stitchinandbitchindotcom

Okay…here’s my very first 2 items o’wearable clothing. I hope I get better at this because right now–I just suck at it **(buries head in folded arms and sighs deeply)**.

Here’s the jersey top. Sewn completely on the new Serger. New Record!!! Not only was every single seam sewn, ripped out and re-sewn multiple times (overlock/twin needle combo serger seams, no less) but this top was cut out, sewn, seams ripped, resewn, thrown away, re-cut, sewn, seams ripped and re-sewn. And still, I do not expect this top to survive the washing machine due to some waffling on the seam lines. But I learned a lot. I also noticed…boy howdy do I have a set of sweater zepplins or what??? Why would some women pay to have those huge things implanted? They just get in the way of a good fit. The only reason I mention this is in looking at the picture here, I’m wondering if darts around those pumpkins would have helped to give a better shape and create a smoother fit.

I liked the twin needle seams a lot and plan to be using that more and more, although I noticed way too late in the game that I probably would have liked it more with a better coordinating color thread than white…

Also, I made an alteration in the shoulders. Had to sorta guess at how much to alter and I see that the boat neck rides up too high in the back. Not sure how to fix it without taking it apart and that is just not going to happen. I’m done with this.

I LOVE what replacing the back pleats with darts did for the fit. Now, the front view:

I want to say, I do not have the right figure for this jumper and I blame the pleats in the front. My bust is too big to be able to pull front pleats off but again, this is just one of the things a beginner learns. I did create my own darts on the bodice which helped a lot. If I was not so eager to put this project to bed and get on with the next pattern on my list, I would go back and take the pleats out and replace them with darts just to see what would happen as I’m really pleased with the darts in the back, but this project is officially done.

Of course, if I come across a classified want-ad for milk maids on a Wisconsin dairy farm, this jumper should meet all uniform standards.

Still, even though I think this jumper may be too “young” for me to wear, I’m proud of my beginner’s effort on it. I had a flash of brilliance last night that I should go back and look through some old pictures of Jane Russell and the like, when that full figure was in vogue and look at the styles they wore. Luckily at my age, I still have a shape. It’s curvy-wurvy but it’s a shape.

Lessons Learned: Garments look better when matched to your shape, which is why I need a dress form. I can’t make the necessary corrections while I’m wearing it so I end up making guesses about where alterations should be made. Also, I would have seen during the early stages of construction that the front pleats were wrong for my body shape. But, don’t despair…good news! I found the one I want: Fabulous Fit ®. My husband is going to kill me because I will never, ever do a buy like I did with the Serger again. Which means I have to tell him beforehand. Which means…it was really nice knowing all of ya’ll.

ADDENDUM: The Husband looking over my shoulder reading my blog~

Him: Yeah, I can understand how a dress form would help you. Go ahead and get it if you think you need it.

Me: Thanks! You’re the greatest.

Him: You better be careful about what you put online. Those other girls reading it are going to come here and try to steal me away from you.

Me: But I get to order the dress form, right?

I did it. Just finished my first wearable garment. One that I can and will wear out in public. I love, love, love this jumper first of all, and a Google search of “New Look 6826” turned up more than a few sewing blogs like mine of gals who had made this pattern as well as great reviews on PatternReview.com that inspired me all the more to make it. I’m pretty happy right now.
See here:

Front view of jumper

Couple of changes. This little jumper had pleats front and back. I liked the front pleats but wasn’t crazy about the back pleats. It just didn’t drape in a way that made me happy. So I changed them to darts. I don’t think it will show up clearly, but here’s a photo:

Back pleats to darts.

Yeah, can’t see the darts but they’re there in all their glory.

Next change…late in the game, might I add…is I decided to line the skirt. The pattern envelope showed 4 views in 2 different lengths.

The pattern envelope is a bit deceptive (or maybe I’m worse at this than I think). The actual pattern lengths came to mid calf and right at the knee before hemming. I was really going for that cute little tunic length but after I got the jumper made, I had sorta fallen in love with the dress @ the knee length so I kept it. I did, however, then decided that as a dress I’d need to line it as I can’t be bothered with wearing a slip.

Lessons Learned: it is far easier to incorporated linings into the seam during construction. I did have that great 5/8″ seam where the bodice is attached to the skirt and I was able to **Serger the lining right onto it, but it took quite a bit of hand stitching to get the lining secured nicely around the zipper, and it (the lining) is jerry-built like you read about where the zipper tape meets the bodice/skirt seam. I really like the hand stitched lining around the zipper; just not where the bodice/skirt/zipper tape meets. So if I’ve decided I’m making a tunic length top, that’s what it will end up being and I’ll make it again as a dress. Or maybe I’ll hold the pattern up to see where the bottom of the pattern is on me because as it turned out, that’s the sort of information one finds really helpful beforehand. Or, maybe I’ll just get better at making changes in mid-stream. Who knows where this will end.

This little jumper is the result of 2 muslin mock-ups and still…during the construction of this final garment, I thought I would never be able to sew a seam without having to rip it out, reposition and then resew the seam. Yeah, thinking back on it, I’m not sure that there is a seam on the jumper that was sewn only once.

I’m taking it over to my good friend Jackie who works at Ellicott City Sew N Vac (ref: Serger purchase) and have her  critique it for me. She’ll be able to see some things that I haven’t thought of for me to take into my next project…

…which will be a knit jersey top to be worn under the jumper.

**I got to use my brand new Serger! OMG! Had the manual opened with one hand marking text and the other on the Serger to figure out the knobs, dials and what-not, including how to thread it for a 3 thread overlock stitch but it was amazing to use. What a rush! Scary as all get out but…wow. Just wow! I was afraid because remember, this garment was all but finished and what if I completely screwed it up simply because it wasn’t until after I finished it that I decided it needed a lining? But–

I. Didn’t. Ruin. It.

P.S. If anyone reading this remembers me from my twenties, fear of completely screwing something up never did stop me.