Pattern Work - Working For My Plaid - M6076 Princess Seamed - With Sleeves

Can't you just envision these pattern pieces and muslins as a red-plaid princess-seamed shirt?

In the November episode of the Enchanted by Sewing audio/pocast, I talked about sewing tartans and plaids. I also mentioned I have plans for a new red plaid, princess-seamed shirt, using M6076. As you may have noticed in my recent postings, Jasper-the-new-pooch has been sewing my slow sewing down even more. Still, I have gotten in some pattern work!

All four pattern pieces have a muslin attached. My next step is to transfer the seam lines onto the muslin, before I begin basting.

 I drew those seam lines  onto the pattern, based on the measurements I took from the sleeveless Western Winds shirt, which I created from this same pattern (altering to create a sleeved version as well as getting a good fit for me). I've really enjoyed wearing Western Winds and got quite a lot of late summer/early fall use out of that shirt - of course here in California it stays warm longer than much of the U.S.

For Western Winds, I cut back the top of the shoulder towards the neck, but I've dropped that back in place for this sleeved version. My new pattern includes lines for both sleeved and sleeveless versions. I  cut with room for either version, then use my clover wheel to lay down the armscye lines, then cut away what I don't need for the particular version I'm making. 

For more description, see my previous post- Sleeved to Sleeveless.

There's a good chance I'll be making a few more changes to the muslin, and therefore pattern, before I snip into that red plaid. I also plan to re-test the new pattern on another sleeveless version, sometime over the next few months. Tried and true patterns take a while to get just so, but they sure are worth their weight in gold.

I store in-progress muslins and pattern pieces clipped onto binder clips  hanging off cup hooks. That way they don't get wrinkles in between sewing sessions, and they all stay together.

Fitted Red Tee in Time for Christmas, Valentines, and Any Day I want to feel cheerful (Vogue 8323)

I'm loving my "Princess Laurel" tee from Katherine Tilton's, Vogue 8323 so much that right after I made it up in floral velour, I repeated the deal in this Christmas'y/Valentine'ish light weight, red, interlock knit. This Katherine Tilton pattern, Vogue 8323, is a princess-seamed, very fitted, tee shirt.

There's more about my experiences sewing this tee in this month's December audio/podcast, Enchanted by Sewing - Festive Holiday Tees and Tea (#27)

Terminado - Completing Peaches and Rosalinda

Check out the Enchanted by Sewing Podcast for September
to hear all about my shirt dressing sewing experiences

That's my daughter in Rosalinda (NL6223) on the Left, and me in Peaches and Cream (M3623) on the Right.

I altered the patterns, sewed and finished both dresses in time for the significant family event I mentioned in my last posting ("Can't Say it Sew It"). Auntie Seamh Rippah was a regular, though uninvited, visitor in my sewing zone.

Part of me just knew it was incredibly important to, rather quickly, create these two dresses. Another part of me questioned what on earth I was doing creating not one but two projects when life was throwing a lot of emotional hoo-hah my way. 

Payback

Was I happy with the results? Yes
Did having a new dress, as well as quickly creating a new dress for my daughter, help me during a challenging event? Yes
Did spending time during other sewing projects altering the M3623 shirtdress pattern and focusing on fit pay off? Yes

Being able to create something tangible when life was full of emotional hoo-hah is another thing that keeps me . . .

Enchanted by Sewing

~ ~ ~

Web Resources

My Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast for September - all about working with this pattern http://www.enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2014/09/ench-by-sew-024-shirtdressing-and-fall.html

Can't Say it Sew It - Creating something tangible helps me deal with life challenges http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/09/cant-say-it-sew-it.html

Pattern Work - Progress Peaches and Cream Shirt Dress http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/09/shirt-dressing-peaches-and-cream.html

Avoiding Auntie Seama Rippah http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2012/11/avoiding-auntie-seama-rippah-for.html

Amaryllis - My New Semi-Fitted Blouse (Pink and White Striped Seersucker)

Here's the kind of amaryllis that inspired me to name my
new blouse. These bulbs show up in our stores around
 the winter holidays, are inexpensive,  and  are 
pretty easy to grow.

I'll be talking about the techniques I used to create my new Amaryllis blouse in this month's Enchanted by Sewing audio podcast, which will be published before the end of July. 

Yes, I love my new Amaryllis blouse!
And I'm so happy I bought this wide red belt this summer.
It also sets off my CA Summer Skies Shirt - both of
which I've been wearing a ton with my new summer denim skirt.

I’ve begun to enjoy naming the garments I craft. It reminds me each one is a work of art! That’s what the designers do. I’m designing for myself, and it’s fun to think like those fashion designers who give name to their creations, just like I do :-)

As I did with last month's CA Summer Skies seersucker Shirt,
I interfaced and lined my blouse facings with silk organza. This also gave me a
 neat completely concealed outside edge to  hand stitch down

I named my new pink and white seersucker blouse Amaryllis, after the musical “The Music Man” Are you a fan of  that play? You may recall it’s set in the American town of River City, Iowa in 1912 in. Below is a snippet from a blog posting I wrote a few years back, in my first blog, “The Simple Romantic” When I began that blog it represented a lot of my different interests including: hiking, sewing, and time travel! The Simple Romantic blog is still out on the web – and nowadays I keep it current by adding in postings from my different, more specifically themed blogs. I’ve included a link below, to the full time travel posting relating to the Music Man. Here’s that excerpt…

Suddenly I find myself there in the middle of the train station, a looker-on to the arrival in town of The Music Man himself. Is it the huge striped-candy blossom that makes me think about the barbershop quartet rehearsing in their shirtsleeves ? Perhaps it's the memory of Winthrop's heartbreaking lisp when he is forced to greet his elder sister, Marion's, piano student - she's named after the belladona lily, that sent me tumbling back in time.

Amaryllis, of course, was that piano student, and now she has become the inspiration for my new semi-fitted summer blouse.

I'll be talking about the pattern alterations I made
in my Enchanted by Sewing audio podcast, which I'll publish
 before the end of this month
Putting the partially completed blouse on my
dress form Conchita, helped me to notice that the top
end of my darts needed some realignment!

I used stitch and pink seam finishing techniques for Amaryllis

Completed Stitch and Pink

I like Amaryllis with jeans too!

~ ~ ~

Web Resources

Put a Little Muslin Into It - Altering a tried-and-true shirt pattern to create my Amaryllis Blouse http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/07/put-little-muslin-into-it-sleeveless.html

The Music Man - A Time Travel Trip

http://simpleromantic.blogspot.com/2010/08/time-travel-primer-lesson-6-music-man.html

Basics on last month's blue and white checked seersucker CA Summer Skies Shirt http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/06/terminado-my-ca-summer-skies-seersucker.html. Find out more about techniques I used, in the June Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast http://www.enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2014/06/ench-by-sew-021-ca-summer-skies-sewing.html

Sewing a Simple Denim Skirt is Good Medicine http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/06/terminado-sewing-simple-denim-skirt-is.html

Sign up for email reminders, so you'll know when new editions of the Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast are published http://www.enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com

Vintage Threads: 70's Leotard Can Be Modern Active Wear

From the style, and the wardrobe styling hints on the envelope, I would guess this is a mid-seventies pattern. My mother sewed several of this style of garment for me when I was in high school. I wore them with my hip-hugger pants and mini-wrap skirts that buttoned up the front.  They made my very short skirts a little more modest :-) BTW The body suits snapped at the crotch, to make dressing and undressing easy.

I'm thinking this would be a great pattern to try out for some modern active-wear. I'd like to experiment with fabrics I haven't tried before, and a simple leotard (would work well with simple shorts for the gym) would be a great pattern with which to try out that type of material. 

But, as I wrote in my last imaginary bathing suit journal entry..... no new projects until this bustier is done!

Resources

Enchanted By Sewing Podcast Show Notes (and iTunes link) http://enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com

Sewing My Bustier : http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/02/bustiers-excuse-me-arent-those-your.html

Vintage Threads: 60's Bathing Suit Plans, Don't Keep Me From Sticking to my Bustier Project

No reason a bathing suit like the one on the left
couldn't work as well today as in the early 60's!
Very flattering for many figure types too.

My best guess is that this vintage bathing suit pattern is early - mid sixties era, because you don't see this waistline much after that on a suit. The 25 cent price tag is another clue. By the late sixties, most patterns were, at least, 35 - 50 cents. The model's hairband is another clue. Those wide bands say 1963 and before to me!

As you can perhaps tell, from perusing this sewing journal, I'm hard at work on a class project sewing a bustier. It's a big project for me, and I really wanted to divert myself several times to some fun sample sewing. Before Valentine's Day hit I was sorely tempted to stop and experiment with a simple example of reverse appliqué. Wouldn't an appliquéd heart coming through a pocket square be perfect? I justified this mini-project by thinking that I could devote my February Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast (which I typically publish just before the end of each month) to talking about appliqué in general and then describe the reverse appliqué techniques that I would have slipped off to practice.

But I kept myself on track and continued steadily on with my bustier. I still have quite a lot of work to put into it. Stick-to-itness is one of those skills I've resolved to work on this year, whether it's sewing or regular work projects. I'm proud of myself for sticking to this and other projects.

I'm also proud of myself for not purchasing any of the potentially swim-able fabric I might use to create a similar combination for myself. Yes, I do have a fabric inventory. But adding to it when I'm in the middle of my currently challenging project wouldn't give me the confidence I need to keep at it.

That doesn't mean I can't do a little blue-sky sewing!

Blue-skying means.... I can journal about creating an imaginary bathing suit, as I'm doing now. I can imagine whether or not I would try to find a print or plain colored fabric. And question what kind of material would work best. I can also think about how best to create the pattern. The overskirt is a flared skirt. I know how to drape those now, and I have Conchita, my foam core dress form to help me. The tanks, as the bathing-suit bottoms liner is referred to on the pattern back, could be created from an underwear pattern I've previously created that I know fits well. I'd probably work on draping the bodice on my duct tape dummy, not my Uniquely You foam-core dress form, because the duct tape model is a more exact replica of my torso. I can simply have the fun of imaginary sewing, and the eventual project will be that much better.

BTW, I've also began work on my February Enchanted by Sewing podcast. That show will reflect the pleasures of a little imaginary fabric shopping without actually adding to my fabric inventory. I hope you come along for the trip :-) You can subscribe to the show notes if you want to be notified when podcast episodes are added.

Blue-Skying is just one more activity that keeps me.... 

Enchanted by Sewing!

~ ~ ~

Resources

Enchanted By Sewing Podcast Show Notes (and iTunes link) http://enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com

Sewing My Bustier : http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/02/bustiers-excuse-me-arent-those-your.html

Draping: Checking out my Dart Extensions (Fit)

In this illustration, I'm working with a tissue pattern I've
created from the muslin piece I draped on the dress form
I  tested the extended part of my dart, to make sure that there's
enough length. I did that by laying scrap tissue on top of my
freshly drawn pattern, adding the hemline on either side of the dart,
drawing in the dart, and pin-sewing it in place to make sure my
extension came out right. 

Some of the first things we are learning about in my draping class is adding darts. We start by drawing the straight of grain and the cross grains, and securing them to the dress form. Then we secure those grain lines to the dress form, and we're off.

We're learning not to think about making a dart, we capture a dart, as we smooth, and pin, the fabric into place.

I'm starting out using a class dress form, and looking excitedly forward to the day when I'll be draping on the Uniquely You Dress Form I made over the summer. The September Enchanted by Sewing Podcast will be all about my experiences to-date, creating and beginning to use two different types of dress forms. I wish I could publish the 'cast earlier, but I'm limited when it comes to disk space for new episodes (yes - I actually pay for podcast space!), so I can't publish before the end of the month.

Dress Form Haiku

She's my fitting friend
My dress form - separate - but me 
:-)
Foam core, woman spirit

L.R. Shimer

Yes, I am working on the Enchanted by Sewing Podcast for the month of September tonight. 

How did you guess?

The Sewing Zone - Carving out Room for Sewing

I used to dream over those photos in sewing and craft magazines where the happy sewist has a lovely room dedicated to the enchanting pursuit of sewing. 

She (yeah, I know you sewing fellas are out there - but in this case "she" is an imaginary me) has racks on the wall full of neatly arranged spools of thread, full length mirrors on either side of the room, shelves and cabinets stocked with neatly organized and folded fabrics, interfacing and lining, file drawers stocked with patterns that look like they did the day she brought them home from Fabulous Fabrics and two permanently situated dress forms in some idealized size, onto which her patterns fit without the need for any kind of adjustments. Naturally her sewing machine occupies the place of honor, right next to a huge perfect-height cutting out counter.

Now let's get real. I live in a small two-bedroom house with two other people, a pooch and a marvelous marmalade cat. We do other things here besides sewing, including cooking, eating, watching movies, reading newspapers, magazines and books, and gardening. Out here in California many folks have smaller houses and most of us don't have basements or the kind of attic you can walk in (we can slide a few things along under the eves by standing on a ladder, but that's not where I want to cache my sewing inventory - though I have done it!). There is no hardly-used room or covered space that I can discover. Our garage does not house our cars, but it does serve to store bikes, tools,  and numerous metal racks that hold products from the big box store and other household necessities.

There's no little-used room or commodious closet (our bedroom closets were built in the late 30's when, apparently, people were happy to be able to hang up 5 or 6 garments and call that their wardrobe) that I can claim as a sewing room. But over time I have carved out what I call my sewing zones. There are two sewing machines setup on different parts of our family room, and I'm happy I can keep them setup all the time. My sewing zones also includes room in some cupboards and on shelves in that same room. I share those storage areas with other members of the household. In a pinch, I've been known to hang fabric folded over a hanger in the front hall closet, or one of our tightly packed 1939 closets. And, yes, I do have a few stacks of plastic bins on the big box shelves in the garage, that hold another portion of my fabric inventory. My duct tape dress form, Helen, lives out there in a plastic bag as well. My new dress form, Colette, (I'm making her in a class at summer school) will live there as well, when she's not in use.

When I need to do some cutting out I clear off somebody else's work or study project from the family room or dining room table, get my project done and then shift their stuff back. When my daughter was younger I used her twin bed with one of those grided accordion folded up cardboard things you buy at the fabric store. I have to keep my ironing board put away when I'm not actually using it, so that people can get out the back door.

My sewing zones are kind of fluid. If we have a party, I may need to carry my machines out to the garage (don't open the door and try to walk, please!), and when my daughter graduated and moved back home (good fortune on the post-college job hunt Darling) I cleaned out the whole front hall closet for her and managed to stuff the fabric inventory I kept there into another corner of the antique wardrobe that compensates for our lack of closet space.

I don't fret about moving things around. I don't mind if you want to watch "Myth Busters" while I sew, in fact I kind of like it. I often put on an old movie in the background for company when I'm sewing on my own anyway. When I do my hand sewing I watch t.v. with my family, or curl up with it in my bedroom, or take it out in the living room to hang out with others while they read or play a game. Because sewing can be a pretty social activity, and I don't need to be isolated to have a lot of fun doing it. I'm very happy for you if you are able to dedicate an entire room to sewing, but I'm not envious. 

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't turn down a present of a special just-for-me room if the great goddess of sewing suddenly showed up on my stoop and handed me the golden key to an invisible door I'd never seen before. (Yes, that does sound like a children's novel waiting to be written, doesn't it?) However, no matter how limited my space, you're always going to find that I'm still.... enchanted by sewing.