Interview Blues

So this is the interview suit that I never wore...

I made my first suit from a glen plaid fabric using Vogue 8209. That jacket/suit worked really well and I got the job. But before I knew that, I started another interview outfit. I added a dress instead of a skirt to this suit combo because it's more comfortable to wear.

Some stats ~
Patterns:
Reworked TNT dress pattern
Vogue 8209 Jacket

Fabric:
Textured Rayon Suiting purchased from Vogue Fashion Fabrics

Notions:
Navy Blue Bemberg Rayon Lining purchased from Low Price Fabrics
Black silk organza from the collection
Navy Blue Rayon Seam Tape
Black fusible interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply
7 - 1" enameled plastic buttons purchased from Fabric Mart
1" shoulder pads from the collection
22" navy invisible zipper
bias binding

There are no new sewing techniques in this outfit. It's basic construction with a lot of steps...a lot of steps!  The first post on how this jacket was constructed is here.  However, sewing an outfit without pressure means that I sew better.  The sleeves are inserted well. No puckers in the sleeve caps especially after I reduced the excess space on the pattern pieces. I also added space to the front so the jacket can close better. 

The dress is a basic sleeveless version of my TNT pattern. I wanted it "plain" so that it would work with anything...the jacket, a cardigan or alone...with or without jewelry. A good workhorse piece that can even be worn at my new job.

In my original post, I included a cotton houndstooth fabric that I was going to make a skirt to coordinate with the jacket. After realizing that I've recently made a navy/white gingham skirt that will go with the jacket, I decided not to sew it any time soon. 

A few more pictures ~

I start my new job on Monday. I'm pretty excited about this new adventure especially since I will be in a different industry, working less hours with a different dress code. So my sewing is definitely going to change now...which is great since most of my "professional" wardrobe no longer fits. 

However, if I ever need an interview outfit again, I'm all set!

...as always more later!

Let's Do it Again!

When I was at the Vogue Fashion Fabrics booth at The Expo in Pullayap, I was deliberately looking for fabrics to make a couple of spring suits.

I bought this midweight textured rayon suiting and the coordinating navy/white cotton houndstooth to make a jacket/dress/skirt combo. Since the Vogue 8209 pattern was still laying on the cutting table, I decided to use it again, especially since I knew how I wanted to improve the sleeves.

However, the rayon suiting while textured did need some stability to help it keep from stretching out. I decided to add a layer of black silk organza to the pieces to provide the needed support. So the body pieces were constructed of three layers...

The fashion fabric and silk organza was marked and the darts stitched through both pieces ~

Then the bemberg lining was basted to that piece and serged together.

The rayon fashion fabric was very ravelly and needed the clean finishing. Lastly the rayon seam binding was stitched to the edges.

Front Pattern Alteration and Construction:
For this version I decided to copy the jacket front pattern onto pattern paper, separating the facing from the jacket front and adding a 1/2 inch to the center front prior to adding the 5/8 inch seam allowance.

Why did I do this? Because the jacket fronts needed an additional inch so that the fronts would close better. Now the original jacket pattern doesn't call for button closures - it's a hook and eye closing. And when I originally made this pattern, there were no closures, but there is enough space in the abdomen area now to close the jacket. So I'm taking advantage of this extra space to add buttons & buttonholes.

Other than the techniques mentioned above, the jacket construction will be the same as the last jacket. I'm knee deep into construction and will have photography shots when all three pieces have been completed.

Conclusion:
May I take a moment here to say that I'm going to spend the next 11 days sewing for me. There may be an alteration or two of a "reclaimed" dress from the closet. That will probably happen during the end of the time because it's a sewcation designed to add some variety to my wardrobe. I just can't stand it anymore ~ I'm going to start sewing new things and donate the rest.

When I look back at some of the garments I've sewn, I want that feeling of creative freedom that I once had. It's missing now. I've become a captive of my weight loss and not in a good way. So there will be some new patterns and some of my revised TNT patterns sewn. I'm going in and I'm not coming out until I have new garments to wear and of course share here with you!  

...as always more later!

Vogue 8209 in Glen Plaid

Here are the pics of the suit in action. Again, I see things to improve upon for next time. I've already cut out the fabric for another jacket/dress combo in navy blue...

I really don't like me in a suit or a jacket with a collar. However, some situations just call for one and there is no way around it. In this instance, I used a collarless jacket with a matching straight skirt. For these pictures, I wanted to share movement shots rather than "glamour or posed" shots of the suit so these are atypical on purpose. 

Some Stats ~
Fabrics:
4 yards of a wool/poly glen plaid from Fabric Mart
2 yards of white bemberg rayon lining from Low Price Fabrics

Notions:
yards and yards of white rayon seam tape
(that was folded & pressed before being sewn to the seams)
1/2" shoulder pads
1 - 1" button from the button collection
1 yard 1" non-roll elastic
Steam-A-Seam 2 - 1/4" wide

The Jacket ~

Taking the jacket off so you can see the innards

The Skirt ~
The skirt is simple. An elastic waist unlined straight skirt. The hem has Steam-A-Seam 2 in the hemline. It's the fabric wrapped around my body with the selvedges serged off and sewn closed. Then I added a 1.5" casing and stitched the top and bottom of the casing to enclose the elastic. I've included a front and back shot of me in the skirt.

I hope I didn't overwhelm you with pics, just wanted to show all the details of the suit. If you have any questions regarding the construction of the suit, please see the last blog post. Like I said above, I've already begun working on the next version.

...as always more later!

Vogue 8209 ~ One more time!

I have some important meetings to attend and I needed a new suit to wear. My present summer suits are all too big. Gawd I promise to stop typing that sometime soon! It's starting to annoy me too.  Of course, I didn't have loads of time ~ about five days ~ but I managed to get it sewn in time.

The main reason why is Vogue 8209. This is the fourth time I've used this pattern to make a jacket.  

You can see my favorite seersucker version here and here and the Chado Ralph Rucci jacket that failed here. The very first version was part of a pantsuit sewn in 2008 here. See this pattern rarely fails me!

I started with a lightweight poly/wool glen plaid from Fabric Mart. The most important part of making this suit work was to match that glen plaid all the way around the jacket, as well as, where the sleeves join the jacket. 

Plaid Matching Tips ~

1. I pin all of the main plaid lines in the selvedges all the way down the fabric. This allows me to make sure that the fabric matches and won't slip during the layout and cutting process.

leftover fabric remnant

2. Most times I cut pieces singly - making a right and left copy of each pattern piece making it easier to match the plaids during layout. I didn't use that technique for this jacket. Instead I cut the front pieces and then used them to cut the back pieces insuring the plaid matched all the way around the body of the jacket.

3. Sometimes when there are two pieces like the sleeves ~ I lay them next to each other, then pin and cut.

4. When laying out I try to align the pattern pieces at specific points on the glen plaid so I can use it as a reference point when laying out other pattern pieces ~ for example, the hemline is placed along a prominent section of the plaid. This insures that the plaid will match at every hemline.

5. To stitch the pieces together, I pin the points of the plaid together at every spot before stitching. I also tend to stitch from the hem up. I've found that sewing that way insures that the plaid doesn't shift. Quite a few times when I've sewn from the top down, I've had a slight difference in the plaid match.

6. When I'm really concerned, I will hand baste the two pieces together. If you have a walking foot, that will help with insuring that the two pieces don't shift during sewing.

Finally, plaid matching is not hard to do. It takes some time and consideration when cutting out then care when sewing the garment together. However, the time spent is worth it.

The Other Changes ~
I underlined this one with bemberg rayon lining. When I first started working with the fabric, I realized that it was too light to sit well on my body without a lining. 

I had always planned on binding the seams because I think this is a better finishing on a jacket than serged seams.

The back neck facing was enlarged. I hated the way the smaller facing flopped around in my other jackets. By enlarging the facing, it allowed me to add my label to the back of the jacket and I did a stitch in the ditch to hold it down.

The sleeves are lined using the Nancy Zieman method.

I used 1/2" shoulder pads in the jacket and only serged the edges because I was pushing it to get the jacket finished in time. It would have been nicer if I had bound those edges too.

One single button was used on the front of the jacket. I thought this one worked well with the fabric and I wanted a closure on the jacket unlike the previous incarnations.

Final thoughts ~
I ran through this jacket. It was made in 2.5 days and I had some challenges with the underlining and the front facing. Let's just say that I didn't think it through and had to rip it apart in sections to finish the neckline.

After I wore the jacket I noticed a lot of wrinkling. In hindsight I probably should have added an organza layer before underlining with the lining fabric. Since my garments will get a lot more wear now that I'm rebuilding my wardrobe, I need to think of things like this earlier in the sewing process.

I also wasn't thrilled with my sleeve insertion. At the end of the day, I kept thinking that I would take them out when I got home and reinsert them. But I'm gonna leave them alone and move on. I'm doing this for two reasons. One, the plaid match is so amazing that I'm not sure I could repeat it. Two, I got so many compliments on the suit that no one noticed the sleeve caps but me. Definite signs of overthinking...so this isn't a great insertion but it's okay and I will fix the pattern for future makes.

Removing some of the excess from the sleeve cap on the pattern pieces will make them work better since I'm going to use this pattern again. Hey I need clothes and this pattern works! I've even got the next set of fabrics picked out. Ah the joys of a well stocked fabric collection!

Pics of me wearing the suit will be up soon.  My photographer is working again so I have to schedule photo shoots. I also made a couple of dresses for my daughter ~ which will also be up on the blog shortly. Those dresses pushed Miss Lena's summer things back a little.

I have a full plate of sewing on my list so I hope you'll hang around for my next sewing adventure!

...as always more later!

Updating an Outfit

I'm seeing a lot of seersucker this spring! I like seersucker alot.  It's a cool fabric that's available in loads of color and seems to scream easy breezy summer days.  I made this outfit back in 2007...

...and recently thought about it again. I was moving clothing around in the closet today and found this suit in the back of it.  As I touched it, I thought it would be great if it had a matching straight skirt. Giving me a new suit for work this summer.

A trip through the fabric collection and I realized that there were still 2 yards of the fabric left. So using my TNT elastic waist skirt pattern, I whipped up an unlined version to go with the jacket.

The skirt took about an hour to make.  It has two side seams, a back seam with a vent and 1" non-roll elastic in the waistline casing. Oh and I pressed the hem up with stitch witchery, no sewing because I didn't want the line of stitching across the bottom. Seriously easy.  I whipped this up while my grandson sat and watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the sewing cave with me...y'know the theme song is running through my head now and it will take forever to get out of my mind...anyway, finishing it off means that I now have a great new outfit for work with a minimum amount of effort.

The grandchildren and their Mom are here tonight and tomorrow. Sammy just turned four months...isn't she gorgeous?! She really reminds me of the Little Prince when he was that age...

...and another picture of me from the vault...

Here I am pregnant with my third daughter and her two sisters.

I was 30 wearing a Me-Made maternity dress.

(BTW, Sammy's mother is the baby on the side of the chair!)

Finally, I have pictures of the lavender dress and will share them next.

...as always more later!

Is Five Black Suits Enough?

My latest make is another black suit.  Hey I work in a conservative banking environment and these work.  As I said in my previous post, I have a month of meetings ahead and I wanted a new black suit to wear.  There is nothing new about the patterns or construction.  I went with TNT patterns and some ponte knit fabric to make one more black suit...

Some stats ~

Fabric:
Black ponte knit from Mood Fabrics
Polka dot cotton/silk from the collection

Patterns:
*Butterick 5760 for the cardigan
*TNT pattern for the straight skirt. 
*I would recommend McCalls 3830 if you don't already have a straight skirt pattern.

Notions:
*Buttons from Sawyer Brook Fabrics
*Loose small gray plastic pearls from Daytona Trimmings
*Black Rayon Seam Binding
*Strips of black ltwt. fusible interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply

All of these items came from the workroom (what I'm now calling my sewing cave) except for the black ponte which was a recent purchase from Mood's NYC store.

Cardigan Jacket details...

• The Jacket is unlined.
• The seams are serged finished.  I was going for complete not couture.
• I topstitched the center back seam and the shoulder seams.  The jacket front and sleeve hems are top stitched using a twin needle.
• I thought about adding pockets to the jacket front and decided against it.

Buttons ~
I consider buttons to be like jewelry on the front of a garment. I wanted a plain black button for the front with a little pizzazz.  The button needed to not only work with the jacket but to also work with anything I chose to wear under it.

I started with these buttons...

...and added some gray plastic pearls that were in the notion stash.

I love how the finished buttons look.

Skirt details...

The skirt is a lined straight skirt with a back vent instead of a slit.

Silk cotton polka dot lining

Vent flipped back to show lining

Back view with vent closed

I started a Sewing Workshop Mission Top made with the lining fabric to go with the suit. I've used this idea before with another black suit and it worked so well that I thought I would give it another go. The top is not done so I will finish it during my short vacay later this week to wear with the suit at another time.  

However, when I wear this to work tomorrow, I will wear it with the white t-shirt that I used for the pictures...

It was a simple sew.  Hey, it always is when I use TNT patterns...just a little time consuming.  Another black suit that will work for several seasons has been added to my work wardrobe, just what I needed.  

Next up is the prom dress that I'm making for my niece.  It's my Mood project for June and I've already started construction on the dress using Butterick 4343.

...as always more later!

I've Been Thinking...

Periodically I go over my wardrobe for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes I want to cull garments that no longer fit, or that I no longer wear...sometimes it's to figure out what I want to sew for the upcoming season. It was a little of both this time...but I did get a few revelations from this exercise.

1.  I don't really wear tops.
There are very few blouses and tops in my wardrobe.  Lots of tank tops and twinsets, a few t-shirts but very few tops.  I don't even sew a lot of tops...and not because I can't...I just don't like them much.  Maybe it's because to me, tops look best tucked in and well I haven't tucked in anything since I was in my early 30's.

2.  I'm the cardigan queen.
Besides the ones I've made, I own loads of them in all kinds of colors, and fabrications.  I reach for a cardigan every day.  I only wear a jacket when I have to for a work function and that fact is reflected in my wardrobe.

3.  I don't sew casual clothing.
ALL of my casual clothing is RTW.  I have no interest at this time in sewing my casual clothing.  Probably because the small and I mean very small section of my closet devoted to casual, is not worth taking away from my limited and very precious sewing time.  BTW, Melodye I've written a post to answer your question, look for it in the next couple of days.

4.  I'm a clothes horse.
I really DO like clothes.  I like making them.  I like owning and wearing them.  I guess I should be figuring out other things to do with my money but clothes make me happy.  I will be sewing and dressing up until I can no longer rise from my bed to reach my sewing machine.

5.  Ponte is my friend.
I'm presently in love with this fiber!  I've made quite a few pieces from ponte and have several more on the drawing board.  I love how this fiber wears and works for my professional wardrobe.  Now I know that some other sewists have had issues with pilling but it's taken years for my garments to have those challenges. I'm sure it's due to the fact that my garments aren't worn that frequently and also because I try to take care of them.

6. I have a lot of skirts...
...that I'm not wearing much lately.  Let me amend that, I wear them just not as much as I wear my dresses.  And I have a good variety of them...in most of the basic colors and some fun & funky prints, as well as plaids.  When I get dressed now I don't always think of a skirt first, even though there was a time that I did.  I'm going to have to try harder to wear some of the pretty spring/summer ones that are in my closet!

+ + +

Which brings me to the fact that I'm making another black suit ~ it will bring the number to five black suits in my closet.  This one will join two winter and two spring/summer ones but when we have serious meetings in the office the black suits just work so well...along with the brown, gray and navy combos to break up the monotony a little.  I have about a month of meetings ahead of me, so I will be putting all of my pretty colorful dresses away and head into suit land.

I'm almost finished making the latest version of my black suit and I've made a top to go with the suit.  A coordinated outfit that I won't have to think about just pull off the hanger and wear.  It will show up in the next day or two!

+ + +

photo credit:  www.abc.com/scandal

Are there any Gladiators out there?  I am sooooo hooked on Scandal that I've just re-watched the last episode because I can not believe the ending!!!! Can't wait for the final episode this week and so glad to hear that it's been renewed for a third season.

Wishful thinking...

photo credit: www.scandaltvshow.net

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Finally, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers 

and mothers-to-be out there!

...as always more later!

Vogue 8137 - An Update

Two weekends and still no finished jacket! See that's why suit sewing is soooo hard for me! *LOL* Since the only progress I made in the Christmas sewing was to get everything out and prewashed, I thought I would give you an update on my jacket progress so far...

I made quite a few alterations to the jacket body that I will put into the review of the finished garment...but the main change that I made and that's reflected in my progress report is that the pattern front comes with the front facing attached to the pattern body. I cut this apart and added 5/8" seam allowances to both sides of the pattern pieces. This is just my personal quirk but I like putting a lining in with a sewn in facing versus a cut-on facing.

So picture time...first here is a picture of the lining and the facing on Lulu:

Here is one of where I left the jacket last night:

There is still alot of work to do on the jacket to make it wearable, but I am loving the hand-painted lining against the red fabric:

Now about that button choice...thanks for all of your votes and opinions but I'm going with #4 because I plan on making a dress (yes, a dress!) to go with this jacket and some smaller buttons in the #4 styling will work wonderfully on the dress...and yes, of course I have a master plan...which will be revealed some time in the future!

Vogue 8137 - A Beginning

Today I started working on the red doubleknit - constructing the jacket from Vogue 8137:

I pulled this from Vogue's website...this pattern is now out of print...but I have to tell you that if this was the cover of the pattern envelope I probably wouldn't have bought it! *LOL* My envelope has a totally different colorway and model on it!  ETA:  The website now shows the same picture that I've replaced with a copy of the pattern I have on-hand.

Nevertheless, I got the shell sewn together and the lining all cut out! I'm loving the painted fabric!!!

A pic of the jacket shell on Lulu:


I have plans next weekend so I don't know if I will get back to this anytime soon...hopefully before Christmas...but who knows because I still have Christmas sewing to do!!!

Also I need a little help...below is a picture of the buttons that I'm auditioning...please take a moment and tell me which ones you prefer. Let's call them 1-4, left to right, okay!



Have a great week!