We have bound buttonholes . . . and more!

 My personal coat sew-along continues with Butterick 5824, and if you recall, I felt my two biggest challenges would be 1) all the cutting out, and 2) the bound buttonholes.  Well, after the cutting out, the first thing you do is the buttonholes.  So for better or worse, I would be getting the hardest part (I felt) out of the way at the beginning of this project.  I used Gertie's instructions from her book, and practiced with some cotton from one of my shirtdress projects about a month ago.  Not bad for a first try, although I machine stitched around these; I just wanted to get the order of the technique at first, so I didn't bother with handstitching:

Gertie recommends that you use scissors called tailor points to cut your buttonholes.  Gingher makes some good ones, but has re-named them "craft scissors" these days, probably as a wider marketing technique since there are few tailors out there, but lots and lots of crafters.  I bought them at Joannes and they are the most awesome scissors ever made because they are wickedly sharp right up to the points.  You need them to cut the little triangles in the ends of the buttonholes.  

I found that making the buttonholes in my drapey camelhair fabric more fiddly than making them in stable, and thinner, quilting cotton.  But I pressed onward, and was reminded once again that perfectionism is not only the death of creativity, but the death of productivity as well.  So without further ado, here are my coat bound buttonholes:

 Okay, not great.  But they will be covered by, you know, actual buttons.  Plus, I am fairly confident that these bound bottonholes will not become unbound, so I think we have achieved the goal.  In the end, I was pleased enough, but then I remembered, I'm not done with these bound bottonholes - stage II occurs at the end of this project went you have to make the corresponding openings in the facings.  I'll worry about that later.

After the bound buttonholes were done, the bodice came together fairly easily.  I was very glad that Gertie posted a video on how to sew the bodice front to the bodice back at the neckline.  I guessed right, but I liked having the video to confirm I was on the right track, rather than silently worrying that I had done it all wrong and one day my coat would fall apart.

After getting the bodice together, the only thing left to do was sew the skirt portion to the bodice portion (because, remember, I sewed the skirt first) and voila, I have a coat facsimile:

 The above photo was taken indoors.  This photo was taken out of doors:

 I tried it on and it looks awesome, but the 90 degree heat did not allow any photographs of me actually wearing it - one of the drawbacks of sewing your winter coat six months early.  I am really pleased the way this project is coming along.  My biggest challenge has actually ended up being trying to mark the fabric.  Alone, my usual white pen is useless, as is carbon paper, and tailors' chalk.  I ended up using all of these devices to mark darts, circles, and buttonholes:

I used the red thread to mark the circles - I don't know if my thread marks could be call tailors' tacks, since I'm not sure I did them right, but I got 'er done.  I found the best method of marking on this fabric was to use the tailor point scissors for marking notches, and then, right before I was going to sew a dart, use the carbon paper and tracing wheel between the pattern and fabric.  As soon as I removed the pattern, I traced over the dart with the tailors chalk, and then immediately pinned and sewed the dart.  Even as I pinned and sewed the lines were disappearing on me.  And ironing removed all marking entirely. 

So steps 1 through 16 are done!  I'm letting the coat hang for awhile to see if the skirt stretches before I interface the hem.  The next steps for me will be to cut out the lining (cutting out again, sigh), and making the lining bodice and skirt, attaching them together.  Bascially, I have do everything I just did, but with lining fabric.  It's like making the coat twice.  Good thing I started this six months early!

Parting shot:  A photo from the early 1930's from the Library of Congress.  It was taken in Coffee County, Alabama, which is one county over from Cotton Creek, AL, and I like it because it reminds me of the house my father grew up in.  (He was born in 1936.)  His childhood home looked just like this - no paint, with a fire place and a stove.  I imagine this is how his mother cooked:

The Shirtdresses Continue . . .

After my last post, Gwen asked if I was doing a study of shirtwaist dresses . . . why, yes I am!  Actually, I'm hoping to produce the definitive work.  So in the interest of research, I reached in the far recesses of my closet and found a shirtdress that I probably made in 2008 or maybe 2007, before I started blogging.  I made it from this vintage Simplicity pattern, number 5877, circa 1965:

 I have no idea where I got this pattern - probably Etsy.  Maybe.  I can see what I liked about it - the buttons only went to the waist, the full skirt is pleated and not gathered, and there is a side zip.  I made it up in a cheery striped fabric that had a great hand and a slight brushed nap:

 Please forgive these photos in office cubicle-land;  Aimee and I were just too busy at work to find some place with natural light.  I made the dress with yellow buttons just because I could, and who doesn't like yellow buttons?

 I even made my first (and only belt) to match!

 The belt is mostly held together with glue and velcro (no lie):

 Here's a shot of the side slot (centered) zipper:

But here is the thing:  this dress has been worn only about a half a dozen times in its lifespan.  Why?  Well, the bodice is a little too loose and too long; the pattern is a Bust 36, and I'm really more of a Bust 34 kind of gal.  In 2008, I wouldn't have known how to go about altering it to fit, and I can't say that I know now either.  Or that I am willing to learn - there are just too many shirtdress patterns out there made for a 34 Bust.  Also, the skirt is very full, and pressing this baby takes about 15 to 18 minutes, which doesn't sound like a lot, but we all know that in ironing time, one minute ironing is equal to about four minutes of your life that you will never get back.  My pressing patience is about 5 minutes per garment, max.

I feel sorry for this dress though because it is good dress and just doesn't get the wearing it deserves.  And the pattern is a very good shirtdress pattern and I believe such vintage shirtdress patterns are sacred relics that should be preserved and treasured, but because of the size, I know I will never make it again. 

So here is my solution:  I'm offering this dress, the belt, and the pattern to anyone who wants to have them (remember the size is Bust 36).  I would really love to give these orphans a good home. And since tens of people read my blog weekly, I am hoping someone can take them off my hands.  Just email me at:  kapayne3*at*verizon.net and tell me you will welcome this dress and pattern into your home and give me your address.  They'll be there before you know it.

Update:  This pattern and dress has been claimed by Debbie, who found an incomplete copy of the pattern at a yard sale.  She is currently planning her awesome version now!

New Look 6180

I finished my third shirtdress of 2013 last weekend, this time from New Look 6180, and wore it to work on Tuesday, with a belt, heels, and a gray cardigan.  (Didn't get a photo since I was in a meeting all day.)  But today I wore it the way it was meant to be worn:  sandles, no belt, no worries.  This is a run-errands-on-Saturday-afternoon-while-wearing-Keds sort of dress:

 (You can see who photo-bombed . . .)  It's no secret that this New Look pattern has crappy cover art:

 There is really no way the model can make the longer length dress attractive in any way.  I was drawn to the pattern though because the button front only went to the waist - I prefer this to a shirtdress that has buttons all the way down to the hem.  Of course, if your pattern doesn't call for buttons from collar to hem, then you will need either a zipper or elastic to get into the dress.  This dress has elastic, of which I am not a great fan, but I decided to give it a go.  I found a cotton I was mysteriously drawn to at Hancock's:

 It was cheap, probably about $ 5.00/yard, and I liked it in the weirdest way possible.  It whispered to me, "Psst, pick me; I promise I won't wrinkle, and I will become your coolest dress this hot, humid summer."  I believed it, and bought four yards, even though the pattern only called for about two and half.

And I am glad I did.  This pattern only instructs you to cut one back yoke and two front yokes, which would make your inner bodice a big ole' mess inside.  Instead, I doubled those numbers and used the burrito method to put it all together.  It made the inside much nicer:
 

 And I made my own bias french binding to bind the armholes, cutting the bias bands 2 1/8 inches wide and folding them in half to make double binding:

 I tried a new method of turning the collar I found out about through Brian.  Look at that collar point!

 I'll be using this method from now on.  I hadn't tried it before because the first step of the instructions is to reduce your seam allowances to 1/4 inch and I'm too lazy for that.  This pattern had 3/8 inch seam allowances for the collar, so I figured it was close enough to try it.  Worked like a charm.  I think this method will even work on collars with a 5/8 inch seam allowance - you just have to do a little more carefully trimming.  I recommend this method of turning a collar to everyone!

Of course, I attached the collar David Coffin style, and did way more edgestitching than the pattern called for - the collar, the stand, the yoke and shoulder seams, etc.  Since I was making the shorter version, I lengthened it by 2 1/8 inches to insure that the the skirt would cover my knees, and avoid that awkward right-in-the-middle-of-the-knee length.  Unfortunately, the gathering of the skirt and my slight miscalculation resulted in a skirt that was still an inch too short for my liking:

But I will live with it.  The elastic did prove to be the PITA that I thought it would be. It took multiple tryings-on to get the elastic snug enough to be presentable, but not so tight so as to be uncomfortable.  Interestingly enough, this skirt is pleated AND gathered.  You pleat first, attach the skirt to the bodice, and then insert the elastic.  I left the waist fairly loose for comfort as I expect to wear this through out the summer.

I won't even recount the dithering I did on the buttons, but I'll just say that in the end I went with my original choice - basic gray buttons from Hancocks.  I'm glad to report that this fabric did not lie - it is indeed cool and resists wrinkling (this dress has already been washed in the photos above).

I'm tempted to make another one of these, but my no repeat rule is still in effect and there are still way more shirtdress patterns out there!

Apparently, That Coat Isn't Going to Sew Itself

So I cut out my garment fabric for my personal Butterick 5824 coat-so-along, like three or four weeks ago, and I guess my unconscious plan was that if left alone long enough, the coat would just rise up and sew itself.  Unfortunately that hasn't happened, so I decided this morning was The Day To Start.  I began as I usually do:  with the skirt.  I know this is unorthodox.  One usually begins with the bodice of any dress or coat, not the skirt; the thinking being that the bodice is more complicated to fit and you can easily incorporate any changes in your side seams to your skirt after you have sewn your bodice and figured them out.  But since I don't bother with such things as muslins and fitting (!), I like to start with the skirt.

For several reasons.  First, after I have spent so much time cutting out a project, I just want to jump into it and start to sew.  The bodice of a garment is usually more complicated, and the skirt portion is usually just straight sewing.  By beginning with the skirt, I feel like I am starting off with a bang!  Second, by beginning with the easier skirt portion of the garment, I can get used to the drape and feel of the fabric, how it behaves while pressing, and any other weird characteristics.  I can also check out how my marking tools are working on the fabric.  Third, when I am in the middle of a project, and I have finished the (what seems like a really complicated) bodice, I get frustrated when I have to stop and make the skirt portion.  I prefer to have the skirt done already, so when I get my bodice done (finally), I can just sew the two together, and voila! have a reasonable facsimile of a dress or coat.  Again, it fools me into believing that I am making great progress, dear readers.

And I had added incentive to begin with the skirt on this project because of the dreaded bound buttonholes.  Beginning with the bodice meant that the bound buttonholes would come a little too quickly for my liking.  : )  Never underestimate the sin of sloth, y'all.  I am lazy as hell.

The skirt went together with no problems.  Wool is usually a pleasure to work with, and this camelhair wool is particularly so.  It presses beautifully.  I did discover that my white marking pen doesn't work well with this fabric because the marks just disappear under the steam of the iron, so I am going to have to figure out some other system when it comes time to make the bodice.  Having my marks disappear on me with the skirt was no big deal because it was easy to remark them, but the bodice will have way more marks and complicated indicators.  I'm not certain what I am going to do, but I may be forced to use the method I have avoided for eleven years:  tailor's tacks.  Let's just hope it doesn't come to that.

I went ahead and finished the seam allowances since the lining is a free hanging lining.  I used my sewing machine's overlock stitch since my serger is on the fritz and it needs servicing.  I've never really bonded with it anyway, so I usually rely on my Bernina overlock stitch.  My method was to sew the seam, then finish the seam allowances for that seam, then press.  Then I moved onto the next seam.  Which is different than normal - I usually sew all the seams and then finish all the seam allowances.  But with the sheer number of seams involved here, I decided I would rather finish them as I go than to finish them all at once because I would find that incredibly boring.  It took me about three hours to make the skirt.

There's a whole lotta skirt to this coat as it is a full circle skirt.  I tried to get a nice photo so you could see the color of the fabric, but today is a dreary sunless day.  Here it is:

(Someone showed up for her close up.)  I had to use my wide angle lens to get this whole skirt in the photo.  You can't see the fabric very well, but you can see the color - this is pretty true to life.  It is a dark, dark green - nearly black, but not really.  I'll try to get a close up of the fabric when there is more natural light.

Most of this coat is skirt.  By putting together the skirt pieces, I was able to free up lots of cut out table space:

Since I often sew things out of order, I check off the steps I have completed on the directions:

So I have completed steps 1, and steps 10 through 15 of this project.  Yay!  By completing the skirt and freeing up my cut out tables, I was able to then cut out another shirtdress, the New Look pattern 6180:

I'm making view "B" the blue on the far right lower corner.  This may be the summer of shirtdresses.  I may have to make every shirtdress pattern currently in print.  : )

McCalls 6696 - Another Shirtdress!

After cutting out my new Butterick coat, and working with the silk/wool blend Vogue dress largely on the bias, cutting out this shirtdress from quilting cotton seemed so easy and enjoyable!  I saw McCalls 6696, and was inspired by View B, the little pink dress in the upper left corner:

There were so many things about this pattern that made it the near-perfect shirtdress:  the skirt is pleated, rather than gathered, so the skirt lies more flat against the hips; the short sleeves cover but aren't too long; the front bodice has darts rather than gathers for a more flattering fit.

I made size 12 and the only alteration I made was to lengthen the skirt by an inch and quarter so the skirt covered my knee - I am weary of dresses that hit me mid-knee.  Either above the knee or below the knee, dear readers - anything else makes it look like you grew out of it last year.  So with my lengthening, the skirt ended up being 24.5 inches long.  Unfortunately, I failed to lengthen the front bands as well.  Rather than buy more fabric and cut two more bands, I just pieced the additional length to the front band pieces before attaching to the dress. I figured no one would notice, and still few would care.  I also omitted the side pockets to avoid extra bulk, as I usually do.  I added way more edgestitching to this dress than the instructions called for (which was exactly none).  I edgestitched the shoulder seams, collar, collarstand, front bands, and waistband. I think the edgestitching makes the dress more finished and pressing in the future easier.

My original plan (and it still is a plan) was to make a shirtdress from Liberty's Tana Lawn, but I haven't been able to find the absolute right fabric print yet.  Given that the Liberty lawn is $ 36 a yard, I won't use Liberty unless it is the end-all, be-all of Liberty lawns.  And since I haven't been able to find the Holy Grail of Liberty prints yet, I settled for four yards of "Bouquet Splendor" by Vicki Lynn Oehlke of Willowberry for Henry Glass fabrics (I'm reading the selvage as I type).  Four yards of "Bouquet Splendor" cost me about the same as one yard of Liberty lawn.

The collar is constructed with a separate collar stand, and it has been awhile since I've made a collar with a stand - my collar stand skills have gotten rusty (not that they were very well oiled!).  I used David Coffin's book instructions again which have you attach the stand to the shirt, and then the collar to the stand, rather than attaching the collar and the stand together, and then attaching the collar/stand business to your dress.  Doing Daivd Coffin's way gives you a better chance of a smooth stand and while mine wasn't perfect, I was pleased enough:

The back bodice, like my Easter dress, is made with gathers, rather than darts, so the back bodice bousens a bit:

I'd rather have darts for a smoother fit, but I have noticed that the more roomy your bodice, the smaller your waist looks!  Here's a close up that shows the fabric better, and shows a little gaposis at my waist; I might add an extra button on the waistband area if it bothers me:

I enoyed wearing this dress all day.  My plan was to wear it with a white linen blazer/jacket that I ordered, which never arrived, to make the outfit more business-like.  Today was finally the first day above 70 degrees, so today was the day for the first wearing, jacket or no jacket.  I got several compliments on the dress - all from women over 60 - but compliments nontheless!  I realize the style is a bit schoolmarm-ish, but I love it:

This dress is so ridiculously me, I know I'll wear it all summer!

In more exciting news, Mezmerina Atelier has nominated me for a Liebster award! I'm still ponding my answers to her questions and who I will nominate, but please go read her wonderful sewing blog.  Bruce is waiting for you!

Cutting Out, Phase I: Complete!

My personal coat-sew-along on the Butterick 5824 1950's coat by Gertie continues.  One of the two challenging aspects of this project was upon me:  cutting out.  My goal was to get the camelhair wool garment pieces cut out and then rest on my laurels for awhile.  As Gertie has mentioned, the layout for cutting is single layer.  Which means you have to cut one pattern piece, remove the pattern, set the cut-out fabric piece aside, flip the pattern piece over, cut the second piece, put the two layers together (carefully matching the edges), and then reattach the pattern piece to both.  And remain aware of which side is the "wrong" side for each piece.  This is not for the faint of heart.

I knew I needed a day where I was well rested and there was plenty of light because my fabric is such a dark green, it looks black.  This Saturday morning was the day.  Gertie says you need two hours for the cutting out process. I was doubtful that I could manage that, so I timed myself just to try to make the process sorta fun.

On the coat sew-along Flicker site, I saw one photo where a sew-alonger laid all her fabric out on a large tile floor in her house.  I envied her large surface space until I realized she was going to have to crawl around on her hands and knees on that hard tile to cut out her coat.  Here was my cutting set up:

It basically consists of two tables, end to end, in my living room to handle the sheer volume of fabric.  In retrospect, I should have put the tables side by side to make a wider surface so that none of the fabric hung over the sides, but by the time I figured this out, the Carpenter had already left the house and I didn't want try move the tables by myself. 

You know how all the sewing books tell you to make sure your fabric doesn't hang off the table when you are cutting out to avoid distortion?  Well, I never paid attention to it and never had a problem with it.  But my camelhair wool is both drapey and a somewhat heavier weight than what I am used to.  And I found with my first pattern piece, number 6 (which is the side back skirt pattern piece), the fabric was definitely distorted.  When I put my two number 6 pieces together after cutting them out separately, I discovered the hemline was a little too long on one side and a little too short on the other, but I decided this wasn't catastrophic as I could compensate when it came time to hem.

So from then on, I spent a lot of time moving the fabric around in order to pin the pattern pieces, while also making sure none of the rest of the fabric hung from the tables.  As you can imagine, this process got easier as I continued to cut because my fabric yardage decreased as I progressed.  But it required that each piece be pinned and cut one at a time.

I also discovered while cutting the first pattern piece that I laid my pattern so that nap on my coat will go up rather than down.  I suppose it doesn't matter which way your nap goes as long as it goes all the same way, but I would have preferred it going down.  But let's pretend this is a deliberate design choice on my part rather than a result of my inattention to detail, shall we???

One decision I needed to make was which fabric to use for the pockets.  Gertie suggests using the wool fabric for that portion of the pocket closest to the body, and the lining fabric for the other side of the pocket, to reduce bulk.  But I hate wearing gloves in winter, and I have a tendency to jam my hands in my pockets to keep them warm, so I cut all four pocket pieces from the camelhair wool to make my pockets as warm as possible.

After two hours and seven minutes into the cutting out process, I took a break and made myself brunch.  Then I went to the fabric store to buy more pins.  I could have gathered errant pins by walking barefoot in my sewing room but I went the wuss route and just bought more.

I resumed in the afternoon, and by the time I finished, I probably spent about three and half hours cutting out.  This does not include marking - I'll mark the pieces as I use them.  I just don't have the energy for marking all the pieces right now.  I also discovered that I had nearly a yard left over.  I think this is due to buying a little more fabric than the pattern called for, and doing everything I could to conserve fabric while I was cuting out.  I used the leftover fabric to re-cut pattern piece number 6 again which made me feel immensely better - and I found that I had no problem cutting both pieces at the same time by folding the fabric.  So I am puzzled by pattern's instructions to cut this out single layer, at least for the skirt pieces.  I can only assume that the single layer layout is to conserve fabric, and the double layer may not work if your fabric is anything less than 60 inches wide.  My was, and I wish I had figured this out sooner.  I'll remember this, though, when it comes time to cut out the lining.

So the garment fabric is finally cut.  It isn't marked.  And I've decided to wait and cut out the lining when I need it - I just can't face it now.  The temptation is to jump in and start sewing, but I'm resisting this.  I see this coat as an exercise in restraint and slow sewing - virtually unknown to me - so I am making myself put this aside for a while and work on a dress I have in progress.  I have to remember this coat is marathon, not a sprint!

P.S. You may notice I didn't do a muslin for this coat.  I don't like muslins.  And yes, I realize I'm taking a big risk, but this is a coat, not a close fitting garment, and the finished measurements printed on the pattern lead me to believe I'll be fine.  : )

Vogue 8648 - The Couture Dress

I saw an advertisement for a Craftsy course by Susan Khalje and I thought, I don't need to pay the money for the course, I'll just wait for Vogue 8648 to go on sale for $ 3.99 and sew it myself.  So I did.  Here is Vogue 8648:

And here is my version.  I made view C, which is the yellow dress above:

I made it from a wool/silk blend I found at the expensive fabric store in town which I bought on sale in February.  It's a blue/gray soft plaid that was a joy to sew, so I am a bit distressed to see how much the dress wrinkled in the photo above.  The dress is fully lined, so it was basically like making two dresses.  I started out by lining the dress in habotai silk, which I didn't realize was such a PITA to work with.  (Gertie didn't come out with her post on this diabolical silk until AFTER I started this project.)  So only the sleeves are lined in the silk, as I decided life was too short to try to wrestle silk into this dress.  I lined the rest of the dress in a swiss cotton satin batiste.  The biggest challenge with this dress was matching the plaid.  I was thrilled with my results:

(Can you tell???)  Here's a close up of the front waist band:

Here's a close up of the side.  I was excited by this:

I didn't bother with a muslin because I hate muslins, and the finished garment measurements printed on the pattern assured me that it would at least go around my body sufficiently.   That was probably a mistake.  I made my usual size 12 and had no problems, except for the bodice.  The side front was cut on the bias, and either the pattern piece was too long for my torso, or the bias stretched as I worked with it (I suspect it stretched). Here's a close up of the front neckline, and it is obvious that the neckline is too low.  It's not just that there is more cleavage showing that I am comfortable with, but that I have problems keeping my sleeves on my shoulders:

I also can't lift my arms very high - the armholes sit too low, causing restricted movement of my arms.  You should have seen me trying to close my car door yesterday morning! 

All of this is a real shame because I enjoyed making the dress so much - the plaid, the matching, the lining, all the interesting top stitching.  Even the sleeves.  For some inexplictable reason, the sleeves are cut in two pieces and sewn together (my matching on the sleeves was excellent; I forgot to get a photo of it), but they went into the armholes practically on their own - there was no need to do the whole basting and gathering thing to get the sleeves eased in.  It was magic. 

It's just the wearing of the actual garment that I don't like.  Mostly the inability to move, I guess.  And the revealing nature of the neckline.  I wore a jacket over it at work so I was sufficiently covered up:

 And of course, I realize I have no one to blame but myself!  A muslin would have helped enormously.  Taking Susan Khalje's course would have probably prompted me to do the muslin.  Well, maybe.  OK, doubtful.  I'd like to say this project wasn't a waste because I learned the value of doing a muslin, but that would be a lie.  I hate doing muslins so much that I am quite cheerful about having a project not work out every once in a while as the price I pay not to do them in all other projects that do work out.  I have learned that if I am thinking about sewing a close fitting dress, I'm taking a significant chance that it might not fit - and if that is a problem, maybe I need to choose another project.  So despite the three weekends it took me to make this dress, I'm glad its over and I'll probably be donating this dress - maybe someone who is my size whose a bit longer in the torso will benefit. Still, its a shame because the fabric is lovely . . .

: )