Camp shirt into tunic. Because despite my absolute loathing of camp shirts, I have a fitted camp shirt pattern. And because this particular camp shirt pattern fits me perfectly. And I mean, per.fect.ly. Um. Because Marta Alto fitted it for me. That’s pretty much the only reason why.
But still. Camp shirt. Into tunic. I can totally do it! You just watch.
No. Really. I can.
Quit looking at me like that.
Seriously, don’t believe me? This tunic is actually a camp shirt with gathers instead of darts. Right? Right. Rotate the darts and convert them to gathers and add some width to the front and back bodice for flowiness, remove the collar and draft a facing instead, change the button placket to a center-seamed opening with ties, extend and add some flair to the sleeves… do some smocking….
So I finally got around to making one of the items on my Fall SWAP. This week. The last week of February. In which it's been, on average, 76 degrees during the day. (Tomorrow is supposed to be 86.) So that's been super-useful, wardrobe-wise.
Here's my inspiration garment:
Here's what I made:
Um. It looks better in person. Honest.
It's a little hard to see because of the bad photo. And the black fabric. Which, by the way, I salvaged from a CP Shades tent-dress that I bought circa 1993. Yes. I am that thrifty. And when I say “tent” dress, I mean, “Three people and a small dog could sleep in it. Comfortably.” There was some sense in saving the dress. Once upon a time it was a really nice rayon brocade fabric and as mentioned above there was a lot of it. In truth, it’s a little too worn and pilly to really be very nice now. However it made the perfect wearable muslin. Since it made... a muslin. And I'm wearing it. HA!
(insert smug in-your-face happy dance here)
So to make the above garment I decided, against my deepest inclinations and sense of morality, to purchase a pattern for a pillowcase dress. Yes. That's right. I purchased a pattern for a pillowcase dress. With money. Real money. American. Dollars. Moooooooneeeeee.
I feel... dirty.
But, I just couldn't be bothered to draft my own pattern from scratch. And if truth be told, I only paid $1.99 for it. Which is about the limit of what it’s worth, I might add.
As it turned out this pattern was a good basis for my further design modifications, which mostly was to change out the simplified (and rather unflattering) gathering on the front yoke to nice, deep, stitched pleats and to make facings for the casings instead of foldovers. I think both features add character to the inspiration garment.
Clear as mud? Here’s the actual muslin muslin which shows the pleats a little better.
You can see where I added 1.5” for my usual FBA at the center front and then just spaced the pleats evenly to make up the distance of the original gathered pattern.
All around, I like this top. Of course, I can only wear it in the winter because frankly, ain't no way in hell I'm wearing a sleeveless top without something else underneath it. Seriously. People do not need to be subjected to my upper arms. I'm pretty sure there's something in the Geneva Convention specifically about that.
However, as it's supposed to only be 70 as the high next week, I think I'll make another version using the color-blocking idea from this inspiration set… er… that I made... er... last summer.
Some day I’ll actually sew a garment the season before it’s supposed to be worn. Some magical day.
Ok, fine. I stole that from The Colbert Report and The Onion. It’s still funny. We have a “snow day” here today, which probably would be more accurately called a “snow-on-top-of-inches-of-ice day”. The news reports that all non-essential personnel at the city offices, the local state offices and the Air Force Base are to stay home today. Everyone is asked to stay off the roads unless it’s essential, i.e. an emergency. There’s a good inch of base ice under the four inches of snow we got last night.
So of course, my boss decided that we should all go in today.
I stayed home.
So now while I ignore the Evil Monkeys whining about “going outsiiiiide”, I thought I’d post a photo of them in their jammies. I made these before Christmas but never got around to taking pictures. The Evil Monkeys love these nightgowns. L-O-V-E love. I like the graphic prints, which TLo picked out (mostly) by herself. TLo has quite the visual sense.
The pattern is McCall’s M6189.
Total bedhead. And I think The Big One has taken it into her bedhead that she can fly. I’m not sure. There seems little other explanation for this.
I also made these again using licensed flannels:
The pants and arms are bound with knit interlock, so they’re stretchy. Because I bought small pieces of the flannel (do you know how much flippin’ Disney fabric costs, even on sale??) I had to piece in a sort of odd way. But the Evil Monkeys love these too and should be able to wear them into spring. They’re cuter on than they are on the floor. So a winner. (Sorry for the wrinkles, I don’t generally iron our jammies. Well, let’s be honest. I don’t generally iron anything. So jammies are certainly at the bottom of the list.)
I altered the sleeve pattern to be more like a cap sleeve and obviously I made the pants into shorts instead of, you know, pants. Besides slicing the pattern into pieced backs I think I followed the instructions for the most part because they were utterly basic, but I used a variety of bindings. They called for bias tape and I only used that on the first nightgown (The Big One’s in black). On TLo’s nightgown I used some lavender-colored FOE from the stash and on the nightie sets I used the white interlock on both. I found, after doing The Big One’s first, that the bias tape didn’t really pull in the surplice fronts enough and they flopped around. Using the FOE on TLo’s, I was able to stretch it so that the top snugs in a little and doesn’t flop. Nice!
Great. The Evil Monkeys are now Dressed To Go Outside. That took about twenty minutes to accomplish. So, about 10 times the actual length of time they’re likely to be outside. Any bets on when they’ll be back in complaining it’s too cold---?
Interesting non-conformist or irritating agitator? Charming individualist or borderline sociopath?
Hmmmm....
Last weekend was a five-day vacation for me: five days of sweet, sweet freedom from the hellish nightmare of endless toil and sufferin-- er. I was off from work. And I knew that at least some of that time I would spend sewing. Or I hoped so. I had two pairs of jammies, a shirt-dress and a blouse all half-sewn on the table. I also had two knitted skirts, completed up to about row 8 and two knitted earwarmers,completed up to about... row 8. (Row 8 seems to be pivotal for me in some way.) These were all, of course, supposed to be Christmas gifts.
By December 24 at 4:00 pm I had completed one earwarmer.
I did, however, complete the jammies and the shirt-dress by my last evening off. And once again, I went whizzing around on the "Why do I stress myself out about a leisure pursuit?" merry-go-round. I know, I know, we all take a spin on that particular ride now and then. Usually my little trips are pretty uninformative. (I do have an amazing ability to combine deep introspective thought with a pathological refusal to acknowledge or alter my self-destructive behaviors. I'm special like that.)
This time, however, I actually came to some conclusions. It's amazing how cogent you become when you've actually had some sleep for three or four days in a row.
Conclusion #1: I think everyone should wear unique and interesting clothes. Or at least my kids should.
Conclusion #2: I actually do have to make TLo's clothing. And in that case I should really make at least some of The Big One's too or she'll get a complex.
Conclusion #3: Artistically speaking, I am a colorist. I always have been. Apparently in garment-making, this translates into wanting to make simply-styled clothes with lots of funky, bright fabric combinations and not highly-detailed, complicated designs with muted, subtle fabrics.
Conclusion #4: I feel compelled, in the interest of keeping myself interested, to make clothes that are either challenging to design or challenging to construct.
Conclusion #5: Conclusions number 1-4 do not combine well with making uniform-appropriate clothes.
Conclusion #6: I really really really hate the school uniform policy.
Hmmph. I don't like my conclusions.
But of course in typical fashion, I did not decide (as perhaps a more mentally sound person would) to just stop making clothes I don't want to make. No, instead I resolved to even further attempts at twisting and torturing completely inappropriate patterns into something that I could at least nominally call School Appropriate. Regardless of their actual appropriateness. I told you I was special.
Which is all to say, I had an idea and I'm not sure it works.
So what do you think? Can a surplice knit dress have a collar arbitrarily added to it and look... Not Crazy? Because The Big One has some serious surplice love since way back and I thought I might try to use her favorite pattern to make a school dress.
Please vote.
edit: Thanks to everyone who commented and voted so far (and everyone else, please keep voting!)
I went to Hancock's last weekend with the specific purpose of buying some appropriate patterns for TLo, as I have very few patterns in her size. Given that most Big4 children's patterns are laughably large and my children are comically short, it didn't occur to me that I would need anything above the size 6 range for some time to come. I was wrong. TLo is now in a size 12/14 width in RTW, which even in the world of Humongous Big4 Patterns is a 10.
TLo and I went to the store together, partly because I was hoping she would enjoy picking out her own patterns (with subtle guidance from yours truly) and partly because The Husband was taking TBO to soccer practice on that side of town anyway so I thought we could all go in one car. I figured TLo and I, left to our own devices, could easily spend an hour and fifteen minutes in the fabric store.
This was poor reasoning on my part. TLo begged the entire time to be allowed to peruse the button section on her own, which is as far away from the pattern area as you can get and is completely obscured by row upon row of towering fabric aisles. She was not allowed to peruse. Or at least, not until we'd sat at the pattern table and looked through the sale books. Apparently this is a breathtakingly tempting activity when you're not allowed to do it, but mind-numbingly boring when the siren call of the button section sings it's temptress song. Much whining ensued. And (despite what you're thinking) not all of it from me. Pattern selection became a hasty process.
I relate all of this to you, Gentle Reader, in an attempt to excuse what happened next: When I saw this pattern was on sale, my heart skipped a little dance of happiness at the perfect fit for TLo's school uniform. McCall M6156, size 7 to 14.
Shirtdress styling? Check! Adjustable empire waistline with drawstring? Check! Cute as a button? Check!
Perfect. I forced (her words) TLo to help me find said perfection in the pattern drawer and, with our seven other pattern selections, we made our giddy way to nirvana-- sorry, the button aisle. All was right with the world.
And then today I finally got around to photo-copying the technical drawing insert for October’s BurdaStyle. Which I have already pored over a half-dozen times in the past month. At least.
Um. Girl's Shirtdress. With adjustable drawstring empire waist. Size 134-158.
Have you ever wondered if you’re a Pattern Whor---? Um. A Pattern Floozy? (Ooooo. “Floozy”.)
I have a lot of patterns. Patterns for things I will never, ever make. Am I really going to make a car seat organizer? Or velcro paperdolls? I think I can definitively say, "No. No, I am not." I know that most of the patterns I have, I probably will never use. I view them more as collectibles, not so much as functional items.
But then sometimes I really do get some use out of a pattern. Take this one:
Butterick 4176
I've owned this pattern for about four years. It's still in print. This is telling, right? I've made some version of this top at least five times since I’ve owned it. (I probably would have made it more, but I’m easily bored.) We’ve already established that I’m thrify. Using one pattern for four whole years? Totally thriftyawesome!
And here’s the latest version. Last week it was 92 on at least two days. (Right. Ninety. Two.) This is the last item from The Big One's Great Uniform SWAP. She didn't wear it all winter because it's cotton lawn. Perfect for a 92-degree “spring” in Texas.
(When you ask The Big One to “show off her dress” you get something that looks like a prisoner-of-war mugshot.)
I added a little collar because the uniform policy requires one. It’s just a simple flat collar finished with bias binding at the neckline. Otherwise, I think I mostly made this as-is. Well, I think I added a cuff to the sleeve instead of the elastic they used.
I then tested out some decorative stitches with my Brother. -yawn-
All in all, this pattern was a good bargain. It’s sized 2, 3, 4, 5, which with the Big4’s humongous sizing means I can probably keep making this dress for The Big One until she’s at least, what… 16? Thriftyawesomeness! And here she is, our delicate size 4 flower:
People at work wonder why I show up in the morning looking frazzled. I’d like to see you deal with Zombie Girl every morning and be, you know, groomed. Or coherent.
I, like, totally was one with the cosmos and riffing in my sewing karma, man. Whoooa. So I managed to finish one groovy summer dress for Moonblossom-- I mean TLo. It's got the whole total nature thing going on, right?
I used an OOP New Look pattern (NL 6474), even though it is clearly a tool of the bourgeoisie establishment, trying to make all little girls look like, you know man, little girls. It totally forces us to see girls based on the gender roles society puts on them, man. And it has a hat.
This pattern only went up to a size "4", which totally discriminates against TLo's need to be, you know, a size 6. So I graded it up and added a new, longer skirt.
Because she's like a flower, she will grow in the summer sun.
Then I added some ruffles to the front, because it totally honors TLo's need to express herself through, you know, ruffles. She won't be kept down by the Man, man.
I drafted a facing to sandwich the ruffles to the front.
Do you say “ladybug” or “ladybird”? In my family, we say “ladybug”. My husband’s family (being English) say “ladybird”. I have to say, I think that’s much prettier (if somewhat oddly inaccurate). We’re just going to ignore the whole “all my bugs have two X chromosomes” thing.
I had about a yard left of this very odd linen print fabric that I got several years ago from FabricMart. Unfortunately, they neglected to mention that the print lot was flawed and what looked like white background actually turned out to be splotchy misprinted pale yellow. This is only noticeable in bright natural light, of course, so the last time I used it I didn’t realize it was blotchy until I went to pick up my daughter at daycare at the end of the day. Still, the print is SO CUTE that I decided to just go ahead with the new dress.
I wanted a sleeveless dress for summer, since I’m pretty sure TLo’s new metabolism is going to make her absolutely miserable in the summer heat. I decided to adapt McCalls 5695. This worked out pretty well, but I made quite a few alterations to the original pattern.
1) I took off the sleeves (obviously).
2) I drafted facings for the lower half of the armscyes (since there were now no sleeves and the yokes only covered half the armscye).
3) I added a slit-with-a-continuous-lap to the back to accommodate the two yoke pieces. McCalls has you do some crazy convoluted impossible piece of sewing to get the two yoke halves to attach to the single back panel. I thought it was ridiculous, so I just cut a slit and lapped it. Much easier.
Here are the all the photos with close-ups and interior pictures.
front
back
armscye facing
interior back yoke with slit and continuous lap
super-cute ladybug button with 1/8” elastic closure
Unfortunately, this fabric wrinkles if you so much as look at it funny. I pressed this before I picked up the camera. By the time I took the photos above and got it on TLo, it looked like this.
Good thing my kids always look like their clothes came out of a laundry hamper. This will fit right in.
I am still working on the muslin of my so-called pencil skirt. I'm pretty super-excited about it actually, so I'm going to post it up as soon as I get it sewn into a more completed stage. I may actually have created that rare and elusive creature, The Wearable Muslin. I know, I know. "It's just a myth!" you mock. "A hazy fantasy dreamt up by an exhausted woman who just can't quite admit that she has wasted ten hours of her precious time." But I say, "NO! It's real, I tell you. Real!" Well. Maybe.
In the meantime, I have become obsessed with something else. "No, really? Not you," some of you say sarcastically. "Really," I reply, completely ignoring your snarky tone (you know who you are).
If you would turn to your right, Gentle Readers, you will see the never-ending slideshow that is my Wardrobe Inspiration. In it is this dress. (I have no idea who made this dress because I picked it out from MyShape.com four months ago and they don’t seem to have it anymore. And I can’t be bothered to investigate further.)
I love this dress. Yes, I do. Love it. I have no idea why I love it so much, but I'm telling you now: it will be mine.
And can I find a pattern to make it? No. I can not.
Now, I know perfectly well that I can make this dress (or rather the top I intend to turn it into) from any number of other patterns. I certainly own several that would work. This one, for instance.
But they're not EXACTLY the same, are they? No. They are not. If it's got a pleated front, it has no neckline piece. If it's got a gathered front that I could convert into pleats, the sleeves are also gathered which I don't want. If I use my coat pattern, I have to alter the yoke and remove the placket. Plus, I've then made a shirt out of... my coat.
Yes, I can alter and redraft all of these things. But I don't want to.
So, anyone have any knowledge of a pattern that looks like this? Exactly this?
Huh? Huh? Do ya?
I am so totally going to have to draft something myself, right? Hmmph.
(We’ll just assume from this point forward that you are ignoring the horrid photos of moi, right? Right. Because if I find out you’re not ignoring my really bad hair and horribly unflattering jeans… )
I hate sewing for myself. Have I mentioned this before? There are several ramifications to this, but the one most relevant to today's post is that I have suffered for five long ugly years with this atrocity of a winter coat.
It's from Target. It’s hot pink. It’s shapeless. I hate it.
I hated this coat when I bought the stupid thing, but at the time I A) didn't sew clothing and B) really really needed a winter coat which C) were not plentiful on the ground - or in the stores- and this is what I ended up with. Yuck.
The sad thing is that I have continued to wear this hideous nightmare for so long. But every winter I think "Well, I guess I should make myself a new winter coat... something simple... go ahead and make it in fleece so it's easy to sew and warm to wear... it would be nice to have a coat that fits properly, think how much better you would feel in one that did... blah blah blah..." But the fact is, by the time I actually get around to pulling out the coat patterns and contemplating what fitting adjustments I'll have to make, our short coat-wearing season is almost over. And then since there are only four or five weeks left of coat weather, I just decide to make do with the World's Most Shapeless Coat and resolve to think about it next year.
So this year, even though coat-wearing season is still almost over, I made myself finish a coat. Any coat. In particular, Vogue 8460. Remember that one? And of course because I was rushing to get the stupid thing done before the temperature reaches 85, I didn't really pay so much attention to fitting it.
Ok, I'll admit it. I didn't totally know how to do an FBA on this particular pattern. Or rather, I did know I just didn't like what I knew so I pretended that I didn't. Know, that is. And I didn't do it. Big mistake. I also decided that because when I was fitting the tissue the pattern didn't meet my center back, I would just add four inches to the width. At the hip. That’s sort of like deciding that because there’s a crack in the plaster of your living room, you need to tear down the house. Yes. I am flippin' brilliant sometimes.
So now I have a sort of ugly winter coat that fits sort of ok but not really. But I finished a project that I’ve said I would finish for the past five years. So there.
I’m not sure the photos really do it justice, but this is still way better than the Hideous Coat Of Shapelessness, so I guess I should be happy. But I won't. That is not how I roll, baby.
(You’ve completely ignored these photos of The Amazing Closed-Eyes-Double-Chin-And-Flat-Hair Girl, right? I thought so.)
front
back
super-cute ladybug button with 1/8” elastic closure
Huh? Huh? Do ya? 
