I interrupt trouser sewing for a UFO

Last weekend my real life sewing buddies came around and assisted with the trouser fitting and tomorrow being a public holiday for us in Australia (Australia Day) I plan on transferring all the adjustments I have made to the muslin to the paper pattern and making up a new muslin which I will share with you soon.

In the meantime, I have completed a UFO that has been sitting in a drawer for the last 2 summers, a cute summer skirt.



This fabric was given to me by DS and it was a border piece across the width of the fabric.

To make the skirt:

• I pinned the fabric on Isabel (my fitting double) to get the hip size
• Cut the fabric with a 1.5cm seam allowance to create a centre back seam where I put in an invisible zip (one of the back seams is the selvedge edge).
• I then put it back on Isabel and pinned out side darts to make the side seams which are 27cm or 11 inches long

• Once I had sewn these in place I then added front and back waist darts so the waist would be snug.

This where it became a UFO, this was the first time that I had sewn with a stretch woven, so when I tried to do the waist treatment it simply frustrated me to the point that it got put aside.

At Christmas time when DS was visiting I decided it was time to get it back out and finish, as DS kindly reminded me that I have just about every colour in this skirt in a top to wear with it.

I had some poplin in my stash so I cut a facing and attached it the waistband with some twill tape to help it cup the waist, turned the facing over and stitched it all down.

I now have a new skirt to wear on the weekends.

Getting closer

I spent most of yesterday working on my trouser muslin after reading all of the Sew-Along information that the Cupcake Goddess's has been posting this last week.

My earlier post was my starting point. Whilst I don't want to bore you with what you might know, I found it very interesting to see the results as I did minor changes so I am warning you now that this is very photo heavy.

The Amazing Fit Patterns are chosen by your Body Measurements e.g Total Crotch Length and Back Crotch Length and it is these 2 figures that you use to determine whether you are Slim, Average, Curvy and this determines your pattern size which had me use 10 Slim. The trousers also sit 1.3cm or 1/2" below your waistline.

The first alteration I did was take a 6mm (total 1.2cm) or 2/8" tuck in the crotch depth which gave me a much better crotch depth:


The next alteration was to take 6mm or 2/8" off the inseams both front and back which took out the excess fabric in the legs, again much better:


Now I still had a baggy back so this is where Pants for Real People (page 38) advise you to pull the centre back up until they disappear, and they DO, can you tell I'm rather surprised.


Thankfully DH had arrived home so I asked him to draw on the muslin where the elastic was now sitting in relation to the thread marking that I had done initially and it was 2.3cm or 7/8" that needed to come off the centre back.

As these trousers have a contoured waistband, I thought a sway back adjustment of 1.2cm (total 2.4cm) or 1/2" would work, but I'm not sure about that as the pictures below show I've still got some wrinkles in the back. The front smile lines are because I was sitting in them for hours very comfortably.



I think I need to:

• make a new muslin (have been adjusting the original) with the alterations I have done so far, but first,
  
  
• read further into Pants for Real People and see if they deal with this adjustment for a contoured waistband as so far they are discussing a normal 2.5cm or 1" waistband and they just take it from the top of the trouser.

Sewing & Stitchery Expo - Puyallup

I'm going on a sewing holiday.

Back in January 2010 my sewing buddy Alison tempted us with the idea of going to the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington in 2011. Needless to say Alison, Velowsewer and I have been planning ever since.

The Expo is on from 3-6 March, 2011 and is held at the Puyallup Fair and Events Centre.

On Christmas Eve I downloaded the Registration Brochure and then have spent a lot of time checking out what I wanted to do.

Online registration started on 10 January 2011 at 10.00am PST, which for us is 5.00am this morning, so the alarm was set and to the computer I went.

I am now booked into the following seminars:

• Interfacing & Underlining - Ron Collins (Power Sewing)
• Totes, Bags, Jewellery & More - Nancy Zieman
• 40 Tips to Improve Your Sewing - Pati Palmer
• Needle Bootcamp - Debra Justice
• Power Sewing Toolbox - Sandra Betzina
• Wonderful Weekend Wardrobes - Sandy Miller
• The Arty Cardi - Marcy Tilton
• Know Your Notions - Geri Grasvik
• Sew With Your Feet - Debra Justice
• Two Patterns for all Seasons - Kathleen Cheetham
• Sew Like a Pro - Connie Crawford
• The Classic Shirtdress Re-Invented - Cecelia Podolak
• The 2-Hour Shirt or Blouse - Marta Alto
• Going Beyond the Basic with Your Coverstitch - Candice Jewett

We are attending every day and I have worked out my seminars so that I have no more than 4 in any one day (the majority of those above are for 45 minutes only) so I have plenty of time to check out the amazing vendors that attend.

My flights are booked and Alison has been fantastic in organising our accommodation for us.

We are away for a total of 16 days, so we will also be visiting Seattle, Portland, Utah and Oakland. Now to work out a very compact and versatile wardrobe as the temperatures vary (the coldest will be a chilly 6 degrees Celsius) and it can also be very wet in Puyallup. One of the major issues is having room to bring home all the goodies I'm sure we will purchase, thankfully we are allowed 2 checked bags of 23kgs each.

Trouser Sew Along

I was wandering around the Internet the other day and found the Cupcake Goddess's trouser sewalong which began on 3 January.

This is the planned schedule, as noted on her website:
•January 3 - 8 ~ cutting and constructing your muslin
•January 9 -15 ~ muslin fitting and pattern adjustments
•January 16 - 22 ~ preparing and cutting your fabric, lining and interling
•January 23 - 31 ~ trouser construction

This is very timely for me as you are aware I'm not happy with my supposedly TNT Pants pattern.

The Cupcake Goddess is using a Burda pattern number 127 from the 07/2010 magazine. Unfortunately it is for Talls which means this 5'2" person needed to find a substitute pattern.

So I decided to use Simplicity 2860, which one of the other ladies is using as well. I am using Size 10 (based on the total crotch length) Slim figure type.



I am on track with the planned schedule and here is the First Muslin with no pattern alterations:



I have also realised there is another item to put on my shopping list for the USA and that is the "Pants for Real People" fitting book, thankfully Alison has a copy and is happy to lend this to me. Edited: I should check my reference library before I make those sorts of statements, because guess what I found this afternoon :)

Now if you want to work on some trousers, there's still time to join if you're interested!

2010 - What a Year

Wishing you a healthy, happy and sewful 2011!!

It's time again for my Yearly Review and I was surprised at how much I had accomplished this year - 22 pieces, namely:

4 x Dresses
4 x Pants
9 x Tops
3 x Skirts
1 x Craft (Dog Bed)
1 x Hand knitted garment

Patterns used:

BWOF - 4
McCall's - 3
Simplicity - 3
Vogue - 2
Jalie - 2
Marfy - 1
Kwik.Sew - 1
Self Drafted - 1

Favourite Garment

This is a hard one, as most of the things that I have made this year have been worn a lot, which I'm really pleased about as this means I am finding the fit and style that I love to wear. I have also focused on increasing my casual wardrobe as I had always focused on the work wardrobe and this has been very successful.

Highlights

• Sewing with sewing buddies (always)
• Going fabric shopping with my sewing buddies.
• Attending the Pattern Review get together in Melbourne and meeting a group of wonderful ladies.
• Attending the ASG Convention in Ballarat.

2010 Sewing Goals - How did I go?

• Complete 1 garment a month - Technically this didn't happen, however with a total of 22 pieces I must have had some very productive months :)
  
• Complete at least one competition either at Stitchers Guild or Pattern Review - I entered two competitions on Pattern Review - Mini Wardrobe in April and Sewing for your Pet in September.

2011 Sewing Goals

• Complete 1 garment a month, I would really like to start/finish a garment a month.
• Complete at least one competition either at Stitchers Guild or Pattern Review.
• Learning to use my TNT patterns to get different looks.

And finally, a collage of the pieces I made in 2010.