"Three weeks and it couldn't be worse..."

[ladyofthethread]

I really wish all my posts lately weren’t about sewing fiascos. I know I can sew decently but I just feel like a failure these days since I’ve had such problems with everything I’ve tried to work on for about the past month.

After my last post, I continued on the skirt but then sewed one of the pocket slits shut by mistake and decided it was just time to put it aside for a while. Sunday, my father agreed to drive me to JoAnn’s so I picked up some patterns to alter for Ekaterina’s jacket, a bolt of muslin, supplies to work on my samples for the Anime Boston workshop, and some other little things.

Feeling more optimistic, I started altering patterns for Ekaterina’s jacket. I began with a Butterick men’s costume pattern since it was the only jacket pattern I could find with both a standing collar and huge lapels. Plus, I figured it might work better than some women’s patterns because of the way the corset flattens out my figure. Started from the small size and changed the front to be single breasted and have the right lapel shape. Did a mockup and found the back seemed baggy although the front looked good so I took it apart and cut the back pieces down to extra small. Seemed better after that and I added in sleeves from this pattern since they had the shape I needed. The sleeves went in okay and the front looked perfect.

However, the sleeves would pull and cause wrinkles across the back around bust level if I extended my arms in front of me. None of the alterations in the Vogue sewing book seemed to fit this problem and I wasn’t sure what would be the best way to fix it so I asked my mother what she thought. (She worked as a seamstress before I was born but she’s not that fond of my cosplay hobby so I try to avoid bringing costume stuff up with her normally.) She thought I should let it out at the princess seams in the back. I tried that but it still wrinkles in that spot. Next, she suggested enlarging the armhole in the back. I did that and it’s a bit better but the wrinkles still aren’t gone. Then, she thought I should drop the bottom of the armhole and enlarge it some more. I tried it on one side of the mockup and the damn thing still pulls and wrinkles in the back. -_- My mother is still trying to help fix it but I’m really frustrated at this point because it fits everywhere else and it’s just this one issue that keeps me from finishing up the patterning and getting started on the real jacket.

Bah, at this point, I’m not sure if Ekaterina is going to be done for Costume Con. It would be disappointing if it’s not since I wanted to get it judged there versus a regular anime con. Workmanship judging for the historical masquerade works a little differently; they recommend that people bring their costumes to pre-judging rather than wearing them. I’m pretty pleased with my corset and panniers and that would give me a chance to show them off to the judges which I wouldn’t be able to do if I entered it at an anime con. Plus, I actually have an idea for fitting music to use for a walk-on and I think it would be more appreciated at Costume Con.

I don’t really feel like it but I probably have to go fabric shopping in the morning so I can work on stuff over the weekend. I still need a bunch of things and don’t know if places will close this weekend since it’s Easter. Maybe, I’ll jump to working on the phoenix prop to go with 19th Century D for a bit. At least, I can’t really have fitting issues with that. >_>

Comments

[tiatsuchi.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I hope everything works out. Sorry you are having such sleeve issues, I always have trouble with sleeves too.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Yeah, sleeves are troublesome. Even after years of sewing, I usually still end up having to rip and resew at least one spot whenever I set in a sleeve.

[selphie84.livejournal.com]

Heh I've got that Butterick pattern too. There's this pattern though that I have -- cant seem to remember if it was Vogue (it might have been a period costume from McCalls or Butterick tho...) or what that might be better suited for her jacket - I cant remember it entirely, but from what I remember of it, might be a lot easier to alter for the jacket as opposed to the Christmas Carol one.

*hah* read more into your post and the 2nd pattern of the women's period dress/coat is the one I was talking about. I think part of your wrinkle problem stems from the fact you used a men's pattern for the body and women's for the sleeve. Men's coat patterns account for significantly broader shoulders/shoulder blades even at the smaller sizes and their sleeve caps are shaped a little different and fuller that fitting the sleeve onto it would involve adding to and altering the women's sleeve to have it fit properly. Both might be fitted jackets, but are fitting completely different structures.

What you might want to try instead is use the women's pattern entirely and just use your knowlege and the men's pattern as a reference to create lapels & collar for it; I think you might have much better luck doing that instead.

Sorry to hear your frustrations. I was there when I was making my double-breasted lapel vest with a front panel of evil for my Capt. Varrot costume from Valkyria Chronicles. The things this hobby makes us go thru, heh. Hope my reply helps tho! Good luck! (and btw your corset & panniers looked really awesome and clean)

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks for taking the time to reply with all the suggestions. I did wonder if putting in the woman’s sleeve would be a problem but it seemed to fit. Maybe, I should redraw the sleeve instead of all the armhole alterations?

I did consider starting from the woman’s pattern and using the men’s pattern for reference on the lapels and collar. But the woman’s pattern is princess seamed in the front and looks like it’s just designed to be worn over regular modern underwear so I didn’t think it would fit right when I’m wearing the corset. :-/ An explanation I’ve read of 18th century corsets is that they’re intended to give a flat look in the front to contrast with the roundness of the bust coming out at the top; the bust gets smushed and pushed upwards. With the corset, my normally 38” bust gets flattened out to 35”. And my waist comes out to 30-31” although it’s only 27-27 ½” without the corset. (I think all the boning and my huge ribs keep me from being able to pull it tighter at the waist.) So, it’s a different shape than what modern patterns are designed for. I’ve looked for patterns for that time frame but most tend to be for gowns and the few jacket patterns I’ve seen (all from historic pattern companies) aren’t even close to the style I need.

I’m going to put it aside for a bit and try messing with it again in a few days.

[selphie84.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if it's the sleeve more than the back. I'd say there'd be more extra fabric in the body than in the sleeve so rather than take it in only at seams, I'd try throwing a small dart into the armhole or wherever you see bunching to get it to lay flatter and then just remove (close up/edit out) the dart when you're drafting your final pattern. You also might not have put enough ease into the armhole seam and side seam just below the armhole to allow for give as an additional source of wrinkling.

If you do want to try to use the women's as a base, combining princess seams shouldn't be too hard to do - had to do it on my vest and also in a patternmaking class I took @ Pratt we took basic bodices and created princess seam from it so as long as you line up the proper meeting points along the seam and remove the seam allowance you should be fine.

As far as flattening you out, I wouldn't be too concerned w/ that in the women's pattern - just looking at the photo of the woman wearing it, you can hardly see her chest or curves; you can see some and tell that it's "feminine" but not overly that having your corset underneath affecting your measurements to be a problem. I'd say when you're ready to tackle the jacket again do another muslin mockup and then take it in/trim as necessary.

Good luck~

Btw in case you're interested, this is the evil vest I'm mentioning:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1333/3264693539_b860531a61.jpg
I started with a jacket pattern that had a few of the elements I needed and then destroyed the thing to get the desired lines and pieces out of it XD

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

That vest does look like it was annoying to pattern!

Thanks for the suggestions. The sleeve is pulling at the underarm so you're probably right about there not being enough ease down there. I've decided to postpone the costume for a bit so I can work on it without feeling so stressed over deadlines. But I'll definitely come back to it sometime within the next few months.

[leisemelody.livejournal.com]

Maybe adjusting the shoulder seams would help.

When you set in the sleeve, does it set slightly forward or straight down???

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Hmm... Thanks for the idea.

Right now, it seems to go forward a bit. I don't remember how it was before I altered the armholes though. ^_^;; Is it supposed to go forward or straight down?

I wish I remembered my patternmaking stuff. I did my certificate at Parsons part-time when I was still just dabbling in sewing so I didn't practice much afterwards and forgot most of it. ._.

[leisemelody.livejournal.com]

From what I was taught, slightly forward. Not too much. Straight down is fine, but not sure for lapel coats.

I can send you instructions for custom sleeves and armhole fittings if you want from my book.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. I got out my draping book (Draping for Apparel Design by Helen Joseph-Armstrong) and looked at the sleeve pages. It shows how to make a basic sleeve using patternmaking techniques but the adjustments it talks about pertain mostly to fullness in the sleeve caps. (My problem seems to be in the underarm area though since that's where it's pulling.)It also shows how to adjust your pattern if the sleeve swings backwards or forwards too much. Does that sound similar to what's in your book? I've been meaning to get myself a patternmaking book and relearn the material for some time but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I'll be coming back to the jacket sometime in the next few months but it's postponed for now while I concentrate on my phoenix prop.

[skdarkdragon.livejournal.com]

:( Aww, I'm sure everything will work out! You sound like you just need a break.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hope it'll work out after I've had a break and I'm not so stressed and frustrated.