Toaster Sweater #1 & Simple Skirts

Peggy at Sew House 7 recently ran a sale on her popular Toaster sweater pattern to celebrate a regrade and I couldn't resist getting a pdf copy.  I have had such success with her patterns this past year, and I don't knit as fast as would be ideal for wardrobe purposes.  She also restocked her lovely wool-cotton jersey and since I've been wearing my wool-cotton jersey Coco on repeat this winter, I bought another yard and a half, hoping to squeak out a Toaster sweater version.

Nothing much to report on this.  I dithered a bit on the sizing, as I didn't want it too fitted, but I didn't want it sloppy either.  My more fitted clothing doesn't fit quite right at the moment.  

I've gained a fair bit of weight around my middle in the past six weeks (much to my dismay and consternation, as I've not changed anything...I'm working to get to the bottom of it, as well as making some lifestyle changes, but still.  It is frustrating.  I'm not someone who subscribes to the idea that the only good bodies are small bodies, but I feel better in my body when I am at the weight I've been maintaining since around 2015.  So I'm hoping this is a temporary glitch and not the new normal).  I did have a bit of an argument with myself about the basic idiocy of wearing elastic waistbands all the time because they don't constrict me during the day and therefore allowed me to gain weight by not providing adequate feedback before I slapped myself upside the head and told the eating-disordered part of my brain to shut up and go home.  

Anyway, I ended up going with a 10, on the idea that my size 10 Remy was a bit roomy for a summery blouse, but the 8 was more fitted to my preference.  In the wool-cotton jersey, that has very little stretch for a knit, I worried that an 8 would be too tight.  The 10 was exactly the right call, as I love the way this one fits.  I've been wanting something with a high (but not tight) neckline lately, as I can't stand anything tight around my neck (hot flashes!) but I'm cold because of being anemic.  It's a bizarre combination.

I did end up taking off the bottom band as it made the top entirely too long to be flattering on me, and I knew shortening the body to accomodate the band would throw off the proportions.  I did a baby hem of just under 3/8" and called it good.  (Which probably gives you a fair idea of how short-waisted I really am).  Because I was working with a yardage that was just shy of the recommendation, I cut the neck piece on the cross grain and had to piece a tiny bit of the inside of the bottom band but it looks fine and gets over my head okay.  As it happens, since I took off the bottom band anyway, I probably could have made it cutting the neck on the grain, but it doesn't matter.  

The skirt is a super simple knit skirt that I cut using the M7353 as my guide.  The fabric is a thicker quilted cotton knit I found at KnitFabric.com.  I skipped the pockets and used the waistband facing from the Free Range Slacks.  The stitching at the bottom of the facing is a little more visible than I thought it would be, but I could go back and hand stitch it if need be.  I did the hem by hand for that reason.  Since I had skipped the pockets, I also sewed a little fabric loop on the inside of the front facing so I could hook my pedometer to it. 

And because I am making really simple stuff lately, I also made a Free Range skirt hack out of chambray flannel last month and never showed it, so ta-da (shown with the same Toaster sweater):

No construction notes except that I used rayon seam tape on the pocket edges instead of fabric facing to reduce bulk on that seam.  I've worn the skirt quite a bit since I made it.

The keen-eyed amongst you will notice the brace on my left arm. I fell in October and it kept hurting enough to wake me up at night, so I finally got it looked at and I have traumatic tennis elbow. There's a longer medical term for it, but that's the short version. I have to wear the brace as much as possible for the next six weeks and had a cortisone shot, both of which have helped a lot.

That was inevitable...

You all knew this was going to happen, right?  That I couldn't leave it alone?  That I would fix the plaid matching on the sides of my flannel skirt?

Right.  I went (by myself!) to visit my parents over the Thanksgiving weekend.  It was the first time I've been away from my children for more than 24 hours, so that was kind of strange, but it was super fun and great to hang out with my family for 2 days without my kids, so there's that.  My sisters and I sang a couple of songs for my dad on Sunday night--not too badly for scant practice beforehand!  I'll spare you the video.  😉

The trip was SO worth the major hives I have on my face, scalp, and neck from the N95 mask I wore the whole time (probably some undisclosed latex).  I took the flannel skirt along and wore it but the misaligned sides really bugged me, and I figured it wouldn't take that much to fix it.  

I unpicked the sides and the waist facing and realigned it on the darker stripes (it's not perfectly symmetrical color-wise, but it is visually lined up, which is what I was going for).  I decided to cut a bemberg facing to reduce bulk on the waistline, and while I did accomplish that, I'm still undecided about whether I like it.  

Anyway, it didn't take that long to unpick and re-sew, and I only lost about an inch of depth on the pockets (which were deep to start with).  The skirt is slightly shorter, but I also kept the 1.5" hem, so if I wanted it longer, I could make the hem shallower.  All in all, a good fix!

Fun with flannel

The weather has well and truly turned this week, and I am a happy camper.  It got to the point where I was wondering if my knitting was even worth the effort, since I probably wasn't going to be able to wear any of it anyway.  

 

I think we can all agree that hot weather makes me a totally irrational.  

 

Every autumn, the summer temps hold on a little bit longer and I have a freak out about the continuing heat.  I need to make a note to remind myself in mid-September that it does get colder eventually and I just need to calm down. 

 

My Mackworth sweater is so close to being finished I can taste it.  I have been working on another knitting project with a soft deadline, but have set it aside temporarily so I can just get the sweater done already and wear it while the wearing is good.  Doesn't hurt that I just finished a flannel dress that I think will look smashing with it.  Pics to come.

But as long as we are talking about flannel and cold weather, I figured I should show my new flannel skirt!  Robert Kaufman's Mammoth flannel line is wonderful, and I have had several great dresses out of it, plus a few good skirts from the Shetland line. 

I was sort of craving another flannel skirt from the Mammoth, so I went through all the choices and picked the junior check pattern in a palette of aquas and light greens.  I thought it went the best with my wardrobe.

 

Given the daunting prospect of plaid matching, I decided to stick with a pattern that had very few seam lines, and adapted the bottom of half of the M7353 for a skirt, along the lines of the Purple Violet Squish skirt hack from earlier this fall.  The pattern is drafted for a knit, and although I've made the dress out of a woven several times, the inseam pocket installation is a bit of a squeeze on the 3/8" seam allowance.  

The pocket is additionally anchored into the waistband and sewn down a few inches from the waistband, so it can be a pain to get it smooth.  I added about 1/2" on both side seams to make the pocket installation easier, and that worked out great. 

 

 

I'm definitely living the elastic waistband life, but I somehow can't find it in me to feel too bad about it.  I think I've mostly found ways to style it well.  (She says hoping that she's not just deluding herself).  I'm reminded that 18th century petticoat skirts were almost as adjustable as elastic, and no one was making boo or baa about it then, so I probably don't need to now.   

It's interesting to me that one of the byproducts of industrialization is a kind of rigidity in fashion that only really changes with the advent of commercially available knit fabrics in the 1960s and 1970s.  (Admittedly, they were double knit polyester, mostly, but still, a huge change from wovens).  And by rigidity, I mean in the fabric and the styles it produced.

 

As the shift gives way to modern undergarments, there is more and more constriction, less room for the body to change over time, necessitating faster consumption of clothing and styles.  I think there is more to unpack there, but I need to think about it further.

 

As I do every time I sew with plaid, I learned something new.  I did make sure to line up the lines very carefully along the sides, but it wasn't clear to me until I took photos that the pattern's gray lines are much stronger than the surround and I should have focused on lining up those instead.  Oh well, live and learn. 

I suppose if it really bugs me I can try to realign it; the skirt is slightly long anyway, so I would have the length to play around with it.  For now, however, it will do.  The inline pockets are from rayon bemberg, as I wanted to reduce bulk on the waistline.  The bemberg shows slightly when I walk, but it is dark gray, so it looks okay.

I also sewed another Coco shirt, using the rhubarb telio knit that I made a skirt from this summer.  It is a much richer shade than how it photographed--a complex deep red that isn't quite burgundy and not quite cranberry, but a saturated tone in between.  I love it.  

The fabric was purpose-bought, so I had enough fabric to make long sleeves this time, and I added an inch to the bottom, as I thought it would give me the option to tuck it in if I wished.  I sewed the side seams at 1/2" and the rest at 5/8" to give myself just a smidge more room through the torso.  I also skipped all the facings this time and did a simple turn under, which I think I prefer. 

My wardrobe is in a good groove now, and I am pretty happy with almost everything I've made this fall, so yay for that!  I'm mostly through my gargantuan sewing list, so it's time to move on to the neglected knitting projects and get ready for Thanksgiving.

On unicorns and linen

So.  There are some hard things going on that I'm not prepared to write about yet, but if you are a praying sort, please hold my extended family in your prayers if you would.  I'm sewing things I don't really need to keep my hands and mind occupied, so expect to see a fair amount of makes and not very much in the way of Deep Thoughts.  I suppose it is a good way to try out new things?

#sewnshownseated

I mentioned that I'm on the hunt for a unicorn of a summer weight skirt pattern.  I love my slim skirts in the late fall and winter, but the heavier fabric is totally unsuitable for our swampy (and long) summers, and I've never really been able to find something that worked well with linen, which is my preferred warm weather fabric.  

A few weeks ago, I was organizing my fabric bin (again) and saw the Purple Violet Squish dress in there, waiting for the chop.  I had no firm plans for it (just a vague thought of maybe cutting it down for one of the girls at some point), but decided that it might be worth taking off the bodice and making a waist casing and see if I can get a functional summer weight skirt out of it.  Not that I particularly need more skirts, but it was an experiment with low stakes.  Worse case, the thing could go back in the bin for a later cut down.  

Plus, another unicorn discovery: summer church shoe conundrum solved!  Dankso to the rescue again.  Thrifted Jacindas, possibly even more comfortable than my Birks. 

I had a decent amount of fabric left from the original dress, so I cut a waistband facing and some 1.5" elastic ban-rol. I used my Elemental skirt pattern as a guide for the elastic and application method, and am totally happy with the result! (I've worn the skirt three times since). I didn't think a fully elastic skirt would work, as my previous attempts have been utter disasters, but something about the way the elastic is applied in the Elemental skirt keeps it from looking bunchy and weird.  Plus, very comfortable!  I'm really digging woven fabrics right now.  They feel more put together to me than a knit, for whatever reason.  If I'm going to wear a knit, I like to pair it with a woven, but I'm enjoying wovens on top and bottom too.

Birdie was my photographer for all these photos, and this one cracks me up. 

As to the specifics, the dress was made with the M7353 skirt, which is drafted for a knit, but I've used it several times on wovens.  I think I still cut the smallest size in the packet, but possibly made the seam allowances 3/8"?  I made the dress long enough ago (and altered it several times after making) that I can't be 100% certain). 

The waistband facing came from the Elemental Skirt (or maybe the Free Range Slacks, I can't be certain), adapted for the width of this skirt, although I think they were quite similar.  I applied the elastic as with the Elemental skirt (Peggy's application instructions for this are genius, by the way), but then sewed down the bottom of the facing to the skirt itself as with the Free Range Slacks.  (Stay tuned for a future post on the Free Range Slacks).

After that success, I wanted to try a similar hack on the embroidered linen skirt.  Shortly after my post, I deconstructed the entire thing and put it back together on slimmer lines, but it still looked terrible.  I decided to try the faced elasticized waistband trick on it, thinking that it couldn't hurt to try.   

At that point I had a skirt that was totally unwearable, and I was even considering cutting up the pieces to use the embroidered bits on something else.  I kept the original waistband piece on but took off the ban-rol interfacing and removed the 1" ban rol elastic from the back and folded everything down to accomodate a 1.5" ban-rol elastic.  

I'm pleased to report that with about 30 minutes of hand sewing, I have a totally wonderful wearable skirt!  If anyone wants to replicate what I did, cut the Everyday Skirt side panels at half width and apply waistband with a 1" seam allowance, with tiny tucks near the pocket facing edges at the top.  Sew waistband to back edge and fold over to create a faced edge, then fold the edge under about 3/8".  

Hand or machine sew down the bottom edge, leaving a gap to insert elastic.  Cut ban-rol elastic to length (I like mine around 29", which includes a 1/2" overlap, and my waist measurements are around 33").  Alternatively, sew elastic ends together and sew casing closed after insertion.  The latter method is slightly trickier, but less tedious, in my opinion.  

And for those with keen eyes, you'll notice that I've altered my Remy Raglan as well.  I have been crushing on mid-18th century silhouettes again (blame a rewatch of Outlander), and wanted to modify this shirt into something evocative of a 1750s bodice.  Since I don't wear stays on the daily, I knew it was going to be an echo rather than the full concert, but I like the shaping on this, and have worn it a few times since, much more happily than in the spring.   

This.  Can I just wear this on repeat?  Preferably in some place cold like Scotland?  Please and thank you.

I did two sets of 1/2" tucks on the front and one set of 5/8" tucks on the back, using the Sorrel dress bodice tucks as a rough guide.  It is still fine going on over my head.  I had thought about opening up the center seam and converting it to a lacing closure, but decided to leave this as is for now.  I may do it on a future iteration, however.  What it is about a laced bodice that is so appealing?  (There is a fine line between appealing 18th century laced bodice and costume-y pirate girl, and I want to stay on the side of the former and not the latter, obviously!)

So a few successes, anyway.  Right now, I'll take what I can get.

Frankenpatterning again...

I've had a hard time finding a warm weather dress pattern I like; the Emerald I made in the spring is just okay, and I'm not sure I want to keep fiddling with a pattern that isn't well suited to my proportions.  After my toile of the Tea House dress, I had the idea of using the elements of it that I liked (the wrap around sash, cut on sleeves and midi length) and adapting it for a knit. I have a RTW midi dress that I like the look and fit of very much but not the fiber content, and wanted to replicate the look in a better fiber substrate.  So this dress is the result of those two things coming together, with a lot of stops in between to tweak the details.  It does seem like a winner.  My husband likes it very much, so that's all the better! 

(A note about the pictures: the ones in the garden were taken before I opened up the neckline, the ones inside taken after.  The fit difference is subtle, but I thought it would be nice to show both sets).

I started with the Emerald top for the bodice, and put the McCall's 7353 skirt on it, since I like the way the pockets are installed.  I used the sash pattern from the Tea House dress.  I narrowed the skirt to match the width of my original alteration to the Emerald top, taking out about 1/2".  I also added 1" to the top and bottom of the skirt, and 3/4" to the top to give myself a large seam allowance at the waist. The fabric is the Telio Perla that I used for my burgundy skirt.  I still can't get over how much the hand of that fabric changes with washing.

 I had originally thought to install elastic at the waist and use the belt for show only, but the waist line was too high, and the whole thing ended up looking quite strange, and not at all the silhouette I wanted. So I pulled out the elastic, unpicked the bodice from the skirt and cut the extra 1" off the top of the skirt. 

 

 

 

The next problem was with the pockets, which gaped badly and pulled the skirt weirdly across the hips, so I cut them off and seamed the edges which fixed the pulling across the hips.  It is probably because I took out the 1/2"; I can't decide whether the pockets are worth it in this dress, to be honest.

I also recut the neckline wider, as my original neckline looked slightly odd, and it was pulling at the sides.  Releasing some of that and rebinding the neck made the whole thing behave better and pushed the sleeve caps a little further down on my biceps, which also looks better.

I used the Emerald facings for the sleeve openings, but used a simple binding for the neckline rather than the facing (although I wish I had done a proper facing on it).  I also faced the hem, mostly because I like the look of it better, and I think it lies flatter than a regular knit hem.  It wouldn't be hard to adapt the sleeves to 3/4 or long sleeves, but I'm short on warm weather dresses at the moment.

This dress was a great traveling garment, and I wore it on the plane to and from California.  The slightly longer length kept my legs covered on the cold plane, but it was still comfortable for sitting in a narrow seat for many hours.

After seeing Whitney's Woolfork yellow linen dress, I got sort of obsessed about having a yellow summer dress too.  I have SAD in the summer time instead of winter, and I'll take whatever dose of cheery I can get!

The daffodil linen Whitney used was a little dear for my budget (although it is a perfect yellow!), and the Woolfork is fabric hungry (almost 5 yards!), so I decided to try for a yellow knit, with a few tweaks to the Emerald-M7353 mashup.  

 

 I ordered the fabric from the same place as my yellow, green, and teal skirts, but I decided to try the light yellow instead of the medium, thinking it might work better with my skin tone for a solid yellow dress.  In retrospect, I should have gone with the same medium yellow as my skirt, as the light yellow is just this side of neon instead of buttercup.  (It is hard to tell in these photos, but trust me when I say it is VERY bright yellow). Yellow is so tricky!  I love it, but I have to have a very particular shade of yellow if I want to wear it next to my face and not look ill. This shade was not it and I'm mad at myself about it.  Moving on...

My tweaks to this version were to add the width back to the skirt that I took out, and to widen the Emerald top portion to match (which in turn widened the neckline a bit more).  I did all the facings this time and the fit is better on this one, with just a tad more ease throughout.  I could have managed pockets but I was rushing to finish it before our California trip, so I didn't bother.  It's just as well, as I'll be cutting this dress down for undergarments.  

The fit is good, however, and I've got a green dress cut out with the fitting changes using the same green knit as my skirt.  My kids' school color is kelly green, so I'm excited to wear the green one for school events!  (Pics to come when I've finished the thing)

Frankenpatterning again

This dress was quite an experiment and mash up of patterns.  After my Indigo dress, I wondered if I could get a slightly better fit in the bodice by using my Emery block and omitting the waist darts.  I also thought that the shoulders on the Washi bodice were slightly too wide for me, and wanted them cut in slightly so that the cap sleeve is a bit shorter over my upper arm.  I like the way the sleeve cap looks more geometrical on Rae's cover version, and I think she has wider shoulders than me, so it would make sense to cut the shoulders in a bit to achieve that.

 

I ended up blending the Washi bodice and the Emery bodice in some possibly strange ways, but it resulted in a bodice that was easier to fit onto the bottom skirt (from the M7353, to which I added 1/4" of ease at the hips on the back piece only, to give myself a bit more room and get rid of the fabric pool that happens on almost every iteration of this skirt pattern.  I also shorted it at the top by 2 1/4" so that I could put a less deep hem on it.

So what I did was this: I took my Emery front bodice and compared the width of the bottom to the width of the skirt, and they matched exactly.  Then I matched the shoulders and armscye to make sure they were compatible (they were a close match, but I narrowed the shoulder width about 1/4" to match the medium size on the Washi (I've previously been cutting it at a large).  I also cut the neckline to match the Washi, instead of the higher boatneck of the Emery.

The back bodice was a bit more gnarly, because it is drafted for neck darts and waist darts, and also mean to have a center back zip.  Omitting the zip wasn't a problem, and the bottom width was correct without the waist darts, but the neck darts were a bit problematic.  I was concerned that my head wasn't going to fit through the top unless I got rid of the darts, but to do that, I had to do a bit of fancy folding.  As it turns out, I probably could have kept the darts (I just remembered that my original Frankenpattern dress used this bodice block with a side zip, which means I was always pulling through dresses over my head and never had a problem).  I laid the Washi back bodice over the Emery and folded to match the tops and armscyes.  Probably a bit fly-by-night, but it got the job done.  

I put the whole thing together, tried it on...whomp, whomp, whomp.  Not good.  The whole bodice was a size or two too big, and the waist drooped badly.  It was also a touch long in the waist, so I pulled out the elastic, redid the waist casing so that the waist seam pointed up instead of down (also reduced a lot of bulk on that seam by doing so) and then rethreaded the elastic with 2" less length.  I could have stood to lose another inch, maybe, or raise the waist line another 1/2".  I ended up hemming at 2 1/2" (and probably could have gone 3 1/2"), so I don't know why taking off the extra length that the top of the pattern piece didn't work. The Emery bodice is slightly longer than the Washi (I always add 1/2-1" to the bottom when I make it) but it isn't that much longer. 

The resulting dress is just okay.  It is still too long in the waist and a touch too long in the skirt, and it feels a bit precious to me.  I also don't love the way that the armscye edges rub against my underarm.  I don't know why, since the bodice is actually too big, whereas the others it is very fitted around the bust and arms.  I sort of have this problem with all these dresses, but I felt better about wearing the others, so it didn't bother me as much, but the chafing combined with not loving the fit really doesn't help the case.  I suppose I could take it apart again, shorten the waist and re-hem it, but I don't have that in me just this minute.  I'll probably get to it another time. 

I'm not sure I would do this again, because I think the bodice is too blousy for my taste.  The Indigo version has some fit issues too, and was harder to blend and make work, so maybe this little experiment just needs to end.  I think what I'd really like is something without a defined waist in the front but ties in the back to cinch things in a bit. 

It took me more than a week to wear it, and I really would rather be wearing something else except the humidity is stupidly high again and my closet is lean.  (I'm in the process of trying to switch to natural deodorant--more on that later--and I am sweating through clothing at an alarming rate.  I can hardly keep up with the wash.  I'd quit the experiment all together, but traditional deo/antiperspirant isn't working at all for me any more, so I figure this can't be worse.  Except it kind of is).  Anyway. All the fun hormonal stuff when you turn 40.  Yes, I will take some cheese with my whine, thankyouverymuch.

Off to sew a shapeless green linen dress with sleeves and side ties.  Here's hoping I like the result.