Not much sewing is getting done this week. I'm working on projects around the house and cleaning and painting which means it's mostly mental sewing HOWEVER... last night I watched the webcast on fitting jeans. It reminded me of our conversation a few weeks ago after looking at that link of all the different women wearing jeans. This one is really interesting in how Peggy adds a wedge to the back for the longer back length and makes tucks that take out those wrinkles under the butt. The woman modelled does not have a flat derriere but it is talked about and you can clearly see how the inset would become a dart for the opposite problem. By the time I was finished watching, I wanted to try another pair of jeans. LOL - next week there should be more actual sewing but there's a long list ahead of a pair of jeans.
There's also less room in the stash closet already. No... VBG... I didn't buy more fabric. I moved the sewing machine case, my travel table, and six boxes of business and writing related information that were being stored in another area of the house. I'll need to sort through them and decide what stays and what goes when I have more time but until then, I don't like to ooze. I prefer to have everything in one room plus filling up some of those open shelves makes them a lot less dangerous.
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One drawer in the filing cabinet was empty and the other was only half full while the pattern drawer was stuffed to overflowing so I switched them. Like the stash closet, this frees up more space so I'll need to be careful not to shop my heart out and instead appreciate the ease with which I can pull out and put back the patterns. It was wonderful to sort them by category again. The top drawer has all the larger, Vogue envelopes as well as children's, nightwear, accessory, and fitting patterns and two muslins that may be taken forward at some point.
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The bottom drawer has skirts, pants, jackets, dresses, and tops. Every time I sort through the pattern collection, I'm surprised by a) how many coat and jacket patterns I have (an entire row) since I never wear jackets and haven't sewn a coat in years and b) patterns I can't remember buying or why I bought them. I know some were purchased because I saw a fabulous interpretation of the design on another blog but where? I don't have that information written down although a search at PatternReview.com might turn up what I need. I remind myself to look at the line drawings because often they make the pattern far more approachable.
Here are a few of that sparked some creative thinking...
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This vintage pattern - V8767 - calls for silk crepe, satin, lightweight woolens, or linen - basically light and drapey fabrics. I really like the princess seam with gathers under the bust and the peplum-ish shape BUT... it's a jacket. What are the odds ? ? ? I've been debating it in a knit for a more cardigan like garment. I think that would look great.
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With this pattern - V8588 - I like both the t-shirt and the pants. One of the women I worked with at Fabricland - when I worked there - had sewn them out of a very bright loud print. They looked great but not for me. I like the version in black.
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The shape of View A - top right in blue - of this McCall's M6515 pant pattern is very flattering on my figure type and so is the shape of the fuchsia pair. They are wide leg without being really wide legged and - appear to - still have shaping through the hips.
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McCall's 6654 is a basic, easy, knit skirt and reminded me of the Magic Pencil Skirt. It's drafted with two variations in a total of seven lengths. View A, the shortest pencil version, takes .60 meters of fabric which makes it perfect for remnants and a knit skirt is such an easy garment to wear. As an aside - I wish BMV would include a picture of the pattern envelope in the available images on their pages. Many times that image is missing and I prefer it to store in my digital files.
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This jumper - McCall's 6396 - is the pattern most likely to get sewn first. Lengthened with tights and a co-ordinating top with 3/4 sleeves, it would be a great summer outfit and perfect for the DOL workshop. It sounds ridiculous to say this since the workshop is near the end of June but I'm starting to feel like I'm running out of time to get my "wardrobe" sewn since I have at least two possibly three trips planned to visit my daughter and son-in-law and then our grand baby as soon as he/she is huggable plus they are coming to visit us the weekend before I leave SO... I'm concentrating on sewing complete outfits as opposed to individual garments. That's helping although my shifting weight is not. It's shifting but not very quickly which could be great for losing it permanently but is not so great for developing a wardrobe. Oh well. What is, is and...
... I have a lot of patterns to consider while waiting. Have you found any surprises in your pattern collection lately? What were they?
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - better organization of patterns and files
There's also less room in the stash closet already. No... VBG... I didn't buy more fabric. I moved the sewing machine case, my travel table, and six boxes of business and writing related information that were being stored in another area of the house. I'll need to sort through them and decide what stays and what goes when I have more time but until then, I don't like to ooze. I prefer to have everything in one room plus filling up some of those open shelves makes them a lot less dangerous.
One drawer in the filing cabinet was empty and the other was only half full while the pattern drawer was stuffed to overflowing so I switched them. Like the stash closet, this frees up more space so I'll need to be careful not to shop my heart out and instead appreciate the ease with which I can pull out and put back the patterns. It was wonderful to sort them by category again. The top drawer has all the larger, Vogue envelopes as well as children's, nightwear, accessory, and fitting patterns and two muslins that may be taken forward at some point.
The bottom drawer has skirts, pants, jackets, dresses, and tops. Every time I sort through the pattern collection, I'm surprised by a) how many coat and jacket patterns I have (an entire row) since I never wear jackets and haven't sewn a coat in years and b) patterns I can't remember buying or why I bought them. I know some were purchased because I saw a fabulous interpretation of the design on another blog but where? I don't have that information written down although a search at PatternReview.com might turn up what I need. I remind myself to look at the line drawings because often they make the pattern far more approachable.
Here are a few of that sparked some creative thinking...
This vintage pattern - V8767 - calls for silk crepe, satin, lightweight woolens, or linen - basically light and drapey fabrics. I really like the princess seam with gathers under the bust and the peplum-ish shape BUT... it's a jacket. What are the odds ? ? ? I've been debating it in a knit for a more cardigan like garment. I think that would look great.
With this pattern - V8588 - I like both the t-shirt and the pants. One of the women I worked with at Fabricland - when I worked there - had sewn them out of a very bright loud print. They looked great but not for me. I like the version in black.
The shape of View A - top right in blue - of this McCall's M6515 pant pattern is very flattering on my figure type and so is the shape of the fuchsia pair. They are wide leg without being really wide legged and - appear to - still have shaping through the hips.
McCall's 6654 is a basic, easy, knit skirt and reminded me of the Magic Pencil Skirt. It's drafted with two variations in a total of seven lengths. View A, the shortest pencil version, takes .60 meters of fabric which makes it perfect for remnants and a knit skirt is such an easy garment to wear. As an aside - I wish BMV would include a picture of the pattern envelope in the available images on their pages. Many times that image is missing and I prefer it to store in my digital files.
This jumper - McCall's 6396 - is the pattern most likely to get sewn first. Lengthened with tights and a co-ordinating top with 3/4 sleeves, it would be a great summer outfit and perfect for the DOL workshop. It sounds ridiculous to say this since the workshop is near the end of June but I'm starting to feel like I'm running out of time to get my "wardrobe" sewn since I have at least two possibly three trips planned to visit my daughter and son-in-law and then our grand baby as soon as he/she is huggable plus they are coming to visit us the weekend before I leave SO... I'm concentrating on sewing complete outfits as opposed to individual garments. That's helping although my shifting weight is not. It's shifting but not very quickly which could be great for losing it permanently but is not so great for developing a wardrobe. Oh well. What is, is and...
... I have a lot of patterns to consider while waiting. Have you found any surprises in your pattern collection lately? What were they?
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - better organization of patterns and files