Excessive pinning

My mystery home dec fabric has a velvet-like pile to it, which means it wants to wiggle and not feed evenly.  Since I don't have a walking foot (although I am seriously thinking of getting one before the forecast ice hits tomorrow night) I am making do with excessive pinning ... cussing is optional.

Yes, the long pleat pin is under the presser foot, by quite a bit ... but it is pinned about 1/4 inch from the edge, while the needle is in the left position and stitching at the 5/8 inch seam allowance.  Once I get it this far, I stop, lift the presser foot, and reposition the fabric.  Takes a while ... but it works.

A challenge for Val

Tonight in chat, I offered Val a deal and a challenge: if she makes an underbust/waist corset I will post up pics of my first attempt at the McCall's 4861 view E.  Complete pics of the blue monstrosity.  And, before she left, I even upped the ante: not only will I post up pics but I will even mail it to her if she so chooses.

The why and how we came to this point aren't really relevant here ... Elaina witnessed the challenge both times, and I told Val I will post it publicly for the entire sewing blogosphere to read.  I will happily give her tips and advice on constructing it, offer all kinds of encouragement, plus she has my posts from last month to consult.  I have steered her towards either the McCalls 4861 E or the Laughing Moon #113 view B ... while I haven't made the LM yet I have heard good things about their corset patterns.

So here it is, folks.  Y'all are my witnesses ... and I suspect maggie will take a screenshot of this for the permanent record.  LOL  If y'all see Val in chat, be sure to cheer her on.  It's the only way I'll post full pics - "front, back, and inside" - of this truly terrible example of sloppy shoddy and just plain ugly sewing from me.

V8626 outer layer cut out

After all these hours, I have finally gotten the outer layer for Vogue 8626 cut out, along with the facing/front of the lining which is supposed to be made of the outer fabric.  When I started laying out the front pattern pieces, I was happy because I was certain I had enough to do the long version ... for the most part I did, except on that facing piece which is about 2 inches short.  I'll be able to tell which pieces are the outer and which are the facing for sure: the facing had to be laid crossgrain and therefore the pinstripes are horizontal.  I have enough scrap pieces to cut the missing 2 inches for the facing pieces and then use a joining stitch to attach them.  Will this work?  I'll find out ... probably tomorrow.

I've halted operations for tonight, because I somehow put my foot down wrong and my knee is now not feeling too happy about it.  Meh, it happens.  My knees are every bit as touchy as my back.  Before that though ... I snapped a couple of pics to share.

Here's the sleeve pattern piece for Margaret, who mentioned how she appreciates as many lengthen/shorten lines as pattern companies care to provide.  I've read a few of her pattern reviews at PR where she mentions about four (?) standard alterations she does for dresses ... this is from memory so feel free to correct me, Margaret! 

Now I mentioned taking out the center back deep pleat for the lining, and both Margaret and gloria mentioned I should measure to make sure this won't affect being able to move in the coat.  So here's a pic of the lower back piece, with the deep CB pleat (plus a seam allowance) as well as the two side pleats below the shoulder blades:

Plenty of room for movement.  The deep CB pleat is part decoration and part swing/swoosh fanciness ... which seems to appeal to me in many different types of garments.

Overall, I've had a decently productive day ... there's ham and potato soup in the crock pot on top of the fabric accomplishments!

Thoughts ramblings and sewing levels

Finally cutting into the mystery home dec fabric for my V8626 mockup, and I've discovered it has a wiggly slightly stretchy quality to it I didn't notice over a year ago when I made a boned bodice out of some of it.  This led to some random musing about not only how little I knew a year ago, but also how little I still know.  My idea of handling this property of this still-don't-know-what-it-actually-is fabric?  Glass and metal candle holders and more pins.  I'm sure there is a trick I just don't know about, but I'm not inclined to wait around for someone to tell me.  I'm in a mood to attack fabric with pins and blades and ain't stopping until it's time to thread up my machine!

While hunting up more long yellow-headed "pleat pins" that my mom told me she hates, another thought rambled through my caffeine-fueled mind: not only am I still unorganized, but I am still quite the stubborn little newb.  My mom has decades of sewing experience, and advised me not to use these pins ... yet here I am digging through bags of stuff to find them.

This amused thought led to another, less amusing one: in the PR chat room, one gal says she used to think she was an intermediate sewist until she met me and maggie.  For the record here - we both insist we are newbs.  We just want to make things well beyond our respective skill levels and have no hesitation at the idea of diving right in and learning as we go.  We're both quite crazy in this respect - and have spent several evenings discussing this.  So please, unless you think you are as crazy as either of us, don't compare yourself to us!

Speaking only for myself now, I can say I now know what a welt pocket is ... which is a step better than last year.  I now also know an invisible zipper is a separate item from a regular zipper, and the invisibility does not depend on how you put it in (compared to a regular zipper again).  I haven't done either one.  Nor have I made myself a nice jacket yet, much less one for hubby.  Pants?  Err ... nice loose swishy stuff, nothing fitted.  While I did a mock fly, I still haven't gotten back to the Simp pattern with the real fly.  Don't get me started on knits ... and the funniest thing is many swear knits are easy!  I'll take fitting a corset over sewing a knit top any day ...

Which - as usual - brings me back to corsets.  When I started making first the boned bodices, then my Elizabethan, I didn't really know corsets are supposed to be "advanced" and difficult.  I just knew I needed an Elizabethan pair of bodies for my Renn Faire garb, and didn't know anyone to fit and make me one at the time.  So, if I was going to have one to wear for Faire last spring, I had to figure out how to make it myself.  I'm wearing it right now.  Pics for those who haven't seen it:

My Elizabethan isn't perfect.  I still can't sew a straight line seam, and believe me that led to much cussing and frustration last year when I sewed the cording channels, then tried to pull uneven hemp cord doubled through unevenly sewn channels.  This year I will be zigzagging the hemp cord to the canvas core ... but will be using large cable ties from the hardware store instead of poly boning ... so I'll still be sewing channels.  I'll try to remember to use black thread to stitch them so y'all can see how badly I miss the fabric marker lines I need to draw to have any hope of some semblance of straight lines.

Not even a year has passed since I made my Elizabethan ... and already I want to make a better one.  I've learned quite a bit from making it last spring, and even more while wearing it these past ten months.  The biggest thing I've learned is ... it actually doesn't fit me quite right.  It's close enough to not be uncomfortable, but it's a bit short through the torso, and the straps slide off my shoulder which means something aint' quite right there.  As y'all can see from this back view, it gaps in a couple spots and overlaps at the very tops.  With wear, it now gaps a bit in the front as well.  Part of the problem is fitting (which I really didn't have a good grasp of the concept last year) and the other part of the problem is my fabric choice.  Then again, reading through my review of the pattern from last year ... I had my hands full just getting a wearable garment!  Oh, for those curious, this is from Simplicity 2621, which is a pretty decent pattern for being a Big 4 costume pattern, and does result in something wearable.

Don't y'all love when I come back after a day or so of quiet?  I had another bleh day, then yesterday had both motivation and energy ... and did more housework!  LOL  I even reorganized my pantry after a massive cart-filling grocery trip, and got my son to organize his shelf of the pantry as well.  Today is a big fabric-attacking day for me, since hubby and son escaped to a war gaming tournament for the day.

Snow is coat-making motivation

I've had a couple days of no motivation, and a stubborn headache that wouldn't quit yesterday ... but this morning I woke to the kind of motivation I am truly tired of seeing:

My poor little car.  Looks like I'm not going anywhere today, because I am just not inclined to clear snow (and underneath it, ice) off my car just to start defrosting the door enough to open it ... and of course my son has yet another snow day.

As y'all know, I had already done a bit of stash diving and coat planning the other day, but hadn't made up my mind which one to start first.  Both maggie and sewducky voted for Simplicity 2311, but after pulling it out and looking at the instructions ... I just ain't in the mood.  One of the annoyances that set me off against this pattern was either it doesn't include a glossary of the sewing terms, or they are just too hard for me to find.  It had pad stitching in bold, but no explanation of it that I could find.  I consulted the Great All-Knowing Google about pad stitching, and found as the top result this interesting blog post answering the question: "What, exactly, is pad stitching?"  Bookmarked for future reference, but (in theory) I shouldn't need to go to Google nor try to find my Readers Digest book of sewing just to even get a clue what a term the pattern instructions uses means.

So with the proverbial "wild hair" firmly in place, I pulled out Vogue 8626 and read the reviews for it.  Along with positive reviews, the "very easy" designation, and the cup size already done in the pattern, I am sold.  This pattern is just great for people needing the FBA ... SBAers can also rejoice because it actually does have separate pieces for A cup!  Not simply throw in with B cup size like the two McCall's patterns I've previously looked at, but A cup has its own pieces.  As I was ironing the pattern tissue, then locating the pieces for D cup and trimming them out, I noticed another huge plus for this pattern: not only are there finished measurements for bustline and waistline, but also hipline and even bicep on the sleeve!  Multiple lengthen/shorten lines throughout also give me a warm fuzzy feeling for this pattern as well ...pretty much all the areas people need to adjust.  I'll be able to cut an 18 to fit my shoulders, and the FBA is already done.  Color me lazy and happy.

Looking over the pieces and instructions, about the only quibble I have is the lining is supposed to have the same pleats as the outer layer.  Why?  I think I'll layout the back piece so eliminate the deep CB pleat for the lining and place it on the fold line, which is clearly marked from the top of the piece to the bottom.  The outer layer and lining are supposed to be hemmed separately so no worries about it matching on the bottom with this tweak.

For the mockup, I'll be doing the collarless short version ... mostly because I don't have enough of the purple pinstripe fabric to do the longer version with the stripes going vertically.  I don't do horizontal stripes ... I think I am wide enough without calling attention to that.