Pattern Magic

Pattern: Self-drafted from Pattern Magic 3's 'Pare down the roundness at the back and open out'
Fabric: 4 yds synthetic rayon blend thing
Cost: $20 (50% off fabric sale FTW!)

You guys! I have a new obsession and its name is Pattern Magic. It's weird and artsy and amazing and I offer no apologies. Similar to the Drape Drape books by Hisako Soto, Pattern Magic pushes the boundaries between art and clothing, and insane and inspiring, all shot with an alluringly clean Japanese aesthetic. The dress on the cover has hexagons reminiscent of a soccer ball, while another has cubes emanating from the shoulder. It's nuts!

According to the book jacket, professor and pattern maker Tomoko Nakamichi developed these crazy shapes as a way to teach her students pattern drafting. The book has no patterns other than a bodice sloper, which Nakamichi uses to lead you through dart manipulation, slashing and spreading, and drawing the designs. For me, it was a challenging and creative exercise in garment making, and I loved every bit of it.

What initially drew me to this book was the section on paring down and opening out. A bit more subtle than the cubes and wild shapes, this chapter uses slits to add fullness to garments at the shoulder, bust, or back. The shapes change as you move, allowing for a fitted but giving shell.

While the instructions looked really daunting at first, I sat down one night and just started following the steps using a half-sized bodice sloper. Once I had drafted my mini design, I moved on to a full-sized version and made a muslin. The beauty of drafting it yourself is that you can tweak things to your body and tastes, and for mine you'll notice that I actually drafted the 'interlocking mountains' on the front rather than the back of the dress. Why hide all that party in the back? Here are roughly the steps I used to create the pattern:

1. Test run of pattern manipulation on mini bodice block.
2. So many muslins! I made three muslins of my pattern block alone (Butterick B5748) before using it to draft my pattern.
3. Draft full size pattern - this took a lot of experimenting as I was making my manipulations on the bodice front rather than the bodice back and using my own block, not to mention learning the pattern manipulation itself.
4. More muslins! Muslining the pattern manipulation not only helped me check fit, but also adjust the layout and develop my construction order. I also figured out that some of the pattern pieces needed to be cut on the wrong side, as they face toward you on the flaps. I chose to keep them cut using the darker wrong side of the fabric for emphasis, but needed to make sure to interface the opposite side of the fabric when sewing up my final version.
5. For the fashion fabric, I applied a light interfacing. Looking at the final garment, however, I should have used something much sturdier. 
6. Sew up the bodice. 
7. Decide on a skirt, sew up the dress. 

Below is a photo of my muslin. It is sewn from home dec weight fabric, which holds the shape of the 'mountains' really well. For my final version, I thought I might want something a bit more fluid to allow the mountains to curl over more. However, I used only a very lightweight interfacing and I think it turned out too floppy. While I like how the mountains move and open up like a flower, you can see in the final garment photos that the mid section around my stomach doesn't hold the shape as well as it should. I really like the look of the muslin though, and could see experimenting with this again.

It wasn't perfect, but I had so much fun getting there that I wore my new dress with pride. One of the magical things about Pattern Magic is shifting the darts and shaping into the unique design features. Given how many changes I made, I'm not sure I accomplished this. I had to add some extra fullness at the bust, and even then I think I only pulled it off because I am flat-chested. However, I really love this idea, and it has definitely pushed me to develop some new skills. I would love to make this on a tank top with the upper portion in a sheer fabric, and a bright color for the back of the 'mountains' to highlight the waves a bit more. Plus lots more interfacing. Wouldn't that be cool?! Or crazy?! One thing's for sure, this is definitely more of a 'special occasions' project.

While the bodice drafting and construction took a good deal of time, the most time-consuming part for me was actually the skirt. Pattern Magic only includes instructions for the bodice, so I was on my own for the bottom half. I wanted something that would go well with the structured, visually interesting top, but the full skirt I had planned didn't seem quite elaborate enough. I spent an entire evening playing with ideas, starting with a rectangle to get an idea of the length and fullness and then a circle skirt for drape. I ended up cutting two circle skirts that wrapped 3/4 of the way around the bodice, with an opening in the side front where the skirts wrapped around. To mimic the angular bodice, I cut an angular front slit, which I eventually placed off-center over one knee. It was challenging to figure out a way to show enough knee without flashing too much up top, but after a few days of thinking and pin fitting I finally got what I wanted. I am not used to doing quite this much design work, but in the end it was something I actually really loved. I will have to find a way to recreate it some time in the future.

Love it or leave it, I found Pattern Magic to be an incredible lesson in playing with fabric. I pushed my understanding about fitting the human body, contorted my brain in new ways, and have several more patterns to try out for the price of just one book. I am definitely obsessed!

Vintage Simplicity Jacket

Pattern: Vintage Simplicity's Teens Jacket, Skirt and Blouse #6140
Fabric: stable sweater knit
Cost: $18

I'm not going to lie - vintage patterns make me nervous. I'm not the shape of a typical vintage lady (whatever that is - but apparently requires a much bigger bust!), and I haven't had that much success with vintage patterns in the past. While I love to look at them and I even own a few, they are not part of my typical sewing.

That all changed when I wanted to make a simple jacket to wear to work. I initially thought about buying Schnittchen's Coco Jacket of which I've seen some lovely versions, but it's such a simple shape that I thought I better have a look in my stash to see if I didn't already have a similar version. Enter this vintage Simplicity pattern, which I'm pretty sure I bought for its basic silhouettes. It had everything I needed for a lined jacket in my size, and even included bust, shoulder, and elbow darts for shaping. I decided to give it a try.

First let me say that I really enjoyed this pattern. The instructions for cutting and sewing were clear and helpful, and I really appreciated all the extra touches like instructions for interfacing the hem and jacket front. I did make a few modern adjustments such as using fusible interfacing and changing the lining to be slightly different than the jacket pieces using Jen's tutorial. I also widened the hips slightly and lengthened the jacket to suit me. The fit after that was surprisingly good, perhaps because this is a teen pattern and not a women's! I love the shoulder and elbow darts, too.

I wish I could tell you exactly what pattern this was, but it appears I have misplaced it and can't find it anywhere. We live in a 600sf one-bedroom apartment that I swear we keep pretty tidy, so I have no idea how this happened. However, it is very similar (if not identical-looking) to Simplicity 4600 from about the same year.

Edit: I found it! It's Simplicity #6140! It was in with the patterns, just filed in the wrong section :/

I took my time sewing this up evenings after school and it was quite an enjoyable process. I used several of the techniques I learned from my session with Beth, including tailor's tacks, thoroughly trimming and clipping my seams, and pressing key parts with a clapper. These techniques lined up nicely with the recommendations made in the pattern instructions. I'm really starting to understand the appreciation of vintage patterns!

The fabric, on the other hand, is not a conventional vintage style. It is made up in a knit design that I found at Fabric Outlet, which has a slight stretch. I liked the neutral colors that were visually interesting yet still conventional for the office. It is stabilized with interfacing and the lining, and works fine for these purposes. The lining is a simple black cotton poplin, with the contrasting side of the knit fabric used for the facings. After trying the jacket on, I decided I liked it as is without the buttons, and off it went with me to work!

I'm glad I finally had some success with a vintage pattern, and if I can ever find the damn thing again will keep it in my back pocket for next time. 

Home Ec Bathing Suit Fail

Pattern: Vintage McCall's 5535
Fabric: Girl Charlee nylon spandex knit
Cost: free (from our Meetup fabric swap!)

After dreaming of swimsuits for the past year, pinning some inspiration, and even procuring various swimsuit fabrics, I found that I had no desire to sew a swimsuit in the weeks before our tropical winter vacation. I made a dress, some dog coats, and even gifts for others, so you know I was procrastinating. Then, the evening before we left, I suddenly had the fervent need to make those suits! I pulled out my fabric, pulled out the ruined RTW one I wanted to copy, and cut away. I sewed and sewed, stayed up until 2am... and it was a disaster. Predictably.

First off, I traced the back pattern piece wrong on the bottoms and ended up needing to tack on some extra fabric at the sides. And then the liner was cut too short because I didn't even try it on as a sewed.

The major issue, however, is the top. It is from McCall's 5535, a vintage pattern from 1977. It is marketed as a Carefree Pattern, "a new idea from the McCall Pattern Company to make perfect fit easier than ever!" My guess is that it is "easier than ever" because the pattern contains an essentially shapeless jumper and giant ruched swimsuit top. While the idea of the top is cool - it can be worn several different ways - in practice it is terribly "home ec." The fabric slides all over the straps because you never secure them together, it constantly needs to be adjusted, and never quite feels like it is on tight enough. Thank god I didn't wear it in any serious surf!

The good news is this is the same Girl Charlee Fabric that was reported to run once it got wet. Luckily, no runny die for me! However, it did start to fade a bit from the parts I over worked while sewing, so I still wouldn't recommend it. But besides the color issue, this really is a great fabric - nice and thick. I will definitely be shopping for more nylon spandex knit if I can, as the swimsuit fabric available for sewists is often a lot thinner than the kind in RTW swimsuits.

Oh well. I still have some of this fabric I can experiment with, and lots of other fabrics and ideas, too. Next time will hopefully be much more successful.

I am still al bit puffy from getting my wisdom teeth out last Saturday, so for now I will leave you with some highlights from our trip - whales! (Luckily we did not get hit by any.)

Bra Quest 2013: The Vintage Bra

Pattern: Mrs Depew's 1940s French Bra #2014

Fabric: interlock knit

Cost: $6

Finally, my first bra test! After gearing up for my bra quest, finding my size, testing some department store bralettes, and picking my patterns, I made up my first muslin! This is the vintage 1940s reproduction from Mrs Depew, which I chose because of its vertically seamed cups and similarity to some of the bralettes I have been coveting online. 

From the pattern picture, however, it was hard to tell exactly what the bra would look like made up, so I just bought the pattern and dove in. While slightly different than I anticipated (I thought there would be a full band under the cups), this bra actually worked out quite well for my first try, with a few modifications. Here's my process:

1. Re-drafted pattern pieces so that the four darts all became seams

2. Sewed cups together

3. Sewed cups to bridge and back strap

4. Finished top and bottom the raw edges with fold-over elastic; added straps and closure

Here's a close-up of the seams. The whole thing does look very neat and tidy, if I do say so myself!

Because I do have some practice making bathing suits, the whole thing came together in just a few hours, and is actually very comfortable. The fabric is an interlock knit, which gives it some softness and stretch yet is still firm enough to hold everything in place.

However, what it has in comfort it's missing in shape. While it's surprisingly not bad for my first attempt (there's no pulling or tugging), it fits more like a sports bra and doesn't provide much lift or curve. In fact, it has much more of a flattening effect on me. Part of this is due to the fit - the bridge does not lay flat on my chest as it should, and believe it or not I think I need a little more curvature in the cups. The pattern says it's multi-sized, yet only has adjustment lines for the length of the back of band, so it is definitely an A/B-cup pattern and I wouldn't recommend it for a larger gal. 

My next bra muslin will be traced off of a ready-to wear bra, so we'll see how that fit turns out next week! I've also started looking at fabric for making up the final bra, and am loving Summerset's bra kits, which seem like an affordable way to get something nice. Be back with more next week!