Taking a Break

I'm taking a little break from working on my FSG 1945 jacket. It is coming along fine, but it's hard to be motivated to work on a jacket when it's been over 100 degrees every day. Here's my progress so far. I'm ready to cut out and sew the lining. That will also help the collar to roll more nicely than it looks here on the dress form.












I don't know what has happened to my dress form, but she is having a serious posture problem. This is a vintage dress form and you adjust the measurements from a series of bars with screws and wing nuts on the inside. I have all of the proportions right, but she is leaning forward and her butt is sticking out. It's kind of hard to tell how anything will fit or hang with her standing like this. I'm not really sure how to fix her. I've tried, but this seems to be the best I can get.















There are still so many things I want to make to wear NOW. I got some linen the other day from Fabric Store and decided to put it to use. I bought McCalls 5664 a while ago and it looked like it would be a good match for the fabric. I am doing it in all white (no colored bow) so that it will go with more colors. This also is taking a little longer than I thought it would.








This time I was smart and looked at the other reviews on Pattern review. Because of what I had read, I decided to go ahead and add an inch and a half to the front to make it longer. Well, when I got to the point to try that on, I realized that it was still a couple of inches shorter in the front than it was on the sides! There are wide gussets on the sides, so I used my curved ruler and took about 3" off the side seam, curving down to the hem at the front of the gusset. I also ended up taking another inch or so off the back, because since there are no darts in the front, added length is needed there, even if you just want it to hang evenly all around.

This blouse has a placket in the front and I am pleased with how mine turned out. I think the key to making a good placket is to mark carefully. This one didn't turn out perfectly, but unless you are examining it (which you will, when I put up a picture!) it looks just fine.

I've got the collar sewn on and just need to slip stitch the inside of the collar band. Hopefully I can get the sleeves and hem done tomorrow and I will be finished! I could get it finished tonight, but DH needs me to run a few errands with him. My back is protesting anyway from too much sewing today!