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Friday 12 March 2021

Confidently In The Wrong Direction

As tired as I am of paint and painting, I'm glad I did the garage. With white over brown, it is now much brighter and cleaner and this is good. On Wednesday, when I was putting things away and setting up my metal working bench, the sun was shining and it was warm enough to open the garage door.





Above left where the mannequin is will be my photo area. It seemed like the obvious choice since with the garage door up there will be plenty of natural light coming from the north... which those who know about photography... not including me... say is good light. I hope so.

The metal working bench is against the back wall of the garage near the entrance to the house. I enjoyed setting it up but haven't worked there yet. Hopefully, it won't feel as public and exposed as it looks.  I think it'll be okay, particularly as there are only eighteen units in this complex and not a lot of movement up and down the central road. If that changes as the weather improves, I guess I'll have to adjust or keep the door down - VBG. 





Yesterday morning when I got dressed, I was stunned at how ill fitting the B6709 top was. All those wrinkles in the left image were caused just by brushing my teeth and doing my hair and make-up. The garment crawled up considerably and felt way too big. In the image at right, I've pinned the armholes shallower at the shoulders and right away you can see how it improves the situation. I wore it pinned while doing my journal writing and the garment stayed smooth and in place with no major wrinkling. The sun was shining so I went for a walk first before heading to the studio and thought about what went wrong with my tank top to t-shirt armhole alterations. 





Retracing my steps, the dotted line above shows the edge of the tank top armhole. This is exactly the shape of the opening that feels right, covering bra straps and pudgy bits. 





Here's where I went wrong last time. For the dotted line to become the sleeve seam, the seam allowance needs to be extended outward at the shoulder, upward at the underarm point, and then blend between the two. Where I'd gone wrong was to lower the line at the underarm point. 





In this image, the solid black line is the sleeve seam and the pencil line is the raw edge. The sleeve seam will sit exactly where the armhole edge of the tank top draft was at the shoulder point and 5/8" lower at the underarm point giving that little bit more room. I've decided to retest this draft on a simple t-shirt before moving on to the more complicated one I'd intended to sew. I'm pretty sure it will be successful but then again, last time I walked confidently in the wrong direction so time will tell. 





Apparently, I bought a LOT of this black and grey striped knit because I've used it for several garments and already had a t-shirt sewn from it however, since the one shown in the last post feels far more comfortable, I cut off the sleeves on the earlier one, turned under the edge, bound the armhole, and created a tank top. It's not as nice as the tank top draft I just worked out but is still comfortable and should get some wear this summer. 





Since my post of the realistic assessment of my wardrobe, I've added three tank tops and one t-shirt to my closet and considering there were only twenty items to begin with, that's a twenty percent increase. I'd planned to sew Butterick 6377 - View A - next to use up some of the knit scraps in my remnant collection but first I'll sew the simple re-test and then debate if I want to alter the B6709 top or abandon it.  

The shape of the B6377 t-shirt is quite flattering on my figure and I feel really comfortable with its fit and flare lines. While tracing it, I was surprised to note that the copyright is 2016. Although it's not the predominate shape in ready-to-wear anymore, it's still quite common and perhaps for that reason. It creates an attractive and comfortable silhouette.  

Have you ever confidently made an alteration only to be stunned by how wrong it went? 

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful
- the ability to figure out where I went wrong and make corrections. 

2 comments:

  1. I can confidently say that I have had that experience. I rarely get it right the first time. I think this style is here to stay, for my figure at least. I can have it fitted on top and looser in the area I want to camouflage.

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    Replies
    1. So glad I'm not alone in that experience and for the style, exactly and me too. I finished the simple t-shirt and it worked. YES YES!

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