Operation ruffle shirt

I want this shirt. I love this shirt. This frothy, fluffy, ruffly, powdery, little teeny buttoney shirt. This sleeveless shirt that only costs $118. And isn’t available in my size.

Anthropologie

No matter. Now that I’m armed with my birthday-sewing machine and schedule of pattern sales at the local Hancock and Joanns. I’ll make it! With my own two hands! And some frothy fabric and my own teeny tiny pearl-like buttons!

First order of business. Determine what it is I like so I can find the perfect pattern… Things I must have in my own frothy shirt:
1) Scooped neckline! On a button up shirt!
2) A waist tie! I’ve recently realized that waist ties are a good thing!
3) Cool curved hem!
4) Did I mention the awesome fabric? The eyelet. The ruffles. The little teeny buttons and loops.
5) Pretty powdery colors.

I went to look at patterns. I checked hotpatterns first, since their sizing is friendly to fuller busted girls... no luck, nothing even close. Next up: the Hancock and Joanns sales flyers. Simplicity and McCall's were the sales of the day. Not surprisingly, McCall's was a bust but Simplicity had two good options.

Simplicity 2601 had some of what I wanted... here's the pattern envelope:

View B in particular caught my eye.

What works:
1) The ruffle already there - I was thinking that I'd just find the right shape for the shirt, and add the ruffle on after – bonus to have it as part of the pattern!
2) I like the bodice panel and the way the bottom of the shirt flares out into a sort of a peplum. Although I’m not sure a peplum is quite the most flattering look on me…
3) Buttons are just what I had in mind!

What doesn’t work:
1) The neckline. What I liked very most about the Anthropolgie shirt is the scooped neckline. I'm not sure it'd be super easy to redraw the neckline into a scoop AND redraft the ruffle to match!
2) The bodice panel. (ha! Made it to the like AND the dislike list!) I would like to find some nice eyelet or lace and layer that over some other color. I sort of have it in my head that I’ll just cut both fabrics and treat as one piece. More pieces = more fiddling and thicker seams.
3) The waistline. No place to add on the waist tie, which I really like. But could maybe live without.
4) The full bust adjustment. I’ll have to do one, and it seems like there’d be a lot of pattern pieces involved with that!

Option #2 is Simplicity 2936. Pattern photo…

For this pattern, view F looks like a likely candidate…

On my like list:
1) Scooped neck
2) Ruffles!
3) Simple lines that would work well with the waist tie
4) Not many pattern pieces, which would make it a lot easier to construct if I’m using two different fabrics

Dislikes:
1) The sleeves. Raglan design and ruffly little cuffs. The other sleeve options are little puffs with elastic and puffs with ties. None of these really appeal to me, and I really wanted a sleeveless look and am not sure how to convert.
2) The buttons. It’s hard to tell from the drawing, but it looks like these buttons are slightly different than 2601, and not in a good way. Perhaps something I can just do my way rather than the pattern’s way, but yet another change to make!

Not to be deterred, I stopped by Joanns and picked up both patterns while they were still $1.99 each. Next up: pull out all the instructions and pattern pieces and see what’s going on and what shirt to make. Then, locate some non-lame lace or eyelet...

No Kody, I'm not on my way to church (New Look 6911)

On my first wearing of this project, a friend commented on Facebook that it looked like I was going to church. Not a bad thing, but not QUITE the response I was expecting, since I was on my way to a Saturday night cocktail hour, not Sunday morning church!

Project... I was looking for a fitted jacket with a little bit of Chanel-like-vibe.

Pattern... Even though I was looking for a fitted jacket, I still wanted a neckline that would flatter and dip - not choke me! New Look 6911 looked promising...
 
 

Fabric... OK, so the pattern wasn't very Chanel-like!! Apparently, in my head, when I'm thinking Chanel, it's the fabric I'm thinking of. I found an impossible to work with loosely woven boucle. Strands of gold, cream, pale yellow. The most ravelry fabric in the universe. Promises to add bulk to my already bulky frame... I found it in the wool section of S.R. Harris, a local, messy, overwhelming fabric warehouse. But the price was only $11.99 a yard, so I'm relatively certain that it's not actually wool....

Alterations and other frustrations... For a full rundown, check out my review on PatternReview. Suffice to say, I cut a smaller size, did a major FBA, widened the hips and waist, lengthened the bodice. Lengthened, then shortened the arms, narrowed the shoulders. My poor little franken-pattern.

Finishing... I thought fabric covered buttons were the only way to go. I love the look, but MAN this fabric was difficult to use with the Dritz self-fabric buttons. Too thick, too prone to coming undone. I had to buy 12 buttons to get 3 usable ones, and the top button actually comes undone pretty often, but lets me stick it back together. I also fashioned some fold back cuffs with contrast lining and interfaced with craft weight interfacing to give them their own personality. Finally, I added a bit of vintage lace around the neckline.

Final thoughts... I really love this jacket - so much so that I'm thinking of making it as a denim jacket for over summery dresses.

Details...

I guess I'll just make that...

Wedding planning has lost it's shine. The wedding is shinier than ever, deciding between wood or metal folding chairs not so fun. To distract myself, I've picked up a new hobby that I've always been interested in.... sewing.

My gramma sewed. I remember her sewing pants for me in the mornings when I stayed with her so I'd have something to wear during the day. Itchy, 70's style polyester pants, bright coral. Elastic waist. Inability to discern which was the front and which was the backside. She made an easter outfit for me when I was 5. It was a white sort of off the shoulder dress, with a matching odd hat that was basically a strip of fabric that buttoned together, making a cottony, conical affair with no center. She made that dress again, but in grey, that had something to do with my first communion. I remember feeling very elegant with the droopy shoulders. And now that I've started sewing myself, I can picture her more clearly, sorting through patterns, picking something out to make for me. Picking the fabric. Guessing the size. I don't remember her ever measuring me, so she must have just been good at guessing the sizes. I have a cousin, also a girl, who is a few months older than me and I know that grandma made two versions of the same dress for us a few times. I was always jealous of cousin Christine's fabrics. I was a jealous little girl.

Gramma's real specialty, though, had to have been the 70's style halter top/short sets. I'll dig up some photos but for now, will just leave with this! Simplicity 6908, available here.