New Look 6224 - Round Two!

Hi everyone!  It's been awhile since my last post so here we go!

If you follow me on Instragram - you might recognize this fabric.  I purchased it while on vacation last year in England.  Unfortunately, I only bought 1.5 yards of it.  I was undecided whether to make a blouse with a cowl neck front, or make a dress.  I ended up settling on the dress - as you can see below - this is New Look 6224:

I BARELY squeeked out this dress sans sleeves from this fabric.  I could have made the blouse much easier, but after looking at the pattern envelope, I realized that the front panel on the Vogue blouse I had selected needed to be cut on the bias and I just thought having ovals on the print going sideways on the front panel versus the ovals on the rest of the blouse going up and down, would look a bit odd.

Now I know what you are thinking - "Hey, the ovals are going sideways on the skirt portion of the dress and the bias band - so what's the big deal with the blouse pattern?"  Well, I didn't have a blue that matched this print either to make a pair of pants or skirt out of so the dress pattern finally won in the end.  And, if you look really closely, you can tell that my skirt portion is cut more than slightly on the bias - it's a little off, but in order to squeek out the dress - I had to shift the grainlines slightly.  Still works though I think.

Here's the back view.

The front V on the neckline is complimented with some slight gathers to either side of it.

The band along the neckline is cut on the bias too.  I made the band just slightly larger than called for.  It's supposed to be 3/8" wide, but I made it 1/2" wide - not alot bigger I know.  The armholes are cut in 3/4" smaller at the shoulder line, tapering down to the underarm seam.  These are finished with bias tape from the scraps I had leftover.

All in all, I really like this dress.  And yes, it has two shades of pink in this one!  OMG - what am I doing here!  For someone who doesn't care for pink as a color, this may have just put me over the edge!

Here are my stashbustin' stats for those of you following along with my crazy quest:

Yardage for this dress - 1.5 yards (barely!)
YTD Total yardage = 60.66

Whoop! Whoop!

Happy sewing everyone!

Star

May MAGAM Garments Completed - Part One

May has come and gone and I am late in posting my projects.  Seems to be a thing with me lately!

I had 3 garments as part of my May challenge:
- A Tunic from The Tunic Bible book
- The Flint pants by Megan Nielsen
- Urban pants by The Sewing Workshop (will be posted in May MAGAM Part Two - they are complete though!)

First off - the Tunic!

There are so many options for the tunic in the book it is a bit overwhelming at first.  I knew I wanted a placket of some sort in the front so I could use my big Rick Rack as an accent and I thought I might want a sleeve accent or an accent on the bottom somewhere too.  I opted for the regular Tunic blouse, with the Shorty Placket and regular sleeves.

The red and white circle fabric is a rayon that I purchased from a local fabric store last year that was going out of business.  The plain red is a quilting cotton purchased at the Sewing Guild's latest sale this year and the Rick Rack and buttons were from my stash.

There were a few flaws in the main fabric to start with so I needed to work around those when cutting out the pieces.  I opted to cut out everything in a single layer so it was easier to line-up the circles as the rayon fabric was very not behaving well on my cutting board at all.  Cutting out single layer meant creating full size pattern pieces - which was an eye opening experience as the pieces looked enormous to me because I am used to making more fitted garments.  I thought for certain I would be altering this top forever to get a good fit since I didn't do a muslin of the pattern first and decided to just dive right on into the final garment. I held up the pattern pieces to my mannequin and low and behold, they were close - so much for looking enormous - maybe it's just me!

I am not a fan of tunics in general but I have to say this one is growing on me.  The bust darts don't quite hit me in the correct spot (my fault for not doing a muslin first), but if I give it a few years, I'm sure they will line up properly!

For the placket in the front, I knew I didn't want just a plain red thing sewn to the front so I added the Rick Rack.  Of course the rick rack was looking pretty lonely by itself so I headed to the button stash where I found a bunch of red, rounded buttons that were the perfect color and looked similar in size to the small red dots in the fabric.  Then the question arose as to how many to put on the front?

1 button - looked pretty lonely
3 buttons - looked like a nice attempt
5 buttons - we're getting close, but still not there
7 buttons - that's more like it!
9 buttons - Overload, overload!  Too many!  Back off with the embellishments!

I can't say enough about the fit of the back.  I just love it!!!  It hangs beautifully.  The fish-eye darts really make a difference in defining the waistline.  I could have added a side zipper to make the garment more fitted (of course I didn't think about this option at the construction time nor did I read about it in the book as I just glanced quickly at the sewing order!).  As it is right now, I can easily pull it off and on over my head without feeling like I'm a contortionist.

The length of the sleeves was a bit surprising because I normally have to trim off an inch or two on the length. The cut length of the sleeves was where I usually wear my finished length - (again, should have done a muslin first and I would have known this).  After turning up the sleeve hem 1/2",  I added the red band with rick rack to the bottom of the sleeves to make them "appear" a little longer.

I thought about adding a red band to the bottom of the hemline, but I only had 2 inches to spare on the rick rack after adding it to the sleeves, so that was a no-go.

I also added a small bar tack above the slits on the sides.

Next up - The Flint pants by Megan Nielsen  

First off - how cute is the pattern envelope!

I love, love, love these pants!!!  I just can't say enough about them!  A fitted waistline pant with no bulky elastic or zippers is a win, win in my book!

I made the version with the button closure in the front and they are super comfortable.  The fabric is a white linen from the stash of course!  I can see a few more pairs of these in my future = definitely a pair in black and lightweight denim pair would be super cute too!

They have a nice fitted waistband with slanted pockets at the sides.  The pocket on the left (the side with the button closures) is not fully sewn closed which allows you to pull the pants off and on easily.  

I made a size Medium with a few changes:

- Took in 2 inches on the back center seam, tapering the seam down to bubble butt height

- My bubble butt required lengthening the back darts by one inch too

- Took in the sides by 1/4 each side, tapering to the hips

All in all, two successful garments!  I can't say the same for the Sewing Workshop Urban pants though....more to come on that in May MAGAM Part Two!

On with my stashbustin' stats!

Tunic = 2.625 yards

Flint Pants = 2.625 yards

Total YTD = 32.875!

Happy sewing everyone!

A Simplicity Retro Style dress

I have always loved the style lines of the 1940's.  I've purchased numerous patterns from the era, but have yet to stitch any of them up - until now - and I'm lovin' this new dress.  This is Simplicity 1587 - a 1940's retro style dress with a shaped yoke at the waistline, slight gathering at the waist and bust with a front v-neck with pleats covered by a tab and button.  There are two sleeve styles in the pattern - a shorter gathered style, or the 3/4 length one that I selected.

The fabric I used was a rayon purchased at the ASG Sewing Garage sale last year.  I had just enough yardage to make this dress - even after adding 3 inches to the skirt length.  I sewed my normal size 12 thru the bust and shoulder area, tapering to a size 14 thru the waist and hip.  I could have just sewn a straight 12 throughout and it would have fit just fine.  It's a tiny bit roomy in the waist and hip, that I don't think it's enough to worry about.

Here's a view of the front v-neck with the tab and button.  The pattern calls for two buttons on the tab, but I liked the look of this single one, that didn't have a matching second partner anyways.

The back neck has a slit with a loop and button.  I opted to use black elastic for the loop instead of making a small tube out of the same fabric.

The back yoke at the hip is pretty much a straight piece.

The front yoke has a nice inverted v-shape to it where the skirt portion joins it with gathers.

I used a longer 22" invisible zipper for the dress too.  The pattern calls for a 16" zipper, but I figured it's hard enough to put on a dress with a side zipper so why not make it a little longer.

Total yardage for this dress came to 2.625 yards thus starting my new stashbustin' total for 2017.

Happy sewing everyone!

Star

August MAGAM Project Determined

I'm lovin' the theme for August - "Stash Buster".  Fantabulous!  This will not only fill the MAGAM challenge, but the Summer Stashbust quest as well - yippee!

I'm going for a double stashbust this month.  My plans are to make a simple elastic waist skirt and raglan sleeve t-shirt - New Look 6762.  I've made both the skirt and top before so this one should be finished fairly quickly (I say confidently!).

The fabric I have was purchased at the Sewing Garage Sale in April of this past year.  The skirt will be out of the fabric on the left - a wonderful rayon with little circles on it. The fabric did shrink quite a bit when I pre-washed it, but it should work great for this simple skirt. The top will be constructed out of the fabric on the right - a great knit that looks sort of crinkly.  These fabrics were sold by two friends of mine at the sale and they just happen to match perfectly!

Just a quick post today - I gotta get busy!

Happy Sewing!

June MAGAM Challenge Done!

I'm still in catch-up mode, but my June MAGAM Challenge is finally completed.  It's not the original dress I had mentioned I was going to make, however. I hope you don't mind!  After taking this photo and posting my intended project on the MAGAM blog, I was still perusing my patterns and came across another dress I liked better.  So, I changed my mind!  What's wrong with that!?  It's still a Cynthia Rowley dress - just a different one.

I ended up switching to this pattern - Simplicity 2281.  This has been on my must sew list for quite a long time so I'm happy I switched.



For this dress, I decided to forgo the muslin test fitting and just dive right in.  In hindsight, I would have been better off making the muslin because of the amount of time it took me to alter it.  I glanced at the instructions and decided to do my own thing - which consisted of sewing the entire front with the sleeves attached (the piece on the left) and then sew the entire back in one piece and then attach the sleeves to the back piece.  Here's a pic of the front and the back separately, before they were sewn together.

After sewing together at the sleeve, and adding the neck band, I draped it over my dress form and let it hang overnight.  The fabric is a rayon and I wasn't sure if it was going to "grow" a little so I let it hang out for awhile.

Here's the side view on the dress form.

By sewing the garment together with a complete front and a complete back, I was able to pin the sides to fit - you can see the pins in the pic below.  At first, I took in the bust about 2 inches each side taping down to the normal 5/8 inch seam allowance at the waist.  I could tell at this point that the sleeves weren't going to stay up, but I was ok with that.  I like the look of them hanging down the arm a little bit.

Of course, once the invisible zipper was in and the lining sewn down, I tried it on again and it needed just a little more taking in, so out came the seam ripper.  I ended up taking in the bust area a total of 6 inches by the time I was finished.  I started out with a size 12 pattern overall and really ended up with something closer to a size 8 at the bust and 12 at the waist and hips.

A word of note on the neckband - the pattern piece indicates this should be cut on the bias.  After cutting out that piece and sewing as recommended, I disagree.  There is no reason this piece should be on the bias - it should be cut on the straight of grain.  Since I didn't have any material left to cut a new neckband, I had to make this one work.  Lining up the dots as is, the neck was a little low and seemed to buckle on the sides, which I wasn't happy with.

After pinching out about 1 1/4 inches each side, the neckband raises and it looks better.

Here's the amount I pinched out.  I ended up unsewing the back pieces on the band and moving them in, closer to the front.

Here's a picture comparison.  The red circles show the original edge placement for the edge of the front piece and the edge of the back piece.  The green circle illustrates the amount I ended up moving the back neck piece in towards the front neck piece - a total of 1 1/4 inches for each side.  Essentially, I reduced the distance between the front and the back pieces 1 1/4 inches.

Here's the finished dress.  I'm quite happy with it!

Back view.  One day, I'll learn how to take a straight photo!

Close-up of the front.

Ahhh, don't look so sad!  This dress only cost $3.00 in materials and it was a stashbuster project to boot!  The lining for the top I already had in the stash and an invisible zipper as well.  If I count the cost of the pattern in the amount - then maybe it would top out at $5.00 - take that ready to wear!

Until next time,
Happy Sewing everyone!

June Make a Garment a Month Project selected

June?  But it's July?  Why am I posting my planned June project and I still haven't finished my May one? Well, I figure better late than never!

I'm going to make this Cynthia Rowley dress from Simplicity - the floor length version with short sleeves.  I purchased this great rayon at a garage sale for a steal - $3.00!

Wish me luck!

Until next time - Happy Sewing!

April Garment of the Month Challenge Completed (Finally!)

I've finally completed my April Garment of the Month Challenge - only 3 weeks late.  New Look #6224. I originally selected this dress and rayon fabric thinking I'd be able to knock it out in a weekend, but sewing disasters just kept happening with this garment.

First, I decided to make a muslin of the top of this dress.  The muslin fit perfectly - a little bit snug, but I was ok with it - after all, my muslin fabric was a cheap cotton and my garment fabric was a nice flowy rayon so I figured it would drape and hang a "little" differently than the cheap cotton muslin.

Great.  Now that I had a good fitting muslin, I cut out everything- adding 2 inches to the length of the skirt and sewed the entire dress together.  Of course it was getting late and I needed to start dinner, but I wanted to put the zipper in.  Having not tried on the dress so far, I quickly put the zipper in and then hung the dress on my dress form.  Uh oh.  Something was wrong.  As my husband walked into the room, I said, "something's wrong with this - my waist isn't that low".

So of course I had to try it on and sure enough, my waist was indeed not that low.  The whole dress had shifted about an inch!  Next, I did what any sane sewer would do - I wadded it up and threw it in the corner and had a glass of wine!

The next day, after contemplating about it all night, and I think dreaming about it too, I fished it out of it's hiding place and tried to figure out what happened.  I put the muslin on the dress form and yes - it fit nice and snug - like it originally did.  Then, after ripping out the zipper and the skirt, I put the top over the muslin on the form and here you can see the problem.

The muslin is a full one inch sorter than the garment.  The deep V in the front, was way, way too deep on the purple, but fine on the muslin.

Shoulder seams lined up, and the sleeves on the purple finished top fit perfectly.  If I would have put sleeves in the muslin, they would have been too far up on the shoulder line.

On the back, same thing - muslin is one inch higher than the purple rayon.

On the bottom, you can clearly see how much longer the purple is than the muslin.  

At this point, you can imagine that I was frustrated as could be because I couldn't figure out why it had changed so much.  I decided to compare the finished garment pieces with the pattern pieces and Bingo - that's where I figured out the problem.  

The purple finished pieces were exactly the same size as the pattern pieces.  The muslin pieces, however, were smaller - 1/4" here, 1/4" there and it all added up to a smaller muslin.  But why when they were both cut from the same pattern pieces?  

Next, I decided to do a "steam" test on my extra muslin fabric and sure enough, it was shrinking before my eyes as I was pressing it. My purple rayon fabric had been pre-shrunk already, but the muslin fabric was not.  My muslin shrunk both in width and in length - almost exactly one inch in both directions.  Why I didn't see this shrinking when I was pressing my muslin originally remains a mystery.  

So now, after figuring out what the problem way, I needed to start fixing it.  So much for making a muslin! I'll be sure to shrink my muslin fabric in future - I've never had that be an issue before but I guess there is a first time for everything.  

First fix - I needed to raise the V in the front 1 inch.  That was fairly simple to do.  

Next fix, I needed to reattach the skirt. On the picture below from bottom to top, you can see the original cutting line, followed by the original stitching line.  The folded line is where the muslin ended, followed by my new stitching line above that.  The front of the dress needed to be raised up a little further as well to make it hang evenly - that's why the stitching line appears to be a little off in the front.  

Same procedure to attach the back skirt as well. 

I also ended up sewing in a zipper by hand instead of machine.  Something I had never done before, but absolutely love the results.  You can barely see the hand sewn in zipper versus the mess of a zipper I had before.  That's one good thing that came out of this dress!

Side view

Here's a close-up of the fabric. I love the cute little buttons!

And the back.  The dress really does hang straight, I just couldn't get the tripod and camera to cooperate with me.

Until next time!

Happy Sewing!