2014-04-30

April results

Stash: 7.06 yards out, 4.22 yards in. (The latter are two linings from friends.)

Projects:
  • Schnittquelle Malmedy jacket finished
  • Simplicity 1540 coat (still) in progress
  • White top with lace from New Look 6802 finished
On that last point,
 2014 CHALLENGE CONTEST – TERRIFIC TANKS
I wrote a whole lot more in my review there than I want to repeat here, and along with that, you can see lots of great tops from everyone else who entered (in random order).

2014-04-29

Your Wardrobe Unlock'd / Foundations Revealed

I've subscribed to one or both of Your Wardrobe Unlock'd and Foundations Revealed for a while now. They each publish an article per week; generally they are tutorials on how to make a specific garment or detail, draft a pattern, or approach some aspect of sewing as a business. What they offer is unique, so I was sorry to learn that they're having trouble getting enough subscribers and might not be able to continue.

YWO focuses on historic clothing (medieval to early 20th century, so far) and FR on underclothing (mainly historic but also modern). Yes, they are rather specialized, but do have a look if you're interested; some of the articles are accessible to non-subscribers, to give you an idea of what they do. They're discounting the subscription price for the first month.

2014-04-28

It's done.

I don't have much time to write about it today (or get it on the form straight, evidently), but I did the last of the sewing on the white top.


I ended up putting one row of the very narrow galloon and one of the narrow beading lace at the hem. This seems to balance the rest of the lace without drawing too much attention to itself, and if I wanted, I could make a drawstring at the hem at some point, by threading ribbon through.

2014-04-27

Q2

I have a lot to do before the end of this month (not to mention next), but I hope to finish the white top by then. I'm replacing most of the straight stitching on the lace with a slight zigzag for more flexibility.

The Simplicity turquoise coat has been pushed back, obviously; I hope it'll be done within the first half of May. After that, my access to sewing supplies may be limited until, probably, sometime in June, if all goes as planned.

I'm still looking at a few other possible projects, inadvisable as that is. If I'm realistic, there will be only knitting projects during that time: much more portable. We'll see.

2014-04-26

Really the main reason to have a glass table

https://twitter.com/catpic11/status/320060792273764352/photo/1

In other news, I did pin the style tape flat onto the white tank top and I decided adding the extra rows of lace wasn't worth it. On the existing rows, I've tacked down some of the loose edges by hand, mostly from the inside. Since some of the machine stitching rows were too tight, I cracked them and they still need to be redone; other than that there's the hemming left.

2014-04-25

Nothing succeeds like excess?

I've done hand-rolled hems around all the upper edges. The little circular embroidery trim was sewn on right down the middle, and I turned the edges back along that stitched edge. Before doing this I staystitched all the corners with very small stitches, then clipped the fabric (and not the trim) to the stitching. Yes, there are some small raw edges inside the hems; I've overcast them a lot and they are hidden behind the little circles, so I hope that'll be enough to last at least as long as the lace itself. I'm quite happy with how those edges look.

I did have some machine tension problems with certain of the laces, so some of that needs to be cracked and resewn, maybe with a zigzag rather than a straight stitch.

I haven't decided what to do with the hem yet, but I started thinking... what if I repeated the lace sequence in a sort of alternating/braided pattern, all the way down? So you'd get a \ diagonal, then a / one, and so on. If I used the same sequence every time, that'd get me down to a little below waist level near CF and CB, longer at the sides. I do have to question whether (a) I have enough of the laces, especially the spiral-patterned and zigzag-shaped ones and (b) whether I could stand to sew it all. Some of the circular trim would have to be unpicked so perpendicular cuts of lace could underlap it, a very annoying prospect.

I did go and pin some style tape on to simulate that, but as I pinned it on rather tightly I have to wonder if the reason I liked it was really just that it made the waist look fitted, which it can't be in reality. For that reason I should re-do it if I'm going to bother photographing it.

My current thought is that practicality will demand a plain hem with no decoration other than possibly the subtle beading lace. We'll see.

2014-04-24

More ditching

I'm continuing to get rid of stuff in advance of moving. I've just picked out some more things that won't go with me.

First off, four pairs of shoes.
  • Wool felt boots. I really like them, but to be realistic, they only work if it's both dry and cold, and I'm wearing a dress or skirt. This is a thing that very rarely happens in my current climate, and where I'm moving it will be no better.
  • Dark red heels. They are unraveling a bit along the edges, they have become more uncomfortable over time, and I'm not sure I've even worn them since I moved here.
  • Navy heels. Although this color is hard to find most years — which is why I hadn't given them up so far — I'm coming to the conclusion that navy just isn't that useful as a neutral to begin with. Too hard to match. They are also just the wrong height or arch shape or something for walking in comfortably. Not as bad as the dark red ones, but still.
  • Gray ballerina-ish flats. They are very stiff and have a bad thing with corners that projects upward in back. I should have known better.
Secondly, some clothes:
  • Scarf-collar blouse with a sort of crosshatch-watercolor print, from a New Look pattern. I love the color scheme, but it's polyester, it's now too big, and there was always something not quite right with the upper back.
  • White embroidered gauze blouse, also from a New Look pattern, and also with some sort of upper back/sleeve range of motion problem (I suspect the armholes on both of these would have needed to be raised more and the biceps widened).
  • Two-color socks that I knit a bit tightly; they have probably felted even a bit smaller over time, and I'm just out of patience with how difficult they are to get on.
  • Purple velvet cowl top from a Stretch & Sew pattern. Although it's been useful, the velvet has seen better days, the construction is not my best, and, well, it's tacky, to be honest.
  • Heather blue-gray camisole. The color's good, but the straps are too long and the fabric too synthetic and clingy.
So that's nine things for this month. Besides all that, I still have some cold-weather stuff out, some of which may be ditched as the weather continues to change.

2014-04-23

I think I might be done with the lace now.

It still has to be sewn on more permanently in places, but I don't think I'll add more, unless it's maybe one of the very subtle ones, to finish the hem. (I had also been considering extending the whole 8-row pattern down proper left front and right back, as if it continued down and underlapped the diagonal parts, but I think that would be way too much.)

The lace now covers the bust darts for the most part, and the shoulder area is wide enough for my taste, so additional further-down rows aren't needed. I've now rough-cut the neckline and armholes away. Those edges still need to be finished, but you get the idea of the shape. The back is very similar to the front. As this dress form has no arms, the top looks a lot wider-shouldered than it really is.

Compared to the base pattern I used, the front neckline is higher, the back neckline is mostly lower, the shoulders are much wider, and the armholes are mostly more built-up, but they are cut in narrower at the lower corners, at left front and right back.

2014-04-22

More on the top

I applied a couple more rows of lace on the New Look-based top and cut down the neckline, so it's close to the finished depth. There won't be any need for a closure; there's no problem getting the top on and off, even with the neckline and armholes not cut all the way out.  I will have to decide how to finish them. I may do bias facings.

2014-04-21

Color schemes from rugs

I've been trying off and on to decide what colors I should wear. I've never paid to "have my colors done", but I'm getting the impression that extremes of almost anything (saturated, warm, clear, light, but maybe not dark) tend not to be ideal. Not that a blog is a good medium for sharing precise colors, but here's a rough color scheme that comes from two rugs I have, which might turn out to be very good guides:

The colors in the middle row are shared by both.

These are sheets of Color-Aid paper, which isn't perfect for this, but it's all I currently have that I can lay out nicely for a photograph. For one thing, it's not easy matching paper to less-reflective wool and synthetic fibers; beyond that, there isn't quite enough of a color selection. The blues here are not grayed enough, the black is a stand-in for very dark navy, and the red and orange should be slightly darker and maybe a tiny bit more saturated. (I could have photographed the rugs themselves, of course, and I might still, but I wanted something potentially portable.)

I was surprised to notice how gray the blues in both rugs really were. Although I like blue, blue fabrics very often don't look quite right on me, and I'm begging to suspect it's that most of them are too bright or too clear.

2014-04-20

top in progress

I'm basting different bits of lace on and will cut away the neckline and armholes as appropriate once done. I may end up needing closures, but I hope not. The neckline is slightly more open in back. You can see most of the style tape through the fabric — it has shifted a bit, but it shows more or less where the lace area will end if I don't make it wider than necessary to fill in the shoulder area.

2014-04-18

New Look 6082

I started fitting the Simplicity coat (I think it's close; it may mostly need some width taken out at the side seams) but that was bo-ring, so I got sidetracked and started making a tank top (there's a Patternreview contest for that going on). I'm not sure yet if it's something I'll actually finish, but here are my impressions of the pattern.
  • I'm probably not using the original neckline and armhole shape, so I rough-cut the top parts of the pattern and only basted those lines in.
  • The original waist length and armhole depth are too long for me, but what else is new?
  • I shortened the waist length and armhole depth all at once by taking an inch out mid-armhole-level. This also had the effect of raising the front neckline. Now on the form it looks just a bit higher than it does on the model photo. Maybe not an inch higher, though.
  • Then I decided the whole thing (darts and all) could still stand to be raised, so I took in the shoulder seams 3/8".
  • This is not a fitted top. There are no waist darts. (Be aware that you really can't get much of a waist fit only by messing with the side seams. Take them in too much and you'll get diagonal wrinkles. Besides, the more fitted you make this, the less likely you'll get into it without a closure, assuming you're using the intended wovens.)
  • Whether or not I actually finish this one, I probably would make it again.

2014-04-16

New Simplicities

Not having been in the U.S. for a while, and having too many patterns to begin with, I haven't bought a lot of the Big4 (or Big2/Big6, if you like) recently. I do like to look at them, though, and it appears new Simplicities and New Looks have just been added to their site. What I found interesting:
  • Simplicity 1354: This is in their Amazing Fit line, and it looks like a good workaround for fitting lots of people. The armscye is cut in, which would make it less noticeable if the wearer had unaddressed narrow shoulder issues. Princess seams would make it easier to draft for multiple cup sizes and to deal with the larger ones gracefully. The overarm sleeve seams will allow for fitting large biceps. The gathered skirt should fit multitudes as well.
  • Simplicity 1371: Not that I'm going to be caught wearing anything like the outfit on the model, but I think it's interesting that the trousers are described as high-waisted. They look like they're just about at her natural waist (which generally lines up more or less with the elbows, on women). It's just that this is something we haven't seen in years — or ever, given the probable target customer for this pattern — so it looks high. The fact that they are quite fitted only adds to the effect, because it makes it apparent just how long the rise is.
  • Simplicity 1373: There's a lot of back interest in this latest collection (see also 1354). 
I wasn't that excited about the new New Looks (and haven't been for a while). What I'd found nice about them in the past was that they were one of the few brands that had any fitted, woven blouse patterns. Their skirts and trousers can be nice too, but there I feel I've already collected all the different silhouettes they've got that I'm interested in.

2014-04-15

Here's my current knitting project.


It's top-down. I'd worried about it, but I suspect the neck circumference will turn out to be just fine; it's a long-tail cast-on.

2014-04-14

Back to Simplicity 1540

I didn't do any knitting in the past few days, as it turned out. Today I did get back to sewing; I've been doing the buttonholes on Simplicity 1540. First I machine-sewed them, but then I went and decided to hand-work them over that. As of halfway through the first, I regretted it, but it's too late to go back now. I'm glad there are only 3, and I do think the result will at least look better than the machined versions would have. About that:
  • This pattern recommends several fabrics with some give or stretch to them. Unless you do something to prevent it, ordinary machine-made buttonholes in such fabrics will stretch out, if not as soon as you sew them, certainly as you use them over time. They are made of zigzag stitches, which have give to them, and the fact that there's a cut edge right through the buttonhole doesn't help either. Cording the buttonhole is a good idea. Backing just the buttonhole area with a woven fusible (on straight or crossgrain) would probably help too.
  • I made my machine buttonholes, cut them open, then did the hand work over that. Works OK, though a straight stitch around the buttonholes would have been faster, had I already been sure I was going to hand-work them.
  • For the hand work, I started out with the same heavy white thread I'd been using for the topstitching, but decided that the mass of the white stitches was obviously too white compared to the fabric and the effect of the single lines of topstitching. If my buttons had had white in them, it might've been OK, but I decided to undo the white buttonhole and use my normal sewing thread (a pale aqua) doubled instead. A thicker thread and wider stitch might have looked better.
  • Those two button tabs I cut out? I still haven't decided if I'll use them, but if I did, I'd have to make two more buttonholes, which I'm not exactly dying to do.

2014-04-09

Off for a few days

There'll probably be no sewing progress, maybe some knitting progress, and no posts for the next few days. I expect to start up again next week.

2014-04-08

Changed construction order for fitting Simplicity 1540

 This is for View A. My guess is it'll probably work for the other views, except maybe C, but I haven't verified that.
  1. Finish that little horizontal seam across CB completely, including the tab and the topstitching. (This assumes you don't need to do any fitting on that seam. If you do, you'll most likely have to adjust the side backs to match somehow, which may involve at least partial recutting of those pieces.)
  2. Get a rough idea of the fit by sewing all the torso pieces together (either baste or not, though boiled wool is slightly annoying to unpick; your call). The goal here is to get the torso to the point where you won't have to make changes to the shoulder seam inward of the princess seams, or to the neckline/CF edges. You can work on the princess seam/side seam fit a bit at this point, but don't do any topstitching of the princess seams.
  3. Stitch the inner parts of the shoulder seams permanently, just far enough to give yourself something to attach the collar to. In any case you should stop short of the princess seams. Press those areas open.
  4. Make the collar. Attach the collar and the facing. (I'm doing this in a different way than given in the instructions as well, so that I can have two pressed-open seams instead of all four seam allowances being pressed into the facing. More on that later.) The facing doesn't need to be stitched all the way down CF; you can stop short and leave the hem part for later. Press those seams and understitch as you normally would (again, stop short of the hem if you want to leave that part up in the air for now; you can always do the rest later).
  5. Check the buttonhole placement; mark and make the buttonholes and sew on the buttons.
  6. Make the top parts of the sleeves and set them in temporarily. (Or you can do this after step 7.)
  7. Now you can try on the coat with a real closure and a firm, faced/interfaced front. Fiddle with the side seams, princess seams, and princess darts as needed, as well as the tips of the shoulders. Go back and forth between fitting it with and without sleeves, as needed.
  8. Once the torso/shoulder fit is established, you can sew those seams permanently, topstitch the princess seams, and put on the pockets (check whether they're placed at the right level first).
  9. Make sure the sleeves fit well before setting them in permanently. You can test them with and without the bands. The sleeve/band seam would be a place to change the length if needed. It'll be easier to topstitch with the sleeves off, but doable either way.
  10. Finish the hem.

2014-04-06

New knitting project

I wanted some hand work to do today, so I started this sweater in Wensleydale wool I got at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival several years ago. It's from Spinning Flock Farm, but I don't think they sell it anymore. So far the 1x1 neckline ribbing looks good, better than the 2x2 that started off the previous sweater I tried with this yarn. I hope it will fit over my head; no way of knowing at the moment as it's on a 16" circular needle.

2014-04-05

Paillette buttons

One-hole paillettes can be used as buttons. I've used mother-of-pearl ones here:
You might check bead stores for this sort of thing (although I think these came from Farmhouse Fabrics).

I sewed each on with a clear seed bead, just big enough to keep it from falling off.
Of course, you could use something intentionally contrasting or showy, too. I'd tend to avoid anything much bigger than necessary, though, because it might start to get wobbly or let the thread show.

2014-04-04

Ditching goal met for the year

Well, this month I've sorted out more than 40 clothing items to get rid of, so my goal of getting rid of two things for every one thing I sew is likely already met for the whole year, if I don't increase my output. I may get rid of even more once I feel like the season's definitely changed. There's nothing like having around 6' total closet space to focus the mind, although it's taken time for me to really notice just how much I wasn't using. Anyway, this means I might not be posting regularly about clothes-ditched-per-month for the rest of the year. I hope it also means I won't accumulate too many clothes again, though given my current lack of fitting insight, it's entirely possible there may be some wadders in my future.

2014-04-03

Roll line on single-layer boiled wool jacket

Here's the roll line on the Malmedy jacket I finished the other day.

Since this is a single-layer jacket (no lining, no facings), this is technically on the outside, but hidden when the shawl collar flips down (and because I ended the tape a bit above the breakpoint).

I used plain-weave fusible tape here. Normally I'd have used a non-fusible tape, but this is all I have in a dark color at the moment. It remains to be seen how well this will work long-term.

I cut it shorter than the flat measurement of the roll line (by, let's say, 1" total) and catchstitched it on, easing the fabric, thus the ripples you see creating shadows on the right edge. Then I steamed it a little, flipped the collar out along the roll line, and, from the inside, pressed LIGHTLY with a lot of steam to form the roll without it becoming too much of a sharp crease.

This way, the roll line stays pretty well established and I don't have to do too much fidding with it every time I put on the jacket.

2014-04-02

Jacket

I might be done with one of the inventories I have to do before I move, which would mean I could start recombobulating things. I now have a great big heap of clothes that will not be going with me; it might be good to start over a bit.

On the Simplicity 1540 jacket, I've got the body preliminarily sewn together. I think I might be able to get away with taking in the back waist some, although I don't want to overdo it as this is outerwear. The shoulders look a touch wide; I think I remember a Patternreviewer or two mentioning this. I haven't decided what I'll do about that. I'm sure it was pointed out that the sleeves were wide at the wrist, so I cut the sleeve bands in size 6 and tapered the main sleeve piece to match. Aside from all that, the fit in front looks great. My pocket markings are very high, but that's because I shortened a lot above the waist. I might have to move them down.

2014-04-01

Works in progress

OK, so here's what the super sekr1t Patternreview challenge contest is going to be....

Seriously, though, this is what I'm actually working on: Simplicity 1540 (on their site or on PR). I'm very pleased with the pattern so far. It has a proper upper collar and undercollar, the latter cut on the bias with a CB seam. I suspect I might have to deal with more turn-of-cloth than the pattern intends, but we'll see. The collar shape itself looks very nice; the back has princess seams; and the front has both princess seams and princess darts. I do wish the sleeve were two-piece, with a less-symmetric cap, but it's far from the worst cap shape I've ever seen.

Since I shortened the entire upper chest, when I shortened the sleeve cap, I tried to err on the side of blending such that the front curve was scooped out more and the back built up a little. I'm also interfacing the top part of the patch pockets, and only the outer half-plus-a-little-bit-past-the-fold of the sleeve bands instead of the entire things. I'm leaving off the back tab, because I'll be using very round buttons and wouldn't want to lean back on one of them. I did cut enough pieces for two tabs, so I could use them as epaulettes or pocket tabs if I wanted.

Technically, that'll be my project to finish in the second half of April.

In other news, I may have finished the Malmedy jacket. I did an M-stitch around all the outer edges, and I decided to tape the roll line; otherwise I'd have to guess at where it's meant to be every time I put the jacket on. I still have to fix it up a little, but the tape does give a tangible edge to fold against. I don't know if the back armholes are entirely satisfactory, but it's just a question of whether to leave my deeper stitching in or not.