I just bought all of these patterns at sewingpatterns.com as they are on sale for $2.99 right now! Over the weekend I also muslined (new verb) two patterns - one was a fail (shift dress -I think I've finally figured out that these will NEVER work on my body) and the other was a definite WIN and I cut out the fabric for that one after the muslin. Pics of that to come soon!
I just got an email from Gorgeous Fabrics saying that many knit prints were on sale for 20% off - so of course these three had to jump into my cart. I just bought 2 yards of each as there are a number of dress patterns I can use those for - including the two new Butterick patterns that I'm obsessed with. JoAnn's didn't have them in time for the sale they are having, but I'm hoping Hancock will next week when they go on sale Thursday there.
Anyway here are the fabrics:
A subdued work appropriate one:
Another work or play one:
And one that's nothing about work and everything about being wild and crazy:
Yesterday I was feeling "blah" and the sleeves on Birgitte Lace Pullover were getting boring, so I cast on for a new project: Teva Durham's Shirtwaist Pullover from the new Knitscene. I know, I usually shy away from her patterns as they tend to have, um, "technical difficulties", but I really thought the pattern was cute and worth it. I like Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece for lace patterns, especially at a looser gauge than it's normally knit, so I swatched yesterday and decided to cast on. It's working up really nicely and quickly so far.
The yarn is BSCF "Jungle Green" from my stash. I'm already done with the peplum and eyelet round and am a few rounds into the bodice.
I just got an email from Melissa Molina of the Cinderella Project/A Place Called Home in South Central LA, kicking off this year's prom dress drive. I have a few formal dresses that I'm going to part with these year, as I've worn them as much as I'd like and they also don't fit me as well as they used to (in a good way, as they're now too big on me.)
I thought I would donate this one to make a teenage girl happy:
I also have to go through my closet to find more, but I had a picture of that one already.
If you want more info, just email me (rm090195 at gmail dot com) and I can forward along the email I received. Here's a link to a Wall Street Journal article about last year's Cinderella Project as well.
Now my sewing mojo is back (thanks to the slip) I got motivated to alter the Butterick 4976 Chetta B. wrap dress that I've made a few times. It always bugged me that it was kind of a loose fit in the upper body despite making the smallest size (8 in pattern sizing, which I never usually make - this pattern has lots of ease as it's designed for either wovens or stable knits.)
So I decided to follow Sandra Betzina's steps to "petite" the upper body contained in her book Fast Fit - basically shortened the front, back and upper sleeve by 1" by drawing a line perpendicular to the grain, just above the notches on each piece, and folding that line up 1/2", then filling in/blending the line to make it smooth.
Here it is (excuse the cell phone pics):
Front View - decided to mix up the usual hands-on-hips routine
Back
Side (tied the obi-style belt the way it was intended, and in front, so the knot adds a bit of bulk, I think - probably need to switch it to the side the way I usually wear it)
It worked pretty well, as the fit is much better (darts are now in the right place and upper body fits more closely) but I still need a cami, so I didn't meet my ultimate goal. I have one more thing to try next time - making more of a crossover in the front (i.e., sewing down the cross over part of the neck closer to the side seams, which is what I did with one other pattern to make it fit nicely in the chest. If that doesn't work, I'll resign myself to the fact that camis may always be needed for me with wrap dresses unless I'm willing to show cleavage, which I'm decidedly NOT. I'm not even comfortable showing it when I'm out with Jim, and he's not either, as he'll shoot worried looks in my direction and tell me frequently that I'm "losing my top" and to adjust it so I can't relax. And obviously I'm not going to do it in a business setting, despite the multitude of people who seem to be just a-ok with it. I mean, it's distracting to ME as a hetero female to see half of someone's bra in a meeting, so I'm guessing it's extremely distracting to men! Sorry, rant mode off.
And I know I'm pretty small-chested to have this cleavage problem, but because I'm so short from shoulder to bust, despite only measuring 33.5" in the full bust, cleavage is pretty much a given if the neckline is open any lower than about 7" from my shoulder (measured diagonally, like a raglan seam would be - as I was curious and decided to measure.) The shoulder is also a little bit off my natural shoulder (maybe 1/2") so I'd like to fix that too but am not sure how to do that, unless I would just make the shoulder part of the pattern pieces narrower by shaving off some of the end that meets the sleeve cap. I also want to tweak the neckband piece as it was slightly too long and I had a tiny bit of a problem sewing it on.
Overall, though, I think it's an improvement and the next one should be even better! I think I want to do this with a few of my favorite patterns - alter them to make them even better to get true TNTs!
After playing around with a few different versions of the Butterick pattern pieces to petite the pattern/raise the neckline, I got motivated to try Kwik Sew 3554.
I'm happy to say that although this was a practice garment, made with leftover knit fabric from my stash, I really like this and will be making more! The next one will be much more polished and professional as I will make a few changes and also take more than 1/2 hour to sew it, but here it is. I figured it would be a bit TMI for me to model it, but I got two thumbs-up from Jim when I showed it to him!
Here it is on J.Lo, though:
This is a great way to use leftover scraps of knit fabric. Kwik Sew does the XS, S, M, L, XL sizing and the S fit me perfectly even though my seam allowances were 3/8" instead of 1/4". I changed it to make it a halter instead of traditional straps, as I'm planning to wear it as lingerie instead of a slip, per se, and I like halters better. Next time I would not use the coverstitch machine for the edging (too sporty) and also would actually read the instructions that say to do the back upper hem first before sewing together (that's why my stitching doesn't exactly line up on one side.) I used the gathering foot for the underbust gathers and that was quick and accurate, so I would do that again. I can see many more of these in my future. I have another Kwik Sew patterns for silky wovens, and I want to try that one too.
At lunch just now, I cut out the pattern tissue and most of the fabric pieces for the dress from this pattern:
I will be eliminating the zipper as this is designed for knits and can go right over my head. I saw another review for it today where the reviewer had done the same thing, and I liked her version.
I'm using this fabric from my stash:
Wish me luck!
As I mentioned before, I'm still working on the HP Uptown/Downtown Knit Dress and plan to have it done by Jan. 31 for this month's garment in the sew-along.
However, that didn't stop me from buying all of the new Simplicity and New Look patterns. I'm pretty interested in this one:
I like View B (with the cap sleeves) best. I like the high wrap neckline - no cami required and a twist on my (somewhat overdone) wrap dress look. Wovens, who'd have thought?? After sewing that trench coat, though, I really feel like I can take on any project, given enough time and patience. I think this will be my February project. It's nice to feel like all I need to make is one garment a month - very doable. It calms my Type A sewing tendencies.
