Now What?

Have you ever had one of those days? I've had two. In a row. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but I can say that one of the problems was of my doing, the rest were not. Give me a gun and a bottle of scotch.

Edited to clarify - the problems didn't have anything to do with cancer. One was that I inadvertently hurt a friend's feelings and the others had to do with a supplier to my business. I'm okay, really! Thanks for the concern!

Anyway, now that life is settling back into normal, I need a project to get me through the rest of summer and into transitional. So I think I'll hop on the Marrakesh Express and make a pair of pants:

I think I'll make them from this Stretch Linen

I like it because I can wear it now through the cold weather. If we ever get cold weather, that is. I know, the Northeast hasn't been hit as hard as the rest of the country so I shouldn't whine, but it's been that kind of two days.

I also dug this Jalie pattern out of my stash:

I've had it in my stash for several years. I think I'm the only person in North America who hasn't made it yet, so it's time to get on it. I'm just going to make it from a White Rayon Jersey. I may also make the sleeveless version in a White Silk Jersey (sold out right now, sorry!) that I have in my stash. Those projects should keep me busy and out of trouble for a while, I hope!

Happy sewing!

Pattern Review - Jalie 2682 V-neck Top

Yesterday I mistakenly identified the Jalie pattern I planned to make for my niece. This is the one I really was planning to use. It's better suited for the fabric. So here you go...

Pattern Description: From Jalie's website, "Stylish V-neck top, raised neckline at back, with or without sleeves." I made View A with long sleeves.

Sizing: All sizes are included in the pattern. My niece is a size 6-8 petite, so I made a size T in Jalie's sizing.

Fabric Used: Fabulously Cozy Cotton Sweater Knit - Heathered Gray from Gorgeous Fabrics. I love this knit. It's almost got a berber-y feel to it on the face, and the backing is nice and soft in its finish, so you can wear it right next to your skin.

Needle/Notions Used: Stretch 75/11 needle. Metrosene polyester thread.

Did it look like the photo or drawing when you got through? Yes

How were the instructions? They were just fine. I had made the sleeveless version of this top for myself a couple of summers ago, so I didn't really need them. This pattern goes together beautifully.

Construction Notes: Because of the innate bulk of this fabric, I decided not to do it Jalie's way, which is to use two layers of the fabric in the upper bodice. One layer is the outer shell and the other is the self-facing. Instead, I just used one layer. I cut the front in two pieces instead of one piece on the fold. I sewed up the center seam with a 1/4 inch seam and turned the neckline edge under and stitched it down, as you can see here.

I serged all the other seams, and turned up the hems and finished them with a 1.0mm wide, 3.0mm length zigzag stitch.

Likes/Dislikes: I think this is a cute, casual top. She lives in Montana, and this will be good for wearing to school. I like the lines of the top. As I say, it's really well drafted. It sewed up in less than an hour, while I was listening to the second half of the Pats/Bills game on the radio (Yay Pats! Sorry Pam)

No dislikes at all.

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it? You bet to both.

Conclusion: It's comfortable, cute and a winner. I think she'll like it! Here are pictures of the front and back. 

Happy sewing!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...

...the doctor's office.

Honestly, I've spent more time in doctors' offices in the last two weeks than I ever wanted. You know, when something like this happens, you just have to shrug your shoulders, set your spine and face it with a sense of humor and determination. So for your amusement, here are a few snippets from the last few weeks.

First off, I give you my new theme song, from the Tony Award® winning Broadway musical, "Avenue Q". The opening song, It Sucks to be Me!


Next up, some snippets of conversations and readouts. You say and see the damnedest things in meetings and reports like these. For instance....

Me: "Jeez honey, I've been felt up more in the last week and a half than I have before in my entire life!"
DH: "Boy, if I had only known, I would have changed my major in college and gone to med school!"
*smack!*

Doctor: "You're not a candidate for Medicine a, but Medicine B is just as effective, maybe more so. The thing is that we'll have to surgically induce menopause."
Me: "Okay, so about this surgically induced menopause - can I get a tummy tuck out of the deal?"

Doctor: "It's spiculated."
Me: "Oh, that sounds so... kinky!"

From a report: "The patient has a paucity of fat in her abdominal cavity."
Me: "Well, shit yeah, I've worked out 4 days a week for the last 25 years. I better have a paucity of fat, dammit!"

"I'm going to start putting notches in my belt every time some new person fondles me."

Doctor: "I need to ask you a question." (gets very earnest look on face)
Me: "Okay"
Doctor: "Is there any possibility at all that you might want to have another baby?"
Me: "Hell no!!!"
(both laugh)

In all seriousness, thank you to everyone for all your kindness, good thoughts, prayers and sweet notes. It's really touching in a way I can't describe without kvelling. I'll take them all; please keep them coming. Everything will be okay, and I'm going to beat this little bastard. In the meantime, life will go on. And speaking of which, I'm going to start on a Jalie top for my niece for Christmas. I had hoped to have it done by now, but as you can imagine, I kinda got sidetracked. I'm making her this Jalie top:

From this Fabulously Cozy Cotton Sweater Knit from Gorgeous Fabrics (natch!)

I think she'll like it, and it will be super cute on her. Stay tuned and I'll review it in the next day or two.

Happy sewing!

Mesh Tutorial - Jalie Sweetheart Top

June of 2009 is shaping up to be the least sunny in Boston ever. Seriously, we have had 3 days of sun this month and that is it. I decided that I need to make some sunshine, so I settled on Jalie's Sweetheart Top made up with Citrus Paisley Mesh from Gorgeous Fabrics (of course). I made the short sleeved version this time. I'm not going to review it here, since you can see everything I did in This Review.

Because I was working with a mesh fabric, there were some changes I needed to make it wearable in public. Mesh, by its very nature, is sheer. You can counteract that in several ways: wear a camisole underneath, line it with tricot fabric or take the "Sweet Pea approach", which is what I did.

A couple of years ago I bought myself a top by Sweet Pea. The top is mesh, and it had some interesting construction details. To solve the sheerness issue in the body of the shirt, they used a double layer of the mesh, with the wrong sides together:

The sleeves, on the other hand, are just a single layer:

This is quite easy to translate to your sewing projects. Cut duplicates of the pattern pieces that you want to cover up sensitive parts, and just singles of the rest. In the case of the Jalie top I cut the front, the back and the yoke pieces twice. I cut the sleeves and the neckbands (which are folded over anyway) just once.

I basted the fronts and backs together just as you do with an underlined pattern piece. Like the Sweet Pea top, I basted them wrong sides together so the right sides face the world and the body. I then proceeded to sew the top together just as the instructions say. There were no other changes. The result is a top that is sunny, but not see through.

The other thing to know about mesh is that it doesn't run or ravel, so you don't need to finish the hems on it. Here you can see it in the sleeve and at the bottom:


It makes it a snap to finish! Of course, you do want to finish your seams nicely so they don't leave thread tails hanging down. Since I used a serger for this project, the way I finished off my seams was by threading the tails back through the stitches using a large-eye needle:
Trim off the excess and you're ready to go. I've done this lots of times and it works great.

It's supposed to rain again tomorrow. You can be darned sure I'll be wearing my sunny top.
Happy sewing!

Cameras Cameras Everywhere

Yesterday was the Yankee Classic ballroom dance competition. DS the younger was competing for the first time with his partner. In the past, both kids have competed Pro-Am with Tatiana. To add fun to fun, we've had a camera crew tailing him (and to a lesser extent, all of us). I'll have more on that as the airing date gets closer. No pressure, right?

We woke up to a typically beautiful June day in Boston:
You know, we New Englanders are a pretty crusty bunch by nature. But if we seem more crabby than usual? This is what we have woken up to Every. Single. Day in June. WTF? I feel like I'm living in the northwest. But I digress...

We got there at about 9:15, and met up with his partner and her family. We got them ready to go and they were stoked. They took their places on the dance floor for the International Standard division. They were really nervous about this one

Note the big honkin' camera behind them. No pressure, right? The I.S. Foxtrot was pretty new to them. They had never competed with the International Standard. But they did great! Here they are doing the Foxtrot

and the Waltz
Note the big honkin' camera in the background. No pressure, right? The last dance was the Tango. Here you see them with the judging panel
The judge in the center is their idol, and Dancing with the Stars pro, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. No pressure, right?

They did great! They took 4 firsts, 1 second and 1 third. Here they are with Max

We had a 4 hour wait until the Latin division. They danced 5 dances this time: Cha Cha, Samba, Paso Doble, Rumba and Jive. Here are a couple of pictures. Cha cha first
Jive was the last dance.
Then there was a long wait between the dances and the awards ceremony

They scored #1 in Paso Doble, with mostly 3rd to 5th place in the rest. But they weren't disappointed and neither were we. They were up against incredibly stiff competition, and they were in a new, higher division than they had been in before. The good news is that they didn't come in last in any of the dances. So now they have things to work on, but we're going to take some time off this summer to let them take a breather.

Poor DS the Elder was such a trooper. He came with us and spent all day cheering on his little brother, and I think I need to do something nice for him. But he was actually pretty proud of his bro, even though he won't admit it to many people. Here are the kids with Tatiana after all was said and done

Sorry to go on and on like a proud mother, but hey, I am! And what do you think of his pants? Those are the Burdas. I asked him how he liked them once he was done dancing and he said, "They were great!" Now we can kick back and relax a bit.

The next project on my cutting table is Jalie 2794, the Sweetheart Top. I'm making it from this Citrus Paisley Mesh from Gorgeous Fabrics.
I have some tips for working with mesh that I'll post once I finish the top.

Happy sewing!

Not-Quite Pattern Review - Jalie 2806 v.2

I already made this pattern once before, and you can read that review here. Not much has changed, but I did a couple of things differently.


Fabric used: Rayon Jersey in Warm Pink from Gorgeous Fabrics (natch).

What I did differently this time: Last time I made this top, I folded the gathered extension at center front over the neckline, per the instructions, and sewed it invisibly to the front. This time I just serged it to the neckband and then topstitched to secure it in place.



I also shortened the sleeves.

Likes/Dislikes: I really like this pattern, but I don't like it as well in this fabric. I think it's because of the solid. The first iteration I made was a cool print, and I think that the print blends the gathered extension and looks better than the solid rayon jersey. On me, the bubble from the extension brings to mind that classic (albeit very minor) character from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Triple-Breasted Whore of Eroticon Six. The print masks that effect. But the pattern went together beautifully, and I do recommend it. Really.

Conclusion: A great pattern, but not my favorite fabric/pattern combo. I think with solid jerseys I'll stick with plainer necklines.

Happy sewing!

Pattern Review - Jalie 2910 Faux Wrap Top

While I wait to get my Marfys, I decided to make a top from one of Jalie's new patterns. I bought all four when they became available last month.

Pattern Description: From Jalie's website, "Women's knit tops with forward shoulder seam, banded surplice neckline, sleeveless or with three-quarter sleeve. View A has a neckband that goes all around. View B has a mandarin collar and banded front neckline." I made the sleeveless version of View A.

Sizing: Every last one. I made a V

Fabric Used: Cotton blend jersey that I bought when I was in New York last. I used Wide Silk Jersey in Tangerine for the contrast neckband.

Needle/Notions Used: Stretch needle 75/11. Tricot knit interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply to stabilize the shoulders, Steam-a-Seam (yes Karla, Steam-a-Seam) on the front only, Mettler thread.

Did it look like the photo or drawing when you got through? Yes. One thing to note about this pattern is that it is LONG. I hemmed it the recommended 3/4", and it is down below my hips. I'm not especially shortwaisted, but I'm not longwaisted by any means. I think I'll take about 2 inches off and re-hem.

How were the instructions? I took a cursory look but I really didn't need them. this is a very well drafted pattern, and it goes together beautifully. The instructions are quite adequate if you do use them.

Construction Notes: My kids were playing with my camera and set it to manual focus, and I didn't realize it until too late, so I didn't get a picture of how I used Steam-a-Seam. The front has two identical pieces overlaid on one another. You then turn the hems together and stitch them as one. To keep them from shifting, I used Steam-a-Seam between the two layers. After applying it, they were a cinch to turn and sew as one. I also used 3/8" strips of interfacing in the shoulder seams of the back to stabilize them.

One thing to note about this top is that it's clearly drafted as a sleeved top. You use the same pieces for both the sleeved and the sleeveless versions. As with other tops that are drafted this way, I found that if you make the sleeveless version and you have any bit of a bust, you must add a bust dart. I didn't need a FBA, and I suspect if I had made up the sleeves the problem would not be so obvious. But without the sleeves, there is a gap at the front of the armhole. A dart took care of it, and I'll adjust the pattern to remove the excess for future versions.

Any changes? Just those noted above

Likes/Dislikes: I like the wrap effect. It's a cute pattern that will be great for summer. The only thing I don't really like is the length, and that's easy to fix.

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it? Yes and yes!

Conclusion: A great basic top that will be a staple in my wardrobe, I'm sure! Here's a picture on Shelley.


BTW, you'll notice my wrap overlay goes from the left shoulder to the right hip. Yeah - that was intentional. Riiiiight...
Happy sewing!

Weekend Recap and an Expo Lament

I hope you all had a great weekend! I didn't get any sewing done, because I spent Saturday working as an Ambassador at the Sewing and Craft Expo in Worcester, MA. Then Sunday we decided to take the kids to Newport RI and spend the day.

I have to tell you, I was really saddened by the state of the Sewing and Craft Expo. Considering that sewing seems to be undergoing a resurgence, it was so disappointing to see what is going on at the Expo. Mind you, I only had a day there, so perhaps there were things that I missed, but I don't think so. There were far fewer vendors there this year than in years past. And there was a lot of non-sewing stuff (massagers, basement finishing). On the plus side, I did get to meet Jennifer Stern of J. Stern Designs. She is delightful, and she gave me a gift of her latest patterns. I'll be reviewing them (with all appropriate disclaimers) soon, I hope.

I was the ambassador, which translates roughly into "ticket taker and classroom assistant" for three classes. One class was taught by Peggy Sagers. I love Peggy. She's no-nonsense, opinionated and outspoken. Hmmmm - who does she remind me of? Her class was about debunking common sewing myths. While I didn't agree with everything she said, I certainly agreed with most of it.

The other two classes were more craft oriented. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to cast a gimlet eye at "craft" and many of the purveyors thereof. So it was an interesting lesson in self-restraint to sit through these classes. One was about machine embroidery. I know many of you love it, but I find machine embroidery to be a complete waste of thread. Sorry. That's how I feel. The other class was about easy embellishment techniques. Okay - "easy" and "embellishment techniques" do not belong in the same sentence in my universe. If you are going to embellish something, it should be spectacular. Needle felting, fabric paints and cutesy appliqué? Sorry, not my bag. Don't get offended. I'm just saying it isn't for me. I feel the same way about free jazz, NASCAR and body piercings. I'd never tell someone else not to partake, but I school my facial expressions to keep them very bland, and make my grocery list in my head the entire time.

What I did enjoy about these classes was the unbridled enthusiasm of both the instructors. They brought the same sense of joy to their seminars that I try to bring to my garment sewing classes. And that's what you're paying for, right? The expertise and enthusiasm of the teacher. That was what kept me from running screaming from the room when they pulled out the refashioned, embroidered sweatshirts. Those have no place in ANY universe. Ever.

Sunday was fun. We packed the kids up early and headed to Newport, RI to spend the day. If you haven't been to Newport and get the chance, I really recommend it. At the turn of the last century, it was the summer playground for the robber barons and New York society. My sons had never been there. We wanted to go to see the Doris Duke exhibit, Shop Like an Heiress at Rough Point, her Newport estate. Unfortunately, the estate was closed for a private event, so we went to Rosecliff instead. Rosecliff is most famous for being used as a setting for the 1974 Robert Redford film, "The Great Gatsby". It was simply stunning. I had been there as a kid, but not in recent years. We picked a lovely day to visit. After taking the tour of the mansion, we went walking along the Cliff Walk, then headed into town for lunch and puttering about. Newport is built on a beautiful sheltered harbor, and the weather was warm enough that we didn't need our jackets. On the way home, we stopped for dinner at Phyllis' house. Most excellent salmon, Phyllis!

All in all, it was a lovely weekend. I'm waiting for my Marfys, so I am going to start working on the new Jalie Faux Wrap Top. It's all cut out. I'll review it once I have it finished.

Parting Shot: The boys and me at Rosecliff. I think it's time to change my hair color. Stay tuned for that one...

Oh and see the handbag? It's an Emmett McCarthy.

Happy sewing!

Ugh!

Here's what we woke up to today.


I don't complain too much about the weather, because it doesn't do any good. But I have to admit, I am sick to death of winter right now. The kids had today off from school anyway (staff development day), so it doesn't affect them. But it does affect everything else. Ugh indeed.

But on happier notes, today is DH's birthday. Happy birthday darling!!! To celebrate, we went out to a local steakhouse with the boys last night. OMG, I think I ate way too much, but it was so good. The boys split a steak. DH and I should have split a steak, but we didn't, so we have lots of leftovers for lunch today. Though I have to admit, I'm still really full and can't even contemplate eating anything more.

The snow seems to have lifted for the time being, so it's time to contemplate shoveling before the next bands come through. Maybe I'll have another cup of coffee first.

Oh, want to see what I got? I have been jonesing for a full body dress form since I saw Laura Bennett's. So to celebrate DH's birthday (any port in a storm), I put in an offer for one from the same eBay seller where Sewing Diva Phyllis got hers.

Now I have to figure out where I'm going to put it.

Since I'm so tired of winter, and since I won't have the pattern to complete my Burda jumper/KS turtleneck until Thursday, I think I'm going to cut out and make a bunch of tee shirts. I have 1-yard lengths of rayon jerseys in several easter-egg colors that I used for a presentation at the Boston Fashion Meetup. I think I'll toss them in the washer, then make them up into J.Stern and Jalie tees. I am working on a Project Runway top from Simplicity that I'll review later (not impressed). But that's black and silver and I need some color to alleviate the winter blahs.

Well, coffee is done; it's time to get dressed and start shoveling.

Stay warm and happy sewing!

It's More of an Engineering Problem

Tatiana's dress is done! I finished it yesterday late afternoon and she wore it at the showcase last night. I have to tell you, it looked beautiful on her. Now for the frustrating part - my frickin' camera battery died on me right before I was to take her picture!!! Believe me, I uttered every expletive in the book with my full-on Boston accent as I stomped up the stairs from the green room to the ballroom. Stefan, another of her students, took her picture in it, and as soon as he sends me the photos, I'll post them. In the meantime, here's the review.

Pattern Description: This is a morph of two patterns. It's based on Jalie's Open-backed skating dress. The bottom is a self-drafted six-gore skirt.

Notes about this pattern/design choice: Competitive ballroom dance is divided up into two basic groupings: Smooth and Latin. Smooth, also sometimes called Standard, includes Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz and Quickstep. Latin includes Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive. This dress is for the Smooth portion of the competitions. Generally speaking, Smooth dresses are ankle length, with a tightly fitted bodice and flaring skirt, good for showing off the position of the body and for higlighting turns and gliding motion. Latin dresses are much more, um, body conscious. I'll do a post about Latin after I finish that dress.


Sizing: All sizes, from girls to women's. Based upon Tatiana's measurements, I used a size R, and I tapered the waistline to a size N.

Fabric Used: Panné burnout velvet for the dress, matte nylon-lycra for the leotard.

Needle/Notions Used: I made the outfit on my industrial serger and sewing machines. On a home machine, I would use a Stretch 75/11 needle. The notions I used were 1/4 inch elastic for the leg and back openings, and two waistband hooks for the neckline closure. I used standard poly-core thread. I debated about using horsehair braid in the hem, but when she came for the final fitting, we decided against it. I used 1/8 inch elastic for the finger thingies (I'm sure there's a technical term for them. They are the loops you slip over your middle finger so you can look good when flipping the bird at a couple who blocked you in a corner to hold the sleeve in place). I also sewed bra cup inserts into the leotard.

Did it look like the photo or drawing when you got through? As much as it could. The leotard part definitely looks like the pattern.

How were the instructions? Jalie's instructions were great. Really, they were crystal clear. And obviously the skirt went together easily - the instructions in my head were perfect! This was easier than I thought it was going to be. As I say, it's more of an engineering problem than a dressmaking problem, but the engineering is pretty straightforward. It's really a matter of understanding how much ease (or not) a dance dress needs to have. That's vastly different from most of the garments I have sewn before, and once I figured it out (on the disastrous first take on a Latin dress), it got much more obvious to me.

Construction Notes: I used the Jalie as the basis for the dress after having a disastrous first-go with a McCalls pattern (I was using it for the base leotard for a Latin dress, not this one. But I learned my lesson quickly). The Jalie has much less ease built in than the other did. As it was, I still had to remove some ease (more about that later). I also really liked the fact that the Jalie had a dropped waistline and the keyhole back. Tatiana has the perfect ballerina's body - very long through the torso, and this pattern fit her torso length perfectly out of the package. Jalie makes note of this in their instructions, and I'll reiterate it here. When making a leotard, or a dress built upon a leotard, there are two critical measurements: circumference and length. Circumference is straightforward, and what we do for any gament we make. The length measurement I took was from the shoulder seam at the neck, across the bust point, down to the crotch seam for the front. For the back, measure from the crotch seam up to the shoulder seam at the neckline. This will make sure your garment doesn't give the wearer a wedgie when moving in it.

As I said above, I started with a size R. While the pattern has negative ease to it, we needed even less ease than it started with. So I tapered from an R at the bust to an N at the waist, and back out. To put it in numbers, I took about an inch and a half out of the waistline.

The leotard has three basic parts to it: bodice/panty/sleeves. The panty is made of the matte nylon lycra. The bodice is made of the burnout velvet underlaid with the matte lycra (for modesty), and the sleeves are the velvet with no underlay. The skirt is unlined.

I didn't embellish the dress at all yet. I wanted her to wear it at the showcase so I could see what needed to be done. If I do put any embellishment on it, I'll probably use black Swarovski crystals at the neckline. Tatiana and Christine (another dance instructor, and half of the #4 ranked dance couple in Canada) were going back and forth about whether the dress needed it. I'll let them decide. If the answer is yes, I'll try to bribe Sewing Diva Phyllis to help me with the placement of the crystals.

Any changes? As I said, I changed the skirt to be a 6-gore, flared, ankle length skirt.

Likes/Dislikes: I really, really liked this pattern. I don't have any dislikes.

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it? I've already been asked by several dancers if I would be willing to make them a dress like it. I haven't decided if I want to do that. But I do recommend the base pattern heartily.

Conclusion: Tatiana's happy - she walked up to me with a huge smile on her face last night and said, "Everyone loves my dress! And I love it too!"

Yeah, I'm happy with it. :)

Here's a picture of the then-mostly-finished dress on the hanger. As I said, as soon as I get the picture from Stefan of Tatiana in the dress, I'll post it here.

Happy sewing!

Lots of Progress, but Not Much to Show

It frickin' snowed again today. I am so sick of winter. If I didn't love the movie "Groundhog Day" so much, I'd be tempted to go to Punxatawnee, yank Phil out of his burrow and choke the life out of that oversized rat myself. But, that would be pretty mean to an animal, and that's just not cricket. I am so done with this winter.

Where was I? This post was supposed to go somewhere. Oh right! Tatiana's ballroom dress. Thanks to everyone who suggested I use Jalie as the base pattern for the leotard. They are so much better constructed and sized, and the instructions are crystal clear. I made a mockup of the leotard and had Tatiana try it on last night. It fit perfectly, though she wanted it taken in through the waist. She wants the leotard tight. I wish I had known that before - I would have used that super-suck-in powernet rather than the matte nylon lycra. Oh well, live and learn. So I modified the bodice and you can see the results on my size 6 mannequin, Shelley.

Tatitana's more like a size 2-4, so it will fit her great. Tomorrow I'm going to put the collar on and I'll make the skirt. For the skirt, I'm drafting a pattern that is pretty similar to this Burda:
8 gores, and made of the burnout velvet. What you can't really see from the picture of the bodice is how beautifully the fabric catches and reflects the light. It will be pretty spectacular when she's dancing. I can't wait to see it on her! I'll have more tomorrow.

Happy sewing!

Next Up, a Ballroom Dance Dress

My Jalie Patterns arrived yesterday. Hooray! I have to say, ordering from Jalie.com is really a pleasure. They are efficient and fast. NAYY, just a happy customer.

So I received my patterns, and I am going to make a ballroom gown for Tatiana using 2801, the backless skating dress, as the base:


I'll change the skirt to a floor length, 8 gore version. I'm making it from this fabulous burnout velvet I bought in New York back in the fall.

It's really rich looking, and I like the way the panné effect of the velvet reflects the light. I think I'll make the gores from sheer black fabric, though I'm not entirely decided on that yet. This needs to be complete (and so does the Latin dress) by February 7th. Good thing I have so much free time... Hahahahahahahaha! Snort!

Stay tuned and happy sewing!

Pattern Review - Jalie 2805 Tee Shirt

I've been pondering knit shirts lately and trying to decide what I wanted to make. I haven't been in love with any of the Big Four patterns that I have in my stash. But then I was so impressed by Sewing Diva Phyllis' Polo Shirt review that I wanted to make something similar. I had this pattern in my stash and pulled it out.

Pattern Description: From the Jalie website: "Choice of t-shirts with 4 sleeve lengths and 4 neckline variations: Jewel neck (A), Mock turtleneck (B), V-Neck (C), overlapped V-neck with decorative buttons (D)." I made View D.

Sizing: Every last one. I made a size U (a 12-14 Big 4 equivalent)

Did it look like the photo or drawing when you got through? Yes.

How were the instructions? They were great. This is a basic tee with a really nice neckline variation. The only tricky part is the neckline, and the illustrations walk you right through the process. I'm very impressed with Jalie (NAYY, I just am more impressed the more I sew them).

Fabric Used: A (sold out, sorry) jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics. If it helps, here's what I'm going to use for the next one, and it's not sold out: Love That Pompidou Jersey. I trimmed it with Extra Wide Rayon Jersey in Black.

Any changes? I did a FBA after doing a quick tissue fit. Other than that, nothing.

Likes/Dislikes: I really like the lines. I really like the look. I also love the fact that Jalie shirts are cut long. I usually add an inch or even more to many patterns, but with Jalie I don't need to.

The only thing I didn't like had nothing to do with the pattern. I used a no-name tricot interfacing on the neckband. That is not part of the instructions, but I wanted to add some body to the band. Unfortunately, it was stiffer than I wanted and caused slight ripples at the curvature. And drat it all, what arrived today but the good tricot interfacing I ordered from Sew Exciting. Oh well. Next time...

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it? Absolutely. I will make it again. I'm going to wear it to New York tomorrow when I meet up with Carolyn and Lindsay T. More about that later!

Conclusion: A great pattern. A great top, with lots of variations. Here it is on Shelley.



And borrowing from Summerset, here is my parting shot. This is the view of the trees in our yard while waiting for the school bus this morning. I do love October in New England!

Playing with the Pattern - Jalie 2806

Yesterday I decided to make another version of the Jalie 2806, which is fast becoming a fave-rave of mine. For this iteration, I made it as the ruched neck version. I wanted to use a very cool Wool/Rayon Jersey Doublecloth from Gorgeous Fabrics. And I wanted to make it reversible to take advantage of the fabric. Here's how I went about making it.

The first thing I did was serge the seams together as usual. After serging, I used my sewing machine, set on the narrowest zigzag (.5 mm) with a stitch length of 3 mm. For this shirt, I put gray thread in the bobbin and white thread in the needle and topstitched along the seam lines. This flattened and finished the serged side. I could have done the same with my coverstitch machine, but I decided to try this way. I topstitched each seam right after serging it. It's very straightforward with the straight seams.

The only tricky part was the sleeves, because you have to stitch in a hole. Sorry for the blurry photo - I suppose I need to learn about depth of field and how to set it up on my camera at some point. But I think you get the drift.
I attached the neckline piece as a binding, leaving the raw edges exposed on either side. Again I used the narrow zigzag stitch set on 3 mm length.

For the hems, I simply stitched 5/8 of an inch from the raw edges. I'm hopful that when I wash it (hand wash in Eucalan) the raw edges will curl.So overall, this gives me a fun top for casual wear. The gray side looks more "finished", and the white side looks more deconstructed. I can wear it either way, and it will make a comfortable (and warm) top for cooler weather.

Happy sewing!