Hits and misses

Sometimes I think I've made an OK garment and then I see a pic of it :/

So here I'm thinking "OK a bit baggy but I can live with it".....

And then hubby takes a pic and I'm like "Dear God nooo- what was I thinking??" :(

 

WHAT happened to my legs? I know they are not super long but I am reasonably tall (5ft 9") and these pants make me look like I have weirdly shortened legs. Obviously this pattern HAS to have some revision work done to it!

These slacks are made from a pattern from Make Your Own Clothes (by Patternmaker). Considering you put your own personal measurements in - and mine were professionally taken- I would expect the pattern that the software spat out to be a little more form fitting. But who knows what the ease is, or whether the measurements I put in were the ones they wanted...

I serged a good 1 cm off each side seam and the crotch seam, which have made the resulting pants look much more aesthetically pleasing ;)

(sorry no pic of the "new improved version as yet") 

More tinkering with this pattern software coming up...

Happy Sewing!

Kate x

 

Patternmaker half-circle skirt finished!

Yay !!!
It took a while but finally I got this one finished off, embarrassing considering how ridiculously easy the pattern is.

At first I wasn't sure about the finished product but now I've worn it have decided its not too bad :) - in fact I like the swishy feel it has! I can say that it is highly likely I will be making this one again in the near future, especially after taping all those A4 pattern pieces together :)

You can read more in my pattern review here.

Patternmaker half-circle skirt progress

OK I know I have been sitting on this project for absolutely ages but the end is finally in sight!!
Today I added the button and buttonhole to the skirt waistband, not a big amount of sewing but more than I have been doing lately :P

This time around I actually ended up reading the section in my sewing machine manual about sewing buttons using the machine.
They suggest taping the button to the appropriate spot:
Before using the clear foot to stitch it on:

Makes sense really. Up until now I have just been using the shank without any foot on to hold and sew the button down, but having a foot on really does make it that much more stable. The only thing is that by using a foot you do have to tape it on, or the button just keeps wanting to slip right out!
Here's a test run for the buttonhole using my machine. As you can see the stitching is quite uneven on both sides and looks quite sloppy, very disappointing Janome!!!

I ended up using the buttonholing feature but restitched over it manually to strengthen and neaten the buttonhole, I think it looks much better now:

I think if I ever replace my very basic sewing machine I will definitely be looking for something that gives a much more professional buttonhole finish !

Slowly, slowly...

It seems I have succumbed to the recent malaise that seems to be doing the rounds on several blogsites; that is not much is happening. Whether its due to the current state of the global economy, or global health I am not sure, or maybe I have just made too many changes to my life recently and it has taken awhile to get them all sorted out ?
Anyway what I DO know is that over the past few months I HAVE :
-Completely changed my eating habits and diet (hopefully for the better!)
-Lost a few kilos (yay!)
-Exercised more
..And read a few good books :)
I also managed to get food poisoning and(more recently) thrown my back out :( but its all better now :)
Plus hubby and I are going on a holiday to Alice Springs/ Uluru starting next weekend so I can't complain :)
On the sewing side I finally managed to stick all those pieces of a4 paper together for the half-circle skirt I am making out of "Make your own clothes" (by Patternmaker and Marie Clayton).
This is the main skirt piece after I stuck 26 pages together and cut them out. That's not including all the extra pages surrounding it that were just filler. Having stuck all the pages together I realised the shape is symmetrical.... wouldn't it have been soo much easier if they had printed half the pattern piece with a line that you place a fold? Not to mention it would actually fit on my dining table a whole lot better- that is one HUGE piece of paper to have to wrangle around!
So I folded the pattern piece in half (just to check that my eyes were accurate and it really was symmetrical around a central line) and then cut down that line...
Voila! smaller pattern piece that is way easier to maneuver and store, plus it now fits perfectly on the table :P
What I want to know is why the pattern piece does not come like this to begin with? Surely if the Patternmaker program works it out all mathematically it could be changed quite easily?
Nevertheless I have the fabric cut out now and can't wait to see what the skirt will be like made up - if its as well fitting as my shorts (from the same book) I'll be very happy!

PatternMaker shorts- in the flesh!!

Well here's the result of my first attempt at shorts using the PatternMaker software CD from Make Your Own Clothes (By Marie Clayton).
I am pretty happy with the fit, its the first time I have not had to take something out at the side seams to fit my thighs and bum :P As you can see the waistline is rather high and I didn't add the waistband as I was supposed too! I just applied the elastic to the waist using my serger then folded it over and stitch through it using a longer stitch length (4). This is where my natural waist sits, however I think in future I would probably take off a few centimetres as I like my clothes to sit a bit lower on me. I am quite long seated/waisted ? so that explain the looooong crotch seam.Although you cant really see it in this pic the waistline actually sits much more level than any other pants or shorts I have sewn. Of course I have never really done the "proper" alterations for my measurements to any pattern I have used, this now shows me what a difference the right alterations could make!

Back View - I am pretty happy with the fit around the tush overall :) Also for like the first time since I was 12 the fit skims over my lumps without clinging! Nice! - I could easily see this becoming my new exercise shorts pattern template.

Now a note on the inside crotch seam alteration (the software did still have a few little "quirks"), I made mine curved but realised afterwards that it should be straight- Doh! (mental head slap) so I am going to have to fix that up before I make these again. Still hopefully that shouldn't be too hard, just get two rulers and play around until both inside leg seams are the same length!

Next up I am thinking of making the semi-circle skirt mentioned in the same book, the pattern piece looks like half a fat donut- hope it works out!

PatternMaker shorts

Recently I had the good fortune to came across Make your own clothes by Marie Clayton.

At first glance I didn't think much of this book, the patterns look somewhat basic and a bit 1980's- however after I tried out the accompanying CD ROM to make a basic shorts pattern I am now totally hooked !!

Although the short are not totally finished, I can already tell by initial fitting that they are going to actually fit properly and better around the thighs and tush than ANY other pants pattern I have tried! (I know I sound like I am waffling but previous attempts at making shorts or pants had left me convinced that I should just stick to skirts!)

This is all due to the fact that on the CD-ROM you receive a basic pattern making program - type in your measurements for a particular garment and the program will draft it to fit.

The software used is from PatternMaker , they have quite a wide range of different "packages" available on their website but looking at the ones included in the book they seem to have most basics covered for the beginner/home sewer.

You are able to change the patterns in the book subtly by typing in different leg / arm width (hem / cuff circumference) thus changing ease allowance.

If you used the basic pants and scoop neck top patterns to make maybe make your own basic "sloper" you could very easily trace and redraw over them to create different necklines, seamlines etc creating outfits quite different than those on offer in the book.

For me the most interesting part was seeing how the back crotch seam looked after putting in my measurements, the back middle seam was a lot longer than anything I have seen in a regular pattern. I think this is why they will fit better.

Normally when making pants/shorts I struggle to get them to fit properly around my thighs and derriere, and if I do manage to make it look OK then the waist line will inevitatbly be higher at the front and much lower at the back. So far my basic shorts appear to sit evenly on the waist - I am stoked :) When I have finished them I will post a few pics on my blog comparing them with my other pant-making experiments so you can see the difference.

Now there are a few little quirks to the software, the very basic 1 pattern piece shorts that I am making don't appear to have an option to change the cuff circumference- therefore the allowance seems to be set at the basic (small!) size.
I was able to fix this up by extending the bottom hem out on each side by the required amount (I measured around my thigh circumference and then added a few centimetres) and then blended this new cutting line back into the top parts of the pattern, which appeared to be OK. I also measured each newly drawn seamline to make sure that they would match up when sewn together, I had to pinch out a tiny amount on one seamline to make them the same:

Whether this error was due to operator error or software design I am not sure, I plan to go back and re-read the relevant sections again.

There is also an online users group and help manual for PatternMaker software, which when I have more time I fully intend to check out.

Also I must point out that so far I have only actually used one pattern out of the book- so maybe I am not the best qualified person to review this as yet! Still what I have seen so far has me pretty excited! I have already played around with entering my measurements into the program for the Basic Pants Pattern and Sleeveless Dress (which features on the front cover) and hope to try these out next. I have a feeling how the bustal area on the dress works out will be a good indicator as to how useful this software will be for me.. it would be great not to have to do FBA's anymore!