Sewing Vintage Modern - Book Review and Giveaway

So, a copy of Sewing Vintage Modern made its way onto my bookshelf recently.  Have you seen it yet?

The back of the book reads:  "Vintage Looks Meet Modern Fashion," which is pretty accurate.  The book gives a nice overview of fashion history from the to the 1980s (God, the 80s are vintage already; I'm old!), with notes on influential designers and fashion trends, and great drawings of clothes and accessories.

The book includes 5 master patterns (printed on double-sided, trace-your-own-and-add-seam-allowance Burda sheets.  There's a lot on each sheet, but it's not like the newer magazines; you can actually see what you want to trace.

The master patterns are then turned into 19 different looks, as follows:

Pattern #1, a dress, is used for both the 1920s drop-waisted dress and the 1960s Jackie-inspired sheath.

Pattern #2, a man's shirt, is a 1940s button-down shirt with chest pockets, a 1960s tuxedo shirt with ruffles and hidden buttons, and a 1960s jacket.

Pattern #3, another dress, is used for a multitude of looks: a 1950s full-skirted dress, a 1980s bustier dres, a bodice for another dress, and 5 different tops.

Pattern #4, a shift dress, is also the bones for a 1970s bell-sleeved top and a pussy-bow blouse.

The last pattern, #5, is for pants - everything from stirrups to pajama bottoms to bell-bottoms.

The most valuable part of the book, to me, is that it's more or less a mini course on adapting a master pattern to suit your needs.  Each look from a master pattern is broken down completely - how to re-draw each pattern piece, with instructions on measurements and truing up the pieces, is fully explained and illustrated.

If you don't know how to turn a one-piece, darted bodice into a princess-seamed bodice, you will.

The patterns run from sizes 0 - 14, or European sizes 32 - 46.   I wish the size range had been a little more generous, or that there had been instructions on how to adapt patterns to your size, not just to the specific look.  (The largest size measures 41 x 34 x 43, and face it, there's a lot of 34" waists out there on women who don't fall into a full plus-size category; I'm built more or less on the lines of a fire hydrant myself, so I know of what I speak).

The book also says that vintage looks are "modernized and reinterpreted for today’s sewing enthusiasts."  Therein lies the other rub for me.

I like vintage.  I like real vintage.  The things I like about real vintage are the details, the complicated sewing, the weird pattern pieces (gussets, anybody?) - the things that you don't find in most modern patterns.  These patterns allude to the original, but they are definitely directed to a younger sewist who isn't into true vintage.  Or at least not yet.

And there's nothing wrong with that.  This is a very good book with a target audience who unfortunately  is not me.  The things that hvae been left out of these "reinterpreted" patterns are the things I like best about vintage.

This would be a great book for someone not too new to sewing, but who hasn't experimented much with reworking patterns.  The book has a conversational tone and the directions on how to adapt patterns aren't intimidating at all - everything is explained well, and in a manner that's much more user-friendly than textbook.  

All that being said, I still give this book a pretty high rating, but I think it'll do better out there in the world with one of you than remaining on my shelves.

Please leave a comment telling me why you deserve this book, and you'll be entered to win my copy.  I'll do a random drawing next Sunday, January 6th, and announce the winner here on the blog.  U.S. only, please.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season and getting some sewing done; I'm certainly trying to, though I keep getting distracted.

Happy new year, everyone!

The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook

This little lovely arrived in my mailbox the day before we left for Paris.  How much did that suck?  Not only was I leaving behind my unfinished plaid jacket - still unfinished, sigh! - but I had to flip through this book and leave it on the table until I returned, unreviewed, undigested . . . do books feel neglected?

This one doesn't deserve to.  Let me say, full disclosure, that while I'm a member of the Burdastyle website, I don't think I'm their target audience.  I like some of their patterns, and a few of their downloadable freebies have become go-to pieces, but the forums and other features there leave me a little cold. 

I think it's a mindset thing; you're Patternreview or you're Burdastyle.  You may be fluent in both, but one place is more comfortable.  Know what I mean?

Which isn't to say anything negative about the book.  On the contrary, spending time with this beautifully illustrated book is making me rethink my feelings about the website.  If I didn't already spend so much valuable sewing time on the computer reading sewing blogs and tutorials, I'd be getting better acquainted already.



But enough about me.  On to the book. 

Chapters are: Getting Started, Using Patterns, Let's Start Sewing, The Skirt, The Blouse, The Dress, The Coat and The Bag.

The Amazon blurb is short and to the point, and I'll quote it here for expediency: 

The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook is the most comprehensive, hip and creative guide to learning to sew clothes with style. With more than 430,000 members around the world, BurdaStyle is the largest online community of sewing enthusiasts, fashion designers and DIYers. In their first book, BurdaStyle celebrates this vibrant, global community as they teach readers everything they need to know to design and sew an entire wardrobe of fashion-forward looks using the five fully customisable sewing patterns enclosed with the book. Filled with gorgeous photography, step-by-step instruction and contributions by 78 designers from 22 countries, The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook will be the go-to guide for every fashion sewer.

As the blurb says, the book comes with 5 patterns.  Why yes, yes it does.  And what I truly appreciate is that in addition to showing you the Burdastyle version made up, they also do variations dreamed up by 2 of their members (some of whom we all know pretty well from sewing blogland), complete with illustrated instructions on how to accomplish the changes to each pattern. At the end of each segment - dress, skirt, blouse, jacket, bag - they show a bunch more versions of each item, just to whet your creativity.

The photography is great, the illustrations are very clear, and the tone throughout is friendly and encouraging

One of the things I really, really appreciate about this book and others like it - and all the young sewing bloggers out there who've had no real sewing training - is that thinking and stepping outside the box is so easy for them. 

The most valuable thing I'll take from this book is that reminder.

And those 5 customisable patterns.  Mustn't forget about them.

Progress

Not as much done as I would have hoped, but considering that when I came home from work today I had to spend an hour or so in the back yard clearing up the wreckage from this afternoon's storm (50+ mph winds, hail, way too much rain, all occurring in near 100 degree heat), and then there's this pesky thing called eating dinner, and then we decided to make raspberry sorbet, I didn't get into the workroom until after 9:00 p.m.

On the plus side, the AC is on in there, I didn't have to sew in my underwear, and I didn't stick to my dress as I worked on it.

Last night I put the strips together to form the skirt pieces. Tonight I sewed the bust darts, sewed the tops to the bottoms, inserted the invisible zipper after a long search to find where I'd put my new zipper stash, and then I spent a painful hour hopping in and out of my pinned-together dress.

Somehow - again - this dress has gone from shift-shaped to sheath-shaped. Interesting how in my quest for a specific shape, I always choose the same one, even when I don't intend to.

Tomorrow, the lining, and figuring out the width of the hem band.

Stay cool, everyone.

Inspiration

It comes from the strangest places sometimes.

A week or two ago, I stopped in Dress Barn, a store I generally don't frequent. I needed a necklace to go with something and I knew they'd have racks of useful costume stuff. (I'd already been to H&M, but you know you're having a bad day when even the beads look too young for you).

Surprisingly, not only did Dress Barn have what I wanted jewelry-wise, they had a crapload of really cute clothes.

I checked, and the quality still isn't there, but whoever is doing their designing these days is doing some really fun stuff. And it's the kind of clothes that I can visualize on most ages and sizes, with some variation, as opposed to the clothes for really skinny 20 year olds that they then grade up to size 20 and age 40.

Obviously, a lunchtime camera safari needs to take place soon, but one dress stuck in my head and I drew it out quickly on a post-it when I got back to the office. I even knew what pattern I wanted to use as the base.

The original dress is black and white, and it's a knit. My dress is going to be linen, and brown and ivory. Or milk and white chocolate, as I see it. The color change wasn't planned; when I went fabric shopping the other weekend with Andrea, tops on my list were black and white linen. But I didn't like Joann's linen, and Jomar didn't have white. The ivory caught my eye, but next to black, it looked dingy. Then I saw the brown - which, in my wardrobe, acts as my chief neutral anyway. Brown is my black.

A new idea was born. Who says a knockoff has to be exact - especially if it inspires something better than the original idea?

I decided to use Burdastyle's Fatina dress as the base. I've made the dress twice before, and it's a good basic shift that can be played with - obviously, from the photo. That's Lily, by the way, giving her feline seal of approval to my pattern dismantling. And above is a piece of Katie, curled around the post-it sketch.

They're such helpful girls.

I would have started this sooner, but the house ate my pattern. Really. One of my few bits of organization is that all my traced patterns (or the printed-and-cut variety) are folded up into big brown envelopes and stored in magazine organizers, by category: skirt, knit top, dress, etc.

Except Fatina wasn't in with the dresses, knit, woven or formal. I know I didn't lend it to anyone - I would have just sent them the PDF. So I had to wait out the weekend and print another one when I got to work Monday. This is what I get for not having a printer at home!

I pretty much know what I'm giong to do here. I cut the pattern apart at the "lengthen here" line, right under the bust dart. I did the same thing for one of my other versions, and that was good . I measured the width of the skirt and divided it into even sections, and sliced the pattern into thirds, front and back. (My bad paint sketch is backward - the center panel will be white, with brown on either side, so that in back I can run the invisible zip down the brown center panel - I have brown invisible zips but don't think I have a white one handy).

The only part I haven't decided on at this point is the width of the hem band. I think that will come later, after I've got the dress pieced together. I can always whack a chunk off the bottom and add the band then, when I know what width will look best on me.

Too late in the evening to do more now than put the pattern pieces away for safekeeping - sorry, Lily! - and get started tomorrow. Here's hoping I have some white lining fabric in the stash.

Shades of Gray

Now that spring is finally here, you'd think I'd be sewing in spring colors. Right?

Wrong.

Last night I finished off the last of my theater sewing, and I dropped the costume off this morning. Enjoyed making this one, but as always when it's not for me, I'm glad to see the back of it.

This afternoon, I locked myself away in the workroom and finished Mario's Burdastyle vest before it became a UFO, and then I made a top for myself using BWOF 8/2007 #105. I even used the same striped jersey as the original - how boring is that?

This was not the top I intended to make today, but I had a small stash avalanche, and this was what fell out on top. It reminded me of the original top in the magazine, which I had photocopied and stuck the picture on an envelope, but never traced out. Easily remedied.

Start to finish, including random dumb mistakes and getting the center fronts to not quite line up several times, I traced, cut and sewed this puppy today.

Since it was a Burda pattern, I felt free not to look at the instructions, especially when I saw on the cutting layout that they wanted me to make a facing strip. I hate facings on knits; I can never get them to stay put properly, and I just didn't see the point for a top this low cut to have even more issues with my neckline.

Instead, I cut a strip of the striped fabric on the cross grain, so it didn't have much stretch, but did have interesting striping, and sewed it along the edge of the neckline. I also thought it might stabilize the stretch somewhat and avoid spillage, but I'm not so sure. I could still cause an incident in this one if I lean over too far.

Here's the full patternreview for the top.

And on to the vest. It's finished. He likes it. I'm pleased it's finished and more pleased that he likes it, but I don't really like it.

Despite using this pattern thinking it would work on his body shape due to the Selfish Seamstress' issues with its fit on her man, it didn't fit mine properly either!

It was still too big. I cut a 52 (equivalent to a 40" chest, which is what he has) and it's definitely roomy. You can't see it in the photos, and I told him he has to keep it buttoned up, but I snugged the vest over when I sewed the buttons on so there's a bit of extra fabric underneath that is totally not right. But I wasn't going to rip it open and alter it, and I wasn't gonig to scrap it, so the other alternative was to make it fit him and ask him to keep it closed.

And also to kindly keep his hands out of his vest pockets, if he can at all help it. The welts mostly worked, but I would worry about their stability in the long run if he shoved his hands in there like he does to his jeans.

Here's the patternreview for his vest.

So now that's two tops done to the Month of Tops sewalong, and near-UFO finished for Mario.

On to the next project, which is . . . hopefully something that looks like spring. The lilacs are blooming in my back yard, and I have a big jar of them sitting in the sewing room, perfuming the air. Maybe that will inspire me to lighten up my colors and make something that says "April."

Where the vest came from

Before I show you where the Burdastyle Jason vest is going, I thought I'd show you what caused me to want to make Mario a new vest.

This is his dad's vest, made by his grandfather, in approximately 1955. Loud plaid, yes, and quite a loud backing fabric, but this was obviously made for a man who could stand up to clothes that stood up to him.

In some respects, it's very close to the Burdastyle pattern - same number of buttons, welt pockets top and bottom - but the cut is considerably different. The armholes are cut further in, and there are a few other notable features.

Check out the neck band - the plaid fabric from the vest front is bound all the way around the back neck, eliminating the risk of wearing the lighter weight lining fabric.

Not that the lining fabric is all that light weight. The splotched (red) silk vest back is underlined with a layer of cotton, and then there's the ivory lining.

The lining is somewhat sheer - note that you can see all the structural stitches of the absolutely freaking perfect (and perfectly matched) welt pockets that haven't aged a stitch in 55 years.

Also, notice the little notch under the bottom button? It looks ornamental, but it makes the vest spread a little when it's on and buttoned. Very smooth.

I think granddad also had access to an industrial buttonholer, because this vest has had a lot of wear over the years, and the buttonholes are still perfect. Ack.

Sometimes all it takes is a good piece of vintage to make you feel that your skills and your nice modern equipment really don't count for a hill of beans.

I also like the fact that this vest has no back tie or buckle. I'm still having a disagreement with the Burdastyle vest about that, plus I can't find a vest buckle to save my life. And the old vest, without buckle, ties or darts, fits better. Grrrr.

The vest is coming along. I tried it on Mario last night, took it apart, tweaked and tried it on him again tonight.

I decided to give this pattern a shot because the only other review I heard made it sound - and the photos appeared to show - that it would fit Mario pretty well.

Or, possibly not. He generally wears a 40, which in Burdastyle sizing is (I think) a 52. I could be wrong, but I'm not going back into the workroom to check because the cats are sleeping. Even with full 5/8" seam allowances, the front was a bit large, and the back needed to be cut down at least a full size, and possibly two.

The back armholes were huge; I shaved some off the underarm of the vest back, and also took it up a bit at the shoulder. I know that's not necessarily how to go about it, but I got the idea pretty early on that this was going to be a muslin. The back darts, into which the vest ties are sewn, got taken up two sizes.

The vest mostly fits him now, but I'm just not liking how it looks. I've still got to sew the shoulder seams shut and add buttonholes before I make a final decision on its future.

Always have a project

Always.

Because what happens when you don't have a project lined up is that you'll get an overwhelming desire to make something, followed by the equally overwhelming realization that you don't want to make any one particular thing. Which leads to sewing just to sew. Which is okay, except when you decide that, since you don't have anything you really, really want to make for yourself, you should make something for someone else.

Preferably something quick, so that if sanity and normal motivation return, I can finish it off and go on to what I want to make.

I decided to make a vest for Mario. He's got a vest. He likes it. It was his dad's, made for dad by Mario's grandfather, who was a tailor. It's a beautiful piece of workmanship, even at its advanced age of 50ish (his parents hadn't even gotten married yet when this vest was made). Problem is, it's not the best fit. Mario's 5'6", and I think his dad might have been a bit shorter. If not, it was definitely the era where men wore their pants higher (think Cary Grant, the only unattractive thing he ever did), so this family-sewn heirloom sits about an inch above his waistband.

It's not a look. He wears it over an untucked shirt so it's not as obvious, but still. It's not a look.

I offered a while back to make him a vest. Not to replace his, but to add on. Thinking if I made it in colors more appropriate to his wardrobe, slowly but surely it would replace the other vest in the rotation, if not in his heart.

He thought it was a fine idea.

I got the Jason vest from Burdastyle. I was going to search my BWOF archive for something, but then I saw the Selfish Seamstress's post about making this very same vest, and all the reasons that this vest didn't fit her husband are the reasons it WILL fit Mario (he's not 5' 11", he's not built like a Banana Republic mannequin, etc.)

Of course, I fail to note that the vest has welt pockets. Four of them. Guess who didn't fail to notice when I showed him the line drawing?

"You're going to make those pockets for me?"

So how could I not, when he knows I dread them and he thinks I'm doing something hard and unpleasant for him? I suggested just doing the lower two pockets, that having upper ones would look a little too elderly.

So, without a project - or, apparently, a clue - I wander off to the workroom to whip out a vest. Or be whipped by one.
It hasn't been that long since I made those welt pockets that almost turned out perfectly. I knew where I went wrong. I didn't like Burdastyle's instructions all that much, and I wanted double welt instead of single welt pockets, so I went ahead with the instructions I'd used before from the Vogue pattern magazine.

Except that somehow, something went terribly wrong. I used Burdastyle's length for the welts, but I swear (really, I do) that I cut the width as recommended in the instructions. Measure twice, cut once. It's not just for carpentry. I got everything marked and stitched, and I got the welts attached on both sides. I did the basting, and then I went to fold the welt up to make the first welt, and there wasn't enough fabric. Somehow, I'd cut them almost 1/2" too narrow, and there was nothing to do but unpick them, while not losing my original stitching lines, cut out new welts from the last scraps of fabric, and start over.

Two days later, and I've got one welt done. And I think I still have the first night's headache.

Burdastyle 6016 - Heidi

Okay, I'd better post here about the first Heidi dress before I go off and make another one. Which I have every intention of doing.

Apparently Heidi is contagious. I caught it over on Dressaday, and now maybe I can pass it on to one or two of you.

Isn't it cute? The dress looks way better on me than it does on Evelyn, but it's still cold. And I'm still cold. And I'm not putting a sleeveless dress on and standing in my drafty living room with bare legs and high heels while I get my picture taken. No way, no how.

Not until it's above the low 60s in here. Which it won't be until sometime in . . . April?

Things I really like about this dress: the neckline, which is really flattering and not as low as it looks, at least not if you've got sufficient boobage to put in it. Another thing I like is that after a few recent bleh patterns and issues with boob placement / storage in some of those patterns, it was nice to run across one that was drafted to fit them.

The bodice has tucks front and back, and while they're placed well as it is, they can be adjusted in or out to lay flatteringly on whatever you've got under them. Thank you! The back tucks don't do as much for me - I like them this time, but next time I may turn them into 4 or 6 smaller tucks, or use gathers, or just plain old dart the back bodice. I'll figure that out when I get there.

I also like the pockets. Generally I'm lukewarm on pockets - I like them in some things, but they're not deal-breakers for me, and frequently in pants and skirts they are deal-breakers because they make the fit so wonky. These are quite substantial pockets in a relatively narrow skirt. I like efficient use of storage.

If Ikea designed dresses, this might be one of their bestsellers. Follow me here. It's like a good Ikea product - clean lines, modular (pockets and tucks that can be added or left out, to suit the user), the ability to fit into most wardrobes in a variety of fabrics.

Are we back now from my trip to the fantasy Ikea clothing store? Good.

Maybe not next up, but definitely somewhere in the line: another Heidi in plaid. I've already marked the pocket edges and the hip yokes to match my plaid, and in between the two hip / pocket pieces there's another narrow center panel, which will have the plaid run on the bias.

I like a pattern that gives me ideas for the next version before I've even finished the first one.

Here's the full patternreview, which has more details and photos.

Back to work today. The snow is still everywhere, and more is expected Monday into Tuesday. Just what we all want.

I was supposed to be off Monday and go to NY for a Patternreview shopping day (which I instigated), but now I have to stay home. Missing two days of work mid-week got me so far behind that I can't justify taking a vacation day for retail therapy when I'd be spending the day fretting about the state of my desk. And it was much appreciated when I retracted my vacation request. Things have been really busy in work lately and we're in the midst of staff reorganizing, so I would just as soon be around while the "fun" stuff is going on. (Sorry Elizabeth!)

I'm not sure what's up next. I'd like to just jump into the next Heid, the way I made two Fatina dresses when I fell for that pattern last year, but I think I'll try something else next and then go back to my new friend, Heidi.

Where Dresses Come From

Ever wonder just how far your brain goes in search of inspiration? For my last dress, it was obvious - I looked at someone else's dress, said, "I want," and found a way to make it happen.

For my second version of Burdastyle's Fatina dress, it was a longer road. Much longer. Almost 40 years longer.

For this version, I used a plaid knit purchased about 6 months ago at Jomar. It's not a real stretch knit; it looks vaguely sweatery but it's not; it's some kind of poly-something-or-other, if that explains it. Feels a little odd, but I liked the look and when I bought it. Then I got it home, went, "what the hell was I thinking?" and up on the shelf it went. Sunday when I decided to make a second version of this pattern, it was the first fabric in my head. Go figure.

This dress sort of drove itself. I didn't even think about piecing the plaid, I just cut the front pattern piece apart at the lengthen/shorten line right beneath the bust dart and cut the front bodice piece on the bias and the skirt on the straight grain. The back was also cut on the straight grain.

I wanted this as a fall dress without a jacket - what jacket would match this? - so I drafted a short sleeve for the dress. Because the fabric had more stretch than the pinstripe I used last time, even with the side seams taken in a bit, there was still a little extra fullness in the front. Rather than make myself crazy, I took a pleat on each side (it's so easy to measure things evenly when you're dealing with a plaid) and tacked it down.

I decided I wanted a ribbon at the waist. I went digging through the trim stash, fully confident I had the perfect ribbon. Turns out I had several. There was a caramel brown grosgrain, which matched almost perfectly. There was a dark magenta pink satin that worked with the plaid. And then there was the green velvet. Which has absolutely nothing to do with the fabric, and which I was immediately attracted to.

I finished this dress Sunday night around 10:00. I sewed the ribbon on tonight at about 10:00. It took about 2 hours to make the dress, but it took 48 hours to decide on the ribbon, and therein lies the story of why this dress is almost 40 years in the making.

Flash back to Easter Sunday, 1971. I'm 7. My mom bought me a dress to wear. A frilly, fluffy meringue of a dress. A white dress with lavender, crystal-pleated butterfly sleeves. A dress that, looking back, I'm sure we couldn't afford, and a dress I loathed on sight. She gets me into the dress, and takes me outside for a few obligatory photos, before I can get away. Somehow I don't look as sullen in the photos as I know I was acting.

I go back inside. My aunt does my hair - mom jumped the gun on the pictures - and when she finally leaves me alone, I go back up to my room, ditch the white tights and the fluff-and-ruffles, and climb into my favorite dress - which is a brown plaid with a maroon and green plaid, a white collar, and a caramel-colored bow. Nothing Eastery about it; it's just my favorite dress.

I stay in my room until my dad calls that it's time to leave for my grandmom's. Then I run for the car - and run smack into my mom, who's sneaking a last smoke before she runs for the car. She takes one look at me and turns a lovely shade of Easter-egg purple, but at that point it's too late to send me back upstairs to change.

I wear what I want for Easter, and am smug and happy.

My plaid dress disappeared shortly after Easter. I never saw it go, but things tended to disentegrate in our house - that was my mom's word for it. It was the first big word I ever learned, and I thought it meant what happened to the old stuff when she wanted to go out and buy new stuff.

So there you have it, the long and twisted evolution of my dress, and why it absolutely had to have that contrasting green velvet ribbon to make it tie into the dress in my head.

Never forget a dress that you loved. It'll find its way back to you sooner or later. It just may take a few decades.

Sewing Saturday, Part 2

Several months ago, I went snoop shopping at my favorite almost-unaffordable boutique in Philadelphia. They had a ton of stuff I liked, and a lot of interesting details I tried to sketch out when I left for later addition to garments. But the one piece that really stuck in my mind was the dress worn by the sales girl. It was a simple sheath, gray blue, beautifully fitted, and the neckline was trimmed with an assortment of roses made from bias tubing - gray, navy, black.

It was gorgeous. And she hadn't purchased it there. She said it came from Anthropologie the year before. And I never remember to go in that store, which is almost directly across from the boutique.

The dress stuck in my head, but I didn't see any chance of making it any time soon. And I hate making bias tubing, so the idea of making enough of it to adequately trim a dress (aside from being embellishment-challenged) was enough to send me out of the sewing room completely.

And then about 5 weeks ago, I was in NY shopping with Elizabeth, and I ran across some navy blue Italian cotton suiting in Metro Textiles. It struck me that this fabric would work beautifully for a knockoff of that dress, so I bought some. Then we went to Pacific Trims, and I fell in love with this floral trim they had, but none of the colors worked with my new fabric. So it was going to be back to the drawing board for the trim. Except I liked the stuff from Pacific. I didn't buy any, but a few days later I emailed Elizabeth and asked if she could pick up a yard of it for me.

When I got it, I knew that it had to be on the dress, and I just needed to find a different fabric. Which very quickly led me to this black and white pinstriped stretch woven I picked up with Kisha about 2-3 months ago on 4th Street at PA Fabric Outlet. It had originally wanted to be pants and a jacket, but it got over that idea.

Then the hunt was on for the perfect sheath dress pattern. I looked at about 5 patterns on BWOF, and one on Ottobre, and all of them (but none of them) would do. I didn't want seaming that interrupted the pinstripes, and almost all of them had something that didn't work for me. Then last week I read a review on PR for Burdastyle's Fatina dress. The dress as made up didn't work for what I wanted, but when I went online and looked at the pattern, I realized it had the bones of exactly what I needed.

Doesn't take much to make me buy a pattern.

I printed it out, took it home, taped it together, cut it out and cut out the fabric on Friday night. Saturday, I sewed up the dress. It was ridiculously easy - just a front, a back with a centered invisible zipper, and lots of bias strips for the neck and armholes. Substantial bust darts provide shaping, and I did bring the dress in a bit at the waist so it was more sheath, less shift. But overall, no fitting issues. Full patternreview is here.

The floral trim came sewn to black net. I cut the trim apart in sets of 3, and pinned it around the neck of the dress until I got an arrangement that I liked, then I sat on the couch watching reruns of Project Runway and hand-sewed it on.

I'm absolutely thrilled with the result. It's exactly what I had in mind, but better. The severity of the pinstripes works really well with the trim, and I think that maybe . . . just maybe . . . my fear of embellishment is subsiding a bit. At least when I can find embellishments like this, that announce loud and clear what they want done with them.

Sewing Saturday flowed into Sewing Sunday, and I actually knocked out a second version of this pattern in a plaid knit that I've had on hand for about 6 months. Once I bought it, I had no idea what I wanted to do with it, but when I was trying to think of another variation on Fatina, it called out rather loudly from the stash shelf, "Me, me! Pick me!"

I drafted a sleeve for this version, and other than hemming the sleeves, pressing the hems and adding one tiny embellishment, it's done.

Two fall dresses in one weekend. I feel so much better.

I took a mental health day

When I woke up this morning it was cold and gray and flurrying outsisde, and I took about 3 seconds to think before I rolled over in the bed. It's been crazy busy all week at the office but by yesterday afternoon I was able to see my desk, and I decided I did not need to see it again today.

What I needed was to spend some time in the workroom, getting the kinks out of the fit on Mario's tshirt, and finishing a few other projects I had started.

I also spent some time in the spare room with Vlad, who's recovering nicely from his sore feet, and does not know that a further small surgery is looming in his future. If he's going to be indoors, he's got to be fixed, whether he likes it or not. He's making my other cats crazy - and they're crazy enough without help.

There's no way of saying how long he's going to live, but if it's anything more than a few weeks, then they have to go. He'll forgive me, he's getting canned food twice a day to fatten him up.

Back to the tshirt. Thanks to everyone, here and on Patternreview, who suggested that a sloping shoulder adjustment might be the way to go in getting Mario's shirt to fit. I put the original tshirt on him and stuck shoulder pads in it to see if it made any improvement in the shoulder wrinkles. Totally confused the poor guy - I'm not sure what he thought I was making for him at that point - but it definitely decreased the wrinkling.

Today I cut out another tshirt in light gray cotton jersey that I had sitting in stash. I sloped the shoulder down by about an inch, and dropped the armhole accordingly. Other than that, I made no changes, but there's a huge difference in the way the shirt fits him.

Getting it right should always be so easy.

Other than that, I finished KwikSew 3533, which I started last week. I'm pretty much over the Duro dress thing, but I solved that by eliminating the back ties, adding a waistband in the back and tapering the sides so that it was more fitted - but still loose enough for me to pull over my head.

I'm not over the moon about it, but I think it's one of those dresses that I have to wear a few times to really warm up to. I managed to get a tshirt out of the leftovers - my favorite KS 3338 TNT top - and I'm actually way happier about that.

There's been a lot of conversation on PR and on the blogs lately about stash, how we feel about our stashes, and the merits - or lack thereof - to the whole concept of stashbusting.

I love my stash. It makes me happy. It inspires me when I am not. On the other hand, there's a ridiculous amount of fabric in the workroom. I have a dedicated space, with shelves and cabinets and tubs, and I still have fabric piled on the table and the floor.

I signed myself up for PR's stash contest, not to randomly try to sew as much stash as possible in a short time, but to sew up as much stash as possible in a short time in an organized fashion, making things that I need. I went through the closet and the drawers first and took note of what was needed, and I'm going to knock out a few more quick knit tops (which I always need) and some easy dresses, and a few more tshirts for Mario if I feel like it.

This is a two-fer, if not possibly a three-fer: make stuff I need, get more practice with the coverstitch, and decrease the load on my shelves, at least by a little.

Back to work tomorrow . . .

Tee Time

I love free patterns. Have I said that before?

I got an email from Burdastyle the other day about a new pattern, and while I was on the site I checked out their men's patterns, looking to see what they had that I could make for himself as a "sorry I'm neglecting you to play with the great gift you gave me" present. I saved and printed both the vest and the Pete tshirt.

The tshirt seemed like the logical candidate, since it would give me a chance to do more practice sewing with said new toy. I had some nice beefy charcoal gray cotton/lycra jersey (enough for two shirts - yes, there's a tee for me as well, and no, we won't wear them together) and I cut, sewed and coverstitched this in about 2 hours. I'm sure I'll go faster with time, but I was being careful.

So the shirt looks okay from the front - the creases at the shoulders are because he had his shoulders raised a little while talking to one of the cats, who thought she was getting in the picture. When he stands normally, the front and shoulders fit fine. But the back is another story.

It still looks good. I've seen RTW tshirts that fit him the same way. He's really broad across the upper back (if he worked out more it would be a bigger problem, but like me he mainly sits on the couch and thinks about working out). There are wrinkles extending from the underarm up toward the shoulder that I'm a little confused about how to eliminate. The rest of the shirt fits him fine - not too tight anywhere, and he claims that the sleeves and shoulders feel comfortable.

So what gives? Do I change the armscye? The shape of the back of the sleeve? I'm a little lost on this one. I'm used to tweaking his dress shirts to accommodate his back width, and I really didn't think a knit would be more difficult to get to fit correctly, but it is. I'm open to suggestions, because it was a quick and easy way to appease someone I've been neglecting lately, and I'd like to make him a few more.

And for the moment of blinding stupidity on this project, here goes: I made the shirt. I finished the shirt, hems, etc. I ran the coverstitch around the neckband to make nice neat stitches. It looked good. Since I'm a little uneven yet with it, there were a few narrow raw edges which showed beyond the locked stitches on the underside. I took my sharpest scissors, sat down on the couch, and proceeded to carefully trim the raw edges. All was well until . . . I sneezed. And poked the tip of my sharpest scissors right through the front of the tshirt.

Swearing is very closely associated to sewing in my house. Last night they become one. After I could see clearly again, I took the shirt gently back to the workroom and cut a nice little patch which I steam-a-seamed down to the wrong side. I'll probably end up zig-zagging the edges, and now that I see it doesn't fit perfectly I feel a little better about screwing it up, but still. Honestly. Did I have to sneeze right then? Did I?