First Garment of the New Year

Today was a day off for me because it's parent conference week and teachers aren't allowed to be out. That means no one needs a sub teacher. I'll probably be getting the whole week off which is great because I can sew up all the projects I've got cut out. Up first was Simplicity 2211. I had planned on making this pattern from the striped fabric, but then I remembered what happens to stripes when you have a really big dart. 

While I'm not thrilled with the fit and I can see some alterations that need to be made, I still really like this top. It's loose fitting, and fairly comfortable and will be something to wear while I work on losing weight, because, Dang I need to lose weight.

The alterations I made was to add a 1" FBA, shorten it at the waist 2" and add some width to the side seam. I also gave it a shaped center back seam, removing 1-1/2" and center back at waist level.

After seeing the photos, I see that I should have also done a sloping shoulder alteration, cut it smaller through the shoulders and shortened the sleeve cap, and taken a tuck from the neckline because it doesn't lay flat. I think the sleeves could have been longer and maybe a tiny bit added for more bicep fullness. A rounded back alteration could have helped as well.

Tomorrow I will be working on two t-shirts I cut out of some olive matching fabrics that I discovered in my stash after I posted about my wardrobe plan. Since I'm sewing to use up stash, I went ahead and cut them out of my new TNT t-shirt pattern. After that, I'll be sewing up the jeans jacket. Having the week off is going to be fun!

BLOG COMMENTS

I got some very interesting blog comments on my sewing room post. It was nice to hear that you don't see a cluttered room, but a functional one. It is very functional for me, and yes, the two machine cabinets that sit side by side both have Singer Rocketeer 500a's in them. They are the ones I want to keep. I really liked the comment from Rebecca Clayton who said, "As long as a work room is functional, with adequate workspace and organized materials and tools, it shouldn't be compared to interior design photos of rooms where no one really lives or works." Interesting that I think I might just be comparing my room to a room that might be found in interior design photos. I know that I don't want to put curtains up around my stash. I love, love, love to look at my fabrics all the time. I sit and daydream about what can be made from individual pieces and just enjoy the explosion of colors. I think I'm going to concentrate on cleaning out the rest of my house and then see if I need to do any ditching of things in here.