Leveling up on my stash busting pledge

Back in January I joined the stashbusting-sewalong and pledged to use up 12 pieces of fabric.  Well after sewing 100% from stash in the first quarter of the year I've used up 23 pieces of fabric.  Yikes, even I'm surprised.

Seems like it's high time to update that pledge so here goes...
I Heather B, rabid sewcialist pledge/buyer of too many shoes, pledge to use up 40, yes 40 pieces of stashed fabric by the end of the year.   Honestly that would only put the most minor of dents in the stash and technically I'm already half way there.

Right now my sewing table seems to be in a blue phase, Spring is making me want to sew bright colors.

Half of these blue fabric blobs are already finished. There will be fun new FO's to show you but I'm waiting for shoes, always waiting for shoes.

My TNT fitted buttondown - McCalls 5138

Hey All, it's time to round out Button Down March with a fitted button down. This one was inspired by the PR fitted blouse contest and the fact that I already had a properly domesticated pattern.

McCalls 5138 and I went 12 rounds last year but in the end I was able to beat it into submission. Then I lifted my arms in the air and yelled Adrian!!!!   Umm no wait, then I made a Joan Holloway inspired blouse. For all the gory details on that, check out this post. 

And now for the photos of me trying to look nonchalant in my front yard as neighbors walked by with their dogs. Laa laaa laaa, pay no mind to the self obsessed women next to the hedge....damn it's cold out here.

I call this one, Hey is that a plane....or maybe Superman!

While I have a strong preference for two piece collars, the combination of the one piece collar and no button band gives this pattern a vintage feel that I love.  Full flickr set here for more detail shots.

The linen was a Marcy Tilton purchase from last year.  She cleverly sent a book of linen swatches with another order and I was hooked. Why didn't I buy the metallic gray color too!

An now a final shot of this shirt properly styled for the current weather with past FO Burda leather jacket.

 Hey there ladies, just leaning up against a tree. Wanna come over and talk about sewing?

Sewaholic Cordova with GillianCrafts

Twitter pal Gillian, of Crafting a Rainbow, and I conspired together and decided we needed to sew Sewaholic Cordovas for Spring.  She didn't need to twist my arm much, the pattern was already in my stash and it seemed like a good time to jump back into jacket sewing.

Not gonna lie, going into this I had some concerns about the style.  Peplums do not look good on me.  (Why did you buy it then....because it was cute, shut-up!)  Despite knowing that I just had to make up the first muslin with all the fluffy peplum bits.

Cordova Muslin #1 - The pattern as drafted with both peplum layers.

Yeah, not so great.  The peplum says, "Heeeeeey, check out these giant hips/butt."  (Spared you the profile shot, your welcome.)  Also no collar/crew neck has never been a flattering look for me.  I was ready to give up on this pattern, but all my sewcialist friends pushed me to do some more tinkering.

Cordova Muslin #2

I drafted a collar, removed the upper peplum tier, and added more to the princess seams in the back and reduced them some in the front.  Now this had potential.

Further inspiration came from this review where Diana put contrast panels in her Cordova.  Awesome! I had to do that too and the stash had just the right fabrics to do it.

BAM, cobalt wool suiting and black faux leather.  Ohhhh Yeah I'm gonna be a faux badass!

Still have linings and zipper and other such unexciting things to do so no FO's for a bit, I got an Easter dress to finish.

Opening up the UFO Box

Last Fall I hit a wall in the sewing department.  A bunch of design ideas backfired, muslins made only to find the style didn't flatter, and fitting problems, lots of them. The end result is that everything I was sewing got shoved into a box and put away. 

None of these projects had reached the dreaded wadder status, they just needed to be ripped out again and refitted/restyled.  I didn't have the energy then but now enough time as passed to open up the UFO box.* 

(* Disclaimer, these are not all my UFO's...... only the most recent ones. There is a bunch of stuff wadded up in the back of the fabric cave that you don't even want to know about.)


 1. Purple Renfrew
This was supposed to be a quick FO to ease my sewing troubles but then the purple thread was MIA.  Looked high and low without success and finally ordered new purple thread.  The day it dropped on my doorstep I found the original purple thread in plain sight, in a location I had thoroughly searched earlier.  As a FU to the universe the cut out renfrew got thrown into the UFO box.

This week I wanted some brain dead sewing and this renfrew finally got sewn up.   So that's one UFO converted. You don't really want to see me model my millionth renfrew right?

2. Blue Peony
Made a muslin that I will swear up and down fit pretty good. (Except I might not havechecked the back.)  Made it up in the fashion fabric and surprise the back was waaaaay too big.   Fuzted around with it until giving up in disgust and throwing it in the UFO box

This seems like it would be the perfect Easter dress, if I can figure out the fitting problems in time.   I worked on this yesterday and it looks like the dress needs a sway back adjustment and to be taken in on the sides.

3. Silk magenta blouse from my shirt block
Was knocking off this Boden blouse and forgot that the sleeve I grabbed had gathers at the sleeve cap and the sleeve cuff.  When I sewed up the blouse those gathers + yoke gathers = super 80's blouse.  Not in a good way.   I disassemble the sleeves to cut the cap down and then got cranky this stupid project wasn't done yet.  Then threw it in the UFO box.

Haven't yet taken a look at this garment yet.  I can't remember if the sleeve heads are already cut down or what.  Due to the time constraint of finishing a dress by Easter this got stuffed back into the UFO box. Dumm Dummm Dummmmmm.

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Lounging Around - Maria Denmark Lounge Pants

We interrupt self proclaimed "Button Down March" to bring you lounge pants.  Cozy, cozy lounge pants.  This pattern is courtesy of Maria Denmark and is a steal at $5.20. (Less than that if you're a PR member and get it though their site).

Might used the "I saw it first" rule and stole from the kids fabric stash.  A 2 year old isn't gonna appricate fangy clouds like I will.

As with all pants patterns I took one look at the rise and said, "Well that's not gonna cover my all the junk in the truck," so the following changes were made...
Starting with a size XL
1. Dropped crotch 2 1/2" on both front and back.
2. Added 1" to the top of the back crotch at CB.

After sewing a pair up I found that the waistband was too loose and that the pants needed a tilted waist alteration. Took off the waistband and...
3. Cut down the front of the pants 1 1/2" at CF which was blended out to nothing at the side seams.
4. Took the pants in about 1/2" at CB and trimmed the waistband down the same.

Reattached the waistband and the pants were perfect!  Which is good because all my RTW knit pants are falling apart at the seams.

Front View

Back view showing the waistband.  I used a 1x1 rib knit with elastic inside of it.  If you had a knit with good recovery you could skip the elastic step. Mine did not have enough lycra content for that.

But what I really like to do in my lounge pants is read my comics.  Oh Gambit, what trouble have you gotten into this time?  

Silks for the Archer Sew-a-long

In preparation for the Archer Sew-a-long, the silk stash was tossed and several likely candidates appeared.  I'm having trouble deciding, so which one do you like the best?*  All silks are crepe de chine and have plenty of yardage for a button down.

1. Black/Green/Taupe Feathers.

2. Dealtry + Wiksten print from Spoonflower.

3. Skulls, flowers, harnesses extravaganza.

* I retain the right to pick something not even shown here. ;)

Archer Shirt - Final Fitting Alterations

Yesterday I showed you the finished photos of Archer.  Today I'm going to show you what changes were made and how they were done. Most of these are standard stuff you find in fitting text books, but sometimes it's nice to see them done on a pattern. OK, let's get started....

Forward Shoulder Adjustment -  I'm both a sloucher and have done a lot of computer work in the past, both reasons for forward shoulders.   My standard adjustment is 1/2".
Add 1/2" to the outer edge of the shoulder seam on the back yoke.  Since the sleeve head is not on the seam line make sure to also move the sleeve head notch 1/2" forward as well.

Subtract 1/2" to the outer edge of the front shoulder seam. I'm showing the front seam with the new seam drawn in but before cutting the old one off.

Doing a forward shoulder adjustment means you can't set the sleeve in flat.....unless you don't mind shaving off a little of the sleeve/back bodice.  This is not "proper" pattern drafting but I did it and the shirt still fit great.  Take 1/2" off the front of the sleeve, I took that amount off the entire length of the sleeve and adjusted the cuff as well.  You could also take the 1/2" the sleeve cap and slowly blend it into the original side seam.  Then take 1/2" off the side seam on the back.  Here I did take that amount only off the top of the side seam, blending it into the hip.

Adding a dart with out an FBA -  Sometimes you need a dart but not extra width in the garment.  No worries you can just draw a dart in. For a semi fitted look I've found what works best for me is a dart about 4" down from the armhole angled up to the bust apex.

First I mark the bust apex which I've found through a lot of trail and error on other patterns.  If you have no idea where your bust apex is, holding the pattern piece up to your body is a good way to start.  (My breast tissue is very heavy so my apex is usually way below where the big 4 mark it.) Draw a line from the bust apex to the side seam right around where you want the dart.

Now draw in a dart around that line.  Again due to past projects I know my dart needs to be 1 1/2" wide.  I found that out by making muslins, pinching out fabric for darts and measuring how much was pinched out.

You'll need the proper shape for the dart intake so add some more paper to the side seam, fold the dart like you would when you're sewing it and then cut the paper straight along the side seam.  When you open the dart back up it will have the correct angle on the edge. (Sorry about the multiple dart, had to move that sucker up)

By adding a dart you've make the side seam smaller, so more length needs to be added. Split the amount of the dart intake (in my case 3/4") and put that amount at both the top and bottom of the side seam. True the armhole and hem so that you have a nice smooth line.

Wide Upper Back - My upper back is a bit wide through the arm scye so I always add a 1/2" extra ease for free arm movement.  Usually I slash through both the yoke and the back shirt and put a small dart in the back shoulder seam.  However Archer has a wrap around yoke and a dart would look very strange coming over the shoulder to the front.  Fortunately compared with my shirt block, Archer had about the right amount of width in the yoke.  So today I'm only going to be enlarging the main back piece.
First a slashing line was drawn on the back - measures in 2 1/2" from armhole edge on the yoke seam and 1 1/4" down from the armhole seam.

This line is cut and slid out 1/2"  Then the side seam is trued up and the size of the pleat increased so that the back will fit into the yoke.

Sway Back - Lots of extra fabric at your center back that pools up when the hem of your shirt hits your butt? I got that in spades. My usual sway back alteration is to pinch out 1".

The lengthen/shorten line is usually a good place to put the sway back alteration.  I put mine right above it.  Mark out the amount of fabric you want to remove, (in my case 1") pleat the pattern so that you take out the full amount at CB but none at the side seam. Tape that sucker down and you're done.

Huzzah, fitting changes are done!  Finger guns for everybody. Phew Phew Phew!  Now go make this wonderful pattern.