Padding the Dress Form and Pants

I just can't name my dress form, I don't know why. I can't name any inanimate object. Like in high school when my friends named their cars, I just couldn't do it; it seemed contrived. So this will just be "my dress form," whose shoulders are wider than her hips.


I made a bodice in lining fabric, and I don't really need both shoulders covered, because the bust is the same size as me. This is mainly about the gut and hips - yuk. (I had to crop pics carefully, because this isn't very long and won't fit over shorts.)


Now the hips are a little wider than the shoulders, and the measurements match up pretty well.


More pics of how this thing fits over my shape.


Note that my gut is about even with my bust (I am not a proud woman)...


as opposed to the dress form, whose bust is the only thing protruding. (Watching football makes me feel better about my gut, especially since they didn't show AJ McCarron's girlfriend.)


Till I wrapped her with batting - so sorry to turn you into a real woman who's been eating too much key lime pie this weekend!


I just slapped a spare zipper on the side for easy removal.


Next, I muslined the Hot Pattern pants. These pattern envelopes are HUGE, and look at all the fabulous measurements they give you on the back!


Now I noticed right away that the rear crotch curve is very different. It literally goes straight down and does a 90 degree turn at the crotch. Unfortunately, my back is not straight, so I have lots of gappage. (Jake is depressed they didn't turn out perfectly on the first try.)


I took in some near the top of the back and a little at the side seams, and ended up with a little wonkiness, which I can certainly work out, but I need to let the bottom out a little bit too. I guess there's not as much bagginess as I usually have below the seat, if you discount the unironed fabric.


So I'm torn about working on these today, vs muslining the New Look pants. Hmmmm, now after looking at these pictures, I remember that my Betzina pants looked wonky too, but ended up fitting beautifully. Decisions, decisions. Maybe I'll just knit instead! (Or watch the "Hand Embellishing Knit Fabric" class by Natalie Chanin that I purchased on Craftsy this morning. I know, I know, but the reviews were glowing and I fell asleep last night reading her book, so I just had to do it. I'm seriously considering an Alabama Chanin dress for Mardi Gras, maybe something like this in purple with beading.


It would be so rebellious...so green...so "crunchy".....so WEIRD!

Dress Forms and Alpaca Sweaterdom

Oh, my awesome PGM dress form (with hip!) came in a day ahead of schedule. She was a piece of cake to assemble, and she rolls so nicely. Introductions went very well. (You know when you bring in a new dress form, the old form can get territorial, but they seem to be getting along well.)


PGM: I can see SOMEone likes to eat pasta.
Dritz: You just wait, sister. When she gets finished padding you, that rear end won't be so perky.
PGM: (gasp) Well, I never!
Dritz: I can see that.


Enough, ladies! Ahem...let's move on to my sweater, shall we? Here's the neck where I picked up stitches to do the ribbing. The book said to go through the center of the cast-off stitch, but that made this ridge that I didn't like.


And I'm not happy that my decreases show up like holes. Don't know how to remedy that...


So I ripped out the 5 rows of ribbing and re-did it going below the stitch so there wouldn't be a ridge. I also tried to close up holes as I came to them. Off to the dress form. What the...?


Where's my other shoulder?


It seems that I took the ribbing all the way down the shoulder. RIP! After that, I realized that I sewed the wrong shoulder together, and I had front and back confused. I re-did the ribbing AGAIN. (It was a total of 4 times, thank you, I'm very proud.) Finally at 9:30 PM last night I got it finished.


Well, uh...hmmm. It's a sweater! And it's really warm and luxurious! But it's really big....and Dean asked me if I was wearing shoulder pads. The armholes are huge and I need to narrow the shoulders.


I stitched it together on the sewing machine, but apparently that makes this little wavy seam that may have to do with my tension or the way I lined up the fabric. On the plus side, my seams lined up perfectly at the underarm.


So I'm thinking of putting this thing under the serger (what?!) to try and take in the shoulder and side seams. Think it'll work? Amy, the Queen of knitting in my opinion, thought it was worth a try, so I'm giving it a shot. (Of course, it's supposed to be 80 degrees here today, so I'll have to wait a year to wear it.) So what have you screwed up lately? I mean sewed...