Sewing Sorbetto

This past week I've been working on the two first pieces of the Spring Wardrobe Plan: Sorbetto top and McCall's 5591 skirt. 

The Colette Sorbetto top is pretty simple, two pattern pieces (front and back) and a simple bias tape facing.  It was a little bit of a nightmare for me, though.  Fitting the bust was quite a project, then the back needed extra attention as well.  I learned a lot about fitting this week!







Here's muslin #2:

Pulling across and above bust told me I needed to adjust bust dart and add length between shoulder and armhole.

Even with curving the back seam, there's still a lot of bunching in back.  Shortening the waist, adjusting curved seam, and letting out seam at hemline will help. 

To make a week-long story short, I made the following changes to the pattern:

• Adjusted for sloping shoulders, 1/2"
• Made a minor adjustment for forward shoulders, 1/4"
• Full bust adjustment
• Added 3/4" between the shoulder and armhole
• Raised the armhole by 3/4"
• Shortened the waist 1"
• Added a center back seam, and curved it

The curved seam line is traced in red.

In pinning the curved back I discovered two things: the seam allowance wasn't enough at the hemline and the back piece was cut too close to the selvage and had the store stamp on the bottom.  Oh well, I thought, I can work around that. 









Then I discovered that the neckline shoulder seam was off. 

When I added that 3/4" between the shoulder and armhole, I needed to true the seam lines.  See how the seam points out?  That's not supposed to happen. 

Neckline on left, curve isn't smooth like armhole on right.

So I'll go back to the pattern, adjust the neckline, add the extra seam allowance to the back hemline, and cut out two new back pieces (farther away from the selvage this time).  Then I should be ready to finish this top!

Wardrobe Plan Part 1

I have a plan!  It started with a few sketches (I'm using that term loosely) and developed into a real wardrobe plan.  How exciting!

3 bottoms: McCall's 5591 pleated skirt, McCall's 6361 or McCall's 5391 bermuda shorts, Simplicity 1918 cropped pants
4 tops: Colette Sorbetto top, Simplicity 1916 or Butterick 5429 knit top, McCall's 2818 or McCall's 4603 white eyelet top, Vogue 7903 or McCall's 6076 shirt
1 dress: McCall's 2401
1 cardigan with matching shell: McCall's 4923


Here are some of the fabrics:

My two solid colors are gray and violet, each in a stretch cotton twill.  I'll make the skirt and shorts with the gray sateen and cropped pants with the violet.  The floral on the left and the eyelet will be sleeveless tops and the floral on the right will be a sheath dress.

I still need to get fabrics for the knit top, shirt, and sweater set.  I'm thinking solid violet bamboo knit for the top, and violet for the sweater set.  No idea yet for the shirt.


Lots of sewing ahead!  Wish me luck!

Getting Dressed for Staying Home

There's a question I'm asked almost every time I meet someone new: "So what do you do?" 
I HATE that question!  As a stay at home mom, what don't I do?! 

A short while ago when I found myself saying, "I don't really do anything..." (What was I thinking??) I took pencil to paper and started a list, a very long list, and that put an end to that nonsense.  Of course I do stuff!

The big question now is:
What do I wear?


If I'm going to sew with a plan, I need to know what I'm planning for.  What I do should dictate what I wear, right? 

So I made a list of what I do and discovered that I dress for:

• being home/running errands
• school meetings/appointments
• family outings
• dates with friends
• date nights
• visiting family/attending church
• outdoor stuff
• working out
• late night lounging
• special events

Next I listed what I wear for each of those things - or would like to wear.  This was an eye-opener.  I like to get "dressed up" for almost everything besides staying home and running errands, but my closet if full of jeans and knit tops.  I have a starting point!

What about you?  Do you have a wardrobe that works for you?
 

Sewing With a Plan

Sewing with a plan - what a concept! 

I've only recently discovered SWAP, Sewing with a Plan, but it's been around for quite a while.  The objective, as I see it, is to sew a wardrobe rather than lots of individual pieces. 

The plan recommends sewing 11 garments from two basic colors and one complementary color:
2 pairs of pants
2 skirts, one solid and one print
6 tops, matching and coordinating
1 jacket

That sounds a little too orderly for me.  Then again...

I do have several skirts that don't get worn very often. 

Can you imagine why??

I think I need a plan!

Swimsuit Cover-Up - Butterick 4684

Tunic Cover-Up B4684

I'm ready for Spring Break!  Here's my swimsuit cover-up using Butterick 4684.  It's a loose-fitting tunic with long sleeves and side vents.

This is a gauzy sheer fabric I picked up from Vogue Fabrics for a song.  I love the colorful design!  But oh my, this fabric was hard to work with.  It's super unravelly and pulls easily.  It took a lot longer to make this "simple" tunic than I had anticipated.  The sizing was very generous so I ended up taking it in a lot.  Next time I'll probably just make it a size smaller.

Here's the neckline:











It's a separate facing with fusible interfacing.  I wasn't sure how that was going to look with the sheer fabric, but it's fine. 

I used bias tape for the back:









Hopefully we'll have good weather in San Antonio so I can wear it!
Happy Spring!!

Auction Dress Finished

Auction Dress

The final product!  It took so much longer than I expected but all's well that ends well.

My bonus is I get to check off two items for the 12 in 2012 Challenge: the Auction Dress garment and hand-picked zipper technique.   

I followed this tutorial for the zipper.  It's actually quite simple.  I learned that basting the zipper while it is closed is essential.  I basted while the zipper was open and ended up with an exposed zipper. Redo.  When it came time to pickstitch, I made a guide using painter's tape and graph paper to help keep the stitches even.

Mom says I need to make this dress in black - I agree.

But first, I need a swimsuit cover up for spring break!