Finished Marfy 2286

Finally, a quick pic of my new leather jacket! The length is perfect, the shoulders are perfect, the sleeves have ample room movement and I absolutely love it!

Its a little warm outside today (82 degrees), but its cool in my office and the sleeveless dress was a bit breezy.  

The lining which is silk charmeuse backed with fusible Prosheer interfacing and it feels like a dream.  The zipper is a nice sparkle of color and it zips super smooth like a high-end jacket zipper.

I love it,  a good leather jacket is worth every minute of work!

I am also now going along with the whole Blog loving thing, so please update your links with the icon on the right.  The only thing that irritates me is the ads that you can't avoid on the viewer.  I strongly resist and detest advertising!! I am considering moving to Wordpress, but not sure yet.  That is time that I would just rather spend sewing.

Fun with stripes!

Am I the only one who finds the most fabulous pinstriped fabrics and can't find the perfect pattern for them? I am just attracted to navy pinstripe, I can't explain it! I finally found a perfect pattern. This is Vogue 1092, and the front takes 13 pattern pieces, but the results are stunning.

This time I even took the time to slip in a secret pocket at the waistband. I am so tired of having to haul my purse everywhere.

The back looks a little bit wonky, but I checked out the rest of the reviews (2!) and the others seem to show the same thing so I dont' feel so bad.

I concentrated on matching the stripes, and forgot that I was cutting on the bias.

Oh well, like Dr. Hank used to say, "If you hear a gasp from the audience you will know what the problem is." He was the theater head when I was in charge of costuming in college and didn't like to hear the drama queens complain. I miss Dr. Hank.

One More Skirt!

Burda "Style" April 2010 skirt 125.

Without the bow. I just wasn't feeling the love for the BOW. It looks super cute, is super easy to wear and adds swing to a professional skirt.

I am also not feeling the love for no pockets, but that saves so much time.

So does no-waistband, but it isn't as much fun to wear.

This is one of those projects that I am probably going to go back to fiddling with.

It cute though, I enjoy wearing it.

Meeow...

I asked for it, I got it!
Finally, a personal fashion statement that doesn't contain a YAWN!

This is Burda #108 from last month. It is the perfect use for that stunning EOS silk jersey (said Tahari).
Now I could have picked something sensible like a Jalie top, but that wouldn't have looked any less cougar (mid life crisis). I won't wear this any less than I would have worn the top.

Besides, I literally cut this out yesterday at about 4PM, and I am going to wear it tomorrow.

Finally! Marfy 9468

I am going to declare this done! I am not smiling much because I am standing in smooshy grass, and it is just about to rain -AGAIN-

Look at the great fit on those shoulders:

Now to finish my review, then I can get back to that suit jacket. *Or, I could study*

Sewing Shouldn't be this Hard (WTH)

I finally finished my lined jacket contest entry. I like to leave things down to the wire for suspense... It isn't exactly what I imagined, but I know that it could have been a lot worse... I will get better, natural light pictures tomorrow when there actually is natural light.

Burda has really outdone themselves with this one. I love this collar, the way that is it inset is so Marfy, but the fit is more like Butterick. This graced the cover of October 2008, it is incredibly stylish, yet there have been no reviews... What could be the problem?

Personally, I have traced, looked, contemplated, cogitated, and inquired, but I don't think it is possible with a complete neck facing. Or, even and incomplete neck facing, as you may notice the only facing is the lapel facing and the band on the collar. Look closely at the pattern, the only facing alluded to is the front facing which doesn't continue to the side seam.

You will notice on the front/facing piece posted here, the facing part of the front only extends to the point (the X in orange towards the bottom of the picture) that it connects to the sleeve and the band of the collar.

As per Burda's instructions (which we all know are written in German, then loosely translated into English by people who don't sew), you sew the collar together and finish it. Then you "stitch onto inside edges of facing, from seam number 8, and onto neck edge from corner of neckline." Now, you Burda lovers out there know that these things don't come with seam allowances, and the X in the picture is about 2" below the seam line of the lapel, but it lines up with the edge of the facing. So, the collar band is only sewn to the facing on the front edge, and only sewn to the neckline on the bottom edge? Huh?

Well, it does say "Stitch lining to inside edges of facing and collar band." Like this:

The lining is then sewn along the edge (that borders on point 8) that is on the right side of the orange line.

Well, it makes much more sense now that I have had the second glass of wine... I should have started yesterday. Even though my typing was better, I would not have needed to pull out the Trig book, or call the engineer. Seriously, my sewing guru Peggy L was even confused.

I still have a problem with this. The collar band only measured 15" for a size 40. The short piece that I needed for my jacket didn't extend down the front and still had to be lengthened by 3/4". So, the neckline edge for a size 40 would have to be lengthened by 4".

I like the obtusely shaped buttons. I almost picked some nice shell buttons that looked like they matched in the dining room, but when I took a picture they magically turned purple: I went with the gold, I can change later.

For now, that was enough fun for one night. the cats have given up on me and went to bed, I shall follow.

*That* wrap top!

Contemplating my wardrobe today, *still*

I'm done with the famous BWOF wrap top, and almost impressed but not quite. It isn't that it looks bad, or is uncomfortable, it was just so hyped. I guess I am just a little lumpy for it. Peggy blames it on the weight of the knit which is probably true. It is a gauzy silk jersey from Emma One Sock and I love, love the colors and the pattern, but it is a bit thin. The looseness of the fabric could also be why it actually seems a tad large.

I actually traced this pattern fairly soon after I got my hands on the magazine. That was over a year ago on the Pattern Review.com classifieds. I have actually laid it out twice, but never cut it. It is supposed to be made from 60" fabric, not 45", but I pieced the ties which are incredibly long.

I know you can't see it in this picture, but there is a faux cami for the lower front. I need to add at least 2" to this next time, you can't even tell that it is there! I know, I didn't follow the instructions to finish the top band, but lawdy I dind't understand them! I had my 5/8" seam allowance so I serged it and turned it under for a casing. I cut the elastic about 2" shorter than the top edge, but I have no idea how long that elastic is. I don't know about the half life of elastic, but this has given up on recovery after just 1 wearing.

Don't ya love that print!

I serged the fabric, then turned under the edges and stitched them down with a slight zigzag for finishing. One of these days I will have my coverstitch machine...

Review should be posted by Monday or Tuesday.

I like the top, and I will probably wear it quite a bit. I guess after the hype I was hoping for that "Jalie" wow that I got from this shirt:

It feels good to actually finish something! Now, back to my red jacket and job interview wardrobe.