A few answers

 Recently I found some comments that were not published at the time because after 7 days I want to monitor them. If I don't do that I get lots of spam comments. Thank you for all who commented, either published earlier or later! 

A few questions came up: Chepmweno asked which pattern I used for the blue/white dress that I wore when I started blogging again. That's a very old pattern, from Burda April 1993! Which was a great issue, I could make a whole summer wardrobe from it. I wondered why I hadn't used patterns from the issue at the time I realised I was pregnant of my daughter then. Later, in the childhood years of my children I didn't sew much for myself and the issue was forgotten. Till about 30 years later ☺

I do include a photo of the line drawing, perhaps it makes it easier to find a similar pattern.

Barbara asked for the pattern pieces of the top from my previous post. Here they are. From left to right it's center front, back en side front. Apart from armhole facings this is the pattern. 

She also asked about Bemberf versus Venezia lining and my answer wasn't posted (I have a few issues with Blogger). Venezia is not the same, but feels lovely on the skin. Bemberg is lovely too, but much harder to get here. Both are anti-static. 

That's it for now, I've been working on a few things for my daughter, Will come back on that in another post. 

Vogue 9006

This pattern has been in my stash for a very long time. I always loved the style of view A but somehow never got around to making it. 

Until very recently one of my students wanted to make a top like this and I took it out again. She has elongated the pattern and makes it into a dress. 

The pattern was out on my table now and I decided to finally make it too, as I had this very nice viscose for which I sought a pattern.

As the centre part is not cut on the bias, as usual with this kind of neckline, this pattern really needs a fabric that drapes well. There are two more views in the envelope and they are cut on the bias. I kept the grain as indicated, as the print might look a bit weird on the bias.

 

Quick sew

 Do you sew something easy after a more complex or time consuming project? I certainly do. 

So Saturday I sewed a pretty simple top. With a pattern I have used before, though that must be around 15 years ago. 

It’s Vogue 1519, a Kay Unger pattern for a top and skirt. You can’t see the details of the top in the envelop photo, you need the line drawing for it. The skirt is ‘just’ a wide skirt, nothing special about it, apart from the fabric used for the photo. The top is very nice:

Sorry about the bit of my chaos in the background, this is my top:

The instructions are very extensive and let you insert a zipper in the back and line it. Probably a wonderful way of doing it and very couture, but a little too complicated for what I wanted. It is a stretch top that with a good quality fabric doesn’t need lining imho.A zipper? Stretch fabric with such a neckline? The instructions also say to use stretch fabric so I don’t get that. Well, one of the reasons we sew is that we can do it our own way, which is what I did.  For the neckline I used elastic that was sewn with a little tension to the edge, then folded over and topstitched. 

Other then that it was easy enough to sew and I am loving the result. 

@Barbara on the question about Venezia lining vs. Bemberg: I thought it was similar but after checking it isn’t. Bemberg lining is not quite common here and despite being from a man made fibre, Venezia is lovely to have as lining. 

@ anonymous with the question on Burda sleeves for shirts: usually I have no problem with wrinkling because of too much ease with Burda patterns. It can be a bit difficult when the fabic is stiff. Setting in sleeves still is a time consuming thing, even after my many years of sewing. 

Suit finished

Photo overload ;). I'm very happy to be able to say I have finished the jacket and the pair of trousers to go with it. Though if I'm honest, I'm not too sure I will wear it together much. It's a lot of green!

 

The label is one that I had laying around, no special meaning to it. It came in a package with several text options. Both the jacket and the trousers are lined with Venezia lining. A lining that I love as it feels very comfortable against your skin. 

I hope to make photos of me wearing the suit, but as that may take a while it's here on the dressform and hanger for now. 

The difference of a sleeve head

 

In the photo above you see the same sleeve! Can you imagine? I added a sleeve head and all the wrinkling was gone. I must say that, even though I know that it is a game-changer, I wondered whether it would be enough or that I would have to re-do the upper part of the sleeve. Not necessary. 

I used the method described by Ann Rowley. The link shows her Flickr album where she explains the method. 

Thank you for your comments. They are very much appreciated, though I do understand that there is no time to comment every time (Dorothé). When I was last active on this blog about two/three years ago I already experienced problems with replying to comments. That has not changed. Even though I'm logged in, I can often only comment anonymously. So I'm sorry I'm not replying, I keep trying!

 

Progress

The jacket of my green suit has seen progress this week, though it isn’t finished yet. The inner construction of the front is done, I added a shoulder placket for extra support as I do in most jackets I make. 

The sleeves are sewn in but they don’t have the sleeve head and (small) shoulder pad yet.

Getting there, it’s the sleeve inner details, hemming and the lining to be done. Hope to finish it in the next few days. If the work we need to do on our house goes as planned.  

An unusual start

 If you’ve followed my blog in the past, you will know that I often do things my way and don’t follow instructions. The same is true for the order of construction. This time I started with the sleeves instead of the body of the jacket. No logical sewing reason, just that I had limited sewing time and postponed working on the inner construction of the body. For that I want real dedicated time. 

For the jacket I chose the less complicated route. I’ll remember the petite jacket for another time and have chosen the May 2006 jacket:

For spring/summer jackets I like 3/4 sleeves. This pattern has those with this nice curved hemline. Buttons will be attached later. 

Some of the inner construction visible here. The facing is interfaced with a thin fusible interfacing. After applying that I marked the stitch lines with carbon tracing paper. 

The curve is trimmed with pinking scissors to make the curve smooth. 

I trim the corners to minimise bulk. 

Next step will be sewing the front with a shoulder shield/placket.