SuperEggplant

My primary goal in the Patternmaking III class I took at Portland Sewing was to come up with the perfect button-down shirt pattern. I learned during the patternmaking classes that I have freakish shoulders. They are wide and stick out, so it’s often hard for me to find tops that fit me in the shoulders. So, armed with my sloper, I jumped in to draft a button-down shirt block, one that I would be able to use over and over, or at least that was my goal.
Man alive, did I have a lot to learn. I think I drafted about 4 sleeves, and I am still not completely happy with it (a bit too puckery in the cap for my taste). There were various other challenges, one being that I have very poor, or Peter would say nonexistent, spatial skills. It’s a wonder I’ve been able to sew at all over these decades.
Check out all these muslins! Muslin mayhem! When I got down to the final pattern, I still wasn’t sure it was going to work (and as I mentioned before, I still need to tweak the sleeve or maybe improve my sewing skills).
So some interesting lessons in this. My instructor helped me decide on some style issues. She suggested incorporating armhole darts, as those can be flattering for the chestally challenged. We kept the top shortish, because I have a long torso and short legs, and visually you want to break up the body into thirds: one-third on top and two-thirds on the bottom. The shorter top is supposed to make my legs look longer. I used the waist darts in the back for additional shaping. I apparently wear clothes with too much ease and was encouraged by others to wear more form-fitting items, but you know, I am not sure how comfortable I am with this. I guess at heart I am just an ease-y gal, ha ha. And the experiment continues …

Okay, so this is all about the learning PROCESS, and how failures can also be successes. Or something. Anyway, I just finished taking a swimwear class with Portland Sewing, the great school where I took patternmaking. I learned a lot, including the following:
– why didn’t I know about the 3-step zigzag stitch before?
– have no fear!
– cutting through elastic is not advisable unless you use clear elastic, but that stuff is squirrely as heck
– you can say “crotch” as often as you like, and nobody will bat an eye
– there is a reason swimsuits are so expensive
So, in class we all used the same pattern. I made the one-piece suit shown here. I had spandex in my stash (yes, I have a spandex stash, and I am not ashamed), so that’s what I used, figuring this was going to be an experiment. The suit came out okay, but there are some fitting issues, ones I can fix for the next attempt:
– whoah, that crotch (see? I said crotch again!) panel is too wide!
– the pattern has some ruching in the bust area to accommodate the bust, but hey, I barely have a bust, so the ruching just looks like a bunch of extra bunched-up fabric
– while I do not have an ample bosom, I do have, you know, headlights, so some padding in that area would be nice. The pattern does have a bra shelf lining, but it is not padded
– the neckline is a bit lower than I would like
So now you may be wondering what the deal is with the bikini top, or perhaps you have given up and clicked away. Well, I got all antsy and inspired to try to draft my own bikini top, so I did. The problem is I kind of winged it. I also had several small pattern pieces, and I got kind of confused as to which side was up, the side, whatever. At one point I sewed the neck strap to the bottom of the top. Oops. I also didn’t really do the elastic correctly, since I did this before I learned the magic formula (measure the length of where you need elastic and subtract 2″). So, I don’t know that I can actually wear this bikini top. It is kind of bunchy in spots and just kind of ill fitting.
But look! I was pretty excited about these little inserts I put in. I got this great foam stuff at RCT Fabrics that is designed, I believe, for the padding in bicycle shorts. It’s foam on one side and sort of a terry on the other, and it is wicking. I cut these out and attached them to the lining using the 3-step zigzag, and I think it worked pretty well.
Now hopefully the weather will finally get nice (we have had record rainfall here in the City of Roses) enough that it will officially be swimwear season!

I have a bit of a thing for the strawberry motif. Okay, that’s a bit of an understatement. Anyway, I had a couple of small pieces of this strawberry fabric in my stash. The pieces were really too small to do much with, but then I was inspired by very purple person, who made some quick and simple tops out of small pieces of fabric (see here). Genius, right?
So, I cobbled together the pieces and kind of winged it and came up with this top. It’s pretty obvious I just dug stuff out of my stash. I used the narrow double-fold bias tape for the neck and armholes, and I used some readymade piping on the bodice. The top is a bit cutesy for a middle-aged woman like me, but I don’t care. Just wait until I’m 80. I will dress even crazier.

I have been somewhat obsessed with Japanese fabric and pattern manufacturer & shop Rick Rack for a few years now. Unfortunately, they do not ship to the United States (not as far as I can tell, that is). Fortunately, my mother goes to Japan rather regularly, so on her most recent trip she was able to secure a couple of patterns.
The tunic above is from this pattern:
There are very clear photo instructions, but I still managed to get confused. It didn’t help that they used a fabric that looked the same on the right and wrong sides, plus they got all contrasty and mix & matchy with the collar and collar stand, and it was just too much for my brain to process. I used a nani iro double gauze I got from Matatabi a while back. I like the tunic, but I may shorten the sleeves so it’s less sister-wife-ish. Maybe that will do the trick.