Sunday, November 10, 2013

Muslin take 2

I have a new sewing machine! After many struggles attempting to sew anything more than a couple of layers of fabric, I realized that I needed something better if I were to improve.

It's nothing super fancy, just better. So much smoother! The fabric doesn't bunch up when I cross a seam, which was a continual problem before.

I tested it out on a second muslin of my pants. I forgot to take any photos, sorry! But I think I worked out most of the problems. The only thing is that I'm not convinced of the width of the legs. I did narrow them, but I might narrow them more. These are meant to be wide legged pants, but they are dramatically wider than the pattern pictures.

In other news, a sewing school is opening at the end of my block. I'm hoping they'll offer some advanced classes so I can take one and then have access to studio time with giant tables for cutting patterns. I'm so tired of cutting on the floor.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Pants, round 1

Oh poor blog, how I've neglected you. Don't worry, it's not you, it's me. Let's catch up.

I started a pair of pants! And then I promptly ignored them for ages, because I was scared of them. Hence the silence. However, I finally worked through the pattern and made a muslin.





First problem: I totally cut the wrong size. I was between sizes and cut the larger one. Should have listened to the books that say cut the smaller size when you're in between. These photos are after I took in an inch on each outer seam, hence the giant seam allowance.

After that I was kind of stumped. I could see they didn't fit properly, but I had a hard time telling where the problem was. In the end I shortened the crotch length (so they weren't so saggy in the crotch, and the waist wasn't so high), increased the crotch depth (to accommodate the derriere - this should hopefully also make the side seam straight), took a little off the centre back height (for my sway back) and added a tiny bit to the centre front height (for better stomach coverage). I'm not convinced about the width either - I was looking for something wide-leg dress trouser-like, but these might be too wide for me. I'll play with that in the real fabric, though.

I've cut a second muslin (or really just re-cut the original muslin pieces) since I'm cutting  a new size. Hopefully it'll feel better!

In other news, I've bought a new sewing machine! I'm very excited. When I actually have it in hand (it was on sale and they ran out of stock, but I got the sale price) I'll share all the details. Sadly, I thought I was going to get to pick it up on Wednesday, so I sold my old machine, and now I have no machine at all. Boo.

Oh, and in other other news, I knit a scarf.