The That Girl t-shirts were sold out, so my order was cancelled. Oh well . . .
On the bright side, I’ve watched disc 1 of season 4 and hopefully disc 2 is on the way.
I’ve only done the tiniest bit of sewing–I made some mouse pincushions. I have some gifts to make, but I’ve had a little virus and have felt too icky to sew bigger projects. I’m better today, but I had pressing work and now I’m too tired to see, let alone sew. I’m off to bed, good-night!
I just finished this blouse and am in love with it. . . The vertical wavy lines are very slimming. The buttons don’t exactly match (they are black and cream and the blouse has black, two shades of gray, and white) but they are vintage 60’s from Sawyer Brook and they are called “Ann Marie”, which is the name of Marlo Thomas’ character on That Girl. I am such a fan of That Girl and have watched the first three seasons on DVD from Netflix–and drooled over her wardrobe . . . But I digress . . . Anyway, here is the blouse:
And here you can better see the “Ann Marie” buttons:
This is the same pattern from the June 08 BWOF that I used for the flower power blouse and the bicycle dress. I don’t think I’ll use it again this summer, but maybe next one.
I can’t really tell you if this project is a success or not. I’ll wear it, but I doubt I’ll make it again. There are many other styles that are more flattering to my figure. Here it is:
and here it is on me:
I did get this top to work for me as much as this style will ever work for me. I will wear it and I love the cowl:
Here are the pleats at the front, although they are difficult to see with the print:
The top as pictured is shortened 10 inches from the pattern. I originally shortened it 7 inches which put it below my hip area (unhemmed) and that would have been a nice length if I had thin enough legs to wear skinny jeans. But, I’m a hippy pear so I decided a shorter length would be more flattering on me.
Now for my issues: This top had way too much ease in it, at least for my taste. I looked 20 pounds heavier than I am, and the sleeves were too low, the bust area was so wide that when I raised my arms I had mini batwings under my arms. The model in the magazine is wearing a vest over her tunic so it’s hard to tell how much ease there is, and she has on a wide belt which also hides the ease. When I basted the side seams I found out that this top has a ton of ease–way too much. Part of this may be my fabric, which is a stretchy rayon lycra jersey. I should have been suspicious when I tissue-fit the pattern and the sleeve fit around my bicep: I almost always have to make a wide bicep adjustment. I decided to sew the sleeve in flat, instead of setting them in, which made fitting easier. I had to take in from the bottom of the sleeves all the way to the hip . The hip ease is good, at least for my ample hips). It took me about 5 bastings to get a decent fit, taking out 4-6 inches of ease. There is still plenty of ease for the pleats to drape, but it fits better in the sleeves/armpit/bust area and there is at least a hint that I have a waist.
As I said before, I won’t be making this again, but if I did, I’d start with a smaller size and ease out to my regular size at the hips. And I should have made a muslin. . . But I will wear this top with some straight legged black jeans and try to figure out what to wear until the loose tunic fashion is over and done with.
There are many disciplined dressmakers out there who pick a pattern and then go in search of fabric for it, find it, sew it up, and thus never accumulate a stash. Alas, I am not one of those lucky people. I have fabric in boxes, fabric in drawers, fabric in cupboards. And, even though I am on a restricted fabric diet, even dieters have to eat something– or buy an occasional yardage of fabric. So I haven’t really reduced my stash by much even with dieting. Which leads me to the eternal quest to find a pattern to use with a length of my stashed fabric. I have a lovely mod-ish rayon lycra jersey print that I bought 1.5 yards of, thinking that I’d make a basic t-shirt from it. Then, when I saw it and loved the 60’s feel of it, I thought I’d make it into a version of a Knipmode top with a scarf peice that goes around the neck and through the top itself–only I’d add 3/4 sleeves for fall weather. Well, 1.5 yards wasn’t enough, so I thought I’d make it into a BWOF top from last fall that has a neck tie and full sleeves that are gathered into elastic at the wrist–not enough fabric again (long, full sleeves are real fabric hogs). I was beginning to think I would be stuck making a basic t-shirt when my August BWOF arrived and I saw this . . .
Here’s the technical drawing:
I shortened it from a tunic/dress length to top length and cut it out last night. Can’t wait to get started–nothing like sewing a knit for almost instant gratification–at least compared to all those blouses and the shirtdress I have been sewing.
Here are the final two pieces for my daughter’s back to school mini wardrobe. They are both from April 2008 Burda World of Fashion (views 136 and 139). It’s hard to tell from the photo, but I’ve used the Alexander Henry print as an accent in both garments: for the top I used it in the bow, covered buttons, and bias facings
; and the bows for the pants. I did change the patterns a little: they both had drawstrings (the dress at the waist and the pants at the top of the ruffle) and since I dislike drawstrings in childrens’ clothes I l inserted elastic in the casings instead. I used buttonhole elastic in the dress:
so that I can adjust it to the way my daughter likes it. She did want it looser than I had it, so there isn’t as much of an elastic tail as in the picture.
One edge of the casing I sewed to the seam allowance of the skirt so the seam allowance is completely undeer the casing–it makes a nice neat inside finish. I also serged the edges of the casing instead of folding under. It would have been too bulky to fold under the edges with the linen I was using. I did the same for the casings on the pants
My daughter loves the outfit–yay! I was a little worried that she wouldn’t like the pants because they have ruffles (she recently told me, after years of liking twirly clothes, she liked PLAIN clothes now) but I think the browness of the pants offsets the ruffles. I think in pink or a floral, the pants would be too much.
I’m thinking about doing a mini-wardrobe for me now. Patternreview is having a mini wardrobe contest in August, which would be fun to enter. Although I have no idea how to make a storyboard. I love looking at the storyboards the contestants always make and keep promising to pick up a “Photoshop for Dummies” book one of these days. I have two ideas for mini wardrobes: one using “mod” pucciesque prints for tops and black solid bottoms and the other idea is for a wardrobe with gray, white, and pink as the colors with solid tops, a gray with pink pinstripe pants, and a gray, white, and pink linen floral 10 panel skirt. I want to use a neue mode pants pattern for the pants in either case, so I can work on the muslin for that . . .
I’m trying to crank out a mini-wardrobe for my daughter before school starts in a couple weeks. The first two months or so of school she’ll still be wearing warm weather clothes, so I am making it a warm weather wardrobe, made semi-transitional into fall weather by the addition of capri length leggings:
These are from the 1/2007 issue of Ottobre Design. I’ve made them twice before, so I know they fit. Out of the same fabric I made the “hug” knit top from 1/2008 issue of Ottobre Design:
The trim is bias strips of the Alexander Henry fabric I used for this tunic and skirt. The last two pieces of the mini-wardrobe will be a rose pink linen dress (more like a long tunic) and brown linen cropped pants with ruffles, both from the April 2008 BWOF. I’ve started the dress and I’m using the Alexander Henry cotton for the bias facings, covered buttons, and the tie (the original had a drawstring, but I’m going to replace it with elastic and a tie for a faux drawstring look–a little safer too).
Last summer I bought 3 floor pillows and the fabric to make covers for them at Ikea. About 6 months ago, I bought three home dec zippers for this project . . . well, I finally got around to making them. I’m such a procrastinator when it comes to home dec. I made all three in a single afternoon using my Kenmore 52, which I hadn’t used in a while. No pattern necessary–I just wrapped the fabric around and saw that I could use the entire width, minus selvage, and I estimated how much length I’d need and then ripped. I “fit as I sewed” the pillow cover–I’d try the cover on after each seam to determine where the next seam should go, then I marked and sewed. For two of the pillows, I sewed the zipper on last, but I tried it first for the third pillow cover; I didn’t think either of the methods was really better than the other. I like the zipper foot I got with the Kenmore (I got a box of feet along with it, which I think were made by Pfaff, but work just fine,) Now each kid will have a floor pillow and, hopefully, when we have family movie night, we no longer will be all squished together on the couch.
Here’s my Kenmore 52, formerly my great aunt’s machine (by way of my mom, who had it in her closet for 30 years). I needed a new foot control, which I got from the sears parts website, and I cleaned and oiled the machine and it’s up and running. Amazingly, the lightbulb still works after all these years. Isn’t it a handsome machine. My main machine is a lovely computerized Viking Platinum series, but I love my Kennie too.
I wish I had a better picture for you, but I have my machines on a double school lab desk I bought at a vintage furniture shop. Only one side of the desk is visible in the photo, but there is a second desk part on the far side of the drawer bank (in the photo you can see the edge of my covered serger, which is sitting on the other desk). This desk was filthy when I bought it, and the black top kept rubbing off, but after a thorough cleaning and applying a sealer to the desk top, it really is the perfect sewing desk. I have a stool on wheels so I can scoot from the sewing machine side to the serger side, I keep my sewing accessories in the smaller drawers and Onion patterns and my files of copies of the “all styles” pages from Burda WOF and Ottobre magazines in the bottom drawer. There is a writing surface that pulls out over the top drawer which I use for pinning. The desk came complete with carved graffiti from the desk’s former life at a school. It was apparently used with a machine that didn’t work well, at least that is what the graffiti mentions. I wonder if it was a sewing machine in a home ec class or some kind of a shop class machine; I’d guess the latter, by the amount of grime I had to clean off the desk. Both my machine and my desk have secret former lives that I’ll never know about. I’m glad that I took the time to clean them both up and put them back to use.
After all of those projects with buttons, collars, etc., it was time for some simple sewing–something to cleanse the sewing palate, so to speak. I’d traced these patterns from the April 2008 issue of Burda WOF and finally got around to sewing them up for my daughter:
Isn’t this lovely fabric? It’s Alexander Henry cotton from a few years ago–the “Pixie” collection. I bought several different fabrics in this line (including one with fairies on it, which became a sundress for my girl many years ago). One of the prints I used for this blouse I made for the vintage sewing contest last fall. This is the last of the pixie fabric–it does feel good to have used it all.
Burda gave these patterns one dot, and they were truly easy. The front and the back of the tunic are the same, there’s a facing and ties. No topstitiching even (although it certainly could be added). There is no pattern for the skirt, only dimensions given in the instructions. The original called for the skirt to be one piece of fabric with a single side seam but I was using 44 inch wide fabric so I cut two identical pieces and had two side seams. I’d only advise this skirt with a thinner fabric so it will gather nicely when the elastic waist is inserted. For a heavier fabric, I would make the skirt less wide so the gathers wouldn’t be as bulky. These really would be great for a beginner trying to get used to BWOF’s sparse directions.
I’m intending to make the child’s dress and pants from this issue too with coordinating solid linen, for a mini wardrobe. I may add a t-shirt too, probably from an Onion or Ottobre fabric. Up to this point, I’d only made one summer dress for my girl this year–but don’t feel too sorry for her because she has 16 mommy-made summer dresses and skirts in her closet that still fit her from last summer. Although, some are rapidly approaching tunic length and can only be worn with shorts . . .
