Lady Skater ~ Revisited

I loved this pattern the first time I saw it and was so excited to make one up for myself last January.  Then I became frustrated when the pattern did not work for me so I left it lay for some time and decided now was a great time to revisit it.

Last January I overlooked that the pattern is drafted for someone 5'5".  No wonder I felt it was high waisted on me.  Actually I'll list all the issues I had: too high waisted, dislike for cap sleeves, unpleasant fit in the neck, shoulder, bust area.

So here is what I changed this time around: 

• I'm 5'7" so I added 1" to the bodice at the lengthen/shorten line and 1" to the skirt at the l/s line.
• took my Renfrew TNT and laid it over the lady skater bodice.  Traced off the shoulders to the armscythe (boy the difference).  
• 1/2" square shoulder adjustment
• replaced cap sleeve with renfrew short sleeve
• Used fold over elastic in waist instead of clear elastic because I hate that itchy feeling I get from it (allergic to latex)

My measurements had me between a 4 and a 5 so I went with a straight 4.  I like negative ease.  

The only hard part was remembering that the Renfrew shoulders, arms, and sleeves were 5/8" SA where as the skater is 3/8" SA.  

I used my serger for all of the construction except the bottom hem which I coverstiched. 

My first go around was my "test" but it turned out so great that I'll be wearing it everywhere for sure.

Fabric: 2 yards black cotton jersey knit from fashion fabrics club.  I picked it up in January this year for $3.95 a yard so $7.50 total.  I didn't pay attention to the cutting layout and had to cut the back skirt as two pieces (not on fold) just to get it to fit on the 2 yards.  So I have a seam down the back of the skirt on this one.  My advice: pay attention to the cutting layout! It saves you a bunch of fabric.

It fit wonderfully and I loved it so I went ahead and sewed up my desired fabric.

I love this fabric!  It was called "violet blue floral ponte double knit" from fashion fabrics club, also purchased 2 yards in Jan 2015 for $3.95/yard so $7.90 for this one too!  Sadly this fabric is now out of stock.  It is 97%poly and 3% lycra.  I feel like every purchase from them is a gamble as to whether I'll love the fabric or not, but this is one I wish I would have bought more of!

Red cotton lycra used for the bands.  I originally had the ponte fabric for the neckband but it wouldn't lay right so I had to unpick not only my serging but also the coverstitching all the way around. Ugh!  I do love how it turned out now though so it was worth the extra time.

I'm so glad I didn't give up on this pattern :)  I feel like I could make a dozen more of these!

~ 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 ~

Lady Skater

Hello from the Siberian Tundra!  Will this cold ever end? ever?
We have no school today and it's about -35° F with the windchills. Last night we enjoyed a blizzard warning with 60 mph winds. I seriously though the house was going to blow over!  We enjoyed it by watching the Grammy's and playing Uno as a family. It was a good time.
Tonight and tomorrow it is supposed to hit -50° F with the wind. YUK! I just got the message that school is closed again tomorrow.  It is nice to stay inside but the kiddos are getting bored! lol.

So, to escape some madness I retreated to my sewing room.  I had the lady skater cut out for the last two days now.  I only made one alteration for the first run. I adjusted for the square shoulder as I normally do.
I used a nice soft cotton jersey/spandex-y blend of fabric.  I didn't measure but we'll call it about 2 yards from the stash.

For the trial run it went well.  The instructions are super easy to follow.  The dress sews up pretty fast - I mean I started at 11am and was finished by 1pm.  I stitched each seam with my regular machine first, then serged.  My high bust is a 36" so I was between a size 4 and 5.  I traced a size 4 everywhere except the bust area - graded to a 5, and the hips on down where a size 5.

Here are the results:

Loose in the sleeves and bust. VERY loose/wide in the neck both front and back. 

Next time I will do my usual slope of 1/2" out of the necks

*note* I didn't finish the hem or sleeves - because of fit this won't leave the house*

As you can see, I need to do a swayback adj. in the next version. 

Overall I like the pattern I just need to tweak some fitting issues.  You will most likely see more versions at a later time.

Stay warm! And smile often. Here is your laugh for the day:

(oh, and yes, I do)

Stash used for this: 2 yards

Stash used in 2014: 8.5

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~