Picked A Picky Pattern

I love the unique and more individualized styles that Marcy Tilton creates for Vogue. She's an inspiring designer and talented seamstress and I've learned a lot from her articles and DVDs. Unfortunately, many of her designs are less fitted, more shapeless, and not all that complimentary to my figure type.




Beth H made Marcy's Vogue 8561 skirt in July. As soon as I saw it on her blog, I bought the pattern and then set it aside while finishing work on my textile exhibit. This week, when I started sorting and pressing the pattern pieces, I realized I'd picked a picky pattern for such a busy week. Then I read the reviews at PatternReview.com and saw that there were some (manageable) issues with it. Oh well - forging on!

Short of the waistband, EVERY single piece is individually cut. Three of the pieces are cut 1" too big all the way around and then recut smaller once the fabric has been steamed and stretched along the bias.

This fabric piece above was exactly the same size as the paper underneath it BEFORE I steamed and stretched. This was a new technique for me. It works great. You can read the how-to in this tutorial on Marcy's site. Below the smaller pattern is pinned ready to re-cut the piece. I traced two each of the bias pattern pieces and then cut 1" off all around on the second one so that I'd have both a before and an after pattern for future garments. The next garment won't be quite as much work.

The pattern comes with pressing directions. LOVE THAT! If you didn't already know, I wrote a book called Press for Success for quilt making that was published YEARS ago, in the early 90's. I have a thing about seam allowances. They don't have to be fancy but I do like them to be neat, clean, and well pressed. Doesn't this just look great?




The front of this fabric has a suede-like look and feel. It's a dark charcoal with a fine, dotted white pinstripe. You can see that in the exposed seam allowance above. I'm finished everything but the waistband and the hem. In the image below, I hung the skirt overnight on Millicent to see if the bias pieces would stretch anymore. I'd rather they did that before I hemmed the bottom.




I had a few questions about the ModCloth top from Tuesday's posting. If your question isn't here, it got lost with whatever happened to my email yesterday. EJVC - I don't mind if you knock off my knock off. Have fun. Spottedroo - you asked - I noticed that top too and thought about knocking it off. Let me know what you would change about your draft because I'd like to make one of these too.

I'd add another pleat above the top one as I mentioned in the posting and spend more time on the bottom half of the curved seam so it was smoother and would join together better. That might mean curving it less. Mine is slightly stretched. It needed a bit more length to smoothly turn down and toward the hem however, now that I can see how the fabric sections want to lay against each other, it should be fairly easy to adjust. Also, I attempted to have an extra 2" section hanging down on the button side for an asymmetrical look. That didn't come out as well as I'd like. I can't decide whether to straighten the hem or do some more work on the asymmetrical aspects. Otherwise, it's great.

I have an appointment this morning and after that, I can finish the skirt. YES YES! It goes pretty well with the ModCloth KnockOff T-Shirt. You can just see the bottom of it in the picture above. I'll get a picture of the completed outfit Sunday.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - some friends of ours who live in Haiti are safe

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Personal Growth - Meanwhile, the moment we get tired of waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant (waiting) condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. - Romans 8: 26-28

So many things just don't make sense. They are terrible, horrible, unimagineable. They are frustrating, time consuming, expensive. They are worrying, scary, vulnerable. They are things I would much rather passed us by and yet they stop to visit, an uninvited guest. I have learned so much in times of difficulty, much more than I've learned in times of smooth sailing, and have come to appreciate the learning although rarely the path. The situation in Haiti is chaotic and difficult to comprehend. There is stuff in our own lives that is chaotic and unwelcome. I continuously remind myself to chose a way of being that is positive and trusting, one that believes all will work out well in some way even though that way might not be my way. How I chose to view a situation and think about it has a direct correlation with how difficult it is to deal with. Sometimes - often - it's a challenge.