Bag construction order

This is probably more of a note to self than anything of particular interest to anyone else. But here's how the bag I'm copying might best be constructed:

1. Make the outside zipper/pocket assembly. (The zipper is exposed and appears to be topstitched in place.)
2. Assemble straps.
3. Attach straps to bag sides, leaving the top seam edge of the bag free. So far as I can tell they were topstitched both to the bag and also along the handle portions in a single pass. For the life of me I can't see how this was done without breaking the stitching or having it go through the facing strip on the inside of the bag; there is no doubled stitching and the topstitching definitely seems to be what is holding the straps onto the bag sides. I will take a closer look at this again later on, but if all else fails I will just break the stitching.
4. Sew bag sides together.
5. Assemble interior pockets and lining, leaving a hole somewhere on the lining side seam.
6. Assemble zipper strips (the "lid" of the bag) and zipper tab end; sandwich and apply bag top edge facing.
7. Insert lining; turn in; tack down corners; close up hole.

I have decided to put the straps on the outside, as on the original. That will cover over the ends of the zipper/pocket area, so I won't have to be exceedingly careful not to make a mess of them. I couldn't find two different lengths of zippers in a color and with a pull I liked, so both of my zippers are long separating ones, meaning the one for the pocket needs to be shortened. It's a nylon coil so I won't be able to pull the excess teeth off like I could on a metal zipper, and sewing a neat window over the teeth on the one end seems like it would be more of a pain than sewing a strap on over them.

Final pre-move pattern cull

Barring any wadders in the next couple months (that would prompt me to throw out the patterns involved), I've finished picking out all the patterns I definitely don't intend to sew and that I don't want to try selling later on. If I counted right, there were 226. Of course, having acquired so many patterns was a mistake. So these are my tips:

• Make a croquis of yourself, with front, side, and back views. I do this by tracing photos in Illustrator, but they can just as well be traced by hand. Sketch all patterns you have or are considering buying on this. It might be depressing at first, because a lot of us have body image issues, but eventually you figure out what general proportions tend to work best. If it's a pattern for separates, just make something up for the croquis to wear on the top or bottom; if nothing comes to mind, that's a bad sign in itself. Lots of my culled patterns were acquired before I'd done this — better to find out before spending the time sewing them, right?
• If you're getting rid of patterns, consider what's worth your time. Some might command a high enough price to be worth selling (what should you charge for your time?); some might not, but would be worth donating; and others might belong in the recycling. I think it'd be great if there were pattern museums that would just keep everything, but that's not my job.
• Especially in the U.S., with patterns being so cheap on sale, it can be tempting to just keep buying. The flip side of that is it doesn't look like such a huge loss to get rid of them. If they're unflattering/dated to the point they'd be embarrassing to wear, or distracting you from things you really want to sew, are they earning the right to take up your space?
• How much can you have before it gets distracting? For better and worse, I've drastically increased my limit by having a searchable database, so I don't have to look at all of my patterns whenever I'm trying to choose something for a given fabric/purpose. Of course, that takes time to maintain. Decide what tradeoff between organization and quantity works for you.

The blouse is essentially done.

However, I've also made a huge mess going through various junk supplies in the past couple days, so I'm not going to photograph anything until I go back to having a nice big junk-free area.

I donated two coats and two shirts today, and over the past few days I picked out around 180 patterns to get rid of. I don't even want to talk about what a small proportion of my stash that is.

Be that as it may, here's what I think I've learned from the Neue Mode blouse:

• With a non-dropped shoulder, I probably need a traditional FBA to get enough space across the upper chest. This may have more to do with posture than measurements per se.
• I need some real back shoulder blade shaping, probably more of it than can be had from easing alone, unless the fabric is a shrinkable wool or the like.
• I do indeed have square shoulders.

I have some other nebulous potential conclusions, but I won't go into them until I have some confirmation.

Dress-to-fitting-shell alterations (note to self)

Alterations I'd already done in the base pattern:

1. The back seam is meant to go in by 2cm at the waist, tapering to nothing up at the neckline, but continuing straight down from the waist to the hem. I let all of this out, i.e. I made a completely straight back seam.
2. The front waist dart is meant to continue down from the waist, so it continues to take skirt width out all the way to the hem. I changed it into a fisheye dart instead because it seemed I needed more room there in the hip circumference. I also reshaped this dart so its maximum intake was a bit above the waist.
3. I reshaped the hip curve, making it into more of an S-curve.

Alterations to the dress pattern (not design changes):

1. 1cm length-only FBA as shown in Müller.
2. Added 1cm at the CB hem, curving up to 0 at the side seam.

Alterations to the dress, after having cut and sewn:

1. Take in the back neck "darts" 1/4" (each leg), tapering this down to nothing quite a ways down the back (re-measure where exactly).
2. Take in the front neck "darts" 1/4", tapering to nothing at 1 3/4" below the finished edge (recheck this). Surprisingly, this seems to be needed to keep the front of the dress up, so that it doesn't collapse inward further down.
3. Let out 1/4" on each middle back-center back seam from the hem, up to the full hip mark, then tapering to nothing at the waist (recheck shaping).
4. Take in 1/4" on side seams from hem up to high hip.

I have not had to tighten up the armholes; it looks like raising the bottoms of them 1cm was enough, and they still sit flat to the figure.

What I expect to transfer back to the fitting shell:

1. Something accomplishing dress alteration #3. This could go in a side-back seam, or it could be pivoted in if flare at the hem is acceptable. For a fitting shell with a waist seam, there doesn't have to be any such compromise.
2. If #1, then also dress alteration #4.
3. Maybe the back length adjustment (dress pattern alteration #2). See how it goes with the hem.
4. Maybe not the FBA. Depends on what's worn under it. I'm not sure the extra length was really needed (see dress alteration #2).

2014

Goals:

1. Get two projects done per month, whenever reasonably possible. (There is probably going to be upheaval around the middle of the year that will interfere with this, but it might be possible to do knitting projects instead during that time.)
2. End up with new fitting shells/slopers/blocks. In the process it'd be interesting to compare patterns from different brands or methods.
3. Do some PatternReview/other contests, but only if I can (a) learn something new or (b) make something I'm confident I'll use.
4. Keep the fabric stash inventory up to date. 
5. Don't sew stash just for the sake of sewing stash. 
6. Allocate stash fabric I don't like to mockups, or get rid of it.
7. Keep a swatch book of finished projects, to be used for accessory shopping.
8. Don't finish sewing things before they're properly fitted.