KS 3760 - F@#$$*!!!!

If you don't like cussing, you probably shouldn't read this post.

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Fuck!!! Why do I always do this with sheath dresses? EVERY time I make one I do it wrong and end up ripping out the zipper. I can sew almost everything else without a sew ripper handy. Why does the sheath dress get me??? And what makes me even more mad is that I even thought about the steps today knowing that sheath dresses trip me up. I declined to look at Marji's tutorial because I already knew how to do it. Uck! Nothing pisses me off more than being stupid. I vow from now on the actually read that tutorial from beginning to end before I start the damn dress. Dammit!

So what did I do? It's the same damn thing I do every damn time I make a sheath dress. Marji wrote a fantastic tutorial on attaching the lining and zipper to a sheath dress that makes it very RTW. In order for you to turn the dress right side out, you must leave the CB seam and side seams open. Well, what did I do? I put in my invisible zipper (perfectly, I might add), attached the lining, and sewed up the CB seam! Arrrggggggg. I had to rip it all out and now I'll have to put in the zipper again and make sure all the black lines match up again.

I will start reading directions. I will start reading directions. I will start reading directions.

Dumbass Move #2

So this must be the week of dumbass. Can you see what is wrong with this picture below? Somehow I traced off the wrong pattern piece for the yoke. It is the same basic shape but much shorter in length. When I put the dress together the back of the main dress was too wide but I often have difficulties with the Burda pleating directions. Undeterred, I just pleated more and moved on. When I went to attach the yoke to the front sections, WHOA, something was really wrong.



As you can tell from this photo, it's considerably shorter. My clue should have been the markings on the sleeve. What are they for, I wondered. Well, they aren't for my dress . . . After looking at the piece with a critical eyeball, I realize it was for the men's shirt # 131. It's also a green tracing line but it's on the opposite side as the sheet I was tracing from. So, in other words, I traced the wrong side of the sheet. I always put my pattern sheets on the window. It's great because I can see the lines clearly but, I also see the other side of the pattern sheet.

Here's the wrong on top of the right.

The dress should be done tonight or tomorrow. I had to rip off the yoke and iron out the pleating I had done. Ever have a week where you feel like you are spinning your wheels?

Couture Jacket Class -- 1

I learned a lot of things today in class. This was our first real class. Our job was to come to class with the stitching lines drawn in on our pattern sheets. I measured in at a size 10 so I drew a stitching line in 5/8" inside that line. In the following pictures, you can see it as the thin, red line.

The first thing we did was a tissue fitting. I've attempted this before but have never been successful. You really need another person to help you with this. We did the fitting with just the main body pieces; no arms or collar. I found out that I should be taking a 1/2" tuck out of the front between shoulder and bust (yes! it's what I have been doing!) and adding a 1/2" to the back (oops, I've been taking a tuck here too). It turns out I have a forward-thrusting neck and I need to add a bit more space to the upper back to make the collar come up where it is supposed to be. Can you think of a worse name for an alteration? So now, I've got to do a swayback adjustment and a forward thrusting neck adjustment. Both of these make me feel like singing The Old Gray Mare.

I also learned that truing your muslin is a job all by itself. I spent most of the class tearing my muslin, hand basting the edges together, and then ironing the snot out of it so it would go back on grain. Luckily, my muslin was nice quality and needed very little help to get on grain. Here you can see the hand basting, the tuck, and the drawn stitching lines.


Here you can see the additional tissue for the 1/2" addition to the back piece.


After attaching the pattern pieces to the muslin, we used tracing paper and a wheel to trace out all the markings, stitching lines, and seam allowances. We used 1" seam allowances on all the edges. I have a double wheel tracing wheel so this step went pretty fast. I will wait until May 17th to cut it off the muslin. There is no class on Mother's Day so I'm off the hook for two weeks. It's a good thing too. I need to get some stuff done for the SWAP. I did trace out the Patrones pattern and put it on muslin too. While I had everything out it seemed like the most efficient thing to do.


Hopefully I'll have the duppioni silk dress done in a day or two so you guys can see it. The Jalie jeans are already cut out and waiting to be made into pats. Then, it's on to the two jackets.

Urban Threads and I'm a Dumbass

Urban Threads has a great free embroidery pattern right now. I decided to put it on one of my girl's plain shirts as a trial run.


It's cute, no?


Well, it would have been cute had I not put it on backwards. This is what is really looks like. I had to hoop the shirt upside down because of the hem. So I flipped the image. Well, I should have just rotated it. Instead I vertically flipped it. Oops. Not a big deal unless you are using text.

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Tomorrow is my first real Couture Jacket class. I'll keep you posted. I decided on the hideous pink jacket. It's Vogue 8481. Our first few classes will just be making the muslin and fitting. I'm glad because I think I will need a lot of help with the fittings.