I confess. I'm a terrible blogger. The posts are far and few between and the results are very disjointed.

Silk campshirts have been on the worktable for the past month. I started out by purchasing a few pieces of quilting cottons from Jenny's $3 table. The first piece was a yard dyed cotton and the second was a Hawaiian print. The third is a white lacy shirting, but that's going to be used for a different project.

The shirts were drafted using PMB. The first shirt was drafted using a convertible collar, back yoke of 4 inches deep and set in sleeves that were 3 1/2 inches long, and the bodice was 28 inches long, 3 inches of ease all over. I took the shirt into P.E. and cut off the part that would be replaced by the back yoke and deleted the front yoke piece. Then I added an inch onto the center back of the back bottom bodice (for the two pleats that go onto the back of the shirt. The collar was drafted per the defaults.

The yarn dyed cotton was sewn first. The front shoulder was a little too high, so I shaved a half inch off the outside, tapering in using my sissors. Youngest DD absolutely hated the yard dyed plaid. Everyone else thought it was nice. Youngest DD said the collar was too mannish, too wide.

So, for the second shirt I redrafted the collar using a setting of 3 inches center back and point settings of 1 and 1 and printed out a new pattern. The next one was made using the pattern with the piece shaved off the shoulder and the slightly narrower collar. Everyone liked it better, but there were still pulls in the back. The sleeve didn't set in smoothly and looked wonky. Both are wearable casual camp shirt type blouses.

The third shirt was made from a peach colored silk herringbone that I had tossed into the washer a couple of times. I hand drafted a sleeve cap using instructions from Peggy Sagers and Ms. Stylebook combined. Also the back yoke was modified to add an eighth of an inch to the center back (along with a seam) and an extra seam allowance on the bottom center, tapering to nothing at the side. This was to accomodate my baby dowager's hump. >:(

The final blouse is just what I wanted. It's a great washable work blouse for summer. I'm working on a second one in a pale lime green. The lime green one is not being as cooperative. Stupid silk is puckering and sliding around and doing weird things. It will be finished today though.

Purchased a couple more embroidery lessons yesterday. They are really good for the $10 and I'm learning lots from them. This has been a long time goal of mine. So two New Years resolutions are being worked on, sewing good fabrics and learning my embroidery software.

The trenchcoat

I've been slacking off lately. DGD went to spend Spring Break with her other grandmother and the other grandmother passed away the day after DGD arrived. I've had the flu for two weeks.

The lining has been stamped and ironed and rewashed. Belt buckles have been ordered and received. Everything is ready to go but me.

The trench is no. 129A from the January 2009 Burda. The pictures aren't coming up on the website, so I can't show it.

Burda trench coat

I'm working on view B/C of the Burda plus size trench in the January 2009 magazine. The "bedsheet" version is a work in process. I traced a 48 in the shoulders, 50 in the bust and 52 in the hips. The fit is wonderful except for the length of the sleeves. They are about 1 1/2 inches too short. The fabric is a microfiber from fabricmart.com. The lining is ambiance from the Denver Fabrics clearance. Buttons are in the stash and buckles are on order. I'm also going to put an inner lining in it for warmth. My coats are getting old and ugly and need to be replaced. This trench version looks a lot like the ones I see in the store. Pictures are in my picasa album.

picassa album

The lining will be stenciled. In fact it has already been stenciled with lumiere paint and is hanging in the bathroom for the required 24 hours. Then it will be pressed and heat set.

More on the jacket

The body portion of the jacket is mostly done. The collar is ready to attach, but it seems to be too short by about a half inch. I'm not sure whether this is because I stretched the collar out or it is just too short. Anyway there is enough fabric left to cut out a new collar.

Burda July 2008 no. 130

I've traced out the pattern and made my adjustments. The test garment has been done and a couple more tweaks have been added in. The Burda photo looks like a jean jacket type garment, but my test garment looks more like a regular jacket, a nice one. It will be a flip and stitch jacket out of a black linen blend. It will be lined with rayon bemberg lining. Then maybe a second one from some EOS fabric in the stash.

Dress Form

DH gifted me with a Uniquely You dress form for my birthday. I've started padding her out, but she still has some issues. She needs a breast reduction and needs hips. She has no hips but I am not straight up and down. The tummy is looking pretty good. Lots of pulls on the shoulder/breast area and a large tuck underneath the breast area. Haven't decided on her name yet. The old one was named Emily, but she just doesn't seem like an Emily. Maybe Prudence.

The biannual blog post

It's now July and I'm just posting a second note for the year. I've finished the sophia blouse from Silouette Patterns, and it still needs another tweak. The neck in front is a little high. It needs to be lowered about a half inch and the collar extended a tad bit to cover the extra.

I took pictures of the silk version and it looks to be very oversized, so they haven't been posted. The collar kind of flops down on the left side, but noone seems to notice. It's very comfortable and the garments that she wears seem to be very oversided too. It's one of the reasons that I made it an extra size larger. The blouse seems to have that oversized campshirt type fit.

I'm debating whether or not to make another one.

Otherwise, I'm tracing out a Burda jacket from the July 2008 issue. It will be for work and may or may not be lined using the flip and stitch method.

Another blouse is in the works. It will have a lapel collar, puffy cap sleeve and a yoke in the back with a gathered back piece. Version 2 is coming up. Then maybe a couple of silk versions in pastels for work. That will use up the sand washed silk from PR Weekend in L.A. I've used up 5 pieces of the fabric. The faux wool pant weight doesn't wear well or look very good. I just may use the last piece for a muslin, not even wearable. It's disappointing because I wanted new pants. Maybe I'll go off to Fabricland in Orange and get some new stuff. I'm 4 yards in the black for the year fabricwise.