Finally sewing again

Yes, I’ve finally been sewing again. A bra was just the right thing to start with after returning home (with jetlag) from a fantastic trip with my family to New York!

When planning the trip I claimed one day on my own for going to the garment district and of course, a highlight for me, meeting my friend Nancy. Mostly we were talking and shopping fabric too much to think of photos, but here’s one during a lovely Korean lunch.

Nancy brought me the interfacing I had ordered with Pam of Fashion Sewing Supply. The best interfacing you can get in my opinion and in this way I could stock a bit and not pay the high shipping cost.

And where did we go and what did I buy? B & J fabrics and Mood were the larger stores we visited. I felt like being in a candy store: so much to choose from it’s difficult to decide.

The first fabric I bought was this wool/lace one. I also bought zippers for it and plan to make a jacket of it.

Beautiful Swiss cotton for next spring/summer in an original weave.

A few silks.

And last but not least: wool jersey and an Oscar the la Renta boucle. At least, that was the name on the tag. Whether or not he actually used it I can’t find on the internet. It’s of minor importance, I loved the colors as they are very much “me”. Don’t expect all this fabric to be sewn up in the next weeks. My fabric buying obviously exceeds my production, especially in the past months. It’s time for “stop buying fabric and start sewing”. I’m trying to plan 15-30 minutes each day, which should mean more time than I used for sewing recently.

I started with this bra. It’s the download pattern DL01 from MakeBra. I made it before and while wearing it I was not completely happy with the fit, the cups felt a bit too small after all. I now used a size 75F which is the right size I think. Most examples on their site and the gallery are for bra’s in which the cup is covered with lycra. For a long time I had the idea of using lace and that’s what I’ve done here. I made photos of the construction phase and plan to do a review and instruction post later. The color is a bit bold for me, out of my comfort zone.

 

Still there – snoop shopping

I’m still there, just a bit silent on the blog. All’s fine, only very, very busy with work, a daughter leaving the house and all other things that happen in life. Sewing? None! Reading blogs? Occasionally only. I’ve ordered me some sewing books, the Marfy catalogue, even bought some fabric. Just couldn’t find the time to sew.

This afternoon I felt I could breath a little again, did some snoop shopping on the internet, looking for inspiration. I thought the combination of these fabrics was nice.

Look at the back of this jacket (mind you, this is a jacket with a $650 price tag!). To me it looks the jacket was too wide when finished and a “dart”  or partial center back seam was added later. The seams on the lower part of the jacket also look like they have been redone after finishing.

I know, if you don’t sew you probably won’t see this or mind at all. It would bother me though if I had sewn the back of a jacket like this. Says something about me, being too perfectionist sometimes.  I’ll be looking at further inspiration and hope to find time for sewing soon.

Till then: enjoy the autumn colors (or spring if you’re in the Southern hemisphere).

Fabric shopping

It’s been one of those weeks: busy with no time for sewing or blogging. Last weekend after the dress failure I sewed this very simple skirt. It’s a StyleArc pattern but it’s not special. The freebie at the time of ordering and just fine. The fabric I bought at the Utrecht fabric market two weeks ago. I visited the market with Hilde, one of the ladies of our little international sewing group. Such fun to do this together, it was a lovely day (I was even recognized while drinking coffee by another visitor from the market as the lady who’s showing bra sewing on the internet, such a surprise. Thanks for saying hello Trudy). Most probably I will wear this skirt with a black top, but the red might also be a combination.

Most of the other fabric I bought:

The bottom one was intended for the Vogue dress, it will get another destination at some point. And SewingZoe: my last muslin did not have a lot of stretch. You are right that the pattern is only intended for 4 way stretch fabrics, but a) I didn’t have such a fabric for a muslin any more and b) I didn’t want negative ease. It’s not flattering on me, especially in the skirt area.

Most of these fabrics will have to wait a bit, as I’m away for 12 days. I will be taking my sewing machine, but not my serger so the knit fabrics won’t be sewn till I’m back. I’m taking these fabrics and I intend to make a mini-wardrobe from them for the PR contest. 3 of the 4 fabrics are memories of shopping with sewing friends, which makes it extra special.

The left one was bought with Pauline and Clare in the UK last year, the top one on the right with Nancy K three years ago (it’s silk, I’ve used it for a lining already and this is just enough for a sorbetto or similar top. And the bottom right was also bought on the Utrecht market with Hilde.

A detail of this last fabric. It will be the most basic pencil skirt pattern you can think of. The fabric doesn’t need a lot of pattern details. I found Petersham ribbon in a notions store in Utrecht! I’ll use that for the waistband.

I’ll be off to France tomorrow, just a quiet, rural area. Lots of walking, markets, villages perhaps a bit of sight seeing in Dijon or Beaune. Exactly what I need.

 

Dress not working for me

I made a second muslin and solved a few fitting issues, but it's not there yet and I'm giving up on this dress. Sorry to disappoint those of you who hoped to see my version first before making it yourself. I'm looking forward to versions of those of you who can tackle this pattern.

I have spent quite a few hours on it till now and not convinced it will ever suit me well. This pattern is difficult to adjust for curvier figures. I thought I could deal with the pattern alterations but it's too difficult for me. Ann worked on this dress too and gave a comment on my previous post that she thought there were issues with the instructions. I'm not going to go through all the instructions in detail now. If you're going to attempt this pattern it might be good to know this too.

Hope your sewing has better results ;)

A puzzle

I fully agree with the comments on the dress that the front didn’t look balanced. Partly due to the unfinished state of it, partly because it was not yet fitting well. In the meantime I’ve finished the seam allowances of the front and took a good look at the fit. It indeed needs more space in the hip area and I wanted the center front higher. No easy task with this pattern with all the special shaped pattern pieces.

An example: there are no shoulder seams as they are on the back (decided to leave them as they are, there are changes enough). I have drawn a line from the shoulder point to the neckline to make a reference point for the neckline change. It took me quite a lot of time for all pattern changes and I’m not even sure yet that it’s correct. Still have to change the facing pieces. I’m debating making another muslin or taking my chances with a risk of complete failure and loss of fabric. Making this 3 times is not a fun idea either. Guess that I know what to do: another muslin.

Quick muslin

I’m not often impressed by Vogue patterns enough to justify the cost of buying them, even when they are on sale. But this time the Donna Karan dress that featured the e-mail announcing their new fall patterns immediately caught my attention. A beautiful dress in my opinion. Last weekend the patterns were on sale again. I ordered it on Friday and it arrived yesterday. Quite impressive as it had to cross an ocean. Once here I had to start working on it. Yesterday evening I traced the pattern and cut it from the one knit in my stash that had enough yardage, but perhaps not enough “body”.

The pattern piece with all the pleats in it has a lot of lines. Very good was that the different sizes were distributed over 2 sheets. Sizes 14 and 18 on one sheet, the other 3 sizes on another sheet. It made it clear which lines belonged to the sizes. If all 5 would have been on one sheet it would have been a mess.

As all of the pieces are cut from one layer of fabric, it is helpful to cut two sleeve pattern pieces. It makes it easier to place the pattern pieces correctly (only one pattern piece is on the tissue).

Tonight I sewed the body part, mainly to check the fit. The pattern pieces are as fascinating as the dress looks and it’s a bit difficult to define where to widen for the hip area (a must for me). Also there are no finished measurements on the pattern pieces, so impossible to know whether Vogue has designed this with wearing ease and how much. This would have been helpful information. I started with a size 14 and widenened the skirt after I had determined where about I had to change.

Sorry for the not so flattering photos, taken from a too short distance. I did not finish the collar part. Size 14 is a bit wide in the back (as usual) but I think it’s ok in the front. The neckline could be raised a bit, also on the Vogue photo it’s a bit low. It’s not hemmed yet, the length will be fine when it is. The opening in the front is not ok though, it’s too open when walking to  my liking and planned use of this dress. The pattern needs a bit of tweaking to fit me, which is no surprise. The result isn’t too bad though. Will this work?

What do you think?

And what do you think of the different left/right shoulder angle, which is on the back. I did not realise it until I saw the photo on me and noticed the different angle immediately. I’m inclined to either make it in the same angle or make the left shoulder straight like a normal shoulder seam instead of an angle.

 

 

Answers to questions in the comments: Marie,  unfortunately   I don’t know an online bra course. I’m glad to hear the tutorials are helpful.

Alison asked for a source for the interfacing. I buy it at Kantje boord and have bought it online from Wien2002. It’s an Austrian site in German only. The main think it’s thin and it doesn’t stretch. It’s called tule or non-stretch chameuse.

Sewing bra cups with interfacing

Most of the bra’s I make have interfacing. In one of my  tutorials I describe using a special fusible interfacing, but I don’t use that any more. I have realised that I do a few things different nowadays and I’m working on an updated version.

Below is my default bra that I have made in a lot of variations. These are my latest additions to the lingerie drawer.

 

Usually I use a non stretch interfacing for the under cup and the side cup, which gives me the support I need. For a neat way of finishing also on the inside I do the following:

 

Pin right side of lace to right side of the under cup. Pin the non stretch interfacing layer on top of the lace.  The lace is now sandwiched between the under cup lycra and the interfacing.

 

Sew the seam with a straight stitch.

 

Turn to the right side and edgestitch the under cup. I use the invisible hem foot for this with the needle position to the left. While doing this I make sure that the lycra and interfacing are folded down properly. I do this by tugging it a bit with my fingers, I don’t use pins.

Trim the seam allowance.

 

The result on the outside of the cup

And on the inside.

For this bra on which I’m working now I then stretched the lcyra a bit over the interfacing as described in this post. The extra is still on the cup and has to be trimmed.

The side cup I sew in the same way.

After these additions to my drawer I hope to have some inspiration for regular garments again. My daughters bra is on hold for the moment as I have to order other wires. This is how the cups look now.