Early year hiccups

Hello everyone!

I had so hoped to show you a pic of my first finished garment from my wardrobe plan, but...well, it has been a litany of mistakes in my household.  I have started a total of THREE garments! I ended up throwing (ok not literally) one to the side, leaving one unfinished never to return, and  re-starting one that I swapped out for the one that didn't work.  Whew!  I don't know if you followed all of that, so I will give you an idea of what I mean:

I started out with the Love Notions Margot Peplum in an snazzy printed knit.  I was so excited because the top was easy to construct, and I would be trying my hand at a style I have never worn--a peplum.  As you can see from the photo above, this is NOT what I had in mind, lol!  It just hits me at the wrong place on my hips, and looks like a badly shrunken maternity shirt.  So I laughed this one off, and decided I would move on from this pattern.  I had recently purchased Butterick 6526, and knew it could work out better.

So I adapted my Fall/Winter plans to include the change.  I also made sure I could access the document in case I needed to easily change other patterns in the future:

I used a beautiful French terry knit from my stash to sew Butterick together, and it only had 3 pattern pieces.  So, altogether 4 pieces once you cut the sleeves!  I definitely thought I was well on my way to wearing my first finished top of the year!

Alas, this is how it turned out:

It isn't horrible, but I got turned around on the directions, and I think there is an error in the pattern instructions. The illustrations did not match the instructions for the crossover yet I still ended up with it done correctly in the end.  Also, upon closer inspection of the pattern pieces for this design, I noticed that I had cut the back too big, even though the front is in my usual size. How did that happen?  So, I am re-starting this top with the correct sizing and instructions.  Hopefully I will finish it soon.

My third top I started was the Burda wrap top.  Now I will start by saying that I ALWAYS love Burda.  But, not that day! The construction was different than what I was used to in some places, and I decided to just take a break from that one.  Funny thing is, everyone on Patternreview said it was super easy.  Leave it to me to take a simple top and turn it into a geometric equation!

So now you know the story!

Nothing is done yet, but I do plan to recover from the Mayhem of destroying fabric left and right.

In the midst of it all, I do have good news, though.  I FINALLY started my pants sloper class with Craftsy!  It is AMAZING!  I never thought I could take my measurements and create a flat pattern for myself.

I have created two muslins to date, and I think the fit is soooooo close.  Here is a pic of my second muslin:

I was in my daughter's room when I took this photo, but really like the direction I am headed in.  I think the answer to my fitting issues may lie in combining the front of my first muslin with the back of my second muslin.  Just a guess, but I need to go by Joanns and pick up more tracing paper so that I keep my original pattern intact for future tweaks.  I DID get rid of the wrinkles I had under my butt, and that was no small feat!

I plan on doing an updated post about the class once I get closer to finishing my sloper.  I originally wanted to use the sloper to help in fitting commercial pants patterns, but I think I may go ahead with drafting one of the options Suzy Furrer offers for the class.  I mean, why not?  So, whatever I decide to do, I will keep you all in the know as soon as I can.

I hope that your sewing plans are off to a better start than mine!  If they are not, then plan to recover! There's plenty of month left to head in a better direction.

Until soon,

Stay sew filled!