Sunday, May 3, 2015

Last of April: Butterick 6169 and New Look 6373

Remember how I said my mojo was waning?? All it takes is one new "shiny" and I'm toast. All the time! :)

On Thursday I was minding my business and happened to find myself in Hancock. Now, I've made zero sewing related purchases since the beginning of April and decided I could afford a couple new patterns. McCall's were on sale for $1.99 and the new jumpsuit was calling me!

But what else did I see...New Look 6373! One that I'd completely forgotten about!


Deciding that would be a good mojo booster, I pulled out a floral ITY knit that I had slated for Simplicity 1355, another jumpsuit.

The NL pattern is intended for lightweight wovens and has a bust dart. I cut a 14 bodice - would normally perform an FBA but since it's a knit, I did not. And I cut a 16 bottoms (in a woven I generally take an 18). I used the size 14 crotch length/point in front and 18 in back.

I eased the front pattern piece as I was NOT going to stitch a dart in ITY! I also did not bother hemming the flounce and cut it with my rotary cuter.

Again, because it's meant for wovens there are facings which I eliminated. I sewed the right side of the flounce to the wrong side of the bodice and flipped the flounce to the outside. I then did a twin needle stitch around to secure it. This meant: no finishing the flounce, no neckline finishes, no armhole finishes...Ahhhhhhh so fast and easy!

The straps were caught in the twin needle stitching and then hand stitched to further secure them. Because the ITY has so much drape, I decided to insert elastic (just larger than my ankle measurement) into the hem.

If I were to make this in a knit again, I would add elastic to the straps to better stability and would add maybe 1/2" or so to the bodice length. It doesn't blouse as much as the pattern pic. I FULLY intended to add the drawstring but forgot. Oh well...



I really, really, REALLY love this! 
And I have no problems going to the bathroom!

LOL!!!!!

I then decided I had to finish my jacket before cutting anything else.

Wait...LIES. I tried making napkins and had several failed attempts at mitered corners...

B6169 was previously sewn here. The ONLY change I made this time to the pattern was to eliminate the seriously tiny pockets. I can't use them in the gray version so figured there was no real reason to add them here.

On Saturday I realized I only had sleeves to set and lining to bag. I as able to get finish it up Saturday afternoon/evening.

I really love this jacket!!! I don't know how easy it will be to integrate into my wardrobe though. Right now I feel like I can only wear it with jeans and maybe black or gray bottoms. We'll see. I'm also thinking I need to seriously stay away from the floral fabrics :-p






I decided it was best to just let the print be random so that I wouldn't look like a couch.


I only had 1 yard of the yellow pongee lining so I used this navy acetate for the sleeves

This cotton pique was so amazingly nice to work with it! I've never sewn anything with pique and it just sewed and pressed so well!!!

The sleeves went in absolutely perfectly. I used fleece to gather/as sleeveheads and left out the shoulder pads. 

Zipper is a really nice YKK from stash (SR Harris and their $1 long zippers!!) It is totally meant more for outerwear but this fabric is so stable that it's fine. I didn't even interface the area first...

Again, this fabric is densely woven compared to the gray wool I used last time so I didn't interface hems or anything. I bagged my lining courtesy of Grainline's tutorial (LOVE). And I was again smart enough to complete my lining (sans sleeves) BEFORE sewing the jacket. I find I don't get as bored that way ;)

Happy May!!