Memory Lane

I was doing a little tidying up in the sewing room and ran across these UFOs again. I've been planning to deal with them in one way or another but I had wanted to take pics first to show how really bad they are. I finally had the camera in hand at the right time and now we can all get a good giggle. (Remember to click on the photos for the bigger versions so you can see all the ugliness in full detail.)

First up, a now-OOP Butterick (too lazy to dig out the pattern number) from years and years ago, when I first started sewing and knew nothing about fitting or FBAs.



Look at the shoulder points falling off of mine! The bust dart is about 2 inches too low for me, the armholes are too big, and it's just a sack all over. That's because I picked the size using my full bust measurement, before I knew better. This fits me exactly like a RTW plus size blouse would.

But look at how perfectly executed that wing collar is, inset square seam join and all. It's pure linen and a beautiful color for me too. Sniff. I'll never wear this one, obviously, but I've kept it around because all it needs is buttons and the sleeves hemmed and it will either fit my sister (who is much more broad-shouldered than me and is 6 feet tall, and used to RTW), or it will go to Goodwill. I still have the pattern but I'm pretty sure I didn't trace it so I really ought to get rid of that too. I wish I had a replacement for that collar.

Next, Silhouette #600. Now that years have passed, my memory has faded about exactly what went wrong with this one. I sort of remember that all I did was my usual square shoulders alteration and choosing the D bust cup bodice piece but whatever went wrong, it was horrible and unfixable. And I wasted wonderful rayon fabric that I'm still not over. I can't say for sure that it was the pattern and not me, especially because the 4 reviews of this pattern on PatternReview all rave about it, but I do know that Silhouette patterns have completely symmetrical sleeve caps and they just do NOT work for me in a blouse. I did re-sell the pattern so all I lost was some time and that great piece of rayon.



Judy Jetson shoulders:



Last up, a McCall's top (again, too lazy to go look it up). It fits perfectly, so that's not the problem. But it's a clown top. Literally. All that's missing is a red ball nose. The combination of the bright colors and that very ruffled neckline is Just Not Right. I should hem the bottom and sleeves and donate it. To the Ringling Museum just down the road in Sarasota. ;-)



DS#2 is on his way to football camp, which leaves me the rest of today and most of tomorrow for sewing.

I've got a 5:30 PM interview tomorrow, but I'm not optimistic for a number of reasons. Not about getting the job, but because there's a good chance I will and I don't think I want it. Isn't that always how it works? ;-) But I'm going to try to keep an open mind until I hear the details and actually meet the principals, and hope that I'm pleasantly surprised. I also have a second interview on Monday for one of the jobs I *do* know I'd like.

A New Week

Thank you everyone for the nice comments on the Diana capris. Unfortunately, I hated them more and more as the day went on. They just don't feel good. I wadded them up and tossed them into the laundry bin in a fit of disgust. LOL!

This morning, I put on a pair of my TNT capris (the embroidered coral pair) that I still love now as much as when I finished them. Then I dug out the new capris and tried them on again. After some pinching, pulling, and pinning, I'm optimistic I can at least get them comfortable even if perfect fit is beyond this pair. But it means ripping out a lot of stitching and topstitching, then taking in the CB seam and waistband, and restitching/topstitching. But I will do it because I want these to feel good so I'll actually wear them. And somewhere I hear my mother laughing because it used to be her "job" to do this for any pair of RTW jeans bought for me as a teenager. Even in my thin days I always had a very curvy shape and if pants fit my butt, they were huge at my waist.

For those that asked, my TNT pattern is the OOP Simplicity 4068, pictured here. Yes, I know I should stick with that pattern and I mostly do. But sometimes I'm seduced and I just want to try a different pattern because, well, you never know. And the tee is from last summer, coincidentally also from that same issue of Diana but copied with my patternmaking software.

I purposely don't have anything job-related scheduled for the next few days as I need to get DS#2 ready for football camp (laundry, shopping, packing). But I'm also going to spend some of that time sewing. I'm going to cut out a pair of TNT capris and maybe sew them, fix the Diana capris, and rework the neckline of Simp 4122 to be much lower and definitely sew that.

Now if you'd like to see some beautifully fitting and flattering jeans, check out MaryBeth's latest, here. Love them! … And hate them, because I'm again tempted to veer outside the TNT pattern and I actually do already have this pattern in my stash. ;-) But if I give in to temptation, this time I *will* do a muslin.

Meh

I didn't make a muslin for these and it shows. The back is tending toward my usual "X wrinkles." But they're casual summer capris so I'm not going to worry about them. They'll do just fine for the dog park, errands, and general hanging around.

Lovely belly shot, just so you can see the whole front. And I *do* mean the whole front! ;-)



ETA: DS#2 took this for me after we got back from the dog park. They look better without my belly sticking out (although my hair is a windblown and sweaty mess). But they still aren't hanging as nicely as my TNT capris, so I'll be going back to that pattern yet again. These are just too pegged at the bottom. Kind of mom-jeans-capris. LOL!



Back (I did leave off the belt carriers):



Side pocket:



Hem bands:



Back yoke (which is actually even, etc. - just a bad camera angle here).



Fly and facing. The button looks dark but it's shiny silver and matches the side pocket button.



Inside pocket, where you can see I goofed and sewed the facing wrong side out.



Next up is to sew buttons and buttonholes onto my ivory Ottobre blouse so I can wear the darn thing. But first, off to the dog park in the new dog park pants.

TGIS!

(Thank God It's Saturday!)

Whew! What a week. No, no job yet (but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a couple of possibilities.) Just a lot of running around and a lot of wearing pantyhose when it's 95 degrees outside, with summer humidity levels starting to kick in. That alone wears me out. LOL!

The Diana capris stalled because I had it in my frazzled brain that I needed a D ring for the side pocket before I could make much progress. Why I was thinking that, I have no idea since the front pockets, fly, back yoke, and all the topstitching of same needed to be done before I could even think about the attaching the side pocket. Plus, I had to sew the actual pocket and flap, and topstitch them. IOW, at least half the construction. Then I thought I had a D ring around here somewhere but I couldn't find it, which meant a trip to Joann's, which I didn't feel like making after a long day out in pantyhose. It turned into a vicious cycle until last night when I finally made it to Joann's for the D ring, and a suitable button.

Of course, while at Joann's I sat down at the pattern books and looked through them too because as we all know, when we're not sewing, we're buying sewing stuff.

Here's the result of my shopping trip and a couple of pics of the capris in process.

The Pocket. This is going to be a PITN to attach straight because the pintucks make it 3D and poofy. I'm hoping some Wonder Tape and/or glue helps with that.



This is the back yoke, which is pieced. Another feature of these capris that I like.



The D rings and buttons, both silver.



Butterick 4818. This is the same model that Butterick used for the 4877 skirt I just made which fits so well and that pretty face and curvy-curves suckered me in for this jacket. ;-) But I do like the pattern, especially the short-sleeved version for summer. (BTW, if you like that skirt pattern, it's probably time to buy it since it was pushed to the small pictures section at the back of the Plus patterns.)





Butterick 5052. This is a Connie Crawford pattern, which I swore I wouldn't buy any more of. But I've always liked the vest in this one and so I decided to cave in and give it a try. But I'm already again not liking the CC pattern line because (1) the construction sheet is missing the line drawings of the pattern pieces and (2) mentions that there are different pattern pieces for the different envelope sizes and without the line drawings I can't see those differences. Plus, not that I care about the skirt, but the stylized drawing of the wrap skirt does not match the actual pattern.



(I hope that Butterick doesn't get rid of all of their other Plus patterns in favor of CC patterns because all of the new additions are horrible, shapeless sacks.)

McCall's 5395. Another jacket with an option for short sleeves. I like the deep vee front, princess lines and two-piece long sleeves.



McCall's 5665. Generally a muu-muu tent-y thing but something about the shorter view in the lower right tells me this will probably be very comfortable for summer weekends here during the Florida summers.



I also had some more McCall's and Simplicities in hand, but decided against them for now. So I did show a bit of restraint. ;-)

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Side Note: A few of you have asked where to find the Diana pattern magazine. The one I'm using is German and I bought it last year on Ebay from the seller Stoff-Art. Diana doesn't have an English version, although I think there's a French version with a different name that's escaping me at the moment.

Weekend Catch-Up

On Thursday (I think? It's all a blur!), I had a wonderful FedEx delivery from Carolyn . It was her birthday this week and *I* got the gift — a whole box full of buttons and even some very cool Riri zippers! Thank you so much, Carolyn, and a Happy Belated Birthday! Your thoughtfulness is very much appreciated!

This photo doesn't show many details but there are lots of very pretty (and different from what I can find locally) buttons.



I'll be using these below right away to finish my latest Ottobre blouse. I had wanted square buttons but didn't have enough in my stash. Carolyn sent an SOS for me to NOT go to Joann's to look for buttons since she knew I had a package on the way, and she was right! These are just what I had in mind (and she didn't even know I was thinking of square buttons).



As promised last week, here are some pics from the Diana #23 magazine I'm using for the current capris-in-progress. This is the cover:



And these are the capris:



It was this pocket that suckered me in. I love side pockets on capris and this one with the pintucks and loop was all it took. I've actually had this page folded open and on my dresser for OVER A YEAR so I wouldn't forget to make them, but other projects always seemed to sneak in ahead.



I also like the bands at the hems, and the shaped belt carriers (which I'm still debating whether I'll actually add since I don't wear tops tucked in and they won't actually show to anyone but me). Even the fabric I'm using is very similar.

I've graded up and altered the pattern and have it cut out and ready to sew. But other activities have kept me out of the sewing room so they haven't progressed from that point. I'm hoping I'll have some time after today's dog park and grocery outings to get started with the sewing.