Checks...and Vogue V1127


I bought Vogue V1127 because I really do love the blouse. I first saw it here - isn't it wonderful! Amanda is such a talented lady. Anyway, I didn't have the right fabric for the blouse and, since the jacket had quite taken my fancy, I thought I might use up some orange checked stuff I had mooching around in my stash. Heaven knows what it's made of. I have never made a jacket before, so was looking forward to the challenge.

Ahem. Making a jacket for the first time is one thing, but making it from a check fabric is another. What a to-do! Having pressed the fabric nicely and folded it in half lengthways so all the lines matched up beautifully, I suddenly remembered the checks would need matching up somehow/somewhere (on the pattern pieces). Rushed to find a book to see what to do. Realised the first thing is...match up the centre of the check pattern with the centre-back. My checks were aligned geometrically with the fold in the fabric but not the correct centre-pattern-repeat-thingy check. I hope I'm making myself clear. So, I re-pressed and then re-folded the fabric with the correct check bit along the fold, only to realise that, in order to be accurate from one sleeve to the next, etc. etc. one is supposed to cut pieces singly when dealing with checks, so the whole thing would have to be flattened out and pressed again. I am already fed up with the word "checks".

Suddenly, what with the sewing time-warp and all that, it was my son's story and bed time so the whole thing had to be discarded and put aside until next week, since I will now have to use up all the floor space I have in my whole house, to lay out the fabric flat, and cut out all the bits singly. And that is after I have figured out where the checks should really line up.

I just ask myself this: WHY? I have masses and masses and masses (no kidding) of fabric in my stash and I have to put myself through this. I am such a slacker I suspect I will trash this project, so I have blogged it to shame myself into continuing. We'll see.

I will post about my lovely 1930s blouse soon. At least that is a happy story. And my dress form too. I wanted one for so long. And now I have one. Yippee!