February 2014 - Yes - 2014 (not a typo!) MAGAM is done!

This dress has been hanging on my project wall for 2 years waiting to be finished.  Yes - that is correct, TWO years!  But I can happily say it is finished now.  I know I needed a little break from this dress because it was heading in the wrong direction, but two years was quite a long time!

This is Vogue 1135 - A Ralph Rucci dress - and I'm glad it is done.  Looking back at my first posts about this dress - February 2, 2014 the starting muslin, and March 1, 2014 the dress sewn together, I can understand why it was hanging around for so long waiting to be finished - the fit at the waist was totally wrong, the zipper ended in the back in a way that resembled a sword sticking out of my backside, and I knew the hard work I put in lining up those darn pintucks would be ruined if I tried to adjust anything.  Oh well - time heals all, right?

So after two years, I finally decided to try on the dress again - and really, it wasn't that bad.  I'm over the fact that my pintucks don't line up perfectly in the back - the alteration I made only affected 5 of them by a little bit and from a distance, it's hard to see!

I ended up taking in the back starting at that top pintuck you see below all the way down to the hemline.  Since there are no defined side seams on this dress - that was my only option unless I wanted some very oddly placed darts on the sides and that option would have been worse. Unpicking those pintucks and resewing them to line-up was also not an option - I figured if I tried to rip them out, I would run the risk of ripping holes in the knit and then the dress would be a total wadder.  For the alteration, I took in a total of 1.5 inches at the waistline, tapering down to 4 inches at the bottom hemline.

Each sleeve has a gusset in the arm with a corresponding gusset on the bodice portion.  On the left hand side the small "side seam" formed by the midriff piece forms a very odd angle, pointing backwards.

On the right side, their are the same gussets, but the midriff portion forms a seam that is straight up and down instead of pointing backwards.  This was very strange I thought.

The dress is supposed to be lined, but I decided to skip that step so my inside doesn't look very finished. There was alot of fusing interfacing to seam lines and trimming involved in the construction.  Looking back now, I don't think that middle "midriff" portion they call it needed to be interfaced. Here's the back with the invisible zipper.

More seamline interfacing and trimming.

Here's the front.  Again, I don't think the "midriff" piece needed to be interfaced, but it's too late now.

So after finishing the alteration, the back is not as baggy as it was to start with and the swordlike zipper finish is no longer there.  It still has a full pull lines here and there, but I could just be standing funny too.  The gusset in the sleeves makes a funny fold on the underarm and the interfaced midriff portion changes the drape of that portion slightly.

Anyways, it's all complete now and another alien has been defeated. I'm actually looking forward to wearing this now! 

Onwards and Upwards!

Happy sewing everyone!

Star

January MAGAM - Burda 7342 - Feelin' Kinda' Scottish?

My January MAGAM is a plaid skirt using Burda 7342.  I LOVE THIS PATTERN!!!!  In fact I like this pattern so much, I already have skirt #2 cut out!  It will be a basic black skirt with white topstitching.  

I got a little carried away with the fabric and decided to make a matching scarf.  

I'll probably wear a black sweater with this rather than the turtleneck below - the turtleneck is a bit baggy....

The wool plaid is very loosely woven so I interfaced the front and back yokes and added some seam tape along the stop seam lines to stop it from stretching.

Here's the skirt on Elizabeth.  The skirt took a few hours to lay out due to the plaid and wanting everything to line-up.  Also - there were two flaws in the fabric that I needed to work around.  As you can see, the front and back skirt portions are cut on the bias.

The right side plaid lines up, but the blue and gray plaid lines are alternating.  I think because the plaid isn't a mirror image of itself, I couldn't get this one side to line up properly.  The black lines are correct though.

The sides line-up:

The mock pocket flaps line-up:

Here's the back view:

After alot of pining, my invisible zipper lined up perfectly.

The left side plaids line up perfectly.

And here is Elizabeth sporting her new outfit - I think she likes it too!

I had some black fringey stuff left over from another project so I added it to the bottom of the scarf.

The lining is comprised of three different materials - a cotton on the top, a rayon on the bottom with a trim from the stash hand sewn between the two.

Here's the back view:

I first tried the to use the floral trim from above on the hemline, but it ended up being too stiff so I replaced it with some lace hem trim and it lays much better now.

Total yardage for this skirt = 4.375 yards.  Not a bad start to stashbustin 2016!

And, drum roll please......
I finished an alien project too!  Remember this blouse?  All I had to do is resew one of the button stacks and lower the armholes 1" each side.  Done!  One alien down, too many to go, but it's a start! My project wall now has a little more room on it.

Happy Sewing everyone!
Star

January 2016 MAGAM Decided - Burda 7342

January's MAGAM theme is "Jump into January".  As I have never made this pattern before, I will be "jumping in" with Burda 7342 - View A.  Bonus - all fabrics, trims and zipper are from the stash!

This is a loosely woven wool that I picked up at the ASG Garage Sale last year.



Here's a better picture of the pattern.  The lower portion of the skirt is cut on the bias so this should be tricky to cut out with the plaid fabric.

The top front and back yoke linings will be from the cotton stripe on the left.  The blue rayon will make up the skirt lining and I'm hoping to incorporate this trim from the stash on the inside somewhere too.

Here's all pieces together.  Looks pretty nice together so far!

Happy Sewing everyone!

Star

The Sew '16 Challenge

Emily at Hungarian Housekeeping is starting a challenge for 2016 and you are welcome to join in. Click on over to her site for more details but here is the basic run down - complete at least 16 of the 20 challenges listed below.




My main focus will be to rid my sewing room of the Aliens!  They are starting to take over....  It could be that my room is painted green and that is what is attracting them - I'm not sure, but they really need to go.  Here are my current aliens waiting to be completed:

You may recognize this fabric.  It previously was a dress that I only wore a few times because I felt like a circus tent.  I really like the fabric though so I've saved the skirt portion (and the piping) and will pair it with a new top for a new combination.

A men's jacket?  Yep - that's what it is.  It will be turned into a tote bag and a tutorial.  More to come on this one.

This was a dress I purchased from target.  I removed the skirt and have pinned on a new pleated cotton one to the bottom.  I either need to finish it, or chuck it out.

Ahh - this frustration....  The red pintucked Vogue dress.  This was the MAGAM Challenge dress from February 2014 - yes - 2014.  All I need to do is take in the invisible zipper in the back, finish the neck edge, sleeve hem and bottom hem and it's done.

Hmm.  This was an XXXL skirt that I altered to fit me.  It's perfectly wearable at the moment, I just think it's missing something.  Some fancy bias swirls on the bottom would do the trick......

This top I wear frequently in the summer, but has started to bug me and yes, it is the same as the skirt fabric above (I really liked the fabric so I bought alot!).  The armholes have always been snug and they need to be deepened.  Also - some of the buttons on the top need to be resewn.  A quick fix, I just need to do it.

You might recognize this fabric too.  It was from this dress, that I only wore once or twice.  I don't want to get rid of it though because I really like the fabric.  So - I've ripped the skirt from the bodice and need to just finish the skirt and make a top to match and I'll have a new outfit.

Another alteration needed.  I've worn this top a few times, but the neckline tie always bugs me so it needs to be redone somehow.

So here they are in all of their alien glory (not including the aliens lurking in the closet!).  The plan is to complete at least one alien a month along with a MAGAM garment and another item on the Sew '16 Challenge list.  2016 is going to be busy!!!

Happy sewing everyone!

Star