Dear Butt Princess Seams, how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways!
I really love this pants pattern and must refrain from making 18 pairs of the same pants. This time I used a poly/rayon/lycra suiting fabric from Fabric Mart (here). It takes a press well, has some drape but is not at all wrinkly. It was $4/yd and I like the color and it behaved well during washing, drying and construction - win!
I made no changes (intentionally) from the last pair. I was cruising right along and then realized I was supposed to put the zipper in AFTER the pockets. Because the pockets are 'caught' in the zipper area. So I had to do some rigging. But I mean...that's the inside so... :-)
Serger was loaded with grey and white so the inside is finished with grey and white! I did not do the bias tape on the facing. I really love that little feature but it feels so time consuming.
The deep hem I LOVE!!! It provides such a nice weight to the pants.
And I finished my shirt! yay!!
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I decided to cut a size 14 which had a finished bust of 41" and do a FBA of 1/2" - for a finished bust of 42". I thought that would be plenty of room. I have diagonal lines so I am thinking I needed maybe a bit more length over the bust. I made a narrow shoulder adjustment of 1/2".
I measured the sleeve and could have sworn I was 'okay' with the bicep width but they are a bit snug there.
Those dang blasted pockets.
I wanted them but now I want to rip them off. Bleh. The real issue is my sloping left shoulder (which I never account for because I know I should kinda make a separate front pattern piece and fix it but that's too much like right!). When my shoulders are relaxed; the pocket droops/slopes! Grrr!
There are wrinkles in the back which honestly don't bother me :oops:! I hope the fit police don't get me.
I LOVE it tucked in, but I rarely wear my shirts tucked so...
I realized my sleeve placket doesn't bother me. It makes me chuckle every time I realize it's backwards. Like, it's not an ever-present "OMG MY SLEEVE PLACKET IS BACKWARD" thing...
What's really funny is that on the correctly done sleeve placket, I ended up doing the buttonhole on the wrong side! hahahaha!!!!!
I started unpicking the stitches and then thought, 'ahh, what the heck. The button will cover most of it' and I left it.
What else...
*The sleeve went in perfectly and I am almost wondering if there is too little sleeve cap ease.
*The cuffs are a bit narrow (someone, Graca??, mentioned this. Like there isn't even 1/4" to seam the sides of the cuffs, it's weird.
*The placket has 5/8" seams which is just too much. I was surprised this wasn't pared down to something more manageable
*The sleeve length was perfect for me. But I have somewhat long arms for my height. When I made B5678 and all my 8,013 M6844 cardigans I added 1" to the sleeves.
*I didn't follow the placement suggestion for pockets or buttons cause...Boobs.
*I used darker thread for my buttonholes for some contrast - I like it.
*Fabric is some crazy nice shirting from Fabric Mart, bought with ma' winnings. Woot! (the photo showing the buttonholes is closest to the true color)
First time doing plackets, SUPER proud of my edge stitching,
clean finished yoke and nicely set sleeve!
This was also my first time doing a flat-felled seam! And umm...unless I make a shirt for one of the dudes, I probably won't do it again. So fiddly. So. So. Fiddly. I did not enjoy that process at all.
Something weird happened at the collar. I don't know if I accidentally cut a size 16 collar or what but it was as I was trimming the seams that I realized I shouldn't have bulk where I was cutting. Well, that's because my collar comes all the way to the end of the collar stand (vs ending 1/2" or so away). It also doesn't bother me. I will double check things for next time though.
When I first got my machine, I made buttonholes. Like that same day! I was amazed that you can make buttonholes!!! and they were pretty good. Eventually, I started to realize my machine does not make very nice buttonholes and they were coming out uneven and pretty janky.
I was going to go to a sewing store that has an open sewing night and use of their machines for the buttonholes but they had no open sewing FOR THE ENTIRE QUARTER (insert mock outrage!).
Lo and behold my machine stitched some pretty freaking awesome buttonholes. I wanted to hug it or pet it or give it cookies - something. And all 11 of them are perfect. Perfectly consistent buttonholes.
