Year end review (just for laughs)

OK, time to review all my (cough, cough) lofty sewing goals for the year and see what (if anything) I actually accomplished.  Here they are:

•  Organize my sewing space - and keep it that way!

I reconfigured my bedroom storage closet so I have a lot more shelving, and that helps.  But my sewing table is a continual struggle to keep neat and tidy.

• Sew every day, even if it's only for a few minutes

Nope.  But I look at my sewing stuff every day...

• Make muslins more often

I'm definitely doing this, with mixed results.  I expect that now that I have slopers that fit me, I'll have a lot more success in the future.

• Finish at least one garment per month 

How about every other month?

• Finish my daughter's Halloween costume by mid-October

This one doesn't count, because I couldn't get her to decide what she wanted to be until we were on vacation to Seattle in late October.  She went as a bunny rabbit, wearing a costume made from a large bath sheet with a bunny hood on it (gift from her great Aunt Sally, not sewn by me).

• Spend less time READING/BLOGGING about sewing/knitting, and more time sewing/knitting 

Um....yeah...about that one...

• Figure out some way to make money sewing, or teaching sewing - and DO IT!

I *did* this - I've talked with the director of my daughter's school, and if I can get my stuff together, I may be teaching some afterschool kids' classes, or even some evening classes for adults in 2011.

• Sew more clothes for my daughter 

I'm definitely sewing more for her, probably 2/3 of my finished items were for her.

• Stop buying mass-produced crap clothing (including thrift store stuff that doesn't fit well); buy local/handmade products whenever possible 

I'm still shopping at Goodwill, but for things I can refashion.  Mostly for my daughter, though.

• Make myself a great fitting:
• woven blouse
• winter coat
• pair of jeans
• bra

The blouse and coat are now within striking distance.  The jeans and bra will have to wait until 2011, I think.

• Work on improving my skills and learn how to:
• insert an invisible zipper
• sew on Slinky knit so it doesn't look like crap
• use some of the tools/notions I haven't used much (or at all)
• make great buttonholes 

I've given up on the Slinky knit sewing, mostly because I don't really love the fabric.  But I've practiced quite a few zippers and buttonholes this year, and I think I have greatly improved my skill in those areas.

Though it wasn't on my list, my big achievement was taking the moulage workshop with Kenneth King this year.  I am really looking forward to working with my slopers to create the best fitting clothes I've ever made. (Stay tuned for my 2011 sewing goals...)

My body is freakishly deformed

OK, so I'm exaggerating - a lot.  But after having taken Kenneth King's Moulage workshop the first weekend of November, I had some major "OMG" moments.  And I got to hang out with a bunch of great women, too, like EleanorSews from PatternReview.com (and, yes, red really *is* her color!). AND, I got to sleep in that extra hour when Daylight Saving Time ended. What more could you ask for?

The lovely EleanorSews, hard at work drafting her moulage

The most interesting thing I took away from the workshop was the realization that even though I had surgery to correct my spinal curvature when I was 16, I'm still pretty crooked. Which helps explain the numerous wadders and countless hours of frustration I've had when sewing for myself.

A little background:  My lower spinal curve (the more significant one) was so extreme prior to my operation that I could drop a plumb line from my waist down my left leg without any bulging out at the hip.  My right side had an extremely high, jutting hip bone, which made pants fitting (with my then-teenage fitting skills) pretty much impossible. I also had a curvature in my upper spine, but it was not severe enough to require surgery (or maybe it wasn't back then, I'll give my doctor the benefit of the doubt). After I had the surgery, in which seven vertebrae were fused together, I found myself with matching hip curves.  (Well, not exactly *right* after the surgery...there was that pesky seven months I spent in a body cast - but I digress...)

Fast forward to the moulage workshop in November 2010.  I already knew what my "problem" areas were going into the workshop:  lower right shoulder, long arms and thick waist/high hip curve. (And let's not forget The Girls.) 

Photo taken just before Kenneth started fitting me. I wish I'd thought to
take one afterward so you could see how much better it fit, but I
couldn't wait to take it off.  He's a very funny guy, and a really great teacher.

Remember that upper spinal curve that didn't get straightened out? Turns out my entire upper body is tilted to the right, like a living Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Not so much that anyone would notice unless I pointed it out (my head seems to be level atop my neck), but my center front angles slightly off to the right side (as if I'm leaning over slightly sideways) *above* the waist, while my CF is nearly perpendicular to the floor from the waist down. It was completely obvious during the fitting process, when Kenneth pinned out wedge-shaped darts across the front and back of the moulage at the waist and above my bust.

For years, I've been taking up extra fabric (about 5/8") on my right shoulder seam, and tapering to nothing at the neckline.  It wasn't great, but was better than nothing at all, or so I thought.  (Silly, silly woman.)  Here's another place I've been screwing up when fitting myself all these years:  when I pinned out excess fabric in a muslin, I would adjust things so I removed the same amount of fabric on both the right and left side, even though (in hindsight) I was pinning out wedges that tapered to nothing on the left side of my body.  I just assumed I needed to take the same amount out on each side, and that I must have done something wrong while pinning out the excess fabric.  Like I said, silly woman.

I felt badly for my partner, Loreen, because my moulage looked not-so-hot before Kenneth started pinning and marking it up. ("It's my *body* that's the problem, not your measuring skills!").  Actually I felt badly for her, having me as her partner - I was nervous, and went too fast, rather significantly mismeasuring her back shoulder width, which caused things to be off quite a bit during the drafting process.  (Sorry 'bout that!)  Fortunately, everything was tidied up during the fitting process.

Kenneth King fitting my moulage.

Once I got out of the moulage (and was able to breathe again!), I set to work transferring the markings to the flat pattern. Because of my asymmetry, I had to draft a full front (left and right sides on one piece, rather than one half laid out on the fold) as well as separate left and right back pattern pieces. It didn't take long before I was *completely* overwhelmed by the task, but Kenneth came over and went to work. He is *insanely* quick, and accurate as all get out. Nevertheless, he had to spend a great deal of time on mine.  (I definitely got my money's worth from this workshop!) 

Kenneth demonstrating how to draft the moulage. 

This newfound insight about my body does not bode well for any future sewing involving stripes or plaids, although Kenneth did make a point of telling me how to deal with it:  Use the higher side shoulder line and the lower side armhole depth on *both* sides, and pad the lower shoulder to fill it out to match the higher one.  This way the stripes or plaid patterns will look the same on both sides, and I will appear to be balanced and symmetrical.

Since I had to make separate right and left sides for the front and back, I wasn't able to finish drafting all the slopers before the end of the workshop (we were shown how to add wearing ease to the moulage to draft slopers for a blouse/dress, a jacket and a coat).  Since I got home, I've been able to transfer my moulage to oaktag, and I've drafted the blouse/dress sloper.  I'm hoping to get some time to sew a dress before Christmas (I am dying to make a sheath dress that FINALLY FITS!), but if not, I'll be taking my sewing machine along on our trip to Sugarloaf at the end of the month (my husband and daughter are the skiers in the family; me, not so much).  I'm also going to sew up my moulage using some heavy denim to make a dress form.  Woot!

The Dirty Dozen

Here they are:

Blue fleece jacket, black knit top, Pucci-style
print (from Gorgeous Fabrics) top

Brown and white sleeveless dress, brown
rayon cardiwrap, brown pants

3/4 of 3/4 length sleeve top (work in
progress), shown w/brown pants

Mesh top, DKNY black jeans

OK, there's a few things missing.  You'll just have to imagine a pair of blue jeans, an apple-green long sleeve fleece pullover, and a long-sleeve scoop neck t-shirt with a muted gray-green print and a sprinkling of copper studs.  The battery in the camera died before I could capture them all, and it will be at least several hours before they are recharged again.

Two in one day - possibly a new record!

I bet you're thinking I finished sewing two items today.  But you would be wrong, dear reader.  So wrong.

Tonight, after posting my 12-piece wardrobe plan for the "Express Checkout" experiment earlier in the day, I pulled together all the pieces to photograph them so I could show you the clothes. The black Slinky knit tank top (from Chico's via Goodwill many years ago) was balled up on the floor next to the laundry basket, and when I picked it up, I saw that it had holes.  Puppy-teeth-shaped holes. Sigh...

Guess I'll take that top AND the torn linen/cotton jeans:

off my list.  (Dammit.)

Let me introduce my *new* top, a black knit draped neck top with 3/4 length sleeves:

I'm hanging all the remaining pieces up nice and high in my closet.  And keeping the door closed.

"Express Checkout" Experiment

I'm going to take a shot at Duchesse's "Express Checkout" experiment beginning this Saturday.  Basically, I'm going to see if I can limit myself to 12 items of clothing for an entire month.  (There is no limit on accessories, such as scarves, shoes, jewelry, etc.)  Since I will be traveling a good chunk of the time the experiment is running, I'm starting with my travel wardrobe and adding a few items. 

My 12 items include:

Pants:
1. Black DKNY Soho jeans 
2. Indigo Slouch brand linen/cotton jeans  Michael Kors indigo jeans (The Slouch jeans split down the front four hours after I posted this!  Seriously, I just heard/felt a little rrrrrip! and looked down to see a two-inch tear a couple inches beside the button fly.  WTF? I really liked these $4.49 Goodwill jeans, too...)
3. Brown rayon/poly/lycra blend pants (I reserve the option to swap these out for another pair of pants if I finish them before Nov. 14.

Tops:
4. Long sleeve cotton t-shirt
5. Black tank top
6. Nylon mesh print long sleeve top
7. Brown/gray print 3/4 sleeve top (which is not yet finished!!!!)
8. Pucci print top


Sweaters:
9. Brown rayon cardiwrap
10. Green fleece pullover
11. Royal blue fleece jacket

Dresses:
12. Sleeveless brown & off-white Lily dress

I'm not going to count outerwear in my 12 items as Duchesse is; if I did, there would be 14 items (a plum wool car coat from LL Bean and a North Face rain jacket).  I may not even take all of it on my trip (11 days), since I will have access to a washer and dryer most of the time we are away. It will be interesting to me to see if/how the same 12 items work in the Pacific Northwest and northern New England at this time of year.


My plan is to take pictures each day (I'll probably post a bunch when I get back, so you'll have to wait until the end of this month to see them). I don't think limiting my wardrobe this way is going to be particularly difficult, since I am one of those people who wears 20% of their wardrobe 80% (or probably closer to 90%) of the time.

But wish me luck, anyway!

PatternReview.com to the rescue!

I posted my problem with the NL6735 on one of the Pattern Review.com message boards and got a great suggestion: this Burda Style magazine dress (01-2009-106):

I like the semi-flounced sleeve - some fullness, but not overwhelmingly so.  It looks like it has three two pieces, but one of the reviewers who made it did a version with four pieces, which is what I think I'm going to try. I think it's a perfect solution to my problem of not having enough fabric.

Now if I only had enough *time* to draft & sew the sleeve!

Somebody's trying to tell me something...

...but, of course, I'm not listening.

I started in on my New Look 6735 top today.  It's been painfully slow going for a simple knit shirt.  First off, I left my pattern pieces spread out on the dining room table, and the puppy got hold of the front and chewed it up (this was one I had previously done an FBA on).  So I ran out to Jo-Ann for a replacement.

Then, after spending almost an hour tracing my pattern pieces, re-doing the FBA, and trimming all the seam allowances to 3/8" (because the last time I made this up, I forgot that only the neckline SA was 3/8", and I serged the neck trim piece to the neckline using a 5/8" seam allowance.  WAY too low cut, even for me.)  I finally laid out the pattern on my fabric.  It's this lovely knit from Emma One Sock:

 I made sure to keep the big round medallion-looking things off my boobs, but I realized I had only ordered 1.33 yards, and I needed 1 3/8 for the 3/4 sleeve version. (And, of course, the fabric is sold out now - right after I realized how nice a matching skirt would be...)

I have enough to cut one full sleeve, but I'm short a few inches on the other piece.  It's a very busy print, so I think I can get away with piecing the sleeve, but I'm not sure how best to do that so it looks like a design element, and not a major screw-up on my part.  (Any thoughts?  Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments below.)

Also, I'm thinking of adding some ruffles to the neckline with the very tiny amount of leftover fabric I have, sort of like this Marc Jacobs top:

(Yes, the fabric has a very similar color scheme to the EOS knit print.) Anyway, I'm feeling a bit discouraged at the moment.  In theory, this should have been a 90-minutes-from-start-to-finish project.  I think I need to take a break (before I do something I'm going to regret) and pick it up again in the morning.

In the Queue: Anthropologie Facile Camp Shirt

I'm looking for some longer length tops to layer up this winter, and I like the military trend but prefer a softer look.  I think this shirt fits the bill:

You can't see the detail too well on these images, but it looks like the epaulets are made from bias tubes that have been braided, same with the detail across the back yoke.  Very soft and feminine looking, though it will have to be in a color other than army green, I think.

Spring 2011 RTW Trends

Inspiration for Spring/Summer 2011 sewing from the recent Fashion Week shows:

• Wide leg trousers - I'm lucky, my short-waisted H-shape body can wear many different pant leg widths, as long as the waistline is lowered, or combined with a blouse-y tucked in shirt or (better) a longer top.

Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear
Elie Tahari

Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear
Elie Tahari



Bright colors with whites and khakis, as well as white + neutrals (see above) are big for S/S 2011.

Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear
Oscar de la Renta - Runway

Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear
Jonathan Saunders - Runway

Full skirts/longer lengths - for me, "full skirt" translates to fullness *below* the hip; again, dropped waist styles and no gathers/pleats/fullness at the waist.

Neutrals - grays, taupes, beiges, khakis, etc.

Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear
Elie Tahari - Runway

 

Bermuda length shorts

 

Crochet/macrame/lace/eyelet fabrics

Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear
Luisa Beccaria - Runway

 

Updated shirtdress

White - dresses w/ khaki/brown jacket/vest over, or head-to-toe white.

Dolman sleeves - not overly exagerrated, combined with v-neckline and/or empire waist.  This Ports 1961 look is a little too boxy for me, but I could see this with a bit more waist shaping over wide-leg pants.

Statement necklace - back again this season, great for busty H-shapes like me.

Drapey vests and sheer fabrics in layers

Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear
Charlotte Ronson - Runway

Updated trench

Florals

Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear
Barbara Tfank - Runway

Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear
Barbara Tfank - Runway

Other trends I like:

• Mint, sage, and leaf greens are making more of a mark than usual.
• Chunky summer sweaters over those long, flowy sheer skirts.
• Platform shoes were everywhere

 All I need to do now is figure out which one to make first!

Crazy crotch

I was flipping through the Fendi Spring 2011 RTW slide show on Style.com, and came across this hot mess.  I was totally loving this look...until I got to the thigh area.  Now, it's possible it was just unfortunately photographed, but YIKES that is rather unflattering.  (And those gathered ankles have to be the icing on the cake.)

Oh. This is not good.

I happened across this item online tonight:

"Though Venus defeated No. 18 seed Shahar Peer in straight sets during their third-round match at the U.S. Open on Sunday, the tightness of Venus' self-designed dress clearly gave her issues throughout the match. During most points the tight garment would ride up Venus' hips, revealing her undergarments for everyone to see."

CBS went so far as to later display a "tug count" that tallied the number of times Venus and Peer pulled at their respective dresses following a point. At the time, Venus was leading Peer 42 to FOUR.

At first glance, it looks like a tank-top-over-shorts. But it was supposed to look like this:

Damn.  That is what I call a wardrobe malfunction...

OMG.

My new sewing & embroidery machine arrived this afternoon.  It's a Brother SE-400.  Isn't it cute?

Brother SE-400

Last Sunday, I was at a meeting after church and got into a discussion with a woman who is somewhat new to the church.  I discovered that she is a quilter, and she mentioned something about having a new embroidery machine (I have no idea what make/model it is), and if I wanted to try it out sometime I could.  Somehow, between that conversation and Monday afternoon, I talked myself into buying a machine of my own.  (I am SO easy.)  For a mere $388, including shipping (but let's not tell DH, OK?), I now have a combination sewing and embroidery machine that so completely surpasses my Viking 500 (which I paid twice as much for nearly 20 years ago) that I am kicking myself for not having thought of this sooner.

So far, I have made a sample corded buttonhole, practiced monogramming, tried out some scalloped (shell) pintucks, and a bunch of other basic stitches.  I read several posts on PR suggesting that I would want a larger hoop/embroidery area than the 4x4 inch one this machine has, but I am having a hard time imagining WHY I might need one.  It will take me months just to figure out and play around with all the features this one's got.

What I DO need, however, is a name for it (her?).  I am open to suggestions...

Most super-cozy pants EVAH*

I've been cleaning the house most of the day (it has been seriously neglected of late), and I unearthed a couple pairs of yoga pants I bought for my daughter last year on sale at Old Navy.  At the time, they were a couple inches too long and wouldn't stay up around her waist (even though I could feel there was elastic in the foldover waistband. I had her give them another try this morning, and the waists were still pretty loose, but the length was just about right. 

So I hacked off neatly trimmed away the waistband - it was pretty wide, and I didn't want to spend all day removing the overlock stitching with my seam ripper - on the first pair of dark gray pants.  Next, I unpicked the stitching holding the elastic in place, snipped off about 3" of the elastic, then sewed it back along the ridge that was left where the elastic had originally been sewn using my edgestitching foot.  (I moved it over a bit because I lost 1/4" when I cut the waistband off, and I figured I was likely to use up another 1/4" in the seam when I put it back on).

Once the elastic was secured with a second row of stitching along the other edge, I folded the wrong sides of the waistband together, marked the CB/CF and sides of it with pins, then matched those pins to the CB/CF and side seams (on little kids' pants, you don't have to be too picky about dividing the elastic into perfect quarters; it was plenty close enough).  I sewed a row of stitching about 3/16" from the cut edges, then went around again zigzagging over the little bit of seam allowance.

She's wearing them now, under this outfit:

(Sorry I don't have a photo of her wearing them; she was "too busy with her projects" to let me take pictures, and frankly, they're not terribly exciting to look at under the dress.)  In the above photo, she's wearing a cotton sweater dress I picked up for her at the Gymboree outlet, over a long sleeve knit shirt from Land's End (one of several items that arrived from Grandma yesterday).  Just a few minutes ago, she came in to the sewing room to tell me that they were the most super-cozy pants EVAH (oh, and, BTW, could I help her find a Netflix Watch Instantly movie on the computer?).

*Yes, she was sucking up in order to get me to do something for her, but it was still nice to sew something that didn't get completely screwed up.

Wadder, wadder everywhere...

Sigh...

This has just not been my week for sewing.  On Friday, I tried to finish a pair of jeans (desperately needed jeans, I might add), but ended up with a wadder due to a fisheye dart adjustment I couldn't make without re-cutting the back.  Then yesterday I started sewing McCall's 6153 for my daughter (after spending 40 minutes altering the pattern pieces first), but because I was rushing, I ended up making numerous boneheaded errors, the most egregious of which was stretching the lower fronts/backs to fit the yokes above, instead of gathering them.  The fabric didn't recover after i had finished stitching, so it was completely stretched out of shape.  It's currently in the washer in the hope that it will return to its original shape (it's a teeny, tiny hope).

Next (because I am apparently a glutton for punishment) I got out one of my Unique Patterns patterns, 9024U0, and some fairly heavy tan stretch twill fabric. I figured that I wouldn't have to line the dress since it was such a substantial fabric. Before I started laying out the pattern pieces, I took out my thoroughly-tweaked-to-fit McCall's 2818 pattern pieces and checked the Unique Pattern against it.  The bust points lined up PERFECTLY, so I was encouraged that the rest of the custom drafted pattern would fit well, too.

Turns out the stretch twill was stretchy in both the crosswise AND lengthwise grain.  As a result, the front and back pieces stretched vertically, enough that the dart placement (which had been perfect on the pattern pieces) was completely off.  I tried to salvage the dress by taking out some of the excess fabric at the shoulder seams, and that helped somewhat.  But I still had drag lines at the bust, indicating that I needed a deeper dart.  I am assuming that this is related at least in part to the stretchy fabric as well, but I won't know for sure until I cut it out again in a non-stretch fabric. (Cha-ching!)

Things I learned from all this unproductive sewing:

• I love my new tailor's chalk; it made marking my darts a breeze.

• I have several pairs of pants in my closet that I thought fit well, but I now realize need the fisheye dart adjustment as well.  (Guess I've been too preoccupied with my FBAs to pay much attention to what's going on in the back.)
• Even an "easy" pattern, like McCall's 6153, shouldn't be rushed.
• The next time I use a knit/stretch fabric, I will check the length when it's resting on the table, and again when hanging (as it will be when worn), then adjust the pattern accordingly if it seems likely to "grow" on my body.

I'm not sure what to work on next.  I still have DD's (now TNT) third and fourth skorts to finish (maybe the reason they're still unfinished is that I NEED to have a challenge?). Or perhaps a little knitting will help me get out of my slump. Tune in tomorrow, dearies, and find out.

Jeans - Part I

So, I started working on a pair of jeans awhile back.  Apparently, it was a LONG while ago, because the McCalls pattern I am using, 5142, is OOP.  I couldn't even find a review of the pattern on PR.

Since I'm trying to replace the dreaded "Mom jeans" in my wardrobe (actually, I chucked the pants a couple months ago, and now have NO jeans at all), I chose the slightly low-rise View C (altered to a boot cut leg), and cut a size 14 out of some stretch denim I had on hand. Things were going along quite nicely; I had assembled the front pockets and fly, and attached the back yoke to the pant legs and meticulously placed the pockets and topstitched them in place. But I ran into trouble with the side seams - since I was using stretch denim, the pants were very loose when I basted the 5/8" seam allowances.  I pinched out the excess, turned the pants inside out, and marked new stitching lines along the pins.

When I tried them on again, something was definitely not right.  The back seemed too wide, with the seam along the outside leg off center.  So I ripped out the stitching and proceeded to pin and baste and try on another five or six times (no, I am not kidding) until I had something I thought was pretty decent.

Then I took some pictures using my camera's self-timer:

Gah!  They were nice and smooth in front, and the outside seam appeared to be centered and perpendicular to the floor, but the butt...I was back in MomJeansville.  Sigh...

I've been reading some back issues of Threads and remembered Kenneth King's "net gain/net loss" adjustment process, so I reached around and grabbed what felt like excess fabric and started pinning it out.

You can see (even in my off-center stance) that the left side where I pinned it looks much smoother than the right side.  And it looks even better from the side:

After pinning and photographing and examining things, I knew there was fabric that needed to be removed, but I had no idea how to go about it.  After spending a few minutes searching online at PR, I had my answer:  I needed to rotate out the fisheye dart I had pinned back there.  Unfortunately, the process required that I remove the excess fabric from the back of the leg and add it back by raising the waist at the side seam and extending the back crotch point.  (Translation:  I needed to re-draft/re-cut my pants.) You can see the effect that pinning had on the center back:

The center back is clearly too short now (I had MEGA plumber's crack when I tried to sit down in these); I think the fisheye adjustment will solve that problem.  I didn't have any more of the stretch denim on hand (did I mention I cut these out a LONG time ago?), so this effectively shut down my jeans production for the weekend.

The good news:  I think I have a solution, and I expect the next go-round to result in ACTUAL WEARABLE PANTS.  The bad news:  I am now noticing this issue elsewhere in my wardrobe.  (I've been a little preoccupied dealing with FBAs until now to pay much attention to the rear view.)  I was getting dressed this morning and pulled on my favorite pair of pants, and I noticed the same problem with them.  Guess I need to add "sew a pair of pants that REALLY fit" to my list of sewing goals...

Trend Report (Rant): Exposed Zippers

OK, I know I'm a little late to comment on this trend that started taking off in Spring 2009; I was hoping it would have come and GONE already.

I. Hate. Exposed. Zippers.

Well, maybe I don't hate ALL exposed zippers. Some exposed zippers, like the one on this Jason Wu dress:

Jason Wu for TSE Structured Dress (note off-center exposed zipper)

are creative and very original.  The (somewhat) exposed zipper is definitely integral to the garment design.

But then there are butt-ugly interpretations such as this:

Jay Godfrey Zippered Tank Dress (front view)

(BTW, this dress retails for over $250 .)

The ones that really set my teeth on edge are those having the zipper TAPE completely exposed (not just the zipper TEETH), particularly if it's a heavy duty (wide tape) zipper, in a weird, contrasting color sewn onto a lightweight fabric. When I was learning to sew, it was drilled into me that a high-quality garment had a nearly invisible zipper, or at the very least, an unobtrusive one.  Now it is "trendy" to have your clothes look like you have them on inside out.  (Remember when exposed serged seams were everywhere?  I never understood that one, either.)

B3832 - Child's Skort

Ahhh, yes, the Skort.  Half skirt, half shorts, all girl.  I've been working on my daughter's back-to-school wardrobe, and one of the patterns I selected was Butterick 3832, which features three skort variations.  All of them have a front overlay panel over shorts, with an elastic waist and tie end closure. 

Pattern Description: Children's/Girls' Top, Skort and Shorts. I made the Skort.

Pattern Sizing: Multi-size pattern in Child/Girls' sizes 2-5 (available up to Girls' size 8). I started with the Child size 2 for my daughter, who measures 22-19.5-22 (chest-waist-hip) and is 43.5 inches tall, knowing that I would need to lengthen it to a size 5.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, although I'm still not sure if there was an error in the instructions for attaching the tie end (the instructions show it being basted wrong side up, which might show when the tie ends were knotted). I attached mine with the right side facing out.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I don't like my very active daughter wearing skirts without something underneath, but sewing matching bloomers is kind of a hassle. This skort is a great compromise - sporty and modest, as well as comfortable and feminine (OK, girly).

Fabric Used: Stretch cotton sateen (the stretch is nice, but totally not required for this design).

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: If you've read any of my previous reviews about sewing for my daughter, you will know that she is of average height for her age (5), but very slim. She generally wears a size 5 these days in RTW, but ends up swimming in her clothes. This makes it very difficult for me to buy clothes for her - if I am lucky enough to find something that isn't huge, chances are she will outgrow it, height-wise, in very short order.

Since most of the Big 4 kids' patterns have huge amounts of ease, I decided to start with a size 2 through the crotch but lengthen it to a size 5 at the hem. For my first attempt, I used a pink and green poly/rayon plaid. The only thing I did differently from the instructions was to cut the Tie End (#10) on the bias, so it would match the orientation of the tie end on the Front Overlay (#11). If you were sewing this in a solid color or small print, though, I don't think it would make much difference which way you orient the tie end on your fabric.

The skort turned out quite nicely - from the front. In the back, however, I could see that the crotch hung down really low. It was wearable, but not particularly attractive. I turned them inside out and measured, and found that the crotch length (front and back) for the Child size 2 was over 20''. (Heck, *I* could almost fit that crotch length in a pair of low rise jeans!). At first, I thought I had neglected to take the diaper allowance into consideration. But then I realized I was using a Child's size pattern, and there *isn't* any diaper allowance included.

So, on my second attempt, I shortened the front, back and front overlay by 1 1/2'' (folded out 3/4'') above the crotch. I then lengthened the front, back and front overlay at the hem by the same 1 1/2''. This time the fit was MUCH improved.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes and yes, but with a warning to check the crotch measurement of the pattern against a pair of pants or shorts that fit well first.

Conclusion: A great basic back-to-school wardrobe piece. I have already cut another version in white twill (this one will have a button closure instead of the ties on the front overlay), and will probably do another (with back pockets) in a lightweight denim. 

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