Just because I’ve never actually sewn an official SWAP wardrobe, doesn’t mean I don’t plan at all.  Before heading to Los Angeles to PatternReview Weekend to buy fabric, I decided I wanted to buy knits to make tops that would coordinate with crop pants I own in basic colors and get some Ponte in solid colors to make pull-on stretch crops.  This is the group I picked up for around $14 at the FIDM Scholarship store after viewing the latest group of Oscar-nominated costumes on display there.  Later I went to Michael Levine’s and picked up 3 pieces of Ponte and a few other knit pieces in their by-the-pound loft. So I call it Buying With A Plan, BWAP.  The sewing comes later and everything should dovetail right into my basic wardrobe without a hitch, but I am flexible as to patterns used and have no firm plans as yet, unlike with a true SWAP wardrobe.  I adhered pretty well to my rules going in, only buying one fabric that wasn’t a knit in a basic color or colors that would coordinate with basic pieces in my wardrobe.  My go to solids are Navy, Dark Brown, Black and Red.  My stash reduction project has gone so well that I was mostly down to knits that I had purchased with someone else in mind that are not colors I generally wear.  So now I can start sewing quick knit tops again with my favorite patterns.

Before I left for LA, I sewed up a nice piece of batik using Simplicity 1614 and it turned out well with no real hiccups:

The only changes I made to the pattern were the facings.  I always eliminate facings when I can and use self bias tape I make with one of my bias tape makers.  I’m pretty sure I’m not going to give up those little devices like our workshop instructor Lynda Maynard suggested we should, but I may try her stretch pressing method on the cut bias strips before running them through the bias tape maker to see if I get fewer ripples when I bind necklines and armholes.  I will definitely use her method of sewing darts with a single thread next time I have a dart to sew.  Now I’m trying to decide if I should sew my other hoarded piece of rayon batik with this same pattern or choose another, but that decision is on the back burner as I stage the knits I bought in LA with patterns and quickly sew them up for summer.

This rayon top should be a staple of my summer wardrobe as it will go with black or brown or khaki.  I love it when a plan comes together and I can reach in to my closet and have many options that all play nicely together. This is the magic result when you BWAP instead of on impulse.  Pretty fabric is often not really useful and useful fabric in the wardrobe doesn’t always look pretty on the bolt.  How long it has taken me to learn that lesson!  Useful is the new beautiful.

Many thanks to the wonderful volunteers who make PR Weekend events possible.  They did an amazing job of organizing this event and I had a terrific time!

In January I decided to join a monthly goal sew-along on Pattern Review.  My goals each month so far are modest in the hopes that I can actually achieve them.  This month I had just 2 goals: to use a piece of wool purchased at the last Pattern Review Weekend event in Los Angeles to make a coat or jacket and to finish the machine quilting on a small quilt.  For the coat, the piece I had in mind was a lovely soft and lofty green wool tweed.  I had chosen a pattern also.  Sadly, I did not have enough fabric to make the chosen pattern, but while I was riffling through the coat and jacket patterns looking for one that would work, I came across this one and remembered I had another piece of wool that might work for this rare cardi pattern for woven fabric.  I’d say it did work.  I’m very happy with this jacket and got compliments (I think they were sincere) from everyone who saw me wear it today, minutes after finishing it.  For more technical details on how I made the jacket, I’ll refer you to the review I posted.

Why did I title this post Back for More?  Well, I’m headed back to Los Angeles for the next PR Weekend there this spring.  I figured before I bought more fabric I ought to try to use up everything I bought there last time.  I think the green wool is the last piece from the last trip.  I probably won’t get that sewn up, but I did find a suitable pattern.  It’s just that one hardly needs heavy coats when temps are running in the 65-75 degree range most days.  Today was a bit chillier so that’s why I wore the new coat today.

February is slipping away but I may yet have some time this weekend to attend to that quilt.  I’d say it’s about 60-70% quilted.  There’s hope.

This cardi is my first stab at McCall’s 6844, which is a Best Pattern of 2013 on PatternReview.com.  I think I’ve owned it since 2013.   Seeing the potential in it immediately, I bought it in one of JoAnn’s so-cheap-you-have-to-buy-ten pattern sales and I’ve had it around for a while.  I planned to make it up with some off-white French Terry and several months ago I polled some sewing/style friends on whether or not to use the peplum version or the straight-no-peplum version.  I got some curious responses.  It turns out that not everyone knows the word “peplum,” although everyone was familiar with the detail once I explained it, and once we got past the initial confusion, everyone who cared voted for the peplum.  So by the time I got around to actually sewing it up, I had lost the pattern in the moving shuffle and had to go out and buy it again at what passes for full price for patterns.  Rats.  But I wanted to make this jacket and didn’t want to wait for the next big McCall’s pattern sale.  I brought the pattern home and started working on it, doing some of the recommended alterations based on my researches and put the French Terry in for a pre-wash as it looks suspiciously like it will shrink significantly in length to me.  While the Terry was in the wash I remembered I had this lovely navy ponte in stash and thought I’d make a wearable muslin.  Here’s the result.

Notes about the pattern:

• Sizing:  Most everyone on PatternReview comments that this pattern runs large so I made a small even though according to my measurements I’d need a medium.  They were mostly right, but I did add 1 1/2″ in length, a generous 1/2″ in the body and 1″ to the circle hem of the peplum.  I thought the pictures of this view all looked short, even on petite people.  I am happy with the length.  I also added width to the arms.  I don’t recall reading this on PatternReview, but the current Threads Magazine pattern review article features this pattern and their tester commented that the sleeves were tight.  I happened to be wearing a similar style of garment at the time I was making these alterations and compared and sure enough, the sleeves were about 1″ narrower through the bicep area than on the jacket I was wearing.  So I made the alteration for this given in Fit For Real People.  I used the version that doesn’t increase the wrist circumference as I mostly plan to wear this over sleeveless dresses.  If I was making a jacket I wanted to layer over something with sleeves, I’d add even more and let the wrist enlarge as well.  For this version, I am happy with the fitted wrist area.
• Interfacing:  Many reviewers mentioned leaving the interfacing out of the collar/lapel and being happy with the result so I tried that.  I would interface next time.  I think the collar lacks body and will not fold correctly when I put the jacket on.  I hate having to fuss with a collar every time I put on a jacket.  I might even go so far as to double interface the collar area at the back neck.  This would give the jacket a better finish.
• Pieces-parts:  I might buy a few more copies of this pattern next time there is a sale because when you cut the pattern apart to make the different views, you end up destroying the pattern for any other view as the pieces are drafted on top of one another.  Yes, I could have traced off the parts for the view I wanted, but my time is too valuable to bother with that when the pattern can be had for under $2.  I think I want to try the peplum-less view and the longer view with the straight hem.
• For the French Terry:  I think I will look for a different pattern.  I think this one begs for a more refined fabric with nice drape.  Maybe New Look 6315 ?  Anyway, something a little simpler.  So if I use 6844, not one of the peplum views.

Underneath the jacket is a beach cover-up I made just before the jacket and reviewed here.  Another terrific McCall’s pattern.  I’ve always had better luck with McCall’s than other pattern lines.  I confess to having bought new fabric for this project, but I sewed it up within a couple of weeks of purchasing and it never made it to the stash.  Whew!  Close call.  I also confess to having bought 2 pieces of fabric from the 4th floor remnant area of Britex in San Fancisco a few weeks back and you can see the offending Britex bag peeking through from behind the right side of the dress form if you really look.  A bit of a backslide on the stash reduction project, but overall, still making progress.  And yes, I ironed out that wrinkle on the front of the jacket before I hung it in the closet.

Oh yeah, Something old is the navy ponte (about 5 years or so in the stash) and the something new is the fabric for the cover-up.

These new crops could use a press, but I just pulled them out of the dryer after wearing them today and it’s late and I’m lazy, so there you are.  You’ve seen this top before.  Now there are crops to go with.  Really, this is a test of a Burda pattern that I want to use for some nice solid twill in a deep khaki/taupe from the ever-diminishing stash.  Okay, I confess I bought some t-shirt fabric when I went to buy the zipper(s) for these 2 pairs of crops, but that’s still an overall reduction and if I sew the t-shirt fabric right away, it won’t ever add to the stash.  And it’s so rare to find a decent t-shirt knit at a local fabric store I buckled under the pressure.

The reason this post is titled Forbidden Fabric is that when I moved and sorted the stash, I had help and my help declared this fabric out of bounds and tossed it into the charity box.  In fact, the last two projects I’ve sewn are of rescued fabric I was forbidden to sew/wear.  Since the garden of Eden, forbidden things are the hardest to resist.

Here’s the problem with stash-busting: if you sew up some stashed fabric but you still have a usable piece left-over, you haven’t really reduced your stash. Sigh.

This is a wearable muslin of Christine Jonson’s Shirred Tee, only I omitted the shirring because as stylish as it looks in all the reviews on PatternReview.com, I realized that the ENTIRE top would be self-lined resulting in a t-shirt that is virtually unwearable most of the time in my climate. Even in winter I wouldn’t wear a double-thick t-shirt because I like to be able to layer jackets and sweaters over tees. But I wanted a boatneck top and this pattern is about all I could find with that detail, so I eliminated the shirring and empire seam, drafted a front and back neck facing and made a simple basic boatneck t-shirt. This could become a TNT (tried and true) pattern with a little more adjustment. It’s a bit snug in this fabric, which has 40% stretch if you really pull and lazy recovery so I need to go up a size for firm knits and keep this draft for the really stretchy stuff above 50% stretch across the grain with lycra to aid snappy recovery. I believe I might also give it a FBA before trying it again, even on a stretchier fabric.

Yes I do see that pucker on the sleeve seam, but this top fits so tightly you don’t see that when it’s on.

This was some of the oldest un-sewn garment fabric I owned, but cotton Oxford Cloth shirting never goes out of style so now my old fabric is a new shirt and one more piece of yard goods is out of the fabric closet and into the clothes closet.

Also a pattern that had been around for a while has been used.  I’d been wanting to try New Look 6598 for some time.  I like it, but my Coldwater Creek wing collar shirts are made without that facing piece at the back neck you see here edged with with serge stitching.  I suspect they have a single purpose machine for attaching the collar/front band all in one pass.  There is no other way I can see to get as clean a finish as they do.  Anyway, I always prefer a collar on a stand over this style of construction with a facing because every piece is contained and controlled with machine stitching.  When you are wearing the shirt, no one sees the difference, but when you put the garment on, there is always a little fussing with that facing, which is just tacked down, to make sure it behaves and doesn’t flip up where you can’t tack it.

Happily, I got a reprieve from a recent moment of weakness that allowed me to think I needed to purchase more fabric from Fabric.com.  I am not putting a link in for that site, not wanting to enable anyone else’s fabric buying problem.  They were having a lovely sale on knit fabrics and I somehow convinced my self for a few minutes that my collection of knits was getting thin and I ordered 4 pieces of new fabric (to get up to the free shipping amount!) when I had only removed 3 from my stash at that point.  Then I frantically sewed up another piece while I awaited delivery so at least there would be no INCREASE during my stated time of stash-busting.  The delivery never arrived.  I think I mercifully never actually finished the order after all.

So this project makes 5 down and X-5 pieces of fabric left.  X being the mystery number of fabric pieces in my stash when I began and no, I do not want to do an inventory to determine what the original value of X was, thank you very much.

There is some lovely rayon challis in my stash that I’d like to get out of the stash and into the closet in the form of wearable tops.  I’ve been considering a few patterns, among them Simplicity 8523, Vogue 8816, and Burda 7509. What I really wanted was a top that had a nice draped cowl style neck but as I looked at various patterns featuring this neckline I noticed that the ones for woven fabrics were all cut on the bias.  I find bias-cut garments to be uncomfortable to wear and generally a pain to cut out during the construction phase.  So the Vogue design (shown on the right above) very much intrigued me as only the top front piece was cut on the bias.  The part skimming the waist and hip are cut on the straight grain.  Reviewers on PatternReview indicate it runs very large so I cut a straight 10 and made the top out of this mystery fiber burnout fabric that has been in my stash far longer than the rayon.  Obviously, the fabric does not drape well enough for this design.  It’s hard to see this in the photo, but that draped area sticks out in front like some sort of crumb-catcher device.  Not attractive at all.  Plus, the fit is still too loose over the bust and waist and yet too tight over the hip and the top is hard to get past the shoulders when you put it on.  I could probably fix these things, but most likely will not bother.  I have a wonderful Vogue pattern for a cowl neck top for knits so maybe I will just stick with knits for this style and move on…

On to the Burda option.  I went ahead and tried this shirt even though it is cut on the bias.  I was in a hurry to see if it would work and didn’t want to fuss with all the bias finishes on the armholes and and neckline, which was originally cut to be a V-neck as shown in view B.  What I did was put rolled hems on all edges.  I actually like the look and the top fits pretty well so I thought I might wear it over a cami until I started itching like crazy within 2 minutes of putting the top on.  I am actually allergic to some fiber in this fabric blend and even with the rolled hem covering the cut edges something was poking through.  I now realize the only way I could have worn something made of this fabric was to use french seams as even serge-finished seam allowances would have allowed fibers to poke through and irritate my skin.  Pfffft.

The Simplicity style is probably my best choice for the rayons.  I made up a muslin of the pattern ages ago and made some fitting adjustments based on that so even though it’s plain and simple, in nice rayon batik I think it will make serviceable tops for 3-season wear around here.  Nothing wrong with plain and simple.  Some would call that classic.  A couple of classic shells would not go amiss in the closet.

The original inspiration for the purchase of this fabric is lost in the mists of time, but let me tell you it was a mistake on many fronts.  And I had lots of it. Sometimes these little misadventures in fabric acquisition have happy endings, like my favorite summer robe made of border print linen I thought I’d use for a pantsuit (you’d laugh out loud if you saw the fabric, perfectly nice in a robe but completely inappropriate for a pantsuit), or my striped denim crop pants of fabric that initially was intended to be a jacket, both of which were declared ugly and un-usable fabric by my 2 most trusted young fashion advisors.   This time, the only happy ending is that I got to try 2 patterns with no risk and I am now 4 fabrics down in my current stash-busting sewing spree.

While I continue mull the pattern choice for the rayon challis fabrics, I am sewing a sleeveless blouse of some shirting fabric that’s been hanging around for 15 years or so.  That would make 5 fabrics out of the stash and if the shirt turns out, 4 wearable garments in the closet!  Good thing because I caved on a Fabric.com sale and ordered some new knit fabric, but that’s another post.  Sigh.

This is Simplicity 2892, a cute little summer top from a pattern I vow never to sew again.  I think it turned out well in the end, but the gathered yoke with the little ruffle set into the neckline edge was a lot of fussy sewing for what you get in the end.  I spent the better part of last Sunday gathering, adjusting and hand basting layer after layer.  I made it in a straight size 14.  It came out a bit large for the intended wearer, but not much and her measurements would put her right in a 14, so I took in the side seam and gave it a little shape at the waist.  That helped, but I might recommend going down a size from what you usually sew if you are brave enough to tackle all that gathering.  I think there must be other patterns that give a similar effect with much less effort, like New Look 6895?  Maybe I will try that one soon on this stash-busting summer sewing spree.  I’m certain there are some fabrics in the stash that would be just the thing…

It’s the end of the week and the shirt is finished. This is New Look 6010, size 12. I made a forward shoulder adjustment, not realizing the shoulder seam was already forward, as if there was a yoke, although there isn’t. If I had looked more carefully at the drawings and photo on the pattern I’d have seen that detail and made a more informed decision and probably not done the alteration as it brings the seam farther
forward than I’d like. Still, I think it’s a successful and wearable project that will go with jeans as well as the recently completed red linen crops.

Don’t ask how all those buttonholes went in after all this time. I can’t remember the last time I did buttons and buttonholes. That first, most visible one at the top always goes wrong. I remember that much and this time was no exception. After 2 perfect samples, the machine hung up at the start of the first real buttonhole on the shirt and the two beads of stitching wouldn’t meet at the top. Sigh. Seam ripper to the rescue. The rest went in fine, and then it took an hour sewing all those buttons on to finish just under the wire of the deadline I set for myself.