Jalie sweetheart top

I am going kayaking this weekend, which is interrupting my sewing schedule. Today I made this Jalie sweetheart top as a trial for my daughter's SWAP. You can see that it was a great success, and is a such a good trial that I do not think I need to make another one for the SWAP. I used a mystery knit, navy and white stripes, given to me by my mother's quilting group. The contrast bands are a scrap of navy technical wicking polyester. I made size O, with the hips scaled out to a P. I deliberately made it a little bigger than her measurements as the reviews of this pattern suggest it is a little tight. I think it is a tiny bit too big for her, but she is not getting any smaller. I altered the cap sleeves to a straight sleeve, as in my opinion the stripes need to finish on a straight edge for this fabric. She is wearing the top with her navy capri pants from Simplicity 5220. My next project will have to be one for my SWAP.

Simplicity 5220 mandarin collar top brocade

I finished the mandarin top from my daughter's wardrobe pattern 5220 last night. We are very pleased with it. I used a synthetic brocade from Timmel fabrics. This was a little more difficult to work with than the cotton used in the trial version, and the top is a bit more fitted because of the thickness of the fabric. I needed to cut carefully to avoid flaws in the fabric. The top is trimmed with minipiping made from imperial batiste at the collar and at the false diagonal front. I made frog closures from the same fabric, making a very thin tube, then sewing the frogs as described at this website www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_sewing_buttons_zippers/article/0,,HGTV_3325_1376352,00.html

The frogs are only decorative. I did make a version of the frogs using pale pink braid, but these looked too bulky for the garment. The garment opening is an invisible zip at the back. I used the 25cm zip called for in the pattern, but this makes the top a little difficult to put on. The longer 35 cm zip used in the trial cotton top is a much better length for ease of dressing. I inserted the zip before applying the collar, and the back of the collar stands above the zip, which allows it to sit well and for more comfort at the neck. In the trial version we found the back neck was too high, so I lowered it 1.5cm in this version, extending the length of the collar slightly at the back to match this alteration.
I bound the sleeve edges and bottom edge of the top with skinny bias binding made from the same fabric.

Butterick 435 with smocked insert

This is the other top for my daughter's SWAP that I made this weekend. I used a hand smocked sampler that I made about a year ago as the insert. The sampler is from a distance learning class I took through SAGA, "Lace Smocking". The first four "laces" are the class lessons, the last three are my designs. The fabric is chambray, 100% cotton, and the pattern is a top drafted from the princess line dress D in Butterick 435, girls size 12. I backsmocked the insert, and have inserted a pale blue braid in the neckline and arm seams. I finished the bottom of the blouse with a self bias binding, that I machine embroidered with feather stitch. My daughter wore this top all day, and says it is lovely and cool.

Simplicity 5220 mandarin top

Today I made a trial of topC from the wardrobe pattern, Simplicity 5220, for my daughter's SWAP. It fit well, and I may use this trial top for her SWAP also. I made a sleeveless version, using a blue and off white cotton print, with minipiping in a mainly blue print at the collar and for the false diagonal front. She is wearing it with her denim shorts, made from a TopKids pattern, these are also part of the SWAP.

I am planning on making a short sleeve version of this top in a gold brocade that I bought from Timmel fabrics as my qualifying purchase.

construction issues v2925 jacket

Eventually I gave up on my toiles. I got to the point on my second toile where every time I tweaked in one direction, somewhere else looked a lot worse. Construction was fairly straightforward. Essentially I followed the pattern instructions. I was unable to convince my weft interfacing to fuse, so "quilted" this to the facing. I found the sleeve quite difficult to ease into the armhole, and I ended up cutting out both the armhole and sleeve exactly to the pattern, so was a bit surprised by this. I ran 3 rows of easing stitch to help with the sleeve cap, and was reasonably happy with the end result. However, the sleeve cap sagged, so I applied bias binding to the sleeve allowance in the top 1/3 of the armhole, following the instructions in Kathryn's jacket blog (fxdoc posting at artisiansquare.com). This made it sit much better. The photo is taken using my 10 year old daughter as a dress form, so does not give a great impression of the fit. My other construction variations were to use an aide for achieving equal curves on the jacket peplum and the lapels. The photo shows me using a sticker - this was much easier than drawing a curve from an eggcup, which is what I used for the lapels.

My overall impression when I finished the jacket was that I had chosen an inappropriate fabric. The photo of the jacket on the hanger is of the finished jacket, pressed to within an inch of its life. You can see that the fabric does not hold a crease, and that the jacket looks boofy and horrible. The fabric is a poly/viscose/linen, was $22 per m from a good fabric shop, and I was assured that it was suitable for this pattern. I was not very happy at this point.

My rescue techniques were first to topstitch the collar, lapels and edges of the peplum and sleeves. This helped a lot. I used a heavy weight topstitching thread in a dark camel colour, using an 80 needle. I then tacked the lapels to the jacket, so that they would sit properly, and this also improved the situation. I hand stitched the bottom of the lapels so that they turned outward properly. Overall the jacket progressed from wadder, to only moderately disappointing.
I have bought some lightweight melton wool for my next attempt.

v2925 jacket completed

I finished the jacket from my SWAP wardrobe pattern V2925 yesterday. I am moderately disappointed with the outcome, but hopefully will have forgotten all the bits I don't like by the time it is actually cool enough weather to wear it. In the picture I am wearing the jacket with the camel pants and the chocolate brown knit top from the same pattern. I am pleased to have finished the 3 pieces from one wardrobe pattern that are required for the SWAP, but I am not sure that the cream blouses I made earlier will suit the style of the jacket. The collars on the blouses may not look very good under the jacket, so I am planning on making some more collarless blouses .

V8305 Pants rescue mission

V8305 Pants rescue missioni
Originally uploaded by kbenco

After taking advice from kind sewers posting at Stitcher's Guild (thank you especially to Marji and Licarrit) I think my horrid overstretchy V8305 pants may have been rescued. I stabilized the horizontal seams and the crotch seam with linen selvage, took in the side seams, and am much happier with the extent of bagginess from the stretch woven cotton lycra. To mark their probationary readmission to the SWAP, I even trimmed the ankle split with some pretty bias (they had better behave themselves). However, I am not posting a photo of me wearing the pants, as there is still extra fabric at the front - today I learned that this is called a camel toe and read a very funny and informative tutorial
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/mt/archives/how_to_fix_a_camel_toe.htmlon

how to fix or improve it. The tutorial is by Kathleen Fasanella, and was posted by Johanna Lu - thank you both. Now I can put off working on my jacket for even longer. At least I have stopped fitting the jacket toile, and actually cut it out of the less expensive of my fashion fabrics. I worked out that every "correction" I made was causing a problem somewhere else. My next trial was that the texture weft interfacing refused to fuse. This is either due to it being stored for 5 years since my last jacket attempt, or possibly due to the 99-100% humidity present today. After 4 attempts with the iron, I gave up, and stitched all the facing to the lining pieces at 1.5cm spacing. No one will be allowed to look at the inside of this jacket.