Productivity

So I was pretty productive on the weekend - despite the fact that things didn't go as planned. I finished the Indicum pullover. Here it is (still blocking):

I don't know why I'm so ambivalent about it. It's nicely made. It fits well - on the edge of tight but not so that it pulls. I embellished it with that cuff of pink above the corrugated rib on the sleeves. Perhaps this is one of those items I'm going to have to wear in order to appreciate. One thing's for sure, if it doesn't get worn, then off to a new home it will go.

As you know, I also completed a pair of Hudsons in black sweatshirting (with rib cuffs and waistband). I've worn them constantly (at home) since the minute I serged the final seam. Can I just say - and I know this is shocking - cuffed, fleece-lined sweatpants are INSANELY warm. I had no idea that yoga pants are so ineffectual in this respect.

I also used some of my new Fabrications order (have I said I love those people - and now they're having a 25% sale!) to construct a kimono sleeve top that looks like nothing on a dress form or the floor:

FWIW, I took a bunch of photos of myself wearing it and not one was usable. The lighting here is miserable right now...

The top is based on Simplicity 3302 (the vintage kimono/Dolman sleeved top that I snatched from the edge of disaster, first time I made it, by attaching a self-drafted skirt to the bottom - and shaving off lots of volume). Turns out that it works well in its own right when you shave off even more volume through the waist and arms - like tons - and add a 3 inch double fold cuff that acts as a waistband. There's not much of the original sizing or styling in this vintage pattern given my extensive alterations. The only original elements are the basic shell of the pattern (the starting off point) and the shoulder proportions (which were very good from the get go). They do say that shoulder sizing is the only thing that matters...

I used a grey ponte with a very soft hand (and almost fleecy interior) and, while I like it a lot, it's a bit heavy (feels more like a chic yoga topper than kimono top for work-rotation). Mind you, in the right light-weight, drapey fabric I suspect that this pattern may become a new everyday TNT*. I'm very glad I sorted out the proportions of this vintage style. It was originally devised for a woven fabric, which is no doubt the primary reason that I've had to cut so much width from the original. I'm really grateful that I have the technical skill (not that this was complicated), the design-sensibility and fit awareness to create a modern version of a vintage top that's perfect for my shape. That's an extremely satisfying outcome. I love that I didn't need to look at directions as I made this. I fitted as I went.

Additional mods determined by this wearable muslin:

• I will make the waistband (cuff) @6 inches in length next time - I'll offset this (and improve a delicate proportion) by removing 1/2 inch of length from the blousey bodice.

• I will remove a small amount of additional underarm width from the back piece.

• I'll remove a bit more width from the bodice (respecting that it is a blousey cut).

• I'll open the neckline up slightly - but not much. I love a high crewneck. So old school!

• I'll raise the bust dart by 1/4" (how often does that happen?!)

Once I implement these final alterations, and adjust the fabric, I sense that this will be a truly chic, modern take on a vintage standard.

So, whatcha think? Do you like the Indicum pullover? Can you see potential in the kimono top? I want to know!

*Happily, I purchased another 6.5 yards on sale from Fabrications (which also gives me a 15 dollar coupon to use against a future purchase in November, should I, ahem, choose to buy again next month). So... I've got lots of fabric coming that should fit the bill.

Updated With Photos: Liberty, Take Two

OK, I couldn't let it go with that top. I mean, it is a nice pattern. It's elegant; it's got good bones. And the darting on the sleeves and at the bust are a great vintage take on a t shirt.

All night long (and you know how long that is), I considered ways of reviving it.

This morning I got up at some ridiculous hour (especially in light of the time change) and made adjustments, namely, I serged another 2 inches of width out of the side seams. Actually, it looks a lot better.

But, my night-hatched plan will not be silent. What I'm going to do: turn it into a dress.

What?!?!?

Wait, it gets better. I'm going to draft the skirt (added to the top to make it a dress) myself.

No, I've never drafted anything. Well, that's not true, but my drafting skills are exceedingly untested. Here's the thing, I have a sense that the top will hang better on my frame if there's some substantial vertical weight at the end of it. Not to mention that the line, I believe, will work better on me if everything skims the body closely from armscye to high hip (though I will put the seam at natural waist) and then hangs loosely to just below the knee.

Right now this top is bland (well, less bland now that I've actually fitted it to my waist dimensions) because it wants to be dramatic, but it's not dramatic.

So, I've taken some vertical and horizontal measurements. I've added in seam allowances. I really don't know what shape to make the paper pattern to yield the fitted at waist that goes full and drapey at the bottom. I'm seriously making it up as I go along.

I can't tell you how fun it is to just make shit up. Of course, it's much more fun when the finished product works out - which truly does remain to be seen right now.

At any rate, we'll see how it goes. It's a couple of serged seams and a whole lot of alchemy.

Thoughts or advice??

Update: Well, this wasn't rocket science...

Note that I haven't hemmed the skirt yet, and may opt not to (esp. if I throw this thing away). I want to let it hang and stretch before I do so...

In some ways, the back view shows it off to best advantage. Pls. note, as always, my shoulders are not this wide. Moreover, neither are my hips. I wish I could shape the hips on this dress form like my own actual hips. Note: I've TRIED! Here the hips look shelf-like. Mine are more gently sloping from waist to upper leg. And I think my shape suits the dress more than the form's.

See that arm seam? I like it! And the bust seam too, though I would make it 2 inches longer, were I to do it again. I think a pointy-boob shape is called for.

OK, on styling this thing, I have finally identified my issue: There is NO way to remove the stench of 1987 from this shape. I'm sorry, but I was SO there the first time and I cannot go back.

I'm also kind of over the little black dress. Black is severe, peeps. It's hard to make it friendly.

Notes on the Skirt:

I simply used my vertical and horizontal measurements (plus an inch for seam allowances) to create a wide A line skirt (no front or back seams though you could easily fold the pattern in half if you needed to conserve fabric) cut on the straight of grain. I made sure to bring the sides up about an inch higher than the centre because, effectively, the sides of this skirt are cut on the bias, given their width from the skirt midline. (Note: I think that's the case, but maybe I'm making that up?)

I could have made it longer, and made the waist of the dress start higher. As it is, the full skirt is 24". Were I to hem, make it longer and start it higher, I'd likely want to make it 26". That would give a great boot length. As it is now, it falls about an inch below my knee, unhemmed. I'll wear it, if I get up the nerve, with slim-calf, knee high boots having a 1 inch heel (like a flat with a little something).

While this dress most certainly fits me more nicely than my dress form, it's still super 80s to my eye.

What do you think?

PS: A night's-worth of rumination notwithstanding, this skirt took 2 hours to draft and assemble, with the completed top, into a dress. No, I haven't hemmed yet (the part that takes a long time on a wide-hemmed skirt), but really, it was not hard or scary. I did not need any special skills given that this was done in forgiving ponte and I wasn't darting anything. I only needed to know these measurements, which took 5 minutes to determine:

• Where my natural waist sits vis a vis my navel (2.5 inches above)
• Where my high hip sits vis a vis my waist (4.25 inches below)
• Where my full hip sits vis a vis my high hip (2 inches below)
• What length to cut from my natural waist to hem (24")
• Waist circumference (29.5")
• High Hip circumference (36")
• Full hip circumference (38")

I did have to lop 5" off the bottom of the top, and remove another 3 inches of circumference from, before serging it to the skirt. Otherwise it would have been way too long to seam at the natural waist, and way too blouson to add to the fitted-at-waist and high hip skirt.

Liberty

Today, driven by the need for normalcy and fun, motivated by the cheer of the first day in about 25 that didn't rain from morning to night, I sewed a top.

I'll take a moment and contemplate with incredulity. I actually sewed something. For the first time in a freakin' long time.

More to the point, I traced the vintage pattern (Simplicity 3302), I cut out fabric, I made self-fabric bias tape, I marked the fabric and then I sewed the crew-neck vintage, dolman sleeve shirt.

Alas, my friends, the finished product sucks!

Don't worry for my mental stability. I'm totally ok that it sucks! Seriously, it's the pattern - it's not me.

What I love about this project is that I managed it, with enough energy, from start to finish. It actually only took 4 hrs. That's super fast for a top, IMO. Too bad it's unlikely that I'll ever wear it.

I won't show a photo. I mean, I cannot be seen at this point (my vanity prevents it). And the top, on my dress form, is an exercise in blandness. It might as well be a sweatshirt.

I made it in a stable black ponte (thank you Susan!), a lovely fabric that really didn't benefit from the design. What a beautiful, warm knit. BTW, if you have been sick for a while, and you're scarily pale at the best of times, do not wear black anywhere near your face. Egad. You know they say that black can wash you out. It is sadly not a myth.

But back to the pattern. And, more importantly, the experience.

Today, I decided to approach this project with maximal creativity and minimal limitations. Frankly, I opted not to care about all of the things that usually concern me. I actually just used the fabric (in its various phases of assembly) as a tool. When I didn't like the tightness of the neckline on the assembled garment, I cut an inch out of it, on the fly. Side seams? Serged off inches at a time. Back seam? Same deal. I made the sleeves and hem shorter than the pattern instructed. I lengthened the bust darts.

Effectively, I just kept trying it on (like a cook tasting her dinner as she makes it) and saying: Well, that's gotta go, or, I suppose I'll bias tape the neck instead of facing it. Why does anyone face anything? Really.

It was an exercise in creative freedom and I LOVED it. Energy plus experience plus confidence plus nonchalance, brought me tremendous pleasure.

Sure, it didn't produce a great end result, but I did get the thing to fit really well. It's just kind of ugly.

Alas, I couldn't mark the paper pattern (not that I'm too inclined to make this again) with my myriad changes. At a certain point, you cannot freestyle it and chronicle your experience simultaneously. The two activities are utterly at odds. Since I don't love the pattern, I'm not too concerned. Were I to make it again, I'd take careful notes and go more slowly.

I did remove about 6 inches of width below the bust to the hips. Even at the bust, I had to remove fabric.

I appreciate the darts and the visible arm seam (the result of the dolman / kimono cut on). But seriously, even on others (whose tops have worked out much more elegantly than mine), I'm kind of underwhelmed by the style in general. I mean, it's no peplum :-)

Interestingly, I didn't find the fitting to be particularly difficult. I might have increased the width, as well as the length, of the dart, just to provide more bust shaping, but the dolman top is a bit of a casual (dare I say sloppy??) look. It's not about precision in the arms. It's more about perfection of ease. And that perfection is entirely subjective - and based on one's own general shape.

At any rate, I'm happy to have had this day of sewing enjoyment. Lord knows I have more clothes than I know what to do with. So a learning experience, and a new challenge, have been just the thing.

All Over The Map (But with Talk of Sewing)

Today was a good day. I got myself to work (in a cab - cab it is for this week). I loved seeing all of my comrades. I didn't feel too terrible, though my energy did start to flag at 2 pm. I dug through the chasm of emails and administrivia that was hanging over me. I did leave earlier than usual but I managed. When I arrived home, I spent an hour on these arcane ablutions I've undertaken in the name of healing: steam bath, vitamins, gargling with salt water (usually makes me gag and spit choke?!), eating a bowl of half-thawed frozen blueberries (those antioxidants don't just hang out in the ether), lying over bolster (very gentle yoga) and - this takes the cake - the neti pot. Zut alors, I cannot begin to tell you how desperate I am to relieve the mucus situation. But I don't have to. Nasal irrigation says it all.

I'm starting to understand what took up all of my convalescent time. But gross things aside, I know I feel more normal because, instead of lying here in front of the TV, I have chosen to write to you about my next sewing project.

Next sewing project? Um, does this smack of getting ahead of oneself? Happily, not at all. Since I discovered that I prefer planning to practically anything else, the world is my oyster. As long as my brain has some juice, I can simply think about things and call it sewing! Sure, it's unlikely I'm going to tackle production for the next couple of weeks, but a girl can sit around and mentally ready herself.

A little back story: In early October, when I was really starting to feel hideous, I couldn't do much other than surf the net. That's when all of my fave blogs came in even handier than usual.  Jody posted about jersey patterns from the 50s, and I was blown away by her gorgeous finds. I spent a few minutes and - strangely easily - found many of the patterns she profiled on Etsy. I purchased Simplicity 3302:

It was very reasonably priced at under 15 bucks, including shipping. And I love how it's basically 2 pieces - a back bodice (with attached sleeve) - cut with a centre seam - and a front bodice (with attached sleeve) cut on the fold:

See those interesting sleeve and bust darts?

I bought a 34 bust (that's the size I found), with the intention to grade it up, as necessary. However, having measured the pattern, there appears to be a lot of bust ease (like 10 inches?!) I realize that this is a blouson style top, but if I make it in a knit (which I intend to do) I'm pretty sure it will be more than big enough. In fact, I may need to take some fabric out of this thing, to suit my shape (and modern proportions). Of course, who knows what's going to happen? I'm just giving my imagination free-rein.

I'm not sure I will face the neck - as the pattern calls for - or if I'll finish it with bias tape instead. The beauty of this thing is that there are but 2 pieces to concern myself with, and a few darts and a hem.

So, today's questions are:

• What do you think of this dolman-style pattern? I notice this shape is becoming popular amongst the sewists lately. Do you find it notably vintage, or kind of contemporary?

• Have you made this pattern and, if so, what are your thoughts?

• What do you think of those other pattern's Jody's profiled? They're awesome, IMO. I want them all!

In closing, and just to keep the "all over the map" concept alive and well, I hope that all East-coasters are able to stay safe, warm and dry. And if I figure out how to sleep for a few hours in a row tonight, the world will be looking ever finer, I'm sure.