Throwback to Thanksgiving Moneta

As I've become a more prolific sewer, I continue to try and sew garments. Sometimes, just like in stores, I find a garment that I love, but that just doesn't work with my body type (like my quasi-successful wiksten tank, and my failure wiksten tank). And then I find a patternmaker that probably custom made the dress for my body. Right? I previously made a Moneta Dress by Colette Patterns, and it turned out great. Following on that success, I decided to make another version for my Thanksgiving dress!

Hanging in my Kitchen pre-turkey. 

It was a super quick sew, compared to quilt making! I made it Tuesday morning in about 2 hours. I really wanted to break out my serger, but since I'm still not confident, I made it on my regular machine. Investing in that 'knit sewing on your domestic machine' class was a great idea. One issue I came across was a huge flaw in the fabric I used. I chose Anna Maria Horner's knit fabric 'Mary Thistle' in Saffron. 

That rough section? A HUGE FLAW!

Luckily I trace my pattern pieces before cutting them out, and as I was laying out all the pieces I noticed this huge rough section. It goes across the fold, so it's actually about double what you see here. And, since it goes across the fold, it's hard to avoid! I had just barely enough fabric after a bit of maneuvering to cut out all the pieces that needed to be along the fold. In general, I was kind of blah about the quality of the fabric. It seems kind of linty (would flake off) compared to the birch organic I used on my other dress. However, the other dress has faded significantly in the wash, so perhaps this one will hold up better. 

Here's a few action shots of the dress on the big day. 

Carving that turkey with precision. 

Me, my sister, and my cousin. Family!

It was super comfy, and I got several complements on both the fabric and the dress (which is always nice!). It even survived the scavenger hunt. This year, as an intermission during the eating of 10,000 calories, my father designed a scavenger hunt that sent us running all over the farm. It was a great way to make room for more pie. And it was fun because we had snow on Thanksgiving for the first time in about 15 years!

So, I hope you all had a lovely holiday last week as well. I'm crossing this off my Q4 finishes, which is a nice feeling. I've also got a bunch of projects and a tutorial on a lined and lapped pillow to share, so hopefully I'll get around to doing that soon. 

The Bride of Frankensten

I made another Wiksten Tank. This one was by far my worst garment attempt. For some reason that I do not understand (because I am a garment dummy!) the voile sewed up much smaller than the rayon. I'm thinking it has something to do with the drape and stretch in the fabric?

Anyway, I thought I was going to hulk my way out of it the top (no pictures of that), so I had to cut off my first armhole facing and make a second attempt. With the second one I also ended up cutting notches in the seam allowance to provide a little more flexibility once the facing was completed.

Bye bye armhole!

Upon refinishing the armholes it fit a little better. I mean, I don't think I'm going to rip the shirt if I move anymore. Alas, I guess this pattern just isn't quite for me. Except I just got a serger, so I'm going to try to make it in a knit. Perhaps then all my woes will be forgotten!

Um, smile? 

Here I am pulling the top down to try to get a better fit! Um...I'm also wearing the top over a dress that I pulled down to turn into a skirt. But I'm sure that's not one of the problems...

I don't think the pattern is bad, per say, I just don't think it suits my body type. Luckily I was smart about cutting up my voile, so I have a bit left to play with. Otherwise I'd be pretty bummed!

Not so bad in silhouette? 

The shirt just makes me look far more pear shaped than I do in real life. And I'm not saying that's a bad body shape, I'm just saying it's not mine, and I'd rather look like myself!

Fingers crossed that things look better in knit! Any sewing disasters you'd like to share to make me feel better?

Colette Moneta

So, I have forayed further into garment sewing. I took a class in how to sew knits without a serger at Brooklyn General. Six of us each worked on making the Colette Moneta dress, most of us opting for the short sleeve or 3/4 sleeve version.

Me, my dress, and a bike instalaltion on Valentino Pier. 

I originally bought some great knits from Girl Charlee, but because UPS hates me, they took a few trips across the country before I actually got to use them. Consequently, I had to buy this amazing Birch Organic knit (Flight in Paprika by Jay-Cyn Designs) last minute. As you can tell, I was devastated by this turn of events.

Sewing knits without a serger is super easy, it turns out. You just use a short and narrow zig zag. And the result? You get all the swirly, stretchy, body hugging drape that we all love about knits. 

Action shot! I was spinning. And getting photo bombed by the Statue of Liberty. 

The finish isn't quite as professional as when using a serger, but using a double (or twin) needle gives that great double line of stitching when hemming. And anyway, how often do people see the wrong side of your clothes? Exactly.

The other secret: Wonder Tape. It's amazing. It's like glue basting in quilting, and you'll wonder why you ever hemmed anything without it.

I love the double needle. Like I could ever free sew two lines like this!  

So, for my first experience with a Colette pattern, and my first experience sewing with knits, it was a great one. I haven't washed anything yet, though, so I'm anxious to see how much it shrinks. It's a little loose on me, so hopefully shrinking will not make it unbearably small. In the mean time I'm wearing it as much as possible - 3 times already this week!

Just playing around! Still gotta work on finding the light!
Tyra would be so mad!

Linking up to Finish it up Friday with Crazy Mom Quilts

My Franken-sten

Earlier this week I posted that I was attempting the Wiksten Tank. I've been wanting to make some clothes for myself and thought this would be a good tank to learn on. Good news - it is! Bad news - I had to do major modifications to get it to fit my body type. That took it a little out of beginner zone. But it's okay. It reinforced my love of quilting and straight seams!

Slightly blurry tank top. 

So, newsflash: I have boobs. And I'm not a petite woman. Being a fairly pragmatic person I have come to realize that this is pretty much my body's stasis, and I'm ok with it (some days more than others). That being said, the Wiksten tank is beautiful, but is also designed for a less curvy woman (in my opinion...others may disagree).

Close up of pocket modification and dart. Can you find them? 

After my first muslin (a test garment made out of inexpensive material) I realized my tank more resembled an actual tank than a shirt. So I set to googling. I followed the directions on how to make and insert a side dart, but it was still kind of maternety-esque. And I'm not pregnant. So that's not the look I'm going for. I brought the sides in a little, kind of using my intuition. The (now second) muslin still looked iffy, but I decided that was because I'd made so many changes it didn't know which way was up anymore.

I held my breath, and cut into my AMH Rayon Challis Coordinates in Cyprus. It is so soft and silky, but not too stretchy. An interesting experience for one who only sews with quilting cottons and linen blends. It fits better than the muslin did, and I think I'll need to make a size larger when I perform my next attempt with some of April Rhode's Arizona Collection Triangle Tokens Voile. I'll need a breather before that, though, so back to quilting for me!

Ok, enough words. Here's my self portrait photo shoot. Happy Friday.

Me and Picasso. We love picture day.
Still figuring out where the camera and sun are. 

Unintentionally hiding my face.
I had literally just torn a huge hole in my jeans as the timer was going off. 

Linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and

  

Wish Me Luck!

Just got back from my 10 year (that can't be right...) college reunion. It was a great trip to catch up with some friends I only see a few times a year, and some friends I haven't seen since graduation. I even stayed in the dorms, which was a flashback experience, and sadly comparably sized to the rooms in my apartment.

Now that I'm back I'm working on quilting my Liberty Trip quilt, which is coming along nicely. I've also decided this is the summer of the garment, and have signed up for a class at my LQS to learn how to sew knits without a serger. In preparation of that I'm tackling the Wiksten Tank. I've got this beautiful AMH rayon, but first I think I'll try a muslin. I haven't made any clothes since I was in High School, and back then all I had to do was yell "MOM!!" if I got stuck!

I'm also participating in the 2014 New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop hosted by Plum and June. It starts this Wednesday (June 2) and is a great way to find new inspiration. You should stop by, maybe you'll find your new favorite blog!