Monday, January 16, 2012

Nothing new here.

I had meant to get a fair amount of sewing done over the weekend, but it turned out that Hubby had to use my sewing table (a.k.a. the dining room table) for a work project, so I ended up baking a batch of cookies, doing a fair bit of reading, and working on my Still Light dress instead.  Oh, and playing with Picnik some more:  you may have noticed my new header.

We did end up taking a very nice walk in Ping Tom Park yesterday.  It was chilly, but sunny - perfect weather for walking.  Especially when you need to walk off the banh mi you've just eaten!  Here are some snowy pics I took:

looking toward downtown from the south end of the park

I love the yellow branches, white snow and black benches.

I'm not really sure what this structure is!

The Windschief hat and cowl in action!

snowy rocks by the river

the "pagoda" next to the river

snowy underbrush

view of downtown from the north end of the park

I've been reading Fit for Real People, in hopes of figuring out what I need to do with my Peony muslin.  It seems to confirm what I was beginning to suspect:  I've been choosing the wrong (too large) size for myself.  Although my size 0 front bodice piece seemed like it would be too small when I pinned up the darts and then held it up to my body, my size 2 muslin is clearly much too big, and the difference between the two sizes isn't all that much.  So my next move is going to be to shorten and narrow the darts, after I've moved them.  The bust darts need to come down about an inch and the waist darts of course need to be moved an inch or so toward the side seams.

That's something that confuses me about this pattern.  I can't think of anyone who has boobs with their apexes so close to the middle of their chest, which leads me to believe that Sarai moved these darts toward the center as a design feature.  So far, I haven't come across any finished dress that hasn't had the darts moved out to the side, and conventional wisdom is that these darts should extend down toward the waist in line with one's bust apex.  I spent a fair amount of time over the weekend trolling the internet looking for pictures of finished dresses, but wasn't able to come to any conclusions about this.

I was going to move on and print out my Pussy Bow Blouse pattern and start assembling it - and now my printer won't work!  I think the universe is telling me I should go clean the bathroom . . .

14 comments:

  1. Chicago looks dreamy covered in snow. So this post answers all those questions I asked you about your. As for cleaning the washroom... I say go for a nap instead :)

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  2. No wonder everyone was surprised by sandal wearing picture! I've forgotten what a real winter is like!

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  3. You know, I wondered the same thing about the Peony dress-- it doesn't seem possible that everyone would need to make the same correction, right? It's really hard to see the bust darts on the two examples from the Colette website, so I'm not sure what their intention was.

    Thanks for sharing the photos-- they made me homesick! Sometimes I don't realize how much I really miss Chicago! Still no snow in NYC, but I'll admit, it's easier to stand around outside during long shoots when there ISN'T snow on the ground!

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  4. PS-- I like your new header! Very nice!

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  5. Andrea: yes, it does look so pretty - when the sun is out AND you're not looking at the places that have gotten black from traffic! This park always looks nice :-)

    Lizz: yes, that's why! And why we were all so jealous!

    Ginger: I'm thinking I'm going to post that as a question on the Colette website, or just email Sarai or Caitlin. I'm really curious about it.

    Sometimes I wish I didn't live here (if I had my 'druthers, I'd live in the woods!) but there's no denying it's a beautiful city with a lot of fantastic photo ops!

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  6. Maybe you are like me and need a smaller size with an FBA.... I have to admit I am not totally sold on this but I'll ask my fitting class instructor to explain it in small words so I understand and then I'll report back. :)

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  7. It's kind of ridiculous the amount of research I'm putting into this. This evening's conclusion is that I'm going to leave the vertical darts where they are but move the side darts down (I am 47, after all - there's been a fair amount of sagging!) on the size 0, BUT make a full muslin, not just the bodice. I think I'm getting tripped up by not having the whole picture.

    I was surprised you were doing a FBA, based on your other projects you've written about . . .

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  8. Yeah, I barely fill out an A cup so the thought of me doing an FBA made me LOL. But maybe compared to a size 8 I am "full." We shall see.... oh isn't fitting FUN??

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  9. It's not a bad idea to do a full muslin-- on my bridesmaid dress, I just did a muslin of the bodice, which seemed really short, so I lowered it, but then when the skirt was attached, it seemed to pull the whole thing down and then the bodice seemed too long. Grr... I still haven't officially posted about that dress cause I'm just not psyched about it. For something that seems so simple, it really is tough to fit!

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  10. I've started thinking the same, and also that I'm not getting an accurate picture of the fit because I'm just kind of holding the back closed, rather than being able to zip it up. I think I'm making it harder for myself by trying to take shortcuts!

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  11. Gail, you're 47! Wow, I thought you were younger than me (43 on Feb 3) and in your thirties. You look amazing! I now have hope.

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  12. Ooo! Happy almost birthday! My b-day is at the end of Feb :-)

    Tee heee - thanks - - clean living, and all that! Plus some good genes ;-)

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  13. Do let us know what you get back from Sarai and the crew and what you conclude about those tricky bust darts! I'm very interested! :)

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  14. I decided not to post about it because after I looked at the projects on the Colette community forum, I did see a couple with the darts as originally intended!

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