Stitch and bitch thread #6. What a yoke!

[NutellaEllaElla]

The other thread is so painfully slow so lets hope a shiny new one will run a smoothly as a well behaved sewing machine. Pin your places here my lovely stitchers

I actually finished something over the weekend - an Ogden cami.

It’s wearable, but I’m not mad about the fit. Too much fabric in the back and draglines all over the front. The lining is too short and the hem goes up in the front as well. I suspect I’m going to have to add a dart, which is odd odd as my chest is smaller than the pattern is drafted for. Those draglines don’t lie though!

Not sure I can be bothered to sort all that out, plus the pattern for the Quinn trousers arrived a few days ago, so...guess that means the Ogden cami is going to have to wait 😄

Yeah I'm not keen on the fit of the Ogden. The lining is a really odd length on me too.

I haven’t made the Ogden but I have made the Waves and Wild Summer Breeze and the Tammy Handmade Etty camisoles. The summer breeze is an odd fit, I wear it but I don’t love it (plus I’ve managed to sew a scratchy label in the back - I won’t make the mistake of having sparkly labels again).
I haven’t hemmed the Etty one yet, but it seems promising. The scallops were a pain to sew though, I’m tempted to try and smooth off the neckline if I make it again.

I’m making an Ogden cami right now - out of an old duvet, my first ever toile because I was concerned about the fit and also have learned that I always bodge up the first sew! I bought the bigger pattern size (starts at 14) which has darts.

The lining is like the one in the Sauvie sundress - stops just under your boobs. I think it is just to make the neckline tidier?

Why do you put a label into a home made garment SBAM? Does your clothing need to be named for work or something? Just curious as the first thing that I do with bought clothing is cut out the labels.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar They’re personalised labels that say ‘made by my name’ that were a gift from DH. The normal ones I use are smooth and I sew them into a place where they won’t bother me, but these ones have sparkly thread and it’s itchy so I’ll probably save them for non-garment sewing.

Fun labels are quite trendy on Instagram sewing accounts, I’ve got some that I really love from Kylie and the Machine and from Little Rosy Cheeks. For my kids having a label helps make sure they put things on the right way round, though sometimes I just use a length of ribbon folded in half to act as a tag as fancy labels can be expensive so I only tend to use them for things that will last.
I like putting them on gifts too, makes it look a bit special. And I got ‘Auntie made this’ ones for the baby quilts I make for nieces and nephews.

Yeah I put labels in mine as well. Sometimes quite rude ones!

I have labels too. One says perfectly imperfect, and another says hand fucking made (which is quite appropriate for some given how much they have made me swear throughout). It's just for entertainment value for me.

The lining runs across my chest chewbecca, so definitely not in the right place for me. I’d be interested to know how you get on with yours. I reckon a dart is definitely needed in this pattern.

I ended up sewing a label in my cami too, but that was mainly because the front and back look so similar I wasn’t sure I’d be able to tell them apart...

Sounds like a facing, not a lining.

I didn't like the fit of the Ogden either. The Maison Fauve one I made recently was definitely a better fit but there's something about v-necks that makes me look like I have pancakes for tits, even with a bra on. I think I'm going to stick to round or square/straight necklines from now on.

Well I love the fit of the Ogden 🤣

I’ll be running up a few more out of odd bits and pieces. I think it works for those of us without much in the bust department.

Next up for me is a wedding guest outfit for august and while I’d almost fixed on a pattern I’m now between 3 😥

I'm the same with my next jumper pattern (knitted rather than sewn though) - just can't decide.

Which ones are in the running?

Can we see the three patterns that you are choosing from Jins? I'm feeling nosy.

True bias Lora without sleeves, Simplicity K8637 or a tiered Sauvie are on my list at the moment @dubyalass. I really fancied making True Bias Calvin but I think it’s a bit too casual. The Simplicity one bores me to tears and I know I’ll need to make loads of adjustments but it fills a wardrobe gap of smart but dull dresses that I could do with.

@Jins 'smart but dull' sounds like a potential clothing range. Essential wear for tedious but important meetings.

Just finished a wearable toile of Cashmerette Magna trousers (or pants as they call them). Happy with the fit so I have cut out some petrol coloured chino fabric for the real thing. I will be adding pockets and re-thinking the back elastic. The instructions didn't work.

I have a week off so splitting my time. Mornings on the allotment and afternoons in my sewing room. I'm practicing for retirement.

Where did you get the chino fabric from, Gnome? I would like some for shorts and trousers but all my searches for chino fabric have been pretty fruitless. Is it called something else? I never know what gabardine and bengaline are, for example.

It's basically a really fine twill, isn't it.

I could cry, I've got some gorgeous swishy crepe in a lovely green colour that's somewhere between avocado and olive. It was supposed to become a vogue 9075 which I've made before.

just been to lay it all out for cutting and there are two pattern pieces missing. They have obviously been accidentally put away in the wrong envelope but that's an actual needle in a haystack to try and find them.

it's a princess seam bodice piece and the back leg of the culottes - so not bits that are easy to fudge.

my choices are -

go through every single open pattern I own to find the missing pieces
choose a different pattern
take apart my wearable toile which I actually wear loads
buy the pattern again
ask vogue to send me the missing pieces again as PDF. pay for them to be printed off

none of those options are going to see me sewing anything tonight though

I'd start with checking the patterns I've made recently @pastabest it could be in there.

Pain in the bum though.

It's probably at least 12 months since I made it, if not longer. Ive looked in all the ones i remember making around that time amd found nothing. It could be anywhere. The leg piece alone is almost A0 size itself so not exactly a small pattern piece to mislay.

I've moved all my sewing stuff twice in that time and I probably have about 50 open pattern envelopes from the big 4.

Perhaps it was the material (a plain linen mix) but my Sauvie sundress is more a flopping about dress rather than a wedding dress, though I agree the ruffle would make it smarter. Or is it quite a casual wedding - one where you sit on bales of hay?!

I love the True Bias Lora's sleeves!

@Chewbecca it's a family wedding (albeit in a fairly posh venue) and to be honest they’ll be surprised to see me in a dress so I’m not overly concerned about whether it’s smart enough. 🤣. I hadn’t got Sauvie on the list until I made the viscose one but I think it could work. I’d do the gathered waist and one tier and I’ll do a deeper interfaced section to sharpen up the V front and back.

The Lora sleeves are amazing but my other ‘party’ dress (which they’ve seen) is McCalls 7969 which has immense statement sleeves and I don’t want to be a one trick pony.

I’m slightly older than the father of the bride, they’ve known me since my punk/goth days and they’d be worried about me if I turned up in something smart and age appropriate. Gives me free rein really

Love it! Please ignore my conventional perspectives, free rein sounds far, far better!

pastabest See if you can find a tutorial for making a garment from an existing garment without taking it apart. I think there are a few different methods, but the one that I've seen involves turning the garment inside out so that you can lie the piece that you want flat and then mark around it somehow. If you have something with a bit of give, like a blocking mat for knitting or those interlocking play mats for kids, then lay pattern paper on the mat, put your garment piece on the top and poke a pin around the edge so that it marks the paper. When you lie the garment piece flat you pile anything that is joined to it on the top in a way the doesn't pull at the seams. I can't remember how darts and gathers were dealt with.