DONE! Pattern Review Contest Entry

Sooooo uhmm, remember those plans I uploaded before? Yeah...Never mind those.

In the end, I took out all the things I've sewn since April 1st and spread them out. I started putting together items I thought would work best (and of course that filled the contest requirements of 4 tops + 3 bottoms where all tops match all bottoms, and 2 sewer's choice).

I am very happy with my final wardrobe!!! It took an eternity to take all the photos but I am digging this wardrobe/SWAP type sewing. I want to sew all the things but I want to actually WEAR the dang things! :)

I really wanted a white piece and decided I didn't like the Burda kimono top as much as I thought. It just isn't 'crisp' enough for me. We'll see if I can make it wearable...I was *this* close to sewing a white jacket or vest or cardigan but seriously could not muster up the energy to fiddle with one more pattern. Just COULD NOT.

Since I'd been raiding my UFO box; I pulled out the navy wool jersey M6996 cardigan I cut back in January, which was pinned together in some places but still unsewn. Whipped that puppy up today as one of my "premade" / sewer's choice items. I love how well the dark navy plays with other items!

I named my wardrobe "Work Hard, Play Harder" because I really want to get my wardrobe working well together. I don't mind having some items that are exclusively 'work' or 'play' but I wanted to have a bit more cohesion and I think that I accomplished it!

Here are my combinations; you'll notice some are 'missing', but I only put together outfits that I would ACTUALLY wear.

For the dress there's obviously two options; dress alone plus dress with cardigan.

Since I know I wouldn't wear the loose, floaty NL6110 top with the straight skirt and it's too voluminous to pair with the cardigan, I eliminated those options.

For the grey top (Buda 6911); while the cardigan worked with the black skirt with the other tops, the navy, grey and black did nothing for me together, so I eliminated that option

 For the black/white striped top (M6839):

For the animal print top (M7094):

All of the items have been reviewed here on the blog; I've made M6996 a couple other times so I'm sure there's a review here somewhere :) I cut a size medium. The end :-p

Simplicity 2369

Butterick 5760

New Look 6110

McCall's 6839, Burda 6911, Vogue 1411
McCall's 7094
Style Arc Sandra

My fave looks:

PR Wardrobe Contest; Vogue 1411, Burda 6911, McCall's 6839

I was veering wildly off track for a minute but pulled it together!

Last I mentioned, my wardrobe was this:

M6996 did not pan out and I still need to finish the M7121 dress. I sewed M6969 jumpsuit instead.

S1916 was replaced with M6839 and V9032, while still being sewn, will be replaced with B5760 in black.

So I still have to make the skirt and the two most complicated items; the jeans and jacket. If I start the jeans tomorrow, they should be done by the end of the week. [I have been spending about 2-3 hours job searching (ok, the first few days was seriously just updating my resume/cover letter. What a CHORE!) and 2-3 hours sewing. ]

And then a quick muslin of the jacket and I should be done with my wardrobe before April is up!

*****************

Burda 6911 was just made recently, blog post here. This time I used an icy grey rayon jersey from SR Harris. I still couldn't figure out a dang-blasted FBA on this pattern! I studied it and studied it and was like, whatever. I sewed all seams as 1/4", shortened the top 1" and used a 1.5" hem.

Dear Burda, how long do you think we are?!

I shant complain. I am sure taller ladies are having to lengthen much more often than I have to shorten!

I didn't have a ton of this fabric (kicking myself because it's awesome!) so the sleeves were chopped according to remaining fabric.

*****

Next, I sewed McCall's 6839. I really loved this pattern when it came out but never really thought to sew it.

I sewed view C and was all prepared to need to add length to it because it "looks short". But the back length is 23 3/4"!

I thought this would make a fun summer top and the front boatneck allows it to be work appropriate too with a jacket or cardigan.

I sewed a size 16 which has a 39" bust, so just a tad of negative ease there. I could have graded out below the bust or sewn smaller seams because it fits snugly through the tummy and hip too.

LOVE the neckline - front and back!

Dislike how they had you attach the ties. It just isn't clean. Also a little iffy on the positioning of the ties but that could partly be due to body type (slanted, forward, narrow, broad, etc shoulders).

Chopped off 1" and did a 2" hem.

I would sew the a longer version with sleeves as a fall tunic. Really like it. Also, this jersey is fairly lightweight but those ties still got bulky. I will keep that in mind for next time.

*****

I wanted to start my jeans SO BADLY on Saturday but my hands were hurting and I didn't want to aggravate them. I cut V1411 instead. This is my 3rd pair :)

When I got this fabric I was crazy about the feel of it but not the color. I was actually going to make a hoodie for my son with it but then he asked for red shorts instead (which I still need to make. shhhh).

I decided to leave off the top stitching this time and I added 1" to the length. I still ended up with 5/8" hem allowances. Sigh.

Based on the fit of the other two pair, and the fact that I was using 1" elastic, I sewed the waistband to the pants with 3/4" seam allowance and sewed all seams at 5/8" (last time I think I sewed smaller side seams).  I also cut my elastic about 1.5" smaller. All seams were sewn on the sewing machine with a zig-zag, pressed open and then serged and pressed to one side. I stitched in the ditch on the side seams to secure the elastic and again left out the crazy tip about elastic at the crotch seam. No thank you. I HATE that in the burgundy pair and decided today I'm going to unpick it.

These feel nice and snug without being tight and I really, really like them a lot!

They look really cute with the black/white/grey (and combos of the three) tops in my closet. Also very cute with my Butterick moto jacket!

This is the face you make when you see forest creatures in your back yard while taking pictures. I am a city girl. C.I.T.Y. How I came to live so close to wildlife is beyond me.

One important thing to note...when I first sewed these last year, I was sure that I had made some sort of mistake. Now, I am fairly certain that there are notches that don't match up on the some of the front leg pieces.

Top-A-Palooza! Burda 6911, New Look 6104, Vogue 1436

Hey, I warned you there would be a sew-a-palooza!! Of course now I'm burnt out! :) This is one epic blog post - sorry - but easier to just do it!


Vogue 1436 caught my eye when it was released. I love a good shirt and the details on this one were especially nice.

I would love to have used something sort of drapey but am not friends with those types of fabrics currently ;-) I chose a cotton lawn from Fabric Mart in "spring green".

When I pulled the pattern out I was surprised that I'd chosen the larger size range. I must have done that because of the pants...So I was stuck with a size 16 which, I normally cut a 14 and FBA. However, I have noticed that I do in fact need a 16 in Vogue patterns! Perhaps just a smaller FBA. Hmm. We will see on version 2 because there WILL be another one!

Next time I'll do an FBA and rotate the dart into the pleats (I know how to do that now!). Something went wonky with my casing for the strings. It's not noticeable but next time I'll baste it in place. It must have shifted while sewing the collar on. 

See? Need an FBA for extra length over the bust. And, I totally needed a full bicep adjustment. Sheesh. And the sleeve is just a bit too long. But not much, 1/2" max.

I removed 1" from the length as a 27.5" finished back length made me all crazy. I like where it hits now.

I love the front pleats and the mandarin collar! And I did my first rouleau! yay!!! I was so petrified about that and was going to leave it out. But once again, Fashion Sewing Blog TVs YouTube channel to the rescue! It was pretty danged easy.

The sleeve closure! LOVE!!!!!!  This is totally what drew me in to this pattern. Swoon. I had used a nice purple washaway marker to make all my marks and had the top ready for closures so I decided to wash it. Aaaaand of course washed away all my markings! LOL! So I just eyeballed the snap placement on the sleeves and this one is a little snug against the D-ring.  The pattern called for 1/2" rings but I could find no such thing locally. I used 3/4" rings.

Burrito method baby! The pattern of course has you folding the sa and topstiching and al that...nope. I'll just burrito it thankyouverymuch!

The saga:

I decided I had to do snaps vs buttons and went to look for my snap tool. Couldn't find it anywhere. I knew I had it because I used it in February for the Burda crop top. Looked high and low. Nothing. So I bought another one. (Of course I found the first one, this morning). 

Anyway, I set the 'male' side just fine and did the smaller ones on the sleeves. And then went to set the others. First one - great! Second one? All h3ll broke loose! I reset that thing 5 times. I thought I was going to ruin it! I moved on...Came back to the second one and set it. Great! 

Uh oh.

I had done one of them backwards. COCONUTS!! (A replacement word my then 3 year old nephew used when I told him "aw crap" was unacceptable)

I found a sturdy pair of tweezers and popped it off. Well I popped one off. The wrong one. SERIOUSLY!  Then the last snap well...I realized I had run out of 7/16" snaps what with all the ones I RUINED. Hmmph. The last snap is a 3/8". Shhhhhh. It's only 1/16th smaller, no one will notice! haha!

In the end, all is well with the green top :) It's a great addition to my spring/summer wardrobe!

*****

Next up was Burda 6911. I had 3 yards of this striped fabric so I figured it if it went horribly wrong, I could cut another one. I was feeling confident though after reading all of the reviews on it. 

The front is so convoluted that there was no finished bust measurement, but there was a finished hip measurement (I also measured the waistline too for that finished width). This top had tons of negative ease but I was afraid to cut an 18 because I didn't want the neckline to be big...yet I had no clue how to add to this crazy shaped front pattern piece!

I sewed the center front seam at 3/8", the shoulder seam at 5/8" and the sleeve/side seams at 1/4" (with the exception of the sleeve hem and under arm - those were at 5/8").

I did the majority of the construction on the sewing machine. Just easier to manage all those odd seams vs using the serger. I did finish the side/sleeve in one pass on the serger...but the bulk of the work was on the front pattern piece.

I wasn't sure about it when I finished it and then my friend said that it was hypnotizing her into staring at my boobs. HA! And then my husband was holding my phone hostage, staring at the picture, and then told me to "send him the pic" and that if I "wear that out in public I am "traveling down a slippery slope". (he jests, of course). :)

I like it and I like it A LOT with a cardigan/jacket. And I will be making it in grey for the wardrobe contest.

Also, this top is LONG. Is there draft for someone 5'8" or something!? I chopped 1.5" off the bottom and did a 1.5" double turned hem. 

I did an excellent job matching those seams on the front and side - yay me!!!

Do you see that line on the side view? I think now that I know that's the underbust seam, that I can do some sort of cheater FBA to get more bust room. I will also remove some of the curvature through the waist -- I'm not nearly as hourglass-y as Burda thinks ;-)

SOMEONE didn't read the directions thoroughly and stitched a gorgeous back neck band. When I went to attach the front to back I realized I was supposed to fold the back band to the inside. I didn't want that unfinished intersection so I handled it like one would a cowl. Wrapped the front facing piece around the back and stitched. It worked really well on one side; not so much on the other. I then topstitched the back with a twin needle.

The two lower pictures show 1) the front facing. So nice not to have to finish that front V! It gets caught in the sleeve seam! and 2) the twist is done by leaving a small hole in the end of this fold. Instead, I stitched the seam and stopped short of the dot; and then stitched up part of the other side so it would be reinforced on both sides of the hole.

*****

The last palooza top was one I made previously, New Look 6104. I've made it 3 times before; the first one was too big, the second was a lovely purple chambray that I had to sew with smaller seam allowances. But I didn't yet have my serger and it unraveled right through the seam. The last one suffered from bad fabric. Sigh.

This chambray is so nice. I originally got it for a shirtdress but I think it has too much body.

I like it more with my cardigans/jackets. The length is so perfect.

I cut a size 14 and did a 3/4" FBA (which I didn't know how to do yet the other times I made it!). I seem to still need more length over the bust.

I harvested a bunch of buttons and zippers during my closet clean out. I got these from an Express shirt and flipped them over so the text wouldn't show.

And I made PAISLEY bias tape! Yes! YES!!!!!

I used white thread cause uhmm...lazy?

I had JUST been complaining about how crap my buttonholes are lately on my machine and then it performed pretty well today. I think it's fine when it's real super sturdy fabric. Buttonholes on knits? Nope. My machine says NO.

So now I've got 5 of my list of 10 sewn, and one is being held off on til the start of the contest. I don't think I can sew the other 4 before March is out, I have to start my daughter's semi formal dress.

I'm tired. LOL!