Vogue 8935 in Motion!

As a refresher, I started this journey with Vogue 8935, because this top will work with jeans or leggings.

Again I know this pattern wasn't well received when it first appeared in the pattern books and it's now OOP. However, I'm loving both versions of mine and may make another one. I love how adaptable it is to design changes especially since neither of my versions look like the pattern envelope.

Here are the supplies and notions again:

Supplies ~
Fabric:
8 oz denim from Stylemaker Fabrics (I bought 10 yards of this so you're going to see quite a few garments this fall/winter made from this fabric)
My shirting from Fabric Mart is now sold out but here are some others.

Notions:
5 - Mother of pearl shank buttons from the collection
Fusible interfacing from Fashion Supply Group
One elastic twist

All of the alterations and design changes were highlighted in the first post. This post is just to let you see the top in motion. In the pictures, I've worn it with my sneakers, RTW skinny jeans and tank top. How I will more than likely wear it to work. Yes, I now own quite a few pairs of sneakers that I wear to work along with a couple pair of shoe booties. Though I still miss wearing pumps and slingbacks...I should get over that already, right?! *LOL*

Here are a few more pics of the tunic ~

This is just the first of the "tailored denim" pieces that I will make this fall/winter. They will be interspersed with some other tops/blouses, vests, and toppers & jackets. However, this is one more garment to add to my new wardrobe!

In one of my last posts, I said that I was going to start sewing for my daughter during the Thanksgiving break. However, I worked from home Wednesday morning and ran errands Wednesday afternoon. Thursday was Thanksgiving which I spent with my family and for some reason Friday I watched Netflix ALL.DAY! I had no desire to sew and just vegged. On Saturday morning, I was still vacillating but after talking with my daughter (she agreed to come over on Sunday and cut out her own dresses) I went ahead and started a project for me.

So coming up soon on the blog will be garments for both of us. I just have to sew them! hahahahaha! 

One last picture of the tunic...

...as always more later!

Vogue 8935 - Tailored Denim

I started this journey with Vogue 8935, a top that I made back in 2013 for my professional life.  Believe it or not but this outfit survived the great purge. Not because the outfit was worn recently but because I thought I could wear the pieces separately.  The top would work with jeans or leggings and the skirt with a t-shirt or top. Yeah okay, hasn't been worn that way yet but there is still hope!

I know this pattern wasn't well received when it first showed up in the pattern collection and it's now out of print (OOP). There are only three reviews of the pattern on PatternReview and one of them is mine. I also know of two other sewists who made versions of the pattern ~ Donna from Curvy Girls are Chic and Barbara from Sewing from the Edge.

Here are the supplies I'm using in this version ~
Fabric:
8 oz denim from Stylemaker Fabrics (I bought 10 yards of this so you're going to see quite a few garments this fall/winter made from this fabric)
Cotton Shirting from Fabric Mart

Notions:
5 - Mother of pearl shank buttons from the collection
Fusible interfacing from Fashion Supply Group
One elastic twist

Pattern Alterations and Construction Info. ~
I made two alterations to the pattern based upon wearing the original one.

1. I removed another 1" from the shoulder seam on both the front and back pieces. I used shoulder pads to cover the fact that the shoulder seams were a schooch too long in the original. I don't want that for this version.

2. I shortened the main sleeve by 1" because the original one was long and I remember always pushing them up.

Making the shirt tail extension ~
Obviously the biggest change for this version is the shirt tail. I actually drafted the skirt tail pieces myself. 

Here is a pictorial instruction on how to do it yourself:

On the front piece ~

1. I added an inch to the hem bottom.

2. Then I drew down another 4"

3. Used my curved ruler to get the shirt tail side 

Then I added 2" to the front so that it would form a lapped over center front piece. You can see in the picture above that I actually folded the piece to make sure it would work and overlap properly.

Steps 1-3 were used on the back piece to get the shirt tail extension.

The shirt tail extensions were cut from the shirting fabric with 
the stripes running vertically.

Otherwise the construction will be exactly the same as the last version. 
Here is a picture of how the shirt looks now laying on my cutting table and I may still remove the shirt tail extensions so that they lay under the top instead of being sewn to the hemline. The pictures are showing something to me that looks a little off now. I will see.

There is still a couple of hours of work to get this finished and onto my body.

A close up of the sleeves and the mother of pearl shank buttons ~

I thought I would have been able to spend some quality time in the sewing cave this weekend but whatever bug is making the rounds laid me up. This will definitely be finished next weekend cause the temps are dropping here on the East Coast. This top will be perfect for the job with my ponte skinny jeans.

Finally ~ 
Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post. Thanking you for being kind and not bashing anyone...well at least not on the post. I didn't have to remove one comment and I appreciate that. I know that writing the post helped me feel better especially once I saw so many other sewists who understood how I felt. I hope having a safe space to leave your comment provided you with a similar feeling. 

As I said, that will be my one and only post on the election on the blog...can't guarantee that on Instagram! *LOL* The blog will continue to be my safe, sane, sewing space cause I think I'm going to need it in the next four years. To all my new followers both here and on Instagram thank you for taking this journey with me!

...as always more later! May Jesus watch over us and grant us peace!

Vogue 8935 - Finished

This took a little longer to complete than I thought it would...but sometimes that's just how it works out.  I have a queue of fall garments to wear and the temps just haven't dropped enough yet to wear them.  So I guess my sewing mojo has taken a bit of a hit due to that...

Anyway here is Vogue 8935...

A few stats...

Pattern ~
Vogue 8935 - the pattern consists of a loose-fitting, pullover top with a collar sleeves with a button pleat and stitched hem. A straight skirt without a waistband and a pair of straight leg pants are included in the pattern.  It's a Very Easy Vogue pattern that any level sewist could sew up easily.

Fabric ~
Navy/beige poly/wool blend pinstripe from the collection by way of Fabric Mart
White cotton pique from the collection by way of fabric.com

Notions ~
Navy blue rayon bemberg lining
9" navy blue invisible zipper
A pair of 1/2" shoulder pads
navy blue rayon seam tape
2 - 1/2" pearl ball buttons
2 - 1/2" clear & gold buttons

Construction ~
Pattern alterations for the top are contained in this post.  For the skirt I used my TNT pattern because why mess with what works.

• I used fabric to give this pattern some pizzazz.
• I also cut the pinstripe on the bias for the skirt to add some visual interest to the outfit.  Though to be perfectly honest, I did a so-so job in cutting it out and matching the chevron'd pinstripes.  Because the pinstripe is pretty subtle it doesn't look terrible but it definitely could have been done better.
• The collar and cuffs for the top were cut from the contrast cotton pique fabric so that the top would look like it has a shirt under it.
• The top was given a closer fit to lose some of the boxy-ness that the pattern envelope displayed.
• My neckline is low cut.  I could have fixed it but I didn't want to have any trouble getting this top on and off.  So I'm opting to wear a cami with it.
• I added a pair of 1/2" shoulder pads to the top because even though I narrowed the shoulder seam, it laid kinda flat on my shoulder.  Adding the shoulder pad gave it some ummph and squared my shoulders off. 
• There is quite a bit of hand stitching in this garment - hand stitched the collar neckband down.  Hand stitched the hems in the top & the skirt and I even hand stitched down the waistband.
• Used two buttons & buttonholes for the waistband closure.
• Two pearl buttons were used on the cuffs - it really adds to the business vibe of the white collar/cuffs and the pinstripe fabric used in the body of the outfit.
• The skirt is fully lined.

Construction Pics ~

Sleeve cuff with pearl button

Inside of the cuff

Close-up of the collar

Two buttons on the waistband with invisible zipper

Conclusion...
This is a nice outfit and will play well in my work environment.  However, this is a one and done use of this pattern...something that's infrequent in my world.  It is an easy sew and I knew this pattern had a lot of potential when it first came out. It was just a matter of bringing that potential out so that everyone else could see it.  As stated above, choosing the right fabric was crucial to making this outfit work but I don't need another outfit from this pattern.

A few more pics...

The chevron pattern looks pretty good on the skirt

despite my concerns...

Trying to give off that "Pro-fessional" Look! hahahaha

Mary Beth this crossed leg pose is for you! *smile*

This is my third garment from the Five in Five grouping.  I won't be working on the last two dresses for awhile because I need to move onto my Butterick coat since it's due by the end of the month.  I will pick the Five in Five project back up after the coat is finished.

Finally, thanks for the love on the Internet post.  I read each and every comment left along with several that were sent to my email address.  I appreciate the fact that you enjoy sharing my creative journey and that I've encouraged so many of my plus size sistahs to sew again! Halfway through the day, I thought maybe it wasn't the best plan to write that as a blog post but at the time I was very annoyed. Truly the comments written by that person should have been like water off a duck's back, but isn't that how people get away with having those kinds of attitudes when no one shines a light on them?!  Anyway, have no fears, there was never a chance that I was going to quit blogging...I'm having too much fun here...overweight styling and all! *LOL*

...as always more later!

Chugging Along...

Another weekend without much desire to sew...but I did get a little more done on the Vogue 8935 outfit.  The top is almost finished...

...and the skirt has been started.

It's looking like I imagined and the top fits without the extra boxy-ness that the original pattern has.  I've made a few changes to the outfit during construction, besides the pattern alterations, which I'll discuss in the reveal post. However, I'm happy with how the pieces are looking so far.

I'm thinking that I won't have the "Five in Five" garments done in the time frame I'd originally imagined...but I'm okay with that.  I'll definitely finish these pieces next weekend and then I'm moving onto the coat project.

Just wanted to give an update...

...as always more later!

Vogue 8935 - A top and skirt

This pattern has been on my "must sew" list from it's debut in the last Vogue pattern release. Admittedly the artwork on the pattern looks kinda blah but I could see the potential in the pattern.  It will work well for my corporate workplace yet be comfortable...a huge factor in anything I make these days.

From the beginning I knew I wanted to make it using a wool blend navy pinstripe from my fabric collection.  Somewhere along the line, I decided that I wanted the collar to look like it was a blouse inside a top.  Yeah, I never go simple...*sigh*

Navy blue rayon bemberg, wool blend pinstripe

white cotton pique

So after much thought I came up with a way to make this work.  Some of this is pattern alterations and some is fabric choice but I think I'm on the right track.

First up pattern alterations...

The top front ~ 
These alterations were made by creating a pattern sandwich using my TNT dress pattern, the Vogue 8935 top pattern piece and pattern paper to trace off a new top front pattern piece.

These are the specific changes that I made to get a better fit for me.
~ I shortened the shoulder seam by 2"
~ I used the shorter version (View A) for this top
~ I curved in the side seams to take some of the boxy-ness out of the top

The sleeve ~

~ Again using the pattern sandwich method this allowed me to add to the pattern's bicep area so that they would fit my bodacious biceps. Now I know this doesn't look like a "normal" pattern sleeve piece but I don't care because it works and fits my "not so normal" biceps.
  
~ I also cut the hem band from the sleeve and added 5/8" seam allowances to both pieces to end up with two separate pieces.

The back piece ~

~ Added a 5/8" center back seam for a better fit
~ A curve was added to the side seam
~ Added an inch to the hemline by tracing the pattern out to the dress' hip line instead of the top's hip line

Fabric choices ~
A navy blue wool blend pinstripe from the collection, probably from Fabric Mart
White cotton pique from fabric.com was used for the collar and cuffs
Navy blue rayon bemberg to line not only the top but the skirt

Style changes~

1. To make the top look like two pieces instead of one, I cut the collar and facing out of the cotton pique.  I also cut the sleeve band from the same fabric.
2. A seam for the center back was added to the top's back to remove some of the boxy-ness of the top.
3. Added a lining to the body by using the top's front and back pieces.
4. The skirt will be cut on the bias to give a chevron look to the skirt...adding more detail to the finished outfit.

You can always make a pattern straight out of the envelope and sometimes I do but most times I don't.  To me patterns are just jumping off points for ensembles I envision or am influenced by from other sources.  That is definitely true with this one.

Next post will be about the construction of these pieces...

...as always more later!