That Time of Year

You may notice that I haven't written about sewing in the past couple of weeks. (Who knows, you might be grateful :-)). Thing is, between the travel and gardening and spring cleaning up (not to mention work), I haven't had a lot of free time. And who are we kidding, throw me a nice day and I am sitting in the back yard with a glass of wine and a magazine.

What? I'm only human and I live in CANADA. We get, like, 4 nice days a year and I intend to enjoy every last one.

Today was just such a day. The weather was perfect. I mean, 22 degrees celsius and sunny. Slightly breezy, in a warm way. Oh, it was a heavenly walk home.

When I was in Charlotte, land of climatic perfection, I forced my family to sit outside for hours. At one point, we all had such bad hay fever it was pitiful. But I WILL NOT WASTE temperate weather.

Having said all this, our May 2-4 weekend is looking like it may be a rainy dud. No mind (well, I mind tremendously, but like I said, I live in Canada. I'm a realist...), I will simply have to content myself with summer sewing projects. Fortunately, I have a few all lined up.

First on the list is Vogue 1179, a DKNY pattern that I got on sale for $3.99:

I just bought some great patterned fabric - a rayon jersey and a poly jersey. Either will work really well with this (I think). The pattern has 3 pieces and is Very Easy Vogue. Is it too much to hope that it actually will be very easy?

No doubt, I will let you know.

So what do you have planned for the long weekend??

Retrofitting

Vogue Very Easy 8123 took me 2 weeks - a eternity by my own standards. I will admit that the instructions were clear, though I wish they'd just told me how to line the freakin' jacket (I can't easily extrapolate that with my current skill level) so that I wouldn't have had to come up with an alternative seam-treatment solution (aka seam binding). It's a pretty, vintage technique - which the pattern didn't instruct about - I just winged it by modeling the sewing experiences of others - but it's a time suck.

At any rate, I am happy with the results. I used a felted wool (I think) with a little bit of 4 way stretch - just a bit. Originally, I cut the pattern and did an FBA (full bust adjustment) but realized, after spending hours on the adjustment and the muslin, that it was grossly unneeded given the loose-fit and ease built into the pattern. The alteration itself was much more successful than my last attempt.

This time, I didn't do the Y variation - just the regular one - and then I managed to figure out how to remove the side dart by moving it to the front waist (which would have looked weird) and then shifting it to the side seam i.e. cutting it off. In the end, I managed to add room in the bust with NO discernible dart. That's a pretty spiffy alteration that I had to search high and low to find out about. I'm pretty proud of myself for having nabbed it, even if unnecessarily.

My second muslin (yes, I made 2?!), cut from the regular size 12 - but shortened through the waist to accommodate my proportions - showed the largely unaltered pattern sizing was fine and here are the finished results:

Sorry the photo is dark - it was tough to get a light enough shot...

That button is a fake! I used snaps to afix the collar ends. My button binder couldn't handle a button that big.

Vogue Doesn't Put Out...

...despite what they try to tell you on the package.

This little pattern (Vogue 8123), is part of a series known as Very Easy Vogue:

That's not exactly truth in marketing.

I mean, if they want to call it "Not so Crazy Difficult but Incredibly Time Consuming" Vogue or "It's Easier than Your Average Vaguely Tailored Retro Jacket" Vogue or "Why Not Just Line this Thing - It's Faster than Bias Binding the Seams or Sending a Guy to the Moon" Vogue, I'm all over it. But Very Easy. Hmmm.

I made it, I should know. Pls. stay tuned for some pics tomorrow...

From Muslin to Reality

I appear to love crafting things in navy blue, which is just fine if you see my handmade items up close and personal, but it's challenging to see the nuance in photographs.

Here's the finished Vogue8640 jacket:

Yes, that is my own little label!


The lining freaked me out, but it was not so difficult - I mean, not compared to figuring out how to slip stitch aka blind hem aka "thing I had to read 3 books and watch 2 videos to learn". Note: Slip stitching isn't that hard (all things considered) either. But man, did I have a mental block!

It hangs very chicly, I think, although it does look a bit shapeless in this post.

I have a "matching" skirt, made in the same fabric. I do intend to model this with jeans and the skirt and whatever else I come up with. Just need some time to take the pics.

My 2 Cents about 798 Pages...

• It is a crime against nature to read September's Vogue. Whatever woodland creature is the patron saint of trees is going to bite your ass in retaliation if it has even the slightest opportunity. So stay out of the forest for a while.


• Was Coco Rocha the only model free when they were putting this thing together? I mean, I think she's gorgeous and I love how she's not quite as emaciated as your regular "girl", but really. It got boring.


• If I have to read about one more landscape architect cum regular fashion contributor talking about redefining gardens for offensively rich people (even if they are splendid gardens) while carting around her 10 week old in an eco-sustainable papoose affixed to her already back to practically skeletal frame - I am going to flat out lose it. Are you aware, gentle reader, that it's in rather poor taste now to bling yourself out in this emerging recession era? Really. If you wear more than one new "statement" piece (at approximately 3K) at a time, you're simply low. So stock up on those cheapies at Banana Republic and Club Monaco and Top Shop. (You heard it here last.)
  
• I'm thrilled to tell you - as are the trees - that there's not one thing, not one trend, that I saw in this issue which I hadn't already come across in the blogs. Is that because you are setting them, my lovelies? I vote for yes. And thank you.