Overall, this #itchtostitchpattern is pretty good. (Last photo is an epic #SundaysareforDerps lol!)
The sleeve is a little tight on my shoulder joint (not sure if that's because I'm boney or if that is just how it's drafted) and the armseye needs to be dropped 3/4". I suspect that the armseye is too high because the pattern was drafted without dropping it for a raglan sleeve - that should be the first step when converting a set-in sleeve to a raglan. Easy enough to fix if I make the top version later.
I didn't use any interfacing and the instructions call for it in multiple places but it would just add bulk where you won't want it. I also didn't apply the clear elastic to the waist seam the way specified - if I had cut it to fit my waist and stretched it to fit, the dress would be impossible to get over my shoulders and bust. Clear elastic is just meant for stabilizing seams as it doesn't stretch like regular elastic. So I just serged it in the seam as I attached the skirt to the bodice. That means the waist keeps its shape without stretching out but it isn't tight against my skin.
After wearing it, I realized I needed to take in the back neck on each raglan seam because it gaps quite a lot (more obvious when I'm sitting). I probably didn't notice that during construction because the tightness of the sleeves was throwing me off. I'll fix it this afternoon and post some pics later.
I'm not crazy about how the waist gathers sit on my bum center back. If I ever decide to make another dress with this pattern, I'll be changing the skirt. Luckily, the print is enough of a distraction that it's not the first thing you focus on, but it feels a little weird. It might hang better in a super drapey knit, but I'm not sure and that wasn't what the pattern called for.
I would also recommend cutting your neckband pieces longer than the pattern draft if you make one. I cut mine at the length of the measured neckline on the pattern and then stretched to the measured length and chopped off the bit that went beyond. If I had cut as drafted, my neckband would have been too tight for this cotton knit with good recovery.
I think once I correct the pattern, I'll really like using it for some t-shirts.
#GlenellyTopandDress #itchtostitchdesigns
I spent the day priming things for paint and then I remembered to shoot a quick video. #SewingStudioBuild
I started cutting all the edges while Janet was away yesterday morning. When she got back after lunch, she pulled out a roller and started filling in. I'll put a pic below in the comments. #SewingStudioBuild
We broke for lunch and then came back with a portal ac unit plugged in to an extention cord from the house. Can't wait until they finished hooking up all the electrical and we have the mini split cooling the room for us - it was stupid humid today! #SewingStudioBuild
I thought you all might be interested to know what happened to the original treadle base on my antique Singer. This was all my husband’s doing, as he’s wanted to try this project for years. He’s gotten into woodworking this past year, so he’s got more of the skills now. The table portion is from a fold-down IKEA table that used to be my cutting table, back in the pre-kid days when I had a whole room for sewing. (It’s been living in the basement folded up for years, mostly used for garden seed storage and a few small tools.) He added the sink basin and faucet. We’re debating about me making a small curtain underneath that would hide the pipe work, while still showing the treadle base.
This project sparked another room makeover, though this one is our half-bath so it isn’t nearly as involved as our kitchen and kids’ rooms have been. Several of the other items in the picture came from a couple of local antique shops, though the old milk crate belonged to my husband’s ...
I haven't been sewing since a big project finished about a month ago - I'm just burned out (will post photos at some point).
After a couple exhausting weekends of installing a new dishwasher because my 29 year-old mechanical stopped rinsing properly 😥, I was motivated enough to start reorganizating the rest of the kitchen. It's always a domino effect, and I'm still not finished, but I washed the curtain I made a million years ago and properly dusted/washed all the pitchers and decorations on the window shelves. (I even polished the formica tabletop!) So the window area was photo-worthy.
Back when made the curtain, I was smart and used velcro instead of a curtain rod. I put a male sticky-back strip on the top of the mini-blind housing and sewed a soft female strip of regular velcro onto the curtain. The curtain itself is all one piece gathered to that strip of velcro - easy to pull off and throw in the laundry (not that i overcome laziness and actually wash it regularly but whatever).
I ...
Been so busy, I forgot to share photos of the final Paquita costume! Well, most of these photos are “semi-final”—after the photoshoot and first dress rehearsal, his teacher asked me to tweak the front seams below the waist so they would stay close to the body (not flare out like in the photoshoot) when his arms were up. This involved re-doing the bottom trim but the final result was worth it, so! The full sleeves were not as dramatic as we thought they were going to be, but still a nice effect. I really love the elbow sleeve detail and maybe will post more about it later.
