Skip to main content

Lessons learned

I'm not someone who spends a fortune on fabric no - wait. I suspect my budget of leisure spending is heavily sewing-related. Let me re-phrase that. I've never bought any fabric that cost more than about $8 a yard. And $8 is pricey. This makes me feel okay about sewing up muslins (tester garments from fabric as similar to the desired end product as possible), and general less trepidatious about the risk of a complete disaster/wadder. I've only had one "Nope, I will never wear this" wadder, and that was a muslin I made of McCalls 6802. I sewed it up in French terry that I'd tried-and failed- to dye from white to purple. I'd bought the lovely fabric in white dirt cheap, thinking "I'll dye it!" - for some reason, possibly related to how much I mixed, the destined-for-purple yardage was a blotchy mess, but the destined-for-pale blue came out beautifully. The pattern didn't work for me because the cut-on (are they dolman or Kimono?) sleeves made puddles of unsightly fabric under my arms, and made me look strangely bulky. The garment almost met a real need though: It's not longer cold enough for big pullover sweaters but I need another layer, perferably open for best temperature regulation, and a long cardigan made of light french terry is the nicest thing I can think of for weekend wear. And that's why the pale blue french terry what is on the cutting table today; destined for the ubiquitiously popular McCalls 6884. The pattern requires stable knits and if I can get View B to work in this french terry I'll be definitely cutting view D and possibly A in various colours of ponte for work wear. It's amazing how I've progressed in a year. I looked at the measurements for this pattern, read a few reviews, measured the pattern pieces then made a narrow shoulder adjustment and wide-bicep adjustment without any qualms. I when I think how long it took me to nerve myself up to an FBA, it's great that I am so much more confident about hacking into pattern pieces now. Pics to follow...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blank Slate Marigold: FBA queries

I'm still figuring out what to actually DO with all the excess fabric an FBA generates. I lost my nerve on the HP Chameleon muslin (and got annoyed, and got a ton of marking) because while I figured out the Y-Dart FBA and how to tweak the great big dart and manage some added shoulder fabric, the waist was suddenly inches and inches too big for the skirt portion of the dress, and the pattern wasn't supposed to support gathering at the waist, and I couldn't see how/where to add a dart... Now I'm at the adjustment stage of cutting out the blank slate marigold and the instructions cheerfully suggest I won't need an FBA (in my dreams) and then suggests putting the whole lot of added fabric in the shoulder gathers. If it were an inch or two, maybe, but I need to add 3.5 and that's just not going to work, is it? Is it? Stay tuned! I guess I have nothing to lose but the muslin fabric - and precious sewing time.
Post a Comment
Read more

Plague 2: The coughening/ January Goals update

Ugh. I got better! I had a week of being better. Then I got some upper-respiratory infection (probably viral) and I've had three days off work, in bed, feverish and sweaty and coughing like a hardcore smoker. Add to that; my machine (the Singer 7258) cannot handle buttonholes on 2 layers of thick flannel plus interfacing and I have STILL not got the Harrison finished. All I need to do is buttonholes and hem, but so far, no dice.  But January goal: sew a button-up shirt. Almost done? I'm going to give myself an 8/10 for that one. I'd hoped to sew two shirts and honestly, if I hadn't lost 25% of January to illness, I might have managed it! I'm in my bed as I type this, with honey and prescribed cough suppressants and a box of hand-embroidery supplies by my side. But I've got to be honest, I've been watching the 2016 War and Peace on amazon prime instead. I've really enjoyed it. I read W&P in 1998, my upper sixth year, and I remember nothing about it,...
Post a Comment
Read more