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 - 3. muslin: the good, the bad and the ugly

How is your project going? Over here it is muslin time! The first muslin isn't perfect of course, but it looks nice already. Now let's see a lot of pictures!



muslin front and and back view:
Overall: I like it! Can you spot the problems?

• obviously, the collar is inside out, but besides that the collar edge needs to be shortened
• my one-piece yoke looks good!
• ...though something went wrong because it isn't lying flat...
• sleeve is too tight plus underarm room too small (I feel this when I lift my arm)
• the back pleats are placed too close to the center and are pleated in the wrong direction as well
• swayback adjustment in the back
• shorten the hem

muslin adjustments:

1. sleeve:
The tight sleeve/wobbly yoke problem was partly solved when I discovered that I've put the sleeve in backwards... I guess I just looked at the wrongly sewn collar seams as reference. Unbelievable, but when I started to sew I used to make this mistake on almost every garment I made! Usually just one sleeve though...


After a quick change (setting the sleeve in the right way) there was enough room to move my arms, and the sleeve looked much better, but there was still a little puckering visible along the armhole/armpit. You can see it in the picture below on the left, and how I corrected it by pinning the excess fabric out on the other side:

This is a modification which I need to transfer to my pattern pieces. The excess will be transferred to the front dart leg. (Note: my dart isn't stitched down, it is folded in a pleat to release fullness at the top)
To keep in mind: since my action modifies the armhole it will also affect the sleevecap!

2. collar:
The problem is that the collar of the Marfy pattern is made for another type of convertible collar. I marked the original points in the picture, with a drawing of the original and the shape of my new collar:


I could draft a new collar, but I choose an easy solution: I'm going to round out corner A and add a triangle shape from corner B down to fill the gap.

3. back pleats:
No idea, what happened here... anyway, the arrows mark the place where the pleats or gathering should be:


4. swayback adjustment:
This is an easy one, since I have to make this correction on almost every garment I make. You can already see the excess fabric pulling up below the back darts. (Observe that the fullness of the back looks right, the upper part of the back darts is in the good place!)

I can either pin out the excess fabric and add width at the sides or just try to add width at the sides and shorten the lower dart legs plus the blouse hem.

5. shortening the hem:
I often wear my blouses over my skirts or trousers, so I prefer a shorter hem. Also, I'm short-waisted, so a shorter blouse looks more in proportion on me. The length under the waistline will be still enough to tuck in in a high-waisted skirt:


6. other:

• I folded my front tucks on a vertical line instead of folding in the shape of the dart legs. I also only stitched in the middle, while I could taper it and stitch down a longer section.
• Besides the other sleeve adjustments above I might lengthen the sleeves just a bit.

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

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

sew for victory challenge - 1. my project plan

Yes, I decided that the only way to get myself into sewing again was to challenge myself to really sew (mostly: finish) a garment. After a year of knitting and producing some UFO's in the area of sewing (like my Alma blouse) now it is the time to tackle that! The sew for victory challenge at Lucky Lucille runs until the end of april, which gives me enough time to make a garment.
For those who love knitting, I'm not going to stop with that either, I continue the baby-bootie project and have another 40's scarf pattern to share.

the challenge:

• Sew For Victory is a non-competitive sewing challenge for anyone who’s ever wanted to try sewing a 1940s style. 
• You are allowed to pick your own pattern and work at your own pace, so long as your pattern is 1940s and your project is made specifically during Sew For Victory. 
•  You can use any vintage sewing pattern, reproduction sewing pattern, or modern sewing pattern that helps you recreate your 1940s look. 
• Any WWII style or post war “New Look” style is appropriate for this challenge (some late 30s or very early 50s patterns may be used so long as the overall “feel” of the project is 40s)

so what is it going to be?
I immediately knew it had to be a blouse! As I love wearing separates but don't own that many I really, really wanted to make a 40's blouse. I'm planning to make the pattern myself, by modifying a few patterns that I like. Now that I have the Patternmaking book I know exactly how the pattern should look (more about that next time) but due to the failure of my experiments in the past to make a basic sloper I'm just not making it more difficult than needed.

my goal:
To make the best fitting 40's blouse pattern for myself and sew a few really cool blouses!

what do I need to do:
- make up my own 'Frankenpattern' - use the best fitting parts of a few patterns I have
- choose & buy the fabric - I have seen some really cool prints of 110 cm wide cotton. I don't have any idea how much to order because I'm used to work with the standard 140 cm, so I need my pattern first.
- make a muslin and correct it to perfection!
- sew & finish on time

planning of blogposts:
1. project plan
2. style & pattern inspiration
4. making of...the pattern!
5. fabric choice, muslin & fitting
6. finish & reveal

Knit for Victory projects video

All of the finished Knit for Victory projects are now online, in one video. So much fun to see those 40's garments! My Victory jumper is passing by at 2.31.
click here to watch!