New Look 6899

Did you just about have a heart attack when you saw this post?! That title on this blog can only mean one thing! I ACTUALLY SEWED SOMETHING!!! Yep.

Ta-da! Based on New Look 6899. I've had the brown part (yeah, that darker fabric that it's mostly made out of is brown knit.) more or less finished for a while now, but then we got involved in a totally awesome sewing room remodel that made sewing more or less impossible for a while.

However, we're headed to Disney World (!!!!!!) in less than a week, and I was determined (since I got the fabric) to have this tunic top for the trip. So when I finally had - or rather, took the time to sew, I knew exactly what to do.

Obviously the brown part was the original patter, only lengthened quite a bit. Also obviously, the neckline was huge. Like, fall-off-my-abnormally-broad-shoulders huge. (Granted, it got slightly better when I added the neckband piece, but it still was too big for comfort or modesty.) So, I knew I was going to have to somehow add to the neckline. After thinking about this off and on for weeks, I decided that probably the quickest and easiest thing to do would be to add a contrasting color, using the same pattern pieces to get a similar shape. And that's what I did. I pulled all the pattern pieces back out, traced the neckline edge of each one, added 2.5 inches (could've gone 3 to 3.5 inches I think, but it's okay as it is now.), and cut them out - after a minor brain lapse, which thankfully ended before I cut every piece out. Of course I also cut out another neckband piece.

My vision was, more or less, to have a shirt that would have the layered look without the bulk or warmth of actually layering. Not completely sure that's how it came out, but I like it anyway.

Finishing this tunic too WAY longer than it should have for several reasons, which, for brevity, I will list rather than explain in great detail:

• Neck was too wide - took a long time to cut out, sew together, and sew on the additional, contrasting pieces.

• Back gaped really bad - quick fix, but annoying nonetheless.

• Had very little shape - again, quick fix. Took in nearly 4" from the sides...

• Armholes were very large. Nerve-wracking, imperfect, good-enough fix that I'm only okay with. Also added the contrasting band there to add length. I'd still call 'em cap sleeves, but they're more modest cap sleeves now.

• Front right side of the neck was gaping weirdly... Had to make (from the scraps - just sorta guessed, didn't have a pattern or directions, so not bad, I think) and sew on that bow. I feel like it's on the wrong side of the shirt - not sure why, but I think I looks fine, and it did help the odd gaping problem!

And last but not least:

A peek at our under-construction sewing room! I am so excited about this project. When we get it all done, it's going to be AMAZING!

Anyway, there you have it. I'll probably never use New Look 6899 again. It's just too huge for me, and doing all those alterations was way more work that I bargained for - at least this time around. Still, I'm pleased with the end result.

The $1 skirt

So, I found this mens XL long-sleeve tee/sweatshirt at Walmart yesterday for $1! I had to get it - especially after being so inspired by all the t-shirt-to-skirt tutorials I've seen around lately! Well, this one didn't turn out how I expected, and it's not 100% me, but it's so comfy I'm sure I'll wear it often! Here's how I did it (more or less - knit has the wonderful quality of "fudginess" - fudge it, and it'll probably work without too much trouble.)

Step 1:

Cut the neck and sleeves off just below behind the seams.

Step 2:

Take the sleeve seam out and lay them out flat.

Step 3:

I was envisioning a wide waistband. Since I'm really small (as in 25" waist), I could do this; I didn't have a whole lot extra. If you're thinking wider waistband as well, try that first; it's not that hard to go back and cut them in half for a narrower, but longer, waistband.

Step 4:

Sew the front and back waistband pieces together.

Steps 5 &6:

With right sides together, sew the waistband into the neck opening, easing as necessary. Then sew up the side seams. Depending on the shirt you're working with, you may or may not want to do as I did - sew to/from the bottom all the way. When I thought about just going to the existing side seams, it seemed like it was going to hand awkwardly.

Step 7:

The potential last step! Fold the waistband down with the skirt and side seams inside. Make sure the waistband is down over the skirt seam, and then stitch-in-the-ditch: top stitch as close to the skirt seam as possible. Check to make sure you caught it all the way around, and go back over what somehow escaped. There you have it! I really like this version, like, really. It was almost exactly what I had envisioned! The only issue? It was quite tight around the rear end... Yeah, not exactly something I wanted. So, back to the drawing board - sorta.

Finished!

I didn't get pictures of this process since I wasn't really sure what I was doing. There was not enough fabric left for a long godet, so I had to piece my own (thanks, Olivia, for the idea!). I added a pocket (a very narrow pocket...) with an extra piece of fabric on top of the second section from the top, and I pleated the bottom section. Oh, I bound the pocket opening with a random piece of satin ribbon we had laying around; probably not the best material, but hey, I just wanted to get it done! Trust me, there was NOTHING hard about this (except when I tried to to chevron strips for the bottom section; THAT failed...). I just cut the skirt roughly 6" from the left side seam right through the waist band and hem. In hindsight (which is never around when you need it...), I would do it rather closer. Then I flare the opening and started laying random pieces across it, cutting them to size. And that's what I ended up with, folks! I may do a little last-minute/after project top-stitching, but then again, I may not.

I very much hope to be doing more sewing in the near future; I need to! So hopefully it won't be too long before I'm back here agin. 'til then! :)

Dress to Skirt

So, I bought a dress the other day. $15 for a plus size, brown knit, tube dress (I guess - no sleeves anyway). When I got home I was pretty sure I was crazy, but I had a vision for it. The trick there is to get it done before the vision escapes you, or else you are crazy. So it got washed and dried, and I set to work on it at the earliest possible moment. But I am getting ahead of myself. Here is the original item:

I'm only guessing it was supposed to be a dress. It's really long on me as a skirt, and I don't have short legs.

My first order of business was to see how long I actually wanted it. I was hoping I could just cut off that top part, fold over the top of the skirt, and insert some elastic, but it was going to be a little shorter than my vision then. So, I took out the tack-down stitches from the top part (it was about 6-8 inches wide once not folded over), cut off about 2 inches of that, and folded the rest down, roughly in half:

In this picture you can sort of see the piece of thin elastic that's been stitched over in two rows. Well, I stitched my folded over piece along the top row of that stitching - if that makes sense. I made a casing, leaving about 3 inches open.

Through those 3 inches, I threaded some wide elastic (the length of my waist) all the way through the casing. Then I stitched the ends of the elastic together, being careful to make sure the elastic wasn't twisted inside the casing. At this point, it's a good idea to make sure you measured the elastic correctly; try on the skirt. If you like the way it fits, sew up the 3 inch opening. If you don't like how it fits, adjust as necessary. I ended up adjusting mine after I sewed up the opening (it was late. I was exhausted. I didn't want to try it on when I should have. It did fit... etc. etc. etc. It fits much better now.). I also added a line of stitching from the center back seam straight up to the top of the waist band as well. My casing was really a little too big for my elastic, so it was laying weird. Thankfully the line of stitching seems to have helped that.

The finished product! It's floor length on me, but that was my vision. Anybody who's been following me on Pinterest lately knows that I've been slightly obsessed with knit maxi skirts. I'm definitely happy to add one to my wardrobe for $15 and maybe an hour of work (probably not even that).

My First Knit Dress!

It worked!!! I can't believe it! My fabric was pretty difficult to work with, and it wouldn't iron out. AT. ALL! That was rather annoying, but I think it still turned out pretty good. My only area of dissatisfaction with this pattern, New Look 6823, is the collar. It's not laying down quite right in the back. Not a big problem, but still there. I'm not even sure it's a fair accusation. I mean, I was in the middle (like, exactly half-way through!) of sewing on the collar when the incident mentioned in the previous post occurred. :P

I did make a few changes, but not big ones. I lengthened the sleeves quite a bit (good thing I did, too! They're still only 3/4-length sleeves on me!), and I took in the side seams by about... an inch on each side at the waist. Oh, I think I also added some length to the bottom, but I do that to just about everything. :)

All in all, it's definitely not a bad pattern. If I do it again, I'll probably do the wider sleeves though; these are kind of tight on me.