Felled by the Flu

Good lord, I feel like someone hit me with a Mack truck. I abhor being sick to begin with, but it's now Holy Week and I have to sing a whole lot over the next several days. I can't seem to muster the energy to haul myself into my sewing room, and I am supposed to help Emmett with Shecky's Girls Night Out in Boston. And I feel like I've been beaten upside the head with a 2X4. Great. Well, it may just be time to drop back and punt. I can use the jacket and dress for singing at confirmation. Meanwhile I'm crawling back upstairs and going to bed.

Think happy thoughts!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is the day that many like myself celebrate our Irish heritage. I don't wear green, but I do wear my ancient Irish fisherman's sweater and my grandmother's Claddagh ring. I won't make corned beef and cabbage, but I might roast a brisket tonight. It depends on how I feel. I managed to get a cold over the weekend (bleah, and part of the reason I'm wearing my sweater). Great. Just in time for Holy Week and the singing marathon that entails. Sigh...

Well, I'm back off to the sewing room to try to get the Marfy jacket fitted before my lack of sleep catches up with me.

Happy sewing!

Making a Little Progress

Thank God this is a princess line jacket! I am tracing the Marfy onto muslin with 1 inch SAs. I'm going to definitely need a FBA and probably need to lower the bust point an inch or so. But once that is done, I'm going to shorten the jacket (looks too much like a work outfit if I have it come to the hips). I'm going to quilt the jacket and the lining fabric together and make it a la Chanel Haute Couture. I'm debating now. The pattern has a ruffle at the bottom. I could make that of the silk crepe de chine that I'll use for the lining. But I'm not sure if that will look too "too". Here's a picture of the pattern:


Whaddya think? Ruffle or no? The ruffle definitely makes it more playful, but with the dress? Not so sure....

Happy sewing!

This Weekend, I AM Making That Jacket!

If you can believe, I have been unable to get into my sewing room all week, except for making a key leash for my BeSewStylish post. And face it, that doesn't count. I have been so busy that I can barely find time to eat, never mind work on my Easter outfit. But that was then; this is now. Easter is a week from Sunday and dammit, I need a new jacket!

So I'm off to the sewing room. Good thing I don't have to sing at Palm Sunday services both Saturday night and Sunday morning, then work with Emmett at his booth in the Boston Shecky's Girls Night Out on Tuesday and Wednesday, then sing the Triduum services on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, huh? Well, it's easy. I won't sleep.

Sigh...
Happy sewing!

Some Progress

As you can imagine, I haven't had much time to work on my Chanel style dress this week, thanks to the One Year Anniversary Sale at Gorgeous Fabrics. It ends tomorrow night, BTW, so check it out before then if you are so inclined. But I have been able to get a little bit of work done on the dress. It's now completely lined. I just have to install the zipper, add a waist stay and hem it and it will be done. The more I think about it, the more I think I'll peg the skirt and go for the very "Mad Men"/Laura Petrie look.

I have to tell you, I'm very impressed with this pattern. Aside from the head scratching over the pocket, it's really an excellent pattern. It practically falls together. Here's a picture of the lining on my too-small dress form. Ignore the wrinkles at the shoulder. They are not there when I put it on.

I'm debating between a hand-picked zipper and an invisible zip. I am leaning toward the latter even though I have a regular zipper in the perfect shade. I'll decide tomorrow. Then I need to get serious about the jacket. Easter is in two weeks!

Happy Sewing!

Where I'm At with the Chanel Style Dress

I'm taking a break from order processing and shipping to sit down and relax (ha!). So where am I, you might ask, on the Chanel Style dress? It's coming nicely actually. I have attached the skirt to the outer shell bodice fabric, leaving the inner lining free at the waist. Some notes on the pattern and construction so far

They tell you to ease the pocket lining onto the pocket facing. I didn't want to do that. Instead, I staystitched the pocket lining and clipped to the stitching, which I think gives a better result, at least with this pair of fabrics. Overall this pattern is going together beautifully, but there was one seriously "Ruh?" (imagine Scooby Doo looking confused and saying that with one ear going up and the other going down) moment. The pocket construction in the instructions made me sit there and scratch my head for a solid 3 minutes before I said, "screw it" and did it my way. Other than that, it's coming well. I still need to attach the skirt lining and zipper. You can see how the skirt is pulling the bodice down in this picture. I'm going to put a petersham waist stay in to the waist seam to address that.

The only other issue I have from a style standpoint is that the length is wrong in the skirt. I'm going to do one of two things, and I'll make that decision tomorrow. I'll either peg the skirt and wear it very "Mad Men" fabulous, or I'll shorten the skirt about 6 inches so it hits above the knee. The way it is right now screams matronly, and you know I'm not that!

So, I'll keep you posted as it comes together. It should be finished later this week, then the real fun begins: the Marfy jacket!

Happy sewing!

Flyin' by the Seat of My Pants

Back to work on the Chanel-style dress! Today I put the bodice together, and I feel my mojo getting stronger with every stitch. But since I am doing a self-lined bodice, I can't put it together using the instructions, so I'm winging this mother. Fortunately it seems to be coming together okay so far. I've only had time to make the bodice, but here you can see what I have come up with so far. It's far from being pressed properly, since I know I'll be working with it and mussing it up before it's ready for prime time. Don't judge the fit from the dress form. I'm not exactly big, but I'm bigger than Shelly, my dress form.

Here's a picture of the back of the bodice:


And here you can see the self lining. I used the same pattern pieces on both the lining and the outer shell.


I redrafted the neckline of the bodice to make the V-neckline. I'll match the jacket neckline to the bodice when I get to it. I call this post Flying by the Seat of My Pants because of all the changes. I'll be using more standard construction methods on the skirt, but I'll be adding some couture techniques as well.

Stay tuned, lots more to come.

Happy sewing!

Wednesday Miscellaney

Where's my coffee?

Oh yes, I forgot, I finished the pot already. DH was up twice last night, managing to wake me with him both at 2 and at 3:30. Not a good thing, and not for good reasons. Why is it that when he loses sleep over work, I end up suffering? Grrr.....

So where am I today? I made another incarnation of the Simplicity top from the same fabric in a size 12 which fits me infinitely better. There is an almost 2 inch difference in circumference between the 12 and the 14. Here's a hint. Forget what Simplicity says on the pattern envelope. I was able to make both long-sleeved tops out of two yards of fabric total. Use a single-layer layout and you can make this with one yard.

Today I'm jumping back in the saddle with the Chanel Dress. I have to do my post for BeSewStylish first (a book review of Fashion - A History from the 18th to the 20th Centuries by the curators of the Kyoto Institute Museum). My Marfy jacket pattern finally arrived, so I'll start evaluating that over the weekend. And speaking of which, I'm off for a buying trip, so if I don't respond to emails as quickly as usual, that's why.

That's it. I'm off to spin class. Ta darlings, and
Happy Sewing!

God Love Leslie

I was talking the other day with Leslie, my web developer and dear friend, and telling her about my lack of sewing mojo. Her answer was, "Girl, you need to make a knit top!"

.
.
.

The simplest statements are often the most profound, you know? She was right. I was psyching myself out by mentally doing the work on a couture quality garment, with all the steps, checks and muslins that such entails. It's kind of like the feeling I get when I stand at the top of a double diamond slope and stare down it for a few minutes. I'm much better if I just damn the torpedoes and barrel-ass my way down the moguls, not thinking beyond the next one. In sewing terms, I desperately needed a simple, fast project to restart my engines. So I started cutting out this Simplicity pattern:

I'm going to make the long-sleeved version, but skip the overlay, because the fabric I'm using is busy enough all on its own. I'm using Get Ziggy With It jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics:
.

It's all cut out. I was going to sew it and finish it today, but DS the eldest asked me to help him finish the sewing project they worked on at school - a pair of elastic waist boxer shorts. And if DS want's to try his hand at sewing, how can I say no? But the top should be finished tomorrow, and I already feel the mo and the jo getting ziggy with it, so I think (hope!) I'll be out of my funk soon!

And Leslie? Mmmmwah!
Happy sewing!

The Dress is all Cut Out

It was a snow day here in Boston. Schools were closed and for most of the day, roads were pretty impassable. We got a foot or so of snow, and it was perfect for making a snowdog. The kids went out and spent the day with Hoover, who is now a happy and calm Border Collie. Life is good when you are a dog in this house.

While they were out playing, I worked on the dress, cutting it out. I'll start sewing it tonight or maybe tomorrow. Now that I've done two muslins, it should go together pretty quickly. Stay tuned.

I'm still waiting on the Marfy patterns to arrive. I was hoping to have them this week, so I can do a series of posts on BeSewStylish.com. If they don't get here tomorrow I'll probably push off the jacket until next week. That's alright, there is plenty to work on and write about.

Because the skirt of the dress will be significantly heavier than the silk bodice, I'll put a petersham waist stay on the dress. Instead of doing a faced lining, I'll self-line the bodice using the four main pattern pieces. I also changed the neckline on the dress to be a v-neck. This is because of the jacket pattern. It's also because when I tried on the muslin, the neck was awfully high for a dress that is designed to be worn under a jacket. If I were making a LBD or other standalone dress with this pattern, the neck would be great, but I think it would be too dominating a feature with the Marfy jacket.

So that's where it stands right now. I'll keep you posted. Tomorrow the kids should be back in school, and I'll hopefully have more time to work on the dress.

Happy sewing!

Where I'm At Right Now

I have to admit it, I spent much of the weekend listening to/watching football. You all know I stayed up to watch the Pats game last night. Today, I hidie-holed myself in my Sewing Cave (as DH calls it) and listened to the Colts-Bolts game as I finished my muslin for the Chanel Dress. Wow, what an upset! And ow! How many players ended up hobbling off that field?

Back to the subject at hand. Here are some observations from the fitting muslin thus far:

• The skirt is too long on a 5'6" frame like mine. I need to take it up about 2 inches.
• I fitted the bodice, then I added the skirt. In fitting the bodice, it seemed too short, so I added 1/2 inch below the bust in the mid ribcage. Nope. Once you put the skirt on the dress, the original proportions are correct, maybe even a little long on me. I'm not exactly short waisted, but I am not long waisted by any stretch. Lesson learned - wait until all pieces are put together before making length adjustments.
  
• The pattern is very well drafted. I have found no errors, and it goes together beautifully. I didn't need the directions.
  
• It's pretty easy to adjust for a full/small bust. There's a lot of easing between the side front and the center front, but it works well. even in cotton muslin.
  
• The proportions of the bodice make it all but impossible to convert this to a shoulder princess seam. I've looked for some shoulder princess seam dresses, but I can't find anything that comes close, so I think I'll use this and the Marfy pattern as-is, and make everything armhole-princess.
  

So the fitting shell is pretty much done. Tomorrow I'll start cutting into the silk for the bodice.
Stay tuned!

Oh, Damn!

Well this just sucks. I logged onto Vogue Patterns to check the status of my order for the Marfy jackets, and this one:
is listed as Unavailable. Now, do you think they could have told me that themselves? Noooo. I certainly hope they are better at issuing refunds than they are about notifications. So now I have to drop back and examine my options. Stay tuned....

Chugging Along

I've been radio silent lately b/c I've been incredibly busy. I have gotten the muslin bodice for the dress cut and mostly sewn, though. I'm going to put it together tonight and get a preliminary look at it. I can tell you a couple of things about the GoPatterns bodice right now though: it's cut with relatively little ease. It's not bad, but I may adjust some things given the silk fabric I'll be using. Also, the side-front-to-center-front princess seam has a LOT of ease to it.

The reason everything is coming along so slowly is because of the steps I have taken so far to get to the initial fitting shell.

1 - trace off pattern

2 - do flat pattern measurements and very preliminary tissue fitting

3 - adjust front bust (definitely needs to be lower and adjusted for cup size)

4 - trace onto muslin and cut out with adjustments above

5 - remove SAs from muslin and trace onto a new muslin

6 - add 1 to 1 1/2 inch SAs to that muslin, cut and sew.

NOW I can start looking at the fit. It's a PITA, but I'm hoping in the end it will be worth it. I'll post pictures of the different components later.

Happy sewing!

Tracing the Dress Pattern and a Decision

Alright! I'm almost done tracing the dress pattern. I've decided to make a couple of changes to it. Out of the envelope, the pattern is lined and faced. Instead, I'm going to make the bodice self-lined with the silk. So I only needed to trace off the main pattern pieces (CF, SF, SB and CB).

I also decided that for the jacket, I'm going to morph the neckline and CF closure from Marfy 9821 onto the front of Marfy 9665. I joined the new Club BMV over at Vogue Patterns, and I picked up a Claire Shaeffer Pattern, 8259. I don't like the jacket, but it has the 3-piece sleeves á la Chanel, so I thought it would be worth studying and seeing if I could morph those onto the sleeve for the Marfy. Gee, it's starting to sound like Frankenpattern, isn't it?

Now I have a thought. The princess seams on the dress are armhole princess seams. I was thinking of perhaps morphing them to shoulder princess seams, like the base jacket. What do you think? Will it matter? What would Mademoiselle do?

Here's the Deal, Neil

Okay! I got precious little done on my muslin today. Work, you know? Tonight I'll get it cut out when DH is home and I can foist the kids off on him have him help the kids with their homework. But I did decide on which fabrics to use for the dress/jacket combo. Here they are.

For the skirt and jacket shell,

Just Shoot Me Italian Bouclé
Oh man, that bouclé is fabulous, and I can't wait to cut into it.

For the bodice and the jacket lining,

Silk Crepe in Soft Pink
It's less saturated than it looks on my monitor, and it picks up the pinks in the bouclé perfectly. Next question is what jacket pattern to use? GoPatterns 4001 is a given for the dress. After conferring with Sewing Diva Phyllis, I think a close-to-the-body look will work best, and not look frumpy. I want something that doesn't come down too far on the hips, given that the dress has a seam at the natural waist and is reasonably close-cut. These are three suggestions that Phyllis came up with from Marfy:

This one I like, but I'm not sure about the yoke.



This one I like, but I would eliminate the ruffle.


This is the one that I like best. I would have to think long and hard about the contrast and decide if I want to use it or not. But hey, I have time.


What do you think? Oh, and this is for Paco - I understand you perfectly and I will be visiting Your Blog to learn from you!

Happy sewing!

Back at It Today

Wow, what a crazed week it has been. Today, though, I'm heading back into the sewing room. I'm going to make the muslin for the GoPatterns LBD (4001). But here's a thought, and I'd love your feedback. I was thinking of making it á la Chanel - i.e. make the bodice from a silk, and make a jacket (which I plan to make for a series of posts over on BeSewStylish.com) lined with the same silk I use for the bodice.

What do you think? I worry about two things: one, that it's a bit too 'precious', and two, that it's a look that ages the wearer, ie. me.

Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?