The Renfrew and a New Pattern

Done! This is the easiest shirt to sew - love it. The bands are great so I don't have to worry about hemming the sleeves and the shirt, which is my least favorite thing about sewing. I agree with SusieHomemaker and Kitschy Coo that the waistband is a little loose and low, so I put the shirt on my dressform and pinned the waistband where I wanted it to come, which was about 3 inches higher than usual, but I still need to tighten it up. Also, I forgot I had already serged and topstitched the neckband, so I'll just live with the wrinkles. (And yes, I haven't worn those pants yet, so the tag is still on them.)

The next shot is just to show you what I was up against last night. Lucas is copying Drew's desire to make movies, so he borrowed Drew's Flip camera and we started filming last night. It looks like I'm being mobbed by somebody from Goodfellas. This kid actually put on a coat and tie with sunglasses, and the plot is something out of The Bourne Identity...with Nerf guns. (I thought I did a great job as the interrogator getting shot and falling on the floor very dramatically - but I did skin my knee. I put everything into my acting, you know.) I do think I need to size up at the shoulders because I think I need more fabric between the armhole and the neckband. (Peggy would say circumference.)

Here's the back. I lowered the armhole about 3/4", but I didn't cut a new sleeve because I'm lazy, so I still have wrinkles but I'm beyond caring. I wore this to dinner last night - ha! And SusieHomemaker is right, I forgot to take out my usual swayback adjustment, but the pooling is just enough so that when I sit down the shirt stays put. This pattern was drafted for pears with swaybacks!

And I got it finished in time for dinner despite doing stupid things like attaching the right side of the sleeve to the wrong side of the shirt. They tell you to use twill tape to stabilize the shoulder seam, but I use Betzina's tip of using selvages - this one was from those wild shorts I made for Lucas a couple of years ago.

Finally, I got my vintage pattern from Katie already - you're fast, Sister. Look how she wrapped it. I feel like it's an early birthday present - you shouldn't have!

Look at that ink - and only one line to cut out, how awesome!

My next Renfrew with adjustments may have to wait - I think I want to get to work on this dress.

The Renfrew Begins...and a Party

I mean, what is Renfrew? Is it a country? I think Kitschy Coo said she lived near Renfrew, but that's such an odd name for a shirt pattern. Anyway, we'll get to that in a second. First, I just came back from a party, and guess who else was there - Gwen!

I actually tuned in to Peggy Sagers webcast tonight on blouse fitting. I checked in an hour early to see if I had the time right, and there were already people there chatting. I felt like Helen Keller, seriously, because my screen was black and there was no audio, so when people start typing you realize that's the only way you're going to communicate until the show starts. It's like a PR chat session, if you've done one of those, which are always awkward because people talk at the same time and you can lose your thread of conversation...especially when 150 people sign on at once and start shouting out to people from their state. Wild stuff. There was even a woman there from Foley, which is just an hour from me! (Robbie, I started to ask her if she knew you, but that's like the time I asked the Japanese woman in the dentist office if she knew another Japanese woman who lives in Daphne. Ridiculous...but she did actually know my MIL - ha!) I learned from that pre-show chatting that Gwen is famous - I waved at her when she came in, but then a whole crowd gathered 'round and started asking her about her projects. You should've seen her working the room. I was just bursting with pride that she said hey to me. (If you haven't guessed, I suffer from low self-esteem.)

So I had taken Robbie's advice and sent Peggy some pics of my Ann's Top this afternoon and asked about fitting questions, and she actually MENTIONED IT ON THE AIR! (I know, take some deep breaths.) But here's the thing, she thought I put a woven sleeve into a knit top, so I think she was saying something about how dumb that was and no wonder it didn't fit. And that she didn't know how I added 1/2" for the bicep, so I probably did that wrong. I have to listen to the replay - I could've misunderstood (it's at 8:14 PM if you're checking it out too). I tried to type in real quick that I used her method and it wasn't a woven (I guess she thought it was from the picture), but that I would just move up to a bigger sleeve like she suggested. I got embarrassed and blushed a little bit, even though I was sitting here alone.

So I'll be honest and say that sometimes she talks down to you (like saying she was surprised that we the viewers didn't know things, and that by the questions she gets, she can tell that we have no idea what she's talking about, etc.), but on the plus side, she emailed me back about one hour after I emailed her and said to go with a bigger armhole and that she would discuss it on the air if that was okay. What other pattern maker is going to be that responsive? (Maybe everybody is that way except the Big 4; I just branched into smaller pattern companies so I have limited experience.)

Anyway, enough moaning, let's get to the Renfrew. (Can you tell Dean took the kids to the beach for his day off - how else would I sew for 3 hours and watch a webcast for an hour?!) Here's the back neck gappy thing some people have mentioned - I can handle it.
I just basted in a sleeve and one side seam. I think I need to size up - see the wrinkles across my chest - and I definitely will lower the armhole a good inch. Wait a minute, let me savor that statement - I need to size up in the bust. I never get to say that.

And I was just trying to use a happier face instead of my mad concentratey face....plus I'm holding the shirt against my body since I haven't done that sleeve or side seam.

I don't know, maybe my neckband is what's causing the wrinkles, but I sewed it carefully then steamed the hell out of it on a neckroll thing. I did put some stay-stitching on the front neckline before I put on the neckband - was that wrong? Maybe I can rip that out and see what happens. Anyway, minor stuff. I like the top so far and there's no gaping when I bend over, so this is quite promising. Maybe I'll get it finished tomorrow. (After I watch the webcast replay and feel ashamed again!)

The Halter Blues

Well, I'm very discouraged about the Silhouette halter top (and it was a muslin, people, so I threw it together - please don't judge). I was a little suspicious from the get-go, because the pattern envelope doesn't have a great picture of it to start with. It's mostly about a jacket, though there is a small inset showing the neck, which shows a piece of fabric going around the neck.

Uh, mine looks nothing like that. Now there are a couple of things going on. First, the bra cups I bought are too big (rookie mistake - if you're trying to augment with air instead of real padding, be sure not to overdo it, otherwise you could get bumped and have a dent in your boobage). The bra is constructed with 3 pieces then sewn inside the shirt, but the shirt is supposed to gather a good bit, so my bra cups smashed into each other and looked really weird.

Here's a side shot...with the angry face!

And here's the back, which I know is wonky because I just pinned the casing in place to get an idea. I tried pulling the tie tighter to look like the pattern envelope, but the back doesn't want to come up any higher than that, unless I cut a larger size.

I don't like the way the bra was done - you end up with 3 layers of fabric sandwiching bra cups, which wouldn't work if you had anything to put IN them, unless you cut the fabric. Robbie pointed me to one of the swimsuit contest winners on PR, who had a great tutorial on inserting a bra, so I'd use her method next time. I'm also not sure that this top isn't just weird-looking. I didn't show it to Dean for his opinion, but I bet he'd vote for weird. However, one thing saved me from the engulfing sewing depression that hit yesterday - Katie from Kadiddlehopper put some vintage patterns up for sale, and I saw one I loved. (Watch out, I'm enabling you here, because the link takes you straight to her shop!)

See, I'm the blonde in the mini-dress with no hips. (No, not the barefooted cougar with the big purple earrings wearing the maxi dress - they should've drawn her holding a cigarette.) I'll deal with the reality of my hips when the pattern gets here, but I think a low-slung belt will totally help this work. And I've already got the white-pink lipstick to go with the 70's vibe.

Now to clean up the remains of the halter so I can start on the Renfrew....

And More Patterns...

But first, Jakey the chicken, who refused to come in the water even after a neighbor's dog jumped in with us. He just stood on the dock barking loudly, "That's MY family! You're not supposed to swim with MY family!" So the next day, we coaxed him in and settled him in a float, which he was fine with as long as somebody had their arm holding it. And this dog calls himself a labrador retriever!

Now to the patterns - I received my Sewaholic Renfrew shirt of KitschyCoo and SusieHomemaker fame, but I have to finish my Silhouette's Tank first - I did get the bra finished but I have to attach it to the shirt. Hopefully I'll finish that this weekend.

And my step-brother is having a little girl in September, so I'm branching out into baby clothes! I made a one-piece jumper thing for Lucas when he was a baby, so I've done ribbed cuffs before, but I'll definitely be checking out Kadiddlehopper for tips when I get started.

These 2 patterns were on clearance at Kwik Sew, so I snatched them up and they're on their way. We'll see what happens.

OH! And look - I hit 50! Not the 50 where my Mad Cow intensifies to intolerable levels, but the 50 followers mark - woohoo! Thanks for joining the party, Aminat! I've got some of the same shirt patterns you reviewed recently, so I'm hoping to get some tips off your blog. Okay, maybe I should get off the computer and go sew!

Good Times...

I just talked to my sister on the phone, and we were talking about how we as moms get reprimanded by orthodontists when our kids don't brush their teeth well. She remembered when our orthodontist back home found a piece of forbidden popcorn in her brackets and called my dad back to show him. And back then, my dad had the worst temper of anybody, so she knew she was in for it later. She said they sped home, and here's how she tells it.

"He immediately picks up the phone - 52297. 'Pediatric Office.' 'SHERRY!'"

(Okay, I know that reads weird, but I tried to punctuate appropriately when quoting somebody's quote - sorry.)

I burst out laughing, because she remembered our mom's work number and exactly how my dad would've sounded. Then I realized our phone numbers were wild back then, because not only could you leave off the area code, but you didn't need the next 2 numbers! You either started with a 5 or a 9. My best friend Amy was 92964, and my good buddy Winston was 99030. Tracey remembered my grandparents were 53221, and ours was 55684. When I went to college, somebody asked for my phone number and I told them, then they said, "What's the rest of it?" That's the first time I realized people in other cities had to dial the entire number - COOL! (And people in other cities had real flush toilets and wore shoes - WHA????)

So back to our conversation, she was telling me that she had a little time to herself after the orthodontist appointment to do some shopping, so she went to Target and got herself some shorts. And they were nice shorts, ahhhh, so then I threw in another thing we grew up with - "HAWWWWWWW!"

Did any of you stay with your grandparents and get to listen to their albums, like Jerry Clower (he was really funny with his stories about Cletus and Uncle Ledbetter) and Eddie Arnold? And you really wanted to listen to those albums, because the alternative was to watch Lawrence Welk or the preacher guy who played the piano while he talked. My grandmother let me watch my favorite show one time while HER mother was visiting, and of course it would be "I Dream of Jeannie," with her belly button showing. My great-grandmother watched a few minutes of it, said, "I despise old Jeannie," and spit tobacco juice into her Astor coffee can.

I learned 2 things at that moment: the meaning of the word despise, and the fact that my great-grandmother could put some force behind a spit.

Gulf to Table - Yum!

Trolled for mackerel off the beach and caught a Spanish.

Also caught a couple of Ladyfish, which we threw back.

Emeril's Essence, Italian dressing, and olive oil...

Delicious!

Yeah, no sewing today....

Hmmm...