McCall's 6397: Nearly Done Sneak Peak

I'll be back after I've had some time to hem it, like it again, and become camera-ready. There's a major goof with the pattern, and I'm over it now even though it was impossible to fix post-cutting, but it will be a lesson to muslin the actual view I plan to make. Stoooopid McCall's.

McCall's 6397: The Pattern Alterations

The pattern alterations went quickly and I'm now ready to cut bait and fish. Er, I mean, cut fabric and sew. The cutting will take somewhat longer since I will need to cut single layer for motif matching purposes.

Here's what I did, on the upper front piece: Raised neckline and extended its and the armhole edge 5/8"; split the underbust dart to a side dart and lowered the apex of the underbust dart a smidge; moved the shoulder seam back 1/2" (if you have forward shoulders, and I don't, this is a pattern for you).

For the upper back, subtracted 1/2" from where the shoulder seam lays (to match front adjustment); extended armhole edge 5/8"; a tuck in the upper back for my erect posture.

To address some comments from my last post:

Anon: "When you make the bust dart, what will determine the angle of the line from the side seam to the bust apex? Should the line be perpendicular to the grainline, or should the angle of the line begin much lower on the side seam"

Two things determined the angle I chose. First, I wanted the dart to point upward, and second, there ain't much space between where a dart would be and the empire seam. I just eyeballed it.

M-C: "All that's wrong with these darts is that they need to be a tad wider apart, ie truly below your bust, and also shorter. The pucker just means you're trying for a Gaultier effect on a non-conical breast :-)" 

The photo must have been deceiving because the actual dart placement is fine. It's centered under the girls. But you're spot on with the Gaultier reference. And Madonna I ain't. ;-)

Now I'm off to the sewing room again. If I put my nose to the grindstone, I could end up with a finished dress today. But I'm not counting on it since I'm so not a nose/grindstone kind of stitcher. Stay tuned.

McCall's 6397: The muslin

I went with this one, mostly because I thought the fabric I'm planning to use is better suited for a more closely fitted style. I still like the Vogue 8764 dress and will keep it on my short list, especially after reading Carolyn's review and revisiting her make. I forgot that was the pattern she used for her ponte knit colorblocked dress and I may just have to steal her idea use hers as inspiration.

I'm making the view with the front pockets and scoop neckline but I used the plain front piece for my muslin because it's easier. You know I'm all about the easy. ;-)

Overall, the muslin is pretty good. I need a few tweaks but nothing major. I cut the 16 for the bodice and blended to the 20 for the hips/skirt section. The hips are snug, but my fabric will be a stretch woven and not the sheet I'm using for my muslin and I think it will stretch out with wear so I'm going to keep the fit on the snug side of things. The neckline and armholes will need to be raised. They are good here, but that's with the seam allowances still in place. I don't think I will add the lining (too hot) so I will just finish the edges with stitched-down bias facings. This will also allow me to snug things in a bit too, which will eliminate the hint of gaposis I'm seeing.

This is a multi-cup size pattern and I have to say I'm not particularly thrilled with it in D cup size. White it technically fits, the darts are way too wide to end smoothly in the distance given. Can you see the puckers at the dart apexes (apexi?) in the pic below? (And how 'bout that jazz hand??) I think I really should take the time and rotate some of the underbust dart to an added side dart. I'm also going to need to take out a tuck at the upper back for my erect posture and I did make a square shoulder adjustment as I was cutting the tissue. Really, though, not too many fit issues for a woven pattern. I know I've been sliding my way through fitting lately with all the knits and I was a little worried I'd have to get all slash and spread on this one.

That's it for now. I'm know I won't finish the real dress tomorrow, but I'm hoping to get an early start and at least make some good progress. If this turns out like I'm thinking it will, I will wear it a lot this summer.

Kwik Sew 3915 Finished, and What's Next

Well, I pooped out Thursday and Friday nights and didn't finish my top until this morning, but it's done and that's all that matters. Here's how I plan to wear it. I'll get  a pic of me in the outfit after I've hit the shower. I think it makes a nice Florida summer outfit and I know I'll be glad to get this skirt back in the rotation.

The neckband gathers were only a little fiddly and that's mostly because (a) I needed to lessen the gathering distance vs. the pattern notches because I wanted a little more fullness where the gathers gather, and (b) gathers always mean a LOT of pins.

I didn't follow the construction instructions for the neckband, even though Kwik Sew instructions are always pretty good. KS instructed to first make the gathers and then join the inner and outer neckbands at the neck seam, which I did. Then you are supposed to tie off the gathering stitches at the bodice edge of the outer band and then stitch it single-layer onto the bodice. Then press the seam allowance toward the neckband. Then sew the inner band by stitching in the ditch of the first joining seam. That's really an OK method, but I didn't want to mess with my gathers that much and I didn't want the lump of the seam allowances *inside* the neckband, because in this solid cotton/Lycra knit it would definitely show.

So instead, I did my gathers, joined the bands at the neck seam RS together, flipped them RS out (pressed and understitched also per KS), and then pinned both outer and inner bands together and joined them as one. I then stitched the unfinished edges together so they wouldn't shift, giving me more control over the gathers, and attached the whole neckband unit to the bodice in one pass. I pressed the seam allowances outward and coverstitched. If I didn't have a coverstitch machine, I would've just topstitched once.

Above, you can see the inside of the neckband. Sure, you can see the seam allowances but who cares. It's still not an awful finish and it's a tee shirt, not a couture gown. And if I didn't use glaring white looper thread, it would blend.

As a final lazy step instead of trimming, I made a deep hem. It's lazy, yes, but it will also lay better in the long run.

So, next up is a dress. One of my coworkers has a couple of very plain (design-wise, not fabric-wise) sleeveless shift dresses. I really like them. They look so effortless to wear in our heat and  humidity and yet she still looks so pulled together. I couldn't copy them exactly because with my boobage, that kind of dress will hang like a tent off the girls and people will wonder when the baby is due.

I went through my on-deck pattern pile to look for a candidate for the dress in my mind's eye. Of course, I couldn't find EXACTLY what I wanted but a few have some potential. The first pull yielded these. Which I then whittled down for various reasons.

The two finalists are ...M6397, below, and ...

V8764, here.

Both are multi-cup sized, a definite plus. Both have minimal seaming, another plus for my lazy self, but enough seams to provide some shaping opportunities. The McCall's has pockets (yay!) and a cool vertical (slimming) zip down the front. The minuses are (a) the McCall's may need some neckline altering to make it a true sleeveless dress instead of a jumper (pinnie to non-Americans!) and do I already have a suitable zip??, and (b) the Vogue isn't sleeveless and that neckline may be too wide. I think these obstacles would be easy enough to overcome, if needed, and so now I just have to decide which one will be The One. Maybe I should go read up on them over at PR.


Parting Shot: My laundry room, as I wait for the parts to come to fix my dryer. Apparently Tropical Storm Debby fried its power supply when she took down our power and it needs some fixin'. These are Alex's clothes. I don't believe I've ever hung his undies on hangers before. ;-) My clothes are up next, but since I wear so many knits, they'll do just fine hanging dry. Truthfully, I should probably dry most of my clothes this way all the time. I am glad, though, that I have such a big laundry room here and that it came with these shelves pre-installed. Makes for easy hang-drying. (Outside, with our humidity, is out of the question. Clothes would NEVER dry out there.)

A Day Off for Sewing

Just a quickie post before I start my work day.

The holiday yesterday was semi-productive but I got a later start than I wanted to so I didn't get to finish my top. I did, however, finish two purses. I did most of the sewing over the past weekend and only put the finishing touches on the bag on the left. I've decided I'm going to stop making/selling the purses once I'm out of supplies (which is maybe 8-10 more purses). No sense in throwing the supply money away or keeping the stuff in the stash. I can deal with that plan.

After packing up the purses for shipping, I turned my attention to Kwik Sew 3915, View B (the pink top). I bought the pattern mainly for the other view, but you all know how fickle inspiration can be. I used my TNT resized-smaller Ottobre tee for comparison and ended up tracing the Ottobre base with the KS neckline and neckband. I'll do the same thing when I make View A.

I really wanted to have this finished to possibly wear today and had enough "steam" to keep going, but not enough time. It was already after midnight before I knew it and I do need my beauty sleep. ;-) So tonight, I'll insert the sleeves, sew up the sideseams, change threads on the CS machine, and do the hems. I'm leaving work early today for a dental check-up, which should put me home earlier too.

I'm a little wary of the solid color. I don't do many solid color tops and I'm hoping this cotton/lycra fabric doesn't show the bumps I don't want on display. But it perfectly matches the skirt I want to wear it with, so I'm forging ahead.

Parting Shot: Hands up — how many of you have done this too?