Although I haven't posted anything on the blog for a while (it has been difficult to concentrate sometimes*), I have done a couple of small bits of sewing here and there.
Remember the coral bodice of Vogue 8413? You might not, as I posted it back at the beginning of July (how did that happen...it was so long ago but seems like a couple of weeks ago). I finally picked it up again but it hasn't gone so well. I made it in a size 8 but there is so much ease in this, it's like a huge sack, especially on the skirt. I had basted the side seams of the skirt, and then basted the skirt to the bodice, so I need to somehow find the energy to bother taking it apart and putting it back together again much smaller. I mean, I will need to take about four inches of width out of the skirt, and a bit out of the width of the bodice. Even then, I'm not sure how it will suit me, which is a shame, as the bodice is lovely, and it looks lovely on...without the skirt. I will get around to it in a few months, knowing me.
As you can see, above, I did get around to making Vogue 1247. This is made up in a rather thick but very fluid matt polyester. I mostly sew with cotton, so this was really a shock to me. Despite changing my machine needle to what I thought was the correct one, and despite messing around with tension and whatever else, every now and then my machine skipped stitches on the bobbin thread, which was a little annoying. Also, I hadn't realised how deceptively thick the fabric was until I had sewn together all those french seams and three of them converged and needed to be sewn to the upper part of the top, which made four french seams all meeting at the same point, and I ended up having to trim bits off (not that you would know) so they weren't as thick as cardboard to sew through. This fabric was also a devil to crease at all with the iron, which made the french seams and narrow hems (neckline and bottom) trickier than they would normally be.
Despite all that, I love the way the top turned out. The fabric is so soft to wear, and the top is so comfortable. AND it can be washed, left to dry and worn with no ironing at all. There isn't much to say about the pattern itself. Apart from getting the points of the seams to match up where they all meet, and the trickiness of the fabric I chose, it was easy and straightforward. If I found the right fabric I would make it again.
*Something very sad and shocking happened...someone I very much liked and respected immensely died, leaving her nine-year old son and husband without a mother and a wife.
