It's done, it's DONE!

This poor jacket's been sitting on my dress form for months and all it needed was the snaps! How pathetic is that? I finally put them on today and the jacket it DONE!

Here's my review:

Pattern Description:
Knit jacket with notched collar and flounces on the 3/4 length sleeves and bottom hem.

Pattern Sizing:
36-44. I made a 42 in the bust, grading out to a 44 in the waist and hips

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, pretty close I think.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
I didn't really follow them. I didn't even use their suggested pattern layout because I cut out the fabric on a single layer. This allowed me to keep the knit fabric smooth for all pieces and also attempt to keep the pattern even across the front. I did ok, I think - I was only off a little. I traced the pattern with 1/2 inch seam allowances.
As far as construction, I applied fusible straight tape to the shoulder seams and used a 4-thread overlock. I put the sleeves in flat instead of "set-in", but still had to put in a gathering stitch before sewing them because the sleeves had more fabric than could be eased. For the notched-collar, I consulted Vogue/Butterick Step-By-Step Guide To Sewing Techniques , which has very good illustrations and instructions for basic sewing techniques. I didn't trim the seam allowances completely though. I learned from another knit jacket project that a 1/4 inch seam allowance can sometimes be lumpy so I only trimmed at the points, gradually going out to the full 1/2 inch seam allowances I used. I pressed the collar well, using a press cloth so as not to damage the fabric. I used lots of steam and my wooden clapper to get the collar nice and flat.
I used a 3-thread narrow overlock on the edge of the flounce. I tried a lot of samples first. I found that a 3-thread rolled hem pulled away from the fabric and when I stabilized with a washaway I was surprised to find I was working with a rayon knit and not polyester as I had thought. This jacket will have to be "dry clean only", I'm afraid. Next, I tried stabilizing with fusible tape but the result was too stiff. I then decided to just use a narrow overlock. After reading Nellc's review for this pattern, I tried wooly nylon in the top looper and I liked the results.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I liked the trendy style and the fact that it used a knit.

Fabric Used:
Rayon burn-out knit with fusible tricot for the interfacing. The fabric was purchased a few years ago from G-Street Fabrics in Virginia.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
The only alteration I made was to grade from size 42 in the bust to size 44 in the waist and hips. I changed the buttons to snaps as used on the nearly identical jacket style 120 and used 4 snaps instead of 3 since mine were a bit smaller (size 24) than called for.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes! Originally I wanted to make this in a thick, red jersey but was disappointed to find I didn't have enough fabric. The flounces take up a lot of fabric, so you need about 2 yards for this jacket.
Conclusion:
This was a learning process, as I think all projects are - even if they're little things.

• I learned that even when I think the fabric is polyester, I should check and prewash at least a sample.
• I learned not to trim every seam allowance if it doesn't need it.
• I learned that samples are important when trying a new technique, such as a rolled hem.
• I learned that jackets can be knit and they don't have to be difficult.

Organized Chaos

I have a lot of sewing and knitting projects that are either in progress or are queued up. With such a large stash of fabric and yarn, I get a bit anxious when I think about the next project to work on so I thought I'd try to better organize and manage things.

With knitting projects, I have an assortment of bags that I use as "project bags," so I just keep the in-progress knitting projects in separate bags. That way I can grab the type project I want at the moment - although I have to admit that most of the in-progress projects are at the finishing stage and that's my least favorite part of knitting. Plus I have a fear of the project not fitting or working out and if I don't finish it, I won't find out. Pathetic, I know. I obviously enjoy the act of knitting more than the desire to have a knitted item.

With sewing, I don't tend to have multiple projects going at once because I'd rather not rethread the sewing machine or serger more than I need to. However, I'm always thinking ahead to what the next project will be and with far too many potential projects, I get anxious thinking about it. There are just too many!

So I've found a way to help me cope with the sewing projects. I believe I got the idea from patternreview to use bins to store each project. I find these plastic bins are just the right size to hold the fabric, pattern, and notions for each project, plus they stack. I bought six bins but I quickly filled them and have more projects identified.

(click for larger)

Being a Virgo, I need organization, so this simple solution has made me so much happier. Now I can prewash multiple fabrics at once and keep them separate from the rest of the stash, so they don't get lost and I don't get sidetracked by a new fabric purchase. I can also trace off multiple patterns at the same time and now they won't get misplaced or separated. I also like seeing the fabric and pattern together as a project, so I can see what's coming up and which items work well together.

What's in those baskets? Well, starting in the upper left, the very bottom bin has the rest of the fabric for my Burda wool jacket that's been on hold for too long. The bin on top of it has fabric and pattern for a shirt I promised to make for my husband...a long time ago. The top bin actually has two projects in it: both are mesh knits for tops - one will use a Butterick pattern I've used before and the other will use a Simplicity pattern. To the right is black gauze fabric for a skirt to go with the jacket I made (which just needs snaps but I haven't built up the courage to do them just yet - the snaps are not sew-in, so they have to be right the first time). The bin in the upper right contains the fabric for the Diana Couture skirt I started in 2006 with cotton embroidered fabric I bought in Paris. The skirt has lingered because it's a 3-tier skirt and I read that style was out, but I've decided to finish it anyway because I'm not a slave to fashion and I've seen a few tiered skirts in the current RTW sales ads. The bottom bin on the left has fabric and pattern traced from Diana Couture for a little knit bolero top to go with the skirt. The two un-binned projects are tops to go with the black gauze skirt and the Paris skirt, respectively.

Do I expect to actually get to all these projects? Well, I hope so now that they're organized.

Hot sewing

It didn't cool down all that much last night but with the windows open and the whole-house fan on, it was manageable. I actually finished a sewing project! No, not my Burda WOF jacket that only needs the snaps put on...I finished a baby blanket. I sewed the decorative stitching on my husband's co-worker's baby blanket #2. It gave me some fits because I used rayon embroidery thread in the bobbin, which I'd only filled halfway and then ran out 3/4 of the way through the perimeter of the blanket (drat!). Then I had trouble trying to get it stitching correctly, not to mention trying to match up the stitch pattern of little hearts. But it's done and now I can move on to other sewing projects! I might post a picture of the blanket tonight, but it's not all that interesting: picture baby-print flannel with hearts stitched in pink around the edge. Exciting.

Too hot!

I'm back from the east coast and my work monitoring the satellite instrument, which is performing perfectly and providing data to scientists. Yay! Click here to see the blog, if you're interested.

Since I worked nearly 120 hours over the last two weeks (not counting the travel to get there and back), I'm taking today off. I had hoped to sew today but it's 107 degrees outside and 82 inside. I think I'll wait until this evening when it cools off a bit! I do really want to get to some sewing though. I need to use some fabric before we're buried by it. I bought more fabric, beyond what I got at the PR gathering at The Fabric Place. I had to stop by G Street Fabrics in Rockville, especially since they had a 30% off holiday sale plus an extra 25% off coupon good on one item. I bought a remnant piece of knit mesh in a purple swirly print and used the coupon on a gorgeous $30/yard white cotton eyelet. But I didn't stop there. While visiting my mom over the 4th, we shopped at the G Street Fabrics in Centerville where I bought 2 yards of green and white silk for a blouse...using the coupon of course. I can't pass up travel fabric and big time savings! Thankfully the weight limit for your first checked bag on Virgin America is 70 lbs and I had a big bag, so I didn't have to ship the fabric. By the way, thumbs up for VA in-flight service but thumbs down for their check-in counter at Dulles. I had checked in via the internet the night before but still had to drop my bag at the counter. It was chaotic, frustrating, and not well planned out. Tempers flared, people cut in line. It was just not good.

What was good was being able to finish my green Rowan sweater on the flight home. I'm naming this one "Gamma Ray" and hope get blocked and sewn up soon so I can wear it.

Satellites and fabric shopping

I believe the stars, moon, planets and satellites all aligned to let me join my PatternReview.com sewing friends at A Fabric Place in Baltimore, Maryland today. I happen to be on the east coast right now, supporting testing and operations of the instrument we just launched; however, I'm working 12-hour night shifts. But I lucked out with a day night off today, which allowed me to go fabric shopping instead of sleeping this morning (well, I slept after I got back). Why would I deprive myself of sleep to buy fabric, when we all know that my stash is huge and I haven't exactly been sewing up a storm lately? Well, this was not just ordinary fabric shopping, this was shopping at the brick and mortar store of Michael's Fabrics, the online supplier of high end designer wools and silks at fabulous prices. And this was an opportunity to meet up with my internet sewing friends, most of whom I've only met on line. Michael was there to greet us, give us a tour and feed us with snacks. He also gave us a generous discount, which of course I couldn't pass up.

I didn't splurge on any designer fabrics (not that I'm aware of), but I did find some that I "needed" to have. Clockwise from the top, colorful print, the fabrics are: cotton, linen/cotton, polyester (but it feels like linen) and the brown and white is a cotton from Switzerland.

I took pictures in the store, but they came out pretty awful. I may be a rocket scientist, but I can't seem to figure out why my little camera gives me grainy photos sometimes. It shouldn't, it's a new Nikon Coolpix, so I believe it's operator error. There are much better photos posted by other people on patternreview. I do wish I'd been able to go to lunch afterwards with the gang...and do more fabric shopping, or so it appears by the pictures on patternreview that I recognize are from G Street! But I'd been up for nearly 24 hours by that point and had an hour drive to get back to the hotel, so it was for the best that I didn't stay.

I am looking forward to finishing up the satellite work next week and then spending a few days with my mom over the 4th before going home. At least I'm getting a lot of knitting done during the lulls at work. I've just about finished both sleeves of the Rowan Capri sweater I'm knitting and if the instrument behaves itself like it has been, I may get the front done. It's been interesting to see the reaction of my fellow rocket scientists to my knitting. Some get it, some don't. If you're a knitter, you probably know what I mean. For those of you who aren't, knitting keeps me focused, which is contrary to the assumption (I think) by co-workers that I'm not paying attention.

Been working on...

I finished one of two flannel baby blankets I'm making for my husband's co-worker. I completed the decorative stitching on the first one, so it's done. The second one still needs the decorative stitching. I used a variegated thread to stitch the stars, which is why it looks dark and light.

I blocked my Rowan "Bonita" sweater - finally!! Next step is to seam the shoulders and then pick up stitches and knit the neck edge.

I worked more on my Rowan "Capri" sweater. The yarn is Rowan Calmer (the one called for) and it's really coming along nicely I think. Very summery. And yes, I do seem to like Rowan patterns (and yarn), don't I?

I made chocolate covered cherries using the delicious Bing cherries from our tree and Valrhona 71% dark bittersweet chocolate. I used a cherry pitter to pit the cherries but found it impossible to leave the stems on and pit them, so I used a toothpick to hold the cherry while I coated it. I melted the chocolate in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring cup. One 100 gram (3.5 oz) bar of Valrhona coated about 2 dozen cherries. I've refrigerated half and then froze the other half to try to preserve them as long as possible. Yes, of course I could just eat them all!

I love having a garden. For the last few weeks I've been able to go out in the morning and pick fresh blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries for my breakfast yogurt. The blackberries are just about finished now but the blueberries are still ripening. Last night for dinner I went out into the garden and picked some lettuce and made up a nice vinaigrette dressing and added a sweet pepper (not from our garden...yet) to make a yummy and fresh salad.

Sewing Links

Here are some links to great information on fitting and alterations:

An alterations guide from Kwik Sew: download the pdf here

Lots of great articles on fit from Threads

From the Pattern Review site, Sleeve Fitting by Kenneth King

From the Sewing Divas, Adjusting for Full Bust on a Wrap Top, by Gorgeous Things.

Also from the Sewing Divas, Raglan Sleeve Cap Height Alteration, by Els.