McCall's 6612

I got onto a bit of a knit kick after getting my walking foot and going through the "Sewing with Knits" class at Craftsy.  (PS: Craftsy pays me no money - I just like their format).  So, after finishing up a few of the projects included with course, I decided to try some patterns on my own; first, was McCall's 6612.  (No, McCall's doesn't pay me money either).

I loved the cowl neck of dress D, but also loved the "Elasticized Side Seams" of view A.

I really wanted to do the longer sleeves of view A too, but in the end ran out of fabric.  (I buy fabric because I love it - then decide what to do with it later - so project and fabric length don't always match up)

In the end, it came out ok, but not perfect.

What I love... the cowl - it draped beautifully in the purple jersey knit I picked out.  And it's long  (even though I shortened it a tad due to aforementioned fabric length issues) and very elegant feeling.

What I don't like --  Well, it's rather shapeless.  Maybe it's my body type but I didn't feel like it did much for me.  

Sorry for being headless - I was making the WORSE face in these shots!

It got worse at the end of the day.  Oh and I found out something goofie was going on with the hem - I've already pulled it out with an eye to fix it before wearing it again.

 I have two options here...

1) try taking it in a bit.  My only concern is, the fabric is so lightweight that it'll show every lump and bump (and I have plenty of those).  The offset to that would be to wear shapewear under it... but that kind of defeats the purpose of an awesome soft jersey dress...

2) try adding the elastic to the side seams.  This was my original intent anyway.  I had been worried that that option would make the dress too short, But honestly I don't really like the length as it is.  it's at this weird mid knee length - not above it, not below it that makes me feel like I constantly need to pull it down.  Maybe with the elastic to shorten it I would wear it with leggings which would take care of the shapewear requirement mentioned above and maybe take this from Meh to Funky.

Oh - and I also don't like the sleeve length...they hit me wrong and it makes me look like they are too small...

anyway - any thoughts?  suggestions?  all are welcome

Oh - as for the pattern itself... super easy - but I think it may require some work to not look like a sad sack. But, again, maybe that's just me...

Knits - I like!

Spent my last weekend playing with knits and I like 'em.  Everything went together so easily and I love not have to do tedious things like inserting zippers!

I have been reviewing the Sewing with Knits class at Craftsy over and over while I waited for my walking foot to come in - so I was ready to jump right in as soon as it arrived.

The first thing I made was a scoop necked "T".  I made the long sleaved version because that seemed more fitting with the thermal knit I had.  I cut it all on the flat because I wanted to make sure the pattern didn't end up wonkey.  I also drafted some contrast cuffs based on another thermal shirt that I have and love the way the overall look turned out.  I struggled a little with the collar but it's a learning process and because this is meant to be a casual shirt I'm probably not going to worry about the fact that it's not perfect.  The people at home and in the dog park won't mind!

Source: Scoop Neck via Samboddy69 on Craftsy

Next I upped the anti.  Although the hoodie is considered the first/simplest project in the course, I wasn't making it with recommended sweatshirt material.  So, the difficulty was upped by the light light light rayon jersey I was using.  And to up the challenge even more, the fabric is a plaid so I had to cut everything on the flat and pay attention to get the pattern to come close to matching.  And, yes, the fabric did challenge me.  First, the recommendation to use a stretch needle didn't work here.  Something about the fabric would just make the needle bounce off and I was skipping stitches.  I ended up having to use a sharp needle to get it to work.  And then the fabric was so light -- if I even thought about getting near the opening the fabric would suck down into the machine in an instant - it made keeping the 3/8" seam allowance a challenge.  But I'm over the moon abut how it turned out!

 

Source: Hoodie via Samboddy69 on Craftsy

Then, because I loved this fabric so much, and I had some fabric left over, I decided to try to make a skirt out of it.  I didn't have enough to cut the back and front on the fold so I literally pieced the thing together, but I love love love how it turned out anyway and will get tons out of use out of the comfortable piece of clothing.

Source: Yoga Skirt via Samboddy69 on Craftsy

I've got another knit project on a hanger right now and several other woven projects in various stages of completeness.  I've got the day off today so I'm hoping to add a few more things to my closet before "Me Made May" starts!

I'm ready!

Stretch fabrics - here I come!

(I wonder if this helps with slippery fabrics too)

OMG OMG OMG

I just got a text - my walking foot arrived today!!!  (I gave up and ordered one from Amazon - hopefully the first one I ordered never shows up and I can just get a credit for it).

I've been furiously devouring the "Sewing with Knits" class at Craftsy in preperation and cannot WAIT to start putting together some knit garments.  I have a box (a huge box) of knits I've been collecting in preparation.

I get to work from home tomorrow too - sooooo  I see some fun new sewing in my future!

PS: I also cut into my first ever stretch lace last night to make myself something special, 'for hubby'.  The lace is an embroidered nylon that is just beautiful and feels so nice that I got on clearance from fabric.com

I bought 2 yards of it and my project barely used 1 so I'm happily plotting to see what else I could get out of this lovely fabric.  (we'll see if I still think it's lovely after I've tried sewing it!)

Finished something!

At last!  Finally managed to focus long enough to finish something - but it wasn't easy!

I started cutting out Butterick 5711 (view B - with the short gathered sleeves) early this week

I thought it was a cute pattern that would make some great summer/spring tops and was looking forward to it all coming together.  I did some quick measurements of the pattern pieces and it looked like it would be a good fit so I cut a 20 in a shoulders and a 22 through the rest of the body and didn't do a muslin.

In all honesty it did go together rather easily but it had it's frustrating moments.  One was my mistake of just sewing in the waist 'tucks' without checking first.  the end, which are supposed to end under the bust actually ended at my apex.  This, of course, made it too tight across the bust line.  And the tucks in the back...

Yeah - they did nothing for me.  Maybe it was just the drape of my fabric was too stiff, but I looked like I had a bustle at my bum and a hump on my back.  So I ripped both of those out, left the back tucks off and moved the front tucks down by an inch and a half.

I, of course, had my usual frustrations with attaching a collar, but I have to say, the instructions on this pattern were great.  The description of how to do the 'self facing' for the button stand on the front were amazing.  I've never had it explained so good and it went together perfectly.

My biggest beef with this pattern?  the sleeve cuffs.  I don't think I have usually large arms.  At least not for my size.  I have no problem with ready to wear clothes fitting me there.  I cut the sleeve cuffs from a size 22, only did a 1/4 inch seam and they are STILL too tight!

(PS the fit at the back was me not pulling the shirt down when taking the photo - not a fault of the pattern)

The only other slight annoyance.  The photo of the pattern shows the shirt unbuttoned at the top button  -which is how I would want to wear it.  But, because the fronts only have a narrow, self facing, if the shirt flaps open (which it does) it shows the inside - which on my fabric, isn't pretty.

Lastly I just want to brag on this beautiful rolled hem I did... I'm proud of that thing! 

Overall, a cute shirt that I'm sure I'll get plenty of wear out of and a pattern that (with adustments) I'll probably use again.

Hmmm

There's something strange about this white butterfly cotton that fabric.com 'gave' to me... It's three yards wide from selvage to selvage!

I mean, I can't really complain. After all I ended up getting it for free, but, what te heck is this?

(going to look now)

Note:  Looks like it's something called "quilting backing" and it runs about $9.00+ a yard.  So I guess it's pretty awesome that I got this for free.  Not that I wouldn't have rather had the Burgundy Rayon Knit that I actually ordered.  But, that's the hazards of ordering online clearance I guess!

And more fabric I'm not sure what to do with

I saw white rayon rib knit on clearence at fabric.com for 1.95 a yard plus I had a 20% off coupon so I bought 3,5 yards of it with a mind to make a rib knit turtle neck to go under jackets etc.

I got to looking through my order (I'm doing inventory) and realized they didn't send the rib knit and snuck a cotton thermal (super thin almost sheer) instead! So now I have 3.5 yards of cotton thermal to use. Any ideas? Anyone? Anyone?