Weekend Accomplishments?

Not a whole lot but not a big fail.   Zipper went in McCall’s 5150 and bias binding went on the Mint Chip dress (perhaps if I didn’t keep messing up sewing the bias binding on, I would have gotten further this weekend).  I did not put the buttons on the Mint Chip dress but I could right now before bed, I mean how long does it take to sew on 3 buttons? 

Just now before sitting down to write this, I cut out the need piece for my stays.  The only reason I did this was because I knew I had this to do list hanging over my head.  Wow pulling out the stays, I see I have a lot of unpicking to do to remove that one piece.  Too bad it was one of the center front pieces.

Overcasting facings did not happen…at all…on anything.  Actually, I fail because I totally forgot that this task was on my list.  However, I did get some substantial cleaning and laundry done so that’s probably better than doing the overcastting.  Ah…yes…justifications.. are raising their evil little heads.

Then there is homework and no it wasn’t on my list but no it did not get done.

Choices

So the bias binding has been sewn in around the neck and I still have not done by homework for the class.  There seriously is not enough time in the day.

But now choices need to be made.  Button choices that is.  A button is to go at the neck and on both sleeves.  Here are the options:

Any thoughts?

To digress…..I hope the US pull off a win tomorrow at the World Cup so we can progress.  I know our team can do it if they put their minds to it.  They beat Spain last year, they can beat Algeria tomorrow.  Regardless, we need goals!!!!!!

Practice

 Here’s an update on the Mint Chip Dress.  Well, it has a collar which was nicely hemmed by a catch stitch that I needed to practice for my class.  2 1/2 hours later, I think I have the hang of it!  That hem on the collar would have taken a couple of minutes on the machine.  I put on the collar and the bias binding on the inside of the collar.  But I have not sewn down the bias binding.  I plan to practice another stitch on that since it would have to be hand sewn anyways.

I am finding this class quite a bit of work.  My instructor expects not only that you can replicate the stitches but also memorize all of the information on the stitches.  Instead of sewing, I am studying.  Not exactly what I had in mind.  I am going to have to figure out something so that I can study, sew, work out and I don’t know…maybe relax a little too!

Your eyes do not deceive you...the dress form received implants over the weekend so as to better approximate my actual measurements.  I think the placement needs to be adjusted!

Pinking Shears

Well, I had my first couture sewing class on Thursday and since then I have not sewed.  Why you ask, because I have been running all over creation trying to find all of the supplies needed for the class.  Seriously, the entire weekend was spent trying to track down the correct ……fill in the blank.  My instructor is particular and the reason we were not given a materials list prior to the class was because he wanted to show us the exact item to get.  It has been time consuming and about 1/2 of the items I already had.

One item on the list is pinking shears.  Now, I do not have pinking shears and since I have a serger which I use very frequently, I do not see the need for pinking shears.  I polled 3 sewists that I know about whether they had pinking shears and their thoughts on the shears.  All 3 had pinking shears but only one person said she used the shears.  The other 2 said they found pinking shears to be useless.

I don’t know…I did buy a pair.  We will see if they are returned.  Hooray for 90 day return policies.

Also problematic was finding all weights of muslin.  I have heavy weight and found lightweight.  However, I need a medium weight muslin as well.  So far, I have struck out.  There are 2 additional stores I will check but not before the next class.  Seriously, the course work should be simpler than tracking down the supplies!

Tonight, I almost finished the mint chip dress.  I hope to have a final picture to share tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Class

I am taking my first ever sewing class and it starts tomorrow night!  I am more than a little nervous about this since I have not taken a class since I finished my post graduate degree a very long long time ago and vowed never to take any more classes again.  A vow I have maintained up till now.  So starting tomorrow and for 3 hours every session, I will be in a classroom setting.  Ugh.

Something I failed to notice when I signed up for the class is that a tailoring project would be assigned.  Hmmmm, I wonder if I can make it a vintage tailoring project?  Just a thought because I don’t think a modern pattern would hold my interest for very long!

Kelli:  Thanks, I will have to tell you I was shocked with the ease (no pun intended) the sleeves went in.  You will get there too! Because if I can, you can!! 

Brain:  You are so sweet…thanks as I hang my head in embarrassment and dig the toe of my shoe in the ground.

Because I didn’t get a chance to share pictures last night before sleep overtook me: let me present the sleeves on the dress:

Practice DOES Make Perfect

This is the adage that my grandmother used to always preach to me whenever I became frustrated with my inability to do something…anything. I have to say that I never thought I would be able to conquer setting in sleeves in one go. But you know what, with the Mint Chip Dress, it happened. I guess all of that practicing finally paid off…though I also have to give kudos to all those people out there who posted tutorials.

My technique is the pin method. I do not put gathering stitches in the sleeve cap. Instead I just pin the bejebbers out of it making sure that my pins are straight and there are no wrinkles on the underside. I then sew in the sleeve and leave the pins in while sewing. I know horrors….leaving in the pins but it is the only method that I have found to work for me. The key really is making sure the pins are straight and that there are no wrinkles and use as many pins as humanly possible!

Seriously it works but practice really is required. I hate to tell you that the first sleeves I tried to set in, I just gave up and put in some cute little pleats with the decision that this is the way it was meant to be. A year later, with much practice, I managed to set in the sleeves on the first go with no ripping out of seams! Yay me! And I rarely say that.

Sleeve Fail

I don’t mean setting in the sleeve.  What I am talking about is some decorative pleating on the sleeve.  A couple of hours in, basting, pulling out basting stitches and then re-basting, I knew that I was utterly and completely lost.  The instructions….no help.  I am looking at instruction numbers 29 and 30 with the accompanying picture.

Went back to the pattern to check if I missed some markings…nope, they are all there and accounted for.  Here is the pattern piece, note that it looks nothing like the instructions.  Hmmm….what am I missing?

 

Stare at the pattern some more.  Finally, give up for a little while.

Returned and tried folding everything differently.  Then the light bulb went off…well not exactly, I realized that there was just one combination that I had not tried and sure enough it seems to have worked.

 

That took much more effort than anticipated.  Setting in the sleeves will be simple in comparison.

Grinding Halt

Yup, that’s what happened with the Mint Chip Dress.  The next step was to place 1 inch wide ribbon belting around the waist.  Hmmm while not sure what ribbon belting is do, do you think petersham?  I have decided to use grosgrain ribbon.  Great, don’t have any grosgrain in a light color.

Ok, can work on the sleeves.  But no, there are no marks on the sleeves.  I used a pen to mark the sleeves, you know one of those pens where the marks go away with water.  Well, they have disappeared.  I just checked, yup water to remove ink; there is no mention about the marks just disappearing.  I made sure not to use the type of pen where the marks disappear just by air exposure.  I just don’t feel like re-marking the sleeves tonight.

All I accomplished was to remove the inset that was a little off and re-sew that back into place…..arghh.

Problems

The Mint Chip Dress came along swimmingly over the weekend. However, I perceive some problems on the horizon. First, I cannot figure out how to completely attach the bodice to the skirt. It appears that some directions are missing. There is an explanation of how to attach the back bodice to the skirt but not the front bodice. Maybe it is supposed to be a modified wrap dress? I am flummoxed to say the least. I also think something is missing because there is an instruction 17 and 17a but no 17 b. Second, the neck hole is teeny. I could barely fit my head through and my head is on the small side! I have never seen a neckline so small outside of children’s clothing. Third is a problem of my own making. I do not like how one of the insets is a little off center…must fix….will go crazy if don’t fix.

Here’s a look but please forgive all the threads.


 There is a lot of basting and stay stitching in this dress and I have not yet removed any. In fact, there is too much topstitching for my liking and all seams except side seams are basted in first! However, I will admit that I like the look and it didn’t take too much extra time. So next time I poopoo basting, I need to be reminded of this experience.

I also really need to pad out this form to be as busty as I am!

Happy Memborial Day

Have you been sewing this Memorial Day Weekend? I have, just a little but the MInt Chip Dress is coming along. Alas, no pictures because I left the camera tether thing at home.

Thank goodness that my sewing machine is so portable, I can take it with me should I feel I want to.

Curses ...Foiled

This morning I cut out the Mint Chip Dress. I knew that fabric would be tight. I did a lot of maneuvering with the fabric, staying on grain, to place the pattern pieces. I was so concerned, that I cut out the pieces in an order so that if I had to piece, it would be on the pieces that would not be so obvious. I also shortened the skirt length a lot as well. The skirt out of the package was floor length. Even to get it ankle length like on the pattern drawing, at least 3 inches needed to come off. I think I took about 6 inches off and could have gone shorter. Given the paucity of fabric, perhaps I should have done this.

Alas, when I came to the ties on the dress, there was not enough fabric to even cut one out with out many many pieces making up the tie.

So…..some quick thinking occurred. I had already planced to make the collar out of black. So what about the ties out of black as well. I liked the idea but I do not like the black fabric I have on hand for the ties. The collar it is ok for but not the ties. Instead, I tried some white swiss dot that I had on hand and really, that did not make me happy either. The fabric was the correct weigh but ugh not a great color combination. The black just looks better to my eye.

I scrounged around for a while and the only other black I have is a black pique left over from the Halloween costume. That isn’t the best fabric choice either and I do not like the pique with the swiss dot.

A decision had to be made and I am going with the linen type black fabric.

Mint Chip Dress

I have started a new dress while waiting for pictures of the 1918 dress that I originally talked about here.  I decided the green swiss dot with the black spots reminds me of mint chip ice cream so this 1934 pattern is hereby dubbed the mint chip dress.

The pattern is traced and I will cut it out tomorrow night.

 

But to leave you with an idea of how the 1918 dress waistband was finished: