New Look 6843 view D

Just a quick post about the sewing I did this weekend: New Look 6843 view D, size 14.  Just like last week's flower skirt, but longer and in plain boring practical black fabric.    What can I say, I needed a plain black skirt that sits at the waist. Almost all of my skirts sit at the hip and I now prefer them to sit at my waist.

The fabric is a mystery synthetic that I've had in stash for YEARS. It might very well be 15 year old fabric.  There is nothing natural about this fabric whatsoever.  It's totally fake.

 
back view:
 
as for a side view, you'll have to be satisfied with a bathroom shot from earlier in the day:

Here it is with different shirts.


My waistband is probably the best waistband I ever inserted.
Darts are getting better--still need a tailor's ham.  Looked at Joann's this week but the hams were ugly.  Are there any pretty tailor's hams out there??

Alas, I have a little difficulty with the invisible zipper.

I *swear* when the zip was 9 inches, it curved very nicely around my bum.  I should have just left the zipper tail and not cut it.
But then I cut it down to 7 or so?
and now it sort of juts out. It really seems to be the zipper jutting out there.
It is only noticeable from a certain angle.

Still, it bothers me. I think I will wear it to work anyway and see how it flies.

My dressform, topless, but with a tape measure "scarf":


There's at least one more skirt I plan to make soon:  The Rachel skirt.  I made it last August but it has some issues and I have enough fabric to make it again!  yea!

Here's the flower selection for today--flowers from my yard, my neighbor's yard, and the farmer's market:

My mom gave me a gardenia plant and it is blooming quite nicely. The flowers seem to turn yellow as they age.

Oldest to newest--and for my Texas readers, a Texas bluebells shot glass from San Antonio circa 2003.

Be well!!!

New Look 6843 view E redux 6 years later

New Look 6843 view E, size 14, finished today 7/8/12.

Thanks everyone for your comments on my Butterick ruffle dress. That one was a real trial but I am happy I sewed it and that it turned out so well.  I wore it to work on Thursday and got lots of nice comments.

So, 6 years ago, on 7/9/06, I sewed New Look 6843 view E in a size 12.
I loved this fabric the minute I saw it at Rag Shop (RIP.) Yes, Carolyn, the one off Rt 1 in Edison (though I also went to the one off Rt 18 in East Brunswick too).
Here it is, the skirt I made 6 years ago:


 Love my little "notes to self".  Also this was more than an hour....

 I wore it once, washed it, and it shrank (Those were the days of no pre-treatment!).   I could never wear it buttoned up again. But I loved the fabric and made it two more times, as Simplicity 4036 in both the short and long lengths.  So I had three versions of this skirt in total, original NL 6843 and two of S4036. Long length shown here:

Basically, NL 6843 sits at the waist and S4036 sits below the waist. After last year's pencil skirt, I am loving skirts that sit at the waist. And when I had the Big Closet Cleanout recently, I found my three versions of this skirt and decided to take the fabric from the long S4036 and make it into a properly fitting NL6843, sitting at the waist.

It was going pretty well til I realized this, half way through my new skirt:


Flower power on the derriere!   

Yes, two big flowers, one on each cheek and oddly placed at that.  UGH.
So I had a nice meltdown about that, as the invisible zip there is probably the best one of my life, plus I have no more fabric....but then I remembered I still had the shorter version of 4036.

I took it apart and used the front of 4036 to make the back of my new 6843.   That way there would be no center back seam.
I inserted a side invisible zip which induced fear in me but actually went ok!  And I used a snap instead of a button and buttonhole.


You can see how much I have improved (zippers and darts and waistbands all much improved!)!

I have started interfacing the zipper area just to make sure nothing stretches. That was recommended to me by y'all when I had trouble with NL6000 and it seems like a good habit to be in, even if the fabric is woven and non-stretchy.  I also eased the zipper in and curved it following the curve of the skirt as per spottedroo.

Oh, and I used the back of the shorter skirt to make the waistband for the new one:


The length of the skirt was dictated by the length of the old short one--which sat the hip--so this one is shorter than my usual length.

Some more views: side

Back:

Front:

Me and my old skirt. (So now I have two versions of this skirt; the one that fits and the one I made 6 years ago):

The calendar says August--I'm looking at future vacation dates--not confused about which month it is...

Back of both skirts:

The other thing you may have noticed is all the white stuff on the floor. Back in 2006 I didn't finish any seams. So when I took the skirts apart, they were already unraveling and I cut that stuff off and a lot of it wound up on my floor!! Craziness. I'm sure Hal won't mind vacuuming up for me while I'm bringing home the bacon tmw.

So to sum up, my improvements in  6 years include:

• finishing the interior seams (even though it's not serged, it's better than a raw edge)
• pressing seams and darts (though I still need a tailor's ham to do this properly)
• actually marking the dart stitching line
• following directions for trimming
• using an invisible zip which looks better than centered zip, IMHO
• Actually inserting a zip on the side to preserve continuity of pattern on the back of the skirt.
• using a sewing gauge
• not zig zagging the hem (Though it's a curved hem and could use some work)
• ironing the finished product
• Never drying in the dryer any garment I make that is not pajamas or underwear.
• pretreating fabric before working with it.
• ironing fabric and pattern before working with it.

It all makes a difference, but it took 6 years to get there.

weather.com said it was 100F yesterday; my thermometer registered 90F:

Bumblebees LOVE rose of sharon and its delicious pollen.  And I love bumblebees.  I love the sound they make, how they look covered in pollen, and the fact that they leave me alone.  Their interest lies in pollen, not me nor my food (unlike honeybees, who love me for my food).

Did you know? Cynthia Rowley has a line of...band-aids? Now your cuts and scrapes can be bandaged in style....

Princeton Farmer's Market flowers for this week:

Be well!!!

Butterick 5638, blissfully finished

Not loving my expression here, but am loving the pose.

Did you hear it?
The huge, heaving sigh of relief when I finished Butterick 5638?

I sewed a modified version of view B and also sewed the belt, view C.
I wrote about it over several posts.  I don't know how many hours it took. A long while.  

It's a little disconcerting how the model is placed with all the drawings...

It's made from a navy cotton sateen with a little bit of stretch, from Chic Fabrics, purchased during PR weekend NYC 2012.

I hated the deep V and ripped the inset panel out and redid it. 
I wound up drafting my own facing instead of using the binding the pattern calls for.
I asked y'all if I should put buttons down the vacant placket and you said yes.
I had these lovelies in stash:


The spot is just water, no need to panic....

But mostly I'm proud of a few techniques:
Purchased and learned how to use a rolled hem foot, for straight hems at least!
And that's what this ruffle was, a long straight strip of fabric.

The top is above and here's the underbelly:

I am SO proud of that. The narrow hem was something I was afraid of trying and I'm so glad I did.

I bought the foot off of ebay and watched a few youtube tutorials, like this one I liked best, practiced for an hour or so on scraps, and got the hang of it (still need to learn it for curves and junctures, though).  Credit goes to Noile for her post about her rolled hem foot inspiring me to get my own.

Second, I used interfacing I bought online from Fashion Sewing Supply. I read about Pam's interfacing on Gertie's blog and thought it is time to upgrade! This interfacing does not shrink and comes in WIDE widths so no more futzing with narrow interfacing. And it's really not all that expensive, even compared to Joann's, arrives quickly and fuses like a dream (which lately, Joann's interfacing was NOT).

As I learned from Kathy Ruddy at the ASE 2 years ago, I rough cut a piece of fabric and a piece of interfacing and fuse them together, as seen here:

and then I cut out the piece (in this case the inset). No more futzing with the cut interfacing and the cut fabric not matching!

Third, I used stitch #16 on my BabyLock, called the Arrowhead Overedging stitch. I used this stitch on my friend's shirt too. It's very slow but am thinking it might hold up better than a zigzagged edge. I have "Getting My Serger To Work" on my to-do list....

Here are some more pix:

Back view

Side view

I really should look happier:

On Becky? (I might name my dressform Becky, as per Michael Kors and "Becky HomeEcky"):

Up close

Without the belt:

Side view:

Back:

My best invisible zipper yet (I refer to SunnyGal studio's tutorial every time and I am improving with each time):

I'm wearing the dress to work on Thursday--let's see how it rolls.

Oh, and last night I felt like sticking some dried red roses into a styrofoam ball (stuff I found during The Big Cleanout).
I'm not sure where I will hang it

But, I love it.

This gives you an idea of the size


Be well!