It's a Sewing Threesome!

Or in other words, my January MAGAM Challenge projects are finished!  As you may recall from my last post, the entrance into the new sewing year was going to be three projects using the same knit fabric.  My plan was to make a dress and two tops. And here they are!  Of course the sun decided to hide behind a cloud when I was taking the dress photos so it looks a bit darker, but I promise, they are all made from the same fabric.

Everything worked out great - after a few alterations.....

Vogue 8918 dress

I cut out a size 12 thru the bust and waist, tapering to a 14 at the hips.  The bust and shoulder area fit ok, but the sleeves, hips and that rounded neckline were giving me grief.

The sleeves looked like they were bat wings or something.  The black I used for the sleeves was VERY stretchy so I'm not sure if it stretched a little out of shape or if Vogue thought my shoulders were really supposed to be that broad.  They stuck out looking like wings right after the slope of my shoulder so I ended up restitching the arm about three times until it looked like something less prone to taking off.   And the sleeve length was just unbelieveable!  I cut off 4 inches in length - and that's before I hemmed the sleeves!  I think the pattern was truly designed for a bat with the very long wingspan!

As for the neckline - I thought the high rounded neckline would look pretty slick, but instead, it was making me gag when I put the dress on.  It was a bit too high for my throats liking so I ended up cutting off about 2.25 inches of it and making a more rounded neckline.  Here's the neckline pinned prior to modification:

Awww - I could now breathe comfortably again!

The hips - well - that was a simple alteration - just took them in about 1/2 and it was good to go.  Maybe I should have just cut out a 12 everywhere instead of taping to a 14 at the hips.

Simplicity 1642 top

I had doubts about the front slit in the top before I cut it out.  Visions of me bending over and seeing my belly button thru the slit kept coming to mind.  But I thought what the heck - if it doesn't work out at least I'll have two other garments made from the same fabric.

I proceeded to sew the garment in hopes that the slit wouldn't be too revealing.  Upon the first try-on sans sleeves, the gaping was starting to sneak in.  So I thought I would first baste on the sleeves and see if that made a difference.  With the sleeves barely hanging on, I tried it on again and found that the gaping was getting a little better and I thought to myself "if I just take in the front and the sleeves about 1/4 around the front armysce, this might solve the problem".  So that's what I did.  I started the extra 1/4 seam allowance at the middle of the overlapped front pieces and tapered to the normal 5/8" seam allowance for a total of about 4.5 inches as shown by the seam gauge below.

Now with my sleeves fitting a little more snug in the front, the gaping was now becoming more of a slit, rather than a vast chasm.  I then thought if I sewed the front sections together for a few inches between the armhole and the bustline, then the gap would have no option but to behave properly and that's exactly what happened!  Yeah!  No more viewing of the belly button!  

The neckline was another story.  I must have stretched it just a little too much when sewing the band on because now it was flipping up funny.  But never fear - that's where the trusty steam iron came in.  I put it on the dress form and steamed that neckline into submission and now it fits great.  Phew!  A garment on the brink of the trashbin had been saved!

My trusty turtleneck pattern

What can I say - I've made this turtleneck so many times that I knew if the other two garments totally bombed, at least I would get a turtleneck out of the deal!  And sure enough - the pattern didn't disappoint.

Stashbustin stats:

Between the three garments, I only had 3.25 yards of the printed knit to use and .75 of the black to use.  So, 3.25 plus .75 equals 4 yards to start off  my 2018 stashbustin' quest!  And now she's off and sewing towards that 100 yard goal again!

What's next?

My Butterick 6377 top is ALMOST finished and I'll be posting it soon.  After that will be the same Vogue dress again as you saw earlier.  Yes - I'm going to give it another try in a different fabric.  This one is sure to make your eyes go crossed - just take a look at this:

I bought that fabulous knit at the local quilting guild's annual sale last year.  I only have 1.5 yards of it, so the sleeves will be 3/4" in length.  I think I'll need some crazy jewelry to go with this too - maybe an orange bracelet?  And, I was thinking of adding an orange zipper to the back - just a short one - maybe from the waistline up?  Or who knows - maybe a full length one!  We'll see what I can find!  

Happy sewing everyone!

Star

Goals for 2018 and my January MAGAM Project(s)!

Hi everyone!  It's now half way thru January and I have been thinking long and hard on my sewing goals for the year and I have quite a few!  I've broken down my goals into 4 different categories:

Garments to tackle:
- Jeans!  Let's face it - my bubble butt-to-waist ratio is impossible to find in RTW jeans and I am constantly dealing with gaposis at the back waist.  Having a decent pair of nice fitting jeans has been on my to-sew list for far too long and it's finally time to tackle a pair, or two, or three.....
- Pants - Same issue as above - These too have been on the to-sew list for the same reason.
- Bras - I am not a fan of bras, period.  I take mine off as soon as I get home - sometimes even on the drive home!  Maybe it's because I have never had a decent fitting bra - one that doesn't feel like a straight jacket or keeps riding up all of the time.  Is that even possible to find?  Maybe a handmade bra will be answer to my lingerie dilemma!
- Sew something reversible - not sure what - but something!
- Start sewing more Burda patterns!  My wardrobe has been in a boring slump lately and I'm finding myself wearing the same things all of the time.  I have previously subscribed to the Burda magazine for years and have a ton of cool patterns just waiting to be traced and cut out.  Time to start looking thru those mags and add some interesting pieces back into the wardrobe!

Using up the stash:
- Continue to sew thru the stash towards my New York shopping trip!  I plan to sew another 100 yards this year.
- Sort thru all of my scraps and get rid of the teenie tiny ones and the ones I don't truly see myself using.
- Sort thru all of my current stash and if I don't love it, it's time for it to move on.  Those lovely pieces will be sold at this year's Sewing Garage sale which is April 28th this year so that gives me approximately 4 months to complete this task.  Add all of the remaining pieces to the "Cora" app.

Tracking:
- As you are aware, I already track how much fabric I sew, but I'd also like to track how much fabric I purchase throughout the year so truly get a grasp of how much fabric I have and just how far away (or near!) that New York trip is.  I believe the Cora app will help me accomplish this - along with my trusty Excel spreadsheet that I currently use to track my sewing progress throughout the year.
- Track how much I'm spending on my hobby - this could be a scary one.....
- Track my pattern usage.  I have alot of the Big 4 patterns and not so many Indie patterns.  I need to give some of those unopened patterns a try!

For fun:
- Redecorate the sewing room this year.  I have two awesome ideas so far!

January MAGAM Project(s)

My January MAGAM is going to be three garments - all pretty simple and all using the same knit fabric.  I purchased this knit at last year's sewing garage sale and there was a total of 3.25 yards and it was 60 inches wide so there was quite alot of yardage to work with!  Here's the knit:

And here are the patterns I'll be using:

For the Vogue 8918 dress - I'll be making View B - the one with the different colored sleeves.  I have a small scrap piece of black knit that I'll be using for the sleeves.  The Simplicity 1642 pattern will be the top - again, using the black knit for the top yoke portion.  And lastly, I'll use the rest of the fabric to make my trusty two-hour turtleneck pattern that I just love!

Update on Butterick 6377

My current project of the Butterick blouse using up multiple scraps has come to a stand still.  After adding the strips of printed elastic to the seamlines, it seems to be missing something on the side with all of the black.  I'm thinking a pocket or something?  It still needs to be hemmed, but I think she'll hang out on the dress form for a few days while I figure out how to add some interest to break up that vast sea of blackness.

Until next time - Happy sewing everyone!

Star