Vogue 8332 is percoluating

I can't seem to get this project out of my head - it keeps making that blurp blurp blurp sound in the back of my mind.

I keep reflecting on what I could do differently to make this project a success. One thing I'm definitely going to do - and sooner rather than later - is get my DMIL's input on my collar problem. That's the one thing I haven't been able to think my way around yet.

And dang me for being a stubborn headed mule about getting help from others anyway - I tend to be so terribly bent on doing it all myself - silly me.

I have a sneaky suspicion that this guy will be resurfacing far sooner than I thought.

Vogue 8332 - UNCLE!!!

OK! OK! UNCLE!

This project has really whipped my hiney and I hereby throw in the towel. For now anyway.

It comes down to a simple matter of not having enough experience yet. I just don't have the skills needed to properly work on a jacket like this.

I spent a fair amount of time this past week, and pretty much the entire weekend working - patiently btw - and overcame a number of obstacles. But it wasn't enough.

First there was the infamous bias tape. Experiment #3 worked out quite well though. Using a mock flat-felled seam instead of bias tape was definitely a winner.

After figuring out how to do the seams, the rest of the reverse side went together just fine.

Then I went to work on attaching the front and hem bands to the reverse side. Hit a tempory snag in that the bands are also supposed to get the bias tape treatment. I figured out a way to get around that, and so moved forward.

Once the front and hem bands were put on, it was time to attach the front piece to the reverse piece. It all went together easily enough, but the reverse side fabric stretched out on me a bit during construction, so it hung rather loosely.

The area around the armscye was definitely going to give me difficulty. But, since I was planning on using a much more firm fabric for the reverse side, I figured this wouldn't be too much of an obstacle with the real thing.

Next it was time to attach the collar. Here is were I met my final match. I followed the instructions as best I could and well, I don't think I quite got the idea and the results showed it. The main problem were the bits at the end. The front and the collar were supposed to come together somehow so that raw edges didn't show (naturally) and I just could not get it to work.

That was pretty much the last straw. That and the fact that when I tried it on, the armscyes were definitely going to be too small. I expected the sleeves to be somewhat snug because they were in the pin fit, but I didn't expect to have problems with the armscyes.

So, enough is enough. It's time to take a few steps back and move forward at a slower pace. I'm planning on working on a couple of knit tops next. I think those will be "easy wins".

After that, I'll start thinking about how I can take smaller steps to get to the level I need to be at to tackle a project like this.

Experiments 1 & 2

Well, experiments 1 and 2 for Vogue 8332 are a no go. But I started on experiment #3 and it holds some promise.

Experiment #1: Make and use bias strips from the "real" fabric.

At first this seemed to be going well. The "real" fabric is more firm than the fabric I'm using for the muslin, so the tape making part of the exercise went fairly well. However, it is also thicker, and therefore bulkier. That snagged me up. I could not get the tape to fold properly over the seam. So at the very least, I'm ditching the idea of using the bias tape.

Experiment #2: Keeping the seam allowances to the outside and fraying them.

I've seen this work before, so I played with it a bit on one seam. But the look just wasn't right so I've abandoned that idea too.

Experiment #3 will be using a mock flat-felled seam. I've got it started and will hopefully be able to finish it up tomorrow evening.

Addendum to yesterday's post on Vogue 8332

Now that I've slept on my thoughts around discontinuing Vogue 8332, I've added some possible things to try that might make it better. Most notably, I want to investigate using other seam finishing methods, like the flat-felled or mock flat-felled, and see if those would be easier to work with than the bias binding.

I think I would be OK with either of those. I'm not wed to the use of the bias binding - only to the general look of having the seam finshing on the outside instead of the inside.

This is a completely crazy and possibly stupid thought, but what if instead of finishing the seams, I leave them unfinshed and fray them completely? It's worth trying as an experiment anyway. Heck, what are muslins for if we can't experiment on them! :)

To Vogue 8332 or not to Vogue 8332...

I worked on my Vogue 8332 jacket more this weekend, and I'm beginning to have serious doubts about this project.

Where to begin with my woes?

I have a really pretty brocade (pic was in an earlier post) that I want to use for the reverse side of this jacket. That brocade IS the reason I picked this pattern out. I really liked the notion of matching up the brocade with the bias bound seams to get something beyond the ordinary.

However, my muslin is telling me that I should rethink my choices. The fabric that I'm using for the reverse side muslin is a fairly thin and slippery brocade. It ravels fairly easily, but most especially where the brocade pattern forms. This fabric caused some problems during the bias tape making effort. The brocade pattern areas stretched out badly in some cases, making the tape thinner than I need it to be.

Match the uneven bias tape up with my not-so-perfect sewing lines AND the fact that there is topstitching visable, and you have a mess in the making. I didn't realize, btw, that there was topstitching until I actually started on the reverse side of the muslin. That would be my inexperience showing. Someone with more experience would probably have taken one look at it and known that some stitching would be visible.

In the meantime, I've got some other projects screaming to be done in time to wear during the spring and summer.

So what is my plan?

I'm going to "sacrifice" some of my pretty brocade to some experimentation.

I'm going to make a few test strips to see how the brocade will handle when using it for bias tape.

If the "real" fabric works better than my muslin fabric, I'll keep moving forward. I think I can get around the topstitching concern by using clear thread. I don't really want the topstitching to show anyway as I think it would detract from the look of the jacket in this case.

If it's even close to as bad as my muslin fabric to work with though, I'm going to ditch this project and move on. As much as I don't like having a big stash, and as much as I don't really want to just give up, this fabric should not be wasted on something I can't do right.

Sigh...

In the meantime, I purchased this loverly fabric from EmmaOneSock. I've not worked with knit fabric yet. But I've heard it's not too difficult, and I've picked a very simple pattern to start with.

Should my jacket project go south, I'm hoping a nice knit blouse will give me an easy win. At this point, I think I may need one.

Vogue 8332 - Slow going

I've made virutally no progress this week on my Vogue jacket. I'm to the point on the muslin where I need to press out miles and miles of bias binding, and I haven't much felt like tackling it. I think I have maybe 1/2 a yard done.

I did go to Joann's Monday after work to buy a bias tape maker. I tried it out Monday evening and I gotta say I didn't like it too well. The tape maker didn't seem to hold the fabric tight enough so I was having a good bit of trouble keeping the sides folded over. I even had the tip of the iron right up against the edge of the tape maker and it didn't really help.

I did find a tip on PatternReview that I want to try out this weekend. I sure hope it works out. I'll post my results :)

I've got to get a move on this project. I've been hankering to try my hand at making some things with knit fabrics, but I refuse to leave this project hanging out as a UFO.

Vogue 8332 - Progress is being made

Woo hoo! I got to spend some time this weekend working on my current project - Vogue 8332.

I spent a fair amount of time on Saturday cutting all the bias strips out. I started pressing those, but realized part way through that it was going to take forever and not look particularly nice unless I used one of those bias tape makers.

I hunted some up online, and unfortunately, the shipping to get one would cost more than the tool itself. So I set the bias strips aside to wait on a quick trip to Joann's some evening this week.

In the meantime, I spent my sewing time on Sunday piecing side 1 of the jacket together. I've got everything put together except for the pockets and the sleeves. The sleeves though are one of the last things to be done - after sewing up side 2.

Side 2 will be interesting as that's the side that is sewn up with the seams facing outward and then bound with the bias tape.

Vogue 8332 - Progress Made So Far

So far, I've traced out all the pattern pieces.

I currently trace patterns using a not-so-handy window, and butcher paper. Eventually, I would like to try something that doesn't require the window. It's very hard on my back and neck, and of course, I can only trace pieces when there's light outside.

For this pattern, I made my standard alterations. I started with a size 18, then widened the sleeves in the bicep area, and widened the waist and hip areas.

I've also cut out the main fabric side pieces of the muslin, as well as the 1st contrast pieces and applied the interfacing to those.


I tried something new with the interfacing for this project. Previously, I had followed the pattern instructions and cut the interfacing using the pattern pieces, then applied the interfacing to the fabric.

As you can see from the pictures, this time I applied the interfacing to the cut fabric pieces, then trimmed the excess. I think this way is going to be easier for me most of the time. The only thing I need to be careful of is that the edges of the interfacing stick to either my presscloth, or the ironing board cover. Overall though, this really worked out for me.

My muslin fabric for this side is a cheap plaid flannel I picked up off the $1 table at Walmart.

Lastly I've done a first pin fitting.



The pins make the seams look a little puckered, but the fit feels good overall. I fit the sleeve pieces separately and I think I may have some trouble with those. The upper sleeve felt a bit tight when I bent my elbow and may need to be widened a bit more. I don't think I'll make the final decision on that though until I've sewn this first muslin up.

Right now I'm cutting the pieces for the reverse (contrast #2) side. For this side, I'm using a lightweight jacquard I picked up off ebay.

As soon as I get the reverse side cut out, I'll sew everything up and see how it turns out. If everything goes well, I may move directly into the real thing. If not, I'll assess what needs help and do a 2nd muslin.

Vogue 8332 - Divine Details Jacket

This is what I'm currently working on:

I'm nowhere near finished with it though. I'm still working on muslin #1.

My inspiration for this jacket was some very pretty paisley brocade I picked up off ebay back in the late summer.

The fabric has an "Asian" flavor to it, but I didn't want to do a standard Asian-style top or jacket. I read a good article in Threads magazine about using different kinds of fabrics for "jean" jackets and went hunting for something like that.

My goal was and is to end up with a jacket that could dress both up and down. I hunted all over finally found this pattern.

True, it's not a "jean" jacket, but it appealed to me because I thought I could do one side in denim, and the other in the brocade. I've since changed my mind about that. As time moved on, I started to doubt the wisdom of mixing the denim and brocade with this pattern.

Why? The brocade is medium weight to begin with and fairly thick. The denim is also medium weight. The pattern calls for lighter weight fabrics. It seemed like the thing might be too bulky. I mulled this over for a bit, and was brought to a solid decision to change things around by a review of this pattern over at PatternReview.

I do plan on keeping the brocade for the contrast side. But for the fabric side, I'm going to switch to something much more lightweight. I think I can get that to work out. We'll see.

And what to do with the 20 yrds of denim I had already purchased (through ebay of course - got a good price on it)? I think with that I would like to make a real jean jacket, and maybe use some of the left over paisley, or some other nice fabric, to mix in with it. There are a few different patterns I have my eye on for this.