Pattern drafting

I’ve (finally) succumbed to the idea that I should try to make my own patterns. One of my Dutch commenters has asked a few times why I did not do that, as I was always so struggling with muslins, patterns etc. I did learn the basics of pattern drafting years ago but never got round to properly doing it for myself, did think it was too much work. Going to the sewing class with my fitting issues I was convinced that this was a good thing to do after all and I started drafting the bodice part, first on default measurements, after that on my own measurements. Surprise, surprise in my last lesson, the fit was actually rather good first time round. Combined with the fact that I sewed a wadder of a blouse this week which I tried to fit properly from a pattern and failed horribly in the armscye area, I will continue to work on pattern drafting.

My next lesson isn’t till next week, but I’m going fast forward and tried to draft a dress from BurdaStyle’s April issue and even made a muslin of the top part already.

It’s dress no. 117 which I discussed with Hilde and Joana on the day we ran together. We all had seen it in the previews and thought it might be nice to all sew this and wear it on or next get together. I got the magazine and to my disappointment, it was a petite sized pattern. As I’m already 6 cm taller than the normal length BurdaStyle is drafted for, petite sizes are definitely not for me.  So it was either de-petite the pattern and do the other alterations I do for most patterns anyway, or draft my own pattern.

First result, I thought I might need the extra space in the front to get the skirt hang properly, but have pinned the darts in the second photo, which is much better. I will transfer the changes to the pattern and the crossing part will not have the dart. For now I kept the normal bust dart. No FBA!

The neckline is too low to wear without a cami most of the time. Making it higher would make the lines very different. What do you think?

The zipper for the back was not long enough which makes it look a bit frumpy. Very clear is the difference in both shoulders, an area to change on the right side.

Though I messed up the first time drafting this, it was relatively easy. It took me two evenings to get here.

Finished / Klaar 01-2008-125

English Nederlands
The blouse is finished, and I'm very happy with it. Though I will have to think about wearing it when needing a coat for a long time, because of the linen the sleeve will wrinkle easily. Matter of experience I guess.
Setting in the sleeves was easy, but I didn't manage a French seam there. It's the only place I used my serger.
A complete serie of magazine pictures and blouse on me you can find here.

And what's next? Muslins probably, and my daughters jeans (she wants to work on this together, and she didn't have a lot of time due to all schoolwork).
xxx
De bloes is af, en ik ben er erg blij mee. Een beetje uitkijken met een jas, want het linnen kreukelt natuurlijk snel. Ervaring zal het leren.
Het inzetten van de mouwen ging probleemloos, maar ik heb er geen Engelse naad van gemaakt. Dit is de enige keer bij deze bloes dat ik de overlocker gebruikt heb.
Foto's uit de Burda en meer foto's van mijzelf met deze bloes kun je vinden op: here.

Wat is het volgende? Waarschijnlijk proefmodellen, en jeans (uit een Knip van vorig jaar) voor mijn dochter. Daar wil ze samen aan werken, maar ze heeft nu door schoolwerk niet zoveel tijd.

Preview

English Nederlands

The sleeves are in the blouse, so it was time to try it on. It was not pressed well in this stage, but important is to see that I have to take out some space from the front darts at hip height, and the button placement on the cuffs needs attention. On my left arm the cuff is pinned as in the pattern. Obviously too large for me, as it hangs over my hand. The right cuff I pinned a bit tighter on the bottom, and the drape of the sleeve is much better. As my wrists are very narrow, I think I could have done with a size 36 for the cuffs.
De mouwen zitten in de blouse, tijd om te passen. Weliswaar nog niet goed geperst, maar goed om te zien hoe het valt.
Ik wil de coupenaden in het voorpand wat uitnemen en de knopen op de manchet een beetje verplaatsen ten opzichte van het patroon. De linkermanchet is gespeld zoals aangegeven op het patroon, maar is duidelijk te groot, want de mouw hangt over m'n hand. Bij de rechtermouw heb ik de onderkant nauwer afgespeld, and dan hangt de mouw veel beter. Omdat m'n polsen vrij smal zijn, kan ik voor de omtrek van een manchet wel een maat 36 gebruiken (helaas voor de rest niet).

Blouse not finished yet / Bloes nog niet af

English Nederlands

This was a very busy weekend, but not with sewing. Yesterday we had a "new years dinner" with friends from my student days in our house. This has become a tradition which we always do at the second Saturday of the new year, and this year was our 26th time! Everyone makes part of the dinner, and we take a lot of trouble to make our own part special. For me it was making the dessert, my husband took care of wine/water and other drinks.
Not sewing, but this is a picture of my dessert. A "dessert tower" with raspberry sauce.


Tonight I managed to work on my blouse though, and the collar is on, and the result is fine I think. (I know I promised to write a tutorial, but not tonight. But it's not forgotten!)
Also the sleeves are ready to be sewn into the blouse.
It all takes a bit more time, as all seams are French seams. It gives the whole a very neatly finished look, also from the inside (only I ever notice, but I like finishing a blouse like this with a beautiful technique).






Outside and inside of cuff, and the pleats at the top of the sleeve.





TDit weekend kwam er niet zo heel veel van werken aan mijn bloes. We hadden een "nieuwjaarsdiner" bij ons thuis, een traditie met vriendinnen uit mijn studietijd. Ieder jaar op de tweede zaterdag van het nieuwe jaar, en dit was al de 26e keer. Iedereen doet wat, en je doet dus extra je best op je eigen onderdeel. Ik moest het toetje maken, mijn man zorgde voor wijn/water en andere drankjes.
Absoluut niets met naaien te maken, maar dit is een foto van mijn "dessert-torentje met frambozensaus.


Vanavond kon ik toch nog wat aan m'n bloes doen. De kraag zit erop en het resultaat is goed. (Uitleg hoe ik het gedaan hebt volgt nog, ik ben het niet vergeten.)
Ook de mouwen zijn klaar om in de bloes genaaid te worden.
Alle zomen zijn Engelse (platte) naden, zodat het allemaal wat meer tijd kost. Het ziet er ook aan de binnenkant mooi uit. Ik vind het leuk om het mooi af te werken, hoewel ik de enige ben die dit ziet/opvalt.
Buiten- en binnenkant van de manchet, en de plooien aan de bovenkant van de mouw.

Blouse BWOF pleats / plooien in Burda blouse

English Nederlands
This is my first post that I'll write in two languages. For those who showed interest in this feature: I made a change to the template and will try to write a document on how to do this. If you're interested, let me know (if you did not already do so) and I'll mail you how I did this sometime this week. Not going to post this, as this is not what this blog is about.

Tonight I traced the sleeve of BWOF 01-2008-125 with a special marker pen, the markings will disappear when wet. And of course I've tested that to be sure. One sleeve is pinned now, ready to sew. It's a project that requires a little patience.








And let me show you what I found in the attick when clearing the house of the last Christmas ornaments: doll's clothes that I made for my daughter as a birthday present for her favorite doll. It was her 6th birthday, now more than 8 years ago.


Dit is mijn eerste tweetalige "post". Mocht je geïnteresseerd zijn hoe ik dat gedaan heb, stuur me een berichtje. Ik zal een document maken waarin ik het beschrijf, maar ga er hier niet op in. Daar gaat dit blog niet over.

Vanavond heb ik de mouw van een Burda blouse-patroon gemarkeerd en gespeld met een speciale markeerstift, de markering gaat er met water uit. En dat heb ik eerst uitgeprobeerd. Eén mouw is gespeld, klaar om te stikken. Een project waar je wat geduld voor nodig hebt.








En bij het opruimen van de kerstspullen vond ik dit op zolder: poppenkleertjes die ik voor m'n dochters 6e verjaardag gemaakt heb (ruim 8 jaar geleden alweer) voor haar Baby born pop, die toen haar favoriet was.

2008 starts with projects from 2007

A few projects from 2007 to start with.

First of all my DD's Christmas dress. It's BWOF 11-2007-107 with a few alterations. She was so proud and happy with it. On Christmas she wore it with the BWOF short jacket I made her some time ago , which was a really nice combination.
Technically it's not a great sewing work, and I'm so not going to show you the inside of this one! DD helped as much as she could to get this dress finished in time. The fabric was very slippery, and I stabilized the top part with fusible interfacing. After that it should have had a full lining, but there really was no time for that (this dress was made on the Sunday before Christmas). On Linda's blog I found a great instruction for lining a sleeveless dress. Next time I want to try that.
The details on alterations for the pattern you'll find in my review on PR.





Second the vest was finished, I still needed the right buttons, none in the house that I could use, so I had to shop for them. Today I finally managed to go to a store with notions. This is the result. The armholes are a bit wide, but wearing this over a blouse or turtle neck will not show this too much I hope.











Last item is the first project of 2008! The wrap top of BWOF January 2008. The review is here. I made it on New Years day, in about 3 hours, from starting to trace to finishing. Quite a good start of sewing this year. I like it very much.













In my last post I said I would tell of my sewing plans for this year. I have no firm resolutions. Never make any at all (that is, not especially on January 1).
But in the sewing department I would like to:

• make a spring wardrobe (swap), which will mostly consist of my favorite source for patterns: BWOF and Jalie
• improve my skills, the books of Claire Shaeffer and Sandra Betzina will be my guide (any other suggestions I highly appreciate)
  
• make a collar with stand without problems
• make a coat for spring
• maybe buy a binder for my coverstitch
  
• renew my pattern drafting skills, I once did a class in this (must be 15 years ago at least). And I'm thinking of doing a class again, and I stopped doing my lingerie class. Might do that instead of it.

And what's up next? DD will keep me busy, she wants a high waist jeans from Knip Mode, and has found two white blouses from the BWOF January issue she would like.
See who comes first in that, because there were also two I like (and one is the same as she, and we don't have the same size).

The jeans is cut, but I'm a little sceptic on this one, as I don't have much faith in Knip pants patterns. Perhaps I'm wrong. Let's hope so. Basting first! DD surely wants to have it finished before she goes back to school on Monday. For me the holiday is over now, tomorrow I have to get some work done.

A new skirt

After all my muslins it was time for some real garment, and it had to be a simple one. I want to have a new jacket and skirt ready for Christmas, and time is flying.
First there was our Sinterklaas feast and its preparations, this week my son had his 12th birthday (Hurray, 12/12 he became 12) and this weekend I'll spend in London, visiting the Couture exhibition in the Victoria and Albert Museum and listening to Christmas carols in the Royal Albert Hall. I look forward to this very special weekend, but together with my work there's not so much time left to sew next week.
The skirt I made was BWOF 08-2006-103. The review of this is here.

Two detail pictures here (lightened them so that you can see some details, black is so difficult to take pictures from). More pictures in my picture album.





















As said, this was a simple project. But a black skirt is always a good item to have and I like this one's special back godets. The only special thing I did was adding tailor's tape to the waist, before lining, to prevent stretch.
















Tonight I will cut lining and interfacing for the jacket that I'm doing in the Stitch and flip jacket class on Pattern Review. That's the jacket I hope to have ready end of next week to go with this skirt.

Hope London is cold but not raining. I will think of all of you when I'm at the exhibition. When I'm allowed to make pictures I share some next week.

Just a teaser from the museums website: