There is activity in the Sewing Room

I think I mentioned that I have begun working on a sewing project and I've been working steadily all week although I don't have anything I am ready to show you yet.  This is because I have spent most of my time on tracing the pattern, marking the seam lines,  and making a muslin and am not yet ready for the actual garment, although the further along I get in the muslin process the more excited I am about the project and sewing again.  

To my mind the results of the slow start bode well.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy all the steps to making a lovely garment:  the tracing, the marking, the cutting, the pattern alteration, even the muslin process as well as the sewing.  And it is good that I am enjoying all these things because we all know I have only sewn simple simple things in the recent past and I want to make and wear much more interesting things, but since I have no TNT patterns that fit me now it will be a slow process.

It struck me today that I have spent more time "sewing" or at least working on a garment, in the last week than in the entire past year.  And the more time I spend the more determined I am not to lose this again.  

It feels good.  Damn Good.

I am terribly slow.  And I have lost much in terms of skills.  I forget things.  Sometimes I have to do things over and over before I get it right.  Already I see improvement though.  I do better if I am not sewing late at night, but that can't always be helped.  I also remind myself that not only did I sew more often before, I was also less distracted when I was sewing.  But distraction is a part of my life now, a part of life for anyone who is living with and caring for a partner with some form of dementia; the trick is finding ways to keep working on things you love, and learning to just let things be.

This is what I'm working on:  The Plain and Simple Princess Shirt from Hot Patterns.  There was no particular rhyme or reason to my choice, other than wanting to make a fitted shirt and that the pattern just arrived in the mail. 

I am going to be going to  a "sit and sew" with Susan Khalje and Kenneth King next week, where I will also meet Marji, and Robin and I am very excited even though I am also very nervous because I am just out of practice.

To tell the truth I was a little panicky when I started. Because I was panicky I just decided to take it slowly and work through things one thing at a time.  To that end I didn't do much in terms of flat pattern adjustments, just tracing the pattern according to a comparison of my measurements versus the sizes on the pattern.  I did not do a FBA, even though I knew intellectually that I needed one, because the bust point wasn't marked and, although I can figure it out on a princess seamed shirt, I was a little confused about how the alterations for the bust relate to the alterations for the upper chest and armscye and sleeve cap.  So I decided to start from the top down, realizing full well that I would have to take the muslin apart and probably add a piece of fabric in to the muslin as I went along.

So as I said, I decided to plunge ahead.  I cut a 16 through the neckline which sounds big but makes sense since generally men's shirts fit me better through the neckline than most women's blouses.  Then I cut a 12 at the shoulder seam, cutting an 8 at the front armscye seam tapering to a 12 at the back.  Of course I had to adjust the sleeve cap accordingly and this was the part that worried me a bit.    And it seems to have worked well.  I can see how I needed less fabric at the underarms than I would have from cutting a bigger pattern and yet I need much more fabric near the center front, over the bust seams. Somehow, by not doing all the alterations the first time I can see more clearly what needs to be done and why, which is good because there is a lot more to do.

But I'm not working on it now.  I've decided to save the rest of the muslin for class.  Hopefully I will get the muslin done and get the shirt made.  Today I did a little work on the muslin, but then put it aside and selected and pretreated fabric and started getting stuff together to pack.  I also started rooting about for a pants pattern and prepped a piece of wool crepe to take with me, assuming that I get the pants muslin made before I go. 

Monday and Tuesday are busy days but I think I can still get  a pants muslin pulled together, perhaps not as nicely as the blouse muslin I worked on with the stitching lines all basted in black thread, but functional.  Besides I've made pants before but I've never made a fitted blouse that actually fit.  

Comments

[K-Line]

Oh, and I second mater's question. Want to know more about the muslin and fitting...

[K-Line]

Oh, this is so exciting and great! Thanks to you I will be getting some Hot Patterns for xmas. And I think I'm going to get some muslin to practice on a circle or bias skirt (still looking for both patterns). Have you seen this:http://www.vintagesewing.info/index.html. It's quite amazing - if very advanced.

[Carolyn]

I'm so glad that you got back into the sewing room...and small steps are a good thing!

[Marji]

I'm excited! And thinking that the muslin as it stands looks good.

[materfamilias]

Must feel really good to be back at that, despite the challenges.
I'm curious, do you always make a muslin first? I'm planning to get back to a little sewing sometime over the next year perhaps -- I used to sew quite a bit, and have made pants with zippers, pockets, and waistbands, dresses with darts and shaped yokes and collars and side pockets, long-sleeved blouses with cuffs, etc., -- but I've never been careful enough to use a muslin. I used to fit the standard patterns fairly well at my size (despite being short-waisted) or at least it used to seem good enough. I'm not sure I'm patient or methodical enough to do the muslin step, yet I have your taste for fine fabrics and I certainly wouldn't want to waste/ruin anyway. So I'm curious about your practice . . .