The Evolution of Simplicity 2255

What a great summer it was! The weather is turning cooler now, and fall is my favorite time of the year! I love New England in all the seasons, but mostly fall!

So now it's time to start sewing for fall, and you can't have too many shirts with sleeves to wear with jeans! Simplicity 2255 has so many great options. Some of you have made versions that look so great, better than the pattern envelope, in my opinion.

I want desperatly to make this my TNT pattern...so I started with a muslin.

I started with a size 14, here's how it looked...

This needs work! Starting with the front, see the pulling at the bust? It needs an FBA.

I had a different bra on when marking the bust points. The one I'm wearing here is more lifting. Different bras make a huge difference!

I lowered the dart about 1/2 inch.

The waist mark is low, so I'm going to shorten it at the horizontal lines. 

The bottom band doesn't come together, here it needs more width!

I need a forward shoulder adjustment.

The back needs some shortening above the shoulder blades, and a full hip adjustment.

I traced the pattern and made the adjustments. 

Next I made the shirt with some Alexander Henry quilting cotton I found at a warehouse-type store in Tempe Arizona last summer.

Much better! Oops, I went crazy with the buttonholes. I didn't need that top one, can you spot it? 

Then I transferred my paper adjustments to the tissue pattern. (I find storing the tissue more compact than the paper tracings)

I swung the FBA adjustment out slightly at the bottom to gain more width at the hip.

I also took a small wedge from the armhole towards the bust. That might be a "hollow chest" adjusment?

The sleeve cap is pulled forward to match up with the forward shoulder adjustment.

Note the full-hip adjustment. I slashed it from inside the seam allowance under the arm and carried it all the way down to the bottom. It's about a 3/4" spread there. In my opinion, this works so much better than "grading between sizes" because the side seams stays exactly the same. 

(Altho, I shaped it more at the waist)

You can also see the shortened upper section, and made a dart in the neckline, transferring it to the shoulder... (had to adjust the neck binding too)

Phew!!! Still with me????

Next up, I made the same view with a Paisley Faille I've had for a few years. It feels like peach skin, not sure what the difference is! It's very silky in a polyester way, if that makes sense, and probably won't be very warm in the winter... but... oh well. I french seam the sides and serged the rest. 

This time I shaped the waist a tiny bit more.

To be true to myself, I had to make at least one mistake...

I'm positive I sewed each sleeve on the the wrong armsyce. 

The faille frayed so much, I missed the notches, and sewed them in the wrong sides! I even serged them before realizing it, so there's no going back now. I'm pointing to the puffiness in the front, and it's tight in the back.

Maybe it will become a sleeveless shirt! Arrrrg.

There are many more of these to come. I really want a flannel one with with the ruffles like 

Detroys' . I must have it!

Here's how I wore it yesterday, layered over a t-shirt...layering comes in very handy when dealing with pesky hot flashes, lemme tell ya!

This is our Concord Grape bounty. Off to make jelly now!

Sewing Room Update

Happy Mother's Day to you all!
We do a hike every day on this day. My youngest son and I took a hike up Burleigh Mountain, which is basically just beyond the back of our house. It was once used by the private school as their ski area.

The leaves are popping out now, and unfortunately, so are the bugs!

My sewing room is being overhauled! We removed a closet, and are breaking through into the adjoining ell to create a walk-in closet. Here it is in this stage: The new closet will be cut into the wall behind the cherry cabinet.

All the supplies and stash are in my son's room. Luckily, he's only here for one night. He just finished a semester at college, and is going on a 10-day Geography field study to the southwest tomorrow. 

Here's the new plans! 

 I haven't been sewing much! Besides the sewing room being dismantled, work is incredibly busy, and expanding the business as well. I made Simplicity 1803 for my middle son's girlfriend. The tissue fitting went great! The front and waist level fit so good, but unfortunately, I didn't do too well fitting the back, there's excess fabric. She has a very slim back! I'll make the adjustment on the pattern and make another one in a nicer fabric. Here she is, modeling the dress.
Hopefully I'll be posting more soon!

February Burda Challenge and Mens Jacket Fittings

I made two items from the February 2014 issue.  My niece is getting married in June and thought that this combo might be a contender.
The Princess Seam Boatneck Top 104 and Pleated Skirt 105

They are both about 80% completed and that's how they'll probably stay forever... These were intended for a muslin to see if I liked the style on myself. The fabric looks like some weird upholstery on a 1950's couch. 

I also wanted to see if how it would sew up with a thick ponte knit omitting the need for zippers.

I will say that they are quite wearable, but I'll probably stick with woven.

The pattern calls for "Pique" or "Blouse Fabrics"

For the blouse, there's two concerns ...one which I can adjust... the width between the bust points is pretty far apart, and the seam sits too far to the sides. The second is the amount of fabric layers right at the point where the shoulder sleeves meet the upper bodice. I couldn't quite get the transition to flow as nice as it looks in the technical drawing. Maybe I did the armhole banding wrong?

I really trimmed the seams close too..

As far as the skirt... I've gotta say, Burda drafted this to perfection! It came together without a hitch. Just like my last skirt in January... just WOW! Love it!

Sorry I don't have a picture of me wearing it, but it does look better on me than the dress form, cause I've got the child bearing hips to fill it out! haha!

February wasn't a productive month in the sewing room. I spent a lot of time working on a muslin of Vogue 8940, Men's Jacket, for my youngest son. It fit OK on the whole, but the arms/ sleeves were really constricting. I adjusted the biceps width and raised the underarm hole, but it didn't help much. 

He came home twice this month from college, so we had two fittings. My middle son came home too, and it actually fit him better.

Maybe I should go up a whole size, but the pattern was the smaller version, and I made the largest. Maybe I should try the Thread Theory's Pea Coat. 

Has anyone made either of these jackets?

2 New Tops and Walking Dead Marathon

Happy Sunday! We're getting more snow here in New England! What a winter it's been!
I had such a jam-packed, productive week at work! All I could think about was the weekend.. being in the sewing room by myself, watching the Walking Dead marathon. The new season starts tonight. Oh man, I love that show. SO INTENSE!!
Sounds kind of conflicting.... sewing pretty tops and watching people fighting for their lives killing walkers.. Oh well, that's how I roll.

I made up two tops with some yucky charmeuse I've had for a while. They look pretty on the dress form, but not my pasty winter white skin.

The first one is Simplicity 1884, a cute V-Placket top. Really fun to make up. You can make this with a small amount of fabric! My bias tape armholes came out pissah! I made some changes to the pattern for next time, adding a little more to the front and back armholes at the top, just for a bit more coverage. Also, I will add 1/2" to the center fold, for a sort of gathered FBA. Here's some pictures.

 Here's the back:

 And the bias tape armholes and french seams inside:

Next up Butterick 5610 View C. (The white with black version below)

 Hmmm, not so sure, I have to be careful how I accessorize it, it could look very granny-ish. The front fits good.

The back, not so much. See where I pinned darts in it? Since it's all done, it may be a wadder. 

Or back to my statement that it's a muslin. I'm not making the view again, but maybe the others... 

I've seen some fantastic tops made up by other bloggers. 

Thanks for reading. Stay warm!

Challenge complete with two days to spare

Well, my peeps, my January Challenge is complete! I made BurdaStyle 109 from the January 2015 issue.
I have 2 1/2 years worth of issues and this is the first one I actually traced, sewed and completed! I first forgot to add seam allowances! Doh! I caught that pretty quickly.

At first, I was not crazy about how they fashioned it in the magazine. Evil snow queen?

It reminded me of something...?

But when I saw a few ladies' reviews, I was psyched to try it! This skirt even has more detailed instructions in the magazine. Bonus!
This skirt sews up pretty quickly, every piece fit together perfectly. I hemmed the skirt flounce side pieces before attaching them to the first layer. Here's how I hemmed it... Serged the edge and folded it up 1/4" and sewed. So easy, it's like cheating!

The fabric is wool, gifted to me from a ladies old stash. It comes with a little musty smell to it.
It's been ages since I put in an invisible zipper, since I've been sewing with knits so much. I referred to Sunni's Craftsy class "Mastering Zipper Techniques", which is invaluable! She's an excellent teacher and this is a free class!

Sorry for the dark pictures. My goal is to get better at photography. (Or sweet-talk my sweetie to!)
I put on heels for the photo, because my road-salt-stained boots didn't look too great. We just had a major snowstorm here in New England. I was close to the seacoast for work this morning, so spent some time with  my son and his girlfriend walking around in the quaint, historic town of Newmarket, NH. They had about 30 inches of snow there! It was a beautiful day, with the brilliant blue sky and white snow!
Thanks for reading!

Burda Challenge 2015

I'm jumping into the Burda Challenge 2015.

I love the concept! I'm choosing something I'd never gravitate to in a regular pattern. Thank you, Dawn, for coming up with it! She has already made this skirt, #109
I got a late start, and just cut out a muslin.

I had a really busy week at work, but managed to sneak in a hike up Piper Mountain.
This is part of the Belknap Range in central New Hampshire, which includes Gunstock Ski Area.
It's a great 2.6 mile hike, and if I have a couple hours to spare, I enjoy a quick lunch on the summit, then head back down. It was an overcast day, but still well worth the effort! Clears the mind!

Well, back up to the sewing room. I love Saturdays!!!!

Stash busting Chiffon with New Look 6303

I fell in love New Look 6303, went to my stash and pulled out this lovely cotton/silk.

.....and then the fear struck.

What if it doesn't fit??

What if the style is bad for me??

So back to the stash I went, found 2.5 yards of Crinkle Poly/Chiffon (also from FabricMart... $1.99 a yard...WoooHooo) to use as a wearable muslin. No fear now, cause I'm not a chiffon-kind-of-gal!

I made view B with the elastic back.

Chiffon is really sheer, so I decided to underline the back using the self fabric.

What I learned about chiffon is...Life is too short to sew chiffon! Ugh

I even cut it on tissue paper. Pretty stretchy.

The underlined piece and the back piece didn't line up too hot. Chiffon, you're a jerk! I averaged them together and sewed away.

As it turns out, I love it! The sleeves are one layer, so kinds sheer... which makes a nice contrast. The back is a little short, therefor I can't bend over without showing some skin. Next time, I'm going with View C. 

I'm also going to grade up a little from size 14.. maybe it was the fabric..?

The instructions were fine. I hand sewed the neck binding down, which was a great choice. It looks nice without the line of machine stitching.

The front flip is so cool, which makes this a real winner in my book!

To further add to my stash busting effort, I made a scarf with the chiffon for Bailey.

See you next time! 

The Team Color McCalls 6996

This is the third time making M6996, View C, but the first make of the year. Go me!

 This Ponte Knit was from FabricMart. Oh man, do I love this stuff! It's made of Poly/Rayon blend. When I opened it, my boyfriend remarked that it looked like team colors, which of course stuck in my head. I muslined a pull-on pleated skirt with it, and realized what a dream it is to sew. I had plenty left for this cardigan. Oh ya!

The fit of this is great. I brought the shoulder seams in about 1/2". The arms are tight (I forgot to widen them, Doh) so it'll be worn with a tank. Not sure I like how the band gets sewed to a pre-sewn hem. If you have to take in the shoulder seam at all, they won't line up!

To remedy that, I pinned the band on the body and tested how they lined up. I had to sew the bottom seam deeper. Then I served the band on, nice and neat!

Here's the first two, View C in a striped burn-out knit, and view B in a wavy textured knit. All from FabricMart. I can't resist their sales!! The front lefts look droopy in these photos. Hmmm, gotta check that out!

Have a great day!

Hello and Welcome!

Hello and welcome! This is the first post at Backpacks and a Bernina. It's kind of intimidating, but I'm just going to jump in and learn along the way. I've been reading blogs (mostly sewing) for years and get so much inspiration and enjoyment from the talented seamstresses out there! Maybe a little too much inspiration! I see a garment I get excited about, hurry up and purchase the pattern, then something shiny goes by and gets my attention. The first pattern gets put into the stash and forgotten. So goes the cycle! Oh well! I love my stash and my time spent sewing! 

This blog is also about hiking. I want to document my hikes and my sewing projects. What better time to start than the first month of a new year!!