I've been wanting to move my blog away from Blogspot for a while but could never be bothered to actually do it. This week was the tipping point though, and I've now fully migrated over to https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . The blogspot address will remain here but all new posts will only appear at https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . There are lots of reasons for the move but my biggest one is how hard Blogger has made it for people to subscribe to receive new posts via email. It's such a basic requirement but apparently, they think it's too much to offer. I'm basing this purely on how I myself prefer to consume this stuff. I can't be arsed with feed readers anymore and emails are easy and convenient. When I receive one, if I fancy reading it, I will click through to it and, if not, I'll just delete it. Another reason is the spat between Google (owners of Blogger) and Instagram/Facebook/Meta. I don't even know if this is still the case anymore
The children have been back at school for a couple of weeks, we're settling into our post-summer routine and I'm starting to focus on sewing for the cooler months.
As it happens, the Love Sewing magazine I bought last week had McCalls M6886 as the free pattern and I was really excited to give this one a try. Everyone and their mother raves about it. I just needed to go find some fabric. Then, last night, I remembered I already had the perfect fabric for it!
I can see why everyone loves it. It's a very easy and speedy sew, unless you're using my machine - but more about that in a minute.
The pattern is super simple. I picked the length of view D and added the long sleeves to it. I cut a size 10 and graded it out to a 12 on the hips - the finished measurements made me think the 10 would be too tight. However, once sewn up, I had to swallow the excess back up around the hips anyway. So next time I'll just make a straight 10.
The fit is great. It's flattering, quite fitted and not at all uncomfortable. I have a little bit of excess fabric on the back but I'm happy to leave it there because: a) I don't know how to deal with it and b) it doesn't bother me. Plus, I like that it isn't restrictive in any way and I'd be worried about making it too tight. Extra bonus: excess fabric makes for meal-appropriate attire.
The instructions are a bit iffy. I didn't follow them and just did my own thing. But there's no mention of stabilising the shoulders - which I did - and they have you sew up the side and sleeve seams before setting in the sleeves. Bugger that! I sewed the sleeves on flat then closed up the side from cuff to hem - as I usually do for knits.
The pattern also instructs you to just turn over the neckline by 1.5cm. I really don't like doing this so I made my own band by measuring the neck opening and cutting a band 10% smaller.
I traced the pattern in the afternoon - all pieces, for all versions - and cut it in about 20 minutes. The actual sewing (shoulders, sleeves and sides) took about an hour. I left the hemming/finishing to do today but my machine decided to throw a hissy fit and not cooperate. Skipped stitches and threads breaking ALL. DAY. LONG. Gaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!
There was a lot of swearing going on. Loud swearing. Seriously, I don't understand why it becomes so difficult as soon as we start dealing with more than just 2 layers of fabric. But it's done now.
The fabric - which is still in stock - is great. I didn't know it was polyester until I just read it on the website right now. When I go into Fabworks, my brain switches to must-buy-all-the-fabric mode and all bets are off. I don't normally buy polyester but obviously the pretty flowers won me over.
Having said that, it's very soft and lovely to work with. Also, I made the dress with cooler months in mind so being too hot in it shouldn't be a problem.
Now that I know what the fuss is about with this pattern, I can proudly admit I am a convert. I will definitely be making more of it. Just as soon as I'm on speaking terms with Jolene, the Sewing Machine once again...