Another Burda skirt

I like the newest skirt I recently made so much that I cut out a khaki fabric that is Rayon, Polyester and Lycra to make up a second one. I love the feel of this fabric. I had some lining fabric in my collection that goes well with it. The other good thing is the knit top and cardigan I am making will go with this skirt as well as the light aqua one.

Here is a photo of the knit and RPL fabric along with the lining fabric.

Better view of knit fabric

I love this knit fabric. I wanted to share some better photos of the knit so you can see the detail of it. An earlier post did not do it justice.

This is an ivory or creme color knit. I love the flowers that make up the knit. My DH saw this for the first time this AM when he came into my sewing room and I was cutting out the cardigan pattern. I cut out the tank top earlier. He thought it was "very nice". I showed him the pattern I was using and it received his seal of approval.

I ordered stretch lining from EOS that should arrive early next week. I put my hand under the knit so you can get an idea of how it stretches and how skin would show through without some sort of lining.

All pattern pieces are cut out. My sewing machine and my serger is threaded for sewing. Because I am not lining it I wanted to start with it and get the project rolling. I had some other tasks to do so I could not start as planned.

Decision made

I decided to make View A of this Kwik Sew pattern 2759. I went through more of my pattern collection and when I saw the lacy tank top with short sleeve cardigan, the light bulb clicked on!

As noted in a previous post, I needed stretch lining for the tank top so I visited EOS website and found two Ivory knit linings. I ordered a couple of yards of both for this and future needs. They should arrive early next week. I don't plan to line the cardigan as I don't see a real necessity to do so for this garment.

This afternoon I traced the front and back pieces of the tank top pattern, made a FBA, raised the underarms, made the swayback adjustment as well as forward shoulder adjustment. I also increased the length by one inch using the shorten/lengthen line on the pattern. I then traced the front and back pieces of the cardigan and will make appropriate adjustments for this garment tomorrow.

I also plan to cut out the Burda skirt pattern again in a RPL fabric that I purchased from Deepika of Pattern Review about a year or more ago. The fabric has been washed and was put back in my fabric collection as whatever project I thought I was going to use it for did not materialize. Heck, I cannot remember even what I was going to use it for!

Change of plans

I wrote in this post that I was going to make a blouse/top out of the darker fabric. I have decided to use that fabric for a dress, what dress yet to be decided. I am now going to use a lovely knit fabric that I acquired about a month ago from Vogue Fabrics. It is a cream colored, flowered, knit fabric that was in their transition swatches. I tried to capture the look of it in this photo. It has good stretch and recovery, maybe about 10% stretch factor. I may need to at least line the front part as when it is stretched the flowers stretch as well leaving some skin to show. I have not really tested this thoroughly at this time. My issues is finding the right knit lining. I have some skin toned knit lining acquired from EOS and not sure that this will be the right choice. I think it truly needs to be ivory or cream as I describe it.

I have several thoughts on what pattern to use. I pulled out several that I have made previously since I have the fit down pat for these. Here are the ones I am thinking about.
Textile Studio Santa Monica Tee in 3/4 sleeves.
Simplicity 3759
TS Monaco Shell
I have also a couple of KS patterns I am thinking about that again I have perfected the fit.

It is truly good to be thinking about sewing and actually sewing again. I need some new spring clothes; so I am motivated. I am working hard to find some periods of time to sew during the week and of course on the weekend.

Photos of skirt

As promised here is a photo of the finished skirt.

Here is the back of the skirt.

More photos can be found here.

I like this skirt and now that I have fitting issues corrected, I am going to make it up next in a beige RPL fabric I purchased from Deepika at PR. It is sitting on my sewing table waiting to be cut and sewn.

Burda skirt

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. Saturday was beautiful and warm. Easter was cooler and yet sunny.

I had a long weekend with Good Friday holiday and today a vacation day. I have just about completed the skirt. Man, I really have issues fitting skirts. I think it stems from the fact that in the past, say five years ago, many skirts I made that were fitted were were too tight. I was always adjusting the fit. Being over 50, my weight changed, it seems over night. So I made larger skirts that fit better.

I have toned up over the past year to 18 months from regular exercise. Good for me!!!! So that tried and true size does not work anymore. I still have a thicker waist than I want but hips and tummy are less. So fitting is still an issue. I added some width to each pattern piece and ended up taking up all the addition and then some. That is still better than not having enough fabric to go around!!!!

After making numerous fitting adjustments, my skirt is complete except for the hem. I took some photos along the way and will post those later. I am off to get a manicure, long overdue!!!!

Later!

wearing dress with jacket

wearing dress with jacket
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Here is a shot of the dress with jacket open.

Wearing jacket with Voguedress

Wearing jacket with Voguedress
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Carolyn, this is for you!

I was able to wear my dress and jacket to work this past Thursday. The weather turned cool again and thus this was perfect weight. Both dress and jacket are wool with linings. My trusty Gorillapod enabled me to take this photo before I left for work. I still have that strange look on my face whether I am holding the camera or not. There are some other views of the jacket and dress on Flickr.

Project Peepway

This is too cute! I love Peeps! I was reading Capital Sew and Sew blog and had to see this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrnzYF0SMvM

Testing from Word 2007

I am trying to post using Word 2007. Previous version of Word would not function correctly so we will see how this goes.

Staying Motivated to Sew

I completed the McCall's jacket except for sewing on the button. I stitched the buttonhole, sewed the chain to hem and will complete this later this evening. If the weather continues as it has for the past several days, my prediction of completing this jacket now and not being able to wear it may come true. If so, then I will have a new dress and jacket for next fall.

I spent time yesterday cleaning out the sewing room and putting away fabrics that were on my list of garments to complete for winter. I then pulled fabrics from my collection for spring sewing.

Below are photos of fabric that is first up for sewing. The piece below is microfiber fabric I purchased from Vogue Fabrics perhaps two or three years ago. It has some weight to it and I decided this would be best made up as a skirt.

This is the pattern I am using. I pin fitted the pattern and found that the finished measurements do not match up with what is printed on the pattern pieces. I added width to waist and hips. The skirt is now cut out. Of course, I do not have any lining in my collection that remotely matches or blends with this fabric. So I went online to Trendy Fabrics and ordered several colors that I hope are close. It is so hard to tell with monitors. There is nothing at local JoAnn's that even remotely matches. For Trendy's prices, I can't really complain if found to be way off. They were $.66 a yard.

Here is the fabric for the jacket and blouse/top to go with the skirt. The jacket will be the silk tweed that includes colors of white, teal (pale and dark) and some flecks of orange and raspberry. The solid fabric is a crepe type polyester material that is rather drapey. I was thinking of using the top from the pattern below. I am concerned that the fabric may be to drapey.

This is the jacket pattern I think I am going to make. (Sorry for the skewed look, I saved it small to fit the Stitch n Stash program for photo size.) Simplicity has removed this pattern from their line up and I could not find it with the out of print patterns either. I plan to add a lining to the jacket as the pattern does not call for one. I think I may use the Stitch 'N Flip method for this.

Here are a few more fabrics that I pulled out to make. Still determining what they will be.

The black fabric is a rayon that I purchased from Textile Studios. It is rather soft and not a lot of body or weight to it. I am thinking some sort of skirt. I don't think it is enough to make a dress. The next piece is polka dots in green, dark and light lavender and coral. When I bought this from Textile Studios I wanted to make a sheath style dress, which is my plan now as well. It has some weight to it.

The next fabric is a linen like butterscotch color from Fabric Mart that I think I will make into a dress. The ivory fabric is a herringbone fabric purchased from Hancock's before they went out of business locally.

All of this has been motivating and I am excited to be at least dreaming and planning on projects to sew.

Traveling

I am back in DC or Arlington, VA (all the same to me) today. Will be traveling back home tomorrow afternoon. At least the weather is better than when I was here last month!!! I drove again. Though I truly hate driving around here.

My jacket is still in the almost complete stage. I have not had time to sew a buttonhole. How sad is that!?! I have the perfect button from my collection. I actually had purchased buttons when I bought the fabric. But I just like the look of the one I am going to use and that button has been around for awhile. It has appropriately aged for this project.

I also had to buy a wire tool cutter. The chain that I also need to sew in needs to be cut. I know that I had one of these before but not when I need it. I need to make sure that it does not leave a rough edge when removing the link. I have never used a chain before so this is new to me. But I can tell the difference it makes with the hems in this jacket. I purchased it for the Chanel jacket that I have yet to finish. I lost some interest in that project a while back. Now that the weather will start getting warmer, that jacket needs to be finished.

Side view of finished sleeves

Side view of finished sleeves
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Side view. I love the look of the bias sleeve.

Almost complete

Almost complete
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Jacket is almost complete. Lacking button and buttonhole. I pinned a chain to hem of jacket. I can see that it helps the hemline hang closer to the body.

Back view

Back wsleeves
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Here is a view of the back with sleeves completed.

sleeve closeup

sleeve closeup
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

As promised earlier,here is photo of the sleeve with narrow cuff.

Almost but not quite

The jacket is almost complete. I need to make the buttonhole, sew on the button and sew a chain around the hem. I pinned the chain in place yesterday and I can already see how that helped bring the hemline closer to the body. I will take photos soon.

I like the unique collar of this jacket but it is heavy! The fabric I used was a wool blend, somewhat like a boucle. The gathered collar is a lot of fabric and is stitched to lining and undercollar so there is some weight to this. I am sure this will keep me warm with the sleeveless dress. My concern is will it be too warm!

I completed the sleeves yesterday. Let me tell you that there is a lot of width at the bottom of the sleeves and to gather that onto a cuff was a bit trying. It really was more fabric to gather than necessary. If I make this again, using this sleeve look, I will narrow the width of the sleeves at the bottom. It was very difficult to gather this fabric plus lining and at some point I really just compressed fabric together to make it fit.

Even with that fiddly sleeve I really like the look of the sleeve. I know you need photos to clearly see what it looks like, I promise I will post soon. I think the bias sleeve and the gathered cuff look great!

Some more photos

I tried on my jacket on Monday evening after coming home from work. I had on gray slacks and an ivory sweater which are the colors in the jacket. I think I will be wearing the jacket not only with the dress but these slacks as well.

I took some photos using my new camera pod. Still getting the hang of it.

Here is one shot of the jacket. The front plaids do line up but do not look like they do in this photo.
You can go here and here to see other views.
To finish, I need to sew lining unit to jacket, then attach the cuff to sleeves; then buttonholes and buttons. The finish line is in sight.

Progress today with jacket

I am pleased with the progress I made on my jacket yesterday and today!!!!!

Yesterday I spent considerable time fiddling with the gathered collar. I have it pinned to the jacket and you can see that here.

Today I sewed the sleeves and inserted them into the jacket. I then sewed all the lining pieces together and inserted the sleeves. You can see the lining unit here.

Because I cut the jacket sleeves on the bias and I just got through reading Kenneth King's Mary Ray's article in Threads about bias sleeves, I decided I would stop sewing at this point to allow the sleeves to grow, if they are. I wish I had read the article before I cut out the sleeves. According to article if you cut sleeves on bias you need to allow a little extra in the seam allowance. Sleeve growing means that they lengthen and could become narrower as well. There appears to be quite a bit of fullness in this sleeve so I am not sure that I will be overly concerned about this. Nonetheless, good information for future projects.

It felt good to be sewing and creative again.

Sewing today-March 1

I was able to get in about two hours of sewing this afternoon. The collar that I am using for this jacket is rather time consuming. The neckline of the upper collar is gathered. You then sew the lining piece for the under collar to the upper collar which is a stay for the upper collar. You have to adjust the gathers to fit the lining for the under collar. It is important to make sure you have marked the under collar and upper collar pieces so that the gathers will line up. After stitching this part of the collar to lining, you then stitch the outer edges together. This will aid in the turn of fabric for the upper collar and again anchoring the gathers.

Getting the gathers to look similar on both sides takes a little time and depending on the fabric you choose I believe this could become difficult for a brocade fabric. Once this was done, you then attach the under collar fabric piece by stitching the outer edges. After doing this I trimmed these seams before understitching.

Next, you baste the inner edges of upper collar, lining and under collar together. I used a zigzag stitch just along the edges. With the gathers and fabric thickness, I thought the zigzag would aid in flatting that edge. You then baste collar to jacket. I decided to just pin the collar to the jacket. You will be attaching a facing to this area. I did not want to baste or stitch this area anymore as it has already been stitched twice. With the looser weave of this fabric and because I cut the upper collar on the bias, I just did not want to keep stitching in this area for fear of stretching. Perhaps all the stitching so far as helped stabilize this area.

I am taking a break and getting ready to prepare dinner.