Thursday 19 June 2014

Vogue 1351, in wool

I saw Lizzy's version of this and coveted it instantly.  I saw it in person shortly afterwards and this dress jumped to the top of my list.  I oh-so-cleverly went for some plaid directional wool that I found at Tessuti in Melbourne...thinking that it would be edgy and cool.  Rather regretted that- Lizzy's version in crepe is much better suited to the pattern.

I have always cut a size 10 in Vogue patterns and they are always too big.  So I cut a size 8 this time, forgetting that some of the designer lines for Vogue have less ease.  I lined the dress with bemberg in purple (which as you can see I had not hemmed in the pictures.)

Construction is rather confusing because you sew the lining to the inside part of the cowl, and then sew the lining in the rest of the way.  Lizzy's post on this shows the lining.  I had to lay it on the floor and move stuff around quite a bit until I got it right, but I was waiting for my invisible zipper foot and didn't have the zipper in, which made it more confusing as you are supposed to do that first.  It was not too difficult to figure out but a bit time consuming.  My only real gripe was at the end when I couldn't completely figure out how to shut the shoulder seams.  Vogue seems to have a tendency this way - to expect you to finish something perfectly by separating the lining and the fabric, and sewing them separately even though you haven't got room to do it, when I by then only have little straggling ends that won't meet up properly.  I tried to do it the Vogue way on one side and on the other side I just folded the mess together and sewed it as one (it leaves the ends hanging out at your shoulders), and actually the Vogue side looks much better even though I thought I was doing it terribly.






Anyway it got to that point and I finally tried it on...and the top half is too small.  So I guess I should have made a size 10, or maybe a 10 on top and an 8 on the bottom, after all.  I was quite disappointed which is why I just had my lovely friend Dana snap the photos before I bothered with the hemming.  Luckily I found the dress a new and enthusiastic owner so all has worked out well.  Next time (there will probably be one eventually as I still like the style and it does end up with a great finish if you take more care with the seam allowance on the shoulders ahead of time...as the pattern suggests) I would use a finer, drapier material and I would obviously avoid the diagonal directional print - although with a belt this won't look so jarring, I don't actually own any belts and am not keen to acquire them.

Monday 9 June 2014

Papercut Peter and the Wolf Pants, salvage operation

I was sewing these at the eleventh hour before I left New Zealand.  Literally - I sewed until the minute I had to pack up the sewing machine and take it away.  I got all the way to the waistband and at that point there was nowhere to go, they were so huge.  I had really expected a lot out of these pants, and while I knew I am not advanced enough to manage the amazing fit of Lauren's spotted pair, I had even made a muslin!

It was time to take a long break, so I did.   A looong break.  And finally I felt ready to just do whatever had to be done to make them fit and get rid of the butt wrinkles from hell.














-Removed about 3 inches from the front crotch, tapering out at the sides.  This wasn't done quite evenly and one leg is a tiny looser than the other.  But whatever.
-Removed about 1 cm from the upper sideseams, tapering to nothing above the pockets since I didn't want to change them at all.

Those two changes made these pants fit.  Then I put on the waistband and I stretched it out a lot as I sewed.  The fabric has a lot of stretch, and this way the waistband ended up nice and snug - I had removed the zip for the fitting process and just basted the sides, and I called it a success when I had to put the zipper back in!

I still don't consider these the ultimate Peter & the Wolf pants.  They are particularly unflattering due to the pockets visually widening the hips - I think this might be minimised in a finer fabric.  Not to mention the butt, I'm not even sure how to conquer the butt-fitting problems.  But they are wearable and cozy, so I will not be sending them to the secondhand heap quite yet.

Final summary:

Papercut Patterns Peter & the Wolf pants
Fabric: Marc Jacobs Herringbone wool from Mood
Size: XS
me: always an XS in Papercut
Changes: lengthened the legs slightly so they would be full length pants.