Burda World of Fashion 04/2009-112 lace tee

Happy New Year! May your stashes continue to be bounteous and your seams be straight in 2014!

Despite being out of town for the last week and a half, I just couldn't let December come to a close without sewing some Green! So in the 11th hour (the morning of the 31st), I whipped up this green lace top with my favorite raglan tee pattern.

This is Burda World of Fashion from 04/2009 (back when it was still BWOF), #112. This is the third time I've sewn it and the second time using lace. It's definitely a TNT for me. The color in this pic isn't quite right. The lace is much more of an emerald, like the other pics. The lace and black bamboo jersey are both from FabricMart.

Barbara and Carolyn have both blogged recently about the shift from sewing to fashion bloggers, and the tendency that comes to over-glamorize our lives, so I decided to snap some quick pics just doing what I was doing today, which was cleaning out the kids playroom. No glamour. Lots of mess. But my tee held up great!

The fit is nice in back too, which is one of the reasons I keep coming back to this pattern. I didn't do my usual swayback alteration, but it still works. (Side note - awesome braided bun courtesy of LadyKatza, who shared this gorgeous pin with me.)

The other reason I keep coming back to this pattern is the two piece sleeve. It seems like a fussy detail for a tee shirt, but it makes the fit through the shoulders so much better than a one piece sleeve.

I'm so glad I made another lace tee to replace the destroyed one and also thrilled I got to my Green December garment while it was actually December! Now it's time to start some Jungle January and y'all I have plans...

Burda Magazine 04/2009-112 lace knit top

I've been salivating over all of the lovely lace makes on the interwebs lately, but when I saw this on Pinterest, I knew what I wanted to make, like right now.

Obviously, mine is somewhat different than the inspiration piece, but I've seen several other lace overlay tees lately, so this is really more of a conglomeration of all of those.

The pattern I used was Burda Magazine 04/2009-112. I made it a couple of years ago in a striped slinky knit and I wore that one so much I wore the fabric threadbare.

The fabrics I used both came from FabricMart, although I purchased them years apart. I'm thrilled with how well the colors match. For some reason, this color is really hard to photograph. The modeled pic at the top shows the color the best. The solid knit is a rayon-lycra jersey and the lace is poly-nylon stretch lace.

I elected to use the fashion fabric as for the neck, wrist and hip bands. Unfortunately, this fabric has a ton of stretch, so despite shortening the neckband by about 3 inches, it still collapses a little into the cleavage. Meh. I don't think I care enough to rip it off and reattach it again.

Should you be interested in recreating this look, it's really simple! Just choose your favorite raglan tee pattern (although if you use a set in sleeve pattern, that will work as well) - You could use this one, this one or this one. Cut out your knit as usual, then cut the lace (make sure it is stretch!) in just the front and back bodice pieces.

Overlay the lace on top of the jersey (like an underlining) and baste the two together around the edges only, inside the seam allowance. I use a zigzag stitch to baste, then I don't have to pull out the stitches later, since they are hidden inside the seam allowance. Now just assemble your top according to the pattern instructions, treating the basted pieces as one. Easy peasy!

I'm so pleased with this top. It was a really simple make, but I think it has a lot of impact. Mitch was pretty impressed with it, and even mentioned how versatile it would be. I think so, too. The lace allows it to be dressy, even though really it's just a tee shirt.

BWOF 04/2009-118 pants!

Thanks to all the fit help that I got from all of you, my best fitting pair of pants ever is finished!

I'm wearing them here with New Look 6816. I thought the Pucci-inspired print was a nice nod to the 70s and went with the bell bottom shape. I hemmed them extra long so that my toes just peep out in heels.

The pattern is BWOF 04/2009-118. It's been reviewed favorably on PR and I can see why. It is a very flattering shape and the waist comes high enough to cover my post-baby fluff, but not so high that they feel like "mom jeans". Alterations I made were to deepen the crotch curve. Back alterations are detailed here. In front I copied the curve from the Jalie 2908 pattern, as I get a good fit in front with them. I also had to take 2 inches off of the length, and I hemmed them for a 4 1/2 inch heel. Now, I am 5' 6" with most of my height in my legs. Flat footed, I have a 32 inch inseam. These suckers are LONG! I also lined them, which this version does not call for. As for the pattern instructions, I didn't use them at all as they are in French in my copy of the magazine. I'm pretty proud of myself for making lined pants without instructions, although I did refer to the Jalie pattern for the fly.

My facings are quilting cotton and I used a vintage button from the stash. It seemed appropriate, but I'm not sure it is going to be belt friendly. We'll see. The fabric for the shell is from a mystery bundle from FabricMart. I didn't burn test it, but it behaves like wool with a bit of poly. It didn't shrink or felt in the wash, but it sewed and pressed like wool. It also feels and smells like wool and is a bit water repellent. It shaped really well with steam. It was a pleasure to sew.

Here is the lining. It is a grey mystery fabric from the stash. It is actually nice and silky. I have about 4 yards left, so I think I may make a top to go with the pants. I saw a grey and yellow ensemble at the Banana Republic Fall 2011 show that I really liked, so I think a grey top would be fun with these pants. In the pictures they are reading as khaki, but they are closer to yellow.

And the fit? Worlds better than unaltered but not perfect. Still, I'm happy. I actually think the asymmetry that you see here is a sewing error. I had a bit of a mismatch in the side seam that I didn't correct and I wonder if that is what is making those ripples on the right. The left side is perfect!

Here is the left side seam. Nice and straight! You can see the shape of the pant better here as well. The flare is pretty pronounced. I really like it.
So, I think I may have a new TNT! As of my writing this, I've been wearing these for several hours and they are very comfortable. The lining makes them feel very luxurious. I'm glad I listened to Mitch on that one! I have another pair of pants from a 70s pattern cut out, and I've copied this crotch curve to them, so we'll see how that goes. They are much higher waisted, so it'll be interesting to see how that changes the equation. So, have you started your Bellbottoms yet?

Easter dress and pants fit update

I wore my dress today! You remember, the one I wasn't sure I liked.

And I love it!! The brown accents are fun and I love the length. It feels kicky and fun. The fit isn't bad, but I think I'm just getting more picky about fit. I'd have been thrilled to find anything that fit this well off the rack, so I'm pleased. That said, I think I'm going to need to start looking closer at the fit in my shoulders. I think I may need to start making a broad back adjustment as a standard change for me. I didn't in this dress and it pulls a bit when I cross my arms in front of my chest.

What about those pants I'm working on? I want to thank everyone for the comments, emails and links you all sent me. I love the support from the sewing community! You are all awesome!! Myrna, who has a similar figure to mine, reminded me of a similar journey that she made while fitting pants. Her posts here, here and here, were so helpful! I'm linking them for your benefit, but also so that I can find them again. The old memory just ain't what it used to be...
So, my next step will be to get a flexible curve to measure my own crotch curve more closely, but I did do some tweaking of the current pants to see what I could do just by deepening the crotch curve.

What do y'all think? I'm pretty happy with how well they fall now. It isn't perfect, but I'm calling it good enough.

Here is the altered pattern piece. The original seamline is in blue with my altered seamline in red. I dropped the crotch curve down nearly an inch and pinched out about 5/8 of an inch from the back waist. You can see how different the shape is from the original curve.

Joy had asked how the alteration affected the side seam, and I am happy to say, it is still nice and straight.

Pants fitting is very interesting. Everything is so interrelated, but not at all intuitive for me. I'm excited to have this pair coming along so nicely. Hopefully, I'll have a completed pair to show you in a couple of days. Every time I tried them on, Mitch asked if I was going to line them, so I finally took the hint and am adding a full lining.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me fine tune these. I so much appreciate all the help! It's so great to have so many educated eyes to scrutinize my work. You all rock!

Pants fitting...

Somehow, I find myself in great need of new pants. Since I got my first burda magazine in April of 2009, I've wanted to sew model 118, these cute pants,

but my issue is in french, so that slowed me down a bit. I'm confident enough now in my pant construction skills to give it a go without instructions. What is slowing me down now is fit.

Here they are from the front. The inseams are sewn, but crotch and side seams are just basted so that I can adjust as needed. I think the fit is pretty good actually from this angle.

The side seams are nice and straight, but from here you can see that the back is not falling quite smoothly.

From the rear, I like the fit through the hips and backside, but I have wrinkles in the legs that radiate from hip to knee,

which disappear when I tug the center back up a bit. This does make the crotch just a wee snug, but it fixes the back wrinkles. So, dear friends, here is where you come in. What do you think is going on here? I'm thinking for this pair that I can make them work by shaving off a bit at the back waist, tapering to nothing at the side seams, then deepening the back crotch curve to compensate. What would you do?

BWOF 04-2009-112

I've wanted to make this top for some time, but several factors stopped me.

Looks simple enough, doesn't it?  Well, this pattern comes from my very first issue of BWOF, which my sister brought home from Switzerland for me.  She's a wonderful enabler and I love her for it!  It began my love affair with burda.  But, the issue is in French, and while I took some French in High School, it's been a few years.  I also really wanted to use this striped slinky knit to make it.  Stripe matching + slinky knit = definite swearing.  When Mom was here last weekend, she gave me some slinky sewing tips that she learned at Expo, so I just decided I was going to throw caution to the wind!

And check out the mad stripe matching!!  Across the sleeve seam and across the body!  And can you even see the side seam in the top pic?  Now, this pattern is made up in a stripe in the mag, so you'd think it would work well in a stripe, wouldn't you??

What happened to my raglan seams????  There was no possible way to match them.  There are 4 stripes on the body and five on the sleeve.  What's going on, burda??

Of course, the back is mismatched as well, although I did get the bottom stripe to match.  Grrr.

Well, I still like this top, but if I make it again, it won't be in a stripe!!  And I'll lengthen it.  It was way short, so I had to add the band at the bottom.  I actually think it works with the cuffs and neckband.  I think this ends my string of navy.  Maybe I'll actually have to *gasp* thread my sewing machine!

As for the sewing of slinky, I actually didn't think it was all that bad, although I wouldn't recommend it for your first knitwear!  I used the recommendations from "More Fabric Savvy" as well as these great tips.  I used a 130/705 H-S stretch needle with poly metrosene thread and a narrow (0.5 on my machine) but long (3 for me) triple zigzag for the seams.  I decreased the presser foot pressure significantly and used a Teflon foot to reduce stretching in the seams.  A walking foot or serger with differential feed would have been great, but I don't have either of those things, so I made do, and it worked out fine.  Since I ended up using a band at the hems, I didn't need to hem it, but from my reading I had decided that I was going to use the steam a seam lite with twin needle method.  Since I didn't I can't really comment on that.

Despite my stripe mismatch, I'm happy with my first foray into slinky.  You should give it a go, too!  It's such a great fabric to wear!