Friday, March 8, 2013

Actual Progress



Look, a muslin! And one that looks good! I know in this photo it is slightly off center, but I think it might have twisted when I tucked in my shirt. Otherwise it looks great!

I traced a size 12 from the pattern, and used the "curvy" option for the back skirt pieces. This, compared to the others (slim and average), have two darts instead of one on each back piece. The instructions have you sew the side seams, which have a 1" seam allowance, wrong side together first. I did this and it looked a bit baggy overall and I had too much room in the waist. I shaved a 1/4" off of each side seam and for the second time around sewed it right side together and violĂ ! Perfect. In hindsight I may have been able to just trace off the size 10, but I am not absolutely sure about that.

My fabric is also ready. Weeeee!!! I tossed two wet hot towels in with my wool yardage and put it in the dryer on high(!) for 40 minutes. This felt like the longest 40 minutes of my life ;) The yardage came out fine, still with the same hand but it did lose an inch in width and almost two inch in length. So if you are looking for a way to preshrink your wool, this technique may be for you.

I still think I can squeeze this pattern out of it even with the loss of a few inches. Especially since I am only cutting one full yoke out of the wool, I will use something else for the inner yoke facing, and I am doing the shortest length for the skirt. I am a nervous girl, so my fingers are still crossed that there will be enough!


What else did I do yesterday? I traced the Burda top pattern from last month's issue. Have you ever traced a Burda pattern from the magazine before? That is some craziness!! Here is what it looked like when I first pulled it out:


First I had to find the right page (labeled A-D) and then the corresponding numbers and colors for the pattern. The two things I would recommend with this was take your time and NO alcohol until after you are done. Trust me, it did not help one bit :) Thankfully this top only has 5 pieces! 

So, what is next? I have to cut the skirt pieces and start assembling since that pattern has received the green light. I also need to muslin the top and make sure that will work out as planned. My swatches from Mood for the top's trim should be arriving soon, so I will post those options as soon as I can. Exciting stuff around here!! 

How did your week go? Productive or are you just excited that it is finally Friday?

Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

9 comments:

  1. Funny, I thought I had been following you, but something might've happened when I moved to WordPress! Anyway, the skirt muslin looks great - it's always exciting when that happens. And I'm definitely going to use the pre-shrinking technique with future wool projects. I tried it once awhile back. Good luck constructing the skirt! -Amanda

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    1. Thanks Amanda! It is great when you only have to make minor adjustments to a muslin and it works out just as you had planned! And I will need that luck since I am having a hard time even cutting into my precious fabric :)

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  2. You totally should! It really is such a great fabric to work with!

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  3. Muslin looks great and I can't wait to see the finished skirt in that gorgeous fabric. I recently traced my first Burda magazine too, and didn't exactly enjoy the process! Something to be said for German efficiency....

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    1. Right?!? I am struggling to figure out which is worse: printing from the website and taping together or finding the right color/line/number insanity!

      I am really excited about the muslin, but petrified to cut into that wool! :)

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  4. Oh yay, love it when muslins work out well! Wool is so easy to sew with-- I bet you'll really enjoy making this skirt!

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    1. I love sewing with wool! It will be great as soon as I can get the nerve to cut into that expensive wool! :)

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  5. glad your fabric preshrinking turned out well!

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  6. What a neat idea for pre-shrinking the wool. And great that it was not a disaster!

    I've never made a pattern from Burda. I'm sure I could do it, but it does look overwhelming!

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