Try Again!

 Ah, Simplicity 3506. I'm still uncertain if I like you, or just tolerate you. I thought the first one I made was the white one (seen in the last part of the second post (now third, since this post will be part of that chain). It was the the second? The blue and white one was the first? I don't even know where the white one is now.  It was a little stiff. The blue and white one I do like (I have a pair of earrings that match perfect) but it's a little small now. When I got the pattern out, I thought the blue and white one was the last one I made so I did some enlarging of the pattern. Then I remembered about the dress, which does fit me (I think--I don't reach for it a lot and I made it during the summer I was training for a vacation that was going to include a lot of hiking).  

So many changes to the pattern! 

My cutting table is also the dining room table. China plates make great pattern weights!

The fabric is some OLD cotton I bought when I was still pretty new to sewing. I made Megan a dress, summer of 2010. She picked out the fabric. Then I made myself a top, in 2015. I don't know where that top is now either. It is a very light cotton, but not flowy drapey like rayon or polyester. I knew I was pushing my luck by doing Simplicity 3506--it really should be fluid fabric so the shoulder gathers will drape nicely. 

It stands out a bit due to the cotton.

I made bias binding, double fold, I think I cut it 2" wide. I shortened the V neck because the blue one had issues, but  I don't think I needed to with this one. The ties kind of sit weird, but look at that cute bow! 

I did a nice job with the armholes, even though they're just turned under 5/8". 

Still had troubles with getting the gathers in the exact right spot. I don't think that's the issue with the fold of fabric inside of the armhole. I think it's just because the design is meant to sit over the shoulder edge. 

I think it'll be cute with the one pair of white shorts I have, and the bright green pants I have that I don't wear because I'm afraid they are going to fall apart because I've worn them so much. Other than the shorts, I'm not sure if I have anything to wear with it!

One thing I did this time, after learning my lesson on the blue shorts, is I serged all the pieces before starting assembly. It didn't take too long! It'll mean I can easily take in seams (because I'm definitely NOT letting seams out). I'm making this a new habit now. 

Another Go at an Old Pattern

 This is one of the quickest fabric purchase to wearing makes in a long time LOL. I bought the fabric at Talize (thrift) store on July 22, and wore the dress on August 15! When I bought the fabric, I thought I might use it for another pattern that I was working on updating the alterations for (I did finish that one but don't have a picture wearing it yet), but decided it was too thin for that one. I had always liked Simplicity 3506  but there had been an issue with the fit. I got it out and took a look.

I'm not sure what I had done to the pattern! The seam between the yoke and the bodice was really angled. There was also a line drawn across it, straight. I pretty much chopped off the top of the front pattern piece and redid it (the FBA seemed okay). I cut out the front piece, using the dress line and slide the fabric up to cut out the backs. 

Ummm. My fabric was shorter than I thought! The back was three inches shorter! I went for it anyway, thinking it could just become a top if it was too short as a dress. Good thing I'm short!

I didn't want to do the facings, because the fabric was so sheer. I thought I might do bias binding again, but there wasn't much fabric left over, and I didn't want to deal with the slippery fabric! I serged the edge, then turned it under twice. I did add pockets! I didn't do the zipper, and I ended up taking the back darts in a bit more. The sides could also be taken in a bit but I like the relaxed fit. 

I know it's a little pale, and it's 100% polyester but I like it. It wasn't too hot, despite being polyester. I wore a cami with a shelf bra, and a beige slip under it, and felt comfortable. Though when I took it off, I realized I hadn't washed off the marking dots! They really weren't very noticeable! This is another great basic pattern for quick makes that each look unique. 

I think the wavy lines makes the neckline look a little misshapened...which it could be, considering the slipperiness of the fabric LOL. They lines look pretty neat on the back though. 

Hello November

I just scrolled back to see what I needed to get caught up on....and wow. I didn't post at all in October!! First, I was super busy finishing up things for our big anniversary cruise (I posted lots on Instagram), and then we were gone for 12 days, and then it was full on Hallowe'en costume creation. But let's get this blog back up to date!! Lots of sewing posts ahead, one crochet post, maybe two knitting posts....

First up. Two sleeveless blouses. I found this flowy blue-ish fabric remnant and figured it was rayon. It was only 0.9m and marked to $12.83 though because of my Fabricland Premier card, I got 50% off, so with tax, it came to $7.25. I was looking for a fabric that would go with blue shorts, white shorts, blue pants and blue capris. An abstract/floral print was perfect. I washed it up and decided to test out  Simplicity 3506. It'd been in my collection for awhile. It's hard to see in the pictures, but there is a bit of yoke detail on the shirt. I traced out size 16 and decided to do a FBA for real, instead of my cheating of doing a larger size from the armhole down. It took awhile to figure it out, and I did way too much work in the end (I made a dart, rotated the dart and then took out the dart). In the tracing process, and transferring to the slippery rayon, the subtle shaping on the yoke pieces pretty much disappeared.

 Not sure what this was showing but I think it had to do with the yoke. Oh, actually, I think I sewed the yoke to the back with wrong sides together. Further adding to the issue with it losing it's shaping.

 I'm not going to the trouble of editing all these photos. It might be hard to see it, but I felt the neckline didn't come out too exact, being slippery rayon, so I opted to make a band and tie. I made the band pretty tiny though, by the time it got all folded and pressed. It does hide the bottom of the V though.

 I liked it, though I wasn't happy with how the gathers on the yoke drooped over towards the armhole. It created a fold of fabric over the outer bust. I figured it was my sloppy cutting and marking of the notches, so I tried to be super careful on the next one.

 I wore it on a sunset catamaran cruise in Aruba. OMG, that was the greatest excursion. Made so much fun by meeting the girl behind The Mutt Hutt. And her fiance. And the open bar. The shirt was nice and cool though in the extreme heat times it did stick to me a little. It didn't get worn as much as I thought it would because I just had too many clothes with me of course.

 I decided I needed a white shirt that wasn't a t-shirt and that this pattern would be fine. It's an eyelet cotton my MIL gave me when a friend of her's cleaned out her house. I tried to be super careful with the yokes, and moved the gathers right up to the neckline, but it still droops over the outer bust. I think if the V neck was taken in a bit, it would really help. If you draw a line straight down from the yoke, it just ends up on the outer portion of the bust. I'll keep looking to see if I have a full picture. Also, I did have some issue with my front and back pattern lengths not quite the same after the FBA. Must correct that before the next one.
This time I did the facings. It wasn't too bad. I need to tack them down at the shoulder seams though.

I eliminated the zipper in both tops.

I may or may not make this pattern again. Hard to say. I really need tops with sleeves now, so it won't be anytime soon. I also like the dress version.