I've looked all over and this is the only skort pattern I saw that I remotely liked. There is a good one on Cashmerette's site, but you can only get it if you sign up for a year of their club. Hmmm. I don't want your club. I won't use your club. But I can't buy one stinking pattern if I don't join your club? Strange business model.

Anywho.

This skort was very easy to put together. The directions were clear (the tutorial on inserting the gusset was key), and the pattern was well drafted. I did struggle getting the flounce on—right sides together, back of the flounce on the back of the skirt (both nearly indistinguishable), oriented correctly. Oh, a difficulty with the legs/gusset in that I had sewed one leg right sides together and the other backs together (because it's hard to see what's the back and front in my basement). I discovered it when trying to insert the gusset. Had to redo one leg.

It's pretty comfortable. The skort is an athletic, 4-way stretch fabric, but the skirt is some rayon jersey I had left over from a dress. The flounce is a thin rayon jersey. I like it for this. The pattern accentuates my belly, which is hard to tell from these photos because I took great care, and several photos, to hide it.

Update: I'm pretty sure that the reason the skirt falls funny in the front is because I mixed up the front and back skirt pieces. 

Of course, I'll wear it with my shirt down, so no one will know.

My husband repainted so we needed new curtains. Looked all over for material we liked and in the end, the best choice was a home decor fabric from Joann's. I had seen it but didn't want to spend $50 a yard, but by the time we decided to go ahead, there was a sale and we got it for half off.

There is one large picture window and eight 3-foot windows.

I made pillows too. I recovered the one rectangular couch pillow we had, took the stuffing out of a square one and reshaped it and put it in a muslin shell I made and had another rectangular pillow of the same size as the other. Then I had two square blanks and enough fabric to cover them as well.  Close ups:​

O.M.G. I did it. I completed an actual Upton in real fabric (a lawn). 

I lost count but looking at this pile, it was at least 10 muslins. ​

This post documents the first set of muslin making, which mostly was trying to figure out which base size to start with and a few major adjustments (lower bust point, lengthen torso, and do forward shoulder adjustment). I went with a size 4 and a C/D bust. I also lost track of all the changes I made, but here are those I remember:

1. Graded to a 6 at the waist and hips
2. Lowered BP 1 inch
3. Lengthened torso 1 inch 
4. Made a forward shoulder adjustment
5. Scooped out curve on princess seam above and below bust point
6. Took darts out of neckline to reduce gaping, 1/4" on each side, tapering to nothing toward bust
7. Lowered armpit 1/2" and lengthened sleeve curve correspondingly
8. Shortened skirt. A lot. A total of maybe 4–5 inches
9. Changed closure from a back zipper to a button front (Cut back on fold instead of front. Cut front along center front and added seam allowance. Added a placket.)
10. Finally, I made bias binding and used it on the neckline

Oh yeah. I did add the pockets but could have kicked myself after. I don't really need pockets and I think they might disturb the fall of the skirt. Also, I didn't put notches on the pattern where they were supposed to go and I put the a little too low. 

Still this is super comfortable and I'm pretty pleased. I'm not sure I like the box pleats. The next one I make (I bought the fabric at the same time I bought the fabric for this version) might get regular pleats like on the McCalls shirtdress I made that this Upton is supposed to be an improvement on. It is, with the possible exception of the pleats.

Oh, I almost forgot. I discovered a couple new things about my machine. First, OMG it's so easy to sew buttons on with it.

However, I had to lower the feed dogs to do it—that's how it's done on my Pfaff—but I forgot that the stupid things get stuck when put down. So, I found a single YouTube where a guy explained how to fix it on a machine similar to mine (the predecessor, I suppose), and I managed to fix mine using his information even though my machine is not constructed the same. They updated the guts but still made a feed dog mechanism that sucks.

Finally, my buttonhole function is going haywire. I sewed about 5 buttonholes, and it started screwing up, jamming and bunching thread. Then I noticed only 1 of the buttonholes I'd sewn was correct. I had to take them all out and research alternatives. I found a good YouTube that showed a system that worked for me. 

1. Mark the buttonhole placement (a vertical line through the middle and a top and bottom line that can be seen when the presser foot is down)
2. The basic idea is to sew a wide zigzag at the top of the hole (5 stitches), a narrow zigzag along the right and left sides, and another wide zigzag at the bottom (another 5 stitches). 
3. The settings I used for WIDE were: length, 0.8, width 6.0 and NARROW: length 0.8, width 2.5. Worked like a charm and without the anxiety of that stupid automatic buttonhole.

The Upton fitting directions say to sew up the WHOLE dress for each muslin. Thank goodness I was reading Sarah Veblen's fitting book while I was working on this dress. She says no to sleeves and skirt, just fit the bodice first. I also found her HBL or horizontal balance lines very helpful with the second set of muslins. But I learned how to adjust the princess line by watching this really helpful video where she explains how a princess seam is just a version of a darted bodice and how to get a good line for your body. 

It's hot now, and I need some tank tops for tennis! The two Aura tanks I made out of Nike fabric are super comfortable, and I love wearing them. So I decided rather than hunt in a crap shoot online for the right fabric, I'd head on over to Salvation Army and find some XL shirts with fabric I could see and feel. 

I found a lot of shirts that would work and got five. That's probably got way more than I needed, but, what can I say? I thought it would be such a simple thing to sew these into tank tops, and I guess I got carried away. Too bad it didn't turn out to be so easy.  ​

Putting the shirts together went so quickly at first...cutting out the front and back and sewing up the shell; then, it went downhill fast. It was tedious and time consuming. It took me about 4 days to finish all of these once the front and back were sewn together! Here are the steps.

• Hunt for enough fabric in the scraps for the neckline binding and the two armhole bindings and cut the strips. (I found enough for all tanks except for the teal. For that, I considered a number of fabrics in my stash, from a thicker black labeled "performance," to black and white cotton rib knit. In the end, I used some scraps of blue Nike fabric because it was soft, and I know how it wears. The color doesn't really match, but none of the other options looked much better, so I went with assured comfort.)
• Sew the strips together to get enough length for each binding. (I generally used the fabric from the XL arms, cut 1.5-inch-width strips, and sewed 2 strips together for each armhole binding and anywhere from 3 to 5 for the neckband.)
• Pin the bindings onto the neck and armhole openings
• Baste the bindings on
• Serge the bindings on
• Press all the bindings (twice; once as sewn and twice with the binding turned right side up)
• Coverstitch all the bindings
• Press all the coverstitching

These days, I baste stuff together before going to the serger; it's too easy to fuck up on a serger with the tiniest wrong movement, and it's too much to serge and hold a seam together, especially where bindings, narrow seams, and armholes and necks are involved. So I like to have the seam secured first so there is only one thing to do on the serger—follow the basted line and sew.

Why did it seem so endless and tedious? Well, with 5 shirts, that's 5 neckbands and 10 armholes for a total of 15 bindings, which equals 100 percent Crazy Town.

Here's a close up of the bands. 

Theme: sucky fit and excessive ease in big-company commercial patterns.

I wanted to make a robe for a friend and I figured I'd use the same pattern I'd used to make my robe. Since I was making a different size and she is short, I decided to make a muslin. Before I made it, I chopped 4 inches off the length of the front/back and the sleeves (because on mine the sleeves are way too long). 

When she tried on the muslin, the sleeves were still an inch too long. The front hiked up above the horizontal line I'd drawn for fitting, indicating the need for a full-bust adjustment. I mean, it's just a robe, but an XL with no dart? They go to the trouble of making you cut and sew a two-part sleeve, but the fit of the overall robe is terrible. What surprised me was how voluminous the sleeves were. It was insane. plus, they are very low, and I worried it would restrict arm movement, especially when I narrowed the sleeves.

So I cut another inch off the sleeve length and narrowed the top of the sleeves 2 inches and the underside another 1.5 inches. I also added a dart and did an FBA of 1 inch. Unfortunately, I was too lazy to raise the armhole after all that. 

Then I sewed it up in a flannel print she'd purchased, added some satiny lining fabric for trim, and voila, fits pretty nice, looks pretty cute.

Damn, maybe the sleeves are still too fricking long.
​

Here is my robe. I don't think I ever put it in the blog. I wear it, but the sleeves are annoying.

Here's a better view of how long the sleeves are!

Maybe I made too big a size or something. I never noticed wearing it that it was oversized, other than the sleeves.

Descended into lunacy yet again. My community orchestra is doing movie tunes and the management announced that we could dress up. So of course I thought I would make an outfit.  Ironically, I just want to make it. I don't even want to wear a costume to play an orchestra concert!

I planned a very simple outfit. It took me hours and hours and hours to make it. From getting the (cheap) fabric I wanted in the right color to making pattern adustments and mockups to cutting and sewing polyester charmeuse and polyester chiffon (OMG), it took longer than I anticipated. 

Also, in addition to forgetting to put on my necklace for this photo shoot, I put the lace overlay on backwards. HAHAHAHA.

I saw a photo of the front view, and I thought, "crap! how do the necklines not match?" Well! At least it's better than discovering I sewed it wrong!

The picture below has the dress on the right way. 

So I am not buying shoes to go with this but I have some I thought would work pretty well. Eh, not so much. But still, they'll have to do.

Then I saw the Upton by Cashmerette. I was under the impression that Cashmerette patterns might be drafted for shapes closer to mine, which, I learned after lots of muslin-making,  turned out to be not true. But with the expansion pack, you get a lot of options for darts or princess seams, sleeves, and skirt. Plus, different cup sizes!

So I decided to sew up the Upton.
​
Sidenote

• The first major problem was printing the PDF. I have been going to Office Max/Depot a block away and they were doing a nice job for an affordable price. No more. They won't use their blueprint printer on patterns, only their poster printer. $30 a page. C'mon. Just say you won't do it anymore. Don't put customers through that bullshit.
  
  So I tried FedEx. They have a DIY blueprint printer, and I used it. It was much cheaper than Office Max/Depot, but still expensive. I don't want to admit how much I paid, but it was a LOT for 6 or 7 sheets.
  
  From now on it's PDF Plotting.com. I just ordered the Kitty pattern printed--$2.45 a page. Now we're talking.

​Back to the dress

I knew I'd have to close up the back and cut the front open to add plackets and buttons, but I didn't think that would be too big a deal. 

I don't know what my problem is, but fuck, 5 muslins and I'm still not ready to cut into good fabric. 

One thing is I have not been super careful keeping track of things. The first muslin was pretty close, so I guess I was sure if I made a couple tweaks, I'd be there. But no, 5 muslins later and I'm not 100% which mockups are which versions, especially what size sleeves I stuck in each one. Ooopsie. 

I lowered the bust point 1 inch and also lengthened the torso 3/4 inch.

Fit: Princess curve better fits breast shape, but it is still too far out on the outside. Shoulders are tight. Neckline is loose. Back waistline is too high.

In addition to lowering the bust point, I increased the length on the torso to 1 full inch. The major change here was that I took out width from center front seam. I think it was 2 full inches. It might have been 1. To add back in the missing width at the waist and hips, I added it to the side seams so the CF stayed on grain. The point of this change was to remove all the neckline gaping and bring the bust curve closer to the bust. It worked! Unfortunately, it also screwed up everything else. The armholes are way too tight and the back is too tight (how?)

Fit: The princess seam goes mostly where it should along breast. It is too tight across the back, shoulders, armscye, and now chest again. The back waistline still too high.

On Review of the Fit

I think I will go back to the C/D cup, size 4. The changes I will start with are:

1. Grade to a 6 at the waist and hips
2. Lower BP 1 inch
3. Lengthen torso 1 inch and maybe add another 1/2 to 1 inch length on back torso at the shoulder blade level. No, I had better wait until I make the forward shoulder adustment
4. Make a forward shoulder adjustment

I saw a video where someone explained how princess seams are darts. So I decided to sew the darted version to see exactly how the darts were designed and I figured they'd be easier to adjust.

So I sewed a C/D bust, size 4 grading to 6 at the waist.  I sewed size 6 sleeves into the size 4 armholes. I did lengthen the bodice 1" but I didn't lower the bust point yet. I did move the shoulder seam at the shoulder 1/2" forward.

Fit: I don't know. Feels more comfortable, but doesn't look very fitted! The bust dart is too low and needs to move an inch toward the center front. (I only sewed one bust dart up.) The back still hikes up. The armpits are too tight. Also, the front waist darts need to be moved an inch toward the center front. I think the front shoulder adjustment helped.

Also, don't know what the fuck is happening in the back. The back waistband is smaller than the back so I "eased" it in on this mockup.

Next:

1. Move the front bodice darts (bust darts down 1/2" and toward CF 3/4"; waist darts 3/4" to 1" toward center)
2. Adjust sleeve head for the front shoulder adjustment (forgot and did on fly while sewing)
3. Lower armhole and adjust sleeve as necessary (can't remember)
4. Add 1" length to CB and taper to side seams. Or maybe wait until I have the bodice fitting okay (maybe tightness somewhere is pulling everything toward front and lifting up back?)

This isn't how I planned it.

​I went looking for "performance jersey" to make more tennis tee shirts and tanks. I found this stuff called "moisture wicking." Looks a little like pique on one side and PVC on the other. Bought 2 yards of three different colors, but didn't notice that the PVC side is supposed to be worn on the outside or else "the moisture wicking won't work." So in the end, they look a little shiny and not as I had imagined or hoped.

And even though I had planned to make 3 tee shirts and 3 tank tops, which would not have been that nuts, I ended up zoning out while cutting, thinking "oh, I have enough for sleeves for all the shirts." 

So now I have 6 new tennis tees. I have worn a couple and they are not all that cool. I don't know how long into the heat of summer I'll be able to wear them. Oh well.

Sadly, I don't know where I saw this idea, so I can't credit the person who came up with it. It's pretty cool, no? So today I decided to make it. 

​I thought it would take me a couple hours. It took me all day.

​Fortunately, I made a pattern out of paper. As simple as it looks, my set of rulers is a little different and I had to work out a couple things and the sequencing of sewing it all together. 

It's not bad, and I hope it doesn't fall off the wall once I hang it.

So I made jeans. I surprise myself sometimes. It took me about a week or two to complete these once I cut out the denim. But the Saga of the Jeans is a much longer story.

About 15 years ago, I wanted to recreate pair of Gap jeans I loved. I drafted a pattern and then I proceeded to mock it up repeatedly over the years. I've made at least 3 pairs, two in muslin and one in a hideous red and white denim I got from a Mood sale. I got so close with the hideous red pair; they fit nicely, but before I could make the final tweaks and make them in a nice fabric, I gained weight, lost weight, gained weight, lost weight, and ultimately lost track of what I was doing (where were the most recent pattern pieces?) and generally got stuck. ​

A month or so ago I thought screw it: Morgan jeans is the closest pattern I know to what I want (mid-rise, nonstretch, relaxed leg), so I will just get it and make it. I made a muslin (size 10) in a week, and it fit really well. It was difficult to figure out the zipper, but it seemed to be okay in the muslin once done. Of course, Morgan comes with a button fly, and you have to look elsewhere for the zipper fly instructions. 

So I went ahead with the denim. And I had trouble with the damned zipper. Even though I had already done the muslin, I still needed to watch tutorials over and over, and still I screwed it up three times. The zipper was never in the right place once it was sewn in on both sides (and topstiched, mind you). 

I watched 3 main sewalongs: one for Ginger jeans, which shows a zipper fly construction that can be essentially "copy pasted" into the Morgan construction in place of the button fly. But it was not super clear, and it didn't work for me. There's another really nicely explained tutorial for a cut-on fly, and that should have worked, but it didn't. The third tutorial was a sewalong for the Morgans, which covers only the button fly but it was extremely well done and helpful on everything but the fly; I wish she would add an addendum with zipper fly instructions!

Finally, I just eyeballed where it should be once sewn in and winged it from there. A royal PIA. Why is it so fucking hard to explain?

Aside from wonky topstitching, especially along the fly, these turned out pretty well, and I'm pleased. They are very comfortable though a smidge tight in the knees of all places.  

Topstitching is okay in most places. Really a pain to have just one sewing machine. So midproject I went and got a used Pfaff. But it didn't end up helping on this project. It either doesn't handle topstitching thread or I haven't found the magic combination of tension settings.

Oh, and I handstitched that button hole. My machine wasn't having it. At all.

Anywho, I never wear belts ever, so why add belt loops? Of course, I don't carry coins around in my pockets either, so. Hypocrisy!