Vogue 1132 - UFO #1

I have never made a jacket.  I'm just not that advanced of a seamstress yet I tell myself.

However - Maybe the time has come.  I have made several wool skirts, with organza underlining, and various lining styles as a prep.  I've learned how to work with bulkier and handwoven woolens.  I have purchased & read the literature.  I have selected a pattern.  I have fabric, lining, hair canvas, twill tape, clapper, etc etc etc.  I even have a first muslin.

Here's a look at the fabric, lining & pattern.  Vogue 1132 - a jacket with a full peplum in the rear.  It's one drawback is that it's a one-piece sleeve, but I'm willing to live with that for a first jacket.

I made a muslin last fall.  I'm a little smaller now, but basically the same size.  I've done a round of alterations on the bust, and the back - shrinking the front and expanding the back.  I also have noted that I need to drop the back waist by 1", and possibly do a full upper-arm alteration.  Below are some photos of the wrinkly chalked-up mess.

Here you can see the sleeves bind, and the shoulder point is off my shoulder.  My sleeves always bind - I know I have square shoulders, and consequently my armpit is much higher than a normal person's. When I made this muslin, I had the bad habit of only bringing up the outside of the shoulder, and not raising the bottom of the armscye.  This will need to be re-done.

Here you can see I have successfully altered the princess seam to sit on my bustline, and taken in the excess on the lapel to account for my small bust.

The center back seam is not in the center because I only added the left sleeve.  This is contributing to the dropped shoulder problem.  I'll need both sleeves on to fit the armholes and shoulders properly.  The low-armscye sleeve binding problem is really apparent here.

This is a good candidate for a next project, but I fear that it will take me forever and I will grow bored and drop it again.  I could sneak in some simple sewing between bouts with this thing, as I have some nice silks recently purchased at MPB Day that will likely end up as a few sorbettos:

Unfinished Business

I have reached that spot between finishing one garment, and starting another.  There are so many ideas in my head, and in my sewing room of what could be my next project.

At times like these, I shop for new fabric (even though I don't need more).  I go through my patterns and vintage catalogs for inspiration.  I fixate on a color, a texture, a new technique to learn.  I read sewing books before going to sleep.  I clean the sewing room.

Cleaning the sewing room means putting away tools used in the last project, putting away unused notions, deciding if scraps of fabric should go in:

1. The trash
2. The rag-rug pile
3. The cloth closet (maybe there's still a half-yard left)

Then there's folding up and re-filing the last pattern, vacuuming the cat fur off the ironing board (why must they sleep there?), and last, but not least - re-folding & scrunching into the corners & slipping onto hangers all the unfinished sewing projects I have abandoned but not put away.  They always seem to have gotten out-of-place since the last time I folded, dusted and hung them. This last part will nag at me as I sit down to look at a new pattern - Should I really be sewing something new, or should I instead finish these UFOs...  They stare at me now - I see them out of the corner of my eye when ogling new fabric.  I pull out a new pattern, and there's one folded up behind it.  I leave the sewing room to escape.

There comes a point where I have to finish them, because I need to reclaim the space, and my dignity - and I think I may be at this point.  What I really wanted to write about as my first post today, is Vogue 1351, and some beautiful fuchsia pink wool crepe.  However, it's time to itemize & confess all these UFOs that are still on or near the sewing table.

Most are muslins.  Some are past-muslin, and being cut out. One garment is waiting around only for the back of bound buttonholes & a hem - except that I think it may be too ugly to wear.

So, the next few posts will be featuring these garments, and their current state.  Maybe then I can decide  their fate - to sew, or not to sew...