sizing this dress. I thought I took more pics, but hmmm. Guess not. I'll go over the ones I did manage to take, though. And since my camera battery is dying and I have NO IDEA where the cord is, I suspect it's going to be a while before I post with photos again. :-( I know I'm whining, but I'm really, REALLY tired of being broke because if I wasn't, I'd have a new camera by now. And better fabric choices. Definitely better fabric choices.

So, here we go ... I placed my TNT back piece over the KS back pattern piece. My goal here and on the front bodice piece was to get the widths right for me but to also keep in mind matching up to the KS waist width where it matched closest because the skirt would need to be attached at that seam and I didn't want extra, or worse, too little, at the matching seam. I also wanted to use my TNT armhole since KS armholes are notoriously low, especially on me.

Here's the tracing. It's basically a S at the neck/shoulder/upper chest and then moving to M/L through bust level and then down to the waist seam.

This is where I thought I had more pics. I had already created a drape front from my TNT so I used that piece to gauge the sizing for the KS. You can kinda sorta see the edge of TNT drape front at the right of this photo. The final tracing follows the same sizing variations as the back ... S up top, gradually to a M/L by the waist. The bottom length is longer than the KS pattern only because I knew I was adding a wide casing for the waist elastic (which is what Myrtle-izes this) and there was enough tissue below the bodice to just do it in one pass. For the back, I had to tape on extra.

I knew I'd never use armhole facings even if I decide later to make a sleeveless version so I just traced my TNT sleeve on that part of pattern tissue so I'd have a copy of the sleeve with this dress and not have to dig out the original.

Here are the finished front and back bodice pieces, where you can see the elastic casing taped onto the back piece and just cut onto the front. I added the width of the elastic (1-3/8" I think without looking). And that's it. Since I ended the waist at the actual KS L waist width, I used the L skirt pieces without alteration.

Also, I find most pattern drape fronts to be on the short side, which makes the cowl more fiddly. I added 1-1/2" to the drape section as I was cutting. I had no problems when wearing this dress with the cowl flipping outward or anything so this was enough extra for me. I know the Myrtle has a "self-lined" front, which is really just the whole front doubled and then folded where the drape edge would be if it wasn't "self-lined." I thought about doing this, but decided it would be too hot and the fabric would stick to itself and not lay nicely. And since I added the sleeves, I didn't need to worry about finishing armhole edges with anything other than my serger.

And one last shot. Maybe one day, I'll venture outside for some better pics and a different pose. Well, if I ever find the camera cord or can afford a new one. :-( (I hope I'm not sounding too whiney. I *am* appreciative of having an income, just impatient for the new permanent job and salary to happen already.)

Modeled Mimosa

After 5 days off, I sure didn't want to get up when the alarm went off this morning but it was a little bit easier throwing off the covers knowing I had a new outfit to wear. Plus, I had to pee. TMI? Hahahaha ... sorry in advance for any young women reading, but the truth is once you're past a certain age, your bladder just doesn't let you sleep in. Isn't getting older grand?

OK, not exactly how I planned to start this post, but once the thought came, it just wouldn't go away.

So here's the OOTD. I really (as in REALLY!) like this top. So much so that I just might be popping out another one come Wednesday. The fit is perfect, with minimal alteration. The neckline is just right, both in shape and depth. The ties are adorable yet not too cutesy for a woman of my age (cough:29:cough). It's an easy sew. And the instant gratification PDF is very reasonably priced at $10.

Here's the lowdown on the minimal alterations, besides the 1-1/2" I added at the hem while cutting. Love that little arm thingie that slides onto my rotary cutter.

1. Moved the bust dart downward. See age comments above. Nothing complicated here. I just drew a box around the dart, cut it out, slid it straight down, and filled in the empty space with tissue.

2. Added 3/8" at the shoulder-neckline point of the raglan sleeve. My bra straps were covered in the muslin, but I just felt I wanted a smidge more. The smidge added was the perfect amount.

3. Fiddled with the raglan dart in the fabric, until I ended up with this new seamline you see in red below. I've had the poof problem with darted raglans before, so I'm definitely chalking this one up to my particular shoulders and not the pattern.

For next time, the poof has been trimmed from the pattern so I should be able to just sew and go.

Parting shot: This pic is for Barbara. A quick blurry and crooked mirror selfie in the messy sewing room after throwing on my black knit dog-walking pants. IOW, the real me. And yes, I love this top so much I left it on to walk the dogs. They were impressed.

Second Slice of Red Velvet

Without a lot of tweaking, I do have a wearable (and liked) Red Velvet dress. I'll wait until I'm camera-ready to show the whole dress, since I think Zillie does it a disservice (sorry old girl!). But for now, here's a run-down on the tweaks and hacks.

I decided to interface the midriff, which is why it looks white from the wrong side. Since I now think drapey fabrics will give the best results for this dress even though doubleknit is a recommended fabric, I recommend fusible knit interfacing for one and all. The midriff needs a bit of structure so it doesn't collapse on itself or stretch out from the weight of the skirt (or get caught in any lumps/bumps ... ahem, I'm just sayin') and with the fusible, it gets that structure. Cut/fuse with the stretch going around your body.

I reduced the depth of the midriff pieces by 1-1/2" and added another 5/8" to the bottom of the bodice, which puts it at over 4" I added to the bodice length. Clearly, the narrow shouldered/full busted will have some alterations to do above and beyond "connecting the dots." Not saying this is necessarily a pattern error, just that this bodice is likely not going to be one-size-fits-all for anyone above a B cup or for whom gravity has played its tricks. Check the tuck location too, as I found them too far out to the sideseams for my particular boobage, although I actually sewed them as-is and can live with it.

In case you're curious why you're seeing white overlocking down the sideseam of a black skirt ... I decided I'd rather use white all the way down so it doesn't show through the bodice. I used black thread in the actual seam-sewing for all. Yes, I could've switched to white for the bodice, but ... um ... lazy? Also, Rebecca, I do sew most knits with a sewing machine straight stitch first and then overlock/serge to finish the seam allowances. Unless it's a really simple pattern. This pattern is simple enough except there's a tight curve in the underarm of the bodice that would be very tricky to navigate with just a serger as the seam-maker.Since I'm not in a factory and it's easy enough to move between my machines, I usually do. I'm pretty sure the seam police aren't going to come calling. ;-)

The next tweak was to lose the neckline facings. They are just a problem waiting to happen. Instead, I measured the neckline after sewing the shoulder/overarm seams and then cut a 1-1/2" strip 4 inches shorter and sewed that into a circle. I quarter-marked both the neckline and the band, aligned right sides and match/pinned at the marks, and sewed them together with a 1/2" seam allowance, stretching the "binding" as I sewed. I then flipped the binding to the inside and pressed, favoring the right side (which means a little of the right side of the neckline was rolled/pressed to the wrong side - which you can see below).

This is a finishing method that anyone with just basic equipment can do.If you're new to knits, I highly recommend Easy Sewing the KWIK SEW Way. (Full disclosure: that's an Amazon link and I'll earn pennies if you buy from it. Well, dollars if you ALL buy from it, but that's not likely to happen.) Ignore the out-of-date styles in the book and just concentrate on the top-notch methods. Sometimes you can't learn *everything* for free on the internet. ;-)

To finish, I coverstitched from the right side and trimmed the excess binding close to the coverstitching loops on the back. A twin needle will work fine here. Or even a simple single needle stitch. Truly.

The final hack was to remove the pleat from the back but to keep the swish factor. And to keep it easy by not drafting something from scratch or Frankenpatterning another skirt. I did mention my lazy streak, right?

This is the pattern piece for the skirt. Front and back use the same piece, cut on the fold (twice).

To eliminate the pleat, I folded the pattern piece the same as if I were prepping the front to sew the pleat. If you have the pattern, this will be self-explanatory. Then I aligned the CF notch (which I had to add myself and is highlighted in green here) with the fold and followed the edge of the piece the rest of the way down, truing the resulting unevenness at the bottom.

And that's it.

I hope you take away a few tidbits from this whole "series" ... but mainly that this is not an awful pattern and I never meant to imply that I hated it, or even disliked it. Yes, there were some annoyances and I think this particular pattern (which is my only experience with Cake) needs some refinement but overall the style is nice, the instructions, while not perfect, are better than most Big 3/4 instructions for knits, and I really didn't put a lot of work into the pattern itself before I ended up with something I will look forward to wearing. It was all these blog posts that took up my time. Hahaha.

So, if you've been tempted to try this one ... bookmark my blog for reference, and then go for it! Just save your best fabric for your second slice of Cake. ;-)

Saturday Sneak Peek

This is "tester" (aka muslin) for a shameless copy of another pattern using my TNT tee. It's not that I didn't want to buy the real pattern, just that I'm too impatient to wait for it to arrive.  I worked on the pattern changes last weekend, so I'd be ready to try it out today.

Can you guess the real pattern?

Hopefully, this turns out. I'll be back later with the deets, including photos of my pattern slice/dice if you want to try your own shameless copy.

Dusting off the Pattern Stash

I'm pretty sure I've had this pattern (Simp 3768) for at least 5 years. I even bought it in both size ranges, which is why you see "1 of 2" across the top because back then I needed the largest sizes for the bottom half pieces. There's a number of new (and not-so-new) patterns out that I want, but since I'm still catching up on four months of unemployment/smaller temp paychecks, it will be a while longer before I feel comfortable spending that money. And, really, I have PLENTY of patterns that are still brand new, if not new releases.

I was eyeing this one last weekend, and today it finally made it onto the cutting table. I'm starting with the draped-front top (View C) and am also thinking about trying the shorts. I'm severely lacking in weekend wear and these appeal to me.

I'm more than halfway done with the top ... maybe an hour left of sewing, but I thought I'd take a break to share my pattern "alterations."

First up is the front underlay. If you've been reading my blog for more than a week, :-) ... you probably know that my TNT tee is from the 02/2007 issue of Ottobre Woman. It love the way it fits and even if I don't sew it directly, I nearly always use it as the "block" for my knit tops. I really don't enjoy reinventing the wheel and since I haven't been making too many muslins lately, I like the better odds for a good fit when I start with a known commodity.

So, the front underlay ... which is just a simple knit tank. You can see that the bottom half of the pattern pretty nearly matches my TNT. But the upper half ... no wonder I keep going back to my TNT ... it's quite a bit narrower at the shoulders and upper chest than a straight 18 (which is where this pattern starts), or even a 16 or 14. And the armhole is a good 1/2" higher. I like high armholes in knits. They feel better to me. And a high armhole also reduces the visual bulk across the girls, which is much more flattering on me. I measured the pattern's shoulder length for the smallest size and duplicated that on my morph.

And the back ... again, pretty close at the bottom, but a narrower neck and a higher and more inset armhole. Again, I duplicated the shoulder length per the pattern so my pieces would fit together.

The cowl piece did have me scratching my head a bit but I finally decided matching the armhole *seam length* to my TNT armhole so my TNT sleeve would fit, and tracing the sideseam shape from the front underlay, would probably be all the adjustment I needed, at least for a first try. After sewing the shoulders, I found out that the unadjusted front shoulder length was a little bit longer than the new back shoulder I drew. (The front underlay has a much shorter length on purpose, per the design.) I think I messed up the length when working with the front armhole, but a little tuck on the shoulder seam near the cowl/drape and no one will be the wiser unless they're reading this. If this is clear as mud, wait for the final pics and I"ll point it out then.

Sneak peak. This fabric is also from deep stash and I'm sure some of you are still hoarding it. I've seen other bloggers' makes from it and I made a top years and pounds ago. I think that top went home with my sister when it became too big for me. This new top is using up the scraps.

I'm enjoying the long holiday weekend. No real plans except to relax and sew as the mood strikes. I made my billable time goal at work this week so I was able to leave at 2:30 yesterday. Nice perk! I'm really enjoying the people at the new place. Still miss my old duties a little but I'm getting up to speed with my new ones and into the groove of actual legal work again.

I'll "see" you next time with a finished top. And maybe even some shorts.

Frankenpattern: KS2694-Otto0207-Walmart

So, first things first. Here is the result of too many weekends spent car shopping. And the worst part? We both ended up buying from the first dealer we went to. lol Alex's is on the left - a blue/gray 2011 Mercury Milan. Mine is the other, a metallic gray 2013 Ford Focus hatchback.

This is the official Ford photo. It looks better than mine. (One would hope.) I like it. I don't love it yet. It wasn't my first choice but I needed to go with the Focus with the bigger rebate so I could pay off my previous car and not be upside down in it. I miss my old car. But it was time to let her go, since it was pushing 100K miles and I could "feel" things were starting to go. Don't misunderstand, it's definitely nice to have a new car and I do love the techno-geeky stuff inside. And I'm sure I will love the much-improved gas mileage.

So, on to sewing. Yes, there HAS been some sewing going on here. Not much, so this isn't really gonna be a true sewcation, but any sewing is more than I've done lately.

No, I did not make this top. I bought this one at Walmart a few weeks ago for $5. And I would wear it every stinkin' day if I could. I love it that much. So, all previous sewing plans went by the wayside (yes, I still have that humungous stack of Hot Patterns gathering dust now) as I decided I *had* to recreate it so I could have another one since Walmart only had this one print.

It's a crossover with an all-around empire seam. The front has fold-over facings. There is gathering on the crossovers below the bust and slight gathering center front on both top and bottom. Not so much that it screams maternity. Just enough that it flows over the middle-aged lumps nicely.

The back neckline has a self-fabric turned-down binding as a facing.

So I started digging through the pattern stash for an exact replica. Yeah, I didn't find one. Why is it with hundreds of patterns, we NEVER have the exact thing we want?

Kwik Sew 2694 was the closest.

I last made this almost TEN YEARS AGO. OMG time flies.(Speaking of which, Tuesday was the 1st anniversary of The Day Which Shall Not Be Mentioned. How can I be a year even older now? But it was a good day, spent in St. Augustine with my 3 sons. Yes, 3. My stepson is the one who lives in St. A. Tyler drove down for a long weekend with him. Alex went over Saturday and I joined them all on Tuesday.)

This is the photo from my 2004 review, in which I noted that the armholes were too low/wide. But the underbust seam was hitting at the right place so I thought this would be a good start for a morph. And guess what? I still have the tee so I could actually try it on again. I really don't know why I still have it since I don't think I've worn it since 2004. But sometimes the universe works these things out for you.

So I took out the KS pieces and laid them on my Ottobre TNT pieces and came up with new pieces. Mainly, it was using the Otto armholes/sleeves on the general shape of the KS front. Which I then slash/spread to create the underbust gathers like the Walmart top. I added a fold-on facing to the top section and some additional CF width to the bottom piece. None of this was scientific. I just eyeballed it all. I also decided the empire seam on the back did nothing and wouldn't show in a print anyway, so I just used the Otto back piece as-is, except for widening the shoulders inward toward the neck to match the front of the KS/Otto morph, which meant I re-traced that piece too.

And the finished result? Perfect! It fits JUST LIKE the Walmart top, which in this case, is a really good thing.

Here's a close-up of the gathering.

And the insides. Where, if you're paying attention, you can see that I "fixed" the wrap to be right over left, as it should be. The Walmart top actually crosses left over right. But I never even noticed that until today. Proving that we're a lot less picky about RTW than our own makes. Remember that!

Here's the back, sans empire seam. Which will never be missed, and saved a few steps in pattern morphing and construction.

I still need to coverstitch the hems. The bottom "hem" you see here is merely glued up and waiting for me to change threads on the CS machine, which I'll do after I post this so I can finish the top.

Next up, another morph. A skirt from a mix of the Magic Pencil and Neue Mode. I wear the black Neue Mode skirt ALL the time and it's time for YABS (yet another brown skirt). I won't count them if you won't. ;-)