This Week in Patterns (27-Nov-2015)

I'm doing an abridged version of my roundup post this week as here in the US, we are in the middle of a long, Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Cutting to the chase, here are links to what we saw released this past week:

• BurdaStyle Plus: Hotel Bar (December 2015 collection) - A collection of little black dresses (LBDs) that I might find more interesting if I had any place to wear a LBD. At least they're not shapeless sacks, right?
• Pauline Alice: Seda Dress -  Cute 50's-inspired dress with the option of being off-the-shoulder or with a contrast yoke (for those of us who can't go braless or wear strapless bras). I love that she was thoughtful enough to include that option for those of us who are more...endowed. The samples in the photo are too large on the model, IMO, but I like the design of the dress, and like many of her designs, I wish they were available in a larger size range.
• StyleArc: Hedy Designer Dress - Asian-design-inspired unstructured dress with interesting construction details. It's a cool design, but I don't think I could wear it.
• StyleArc and MimiG Collaboration: Maya Dress - This pattern appears to only be available in PDF download format via StyleArc's Etsy shop. Not sure what the deal with this is, considering that I've never seen a formal announcement about it. The Style is certainly more MimiG than StyleArc. Hmmm...

This Week in Patterns (23-Oct-2015)

We had a pretty interesting week of new patterns this week, including a couple of major indie releases and a new BurdaStyle Plus collection. Here are the new entries:

• BurdaStyle Plus
• Colette Patterns
• Pauline-Alice
• Peekaboo Patterns
• StyleArc 

BurdaStyle (Plus): November 2015 collection (Canal Walks)

I've been so impressed with BurdaStyle's plus collections as of late that I recently spent a chunk of birthday money on a trial subscription (after not having subscribed in ~5 years). While maybe not as outstanding as the September 2015 collection, November's collection has a few pieces that are right up my alley.

11-2015 #130: Cuffed Culottes

First up is a completely unremarkable pair of culottes.  Can you even call these culottes--they don't really have any of the volume associated with culottes and look like long shorts or short capris to me. This is probably the worst design out of this group.

11-2015 #130: Cuffed culottes

11-2015 #129: Button Up Blouse

Up next is a nice basic: a darted button-up blouse. I think that this could be a nice alternative to the Grainline Archer for those of us who wear larger sizes. Note that the Burda (unlike the Archer) has a bust dart for shaping.

11-2015 #129: Button up blouse

11-2015 #128A & B: Shirt Dress and Tunic

Next up are my two favorite pieces of the collection--a retro-inspired shirt dress and tunic. I love the gathered shoulders, open neckline, and tie option on these.

11-2015 #128A: Shirtdress

11-2015 #128B: Tunic

11-2015 #127: Long Sleeve Dress, Skirt with Flounce, Pencil Skirt

This collection has three views that all use variations on the same skirt pattern. There's a long-sleeved dress, a skirt with a flounce, and a plain pencil skirt (which I'm not including a photo of because...it's a pencil skirt and we all know what that looks like).

11-2015: #127: Long sleeved dress

11-2015 #126: Pencil skirt with ruffle

11-2105: #124 Long Pea Coat

Finally, we have a coat and jacket pattern that uses the same base pattern. I'm not a huge fan of the lack of shaping here, but I do think that it's a sharp-looking coat and jacket, and it has nice details. The coat has an optional removable fur collar.

11-2015: #124: Long pea coat

11-2015 #122: Belted jacket

Colette Patterns: Wren Dress

We finally have our latest non-Seamwork release from Colette Patterns, and it's a knit surplice/faux-wrap dress. It's a pretty enough dress, but I'm a little wrap dress'ed out at the moment. The gathered front bands are a nice detail, and I like that it comes with two different choices of skirts. As far as whether I'd purchase it, though, I think I'll wait to see some reviews and how it looks on a curvy figure first.

Colette - Wren dress

Pauline-Alice: Rosari Skirt

OMG, this is such a cute skirt!  Love the 70's vibe and the different length and pocket options. Yes, you could find a similar skirt in a vintage pattern, but this one has a decent (not great) size range, and the PDF is only 8,00€.

Pauline Alice - Rosari skirt

Peekaboo Patterns: Bristol Button-up

I haven't typically included Peekaboo patterns in these roundups because the early women's designs in this line all had similar alternative patterns that were available many other places (e.g. a raglan tee), the samples appeared to have fit issues, and they lacked line drawings. They still lack line drawings, but to give credit where it's due, Amy released a cute hoodie with an asymmetrical zipper a little while back that's been getting rave reviews, and now she's released a shirt-jacket that's a fun 90's callback: the Bristol Button-up.

Peekaboo - Bristol button-up

Remember those flannel shirts with the knit hood? That's what this is. I had a neighbor in the dorms who used to wear one of these all the time. The main things that I remember about him were that shirt and the fact that he used to play Wolfenstein at all hours, blasting the sound over the speakers from his IBM 386. ("Guten Tag!") This pattern comes in sizes from an XXS-XXXL and is fairly reasonably priced for an indie. (And if you question whether these are actually coming back in style, there's a kids' version of this shirt in the December Burda preview.)

StyleArc: Louisa Dress/Top

I'm either in an unusually good mood, or there have been some really cool patterns released this week. The latest from StyleArc also falls into the "want" category.

StyleArc - Louisa top/Dress

I love the seaming/darts and how they open up into pleats to make a full-skirted dress. On the other hand, I know that that neckline (when zipped) isn't going to work for me, so I'll wait to see a review or two on this one to make sure that the zipper can be worn semi-open to give more of a v-neck-style neckline.

 

Final Thoughts

 

What were your favorites out of this week? Mine are actually the Burda Plus shirtdress (no surprise there) and the new Peekaboo Bristol (I'm wearing Doc Martens while I type that, BTW) AND I really like the Pauline Alice skirt. I quite like the StyleArc dress, too, but think I'll need to see it made up a few times first. 

This Week in Patterns (13-Sept-2015)

Okay, both my work and non-work life have calmed down a little bit since I initially moved these posts to Sundays a few months ago. I'm going to try moving them back to Fridays, at least for the time being. By running these on Friday, I always used to feel like the discussions that followed in the comments were a fun way to kick off my weekend, and I'd like to try to get back to that.

This past week wasn't quite as crazy as the previous week, but we did have a fair amount of activity in pattern-land:

• BurdaStyle
• Colette/Seamwork
• Grainline Studios
• StyleArc
• Victory Patterns

BurdaStyle: Fall/Winter 2015 (Envelope patterns)

The new batch of BurdaStyle envelope patterns was released this week. Unlike the magazine and download patterns, BurdaStyle envelope patterns include seam allowances (at least in North America) and comprehensive instructions. If you're curious about trying Burda but are intimated by having to trace, add seam allowances, or wanting decent instructions, I recommend trying a BurdaStyle envelope pattern. In any case, there were a few interesting offerings in this batch, and it might just be my perception, but it seems like they're relying less on re-issuing magazine patterns as envelope patterns with this release.

Burda 6744

Sized for petites, this multi-princess-seamed fit-and-flare dress offers a lot of options for fitting. The godets give an impression that this is a pleated skirt at first glance, but it's not. So, you get the look of pleats, but without the bulk over the tummy or bum area.

Burda 6744

Burda Young Plus - various

For the first time that I can remember, Burda is offering a few Plus patterns as part of its junior's line, Burda Young. I think that this is fantastic, given that at the Curvy Sewing Collective, we're frequently asked for recommendations for youthful, Plus patterns. I think that these would be a great place to start for many plus sized young women who are new to sewing or who have loved ones sewing for them.

Burda 6717

Burda 6717

Burda 6716

Burda 6716

Burda 6748

In the misses' Plus offerings, there's an interesting-looking coat/dress pattern with a front zip. Of course, if my husband saw this, he'd make an "easy access" joke.

Burda 6748

Burda 6713

Finally, my favorite pattern out of this batch, and one that I'll definitely buy when it's on sale, is this blouse and shirtdress pattern. I love the neckline on this, and those darts will provide plenty of shaping.

Burda 6713

Colette/Seamwork: Announcement of Seamwork Podcast

Thursday, Sarai announced on the Colette Blog that she's gotten in touch with her inner Marc Maron (beyond both being cat people) and has a podcast in the works. The podcast will be focused on various topics related to garment sewing.

On one hand, I enjoy listening to podcasts on my headphones at work, and love the idea of one focused on garment sewing. (I don't know of any other podcasts with that focus off the top of my head, but maybe I'm missing something?)

On the other hand, I'm hoping that this doesn't continue to stretch Sarai/Colette any more than they already appear to be with their monthly Seamwork releases. They've only released two "regular" patterns in the past 12 months at this point.  I know that I sound like a broken record here, but I miss the old Colette.

I will say, though, if Sarai is diverting her attention away from patterns at this point, a podcast, which I can passively listen to while at work, is much more appealing to me than reading Seamwork magazine, which I generally haven't been reading very much.

Grainline Studios: Lark Tee

So...the new Grainline pattern turns out to be a tee pattern. This isn't a huge surprise, since this is what Jen was hinting at in social media.

Personally, I don't have a need for another t-shirt pattern--the SBCC Tonic Tee is my go-to t-shirt pattern, and when I make a t-shirt, I use that pattern as the base and alter from there. But, Grainline has a reputation for good drafting and good instructions, so if you don't have a TNT t-shirt pattern already, the Lark is possibly worth a shot. I can't fault Jen for filling out a hole in her pattern offerings, either, when nearly every other indie offers a basic t-shirt. The Lark also offers pretty much every possible neckline and sleeve option that you could want.

Lauren of Baste + Gather wrote a really interesting and thoughtful post about the mixed social media reaction to the release of the Lark tee and on "fangirls". It's worth a read:

Do we really need another t-shirt pattern?

Anyway, here's the Lark tee:

Grainline Studios - Lark Tee

StyleArc: September Designer Release

StyleArc continues to release patterns at a fast pace. Just after releasing two new patterns on the first of the month, they've released two more this past week.

Daisy Designer Pant

The Daisy Designer Pant is a woven pull-on pant that celebrates the return of wider-legged pants. It has feature pockets and wide hem bands. These look stylish and comfortable, and if I didn't already have similar patterns, I might be tempted.

StyleArc - Daisy Pant

Daisy Designer Tunic

The Daisy Designer Tunic has optional inseam pockets and an on-trend double hem. This tunic isn't really my style, but I do like it. It looks really stylish in the sample photos, where it appears to be made up in a white linen.

StyleArc - Daisy Tunic

Victory Patterns: Boundless Style Lookbook

Seemingly dormant indie pattern designer Victory patterns resurfaced recently with a book announcement and and a promise of upcoming patterns (along with a request for pattern testers). Earlier this week, Victory posted a link to the online lookbook for their new book, which is called Boundless Style:

Boundless Style Lookbook

The book's format will be similar to Tanya Wheelan's recent Sew Many Dress book, where a sewist will be able to design her dress patterns by mixing-and-matching different bodice, skirt, and sleeve elements. However, Victory's aesthetic is very different from Tanya Wheelan's, so I don't see much overlap between the two books.

There's also a lookbook online app, that lets you play around with mixing and matching the different design elements yourself:

Boundless Style Lookbook App

I love the idea of the app and had some fun playing around with it a few days ago.  Most of the designs aren't really my style (I gravitate much more towards Tanya Wheelan's style), so I probably won't buy the book unless I see some dresses made up in the SBC that compel me to purchase it. I do really love the mix-and-match concept of these two recent books, and I wouldn't exactly cry if this is a trend that we start seeing from other pattern designers with book deals.

 

Final Thoughts

So...Lark tee, yay or nay? Any favorites among the new Burdas? And did you get a chance to play around with the Victory lookbook at all? If so, what did you think of the patterns/combinations?

Finished Project: Burda 6951, Take 2 (Plus size slender pants)

Remember my wearable muslin jeans from a few weeks ago?

Burda 6915 jeans

Well, it turns out that if you actually use the correct size for your hip measurement, you get a pair of pants that looks like the ones on the pattern envelope. Behold my pant holy grail, a pair of stretch cigarette pants with pockets and a front fly:

Burda (Plus) 6951 - "slim fitting pants"

 I won't write up a full review for this pair since I already reviews this pattern fairly extensively in my original Burda 6915 jeans post, but I will use this post to show you pictures of my new pants and to talk about the changes that I made from my wearable muslin.

As a refresher, here's the back view on my original wearable muslin:

Burda 6951 (wearable muslin)

And here's the back view on the pair that I just sewed up:

Burda 6951 - back view

While I've still got some wrinkles on the back legs (at least partially due to needing a full calf adjustment, I suspect), things sure look a lot "perkier" in the new pair, don't they? Here are the changes that I made from Pair 1 to Pair 2:

• I went down a size (from a Burda 54 to a Burda 52). The Burda 52 matches my 50" hip measurement, but I was originally scared off from this size because the finished garment measurements included negative ease. (This is a pattern designed for stretch wovens.) Clearly, these run true to size because the 52 is pretty much perfect for me, I think.
• I added a 1" horizontal wedge at CB on the lengthen-shorten line, tapering to nothing at the side seam. This alteration gives me a bit more vertical length over my rather sizable booty.
• I took in the legs very slightly--1/4" at both the inseam and outseam, tapering to nothing at the low hip.

 

 Fabric and Notions Used

 

I used the following fabric and notions for this version:

• "Multi-Green Abstract Stretch Cotton Woven" from Mood.
• YKK zipper (purchased locally from Pacific Fabrics).
• Jeans button from Castbullet.

Burda 6951 "guts"

Construction Notes

I constructed these pants as if I were constructing a pair of jeans, minus the flat-felled seams and contrast top-stitching. (I simply used black thread for all top-stitching. I finished all of my seam allowances on my serger and top-stitched the ones that normally would be flat-felled.

For Next Time

 

After wearing these a bit, I could use just a touch more vertical room at the CB seam, so I will probably increase the size of the wedge that I added there by about 1/2".  Upon looking through my pictures, it looks like I (not surprisingly) could use a bit of a large calf adjustment, as well--although I'll be conservative with that because I do want these to fit closely through the legs.

For what it's worth, I'll likely be wearing these rolled up "boyfriend style" when the weather is warm, so here's what they look like when styled like that:

Burda 6951 - boyfriend-style

Final Thoughts

 

I couldn't be happier with how these turned out--I feel like I made a lot of positive progress with my fit, and they're super comfortable to wear.  I want to make this pattern up now in, like, a million prints and colors. Of course, I'll do a pair or two of "traditional" jeans, as well.

Last Week in Patterns (31-May-2015)

We had yet another fairly slow week for pattern releases. The only release that landed on my radar was the Plus collection from BurdaStyle's June issue.

BurdaStyle (Plus): June 2015 - Serengeti Dreams collection

Not surprisingly, the latest plus collection from Burda is a bit of a mixed bag, but at least this one has a few interesting pieces in it.

Let's kick this roundup off with some classic Burda WTF-ery, though.

06-2015 #130A & #130B: Wrap dress and tunic with draped sleeves

At first glance, this is a lovely, flowing surplice-style dress with flowing sleeves. But then you take a look at the line drawing and tunic view in the solid fabric, and go, "OMG, WTH is going on with those sleeves???"

BurdaStyle (plus) 06-2015 #130B

BurdaStyle (plus) 06-2015 #130A

Confession time: I'm way more intrigued by this pattern than I probably should be. I find those sleeves mesmerizing, although that tunic sample looks awfully sloppy. With the styling on this one, the tunic looks vaguely like the mutant costume offspring a Daenerys Targaryen and Cersei Lannister.

06-2015 #129:  Layered Maxi Dress

I love this maxi dress, even though it takes about a million yards of fabric. As my daughter would say, "It's so pretty!" Ok, maybe "a million" is a bit of a stretch, but the largest size does take 7 yards, although I bet that would be quite a bit less for shorties like me. I guess this would provide a good excuse for hitting one of those FabricMart sales, since they always seem to have a lot of interesting rayon challis in stock, right?

BurdaStyle (plus) 06-2015 #129

Now in the sample/model picture, the straps appear to be too long for the model and are sliding off of her shoulders, so that would definitely be something to check when sewing this up. But that's a fairly easy fix, if you do think it will be an issue while wearing.

06-2015 #128: Summer Coat

This coat is nice enough, even if the sample is a bit heavy for a "summer coat". I'm not sure what I think of the scallop detail. In theory, I like them adding interesting details to garments, but in reality, it seems like it might go a bit too far in the "crafty" direction.

There's also a full-length overly dramatic view of the same coat, shown in lace.

BurdaStyle (plus) 06-2015 #128

BurdaStyle (plus) 06-2015 #127

06-2015 #126: Wrap-front Culottes

Can I just say that I LOVE these wrap-front culottes! At first glance, I thought that this was a wrap skirt with an odd kickpleat, but then got super excited when I realized...culottes! I am apparently going through a phase where I am embracing All Things Trendy by jumping on the culotte, romper, and jumpsuit bandwagon.

I just think that these look like a great intro to culottes if you've been scared off by the proportions of other patterns. I'm planning to buy this one.

BurdaStyle (plus) 06-2015 #126

06-2015 #125A & 125B: Raglan blosue

Annnnd a BurdaStyle Plus collection wouldn't be a BurdaStyle Plus collection without at least one oversized, shapeless top.  This one doesn't bother me as much as these usually do--maybe that's because the rest of the collection is at least interesting or has some interesting details, rather than being just a bunch of rectangles meant to hide a larger woman's body.

The print version of this looks waaaaay better than the solid version.

BurdaStyle (plus) 06-2015 #125B

BurdaStyle (plus) 06-2015 #125A

I personally avoid tops with pleats that open over my boobs, but in the right fabric, this top looks like it could have potential on a less gargantuanly-endowed figure.

 

Final Thoughts

So this was a pretty interesting collection from Burda, wasn't it? Crazy sleeves: yay or nay?

We appear to be heading into the summer lull for pattern releases, in that we've had very few for the past few weeks. We should be getting a few new offerings from StyleArc on Monday, so I'll be curious to see what those are.

I've been seeing a few versions of the Colette Aster blouse showing up on blogs, etc, and I've been pleasantly surprised. They've generally looked better than the samples on the Colette website and have looked closer to the line drawings than the envelope samples (i.e. the v-neck isn't as wide in the "real" versions). It looked particularly nice on the two curvy women's versions I've seen (one large-busted, the other more of a pear shape).

I've been dealing with a head cold for the past few days, but when I feel up to being photographed, I finished a pretty cool pair of cigarette pants from that Burda pattern I used for my jeans. We'll see what wrinkles/draglines show up in the photos, but from looking in the mirror, I'm extremely happy with them. I'm currently working on the HP peasant blouse to wear with them.

Finished Project: Burda 6951 (Plus size slender pants)

Curvy Sewing Collective Announcement

Hello! As you may have seen yesterday, I have joined the Curvy Sewing Collective as an editor!  I am really looking forward to being involved with this group of talented women and to do what I can to promote curvy sewing and body self-acceptance and positivity no matter what your shape or size. And I'd also like to welcome all of my new readers who have started following my blog since the announcement!

Burda 6951

Let's start this post by checking off all of the SBC cliches related to the type of project that I just finished:

• "Jeans y'all!"
• "OMG, you guys, I made jeans!"
• "I sewed jeans. *drops mic*"

Wearing my new Burda 6951 jeans

This pattern isn't a true jeans pattern, and really, this is more of a wearable muslin given that I've still got a few fit issues that I'm working through with this pattern. But hey, it is wearable in that I've worn them twice already, and I did mostly go through the process of constructing these jeans as if this were a "real" jeans pattern. The big differences between this pattern and a "real" jeans pattern are that this pattern does not include a coin pocket; therefore, these are not a 5-pocket jean, and the instructions don't have you flat-fell your seams, do double topstitching, etc. Where you see double rows of top-stitching along my seams, I stitched, serged to finish the seam, and then top stitched twice with Gutermann poly jeans top-stitching thread (I didn't want to mess with flat felling on a potential muslin).

Back pocket

I stole the back pocket design from Nakisha at SewCraftyChemist; I wanted to do something with the back pockets, but don't own an embroidery machine and didn't want to spend a lot of time on decorative stitching, given that I didn't know how the jeans would turn out. I purchased the rivets and jeans button from CastBullet and used Melissa's tutorial to install them.
 

Burda 6951 envelope

Here's the line drawing, where you can see the details a bit better:

Burda 6951 line drawing

You can see that my version isn't as close-fitting as the envelope photo, especially through the legs. I can think of two possible reasons for this:

• The pattern is drafted for stretch, bottom weight fabrics and that draft includes negative ease at the hip in the finished garment measurements. Even though my denim had lycra and plenty of stretch, I kind of freaked out over that and went up a size from the size chart. I realized that I clearly didn't need to do this after wearing them for a bit.
• I do think that the legs are drafted to not fit as closely shown as they do on the model. If you're a longtime reader of my blog, you've seen my legs plenty of times in dresses and skirts. I do not have disproportionately skinny legs to the rest of my body, but I'm finding that I often (not always) need to take in or grade down the size of legs in pant styles that are meant to be slim-fitting through the legs. I don't have this issue at all in RTW pants and jeans, so I suspect that it's a common issue with plus size and/or larger sized pant patterns.

Another jeans pic

Fabric and Notions Used

I used the following fabric and notions for this version of this pattern:

• Stretch denim from stash. I'm going to guess that this denim has at least 2% lycra. It was very stretchy and has good recovery (so far). I don't know the weight, but I'd categorize it as a lighter medium weight denim. Maybe about 8 oz? I'm going to guess that I either purchased this at a Yardage Town (from when I was living in San Diego) or from a flat fold table at Michael Levine's during a years-ago shopping trip to the LA fashion district. In any case, it had been in my stash so long that I felt no anxiety about possibly sacrificing this fabric to a muslin if the jeans didn't work out.
• Facing fabric was leftover cotton shirting from my HP Woven tee.
• 5" YKK jeans zipper.
• Jeans button and rivets from CastBullet.
• Poly Gutermann jeans top-stitching thread.

Please ignore the wonkiness at the edge of the waistband underlap.

Pattern Sizing and Alterations

This is a Burda Plus envelope pattern available in sizes 42-54 (hip sizes 40 1/4"-52 3/4" or 102 cm - 134 cm). My hip measurement (50") should put me in a Burda size 52, but as I mentioned previously, I freaked out over the negative ease in the finished garment measurements and sewed a size 54. I made no other alterations other than shortening the pants inseam by 3" (to 28" hemmed) because I had no idea how these would fit out of the envelope.

One thing that I liked about this pattern is that the front pockets incorporate a tummy panel--one of the pocket pieces extends to the fly facing to help prevent pocket gape and provide tummy support.

For my next version, I'll go down a size to a 52 and add a horizontal wedge to the CB seam to give me better vertical coverage over my bum. I also used the pattern for pocket placement and will be raising the placement of my back pockets in my next version.

Jeans back

Pattern Instructions

The pattern instructions are adequate. If you've never sewn a Burda envelope pattern before, the instructions are far more detailed than the BurdaStyle magazine or download patterns. The envelope patterns also include seam and hem allowances (or at least they do in the US).

I used HotPatterns instructions from another pattern to install the fly zipper, though, because Trudy's method is the only one I've tried where I don't get a weird little pucker where the fold for the fly starts. (Her method is very similar to Sandra Betzina's , but Trudy's incorporates the fly shield at the start of construction.)

Similar Patterns

I'm not sure how many similar patterns there are to this pattern, particularly in a plus size range. The leg profile on the StyleArc Sandra jean should be similar, but that pattern is designed for non-stretch denim. There's also the much-beloved Closet Case Files Ginger jeans, but those appear to be either a true skinny jean or a slightly flared jeans leg. (Fun fact: I chose these Burda jeans to establish a baseline fit for myself when sewing other jeans patterns, such as my plan to tackle the Gingers in coming months.)

Final Thoughts

The fit on these jeans isn't perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it for an out-of-the-envelope first version. I've already made one set of alterations (including going down a size) and have started work on another pair--this time in a bottomweight stretch cotton twill in a fun print.

Thinking ahead to 2014: Seeking balance

I got a lot of sewing done this weekend, but I don't have any photos yet of anything that I did, so I'm stepping back from project-related posts for the day and want to think out loud about the future for a few minutes.

I feel like I have the attention span of a house cat when it comes to sewing projects. (Ooh! Shiny object! Ooh! Laser pointer! Ooh! Leaves blowing around outside!)  I've gone so far as to plan mini-capsule wardrobes (and bought the corresponding fabrics and patterns), only to throw away all of my plans because I was distracted by a new pattern release. As a result, I have a lot of orphan garments in my closet that can really only be worn with jeans, and I have an overflowing fabric stash, only some of which coordinates with the other pieces in my stash. Almost as bad as my fabric stash is my pattern stash. I've mostly weaned myself off of the JoAnns/Hancock pattern sales for the Big 4, but I'm still a sucker for a newly released indie pattern during the initial discount period that most of them have.

Do other sewists have this problem? (The attention span thing, I mean. I figure that by default, if you're reading a sewing-themed blog, you probably also have a fabric stash problem.)

Next year, my sewing goals are going to revolve around taming my pattern and fabric stash a bit. I won't promise to fast either of these things, but I want to make wiser choices and sew down the stashes that I already have. Instead of only asking myself, "Do I think this has the potential to be cute?", I want to also ask myself, "Will I actually wear this? Like, out of the house, and stuff?"

I generally sew about two garments a month (give or take, depending on garment complexity and what else is going on in my life) and that I also sew for my daughter (frequently) and husband (less frequently), in addition to sewing for myself. Keeping these things in mind, these are a few of the self-designed "challenges" that I'm mulling over to set sewing goals for myself in 2014:

• HotPattern-a-month challenge: I have a HUGE stash of HotPatterns. I've actually sewn quite a few of them, but between my pregnancy, having a baby, and then moving across 3 states, my backlog of "wanting to sew" HP patterns has grown beyond my comfort zone. Most of their patterns haven't been done to death in the blogosphere, as well.
• StyleArc-a-month challenge:  My StyleArc backlog isn't as big as my HP backlog (due mainly to exercising more self-restraint because of the shipping charges and/or waiting to place orders in months where I Had to Have the freebie pattern), but their style and wearability scores about the same with me as HP. I've sewn a lot more StyleArcs than I've reviewed because I went through a big StyleArc phase when we were trying to pack up our house and I never got around to doing the pics/reviews.
• Colette-Pattern-a-month challenge: My Colette stash isn't quite as large as the first two, but I do have a backlog of their patterns that I would really like to sew. HP and Colette both have the advantage of having a few men's patterns, so I can occasionally sew something for my husband and still meet my challenge goals.
• BurdaStyle challenge:  Sewing folks have been doing this one for as long as I've been sewing--select a pattern from that month's Burda magazine and sew it that month. I no longer subscribe to the magazine, but they make a generous selection of patterns for each issue available on their web site. I like this idea for keeping things "fresh" (instant gratification from downloading PDF patterns), but I worry about finding something that I want to make every month, especially since I'm plus-sized.
• Pattern Review contest-a-month challenge: The Pattern Review web site typically runs two contests every month. For this, I'd make myself participate in one of those contests every month. The upside to this is that it would stretch me out of my comfort zone. The downside to this is that sometimes I truly have no interest in whatever contests are currently running.
• Sew-along-a-month challenge (non-company-specific): As you might know, I follow the blogs, etc, of several indie pattern companies. Several of these companies host structured "sew-alongs" with the release of new patterns. The idea behind this would be to find one per month to participate in and go with that. The upside to this is that sewalongs usually break things down into manageable 30-minute-a-day chunks--great for a busy working mom. The downside is that I'll need to actually find a sew-along every month.

As you can probably tell, I'm leaning towards doing the HotPatterns or StyleArc thing as my personal challenge, but I'd love to hear what others think.

The Hoodie Experiment

I fell in love with the menswear collection in the October 2008 issue of Burda World of Fashion as soon as I saw it. I showed it to David, who while not particularly into fashion, seemed excited that there was actually something in BWOF that I could make for him.

Unfortunately, the BWOF men's sizes go only up to a 42.5" chest--about the equivalent of a men's Large in RTW. David's extremely broad shoulders alone usually call for an XXL, so I knew that actually sewing one of these garments would present a bit of a challenge. I'd have to grade up at least two sizes to get a decent fit with any of these patterns.

I chose the hoodie pattern as my first experiment in pattern grading. For the most part, I followed the method recommended by Threads magazine. I traced all of the pattern pieces (all 13 of them), and held them up to David to figure out how much I'd need to add where. I then split the main body pieces along the lines shown in the article (neck, shoulder, side seam, etc) and added the appropriate amount at each slash line.

Once I felt that I was going to get a decent fit through the shoulders and back, I used the alteration method described in Off the Cuff for a prominent abdomen to get enough ease through the abdomen area.

On top of some of the fitting challenges that this project provided, it also required that I tackle welt pockets for the first time. I'm not particularly happy with how these turned out in the final hoodie, so I won't show a closeup of them, but each practice try turned out a little better, so I'm pretty confident that after a few garments with these, I'll get them looking decent.

Of course, the big thing with this hoodie that I'm proud of is the fit. It's not tight or pulling anywhere...and it's not baggy (and therefore pound adding), which is more than I can say of most things in David's closet.

The top-stitching on this took forever. Or maybe after recently finishing a pair of jeans, I'm just really burned out on top-stitching. I think it adds a really great detail, though, and really elevates this from your standard hoodie. I think I need to add a snap or two to keep the top pocket flaps from flying up, but it's not an urgent alteration.

Overall, I think the pattern grading experiment was a success. There's another sweatshirt/jacket (a non-hoodie) in the same issue that uses the same body pattern pieces, so after all of the fitting work that I did on this, you can bet that I'll be making up that view, too.

Pants!!!

I just completed my first pair of "real" (i.e. fly front) pants recently, and I could not be more excited. After going through such an ordeal to fit my upper body (lessons learned: stick with princess seams and use patterns with different cup sizes, if possible), sewing pants (even with the fly) was a piece of cake. Given that I've barely bought any pants or jeans over the past two years, I'm pretty bored with every pair that I own, so I think that I'm going to go on a pants sewing kick.

My next project (I already have these cut out) are these linen pants from the July 2008 issue of Burda World of Fashion:

I'm not sure how those pleats will work on my body, but they are stitched down to reduce bulk, and I love the wide waistband. Given that my fabric was about $3/yard, they're a pretty low-risk experiment.

If those go well, I'm contemplating to sewing my first pair of jeans, using this jeans pattern from the August 2007 issue of BWOF:

This is only, of course, if I don't get sucked into sewing other things, first. I'm loving the idea of sewing up some of the new menswear patterns from the upcoming October issue of BWOF for my fiance. Finally--some fashion-forward patterns for men!

And I also love this faux Persian lamb coat from the September issue (love the wrap dress that it's over, too):



This would be a bit of a splurge for me, fabric-wise, but I'd really love to make this up in a similar faux Persian lamb fabric. I do have a birthday coming up...so maybe this could be a birthday present to myself. ;)

Wonky Darts

Bust darts have given me fits in the tops and jackets that I've sewn so far. At first, I thought that it was me and some strange dart ineptitude that I have, but then I noticed that my waist/butt darts never seem to have the same problem. My bust darts usually seem to be overly pointy, and I have a heck of a time getting them to lay flat.

Fairly recently, I realized that it might not all be my fault. I usually have to do a pretty large FBA to accommodate my bust, and this usually results in a huge bust dart. I've started playing around a little bit with rotating the bust dart elsewhere. The Emily blouse has been my first attempt at splitting the bust dart into a second dart (in this case, I used an armhole dart, which someone had recommended to me)...but *sigh* this clearly didn't fix the problem of my wonky darts:


Here's a closer look at my oh-so-prominent dart:


And a front view (ignore the fact that there's too much ease in the sleeve cap and that the blouse has no waist shaping--I can fix those things):



This is a muslin (thank you $1/yard swap meet fabric) that I went ahead and finished to practice collars, shaped hems, etc. But, I'd like to make this again and actually try to make this work. Sadly, even as wonky as my bust darts are, they don't look as bad as they usually do, so I think that I may have been onto something with my gigantidart theory...just that I didn't decrease the dart size enough with this one. My thoughts on what I'd like to change for my next version:

• I hate the armhole dart. I'm rotating the bust dart excess to a waist dart next time.
• I think the bust dart is still too big--I'll rotate out more excess next time.
• I think that I lowered the bust dart too much. I usually lower my darts 1/2-1", but when I did the tissue fitting this time, it looked like I'd need to lower them by 1 1/2"...which I think was too much.

Any fitting gurus out there have any other thoughts?