January Re-cap and February Plans

Hello everyone!

When I think about how my month of January went, it feels like I could divide it into two categories.  The first would be "utter frustration," and the second would be "confident resurgence." I started out with some stuttering, but I have gained my bearings, and now look forward to my February plans.

But before I tell you about that, here are all my January garments:

Butterick 6526 Crossover Top (shown at far left on top and bottom): I really gave this pattern a bad wrap!  I think it was tied to my experience sewing it, and not the final result.  It truly is a nice top, and I have changed my mind after wearing it.  I will now re-make it with more length.  In fact, I can no longer ignore my LONG torso, lol! Unless there is a lot of length built-into a garment, I will have to add some.  Lesson learned!

Sewaholic Renfrew Tops (Fitted V-neck): I still love these, and have started to wear them. It feels good to be this early into the RTW fast, and already have lots of things to choose from! While I wish I could sew another five or six, I will move on for the sake of my capsule.

Alright, now that January is out of the way...let's move onto February plans!  If you recall from a few of my posts last month, I have been working on my pants sloper.  Well, I am making progress on it, but not quite finished yet. I am discovering that each adjustment I make affects another thing.

My goal was to finish my sloper so I could work on my two pants choices for this month. Well, I am throwing caution to the wind, and working on PANTS anyway!! I can do it!! I have been encouraged by a lot of other RTW fasters who have sewn their first pair of pants, and I'm gonna just dive in!!

**As a side note, I must say that this month is Jeans month at Closet Case Patterns! In honor of that, they are taking 30% off all their jeans courses, and patterns!!! I may have purchased the Ginger Jeans pattern already, lol--for the near future, of course.  Now is a great time to get this pattern or others (PDF or printed) if you are also thinking of giving pants a try. Click here for the website to check this out.**

That said, I will work on the Sabrina Slims first!!

I am hoping that the simple silhouette and seaming will work in my favor.  I mean, come on! No zippers, closures, etc.  But maybe a welt pocket? I will see. If I choose to do one, it will be my first ever! I definitely like the way they look on the back of the pants, so I will see and keep you in the loop.

After I finish the Slims, I will work on the other pair of pants from my capsule, Simplicity 8056. This one looks slightly more involved, but has some ease since it is a trouser.

I am aiming to finish as much of my capsule as possible so that I can be ready to move on to Spring soon.  Once I reach the end of this month, I will evaluate how much more time I will take if needed. I have already decided that my Spring Capsule will be much smaller, lol! Much smaller!!  

For now I want all of my knit items in the capsule finished.  Then, I will move on to the woven things.  I hope that this establishes the opportunity to get into a "groove."  That's the plan, at least.  How it plays out will be seen.  

But, I am most excited about PANTS!!!

Stay sew-filled!

Sewaholic Renfrews and a Save

Hello everyone!

Today I want to share my experience with a pattern that could be called a national sewing treasure.  It is my SECOND top from my Fall/Winter capsule, and one that has been made by a countless number of sewers with high remarks--the Sewaholic Renfrew!

Perhaps you are familiar with this pattern, or perhaps (like me) you know about it but have yet to sew it. Either way, let me share the story of my Renfrew with you:

It all started with this leftover Rayon Spandex knit from my failed peplum.  I had enough to make a Renfrew in a size 8 with no adjustments.  The end result was good, but there was some gaping along the neckline:

Still, I really liked the style of the shirt with its' cuffs and hem band.  I felt confident that I could make it work with a few tweaks and adjustments.

So, I tried a second version:

 

This version was an rust orange sweater knit from Michael Levine's that I love!  This time I did a 1/4" forward shoulder adjustment and added 1/2" to the shoulder seam for a roomier fit.  There was still some slight gaping at the neckline, but not enough to keep me from wearing this top! 

With some more research on the issue, I found an amazing tutorial by Colleen of The Fashion Sewing Business on Youtube.  I used her instructions to reduce the neckline by 1/2" and came up with this well-fitting version:

I absolutely love this Renfrew made out of a cotton jersey from Girl Charlee!  It seriously is the perfect V-neck!  And speaking of V-necks, this one was SO EASY to construct.  I have been practicing, and it is getting easier and easier.  I find that staystitching the front V before you add the band, then cutting to (not through) the stitching helps me so much.  Most times, it lines up at the center front without any issues.

So after I made this top, I felt pretty good with the fit, and decided to try it out on a Ponte de Roma from Girl Charlee in a Medallion print.  Since the knit was not as stretchy as the other fabrics I used, I was conservative with the seam allowance, and even added 1/8" more to the side seams to be sure.

The end result is this:

And this one is the one I LOVE the most!!!

If you are counting, that makes FOUR Renfrews!! Yep, I got a little cray-cray with this pattern, but this top is so cute and well-drafted, in spite of the changes I needed.  And guess what?  I won't be buying anymore V-neck fitted tops!! Nope, nada...zilch...none.  

I would much rather reach for this beloved Renfrew pattern! Yes!! Just look at the variations on the pattern envelope and see what I mean:

The sleeve variations will take me through the year, and I can't wait to try the cowl for next Fall/Winter!  This pattern is definitely a keeper, and I can see why it has received lots of raves from the people who have sewn it. I need a Renfrew for EVERY season, lol!

Here are my collection of Renfrews:

Unfortunetaly, that is where my story with the Renfrew ends (for now).  But, I will definitely re-visit this pattern soon, and HIGHLY suggest it for all skill levels.  It is a quick sew that requires no hemming, and has CUFFS. Did I mention cuffs?

Ok, so before I go, I have one more thing to show you!  Remember my failed crossover Butterick 6526 top that was too big?  Well, I had put it aside with every intention of throwing it out when it dawned on me that since I can SEW, I might be able to save it.

And, well, that is what I did!

It still needs more length for me to be SUPER happy with it, but I really, really like it compared to where it was.  And saving a garment that was on the fringe of destruction always makes me happy! If you would like to read more about my experience with this pattern, click here for my other version.

For my next post (probably Saturday) I will be back to do a re-cap of January, as well as talk about my plans for February.  I will give you a hint now: I am diving in!!  I have also been working on my Burda wrap top, and hope to finish it soon. TWO items down, EIGHT more to go!

Stay sew-filled!

Butterick 6526 Crossover Knit

Hello everyone!

I finished my FIRST garment for 2018!

In true "mom" style, my photos are in my kids' playroom today--mostly because it was the room with the best light!

It has been an interesting week at our household, with more SNOW in Georgia (don't worry, it has melted already)! But my kids were out of school for two days, so I spent a lot of my time helping them with online assignments.  Somewhere in the midst of all of our time together, I got a few sewing sessions in, and I am here to talk about my re-do of Butterick 6526.

It is a "close-fitting pullover top with a shaped hemline."  For my second version, I sewed a size 12 without any adjustments, though I still wouldn't call this top close-fitting.

In hindsight, my only change for a future version would be to add an inch of length.  Right at the bottom center front where the fabric intersects is the place where I wish it was longer.  I tried this top with a tank underneath it, but it bunches in a weird way.

For construction, there are only 3 pattern pieces.  You end up having a total of 4 pieces with the sleeves included.  Sounds easy, right?  Well, the front pieces are cut on the bias, and therein lies my issue with this pattern.

The instructions are very easy to follow, though I did get a little turned around on one of the illustrations.  Other than that, this top is nothing difficult to assemble, just make sure to mark appropriately, and differentiate between right and wrong sides because it can get a little confusing with the shape of the garment pieces.

My fabric choice for this top is a lovely sweater knit from a new-to-me source, Michael Levine.  I was super pleased when it came in the mail, and I LOVE the way everything was packaged and labeled.  I will definitely order from them again!

Overall, this is an o.k. top that I will wear for now.  It is not what I had in mind, and I will not be revisiting it for a third time, lol!

ONE garment down, NINE more to go!!!

Up next I am working on finishing my Sewaholic Renfrew top, and completing the fit on my pants sloper.  It has been a busy month, and I can't believe there is still more of January left!  I will check in next week with an update.

Stay sew-filled!

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!