My head is spinning

Having bought so many new fabrics in the past months, especially in the past month and having met with sewing friends my head is now spinning with ideas/garments to sew. I just don’t know what to start with. Do you know that feeling? There’s a knit top, a knock-off skirt, another blouse, a bra set all fighting for priority but the next thing will probably be another dress.

In my drafting/sewing lessons I drafted a shirt after a Marfy pattern and it looks I’m getting there with the fit far more easily than before.

A peek of what I’m working at. The lines in the front are even, just not properly done at the dressform.

 

Yesterday I bought the May issue of Knip Mode, which was an issue to give me a lot of inspiration again, especially a dress I must make.

This will most probably be my next dress, the pattern is traced, fabric decided upon. I will compare the pattern pieces with my draft (as much as I can, they are complicated pattern pieces). I might even try to sew it before Easter. I’ll need a quick mock-up for the top. It’s one of the patterns that is inspired by the dresses our (new) queen wears, showing photos of her rather then of the dress sewn up. This always makes me wonder whether the pattern has been tried by Knip Mode themselves. They had some patterns like that in the past that were not very correct. Only one way to find out…. make it.

Marfy coat finished

Finally I managed to finish my coat. Pffff, it took some time but I think it was worth the time it took. It's not perfect, there are some details I would do different another time, but it was quite a learning curve. On the picture the front seems uneven, but this is not so. I think the coat needs a fifth button, now it tends to be open at the bottom. It's wide enough around the hip area, that's not the problem.
When I move in this coat the sleeves seem better then in these pictures, though they are not perfect. Must give that a bit more attention next time I make a jacket.

I like this coat, and think will wear it often this winter.








A picture of the inside of the coat, before lining was inserted.






















Now on to a bit less time consuming projects, I really need a few basic bottom items. And I hope to cut 2 or 3 pants this weekend. Two patterns I made before and should be no problem, the third is a Patrones pattern. I ordered an issue for the first time and received it yesterday. What a great magazine, a lot like BWOF. I immediately wanted to make a few items from it. Yesterday evening I traced a pattern for pants, compared it with a BWOF pants pattern, and the crotch curve (always the problem point with pants), was almost the same! And as BWOF pants patterns have great fit for me, I'll try this one.
And though I don't speak a word of Spanish, it was very clear to understand which pattern pieces I needed.

Marfy coat - Mistakes!

My Marfy coat is now nearly finished, the vent in the back and the lining still to be done. But it were a couple of difficult days for me, with quite a few mistakes.

It started with the cuff. I knew the sleeve length was fine on the muslin, so I thought to make the cuff before inserting the sleeves would be easier.

1. I cut the cuffs of fabric, stitched them and they were too small! The sleeve width was definitely larger than the cuff width. What happened? I widened the sleeves, as I widened the whole pattern after making my muslin. I widened the cuff too. But I forgot that there were two seams in the sleeve, thus two times made the sleeve wider, but the cuff only once. There was just enough fabric left to cut new cuffs, which I then drew to the pattern of the sleeves, while Marfy made them just straight.
2. I used the method described in Sandra Betzina's book "Power Sewing" to insert the cuffs. Worked great. But then I realised that the lining should be there first. This was not described in the book, as in the example there were serged seams. I should have thought it through a bit more.


And then (I'm ashamed to tell this, this is by no means my first jacket!) I set in the sleeves wrong. Right sleeve in left armhole and the other way round. Made a lot of work of setting in the sleeves, doing it "by the book" and the sleeve head was really perfect. But the drape of the sleeve was not good. I spent hours yesterday ripping part of the seams and trying to make it work. No good, and I didn't see what happened.









Today my mother was here and we looked at it together. At a certain moment I said that I was going to take it out and redraw the pattern. When the first sleeve was completely ripped out, I at once saw what really happened and what I did not see before.

I'm going to blame the cold I'm struggling with. That's some excuse (though a lame one).

Where to start

A few things to share.

1. Answer to question:
Nancy asked me a question in the comments section on the use of Power mesh in the side panel of a bra. I sent her a personal reply, but think this might be of interest to others too. This is a copy of the reply on the subject of Power mesh:

For the sides I just use lycra when it is not too thin. Another method (besides the power mesh you mention, which is hard to get here too) I saw mentioned (but did not try myself) is taking two layers of lycra, with the stretch of one layer different from the other.
I've tried the two layers of lycra with the same stretch direction in the latest bra I made for the undercup (the blue one I posted). This was a new technique for me, and worked wonderful.
Another thing I've done in the past is using tule (a thin, stretch type) as under layer. Remember the side panel needs stretch to close the bra properly.


2. A first picture of my Marfy coat.



Steady progress on this one, but it takes a huge amount of time. I do not keep record of the time I'm sewing on this (don't get paid for these hours anyway!) The pocket is stitched on top of the coat, so welts were needed, but not the pocket part you usually add to them. For a clean finish I used lining fabric, and cut the welt-opening. Then handstitched the opening. What you see is the back of the topstitching. After making the lining for the pocket I decided I didn't like my first topstitching, so I took it out and topstitched again.

3. Some inspiration!
What do you think of these drawings. A great inspiration source for pattern drafting. I once (>15 years ago) took a course in pattern drafting and since then I have these great drawings. Someone copied this for me. It's almost 1000 (thousand) pages, and on each page are four drawings for skirts/pants or just details for necklines, cufs etc. Should try some day to really draft such a detail.





That was a lot of posts of me this week, now I'm very quickly going back to my real work (without leaving my chair!).

Pants finished, new projects started

Today I finished the last part of the Burda pants, the complete review is posted on PR. In general I like the fit (as always good with BWOF), but it will be the only time I sew this pattern.

To complete here two pictures of the pants (I was looking for a black belt to go with these pants, and then realised that went to the dustbin some time ago) :





















Meanwhile I have started two other projects, one the Knip skirt that I posted on last week, and the other my Marfy wintercoat.

The coat is really an ambitious project for me, and will probably take quite a bit of time to complete. This is only the second time I make a Marfy pattern, and the first time in many, many years that I make a coat. So I'm going to read all information that Laura gave in her post of today, in which she shows such a wonderfully made jacket.

This is the pattern picture (remember Marfy, this is all the information you get, no linedrawings or instructions!) and the fabric that I'm going to make it with.













The paisley like print will be the collar and the cuff.

Considering this it seemed wise to make a muslin first. This I cut already two weeks ago on an evening, traced the seam lines on the cut pieces and yesterday put it together.

The pattern pieces laid out to check (not ready to cut, no seam allowances added).















The fit of the muslin was fine, until I realised that I was only wearing a t-shirt underneath, and that in winter I often wear a jacket or something with more body than a cotton knit! The sleeves I compared to the sleeves of another coat and they too were too narrow.
So all seams had to be altered, but now it is OK. Only on the back there is a little problem where the sleeve is inserted. A bit too much fabric in the back (and I did not widen the back seams above waist level, as my back is very narrow).
I will alter the muslin and evaluate then.

Pictures of my muslin (and you should have seen the face of my husband when I came into the room wearing this. He really thought I was making a pink coat! Guess what, he would not like that).

Marfy 1101 - sleeve slit construction

My first Marfy patterns is finished. I'm reasonably happy with the result of this pattern. The blouse is not quite my style, but I have a better idea of the size, and now I'm more confident to use a Marfy pattern, that's the happy me. A full review is on PatternReview.

As this is a simple blouse, I had no problems with the lack of instructions, and for most sewing issues I think there are enough books or other information (Internet, PatternReview) to be found to solve construction problems. So I'll use Marfy patterns more.


A little info on how I made the sleeve slit.






1. Fuse a little fusible interfacing to the end of the slit, then cut the slit


2. With right sides together stitch a length of bias cut fabric to the slit, folding the sleeve as in the picture, and take care not to stitch the fold. I find it helpfull to make the bias strip a bit wider at this first step.


3. Press the bias strip towards the slit, cut it to a smaller strip (twice the finished width) fold and pin to the slit.


4. Topstitch the slit, this is now finished.


Here a picture of finished sleeve slit with cuff.

Next: a Marfy blouse

Earlier I mentioned that I plan to make a Marfy wintercoat. As winter is still a few months away here and because I never made a Marfy pattern before, I thought it would be good to try another one first. In the autumn/winter issue from last year a few blouses are included, and tonight I traced no. 1101.




It's a rather simple blouse pattern. I found one review from Liana on PR for this and I can't decide whether I should do a FBA or not. I traced 46 (Italian sizes make you feel big) and measuring the width and length of the pattern pieces makes me confident that it will fit and at least not be too small. Perhaps I'll leave it like this for a first try.

As to the complexity of the pattern tracing: all the information you get is that the pattern is on side A of the pattern sheet in a red color. No info on how many pieces you should trace, no numbering of pattern pieces, no small drawing how the pieces look like and which marks you have to copy. Nor any description. And do NOT think that it is the only pattern drawn on side A in red, there is another pattern in red too, and of course some lines were confusing. And this is a simple blouse!
But of course this is only one of the included patterns, most patterns (like my coat pattern) come already cut, so no tracing at all.

Now to decide which of my fabrics to use. It will be one of my "wardrobe" fabrics. Will post more on that plan later.

Marfy and Knip

Not much sewing going on at the moment, sometimes I have an odd 15 minutes in the evening. DD has vacation already, while my son is still in school and will be free next week. Children around the house during daytime, in my case means that my work is usually not finished, so I'm finishing work in the evenings. But most of my work is completed, so I hope to find some sewing time again soon.


When shopping with my daughter, we saw the new Knip Mode for August (!), which I do not always buy, because the patterns fit her better than me. This month features dress patterns inspired by celebrity dresses, and being 13 my daughter made me buy it, because she wants at least 1 of those dresses. I'm lucky to have a daughter that still wants to wear home made clothes occasionally. Lucky too because the patterns are simple.

Not simple is the Marfy pattern I ordered with a Dutch internetshop for patterns. It was on sale (at least a bit cheaper) and it is the winter coat I liked so much in their catalogue last year. I'll store the pattern for somewhere in October, and it will be my first Marfy pattern ever!

Anyone suggestions for the fabric to use for the collar and sleeve?