V8522 jacket finished!

This would have been finished a week ago, but I didn't have any big snaps. Well, actually I do have big snaps, but they are not black and I can't find them. Story of my life - I can never find things when I want them. I try to be organized, but I'm like that ADD kid and don't always pay attention to what I'm doing, so half the time, I don't remember where I put things, even though it makes perfect sense to me at the time I put them away. sigh.....









Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the jacket. It does have a problem with the lining wanting to roll out to the front. The jacket is lined to the edge, meaning there are no facings. It doesn't seem to be a problem in the sleeves or even at the hem, but where the lining meets the collar - that's another story. I added an additional snap to keep the front from fold ing back, but if that doesn't stop the lining from rolling out, I'll probably have to stitch it down from underneath the collar. I did understitch the lining under the length of the collar, but that's not doing the trick. I may have to actually stitch part of the collar to the jacket to hold it in place. We'll see what happens after the first time I wear it. Which, actually is why I did not hurry to finish this - it's just to hot to wear a jacket. It is still in the high 90's here - but I'm not complaining. Although I am ready for fall, I love the warm weather and could live in it all year long. Even though it is sometimes too hot to sleep at night (I think part of that is just that I'm having my own personal summer in addition to the one outside), I still love the feeling of the sun on me because I am usually too cold.


Last weekend I went on a women's retreat with the women from our church and roomed with a good friend. We had a great time and it was nice to meet some of the women and talk to others that I really only know by name but had never talked to. It was about a 3-1/2 hour drive to get there, but I think it took us more than 4 to get there. We went to a place called Lopez Canyon. It is near the coast. There were some really cool rock formations and examples of plate tectonics and folding there

Why I don't like Vogue.

I'm not sure what attracted me to this pattern in the first place. Maybe it was the picture in the catalogue, maybe it was the article in the latest Vogue Patterns Magazine, or maybe it was just foolishness. I think I thought the pants look kind of "beachy." I do like the top stitching and the design lines. I do like the elastic in the back waist. I do think they will be comfortable. I am sure they will make me look short and fat. Well, whatever, this is what I did today. I made these pants (the cropped ones.) I used a navy rayon/poly "linen" from Jo Anns. I tissue fit the pattern last night, and let me tell you, I could gain about 30 pounds and these would still fit! There is ample leg room. Like, two of us could fit in there. So, if you decide to make this pattern, buy it by your waist size, not hip! My waist is 29" That's between a 14 and 16 on the vogue chart. They say if you're between sizes to go up. I went down. I probably could have got by with a 12. I have found that many Vogue patterns have more ease than I like. Granted, this is a loose fitting garment.
So, why did I pick a Vogue pattern? I know that of the big 4, Vogue is supposedly "it". Personally, I don't really like Vogue patterns too much. If I can find the style by another company, I'll usually get that first. Here are some reasons why Vogue is not one of my favorites.

1. they use the cheapest, thinnest, tissue paper and lousy ink. On several patterns that I've purchased, the ink was so light that I could barely read it. Also, because they use such thin paper, their folding machines practically pleat the pattern pieces.
2. Ease. There is always too much ease.
   
3. Pattern sizing. I need an 8-10 on the top and 14-16 on the bottom. Their patterns never come with that combination. Fortunately, since they run big, I can sometimes get by with the 12 bottom and just adjust it to fit.
   
4. The pattern I used today had no finished measurements on it. I will say this is not typical for Vogue, but not atypical either. It's kind of hit or miss.
5. Bust point and hip points are often not printed on the pattern pieces.
6. Construction method. Todays pattern was a perfect example.
   
1. These pants have 8 vertical seams that need to be stitched, pressed, and topstiched. I also added the step of serging the raw edges together because of raveling. They have you stitch, press, and topstitch each seam before going on to the next. Why it took me 4 seams to figure this out, is beyond me. Since you are using in a contrasting thread, each time you topstitch you must change thread. I also changed feet because I like to use my edgestitching foot for top stitching. This was taking FOREVER, Finally, I realized I needed to stitch (almost) all of my seams, serge them and then do all of the topstitching at once. This saved a lot of time.
2. Another thing is prepressing hems, casings, and facings. Why don't they have you do this before you construct the garment? It is so much easier to do this pressing ahead of time rather than trying to press up the hem on a narrow leg opening. Now, I won't fault just Vogue for this one - all of the big 4 pattern companies seem to do the same thing.
7. Price - why in the world do they charge more than $25.00 for some of their patterns? (especially since they use such chintzy tissue paper!!) OK, I'm dating myself here, but I used to always sew with Simplicity patterns. They were 45 cents. So were McCalls, and Buttericks were 60 cents. Vogue was "way out of line" - they were $2.00.
   

Well, all that being said, I do have a number of Vogue patterns, but I really do wish they would change that paper!

I am almost finished with Annie's dress. I had a migraine for 2 days, so didn't get much hand sewing done. I'm still trying to decide whether to replace the zipper or not. I did a hand picked slot style zipper, but I'm not sure it will be strong enough. I only used a single thread instead of double. This dress will be very snug across the rib cage, and I don't want the zipper to gap open. So, should I take it out and redo it with a little more overlap, change it to a lapped application, or do it by machine?

Tomorrow I will take pictures of my "clown pants" I think they are funny looking, but they really are comfortable. for the beach maybe.