Blog hop

The blog hop baton has been passed to me from the lovely Lara of Thornberry. Lara is a prolific stitcher who makes fabulous clothes for herself and her gorgeous daughters. One (of the many) things I appreciate about Lara's blog is that she experiments with shape, colour and fabric and shares all the results - even if they aren't always quite what she was hoping for. 

1. Why do you write?

I started sewing again about a year ago after nearly 30 years of not sewing. I didn't even realise that there were sewing blogs and I don't remember how I found them but boy I'm glad I did. I am continually inspired by sewing bloggers. I love to see how patterns have been interpreted and how fabric choice completely alters the finished garment. I also really appreciate being able to see finished garments on a wide variety of people; different ages, shapes, sizes and styles.

This last point is especially important to me. And quite difficult to explain well.

I live in Thailand and so don't usually see women who resemble me in any way. (Yes, there are lots of foreign tourists in Chiang Mai but they are on holiday and I also don't live in Chiang Mai.) The few other foreign women I know, or just see around, are generally significantly younger than I am. I am surrounded by women who are just so much smaller than I am in every respect.

Also clothes that fit me are very thin on the ground so I can't try on RTW to see how a particular style looks. And most of my existing RTW was bought when I was working in the Middle East and so was both professional and conservative. My life now is neither of those things.

Sewing blogs allow me to see how garments look on someone who looks more like me. So a big thank you to all the nearly 50, not quite shaped as they used to be, bloggers out there.

And I still haven't mentioned why I write. Basically, it just seems that since I gain so much from the blogs of others that I too should contribute in some small way. I really appreciate the opportunity to discuss the best way to construct a collar or the joy of french seams or to just celebrate the completion of a garment. I don't know others who sew because home sewers are basically non-existent here. Tailors are plentiful and affordable and so many people have professional or formal wear tailored for them. (And I can't tell you how tempting that is when you're grappling to fit pants for example.)

And of course without sewing blogs I would not have had the pleasure of meeting and fabric shopping with both Lara and Seamstress Erin and made two new IRL friends as well.

By the way, this is an open invitation to anyone visiting Chiang Mai to get in touch. I'd love to go fabric shopping with you.

2. What are you working on?

That my friends is a shirt for H. Well it will be... eventually. Just about everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. The mess you see above is actually a completely unpicked collar and stand. The collar actually looked fine as long as you only looked at one side at a time. It was completely asymetrical. And that was both the collar and stand. I'm not sure exactly how that happened but I do know the main culprit was me. I'll fill you in on the trials and tribulations when it is actually finished.

3. How does you blog differ from others of the same genre?

As many people have already said - I'm not sure that it does. Although I am still relatively new to it and still finding 'my voice'. I am finding it hard to make the switch from my professional, managerial and/or academic writing style into something more personal. But I am working on it.

I could give you a long list of what my blog doesn't have or do compared to others but then you already know that, don't you? And yet you still read it... you are kind.

4. What is your writing process?

Ha! What is this process of which you speak?

For someone who is generally very organised, I am surprisingly haphazard about blogging. I blame the necessity of taking photographs. I do not like having my photo taken and never have. Because of this, makes often don't get posted immediately. I am constantly writing blog posts in my mind; while I'm sewing, cycling, ironing, but by the time I get around to actually writing, the thoughtful/interesting/important/useful/amusing points often do not make it into the written version.


I also seem to either sew or blog and not the two together. So I often sew several garments and then when I eventually have photos I will write several posts. I also (strangely) get hung up on blogging makes in the order in which they are made, or in some other order according to my own mental list. Seriously, sometimes I think "I'll write a post about y" but then I think "No, I haven't posted about x yet. I have to do that first." And I have no idea why and now that I actually contemplate this properly - it is just plain stupid. So I will be working on that too.

But enough fairly random rambling from me. I would like to pass the baton onto bobbinsbikesandblades and onedabbles, both of whom take the time to comment on what can be some fairly mundane posts. Thank you both for that.

A Black Thai Affair

I ended up with this Thai mudmee cotton quite unintentionally. I had bought it for the shop but on closer examination discovered that it had a couple of faults so I had to use it myself. What a shame, eh?

M6702 in Thai mudmee

In the photo above you can quite clearly see the faded patches, which I unthinkingly placed pretty much exactly at my bust.

But back to the beginning. This is McCalls 6702 View C, minus the pocket but with View D length.
I am actually surprised by just how much I like it. Of course this is after basically reducing it down one size while making it. On top of the usual lots of ease there is actually more ease than stated as the finished garment measurements are wrong. Oh, and it is definitely tunic length (like nearly low thigh as opposed to mid-thigh) and I'm 172 cms or about 5'7".

It is remarkably comfortable and I think a lot of that may be down to the two piece sleeve.

As you can see, I used a solid black lightweight linen for the yoke and front of the sleeve. Purely because I didn't have enough of the mudmee. It also matches better than it looks here - we all know what it's like to photograph black, don't we?

You can also see a few stray threads. This cotton, while beautiful in most respects, frays if you so much as look at it. And yes, there are threads poking out of my otherwise lovely french seams, which I did everywhere, even on the armholes.

The placket is also solid black lightweight linen, although the less said about it the better. The collar shape is just off and the topstitching isn't too flash either. Most of these problems were caused by my far-too-stiff interfacing. But it was the only one I had in black so I used it anyway.

That placket is also seriously long. I handstitched it closed to make it decent. On the next versions, of which I think there may be a couple, I would probably just add buttons and perhaps even buttonholes. Although since they wouldn't need to be functioning, I may be too lazy for that.

I also think I will move the shoulders forward. As it stands the yoke finishes at the shoulder seam - as you'd expect. But that also means that the gathers sprout directly from the shoulders. I think they'd be better moved down some. And I'll probably make them tucks not gathers. I'm not really a gather type of gal.

I also can't stop thinking about a shirt dress version. I reckon it would make a great shirt dress. I have looked at so many shirt dress patterns and there's something 'wrong' with all of them. Either they have a waist seam (no thanks) or lots of pockets (safari style) or a retro vibe (not my thing). Plus of course I already have this pattern and would only have to add a little length - an easy adjustment. What do you think?

You may also have noticed from the photographs that I have a new sewing friend. I was passing a shop in Chiang Mai and saw a 'plus size' dressform. Miraculously, she shares my bust and waist measurements although her hips are bigger than mine. This seemed so serendipitous that I just had to bring her home. I think she's going to be a tremendous help.

So what do you think of this as a shirt dress? Good idea? Bad idea? I'm also open to 'perfect' shirt dress pattern suggestions.

A quick and colourful result

Sometimes you just need a quick and simple make. Especially when you have that "I want something new to wear tonight" feeling at around lunchtime.

So I whipped up this colourful skirt. Took no time at all. Just take one metre of cotton sateen, one centre back seam and an elastic waist and you have a bright, colourful skirt in no time at all. There are a million tutorials available if you want to make one yourself.

I was fortunate to just be able to use the selvedge at the centre back seam so didn't even need to finish the seams.

I machine hemmed it with two rows of grey thread. I find that two rows looks more intentional and therefore more finished than one sometimes.

And in case you were wondering a matching vodka is optional, although I do find it makes the photo taking a little easier to bear. I recommend pomegranate juice for a nice reddish pink hue.

Of course now I really need to make some tops to go with it. I don't have any other solid coloured tops and I'm not a print matching kind of girl. And this old RTW top is now enormous.

I think I might need to keep an eye out for some more colourful cotton sateens. But perhaps after I've made a couple of tops to go with this one.

To cowl or not to cowl?

That is the question. I've made M6604 twice now. The first time I ended up with bewbsmiles...

M6604

As someone else said, "It is too tight but with too much excess fabric at the same time". (Sorry don't know who said it but from now on I will try to remember to save these posts to refer to later.)

But I did think it was worth another try. So then I made version two.

M6604

Unfortunately I made this a while ago and now can't remember exactly what alterations I made. I think I cheated by just adding to the centre front thinking that I could then take in the extra in the neckline tucks.

While this has largely solved the bewbsmile issue, there is now too much fabric around the shoulders.

Now I realise that I probably have to do an FBA. Which is fine and I probably will make another with one at some stage. But I would really like to try the cowl neck  version.

But given the fit issues I've already encountered I'm not even sure what size to start with. The first version started at 20 then down to 18. The second is an altered 18. I also cannot get my head around trying to do any sort of FBA on a cowl.

So any ideas? Have you made M6604? How did you go? Any and all thoughts or suggestions are very welcome.

It's not you. It is the pattern.

Warning: Long (potentially boring) rant to follow. And it doesn't even have pictures.

I've been meaning to write this for a while but didn't quite get around to it. Then Seamstress Erin and I discussed it at length during our fabric shopping in Chiang Mai and I still didn't write about it. And then yesterday I saw a post by someone who discovered that the finished garment measurements on her McCalls jacket pattern were completely inaccurate. Unfortunately, I now can't find this post so if you know who this is, please let me know so that I can credit the author.

I had first read this very interesting thesis a while ago but didn't pay enough attention to the details. It was written by Debra Lee McLendon at North Carolina State University as part of her Master of Science (Textiles). We'll come back to this shortly.

When I was making M6702 I was looking at finished garment measurements, one of which was Hips 142 cm or 56.5". However, 142 cm does not equal 56.5" so one of them has to be wrong. 56.5" is actually 143.5 cm, so if you were to go by the metric measure you are already 1.5 cm out. Then I measured the flat pattern and the finished garment size at the hips is actually 145 cm.

So this prompted me to go back to the thesis. Basically, the author made test garments from fitting shells (Vogue and Butterick) and semi-fitted dresses in both size 10 and size 18. The semi-fitted patterns were from Burda, Butterick (size 10 only), McCalls and New Look.

These garments were then compared to both the pattern companies' stated ease charts and finished garment measurements. This is what it found;

Do finished garment measurements in key areas printed on patterns conform to the 
company ease specifications for each fit category?  Generally, no. 

• None of the three fitting shells met ease requirements in all three areas.  The size 10 Vogue came closest to meeting the required amount in the bust, whereas both brands of the size 18 had too much ease in the bust.  All three patterns had too little ease in the waist and hip.  
• The only brand to meet ease specifications for the semi-fitted category of the size 10 patterns under evaluation was Butterick #5746. 
• None of the brands of the size 18 patterns met the ease specifications for the semi-fitted category. 
• None of the brands evaluated met their finished garment specifications when compared to the tissue measurements. 

I know that you are all thinking "Well, yes, we know they have too much ease."

However, I had always thought of that in relation to what it seems most of us find acceptable. I hadn't really thought about the fact that they do not have the ease they claim to have or should have according to the companies' own specifications. It is also very easy to dismiss what seem to be small differences. After all, half an inch isn't very much. But when a fitting shell has half an inch too much ease in the bust, this is at least a 20% difference.

Do pattern companies really think that give or take 20% here or there is ok?

Now just have a quick look at the last point from the thesis above. That's right, the one that says
None of the brands evaluated met their finished garment specifications when compared to the tissue measurements.

We can argue about ease amounts, after all desirable ease and the fit it provides is subjective. But now we are talking about accuracy. As the author states, the tissue pattern measurements on all brands failed to match the finished garment specs for both the bust and hip.

That's right, not one of the patterns researched had accurate finished garment measurements.

The author concluded with this, Based on the data, it would not be possible to produce a garment from any of the patterns that matched the expected finished garment specs provided on the patterns.

How is this considered acceptable? How have we come to accept that patterns just are inaccurate? 

I must admit that I fear an avalanche of "that is why you need to make a muslin" responses. But surely a muslin should be to tweak a pattern to our unique bodies not to compensate for the fact that the initial pattern is just plain wrong?

I'd love to know what you think.