Sewing for Other People: My Mom

When I went to visit my family over the holidays I brought two pairs of jeans and a bunch of tops. I'm working on traveling light (and my suitcase was full of gifts). One of the tops I brought was Knip Mode 4/08 #13, the fabulous gather front top. It is so fabulous that even my mom noticed it (she's not one for fashion) and asked for the pattern.

When I got home I called her for her measurements and started tracing out the pattern. But then I realized that she would never get around to making it for herself, so I better just make her one. I chose an aqua colored slinky from stash (I think I bought it from Fashion Fabrics Club 2 or 3 years ago). Then I realized that she probably didn't have anything to wear with the top so I found a coordinating wool plaid from The Carol Collection. Purple is her favorite color and she seems to like plaid skirts. I wanted a pattern that had only side seams to minimize plaid matching and with some pleats for roominess. BWOF 10-08-103 was perfect. Here it is!



She is allegedly going to get my dad to take a picture of her in the outfit and email it to me, but they have to learn several technologies before this can happen and I didn't want to wait. The top is my only contribution to the stash contest so I wanted to go ahead and post it and do the review!

I made the top pretty much as before, which is basically right out of the envelope (or magazine, I suppose). Because slinky is heavy and prone to growth spurts I used twill tape on the shoulders. I also hand sewed the collar together for a couple inches at the front. My mom dresses quite conservatively and is self conscious about a scar at the base of her neck from having thyroid surgery while she was pregnant with me, so she doesn't like low necklines. As I recall, she doesn't like V necklines at all, but she had seen the shirt and knew it was a V so I figured it would be ok.

The skirt went together well and easily. The pleat arrows didn't really work for me. The front has two sets of pleats, one on either side of CF. Both sets are supposed to be arranged sort of as a center extroverted pleat (opposite of inverted, I'm not sure what the real name is) with a pleat on either side facing in toward it. It didn't really look right so I had all the front pleats facing toward the closest side. The back pleats are supposed to be the same extroverted pleat with other pleats radiating but it would have poofed over her rear end (we are pretty much the exact same shape, just in different sizes), so I changed that to an inverted pleat with overlapping side pleats facing toward CB, as you can see here.

I really like BWOF's wide waistband for skirts. They have a nice contour, which is flattering. My tip is that where there are similar shaped waistband pieces, I mark them with chalk on the inside. In the photo you can see that I've written "FF" and "BF" for front facing and back facing. The back and front were marked with F and B. This saves a lot of unnecessary trouble.

I'm pretty proud of how well I matched plaid at the zipper/side seam. To get the skirt/waistband seam to line up perfectly, I machine stitched one side of the zipper and then hand-basted the other side in. As you can see, I cut the waistband on the cross grain after seeing how bad it looked to have a plaid waistband cut on grain in BWOF 09-2007-116 (I've since ripped the waistband out and inserted one on the cross-grain, just haven't taken pictures)

I kept the outfit a secret so she didn't know what was coming when she got a package from me. She said she was so excited that she cried, and when I talked to my dad later that week he said that my mom was pulling out the outfit for anyone who would look at it and had already worn it. She assures me it fits but of course I have no idea as I haven't seen a picture! I will look for more projects to sew for her. She is right on the cusp of regular and plus Burda sizes, so I will have a chance to sew some of those great Burda plus patterns I am always so envious of in the magazine.

All photos of the top are here and the review is here. The skirt photos are here and the review is here, and here she is in the outfit!



So now apparently I do sew for other people. I have two more people to sew for as yesterday--Jet and Marvel are now big brother and sister to twin brothers Cash and Fox, born February 24!

Vintage Pattern Score

My friend Courtney told me a while back that her grandmother had given her a bunch of old patterns for me. It turned out to be an entire grocery bag of patterns mostly from the late 60s-early 80s. The beauty of it is that Courtney is around the same size as me; you can see us side by side at Mermaid Parade 2007. So most of the patterns are in my size! (I'm assuming she is about the same size as her mom and grandma as well.) Well, I should say, the tops are my size. The bottoms are for someone who is proportioned the same top and bottom, i.e. too small for me.

Here are a few of my favorites:



I LOVE the blouse on top. It has so many great elements: notched collar, yoke with soft front gathers, air hostess cuff detail. Also check out the shoes; they are 100% in fashion right now. It really does all come back around (although the collar of the blouse needs to be narrowed a touch). I can't wait to make it, though I find that despite rather large stash of fabric I never have what I want! Which right now is printed cottons. I have, I think, only one lightweight cotton print, and I'm not crazy about it. I want a bunch of dotted swiss and Liberty-style lawns. Or if we're wishing how about real Liberty lawns. But in real life I'd settle for good quality imitations. Even medium quality imitations.

The others also have great detail. The keyhole neckline. The yoke and tiny pleats (give it more of a scoopneck and change the sleeves just a little and it's got a similar feel to the Tracy Reese I blogged last week). The two-tone basic shift with cute little cut on collar. Love them.

There are lots of children's patterns in there too, for crazy complicated girls' dresses. I enjoyed my foray into children's sewing for my niece and nephew, but I'm not going to get all elaborate with it.

I will go through them and do some giveaways when I get the chance.

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Sitemeter is fun. It's interesting to see what kind of searches lead to my blog. I had two amusing ones recently, a blogsearch for "HOT BABE BLOG" and a google search for "WELL SHAPED BUST." Apparently when looking for naughty pictures it is necessary to have the CAPS LOCK key on. I can only imagine the disappointment of the searchers who found sewing information where the only person who appears nude is a paper tape double.

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And while I'm being random, does anyone else get this ad on gmail?

"Berina Sewing Machines - Overstock.com - 30-70% off Berina sewing machines. Entire order ships for just $2.95!"

It bothered me for the longest time. I couldn't figure out if it was a typo for "Bernina" or if a shady sewing machine company is engaging in trademark confusion by producing "Berina" sewing machines. This is a big problem in Asia with motorbikes. Honda is the best, most trusted brand, but you have to be careful you're not buying a "Honoda" or a "Handa" instead. Anyway, I finally went to Overstock and searched "Berina" and "Bernina" and came up with nothing for either, so the ad makes no sense whatsoever. Annoying. I refuse to click on it to find out what it leads to.

Sewing for Other People: Baby Steps (literally)

When asked, I always flatly state, "I don't sew for other people." The end.

However, when contemplating holiday gifts for my family I was sort of at a loss. I usually make at least some token item for most people (though male personages are nearly impossible to make anything for unless you have Karen's shirt tailoring skills)--one year I made everyone fleece hats--but mostly buy gifts according to what everyone wants.

I am very blessed to be an aunt many times over. My sister has three boys (3, 8, and 10) and my brother has a son (3) and my only niece (2)...and will have two more little boys any day now!!!!! My sister's boys are old enough that homemade=bad in their minds; for them I have to wait a couple of decades and then homemade will be good again. At least that's the way it worked for me. I used to think we were SO PUT UPON that my mom made all our bread and we didn't get pre-sliced loaves from the store, and of course nowadays I make all my own bread.

Anyway, my brother's kids are still young enough to appreciate whatever gift you give them. My niece absolutely loves girly dresses. When they first watched Cinderella they almost had to turn off the movie because she got hysterically sad when the ugly stepsister's ruin Cinderalla's dress. They had to tell her that she gets a new one. For my niece's gift they made her a little dance stage with mirror and ballet barre in the playroom. My nephew is into kings and castles and so for his gift they turned the closet under the stairs into a castle.

Both of these are perfect for sewn gifts! I asked my sister-in-law (trivia: when I moved from Texas to DC my sil rode with me because she wanted to see some of the country; we had so much fun on our road trip!) for their measurements and then started brainstorming.

For Marvel (my niece), I decided on a girly peasant top and matching skirt, a tutu, and a scarf/boa out of a funky faux fur. She's too small for BWOF's kid's patterns. I don't want to hurry her up, but I'll be excited when she gets into their size range!

Since I didn't have any patterns for her I drafted a simple peasant top with cut-on sleeves based on her measurements. I added a neck binding/elastic casing and elastic casing bands around the sleeves about three inches from the hem in the skirt fabric. I loved being able to use these crazy fabrics from my stash. The skirt fabric is leftover from one of my perennial favorite skirts that I made years and years ago while I was still in law school (I graduated in '01, if we're counting). I used the sequined butterfly fabric for my Carnaval costume several years ago. I think they look so cute together. You can see that I put a little rick rack bow on the front of the blouse so it would be easy to tell which side is front and which is back (I cut the neckline slightly lower in the front for wearing comfort). I don't have any photos of the tutu--it was just a couple layers of tulle sewn around an elastic waistband.

For my nephew I wanted to make a dress up item and a clothes item. For dress up, he had to have a king robe to wear in his castle! This was the only fabric I had to buy; everything else for both of them was from deep stash (at least two years old). I used a purple moleskin from Joann and trimmed it with leftover faux fur from my Down With Love project. I based it on Simplicity 2738, a pajama pattern. I cut it a couple sizes too large, and cut the front on the fold, adding some ease. It has slits on the sides for walking ease and a big "J" for "Jet." Plane tickets were so expensive when I was buying for the holidays that I ended up with a long layover; I sewed all the trims onto Jet's king robe by hand during the layover. I also made the crown out of tissue lame, with plastic needlepoint canvas for the headband (I passed my plastic needlepoint canvas tip on to Cidell for her Weekender bag; I've been using it for purse bottoms for years).

For his regular clothes, I was inspired by the other thing besides kings and castles that he loves: Spiderman. I bought some netting spiderweb on Joann's clearance after Halloween several years ago with the idea of maybe making some simple Halloween costumes to sell on eBay, but never got around to doing so. I realized that I could combine it with a red silky poly remnant wrapped around my exchange gift at PR Weekend 2006 for a really awesome Spiderman shirt. I used the same Simplicity 2738 pajama pattern; instead of using a facing I used self-bias tape at the neck. You can't see all the details in the action shot (taken in Marvel's "dance studio"); here's a photo of the shirt flat.

All of my photos are here. My sister-in-law's set of photos has more shots.

Making kids' clothes turns out to be pretty easy and fun. They're little so they take less time, and they don't need all the details adult clothes need. Plus, I could just finish all the hems with the serger!

So I have added a caveat to "I don't sew for other people."

I will sew for other people (1) whom I love dearly and (2) who will wear whatever is put in front of them. That pretty much limits it to young children who are related to me and my mom. More on the latter later this week!

Stashoholism Confessional and Notes on Paper Tape Doubles

Although I am concentrating on sewing projects I love from stash, I am still allowed to buy six yards per month. I picked up 1.5 yards of each of these knit prints from the $2.97/yd table at G Street over the weekend. I kind of wish I'd gotten more of the awesome 70s-ish print on the left so I could make a dress and a top. Now I have a tough choice to make. The choice is made more difficult because the fabric is pretty low quality and probably nylon? It's thin and really isn't suitable for a dress, but I am loving it for BWOF 10-2008-115

Several people were curious about my paper tape double introduced earlier in the week.

Cindy: I am desperate need for a dressform-- would you recommend a dress form padded or the tape version? The taping looks tough!

The taping is actually not hard at all. The person taping you has to be dedicated to your curves, but it takes under an hour for sure; probably closer to 35 minutes. I should have timed it. I used paper tape from Staples. Cut it into shorter lengths (maybe 14 inches), wet with a sponge, and stick on. Repeat. If the person wrapping you is not a sewist who understands the importance of catching all the curves, you may have to do a practice one first. And read up on the X wrapping technique for the bust.

As for what I recommend between making one from scratch and padding a ready-made form, it totally depends on your size. A dressform with small enough boobs for me (and shoulders and neck, but the bust is the biggie since that's one of my biggest fitting challenges) is simply not manufactured, at least that I can find. I am an AA cup and dress forms have the standard B cup. Believe me, there's a big difference between an AA and a B. I have no choice but to make my own (or have one custom made, which I would totally consider if I could find anyplace that did it). If you are pretty close to a standard size, you will probably get better results--and certainly prettier ones--with padding out a pre-made form.

The only commercial form I've considered (other than my vintage Acme Jr.) is the Uniquely You form, made of compressable foam over which you stretch a fully-fitted sloper made of canvas. However, I finally concluded it would be too much trouble for me given the difference between my bust and hips (four sizes)--I would have the buy the smallest size, which is "petite," to accommodate my bust and ribcage (I've heard of people cutting off the boobs; Sherril did this) and then add a lot of padding at the hips, belly, and booty. The hips on the petite only go up to 34" and my hips are 37 to 38 inches. Also, I fear the shoulders would be too wide, since I apparently have freakishly small shoulders. They are relatively inexpensive; two sources have it for $139 right now. It comes in five sizes, which I think is a generous size range. Geez, I need to stop thinking about this one because I feel like I'm talking myself into it! I don't need another failed dress form! There are mixed reviews on this one. Some people have gotten a perfect match, others say they can never compress the foam quite right.


Sarah made a duct tape double: BTW - I found that the form is a bit bigger than me (which is obvious I guess since it was made stuck to a t-shirt which I was wearing). But I was surprised that it's actually a noticeable difference.

Did you find that with yours?

Yep, the form is bigger than me, not really because I was wearing a t-shirt--I fitted it skin tight--but because I was breathing while being wrapped. That's why when I taped the back up I overlapped the edges quite a bit, as you can see in the photo at right. I overlapped the edges until the measurements matched mine and then taped it up. The shape is therefore not perfect--I think it's a little more conical than I actually am--but it's better than a commercial form.


LaKaribane: Mine was duct tape but it needs structure. I read somewhere online, a Esp blog, about adding papier mache layers inside to rigidify. Do you think the paper tape is tough enough?

Will you cover it with thin batting and a jersey layer, so you can somewhat pin?

I saw the adding of papier mache inside a dress form too, though I can't recall who did it either. I do think the paper tape is sturdy enough, which is why I chose it over duct tape. I think I'd like to try duct tape eventually *because* it's more malleable and would deal with the conical shape you get from overlapping the cut edges, but stuffing it out seems like a really delicate operation, as it seems very easy to distort.

I will probably eventually add a thin jersey cover to my form, but probably not batting since she's already at the outer limits of my size.


Sally: I took a class from Jan Bones on how to make the brown tape form. She stated the form was fairly sturdy on its own and did not need to be filled. In fact, I have found that with the one I made.

She suggested hanging your form on a hanger. Then you can hang it high or low to fit or hem, etc.

The form does keep its shape on its own, but it would have needed several more layers of tape not to need any stuffing at all. I would have had to add the layers from the inside to avoid adding bulk. I found it easier to fill it with the insulation foam and not worry about it collapsing as I push and prod at a garment.

One thing I will say is that I should have had my friend tape further down my legs. I had her go to the crease under my butt to make sure we had captured the widest part of my body. The problem is that the base is as wide as the widest part of my body and it is impossible to pull a close-fitting skirt with a straight or pencil line over the base. It's the same size as me--but the actual me is squishy. So that takes away some of the utility of the form because I can't use it to fit those skirts, or with narrow-skirted dresses I can't fit them below the waist because I can't pull the skirt all the way down. I actually shredded the lining in a skirt trying to pull it over the form; the lining seams just gave way.



Despite the limitations of the form, I am happy to finally have a serviceable iteration! I haven't made a great deal of use of it yet, but it was really handy for marking the buttons on a blouse, which I've normally had to do on myself in the mirror, which is not easy or ideal. I'm looking forward to easier and better fitting.

New Look 6429: How can this be?

I've had my eye on New Look 6429 for years. There are 46 reviews of it on PR and it looks good on everyone, no matter their figure. So I figured it would be perfect to use on one of my cute FFC knits to make a low-stress, quickie addition to my wardrobe for Germany (yes, we're going back to October again).

I did my usual SBA for a wrap style, shortening the wrap line to prevent gape and merrily cut an 8, which is allegedly for a 31.5 inch bust.

This sucker came out HUGE. Ugh. I hate the Big 3 and their stupid ease. Who wants to look like that, especially in a knit? And while I love the princess side panel design of this dress, it means that there is no bodice side seam and therefore no way to alter the dress after it's cut out and put together. Normally I just tweak the fit at the side seams, but here there was nothing to be done.

I also felt like the left side underlap was too short.

I do like the cuffs and collar, so that's something.

I was completely disappointed in how this pattern came out on me. Although I shortened the neckline it is still way too wide and I had to do that hideous thing where you tack it in the middle *not* at the natural place that it overlaps so the line is distorted. I feel like the skirt is more A-line than represented. I didn't use the neck facing and it looks horrible, but that's all on me. Luckily(?), this fabric was low quality so although the print is cute I didn't feel like I wasted it.

I still like the design elements of this pattern, but I'm not sure if it would be worth the amount of effort it will take to alter it so it actually fits my body (further shorten wrap, narrow side princess panel and front princess seams, take skirt in at waist, narrow skirt width). Since I'm already at the smallest size on the pattern, I'd have to grade it down 2-3 sizes and that is so much trouble. I'm not ready to junk it yet, but it's definitely on the back burner.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.