Top 5 Reflections and Goals from 2015

Boy, I really am dragging this Top 5 thing out, aren't I?  To be fair, though, I think I've done a "goals" post every year that I've been regularly blogging. This one is a little late this year due to a particularly busy end-of-year run of posting over at the Curvy Sewing Collective and life getting in the way.

 

Top 5 (6?) Reflections from 2015's goals

 

I didn't use the "Top 5" format to set my sewing goals last year, and from going through my post, it looks like I set six actual sewing goals for myself last year. Here's my post from last year, where I reflected back on 2014 and set my goals for 2015.

How did I do?

6. Finish that damn winter coat.

The "damn winter coat" in question was my Simplicity Leanne Marshall coat (ultimately categorized as a "miss" by me). I may not have worn the finished coat much, but I did finish it, at least. I did end up pattern testing the CCF Clare Coat, which I'm much happier with and which has been getting worn a fair amount on non-rainy days.

5. Fabric stash goal: Shop my stash first, shop local for wovens, and quality over quantity.

I didn't track things to quantify this, but I feel like I generally did this.  Discovering Japanese cottons this past year was a huge factor in my progress towards quality-over-quantity. Shopping local more was certainly helped by an office move to a location right off the bus line that stops very close to two of my favorite local indie stores.

4. Sew a water-resistant jacket with a hood.

Yeah, no. This was a carry-over goal from 2014, and it didn't happen in 2015, either. Without making too many excuses, there are a few reasons why this hasn't happened yet:

1. Up until December, we were having a really warm, dry year. Not having much need for said jacket certainly didn't help my motivation to actually sew the jacket.
2. Lack of commercial pattern options. Have you looked for a jacket like this? Then narrow the available options down to one that's available in a plus size range.  There just aren't a whole lot of choices out there. Yes, I know that everyone loves the Sewaholic Minoru; I like it, too, but I am the exact opposite of the shape that Tasia drafts for AND outside of her size range. I can't imagine what a headache it would be to alter that pattern to fit.
3. Related to #2, I sort of have an idea in my head as far as what I want in a jacket, and of the few options out there, they're all missing some key feature. The closest is this BurdaStyle jacket from a few years ago, but A) I'm hesitant to tackle a garment type that I don't have a ton of experience in with Burda's notably sparse instructions and B) it has cut-on sleeves, and I don't know how I'd feel about that. I do have the pattern--I should get off my butt and at least muslin it.

3. Jeans! Jeans! Jeans!

I'm not sure how to score myself on this one. I made two pairs of StyleArc Misty jeans, which I love and wear all the time, AND they fit pretty decently. However, they're pull-on jeans, and not "real" jeans. In the "real" jeans department, I made a lot of progress with a Burda Plus pattern, but I'm still tweaking the fit a little bit. Partial credit?

2. Fit and sew a button-down blouse.

Done, thanks to the Blank Slate Marigold pattern. I've also muslined the Blank Slate Novelista and had a successful pattern test of another button-down shirt, which you'll be seeing when the pattern is released. I'm comfortable marking this one as "accomplished", but you'll be seeing more shirtmaking from me in 2016, as well.

1. Watch and complete the relevant projects for at least two of my Craftsy classes.

Partial credit on this one. I watched Kathleen Cheetham's plus size pant fitting class the whole way through and have been incorporating some of the adjustments that I learned from the class into my pant-fitting. I started watching numerous other classes but then got "Ooh Shiney!-ed" away from them. When I set this goal, I specifically had completion of Beverly Johnson's bra-making class and one or more of Suzy Furrer's sloper classes in mind, and while I started each of them (and found them interesting and engaging), in both cases I got distracted by other projects and didn't complete them.

Top 5 Goals for 2016

I'm a list-checker. Goals help motivate me. Here are the top 5 sewing goals that I want to accomplish in 2016:

5. Finally sew that rain jacket.


I'm carrying this one over again because it's a gaping hole in my closet. I need just get on with it and make something from an existing pattern and stop waiting for my "perfect pattern" to be released. If that pattern ever is released, there's no rule that says I can't make a second jacket.

4. Sew Eva's Halloween costume.

This was a goal in 2014 and should have been a goal in 2015, but I forgot to put it on the list. My mom used to sew my Halloween costume every year, and I want to carry on that tradition with my own daughter. However, for the past two years, the costumes that she's chosen (Elsa from Frozen and "a blue robot") have been major undertakings. As of right now, she says that for next Halloween, she either wants to be Elsa again (of course, 2014's dress no longer fits) or wants to be BB-8 from Star Wars--I can only imagine what a huge project turning a 4-year-old into a ball-shaped droid will be.

3. Finish Beverly Johnson's two bra-making classes from Craftsy and start sewing my own bras.

I am SO OVER paying $70+ each for RTW bras, and my current batch of RTW bras have seen better days. I would have hopped on the bra-making bandwagon of the past year or so sooner, but there aren't a ton of pattern options out there for large band and large cup sizes (I'll be writing more about this over at the CSC next month). I dropped a bunch of Christmas money on bra-making supplies, and I'm really hoping to develop a TNT bra pattern for myself this year that I can use to adapt to whatever style I want to make.

2. Start sewing my own underwear.

For years, I've worn Lane Bryant's underwear, usually purchased online. With my last few batches, though, I've noticed a lot of inconsistency in fit (even in the same size) and in the quality/type of elastic used. Everyone says that sewing your own underwear is fast (once you have a TNT pattern) and is a great use of scraps. I'm tired of paying $30 for a set of 5 new panties and finding out that only 2 of the pairs are actually comfortable to wear.

1. Develop skirt and bodice slopers for myself.

Like many others, I have Suzy Furrer's Craftsy skirt and bodice sloper classes sitting in my Craftsy queue. I would really like to start developing sloper patterns for myself. Now, I have read various places that while her skirt sloper drafting method work for most women, the bodice sloper is a lot trickier, especially if your measurements are outside of the industry standard norm. (My upper body measurements are light years away from the industry standard norm.) I'm going to give Suzy's classes a try first, since they are generally well-reviewed, but I'm looking at other options if her methods don't work for my uber-busty figure.

So that's it for my goals for this year. I think they're doable (I hope). How about you--are you setting sewing goals for yourself for 2016?

Top 5 Misses and Hits of 2015

Yeah, I'm a little late to the party here, but I was busy with a lot of recent writing over at the CSC, plus there was a health crisis with a close family member that killed my sewing and writing time. Late to the party or not, though, I wanted to write this post both for myself and for anyone who might be interested--I know that I love reading year-end roundups on others' blogs.

Also, in case you've been looking for pattern roundups the past few weeks, I haven't written any--only because things have been very quiet on the pattern release front.

 

Top 5 Misses

 

Let's start with the "misses". Truth be told, I didn't have many outright misses this year--I've gotten a lot better about muslining, and that definitely prevented a few disasters. I'm also not going to call anything that's any sort of a muslin a "miss", so that eliminates several experiments that didn't work out. Most of my "misses" therefore fall into that category because for one reason or another, the garment just didn't get worn much.

5. Simplicity 1317: Raglan-sleeved top

I hesitated to put this one on my list because it was the first thing that I sewed after my dad died last spring. But, if we're going to be objective, I didn't wear this a whole lot. The sleeve proportions are weird, and let's face it--a short-sleeved sweatshirt is only going to get worn in transitional weather.

Simplicity 1317

4. HotPatterns Peasant Blouse - silk version

This one is up here strictly for fabric choice. I love the double gauze version that I made...the silk version? Not so much. Or maybe I'm just still not over the trauma of working with that georgette yet. In any case, it hasn't been worn much.

HP - Peasant Blouse (silk version)

3.  Simplicity 1254: Leanne Marshall coat

*sigh*  After all of the work that I put into this, I really hate that it ended up on this list. But the truth of the matter is that by the time I finished it, the weather wasn't really cold enough to wear it, and then I sewed up the Closet Case Files Clare Coat as a pattern tester back in August/September, and the Clare is the coat that I reach for. The Clare is just a better-made coat; the Leanne Marshall coat was a learning experience.

Simplicity 1254: Leanne Marshall coat

2. BurdaStyle Plus "Vintage Chic" dress

File this one under "I should have made a muslin". I think that this pattern has a lot of potential for me, but because I didn't muslin it first, there are just enough things off with the fit that this dress was only worn a few times before ending up in the back of my closet as the weather got cold. Maybe it would get worn more in the winter if I had made one of the coordinating cardigans that I had planned to make, but that hasn't happened yet.

BurdaStyle "Vintage Chic" dress

1. HotPatterns Trilogy Top

Oof. File this one under "Hubris, lots of hubris" AND "You really, really should have made a muslin." I wasted two yards of good double gauze fabric thinking that I could outdesign the pattern designer, and I lost.  The comedy of errors that was this top is detailed in my blog post about it. The best thing about this top is that the worst parts of it are easily hidden under a jacket, so I've been able to at least get some wear out of it that way.

HP Trilogy top

Top 5 Hits

 

In happier news, I had a REALLY hard time narrowing this list down to 5. It turns out that I made a lot of garments this past year that I wear a lot, so I'm really happy about that. My purple Appleton dress, Burda pants, and CCF Clare Coat barely missed the cut on this list, so I want to call those out as honorable mentions.

5. Closet Case Files: Carolyn Pajamas

Yeah, I know, I haven't actually even blogged these yet, outside of my project post for FabricMart, but I LOVE them. I loved this pattern--these were so much fun to make! You can read a little about them over on the FabricMart blog, and when I get the chance, I'll write up a more detailed post here and go more into depth on my pattern alterations.

CCF - Carolyn Pajamas

4. Blank Slate Denver Tunic

Yeah, I know, I haven't blogged this one here yet, either. I did blog it over at the CSC. I was on the fence about this one when I first made it, but it's turned out to be a wear-every-wash-cycle garment, and I get a lot of compliments on it. Everyone seems to love the fabric--especially the contrasting cowl. I know that I love wearing the fabric--it's really soft and has held up well to machine washing.

Blank Slate Patterns - Denver tunic

3. Blank Slate Marigold Dress

I love this dress. I wore it a ton this past summer, and I'm sure that I'll wear it a ton when the weather warms. I'm happy with the fit, and the fabric (a rayon poplin) was a perfect match for the pattern. Love the no-gape pockets, too!

Blank Slate - Marigold Dress

2. HotPatterns Refined Peasant Blouse (Double gauze version)

A hit in one fabric and a miss in another. I'll be making this fabric again, but sticking to double gauze for it from here on out.

HotPatterns Refined Peasant Blouse (double gauze)

1. StyleArc Misty Jeans

I've made two pairs of these and wear them Every. Wash. Cycle. The fit is a little better on the second pair (with the white topstitching), but I love both pairs of jeans that I've made from this pattern. They're so comfortable that it's ridiculous. Expect to continue to see more of these on this blog in 2016.

StyleArc Misty jeans

In my next post, I'll talk about how I did on the goals that I set for myself last year and set some new goals for 2016. If the post isn't too long at that point, I'll also talk about my non-sewing highlights for 2015.

This Week in Patterns (18-Dec-2015)

We had a fairly quiet week in pattern releases this past week, as many people start to wind things down for the holiday season. Here's who released patterns this past week (okay, the McCall's release was really last week):

• McCall's
• StyleArc

McCall's: Early Spring 2016 Collection

If you click the link to this collection on McCall's website, you'll find a whole lot of boring prom dress patterns at the top. Or, at least, I find prom dress patterns boring since I'm not sewing for a 16-year-old girl. Beyond that, the rest of the collection is mostly inoffensive--there's nothing as bad as the laughable ruffled leggings from their previous release, but also not much to get excited about. The patterns that I'm listing here are the few that caught my eye for one reason or another.

M7314: Misses' Shirtdresses

It looks like McCall's is following up their perennially popular M6696 shirtdress with cup sizes with another shirtdress pattern with cup sizes. The new version has a curved waist and the button placket stops at the waist seam. It also only has waist darts instead of bust-and-waist darts, which should actually make for an easier FBA, if you're like me and still need one even on a D-cup pattern piece.

M7314

M7319: Misses' Gathered Waist Dresses

This dress is really cute, fairly unique, and should look good on most figure types. This one will be on my "must have" list.

M7319

M7330: Misses' Button-up Jumpsuits and Rompers

This collection has a button-up romper/jumpsuit pattern that's a little more sporty-looking than the drapier jumpsuit patterns that we've largely been seeing. I think that this could be cute in the right fabric, but in the wrong fabric, you'll risk looking like a zookeeper or an auto mechanic.

M7330

M7341: Yaya Han Zippered Bodysuit

I'm not a cosplay person, but I do appreciate the fact that this collection includes a true plus size bodysuit pattern. You could use this pattern as the basis for a lot of different costumes, AND it's available in a truly expansive size range. With the popularity of cosplay, I can imagine that McCall's will sell quite a few of these.

M7341

StyleArc: Cameron Dress

The Cameron dress is the sort of throw-on and go dress that usually makes a great instant gratification project. I could see where someone might think of this dress as a sack with an elastic waist, but I have more faith in StyleArc's drafting than that. I made a similar dress (the HotPatterns Uptown Downtown dress) and got a lot of wear out of that for a few years. I like the wrap option on the skirt of the StyleArc, too, which is something that sets it apart from similar patterns.

StyleArc - Cameron Dress

Final Thoughts

So, I'll probably pick up that McCall's crossover dress on sale, and I could see myself getting the StyleArc dress at some point, but that's probably about it for now.  Thoughts?

This Week (and Last) in Patterns (aka Sweatshirtpalooza!) (11-Dec-2015)

If by any chance you were wondering about my absence last week, I had been knocked on my butt by the respiratory virus that's been going around. I could barely get out of bed, so writing any sort of blog post was out of the question. No post last week means that we've got twice as much ground to cover this week, and we have had quite a few new releases these past two weeks.

Late Breaking News:  Yes, I did see that the Early Spring (!) McCall's were published last night, but given that we didn't have a roundup post last week, I don't want to delay today's post to get them in. There's a bunch of re-hash-y prom dresses in this batch, but I did see a few cute everyday items from the one pass that I've made through the collection so far. We'll cover those next week.

Do you like interesting sweatshirts? I do. And if you do like sweatshirts, you should be pretty thrilled with these past two weeks because we've had FOUR different unique sweatshirt patterns released. We also had a lot of other things released, too. Here's the list of companies with new releases in the past two weeks:

• Baste + Gather
• Cashmerette
• Colette Patterns
• Colette Seamwork Magazine
• HotPatterns
• Itch to Stitch
• Paprika Patterns
• SBCC Patterns
• StyleArc Patterns

Baste + Gather: Birkin Flares

After seeing many teaser pics on Instagram and a few related blog posts even, Lauren of Baste + Gather has finally released her flared jean pattern. Lauren's jeans are a high-waisted retro-style flare and have been getting a lot of positive comments from testers.

I like them, but I'd have to grade up a few sizes for these, plus, I somewhat recently bought flared jeans patterns from Burda and HotPatterns. (Although if StyleArc put out a flared jeans pattern, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat.)

Baste + Gather: Birkin Flares

Cashmerette Patterns: Washington Dress

My fellow Curvy Sewing Collective Editor Jenny from Cashmerette released her second pattern last week!  Like her first pattern, the Appleton dress, the Washington Dress is designed for curvy figures--up to a size 28 and with three sets of cup sizes: C/D, E/F, G/H. The Washington dress combines a knit top, stable knit hip yoke, and woven skirt to give lots of design and color-blocking possibilities.

I pattern tested this dress and have seen some of the tester photos. I won't show my tester version because I should have sized up (use your judgment as far as how comfortable you are with negative ease, when choosing a size), but I'll say that proportions and color-blocking choices are the key to getting a killer version of this dress. If you're looking to get a slimming hourglass shape out of this dress, you'll want to choose a hip yoke fabric that's darker in color--like a black or a navy. I made my tester version using a neoprene remnant for the skirt, and I really liked how the skirt portion came out, so if you're wondering about that, I say go for it!

Cashmerette - Washington dress

Colette Patterns: Phoebe Sheath Dress

Relatively soon after releasing the Wren knit surplice dress, Colette has released another pattern--this time a sheath dress with an A-line skirt.

My reaction? Meh. I appreciate the diversity of the models used for the photo shoot, but I don't feel like the dress fits or flatters the larger model all that well. In fact, if you click through to the product page, you can see that the gray sample has a bust dart (not shown in the line drawing) in addition to the princess seams. Why not just do a princess seam FBA to get a better fit? Also, for both models, why not extend that front panel all the way over to the princess seam? It just looks odd where it ends.

Colette - Phoebe dress

Colette Seamwork: December 2015 Issue

The theme for the December issue of Seamwork magazine is "Appreciation". I'm not entirely sure what that means, but it does include a mixed bag of two new patterns.

Seamwork: Brooklyn Skirt

Ok, THIS is the type of pattern that I had originally hoped would be included in Seamwork. It's a basic pattern but with an interesting attention getting detail: a half-circle skirt with a DEEP front pleat. I know that I've seen similar skirts pop up on Burda from time to time (and StyleArc also has a deep-pleat skirt in their catalog), but having the Colette version available saves you from having to hunt through Burda's dense online catalog or hunt down back issues of their magazine. So yeah, I like this skirt.

Colette Seamwork - Brooklyn skirt

Seamwork: York Blouse

The York is an unremarkable and inoffensive woven t-shirt-style blouse. It's got a boatneck and 3/4-length sleeves.

Most notable...I didn't get a screen shot in time, but the initial photos that were up for this blouse were BAD. The sample was badly sewn and the fit on the model was terrible--with bust darts that ended several inches below the actual bust of the model. I have giant droopy boobs, though, so maybe that would be a good sign for trying to fit myself?

Colette Seamwork - York Blouse

HotPatterns 1182: Athleisure Pretzel Sweatshirt

We've now reached the first (and probably my favorite) of the four new sweatshirt patterns that debuted in the past week. The Pretzel Sweatshirt features a twist hem in front and looks like the perfect cozy top to throw on over jeans. I can't wait to have this made up and hopefully join my Paprika Jasper (unblogged) and Blank Slate Denver comfy tops in near-constant wardrobe rotation.

HotPatterns - Pretzel sweatshirt

HotPatterns 1199: Fast & Fabulous Halcyon Sweatshirt

HotPatterns released a second sweatshirt pattern last week--the Halcyon sweatshirt. I like the deep v-neck and cross-over detail on this one. I'm not sure how I feel about the super dropped shoulder here, but again, this looks like a great layering piece on a cold, rainy day (like we've been having constantly for the past few weeks here in the PNW--I take back all of my complaints about a lack of rain)!

HotPatterns - Halcyon Sweatshirt

Itch to Stitch: Liana Stretch Jeans

Lost in some of the bigger name releases of the past two weeks, the relatively new but very prolific patternmaker Itch-to-Stitch released three new patterns for basics. The first of these is the Liana stretch jean, which have options for a straight, skinny, or flared leg. I think that these jeans are a fantastic idea--fit your crotch/butt area once, then swap in whatever leg you want to use. Honestly, I'm surprised that we're not hearing more buzz about these--the tester versions look good for the most part, and the size range for the pattern is fairly inclusive (better than the Birkin Flares).

Itch to Stitch - Liana stretch jeans

Itch to Stitch: Mila Shirt

The Mila shirt is one of those placket-style shirts that's been everywhere in RTW for the past few years. There are a few similar patterns out there (New Look 6474 comes to mind), but the Mila has classic shirt details and is geared more towards flannels and shirting, whereas the New Look and other similar patterns seem like they're more geared towards lightweight and/or sheer fabric. The Mila also has cup sizes up to DD, so that's a nice feature, too.

Itch to Stitch - Mila Shirt

Itch to Stitch: Irena Top

The third and final pattern in this batch is the Irena top: a knit pullover top meant for layering. I like the design of this one, but I'm not sure how well it would work on someone with a large bust. None of the tester photos that went out with the newsletter showed the top on anyone particularly busty, if I recall. So, this is a wait-and-see for me.

Itch to Stitch: Irena top

Paprika Patterns: Zircon Sweater/Dress

Following up last year's popular Jasper sweater/dress, Lisa from Paprika patterns has released another sweater/dress--this time without pockets but with an interesting inset yoke and hem detail. I think it's a pretty cool-looking sweatshirt; I love that yoke detail. My local JoAnn's (of all places) has a bunch of quilted knits and double-sided knits right now, which I think would be perfect for this.

Paprika Patterns - Zircon Sweater/Dress

SBCC Patterns: Brooklyn Hoodie

So, this is an interesting pattern. Betsy from SBCC wanted to take the oversized look that's currently in style, but draft this hoodie so that it would be proportionate with a petite woman's figure. It's got dropped shoulders and roomy at the chest, but more fitted through the sleeves and torso. I've had success with SBCC patterns, and I like the idea of this hoodie.

SBCC - Brooklyn hoodie

StyleArc: December 2015 Release

With the flood of other new patterns this month, StyleArc's December releases would be pretty easy to overlook. They're not bad, by any means, but we saw more interesting releases from some other companies, IMO. As they've been doing the past few months, if you order a paper pattern from StyleArc, you get a choice of a new pattern (the Maris top) or an older pattern (the Peta pant) as your freebie pattern for the month.

StyleArc: Kaye Tunic

It's a drapey tunic with drapey side pockets. It's fine, but there isn't much to say about it. Or maybe I'm just fatigued from going through so many patterns at this point.

StyleArc - Kaye Tunic

StyleArc: Maris Top (Freebie option)

It's a drapey top with design and color-blocking options.

StyleArc - Maris top

Final Thoughts

After barely having bought any patterns in the past few months, I went on a pattern buying binge these past two weeks.  Far too many patterns screamed "Layer up with me! I'm cozy and comfortable" while we've been mired in a really rainy stretch here in Seattle. (Hint: Most of the ones that I bought were sweatshirt patterns.)

Was there anything that you particularly loved or hated these past two weeks?

Finished Project: StyleArc - Misty Jeans (v2)

I just did something that I almost NEVER do: I made the same pattern twice in one month. Seriously, I consider a pattern to be a big winner when I keep it in my "queue" pile and don't put it away after finishing it, but diving right into a second version is pretty much unheard of for me. However, I've been wearing my first pair of Misty jeans so much (and also wanted to make some fitting tweaks) that I wanted to get another pair into my wardrobe ASAP.

StyleArc Misty Jeans - v2

For the basic pattern review, you can read the post that I wrote about the first pair that I made. I'll use this post to cover the changes that I made for this pair, and will post a few side-by-side pics to compare the fit of each pair.

To start, I added functional pockets this time around and got a little fancier with the top-stitching, using white top-stitching thread. Out of the envelope, the front pockets are only a mock pocket with a facing and no pocket bag. I realize that by design, this is meant to cut down on bulk in front, but I really like having a place where I can quickly stick my phone at times. And if you know me, you know that function wins out over bulk reduction every time.

Functional front pocket

Back topstitching and pockets

So let's take a better look at the fit on these. I used the exact same denim (I'd bought a 5-yard cut) as I did for the first pair, but I made a few new pattern alterations this time around:

• Shortened the jeans by 1" above the knee and another 1" below the knee.
• Did a 1/2" full tummy adjustment using Kathleen Cheetham's method.
• Added a 1" wedge at the CB seam (to give more vertical length), tapering to nothing at the side seam.
• Did a 1/2" knock knee alteration (this was meant to get rid of the "X" wrinkles at my knees in back using Sandra Betzina's method. (There were a handful of different ways to do this alteration I found through searching the internet. Sandra's seemed the easiest, so I figured I'd try her method first.)
• Moved the back pockets in and up a touch.

Let's see how the new jeans compare to the previous pair from the front. Note that I've lightened these photos to better show the wrinkles/details:

New Misty jeans on the left; Old pair on the right

As you can see, the length alteration that I made took care of a lot of the wrinkles around the knees that you can see in the old pair (on the right). My shirt is covering the area where I was getting the "tummy pull" distortion on the right, but that is fixed now, too. I do think that the CF/crotch might be slightly too long now, and I might shorten that by a touch the next time that I make these. Overall, I feel like the fit from the front is an improvement.

And here's how they look from the back:

New Misty Jeans on the left; Old pair on the right

There's definitely an improvement in that the knock knee wrinkles aren't nearly as pronounced in the new pair. I wonder how much of the improvement is do to the length fixes that I made in this pair, but in any case, the new pair looks better.  The back pockets also look better in the new pair. Some of the knock knee alterations also incorporate a bit of a full inner thigh adjustment, and from looking at these photos, I think that would be worth trying for my next pair.

So...I'm getting there.  These still aren't quite at the point where I'd just buy a cut of stretch denim and sew them up straight off of my TNT pattern pieces, but I'm pretty happy with my progress. I am sure that you will continue to see more posts from me about new pairs of Misty jeans in the coming months!

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...

Finished Project: HotPatterns 1169 Classix Nouveau Refined Peasant Blouse (v2)

Ever since I made my original version of HotPatterns Refined Peasant Blouse last summer, I've been wanting to add another one to my closet. I've been wearing the first version that I made nearly every wash cycle. However, I got a bit hung up on fabric choice for the next version. I absolutely love the cotton double gauze that I used the first time and have been very tempted to make a the second version using the exact same fabric in a different colorway, but that seems kind of boring, doesn't it?

I recently joined the FabricMart Fabricista blogging group, and you'll see me blogging a few projects over there over the next few months. For my first project for them, I wanted to use a pattern that I was fairly comfortable with but choose a fabric that had some "wow factor". I'm a little afraid of sewing with silk (so slippery!), but I felt like making the HP peasant blouse pattern up in a silk fabric would check both of my requirements boxes.

HotPatterns - Refined Peasant Blouse

HP Peasant - back view

I've already reviewed this pattern before, so I won't do an in-depth review in this post, but I will talk a bit about the fabric and construction choices that I made for this version.

Original review/post for the HP Peasant Blouse pattern.

Refined Peasant Blouse - envelope

The fabric that I used was a cranberry-colored silk double georgette. I felt that it would be a good choice for both its drapiness and ability to handle the tons of gathering that's in the neckline for this blouse. On the other hand, like you'd expect from a drapey silk, this fabric was as slippery and wiggly as heck.  I thought about stabilizing it with a starch or a gelatin, but have read enough horror stories online about how difficult it can be to wash those out afterwards that I was wary. (If you have any suggestions for how to stabilize a wiggly silk in a way that washes out easily, I'd love to hear them.)

Surprisingly (to me), the fabric pressed extremely well, and if I made a pressing error, it was also easy to steam the miss-pressing right out of the fabric. I wasn't expecting a fabric as wiggly as this to press as nicely as it did. On top of that, the fabric also raveled less than I had expected.

Here's a closeup view of my gathered neckline:

Refined Peasant Blouse - gathered neckline

I wanted the insides of this blouse to be clean-finished, so I used French seams as my seam finishing method:

French seams

I only made one additional fit alteration to the pattern for this version--I gave myself a little more room in the wrist cuffs because I found them a bit snug on my first version.

Now, in a lesson of how different fabrics behave differently with the same pattern, I had done an FBA (rotated into the neck gathers) for the first version. I didn't necessarily need the additional width that this gave, but I was concerned about the blouse riding up in front if I didn't add extra length there. I think that this alteration worked well in my reasonably-drapey-but-firm cotton double gauze. However, in my super-drapey-not-at-all-firm double georgette, you can see that I'm getting a wrinkle at the bust indicating that there's perhaps too much fabric there.

GOMI-worthy twee pose

Given that I've already altered the master paper pattern, I think I'll be sticking with fabrics with not quite as much drape for future versions--like doing another double gauze version or perhaps a cotton voile or lawn.

This Week in Patterns (20-Nov-2015)

Happy Friday, everyone!  We've got a short round-up this week, which is probably a bit of a relief for both you and me considering that I squeezed in two project posts over the course of the past week.

This week, we have new releases from two companies:

• Closet Case Files
• StyleArc

Closet Case Files: Clare Coat

We've already spent a fair amount of time discussing the newest Closet Case Files pattern release on my blog post where I talked about testing this pattern.  But, in case you missed or skipped that post, the gist of it is that the pattern gets a big thumbs up from me. It's a really great pattern in a lot of ways for inexperienced coat sewists, and it's got two pretty stylish views even if you don't need the hand-holding.

I'd love to see some more patterns like this one, both to help expand my own and others' skill sets and to give us the confidence to lose the training wheels on the interesting coat patterns offered by other pattern makers who trend to more sparse instructions.

CCF - Clare Coat

StyleArc: Design Contest Winner Patterns - Hampton Crush Collection

Earlier this week, StyleArc released a trio of new patterns, one of which was the winner of the pattern design competition that StyleArc hosted on Instagram a while back. You can see all of the contest entries on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/stylearcdesigner/

StyleArc: Vicki Top

First up is the Vicki Top, a breezey swing top with armhole darts. This pattern is free with the purchase of the collection as a discounted bundle. As is so often the case with StyleArc, the sewn up sample on the product page is much more appealing than the line drawing.

StyleArc - Vicki Top

StyleArc: Emily Skirt

I'm not sure how this skirt would look on someone with a tummy, like me, but I quite like the design itself:

StyleArc - Emily skirt

StyleArc: Christia Pant

The Christia is a woven pull-on pant. It's a fine enough pant, but I'm a little disappointed that this was the design winner when, IMO, there were more interesting designs submitted. On the other hand, interesting takes on a pull-on pant seem to be the bread-and-butter of StyleArc, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that this won. It's fine, but as someone with a tummy, I'm leery of the pleats.

StyleArc - Christia pull-on pant

Final Thoughts

I've already made the Clare Coat and have the paper pattern on its way.  I can see the appeal of the StyleArc patterns, but I don't feel like they're the best style choices for my figure. What are your thoughts? Like, love, or hate anything?

Finished Project: StyleArc - Misty Jeans

I've had the pattern for the StyleArc Misty pull-on jeans in my stash for about six months now, but I'd been on the fence as to whether to try that pattern or the similar Jalie Eleanor jeans, if I were to dive into the waters of pull-on jeans. (I'd purchased the Jalie jeans, too, because they include both my daughter's and my size jeans all in one envelope.) However, when Alicia of Pandora Sews announced that she was hosting a curvy sewalong for the Misty jeans, I knew that I wanted to take part and finally get my Mistys sewn up.

It's been great seeing so many curvy sewists of many shapes and sizes post their progress on these jeans on Instagram over the past month, so here's my take on the pattern:

StyleArc - Misty jeans

The Misty jean is designed for stretch denim (StyleArc recommends denim with at least 3% spandex), has mock front pockets, a mock front fly, and an elastic waistband.

StyleArc - Misty jean line drawing

I feel guilty liking how these fit and feel as much as I do. I mean, they're elastic-waist jeans! My husband saw the waistband and said, "You're wearing Mom Jeans!"

Out of the envelope (with a few minor changes), though I feel like these are a better fit than the "real" Burda jeans that I've been working out the fit on off and on over the past few months. The Mistys aren't perfect, but they're a few minor pattern alterations away from giving me the fit that I'm looking for, I think.

For comparison, here are the first two versions of my Burda jeans:

Burda v1 - the wearable muslin

Burda v2 -- better

And here are my Mistys, with the only adjustment being adding a bit at the high hip:

Misty jeans

I've clearly still got the knock knee wrinkles, but the other wrinkles between my knee and butt are gone. I do need to add a touch to the length of the CB seam and play around some more with the pocket placement, but I'm pretty happy with these for a first pass.

Here's the view from the front. I see a little bit of pulling through the tummy, so I'll probably do a small full tummy adjustment on my next pair of these.

Misty jeans- front

Fabric and Notions Used

 

I used the following fabric and notions for my jeans:

• Fabric: Stretch denim purchased ages ago from fabric.com. I bought this back when everyone was making the Jalie stretch jeans that I never made.
• Elastic:  1.5" pro-stretch elastic (the pattern calls for an odd size--I felt this was close enough) from Fashion Sewing Supply.
• Thread: Gutermann jeans top-stitching thread for the top-stitching; regular Gutermann thread in the bobbin and for all of the seams.

Here you can see my top-stitching in all of its glory:

Top-stitching - back

Top-stitching -front

PDF Assembly

 

N/A. I used the paper pattern.

 

Pattern Drafting, Sizing, and Alterations

 

This pattern is available in on the StyleArc website in StyleArc sizes 4-30, which corresponds to 32.6-61" (83cm - 154cm) hips. Additionally, StyleArc has extended sizing up to a size 38 available in their Etsy shop.

I sewed a size 22 with about 2" added to the high hip/waist area.

Pattern Instructions

 

StyleArc is known for its brief instructions, and this pattern is no exception. However, these jeans are so easy to construct that I didn't really need them. If you do need more comprehensive instructions, refer to Alicia's sewalong.

Misty Jeans Sewalong

Final Thoughts

I like these way more than I thought I would. Next time, I'll make the pattern adjustments that I previously described and want to play around with altering the pockets to make them functional. These jeans are soooooo comfortable and they're nearly as fast to construct as a pair of yoga pants; I will definitely be making more of them.

This pair even earned one of my closely-rationed StyleArc labels:

My StyleArc label