Is this still sewing?

I've had to reformat this post as the lines weren't wrapping,a although they seemed to be when I posted it. Well, I've tried again! Please let me know if you read this and the lines are wonky again, thank you.

Gosh where has June - and now nearly July - gone? I haven't done much in the way of sewing as I've spent a while helping my mother move. She has moved into very sheltered accommodation where she will get her meals made for her and most importantly, there are no stairs. I say June but we’re nearly at the end of July as I add to this post. I will be visiting mum this coming week and hope that will be the last of these ‘crisis’ visits - just back to normal visiting. Fingers crossed!

I haven’t been sewing, though I did do a class on silks and sheers which I will post about separately. I've already started the post just need to take some photos maybe.

I did a little machine embroidery earlier in July. I made some pin cushions. A few in one design, which I loved , ‘the sweetest pincushion’, a free design from @sewcanshe via Craftsy and one in another, which I paid for but didn’t like nearly as much (I don't have a photo of that one either). I have given them all away apart from this one which I have earmarked for someone. This could be practice for a Frida Kahlo embroidered huipil! Kate@fabrickated is running a #dresslikefridakahlosal challenge but I won’t be joining in though I would quite like to make the top.

Because I’ve put on weight, I have very few clothes that work for me in this hot, for us, summer. I’ve never really felt the need to have a separate summer wardrobe as many items are all season with the addition of layers. Depends on your lifestyle of course! I don’t go on summer holidays abroad as I really don’t like heat. I would’ve liked to make some things but it wasn’t to be. I have plenty of tee shirts, it’s bottoms that are eluding me.

I had a number of garments waiting for alterations and repairs and concentrated on them rather than on sewing from scratch as I found I didn’t have the concentration and focus required for that.

I had a pair of blue linen trousers - casual, with gathered tie at waistband, that were comfy if not over smart but they developed a linear stress hole in the inside front leg. I was shocked but apparently linen doesn’t wear well. I didn’t know that. I had read it might not be a good idea to tumble dry (though the label on these said it was okay to do so) and I don’t. But a longitudinal hole appeared nevertheless. I put some fusible interfacing behind the rip and sewed over at the front. I should have used a blue and a white thread in the stitching but didn’t even have the right blue. They’ll do a turn. No photo

Next up was a sleeveless top with a peplum. I don't usually wear items with peplums but never say never! The underarm area stuck out in a most unattractive way and last term I took that area in. However, the right underarm was still loose and baggy and had to be taken in more. One tip by sewing tutor was to cut away the excess seam allowance before overlocking the seam allowances. That worked well and I then stitched the top of the seam allowance to the seam at the back. I had hoped to finish for my twp trips to London but it wasn’t to be - I finished it yesterday. I don’t actually like this top - I actually think it’s too big and could do with a reduction at the sides. I wore it today and it’s comfortable. I asked david to take a photo of me wearing it - his response was ‘Are you sure?’ Maybe you can see why!

Where I'm holding my hands on my hips is exactly where this top is too loose - I suppose that makes it cooler though!

Last term I started to alter a plain/striped top in grey and black. I liked the top but there were two issues. The first that the top was the wrong length for me - it is supposed to be a tunic but for me needs to be either longer or shorter. Secondly, the sleeves were too short. Solution - I cut a piece off the bottom and used this as a cuff on the sleeves. I used both straight stitching on my sewing machine for placement and the overlocker to finish. This meant I could use the finished edge of the bottom hem on the cuff bottoms. I don't have a coverstitch machine so used a pin hem and twin needle on the bottom. It looks fine and I’ll get a lot of wear out of it.

I can’t show you any of the steps - though they were so simple they weren’t worth photographing. I tried it on to get a photo and find that the cuffs are a little loose so I may have to take in further - I’ll see. The sleeves are lengthened by a lot and I guess I should have tapered as I went down rather than keeping the whole thing straight.

There is a lot of decorative stitching on the top - I couldn't recreate this

My twin needle hem on the bodice

Overall view. No longer an inbetween length tunic but a top. Sleeves have been lengthened by 2.5"

I have a tunic that had lost two of its buttons. One was lost completely. One was broken but I still had the front. A third button had losts its crystal.  I looked through my stock of buttons (as an aside I remember loving playing with my grandma’s button jar) and to my astonishment, found two identical buttons in a little bag. I hadn’t remembered about them. The loops around the buttons are not big enough to allow the buttons to be fastened so I had to sew these new ones in the same way. David kindly prized out the crystal from the broken button and replaced it (glued it in) in the crystal-less but otherwise intact button. Voila! A wearable tunic!

Next was a pair of golf shorts where the zip stitching had come loose. This is a fly zipper and I didn’t want to remove and replace completely especially since they don’t actually fit me at the moment! I pinned the loose part closed and stitched an extra line of stitching through all layers. Perhaps not the most authentic of solutions but it’s work for me, if they ever fit me gain, that is.

The second line of stitching isn't that obvious!

David mended my box that holds my Bernina feet and some spools. Again. He had mended it once before and I broke it again. I think it’s pretty  fragile and a poor design. I haven’t found anything better to hold my feet (these are on a shelf, hanging down, I had hoped for soft plastic holes/nests) so again, this will last for a while at least. I could buy a new one from Bernina but they are expensive and I don’t think very good.

I have a few other half-written posts from various times that I’ve started or written while  waiting to do other things and will gradually post them over the next couple of weeks.

April Review and trouser/pants update

I decided that I’d like to put up a blog post at the end of each month - my sewing speed doesn’t merit more than that, usually. I have very little completed to show for the month. My time has been more limited than usual and motivation even more so!! My sew-jo is critically low! It has been a time of rethinking and evaluation. I’m posting today even though there a couple of days left in the month and I might achieve a bit more.

Trouser progress

Yes, there has been progress. Slow progress.

My original block was almost at the stage of making up in proper fabric when I put it aside last year. Almost, not quite, as there was an ongoing question around the crotch point. Add to that that I’ve put on rather a lot of weight, and it was important to re-toile. Rory fitted me and I made another toile with extra fabric at the hips for the extra weight. I’m somewhat lopsided and originally I was making 4 pieces, left front and back and right front and back.  However, for this last toile, I made symmetrical pieces to the larger measurement of the two sides and reckon that is fine. This is so much easier! Rory re-fitted this new toile which wasn’t a million miles away. I needed to remove a little of the front rise by tucking out in the pattern - I have a very sloped waist. The other change was that I needed a little more space at the bottom of the upright back crotch seam - this is the opposite of crotch scooping. I found it difficult to get my head around the different pattern changes which might be required but understand better now that I have seen the changes marked on the toile and carried over to the pattern.

I redrew the pattern to get a clean copy. I started to draw up a contour waistband as I really like them, but Rory asked me to do the first pair with a standard waistband

I was going to use wool - after all, I bought loads of wool fabrics for this purpose. However, I was sure more tweaks would be required - and we had two days of summer heatwave just at that point, so I thought wool might be too warm. The first cotton I prepared was really too thin

I finally decided to start with a thickish bottom weight navy cotton. I washed, dried and trued the fabric. It crushes rather a lot. I found a fade mark down the centre so will have to avoid that. I could have had 3 pieces side by side, but just cut back and front on the fold which wastes fabric but avoids the marked crease.

I made up the trousers in sewing bee as far as needing zip and waistband. I found them snug to say the least on my left high hip and the back waist height was still too short - I had allowed a 1’ waistline seam allowance but I needed it all and more at the back. Rory marked the waistline with only a ½ cm seam allowance at the back. There were no other major adjustments and I planned to finish the trousers over the next few days.

I inserted an invisible zipper in the left side seam, the snug side, and allowed just a touch extra for hip space. It seems that I perhaps didn’t really need that. I tried on the trousers and asked David to mark them for good waistband position. This is way easier said than done!! At the second attempt, I've fabric marked on the right side (I can’t really try on inside out as I’m asymmetrical.) as the original method d didn’t work - the pins kept falling out. This is okay as I’ve decided these are a further toile, perhaps wearable - I forgot to finish the seam allowances before I sewed up. I did it afterwards but to say that it isn't perfect is a master of understatement. In addition, the trousers are a bit short - they seemed okay until the trouser was hitched up to the right place. Also, I really don’t like the fabric - it has poor drape, shows every crease and is quite firm. It picks up dust and lint and looks filthy just a short time after being washed and pressed. It’s similar to a pair of golfing trousers I have which, likewise, never look smart.

I’ll try to finish today so I can show Rory on Wednesday to see if she agrees with what I’ve done.

I'll adjust the pattern to reflect what we decide. The next pair should be better and I’ll use a nicer fabric.

Rory feels I suit wide leg trousers best and I may alter this pattern in that direction. I do like wide legged trousers but have a hankering for a slimmer fit. A princess seamed pair is also on the cards as that will make fitting my ‘muscular’ front thigh much easier - as it is, I get a bit of pulling across the front. I suspect that a slight lengthening of the front crotch point, tapering down the inseam a few inches would help that but I’ll leave it for the moment.

MAGAM and wrap dresses

I didn't manage my garment for MAGAM's Alternative April - in April, anyway, as I haven’t started even to think much about it. I might still do it, late as is often the case. I like the idea. MAGAM is something that doesn't have rigid timeframes, just suggestion of a theme. Come to think of it, I didn’t manage March’s MAD make a dress. I did have a plan for that, but I’ve shelved it for the moment.  I might rectify that one by trying to make a wrap dress for #sewtogetherforsummer (#stfs), which is by midsummer day, 21st June, which is probably achievable even for me! A wrap dress has the advantage, I think, of being more flexible for disguising fluctuating weight - or perhaps I should say fitting better over a wider range of weights.

While I was doing my textile course, one of my pieces was a Vogue wrap dress - this was made in a polycotton fabric.  I looked back at the photos and David commented they looked frumpy. 

I know I could make this dress with much better technique now as I have improved a lot. I didn’t really like the dress because of the skirt - it was much shorter and much more flared than I anticipated. My tutor commented to be wary of a pattern without a photo of a model wearing it. There were only illustrations.

I gave the completed dress away to someone who appreciated it. I think it would be okay longer with this degree of flare. Or I could reduce the flare. Though I’m not too keen on the tucks at the shoulder either… Or I could start with a new pattern. I could even use a pattern for a stretch fabric. What do you think? #stfs has put up a lot of pattern suggestions and I have one or two of them already. I think I’d like a proper wrap rather than a mock wrap and one that includes both bodice and skirt. Slimmer fit skirt. Comments please!

Pattern Alteration

I liked the top I made for myself but felt it needed a few more tweaks, especially when I’m heavier. The previous fabric had a touch of give and was more forgiving than the quilting cotton I tried to use a couple of months ago.

My first top is still the most successful though my weight gain has made it a little uncomfortable at present.

I increased the width at the sides, 1” at the hem, tapering to zero at the armscyes. I made the back deliberately longer than the front and added a hemline split. I added seam allowances to neckline and armscyes. I adjusted dart position. I made a toile, which was pretty much okay, and further adjusted the dart.

 

I've pinned along new stitching line to show how much I had to take out.

I cut out and made up the front and back in class. I found that it was much too big around the waist area in particular - this is where the French darts start. I had quite a few problems with those darts! I’m not sure I’ll use them again. I’ll finish my top. Darts slightly remodelled. Sides taken in. What a difference a fabric makes even in a woven with no stretch! I need to rethink a TNT in a woven fabric

Raincoat - alteration

I bought a rather nice teal raincoat in a charity shop last year, while I was away at my bridge weekend. I thought it fitted nicely but the sleeves were too short. I hadn’t thought they were much too short, or I wouldn’t have bought it but now realise they were shorter than I thought! Last year, I took down the hem of the sleeves. While there was a lot of fabric, enough, just, to get a nice length, the lining was considerably shorter, of course. I discussed this with Dan at Sew Club. She suggested adding a facing to the sleeve and then stitching the existing lining to the new facing. She also suggested that I could stitch along the old hemline mark to disguise it - there is quite a bit of topstitching on the coat already.

 

Overall view of coat

Taken to show old hem mark. How obvious is it?

Sleeve turned back to show added facing and junction with original lining

So, eventually, last week, I got around to the alteration. I added a 7 cm interfaced facing piece in a teal-ish heavy-ish cotton from my stash. I understitched and pressed. Then, the process was like bagging a lining, which I have done before. The seam on one sleeve lining was opened up, the sleeve extruded through it and the lining sewn raw edge to raw edge, some anchor points made (so the lining doesn’t fall below the sleeve) then everything put back together and the seam resewn. The second sleeve was clearly how the original constructor got into the garment - but it was easier to do the cuff from the sleeve on the same side rather than trying to get to one sleeve from the other. Originally, I hand stitched the seam closed, but realising that the original seam entry point had been stitched by machine, I did that on both sides. Easier and neater - my hand stitching isn’t great

The coat looks quite nice but feels a little tight at the moment. I decided not to stitch the seam mark on the cuffs as I thought this might draw more attention to it. I’ve been advised to steam well. I’ve put it away for the moment. Even if I never wear the raincoat (though I probably will wear it) I feel I’ve learned quite a bit about this type of alteration which I need regularly as I have long arms and RTW garments are invariably too short.

Wet hair wraps

When I’ve washed my hair, I like to wrap it in a towel wrap. Over time I’ve ‘lost’ most of my wraps and decided I’d make some new ones from an old disintegrating towel - it’s a towel we love because it dries so well but it is rather disreputable! The body of the towel is absolutely fine but the edges and ends are something else!

I took my one remaining wrap and drew up a pattern from it.

However, my towel has no stretch and the wrap does, plus there is elastic in the band. I decided not to use the old towel, but bought some stretch towelling from Minerva, hoping I might get around to making a couple of head wraps.

I ended up thinking that my time is more valuable than this exercise and I bought 3 online (my local supplier didn’t have any in stock when I visited). It’s true, I could have made them more cheaply (and I don't know yet what quality these will be!) but I still have the time and the gorgeous towelling and I’m thinking I could make something rather nicer!  One day.

The towelling has quite a loose loopy texture

Knitting

I've carried on doing a bit of knitting and I've enjoyed that. I had to rip back a large chunk as sadly I'd made an error and hopefully now I'm on the right track. It looks better, certainly. I feel the instructions didn’t tell me how to decrease around a cable area as I thought I had followed them. Now I’m knitting by the seat of my pants as I’m trying to copy the pattern photo. Hopefully it will be fine.

Discards

There have been two discards of diy garments or potential garments this month

Skirt

First was a skirt that I was trying to let out again (after having taken it in last year!) but I felt that there was too much to do as the waistband would need replaced as with the much smaller seamline I couldn’t see how I could get the zip back in. I reckoned that the waistband was short by about half an inch on each side. I never did like the fabric; I think I gave it away so possibly couldn’t have replaced the waistband even if I had wanted to. The skirt has gone; it’s in 2 pieces, a fully finished back with kick pleats etc and a fully finished front - the two pieces just need joined together and a zip inserted. Okay provided whoever takes it is a bit slimmer than I am currently! One of my sewing friends was keen to take it - but not keen to sew it up.

Photo I posted in my 2017 fails post. The skirt is much worse now!

Kaftan

Second was a kaftan that I bought last year very cheaply for the fancy dress murder mystery weekend I attended but it was too tight and I didn’t use it. I asked advice and we decided that I could take out the stitching down the sides. The thread used, and therefore the needle used, was huge and there are some pretty big holes left in the fabric, but no tears. It seemed possible that washing and ironing etc might get rid of these. However, when trying the finished neckline on to see where I should put new seamlines, I then noticed that the design on the front is off centre. I can’t just sew up the side seams - I couldn’t live with this. Others agreed that it was unacceptable. I may use the fabric for something else or it may go the same way as the skirt (not lost forever; it’s been put into the sewing class cupboard!)

Other discards

We’ve been continuing our plan to get rid of a lot of ‘stuff’. David is working on contents of garage and of side loft area and we’ve had trips to the dump AKA Recycling Centre. I’m working on clothes and shoes. Already a lot has gone to the charity shop. However, we have scarcely scratched the surface as yet! I had originally planned to alter some clothes if possible but there were so many, and this seemed such a big task. It wasn’t a case of taking in which would have been easier. Lots of nice stuff has gone to the charity shop so hopefully someone will enjoy the items and the charity will benefit from the sale.

We’re way behind in our plan to downsize and move south but what we’re doing is a necessary part of the process.

I have way too much fabric but that's not being included in the culling process! I am planning to sew more of it. There will be some that gets donated.

Reading

I’ve been reading a lot more as I used to do. Some of my reading has been sewing books. I love buying old sewing books after I see them recommended. I bought a couple of Claire Schaeffer books about pockets.  They are pretty old fashioned and don’t have photographs but are full of marvellous tips. I’ve come across a technique that might improve the pocket with gusset (I now know that’s called a Bellows pocket) on Helen’s red silk dress - I’m going to be making one in green silk. I will need to modify the pocket ever so slightly, I think, but will have a look at the pattern pieces this coming month. Helen may not find any modification acceptable so unless it’s imperceptible in the finished pocket I may have to rethink! Anyway, I did manage the pocket by the original method. I was planning to buy the fabric for the dress on a trip to London over Easter but that got postponed. Hopefully we'll manage to get there next month.

I’m also reading Sandra Betzina’s Power Sewing book and think it’s great.

So what have I abandoned?

Another ‘Twin Set’

I hope/had hoped to get another Blackwood cardigan finished by the end of the month. I have the pattern. I have the fabric. It really doesn’t take long. I just need a bit of motivation! Maybe that trip to Cambridge and London will be the incentive required. This is a temporary abandonment only.

Remodelling

I have a skirt from a few years ago in colours I like in a fairly heavy cotton/linen. I didn’t ever feel comfortable in this skirt as it rode up a lot at the back due to my shape. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to lie nicely and be acceptable even when I tried to remodel it. It was also rather on the short side for me. I generally prefer skirts straighter and knee length. This was A line and above knee length. Another ‘what was I thinking of?’ moment.

Anyway, I thought of trying to make it into a top and enter it into the Pattern Review Recycling Contest.

I took the skirt apart - this took quite a while surprisingly. I should've realised before, but all the pieces are cut on the bias! I decided to make a waistcoat for myself with the main pieces in this fabric and the back in plain contrast cotton (the cotton I’m using for my trousers). Then I thought - why?

I’ve decided not to pursue this at the moment. I may later as I do like the colours in the fabric

Craft

I’m not much into making craft items but there are a couple of things I have wanted and need.

1. The large bags I carry to class are not strong enough and rip. I’d like to make a strong canvas bag and maybe even have a couple of internal partitions or pockets. I’d also like to use some machine embroidery to decorate it.  In the meantime, I’ll be using supermarket heavy duty bags.
2. I’d like a bag to hold my knitting, so I can carry it around. It needs to be long enough for the needles and fairly capacious. I’m sure somewhere I do have a knitting bag (though I seem to remember the needles always stuck out) but we haven’t come across it in our culling as yet. I’m sure I’ve also got more knitting needles. I don’t want to buy more until I’ve checked properly but I could really be doing with a second set of 5.5mm.
3. Thread catcher/pincushion. This is on my someday list. However, my Thursday sewing class has set a pincushion as a voluntary project this term, so I may just do it! I have some patterns.
4. If I had loads of time, there is a bag I’d really like to make. S in class is making it and it’s fabulous.

Only number 3 has any chance of being completed in the next few months!

I'm going off now to try on some tops from my wardrobe, to see which I'll keep and which will go. Wish me luck!

The UFOs are winning! But the match isn't over yet.

If you've read my blog,  you'll know that I made the dresses for my daughter's wedding. I ran out of time and bought my MOB outfit.

Photo from no25ofBourneend.co.uk
She's much slimmer and younger than me; I wore a hatinator rather than the hat. A Condici outfit.

I don't yet have a photo to show the outfit better. I'm tall but the skirt length is still longer on me than the model.

Before that, though, I had planned to make my outfit and had a couple of possibilities.

After the wedding I lost my sewjo for a while. To be honest it's not back yet. I decided that I'd ease my way in with finishing a number of items I'd started. I didn't like all those unfinished items.

I had

• An unfinished toile for a sheath dress (MOB)
• An unfinished but started hacked from RTW lined dress (MOB)
• A Betty Barclay skirt and top;  the skirt was too long for comfort but not long enough for full length (which it would've been on a smaller person and was designed to be) and it was also too tight
• A linen sleeveless top which needed a FBA, the darts adjusted and some shaping
• Plans for making some lingerie and a tank from leftover silk from wedding dress

Linen top

I've finished the linen top.

I had to dismantle most of the top - only the neckline and neckline binding was untouched. I made an FBA and altered the line of the darts. I needed more fabric at the front of course and this shortened the front relative to the back - I decided to make a feature of this and have a stepped side slit.

I also added some shaping to the waist,  though just a touch as I still wanted it to be loose fitting. Making the slit longer as I had to in order to balance front and back up made more room at hip level. I trimmed the top of the side seams to level them up. I had a bit of difficulty matching the grid for pattern at one side in particular but managed this - the need for matching is why the top needed a little trimmed. I then reattached the binding around the armholes. I now have a top which will be more comfortable and looks perfectly acceptable.

Trying it on again today to take a photo, I realise it's not perfect but perfectly serviceable. I should have ironed it. I feel the front bottom armhole is a little tight. I think the pattern matching is pretty good.

A win to me

Anne 1:UFOs 0

Betty Barclay skirt

No photos here due to last minute dismantling! Well, I had some but my computer won't read them from the sd card. If I sort out that problem, I'll post. Edited _ I switched the computer off then on again and it now read the sd card. So I can add a couple of photos.

I thought I'd finished my alterations to the Betty Barclay skirt. The original had a waistband, 6 panels,  was just short of ankle length and had a rear invisible zipper. It was much too tight. I cut off the required amount all around the top of the skirt,  a good 6”, to make it knee length or a little longer. I made sure that the skirt would fit around my hips and would be long enough. I then decided to use an elastic waistband rather than trying to remake a waistband which would have been very difficult. I did this simply by using a fold over casing. The elastic is stitched at each seam. I didn't touch any vertical seam other than the back seam, which had the zipper. I didn't touch the hem - lazy?

My elastic waistband

Incidentally, I've been told never ever to wear the skirt with the top I bought with it, as a set! It's strange, the patterns are very similar but not quite the same, ditto the colours and the fabrics are different. They don't work at all together.

The top half is the bit of (woven ) skirt that was cut off, the bottom the (stretch) top

Another image of the two fabrics together - this is the original waistband with the top behind

I took the skirt to class today as I felt the whole thing was drooping in front. I have a sloping waist and a large derriere but I thought I had taken this into account in an earlier fitting (I took to the previous class). Today, Lyn chalked the hemline and while the back was fairly even, the front was like the rocky road to Dublin. Quite a big chunk would need to be removed, tapering out to the sides. I unpicked the original hem  (I had hoped to do everything from the top but no joy), pinned up a new hem and basted and got Lyn to check. No! There is something very wrong with the right side seam - I don't just mean length. It twists and doesn't lie straight - this is the original seam. So more work is required. Is it worth it? I'm not sure how flattering it is on me. I'm really not sure about the elasticated skirt but we'll see.

Today was the last class until mid September so it has been temporarily abandoned. I'll take the hem down completely again and press ready for later work.  This was a much harder project than I anticipated

A win for the UFOs

Anne 1: UFOs 1

Sheath dress toile

My birthday is on the 4th July, not a holiday in the UK.  

I decided I'd like a birthday dress. I often read of people making a new dress for their birthday. I decided to finish the sheath dress as a wearable toile. This was a toile I was making for my MOB dress, later gabardine. The basic dress was already sewn up. This was as a toile and the seam edges were not finished;  however there was no evidence of fraying. The fabric is crepe and I love the colour. I therefore decided to finish the toile up as quickly as possible.

I could pull the dress on and off without a zip but this was before there was any arm or neck finishing and I eventually decided I would add a zip.  This was an invisible zip and I found one close to the right colour. However, I had major problems inserting this. Not because of the fabric. It seemed that the zipper teeth were too big for the groove on the invisible zipper foot and so it wasn’t moving through properly. I thought I'd try the invisible zipper foot on the industrial machine in class. Unfortunately that foot is missing; Rory put the zip in for me using an ordinary zipper foot.

I had planned to line the real dress and bought lining for this toile. However,  I decided to forego the lining. I also decided not to use facings but rather to use bias binding. I hadn't done this previously and wanted to practice the technique. I decided to attach the bias binding to the outside of the dress, understitch and turn completely to the inside.

There was an option to hand stitch the bias to the inside but I decided to finish as quickly as possible, so I topstitched around the armholes, neckline and hem. No seam finishes.  My seam allowances were wider than usual to allow for fitting and ideally would be narrower.

So I finished the dress, a wearable toile, in time for my birthday. This year, though, I'm like the Queen and have two birthdays - or rather we postponed my birthday celebrations due to other things I was doing - on the 4th, a golf match where I was an invited guest,  followed by a meal and presentation. Very enjoyable and we didn't get wet!! I was busy on Tuesday evening,  too. My special meal and ultra special bottle of wine was therefore on the 6th. David's present too. I didn't wear the dress for my birthday - either of them!

The dress  was rather tight across the bust and tight under the lower front part of the armscye. The fabric lacks body and needs lined.

Strange pose but shows the thin see-through nature of the fabric

The seams at the top looked puckered. I took it to class today and Lyn unpicked the princess seam at bust level to allow more space - just over a couple of inches of seamline and giving perhaps an extra centimetre of room.

We agreed the bottom part of the front armscye needed lowered slightly, tapering out to nothing above that. The back armscye was fine. Lynn felt the puckering was stitching rather than fit.

I've already let out the bust seam here and restitched. The armhole is not altered and is still tight.
The seam puckering is clearly visible.

The dress was supposed to be for a woven fabric. My original calico toile was for this. This fabric is crepe and has rather more stretch than I anticipated. The fact that the dress was tight shows that I've put quite a bit of weight on - surprisingly around my bust; the hips were fine. I still plan to make a proper dress and will have to take into account that I will not be using a stretchy fabric.

I restitched the princess seams. I'll adjust the armscye on my paper pattern. I actually won't wear this as a proper dress - it has moved back to being simply a toile.

When I showed the altered dress to David,  he agreed it was a lot better but felt that some excess fabric should be removed from the back. The zip is rather heavy,  I think but looking at the picture he took of the back I agree a little extra fabric could be removed along the centre back but also there is a bit of pooling of fabric - a faux sway back,  I think. I'll need to address that too. I still intend to move forward and will eventually complete.

The zip area is proud of the fabric - due to too heavy zip or excess fabric?
Could it be doing with more space at hip level?

I'm going to call this a draw. Anne 1.5: UFOs 1.5

That's as far as I've got with my list. Next up is the hack dress.

Wedding dress

I've been unsuccessfully trying to clean Helen's wedding dress. She sent me a beautiful message for my birthday saying how much she appreciates all I've done etc.  I really appreciate that. Helen wants the dress kept as a full length dress. She doesn't mind the train being removed if she could wear it again. Otherwise she'll keep it for posterity. The dress therefore joins my UFO pile as I had partly dismantled it. I took out hem, weights and braid and skirt lining and waiststay. I need to reassemble. First I want to show what we have to Helen and discuss options. This will be left until the autumn.

Other additions

I bought a pair of floral summer wide legged trousers which were much too long! Not a problem I usually have. I need to shorten them by 4.5 cms. Not a big job, but one which joins my list. Hopefully I'll get them done while it's still summer.

Conclusion

Having a finished and wearable top feels good and hopefully my sewjo will be boosted.

I'd really appreciate any comments.