Finished: Style Arc Jennifer City Shorts

Alternatively titled: I Should Have Let January End

The PR wardrobe contest begins tomorrow. I set out to muslin the Style Arc shorts thinking I'd complete those first. I was so excited as I've wanted this pattern for awhile.

Let us talk about the pattern a bit.

a) I'm firmly on the "slash pockets are of the devil" train but I've made them with minimal gaping. And live with it because POCKETS! But these are a special kind of evil.

They extend so far down the hip line that if you are curvy in any.way. you're not going to be happy. 

b) That isn't a waistband. That's a waistband facing that's then topstitched down.

I made a pair of waistband-less faced pants for my daughter (from the 11/2015 Burda) and hated the application. I still hate it.

c) Since that is NOT a waistband, you have to start the zipper at a certain point to leave room for the button. I thought it was weird that a 7" zipper fit kind of perfect. Sigh. But by the time I figured this out there was no way I was ripping it all out to lower them. I was fairly sure at that point that I wasn't going to wear them.

d) Most importantly...I missed a BIGGIE. Look at the modeled photo...

They're intended to be worn low, on the hip.

Ah crap. I don't wear low rise pants. I have too much 37 year old, mom of 2 belly fluff to even consider low rise bottoms!

So yeah, in summary, before starting, this isn't a good pattern for me.

Okay, the specifics:

1) My size 16 SA Sandra jeans are too big. As in, I can slip them on and off without unzipping them. The pdf came with 12, 14, 16 and I decided to print the size 14 and after taking flat pattern measurements at waist and hip, was feeling good.

2) Muslined. I have had "this issue" before with muslins. I don't think they're "useless" but I think if you aren't using something very close to the weight, texture, drape, etc of your intended fabric then...the story isn't complete. The muslin was too tight. I opened the side seams and inserted panels.

Standard shortening of the front crotch and based on the back fit (look at the inseams riding up), I decided I needed a full inner thigh adjustment.

I have done a fish eye dart before and thought maybe that would help and pinned it out:

It didn't seem to help much so I thought it must just be the fabric getting hung up on my thick thighs.

I fussed around with the muslin and did some other stuff, and decided to go ahead and sew my cotton sateen from Sawyer Brook (whine). I really loved this color -- it's an olive-y brown -- and I splurged (for *me*) on this fabric at $14.99/yd. I had 1.5 yards with the intention of making a jean-style skirt. And I am a little disappointed to have it used it for these. WAH!

I had to remove ALL of that additional width I added. It wasn't needed. The front looked good...

...and then the back. What.The.Hell.Happened. 

I pinned out excess here, as I would with a FED and it seems like it would've helped. It isn't perfectly pinned but it doesn't look as bad as the unpinned leg (left). 

Once I realized they were supposed to sit lower, I had a ton of extra fabric in the yoke area. On my Sandra jeans I also had to take a hefty horizontal fold out of the yoke. So it isn't surprising.

But no matter on all the fitting because I just don't like the style.

I don't know what made me WANT these so badly! I have always stayed away from bermudas...Because even when I was 40 lbs lighter, I still had thick thighs. 

While I'm relatively straight from waist to thigh, my thighs are really curvy...

And thus I tend to prefer shorts that go *right* to the fullest part (~3.5" inseam) or just past it (the green line) at about 5" inseam.

Eg: My S1430 shorts:

3.5" inseam

And slash pockets that aren't horribly gaping open.

5" inseam

Looking at these photos I realized I never made the shorts again because I couldn't figure out the front. Well, these were made almost 2 years ago (I still wear the denim pair) and NOW I know that I just need to shorten the front crotch! yay! :)

So all that to say...for the contest I'll be switching out the SA Jennifer for S1430, with the longer inseam, and copying the side slit (I like that detail)

Cute!

Well tomorrow is the start of the contest!! I won't have much if any time to sew the next TWO weekends (I know!), so I think I might knock out a couple of easy projects first. 

I want to make these shorts very good and very detailed (back welts, belt carriers, etc) so I might save them for my day off on President's Day.

Butterick 5678

I updated my previous post with photos of the newly sewn NL6326 skirt :)

I finished this shirt about a week ago, and washed it to remove all of the marker marks that I'd made while sewing it. And it was wrinkled as heck! So I was just being super lazy and not ironing it.

But it's like the iron touches it and the wrinkles just melt away. Ahhhhh.

Where did I find this glorious fabric you ask? Sawyer Brook! This was my first ever purchase from them; an Italian cotton shirting. It is perfectly white, super crisp and the fibers are soooo smooth. At $16/yard, it is my most expensive per yard to date. But sewing it was so freaking fantastic. Every part of the process, like buttah baby!

Butterick 5678...I would call it a sleeper but it has gotten it's fair share of love in the sewing world. It is now OOP (I don't know WHY!).

I first attempted this blouse in March 2013 (yeah, that was TWO months after I learned to sew! See what kind of shenanigans beginners get into?!?!)

Oh the puckers and the sad collar and...oh my. But I was SO PROUD of myself because holycrapIsewedashirt.

In March 2014 I sewed it again for the PR Fitted Blouse contest and won the beginner category! This one was leaps and bounds better than the first but there were so many fits and so much unpicking and restitching!!!

I was originally going to save my cotton shirting for Burda 7136, which I've made twice. But I am smart (sometimes) and I wore the shirt to work recently to decide how it felt on. It is much more of a casual shirt. I mean, totally work appropriate, but not nearly as fitted as B5678. And then, Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) put a photo of B5678 on Instagram and planted the seed!! :)

My striped shirt had been in time out because someone had gotten a little too fluffy. Well, I have been doing really well the past couple of months and know that some other things are fitting better/looser. I pulled it out and YAY! It fits! It fits well! So I decided my awesome shirting would be better used on this pattern.

I made no pattern changes from last time, though I need a swayback adjustment. I think in 2014 I didn't understand how to true things up after making the adjustment so I just didn't. There is a lot of curvature in those pattern pieces, hence the level of fitted-ness. Obviously now, I think I'd be more equipped to make that adjustment.

Fitting changes
Cut the 14 D-cup with:
1/2" narrow shoulder adjustment
lowered bust point 1"
sewed front princess seams at 1/2"
removed 1/2" from the sleeve cap height (I need to put this back)

Design changes
No topstitching of the princess seams
spaced my buttons 3" apart instead of 3.5" as the pattern has it
Decided placement of buttons based on placing the 1st button at the apex
Used 2 smaller buttons on the cuff

It's weird that the camera is making it look like there's a missing button; there is not!

Still working on perfecting the stitching around the collar stand. I'd even drawn myself a line to follow!

I remember the first time being utterly confused by the continuous lap. Not this time! :)

I'd forgotten to press up the seam allowance on the facing. However, it worked out in my favor.

I pressed the seam allowance into place being sure to *just* cover the stitching line. I then held it in place with Wonder Tape. I am very happy with my top stitching here!

(that squiggly on the floor is a strip of serged striped ponte that Wilson the Cat absolutely LOVES playing with! It makes him crazy! lol! I think it's the b/w contrast)

My buttons for this were totally from the cheapo 5 on the card for $1. 

I just liked the look of them best.

I absolutely adore this combo.

I made B6182 earlier this year. I started it in May and then it was too tight. I thought it was because it was my "special time" and put it aside. A month later it was still too small. When I first went to wear it awhile later, it was too big! SERIOUSLY! So I threw it in a bag.

But I love it so much that I decided to make it work. However, I had unpicked and resewn the waistband like 3 different times that there was no way I was going to do it again. I cheated and just sewed darts! haha! It's cotton so it presses so well and it has a print so it isn't immediately apparent that the darts are there. And it's worth it because I LOVE THIS SKIRT! LOL!!!!!!! 

What do you think about this skirt in a pinwale cord??