Ms. Morris and the Quilted Sleeve

So I moved to the San Francisco area back in November and no lie, the temperature has changed by at most 10 degrees that entire time. My body still thinks its sometime in February. My wardrobe made for Boston and then Los Angeles weather, either hot or really, really cold is just not cutting it. I need a max 75 degrees and windy as f--- wardrobe.

Enter my new Morris from my pattern soulmate Grainline. Ms. Morris is perfect, I can throw her over my large collection of sleeveless blouses and wear them to work and through the wind tunnel that is San Francisco. The fabric is an amazing merino wool, nylon, lycra blend from my fabric store soulmate, The Fabric Store. This fabric is probably stretchier than what Jen recommends, but the nylon and lycra content give the fabric an amazing recovery and there has been absolutely no bagging whatsoever. I interfaced the facings, but not any of the body.

The pattern went together beautifully, minus some changes that were completely my fault. I did a combination FBA and general lengthening and even though I thought I transferred all changes to the facing, I did not and didn't have enough fabric to recut them. I then removed the added length from the front, so the general shape of the hem is not as angular as the original pattern.

My favorite part of this blazer is the double layered and quilted sleeves! I love them! (they are also the reason I didn't have enough fabric to recut the facings) The wrong side of the fabric is kind of nubby so it needed to be lined in some way and quilting them like this was by far the most badass. I used quilting adhesive to keep the sleeves together and my walking foot so that everything would be nice and smooth. Love that walking foot. The only problem is that the sleeves are now a bit too heavy for the jacket so I used some black twill tape on the shoulders to keep the sleeves from pulling them down.

If I could change something about this blazer, I would probably line the fronts instead of facing them. When the SF winds blow my jacket open and then catch the facings, this literally turns into a parachute. Also the added weight of a lining would hold the sleeves up better.

Lark Tee: #1

I've been gone for a while to dedicate myself to finding a new job and great news, I got one! They say looking for a job is like having a full-time job itself and that sentiment is totally true. I worked all day, applied all night, and had no time to do fun things, like sew or knit or stay sane. Now that I'm happily settled into my new job, I'm back to regularly sewing and I want to steadily get back to blogging and participating in our community. Keep me honest, people!

My most recent project was the Lark Tee by the glorious Jen at Grainline. I love Grainline. The Lark was my first paper Grainline pattern and they are lovely with a cute little pattern book, even though I pretty much exclusively use the sew-alongs. I love that each of the options for the Lark has its own pattern piece, as in there are separate patterns for the cap, short, 3/4, and long sleeves. Sure, it takes up more paper, but its just more elegant, easier to cut, trace, whatever method you use. The neckline variations are also like that!

Check out those gloriously matching seams, even some points at the sleeves! Thank you walking foot!

I chose to make the 3/4 length sleeves (I live in San Francisco now, its chilly!) with a V-neck. V-necks generally look better with my larger bust, breaking up that expanse of fabric I need to cover everything. I used a rayon ponte (I think) that I got from my Mood shopping spree a few months back. It was originally meant to be a Named Pattern shirt, but in the end I realized Lark was more versatile and, of course, the V-neck. Its super stretchy, very stable, and has great recovery.

I sewed the pattern as drafted at first (sorry, no pics!) and the V hit way too high on me and actually made my boobs look really droopy (sad there's no pics now, aren't you?). I ended up lowering the neckline by about 1 1/4", but keeping the angle of the V. I also thought the neckline binding was too narrow, just my personal perception of proportions and cut a binding with an extra inch in width, resulting in a 1/2" wider folded binding. The shirt is also drafted to be fairly long and I ended up cutting off 2.5" with a wide hem. I also have to say, that neckline is sewed perfectly, go me!

Future changes will include widening the neckline which will also flatter my wider shoulders as well as lowering the back neckline which has too much fabric and is folding over the binding at the back of my neck. The fabric that I used is super stretchy, anything with less stretch and I would cut a much longer binding piece as this one (oh yeah, I cut a slightly longer binding to make up for cutting a lower neckline) even seems to be gathering a bit. I currently have two fabrics in my stash for Larks and am washing and cutting tomorrow!

Gathering at the back neckline.

In other news, I'm going to be an Auntie in a couple months now! I have tons of baby-sized scraps left over from a bunch of my clothes, are Auntie-and-me clothes totally gauche? Not that I care cause its happening! I'm thinking little onesie overalls for this fabric.

Archer: Numbre Trois

Let me tell you a story, its called Buttons are Traitors. A few revolutions around the Sun ago I had to go to the bank. I was wearing a cute button-down I got from one of Target's fancy designer series collections, blue, fancy bib detail. I liked that shirt, I thought I had a good rapport with that shirt. There were about 6 people in line so I waited and while I was waiting I noticed an old man staring at me. I mean gross staring. In my head I said, Hey you dirty perv, why don't you stare at something else, you're mother is ashamed of you, I bet no woman has ever loved you. In my head I was mean to him, I don't like gross old men gaping at me. Once I got to the front of the line I reached for my purse to get my bank stuff and when I looked down I saw. I saw that my purse strap had unbuttoned my shirt. Down. To. My. Navel. Perv had every right to stare, I was standing half undressed in the middle of Bank of America. Buttons and I have had an uneasy relationship since then, very untrusting, I get out of the car, leave the house, take of a jacket, I do the button test which essentially involves feeling up my chest in public to make sure the spacing between buttons is even, if there's too much I know disaster has struck.
Then a light shown down upon me while reading blogs, people were waxing poetic about snaps. Snaps, I thought, snaps that don't betray, could this be my salvation?

This is my third archer. I wanted a textured black fabric so I bought this black, burnout polka dot cotton from Gorgeous Fabrics. Its not black, its black and navy and it changes from black with navy dots to navy with black dots in a pattern making pattern placement kinda a bitch. Also, its not cotton, its def got some poly in that as it burns under the iron pretty fast and doesn't wrinkle a bit. These pictures were taken minutes after pulling the shirt out from luggage and no ironing. It also attracts fuzz likes its going to a fuzz party.

Not a great picture, but you can see the change in the polka dot pattern.

For Archer Trois, I went with the butt ruffle. I gotta say, I'm a big fan of the butt ruffle. Business up front, ruffle in the back, baby. Things to note, the ruffle gives a hem a much deeper curve so its not as easy as a hem as the non-ruffled version. Also, the pattern for the ruffled upper back (not yoke) doesn't include a pleat and it turns out my double-wide shoulders really like the room provided by the pleat so this puppy is a bit tight in the back.

I really like the extra long sleeves in the Archer pattern, at least on me. I like when my sleeves go to mid-hand. Maybe it looks a bit sloppy, but it feels good. I also finally got the absolute perfect placement of the closures which I wasn't able to for my first two Archers. 

And finally, the snaps. They are perfect. I haven't had a snap incident yet and all pervy men have been kept in their place. Archer, the perfect snapdown shirt.

Archer #2

Archer #1 is totally jealous of Archer #2. I told him to be the bigger Archer and accept it. He said, I am the bigger Archer, you made the new on one size smaller. Touche, Archer #1, touche.

The one size smaller experiment shows that I need the smaller size in the shoulders, the waist, and the back. I love the way the shoulders fit here. Also the back is way more manageable while still having plenty of flowy, blousy fabric. The bust on the other hand neeeeeds to be cut at the larger size. See the button gaping up there? Not a problem in Archer #1.

Oh man alive, I put that pleat in backwards! I couldn't remember which way it went so I guessed. Guess I guessed wrong? Those instructions are really good, totally my fault. The fabric is cotton voile from Fabric Place Basement, the green is, um, not the best quality.

I love my new gas station attendant/bowling league uniform. All the seams are finished as french seams, EVEN THE ARMHOLE. I never understood the physics of how one could attach the sleeves with a french seam, but bygolly, it worked! Damnit, this shirt is sturdy!

 

Unfortunately, it attracts cat fur like a muthah.....