I Wouldn't Buy That

Take two on the cardigan and my reaction is still I wouldn't buy that! That's how one of my online friends and I decide if we've made a winner or a wadder. Would we have bought it? NO!



I thought it was a little ho hum the first time but wanted to test my sizing theory by sewing the exact same pattern. That part worked. This one fits much better. I even eliminated some of the bulk issues however, it wasn't enough to move it up from Wadderville.

A significant change was to sew the yoke as a unit and then attach it to the body of the sweater as opposed to stitching half of the yoke on, adding the facing, turning the facing, and hand stitching it in place.




The yoke looked a lot better and lay much flatter around the neckline then in the previous version however, the center front edge did not. With this version, it has a "bump" right at the edge. What's particularly interesting about this is that I also eliminated the double fold over along center front. On the previous version - seamed and hemmed - there were five layers of fabric at the yoke seam, three through the front facing, and six at the hem, which was quite bulky. The hem is MUCH nicer now with only four layers. The yoke seam is not. Too bad one solution created another problem. Oh well... learning.




I do like the way the inside looks with the nicely serged and pressed seams. I LOVE MY SERGER! It's a new one bought last July, a Janome 1110 DX. Before that, I had an ancient White that had developed a tendency to make a loud ping and snap the thread, always when you were serging along a critical edge.

Last July, my husband took the boys on their annual boy bonding trip and I had a week of fashion sewing lined up. The serger had been in for servicing and I thought - hoped - it would work. I sat down, it pinged, threads broke, I stood up, went to the store, and bought a new one. Enough of that! Apparently one of the gears is worn out. Luckily, I had some pennies put aside.

Another invaluable tool is a walking foot. I'm very familiar with them for quilting but I'd never used one for fashion sewing. They're fabulous with knits, stitching the layers together evenly instead of stretching one forward.

LOOK at the hem. Straight on the dressform and straight on me. YES YES YES YES YES YES YES! Goal accomplished. The fact that the sweater is blah is mostly - well actually all - my fault. Apparently, yokes aren't my thing. I feel prissy in them. I seem to use that phrase - prissy - a lot. It's not one I want to describe me. It's all part of the journey to me finding my new sense of style after a return to fashion sewing. Some things have clicked right away. Others are taking time. This is the second yoked garment that I've rejected. The other one felt prissy too - so prissy I didn't even finish it. I'll be passing on yokes in the future.




Sal at Already Pretty wrote a really interesting posting yesterday about Style For The Lost. Some of it's basic information. All of it is work. It takes work to figure out the idiosyncrasies of what makes a perfect match between me (or anyone) and my (their) style. There are styles that have travelled the years with me and others that have fallen off along the journey and still others that are just beginning to appear but after twenty years in mostly jeans and a black t-shirt, everything is a new adventure although my basic preferences have remained the same - lots of black, touches of color, clean lines, details and - LOL - a great haircut. I just might do a fashion collage this weekend. We'll see how the time goes. First, I want to sew a skirt.




I've started on Vogue 8603. Isn't this fun? Even after widening center back to a 1 1/8" seam (better for serge finishing and then inserting a zipper), all the pieces fit in a row across the fabric. YEAH... AND... there's enough left to make a pair of jeans. All good.

Have a fabulous weekend - Myrna

Grateful - My husband transferred the laundry. He put four of my favourite sweaters in the dryer. They shrunk to a size much smaller than me. I still love him.

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Personal Growth - My goal for 2010 is to BMOBF - be my own best friend - and with that thought in mind I did NOT apply for two jobs this week. I've been watching the job postings at a local business that I would really like to work for. It meets all my requirements - interesting work, great hours, options, ongoing learning, good pay, and the ability to get dressed up. Two positions came up that I qualified for and I debated applying.

The pit in my stomach at the thought of starting work was a good clue to not go there. I didn't want to get the job and then lose it emotionally. It's the accumulation of little things that does you in and not the big boulder event. When I go out to work, I want to feel excited, capable, and ready. I'm not there yet so I'm staying home a while longer.

We'll see what God brings my way. This place of employment wouldn't utilize my accumulated knowledge in the areas of design, textile art, and fashion. It's perfect in many ways but not that one. The really perfect job would. Perhaps God has something different in mind a little further down the road. I know he has a plan. Time will tell what it is.