Oh no, where did it go?

I lost my sewing mojo.  Looked everywhere... under the bed, in my closet, in the car, inside the coat pockets....  It's nowhere to be found, not even at the last place I looked (the refrigerator).  Maybe it flew south to escape the winter.  If you find it, please tell it to come home... I promise I won't yell again.

When I was not looking for mojo in the last few weeks, I was busy sketching on my new Fashionary.  Well, not really sketching as much as awkwardly drawing self in various clothes that I want to sew.  Drawing instead of writing down my to-sew list really helps making the ideas more concrete and it's always fun to see myself in model-like proportion adorned in such stylish outfits. 

 

About the helmet hair on the first two (and on all of my previous) sketches...  I was really going for the Anna Wintour look, but apparently it looks more like this cat, who may or may not be amused with having some giant orange peel plopped on his head:

So naturally I changed it on subsequent drawings to a more realistic 'do.

First project of 2010...

... will be something from the book Pattern Drafting by Dressmaking, volume 1. It's a Japanese pattern drafting book that is written in English and filled late 1960's fashion. If you like late 60's design and/or pattern drafting and/or Japanese craft books, definitely look for this one on ebay or etsy, but be prepared to spend quite a bit.

This particular dress caught my attention because of the halter-ish neckline and the roll collar. The style is a bit on the girly side, which is not my style at all. Or maybe it's just the illustration? Doesn't matter, I like it.

The book gives instructions on how to draft the pattern pieces from the existing sloper.

It took me a good hour to figure out the measurements on the neckline and collar area. Quite stimulating, actually, the process of adding the numbers and mentally visualizing what goes where and is connected to what. My results are probably all wrong, but the fabric is already cut, so there's no turning back.

Speaking of fabric, I'm using a purple knit fabric. It's *gasp* polyester! Feels like it too - yuck. But the price ($1.50/yd) and the purpose (practice on knit-fabric) justify it!

And now, we shall wait and see how it will turn out. Well... you get to sit and wait. I have to sew it.

SewStylish Fall 2009...

... is on newsstands now.
While I have not actually made anything out of SewStylish (I have all of the back issues), there are a couple of pieces that caught my immediate attention on this issue.

First, this skirt:

A girly, feminine number that is more elegant than cutesy. Such beautiful color too, nicely contrasted by the purple blouse.

Then, this top:

A simple V-neck with ties going to the back. Well, not too sure about the neck wraparound there. Can't breath just by looking at it.

The basic designs are so simple and straightforward - just add one easy detail and there you have a pretty piece of clothing.

See anything funny here?

Yup. Didn't do @#$%& hem allowance!!

After a few minutes of "serenity now" chant, I realized that the hem will have pleats on it, which will extend it down by another inch.

So far, here's what I've completed.

• Cut fabric and lining
• Sew all darts
• Attach lining to facing
  
• Attach skirt pieces to bodice pieces
• Made sleeve pleats
  

And I ended up with pointy darts:

@#$%& again!

The point is more apparent on the horizontal dart than the vertical one. It's not terribly obvious, but the fact that it's there just bugs me. I might fix it by shortening the dart and sewing it on a curve like this tutorial on BurdaStyle. Or not. Would the lining help fill out the dart?

The pleats turned out slightly shorter than the intended 10 inches, which is fine, except that one is shorter than the other:

Serenity now!!

Okay, moving on. The next step is to attach the lining to the dress, following this tutorial from Threads magazine (adapted from Connie Long's book Easy Guide to Sewing Linings, which I have). Using this method, supposedly you won't need to hand-sew to complete the attachment. Can't really wrap my mind around the turning-inside-out part though. I guess I'll just try and see how it goes.

To tackle the fitting issues...

... I decided to get this book that is so often mentioned on PatternReview.com: Fit for Real People by Pati Palmer and Maria Alto (aka FFRP). I wonder why I didn't get it sooner! Like all other fitting books, it goes over common issues and how to fix them. This book goes a step further by taking you through a tissue-fitting process. I'd never gone through a fitting, so this was enlightening. It has lots of photographs and figures - very useful for visual-learners like me.

So I bought Butterick 5726 fitting shell from Joann's for $2 to make a sloper, traced and cut the pieces, went through the FFRP fitting exercise, fixed the obvious problems, got lazy about the muslin, made one anyway, discovered different problems, lost patience, found it while taking a break, fixed some of those problems, refined the lines, and four weekends later - et voila - I have my sloper!

Here's the bodice:

And the skirt:

I skipped the sleeves because I'm not planning to use them any time soon. Well, maybe some capsleeves... but, how hard can those be, right?

Hopefully all this exercise wasn't a waste of time.

I discovered fashion sketching...

... on my way back to square one of sewing well.

My brains get all jumbled when I think of all the projects I want to do. So I usually end up overwhelmed and not doing anything. Sketching helps me focus and gives me something to do during weeknights when TV sucks. It's actually pretty easy for right-brained folks like me, if you don't try to do it from scratch. I found this Design & Draw Fashion Sketches tutorial series by Lauren Bradley of expertvillage on YouTube.

The tutorial, combined with lessons and templates from the book Fashion Artist by Sandra Burke that I borrowed from the library, gave me the basic know-how to produce my first sketch:
Look! I drew fashion!

Well, this is the first dress that I plan to make for wearing in public. The design components:

• I usually start with a fitted shift dress, because it's a style that fits me well. I think.
• Add some details for interest, otherwise it's too plain, because I will be making it with cotton. Ruffles are hot right now, but I'm not ready for them. Gathers I always have a hard time to make. So, pleats it is.
• Let's attach the pleats to the hem, because it will probably / hopefully be the easiest.
• I like the sleeves on this Burda 06-2009-122 top. Obviously have to pleat them to match the hem.

Look! I sort of designed something!

Now that it's out there, I have to actually make it and finish it, no matter how it turns out - if it does at all!