Thwarted

I hit snooze until 8:10 a.m. today.

I'm supposed to be at my desk by 9:00 a.m.  Somehow, I got there, but don't ask me how.  And don't ask me what I did all day; I was busy but the fog in my head really prevented me from noticing exactly what it was. 

Obviously the cold is still with me, and the cold medicine is doing exactly diddly at this point.  So I decided to do something else medicinal - sew.

I'm actually closing in on finishing one of those long overdue Fatinas, and to complete it I need a little jacket.  I decided to trace off this jacket from the collection of vintage patterns Mimi lent me last week. 

I didn't get far. 

The envelope didn't seem too thick, but I figured maybe the original owner had someone like Mario around, who can re-fold pattern tissue in factory folds until almost its original thickness.  No such luck.  Of the dress and jacket pattern pieces, there was the skirt front, skirt back, and jacket front.  That's all.

At least it was an important piece.  Looking at the schematic at left, I think I should be able to draft up a reasonable facsimile of the jacket back - other than the neckline, it seems almost identical to the front.  As well, the facings won't be complicated once I have the jacket itself under way.

The collar will probably be the most difficult bit, but I think it's do-able.  The pieces here are drawn to scale, and I'm glad they have the grainline arrows clearly marked.  I'll start with the jacket back, and work up to the collar.

But not tonight.  Know why?  In addition to not having the pieces to trace, know why I can't draft the new pieces?

Because I ran out of freaking tracing paper. 

Mighty Morphin' Pattern Drafting

I love a good frankenpattern. The wedding dress definitely qualifies as a frankenpattern, or possibly something more mutant if anyone can think of a name for it.

I knew when I bought my fabric that I wanted to at least use BWOF 2/2009 #124 as the basis for my dress. I made it this summer, and I loved it, but it wasn't dressy enough, and it needed sleeves.

But it was a good starting point.

I looked through my pattern stash for a dress with a similar waist seam but a different fit; I wanted bust darts and an armole that I could set a sleeve into. Nothing in the stash jumped out at me, and then I remembered Burdastyle's Fatina, which I've made 3 times, twice with a separate bodice and skirt, and for which I even drafted a sleeve (though I can't find it; go figure).

I dug out Fatina and saw that the length of the bodice piece was the same. I laid the BWOF pattern piece over top of the Fatina piece, matching the shoulder seams, and traced a third piece from the combination, keeping the original neckline but incorporating the structure of the Fatina bodice, with substantial bust darts. The BWOF pattern had small fitting darts below the bust, which lined up with the darts in the skirt front.

Oddly enough, it was the same location where I added fitting darts to Fatina, so I kept those.

For the sleeve, I wanted a fitted 3/4 length sleeve, and I scavenged that from one of my vintage reprinted patterns (pretty sure it was a Vogue, but the envelope has disappeared into the whirlpool, so pattern information will be supplied).

I did the same thing for the back, which was less effort - there's not much to the back, other than the really pretty deep V. No darts, no nothing. I adjusted the shoulder width, and let it be.

My first muslin (not pictured, and not worthy of picture) was actually the original BWOF pattern, which I tried tinkering with to change the shape to accommodate a sleeve. No such luck. The "sleeve" of the original dress is cut on, and doesn't lend itself to reshaping.

Muslin #1 hit the can.

Muslin #2 (pictured above) is better. Evelyn lost some weight recently and no longer fits my clothes the way she used to. In particular, she's gotten very narrow across the back and things have to be pinned.

Bad Evelyn! How uncooperative!

She's not invited to the wedding.

I removed some ease from the sleeve and inserted it with only minor swearing. You can see from the photo that there's still a little bit of puckering in the front, but I adjusted that on the pattern piece. There's also a significant difference between muslin and the silk/cotton/lycra blend that I'm working with. I know which one will be more forgiving.

Last night I got the dress fabric cut out, and tonight I started putting it together. I made a strip of piping and that's getting inserted in the waist seam. I think it'll add to the vintage appeal of the fabric, and hopefully of the dress.

It's coming together, both in my head and on the work table. Fingers crossed.

Hello Again

Earlier this week, when I went digging in the bag of castoffs to find the sundress I used for the baby gift, I came up with an old favorite - this sleeveless denim blouse from Gap. This is another piece that I wore until it was seriously no longer wearable. There are spots on the front, a stain on the back and some serious discoloration around the collar. But it was always a comfortable top, and I think I threw it in the bag because I had thoughts of duplicating it someday.

I tried it on and - wonder of wonders - it still fits (even though parts of me have migrated slightly southward since its last wearing). Better yet, I still like how it fits. And I can't believe I wore it as long as I did - you can get an idea of its age by the color the dart is once I dismantled the blouse and ironed it flat to make pattern pieces from it.

This was a nice simple piece to try to duplicate - only three pieces, front, back and collar. The original, being a fairly substantial denim, had no interfacing whatsoever. I think that also explained why the button placket had to be ironed flat every single time I wore it because it never survived the dryer without wrinkling twice as much as the rest of the top.

I cut the top apart along the seams, opened the dart and pressed it, and laid it out on top of tracing paper. I traced around the garment edges, leaving a big red note to myself on each pattern piece to add seam allowances when I cut. (I have to do that with BWOF traces, too, because I've been known to forget to add the SA and then the garment goes to a smaller friend, who's always happy to take my mistakes!)

Even though I was supposed to be working on another project, this was the one that held my attention. I finished tracing, and turned to the stash to see what I had that would work as this top. I came up with a wine-themed novelty print that was supposed to be a shirt for a friend, but he has since changed his entire style and would no longer wear it (though it might do for an apron for his outdoor cooking efforts). Though this fabric was purchased with someone else in mind, the light sagey green background makes me think that I unconsciously hedged my bets and got something that would also work on me if I changed direction.

Since this is such a basic pattern, it went together in no time at all. The thing that probably took the longest was trying to find the right buttons - but isn't that almost always the hardest part of any project, finding the right notions?

I'm going to make a few more of these for summer. Maybe next time I'll lessen the curve at the bottom, or even leave it off entirely. This will be a good base for future pieces because it's basic enough that I can change it, or add or subtract collar, sleeves, etc., without the body of the blouse being too recognizable.