Didn't realize it had been so long.

I'll catch up with prom dress and the other jacket, plus interim project progress later.

I'm very excited at this point. If you've been periodically checking in, you know that my quest for this year was jackets. I LOVE jackets. They add a bit of polish to every outfit and also hide all the lumps and bumps.

I've been thinking a lot about why I don't use the gorgeous fabrics I have and love the clothes I'm in. I finally figured out that I didn't think it was okay to have beautiful clothes because I'm not at my perfect weight and size. And also because I have not yet perfected my patterns to the point I think I have the perfect fit.

Hello! Light bulb goes off. In reality, I think every woman, no matter, her size, her weight, or her age, should have beautiful clothes that fit her perfectly so she can feel beautiful every single day.

Our American Sewing Guild has many talented members, one of whom, Billie Jane Blankinship, has taught sewing at the High School, 4-H, and college level for many, many years. A few years ago she retired, but has more knowledge about fitting various bodies in her little finger than I may ever have in my head.

As Education Chairman of our Guild, she gets to pick what we do at our monthly meetings, whether it's a speaker, or a demonstration. Due to popular demand, throughout this year, she's doing fitting demonstrations. Her first demo was in March, and was how to do bodice adjustments. My friend Phyllis was the model for that and I learned a great deal. Not the least of which is if you wear over a B cup, you need to select your pattern size by your chest measurement (above the bust) instead of your full bust measurement, and then make a full bust adjustment. That way your shoulders, neck, and upper chest fit your body with fewer adjustments. That was a huge eye opener.

So our June meeting was on sleeves and collars. For me those two items are my biggest hassle areas, so the instant I heard she would be doing them, I volunteered to be the model. I gave Billie Jane several patterns to determine which would most closely approximate the adjustments she wanted to show. Last night, I got my wish.

To start off, we decided on a Vogue by Claire Schaeffer jacket pattern, #8333. She is a phenomenon in the world of sewing, and has written several books, magazine articles, and is one of the top educators in high end fashion sewing.




Billie Jane asked me to make a muslin and do my adjustments to the body by the time of the meeting. Of course, I got busy, and had to do my muslin over the weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I copied, altered, and made my muslin. Last night was the big reveal and the demo. Dale and I thought overall the muslin looked pretty good other than the sleeves and collar. I know my very amply biceps never fit into a sleeve properly, so I always have to adjust them, and haven't ever been really happy with the results. I have about half a dozen fit books, and I've tried all the various types of adjustments, but they're never just right. And now my upper back/neck area has changed a lot and collars are another problem. I have learned a fix that works for me, but again, they aren't exactly right.

So the sleeve. She cut the sleeve slightly below the elbow after determining I needed
additional room not only in the upper arm, but also in the elbow area. She slashed the front of the sleeve about an inch on either side of the center grain line, and added a piece about 3/4" into each slash from the top of the sleeve cap to the lower slash. She also decided that for me, it would be good to add between 1/4" and 1/2" extension to the shoulder to better balance the sleeve and make the sleeve hang better. A while later, she also mentioned to me that I would probably find the sleeve more comfortable if I dropped the armhole about 1/4" on both the body of the jacket and the sleeve. As these alterations were happening, my fellow Guild members were nodding and grinning with each change. Seems so easy, but 20 plus years of fighting sleeves and never getting it quite right were fixed in a manner of about 15 minutes. :P}} The sleeves will also have to be shortened, but that will come with the second muslin.

Next she moved on to the collar. Somehow over the years, my neck has gotten shorter~ very short! Frequently necklines on tops creep up into my hair, and especially collars are just not comfortable. This particular jacket has a collar stand as well as a collar. The fix was so easy! She just pinned out 1/2" along the roll line of the collar starting slightly in front of the shoulder seam. Fantastic! That one took about 5 minutes!

So then I think we're done, but I had asked her to fix anything else she thought needed adjustments. And of course, she pinned me together, stood back and then went to work again. As most women are aware, to a greater or lesser degree, one breast is larger than the other. My left one is the larger one, so the lapel over the right side had a little gap. In order to correct the gap, she slashed the lapel and pinned in a slight little dart that took care of the gap. She also highly recommends doing a piece of stay tape along the roll line 1/2" shorter than the distance of the roll, and easing the jacket to the tape. That way it snugs it right in to your chest and eliminates that gap most of us have in jacket lapels.

Then she stood back and looked. Pinned me back together and asked the group if they saw anything else. Several women mentioned that there were wrinkles below the bust line. Billie Jane stood back, looked, and grabbed her scissors. She had already mentioned that although I did the full bust adjustment, she thought I needed a bit more than I'd added, so I need to up the ante in that area. But the wrinkles below the bust line were due to not adding enough length when I added the width. She slashed from the center of the jacket right below the bust point across to the princess seam adding a wedge of about 1" at the jacket front tapering to nothing at the princess seam.

By the time she finished all of the adjustments, everyone was smiling and nodding.

So now the real adventure begins. This particular jacket is a full on tailored jacket. She has instructions for both hand tailoring with pad stitching and the whole shebang, or you can do it with fusibles, but that won't be the choice this time. Since with all the jackets I've made over the years, I have never made a fully tailored jacket, that's going to happen finally. I'll have my perfectly fitted tailored jacket.

Over the next little while, I'll be tailoring a jacket. I'm going to use a gorgeous silk tweed fabric with a wild silk charmeuse lining, and you get to watch it happen.

After work tonight, I'll start with the adjustments to my pattern, then will do a new muslin to be sure everything is just right. In the meantime, I'm gathering my supplies together to get this wonderful fun new garment underway. I expect there will be several other garments being made in the interim, but this is the main goal.

Look for a new post soon!

Working, working

So the first official fitting resulted in a negativo on the current design. We didn't like the way it fit, and Allison decided it looked too much like a baby doll dress which she doesn't like. So the next version is going to be a bodice to the waist with a flared skirt. Re did the bodice on Saturday and I have come to the conclusion that the Vogue bodice wasn't drafted with a human figure in mind~ unless it's a line backer with a triple D cup size. So I have scrapped their dress altogether while keeping the basic idea. I'm using a bra body, adapting the cups to have ruching at the center seam, and then attaching that to a form fitted bodice to the waist. The skirt will be eased at the waistline, so it is nice and doesn't add bulk, and then have fullness at the hem.

I'm heading off now to finish up the bra top draft, make the skirt and skirt lining, and then will be redoing a muslin for the bra top and bodice, so Allison can drop by tonight for that fitting. If I have time, I'll finish up the bolero too.

First draft muslin-REJECTED- pictures here. I'm also thinking she needs to find time to go to the tanning booths before Prom! LOL

Okay.. the push is on!

With a few time outs for a jacket for me, then an instant gratification tee shirt, I started making Sara a dress for her birthday. It turned out amazing, fit perfectly, and she looked fabulous. The dress was a combination of both our ideas, so it was her style in her colors, with a little flair. All of my girls are VERY picky about colors, styles, and prints, so needed to check in with her before wasting my time.

She wanted a dress that was fitted to the waist and then flared out a bit at the hem line. I found a nice grey-taupe linen-rayon blend at Joanns that I thought would be great for the skirt. Then found what I thought was a gorgeous kind of op-art-geometric print grey background with some muted splashes of color that matched perfectly. Both the lady at the cutting table and I thought it was beautiful, and I bought enough so that if Sara didn't like it, I could make a blouse for myself. When I showed it to Sara, she thought it was too bright. As I was scratching my head, I said, let's go look in your closet so I can see what you like... amazingly enough, she has stripes and polka dots, and that is the extend of anything resembling a print. Now that I am thinking about it, I guess when you're 16, you generally want to fit in. Anyway, as I was perusing her closet it struck me that I had a Calvin Klein seersucker in a linen and greyish-taupe print in my stash. Got home, and it matched perfectly~as if it had been bought together, and not a couple of years apart at two very different fabric stores.

I took a bodice from a really old Burda pattern..publishing date I think was 1988?, altered it to fit her, and drafted an A line skirt to go with it. She wanted the stripes to go across the bodice, and after I recovered from my horror, her mom reminded me that when you're skinny and tall, you can wear horizontal stripes! So she has a sleeveless dress, round neck, horizontal stripes on the bodice, and a solid A line skirt. I took it over Thursday night so she could wear it Friday on her birthday if she wanted to. She loved the dress, and said she received more compliments than she'd ever got on anything she'd every worn, AND her friends she told I'd made it were amazed that it wasn't from the store. Good feelings on that one! Pictures will follow as soon as Cathy gets around to sending to me.

So now the push is on to get Allison's prom dress done. I'm making a modified version of Vogue pattern #8360 that has morphed into something the Vogue people wouldn't recognize, and a short bolero jacket to go over the top. The jacket is McCalls #6245, and it isn't being changed much at all. I'm using the cap sleeve with a small collar, and the only changes other than alterations for fit are that I'm adding some silk organza as interfacing to the fronts and the collar. They don't call for any at all, and I think it needs a little more structure. Oh, and I'm adding a button instead of the hook and eye they call for. I have a black and gold sequened fabric~ neither of us liked the sequins, but the back is perfect, that will have a black lining, and a gold ball button at the neckline with a piece of black rattail as a loop instead of a buttonhole.

I've been having trouble using the pattern for the bodice for her. For some unknown reason, when I used her measurements, it was huge. The second one, I took way down to what I thought would fit. That was too small around. We'll do our third fitting of the dress muslin in about 15 mintues, and once that's done, I'll be running full out to complete it so it will be done for prom. Pictures will be forthcoming as I go along.

Here is the dress, dress and jacket, and the fabric, lining, and pattern for the jacket, as well as the pattern covers.

Contemplating STYLE

Just had a little bit of an "ah ha" moment.

Dale and I had been talking about Allison's college acceptances this week, and when I said I didn't think she'd fit in that well in Santa Cruz, he said "why not, she dresses the part." Set me to thinking a little about the way we dress versus who we are. Then this morning in my email, I got my Brenda Kinsel [bkinsel@brendakinsel.com] newsletter, and she's talking about knowing your personal style before you go shopping to avoid those purchases of "loved it in the store, but it's not me."

Her suggestion is to pick something that you love, and describe it in detail, using descriptive words. Then either write down what you've said, or have someone else write it down as you describe it. Look at the descriptors and decide whether or not that describes how you think of yourself, and if that is your style. Voila, you will know what type of garments you should be purchasing to maintain your personal style, which will always make you feel good about how you look and what you're wearing.

So now I'm sitting here thinking about what I own, and what I love, and the two don't match up very well. I don't have much in my closet right now that I love because I think I am mostly dressing either to 1. cover my body, or 2. hide the weight. So I never feel all that great. Need to do this exercise with a lot of thoughtfulness to determine what it is I love and what it says about what I should be sewing instead of what I am sewing.

As I'm thinking about garments I have loved dearly, two spring to mind. One a wild tropical print silk shirt that always made me feel fabulous. It was in dark forest-ey colors of browns, greens, and had some purple tropical flowers that were about the size of my palm. Although I didn't wear it when I needed to feel professional, whenever I put it on, I was happy. Second was another floral print shirt that I wore as a light weight jacket. So obviously floral is my style. Need to determine what that says about me and where I go from there! :P}}

Just got a call from Nicole. She's home for the weekend, and is coming over for a visit, so I need to move my day forward! Off to the showers!

Time flies

Busy week again. I love having the work, hate that it takes all of my personal time away.

I did get to put together one of the jacket muslins for Allison's prom outfit. She came by and tried it on yesterday (spring break!) and liked it, so that's good. Although the dress may be morphing into something totally different. She's decided that seniors wear short dresses and not gowns, but will talk to her friends and see what they are all wearing. Sara brought me a dress she bought at a thrift store to hem for her, so that needs to be done too. She's very much liking vintage clothing circa 50's to 60's and it suits her long, lanky frame quite well.

Today will give me a little time to work on some other projects besides the prom gown. Today is Sunday and I've decided that other than doing bills and paperwork, the day is mine. Dale is now working super long hours in Stockton, so will pretty much sleep all day. Last week started at 2:30 am on Monday as he had to be in Stockton by 7, and ended about 9:30 Friday night. We did get to take a ride yesterday out to one of my jobs to verify position of well and septic tank, then had lunch, but that's pretty much it for him on a weekend like this. He'll be getting up at 2:30 am again tomorrow, so is planning to sleep most of today to be ready for tomorrow.

I have french bread rising and a pork roast in a slow oven so he'll have food for a couple of days. We've been doing this for a couple of weeks and it seems to be working pretty well. I cook a big meal on Sunday with plenty of left overs and make bread, then he'll take a couple of days worth of food in a cooler so he doesn't have to eat at Denny's for three meals a day for a week. Seems like he's feeling a bit better and has lost a few pounds, so I guess it's better for him too. Do need to run out to Whole Foods and get something to go with the pork roast for dinner. For him, probably roasted potatoes, for me, maybe the same, or maybe polenta, which I love. Then I'm make a cabbage-carrot-apple slaw and we should be good for several days. :P}}

I also need to figure out what I'm doing for Sara for her birthday. Perhaps just a pair of sweat pants, but perhaps a dress. Need to see what I have that would be suitable.

Fun day for me, so I better get moving!

Moving right along

Hooray. Got the sweatsuit done and it looks kinda cute if I do say so myself. I'm not good in black near my face, but I think the royal blue balances it out. I'm glad that's done and I can move on to more fun things. Pictures will follow!

Which brings up the next major project. I had decided that I wanted to do a prom dress for Allison. Junior prom she wore Nicole's dress from a prior prom, and she is like 5'1" and Nicole is like 5'7"... she looked beautiful but I figured she needed one of her own. I just happened to find some hammered gold silk on one of the web sites clearance items, so got that, and have several options here to make a jacket to go over the dress for dinner, etc. I've been toying with my ideas for several months, and VOILA... just like that it's time to get out of my head and start DOING!

Prom is April 30, and I want to be sure everything is exactly right. BUT of course, I'm adapting a pattern I found, and I had just organized everything into bags with pattern, fabric, etc., and Martha, our German Shorthair found the pattern for the dress and ate half of it. For whatever reason, way beyond my comprehension, she loves eating paper, and tissue paper is like the prize. So now I have to go find another copy of the pattern in her size, a Vogue that costs $15!

I've given her several jacket options, but she needs to pick one, and can't visualize the way it will look so I'm going to do a musline for each. That way I can check size at the same time she's seeing what it will look like. Now all I need is a bit of time to make this happen! LOL

So tomorrow I think I'm sewing all day. This morning I got the first jacket muslin cut out, and then had to head to a continuing education class. That took the rest of the day. Tomorrow I hope to put this one together and get the next one cut out. We'll see how things go!

Pictures will come soon, I promise!

A little behind myself

Haven't been doing much blogging lately looks like. But I have been getting in a minor amount of sewing here and there.

Cathy took me and the girls to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco for a birthday present surprise, but we had to wait a bit because everyone was sick off and on and trading around. I'm pretty sure either one or both of us posted pictures on Facebook. It was truly a wonderful day.

Moving right along, my February outfit got done, but I don't have pictures yet. After the last one Dale took, I'll be asking someone else to take my photos for my blog in the future. I don't like looking twice as huge as I already am!

So anyway, the February outfit was a black jacket (Version 3 of the pattern) and pants out of a twill from Joanns. Won't use that type of fabric anymore as it was awful to work with, and it was off grain and I never did get it totally right. The jacket is getting close. I forgot that I need to add extra length to the front sections for the fleshy mounds in addition to the width. So next try will add about an inch in length to the center front, and narrow down to nothing at the side seam. I also added a little too much to the width, so need to take the next one in a bit, and will add about 1/4" at the shoulders for shoulder pads. I need those to balance out the rest of me even if they are little ones with current styles. I also did a tee in a pattern of reds, black, grey, magenta, pink, and brown that will go with tons of stuff. I have some other black and various blue prints to make up too, but those are waiting for now. Version 4 of the jacket is coming soon!

Right now I'm playing with something I haven't done in a long time. This may be my March outfit if I don't get anything done before the month is up. I need some sweatshirts and thought I could sew up a few quickly with sweat pants to match. Then maybe if I have a cute outfit, I'll feel more like walking every day...ROFLOL! So this sweatshirt is a vintage Kwik Sew Pattern 2133... judging from the date on the back, if my Roman Numerals are correct, it's from 1991. Hmmm... a 20 year old pattern I'm still using. What does that say about me? Or maybe that sweatshirts just don't change THAT much! It's a raglan sleeve pattern which is what I wanted for this sweatshirt.

I had some royal blue sweatshirt fabric I bought for exactly this purpose. But evidently I didn't buy matching ribbing, or I used it for something else, because I don't have it anywhere I can find it. So I figured I'd just use black ribbing. But then I want it to look like it was planned, and not used just because I didn't have the blue, even though that's the reason. So I've been letting this stew in the back of my brain for several days, and VOILA! I thought about doing some decorative flat locking across the front of the sweatshirt in black, and doing a stripe of black down the legs. Easy to do, and it'll look a little more polished and like it's a design feature instead of an error.

So off to put my sweatshirt together and get the stripes cut for the legs of the pants. I'm a happy camper now!

Hopefully pictures of both outfits before the week is over!

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