currently obsessed with: Butterick 6183 top

Okay, here is the problem: because of breastfeeding I sadly can't wear any of my fitted blouses and tops. After the 9 long months of pregnancy I was anxiously waiting to be able to wear 'normal' clothes again. Though my normal b-cup size didn't grow larger than a small d-cup it is apparently enough to leave me with next to nothing to wear...except t-shirts (again, sigh) of course...
Lately I'm attracted to the minimalist trend and often wear a plain V-neck t-shirt with jeans. I am in desperate need of new, more 'dressed' stuff which I also can wear later (hopefully with my 'regular', smaller boobs, once I stop breastfeeding) Tops which go with jeans and skirts as well. The last item I made for myself was a retro, 40's blouse for the 'Sew for Victory' challenge, a year ago, just before I got pregnant. Ever since I've been sewing all kinds of practical things for the nursery but no garments at all.

I guess my biggest problem is that I really don't feel like myself, I really do not 'feel' this new-larger-boobs silhouette of mine. Trying to keep things simple right now. I know shaping below the bust is important, so really loose fitting items would end up looking boxy.
I think this top, which is part of the new Lisette capsule collection for Butterick really stands out.
What I like about is:
- the length (not too long)
- the flattering rounded neckline (not too low and not too high)
- the graphic lines
- the loosely fitted shape
- and of course the fact that the pattern comes with different cup sizes. Thank God, the (full) bust adjustment is already done here!

Unfortunately it took a while (like months after the US release!) before the pattern was available here in the Netherlands. Well, finally it came out last week and I bought it right away. I'm already dreaming of sewing it in different fabrics: clean and simple in crisp cotton or dupion silk, in pretty lace, maybe denim or even in a double knit, uni color or color blocking (more fabric inspiration from the Lisette pattern site here)


With such a simple silhouette having a perfect fit is essential. Here comes my favorite part: making a muslins!!! The shoulder width and the length both have to be perfect. To prevent a 'boxy' look I already know I have to do a swayback adjustment. (Hate fitting the back seams by myself!) I wonder how it is going to look with larger boobs... I can see some problems in that area as well.
Before you think I'm about to add yet another UFO-project to the pile, I have already managed to cut and sew a muslin! Stay tuned!

sewing for victory - 5. another fitting intermezzo

Well, still busy with my muslins, this is a post on muslin and pattern adjustments and fitting books! And since the deadline is just a week away, today's western inspired movie theme is at the hell's gate...


altering the bodice:
Let's start with the fitting-issues of Siplicity 3688.
I've shortened the bodice by taking out 2 cm all around,to get rid of the side-bagginess. This was a bit of free-hand work, so please ignore deny the obviously diagonal seam across the front!

Left is the first muslin version, right is the shortened one. Side-bagginess gone, because the pleats are sitting at my waist instead on my belly.
(Of course, I need to add the same length to the hem at the end)


Here you see that the red waistline is sitting at my natural waist now:


The sides look just the same, though there is no wrinkle at the back, onlya huge amount of excess fabric, which is emphasized by my swayback. The wrinkle was caused by insufficient amount of width of the back hem (need to widen that anyway)
Left original, right shortened version:


The back obviously needed darts or something to take out fabric in the middle section. First I tried to add two (rather modestly sized) darts with little to no effect. Do you see the difference? Me neither...


At the end of the day I just decided to add four dart-pleats, similar to the front. Finally, this eliminated the excess fabric and as a bonus, I was able to pull it on without ripping the side seams:


Now I can adapt the below-the bust part of this blouse for my own 40's 'frankenpattern'! Now, let's see what to do with the tight sleeves.

sleeve adjustment
To add width to the upper part of my sleeves I decided to use the pivot-and-slide method, video below by Nancy Zieman. This is by far the easiest way to adjust pattern pieces and works for me better than cutting and spreading the patterns. Note, it works only if you need to adjust small amounts of width, a maximum of 1 inch per side! The fitting book I own (The perfect fit) shows the cut-and-spread method, which makes the original sleevecap a bit fuller,which means you should adjust the armhole seams of the bodice too:


Here is another video with a more lengthy, step-by-step explanation of exactly the same method. This one discuss lengthening long sleeves as well:

books about fitting:


Which is your favorite fitting method and fitting book?

• I know a lot of sewers love Pati Palmer's 'Fit for real people' series, but I just really, really, really hate the idea of tissue-fitting!
• I own 'The perfect fit' which is a really good book with clear pictures, covering basic aspects of fitting. 
• 'Pattern fitting with confidence' which Nancy Zieman discusses in the video below seems to be a good one, as far as pattern alterations go. They just work, even if I only tested the sleeve alteration so far, it seems to me a logical approach indeed. I don't know if there are any good pictures included of what you exactly see on the garments, like drag-lines,bulking etc?
• I'm dreaming of buying another, rather expensive fitting book, 'Fitting and Pattern Alteration: A Multi-Method Approach to the Art of Style Selection, Fitting, and Alteration' from Elizabeth Liechty et.al. The advantage of this book is that it is very comprehensive (480 pages!!!) This book offers 3 different methods to adjust your pattern for every problem. Since I've recently invested in another expensive pattern-making book here I can't spend more money on books right now, but this one is certainly on my wish-list!

Next time, hopefully something different than a muslin!

For other Sew for Victory posts click here:
1. project plan
2. style, pattern & fabric inspiration
3. muslin, the good, the bad and the ugly
4. taking a few steps sideways

sewing for victory - 4. taking a few steps sideways

Two weeks have left of the challenge. Have you already finished your garment?
Well, according my plans, by now I should post pictures of my perfected muslin and my dream-fabric (sort of), but my muslin is not ready yet.
To tackle a couple of problems I decided to include yet another pattern in the mix. And I made another blouse muslin! So what I have today is an all new muslin, of which I'm planning to use the bottom part (to be precise).
Hence my choice for today's Western-inspired 'intermezzo':


Let's start with something else (talking about steps sideways) Exciting news, I've recently bought a pair of brogues! Okay, this maybe not soooo exciting, but after 1.5 years of 'shoe-diet' I'm glad to have a pair of these beauties! As you can guess, these are from my current favorite brand, Clark's, I wrote about in these posts. Usually I buy new sneakers to wear with jeans, but this year I decided on brogues which are more elegant and can be worn with skirts as well. Brogues are (of course) totally 30's and 40's too!

did you know...
that brogues were very popular through the 30's for women's polo- hike-, and sportswear outfits? Of course, those weren't this flat type of shoes, these became popular during the war years, "for war work and play" unfortunately only in  black or brown.

I chose a fun, grey-and-white color combination. I don't wear browns, black looked just black, the beige was not pretty, the white was too white and this fits more in my personal style. I don't wear authentic, fully vintage styled outfits, but rather mix and match vintage styled and contemporary things to create something new, which is 'me'.
Now bending back to the Sew for Victory project...

the new pattern:


The new pattern in the game is the famous Simplicity 3688, which is a sort of mini-wardrobe consisting a 40's jacket, a skirt, pants and a blouse. A very good value, because you get 4 patterns for the price of 1. It sells for about 10$ (sadly, in Europe more, about 16 euro's, which is in comparison to other patterns still a bargain though)


You will find several dozens of those pants on the internet (seem to have a very good fit!) a few versions of the skirt and the blouse and practically none of the jacket. Why?! You guess: this goes on my 'to-make-one-day'-list....
Let's take another step sideways, just for fun:
Look at the pictures of the re-issued pattern (below right) and that of the original one (below left, source: vintage pattern wiki). How vivid are the original 40's colors in comparison to the remake?! They probably had a really, really faded pattern envelope when recreating the items in boring beige-ish, pale browns and pastel-yellow, though the styling and the hairstyle were spot on.
Below a little mix of fabrics which I think could have been more effective: marroon-brown, forrest green and bright yellow. What do you think?
By the way, I love how the original pattern introduces one more color for an extra skirt!


Bending back to my blouse project:
I'm interested in this blouse pattern, because of the pleats at front and the length from the waist down. (I'm pleased to say that my frankenpattern-yoke has the same shoulder-width as that of the Simplicity blouse!) Looking at the finished measurements I decided to make a muslin of the size 10 pattern instead of the size 12, which I would have chosen by looking at the body measurements. Tip: always check the finished measurements before making a muslin! While the 40's garments were close-fitting, the contemporary remakes often include a lot of ease.

did you know...
...that the finished garment measurements are always printed on the pattern tissue and sometimes (partly) on the pattern envelope?

simplicity 3688 blouse muslin:
Want to see my muslin of the Simplicity 3688 blouse? Here we go:
Front and side view (please ignore my 'made-in-China' pajama pants and chopped-off head) Below two sets of front and side view pics:



Try not to forget that this blouse is supposed to bu tucked in. (Just in case you wonder why the sides look so bulky...)
When I lift my arm you can see that the sleeve is a tad too tight. There are a lot of small wrinkles along the underarm and there are a few horizontal wrinkles from the armhole to the bust and to the sleeve: horizontal wrinkles usually indicate tightness. (By the way, do you see any side-bulks below? They are gone!)


the verdict:


+
+ the length is perfect for me (which was one of the reasons to make this muslin)
+ the finished measurements were right, size 10 has a perfect fit along the bodice
+ the neckline: even if I don't love high necklines, this one looks really pretty! The finishing with the self-bias fabric is a breeze (even if I managed to sew it on inside-out...)
+ fit of the yoke and shoulders is good
+ bust fitting: the gathering gives enough room and looks great
+ waist pleats: I like the look
+ the elbow-dart: a pretty, vintage addition which also adds comfort (the slightly bended sleeve is more natural, just look at the pics below. When standing relaxed your arms aren't 'hanging' straight!)

-
- the back is too baggy (I guess this is necessary to be able to put it on without a side opening, but still...)
- the sleeve is a tad too small, I need more room for my upper arm
- the problem above can be solved by sizing up the sleeve (or by altering the sleeve pattern by cutting in along the fold-line and spreading at the top)
- I had high expectations of the shoulder darts of the sleeve-cap but I was disappointed. The darts don't really add fullness or shape whatsoever.


to change:

• cut one size larger sleeves 
• add darts to back (why not to try?)
• open up the side if needed (in case the blouse gets too tight to pull on)

Actually, this might be the my second project for Sew for Victory!

to adapt for my 40's blouse design:

• the length
• the front pleats

Next up: muslin adjustments
For other Sew for Victory posts click here:
1. project plan
2. style, pattern & fabric inspiration
3. muslin, the good, the bad and the ugly

sewing for victory blouse - 2. style, pattern & fabric inspiration

Today a post with inspiration for my 40's blouse, style, pattern and fabric! Prepare for a picture-heavy post. Let's take a look at how my 40's blouse is going to look. Here we go!

To start I have some early 40's inspiration (my fav. years of the 40's!)
The blouse on the left has a simple polka-dot pattern gathered sleeve-caps and a really interesting button placement. Might try to recreate that in the future. The blouses on the right incorporate the typical wartime suggestions to use scraps of fabric in different colors (center) or to remodel last year's striped taffeta evening dress into a 'dramatic' blouse (right).
I like the collar of the 3-color blouse and the yoke treatment of the third one:

source: AWW through Trove

features:
So, how does my 1940's dream-blouse look like?

• 4-5 buttons up the front to make a nice V-shaped neck
• has either short or long sleeves with a slightly puffed sleeve-cap
• has a front and back yoke (or just one, forward leaning yoke) 
• there are gathers or pleats above the bust to ease fullness into yoke  
• self facing and a convertible collar
• the bodice is full above the waistline but fitted in the waist and hips with either tucks or darts (mostly 2x2 tucks in the front and 2 tucks or darts in the back)

You've already seen my line drawing that I made including the features I like:

some vintage pattern inspiration:
   

did you know...
...that a forward leaning yoke has only one yoke piece at the shoulders or it is cut in one piece with the back? It is a feature of  men's shirts.

   

did you know...

...that there are two basic shapes of collars: convertible and non-convertible? The convertible collar (like a shirtwaist collar) is contrary to the neckline curve of the garment and will spring open when unbuttoned. The non-convertible collar (like a peter-pan collar) follows the neckline curve closely and will stay in place when unbuttoned.

   
Vintage Hollywood, duBarry, Simplicity and Butterick, patterns, pics: Etsy

my pattern-plan:
As you know, I'm planning to make my own pattern. Well, not from scratch, but still... Below the patterns I'm going to work with. I'm planning to use the bodices of the Colette Ceylon dress and Marfy 2440 dress patterns. I like the sleeve of the Ceylon dress, on the left modified it to fit the Marfy dress which originally has full, puffy sleeves. The Marfy has the back and front yoke I want, but I like the slightly less wide shoulders of the Ceylon better. Last but not least, the Marfy dress has the convertible collar! I need to figure out the correct length of my blouse and the placing of the tuck-darts.


I really want to get a bold, fun, novelty-style fabric for this project! I haven't decided yet, which one. I have a nice rose print cotton fabric too as backup, but lately I really like prints with quirky, furry animals... and there are a lot of options out there:


...and how cute is this one  with kittens?!
'Whiskers and tails' from Robert Kaufman


Of course, the WW2 years were about make en mend, recycling and not spending a lot of money on fabrics. The two above cost 16 euros per meter (110cm wide, about 43 in) and I need at least 2 meters for my blouse (sigh....) Probably, I could pair a more expensive patterned fabric with plain cotton? The collar could be partly of fully patterned or just plain:


First I have to make my pattern pieces and test the layout. I might be able to squeeze a blouse out of less fabric.

other fabric inspiration
cats & dogs:


flowers & birds:


sewing machines & buttons:


irons & owls:

Next up: the muslin!
Read the other Sew for Victory posts here:
1. project plan