Mad Men Inspired Blouse - McCall's M5138

Joan's fabulous even when blurry.

While watching Mad Men I secretly labor under the delusion that I can wear whatever Christina Hendricks does.  She's the only reason I bought Colette's clover pattern, because if Joanie looks good in cigarette pants than maybe I can pull that off too.

This season I was completely taken with this short sleeve button down shirt Joan wears after telling her husband to take a hike. (See sadly blurry photo to right.) My brain said, "wait there's a pattern almost exactly like that just sitting in the stash. All it needs is a little sleeve redraft."
Most of the hard fitting work on this pattern had been done last year then I was trying to make a banded collar blouse with ruffles.  I got bored with that project and moved on, but not before hammering out a pretty decently fitting blouse.

Alterations made included....
1. Full bust adjustment with an additional lowering of the bust dart.
2.  Forward shoulder adjustment of about 1/2".
3.  Lowering the armhole around 3/4".
4. Adding a little extra width to the back armhole.
5. Moving the location, length and width of all the fish-eye darts.
6. Shorted the 3/4 length sleeve and added a sewn on cuff.
7. Adding almost an 1" to the side seams in the hip area.
8. Reducing the sleeve cap ease about an 1".

The worst part of the fitting process was getting the darts right. The back darts seemed too close to the side seams.  I moved them some what closer to center back.  Because of my sway back the dart intake was increased and the leg of the dart lengthened. On the front the dart intake had to be reduced to almost nothing.  Truth is I don't really need a dart in this location but like the look of one.

As great as Joan looks in rosebud gingham that's something I couldn't pull that off, so out came this long stashed cotton blouse weight. 

Blurry cherry blossoms from Emma one sock years and years ago.

It must have been meant to be because there was just enough yardage in the roll end cut to make this blouse.

Ta Daaaa,  the finished product.....

Front and back view worn with Colette Clover Capri length pants.

A few style changes were made, I lengthened the blouse and retained the shirt tail hem from the pattern.  A cuff was added to the sleeves because they needed a little something to keep them from looking dowdy.

A little detail montage. All photos can be seen larger on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/froggiegirl/sets/72157630363323714/

I'm already thinking this pattern needs to be made in a solid color with patch pockets!

Happy 4th of July

I made deviled eggs.

And feta dip

Stood in a wading pool with my son

Colette Iris shorts,  Hot Patterns Riviera Once, Twice, Three times T-shirt

And got a little sewing done on muslins for Grainline Studio's Scout Tee and Sewaholic's Thurlow shorts.

Hope everyone had a great day with plenty of tasty food. :)

Next Up....

On the sewing table, a muslin for Pattern Runway's Easy Kimono Sleeve dress.  Did all the work tracing the pattern and bumping up the sizing to XL months ago but didn't get around to making a muslin. I'm planning on using one of my stashed silks for the actual dress, but isn't this cheap Jo-Ann's polyester fun!

Next to review - McCall's M5138 a finished blouse that looks almost exactly like the technical drawing.  You'd never know I made about 5 muslins. Ughhhhhh.

Summer Sewing - Colette Iris Shorts

I've had a personal ban on wearing shorts for a couple of years now.  My legs are not one of my personal assets and I prefer to keep them covered with capri pants or knee length skirts.  However due to global weirding, summers on Pa are becoming 100 degree affairs with only short bursts of lower temps.  Add to that an almost 2 year old that I have to run after, shorts suddenly seemed like a necessity.

If you have to make shorts why not make cute ones? Enter Colette patterns Iris short.  Yeah I bought it when it was released, even though I don't like shorts.  They were just tooooo cute.  So here they are in Kelly green on a size 16 girl.

It actually was 100 when taking these photos.

Was able to take all my pants fitting changes from Colette Clover pants and transfer then directly to these shorts. 

My final alterations were....
- Scaling back the crotch length to an additional 1/4" on both front and back.
- Adding 3" to the center back, while keeping the side seam the original size. Changing the darts to be 3.5" long and an 1" wide. Also angled the CB seam line in to shave off some ease. The flat pattern looks disgusting but the pants fit me great.
- Lowering the crotch curve on the back about 3/4".
- Straightening the front crotch seam for a full stomach.
- Adding 1/4" on the top of the side seams as my waist is a bit too wide for the size 14 measurements. (Size 16 is way too big on me so I use the size 14 and scale up the waist a tad)
-  Added 2" of length to the legs.
- Reducing the flair of the legs by taking in at the side seam 1/2" and 1/4" at the inseam.

I really love the inseam pockets, which have an optional detail of a button closure. Cute retro flavor and a place to keep your keys.


Thanks to some left over scraps from a recently completed blouse, my Iris shorts got some sweet coordinating pockets.


I'd highly recommend this pattern.  The shorts are simple to make, very comfortable to wear and a little different than what you'd find in a store.  Another winner from Colette Patterns!

Anthropologie Blouse Knock-Off

Isn't annoying when you find a piece of clothing you really like, but only comes in a color that makes you look like an extra from the walking dead?

I recently had this experience when I ran across this lovely blouse from Anthropologie.

It's like butttta! Fancy fancy butter!

Pretty details, comfortable fit, but alas it only came in the current "hot" color a dark yellow.  Usually I would have just sighed and moved on, but those scallops keep me obsessively stalking the Anthropologie website wondering how they were cut.  Finally I gave in and ordered one to find out.

Scallops on scallops.

The original blouse is made out of a drapey polyester with a crepe texture.  Upon close inspection it seems a laser cutter was used to cut the scallops.  This allowed the designers to cut a delicate pattern and at the same time melt the polyester edge so it would not fray.  Pretty ingenious!  Now I really wanted this blouse in another color, but it where to start?


Looking through the pattern stash Simplicity 2246, View B seemed the best base pattern for this project.  It has the same semi-fitted shape with a bust dart and 3/4 length sleeves.  I traced off the size 16, decreased the length to around 26" and made up a muslin to check the basic fit. The pattern needed my standard fitting changes -  A forward shoulder adjustment of 1/2",  the hip ease bumped up to the next size and the Bust dart lowered and inch.  (Note:  I did not need to do a complete FBA because extra width was not needed across the bust.  So I cut out the dart, lowered it an inch and then reblended the side seam.)

The style changes made to the pattern were far more excessive. Here is a quick overview of what I did, all measurements are made from the seam allowance in.

1. To approximate the slight v at the top of the button band I marked 1/2 inch in at the top of the button band and 7 inches down the length.  Connected these two marks to make the angle and redrew the seam allowance.  Also cut down the neck line curve by 1/2" at the CF blending it out to nothing at the shoulder seam.

2. Added yoke lines to both the front and back.  Front yoke is parallel to the shoulder seam and is 2 5/8 inches deep from shoulder seam allowance.  Back yoke is 3 inches down from the shoulder seam.  Used a hip curve to draw a shaped yoke line similar to the original blouse.

3. Added additional ease to the lower back yoke line by slashing and spreading.

4. Added a vertical seam  3/4 inch away from the CF for insertion of second row of scallops.  (See Photo)

The second row of scallops is sewn into it's own seam instead of the button band.

5. Lengthen sleeve to 17 inches (+ seam allowance).  Added a slit for a continuous sleeve placket and redrew the bottom of the sleeve with the classic curve of a sleeve with a placket.  Then added fullness to the sleeve by slashing and spread along the entire length.   A new cuff was drafted at 15" x 3.5" (+ seam allowance).

6. Drafted a new pattern for the collar, button band, and the scalloped trim detail at the center front.


All these changes took a lot of tinkering and several muslins, but I'm very pleased with the final result.

The fabric is a beautiful green Sueded stretch crepe de chine silk from Gorgeous Fabrics.  I used Sunni's tip for cutting slippery fabrics and highly recommend it.  There was only a little creep when cutting the very narrow pieces like the button band.

My scallops where created using a fancy stitch on the sewing machine. My process was to cut a block of silk big enough for the pattern piece. Then using a fabric marker trace the scalloped edge on the fabric. Next I top-stitched directly on the marked line using the fancy stitch. The scallops need a little something extra so I went back in and added a straight stitch about 1/4 inches away from the fancy stitch. All the stitching was complete so the scalloped edge was then cut out by hand very close to the stitching. It was a long process, especially when you only have 1 hour blocks of sewing!

A few shot of the details...

Another tutorial I found very helpful was Gertie's one on self covered buttons.  The thin silk was looking lumpy on the edges when using the directions on the back of the Dritz package.  Gertie's method of gathering the fabric circle first makes them come out looking great.  If you are using 1/2" buttons like me you'll want to put the gathering stitch in by hand.  I also found the little jig very helpful to put the buttons together at that size.  

Finally for those of you who love the inside of a garment as much as the outside..... a little photo montage.

French seams on the vertical, self enclosed yoke, armhole seams overlocked.

Sewing Goals for 2012

1. Catalog the stash
What I really want is a Ravelry type stash page for fabric, but unless I get some magic genie wishes that isn't going to happen. After losing a couple of digital databases I'm going old school with a swatch book. Thanks to Sew Weekly I'm ready to start having printed out some of their lovely swatch cards.

2. Sew more from the stash
Let's be truthful, I should sew only from the stash but the thought of not buying any pretty new fabric makes me a little stabby.  The plan right now is to alternate sewing one garment from stash and the next from new purchases.  We'll see how long that lasts.

3. Educate myself more
I've been sewing a long time, but frankly some of the stuff I don't know is embarrassing.  Like matching needle sizes to fabric, just found out about that a couple of months ago.  I thought I knew how to press correctly but Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics showed me that I know nothing.  This week I was having a horrible time stitching in the ditch.  Guess what, there's a foot for that.  But you knew that didn't you. :)

4. Try new things
Once you can semi-competently sew clothing in certain fabrics it easy to stay in that comfort zone. 
I'd like to branch out and try some things that look difficult.  Maybe sew up that georgette in the stash or take a stab at bra-making.

5. Add a little more color into my wardrobe.
At heart I'll always be a girl who loves black, gray and denim but I'm getting a little bored with all my neutrals.  A few brightly colored tops might add a little pizazz while still coordinating with my beloved neutrals.

My knitting mojo is on vacation

First of all thank you commenters for the boy sweater suggestions. Perhaps if my knitting mojo would return from where ever it is hiding I'd cast on one of those cute sweaters,

I'm not sure why my mojo has left the building but here are my top 3 hunches.

3. I'm cold sheeping.
Back in March I joined the Stash and Burn cold sheep thread since my stash had been making me feel a bit overwealmed for awhile. Overall this was a good decision. It caused me pull the trigger on some yarn/pattern combinations that had been sitting in my brain for awhile. It also made me realize that if I don't knit new purchases in a timely manner that the yarn sinks to the bottom of the stash bog for all eternity. And sale yarn, just don't buy it Heather cause you never never never knit it. (You just look at it in disgust later.)
However...... I will admit that sometimes going and buying a sexy new yarn is just the thing to snap you out of a knitting slump. Has my stash turned boring or is the problem that...

2. I've been knitting nothing but socks.
The biggest part of my stash is sock yarn so in May I went on a crazy sock knitting spree.
First I paired a Hazel knits sock club color "Aloha" with Knitspot's Chicklets pattern and knocked them out in only a week.

Great TV knitting by the way.

Next was a combination that had been in the brain for years, Claudia Handpaint's "Sea Dreams" made up into Knitty's Azure socks.


Then I cast on Cat Bordhi's Jeweled Steps and Knitspot's David sock and made it through one of each pattern before fizzling out. Is second sock syndrome to blame or is it that....

1. I'm a giant pregnant woman who can't get cool.

Sir snacks is getting pretty big, I'm already carrying around 40 extra pounds and window AC units do not cool the house the way central air does. Blahhhh it's going to be a long summer.