Plaid Wintertime Jumper

I'm so glad I got this done before spring came! Last week Mood did a blog post that began with "Done with winter sewing?"  and I thought, "No, I'm not done, Mood! Stop stressing me out!"

The insides. Silk lining with lace detail at the hem.

The Materials 

The pattern for this is from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing. She has a few "base" patterns in her book, as well as several ways that you can modify them. This is the Sultry Sheath pattern, modified with a square neckline to be a wintertime jumper. 

I got this lovely wool fabric from Hart's Fabric in Santa Cruz, CA when I was out visiting for my sewing workshop. It's so soft and warm! 

Oxford agrees. He found the scraps to be excellent for napping.

Matching Plaid is Hard

This was my first time matching plaid, and let me tell you, it's not for the faint of heart. Lucky for me, I'm stubborn and really love wearing plaid, so I soldiered on. I spent a lot of time pinning and basting while watching episodes of "The Dick Van Dyke Show".

What went wrong: 

1. I like to have a glass of wine or two on occasion while I'm stitching away. This is less than an ideal combination for matching plaid. It usually results in stitch ripping and swearing.

2. This dress has four darts under the bust, and I've decided it's impossible to match plaid with two darts right next to each other. The first one throws everything else cattywampus. Maybe it's achievable by a better seamstress than I.

3. I selected an "uneven plaid", which isn't impossible to match, but definitely harder. Romy warned me about this, but like an idiot I said, "Oh, of course. Don't buy uneven plaid." without understanding what that was until I was sewing with it. 

I later found this great documentation from The University of Kentucky on working with plaid that helped me understand this one. 

Yup, I was sewing with uneven. Source

 And sometimes you have to make concessions on matching areas like this. Source.

It would have been great if I found that in the beginning instead of the end, though. Instead I spent a week yelling at the plaid, "I'M PRETTY SURE IT'S AGAINST THE LAWS OF PHYSICS THAT THIS COULD MATCH." And I totally matched above the dart instead of below. 

Good Tutorials on Matching Plaid: 

Sewaholic- Matching Plaids: A Step-by-Step Guide

Coletterie - Tutorial: How to Match Plaids and Stripes

Drafting Necklines is Even Harder

This was also my first time drafting a neckline on a pattern, and I kind of goofed. Believe it or not, I did two muslins before I sewed on my fashion fabric, so I thought I had this problem fixed. I did a forward-shoulder adjustment, narrow shoulder adjustment, and added width to the straps all while in muslin form. Then I tried tweaking when I got to fashion fabric and found out it was still a problem. I was starting to muck up the bust area, though, so I gave up...

A wobbly bit I'm glad I can hide with a cardigan.

I don't think I understand enough about drafting, and clearly I had some fit problems here. So I think I will finally get around to reading Make Your Own Dress Patterns by Adele P. Margolis. I read The Dressmaking Book and loved how she explained why you do things in addition to how. Plus, she was a sassy writer and sometimes her prose makes me chuckle. 

Adele will help me understand what went wrong! 

Off to read and contemplate my next project!

Mema's Pencil Skirt

The Materials

A little while back, we were going through my Mema's house to prepare to sell it. I ended up finding a long forgotten fabric stash in a closet. I used a lot of the scrap materials to make my mama a quilt, but I also found two yards of this wonderful 1960s fabric that feels like a cross between a polyester and a knit to me.

It needed a good washing, and a spritz of white vinegar, to get the smell out, but after that it was as good as new. I immediately knew I wanted to make a pencil skirt out of it, and Simplicity 2154 from their Vintage line seemed like the perfect fit. 

The Pattern, Simplicity 2154

 The Skirt

So here she is! I took a trip out to the capitol building today and decided to bring along my grandpa's old American Tourister suitcase just for photo fun. One of the perks of living in Austin is that no one really bats an eye at this sort of thing. 

What I'd Change 

I did do a muslin of this one to test the fit, but I ended up adding an extra inch at the waist and I wish I wouldn't have. I didn't take into account the fact that this fabric has a bit more give than the muslin I was working with and it's a bit big at the waist. 

I also didn't match the pattern on the fabric and really should have. I still love it, though, and it's perfect for wearing to the office. And it makes me feel a bit like Joan Holloway, which is always an added bonus. 

What's Next

I'm heading to Quiltcon tomorrow, and I'm so excited to get inspired by some beautiful quilts and maybe even bump into some of my favorite bloggers. I'm also hoping I can finish a plaid jumper I've been working on from Gertie's book before the last bit of cold eeks it's way out of Austin.

Happy weekend!

Why Rosie Wednesday?

Rosie and Wednesday are the names of my Janome sewing machines.

I purchased them with the money from a summer job when I was 17 and quickly learned that they had personalities all their own. Plus, I am fond of giving names to inanimate objects.

Rosie 

Rosie is named after Rosie from the Jetson's. Rosie on the Jetson's is warm and helpful, although sometimes stern. That pretty much sums up how I feel about Rosie the sewing machine. I had been sewing on a broken down Singer of my mother's from the 1970s, so I felt like I had just gotten a helpful robot to help me in my sewing endeavors. 

Rosie and Rosie. 

Wednesday

Wednesday is my serger, and she is named after Wednesday Addams. At first, my serger had the infuriating habit of coming unthreaded while I was sewing. It would also break and throw needles. Given this tendency  which I often viewed to be rather sinister and cruel as it always came at the worst time in a project, and the fact that sergers have knives for trimming the fabric as it goes, I decided to name my serger after the macabre and solemn Wednesday from the Addams family. 

Turns out I just needed to learn the right needle size for the fabric I was sewing, how to adjust the tension, and how to properly thread it. Even still, I'm convinced my serger has an evil streak. 

Wednesday and Wednesday.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Magical Sewing Weekend

I am diving into this whole blogging thing at last! I spent last weekend at a sewing workshop with Gretchen, from Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing, the whimsical and talented fabric designer Heather Ross, and 24 other seamstresses. How could I not talk about it!?

The Workshop

The workshop was a three-day affair at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, CA. It was idyllic and rustic and just perfect. It was also the first woman's camp in the country, I learned from Ranger Roxanne, where they taught women sewing and typewriting skills. So it was pretty spot on for this group. 

That's a picture from hotels.com because I was too busy sewing to take proper pictures of the venue.

The Pattern 

Since Gertie was going to be in attendance, I wanted to sew something from her new book. I selected the Shirtwaist Dress because (a) I love shirtwaist dresses, and (b) the elastic shirring and fit of a button down made me feel nervy.  I will tell you after the fact, though, that shirring is not hard at all (just put elastic thread in the bobbin) and it has the added bonus of making your dress feel like sweat pants without looking like them. 

A few weeks before the workshop, I found out that Katrina, of Susie Homemaker MD, would be joining us and sewing the pattern as well. So we helped each other out with the muslin as we went along. It was so nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of! 

I ended up doing two drafts of the bodice in muslin form. Fitting patterns for sewing is such a testament to me of the importance of a good fit. 

Draft 1 (your right) and 2 (your left). Moving those pleats down and adjusting the darts made me look like I lost 15 pounds! So I went and ate another girl scout cookie. 

The Women 

All the women were just so wonderful. My mother came along for the trip to read and enjoy the scenery, and she just kept saying, "Sewing people are such good people." 

Gretchen was so sweet and such a great teacher. She kindly brought along her shirtwaist dress, and it was damned exciting to get to look at her construction details. Heather Ross was an amazing host and equally exceptional teacher. We also had a professional seamstress in our midst, who put the loveliest details on her clothes (oh the ric rac edging!). It was also so wonderful to meet Katrina and sew with her in person as well! I find it's always good to meet people in person that you've given all your measurements to.

Now I'll Stop Gushing and Just Show You More Pictures

 Drinking champagne and sewing by the fire. Can't complain. 

 With Gretchen! Sewing is fun and funny. 

Completed shirtwaist dress. I got the fabric on a recent family vacation to Hawaii. So bright and cheery!

Now comes the crucial question - what to sew next?!