A month of months

Ar·​mi·​stice | \ ˈär-mə-stəs \
Definition of armistice: a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting.

I tried to come to an accord with this tunic.

Click to make bigger!

No, but really, this is another Edwardian blouse, which Folkwear says dates back to 1918, the end of WWI, hence, Armistice blouse.

I had wanted to make one out of the horrible tunic, but was on the fence about using this particular fabric for that. Then I saw The Peculiar Stitch's version and that brought me down on the side of "yes".

Using my bunka sloper, I checked the distance from both the center front and center back to shoulder seams and settled on a size medium.

I used her alterations (including the #NotTodaySatan exclusion of buttonholes), except I think my sleeves were 14" in length. The cuffs are the same size.

The cuffs and collar are faced with some sort of poly(I think)/cotton. It does not behave like 100% cotton. That gave it some oomph.

The hem is not flattering to me and does not need trim, but since I will most likely be wearing it tucked in, it's not getting fixed (especially since the trim is zigzagged on!)

I raised the front panel 1.5" without the trim (which in this case is just two pieces of time stitched together (that's supposed to be "trim", but I like my mistyped version SO MUCH BETTER). This is a Low Cut blouse. It's still a bit low and I need to watch it when I lean over.

Fabric: Black embroidered 100% cotton gauze
Cost: Can't remember, but this is the third garment made from the original cut of fabric, so it's probably like, $.02
Time: 2/22-23 traced pattern, 2/24-25 & 3/1 sewed, 3/2 finished

So, now we know why Ichabod will be staying in period clothing and where he gets them.  So clever and not just a little hilarious.

And now...
I'm currently working on finishing up the seventh item¹ in my "sew one piece of clothing a week" collection... from October.  Things keep getting slipped into the queue as they have a higher priority.  Like resewing the buttons on my pants again because I'm either losing weight or they are stretching.

And putting gussets in the underarm seam of the sixth item - a basic short-sleeved button-up blouse¹ - after completely finishing it, because it was one of those situations where the entire shirt comes up when you lift your arms.  Which is really the point of this post.

After reading Kathleen Fasanella's post about how sleeve cap ease is bogus and what a sleeve cap should look like to follow the actual shape of a person, I wanted to try drafting something like that on the next shirt I made to avoid the shirt-rising problem.

The seventh item is indeed a basic long-sleeved button-up blouse from the same pattern as the short-sleeved.  I took the gusset from the short-sleeved and marked the points where it starts and stops on the arm scye. It makes the bottom of the arm scye over 2" (5cm) higher! And it's not exactly parallel to the floor. It slopes slightly down toward the front.  Not quite as much as some of the pictures in the tailoring forums:But like this:

I can understand shaping the armhole opening, but the sleeve is beyond my understanding at this point.  Measuring my arm around the deltoids and comparing it to the pattern measurement makes me think I need to add about two inches more in width? Which sort of could correspond to this picture?


Anyway.

And then there are these which are lesser priority, but frustrating me to think about.

I had to cut myself out of my black and white skirt. Have you ever been able to un-jam an invisible zipper? And it really isn't as full as I originally wanted, so I want to add gores and a new zipper. Which means taking off the bottom black band and making a new one of those.  And I could probably line it this time instead of underlining it. Basically, I would like to make an entirely new skirt. Urg.

The black dress I made from a pattern I thought fit me is exceptionally tight because the waist is too high and I should have lined it, not interlined it.  The corduroy and rayon lining really need to move independently.  Which means, basically, making a whole new dress.  And taking the collar off because it looks a little too... churchy?  Wednesday Addams?

^{1 From fabric bought for me while visiting home. :)}

These fabrics:

Make this top:
I finished this Simplicity 1891 blouse a while ago, but with a cotton broadcloth underlining that was way too stiff. I decided to reline it with silk charmeuse, since I was able to find the right color. However, that meant trying to take apart something made from silk chiffon, hand basting the shifty layers together, and sewing it back up on the (hopefully) original stitching lines. That were shifting all over the place. Then there were the buttonholes. Ugh. I hand stitched them with regular thread, and that didn't work. I tried one on the machine, and that didn't work either. Then I hand stitched them with embroidery thread and that worked, although I hope no one ever examines them up close.


And with that, I think my spring collection from 2010 is finally done. Yay, me?