McCall's 6844: Fifth Time's A Charm

I'm feeling pretty good about the fit on this, but I know it's one of those pieces that owes everything to the fabric:

 

This ponte's got good drape but it has too much synthetic in it for my liking.

This overexposed shot is very similar to the one of Version 1, see photo below, which is why I've included it...

If you compare it with the original version below (which was already somewhat pattern-altered), you can see how much fit refinement has actually occurred over the course of this process:

See that fluttery fabric at the hem-line. That's because there's way too much of it. Even though this isn't the peplum version of the pattern, you can see how it's been drafted with the peplum in mind.

Version 5 (the blue one) still closes over the bust area, and then some. But at least now, there aren't 4 inches of excess fabric on either side of the placket at the waist. BTW, you can read about muslin 2 and muslin 3 here. Muslin 2 shows the ridiculous amount of fabric at the waist, in some ways better than version 1 (grey photo above).

What's Different Between Muslin 1 (slightly pattern-altered) and Muslin 5 (very altered, almost there):

• The shoulders are 2 inches narrower on each side of version 5, as compared with version 1. Yes, you read that right. What you can't see in version 1 (the grey one, above) is that the shoulder seams were hanging off of my dress form - and its shoulders are considerably wider than mine.

• The shape and size of the sleeve head and sleeve have been changed substantively (to be made smaller in some ways and larger in others). The shoulder is rotated forward to accommodate my imperfect posture.

• Version 5 is 2 inches longer below the waist and the up-down hem is now straight.

• Version 5 is narrower at the side seams than version 1.

• Version 5 is shaped over the bust (the underbust to hem has been narrowed at the side front where it meets the front band). I also did an upper bust "small bust adjustment" which, it became apparent after version 4 (unphotographed), would be necessary. This is effectively a hollow chest alteration. I don't have a hollow upper chest but that's how my proportions read when you compare the projection of my full bust with my upper chest measurement. There was some puffing above the full bust till I narrowed the side front where it meets the front band. In case I ever want to feel like a buxom cartoon, here's my chance.

• Version 5 has a 1 inch swayback adjustment, so the piece now has a back seam. Note: I don't have a swayback any more than I have a hollow upper chest, but if the alteration works... It's my way of removing excess length to suit my short waist, while maintaining length required to fall properly over the full bust at the front.

Specifically, in the last alteration session (changes to Version 4, see bottom of post, which produced version 5):

• I cut another 1/2 inch of width from each shoulder seam.

• I resized the armscye and sleeve head. The underarms were given a bit of extra fabric with horizontal stretch. But I also made the armhole shorter. The sleeve was narrowed.

• I did the hollow chest / small upper bust adjustment by cheating: I created a version of the side front piece altered by a 1 inch wide / 4 inches long fish-eye dart from the shoulder seam to just above the nipple. I closed the dart on paper and put it atop the muslin 4 version of the piece. I then adjusted the shoulder and upper chest to account for the narrowed dimensions produced by the dart.

• I straightened the hem.

What is the final, necessary alteration (as far as I can tell at this time)?

• I need to take another 0.5 inches from the back length at the waist because there's still a bit of pooling.

IMO, mine is a chic-er and more elegant version of the original design, which is no doubt why I worked through 5 muslins to get here.

What's wrong with McCall's 6844, as originally drafted?

• It's vanity sized into stupidity. And to confuse matters still further, version 5 is a modified XS but the pattern, according to dimensions, suggests that I should have cut a Large.  (I started with a medium.)

• It's drafted for a voluptuous apple-shape - but it doesn't refer to the pattern as plus sized. The result is that many people make it way too big.

• The shoulders would only work on a very wide frame.

Anyway, that's what I got. I'm happy with the fit, less happy with the fabric, but next I'm going to refine the pattern for stretch wovens and make a version that looks like a casual, but tailored jacket to go with a matching skirt or pants. I've also half considered buying this to make a matching, ponte skirt.

Today's questions: I'd love to know if you can see the difference in versions the way that I can. Maybe it's one of those things that's much more notable in real life than in pics? Do you like the latest (almost final and totally wearable) version? If you've made this, did you make a lot of alterations to improve the fit? Let's talk!

What Am I Up To?

Not sure if you know this, but I really don't like Easter. IMO, it's the worst of all the holidays. As a child, I had to go to church on all three days (Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday). The meal never appealed to me. There was always tons of cleaning up that somehow was delegated to me. And it inevitably fell in the week of my mother and sister's birthdays (and now my kid's). So there was already tons of hoopla happening and none of it was about me. Not to mention that the weather on Easter, in TO, always sucks. To wit: today, there's snow on the ground.

(Lest I hear about this on the flip side, I will disclose that my parents always got us excellent, little Easter-morning gifties and left a rhyming poem from the Easter Bunny to give us hints about where they were hidden. But, sorry, nothing could make up for the endless church-going.)

So I don't celebrate. Of course, it would be utter hypocrisy for me to celebrate, what with my not being a practicing religious person. But I don't even get into it culturally. Really, I prefer Passover as a holiday. It seems more lively, though it could benefit from a nice spiral ham :-).

Lest you think I never eat an Easter dinner, most years my best friend Hilary invites my family to her house, along with her family. Sadly, her aunt recently died (one of the long-standing wonderful participants), and this year, naturally, the celebration is being held very close.

The upshot is that I don't have a damn thing planned for this long weekend - unless you count my kid's 15th birthday dinner (which happened on Thursday), dinner with friends (that was Friday) and a big-ass chicken tonight (cuz Scott feels it's sad not to eat a roast of some sort when other people are doing the same).

As a result, I've been doing all the Kristin-things:

• I'm getting there with my skin care "brand". I've done a lot of work to improve my labels and, while there are many glitches still to correct, I'm on the right track.

• Made skin-care: Lotion A, Deodorant A (this time it worked!), Serum A (I go through this stuff). (I can't keep my potions in stock because everyone I know wants them. Makes me feel very popular, in truth.)

• Bought more freakin' ponte from FabricLand. While this isn't like me, earlier in the week, I decided to buy the additional amounts I required (to bolster amounts of left-over fabric, after making every possible muslin for McCall's 6844) without bringing swatches to the store. I've given all of the muslins away (they were VERY popular with friends) but I didn't want to waste the 1/2 metre remaining, of all the fabrics, when I could just buy another metre and have enough to make them all again (or something else, for novelty). How hard could it be, I mused, to remember which bolts I'd already purchased from? Well, apparently harder than you'd think. It's amazing how I messed up, given that there were only 4 blue fabrics to choose from. So I had to go back and buy more in the actual colours I have remnants of, and more in the colours I'd erroneously bought on Monday. Let's just say my plan backfired but I sure do have a lot of blue ponte in the stash right now.

• I finally implemented the alterations to the next version of McCall's 6844. One should always do this immediately after making the last muslin. I started the process but lost interest (having sewed all day prior to realizing that muslin 4 was also a bust). Yesterday I spent quite some time remembering what I wanted to do and implementing the changes. Lord, I do hope muslin 5 is the well-fitted final or I do think I'm done with this.

• I'm currently sewing McCall's 6844 muslin 5. Hope to have this done today...

• I'm also knitting sock 1 of Kristin's Simple Sock Recipe. Note: This has been in the works for a while but I can't knit for more than 10 minutes at a time without taking a break, so who knows when we'll see the finished pair. How cruel to realize that I cannot live without handknit lounge socks at a time when knitting binges cause pain.

So that's my weekend. But what about you? Do you celebrate Easter (or some sort of holiday on this long weekend)? Are you working on your special fun crafts? What's up with you? Let's talk!

Updated: McCall's 6844 Muslin 3: We're Getting There...

...But there will be another muslin (which we can always hope becomes a perfectly fitting finished garment).

In the interests of following this process along, here's the latest muslin ( number 3):

By contrast, here are muslins 1 and 2.

First up, let me tell you what's still wrong with Muslin 3:

• Had to do armscye/shoulder surgery yet again. The shoulders are still way too wide (you can't so much see it because I fixed the problem on the fly) and the sleeve head too tall. Problem with this jacket is in retaining the necessary overall length of the sleeve head while continuing to eat away at length on the armscye (by continuing to narrow the shoulders). Don't know if I've fixed this, but we're about to see...

•  Did a 1/4" forward shoulder adjustment. I rarely do these but it seems warranted with this (fitted) jacket. This alteration always confuses the crap out of me...

• I don't like the angled hem (it looks bad on a busty frame, IMO). Opted to straighten it for a true blazer look.

• The back needs a wedge taken out of it (my back is small in width an length but my boobs are proportionately large.) This swayback adjustment, for a short-waisted, busty frame, acts as an equalizer of length between the front and back bodice. It's how I get the front to be long enough without having the back become too long. I do not have a sway back, interestingly enough. Note: This alteration necessitates a seam down the centre back of the garment. I'm cool with that. I like shaping and seams allow for shaping on a curvy frame.

• But the biggest issue is still this (sorry for the bad photo - navy is hard to shoot):

See how it's shapeless below the bust? That's where we're at after removing 4 inches of fabric (2 from each side) where the princess side front meets the collar (it goes down the entire length of the garment).

Yeah - I don't really get this. In what universe is this an attractive line?

So here's my latest fix - on top of the one that removed the 4 inches from the side piece / collar:

Look at the middle piece (it's the side front). See how I've inserted 2 darts? They're not actually darts, cuz I smushed them out and trued the bottom of the piece. This is how I've opted to add still more shaping to that piece. You'll note that I actually added back a bit of the width on the collar (where it would meet the princess seam (right piece, left side). That's because I don't want it to appear to narrow (even though it does, very slightly) when you look at the finished garment.

Note: The reason I can do this is because the darts stop just below the bust point. I'm actually removing width from the straight part of the piece. If I were trying to alter over the full bust point, it would be a total pain in the ass. Here's when NOT doing a full bust adjustment works to your advantage. This pattern is SO big in the bust, for size, that it actually fits me well there. I've just got to get rid of all the excess underneath it, or I'll look shapeless and we all know I'm not that.

Why am I bothering?

The garments with the fewest pieces - and the simplest lines - are usually the easiest to alter. What I've found, in this (highly-imperfect to begin with) garment, is the ability to change just about everything without flat-out ruining anything. It's utterly malleable in a way that might be labour-intensive, but isn't hard to grasp. How often does that happen?

Futhermore, if and when I perfect this, I intend to make it with every stable knit and stretch woven in the galaxy. It will be my soft jacket sloper. Note: I've decided that I'm not into tailored suits right now. I think they feel dated (at least on me). I want a chicer, elegant line with good drape. Of course, my job requires some formal attire. This jacket will allow me to make suits (skirt or pants - using my slopers, natch) that aren't boxy or reminiscent of a uniform.

So that's where I'm at now. Fabric is cut, off to sew. Of course, if this doesn't work, I'm probably going to throw it all in the bin and say fuck it. Let's hope we don't have to contend with that in my next post, shall we?

Update: I really like muslin 4 from the perspective of bodice alterations and, overall, I'm making progress. Alas, the upper bust has too much fabric - as evidenced by a sizable bubble. And you know what that means - potentially fucking irritating alteration ahead. Here's the thing, I may be able to resolve this by going back to the drawing board with the armscye / shoulder. I've franken-worked those into a pretty nasty state, at this point. I've got to go back to my knit sloper (and some other jacket patterns) to see how I shaped the shoulder and armscye. I sense this may fix the issue - or at very least ameliorate it. I believe the hap-hazard alteration of shoulder may well have had an unintended consequence. However, you know - when I princess seam I often experience the issue of too much depth above the full bust. It's what I like to call my need for a small bust adjustment over a full bust adjustment. The projectile boobs really give me a run for my money because they're shape outliers. Literally :-) 

Can't say I'm thrilled by this outcome but I'm going to keep my cool and do a little research. BTW, I did "take out" that extra bubble of fabric, from the finished muslin, with pins. Then I transfered it to paper - it produced a vertical fish-eye dart in the middle of a sea of fabric - no seams to link it to. On paper, I removed the dart - first cutting the relevant (upper) part of the pattern piece from the bodice (which would have been totally skewed by the dart - unless I fixed that too - and I was just doing recon here, not a big alteration). Then I positioned the relevant part of the revised upper bust piece on top of the pattern piece I used to produce muslin 4. It appears that I could achieve the same outcome by narrowing the shoulder and changing the armscye. Of course, we KNOW I'm not an alteration expert - but my goal with this exercise was to see if my armscye alterations had fucked with the upper bust dimension and it appears they might have. At very least, the way the pattern is drafted, there's too much space above the bust (towards the arm). And I'm really not surprised, this pattern is drafted for a wide, thick frame and for a sewist who wants to make something quick and easy. It's a blunt instrument and I'm a special snowflake. Sigh.