A Day in the Sewing Room

 I had a really good day, or partial day actually, in the sewing room yesterday and I am amazed at how much it helped my state of mind.  

First of all, I finished a sweater that I started in April and abandoned.  At the time I was looking for some mindless knitting and since I was working without a pattern, and didn't know if I would have enough yarn for sleeves, I put the whole aside rather than do the math. 

The yarn is a cotton/acrylic/rayon boucle from On-line, now discontinued.  The stripes on the sleeves are in Dolcino, a nylon ribbon by Trendsetter.  I added the stripes to the sleeves when I realized that there was not going to be enough of the original yarn to have much more than cap sleeves.  I really like the way the sweater turned out and it is a good basic sweater that will see a lot of wear.

(if you also read my knitting blog, purlsandmurmurs, sorry for the double posting)

I also got the blue eyelet skirt completely disassembled and had an accompanying "aha" moment.  You see the skirt, as it is now, is too long by a couple of inches.  It ends at mid calf which is not a flattering length.  But I didn't remember it always being that unflattering.   So when I looked back at the original post, in September 2007, I saw that the skirt was slightly below my knee, but not as long as it is now.  It didn't grow so what happened? And no, the skirt is not sitting below my waist now, nor was it sitting above my waist then.

Hips.  The problem is in the hips, and perhaps in the backside as well.  When I first started loosing weight I lost it mostly through the middle, through the tummy and waist, and that pesky full hip measurement did not budge one iota.  Now I'm not complaining about losing the middle,  but I got in the habit of altering my skirts by taking in the waist and upper hips, but leaving the fullness at the hip.  Well as fabric goes out to accommodate bulk, it draws the length up.  Apparently somewhere along the line, my hips started getting smaller too, and I didn't really notice this.   The extra fabric that used to go out over the hips now hangs straight down, making the skirt longer.  Hence the need for complete disassembly.   The final skirt is going to look much like the original, but I need to recut it, removing three inches of length from the waistline.  I'm sure there will be some other reworking to be done as well. 

I also spent some time cataloging and sorting patterns, both knitting and sewing, and finally working through the stacks of patterns and magazines, and piles of clothing and sweaters that I want to refashion.  Now that  I feel I am taking control again, I feel the pressure lifting and a bit of that ability to just play coming back.

Comments

[Mardel]

Thanks, K-Line and Mette.

 

Hey, Robin, the G-F diet has done wonders but I still need
to follow your example and exercise more as well.  I’ve moved from alterations to a complete remake on
this.  We’ll see how it goes.

 

Bev, the tuck idea is fabulous, and it would work if I only
needed to shorten, but I need to take out width too.     The amount of width in this skirt is
overwhelming in this style. 

 

Karen, yes negative helps only in one direction, although
sometimes  the stretching across
the width balances out the growth in the length, as the sideways stretch
shortens the garment. 
Unfortunately not always.  I
knit this in seed stitch which is often more stable, and at a smaller gauge
than the yarn called for, both tricks that help.  And I seamed it with the Dolcino, which really wasn’t
planned, just convenient.  Dolcino
is very stretchy with good recovery though, so perhaps by keeping the side
seams it place it will help control the whole sweater.

 

[karent]

Isn't it nice to take the time to re-immerse? I like the sweater, "growing" garments like that annoy me to no end. Negative ease helps in one direction, no? How do you deal with the other? (not sure I'm making sense, but I find making tighter around doesn't help the length growth. Sleeve lengthening through the day my particular nemesis.) K

[metscan]

I so admire those, who have skills to create something with their hands. I only "get" ideas. Someone else has to do the job for me. Accomplishing a job delayed is very satisfactory. I´m pleased to read your happy post.

[sdBev]

The weight loss journey has it's moments, eh? Since all you need is to shorten, can I suggest tucks similar to heirloom techniques.

[Robin]

wow, I am happy to hear you had some time in your sewing room! You haven't had enough. Alterations are not much fun, but at least this time the reason is a positive one (congrats on the positive effect of the gluten-free diet)

[K-Line]

Love the top! BTW, I've decided to really embrace the full range of sewing experiences. I worked with Scott today (in a blind leading the blind kind of way) on slashing up the muslin (I pretended he was Kenneth King:-)) We talked endlessly about the special features of the 1 piece gather dress, which will really impact out ability to effect appropriate adjustments. Let's just say, I don't make anything easy. I'm going to focus on the bodice and make a whole bunch of "original" tissue patterns and then start adjusting them, one at a time, until I figure out how to make this fit. Muslin by muslin I am prepared to go. Ick.

I'm not excited by the prospect, but I think it's the only alternative to admitting defeat. And I will not go there.