Sad pear, keepin it thrifty, and a bag that fits the bill

Last Friday I had to go to an interview. Times being tough and competition being fierce, I was more than a little stressed out about presenting the correct image. And times being tough, I didn't want to drop a lot of money on a classy outfit, but I wanted to be classy nonetheless. Boy am I glad I can sew.

Now, I didn't have time to whip up a clever dress for the occasion. How I wish I did. I went to Goodwill hoping to score big... and I did find a oh-so-perfect-dress. It was a simple black wool sheath with short sleeves, from Talbots. It fit like a glove on top. But I'm a pear, and the bottom was a serious squeeze to get into. No amount of letting out seams was gonna fit my derriere into that dress gracefully. It was a major disappointment. Imagine - a perfect interview dress for $6. If only! So I went home feeling defeated and wasted a bunch of time browsing websites for career clothes... Talbots, Ann Taylor, etc.

images from Talbots and Ann Taylor

The thing is, most professional looking dresses for women have slim fitting skirts. And if you're pear-shaped like me, you've probably learned that these shapes on RTW just won't work for you. I only have to glance at a dress and know it won't fit. Unless a dress has a generous amount of room at the hips - for example an A-line or a flared skirt - it's a no-go. Shopping for career clothing can get very frustrating very quickly. In the end, I took something I already owned and made it work. But sometime soon I would like to tackle a classy career dress made to my measurements. No more staring woefully at RTW dresses that will never work.

This story does have a bright ending though. Aside from the clothing conundrum, I wanted an inconspicuous bag to carry to the interview. I only own one purse, and it wasn't gonna cut it. I might not have had time for a dress, but a simple bag I did have time for. And I knew just where to turn... I've had Yoshimi's Hatoto bag bookmarked for at least two years.

It's an extremely simple shape. I think Yoshimi is just such a classy lady herself that she makes this bag classy too. So I decided to make one. And of course, looking to save money and time, I took materials from the thrift stores...

The dress on the left is wool, with minimal shaping. Ideal for repurposing! And the coat on the left is a faux suede, I think. Funny, Yoshimi's bag above is made from pink faux suede. I actually liked this pink coat. I was tempted to just do a refashion on it. But the armholes were too big, and that's one thing I've learned I can't fix easily. Plus it has a lining inserted, and the idea of changing both the outer fabric and the lining and getting them to fit back together nicely? I'm tired just thinking about it. So... on the chopping block it went!

I used the grey wool dress for the outer part of the bag, and I used the pink polyester lining of the coat for the bag lining. I underlined the wool in some very stiff sew-on interfacing to give it a little shape. While Yoshimi doesn't provide a pattern for a lining, she does show this photo of a bag in progress...

I followed her lead and made the upper part of the bag lining in the wool. And I used up the last bit of some black piping as an accent between the two fabrics.

I also added a zippered pocket, and a small pen/pencil pocket. For now the pen pocket is swinging loose. I could tack it down. I haven't decided.

Considering I rushed this project to finish it in time for my interview, I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's a nice size for holding papers, a notebook, even an iPad. And toward the end of the day, I stashed a pair of comfy shoes inside. The outside is nothing exciting, so I love that it has a bright interior.

In short, my sewing skills couldn't deliver a dress in time for an interview, but they did deliver a much needed accessory and for much less than I could have bought one. I probably spent $10 altogether on the thrift store materials. And I think I can get another bag out of what I have left. This time, a pink faux suede outer, and the black lining from the dress for the interior? And if people are interested, I'll do a tutorial next time since I won't be so rushed!

Finished Minoru!

I took a blogging break - but I'm back with things to show off! I finished my Minoru jacket.

And just in time for a little extra winter! Around here in Indiana, everyone has been complaining for the past few weeks about the cold. Now, I'm from Montana, and all I can say is - IT'S FEBRUARY (or was, at the time of these complaints) IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE COLD. Also, I needed it to stay cold so that I could finish sewing my new coat and have time to wear it.

I guess the snow gods heard my plea for an extension, because we just got a little extra winter dumped on us. Whee! I want spring like every other person, but I'm willing to wait. Especially if it means getting a little extra wear out of my newest creation.

My Minoru is heavily modified. It's a bad habit of mine - picking a pattern and then changing it so much that I probably should have just chosen a different pattern. In this case, I really liked the Minoru pattern and all the good reviews I've read... but I also have always wanted a duffle coat. I was largely inspired by two other Minorus:

Karen's lovely camel wool Minoru...

and Miss Jackson's cozy Minoru with flannel lining and front placket...

I wanted my jacket to be wool like Karen's, despite the pattern being designed for lighter fabrics. I wanted the front placket like Miss Jackson's. And I wanted toggles, and a detachable hood (that's also lined), and side seam pockets. Oh and I didn't want the gathered cuffs. I think that's everything.

The outer fabric is a dark greenish blue wool coating from Denver Fabrics. The interior is a soft flannel from Fabricmart when they were having super deals on flannel. $3/yard I think. I pre-washed it twice to make sure it did all it's shrinking before I sewed.

I wanted the sleeves to be lined with cozy flannel too, but my sewing instructor wisely recommended a more slippery material. Getting the jacket on and off would be a pain otherwise. I compromised by using a bemberg rayon but underlining it with the flannel, to keep the cozy factor.

I didn't want the zipper exposed on the outside or inside, so I ended up doubling the width of the front center pieces and laying the zipper between them. But then I realized I didn't want to just topstitch the zipper down and have its edge exposed. So I had to cut the placket in half and sandwhich the zipper in the middle. You can kinda see what I mean in the photo below.

For the leather toggles, I snagged a leather skirt from Salvation Army and hacked it up. The skirt still had its original price tag on it. Guess how much?

$400.

Yikes! I definitely hesitated before cutting into it. It seemed a shame, but I didn't need a size 2 leather skirt. I needed leather toggle patch thingies. So that's what it became. I have a lot left over, and I'm scheming up some different ways to use it. Maybe a leather panel skirt, once again ripped off from Karen? To make my toggles, I referred to Gigi's duffle coat here. I didn't do it exactly the same, because I lacked a leather hole punch and the special leather glue she refers to. Oh well! At this point I just wanted to get the darn thing done. Topstitching the leather was a royal pain. It was very difficult to maneuver the jacket around to make those tight curves. I can see why square patches like Gigi's might be preferable. It would be much easier to sew straight lines that the curves I concocted. But at some point you have to say, "that's good enough!" I examined the sewing on a RTW toggle coat I have in the closet, and my stitching really isn't any worse. And I very much doubt most people will notice or nit pick. So that's that.

One thing I am proud of on this coat is the detachable hood.

I knew my wool was much too heavy to try for a concealed hood as called for in the pattern instructions. That would have been a seriously bulky collar. So I decided to do a detachable hood like my current winter coat. I sandwiched one half of a separating zipper between the hood and hood lining.

I topstitched the other half of the zipper to the outside of the collar, and made a little flap that covers it when the hood is detached.

I really like how the hood and collar turned out. Other random adjustments... I added a little room at the elbows of the sleeves because I felt a little constricted when I bent my arms in the muslin version. I was supposed to add some width to the hips, but I was lazy about making that adjustment on my paper pattern, and as a result I completely forgot when I cut out my fabric. To compensate, I added a triangular gusset to the center back. This was not a perfect fix, but it's not very conspicuous so I'm okay with it. I also did the side seam pockets according to Amy's tutorial, but I forgot to take photos. And I left the elastic out of the cuffs. But this post is long enough already!

All in all... I like my coat! There are some small things I might change if I were to redo it. For example, I think the plackets are too wide in front and it takes a little fiddling to get them to lay flat under the toggles. I've been staring at customer's coats when they come into the coffee shop when I work, to see how the plackets are handled. most don't have a wide overlap like mine. And most use a lighter material to make the underlying placket - the one that keeps the cold zipper from touching your skin. That makes a lot of sense to me, because this heavy wool was definitely a challenge to work with on the plackets. Still, I fit all the changes in, and I think it worked out okay. But next time I find myself making a fifth or sixth modification to a pattern, I'm going to make myself step back and reevaluate. I love this jacket, and I think I should definitely make it again... this time staying truer to the original!

ReSewlutions 2013 - Minoru

Oh no guyz! Karen is starting to pull people's names out of the Resewolution Jar, and I AM NOT READY to report on my progress. I only submitted one resolution (out of my list of seven), but it's the one that I have not made any progress on - finishing my blue jeans. But let me say in my defense, the walking foot I ordered to solve all my problems ... did not solve any of my problems. Until I make some progress on these, I'm going to live in fear of my name getting drawn out of the jar and having to explain myself to Karen and everyone else who decides to visit my blog.

SO NOW I'M GONNA DISTRACT YOU WITH MY OTHER SEWING ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!! Hey everybody, look over heeeeere......

Hey! It's me in a Minoru muslin. One of my resolutions for this year was to sew a Minoru, and I'm making progress. No, this is not the fabric I will be using for the real thing. These giant, abstract, pink and blue flowers just aren't for me, but the fabric was on clearance at Joann's, and the weight was right for coat muslin. So there ya go.

I've read so many good reviews of this pattern, and it was nice to find out everybody was right. I was dragging my feet to get started on this, but once I finally got going it went together really quickly. The instructions were very clear, all the pieces matched up perfectly, and the straight size 12 was almost a perfect fit.

I've read on other blogs that some people think the collar piece is too high. I spent some time wearing this around the house, and I decided the collar height is perfect if you want extra protection from the weather, but perhaps a little high if you're not as concerned about the weather and want people to be able to see your chin. I don't know why they need to see your chin... maybe you have a very nice chin. Anyway, I decided I would lower the collar in front a little, to allow for my chin vanity, but keep the height in back because I would hate to have cold drafts entering that way. Here's what my new collar pattern piece looks like:

I'll cut out that curve I drew along the top, and hopefully I'll end up with a collar that has a gentle slope downwards toward the front. Oh, and do you see how I've been a super responsible seamstress on this one? After working on my tailored jacket and learning a little patience, I decided it was worth it to trace off all the pattern pieces onto separate paper rather than cutting into the original. With a nice pattern like this it would be a shame to destroy the original with all my alterations. It took a lot of time, for sure, but I'm glad I did it.

Some bunching in back on the photo above, but I think this will be solved by the elastic waist. Also, it's just a tiny bit tight at the hips, which doesn't surprise me given the size chart for a size 12 (my hips are 44", the size 12 hips are 43 1/2"). I guess it's a minuscule difference, but I will add a little bit extra room in the hips on the final version. Tasia designed her coat for bike riding, and I want mine to have that same mobility.

I love the hood! Astute seamstresses might have noticed that I've sewn it on wrong. Since my final version will be in a somewhat bulky wool, I decided that it's best to avoid the little zippered stash pocket on the collar. Instead, I'm going to try to make a detachable hood using a separating zipper applied to the outside of the collar. I think this means I need to change the bottom edge of the hood a little, since in Tasia's version it gets sewn on at the base of the collar and in mine it will attach about midway up the collar. I haven't figured it out yet, but I'll show you when I do!

That's it! I'm off to cut out the fashion fabric!

Giveaway Winner!

Sorry folks! I'm a little late following up on the Sew Grateful giveaway from last week. So enough suspense! The winner of the three patterns issssss.....

our third commenter is Ellen, of Button Lover!

Congrats, Ellen! I'll send you an email and get your patterns on their way. And don't worry everyone else, I have a lot more patterns to de-stash. There are sure to be more giveaways in the coming weeks.

Underlining a Tailored Jacket

I'm a few days late posting my "tutorial" for Debi's Sew Grateful week, but better late than never! In the spirit of sharing sewing resources, I thought I would give you an update of how my tailored jacket is coming along. I'm getting pretty excited about it! I've cut out my fashion fabric, and last week I set about underlining everything. The purpose of underlining for this jacket is to give it a little extra strength and support. It also provides a convenient surface for securing things like pockets, because you can use handstitching to catch just the underlining during construction, making sure your stitches are invisible on the outside. Very handy! Underlinings, when made from something like flannel, can also be used to add warmth to a jacket. Here are a few other pages I found that explain the benefits of an underlining and how to apply one:

• Threads Magazine explains underlining
• Discussion of coat underlining - from the Great Coat Sewalong
• Underlining a dress bodice - Not a tailored jacket, but Tasia of Sewaholic has excellent, clear photographs and instructions for how an underlining works on a dress bodice.
• Couture et Tricot - The Great Coat Sewalong led me to this blog which has a wealth of tailoring info.  This link takes you to the search results for "underlining" on Tany's blog.

Since my underlining needs to add strength and stability to my jacket, but not necessarily warmth, my sewing instructor recommended silk organza. I ordered it from Dharma Trading Company at about $6/yard. Not so bad! Rather than use my pattern pieces to cut out the organza (which sounded like a pain), I decided to lay all my fashion fabric pieces out flat on the organza and cut around them. This clever tactic was inspired by something I read in one of those books I picked up last week... I think the Threads one... as well as by the good advice of my teacher. Here are all the pieces for my jacket front, back, and sleeves laid out on a double layer of the organza:

Once everything was laid out, I cut around each piece leaving a margin around all the edges. I just wanted to get pieces that were going to be big enough - they didn't need to be the exact shape yet. Then, I matched a piece of organza to each part of the jacket, making sure I was attaching it to the wrong side of the fashion fabric, and pinned the two parts together. And then I hand sewed:

I basted all of these pieces together by hand, trying to keep my stitches just inside the seam allowance. And yes, that was a lot of handsewing, because I chose a pattern that has four total pieces for the front, four for the back, and two for each sleeve... so twelve in all. You might think I'm crazy for doing this by hand, but I actually enjoyed it. There was something very satisfying about taking those big stitches and joining wool and silk together. The two fabrics just seemed to want to be together. Something about using natural fabrics is so pleasing for work like this. Plus, I got to sit and catch up on some news radio while doing all this. I did try machine basting for the very last piece, but I have to say the results were not as nice. Even though I sewed straight off the edges instead of turning corners, the fabric shifted around and I ended up with bubbles in the organza. Hand basting had a much smoother result, so I'm glad I did it. I also timed myself at the hand basting, in case you're interested. It took me between 12 and 15 minutes to do one piece - so that's about 2 hours 45 minutes of sewing altogether (although I didn't do it all in one stretch). If you truly hate hand sewing, you might not want to bother. But then again, if you truly hate hand sewing, you probably shouldn't be making a tailored jacket. Just sayin.

So here's one of my pieces after basting:

The next step was to trim off all the extra organza around the edges. This went very quickly. Sadly, doing it this way means I had to sacrifice all the little triangle notches on my wool.  went around each piece and cut a snip into the seam allowance to mark the notches first, before hacking them off along with the organza.

Rotary cutters made this part easy peasy. When I was done, I was left with this:

A big ol' pile of silk organza scraps. I was about to toss them, but then I remembered Gertie's tutorial for strengthening a neckline from way back.

Gertie's photo - silk organza strips stabilizing the neckline of a dress

I stuffed my scraps in a plastic baggy. They will definitely come in handy some day.

So that's my Sew Grateful tutorial, though it's not exactly a proper tutorial. After skimming some of those resources I posted above, I realize that I did not account for turn of the cloth when I cut my organza. It seems that you are supposed to cut the organza slightly smaller than your outer fabric - since the underlining lies against the concave curve on the inside of the garment, it covers a slightly smaller surface. Oh well, sew and learn. I will keep you updated on whether or not it effects the outcome of my jacket.

Sew Grateful Giveaway!

Yay! I'm holding my first giveaway!

Debi of My Happy Sewing Place is hosting Sew Grateful 2013 which I think is a lovely tradition - a week of giveaways, tutorials, and projects that celebrate the online sewing community and all it has given us. For me, the online sewing community is absolutely priceless in the information and inspiration shared. I am extremely grateful for all the wonderful seamstresses and seamsters out there who have taught me to sew (whether they know it or not), and who are also an indispensable part of my day in terms of the entertainment and enjoyment I get from reading about their lives and sewing adventures. So I am happy to kick off the first (of hopefully many) giveaways here on my blog as part of the online festivities organized by Debi. And this also fulfills one of my sewing resolutions for 2013. How convenient!

The patterns are a selection of 1970s styles, which I hope some people besides me appreciate (Lisette!). I'm giving all three away to one lucky person. First up is Simplicity 5341, a fantastic flow-y blouse with various neckline and sleeve options. I actually have a blouse like this already and it makes a fantastic summertime beach cover-up.

Next is Simplicity 9313. Ooh, this one is a little difficult to part with. I think the sleeves on style 1 are so interesting. Please, future pattern winner, make this version up and show us your results. Please?

Finally we have Simplicity 6157, a classic princess seamed shirt dress. I actually won this in a previous giveaway, but I'm not giving it away cuz I don't love it! I'm only giving this away because I have more than one shirt dress is my pattern collection. Otherwise I would selfishly keep it for me me me.

There you have it! Just leave a comment below (make sure I can find your email through your profile or sumthin... I've never done this before), and I will draw a winner at the end of Sew Grateful Week. Whooo!

EDIT - I'm such a noob to this. Forgot to say that I'll ship these anywhere (by the slowest cheapest method possible). And since giveaway protocol requires I ask something of you... well, why don't you post a link to something that is inspiring your sewing these days? I always like to look at inspiration photos.

Introducing...Simplicity 3343

Here's a blog post that's long overdue. Since last fall, I have been working on a tailored jacket (my first!) using vintage pattern Simplicity 3343.

Very chic, no? I embarked on this project after a chance meeting with a professional seamstress/sewing teacher while standing in line at the cutting table at Joann's. She gave me her card, and I decided to take my first formal sewing lessons. A sewing friend agreed to join me (to bring the cost of private lessons down a little), and we decided that our classes would be focused on creating a tailored jacket.

The lessons have been fantastic for making me slow down and do things properly. For one, it's the first time I've been this fastidious about transferring my fitting adjustments to the pattern. Secondly, my teacher insists we actually make the fitting changes to our muslins so we can try them on again and make sure everything is perfect. Sadly, I kinda got stuck at the muslin phase.

The photo up there is my muslin. I originally hoped it could turn into a wearable  muslin because it's nice wool that I scored off eBay last year for only $4/yard. Sadly, fitting issues with the armholes meant I would have had to recut a lot of pieces, and I just didn't have enough fabric left. SIGH. The culprit was a low armscythe...

my face and the quality of this photo both reflect the crappy-ness of this fitting issue

When I lifted my arms above about 45 degrees, the whole jacket got yanked up too. I do not like this issue at all, as I have discovered through previous forays with vintage patterns. But how to fix it? My sewing teacher put some pins in like this...

...which might have brought the sleeve in closer to the armhole and maybe fixed the angle a little. But I wore it like that for a while and it just didn't seem right. I needed MORE freedom of movement.

Too much freedom? Ripping out all those stitches sure made it feel better. It also provided maximum armpit ventilation. Plus, look how the bottom of the sleeve pulls a good three or four inches away from my body, once freed from the smothering grasp of the low armscythe.

While wearing it this way would be very comfortable, it would not be very warm or stylish. So I examined the hole I had created...

saw that it was pretty much just an oval, and decided I would make a gusset to fill the gap.

gusset pattern

I think that if I knew more about gusset drafting, this might have worked. I actually did cut this gusset in the wool fabric and inserted it, and it did greatly improve my mobility. Unfortunately, it brought the armpit of the jacket so up close and personal to my actual armpit that it was quite uncomfortable and tight. (Sadly, I have no photos of this stage) I am pretty sure that with some tweaking of the gusset shape, this could be avoided. But I searched for resources on how to do this and didn't find any readily available. In the meantime, I had wasted several private sewing class fees trying to fix this issue, while my compatriot classmate made steady progress without me. So I decided to try a different solution and just raise the armhole opening. I guess I probably should have tried that from the start, but I was enamored by the idea of vintagey gussets in a vintagey jacket.

I read that the armhole on a jacket only needs to be about 1" or maybe 1 1/2" below your armpit. I was dealing with at least 3" of space down there, so I decided to bring the armscythe up a solid 2". But I didn't want to tear apart my muslin, recut all my jacket pieces, and sew it back together. So I followed my teacher's advice and just drafted a couple pieces to fill in the gap and bring the armhole up...

You can see the drafted pattern pieces in the photo above, and how they filled in the low armhole on my muslin. Once this was accomplished, I had to redraft the sleeve so that it would fit a smaller armhole. I wasn't sure how big it would have to be so I measured the seam allowance on the original sleeve cap and the seam allowance on the original armhole. The armhole was about 90% of the size of the sleeve cap, which is eased in. In other words...

old sleeve hole seam length / old sleeve cap seam length = 0.90

SO

new sleeve hole seam length / new sleeve cap seam length = 0.90

I already had my new sleeve hole seam length, so I calculated my new sleeve cap seam length from that. Then I futzed around with my pattern and a pencil until I came up with a new line that equaled the desired length while maintaining the same basic shape as the original (just smaller).

trying out my new, smaller armhole... in an awkward bathroom photo shoot (it's the only place with good lighting!)

Then I cut out a new sleeve (in clashing plaid) and inserted it - and it worked! The fit is much more comfortable. I have a better range of motion, and I don't feel like the armscythe is trying to cut me a new armpit.

So now I'm finally, FINALLY, going to go cut out my fashion fabric and get started. Hopefully I will have some neato tailoring photos to share soon. Later!