Hip hip hooray for the RTW sewalong kicking off! … once I got over the shock of realizing (silly me) that it was starting a day earlier than I had thought, on acount of being run from the future, aka the other side of the International Date Line.
Those of you on flickr may have seen this image a couple of days ago, but I thought I’d share it here for (I hope) a wider audience. (No hope of taking outside photos today, it’s dreary and with the winter storm warning in effect it’s not a matter of if we get snow, but when)
Coat skirt muslin
This is a muslin for (most) of my Springy Little Coat. And overall, I think it looks pretty good, although I must admit, at this stage it looks remarkably similar to this. Perhaps I could’ve saved myself some pattern-drafting time and just swiped the skirt panels from the dress? Ah, well.
That aside, the skirt hem is pretty level, the width is nice, the pleats seem to fall relatively as-they-should. I think I want it a wee bit shorter (say, two inches), but that’s why we make the muslin. I was quite chipper.
Then, yesterday, I was looking at my pattern pieces, and I realized… my front skirt piece is more than an inch longer than my rear skirt piece.
This is disturbing on two levels. Not that I would manage to measure them the wrong length—I know that kind of drafting sloppiness is well within my capabilities, and I hate walking seams so I’m not surprised I didn’t catch it, either. No, what have me flummoxed are 1) how I actually managed to sew those dissimilar lengths together and have them match up perfectly (with no visible puckering, although obviously a crapload of bias easing was involved), and 2) oh crap, that means that my skirt front probably does need to be longer than the back… at least at the CF. Which makes sense since I know by under-bust seam isn’t perfectly level—it runs straight around my body, but straight around my body is at an angle to the ground, as my entire rib-cage is tilted—part and parcel of that weird postural thing called a swayback.
So I should really probably modify my skirt lengths to reflect the uneven waist—basically what I did here by accident, but on purpose, with pattern pieces that actually match up. /sigh.
In (final) MMM news,
Cowly Jacket and 70s Dress!
At long last, I managed to wear this combo yesterday, for the last day of Me-Made March. Hooray! I’ve been waiting for the weather to warm up enough for a decent photo of this combination ever since I finished the jacket. Yay! Of course, my backdrops can’t quite compete with Debi’s, but, well, that’s life. There’s a few east-coast places that can compete with Europe for architecture, but nothing this far west. And miracle of miracles, the outside photos seem to have finally captured the fact that this dress is purple, not black! 😉
I’ve actually worn this dress three times this month, which is pretty unusual considering the weather and the dressness of it all. Yesterday, for a plus, I wasn’t even staying home all day—I had to drop the car off at the shop, pick up the rental, and then, as it turned out, pick the hubster up at work and drive him to the ER since the silly boy put something heavy and metallic through his finger and needed a number of stitches.
I may do a MMM-wrap up post later in the weekend (depending on how much real sewing I get done 😉 ), but for now just a couple of thoughts.
- It was a lot easier than SSS, in terms of variety of items (especially pants!)
- I still wound up wearing my RTW hoodie… I guess I should break down and make a me-made version. More warm things!
- But they need to be in neutral colours—I don’t think I wore my red cardi-wrap once, not so much because of the hole I accidentally snipped in it back in November (although that didn’t help), but because it doesn’t go with any of my new, springy-coloured shirts. And I am thoroughly bored of my black knit tops by now…
- my photography this month was not great—worse than last time 😦
- I am a little relieved to get back to not-quite-posting-every-day. Much as I love it, it’s a bit much to maintain with everything else in life.
I’ll go into what I didn’t wear, and why, a bit more comprehensively later. For now, I just want to toss this out there, with maybe a link to the full flickr set of Me-Made March (missing, I think, only one day)
Tanit-Isis Sews 
I really, really, really, really like that outfit on you. Have you considered making a pair of K. Hepburn trousers? Very similar line.
argh this outfit is FABULOUS. i thought it was trousers at first– i second steph, make some make some so we can covet them!
Gorgeous outfit! I love that you were dressed up for a trip to the ER. Hope it all turned out okay.
We should plan an international overdressed day where we do a mundane task completely overdressed.
Great job on the muslin.
Your outfit is great. I hadn’t thought about the trousers the other ladies are recommending, but they have a point. Maybe you should reconsider your ‘which trouser shapes work’ theory (I know I reconsidered mine several times).
I hope your husband is OK now.
Now, about the muslin. I noticed the differences in length before you mentioned them. And I don’t think it’s all sway back which is causing it (in fact, I believe the sway back is a rather over-exposed problem in sewing blogland, and gets the blame for a lot of other issues. Of course it’s a common issue, but so is a shorter waist length, which is almost never mentioned).
The first thing I noticed is how your back bodice is significantly longer than the front bodice (talking about CF and CB, of course). In fact, the front bodice looks a bit snug across the bust and the center front has a ‘peak’ instead of running straight. I don’t know how much of this was the original pattern and how much was drafted but it might be interesting to you to know that in all basic slopers (even for small bust sizes) the front pieces are higher above the waist to create room for breasts (this can be hard to see because the front neckline is always lower and many slopers move the shoulder seam a little more to the front).
I wouldn’t be surprised if your front and back pieces were the same height if laid down flat. Which seems good if they are on the table in front of you, but not when worn.
Ok, that was quite a speech… I’m not trying to be nasty or show off (ok, maybe a little of that ;). I hope my comments are of any help and feel free to ask me for any clarification or additional advice. Or just ignore, if I’m being irrelevant.
Show off away ;).
As to the swayback thing… in my case this something I was hearing about from medical professionals long before I knew it had anything to do with fitting ;). I do also have a short waist, which I also (sometimes over)compensate for, although obviously with this particular pattern-version it’s not an issue.
You’re right about the bodice length—when I originally was working out the cropped length I wanted, I ran an elastic around my ribcage and marked the length on the muslin. Unfortunately at this point I was paying more attention to the line running perpendicular to my body rather than perpendicular to the ground. I have actually shortened the back since then, but you’re right that I could probably lengthen the front a bit more. (And that sounds simpler than messing with the skirt, so win).
As to the ease, all I can say is that the bodice pieces are the exact same as the ones I used for my cowl-sleeved jacket, and while it’s not a huge amount of ease, it’s perfectly comfortable over a light top, which is what this is designed for.
I love the crop jacket and dress. The coat skirt is very cute- the back especially.
The jacket looks absolutely fabulous with the dress!!! I love it soooo much!
Hope the hubster is OK. I love your outfit, and I’m going to have to be an echo with everyone else suggesting some swishy wide-leg pants to wear with this jacket. 🙂 The dress looks great too though! 🙂
You know, it’s not even the wide-legged pants that are the problem, it’s the waistline-at-waist-with-blouse-tucked-into it. (Nothing makes me look stumpier than a tucked-in top, sigh). However, if the waist is REALLY high (to like empire-waist height) it could work. Probably would require boning, but could work… the idea of fitting it terrified me, though.
… and for wearing with this jacket, perhaps I should just go all the way and make a 70s jumpsuit 😉
loving the muslin –it very cute, and I really like the gusset. (I need to try one at some point) However, looking at the under bust seam, it looked like its a little too high. I can’t quite tell from the pictures, as you may be leaning back a bit, bit it doesn’t seem to quite cut all the way under the bust, but is sitting on the bottom centimeter or so. (Not the biggest deal, but if you lower it, it will also bring the entire waistline more or less parallel with the ground)
This is a seriously awesome outfit. And yes, I now see that your 70’s dress really is purple! I love the color. I’m exactly to see your spring coat. I love the long skirtiness of it.
I am in love with your cowly jacket 🙂
Oh yes that dress jacket outfit is awesome – neat proportions!
Been catching up. I’ve just bought the BBW Coats & Jackets book myself & am so excited about the possibilities. I am going to love watching what you do with it.
And what can I say that hasn’t already been said about your day 31 outfit? It’s incredible – really flattering – you’re bringing glamour to everyday life 🙂
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Love that outfit, fabulous! The spring coat looks very promising. You remind me of the fact that I still want to make a spring coat for Sarah. Hmm, I better hurry then, spring wheather is approaching fast here. Shall I send you some sunshine to scare the snow away? 🙂