bodner066

Here's the remake. Yeah, I know it's hard to tell the difference, but trust me ... this one feels and hangs a lot better, especially after switching out the original doubleknit used for the skirt in favor of a thinner and drapier rayon/Lycra. And, of course, ditching the butt pleat. "Butt pleat" doesn't even *sound* attractive, does it? ;-) I realize it's hard to see any front pleat details at all in the black so I tried to lighten up the pic a bit. Even then, it wasn't very cooperative and this is the best I could do. I felt girly and swirly wearing this today and received unsolicitations from just about everyone in the office, so it's obviously a Win! pattern/style for me (as many of you confirmed) , especially now that I've worked through the quirks and annoyances of the first go. These photos were taken after I got home from work and now that I've worn it all day, I don't think I'd change anything else not mentioned earlier but I do...

Without a lot of tweaking, I do have a wearable (and liked) Red Velvet dress. I'll wait until I'm camera-ready to show the whole dress, since I think Zillie does it a disservice (sorry old girl!) . But for now, here's a run-down on the tweaks and hacks. I decided to interface the midriff, which is why it looks white from the wrong side. Since I now think drapey fabrics will give the best results for this dress even though doubleknit is a recommended fabric, I recommend fusible knit interfacing for one and all. The midriff needs a bit of structure so it doesn't collapse on itself or stretch out from the weight of the skirt (or get caught in any lumps/bumps ... ahem, I'm just sayin') and with the fusible, it gets that structure. Cut/fuse with the stretch going around your body. I reduced the depth of the midriff pieces by 1-1/2" and added another 5/8" to the bottom of the bodice, which puts it at over 4" I added to the bodice length. Clearly, the ...

Dear Indie Pattern Designer, First, I want you to know that I LOVE that you are out there, providing more choices and variety. As a stitcher and habitual pattern buyer and stasher, I very selfishly want you to succeed. And, as a former business owner, I know running your own company is not as easy as it looks from the sidelines. So please know that what follows are suggestions and constructive criticisms that are meant to be helpful and not mean-spirited. So, deep breath, here we go ... You have a website/store, so please carve out a spot there where I can learn about your processes, your training, your vision. I want to know if you're the designer and the patternmaker, or whether you outsource patternmaking, which is really OK, but if so, tell me how you oversee that. I want to know if you're formally trained, self-taught, or somewhere in between (sewing, designing, patternmaking ... all of them). I want to know what inspired you to take this leap. I want to know where you...

OK, apologies for that post title, but I couldn't resist ...because it's literally true. The Red Velvet "muslin" is growing on me, especially after seeing pics of me in it vs. just sticking it on Zillie to model. And I'm not about to NOT get a wearable something out of this pattern since I'm already pretty close. So, yes ... I'm making another one, which will be virtually the same but with some pattern hacking and a much thinner black knit for the skirt to eliminate the unneeded bulk. Heather asked about the black/white color scheme chosen and if I was changing my stance on not wearing black. The real answer is simply that I was shopping my stash. But yes, I'm relaxing on the black aversion a bit and do wear it now, but always paired with a print. Plus, black in an office setting is always acceptable. Right Carolyn? :-) I cut the new pieces tonight, eliminating the back pleat in a slapdash hack and kicking the facings to the curb. I  also removed 1-1/...

Can you NOT look at that midriff now that you've seen it? Is that a pleat on your butt or are you just happy to see me? That's a lot of skirt! Edited to add this link to the blog post where the owner of Cake Patterns responds to my review. Pattern Description: "The Red Velvet Knit Dress features a faced circular neckline with optional petal collar and pleated underbust seam. Choose the origami-style scissor pleated skirt, or reverse it for a flat boxy-pleat effect. A cleverly concealed ticket pocket holds a few coins, cards, or lipstick." Pattern Sizing: Bodice 30"-59"; Waist 25"-55". (My bust is 44, my waist is 37.) Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes and no. The actual skirt section is much fuller than the scissor-pleat view line drawings would lead you to believe. Were the instructions easy to follow? Easy, yes, but I think there is room for improvement, especially because Cake a...

While I'm not 20-something, I have NOT been sewing for decades. I have been sewing for just over 10 years. I grew up with a mom who sewed her whole life but she didn't teach me specifically or give me lessons. I didn't want to learn back then. A few things naturally rubbed off by sheer virtue of being around it and probably from my one 7th grade Home Ec class but by and large, I am self-taught, through books, videos, and interacting with others on the internet ... and by just jumping in and doing it. I bought a cheap Sears machine to sew the straight seams for living room curtains I didn't want to pay hundreds of dollars for. And then the spark was lit. (My mother was shocked as she had long given up.) I'm not out to discourage anyone from sewing, from buying a specific pattern line, or from creating a pattern line. I've been giving my opinions about one pattern. You know what they say about opinions, and you are free to take mine ... or leave them. But when rev...

So here's the "muslin." And some more observations. I used the neck facings, just to see and report back. Hate 'em. They do not stay flat. (Not that I really expected them to.) In fact, the "fix" for this in the instructions is to use fusible webbing between the facing and bodice. Hahaha. My fix would be to ditch them completely and either just turn the edge under and stitch/coverstitch or bind it one way or another (depending on desired final look) . In other words, there are far better ways to finish a knit neckline. And I still remain firm in my stance on not staystitching a knit neckline. I don't care what a Tilton sister says. (Said with a smile!) It's much more likely that you will overwork the knit with the extra stitching than you would stretch it out by omitting it. But if you're really worried, fuse some lightweight stay tape to it instead.  For this trial, I coverstitched about 1/2" in from the edge and if I were going to kee...

I want to start off by saying that I wish it wasn't me finding errors with the pattern. I really want indies to be successful. It's to everyone's benefit if they are. And I admit I wanted to feel the bliss I've seen around the interwebs. But on the other hand, I'm not inclined toward that bliss when plunking down $15 and then needing to fix the pattern. And it bugs me a little that beginning stitchers won't know what they don't know and will probably remain blissfully ignorant. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Here goes ... I was originally going to blend between upper chest/neck and waist. Bad enough that the sizes aren't nested to make it easier on me, but the sleeve angles vary between the sizes. If I line up the sleeve angles as below, look what happens to the center fronts ... they are wonky donkey. Likewise, if I align the CFs, the sleeve angles go in different directions. Which means you may need a shoulder angle adjustment in one size ...

So, I'm actually and FINALLY mostly caught up at work and I made my hours this week, which means I could leave at 2:30. I was home today by 3. Can I get a woohooo?! But before I left, I bought and downloaded the PDF version of Cake Patterns new Red Velvet dress. I won't say where I printed it. Ahem. Yes, I drank the Kool-Aid. Or ate the cake. Or whatever. ;-) What follows are my first impressions before even cutting the pattern or fabric. I still have hopes for a nice dress in the end, and I don't want to bring down the wrath of the Cake "muses" and other devotees for what I'm about to say ... but so far ... I. Am. Not. Impressed. In no particular order: 1. Why do I have to turn page after page of instructions to find my frickin' starting size? 2. Why are the adjustments (Proportions in Cakespeak) after the sewing instructions? 3. Lightning stitch? Really? Yeah, uh, no. 4. Staystitching a KNIT neckline? 5. Instructed to finish the "raw" and int...

The dress is pretty much done. I just need to stitch the sleeve hems and decide on the overall length, probably chopping at least 6 inches off the bottom. But I'm going slow with this because I'm not highly motivated at the moment. It's still 90+ degrees outside and this dress is (1) moleskin and (2) high- and closed-necked, which is kind of suffocating in these temps. It will make a nice autumn/winter dress ... when we finally have those seasons in about 2 months. :-) The fit is almost perfect. The only thing I'd tweak if there was a next time (not sure yet if there will be) would be an erect back tuck since the back neck does hit me a little high. But my hair covers it so I'm not going to sweat it. As long as I wait for the temps to drop. ;-) I thought about that alteration as I was cutting the tissue because it's fairly standard for me with wovens but then I forgot so I really only have myself to blame. I didn't do aany other alterations to this except t...