Fall Buttericks 2013

This is a first! It's the first time I have posted about the Butterick releases, but there are several patterns that I like in this fall batch.

First up is this stunning long coat from Katherine Tilton, Butterick 5960. It's very elegant and the version on the envelope looks like maybe the fabric was painted. If you live in a really cold climate, you might want to add a closure to it.

Someone mentioned on Stitcher's Guild that Katherine stenciled the coat, so I went and found the silk screens that she used on Marcy's site. They are gorgeous! Just the sort of thing that would make a great Christmas gift, if my kids ever bothered to read my blog. ;)

Set of 3 Enso Stencils

Next is another pattern from Katherine Tilton, Butterick 5961, a top and pants. The top has a sweatshirt-sort of vibe, and features an angled armscye and a stand-up collar. The pants feature vertical seams and are slim fitting.

I quite like this Very Easy tunic, Butterick 5954, with it's overlapped front and uneven hem. It might need a little tacking to keep the front in place, especiallly over a full bust, but it's cute.

Some time ago, one of my e-friends was admiring a Lafayette 148 top. This pattern, Butterick 5955, reminds me of that top, with it's shoulder seam detail, color blocking, and loose fit. (The top she admired was color blocked in white and black.) I also quite like the modified mandarin collar on view A (and shown in the pic).

I am always looking for new jacket and coat patterns, and Butterick 5958 looks very promising. A short jacket that features armscye princess seams, front and back, asymmetric closure, and both a zippered and buttoned option. There is also a collared and collar-less version, and a version without sleeves for those who want a vest. Yes, I like this very much!

This might seem to be a mundane pattern, but it's difficult to find patterns for workout-type wear that have style and panache. Most such patterns are not that interesting. This pattern has a very RTW feel to me with it's shoulder yoke, side panels, exposed zipper, in-seam pockets. I definitely like this one.

Another coat! I have been hankering to make a trench coat, but I think I want to make a single-breasted coat, instead of the double-breasted, which is more in fashion at the moment. This coat, Butterick 5966, has some of the elements I look for in a good coat. The pattern features shoulder princess seams, a flared hem, a standing collar, and is otherwise fairly basic - a great pattern to add interesting details to or to make up in an interesting fabric. (I am showing the illustration instead of the photo because it's hard to see details in the busy fabric they choose - for a moment I thought it had a peter pan collar!)

Those are my picks! There is no BMV sale right now, which is fine with me. I have *plenty* to sew, but I plan to pick these up when there is a sale!

Epic Fail: Ladybug Lab Coat

Paging Dr Dotty! Dr Dotty, your patient's taste level is hanging by a thread! It may be fatal.

Oh, dear. It seemed like a good idea and yet it went so wrong. Worst of all? The loss of some great fabric and almost my entire sewcation.

Oh well. Live and learn. I share my story in that spirit.

TOC

• Our Story Begins...
• Inspiration
• Fabrics Used
• Alterations and Modifications
• Inset Circle Technique
• Semicircular Pockets
• Epic Fail
• Pattern

Our Story Begins...

Do you remember last May when Margy and I were participating in a sew-along using a gorgeous black and red Japanese brocade? Margy made a wonderful denim-style jacket with her fabric.

(I might resent her if she weren't so darned wonderful.)

Actually, I didn't complete that particular challenge. I just could not decide on a pattern for the interesting fabric and I didn't want to make something I wasn't excited about. I wanted to mix my fabric with solid black, but I just could not settle on a design, despite making muslins of three different patterns - I wasn't happy with any of them.

I knew I would get back to this fabric eventually. It was too nice to let it marinate in the stash forever.

Inspiration

My inspiration for the final jacket came from Nancy M, a friend of Marcy's who helps out in her booth at the sewing Expo in Puyallup, Washington. (If you don't know, the Expo at Puyallup - pronounced "pew all* up" - happens every March, and is billed as the biggest sewing expo in the U.S. I hope to make it there one of these days, but probably not until both kids are through college.)

I've never met Nancy in person, having never been to Puyallup, but I have seen some of the wonderfully creative clothing she has made on Marcy's website and Facebook page.

For last year's Expo, Nancy made an unlined linen jacket with circles in different sizes and using several neutral colors. (I thought I had a picture of it, but I can't find it.) She used the OOP Sewing Workshop Mission jacket pattern and her circles were edged in bias strips. It was wonderful and very lagenlook.

For my version, I used a color palette of red and black, a Butterick blouse pattern, and Marcy's Holey Moley technique to create the inset circles, so the resulting effect is quite different. Then, while working on my jacket, I saw a Kate Spade coat with a similar motif, which encouraged me to forge ahead and be even more bold with my own design:

It was after seeing this coat that I grabbed my salad plate to make even larger circles.

Mine, unlike Nancy's, is not wonderful.

Fabrics Used

As I mentioned, Margy first found the beautiful red Japanese brocade with black dots on the Gorgeous Fabrics site. It is very 3-dimensional and you can use either side, to a slightly different effect. The fabric has a sprongi-ness to it. But I found that with the judicious use of steam and a clapper, that it behaved very well.

Last winter I also purchased a very fun fabric from Marcy, called Captain Midnight Black Italian Knit. This double-sided fabric consists of one layer of wool knit and one layer of cotton knit. When you throw it into the washer and dryer the wool shrinks, but the cotton not so much, turning the once-smooth fabric into a riot of wrinkles:

I washed and dried my yardage fairly aggressively and it shrank like crazy. I had only purchased 2 yards to begin with, and the resulting yardage wasn't big enough for a garment on it's own. I didn't mind because I knew it would be great paired with another fabric. I had the idea of using it for the inset circles on my red brocade jacket. I wasn't sure how well the stretchy black fabric would work with the sproingy red brocade, but I think it works quite well.

In addition to the inset circles and the semicircular pockets, I also used the puckered black knit for the standing collar and at the sleeve hems.

The final ingredients for my jacket stew: a wonderful black silk charmeuse that came pre-fused with interfacing from FabricMart, black textured buttons from Stone Mountain, and Pam Erny's fusible interfacing.

Interfacing the hem.

Grade A ingredients. Nothing but the best. sigh

Alterations and Modifications

I am not sure why I used this pattern for this jacket. I do know that I bought Butterick 5526 because Margy had used it very successfully to make several tops. That's fine, but why I decided it was right for a lined jacket... I can't remember the thought process and it now baffles me.

As you might expect, I had to make loads of modifications. I'm not sure I can even remember all of them:

• Started with View C, and straightened the hem.
• Lowered the bottom of the armscye, which was fairly high, by about 5/8".
• Narrowed the shoulder. I can't remember by how much.
• Added a bust dart.
• Removed about 4" from the side seams, beginning below the bust and continuing down to the hem.
• Lowered the neckline (which was very high) by 5/8".
• Omitted the collar and re-shaped the collar stand. I squared it off and made it a bit taller. Also, I had to widen it to accommodate the increased neckline.
• Drafted facings.
• Drafted a lining.
• Added semicircular side seam pockets.
• Cut out a number of holes and inset circles of contrast fabric.

---

Mistake Alert: I did not make a muslin. Oh, the hubris! The unbridled vanity!

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Inset Circle Technique

I learned this great technique (which I have used before), called Holey Moley, from Marcy's Inspiration Paris CD. I had to modify it slightly, to accommodate the sproingy woven brocade and the extra large circles, by basting the seam allowances of each hole. It slowed me down a bit but I was very happy with the result.

My circles are a variety of sizes. I used a salad plate and saucer from my dish set, as well as a roll of duct tape, a mug, a teacup, and a candle, to create the various circles.

I spent what felt like hours playing with the placement of the holes. This was definitely the most challenging aspect of the project. I cut "audition" circles out of black ponte scraps. I would pin on the circles, try on the jacket, which was sewn only at the shoulders, and tweak the circles (their size, number, and position), endlessly. I took many cell-phone-in-the-mirror pictures to see how it looked. (It would have helped a lot to have a dress form for this part of the process.)

Eventually I would get one circle in a position that seemed right. I would cut out the hole, and sew in the shrinky dink fabric. I would then move on to tweak the next circle. Repeat ad infinitum.

It was during this process that I alternated between loving the project, hating the project, and feeling complete ambivalence. I eliminated circles, I changed the size of the circles, I added circles back. In fact, when I had only one circle sewn, I threw the whole thing into a corner and let it sit for weeks. I despaired of finishing it.

When I picked it up again after Christmas, I had trouble remembering what pattern I used. I had also lost a bit of weight in the interim and had to take several inches off the side seams.

I forced myself back to it, because I thought if I didn't work on it over my Christmas break, I probably would never complete it.

(In hindsight, maybe not such a bad thing.)

Semicircular Pockets

I wanted to keep the circular motif going with semicircular pockets in the side seams. I quickly drafted up a pocket using a saucer for the semicircle. I used a piece of lining to create the semicircular hole and the shrinky dink fabric for the part of the pocket that is exposed.

Side seam pocket, before basting was removed.

Epic Fail

So, where, you might ask, did I go wrong? I can only partly answer that question. Not being more alert to the problems in the pattern draft is a big one. I noticed, the first time I tried on the jacket with a sleeve pinned in, that it didn't fit quite right - there were lots of drag lines in the sleeve. But it didn't really register in my brain what was going on. Later I realized what the problem was. Look at this picture of the sleeve:

Note the shape of the sleeve cap. There is a very slight curve. This is fine if you are dealing with a dropped sleeve, but this is a set-in sleeve and you need more of a rise in the shape of the curve. This is what caused the drag lines in the finished sleeve:

Furthermore, the fit just feels "off" through the shoulder/upper chest area. I noticed things weren't right when I tried it on, but I was too busy being distracted by the creative aspects of the project.

In truth, I can't blame all of Dotty's problems on the atrocious sleeve draft. I think it would have been more effective if I had made the jacket shorter. But, for some inexplicable reason, I wanted a longer jacket.

This was just one of those times when my idea just didn't pan out.

It happens.

To be honest, I'm not all that bummed out. I wish it had been successful, but oh well. I immediately dived into the flannel lined pants, which you've already seen. I'm not completely sure what is next on my plate, but I have ideas. And fabric.

I am a bit bummed that my sewcation is over and it's back to the salt mines. And I have so little to show for it.

Ta Da!!!

Pattern

Butterick 5679 - Knit Top with Drapey Pocket

Quel surprise! I've made another knit top! Out of a rayon lycra!

I bought this Butterick pattern when it came out. I really liked View C, which has a single drapey pocket. Just my cup of tea. I went to Pattern Review and there was only one review for View C, by Ann Smith. (You need to create an account to view any reviews over six months - but a free account works.)

I found her review to be most helpful. She had all kinds of problems with the fit of the raglan sleeves and the neckline. So I approached the pattern with caution. First of all, the only thing I did not like about the pattern is that it has a boat-neck-ish shaped neckline. (Though it's not quite as wide as a true boat neck.) I have narrow-ish shoulders and I hate a wide neckline (though I think I know why they did it that way). I don't like my bra straps to show and I don't like a neckline to slide off my shoulders.

So the first thing I did was to raise the neckline at the sides on all the pattern pieces - tapering it to nothing at CF and CB. I planned to cut the final neck opening once I had the garment together, because I knew this shape wouldn't be right either, but at least I'd have enough fabric to work with.

The front pattern pieces. The neckline has been raised at the sides. And the 1.5" horizontal strip at the bustline is my only FBA.

The raising of the neckline for the sleeve and back. I tapered it to nothing at CB (and CF).

I was using a very stretchy rayon lycra jersey, a wonderful fabric that I bought on a recent visit to Harts, so I wanted 4" negative ease. I checked the finished bust measurement on the pattern piece and the size 16 had the fit I wanted. So I cut out a size 16 (quite a bit smaller than my usual size, especially if you count the 6" FBA I usually add). I sliced the pattern horizontally at the bust and added 1.5" to go up and over the girls. The only other alteration I made was to the sleeves. The sleeves looked incredibly long. I removed 3.5" at the "shorten here" line.

I cut out the fabric and started sewing. This pattern is very quick to sew. For one thing, the hem, the sleeve hem, and the top of the pocket are designed to be left as raw edges. It would be very difficult to hem the top with the sharp point, so it makes sense. I am not 100% in line with the raw edge movement, so I serged these edges. I can live with serged edges. ;)

The first thing you do, is to lay the pocket on top of the right front piece and sew them together at the hem and side. Because this is a stretchy knit, I used Steam a Seam Lite 2 to attach them to each other and then stitched through the sandwich. It worked great and there was no distortion.

The instructions for the neckline are to turn the edge under twice and topstitch. I assume this is why the pattern has a "softened" boat neckline which is easier to finish this way. I hate that sort of neckline finish. I just don't think it lies nicely against the body and it's hard to sew at the sides, where the greatest curvature is, without distorting the finished neckline.

What I did was sew all the CF and CB seams, and the raglan seams, so that the neck hole was formed, and then try it on. I then pin marked where I wanted the finished neckline to be. I removed more from CF and a bit from CB and the side seams. I then used the Sarah Veblen binding method. I am very happy with the final neckline. (I am getting rather tired of posting the Veblen link over and over, but I want it to be handy! Maybe I should just create a link page.)

I cut a 1-3/8" strip for the neckline and sewed it on with a 1/4" seam.

If you read Ann's review, you will see that she had to remove quite a bit from the raglan seams. Besides Ann, I have quite a few very accomplished, very prolific sewing friends who never post anywhere. I wore this top to an event they attended and two or three of them (I can't remember) had made this same top and had the same problems that Ann described. It took them a lot of fiddling to get a top that fit properly through the shoulders/neckline.

I did not have this problem at all. One of them said that the pattern lacks proper shoulder shaping - it doesn't go "in" like it should at the shoulders. Several of us were mulling over why I did not have this problem. It was suggested that perhaps it was because I was using a very stretchy knit. That is possible, so be wary of the shoulder fit if you attempt this pattern, particularly in a more stable knit. (And I think it's totally worth the trouble, because the pattern is great otherwise.)

The sleeve length was perfect after removing 3.5" in length, so it is quite long. Though if I were to do a turned-under hem, I'd want to add a half inch back. So check the sleeve length.

Hem:

I was asked to show some up close pictures of the serged hem.

The pocket hem up close. I started serging at the back side seam, at the inner corner. I serged across the back around the side, and then across the front, ending at the point. I restarted at the bottom of the point and serged up, ending at the inner corner. A drop of Frayblock at the point, and then I trimmed off the serged threads.

The front and the sleeve hems.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I LOVE this top!!! My sewing friends told me it was one of the most flattering tops they'd ever seen me wear. I think it is best in a drapey knit fabric — that pocket is designed to hang and drape gracefully. You have to decide how you feel about raw edges. One friend, who doesn't like raw edges, just chopped off the pocket point and hemmed it straight across. It looks great that way too, though I do think the pocket point can create a slimming line.

Worn with my beloved Marcy Tilton pants, Vogue 8397, View A. It's now OOP, but well worth tracking down.

RTW-inspired Navy and White Check Shirt

More pictures

First, I thank all of you for the wonderful comments and feedback you left on my Marcy Tilton top, both on the blog post and the review. I am really overwhelmed!

Marcy Tilton featured pictures of Margy's tops on her blog. What a nice surprise! Also, Vogue patterns asked if they could feature my top on their Facebook page (which hasn't posted yet). It seems that this top, with my machinations, struck a chord with many.

I have tops on the brain. There are no less than two separate year-long top sew-alongs on Stitcher's Guild - one for "top of the month" and one for "shirt of the month". I have not joined either, formally, but my mind seems to be in "top" mode so it's possible my sewing mojo has signed up on its own accord. (I try to follow the mojo where the mojo leads.)

Several months ago I was in a boutique and I saw an interesting blouse, very briefly. It had a hanging front band, which I loved. I looked at it for maybe 5 seconds and moved on. I didn't take notes or draw pictures, or even try it on, so I can't remember that much about it, other than the hanging front band. I can't even remember what color it was. I believe it was a Kedem Sasson top, but am not even 100% sure about that.

Often I see interesting details in RTW and forget about them, but not this time! I decided to use a pattern I had as the basis for this top. Butterick 5034, recently out of print, is a good basic pattern.

Somewhere along the way I had cut the tissue paper pattern as a size 16. Now why did I do that? I am not a size 16. I am a size 18, and I still need a hefty FBA, in most patterns. But I can deal with a 16 if I widen the back and pay even closer attention to the FBA, so that's what I decided to do. (And it helped that this is not a fitted pattern.)

I wanted the front of the top to be shorter than the back, and I wanted side slits. At first I planned a regular shirt collar, but in the end I went with a plain neckline, finished with a bias strip. Since the front band extends below the hem, I had to use separate front bands, rather than a cut-on facing which folds to the inside.

Materials:

• Drapey navy/cream check fabric from Fabrix. I think this is another rayon/poly blend and is very crepe-like. It ravels like crazy, but has a great drape.
• 11 5/8" mother-of-pearl buttons from Fabrix.

Alterations and Modifications:

• 3" FBA.
• Widened the back by 1" (2" total).
• Narrowed the shoulders by about 1.5".
• Shortened front to 2" below the waist. Marked the waist point because I wanted to stop the side seam at the waist, leaving side slits.
• Shortened the back to 4" (or so) below the front.
• The upper sleeve measured narrow, so I widened it by 1".
• Folded out (removing) the cut-on facings. Instead, I cut two front bands 2.5" wide and several inches longer than the front. I used 1/4" seam allowances for the front bands, so the finished band is 1" wide.
• Originally I was going to use a standard shirt collar, but, while sewing, I decided not to. Instead, I stay-stitched the neckline at 5/8" and trimmed off 3/8", leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. I cut out a bias strip 1-1/4" wide and longer than the neckline. I sewed it at 1/4", wrapped it around to the inside, folded the raw edge under, and hand stitched. I really like wearing this sort of easy, casual finish.

I decided to finish the front bands by sewing them together, at the bottom, wrong sides together. I trimmed close to the stitching, turned them right side around (after pressing), and top-stitched close to the edge.

When it came time to put on the buttons, I raided the button box. I didn't have any fabulous buttons, but I did have the ubiquitous mother-of-pearl buttons that I have used for other projects. These cost 10 cents each at Fabrix, so I stocked up. (I probably would have preferred navy buttons.)

During construction, I put the blouse on many times. (Don't you love to sew wearing a bra and PJ bottoms?) I realized that the blouse is loose enough that I could pop it on and off over my head, so I decided not to use buttonholes. The buttons are merely sewn through both bands. All but the top two - those are sewn to the left band only. I never planned to wear it buttoned all the way up anyway.

I know, it's pretty cheeky of me to cheat and leave off the buttonholes. But I won't tell if you won't tell. :)

Conclusion

I really like this top! It will be great in warm weather. I made it a tad too short in front, so it won't be the top to wear to a revival meeting, or a sporting event, or anywhere one might want to throw up one's arms, unless one wants to exhibit one's belly button. I will definitely make this again.

By the way, I wrote this blog entry last night, as I often do, but waited to post it until I could take photos in daylight. I accidentally hit "post" instead of "save". Once that happens, even when the post is deleted from the blog, it can't be removed from blog readers.

More Pictures

Worn with my cream corduroy Linda pants

On New Years Day (morning) I took a walk and discovered this abandoned New Years top hat on the side of the street. I love to take shadow pictures and that morning I was wearing a skirt. After taking a few pictures, I picked up the hat and was walking along when a man, walking his dog, asked if it had been a good party. :)