McCall's 6800

I've been branching out from dresses lately and decided that maybe it was time to try a coat. I love the look of this coat.

Pattern Used: McCall's 6800

Fabric Used: Cotton Twill, lined with Satin

Pattern Details: Tailored coat with length and collar variations, princess seaming

View Made: C, with the hood from D

What did you like about this pattern? I really like the look of the princess seaming, as well as the fullness of the skirt on the coat. It gives this a really unique look.

What did you dislike about this pattern? I wasn't a huge fan of the circle skirt hemming. I wasn't supposed to do a narrow hem, which is what is easiest with a circle skirt, so I tried to do a wider hem and it did not turn out that well. I will probably end up re-hemming this coat at some point since it bothers me so much. Also, it was A LOT of work. Each part was three pieces, which had to be sewn together, finished on the inside and topstitched. The end result is pretty spectacular, but a lot of work.

Did you change the pattern at all? No. All I did was remove the belt carriers and add the hood from D.

Final Thoughts: I have the fabric to make this coat again, with plaid. I'm really excited about it, but this pattern was intense enough that I'm going to have to make some simple things for a while to give myself a break. It looks really cool though! OH! And, the hood is too big. When I make this again, I'll need to take out a bit of the fabric on the curve of the hood so it doesn't droop down over my eyes.

Pictures:

Butterick 5682

JEANS! SQUEE!!! Hopefully, you can all see my excitement. These turned out SUPERBLY and I think everyone need to go get this pattern RIGHT NOW!

Pattern Used: Butterick 5682

Fabric Used: Cotton Twill (just a smidge lighter weight than denim)
          NOTE: I used upholstery thread for these, to give it that real, authentic jeans look

Pattern Details: Jeans, in various leg styles, including cropped, straight leg, boot cut and trouser

What did you especially like about this pattern? The various leg styles

What did you especially dislike about this pattern? I only have a couple of small quibbles with this pattern.
          1. Please, stop printing curves one over top of the other on the pattern tissue. I had to repair mine after I cut the curve for the size 8 instead of the size 12. Or if they won't stop doing that, LABEL the lines on both sides of where the curve intersects.
         2. Please tell me where it is not essential that I use denim, so that I can reduce bulk. Thank you. My machine thanks you too. It doesn't like making those horrible chugging noises either.
        3. Don't tell me to buy a seven inch zipper and then have me shorten it. That was really annoying, considering that I bought a METAL JEANS ZIPPER. In reality, I only needed a three and a half inch zipper, so it would've been nice to know that I could just buy that size.

Did you change the pattern at all? Nope. Except, I tried to use some quilting cotton to face the waistband, but for whatever reason, I cut it the wrong way and so had to revert to denim. This pattern is a little persnickety and broke my brain a little bit. You have to be really careful to know which way stuff is going to end up facing so that you can have the right side facing out.

What did you learn from this pattern? Flat-felling seams. This is the classic way that jeans are sewn, and I found out that I kind of suck at doing it. Good thing all my flat-felling is to the inside. The outside just looks nicely topstitched.

Final thoughts: I will make this pattern over and over and over and never buy cruddy store-bought jeans again! They fit so well! And they really weren't even that hard to make. :)

Pictures:

McCall's 5050

This one's a new one for me. I had been looking at this particular fabric for a while, but couldn't think of the right place to use it, since it was so lightweight. I decided the best thing to do with it would be a nice, flow-ey, peasant blouse.

Pattern Used: McCall's 5050

Pattern Details: Peasant-style blouse with sleeve variations

Fabric used: Lightweight cotton

View Made: A

What did you especially like about this pattern? I like that I don't need to interface anything, and I like how simple this pattern is in general. It only took me about three hours, start to finish.

What did you dislike about this pattern? Not a whole lot.  I found that once I had made the elastic casings and left the opening, it was hard to stretch the elastic so I could sew my casing down flat. Other than that I had no problems.

Did you change the pattern at all? Nope. However, I didn't use the elastic guides provided. Instead, I just measured the elastic to my body to make sure it was the right length.

Final Thoughts: This turned out well, the fabric was easy to work with. I will be making this again sometime.

Pictures:

Front View

Back View

Bow

 

By the way, I don't know why these pictures turned out blurry, but they'll have to do.

McCall's 6696 Revisited

Recently, I made another "copy" of a dress that I made back in June. I really liked the original and had fabric and buttons for another one.

I made another shirt-dress from McCall's 6696. For the original review, click here.

I have no really new information to add on this pattern, other than I've decided to stop pressing the edges of pieces up before I sew them. If you sew them first, then pin it in place, you can press the edge evenly along the seamline, covering all that you need to, as well as making the inside look nearly as neat as the outside. (I'm talking about the waistband here, where you are supposed to press up one edge at 5/8", then sew it over your interfaced waistband and skirt, then slipstitch it down.)

As per usual I didn't slipstitch anything on this pattern, instead I did a lot of edge and topstitching, hence the new technique for pieces that should be slip-stitched.

A note about this fabric. I really love the way this fabric looks and feels. I'm pretty sure it's a poly-cotton blend, that's heavy on the poly. It was quite hard to work with, however. Because it is so light, it tucks like nobody's business and it frays really badly. I ended up finishing all my inside seams with a zig-zag stitch. It was also kind of hard to hem, because of the tuck-ey-ness. In the end, I think the result is worth it. It's almost a vintage look. :)

Pictures:

Front View

Back View

Close-up of topstitching and fabric. Notice the white striation to the fabric.

Edgestitching along the button strip.

McCall's 5523

This pattern's a good wardrobe staple. It's not exceptional in the looks department (but that may be due to my body shape. I don't think pencil skirts are my thing). Anyway, here's the review:

Pattern Used: McCall's 5523

Fabric Used: Grey Suiting

Pattern Details: Pencil skirt with princess seams and back insert.

What did you especially like about this pattern? It came together really easily and I like the different options for the back.

What did you especially dislike about this pattern? Nothing really. It was a simple, straightforward pattern.

Final Thoughts: I wish that I had realized earlier in this project that the seams were puckering slightly. I also wish I wouldn't have hemmed the larger circle insert before inserting it. In the end, I had to cut the hem off and do it again. Finally, I wish suiting pressed nicer. I didn't want to edge and topstitch all the seams, but that's what happened.

Pictures:

Front View

Back View

 

Sorry for the short review, but I find that this pattern really is as easy as presented. I can't really think of anything to say about it.

Vogue 8470 Revisited

So I did say that this pattern was on my list to make again. I finally got around to it, and I am very pleased with the results.

Since I've already made this pattern, I won't review it again. If you want to read the full review, you can do it here.

I really like how this turned out. I used a really lightweight, white, embroidered fabric for the top, and a cotton-candy pink broadcloth underneath. The white softens the pink of the broadcloth, and the pink gives a little colour to the white fabric on top. It's a nice balance.

I didn't have any problems with this pattern, really. The only things that were problematic were the ruffle and the halter top itself, a little bit. For the ruffle, I couldn't figure out the markings. You'd think, with all the sewing I do, that wouldn't be a problem, but after fiddling with the ruffle for about an hour, I laid the skirt out flat on the floor, and adjusted the ruffle to fit evenly around the skirt, disregarding seam matching (GASP!). I figured the ruffle itself would disguise that the seams don't match up. However, I DID match the back skirt seam to one of the ruffle seams. AND, since the fabric was so light-weight, I kept sewing bits of the skirt in to the ruffle seam, and then had to rip it out. At least you hem the ruffle before putting it on, so that means less circle-skirt hemming.

For the halter top, I don't really understand what Vogue is trying to teach me by having me construct the complete bodice in lining and good fabric, and then attaching the two around the edge. If I ever make this again (which I might), I'll put together the halter pieces with their lining, then sew those to the midriff piece, then attach the lining over the back. I think that method would give me more control over the look, placement and fit of the halter pieces, even if it is a bit more fiddly to attach the midriff lining after.

Finally, since this is a halter dress, I had to take in the back at the zipper, a little bit, just to make sure the back was snug.

Final thoughts: RUFFLES!!!

Pictures:

Front View

Back View

Close-up of Fabric Combo

RUFFLES!

McCall's 6956

So this one's a bit of a flop. It really just lacks wearability. It's still cute, but could probably benefit from the addition of straps.

Pattern Used: McCall's 6956

View Made: B

Fabric Used: Quilting cotton and broadcloth. Just a note about the quilting cotton, I really REALLY wanted to match up the stripes and have it all perfect, but they apparently don't repeat, so there will be no matching. I don't think it really impacted the overall look of the dress too much.

Pattern Details: Strapless, fitted bodice, pleated skirts and hem band. A/B, C, D Cup Size, boning 

What did you like about this pattern? I like that the bust is cut on the bias to give those cool-looking chevrons.

What did you dislike about this pattern? Not much. I did have to do something that I didn't want to, which was sewing the lining pieces directly to my good fabric and then treating them as one piece. That was SO INCORRECT, and should never be done in a properly constructed garment, but because of the boning and the pleats, I had no other choice if I wanted to line the dress. And I had to slipstitch the WHOLE HEM BAND in place. It took me at least two hours to do. I HATE slipstitching. Unfortunately, because of how the dress was supposed to look over all, there were no other options, otherwise that hem band would have gone through the machine in an instant. If there was other topstitching, maybe, but there was no other topstitching so I thought it would look stupid to have some along the hem band and nowhere else. 

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes. The instructions were quite good, however, they seem to forget that on the sides, to insert the boning, you would need to sew right through the dress, not just attach it to the seam allowances, because of the waist seam. I feel this was a minor glitch and my boning inserts along the sides are not noticeable.

What did you learn from this pattern? Inserting boning. It is much easier than I expected and will allow me to create more tailored and fitted garments in the future.

Final thoughts: I don't think I'll make this one again. It's just meh, not amazing, as I wanted it to be. I tried it for the strapless aspect, which worked, but didn't fit as well as it could have. I really wanted to like it, with all the playing with fabric grain, but no. It will go in to a pile to be worn over a bathing suit or some such. Also, I was lucky. Usually I would've made a size 12, but the finished measurements said it would have too much bust ease, so I made a size 10. It fit with only a little let out at the sides, which was nice.

Pictures:

Front View

Close up of  the Bust Chevrons

Back View

Hem Band

Come back for my next post on JEANS! I'm so excited about them. :)

Butterick 5982

This one came out of the "make this in the future" bin, and so I was less than enthusiastic when I was making it. However, it turned out SO WELL!

Pattern Used: Butterick 5982

Pattern Details: Fitted bodice, high boatneck, pleated/gathered skirt, accent belt, A/B, C, D Cup Size

Fabric Used: Linen, with broadcloth lining

View Made: B

What did you especially like about this pattern? I like the contrast skirt and I like that it's not a super-low-cut bodice.

What did you especially dislike about this pattern? Nothing. It was very straightforward.

Did you change the pattern at all? No, except for adding pockets and lining to the skirt.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes. However, I found it strange that you sew together the strips of the skirt horizontally and then have to match the side seams. I suppose that is so that it's not crucial that they line up perfectly, but I would have preferred to make the front and the back, then sew them together along the sides.

Did you learn anything from this pattern? Nope. It was pretty easy. 

Final Thoughts: This just turned out super classy and professional and grown-up looking.

Pictures:

I was only able to get one picture of this dress that wasn't blurry. Here it is!

Butterick 6049

Ok. I love how this dress looks on the model. I obviously do not have the model's figure as I had MAJOR fit problems with this dress. Read on to find out why.

Pattern used: Butterick 6049

Patten Details: Fitted, halter top bodice, circle skirt and pockets.

Fabric used: Red and white polka dot quilting cotton and white broadcloth

What did you especially like about this pattern? The halter top. I've never made and very seldom wear halter tops.

What did you especially dislike about the pattern? The fit after I sewed it all up. I made my customary size 12, but it only half fit. The waist fit perfectly, but the bodice was designed for someone with a much bigger bust than me. The back gaped about three inches (which I ended up taking out at the zipper) and the halter top ends were much too long. I ended up overlapping them by about two inches. The dress now fits decently, but still not perfectly. It also has a rumple-y waist, that I don't think I can fix. There just seems to be a little too much fabric under the bust. Also, when attaching the halter pieces to the midriff, it was almost impossible to get the two white points to line up correctly. I gave up after about five tries, but they are still slightly off-kilter.

Did you change the pattern at all? Nope, except for the above-mentioned alterations

Did you learn anything from this pattern? Nope. Except that it reinforced that I DISLIKE slipstitching.

Final thoughts: I really wanted to like this dress. It's so cute in the pictures. But I don't really. It looks nice NOW but it was a hassle to alter it. Especially because I took it in to fit my dress form, and it STILL had extra fabric in the bust area. I'll wear it, because it does look nice now, but I'll need some time to get over how much extra work I had to put in to it.

Pictures:

Front view

 

Back View

 

Also, I'll be taking a small hiatus from posting for a while. Keep checking back, hopefully I'll be posting again in a couple of weeks!

Butterick 5756

I caused myself a few problems with this particular pattern, and it was NOT a fault with the pattern. Read on to find out what went wrong...


Pattern Used: Butterick 5756


Pattern Details: Pleated skirt with hem-band variations.


Fabric Used: Gingham, with broadcloth lining, sigh.


View Made: B (B has bias cut hem and waistband, A has straight-grain hem and waist band.)


What did you especially like about this pattern? The skirt is so full, and the hem band just sort of sets off the whole skirt.


What did you especially dislike about this pattern? Nothing. It was super simple to make, came together quickly and well, and fits superbly. It sits just at/below my belly button comfortably, with no gaping or tightness. And, I had NO zipper problems with this skirt, for once!


Did you change the pattern at all? Yes. Sigh. I added lining because my gingham was a touch see-through and I like lining things, apparently. The way that I lined this skirt was all good, until it came to the pockets. There is a pleat over the pockets, that would work if the skirt wasn't lined (because my pockets always sit in between the good fabric and the lining). So my pocket is hard to get at, and kind of bulky, but other than that, it's fine. I also chose to buy narrow fabric for this skirt. Possibly fatal mistake there, but it was averted. The skirt pieces, both front and back are WIDER than 45" if you are cutting them on the straight grain. I cut mine on the cross grain and it didn't matter because it's gingham, but for stripes or any other directional fabric, this pattern really needs to be 60" wide. In fact, the envelope only lists measurements for 60" fabrics. Also, because the fabric was narrow, I bought an extra metre, which turned out to be just enough to get all my pieces on. I also only bought 2 metres of lining, which was tight. 2.5 metres would have been better (again because broadcloth is generally only 45" wide.) To finish the lining, I cut the front and back pieces about 2" longer than the good fabric ones, and narrow hemmed it, so that the lining hem sits just past the seam for the bias band.  Finally, when making the pleats, I didn't reinforce the seam well enough at the bottom, as they started to come apart a little with wearing the skirt. Next time, I'd reinforce more, or maybe tie the thread ends together before trimming, as I would for a dart.
 I also did stitch-in-the-ditch to secure the hem band, as I did not want to slipstitch. 

Final thoughts: This is a basic, interesting, wearable skirt with lots of potential for future attempts.


Pictures:

Front View

 

Back View

 

Close-up of Bias Hem Band

Vogue 8874

Such Vintage!
 
Pattern Used: Vogue 8874 (Vintage Vogue Line)
 
Pattern Details: Fitted bodice, high neckline, very full skirt
 
Fabric Used: Sporting weight cotton (Has a slight stretch to it), broadcloth lining, and quilting cotton
 
View made: B (although there is really only one view, views A and B only differ by length.)
 
What did you especially like about this pattern? The raised waistline in the front, the bow, and the fullness of the skirt. It was also really nice that I didn't have to interface anything for this pattern, nor did I have to hem sleeves.
 
What did you especially dislike about this pattern? Nothing really. I have no major complaints about it. It fits really well with no alteration. The bow could be made a little shorter so that it doesn't have such big loops and I did have to cut off about 4 inches from the bottom in order to make it a nice tea length (otherwise it would have hit about 2 inches above my ankles, which I didn't think was that flattering.) Also, the neckline gapes a bit, probably because it is so high.
 
Did you change the pattern at all? Not really. I did cut out the pleat underlay from a contrast fabric, because really, what's the point of a pleat underlay that you can't see? I also added skirt lining, and then sandwiched the lining and fabric over the edge of the bodice where the waistline is raised.
 
Final thoughts: Will make this one again! It came together super quickly (about 8 hours from start to finish) and looks really good. :)
 
Pictures:

 

Front View

Back View

Raised Waistline

Pleat Underlay fabric

Simplicity 2447

This pattern was a bit of a disappointment. So much potential wasted.

Pattern Used: Simplicity 2447

Pattern Details: Button-down shirt with length, sleeve and neckline variations

Fabric used: Dotted Swiss

View Made: View A with the sleeves from View B

What did you especially like about this pattern? The bias insert at the bust. It has so much potential, especially when working with stripes or plaids.

What did you especially dislike about the pattern? The sizing. I made my usual size 12 which fits me perfectly for every other pattern that I've made, but I'm SWIMMING in this shirt. The sleeves are huge, there is no waist to the shirt and it almost comes to my knees. So sad. I tried wearing it with a belt, which slightly improved the look, but not a lot. I love the fabric of this shirt, so it was especially disappointing when it turned out so mammothly huge.

Did you change the pattern at all? I used the sleeves from view B and put them on view A because I didn't want long sleeves.

What did you learn from this pattern? The sadness of a garment made too large. My arms look like twigs coming out of the gigantor sleeves.

Final thoughts: I could fix this, I'm sure, by taking in the sleeves and sides, but I haven't looked at this shirt in a while since it makes me kinda sad. And fixing it takes effort. Once I'm done and all the edges of a project are finished, I like it to be FINISHED and not have to worry about it again.

Pictures:

Front View (This dress form has my measurements dialled in to it, so I hope it adequately illustrates how LARGE this top turned out)

Front again

Fabric close-up

Vogue 8882

Ok, so this was a pattern entirely determined by fabric. I loved the fabric in the store and so then went and found an appropriate pattern to use it. This is what I came up with.

Pattern used: Vogue 8882 (Vogue Easy Options line)

Pattern details: Pleated skirt with waistband, with hem and waistband variations.

Fabric used: POLKA DOT CHIFFON! Lined with Heritage quilting cotton (this has a bit more of a linen-y texture than broadcloth) 

View made: Franken-pattern combination of A and E.

What did you especially like about this pattern? By far the asymmetrical hem.

What did you especially dislike about this pattern? This is more of a body-shape thing, but in order to not gape horribly at the waist, I have to wear this skirt well above my belly button. I THINK this is how the pattern is designed to be worn, since I don't have any length issues with it. Also, the waistband is really wide, also leading me to have to wear it at an odd height.

Did you change the pattern at all? YES. My version is a complete franken-pattern. I basically made view A with a chiffon overlay of view E, or if you want to think about it the other way, I made view E with a lining of view A.

An itemized list of my changes:

    --I sewed the waistband of views A and E together (one on top of the other, then basted around the edge) and treated it as one piece.

    --I hemmed view A instead of interfacing a band to sew to the hem and then slipstitch in place

    --I sewed View A as I would for a lining (the seams and hem face OUT instead of in towards the body)

    --I hemmed the opening for the zipper in the chiffon and only sewed the zipper to the quilting cotton

I think that's all...

Things this pattern taught me: French seams. I did French seams on all of the chiffon seams because of the asymmetrical hemline. Since the chiffon frays really easily, they turned out a little furry, with little threads poking out of the right side of the seam, but that's my own fault for not trimming the seam before I enclosed it.

Final thoughts: In spite of all my tinkering the pattern turned out really well, and so Twirly!

Pictures:

Front View

Back View

Vogue 8470

This pattern is definitely on my list to make again, in spite of a couple of tiny flaws. :)

Pattern Used: Vogue 8470 (Vogue Easy Options Line)

Pattern Details: Fitted bodice, circle skirt, Dickie-type insert at neckline, fully lined

Fabric Used: Striped shirting cotton with broadcloth lining

View made: A

What did you especially like about this pattern? Options, options, options! I think the next incarnation of this dress that I make will have that adorable ruffle on the bottom.

What did you especially dislike about this pattern? Not much, it's your standard Vogue pattern, well made with clear instructions. However, the instructions did tax my brain a little bit to put in the insert at the neckline. I thought it was going to just be sewn in, making sure seams matched etc, then lined,  instead of being a completely separate piece. Also at the neckline, I found that the point where all four triangles meet is a huge stress point,  and a little of my white stitching shows, because the seams are pulling a bit. The neckline in general was pretty fussy actually, because you have to do a lot of "stitch to large dot, reinforce, turn" sort of stuff.

What I learned from this pattern: Ummmm.... gimme a sec here..... Not much. It didn't really present me with any extraordinary techniques.

Final thoughts: The fit on this dress could be a bit better, since the seam under the bust doesn't actually sit UNDER the bust, but a little bit higher, leading to a little extra fabric in that area. Other than that it's really comfortable. I made the tea length view so it hits me mid-calf, which means this dress is more appropriate for cooler days.

Pictures:

Front View

Back View

McCall's 6696

I was in the fabric store the other day and stumbled across a bargain-basement type fabric that caught my eye. I felt that it had potential so off I went to the pattern counter to find something that I could use it for. This is the result.

Pattern Used: McCall's 6696

Pattern Details: Shirt-dress with skirt and sleeve variations and pockets. This pattern also has variations for bra-cup size, A/B, C and D options.

Fabric Used: Light-weight denim/canvas

View Made: B

What did you especially like about this pattern? It's a classic, and it was SUPER easy to make. I like the waistband (Usually shirt dresses have a belt or tie rather than an actual waistband) and the pockets! I love it when I don't have to put in my own pockets.

What did you especially dislike about the pattern? Not a whole lot. There were a couple of typos in the instructions (ie saying something applies to view C even though it is clearly an instruction for view B), and putting in the collar maybe I was reading the instructions wrong, but they never actually TELL you to sandwich the collar in between the collar band and collar band facing.

Did you change the pattern at all? Nope nope nope. Oh, except for topstitching. In spite of this being a SHIRTDRESS, there are no actual instructions to topstitch, so I added topstitching in a few different places:

• Waistband
• Edge of the collar
• Front band
• Double row of stitching on hems
• Back yoke and shoulder seams

This pattern calls for a lot of slipstitching. I dislike slipstitching. I find it time-consuming and annoying, so I skipped that on this pattern and topstitched instead. :P

Things this pattern taught me: No new techniques were learned on this project.

Final thoughts: I like how this turned out. The fabric suits the pattern, and finally I didn't have to line something to make it wearable. The wooden buttons are a cute vintage-y touch too. I also have fabric to make this dress again in the near future, so look for an update soon! It was super easy and quick, and fits really well, so I will definitely make it again!

Pictures:

Front View

 

 

Back View (With gathering between the shoulders)

 

Close up of some of the fabric and topstitching