Hey June Halifax Hoody view C in merino

I'm trying to wean myself off a Lululemon habit and a key element is a good hoody.  I loved the details of this hoody - the twill tape on the inside gives it an RTW finish that I yearn for in my own sewing.  I think I was actually interested in the Halifax hoody initially because of the cowl neck, so it's funny that's the version I have the least interest in making after buying the pattern... anyway with version C I dove into the deep end with maroon merino terry from The Fabric Store  - shipping, by the way, was literally over the weekend!  

The problem with that whole plan is that it was going to be too long, and I knew it was going to be too long.  The pattern even admits it's drafted for a 5'8" person.  Maybe it's time to start just making those inevitable pattern changes?  I'm never going to stop being short-waisted, after all.  I'm at least pretty sure I cut the size S, and  I compared the pattern pieces to those of view B which I did before, just to make sure it was narrower cut (yes.) 

I noticed after I put the body all together that I had no twill tape and speed ordered it on etsy.  However this put a kink in things.  Too bad, because terry cloth sheds bits everywhere, ugh.  I stabilized the zipper band with some thin stretchy interfacing -- my stash has been reunited so I have no idea where this stuff is from anymore.  I also noticed that the loops of terry got damaged by my feed dogs when they went back and forth, like when I reversed.  That was only really evident at the pockets, but I guess it's kind of fragile fabric.

Note to self: don't overdo it with the interfacing.

 

So...the last few steps took awhile.  I was daunted by the automatic buttonholer for the hood (went fine, only took one try and a quick read of the manual.)  I was daunted by the new zipper foot (learning curve was fine) and I was daunted by using the twill tape (went just fine too.) 

 

At the end I was totally relieved to have this thing done.  I was equally relieved that my friend M did want it, despite the interfacing hanging out and a slightly wonky zip placement - there is about 2cm at both the bottom and the top where there's no zipper.  And actually although the twill tape is a cool idea, the stuff I had was very thick, and the merino terry has a lot of loft, so it was many layers to get through the sewing machine right at the spot you want to look good -- the corner!  And my corners are kind of shoddy. 

 

In the end, the hoody has a new happy home, but I'm not actually convinced on the twill tape finish.  With thinner twill tape maybe.  And thinner fabric. 



Megan Nielsen Reef top

I cut this pattern in an XS based on my measurements 33.5-27-37.
I was going to just make the top but then the shorts somehow appealed to me, and I had some rayon fabric left over from my Willow top.  I didn't have enough for the inner bits of the shorts hems, though, so the shorts are sitting until I can identify a good fabric for this specific bit.

In the meantime I made the top as a muslin.  I really loved this pattern when it came out, but this is partly because I have a piece of shiny Versace stuff that I want to use, and I recently realized it's not stretchy enough to be a Mission tank as planned.  So I was envisioning this as a good tank for wovens. 

The fabric was a Hello Hilo Hawaiian muumuu, made of rayon, that would have fit me pretty well on its own, from Goodwill, $4.  Instead, I got cutting.  I found the instructions good but sort of lost interest in this top as I went along.  I have no idea why.  I had a lot of ease in the side seams and took in 5/8" from each side; the instructions note that the top is made to be roomy, hence the ease in the first place.  But it's a lot of ease.  I would just remove this from the pattern altogether in the future.

I might shorten the front straps an inch next time (will there be a next time?)  Otherwise, I think the fit is ok, it pulls across my back and I think an improvement would include widening something somewhere in my back (no surprise there).  When you sew the facing onto the back, you are sewing through four layers, including two interfaced layers, so keep that in mind if your fabrics aren't thin.  I didn't have a problem with it on this light rayon.

In the end I have no enthusiasm for this top.  The fit is only ok.  The process was not difficult.  I don't like the facings, but they do stay in place.  I guess you're supposed to tack them down somewhere, but I'm not sure where exactly. 

When I find an appropriate scrap I guess I'll move forward with the now season-inappropriate shorts...

Myopic Mountain Morris (by Grainline patterns)

Grainline Morris, of course.  And the fabric looks to me like the view from my tent on a sunny morning in the mountains, before I've put in my contacts. 

I cut this in a size 4 back in Ukraine.  I considered making various fit changes but I thought I should first test it out in a muslin kind of way.  A wearable muslin, but the fabric I wanted to use actually had no stretch - I remembered it wrong, so I put the pattern aside. 

The fabric here is from emmaonesock.  It's a lightweight stretch cotton.  This was definitely a wearable muslin.  I just get such bad fit from Grainline patterns in the shoulder, and so I didn't anticipate it to fit very well, but I needed to do it and see it to believe it.  I'm also not in love with open front things.  The Morris looks awesome on other people and that made me want to test it out - another reason is that I thought (initially) it would be a good place to make modifications if I needed to, but actually the collar is kind of confounding and so made me hesitate.

The collar reminds me a lot of the Marfy free jacket pattern...another one I muslined and then left behind as too confusing to fit to my shoulder/upper back axis.

Anyway I guess I got mixed up on step 15 because my bottom ends didn't match up, and when I went to do the stitching of the facings to the jacket, I had to go by the bottom of the facing, since the bottom of the jacket was longer.  So that changed the shape of the bottom by about 1cm.  Otherwise it went smoothly.  It actually fits, dare I say? ...fine.  But I don't like it because I can't close it in the front.  And I was thinking of making a second one but the fact that I was sooo lukewarm about it actually was enough to change my mind, I think I'll make some Safran pants instead...

Megan Nielsen Brumby skirt in ikat

Ah deep pockets!  I loved Frobelina's version of this and I think that's what convinced me to give it a try, since I'm not super into skirts.

This is also part of what seemed interminable stripe-matching projects that I started in Seattle this summer.
Mainly I tried to match the colours so there weren't violent shifts between the dress/pocket/waistband.  I had to cut the front waistband in two instead of on the fold in order to do that, since ikat is always only 100cm wide and the purple was in the center. 
I also wasn't sure how the gathering would affect the stripe placement.

I cut a size S.
Sewing together was totally reasonable.  Gathering was painful, but I got the job done.  My ikat cotton is from Thailand - I got it from a shop in Chiang Mai.  I did not have much left over, and in fact the inside of my waistband is an old scrap which decidedly doesn't match. This ikat, being loomed, is 100 cm wide and so that was part of why I had to watch how I placed the stripes.

I got to the zipper and ran out of time in Seattle, so it took awhile to get back my skirt mojo and finish.  My interest in this project was waning fast and I pretty much doubted I'd like it by the time it was finished.  It fits really really well, but I don't like the gathered fabric over my butt, it's so fluffy!  I just can't see myself in this style of skirt.  Maybe if it were a really drapey, flowey fabric with no body, maybe then.  But it's just too much gathering for me.  

Luckily I found a friend who loves it!

Grainline Willow Tank

I had to wait until I had made more than one of these to give a real review, because my first tank was really short due to lack of fabric and I didn't feel like I could judge the pattern by it. 

This was an unplanned pattern purchase.  I was in Seattle looking at what sort of constitutes a stash (the fabrics left in my mother's old stash in our basement) and a small tank seemed just the way to get rid of so many floaty wovens.  But then I got distracted by this amazing scrap of Nani Iro rayon double gauze, from Miss Matabi on etsy.  In retrospect I should have waited because the fabric was dramatically shorter than the tank - about 4 inches, I think.

I cut a straight size 4.
Too tight across the back and the armholes.
Lots of bias taping.  My bias tape technique needs work, it always stretches out.
For the bottom I made the most minimal hem that I could, considering that double gauze unravels fast so it was still about 1.5 cm total.

It's a very easy pattern.

The second time I used a very drapey, spongey rayon from emmaonesock. The problem with such drapey wovens is cutting them out, ugh, as bad as silk for shifty and slipperyness.  However, this time around I didn't have the pattern instructions so I had to make do without.  I mean, there isn't much to surprise you about this pattern. 

Sorry for the low resolution of my photos.  They were taken by my cousin in Edinburgh centre, using my phone (which is pretty crappy). 

I did wonder if my cutting out was bad and that's why it seems so big compared to the first version. Since it was a paper pattern and I had cut it out, I kept the size 4 rather than trying to cross size lines.  I added 1 inch to the middle back.  I expected to scoop out the armscye too, but after trying it on I was shocked -- A change of fabric makes a huge change in the result!  This top was so drapey and big.

I stay stitched all my curved lines first this time.  I did the first half of the French seams and then assessed and decided it was worth my efforts to raise the darts.  They were drooping something like two inches below my bust.  So I unpicked and resewed them about two inches higher by marking where I wanted them to end.  It wasn't bad, just the dart edge didn't get caught in my new French seam so I had to do some emergency zig zags on the inside.  Also I made them physiologic rather than matched on each side, and I think that makes them look uneven - maybe I should have put them in the same place...

Also as you may or may not notice, my amazing inability to hem a straight line presented itself here.  But my struggles with Grainline's perennially too-narrow bias tape worked out ok, although I thought my neckline was all out of shape, some ironing improved it and it sits fine when worn.  I attached the bias to the outside with about a 1/8 seam allowance, and then folded it twice to the inside as I sewed it down on the second pass.  This actually worked ok.  It felt like using a rolled hem foot. 

The end product is amazing.  I'm really really pleased, both with this fabric, and with the result.  If I made the dress I would probably put in the effort to make an upper back-widening instead of widening the entire back body.  It would be nice to have the instructions prior to making the dress but I think they might be lost in the void.  Who knew pdf patterns had so many pluses??  Is there anything in the instructions that's not obvious? 

Overall: I recommend a fabric with some drape to take advantage of the shape of the top.  I like it!  I will make it again and might try the dress, although how do you attach the bottom part to the top?