Blue, Drapey Blouse: Lilith and Eve 101

I really liked this shirt before I took these pictures. Great way to start a post right?

Jeez, look how happy I am.

This pattern is the Drapey Blouse L101 from Lilith and Eve, which I completely and totally fell in love with when it was released. Isn't the long sleeve version great? That's what I wanted to make, but when I got it, I realized there was no collar stand and I didn't want to mess around making my own, so I went sleeveless, no collar. I got the PDF pattern, everything went together great with perfectly fine instructions. There's a bit of gaping at the neck and underarms, but I'm sure this fits someone else perfectly. I really wish that since the drapey part pretty much requires a sheer fabric, this came with a pieces drafted for lining that was fitted so the shirt wouldn't always require wearing a second layer.

The fabrics are from Mood and are the result of experimental pattern mis-matching, which I still really like. The shibori is a favorite, though it is fairly loosely woven and I was worried about it would stand up over time, but with gently handling when washing, its perfectly fine. This combination was a blast to pick out, especially since the Mood employees had zero faith in the outcome.

The problems are when this pattern, my body type, and the fabric all come together and everything is just a little bit off. The shibori fabric just a tiny bit too stiff to hang right, but I think anything other than the most diaphanous chiffon would work here. My man was making me crack up while we took pictures of this saying it looked like a giant vagina was on my back. Personally, I think it looks like a gaping mouth. Still, neither are body parts I will to be recreated in fabric on my back. Secondly this shirt has a lot of drape and the front just falls off me. Will someone please remind me that fitted is best for my body type? Seriously, tweet it to me. Everyday. Anyways, I look bigger than I am in these pictures and I don't like that so much.

ROAR!!!!!

I still think this is a super cute pattern, just maybe not for me.

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.

Winter of Wearable Shirt: #4.5

Whoops, this one snuck its way in. The Fabric Store had their end-of-season sale and I went back to buy as much of that specific merino in as many colors (except pink) as I could find. I found red and navy, but they were already out of the olive which shot all to hell my planned all olive green merino wool wardrobe. The red is gorgeous though, it has black threads knitted through it which gives so much dimension to the red, which unfortunately doesn't come out in pictures, but trust me, its fabric-mindblowing. I'm such a Fabric Store fangurl.

According to how the last Coppelia fits, I made some changes. I extended the hem by 1.5", shortered the sleeves by 2", reduced the underarm lengths by 3/4", and finally reduced the width of the back bodice by 1/2" blending to nothing at the neck. I also didn't include the hole in the side seam the wrap tie gets threaded through.

Using predominantly the serger to make this top, I can finish this sucker in one day. Boom.

Winter of Wearable Shirts: #4

Oh the Coppelia cardigan, we've been flirting for quite some time, but we've only recently gotten together. In some ways, you're everything I thought you would be, in some ways, you've disappointed me greatly.

I made the Coppelia exactly as written in Medium. I had wanted to add an inch or two to the hem, but I barely eeked the garment out of my fabric. The fabric is a GLORIOUS 4-way stretch, ribbed merino wool with some lycra. I don't use knit fabrics without lycra anymore. The wrong side has a slightly looped texture and OMG its amazing. Yes, its from The Fabric Store in LA, my new nirvana.

The good:
There is absolutely no gapping! And for a wrap, that's impressive. More than a little has to do with Coppelia being a knit garment, but still. I did not add clear elastic because I have plenty of lycra in here, but if I change my mind, I'll update you. Its also a quick sew as long as you don't screw up the front neckline. I didn't stretch it enough at first and there wasn't enough fabric for a flat hem. I serged the entire shirt except for twin-needle stitching the tie where I used stretch thread in my bobbin. There's no stitch popping here!

Look ma! No gapping!

The bad:
The sleeves are way way long, and I like long sleeves. The length is way more cropped than I thought it from the pattern picture. I realized this sweater looks good with this skirt which is a fairly high-waisted design and I still have to hike up the skirt quite a bit if I don't want to show off tummy. And finally like so many before me, there's a ton of extra fabric in the front sleeve, freakin' raglan. I also find myself rearranging the ties around my back all the time, but I think I'm just not used to this garment structure.

 The verdict: Winner winner, chicken dinner! Definitely something that has to be worn over a dress or a high skirt, but its completely flattering and the fabric blows all other fabrics out of the water.

Winter of Wearable Shirts: #3

How are you doing? I'm great, I just made super yummy chicken pot pie filling and I'm nibbling from it. Don't worry, if I ever cook for you its clean spoon every time I test those seasonings, but the fiance will be the only other person eating the pies so I don't care. I'm also working on writing my book, yup I'm writing a book (not about sewing) and I'm totally stuck on the 'I can't write' idea so I'll write this post instead. I know I can write this post.

I've loved the Neptune Tee by See Kate Sew since it was released, but I'm not the person who jumps on every new release. I let them stew around in my head and wait for fabric sales, sometimes for a long ass time. I waited for Hart's to have their Christmas sale and then bought this ponte to bring my total above their free shipping threshold. The pattern says that very stable knits are preferred and Hart's description seemed to satisfy that. I don't usually buy poly, but I trust Hart's implicitly even if I've never been there and only really bought from them once.

Sewing this shirt was a frickin' blast. I got all the right supplies, a stretch twin needle with the widest setting and stretch thread for the bobbin when using the twin needle. All the seams sewed so smoothly, stretch so nicely, and none feel like they are going to pop.

I'm not entirely happy with how the bindings around the neck and sleeves lay across the cutouts. I stretched the bindings to fit the edges, except at the cutouts I made sure to lay the binding completely flat. Now the bindings stick out a bit because the stretch in the neckline doesn't match how the fabric is stretch when worn. Doing it again, I would stretch out the binding ever so slightly. Not as much stretch as the rest of the neckline, just a tad.

See how that neckline is popping out a bit, that's what I'm talking about. Next time I'm making this, I'm lowering the front neckline and removing that cutout, but keeping the rest.

I love the inspiration behind this pattern. I was watching the Veronica Mars movie and and also thought, 'Damn Mac, hot dress.'

Winter of Wearable Shirts: #2

The Boston shirt! The pattern is the Geometry Top by Katy & Laney, two cool Boston ladies. The solid black silk is from Gorgeous Fabrics, close enough to count as Boston and bought while I lived there. And the ship fabric, oh the ship fabric, that's from Fabric Place Basement, also close enough to be called Boston. I love the tall ship print because my favorite touristy thing I ever did in Boston was tour the U.S.S. Constitution. Its amazing something so old can still float and sail, let alone be in the condition its in. Seriously, check it out, unless your British, that might be treason against the Crown. I kid, I kid we're all friends now.

I was pleasantly surprised that the Geometry Top was not paraded around blogland. This is a great pattern, good lines, trendy, but not fleeting in style. I'd been looking for something to use with my ship fabric that didn't break up the awesomeness of print and this pattern made my little sewing heart pitter-patter. The pattern is great everything fits beautifully together with good instructions. The only thing is that some of the cutting lines are a bit thick, I'd prefer a bit more precise lines over super bold ones.

I agonized over the placement of the 'stripes' and it ended up being about as perfect as perfect can be. I underlined the main fabric as its a bit sheer and then hemmed them separate from each other because I worried hemming them together would cause the shirt to bubble. I french seamed everything. For some reason that makes absolutely no sense, I like french seaming the armscye more than just sewing it in normally. I'm super weird.

I left the side and shoulder panels as a single layer cause I don't care if you can see my shoulders or my side. I sewed through paper (medical exam paper) for a lot of the shirt to keep things from puckering and it worked pretty well.

The dipped hem in the back is the perfect dip amount. Maximum flatteration.

Winter of Wearable Shirts: #1

Welcome to the first garment of the winter of wearable shirts! I need tops that are easy to wear, don't look sloppy, and are easy to clean. I've got six planned in total and am excited to throw out the holey, stretched, and pilled shirts that they will be replacing.

I've always loved eyelets, but they can end up way too cutesy for my liking. In need of inspiration I turned to google with the search term 'edgy eyelet' and found this beauty. Then The Fabric Store sent out an email showing all their stunning eyelets and I had to have some. I found this geometric, blue cotton beauty. I wanted white, but I wanted something with straight lines to make adding the insets smoother so navy it is. The insets and lining is light silk-cotton, also from The Fabric Store. Then I saw Pattern Review's Bargainista Fashionista contest and moved this project up to the front of the queue.

I used Simplicity 1366, but I belled out the sleeves and added more room at the center to make room for my ample bosom. The finished measurements on the pattern felt a bit...suffocating. I eyeballed where to add the insets, but I find when one's chest is larger, higher insets give the impression of perkier boobs. I actually had a lot of fun putting this together, it was all a big experiment. I wasn't going to add an inset to the back, but after cutting I found a huge imperfection in the eyelet and was worried that the shirt wouldn't last past a couple of wearings which would have rocketed me into a fit of depression.

I was going to make the insides so beautiful with bound seams but I ended up running out of the lining fabric because I had to double-layer it for modesty so only the shoulder seams and sleeve seams are bound, the armcycles and side-seams are pressed open and serged in navy. The neckline is bias bound as part of the pattern.

I adore this shirt. I love the dropped shoulders and the boat neck and the loose fit. Its one of the few woven shirts that actually fit without making me feel like the Hulk about to rip every seam. How awesome would this look with a pair of high-waisted white Gingers?

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.

Pattern Review: Briar by Megan Nielsen

I've always wanted a red t-shirt, isn't that cute? I was 9-or-so and I went to a birthday party and one of the other girls had a red shirt and I thought she looked so cool. I tried to make a red-T in high school, but it was one of the first times I worked with knits and the pattern was all wonky, so I tossed it. Not before trying to pawn it off on my BFF because I was hoping it was just my body being wonky, but it was wonky on her too. So I'm 28 and wearing my first successful red t-shirt. What a novella about a silly little shirt!

Well aren't I too hot to trot? Briar is a fairly trendy top, but its been out for a while I don't feel like a fashion victim in it, so maybe it isn't actually too trendy. The pattern is really nice, well done. I like the font on the pattern pieces, like Megan drew the pattern just for me. The instructions were well done too, very clear, but it is just a T so there's nothing complicated. I actually reduced the hem by a couple of inches all around and now it hits the perfect spot in the front and and the mullet isn't too long. 

Seeing how this shirt was nearly 20 years in the making I went all out and bought red serger thread since my serger was going to be prominently featured in sewing the knit together. It looks really nice on the inside, EXCEPT I was worried about ripply hems so I interfaced the hems. Now the hems flip out all the time and all you see is white interfacing. The best laid schemes of mice and men.....

That's my short hair after a nap.

So how do you keep twin-needle hems from flipping out? I'm thinking I need wider set twins, any ideas?

The fabric is organic cotton jersey from Mood, here. It has no lycra and in my opinion not enough drape for the mullet style. Can you see how it sticks out from my hips? Briar needs something drapier. Also I think some lycra content would be better because over time the neckline has stretched out and rippled something fierce. 

I now have the power to make all the red t-shirts in all the world. If my 9-year-old self could see me now.

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.....

Pattern Review: Simplicity 2584

A couple minutes after yesterday's thunderstorm.

So I have a bunch of fabric, none of which really excites me anymore. I really like the cover of Simplicity 2584, but I don't like clothes made out of stiff woven cotton and even though I knew this was going to end badly, I just went ahead and did it. So I present Simplicity 2584 in a cotton poplin. Yea.

It looks like scrubs.

It sits really very high and very far from the back of my neck.

Invisible zipper on a casual shirt? Bleh.

I was going to add the gimmicky front do-dad from the cover of the pattern but for the life of me, couldn't get it to lay flat and centered so I threw it away in disgust. I also raised the slit by 3 or so inches because, whoa, dude, that was loooow. All the facings turned out really well so it isn't a bad pattern. Everyone else seems to love it and they look great in it. I think this would be really great in a stable knit with no dumb zipper so maybe I'll just think of this as a muslin and just consider it a win.

Otherwise its already being used for a good cause.

Hey Foliage, I'm probably not going to wear that so you might as make yourself more comfortable.

 

There you go.

Pattern Review: Archer Button Up Shirt

Excuse the sweaty face, its hotter than a chicken's feathery undercarriage around these parts.

I have been in desperate need of an Archer since the handsome beauty was released. The pattern is really really fantastic. Tons of what I call precision sewing though, as in lots of top stitching very very close to the edge. I confused myself with the instructions, but that's totally my fault. I was going back-and-forth from the printed instructions to the sew-a-long and messing myself all sorts of up. The sew-a-long is really really great though.

These are a lot of really great details in this shirt, and guess what?! You can't see them because I choose the loudest, busiest fabric I could find. And I love it! There are pockets, plackets, a collar, pleats, buttons, but who would know? Its a cotton voile (my absolute favorite fabric to work with, easy to deal with yet drapey) from Fabric Place Basement near Boston. I did see the fabric online from Hart's fabric about half what I paid at FPB, wtf, but in white, not the minty blue-green here. This is also my first animal print article of clothing, how terrible is that?!

Irish descendent legs.

This pattern takes a lot of fabric. When I was getting it cut and the lady found out it was a button down, she and the other women around the cutting table was convinced I was getting too much and didn't know what I was doing. Ye of little faith.

Anyways, I'm pretty passionately in love with this shirt. I even for the first time bought a buttonhole cutter, scalpel style, because I only wanted perfect buttonholes! I called one of the local small stores in Boston to see if they carried buttonhole cutters and the response, "You can just use a seam ripper for that." I've used a seam ripper for that my entire sewing life and I hate the results. Anyways, the cutter is amazing, no threads fraying or pulled, loved it.

(do not) Pop thy collar.

I want another one of these in a black textured voile with the butt ruffle. Strike that, I need one of these in a black textured voile with a butt ruffle (one size smaller).

Melted feline with a newly shorn belly.