Wovens and pregnancy, broken mirrors, and being easier on myself

It’s been wadder city around here (and crazy face making I guess–I blame my lack of sleep and very funny kids).  Well, not exactly wadder…more like really beautifully finished complete garments that biff it because my changing body changes faster than I can crank stuff out of my sewing room.

Exhibits A and B:  Burda 7198, theoretically a great top for maternity–built in A-line shape with sweet little godets in the side seams.  Problem: my cup size grew between my muslin and getting both versions sewn, so I need more width in my upper chest that I usually don’t.  The stress point being the placket, split on the stronger cotton chambray in the wash and shredded in the wearing (yay for having an undershirt on that day) on the poly-masquerading-as-silk-and-I’m-so-sad-that-it-did-because-it’s-such-a-pretty-print.  

Solution:  as dull as it is at times to stick to knit tops during pregnancy, that give inherent in the fabric prevents tragic breakdowns like these plackets that result in wasted time and energy.  If you really want a woven maternity top, just buy it; if it’s ultra boring (because you know it will be), buy a white one and dye it.

Exhibit C: The Saggy Bottom Girl and Burdastyle 6-2010-129 (Saints alive!  Have I learned nothing about fitting pants?!)

Problem: I only pinched out 1/2″ in the back crotch and didn’t do my usual part 2 alteration to fix the same issue (cut the inseam a size smaller).  This coupled with overestimating how big my hips really are (I cut a 40–should have gone for the 38, possibly a 36 with some added room for my hips–Burda maternity sizes are larger), and picking a thin but sturdy denim, I have cones off my back end.  Cones, people.  I have only 8 more weeks, and I was very conservative in fitting my flat backside because I was afraid that I’d overfit and then not have anything in the last couple weeks.  I also couldn’t see too well to really get an idea of what I needed to do because several weeks ago #1 broke my small full-length mirror I use for fitting (he was walking on it–thankfully, on the backside and it was covered with fabric on the wrong side because I used to use it as art in our apartment and took it down when I needed to fit–so no bleeding child, just a broken mirror).  He’s been paying me back a quarter at a time (thankfully, it was a $10 purchase–easily the cheapest thing he could have wrecked in my sewing room), and he finally finished yesterday.  Bright side: my topstitching is great on these jeans, and I really like the color of this denim, so saggy bottom or not, I’m going to enjoy these.  

Solution: Don’t fit pants without the aid of at least 2 mirrors that give you a proper view of your tushy.

It’s really hard for me not to take all of this personally.  I’m the type that likes to do everything excellently, and I generally stink at realizing that there are times that my ability to do just that is limited and that that in and of itself is not some sort of moral failing.  The thing is I can’t control everything that happens anywhere–I can let it get me down, or I can wear my saggy bottom but smashingly pink topstitched jeans with pride, knowing that someday–soon, likely, I’ll get back to where I want to be.  Failure is part of the creative process.  Failure is part of the creative process.  Blech…I could use less failure.

Pattern manipulation resources?

If the T-shirt project is teaching me anything it’s that my “who reads the manual, let’s start pushing buttons” approach to life only makes for moderate success in pattern drafting.

While I firmly believe that one of the best ways to learn about anything is to screw it up a lot, I’m frustrated that I’m not being able to produce what’s in my head because my pattern manipulation skills need to be sharpened.  My #4 t-shirt turned out okay (I’ll blog it tomorrow or the next day), but I’m annoyed with my #5 t-shirt because other than my shoddy messing around with gathering, it turned out great.  Perhaps my early success with the CAbi knockoff made me a little too reckless.

I have the 2000 edition of Patternmaking for Fashion Design on reserve at the library, but in the meantime, does anyone know of any good resources for pattern manipulation?

Perseverance and avoiding jacket making brain scramble

Making a jacket is an undertaking.  While it’s true that the sewing is only moderately more complicated than a blouse, there are a lot more pieces in play.  Unfortunately, the number of added pieces and the amount of extra time that they will require are not always in a 1:1 ratio.

The jacket I’m working on now has a lot of extra pieces, and I’ve been frustrated with the snail’s pace that I’ve been going at.  My frustration has, of course led to more mistakes which has taken more time and taxed my already fried brain.  As a way of a break, and to help others avoid this brain scramble, here are some ways to give yourself a mental break in the midst of jacket making (or any other large project for that matter).

1. Make a task list:  It’s a good idea to break down all of the steps in a jacket into reasonable pieces.     Pattern guide sheets can help you with this–simply draw a line at a stopping point on your guide sheet wherever you think a good stopping point is.  If you’re like me and you do things out of order, make up your own list–it’ll only take about 5 minutes, and it will save you time in the end because you won’t be scrambling to try and push yourself further than you can handle (more mistakes).
2. Enjoy the process:  It’s pretty amazing watching all of these bizarre shapes strewn across your workspace transform themselves into a jacket.  Step back and admire that welt pocket that you did executed so well, or that sleeve cap that is so beautifully round.  Rushing this will cut down the fun.
3. Do something different:  I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to bust out a jacket in a weekend like this awesome book by Cecilia Podolak says you can, but I would say that sometimes that big pile of pieces staring at you can be overwhelming and feel very unfinished object like.  Set aside your jacket after you’ve finished your daily tasks (see #1) and pick up a knit top pattern or something else that you can do almost on auto-pilot.  You’ll still get to see a finished product quickly (it just won’t be your jacket), and you’ll have something to wear under it as soon as you’ve finished your jacket.  Or do something completely different–make something delicious or let your child pose with the Lego car he so proudly designed himself (okay, so Daddy took this picture, but kid photo ops are a good mental break).
   
4. Tea therapy and the kindness of a friend:  You will make mistakes.  On this jacket, I’ve already sewn the princess seams askew multiple times on the lining, put topstitching on the fronts on the wrong side of the seam, and sewn the top of my separating zipper to the wrong side of its seam no less than 5 times.  When this happens, roll with it.  Put stuff down, make a cup of tea, put on some good music or watch something inspirational and sit down with your seam ripper.  I’ve written before about your seam ripper being the best kind of friend–one who is there not to pass judgment on your failures but just to help.  You and your seam ripper are in it together, and with that, unsewing can become part of your sewing process.

As for this jacket which is nowhere near complete, here are some sneak peeks:

Short naps and awesome things you learn during them

My family game is pinochle.  I grew up playing it with my great-grandma and her sisters and uncles and aunts and my older cousins and my parents.  It’s so ingrained that the whole process is automatic, but once in a while someone will miss a bid or play the wrong suit or forget that it’s their turn.  We started referring to that as taking a short nap.  And boy have I had a few short naps on this sweater.

I knew that this tie waist sweater was going to take some hand sewing of the ruffles to finish, but I wasn’t prepared for having to do so not once, not twice, but three times.  Mostly I blame Burda and the unclearness of its directions.  The first time I misread where I needed to gather the strips, the second time, it was totally Burda.

The directions tell you to gather in the middle (clear enough from the picture–not sure how I missed that the first time).  Then I realized that you need to sew that gathered middle the 3/8″ from the neck edge.  The first time I gathered the edge of the strip, not the middle and sewed on the gathered edge.  I hand basted and everything, but the ruffles don’t really look like what they look like until you take out the gathering stitches.  Hence why it didn’t work yet again.

The upside of all of my short napping is that I’ve been listening to lots of great information on Lori’s podcasts Sew Forth Now.  When I first started sewing, I’d listen to a lot of crafting sorts of podcasts like Craft Sanity and CraftyPod.  Both are hosted very well with good information, but I soon found out that I was not particularly interested in crafty sorts of projects or quilting fabrics.  At the time, I had no idea that Lori was around doing this wonderful podcast devoted to garment sewing.

Really though, it’s kind of great that I’m discovering this now because my knowledge has grown to the point that I can start really being able to understand what she’s talking about, and that is kind of fun.  If I had come across it earlier, I think I would have felt overwhelmed by everything.  So I’ve been enjoying the archives of these podcasts even when I’ve been sewing very poorly.

My only disappointment is that I was hoping to have traced and muslined this motorcycle jacket with a detachable fur collar I have planned in time for my fitting group on Saturday.  

Instead, I have a riff on the Ottobre blouse I made here cut out and a skirt muslined that I can take on Saturday.

My full review is here.

With this sweater finished, that leaves the camel skirt, white shirt, dress, ponte pants, and faux fur piece left for the sew along.  I omitted the puffy vest from my accounting, but that’s another tale that I will leave for another day.