Coat Sew Along - Interfacing

So here's an article from Threads about Armani jackets. They fuse-interface the entire jacket. Is that really what I should be doing???? I have access to nice horse hari canvas here in town so I can buy it whenever. Should the whole thing be interfaced with it? It looks like this shows "body weight" and lighter and heavier than "body weight". What is body weight?? My jacket isn't exactly like this. There isn't a roll line for the body of thecoat, just the collar. The directions for the coat say to interface the entire thing. Hmmmmmmm. I don't want to do the sew-in interfacing. If I did, I see the post on the Coat Sew Along site about where to interface it.

More pondering.


Click and you can see the entire picture.

My Progress

• I have finished the two microfleece tops for my mom and MIL. They are both dark blue. I added a zipper to the neck so they can get them on easier.
• I also made a raglan top for myself out of a thin sweatshirt knit fabric. It's the dark gray one below. All three of these tops are made from KS 3567. I'm not sure why I messed with the Ottobre one without looking at this pattern and flat measuring first.
• I made myself another Jalie/Burda turtleneck. This one is a ribbed knit in a sage green color. No pictures of me wearing it tonight. Next time I slip it on I'll take a picture.
• I still have to finish the girl's coat but it is cut out. I eliminated all the cute stuff on the front because the last coat almost killed me. This one will be Plain Jane.
• I also have my wool coat cut out for the Coat Sew-Along so I'll start sewing on that. I need to do a little research on interfacing.
  

My Sunday

I finally feel better after my weekend cold. I set up my big cutting table on the dining room table and cut out a bunch of things.

1. KS 3567 in size small for me. It's a thin gray sweatshirt knit that is cozy. I'm making the round collar this time. DONE
2. KS 3567 in size medium for my mom in blue microfleece. I plan to add a front zipper to this but want to think about it first. DONE
3. KS 3567 in the medium size again for my MIL. My mom and MIL are getting matching tops for Christmas. I'm totally okay with that. The zipper colors will be different. DONE
4. BWOF 11/06 #138 The second girl coat in a blue XALT Burlington Windproof/waterproof breathable laminate. DONE
5. OW 05/2008 #5. These are the cargo pants in a size 34. I am hoping that this Ottobre pattern works so I can make a pair of jeans that are loose-fitting. I cut these out of a cheapy muslin fabric just to check the fit. Did the muslin fit. Too small but looks promising.
6. My wool coat!!!! I actually cut out my wool coat pieces. Perhaps I'll join the Coat Sew Along blog again and participate. It's Burda 8022. NEED INTERFACING

Hopefully by tonight I'll be able to show a little more progress. I hope to have the grey knit top done so I can wear it to school tomorrow. It's chilly in my classroom.

Ottobre 05-2008-7 Pinafore Dress

So. It's okay. This is my first Ottobre Women pattern. I am a sick puppy right now so I not wearing my contacts. I'll wear this but I don't love it. I don't think it's the pattern so much as the style. There is certainly something wrong with those side notches though. Here it is with the grey turtleneck I love.

The back looks worse than it really is. The zipper isn't perfect but it this picture makes it look crooked and really bad. The button is a big random one I had in my stash.

I liked the look with the raglan t-shirt from the same issue. I made the size 34 with my shoulder/bust tuck and it is just wrong. This is how the shoulders fit. Hmmmmm, that part is too big it seems but the upper arms are tight. Tight. And the chest area is tight too. Really tight. I was using a stretchy knit so it must be the sizing. With BWOF their 34 is always perfect for my top half. That jumper above is a 34 and it fits just fine.

And check this out. This is before hemming it. These are supposed to be full length sleeves. I did do the measurements. I am clearly in the 34 size range for my upper half according to their chart.

I could make this work but BWOF has a raglan t-shirt dress coming out in the next issue. I almost never have to change their patterns to fit me. I guess I'll just be forced to stick with BWOF for now. I will probably still make a few other things out of Ottobre but now I'm not sure what size to make. I think I'll pass on the Women's Ottobre. I think I will pick up a few of the kids ones so I can have some basics. BWOF does have some basics. I'll have to look and see what I need out of there.

Ottobre v. BWOF

For those of you who don't know about Ottobre, I'll give a little run down on differences between it and BWOF.

1. Both use pattern sheets you pull out of the center of the magazine. The Ottobre ones are smaller which means there are more things you have to piece together. The jumper I'm working on is a sheath dress. There were two pieces to the front that I had to line up and two for the back. Not really annoying but a little more work. There are two pattern sheets for Ottobre and two for BWOF (although you cut them in half and end up with four). BWOF uses that newsprint material and the Ottobre one is glossy magazine paper. The Ottobre pieces are easier to find because they print the numbers BIG.
2. There are fewer patterns in Ottobre. The May 2008 issue has 19 styles. BWOF usually has 25-ish in my size range.
3. There are only two Women's issues a year for Ottobre. They also produce four children's magazines per year. BWOF sends out a monthly magazine.
4. Ottobre is what I would describe as more "real-life" patterns. They have a lot of casual patterns that you could really live in. It seems like the BWOF patterns are more "dream-land-party" styles. Sometimes when I look at BWOF I see really low necklines and high hemlines. Very cute but sometimes not totally practical for my teacher-mom lifestyle. Don't get me wrong. I heart BWOF but sometimes they are a bit too much for my life. Would I like to have a life like that? Sometimes. Is my life like that? Nope.
5. The Ottobre magazine uses real women for their models. BWOF uses, well, you know, leggy, tall, thin models.
6. Working on my first Ottobre I have found what I am sure is a drafting error. I am making the jumer pattern #7 and the two notches on the side don't line up. If you line them up, the bottom of the armhole doesn't line up. And there is no way to get 1.5" of fabric to ease in that amount of space. I also traced off #5 (cargo pants) and the tracing sheets were missing the pocket line and the buttonhole on the tracing sheets was different from the placement on the detailed diagram inside the book. Maybe it's just me and my inattention to detail. Maybe just beginner's un-luck at finding a couple of errors? Or, now that I'm calling attention to this, it will probably be my mistake. I did read through some Ottobre reviews and no one mentions drafting errors. We'll see. My jumper should be ready to try on tomorrow. It's on the duct-tape lady now.

Here's the pattern sheet.

Trouser Jeans 3 - Done!!

They're doooone. Here's the updated review at PatternReview.com. I really like them except for the fact that the fly stitching is so close to the right welt pocket. I'll have to remember in case I want to do that again.


I decided to sew in a snap instead of using a button. The original pants had a big blue button but I coulnd't find one that didn't look dorky.


The rear double welt is actually a faux pocket. I didn't stitch it shut but I should have. I almost never put things in rear pockets.


I had to do quite a bit of a swayback/athletic butt adjustment.


I made 1.5" cuffs and hemmed them using the topstitching thread.

This is before I put in the snap, I was trying to decide what to use.

Is it Halloween or What?

I thought I would share these kiddo pictures. They are funny and the last ones are sort of related to sewing.

I was busy cooking in the kitchen and she decided she needed tattoos. With the black and orange, it's perfect for this time of the year.


She's even got it around her mouth. Fortunately these are Crayola and most of it came off with warm water.


This is a 57 year old dress that their great-great grandmother made. It used to be light blue. It faded over time. The inside is pinked in some places and the edges are bound in ribbon in other places. This was my husband's mom's flower girl dress. Baby B loves it. We had to wrestle it away from her so her sister could wear it.


Of course, when we put it on said sister, she wanted it off, off, OFF! This is the same one that tattooed herself the day before. You can still see the greenish hue on her right arm.

My pants are almost done. I'm going to try to get pictures tonight. I've had a bit of trouble with the topstitching so I'm changing a couple of things.