BWOF 08/2009-114

Whew! I haven't had this much trouble with something I've made in quite a while. I'm just glad it turned out wearable, although I may still shorten it.This is the sweater that I made to go with my Butterick 4461 skirt.
Here is the ensemble. Front.
Side.
and back. I'm holding Myra here, so I'm standing a bit weird.

So, on to the troubles... First of all, I should have known better than to try out a new fabric (sweater knit) on a BWOF pattern without the sewing course (which I've never done before) that more experienced sewists than I have had trouble with.

My first trouble was in the layout. I should have stopped there!! I didn't have quite enough fabric to get the sleeve part on grain. So I cut it any which way it fit. I know better, but I really wanted to make this sweater! That actually ended up fine. Turns out that this pattern really doesn't require stretch, and this knit was really stretchy.

Assembling the front bodice was a little odd. There is a partial lining that encloses the side front seam allowances. It went together, although in retrospect, I'm not sure I did it right. Also, that front lining is short and leaves a weird fold right at the waistline, where I do not want a bulk-producing fold. If I sew this again, I will either fully line it or at least make the partial lining full length.

Then it was time for my first invisible zipper!Now that it is all together, I can see that in a fabric with this much stretch, that zipper is completely unnecessary. Anyway, I now LOVE invisible zippers, but I will be getting a better foot for next time. The only one available for Janome at my Hancock was this crappy two piece plastic thing that kept sliding over. Way annoying!!

After that, it was time to tackle the facings. I knew that I would probably have difficulty with this, and in hindsight I probably should have just left them off, but I ploughed on ahead... The back facing made sense, but when I got around to the front, the instructions told me to attach it to the gathered front self facing, but I couldn't see how that was possible.
As you can see here, I ended up slipstitching the facing to the lining. It is secure and seems to work, but I don't think that is what Burda had in mind... I also have issues with the gathered portion. I wish that I had stabilized the gathers with stay tape or clear elastic. They keep trying to flip forward. I put in a couple of hand tacks and that seems to keep things under control.

Finally, after all this trouble and miles of hand sewing, I put on my new sweater, and...
oh no! Why can the world see my purple bra?!?! So, out came all that hand hemming and I sewed up the side seams an extra 5 inches above the pattern instructions.
Much better! I'm still not sure that I love this style on me and I do think it might be more flattering if it were a few inches shorter, although that means ripping out my handsewn hem and resewing it. I'm not ready for that right now, so I'm just leaving it. On the plus side, it is really comfortable.