Unusually for me, I've been pretty organized about blogging lately. So organized, in fact, that the nasty cold I had over the weekend didn't even have an effect on posting (if you emailed me with a question though, that's why I haven't answered yet).
And there's even a bit more lined up. But today, I thought I'd talk about what I'm working on right now.
Despite all my good intentions when I told you about my poor old coat, I've allowed myself to be distracted by a pretty dress.
It is one which has taken a while in planning.
I bought this fabric either in December 2012 or early in 2013. I remember because there was this one stall at the market which was suddenly selling nice cotton flannel in various check designs at a low price (even if you considered the narrow width: just 90 cm) back then. This shirt for E was the first thing I made from that stuff. It taught me that this material was nice to work with, nice to wear and it took well to normal wear and laundry. So I bought more, in the various designs I thought we would like.
My flounce dress was made from one of those (and I made a shirt for E from that same fabric earlier).
Now there's only one check flannel fabric left, it's the largest and the most eye-catching design and it is the only one I originally bought to make something for myself.
The black and white stripes are horizontal and that tape measure is in centimeters.
When I bought this fabric, I thought it would become something I called a 'lumberjack-dress'. A design which would combine features of the lumberjack shirt and a 50's style dress. But I couldn't decide between a pleated skirt, a gathered one or maybe a circle or half circle so I left the fabric to marinate a bit in my stash.
Last autumn, I thought about it again when I took a look at the new fashion according to the runways. I blogged about that.
A couple of Prada designs gave me the idea to go for something like this:
I just had to decide between kimono sleeves with underarm gussets and normal sleeves…
In the following months, the idea developed:
It became more and more important to me to really make use of those checks, so this looked like a big improvement.
Last week, I wanted to start drafting that design. I kind of fiddled around with it, not knowing how to line up that slanted front edge in a way which would work and look good and allow me to somehow angle the darts so they would work with the checks…
And then I stood in front of a mirror, draping the fabric over me. That made me realize it: the design was still wrong.
There was only one way of angling and folding the fabric I liked and it led me to a design like this:
Overlapping bodice fronts with a true V neckline, kimono sleeves with underarm gussets, all the darts at the front converted to a deep pleat at the shoulder. At the back, there is a series of small pleats instead of the normal waist darts.
This is the design I drafted, muslined and cut out in that fabric. I haven't cut a skirt yet because I wanted to see the bodice in real life before I took a decision about that.
This week isn't bringing quite what I thought it would. I had hoped that, with emergency sewing for E out of the way and work getting a bit more quiet, I would have a chance to work on my long-anticipated crazy projects.
First of all, work didn't get quiet. I had reason to expect that, but this year, I will be busy well into September. Secondly, I did something silly/had some bad luck.
I bought a new laptop. I needed a new computer, my old desktop was getting rather slow and couldn't communicate with certain much used websites anymore (like my bank's). With the things I want from a computer and from the available space in my house now, a laptop was the best choice. The first time I used it for a longish time (other than set-up), I managed to try and type for some time while sitting on the couch with crossed legs, and the computer on my lap. This triggered a spot of old RSI (repetitive strain injury) in my right arm...
That was last week. I've been trying to rest my arm and find a better working posture ever since. On the computer, the arm is fine now. It's when I'm behind the sewing machine that it starts to act up. I have some reason to hope it may be better if I adjust my seat but this is getting me worried. No sewing is just no option but I don't want to damage my arm either...
So, it's dreaming about sewing much more than actual sewing.
I have started drafting something new though. Something from the crazy project list.
The idea of a cowl-legged jumpsuit must have been at the back of my mind for a while now. I certainly have quite a number of sketches. I will share my rough sketches now, so please don't complain about the quality of the pictures.
One of the triggers to really try and make it must have been watching Parade's End. I thought the (rather inappropriate) hobble dress Sylvia wore to the funeral of Christopher's mother was wonderful. In fact, like so many not-to-likable female characters, Sylvia has a great wardrobe anyway.
Unfortunately, this was the only picture I could find of that particular dress.
In trouser- rather than skirt shape, that would kind of look like this.
Which would be rather close to a dress I was already making...
So, I went on brainstorming on paper.
My next sketches took inspiration from what I read about Mesdames Gres and Vionnet. These three ideas were supposed to have draped bits mounted on sturdy underpinnings. And then I remembered certain of the practical considerations with jumpsuits... Such as: You can not have only a very fussy closure which you can barely work yourself.
Because I liked the draping and thought the last of the sketches above was too fussy, I moved on to this:
Kind of a wrap design without the need for serious hidden layers. I hadn't really worked it out though.
What I'm drafting now is based on that final idea, but I altered it for several practical reasons. Like fabric width, the wishes to limit the depth of the cleavage and have pockets.
So far, I've only tested the fit of the bodice and sleeves. Next, I'll be adding the tied drape based on a Pattern Magic design and draft those trousers...
Ehmm... Do I really want to talk about this?
Maybe not, but because I already announced it, I guess I should.
This is where it is now. Which, apart from its odd angle, does look like an almost completed bra.
Until you notice this:
And know that those vertical drag lines don't disappear when the bra is put on.
What happened is this: Me being me, I wanted to make yet another bra design. The hardwear sort of dictated my choices: of the underwires I have (six sets), I thought the plunge one would be a bit too vavavoom for this fabric and lace, and two of the three slightly larger ones (for use with foam padding) were already earmarked for specific other projects, so I went with the "normal size for unpadded bra" wires. I also didn't have any stronger elastic in red for the bottom of the bra and decided to try a different solution from the one in the sage green bra.
For this red bra, I would create a stand-out bottom band by encasing 3 cm wide elastic in the red lycra. Incidentally, this would also make the bra close a bit lower on my back. To avoid making the front of the bra look like one big block, I decided to try and leave out the normal bridge piece. I thought this would be possible because, to get a correct fit, I have to have the wire casings so close together that they touch at the top in any bra.
So far, so good. I then decided to go with the cup pieces from the sage green bra because those had already worked before. Makes sense, right?
Construction seemed to go smoothly as well although I worried a bit about the very stretchy lycra covering the hardly-stretchy-at-all net fabric lining in the lower cups. A justified concern, as it turned out. The bra in the picture was already taken partly apart to deal with baggy bits of lycra.
But that wasn't the worst of it. Those weird drag lines and the odd curve of the whole thing are caused by one thing and one thing only: there just isn't enough room for the wire.
I remembered from sage green one that the wire was a tight fit but I didn't worry about it. It fit them, so it would fit now. I certainly didn't measure it.......
BIG MISTAKE. The space for the wire, in both patterns is almost 1 cm shorter than the wire itself (and you need a bit of space to close off the ends of the casing, so you'll typically want the space for the wire to be about 1 cm longer).
I suppose I got away with it in the previous bra because a large part of the underwire casing was only connected to the cup and not to any other pieces. Here, on the other hand, there was that big solid band at the bottom which doesn't really allow for cheating. And now that I'm talking about it anyway: when I wear it, there are some minor horizontal drag lines at the bottom of the lower cup of the sage green bra. These are likely the result of that same wire issue.
To make a long story short, I'll have to re-do the entire thing. Fortunately, I have enough material, but I do not like it. (E. suggested cutting a bit off the wire, but I don't like that idea because I don't know any reliable methods to give the cut end a nice blunt edge again)
