Weekend update

Wow - I made progress this weekend !

This was a long weekend and I really wanted to make the most of it. I had stalled on the BWOF tee and wanted it finished. The hope was that I would finish the tee, cut the pieces of the two BWOF skirts and start the blue twill one (BWOF 10-2008-103)

AND ?.................

The tee is done and the skirt is done as well - I have NEVER started and finished something in one weekend ! Yaaay me :-)


A quick update to the Storyboard - I deleted the 2nd t-shirt option




By the time I finished the last hem of the day, the light was gone for a good picture. I took a few myself so I could post this and will get DH to take some better ones with me wearing both pieces this week.

BWOF 08-2008-109 - Raglan Tee




Size - 34-42, I made a 42
Fabric - Lycra knit from fabric.com

Changes -
lowered the neck at center front by 1"
lengthened the body by 1-1/4".
1/2" forward shoulder adjustment
I didn't use the back zip - it IS a tee after all.
I checked out the reviews on Pattern Review and it seemed that there was trouble with the underarm binding and most 'did it their way'. Well, I don't have a 'my way' yet, so I muddled through the BWOF instructions. They seem to be fine although I'm not sure if I did them 'right'.




For the neckline binding, I used the Sarah Veblen tutorial that Ann sent me after my last tee had a wobbly neckline. Thanks Ann !





BWOF 10-2008-103B - Pleated Skirt (trust me, it's blue ! although I'd love to find the shade of green that is showing up on my monitor)



Size - 36-44, I 'cut' a 44 (see changes below)
Fabric - Cotton Twill remnant from my local Fabricville. I must remember when I buy remnants to make sure I've got thread and zippers for them. This was all cut out and ready to go Saturday night. When I started Sunday morning, I realized none of my thread or zippers matched. Had to wait til noon for the stores to open.

Changes -
I traced View A, the longer version and forgot to add the hem allowance before I cut it out. So, I made View B, hemmed, it's a bit above my knees.
My understanding of the instructions was to sew the back and front waistbands together, sew one of the side seams of the skirt then attach the full waistband to the skirt. In order to be able to take in or let out the seams, I sewed each waistband to its skirt piece then sewed a full side seam. And a good thing it was too...by the time I took it in enough to fit, I ended up a size smaller - 42 ! :-)
Dawn made this skirt twice now and her original post referenced Fashion-incubator's Centered Zipper Tutorial. I didn't have the suggested invisible zipper so I bought a regular zip and used this for the installation instead. The facings are not even (they were before I turned it all right side out, don't know what went wrong) but this is the CLEANEST zipper I've ever put in - I'll use this method again and again, I'm sure.




A close up of the front and back pleats. Ignore all the little dots you can see along side the pleats. I used crayola washable markers for my markings so the skirt needs to be washed now, before I can wear it.


That was my weekend. Hope you all had a good one :-)

I'm on a roll...

Thanks for the opinions everyone...I was leaning towards 08-2008-109 myself, but Shannon made a good point about the other one being able to be worn under the blouse. I almost changed my mind, except, I very rarely double up my tops like that and I didn't think I'd want a layer of lycra knit under a 100% poly blouse. That would probably be a bit warm even for me :-)

I didn't get back to my sewing room til this afternoon and I started tracing out my proposed patterns. I kind of thought I would trace them all at once well, first anyway as it would probably take me all week to trace five patterns.

First one traced ??? 109 :-) and then it got the better of me and I wanted to sew it right up ! LOL...And I did.

As I stop tonight, the side seams are sewn, and all the other seams are basted. I wanted to be sure it fit before it went through the serger. It does, and on the first try too. All I did was a 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment - the rest is a straight 42.

Those underarm facing pieces are going to be tricky, but I'm going to give them a try. Don't expect this to be finished tomorrow, but soon.