Me Made May 2019 ~ Week 3

I wear me-made almost everyday now.  I have finally reached a point where my closet is almost all stuff that I've sewn.  The problem is I don't always go anywhere so I stay in pj's or lounge wear most days.  Also, I spend a decent amount of days in bed so I don't really change those days.  These things make it hard to document and fully do Me Made May; however, I'm still enjoying the process and learning things. Here is Week 3 - the week I usually fall off on posting daily wears and this year was no exception.

Monday, May 13th, 2019 ~ Mostly Sunny, high of 64°F (18°C)  low of 46°F (8°C)

Top: Sewaholic Renfrew made in Jan 2018

Bottoms: Jalie 3022 yoga pants, not yet blogged

I love this renfrew and I love these pants; but I don't really love them together. 

I had navy yoga pants that looked way better but I ripped them.  Miss K had a softball game today.

Thursday, May 16, 2019 ~ AM Thunderstorms, high of 77°F (25°C) low of 50°F (10°C)

Top: Burdastyle 10/2014 #103 made in Jun 2015

Bottom: Made for Mermaids Chloe Skirt not yet blogged

I traced, cut, and sewed up this skirt in like 30 minutes today because I had nothing to wear and it was going to be a HOT day for WI.  It was up to 80F; also, I love this top. Miss K had another softball game.

Sunday, May 19th, 2019 ~ Showers, high of 45°F (7°C) low of 36°F (2°C)

I spent 2 days in bed then pushed myself up and out of it to trace and prepare 6 sewing patterns.  After that I took a long hot bath and threw on this Halla Agnes that I wear for bed (made in Sept 2017).  It is so easy and comfortable to just throw on.  Watched the super disappointing Game of Thrones finale and then was up all night with a sick Miss K. 

I also worked on pants muslins this week from that pants sloper class I'm taking.  I feel like draft #1 was better than draft #2.  Draft 3 was not much progress so I'm going to try a few other things now.  

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Burda 03/2012 #114 Elastic Waist Shorts Muslin

As you may have noticed, I'm playing catch up with blog posting.

Last May (2018) I was determined to make some nice fitting shorts.  I watched a ton of Craftsy Bluprint classes on fitting, read more books, etc.  I picked a simple pattern to start with, Burda 03/2012 #114 Elastic Waist Shorts.  I even put this pattern in my Spring SWAP for 2018.

I did a tissue fitting before cutting out the muslin fabric.  It helped me make a few changes (listed below).  Nothing is hemmed on these, no waistband in; just a quick sew up in the needed places.

This pattern only goes to a 42 so I graded it out to a size 46.  My pattern notes show I lowered the front rise by 1/4" added 1/2" to the width at Center Front and 1/2" to the front thigh.
In the back I added 1/2" wedge to the center butt, rotating this to take out 1" of the bottom leg width.  This created 3/4" addition to the top waist width so I took it out at the side seams of both the outer and inner.  Whew, that sounds confusing but what it amounts to is a sort of full bust adjustment for my butt.  A full butt adjustment!

I think the fit turned out really great.  There are a few tweaks they need here and there. Also, these shorts are super short for what I'm comfortable with but lengthening the legs would take away from the cute design of them.

So after all that work I put them on hold and moved forward with something else.

I really wanted to make these out of some amazing linen blend fabric I have.  I will make them soon I think. Finding these pictures made me want a pair. I will sew up a pair of these just to wear around the house and yard in summer, because I like the style, and darn it - shorts that fit me are hard to find!

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Pitiful Pants ~ the epic journey

Let's talk pants.  They are not hard to sew, but time consuming.  They look great when executed right; but they are just so darn hard to fit correctly!!  I have been struggling with finding a good pants pattern for awhile now.  I thought I would share my recent failures learning experiences. 
My main problem is the crotch curve and thighs.  I know, I know, that is like the major part of fitting pants. I have a small waist, very large hips/rear, and saddlebags large thighs. To make things worse, I am very particular in how my pants fit.  I can't even buy RTW jeans because finding a pair to fit these areas is exhausting.  

So here is my recent work on 3 different pants patterns.  I'll give my thoughts on each one.

Kwik Sew 3193: Size L waist, to XL elsewhere.  These are more “trousers” than pants so the fit will be a bit different.  They are higher rise than I like. My fabric has some stretch.
 
Jalie 3461 Eleanor: I really, really wanted these to work.  This is the look I was going for.  Per my measurements I should go with a  “V” at the waist to an “AA” elsewhere which I did. My fabric was the right stretch, too.  I could barely put these suckers on. Super tight. *Shakes fist at those who had this pattern work “right out of the envelope”*
 
Ottobre 02/2013 #5/6: My butt looks the saggiest in these.  After seeing these pictures I threw away this muslin and the traced pattern. I will not proceed with these!  Size Waist 44 to 48 elsewhere.  This fabric has some stretch.
 

Here are the back views:

Kwik sew: Yikes, my rear crotch curve needs to be let out some and I should scoop a bit more for the rear as it looks like I’m trying to bust out!

Jalie: wrinkles, wrinkles, wrinkles.  Way too tight.  Do my knees knock together or am I just standing weird?

Ottobre: Saggy butt. Knee, thigh, and under rear issues.

And the front views:

Kwik Sew: front looks ok, though the tights need some work.

Jalie: Still tight. Front crotch hanging too low causing frown lines.  Pulling across hips. Knee issues.

Ottobre: Not good, but not terrible.  Knee issues, hip/thigh issues.  Weird crotch issue trying to form a camel toe.

And the side views:

Kwik Sew: From the side these look ok.  The outer seam is mostly straight, though tilted back on top and forward in front slightly. 

Jalie: Wowza.  My waist to thigh bump looks horrible.  The outer seam is pulling to the back on top.  Wrinkles on the thigh to knee. 

Ottobre: *shakes head*  Just wrong.  outer seam pulls to rear on top. waist, rear, thigh, knee wrinkles. 
 
So there you have it.  Pictures speak volumes when fitting.  I will probably continue to tweak the Kwik Sew pattern to get a good trouser pant out of it.  The front side seems very loose on me, but overall the issues are manageable.  I would love to get the Jalie pattern to work but I’m pushing at the very top size on the pattern – which is disheartening!  I wear a size 14 in RTW pants right now and the Jalie pattern goes up to a 22 in women, you would not think I’d be at the edge of the size chart. I may or may not try it in the largest size at a later time.
 
How do you fit your pants?  Do you tissue fit? Muslin? or sew straight out of the envelope?  If you are pear shaped like me, have you had success with a certain pattern?
 
~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Successful Muslin! New Look 6470

Yay! A successful muslin!  I can't wait to get a few of these made up.  I have been saving a super loved fabric just for this tank.  It was one of those instances when I had it already made in my mind, I just needed to find the pattern to match that image.

New Look 6470

• I cut/sewed a size 12 Shoulder, & 14 bust; in the front I used a size 14 hip, but in the back I used a size 16 and added 1/4" to each side.  
• I also performed a 3/4" square shoulder adjustment.  
• The muslin sewed together really fast so I assume the real tanks will take about an hour and a half.  
• This is a muslin only. The fabric is so scratchy -ick.  The description was "soft" but it is not even close. It is a poly matte jersey.  I couldn't wait to take it off. lol. It did have great drape though. 

Changes to make to final versions:

• Use bias for back neck and armholes.  Just turning and sewing isn't very pretty.  
• Add inches to the cowl - this will bring it down into the armpit a bit and hold it in place better. (The cowl is only an inch on the underside and keeps trying to pop over. I will be shooting for 4 inches in total cowl length on the flipping side). 

As you can see I'm still wearing my too-big Thurlows in these pictures :)

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

A Comedy of Errors

So I had this brilliant idea to turn the lady skater dress into a empire waisted top. The idea came after seeing Jill's version at Made with Moxie.

I got right to pattern hacking.  I wanted to use this terrible drapey, thin, rayon jersey that pills to no end for this experiment but I didn't have enough. Alas I found his cousin in my stash in a darker blue of the same terrible fabric.

(horrid inside night time pics)

Front looks ok, slight pulling at bust

I cut off the bodice right under the bust and then eye balled how long I wanted the bottom piece to be.  I used the skirt part of the skater dress pattern but took about 1-2 inches off width-wise.  I sewed in clear elastic tape to help hold the shape under the bust - as the pattern states for the skirt.

Everything sewed up nicely despite using crapy, slippery fabric - to the point where I felt bad about writing this fabric off as ok to destroy.

I went to sew the side seams and realized my measurements were WAY off when cutting the back bodice. I had to laugh. Nonetheless I trudged on and fudged up the arm band.  Here is where I stopped and decided it was "made" enough to see how I liked it.

laughing at my poor measuring skills - the back is almost 2 inches higher than the front

I do like it! I really do.  It hits me quite nicely under the bust where I"m almost smallest in width.  I like how it flows over my stomach - my not so favorite area.  I couldn't decide if I liked where the bottom hit on my thighs though.  The shoulders do fit right but this fabric kept riding up so there is a weird poof on top of them.

Seeing the pics I think I need to add just a tiny bit to the bust area because there are some pulling lines.  The swayback looks great for once!  (granted this is very flow-y fabric).

sway? no way! :D

 (back bodice will be lowered 2 inches to match front)

I think though that I would like to make the front and back one piece and add a casing to the inside and feed elastic through it, instead of messing with a top and bottom piece.  I picked up the most luscious, soft, amazing knit from fabric.com (believe it or not) and plan on making it into this top.  It is in my "must do sooner than later" sewing list.

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Muslin #3 - You guys rock!

I love you guys!  You are so darn helpful!
I took everyone's advice from yesterday's post and went to work again on the muslin.
I redrew the back and cut it/sewed it new. The front I didn't redraw yet because it had some work left. I just hacked and slashed it up more.

I'm happy to say it is ready for the real fabric!!!
Here are today's changes.

1/2" sloped out of center back from neck to 0" at hip - 1" length removed, 3/4" swayback completed

still some small wrinkles in back - hoping challis will behave better than this stiff muslin fabric 

Side:

Look! Look at the line! The armpit to hip is STRAIGHT! Woo hoo! *jumps up and down ecstatically* 

Thanks to adding 1/2" to each side of the hip only in the back. (Ignore butt poof - you can't win 'em all)

The dreaded front is way better.  My right is altered. My left stinks still - ignore it. ;-)

I did a curved dart! It was easy as pie too. Apple pie - with a crust you make from scratch (gluten free for me please).  I still have to figure out the exact width of the curved dart - this was free hand. Loving that that bust to hip line is GONE!  I also took out the inch here lengthwise. (seam in middle); and kept the 1/2" slope out from neck to 0" at hip. 

So a huge, HUGE thanks to you guys. I really wouldn't of gotten this far w/o your help.  I'm off to re-trace the "fixed" pieces and cut the real fabric. It's a soft, yummy rayon challis.  Stay tuned.... :-D

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Alma Progress ~ Muslin 2

I'm getting there. I am making progress.  I promise a pretty Alma will soon follow; however, I ask for advice.  You guys are the best at giving sewing and fitting advice.

Tonight I sewed up Muslin 2. I attacked that beast like a rabid wolverine.  I threw caution to the wind and went with my gut.  There may or may not be any method to my madness lol.

Here are the results.

Conquered the back! Woohoo!  This is 1.5 inches out for swayback people. one and a half. omg. I need better posture.  I also must have a narrow back because I took almost 1/2 inch tapered to zero out of the back from neck down to the swayback seam you see in the middle.  This helped with the poof tremendously.  I also let out the bottom 2 inches of each side of hip - will add 1/2" to each side because 1/4" was still too tight. 

Question. see the wrinkles still forming above the swayback line on each side?  Do I need to maybe take more out of the width here? Or seriously more out of the height? Or just leave it. lol. 

Further visual of helped swayback.  I see my vertical line from armpit to hip tips toward the back. I will most likely add my 1/2"-3/4" to each side of the hip, only to the back as my larger rear needs more fabric. That should even this line out. Which will lead to a larger problem in the front but we will get to that. 

Ah the front. Where I need the most help.  So I added 1/2" dart from neckline tapered off to waist in the center front. I seem to have excess poof here. This helped some.  It also pulled in the vertical darts in the front which they then lined up with my bust apex.  I marked this apex and saw I needed to extend the bust dart by 1" - This was ONLY fixed on my right side (your left) where you see the pink marker.  As you can see on my left, those dreadful slanted drag lines are there but on my right they are much better.  (Oh, this also has my normal square shoulder adjustment). 

I have a ton of poof under bust. Almost like I need a swayback adjustment for my front too. (LOL). Question: why do I have this poof?  Do I need to shorten the front bodice? I think I'm grabbing about 1/2" each side in the below picture.  When I'm sitting this inch folds up under my bust, too.  Hmm. perhaps I just answered my own question. 

Here I am pulling the above poof out to the side. Now I actually have another issue.  When I sit down I also get a rather decent poof above the bust - at the top of the armpit, pretty much that goes horizontal all the way across.  This is also the only time the bust feels tight across.  Not sure what to do here. The bust feels normal/slightly large when standing.  

And there you have it. Muslin 2. I'm getting super close.  Just a few more tweaks :D

I appreciate all your help - seriously. I would have ditched this awhile ago were it not for your suggestions.

(funny sidenote: to get in and out of this sans zipper with both sides sewn I almost have to be popping my shoulder out.... It got old, fast. My chiropractor would be so proud lol)

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~