Sunday, July 27, 2008

Freebies, anyone ?


I got doubles !

I've not been keeping track as well as I thought, LOL.

Sooooo, I've a duplicate copy of McCalls 5466 (size 12-14-16-18) which I apparently loved enough to buy twice :-) - It's brand new in the package...

And I subscribed to Threads just before the current one was issued and assumed (we all know what that means !) that I would probably only get the 'next' one. Now I have 2 copies.

I LOVE the Pay it Forward concept so I'm willing to put 'em in the mail for anyone who wants them. Any takers ? First come, first serve.

The Neck Fits !

Everything done on the last post had to be undone, except moving the right shoulder seam forward - I've also done a narrow shoulder adjustment - the shoulders were too far over mine and the neck was 'really' wide !

Then I just didn't quite understand the 'how to' instruction to make my neckline fit, BUT, I read (and re-read) all my books, searched the Net, and re-read the books again for making a neckline smaller. I'm not sure I followed 'proper' sewing tecniques but the neckline now fits alot better.

Those 1" seam allowances came in handy. I had already done a round back adj. and the CB was sitting ok on my neck. The long seams where the lapels will go had the 1" seam allowance. What I did was mark 3/4" on each shoulder seam seam allowance closer to the neck and just drew a line from CB to that mark, decreasing the neck width, and tapering back down the lapel to the original marking at the bottom. The S.A. on the back neckline was a tad short but it was just enough to get this basting stitch in .

How did I do ? and am I now ready to try the sleeves again ?

I've also noticed that although the line I drew from my ear to shoulder on each side matches up with its seam and looks ok, I only moved the shoulder seam forward on the RIGHT side. The seam on the left side is the original one which seems to have moved into place after adjusting for the high round neck and adding shoulder pads - is it possible to only have to move 'one' shoulder ?

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Not Much Progress on the Coat

Well, I'm really stuck on the sleeves for this coat. I really want to follow along with the group and use the same techniques, but I'm a little out of my depth.

I've only worked on the right sleeve of the coat, will ignore the left one til the right one is good.

I moved the shoulder seam forward 1/4" at the neck, and 1/2" at the armhole seam.

I raised the armhole up 1/2" and reset the sleeve by putting on the body of the muslin and slipping on the sleeve and fiddling with it til it hung straight. Then I basted it in to find the front is ok - the back is full of wrinkles.

Still don't know what to do - I think I may need a narrow shoulder adjustment. Some of the wrinkles match the pics for narrow shoulder in Fast Fit and Fitting Finesse. What I don't know how to do now is a narrow shoulder adj on a muslin already sewn up. I think I might have to start all over.

Here are the pics of the new right sleeve.