Tuesday, May 20, 2008

What am I working on?

The knock off top is on hold till next weekend. I made the lining and the fit is better, but now is clear that the drape is not as good as I thought. Patsijean kindly sent me some helpful information, and I will redraw the pattern.

Last week I went through my closet, took out all clothes and had a good look at them: which are old, out of style, not as I like them to be etc. The result was a lot of bags that go to goodwill, and a clear sight of what was left and what was missing. One thing was very clear: almost no blouses with short sleeves left, and there is no clear style of things I wear, nor a definite colour scheme. Too many "lonely items". A blouse that has no matching skirt any more, a skirt without matching top... I hope to define my colourscheme better next week, as I will go with a friend to a workshop to define your colours. I'm very curious to learn what those are, and very decided to make a better wardrobe, both in style and colour. Not within a month, mind you, but in the next year or so (you see, I learned from my failed commitment to the PR wardrobe contest, no commitment to a timeframe!)

V2634

Earlier this spring I bought fabric for a blouse, that could be combined with my tan or white linen trousers, a pink skirt (to be made) and a white skirt (in my closet, made by me). I decided to use Vogue 2634 for that, one of my few TNT patterns. It's the only pattern that I now make for the 4th time.

Blouse fase 1

The fabric is a plaid, so obviously it took some time to cut. And after I cut the fabric I realised that after all my careful marking I might have to do some adjustment to align the plaid. Mostly I work with patterns without seam allowance, and I do not add those to the pattern. When I mark lines or notches on those patterns, I do mark the seamline. With Vogue of course the seam allowance is included, so to match accurately I  should have marked on the seamline, not the cutting line. It was not so bad, only in the shoulders I had to tweak a bit.

 

The plaid of course is a bit off at the side of the dart. you won't notice if you wear it.

 

Blouse slit    Inside slit2 The blouse has a slit on the sides, and I wanted it to be finished neatly, and didn't want to serge the seams. A French seam was not possible because of the slit.
I stitched the seam, pressed it open and folded the seam allowance as you would do for a hem. Then I topstiched the seam, up to the armhole. It's not a usual way of working, but it gave a nice result.
   

9 comments:

  1. I know what you mean about cleaning out closets and being left with lonely items. I did my summer clothes last fall and what a surprise this ummer when I went loooking for my clothes :) It will take a while to bring it back up since I don't have allot of time to sew, but like you say it will get done in the future. I like your blouse. When I get around to finally finishing my jacket I will gladly take a break from matching fabric lines and work with plain fabrics :) Getting your colours done is a good idea, I had mine done a few years ago and was actually surprised at some of the colours that apparently suited me. I have added these new colours to my wardrobe, for example teal :)

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  2. I really love the plaid you've chosen. Nice Spring-y colors!

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  3. I love this plaid too. It's bringing back memories for me...I think I made a dress or top out of something very similar in the '70s. I like that Vogue pattern.

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  4. I clean out my wardrobe twice a year when I swap over summer and winter clothes, but I never know what to do with the occasional pieces that I've made that I don't wear anymore (for the reasons you pretty much covered!). I just can't throw out anything I've made, so they just go into a bag in storage. I was luckily able to give a lot of my bigger-sized creations to my mom last summer, but what do you do with the clothes you made that don't cut the bill anymore?

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  5. Sigrid .- is a good idea to think about what colors .... because in the end I just like me, wearing navy blue, brown and black ..... uhmmmm. I love the plaid blouse with the material, very appropriate for the summer. greetings. Paco

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  6. Ah, yes, I clean out the closets, too when the weather changes. I do get rid of things I've made that I've worn very little or that just didn't work for me once I finished them. Please let us know how getting you colors done turns out. I had mine done ages ago, and yes I still wear and look good in those colors!

    I love the plaid, but I always love a good plaid and the neat things you can do with them. The pocket welts cut on the bias are a great touch!

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  7. I love your fabric; it's perfect for spring and summer. The pocket flaps cut on the bias is a nice touch. I'll file it for future reference!

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  8. That's a lovely summery looking top. I need to go through my wardrobe and look at it closely too. Only I'll be digging out the winterwear, lol.

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  9. Beautiful job! I also find it hard to align plaids with patterns with SAs included (though it can be done as you demontrated so well).

    I'm looking forward to know about your colorscheme!

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