Vogue 8386 Dress

I've been so preoccupied with my photo situation that I forgot to write up about my latest sewing project. This is Vogue 8386, a soft summer dress sewn with a stash knit from EOS, probably what she calls buttermilk, a poly jersey. It has a self lined bodice that is lapped and gathered. The skirt has 5 panels with the center front panel gathered a little bit. I made view A but when I got done it seemed incomplete somehow. So I made a sash with the remnant (it's length was determined by the available leftover piece) and attached it as an after thought. It is not like view B which has a sash set into the side seams. To make it stay in place and not twist all the time, I stitched it to the skirt seams, gathering up the fullness of the skirt.

The bodice is very low cut on this dress. I raised to neckline a little bit when I cut it out. Then I overlapped the fronts more than suggested and stitched the overlap together for about 3 inches. If you don't do this the opening will be below your bosom.

I also eliminated the zipper. I don't get why it is suggested since this is for stretch knits only. Since the neckline is so wide open so low it is easy to get into it without the zip.

Photo stress

I worked all day yesterday on my online photo albums which have been transfered from Yahoo Photos to Flickr. !?#@!?**! I think all the photos made it in the transfer but at least 30% were sideways and needed to be rotated. Another 30% were duplicated, some 3 or 4 times. Some were not in the albums they belonged in. You get the picture. But the biggest disaster, which I expected to happen, is that none of the links in all of my reviews at PatternReview will work anymore. I would have thought they would at least have a direct link to my albums at Flickr but no. So now I must go back and enter the new URLs to each photo on every review. Or not. I haven't decided if I can stand to do that. Maybe just the reviews from this year. I just went through this same problem a few months ago when Yahoo Photos switched to New Yahoo Photos. How many times will I have to do this?

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Vogue 8397 Pant with Sewing Workshop Vest

Here are my second pants from the Marcy Tilton pant pattern. This is view A with the shaped legs. These are really fun. They remind me of pants I have seen at some upscale boutiques with Japanese clothing. The pattern says this is for knit fabrics only but I don't see why. There is a lot of ease and the elastic waist. I think you just need a very drapey fabric. I cut size 12 which is one size down from my measurements based on my experience with view B. I compared crotch depth and found this view to have a 2 inch higher crotch than view B so I didn't change it. Odd because these pants seem to be the baggier style and the line drawing appears to show a lower crotch on view A. I also tapered the seams in at the waist as I did on the other pair to reduce a little of the extra ease at the elastic waist. And as before I changed the elastic application to my favorite stretch, serge and turn technique. Nice weight jersey from Fabrix in SF. The top is Sewing Workshop's Hong Kong Vest which I made quite a long while ago.

Finishing up day

Today I will try to finish 3 projects: the black rayon jersey pants from Marcy Tilton's pant pattern Vogue 8397, the buttermilk jersey graffiti print dress Vogue 8386, and the ancient Burda twist top. I cut out the twist top at least a year ago after I gave the first one I made to my DIL. Why have I never sewn this up? The pants and dress I have been working on this week, both quick projects, just needing hems and a sash for the dress. I think winners on both.

Also I've been struggling with my embroidery software to figure out how to import some fonts I bought into the program to use efficiently. I may have to call the dealer for help as I haven't found answers in the help manual.

Sewing Workshop Mimosa Top White

I made this before out of 2 red rayon batik prints. I like that top but felt it was a wee bit large. This time I cut one size smaller and as before, made no alterations. How fun is that, no alterations. It fits better at the shoulders, across the back, actually everywhere. It may be just a tiny bit snug across the bust since I didn't do a FBA but not much. I really like this garment best when it is buttoned asymetrically but that doesn't seem to look right with this top. Because it is white the under layer shows through and looks odd when it is sloped downward for the lower buttoning. So I will wear it with the straight across buttoning.

Vogue 8397 Marcy Tilton pant

These are pull-on pants that are described as loose-fitting through the hip. I sewed view B which is tapered with side panels (no side seams), buttonhole and button tabs.
They were very simple to sew but required fit alterations to look good on me. The fabric is a permanently wrinkled/crinkled black polyester I think.

I cut a size 14 as per my measurements although, looking at the depth of the crotch I decided to cut that a size 10 to make it higher. I usually need to make a 14 in skirts or pants. After sewing the pants enough to try on I could see that they would be too big. They are described as loose fitting so I wasn't surprised by this but didn't like the look on me. After all I am only 5'3". I took in all vertical seams to size 12. I also tapered the front and back crotch seam in at the waist. This took out a lot of excess so the gathering around the waist is minimal. Now they looked much better around but the crotch seam was very low. This was easily remedied by cutting 2 inches off the top of the waistline. These were very easy alterations that could be done after cutting and sewing. I always like that so you don't have to get too stressed when cutting out.

I had intended these pants to be full length so I hadn't done my usually shortening when cutting out. However, since I took 2 inches off at the waist, they became the length shown on the pattern. I like this length anyway as it shows off the tab better. I also changed the elastic application technique at the waist. Instead of making a casing as suggested I applied the elastic to the edge and turned/top-stitched.

These are very comfy and stylish I think. I will enjoy wearing them. The top is Sewing Workshop Mimosa top which I will post about next.

Mimosa Top and Marcy Tilton Pant

I finished my crinkled outfit and I love it. I'm really going to enjoy wearing this. Sharon asked me how to deal with crinkled fabric. I guess my answer is, it depends. This particular fabric doesn't seem to grow or stretch at all. The crinkles are like permanently pressed wrinkles. Even ironing doesn't change them much. Other crinkled fabric I have used has been very different. Some stretch a lot during construction and even more when wearing. Some are okay with sewing and wearing but washing changes it a lot. The best thing is to test first to see what will happen. If it seems to stretch while sewing and wearing, then stretch it by ironing first. The worst I ever worked with was a beautiful micro pleated silk chiffon. Chiffon is bad enough but I discovered that the pleats were not permanently set. So any ironing I did erased the pleats. What a nightmare!

Photo crisis

I just heard that Yahoo Photos is closing in a few months. Egad! I have thousands of photos there. I read that they will transfer the photos over to Flickr in due time and that they will be moved intact. That is they will remain in their albums. I sure hope so. I spent long enough organizing them. But I am willing to bet that all the links to my reviews on PatternReview will be broken. I already fixed many of the links when they changed to the New Yahoo software a while back but not all. It just takes so long. So starting now I will start putting my photos in Flickr. I've been fiddling around there but it will take some getting used to as it is quite different.

FabriX in SF

I finally got a chance to work on the black and white crinkled fabrics I cut out last week. I bought these fabrics at FabriX in SF a while back when I took my friend Dorothy there for her first exposure to this wonderful store. She is new to sewing and was amazed by the choices there since her only fabric shopping so far had been in JoAnn's and a quilting store. FabriX has bargains galore all stacked in rolls, either $1.99/yd or $3.99/yd. There are some fancy silks and embroideries that are more but still at a fraction of the usual cost. It really helps to know something about fabric to make your selections although the ladies working there are very helpful if they are not too busy.
I'm making the Sewing Workshop Mimosa top from the white and the new Marcy Tilton pants pattern (Vogue 8397) from the black. I have enough left over of each to make something else. Maybe a bias shell. I'm making view B of the pants which has a tab at the lower leg. It needs one button on each leg. You'd think with all the thousands of buttons I have I would have 2 matching simple black buttons, but no. I will have to go out and buy 2 buttons to finish these. The pants are very simple to sew but I will have a lot to say about sizing when I review these. I also hope to make view A, which calls for a knit fabric, from another piece I bought that day at FabriX.

Sing Like Nobody's Listening

I needed something for a memory book we are making for the outgoing team leader of my chorus. I decided to do something a little different from the cards, photos or stories that most are doing. We sang "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin Along" this year at the Regional Competition so when I found this embroidery I was delighted. I added the chorus name and date to the design and stitched it out. Then I discovered that the size of the memory book is a bit smaller than I had thought. The sides are folded back to fit in the page sleeve..... not as much border as I would like but it will have to do.