Another Vogue 8379 - Tropical Edition!

The second Vogue 8379 I sewed up had some improvements, and some failed experiments. See the first one here.

My first version had a slightly stretched out neckline, so for this one, I inserted clear elastic along the neckline between the main fabric and the facing. I think this is a solid idea, but I stretched the elastic a touch too much as I inserted it, so I have some resulting wrinkling along the neckline. It mostly gets stretched out by wear, but I wouldn't call it an improvement.

To combat the hard-to-ease turn-and-fold hem, I made it narrower, which also backfired. Easing a narrower hem resulted in fewer lumps and bumps of excess fabric, but also a fairly flippy hem that needs regular ironing. This is probably not helped by this being a 100% cotton jersey, as they are prone to curling.

To help with the ties crunching up, I interfaced these ones with tricot interfacing. They are definitely stabilized, but they've got no stretch now, so they can be a bit constricting about the waist.

I do like this fabric a lot, even though it also performs in a more challenging manner for this particular make. This is a Max Mara cotton jersey knit with a palm print in black and turquoise. I absolutely adore the print. This fabric is 100% cotton, so it only has 20% stretch, and it's all mechanical stretch at that.

So what would I do next time? I would make this dress again, as I love the pattern. I would select a fabric with some spandex content, so it's a bit stretchier. I would skip interfacing the ties, which just made them less stretchy. I would stabilize the neckline again, but I would not stretch the elastic as I sewed. I would try a third hem option, and create a deep hem facing to avoid both the easing issues and the flippy narrow hem issues.

As it is, this dress has become a regular in my wardrobe, in spite of its flaws. Hopefully the third time is the charm, and my next one is just right!

Skopelos Floral Vogue 8379

Every November, I think about participating in NaNoWriMo for a hot second, but I never do it. And I'm not doing it this year either! But I thought challenging myself to actually write a bit more was a good goal, so I'll be trying to actually use my blog this month. Expect to see a lot of things that have been in the rotation for quite a while.

That being said, here's my first Vogue 8379! I now have two. This one is made from an Art Gallery cotton jersey called Skopelos. It was a great fit for a wrap dress. Art Gallery jersey has a nice amount of stretch, great opacity, and a beefy drape that falls fairly smoothly over curves.

You do have to watch out a bit for curly edges, but that is pretty typical for cotton-lycra jerseys. To help with this, I used Wonder Tape to stabilize the hem. It helped hold things in place, but I still think I might change up the hem next time. This pattern is a turn and fold hem, which I usually like for knits. However, the skirt on this wrap dress is essentially a circle, so there's a fair amount of excess to ease into the hem using this method. I might try a knit facing next time.

My favorite thing about this make is the pleats you build into the bodice. They disappear a bit in the final make, but they also accommodate curves, so I didn't have to do an FBA on this dress AND it fits great!

One tricky aspect to this make - I let the neckline get stretched out a bit while sewing the facing on, which is a little difficult to avoid. You have to sew a long diagonal stretch for the neckline, and it's a little dicey trying to get the tension just right to avoid stretching anything. Once steamed and laundered a few times, it mostly went away, and the tension in the fabric from tying the wrap dress deals with any lingering issues, though.

 The only other thing that was a bit tricky was also very fun - stripe placement! I spent a while looking up striped wrap dresses online. I was originally planning to have the stripes run horizontally on the skirt, but a search of RTW striped dresses revealed that vertical skirt stripes are way more common. I went with the general consensus, and I'm very pleased. I get a lot of compliments on how the stripes are laid out on this dress. Is it a weird compliment every time? Yes. Does it make me feel like I nailed it? Also yes.

#SMYLY2018

Transcript:
I've always looked like someone you thought you knew...
Unremarkable, but pleasant.
Then a few years ago, I had some medical stuff I was figuring out.
In the meantime, I lost some weight.
It was weird to have a smooth stomach,
All these newly visible bones...
And it got weirder.
People who had never had anything to say before started commenting on my body. A lot.
When everything got back to normal, it didn’t seem like the same normal.
The comments about my body went away, but now it felt like they were still there, just left unstated.
Now I knew that people were noticing me, but what were they thinking. Was it good? Bad? Kind? Cruel?
It sucked. It still sucks.
But sewing lets me define the person that people see.
Sewing is a secret superpower.
Sewing lets me craft the armor that I wear to tackle the world.
So, I guess what I'm saying is...
FUCK THAT NOISE
Here's a bright, bold, pink and blue, floral and striped dress that I LOVE.
Say what you will.
#SMYLY2018

How To Trim PDF Patterns

Just a quick post today! I recently acquired a paper cutter, and I wanted to share how I trim PDFs using it. It took me a few tries to figure out a method that was both quick and effective, but I like the one I've settled on.

All you need is a pair of scissors, a paper trimmer, and your pattern. I'm cutting out the pattern for the Helen's Closet Blackwood Cardigan!

First, I trim off each of the corners, intersecting with the corner of the rectangle that needs to be cut out. It's like a tangent line, except with a rectangle in lieu of a circle.

Then, I set to work with my paper trimmer.

Align the cutting line on the pattern with the lower cutting edge of the paper trimmer. The beauty of cutting off the corners is that it makes aligning the cut line super easy! No eyeballing from an inch away. You may want a bright light so that you can see the cutting edge of the paper trimmer.

Once everything is aligned, just hold the paper in place and trim away!

I like to repeat this action for each side, even though a lot of PDFs recommend trimming only two sides. I find having every side trimmed off and taping sheets next to each other (instead of overlapping sheets) makes the pattern easier to fold up later.

Hope this was helpful!

Rifle Paper Co. Simplicity 8137

Like pretty much the whole sewing community, when Rifle Paper Co. released their first fabric collaboration with Cotton + Steel, I was smitten. When I found a solitary bolt of one of their rayons at my hometown fabric shop, I was so excited that I didn't even care what color it was. And then 3 yards of this baby blue floral rayon challis sat in my fabric stash for months, because I never wear baby blue. Ever.

But this summer was my sister-in-law's wedding, and I figured, "If you can't wear pastel florals to a bridal shower, what can you wear them to?" So I pulled out that rayon and sewed it up into a drapey wrap dress, and I couldn't be happier!

It helps that the color is deeper than some baby blues, more evocative of a summer sky than an eighties-era prom getup. It also helps that it's broken up by big patches of colors I love, like coral and navy.

The pattern is Simplicity 8137, a princess-seamed wrap dress (or peplum top) with optional sleeves, a knee-length skirt, and a (presumably quite dramatic) maxi skirt. To give it a little zazz, there's a gathered tie at the waist that cinches everything in and emphasizes an hourglass shape. To give it a little support, there are snaps on the inside, which hold the wrap in place.

(Also, there are some pants in the pattern envelope. They are... unremarkable.)

I sewed the sleeveless top (View A) with the knee length skirt (View B) in a straight size 12. It took one solid day of sewing, from cutting out the fabric pieces to hemming the skirt. To be honest, I've never sewn in all the snaps. I just keep tacking it together in pivotal places each time I wear it.

On me, the skirt lands a bit below the knee (I'm 5'6".) I rather like the almost midi-length, though. It feels of-the-moment, and it's a nice balance for the dress's bustiness. On the envelope, this dress isn't particularly low-cut, but I didn't make any modifications for a D-cup, and what I got was a very deep V-neck. This shall be rectified with one of those snaps, eventually. Even in a smaller cup size, I suspect you might be inclined to tack the center of the V, as both sides of the wrap are designed to fall entirely under the bust.

The bodice is lined (the skirt is not), so you get a smooth finish around the armscyes and neckline. The pattern has you sew most of the lining by machine, except for a few inches. This requires you to make a weird inside-out burrito of you dress bodice, but it does result in a nice finish with minimal hand sewing. I know some people like hand sewing, but I am not among their ranks.

This dress was a fun sew, and I love the result! I think that I'll make it one more time in the maxi length, mostly because I'd love to swan around in that many yards of billowy rayon challis, but I'll do a small FBA first.

Floral Maritime Shorts

The trouble with making wearable muslins out of crazy fabric is what happens if you actually like them.

I made these Maritime Shorts out of a quilting cotton covered in flowers, but then it turned out I loved them! I wore them all last summer, flowers be damned. (I also have a V1247 skirt toile in this fabric.) So help me, this summer I'm going to make some in a reasonable fabric. I have some options already: a dotted chambray, a black cotton twill, and some soon-to-be-dyed-with-avocado-pits white denim. I have high hopes for the white denim - how cool would naturally dyed blush pink shorts be?!

In the meantime, here's a view of the side and the back.

The back view makes me think that next time, I should move the pockets in a bit, but it might just be a perspective thing. I also usually have a shirt over the waistband. I do want to take in the side seams just a smidgen below the hips on the next pair. As they stretch out, they tend to flare a bit more than I prefer near the hem.

Pattern: Grainline Studio Maritime Shorts
Fabric: Moda Fabrics quilting cotton - Fresh Flowers by Deb Strain
Size: 8
Modifications: None! But next time, I'd take in the side seams a bit below the hips.

An Absurd Arctic Archer

I cannot claim responsibility for the choices behind this particular shirt. While home for the holidays, my little sister fell in love with this Robert Kaufman flannel featuring cartoon polar bears in Santa apparel. She begged me to please please please make her a flannel shirt out of this fabric, she would love it forever, she would wear it every day, pleeeaaaase. Who am I to say no to that?

While I had my doubts, she loves it! She might look like she's wearing jammies all the time, but it's worth it to be swathed in cuddly adorable polar bears, right?

Pattern: Grainline Studio Archer
Size: 10
Fabric: Robert Kaufman Jingle Flannel Polar Bears in Glacier Blue
Modifications: None
Notes for next time: When I make one for myself, I'll probably still make a size 10 for the fit in the shoulders, but trim down the arms a bit. Or, if I'm feeling industrious, make a broad back adjustment. I heard a few people mention that the arms are too long, but I didn't find that. I like my flannels to cover my wrists completely, though. They are, after all, winter wear.

Because they only had two yards left at the store, I bought it all, promised I would do what I could, and it just barely worked! I cut the inside yoke out of a scrap of cotton lawn, but it all fit, albeit with pretty much no pattern matching. I tried to make sure that the rows of polar bears were roughly aligned on each side of the shirt front and that's it. At the end, the biggest scraps I had were maybe 8 inches on the long side. If you were trying to use something in stripes or plaid with this amount of fabric, you'd be doomed.

For someone who's never sewn a collared shirt before, the Archer Sewalong was immensely helpful, especially the section on assembling and attaching the collar. I followed it pretty much to a T. The only place I went off-book was on the seam finishes. I finished the armscyes with a flat-felled seam (increase the seam allowance if you want to do this!) and the sleeves/sides with a French seam. Between that and the burrito-method yoke, there are no raw edges!

The fabric, one of those Robert Kaufman flannels that's brushed on one side and more like twill on the other, was surprisingly soft after washing, even on the non-brushed side. I would definitely use it again if I wanted, say, a set of pajamas covered in jingle birdies. However, I think my next flannel will be some slightly more reasonable choice, like a Robert Kaufman Mammoth plaid.