New Year New Project. Lekala 4162

I've had this pink/red herringbone sitting in my stash for years now. I originally bought it from Emma One Sock to make a skirt out of. I only had 2 yards of 54" wide which when your a size 22 limits your choices. So I chose a slightly shrunken blazer from Lekala 4162. I got a shocking pink china silk lining from Mood online and for the pocket lining I used a fun quilting cotton print.

For those of you not familiar with Lekala patterns they are a Russian based company that sells made to measure patterns using CAD technology. They have an American site and a translated Russian site. I use the Russian site because the patterns are cheaper 50c for no seam allowances or $1 with seam allowances (3/8") vs $2.50 for the US site. You can either put in your basic measurements or you can create a data string which takes into account things like shoulder width, whether you breast sags etc.

The muslin was nearly perfect. The only adjustments for fit were narrow shoulder adjustment and a bicep adjustment. I did slash and spread the collars to add more of a curve shape and cut the under collar in two pieces on the bias. Turn of cloth allowance had already been added to the pattern and the sleeves have no ease you don't need to gather the cap at all. I could have probably cut the pattern as is and still have gotten an amazing fit. I plan to adjust my string to account for the changes I have to make.

I'm going do use a light hair canvas on the entire front and pad stitch the collar and lapels. I'm going to bag the lining and do double welt pockets instead of single welt pockets.

OH I forgot to mention the one thing about Lekala patterns is they usually don't have lining patterns and this is because most Russian ladies know how to cut one without a separate pattern. Once you learnt how its super easy.

Anise: Complete and worn in

I finished my Anise sometime before christmas and wore it to Vegas where I very sorely needed it. It's been chilly in LA these days which is actually nice after years of summer all the time. I'm happy it coincided with my finishing my coat I would have been SOL without it. It's really hard to find a nice anything when your size 22.

This is the first real garment I've sewn in years. I've made the odd knit top or scrub set but nothing that really required fitting or skill. Why? I was burn out. Crispy. I had been teaching knitting at a local yarn store 3x a week so knitting slowly replaced sewing for me. Then I took up spinning and weaving. But really the factor that was holding me back was the idea that I was "fat" and fat people don't look good in anything but knits and tents.

I'm hoping to prove this wrong one garment at a time. Admittedly I'm photographing them on a size 13 dress form because thats what I have. They look great on too but I haven't gotten the nerve to take live shots yet.

Ok lets get down to the garment itself this is the Anise by Collette Patterns. The pattern only goes up to size 18 which is a 46" chest. I'm a 50"so I graded up 2 sizes and then made a full bust adjustment, narrow shoulder adjustment, added a little to the back so the side seam wouldn't get pulled back and tapered the sleeves. Oh and I cut the under collar in 2 pieces on the bias and drafted my own lining and adjusted the facing to allow for the bagged hem. I tried this method this time instead of the one Kathleen from FI taught me.

It's not bad, Maybe not as sleek but I think if you were finding your pieces weren't lining up right then the workaround method would get you out of that hole without having to hand stitch anything. I guess I should just do side by side samples and let you make the decision. They do look differently since the workaround I used has the lining flush with the hem where it meets the facing.

I did both the bound buttons and the welt pockets according to the pattern instructions and I regret doing so. It eats up a lot of time and is very fussy. The one tip I did like was when creating the facing windows it suggested using fusible interfacing instead of silk organza which creates a nice finish. I fused the entire front and back using a fusible weft interfacing (which by the way you CAN get a Joann's lest the sewing snobs convince you otherwise) I used bias cut hair canvas on the sleeve hems and the jacket hem. I fused a chest shield as well.

Now about those darn sleeves. I knew they were trouble before I cut them out but I was trying to make it easier on myself since I had already made so many changes. They were too straight and too wide for a tailored jacket. Too much sleeve ease. So I taper the sides after the fact. And the sleeve ease? Well lets say I reverted to an old dirty habit from my home ec days. I just pinned the sleeve so it fitted in the armscye and then trimmed the rest off the top. I spent 2 days of the week it took me to make this jacket fighting with the sleeves.

Do I recommend this pattern? Well since I graded it up and changed so many things I really shouldn't get to have a say. For a newbie sewer I think it's good the illustrations are excellent and their are supplementary instructions on their blog. Just look at a few other peoples finished garments first. I'm notice a lot of them have issues with the shoulder/sleeve area.

The BIGGEST disappointment was my fabric choice. I compromised for color and I shouldn't have. It shows every little press mark and is spongy and stretchy. But the color is perfect.

Quaver Twist Puzzle

So over on Fashion Incubator the other day Kathleen posted a Q twist dress puzzle and then its eventual solution which comprised of cutting circles out of a large piece of fabric (2 yards of a 60" knit). Normally I look at these puzzles/challenges and think oh thats nice and just wait for others to post their solution.

This time I took advantage of the fact that I had finally moved my dressform from where it was smooshed behind the couch and that I just been to the by the pound fabric place and come back with 10lbs of knits.

The diagram looks like this

And the fabric once cut looks like this

Then you drape it on your form and see what happens. Warning. Things get very project runway sad pretty quickly.

This was where I started before I decided to chop into the fabric. Unfortunately once you start chopping you get stuck so far as choices.

And the final result.

I hate 5/8" seam allowances

Things always seem to go bad when I use a pattern with them and can't be bothered trimming them down to 3/8" or 1/4" before I sew them. Things are harder to match up, curves harder to sew then I STILL have to trim down the seam later.

So yeah I am opposed to anything more than 3/8" unless there is a good reason like flat felled seams. If you've done your fitting then theres no need. How often have you actually let a garment out as you've grown out it? Never I'm guessing.

Fabric Shopping: Sometimes I play the fool

So instead of partaking in the usual black friday crazyness I headed over to Mood Fabrics LA in hopes that it would be quiet the way it is during the day. It was. I think my husband and I might have been the only people shopping. I found my blue in a nice wool crepe. I would have been happier with something with a harder finish like a gaberdine or a flannel but the color itself was perfect and the price at $18 yard was just right.

Looks a little brighter in real life

Now the lining was where there was a problem. I grabbed a china silk and I don't know why but I didn't look at the price. Didn't think I needed to china silk is usually about $10-12 yard for a 45" width and even on the website Mood prices there china silk at $10 for what I assume is a 5mm. Anyways it wasn't until I had it cut I realized it was $25 a yard and let me tell you they let it be known that if they cut it you must buy it though to be fair before she cut my piece she had to unwind another already cut piece that someone must have balked at. Apparently what I had picked out was 8-10mm and 63" wide hence the higher price.

So I spend more on the lining than on the shell fabric which for me happens a lot because I can get good deals on wool fabrics but never the same for silk linings unless I order black or white from Dharma Trading. FYI Dharma Trading has excellent prices on silk organza for underlining.

There was a small silver lining the girl over cut my wool by 1.5 yards. Yes that much. Maybe she felt bad. The clerk who rang up my order gave me one of their nice canvas totes which they usually sell for about $10 so I think I came out ok. I just felt like a fool.

Overall I paid more than I wanted but got my moneys worth. The only think is I'll end up with too much fabric left over since I already had calculated a small cushion in yardage. I'm thinking this might end up being a Pan Am style suit if I make a matching skirt.

Anise: Getting there

Ok so I've slashed and spreaded the collar and the front of the Anise muslin. I added 3.5" on each front at the hip tapering up towards the bust and just spread the collar by eye.

Doesn't look much different I know but it fits.

The flat pattern adjustments I'll plan to do are a full bust adjustment (FBA) but also I'll reallocate about 1" to the back because when I put the muslin on it's the right circumferance around my hips but the side seams swing towards the back indicating that there needs to be some fabric added there. The collar definately looks better flatter but I don't want it to be too flat so I'll have to pull out the trusty patternmaking book. I will probably trace the neckline out and use that as a guide. I'll also make a narrow shoulder adjustment. Then recut the muslin and work on the sleeve. I'm not usually a muslin making person because I usually feel confident at making my adjustments but my body has changed and its been awhile so I don't really know which adjustments I'll need off the top of my head.

I plan to get fabric from Mood this weekend though if I can't find the perfect thing I have 4 yards of a wool cashmere blend in grey I can use. The thing is its a plaid with a pretty blue stripe and I'm not sure if I want to match plaids on this project and it's very conservative. I was thinking Pan Am blue and then a fun lining. The pattern suggests buying 3.5 yards which for a short jacket I find outrageous so am trying to do my adjustments today so I can layout a marker. An extra yard or two saved can mean money for a whole new project.

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.