Basic

You can't get more basic than this. Sorry for the snoozer but I will actually get a lot of wear out of this, if my current basic black knit skirt is any indication. This is the old formerly black skirt (right) next to the new one (left). Yeah, I was overdue, wouldn't you agree?

I copied pretty much everything from the old skirt, including the slit. The only thing I didn't have on hand was 2" wide elastic. So I adjusted the top edge and used some of my 50-yard roll of 1-1/2" elastic from Wawak. I also didn't make a separate elastic casing. I was boring myself with this project and just wanted to be done already so I just serged, turned, and coverstitched it down.

Note to self: If you leave your coverstitch machine sitting for 2 years, it would probably be a good idea to dust off the harp before dragging your new black skirt across it. That's the wrong side of the hem/slit edge. Yuck. The harp is clean now though. LOL!

Next up is this b/w dotty woven fabric. It was the other piece that had been sitting on my dryer for 2 years with the fabric I recently made into a Rhapsody. I'm forcing myself to use it before I venture into my stash. It's been so long that I don't even remember where I bought it. (Funny story - I was digging through a bin of miscellaneous sewing stuff that had been sitting in the other room. I found bits and pieces of masks and mask makings, some Wonder Clips I forgot I bought, and a brand new, tags still attached, pair of knit joggers that I also forgot about — the "TNT" Old Navy RTW that I've been living in around home. I'm sure I bought them as a backup since I love all my others so much. I don't even need them yet since the others are still in excellent condition. I'm usually NOT scatterbrained like this, but this is definitely an indication of how weird the last 3+ years have been.)

I'm going to be giving the Love Notions Melody Dolman a try. I don't think I'll be wearing it tied up, but never say never. I'm hoping to get the pattern taped together tomorrow. And maybe some pictures up on the walls in the sewing room. It's so … blank in there.

If this top works out, it will be something else I can wear to the office. Or around the house. Speaking of the office, we just moved to a new building a few weeks ago (I think I mentioned that already in another recent post) which means I've lost my trusty work bathroom selfies mirror. A moment of silence, please. The new building, not my firm, owns the bathroom spaces, so I don't think anything will be improving there. I also don't have a true full-length mirror in my house so it looks like I'll be shopping for one of those soon. 

Have a great weekend! I hope to be checking in again soon with progress on the Melody.

Easy Peasy

This post is really to remove the "Under (Temporary) Maintenance" post as the last post, because I really have not done much since my last "sewing" post (which was a wadder to bring you up to speed). 

The good news is I believe I fixed the issues I was having with my blog. Replying to comments seems to work again. I can add new entries to my two blogrolls at the right. My archive of old blog posts at the left is expandable/working again. There are few small things that aren't back to my preference, like typefaces and sizes, but I'm going to just let it roll for now because I just don't feel like spending more time in the HTML bowels of the blog. 

So, back to the sewing stuff. I am making the absolute easiest thing in the world. A black ponte knit skirt, which uses one pattern piece cut two times. You'd think I'd be done by now. But you'd be wrong. 

I was going to use my RTW skirt (on its last legs hence this project) to create a pattern, so I'd get lengths and widths correct. Then I went a step further and decided to just modify an actual pattern instead of, I don't know, drawing lines on paper. The problem with drawing lines on paper was I have no idea where any pattern paper is at the moment, so modifying an existing pattern seemed easier. Neither method was going to be particularly hard. It's a tube of fabric with elastic at the top. 

I used Kwik Sew 3256, which I last sewed 7 years and many pounds ago, and which I actually cut instead of tracing. I used the top section of View A. 

I still have the skirt hanging in my closet so I could try squeeze it on and figure out adjustments. I added up adding many inches by just adding copy/printer paper (thank you office!) to the sides and bottom with Post-It tape (LOVE this stuff!). That way my original pattern can survive unharmed.

I should have had the skirt finished yesterday but I was having the weirdest problem with skipped stitches. My trusty main machine has never done this before. I finally changed the needle and was back to sewing. But that put me off for the afternoon so I've still got the side slits to sew around, and black thread on black fabric + over 40 eyes at night (who are we kidding? Over 60!) don't mix. I hope to finish it up tonight or tomorrow.

In the meantime, if you're interested in someone who is undertaking a much more interesting and challenging project than my stupid-easy black skirt, I encourage you to go visit Bunny's blog and follow her as she makes what's going to be a fabulously fancy sparkly wonder! 

Also since I can't help it, I leave you with another photo of Cyrus. Who is definitely in the running for Most Spoiled Dog in the World. 

Thoughts on Blank Slate Rose Tee

I like knit top patterns that are more than a basic tee, such as Jalie 2806, HotPatterns Sunshine Top, my beloved Ottobre tees, etc., and which have a bit of design "fullness" in front to cover my own "fullness." Enter the Blank Slate Rose. I bought/downloaded this pattern about 8 months ago and it's been in my queue for a while. Finally, its turn came.

The pattern calls for a woven fabric to be used where you see a print in the pattern photo, and the designer and most others I've seen who've made it (#bsprosetshirt) have used solids for the rest. If you know anything about me, you know I'm a prints and knits girl. Give me All the Print Knits!

I had some Liverpool scraps left from my Slouchy Cardi which I used to "opposite" color block. I did interface, (with a non-stretch fusible) the pieces which called for woven to be used, mostly because the b/w print is a *very* drapey, silky knit and it definitely needed some stability when used around the neckline. There are front and back facings on the inside which I also interfaced, but with a knit fusible on those, for a bit more "oomph." I did not interface the solid black pieces at all.

I'm very happy with how the neckline turned out, even though I generally hate facings in knits. The shape, width, and depth are perfect for me. Next time, I will definitely just bind the back neckline or turn and coverstitch, but a facing on the front in this design is actually needed for stability, and to cover all the piecing so the insides are pretty too.

The pattern went together well but it's not for an abundance of accurate markings. Look at the notches above ... they aren't even close to being correct. Sigh. I suppose it's a good thing these notches weren't even mentioned in the instructions, right? :-) Speaking of which, the instructions are  illustrated with mostly photos, which is OK, but the instructions for attaching the facings are just plain a bad method and will give you a lump at the shoulder seams if you follow them. My advice is to sew the facing shoulder seams together/press and the bodice shoulder seams together/press, and then join the facing to bodice at the neckline, RS together, stitch, and turn. In other words, the usual way. :-)

As usual, I laid my TNT Ottobre tee over the pattern pieces and compared. Below is the back. Can you see how straight up/down this original pattern is below my TNT? I'm not that shape, so I reshaped the armholes and waist/hip curves. I did the same for the front, which was also straight up/down.

Below is the pattern sleeve behind my Ottobre sleeve. Yikes. Good thing I was already planning to use my Ottobre sleeve.

I've been wanting to add a flounce to a short-sleeve knit top for a while and finally I did. Watch out, because I love it and I'm going to add flounces to all of my short sleeves. Maybe kidding.

Seriously, how fun is this?

I dug out my 1/4" downturn feller for my coverstitch machine …

… ran the flounces through it before they were attached to anything …

… and Voila! Perfect hems on a curve. Now I'm really adding flounces everywhere. :-)

I'm very happy with my top and will definitely make it again because there are a lot of color/print blocking possibilities with the neckline, and all of those pieces were accurate and sewed together well. But if I'm being honest, I don't think this top would have fit me as I prefer below the neckline without sewing a muslin and tweaking if I hadn't substituted my TNT shaping. I'm just curvier than it is (was).

After finishing the top, I had some scraps of the print left. Too big to toss, but maybe too small to be anything. Well, with some creative cutting and thanking my stars that the fabric is 4-way stretch, I was able to eek out a McCall's 7386 skirt. I love this skirt. I must have at least 8 of them in my closet now. I love the slightly flippy, slightly pencil, slightly A-line shape all in one skirt. It's perfect for the office. I'm sure I'll keep making it for years.

The finished 2-piece dress on Zillie …

… and on me with those awesome work bathroom selfies.

Oh, and remember I said I had to creatively cut the skirt pieces? Well, I also had to piece a section, which turned out to be the CB hem area, which hardly shows now. I'll never point it out off this blog.

Itch to Stitch Nottingham - My thoughts

How does so much time go by between posts?? I really always intend to post more often but then either my sewjo disappears or my blogjo (is that a thing?) does, or both. And then I make excuses to myself or figure no one wants to just read about my day-to-day, especially with no pics! But anyway ... here I am. And I sewed! (I thought this pic was both creepy and hilarious, in a 'The Shining' sort of way.)

This past Memorial Day Weekend was the most productive I've been in a short time in months! I made two tops and three skirts. Yay!

Today, I'm going to talk about the Nottingham top from Itch to Stitch. Link to pattern here (not an affiliate link).

This is the first Itch to Stitch pattern I've actually sewn. I've bought a few and downloaded the freebies and they are in my queue but see comment about sewjo above. Plus Magpie Syndrome. I know ... preaching to the choir! :-) But I love me a twisty top and so this one jumped into first position.

Overall, the pattern is good. The drafting is accurate, the price is very reasonable (especially if bought during the first week of release) compared to other Indies and non-sale Big 4, the PDF pages go together quickly (even quicker if you use the Itch to Stitch tutorial here), and the construction instructions are fine. But I do have some opinions I'll share below. Whoa Deb, you have an opinion? What a surprise! Hah. I crack myself up.

If like me, you really wanted to see what the pattern pieces for the twist look like, voila. The top section is just a basic tee, with all the twisty stuff going on near the bottom. The pattern is PDF only but available for large format and created with layers so you can print what you need. There are 33 pages for the whole thing and it took me about 20-30 minutes to assemble. I'm one that very much prefers PDFs over tracing.

I was hoping that I'd be able to quickly morph my TNT tee to this pattern, and that worked out very well. Truthfully, there aren't a huge number of differences between my TNT and this pattern, but there are enough, so why reinvent the wheel when I can just cut and sew, you know?

So my first "opinion" concerns the neckline. Kennis (the pattern designer) calls it a scoop neck. It is not a scoop. A look at the "tester" round-up pics will confirm that. It's a jewel neck. I do not like jewel necks on me. Which leads me to my next "opinion." It's pretty easy to offer additional neckline styles for simple knit tops (which this one is in the upper torso). A true scoop neck and vee neck would've been great inclusions. Not that I can't do this myself, but it just seems nicer to have the choices already in the pattern. I mean, it comes with three sleeve variations so why not a choice of necklines? For mine, I lowered the pattern neckline at least two inches. And as you can see by photos of me wearing it, it's nowhere near a low neckline even with those two inches removed. I also increased the width to open up the neckline even more.

I added a band, whereas the pattern is a "facing" turned outward to look like a band.

My next "opinion" is about the sleeve and armhole and sewing them together. Since I was using my TNT upper bodice, I also used my TNT armhole and sleeve. I like the armholes in my knit tops to be high and narrow (curving more inward at the upper chest than not). I do not want extra fabric across my chest nor below my armpit. The Nottingham armhole is lower than I like and it's also set wider under a wider shoulder seam. Many of the "tester" photos bear this out. I won't point out which ones specifically since maybe the wearer actually prefers hers that way. But I do see a trend that makes me wonder. Plus, I've seen the pattern. Hah.

What I will complain (and not just opine) about is that the instructions have you set in this sleeve like for a woven blouse. Why? And why is there so much asymmetry and height in the sleeve cap for a knit sleeve? My pink mark shows the sleeve pattern for the size I was sewing. In reality, I had traced my TNT sleeve and used that. You can see the difference. Yes, technically I'm sure the pattern sleeve works. But it's too much work when it doesn't need to be.

The sizing is generous. There is a lot of upper body ease to create the pretty draping toward the twist. Pay attention to the finished measurements and your fabric's characteristics. The measurement chart would have me in a 20. My TNT is closer to this pattern's 14-16 in the upper chest and I morphed to the 18 toward the hip and still have plenty of room and drape. The pattern's elbow-length sleeve is narrow. My TNT sleeve equates to roughly a size 20 sleeve for this pattern.

If you have a larger bust, you probably won't need an FBA but I would advise to add length to the front piece, tapering to nothing by the side seam. There are lengthen/shorten lines provided, which is a nice touch on such a weirdly shaped pattern piece. (You could also do a traditional FBA but you'd have to do it twice since the pattern piece is a full piece, not a cut-on-fold piece.) In fact, unless you're very petite with a smaller bust, I would suggest adding length all around. I'm 5'5" and the overall length of this top out of the "envelope" (off the printer?) is fine on me with a skirt, but would definitely be too short with pants (which I wear a little below my skirt waist). There are a lot of  inspirational "tester" pics on the pattern's release blog page but I wish there was more info about their height and about the whys of their size choices. I saw a number of length variances but no explanation. Next time, I'll likely add an inch.

One little addition I made, which you can see in the above and below pics, was to add a 'faux" tie. It's just a simple tube of fabric, about twelve inches long, pulled through the hole created by the twist. I think this balances and finishes the bottom edge. The tie will be more apparent when I wear this top with the solid navy skirt that also came out of the sewing room this weekend. The twist gives me a spot to hang my work pass, which you can see in the bathroom selfies below.

If you've read my blog for any time, you probably know my love for 2-piece dresses (aka top and matching skirt). I'm really happy with how this set turned out. The skirt is my trusty McCall's 7386, which is a cross between an A-line and trumpet skirt and is SO FAST to cut and sew. The separates will mix/match nicely with other pieces in my wardrobe.

Overall, I like this pattern a lot. I'll definitely be making it again soon. It's distinct enough to not want too many in my wardrobe, but a solid white will mimic a blouse nicely and another print will be a great weekend top. And maybe one with a vee neck, one with long sleeves for winter ..........

Found!

I found both my sewjo and that big stack of missing patterns. Life is good.

Here's me today, back in the work bathroom for selfies, sporting the new 2-piece dress (aka skirt and top). And boy do I need a haircut!

But first, the missing patterns.

I have no explanation for not looking in this little chest/box which I walk past at least ten times a day, except that I must have just mentally ruled it out, thinking I already checked it. So glad I decided to double-check my assumption. It was like Christmas and my birthday all in one! And good to know that I haven't quite lost my mind. Yet.

Last post, I talked about mashing up my TNT Ottobre tee with the Love Notions Laundry Day Tee, the main reason being that I felt the overall upper bodice shape of the LDT was not the shape I knew I prefer for my tees. I did keep the LDT neckline and neckband piece, and swing shaping at the hemline, and I'm happy with those. The vee neckline shape is very nice and the band went on without a gape or pucker. I'll definitely use this neckline shape again. (Side note: Does anyone remember the Jalie 2005 tee and how that neckline stormed the online sewing world?)

I probably should've planned the seam on the band better relative to the print, but overall it's just not that noticeable from a regular distance, especially given the focus-pulling wild print. Or it's laziness. Or both. You be the judge.

Here's the top before any hems were sewn. Even after we all know the CF of the band isn't symmetrical, are you really noticing that? Yeah, I didn't think so. :-)

For the skirt, I used one of the long-lost-but-now-found patterns. I liked the flippy-ness/trumpet shape of all the lengths when I originally bought it, and still did once the pattern re-surfaced. The length I sewed is between Views D and E. I can see me using this pattern a LOT since it's only 2 pattern pieces and 3 seams and takes less than a yard of fabric for even my generous posterior.

So-so pattern matching at the sideseams. It's not an exact pattern to match so good enough is good enough, and about all that can be expected.

A quick hanger shot of the skirt. I decided to place the horizontal stripes section at the top of the skirt so they would be "hidden" under the top when worn. I thought it would be too much of a good thing to see one more row of those stripes. The eyes wouldn't know where to rest. I'm happy with that decision.

The whole outfit on Zillie.

I'll be back soon because I have another finished project to share, and I'm expecting a fun sewing blogger meet-up tomorrow. Stay tuned!