Zig Zag Shirt by Sewing Workshop

Last year at The American Sewing Guild's banquet (Seattle Chapter), one of my girl friends had made a knee length coat using the Zig Zag Shirt from The Sewing Workshop.  So, I decided I was going to use the same pattern to make a jacket. The pattern is very easy to sew and well drafted.  I liked the construction that is used on the yoke, it creates a clean finish inside the garment. I made a size larger than my measurements.  I did change the pattern. Here are the changes I made: 

• I felt that the back of the yoke should be pointed to emphasize the pleat in the back and to complament the zag on the front of the yoke.

• I also lapped the seam lines in the back to show off the unique selvage that my fabric had and double top stitched. 
• I used the selvage for the neckline edge also. Inorder to prepare the neckline of the yoke for the selvage. I cut off the seam allowence. I sewed the under yoke and the the top yoke together along the neck edge with a double row of top stitching.

The beautiful fabric is from Pendelton Wool.

Vogue 1250 Review

Here is a link to the pattern on the Vogue website.

When I first saw this dress I was not impressed, especially for a "designer" pattern.  I passed it by in the Vogue Patterns Magazine, and dog-eared many a page after! (That was a particularly exciting issue.)

I am a member of Pattern Review, and while I was looking up some of the other patterns I was interested in I stumbled across a review of this dress!  On first glance I was very impressed with the flattering fit on the Member, so I probed a little deeper; and I have to say that everyone whom has made this dress looks great in it! So, I put it on my list. I thought it would make a comfortable, and easy summer travel dress.

I happened upon some fun fabric on the sale table, and decided to make V1250.  I was torn between what size to make 12 or 14, so I did a paper fitting to try and determine how much ease is allowed. I was mainly concerned about the hip area (my hips are 40") which is a 14, but the pattern seems to run large, so I made the 12; and it fit great. The knit fabric I used had 30% stretch to it. This is  a little less than what the pattern called for.

The instructions were easy to follow and accurate. The total sewing time was probably about two hours.  There are not a lot of seams, which is great for fast sewing, but you really can't fit it after it is cut out because there are no side seams, that extend to the hem.

Hope you get a chance to sew this beauty.  I recently spent a week in Southern California, and this made a great swimsuit cover up.

Marfy Completed!

I wish the details of the design lines showed up better in the photos!



Marfy 1661 - Construction General Order

1. Cut your pattern pieces from your fashion fabric, don't forget to add your seam allowances. I usually use a 1/2" seam allowance.

2. Interface the following pieces: front facing, back facing, back bodice along zipper insertion (I use 1/2" of fusible interface, as long as the zipper plus 1/2") , front bodice at inward facing point near pocket (reinforcement).

3. I construct garments in the same order every time.
Front:

• Organize all the front pieces together in a layout of the garment. 
• On each piece sew the inner construction first working from the center out. What that means is construct the darts first, then any pocket details or other design details.
• Once all the details are completed sew the larger pieces together. In this case the center front seam. Make sure that your darts are aligned at the center front. I usually stick a pin through the stitching line on each piece to align exactly.  I also made sure that the point, design detail, on the pockets were lined up evenly in the same way.

Back:

• Organize all your pieces again by making a layout of your garment back.
• On each piece sew the inner construction working from center out. In this case there is one dart to stitch on each piece.
• Stitch the two back pieces together stopping at the point at which the zipper will be inserted.
• Insert your zipper.

At this point I basted the front and back together at the side seams to check the fit. Before I put the facings on.
My next post will go into the details of how I constructed the design details.

Marfy 1661 - Draft Pocket Facing

It is easy to draft the missing pattern piece for this pattern. This piece is the pocket facing, and makes the pocket bag.  On the front pattern piece you will notice the outline is already drawn. (I used this paper from Dick Blick's to trace my patterns. http://www.dickblick.com/products/tracing-paper-in-rolls/ )

Lay a piece of paper over the pattern, use a ruler to draw the outline of the pocket:

 Once your done tracing the pocket outline, trace the edge of the dress, and your done.

Add your seam allowance, and your done! Yippie, on to sewing!

Marfy 1661 - Sheath Dress

The sheath dress is a classic, simple dress that can be easily dressed up or down - a chameleon for your wardrobe.  I like the sleek architectural lines of this sheath dress.  I also felt it would be challenging to sew with all the interesting angles.

Marfy Patterns are from Italy, but sold through Vogue Patterns here in the US. They do not come with directions for assembling the pattern, they do not have seam allowances added to the pattern, and not all the pattern pieces are included. Below is a photo of the pattern pieces. In the upper left hand corner is the pocket facing which I had to draft.

The first thing I did when I got the pattern was to make sure all the pattern pieces fit together smoothly, match. This is called truing. I start at the shoulders first making sure the seams line up perfectly, then I check the side seams by "walking" one seam along the other. I continue on to the facings and then the pocket doing the same.  This process gives me gives me confidence that the pattern is going to fit together well, and allows me to think about how to construct the pattern in the most efficient way.

I am a very visual person so I tape my pattern together to see how it is going to fit. I use tiny little slivers of tape to do this, and when I'm done I cut the tape, I don't try to take it off again. When I do this I am checking that the "mile posts" line up, that is: shoulder seam, to bust point, to waist, to hip. Then I check that the circumference looks like it will fit around those same areas. If your more mathematical you can measure instead.

Lastly, I draft the missing pattern piece. (Which I will demo next time.)

What fabric?????  Well, I have a beautiful piece of fabric that is a Japanese cotton (3 yards).

As you can see from the picture the print is very large.  So, I will be matching the design. The picture doesn't do the fabric justice. The colors are rich deep yellowy brown and rich deep red brown. It is beautiful! Hard to cut into. I knew I would get attached to it, and probably never make anything out of it, so I am not going to let this languish in the stash!!

Next post: making the pocket facing, and matching the print.