The Finished Story

I was going to title this post, "Tada" but decided that was just a little tooo...

However, this post is mostly pictures of the finished dress and the jacket or "The Lisa Outfit!" Since the dress is from my TNT pattern and I've made it several hundred times (okay that was an exaggeration!) but I've made it alot, there is just nothing new to say about it...except that I now want it in a navy blue wool crepe and a grey wool...both fabrics are in the collection and should be used. Almost every jacket that hangs in my closet would go with these dresses and would make it extremely easy for me to get dressed in the mornings...now, do I make them or the other things on my list...*sigh* I guess you will have to stay tuned to see what comes out of the sewing machine next.

So without further ado, "The Lisa Outfit!"

The dress alone

The dress with jacket

My daughter had me laughing so hard while she was taking the pics - but this is a great shot of the jacket and dress.

The back of the dress.

Now I realize that this isn't the most corporate of outfits...but I own plenty of them for days that we have meetings...and this dress with one of those jackets just adds to the number of outfits for formal meeting days. However, this outfit speaks to my personality...a little artsy with a dash of pro-fess-iona-lism...or my version of 'Corporate Chic.'

I've had a wonderful three day weekend...calming and full of creativity. I finished a UFO, I made a new dress and I have a kewl new sweatery jacket. Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Presenting Butterick 5187 - The Anna Sui Jacket

I am calling this 'The Anna Sui Jacket' which is part of the "Lisa Outfit" because of the fabric. The fabric is the jump off point in this jacket and it's provided all of the adventure and drama in getting the jacket completed. If you've been reading along, you know that this fabric started as a thin wool gauzy type of fabric that I washed & dried and ended up with a felted piece of fabric. This manipulated piece is the start of the journey...

So let's talk some stats:

Pattern:

Butterick 5187 is an unlined, very loose-fitting jacket that has front and back gathered or pleated to a yoke. The yoke can extend to ties, have a one button closing, a snap closing or collar with several button closing.

I made View C in a size 24 straight out of the pattern envelope. The only change I made to the pattern pieces was to lengthen the jacket front and back by three inches.

Fabric:

8 - yes 8 yards of the Anna Sui fabric felted

1/2 yard of black lining

Notions:

5 yards of black satin bias binding

1 Size 10 black sew on snap

1 2" floral button from M&J Trimmings

Construction Changes:

I did follow the instructions sheets - well pretty much - since this was the first time working with this pattern.

► I did have some issues cutting out the pieces because the felted material had a border print that I wanted to use and the edges of the fabric felted with a ripply texture. To resolve the problem, I cut the pattern pieces out with some allowance around them. I steam pressed the cut out piece and repinned the pattern piece to the fabric. Then I recut the pattern piece. This solved most of the ripply, too wide pattern piece issues.

► The pattern calls for interfacing. I omitted this since I wanted a softer, sweatery type jacket and thought that even a light fusible interfacing might change the fabric's hand.

► The facing pieces were cut from lining fabric to eliminate bulk in the jacket yoke fronts and backs.

► The sleeves were sewn in using a flat insertion instead of the normal "in the round" method. Again the fabric is a little bulky and I wasn't sure that I could get a clean insertion so using the flat method insured that there were no puckers, gathers or other issues with sewing the sleeves into the jacket.

► The instructions tell you to baste the facings to the yoke fronts and backs and then insert the sleeves. Since I did not use this method, I ended up machine stitching these pieces down after the sleeves were inserted. I hand stitched the front and back yoke facings to the fashion fabric for a clean finish inside the jacket. I also omitted all of the edge stitching the instruction sheets tell you to do. I used a lot of steam and my clapper to get the lining and jacket fabrics to lay flat instead.

► I added black satin bias binding to the sleeve hems, finishing them off using a Hong Kong application. This was done prior to sewing the sleeves closed, so I tucked the additional bias binding underneath the seam and took a few stitches to clean finish the ends.

► The hem was also bound with the black satin bias binding for two reasons. To give the hem a little weight. I wanted to make the jacket back swing a little, and to give a more stable edge to add a hand stitched hem.

► Since the fabric was felted, I did not finish the edges of the fabric...knowing that the edges wouldn't ravel.

Some final thoughts on this jacket:

I was able to make the felted fabric work and achieve the sweatery look that I was aiming for. And I did manage to make the border print work in the jacket. Even though the border is primarily featured on the back yoke and the hemline of the jacket.

The sleeves did end up a little lighter than the rest of the jacket but since it is an artsy type of jacket...I am going to call it a design feature. I mean after the issue of not having enough fabric, I was making this work!

Finally, I will make this jacket again in a more "Corporate Chic" type fabric.

I am now working on the LBD dress that accompanies this jacket...so more later!

It's Here!

I got off the bus this evening tired and longing for the weekend. In my purse is a supply list...I need to make a quick trip to Daytona Trimmings tomorrow to pick up some supplies. But mostly I was just annoyed because it took longer than usual for me to get home.

I trudged up to the mailbox and opened it...then the skies parted...the darkness lifted and Hallelujah...*sigh*...all my troubles were gone! Because the fabric is here! The fabric is here! With a bounce in my step and a renewed quickness, I double-timed it into my apartment...threw my coat off, snapped open the envelope, did a quick measure (Lisa - it's 3 yards!) and tossed it into the washing machine.

Thirty minutes later it went into the dryer...Twenty minutes after that I pulled it out of the dryer...ummm Houston, we have a problem. This piece did not felt as tightly as the original piece did. At first, I thought I would just leave it...but the color difference between the body of the jacket and the sleeves would be too great. Back into the washer it went...

After a trip through the washer that seemed to take forever this time and then a ten minute trip through the dryer...I had a piece that was the right consistency...but just a little bit lighter than my piece. No worries, I will deal with it! Okay, I know you want to know how much was left right?

1 3/4 yards...22" wide...I laid the sleeve pattern down on the fabric...and, yes, I will have sleeves - the right length, too! OMG!!!! I am soooo thrilled and my new outfit will be called, "The Lisa Outfit!"

Lisa, thank you, thank you, thank you for sending me your piece! Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving my outfit and a special thank you to all the others who emailed and/or left a comment volunteering your pieces!

I will cut the sleeves this weekend and finish the jacket and dress up! Tomorrow, I will tell you what I'm planning on working on this weekend...I've got a list and I'm dangerous! *LOL*

More later...

Relief!

Did you hear that giant sigh of relief? Yes, that was me...because the fabric I need is in the trusty hands of the U.S. Postal Service journeying towards me this very minute!!!

But what's really sad is that I just shut down yesterday. No, maybe I should cut out the black LBD, no threading the machines...nuthin'...I literally went to bed. Okay, I took a nap! *LOL* But my reaction was extreme...even to a confessed obsessed sewaholic! I have several projects that I could have worked on but at the time, I couldn't get past the fact that I didn't have enough of that particular fabric to proceed with the jacket.

Anyway, the fabric should arrive in my hot little hands by the weekend...and since it's a holiday weekend...in the U.S. it will be President's Day weekend - a combination of Lincoln's Birthday and George Washington's Birthday...I will have three days to work on both pieces and now I'm looking forward with joy instead of dread to having that time!

On another note...my renewal notice came in the mail for Burda Plus. I subscribe because this particular issue takes forever to arrive on the newsstands and I want to see it before the next season's patterns are available! Now I'm wondering if I should subscribe to the monthly issue of BWOF. I mean I purchase every issue anyway, maybe I should just subscribe. What do you think?

Lastly my beloved Fabric Mart is having a 20% off the entire website sale...and nope I'm not purchasing anything! Just in case you are not on the mailing list, I thought you would like to know! And to my readers overseas, I'm sorry but FM only ships to the US and Canada...bummer right!

More later...

Equals Nothing...

ETA:

"I just so happens that I have approximate 2 yards that fabric aging in my stash that I recieved in a mystery bundle from FabricMart and it is yours for shipping. Let me know."

Lisa can you contact me via my email - located in my profile - so that I can make arrangements to get this piece from you! And THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! You are a lifesaver!!!


This:

Plus these scraps:

Plus these cut out pieces:

Equals nothing...

So if anyone has a piece of that particular Anna Sui fabric that they would like to sell me...*sigh*...I'm listening...and yes, I've already gone through the gyrations of figuring out if another piece might work...I have nuthin'...please don't hurt me any more than I already am by suggesting that...

Otherwise, I'm finishing the new John Grisham novel today...I have walked away from my sewing machine...*sigh*

Fabric Manipulator

I've had this piece of fabric for about a year:

It was purchased on the recommendation of a friend. Bought from my favorite internet fabric source, Fabric Mart. It was part of last year's Anna Sui pieces and I thought it was a challis-type fabric. Instead when it arrived it had a very loose weave...and although I liked the border print...I'm not sure about the color.

So this went into the bowels of the fabric closet...unloved. Fast forward to this week and a conversation that I had with several friends who also purchased this piece of fabric. Yeah, we were kinda like lemmings when we saw the first friend's piece! *smile* A member of this 'elite' group, had washed her piece. When she showed the end result to the other members of the group, I wasn't around...but I did hear about it...and her end results intrigued me.

Of course, this meant that my piece had to be retrieved and manipulated. Let me say here and not that I love manipulating fabric. I love how it can become something entirely different from the original piece. Sometimes its something better...sometimes its something unusual...but it is never the same piece that you started with.

Personally, I've never manipulated a piece and had something go horribly wrong...but then that might be because I'm open to any possibility. Manipulation is about experimentation and risk. If you're scared of the risk, don't manipulate. Me, I find it exhilarating to learn what a fabric can become with a little handling!

In its original form, this piece measured 5 yards by 44" wide. After one round in the washing machine on hot water with a small amount of detergent, this is it how it looked:

After a short trip through the dryer and a steam press, it measured 3 yards by 23". It also felted unevenly throughout the piece...some areas of the piece are wider by an inch or two and not as tightly felted. My piece became softer and more sweater-like. The color is denser and the fabric edges ruffle, also the pattern is tighter, less distinct.

Will I use it now? Yes, of course. It will make a great, trendy little sweater jacket over my black wool crepe LBD. It has already sent me looking for a pattern, one I've wanted to make for a minute now, Butterick 5187:

Friday evening and Saturday morning has been spent pretreating and manipulating fabric. I'm a fabric manipulator, are you?

More later...