Stitch Frenzy: a journey into garment making

Oh, it's been so miserable being too ill to sew! I'm fortunate that I'm generally pretty healthy, despite having two primary-age children AND being a teacher myself, but this virus has knocked me for six. I haven't sewn in 4 days - the first 4 days this year I haven't sewn anything - and I miss it, but in the evenings I've just crawled into bed. I'm so close to finishing my Harrison now; just need to topstitch the collar stand, add cuffs, buttonholes, and hem. My initial thoughts are: I don't need this much bust space after all. I've got the space hitting the right point, but there's extra at the side (where the second line of the princess seam panel hits the side) that I just don't need. My bust is more.. forward than wide?  Sort of? I think it's part of how narrow my back and shoulders are. There's not a lot of ...me around. Not a lot of side. . . I will get pictures soon. Given that I want this to be wearable; I think I can sort

Well, I've muslined (made a test garment in cheap fabric similar to my fashion fabric) the Cashmerette Harrison's front, back yoke, and back pieces, and it's looking promising. With the double princess seams I'm concerned about getting the bust fit right where I need the space, especially as I generally have to shorten and narrow all patterns, but Cashmerette in particular. My sewing space is a tiny laundry room next to the garage. I don't get freezing in there, as it's next to the boiler/main heater, and I have a little plug-in-space-heater, but MY GOODNESS it's not tempting to 'quickly slip' in and out of 4 layers of clothing (thermal underwear up to the down vest) to check the fit! I finished binding a quilt for my son instead. Snuggly wins over my sewing goals for today. Now I'm going to get under a blanket and wish it was even 10C warmer...

It's happening! Shirt making! It's completely Baltic tonight in my garage-adjacent sewing area, but it's -12c outside. BUT I have hot tea, and I've taped and cut the Harrison shirt pattern. Tomorrow night I'll adjust it (narrow shoulders, shorten torso, maybe a small high round back adjustment) and cut it out in muslin. Thursday is a social night so I won't get any sewing time, but I'm hoping to have a muslin I've fit to my bodice by Friday night. I want to be cutting fashion-fabric (even though it won't be precious stuff) by the weekend! Incidentally, I can't get my phone to upload pictures to blogger, but my instagram is mkgstitch and it's where all the pictures of today's fun quilt crafternoon AND pattern taping are. I love wearing buttondowns in the winter because I love wearing wool (I get cold!), but I want proper sleeves and a proper collar between me and the wool; preferably in a snug flannel. In fact, I like wearing woven shir

Well, I find the term 'me-made' for a garment you've sewn for yourself kind of ... not me. It's a bit twee, which doesn't really suit me. But!  'Me-Made-May' is an event where people who sew their own clothes WEAR them, and document wearing them on their blogs/instagrams accounts. I love seeing what everyone is making to wear in their actual lives (i.e. not party dresses) and I swore I'd be ready to take part this year. Well! Here we go. Me-Made-By-May 2018 Jan: Shirtmaking: (I have Pam Howard's Craftsy class, which I'm finding helpful though I do watch it at 1.5 speed. Is she a slow talker or am I super impatient? Both!) Skills I need to master: slowing down and reading all the stuff through. Sewing every day. Patterns: Cashmerette Harrison, Itch to Stich Bonn. I've muslined the Bonn and it's gorgeous but I need to shorten it above and below the bust, and pull in the neck (high round back? hollow chest? Bot

Well, in the nearly 2 years since I last posted I've been sewing clothes and making quilts, and wishing I kept a blog. Not sure why I therefore haven't blogged except that it's hard to get into the habit of doing something that you don't do. But! here we are. I've got the Love Notions Rhapsody blouse on my sewing table, waiting for a hem and cuffs, but I haven't got back into that room for 3 days because it's the end of Summer School and I'm grading, marking, and commenting all the final things. I've had nice kids this year and I'm enjoying the gradual calming down of my days. On Friday I'd disappear into my sewing room and potter about for a few hours of celebration; but actually my mum flies in for a visit so that's not going to happen. I can't wait to see her, but I'm also longing to sew. I think I'll put a comfy chair into the sewing room and invite her down, so I can at least finish some of the less demanding stuff (bor

I know that Burda supposedly drafts for broad back and shoulders, so I should have known that Burda 6680 , a nice, simple, building-block princess-seam A-line dress would need more than a basic Narrow Shoulder Alteration. Before cutting a muslin of the bodice I measured the distance between shoulder-seams on the pattern and compared them to my own shoulder-to-shoulder measurement and gulped at the thought of taking out 3 inches. I think I ended up taking out 2 1/2, and stopped because I was worrying about distorting the armscye.  I didn't do a FBA, because I've not done one before with a princess-seamed bodice,  and so I thought I'd try out the Burda D-cup fit first. I'm around an E cup and so sometimes I need all an FBA, and sometimes I don't. First of all: the bust-fit is great when I grab the shoulder seams and lift them about 2 inches. Of course, I can't actually do this for reals as a fitting solution, because the armscye disappears into my armpit. Do