Stitch Frenzy: a journey into garment making

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.

Well, summer was not at time for sewing. I think fall might be - specially since I need some additions to my work wardrobe, and pronto! Tonight I'm cutting up the free Lekala 3 seam skirt and making a muslin of that, tomorrow night I want to make a muslin of the HotPatterns Chameleon dress (bodice part). After those two things, my next challenge is the bodice muslin for the Marigold dress. I hope the 3 seam skirt works - it looks pretty straightforward (only 3 seams!) and as my biggest fitting hurdle is my pot belly I'm hoping that the lekala fitting algorithms have worked their magic to account for my 'high hip' measurement. Bloggers I think make beautiful things, such as Thornberry, have demonstrated a great fit with this pattern. I'm making mostly dresses and second layers (a Hotpatterns Chimera jacket and a burda soft knit jacket, I think) as work is overly airconditioned and chilly, while summer lingers far into September here in NJ.

I haven't forgotten this blog, I promise! Summer school is reaching the end of its first week and it has been quite exhausting getting things into gear, but I'm cutting out Hot Patterns' La Strada tee tomorrow night, all being well, and I will take some pics. This pattern looks GREAT! :)

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I made a muslin! I cut up a $2 IKEA bedsheet and made up the the Hot Patterns Plain & Simple Woven T . I cut a size 22 and the armholes and bustline fit brilliantly. Hilarious Newbie Mistakes so far: (1) Not marking the bust darts accurately enough. I mis-alligned them and it looks like I have comedy wonky boobs. (2) Forgetting how to add a sleeve to an armhole. Let's just say I mixed up right side and wrong side, and I love my seam ripper. and this isn't a sewing mistake, it's a style mistake: (3) Forgetting that boatnecks show everyone my bra straps. Next time I'm cutting out the V neck or adjusting the neckline so it's more like a scoop than a boatneck. It's probably the least flattering neckline on me, but I keep wanting it to look great on me, then forgetting that I can't influence the world by just my wanting. Hah! Pattern's first muslin verdict: The fabric is awful and I'm glad I don't sleep on it! The shape is GOOD, the...

I started! I cut something out! My sewing table is the kitchen table, so the cut out fabric pieces and these two little drawers full of my notions and gear are now in a box in the IKEA expedit behind me.  I'm making the  Cake 2224 Tee because it's free, was easy to find, and goes up to my size.  Tiling and cutting out the pattern didn't take very long, it was only 18 page. It was very straightforward.  Cutting out the fabric was harder because it stretched as I cut it. This is my first bash at knits, and I should have figured out that would happen. I was all nervous and blah blah but it worked out alright. I have cut the crew neck in a size 45 at the bust, grading out  to a 50 at the hips,(i.e. I drew a straight diagonal line on the pattern between the 45 bust and the 50 hips, and felt pretty darn accomplished) so this second pic is me cutting out the 50 waistband. In her craftsy class "Pattern Fitting for Plus Sizes"  Barbara Deckhart is always...

Aaand with the ceremonial un-boxing of the machine, my Summer of Sewing has begun! Only, tonight I'm just running scraps through the machine, winding bobbins, trying out different stitches and generally playing with my new toy and being delighted. Tomorrow night I'm thinking of cutting out the McCall's woven tee  M6927 .  Here it is: In her woven tee review, Happily Caffeinated blogged that she'd bought this but not cut it out due to some fit issues around the sleeves/ armscye. Now I look at the pictures, there are lines. Bugger. Musing Alert: I've noticed that since I started shopping for patterns I am becoming more discerning about fit. I barely know a thing about it but I noticed that a knit top I wore for work yesterday had lines pointing towards the armscye AND drag lines across the bust. If I made that, I'd be annoyed about it, yet I wear it to work! I hope learning to sew is going to make me less tolerant of badly fitting RTW clothing, and I...