Diving In

This really says Fall rather than
Spring with all the brown leaves

Still dithering over the princess seam FBA.

I did a pin fitting…definitely one of the pluses of using the soil separator for patterns.  I sewed it up and tried it on.  It seemed to fit.  Seriously not too tight  at all.

So I think I need to take a deep breath and just go for it.  The fabric was not expensive so why not?

I am still afraid of the princess seams.

Fear

So this is the pattern I would like to work on. 

Why am I afraid of this pattern?

Two things are stopping me: 1. bound buttonholes and 2. princess seam FBA.  These techniques scare me. 

I know I can skip the bound buttonholes and just make regular one.  But no matter how you slice it, I will need to make an FBA on the princess seams.  I spent yesterday dithering around looking in my sewing books and online for assistance making a FBA on the princess seams.  All this research and I found a variety of ways to make the FBA and am not utterly confused.  I have rather decided the FFRP method is not for me.  It would increase the rest of the dress unnecessarily.  The Reader’s Digest Sewing book just has you draw bigger curves in the bust area which is a better idea because it focuses on the problem area but the question is how much bigger?

I think I will be doing the Sandra Betzina method of increasing the bust area with princess seams.

Why is this so confusing?  Does anyone have a favorite way of doing an FBA on a princess seam dress??

What I Did Over the Weekend

 While the rain poured down and down and down, I was working on a little revamping of my black and white ball gown for a ball Saturday night.  Some was busy work like finishing the inside of the bodice.  I also added some additional trim and re-bustled the back.

After

After

After

After

Before

Before

I am not sure if I like the extra trim down the front to hide the quick draping.  I to think about it more.  When I did it, I like it….a lot.  But now it looks like a disconnect happening.  Maybe if I continued it around the bottom of the overskirt?  Not sure. 

I do think the back bustling looks better though. 

Before

I ran out of time, so still no buttons!

Is It Spring Yet??

Tropical breezes, heat and a drink
with an umbrella are needed for this
fabric.

That’s what went through my mind when I found this fabric in the remnant bin a few days ago.  

Actually what happened is that I squealed and the guy in the store told me I was a naughty girl out shopping for fabric when most people were in watching what was happening in Japan.  Great, nice guilt trip dude!

But seriously, I scored almost 4 yards of this polished cotton, Robert Kaufman fabric.  I love the combination of turquoise and brown – really one of my favorites. 

Now I need a special dress pattern for this.  I am thinking 50’s but may have to go a little smaller on the skirt since I do only have almost 4 yards.

I do love remnant bins.  They can be overwhelming but the treasures.  With this purchase, I also picked up a teeny bit more than a yard of purple velvet and about 4 yards of a lavender cotton that I need for a lining material.  All this for $6.  This place charges by the pound.  Yes, gotta love those remnant bins.

Perfect for a Chilly Day

After a bright and sunny week, it has turned positively chilly in these parts.  I need to turn the heat back on.  However, it is perfect for the completed Very Easy Vogue 9311.  It really is very easy and makes a really nice skirt.  Definitely an instant gratification skirt.  I really need to shorten the pattern though, it was still about 2 1/2 inches longer than I would have liked. 

You can see the little darts I put into the skirt to fix my stretching of the fabric.

The fabric is warm and goes nicely with my navy sweater which is definitely needed today.

I lined it….a quick look.

I ran into a problem hemming this skirt.  I hemmed it a couple of days ago but I didn’t think about how think the fabric is.  It was too thick for my basic turned over hem which is, of course, what I did.  After it was done, I took a look and UGH it was horrible.  So I ripped out the hem, applied hem lace to the bottom and did it all over again.  Success!!!!

Now onto bigger and better things and hopefully the return of warmer weather.

Fabric Regrets?

Does anyone else have them?  I have to admit I don’t have a lot of them but the ones that exist are HUGE!!

Recently, I was going through the old bins o’fabric and found this:

It is really a richer darker olive green but scratchy!

I have had a lot of trouble photographing it.  It is a great olive green color and boy do I have tons of this fabric.  60 inches wide and 5 yards of it.  But what was I thinking?

It is a knit, a scratchy hard knit at that plus it has all those holes.  I don’t even sew with knits. What was I thinking????  How could I have thought I would be using this for anything?  Was I delusional that day?  Must have been because I can think of nothing…absolutely NOTHING…to do with this fabric!

Do you think washing it might soften it up?  Still, what to do with this?

There is a Reason for Stay Stitching

I have always blindly followed the instructions for stay stitching and never really thought about why there is a need for stay stitching.  I don’t, usually, man-handle my fabric.  I tend to try not to pull it out of shape.

But you know….the one time I do not stay stitch…….it was the one time I needed to stay stitch.

So picture this:  A simple skirt, 3 pieces including the waistband.  At this point, is there any need to look at the pattern instructions?  Sew up the sides, install a zipper and put on a waistband.  If desired, also add in a lining. Easy peasy.  At least it should be.

But what did I do?  Or maybe the question is how exactly did I screw up this time.

See that excess fabric?
That is how much it stretched.

I cut out the 2 skirt pattern pieces for forgot to mark which was the front.  Usually I can tell. This time, the pieces are almost identical.  So there is that mystery.  Then I sew up the pieces (but did not stay stitch the waist) but did not leave a big enough opening, or so I found, to put the skirt on my teeny tiny dress forms.  I guess while trying to put the skirt on the dressform, I stretched the waist of what I believe to be the front of the skirt.  Really….did I even think about what I was doing?  Nope, nada, no way… or at least not until matching up the lining and it did not work.  Go back to the pattern pieces and yup…it is all stretched out.  Not a lot, but enough.

So what to do?  I am making some darts in the front of the skirt. They are little darts, just enough to take in the stretched out bit.

Lesson learned:  I need to think before acting.

Disappointing February

I usually do not do a month end wrap up; however, February deserves note.  Why?  Because this has been an utterly unproductive sewing month for no apparent reason.

Yes, the Civil War Dress (still unfinished) sucked the life out of me.  Too time consuming and when the event was cancelled, it was thrown aside so quickly it could have resulted in an injury.  When it was thrown aside, so was all of my desire to sew.  Seriously, I have sat and looked at my machines. I have looked at patterns and fabric.  I even choose a pattern.   Alas, I had no desire to move any farther than taking the fabric to the washing machine to prep it.

I am blaming the weather for the lack of sewing.  The rain gets to me and there was sufficient rain to play the blame game with.  Yes, this is me grasping at straws.

The positive is that it is now March and Vogue 9311 was cut out tonight. 

A little fuzzy but you get the idea

Here is the fabric.

It is hard to see but the colors are navy, khaki and white.  It is a super soft fabric and it seems like it will be nice and warm.  I have no idea what kind of fabric it is; one of the downsides of pulling it out of the clearance box of fabric. 

I did do a little fabric shopping last weekend.  I only bought some lining fabric and fabric to make muslins.  But I did fall in loved with a purple/grey silk taffeta which was also in a bargain barrel.  $8 a yard but you had to take all they had.  I did not buy it but I may go back on Saturday to see if it is still there.  If it is…..well then the universe MUST be telling me to buy it. 

Palate Clearing Project

The Civil War Dress has been one of the most frustrating sewing experiences for me.  And heavens, it is not even done!

Let's hope there is truth in
advertising and it is Very Easy

I need something quick and hopefully a whole lot easier right now.  Something that I can finish with minimal or no fitting issues.  You know, a project that allows me to reign supreme over fabric and machine.  Yes, something that can be accomplished with no tears!

So I give you my new project.  Yes, a skirt that is labeled “Very Easy.”  This Vogue is from the late 70’s.  I know, this is as big a departure for me as the dreaded Civil War Dress.  However, the pattern has only 3 pieces including the waistband!  This seems very easy indeed.


The plan is to make either View A or B.  The views are the same the only difference being the length of the skirt.  Since I am so short, I fear a View A (the shortest) will be the equivalent to View B ( the next shortest) on me.

First There Were Tears And Then The Rain Came

Tears, yes there were a lot of tears along with a melt down or two.  The bodice of the Civil War dress was the cause.  This bodice is one of the most frustrating I have ever encountered.  I have done 2 muslins and still the fit is not right. 

Get this: after the first muslin I had to do the following

1.  Remove an inch from the back

2.  Remove a 1/2 inch from each seam of the side

3.  Add in 1 inch in the front

4. Remove 3 inches from the sleeve.

After the second muslin I have to do the following:

1. Remove a 1/2 inch from one seam in the side

2. Add another inch on the front.

Hey at least the back and the sleeves were fixed on the first go around. This process was so frustrating!  The event was fast approaching.

So boy was I excited when the prediction was 100% chance of rain for Saturday, the day I needed the outfit.  My tears of frustration became tears of joy!  Not one of my friends wanted to cross the weather man and our attendance was cancelled.

I have not finished this outfit.  I now don’t need it until the fall!  Maybe the third muslin will be right?  I don’t know and I certainly no longer care.  Yes, there is a bit of pride involved.  I do have to finish it ….sometime.  But for now a break is in order so I can regain some feeling of sanity.

A Skirt

More quick and easy because I am starting to panic.  My muslin of the bodice was horribly off.  So I put that aside to do a quick and easy skirt. 

Same method as the petticoat with the plans to put on a waistband.

It looks short on the dress form but the skirt nicely skims the ground when I am wearing it ‘cause I am really short!  I love that the skirt only has one seam in it.  I suppose I should have cartridge pleated the top.  I only pleated it and will have to do a bit of stack pleating in the back of the skirt.

I need to finish the
petticoat.

You can see that I have still not added the final ruffle to the petticoat.  Ouch…that hoop is noticeable on the bottom.

The only plus is that it looks like it may rain on Saturday because I am not sure that I will be able to finish a bodice that fits in time.

I think all this rushing is making me not like the outfit one bit.  If it does rain this weekend, I probably will not need this outfit until fall/winter of this year.  Plenty of time to get it done then!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I hope everyone out there is spending their day letting the important people in their lives how much they mean to you!  I plan on doing this and hopefully not having another sewing meltdown.

Easy Petticoat

I have to make an easy petticoat, there is not enough time to do anything else.  My friends told me that all I had to do was measure out a length of fabric just a little bigger than my biggest hoop to make a drawstring petticoat.  This method was referred to as the sausage method – a term I am not in love with.  I mean, do I want to wear a sausage?  No, I do not.  I prefer there be no meat terms in my sewing thank you very much.

With  bottom ruffle
tacked up

With the largest hoop of 110 inches, I measured out a length of white cotton fabric 117 inches.  I sewed it together and then made a casing at the top.  To make the casing, I merely folded over a bit of the top edge of the length and sewed it down.  I then threaded cording through the opening.  Put on, pull tight and you have a quick petticoat which is over a foot too long!

So to correct the length, I made some tucks in the petticoat over where the hoops are.

Missing the bottom ruffle

Note, I had to shorten the hoop by sewing up the ruffle around the bottom.  I was tripping over the silly thing.  This was an easier fix than changing the lengths between the hoop.

Right now, I need to put a final ruffle around the bottom of the petticoat to finish it off.

The Hoop

I could make one. 

Sure I could!  It would take days and quite a bit of money to buy all the supplies.

There is no way I am going to do this.  I don’t care if I am not "period correct." When I went downtown to buy fabric, I looked around for a hoop.  the first place I saw with them hanging in the doorway, I stopped, inquired and was told the cost was $22.  Yes!!  Simple, quick and I suspect cheaper than making it myself.   I think it was a fantastic investment. It looks something like this:

Think about the time it would take to make a hoop.  I know I could not buy the supplies for under $22.

The bottom hoop is 110 inches….this is "period correct."  Oh lucky me!

I Never Thought My Next Outfit Would Be….

A Civil War dress.  

Seriously…this never crossed my mind.  In that brief period I was out of work, a few friends convinced me to attend a Civil War event in February during the long weekend.  At the time, I thought why not, even though this is not a time period I particularly like, the project would keep me busy while looking for work.  Little did I know that a few days after agreeing to this project, I would find a job and have no time to whip together a Civil War era outfit.

So now, here I am less than 2 weeks away and what do I have?

It is really a darker tan than what
shows up in this picture.

Well I bought yards and yards of this fabric for a whopping $10!  I was lucky: the burn test revealed it is all cotton.  Yay!

So what do I now need:

1.  A hoop

2.  Petticoat to cover the hoop

3.  Skirt to cover hoop and petticoat

4.  Bodice

Sure, this is doable….maybe with a few all-nighters.

Oooo Shiny …..Pretty

There I was perusing a local thrift shop which rarely has anything vintage in nature. It really is a thrift shop with used modern clothes.  But there in the back of the handbag section sat this pretty little bag.

I had to have it!  I love the opalescence of the color.  I figure this is from the mid-1960’s though I could be wrong.  Don’t care, it was shiny and pretty and it is now mine!

Work?!

So, I found and started a new job.  The simple fact of starting a new job has somehow destroyed even the littlest desire to sew.  How can that be?  Seriously, I am working many less hours a day and I have a much shorter/ less traffic commute.  So why am I so tired?  What I do like is that the outfit I wore to interview is this one!

Enough whining.  The skirt is finished.  I have to say it is not one of my best jobs.  The not having enough fabric did result in a rather odd looking waistband which people will not be seeing.  I encountered many more problems with the pleats.  When I finally tried the skirt on, I did not like where the pleats ended.  Lets face it when you are a shorty (5’1”) this is bound to happen.  So, I had to rip out the pleats and make them shorter so that they worked on my body.  Isnt that a great thing about sewing, tailoring to fit YOUR body.

Back...err..
same as the front

Without further ado…..the rather unexciting photos:

Front

Yes, no glamour shots.  Living alone makes the photos of me hard to happen.  I wonder if I can train the cat to do this?

I set the pleats using a water/ vinegar mix and it has worked amazingly well.  Wish I knew about this trick years ago.  These pleats are NOT falling out…think set in stone.  You just need to lower the amount of vinegar ( I went seriously overboard with the vinegar) or let it air out for a day or two.  

Pieces of Eight

Well actually 4.  I was able to piece the waistband together with 4 pieces.  No pictures because it really is not that attractive.  I was able to find one piece of fabric that could go the length of the waistband but not the width.  I pieced together the width of the waistband from various pieces.  It worked, but as I mentioned not really pretty.

Lining a Pleated Skirt

Do you know how to do this?

I did not.  Having found the elusive brown lining fabric, I  now needed to figure this out.  I know that after trying to get the pleats in the fashion fabric, there was no way I was cutting the required fabric and pleating the lining in the same way.  It would give me another headache requiring a nap besides just being too bulky for a lining.

So, I pulled out my lining reference book.  I love this book so much.  I recommend it for anyone who needs help with linings.

Alas, the instructions for creating a lining for a pleated skirt seemed very complicated to me and did not make a lot of sense.  I got out my pattern pieces and started folding parts, trying to spread other parts to follow the very limited instructions.

Then a light bulb went off.  I checked my RTW pleated skirts and the linings looked very simple.  Surely, I thought there has to be a simpler way to do this.  My OCD kicked in and I headed to the computer to do some research. 

Easy, quick lining.  Not
really pretty but functional

Sure enough, there on the Threads site was a super simple, easy to understand quick, down and dirty lining for a pleated skirt.  Righty-oh, this one is for me!  I can measure my hips add a couple of inches and divide by 2.  I added a couple of darts front and back to make the waist fit and I was done without the need for a nap this time!

Please Pleat Me

Wow, apparently I do not understand pleats.  Or maybe I just don’t understand English.  It is one of the two.  I spent hours trying to figure out the pleats on this skirt.  When I followed the directions, they way they read to me, I came out with a skirt that looked nothing even the most remotely like the pattern picture. 

I think something is missing
from these instructions

I have a degree …hell I even have an advanced degree….still the instructions made no sense!  I tried it another way…nope that wasn’t it either.  At this point, it just seemed like the pattern picture and the instructions were mocking me. I eventually had to throw away the instructions and just try to recreate the pattern picture.  After some trial and error and a couple of hours….I figured it out….miracle of miracles!

I was then exhausted and had to take a nap!