"Know When to Hold 'Em...Know When to Fold 'Em..."

The classic betting advice from an old Kenny Rogers song is true for my sewing projects as well.  Sometimes it's just good to cut your losses and move on to a more successful project.  
Last weekend I had two days of sewing and fitting at Sarah Veblen's "Choose Your Focus" workshop Sarah Veblen's class offerings  There were seven of us attending from near and far.  I had spent some of my "idle" home renovation time sewing up and marking seven different mock ups so I could pack them up for Sarah to fit on me and to give me some design and fabric choice ideas.  
I attended two of the offered days, Friday and Sunday and found it a wonderful use of my time. First of all, it made me evaluate my TNT patterns and analyze where there are gaps.  I don't sew everything I wear, nor do I want to.  I have way too many other interests to focus on that concept. My life is rather low key and casual and knit tops are easier for me to fit at home so I didn't need Sarah's help for any of those.  (Of course I am soooooo fortunate that I can easily book time with Sarah if I need tweaking something since she lives about 20 minutes from my house.)  I have pants patterns that work well enough for my lifestyle....the Elenore pull on jean is my current favorite and I have an older bootcut Burda pattern for fabrics with drape that I can rely upon.  So what I decided to focus on A) a fitted sheath dress or two nailed down as a staple.  Carolyn Diary of a Sewing Fanatic has pulled that off magnificently for years.  I had a go at it when we were Florida snowbirds but although my dresses were wearable, they weren't yet perfect. McCalls 6201 I even had Sarah fit me in a different sheath a few years ago but I didn't love love my stretch woven version when I finished it.  Vogue 8828  then B) some patterns for simple woven tops since I already have knits in my repertoire and C) maybe a fun, slightly (but only slightly :-) funky jacket.  Well, two our of three ideas came to fruition.

Here are my mock ups and the patterns I decided to focus on for those two days.  I decided that I wanted to use stretch woven fabric to do my dress fitting with Sarah.  I have a good number of stretch cottons in my "resource center" and they sew up nicely for a casual warm weather dress.  

The first pattern that Sarah pinned on me was that rather dated Burda #3247 dress but which has great bones to it.  Yes, I have to correct the shoulder slope, adjust the front darts, take out a wedge in the middle back but the waist darts were just fine and along with the back darts gave my rectangular body semblance of a nice shape.  I'll open up the neckline and it will be a very useful base pattern.
The most fun pattern was Vogue 8997 which I did as a swing dress.  Lovely lines and once I adjust those princess seams this will also be a fabulous base for all sorts of variations.  This very versatile pattern has a sheath version along with a two piece and flutter sleeve....talk about a lot of bang for your Vogue buck!  My third success was a simple but oh so handy woven tunic top, McCalls 7357.  I have a large number of floaty silk and silky fabrics that want to become tunics and I needed something feminine without too much peasant look....which at my age turns into feudal peasant way too quickly.  Not many changes to this mock up at all so it might be a nice easy sewing project for my upcoming August sewing retreat.  

Last success was a very last minute mock up that I brought along in case Sarah had time.  It's a classic blouse pattern, McCalls 6750.
Yes, I can show you what we pinned and marked but it's rather boring:

When I signed up for Sarah's workshop I did not have any particular event in mind.  Since that date I've gotten a family invitation to my aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary at a country club in northern VA so a new dress will be perfect.  

Now, what about those things that did not work.  Oh, I really wanted Vogue 1069 in my closet.  But the mock up looked awful.  That low armhole with the sleeve gusset and my short waisted narrow shoulder very asymmetric body were a bad match.  So, with some help from Sarah, I can adapt what I do love about this pattern....the deep, long shawl collar, the shoulder princess seams, the wide full bottom....and add those elements to a fitted jacket pattern in my collection.  Knowing that makes it so much easier to say good-bye to this particular dream and drop kick this pattern out of my sewing space.

The next discard was that McCalls pattern.  I had actually already done one major fitting and alteration but still greatly disliked the huge bodice dart.  Those other two dresses were so lovely that when I put on this mock up, which was close to being moved into real fabric, I decided it was not flattering enough to bother pursuing.  Yes, I could make it "better" but the design just didn't work as nicely.  I do like the raised waist and again, can use those features and put them on a dress that works better on my body.  

Not particularly nice bust dart

I was happy with the two days of my fitting time with Sarah as well as the benefits of watching her fit other people.  Small 1/4 and even 1/8 inch tweaks can make a lovely difference in how something fits and flatters.  I had sewn up two additional dress patterns but they were rather mediocre once I had gotten fitting help on these two.  I'll tuck them away in my closet in case I want to pursue them later but right now I'm itching to get to work on these four new garments. 

The workshop finished up late Sunday afternoon and I would have loved to holed up in my sewing room all week.  But very kind friends asked us up a lake house they were renting in northern New York state.  It was a small, quiet, beautiful lake and we did enjoy time to read on the decks, kayak, take the small outboard around the lake and then have day trips to Montreal and a wonderful trail at Bear Mountain on larger Cranberry Lake.  

Cranberry Lake in New York's Adirondack Park

Meanwhile, back at home our appliances were installed and the backsplash tile set. We arrived home last night and are happy with how the project is turning out.  We are home for four days this week, then away with friends at another lake, before we settle back and start putting everything together in the new kitchen and family room.  Cleaning, organizing and decorating is in our future but at least the workmen will be gone and we can do this at our pace.  I love summer, even when it is hot like it is this week, and don't want to miss out on the great outdoor activities in Maryland.  There will be time for cabinets and drawers and pantries and curtains when the days are shorter and we want to cocoon once again.  Until then, here's hoping you have been picking good projects that fit your life and style.

Sarah Veblen's June Sewing Retreat

Did anyone else have that Y2K feeling on July 1?  I was wondering what would happen when I opened my blog that morning and hooray, it looks like you are all still there and busy sewing away.  Goodbye Google Reader, if you used it, hello whatever you selected instead.  Welcome again if you are reading this through some new blog reader, Bloglovin or Feedly or more places I know very little about and welcome if by chance you are a new reader. Now that the tension has subsided, I'll fill you in on a wonderful event from mid-June. 
I spent two days at Sarah Veblen's latest sewing retreat Sarah's site (yes, the Sarah Veblen of The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting  book reviews ) and all I got was.... three, custom fitted sewing patterns!!!  Sarah scheduled a four day retreat but offers a variable pricing table to fit your schedule.  I originally only had one day available because of some company in town but a second day opend up and I was able to get three patterns fitted and marked in that time frame.

These are currently not much to look at but after Sarah has evaluated each one on your body, she pins in her fitting adjustments and then you mark your mock up garment and transfer those changes to your paper pattern.  Here's the current result....next up these will be transformed into wearable garments fit for my very asymmetrical body.  

Jacket pattern I selected for Sarah's fitting help....with no intention of it being reversible

Look at all those great fitting lines!

I concentrated on closely fitted woven garments since I can generally fit my own knit tops and dresses or looser fitting wovens myself or with the help of my sewing friends in ASG.  But I wanted a very fitted jacket and sheath dress pattern that I could turn to as classics whenever needed and that's exactly what I ended up with at the end of those two days.  

The pattern/picture doesn't make my heart sing but the design and fitting lines are terrific.

The third pattern was strictly a bonus that I had included at the last minute.  It is not a closely fitted top/jacket at all but even in this casual pattern, Sarah's fitting eye led to me adjusting four separate pattern pieces that will work up into a wonderful little wardrobe of lightweight woven tops for summer.  It's a long out of print early Today's Fit pattern that some of you

may still have tucked away in your collection.  

Remember this one?

I brought six pre-sewn mock-ups (or muslins) to the retreat.  What I enjoy about working with Sarah is that I get a very holistic approach to each garment....not just, how to make it fit a particular body but is this a good pattern on your particular body?  
We agreed on tossing two of the mock-ups that I had brought with me and using the collar from another one of them but giving up on the rest of the jacket pattern itself.  That's an awfully liberating thing to do and really lets me focus mentally on making the other patterns work for me.  I just went to look up one of the Simplicity patterns that I tossed and discovered that it is also OOP.  Simplicity 2191  S 2191 was one of the bust cup sizing patterns, a tunic with long or short sleeves and shoulder princess seams.  I thought it had some good potential to be a light summery tunic but both Sarah and I agreed that the lines made it look just dumpy, perhaps too wide a shoulder princess, and wasn't worth the rebuild.  
The next one was a fitted jacket with the same "bones" as the Vogue one above.  It was a Today's Fit pattern and I'd sewn it three different times but never finished any of them. I was never really happy with the result around the upper bust and armscye, despite all the fitting opportunities there.  Sarah agreed that it just wasn't worth the work and I tossed it....but saved the terrific shawl collar technique to use on the Vogue jacket version some day.

Best  shawl collar but otherwise not good for me.

There was another dress that we never got to in those two days but that one can wait for another day. 

I've raved before how working with Sarah on a fitted jacket pattern about six years ago at a similar retreat was a sewing life-changing experience for me.  These two days were filled with the same precision, thoroughness and care on Sarah's behalf as she works with you on whatever projects you choose to bring.  Her gentle, encouraging spirit is such a contrast to my childhood sewing teacher scoldings and criticism adding to my own self-doubt and rebelliousness.  I hope you have a sewing teacher or classes near you that are as much fun and as inspirational.