A Slightly Upgraded Sewing Space

 We have two homes and I divide my time between them, requiring that I have a sewing area in each. At our home in Grand Coulee, Washington, I have an entire room to myself. At our home in Snohomish, Washington, I'm afraid I'm not quite as lucky.

Here I have a corner of what we call "the dog room." Yes, that tells you everything you need to know about the room. It's dominated by two 48" L x 31" W x 32" H dog crates. I get a corner. Not being a naturally neat person, my corner was - how can I say this nicely - an abysmal mess. There was so much piled on the floor that I couldn't even sit at the desk serving as my sewing table. And the small bit of fabric storage that I have there was completely inaccessible. This is why there are no "before" photos; they would have been too embarrassing to post.

So off to Costco I went and came back with a 6' folding table, which I placed at right angles to the desk. The table is an inch or two higher than the desk, so I don't get an uninterrupted work surface, but it's something I can work with. I'm using the desk top only for storage, so it's not an issue.

Getting back to those dog crates...I have a plan to cover the top of one with plywood and use it as a cutting table. I'm short with short legs, so at 32", it's just about the right height, and certainly better at my age that cutting on the floor.

Here's something funny that happened while I was sorting through my mess. I found this scrap of paper. Thankfully I remembered that this was the correct angle for the center front seam on a v-neck t-shirt I made using Silhouette Patterns #195, Sweater Set, as a base, but what the heck does "BLUE" mean?

Another T-Shirt

So, hey, now that I have a TNT t-shirt pattern, I can just whip one out whenever I want, like the fast sewists do.

I got the idea for this off of one of Peggy Sagers' YouTube videos. (Peggy's videos should be designated as a national treasure. Subscribe to her channel. Seriously. Do it right now.) I'm not a huge fan of cut-ion sleeves, so I opted to make mine with set-in sleeves, but I still think it turned out really cute.

Peggy says in the video that this is "quick." It may have been quick for her, but it took me the greater part of an afternoon (four hours) to get my pattern ready. So keep that in mind.

To be honest, the top reminds me a little bit of the Frank Gorshin Star Trek character. Are you old enough - or enough of a Trekkie - to know what I'm talking about? If you are, leave a comment below. If you aren't, there's a clue at the end of the post.

Making this top required some slicing and dicing of the basic #195 pattern and, as I said above, that took me most of the afternoon and well into the evening. Because I'm spatially challenged, I carefully held each pattern piece up to my body to make sure that, when cut, each piece would be cut of the correct fabric for so that I'd end up with the proper effect. This led to notes on each piece, like, "Left back...cut one with this side up" and "Right front...cut one with this side up."

Because the sleeve pattern didn't require any modifications, I made notes on both sides: "This side up for left sleeve" and "This side up for right sleeve." I held the pattern piece up to my body on both sides to make sure I was getting it right. Way to be thorough! Go me!

Unfortunately, I still got the sleeves wrong. Fortunately, the sleeves for this pattern seem to be completely symmetrical so I just turned them around and it worked out. I'm still wondering, though, what's a spatially challenged person to do? How can I ever aspire to doing these sorts of things right the first time?

Existential questions aside, once the I had the pattern pieces ready, the t-shirt sewed up quickly. I finished the neckline, sleeves, and hem with black foldover elastic. I like it around the neck. but I'm going to cut it off the sleeves and hem and coverstitch them instead. I just feel like the elastic on sleeves and hem gives a little too much of an activewear vibe.

I did cut the body pieces a little larger than I did for the teal t-shirt. This is because both fabrics for this shirt are lycra blends; the teal tee is cotton/rayon interlock. I was wary of the lycra fabrics being too clingy, so I wanted more ease.

The only other thing I have to say about this is that the fabrics are a little mismatched. The houndstooth check print has a little more body, and the black is slightly thinner, and decidedly softer and more drapey than the print. But they joined together without any puckering and seem to be getting along rather well so...I'm happy.

Frank Gorshin as Bele, "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

A New TNT Pattern!

I put the fitting know-how I learned here to work and made a t-shirt using Silhouette Patterns #195, Sweater Set.

I used a 60/40 Cotton/Rayon blend purchased a Joann. Based on my experience at the workshop, I again cut a size two, then made two adjustments to my flat pattern. I took a deeper dart at the shoulder seam, removing 5/16" at the shoulder point and tapering to nothing at the neck edge. I also made a swayback adjustment by means of a fisheye dart just above my waist. I slashed my pattern tissue from center back to side seam (not the cutting line!), then overlapped the cut edges at the center back by 3/4", tapering to nothing at the side seam.

And rather than making a shell, I added 3/4 length sleeves.

I am really pleased with the results, but there are two changes I want to make before sewing this again. First, I want to shorten the darts by, maybe, 3/8". They do end within the bust circle, but I would prefer it if they didn't come up quite so far. Second, I'll length the top by about 2". It's wearable, but I'll be more comfortable with the additional length.


The pattern instructions have you finish the neck edge by folding the seam allowance under and topstitching. Instead, I added a neck binding, following the instructions in this excellent video by Sarah Veblen.

This top represents some milestone moments for me. First, it's the first knit garment I have made for myself. Second...I USED MY SERGER. Okay, I basted it together on my sewing machine first, but still. And I used the cover stitch feature of my serger around the neck edge and for hemming.

Before I attended the fitting workshop, I was skeptical about adding darts to a t-shirt, but let me tell you...I AM A BELIEVER. The fit is amazing, and if you made the tee up in a print, no one would ever see the darts. I'm super excited to have a TNT t-shirt pattern. Finding one has been on my sewing to-do list and I'm happy to be able to check it off.

Silhouette Patterns Fitting Trifecta Tour, Part 1

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Seattle event of the Fitting Trifecta Tour with Peggy Sagers of Silhouette Patterns on January 25 and 26th, 2019 in Seatac, Washington. Peggy travels the country, teaching women how to make the clothes they sew fit properly on their bodies, with as little fuss as possible.

My notes from the workshop follow. I didn't take notes at the workshop; these are written from memory so there may be a few gaps.

Friday Evening

The Friday evening workshop was to fit the shell from Silhouette Patterns #195, Sweater Set. Peggy started by talking about her approach to fitting, "LCD." L stands for length, C for circumference, and D for depth. When evaluating a garment, vertical drag lines indicate length issues, horizontal indicate circumference issues, and diagonal lines indicate depth issues. Adjustments are always worked in the same order...Length first, Circumference second, and Depth last.

Peggy demonstrated how these principles apply to the shell on a "fitting model" chosen from attendees.

Fitting the Shell

Length

Do the darts end inside the bust circle? Do you like where they end? If the darts come up too far, remove a few stitches; if they don't come up far enough, add a few stitches.

The bust circle is an imaginary construct with the bust apex at it's center and ranges in size from 3" in diameter in the smaller sizes and and up to 5" or more, depending on the size of the garment. It is acceptable for darts to end at any point inside the circle, but they must not extend past the bust apex. Everyone in the workshop seemed to have different opinions on perfect dart placement, but as long as the darts end inside the circle, without extending past the bust apex, it's a matter of personal preference.

Circumference

Does it feel comfortable? Is there adequate circumference? Look for horizontal drag lines to evaluate. Let out the side seams if necessary, or go to a bigger size. Is there too much circumference? Take in the side seams or try a smaller size.

Depth

Is there gapping around the arm scye? This is corrected at the shoulder seam. Remember, the shoulder seam, an angled line, is a dart. Gapping is corrected by taking a deeper dart.

Question: After you take a deeper dart at the shoulder seam, how do you modify the sleeve to fit? Answer: No sleeve modifications are necessary, because you restore the original arm scye to connect the new shoulder point with the underarm seam.

Question: Do you take an equal amount all the way across the shoulder seam? Answer: No, you taper to nothing at the neck edge. If you take an equal amount all the way across, you've adjusted length, not depth.

High round back is a depth issue. Before you make this adjustment you must pass the three-question test. 1. Is the neck too high (i.e., choking you) in the front? 2. Are the shoulder seams pulling to the back? 3. Is the back neck too low? If you can't answer yes to all three questions, you do not need a high round back adjustment. The solution to the high round back issue is to slash the back from stitching line to stitching line (at or above...sorry, I don't remember exactly where to make the slash*) the shoulder blades, allowing the back to relax. The shoulder seams are now free to move forward, Next, a piece of fabric is added under the slash and pinned to the garment. The top of the slash must be pinned first.

The swayback adjustment is required if there is pooling above the waist in the back. The solution is to take a dart just above the waist, starting in the middle and tapering to nothing at the side seams. Be aware that pooling can also be caused when a garment is snug enough around the hips that it can't move freely up and down over the hips during movement.  If you make a swayback adjustment and, afterwards, the back hem is raised in the middle, the swayback adjustment wasn't required. At this point, you have to decide if you wan't more circumference around the hips This is a personal decision.

Those are all the issues we discussed during the workshop. On thing that was striking was how many women (a large majority) had chosen a size that was too large, even many sizes too large.  Think about this when choosing your size, and even when evaluating your muslin for circumference. Many of the women had to be told their tops were too large; they couldn't see it themselves.

Unfortunately, I don't have before and after photos of my shell because, honestly, it was really, really good right out of the envelope. My partner did make a tiny change to the shoulder seam and a swayback adjustment, but I didn't think to have her take photos of it. I was skeptical about the concept of having darts in knit tops, but I am a believer now. This fit of this shell is pretty fantastic, and on a print, the darts don't even show.

As I found out, being able to attend a fitting workshop with Peggy Sagers is a fantastic opportunity, but you don't have to feel left out if you can't attend one. Peggy has generously shared a huge amount of information, for free, on the Silhouette Patterns YouTube channel. You can see her line of patterns here.

*My friend, Debi, who also attended the workshop says the slash for the high round back adjustment is taken just above the shoulder blades.