Tag Archives | colette patterns

Sencha for a Small-er Bust

By on August 1, 2011 in Mise en Place Project
6

Finally, after a week or so of pattern tracing and cutting I started in on a few muslins over the weekend. (My multiple-pattern project is going great except–big except–I have little piles of patterns everywhere–which could make things get chaotic fast. I really need some hangers or clothespins because I don’t want to fold them up.)

First up is the Sencha blouse by Colette Patterns. Here is what could happen when one picks a sewing pattern by bust width:

Hilarious, right? I’m sure there’s some sort of style in this. (I had no one to help me pin the back, but I don’t think it would’ve pinned shut anyway!)

Many patterns recommend picking a size based on bust width, and according to Colette Patterns that would put me at size 0, their smallest. I knew that was silly as I was tracing it, but I decided to make a muslin out of the 0 just to see what would happen. (My Lady Grey coat started out as a size 4, with some bust alterations.)

It’s a good example of how picking by bust width might get one into shoulder trouble. I’ve read on blogs that Colette Patterns are based on a C-cup. That tells me that a 33-inch bust would correspond with a 30-inch upper bust (mine is 32). What I don’t know–outside of measuring the pattern itself–is the shoulder to shoulder width for each size. Obviously my shoulder width is at least two sizes larger than Colette’s proportions for my bust size–I can’t even tell you how painfully small these cap sleeves are–hard to see from the photos but they barely go over my arms.

As darling as they are, it’d be awesome if Colette included more measurements in their patterns. I’m sure larger bust ladies need them, too, because not every larger-busted woman has large shoulders. The only patterns I’ve used that do include more than the usual bust/waist/hip (and sometimes) back length are Burda and HotPatterns. Hotpatterns really goes into detail, which is very helpful when picking out sizes.

So back to tracing another size, most likely a 4 to fit my shoulders and chest, and doing an adjustment in the bust area. I’ve got some big plans for this pattern if I can get it fitting correctly–a top secret design I’ll share soon!

Read more · Comments { 6 }

The Lady Grey

By on April 5, 2011 in Coats
2

Have you ever worked on a sewing project for so long that you never brought yourself to wear it? Such is the case with my swingy, peachy silk Lady Grey.

I joined Gertie’s sew-along last fall, but my work on it dragged and dragged. Let’s see, the sew-along ended in November? And mine was done in January. And then it sat hanging on my door until our kittens (three, to be exact) took an interest in the sash.

I made a gajillion alterations to the pattern, then veered off course from the hand-tailoring to try something different. The fabric is a silk tweed from Gorgeous Fabrics. Because of the fabric’s thinness, it wasn’t suited for full-on hand tailoring with canvas interfacing and padstitching and all that. I’m not sure I’d ever personally need to use these kind of heavy inner details since I live in such a warm climate.

Instead, the coat was entirely machine-sewed and interfaced with fusibles. Somehow on the interwebs I discovered Judy Barlup’s site and her DVD Japanese Tailoring.The video is a bit older and its blazer sample somewhere from the 80s, but she is a very good teacher and the video impeccably paced and clear. You won’t get confused.

In her method, one basically spends some time altering the pattern and drafting facings and collars so it can be sewn much easier, much like Sherry is doing in the RTW sew-along.

It’s difficult to review the Lady Grey pattern because I changed it so much, first altering the front a great deal to accommodate a small bust while keeping the wide lapel. I also added an undercollar piece (which the pattern doesn’t include) and redrafted the front facing (which the DVD shows how to do) so that the seams rolled properly to the inside.

The sleeves had a gargantuan (to me) amount of sleeve ease. I’m just no good at sleeves so I did a lot of hacking to get them the way I wanted. But I absolutely love how it all turned out and really need to find a reason to wear it. Before it goes completely to boiling Texas weather.

Speaking of boiling, D likes taking oversaturated and high contrast photos in the dead of the Texas afternoon. From his photo shoot:


Read more · Comments { 2 }