A Couple More Thoughts on the Dress

I agree with everyone who said that the full gathers aren't the best look for a full bust. But I am still going to make the dress when I decide on a fabric. I might even use a knit since then I wouldn't need as big an FBA and it would be nice and drapey. But anyway ... I know, I know. ;-) That's one of the reasons for the muslin — to see how to adapt the pattern to not only fit my body but to *flatter* it too. I'd never wear this style dress on its own because I need some waist definition. But the right outer layer will do that. A short-sleeved summer sweater or a less structured jacket would work.

Other progress today: I started and finished the skirt (KS 3287). Praise be for TNTs! ;-) I lengthened it 2" and it's going to be great with the jacket. And the shoes. ;-) Let me say again how much I love the 1/4" downturn feller on my coverstitch machine. The poly fabric zipped right through for a narrow hem with not even so much as one slippery whimper.

Speaking of the jacket … a little more progress on getting it done. After sewing in and ripping out the (very thin) shoulder pads 3 times because I couldn't decide whether I wanted them or not, I ripped them out for good. The jacket isn't really drafted for shoulder pads and I didn't make an allowance for them. While they technically fit in because they're thin, I just didn't like the bulk. After that, I serged the armhole seam allowances which means my decision (and the lining) is final and there's no going back. LOL! Now if I could only motivate myself to do the buttonholes and get this thing finished. I'm still mulling over whether I want 2, 3, or 4 buttons. Why are all these decisions so paralyzing?

Then I traced Jalie 2794, the knit sweetheart neckline top. I'm going to try it in a summer sweater knit (without the front shirring) to complete the skirt/jacket outfit. But I'll do a quick test in an icky knit first. Hopefully, I'll get to that after dinner. It's nice to finally see a whole outfit coming together. You'll get to see it when it's complete.

Back Burner

This dress is on hold for the moment. I finished the pattern alterations and made a muslin yesterday (two actually) and I think the fit/style is OK. But there are other problems. First, I'm going to want to make the dress longer than the pattern's length and the layout will now exceed my 2 yds of fabric (by only about 6 inches!), and second, I'm not thrilled with how it looks under the brown jacket. With the gathers under the yoke, I think it's too puffy for this fitted jacket. I'm also thinking of rotating some of the bust dart *back* to the side and just sewing a dart so that there's not quite so much gathering. In muslin, it looks like a nightgown, doesn't it? ;-)



So, I'm moving on to Plan B and making a skirt from the lining leftovers from one of my TNT Kwik Sew skirt patterns. I think. I also have another untried skirt pattern that's a good candidate.

I'll return to the dress with another fabric, after a look through the stash or some shopping if the stash is uncooperative.

New Patterns & Answers to Comments

The results of my "spree" at Joann's on Friday night:

Simp 3506 - Looks like a fast & comfortable dress and top to whip up. The jacket is too shapeless for me though. The pants will never fit in the size range I bought.

Simp 2923 - Princess lines and raglan sleeves. I like the combination.



Simp 4045 - This is the jacket (brown, bottom left) that I'm thinking of morphing into that JCP inspiration jacket, although it won't be an exact morph since this doesn't have raglan sleeves. I'm thinking more "essence of inspiration." I'll have to create a separate neck yoke since what you see on the jacket is just topstitching. I'll never make the skirts because they are too full for me, but the dress and top are cute. But that dress doen't fit the model very well, does it?



Simp 3631 - Or I could use this one that was recommended by Belinda and Carolyn. I do have the issue of Sew Stylish that shows narrowing the sleeve so I should be all set, right? ;-)



Simp 3678 - Likely that I'll never make this but you never know. I like all of the dresses and think the sleeveless jumper would be especially cute under a jacket.



New Look 6632 - I thought the angle of the jacket would be a flattering diagonal line for me. Sort of trendy but at the same time, not. I'd make the shorter version, but a bit longer than shown. If I make it at all.



New Look 6788 - I like the dress. The square neckline of the jacket might be a bit too fuddy-duddy. I bought this and then saw Carolyn's dress and was doubly inspired. Of course if I made this dress, I'd have to wear a jacket and never take it off. If Joann's had had two coordinating linen/blends, they would've come home with me too. But Joann's usually disappoints and was no exception that night.



And two which aren't on the website yet:

Simp 2899 - Another raglan sleeve/princess seams combination. I'm definitely making the jacket on the left. But I wouldn't wear it buttoned all the way up, if at all.



Simp 2896 - The dress I'm currently in the process of altering to use with the leftover lining fabric. The blouse is very much like my recent coral blouse but with a little bit lower neckline. I'll definitely morph them as that coral blouse is my newest favorite and I'm going to wear it out soon if I don't have another. If I have enough fabric, I might add sleeves to the dress so I have the option of taking off the jacket. (Sleeveless and me in an office don't mix.)





* * * * *

Answers to some comments:

Carolyn asked, "Are you going to make a few other pieces - skirt, pants another top so that you can mix and match all of the pieces for interviews?"

I'm definitely making more pieces. Whether they all mix and match, probably not. I tend to sew as "outfits" and not a SWAP. And I'll be filling in with RTW because there's no way I can sew an entire office wardrobe in a matter of weeks. And, yes, I already thought about the 2nd interview scenario. ;-)

Nancy K asked, (About buttons) "There are some good places online. Have you tried any?"

I haven't yet. The problem is I don't *know* I need buttons until I know what the fabric will be and I'm well into the project and then I'm too impatient. I have a hard time picking out buttons for garments which don't yet exist. Not a problem with fabric, just with buttons. Which is why I don't have a good button stash.

CandyO asked, "This is your first lined jacket? Wow. That makes me feel a little better about my own abilities, since I just assumed you were awesome at all things sewing. ... Is that the McCall's Nanette Lepore knockoff?"

You're funny! I am most definitely NOT "awesome at all things sewing." Yes, this is my first lined jacket. And even with this, I haven't lined the sleeves so I still have that hump to jump at some later point. There just hasn't been much need for a lined jacket in my SAHM world. I know there's plenty of other sewing related things/skills I haven't done/mastered yet. That's one of the things I love/hate about sewing ... so much to learn and stay challenged, so much to screw up on. LOL!

And sort of. The jacket is actually KS 3368, with the waistbands and sleeves inspired by that McCall's pattern.

Myrna asked, "I know who Belinda is but who is Carolyn? Does she have a blog I'd like to read."

Carolyn is DiaryofASewingFanatic. I bet you already follow her blog and didn't realize they were one and the same.

Too Many Learning Experiences

Here's the jacket as of now. The only thing left to do is buttonholes & buttons and to attach the lining at the armholes. The fabric you see underneath is the lining and will also be a dress. The camera/light isn't cooperating so the colors are off. But then nothing seemed to be cooperating with this jacket so I'm not surprised.

Here's the back view.



And this is the lining. The colors are more accurate in this photo but the browns do match in real life.



This is what the jacket looked like last night. At first glance you might not notice what is actually a glaring mistake. Look at the belt bands at the waist. They are not level. By a lot! I didn't notice this until I saw this photo. At that point, I was hoping the jacket was just sitting lopsided on Zillie. It wasn't. Arghhh. I had measured carefully and even used white thread to mark each location. But obviously I messed up somewhere.



This revelation came upon the heels of fighting for over two hours with the place where the lining joins the facing. I was sewing this spot all by machine (as per Jackets for Real People) so the join would be neat. It's actually a pretty good method but since this is my first lined jacket, I had to experiment and learn as I went. But I wasn't learning fast enough for my own satisfaction. LOL! It would've been faster to sew by hand but I'm stubborn (and severely opposed to my own handsewing!).



(The extra seam you see is the princess seam from the front. Next time I'll redraw the facing to space that out more. I think it looks weird and it made it harder to get the lining/facing seams aligned correctly.)

So, back to the waistbands. As you can see, they are sewn into the princess seams and stitched down to the jacket body. The princess seam allowances were also trimmed and edgestitched. And the lining was attached at that point, although not yet at the armholes, thankfully, which saved me even more frustration. I had to rip out the band and one section of an edgestitched princess seam before I could reposition the band. And then I had to fidget with the lining underneath while sewing so I didn't catch it while re-stitching the band back on. Stupid mistake. Repeat after me: Measure twice, sew once. Measure twice, sew once. ;-)

My last frustration yesterday was that the lining kept falling out at the back of the jacket so it could be seen, even though I had anchored it at all the seams. I tried handsewing (yes!) it down but an inch of that told me it wasn't going to be invisible. This fabric does not hide stitches even a little bit. At which point, I threw my hands in the air and ended up anchoring the jacket hem from the inside with a fusible.

Thankfully Belinda was near her computer as I was cursing this jacket and lent me a shoulder to whimper on, gave me a great pep talk and good advice. Of course, if she were actually here instead of virtually so, she would've shown me step-by-step and I wouldn't have made any mistakes. LOL! But with all these "learning experiences" I created for myself, I'm actually feeling a lot more confident for my next lined jacket. In 10 years. ;-)

Now for buttons. This is what I bought. The pickin's at Joann's are slim and this is what I thought were the best of the bunch. The buttons on the left have a slight bronze metallic sheen to them. The buttons on the right are "coconut" and are more speckled. I'm leaning toward the buttons on the left. Opinions?



We're off to the dog park. After that, I'm hoping to start working on a dress pattern, leaving the jacket buttons for tomorrow when I don't hate the jacket so much. ;-)

I Got Nothing

Did I sew yesterday? Is the lining in? Um … about 2 seams, and no. It just turned into a day of errands and then DS#1 wanted to take me and his brother out for a late lunch so how could I refuse that? My last errand of the evening was to Joann's to grab that Simplicity 3631 pattern while it was on sale (and, ahem, 9 others), some thread, and to look at buttons. I'll be soliciting button opinions a little later.

I'm quite happy with some of my new patterns (I'll list them later) — at least in theory right now. We'll see how they work with my actual and not theoretical body. I was pleasantly surprised to see lots in the new counter book that aren't on the website yet and I bought a few of them. I have to say that going back to work is going to be very bad for my stash. I'm looking at a whole new world of fabric and patterns. Things that never even caught my eye before. Uh oh.

Oh, and speaking of the pattern counter books … I was so frustrated with them last night since I'm used to looking at patterns on the internet. The books really should show front and back line drawings on the pattern page, as well as fabric requirements (knit vs. woven) and even maybe yardage. What a pain to have to pull a pattern and then open the info sheet just to see the line drawings because even the envelopes sometimes don't have clear representations of both front and back views.

And finally an observation about the Project Runway line. I *hate* the way they're doing yardage requirements and not labeling the different views A, B, C, etc. First, the yardage requirements have you add up X for this bodice plus Y for that sleeve plus Z for this collar. And they do not add up correctly. I *know* that a simple dress won't take 3 yds of fabric. Sheesh. But would someone else who is new to sewing? Or will they end up with way more fabric and cash outlay than necessary? I say no, and yes.

But it's the lack of labels for the different options that made me the craziest. I like to look at the drawings for the pattern pieces and match them up to the different views. You know, the list under the pattern drawings that shows piece #12 is View A sleeve. That sort of thing. Except with these PR patterns, it's piece #12 is for "bodice with round collar and two buttons." Arghhh. I have to then study the line drawings to figure out which one actually IS the one that has a bodice with a round collar and two buttons. And then I have to do it *each time* because there's no way my brain remembers such a description for each and every view when I'm flipping back and forth between line drawings and pattern pieces. It reminded of the puzzles in Highlights magazine from the dentist office waiting rooms of my childhood — Which One Of These Is Different? That was my favorite feature in the magazine. On a pattern sheet, not so much.

I understand the general concept of what Simplicity is doing with the PR patterns. They want the sewer to feel more free to make choices, to *not* be stuck in a box thinking they have to make View A and cannot interchange the sleeves for View B. I think that's a good thing. But I know there's got to be a better way to do that.

Today I will finish the jacket while I dream of using one of my new patterns. I just have to decide which one.