Anise

Sooo I've been away from away from sewing for awhile a combination of being uninspired and overwhelmed with the concept of dealing with my larger body. I didn't really want to deal with having to alter things or to try and make myself "look" thin. But I've come to the realization that maybe fat girls shouldn't be trying to look thin. We won't achieve said goal and we already know we are fat so I am going to throw my mother's constant advice "Your not the one who has to look at you" out the window  and just sew things that make me happy. Not look "good by societal standards" but happy with myself.

So I'm starting with Collette Patterns Anise. Its a double breasted jacket than ends at about the hipbone with a peter pan collar. Probably every fat girl don't in the book and my friend A (who is not svelte either) would probably spend about half an hour giving me all the reasons why it would look like ass.

Still searching for the perfect blue.

Well I graded the pattern up 2 sizes from 18 to 22 and sewed up a muslin and guess what it almost fits and it makes me happy. I look good too. I just need to add a little width in the hip area and fit the collar.   Where it attaches to the neck is very straight and it doesn't hang as flat as I would like. In general the more curved the neckline edge is the more likely the collar is to lay flat. The straighter it is the more it's going to standup. This seems to be a common problem with commerical and indie patterns probably because collars are drafted starting with a straightline. The solution? Slash and spread so the outer edge grows and the neckline edge stays the same ( so it will still fit into the neckline )

See how the collar looks funky? The pattern needs to be curved like your neck.

So now my problem is fabric. I have a nice grey wool with a subtle blue plaid that I got from British Fabrics on eBay back when the USD wasn't so weak against the pound. It's lovely but a) it doesn't set my heart on fire for this project and b) not sure I want to go into the effort of trying to match the plaid on a pattern I didn't draft *newsflash if your plaids and stripes don't match it's not you it's the pattern* most of the time anyways.

I would love to be able to get a blue similar to the to model garment and about the same weight but not to thick since I live in California. Attached to the muslin are two samples I wish would mate and grow some baby yardage. The thinner brighter wool twill swatch is the color and the navy camel hair is the texture though camel hair might be too warm.

I haven't graded or tested the sleeves yet. Sometimes I like to sew the body of a jacket and then fit the sleeves to match. Otherwise if you make any changes to the armhole during the sewing process then you've already cut out your sleeves and then your SOL. Round peg square hole situation. So I sew the body do any hand tailoring and then hang the muslin sleeves on the body, work out any kinks then cut the sleeves. If its a pattern I'm sure of the fit then I wouldn't do that obviously.

I bought the Anise companion not because I really needed the instructions but because I liked the concept of a 8 day checklist process to keep me motivated. Some of the techniques have me going ewww but for a beginner it might be ok.

Hopefully I can get over to Mood Fabrics in West LA and find the perfect fabric. I'd be willing to compromise and go for a kelly green but blue makes my eyes pop.