Yay, this is my next project, which is actually part of Project Effie Trinket. It is the pattern I am considering for the skirt for the Effie Trinket costume, but wanted to sew it in another fabric first to see how I liked it. I already made a quick muslin and made some fitting adjustments. On first blush though I think I am going to have to choose another skirt pattern. I didn’t realize this one was a low rider without a waistband.

A after much finagling to the original pattern, I am done! In the muslin stage I had added some fisheye darts to the back because when you add fabric to account for the booty, invariably you get all kinds of bunching up in the lower back valley, so I put two darts there. I also added added two fisheye darts below the bust too so that it is more fitted all around. The pattern is designed to be worn with a belt so it is loose in the waist, but I wanted to avoid the belted look and just make it more fitted.

I made the second muslin and need to make more pattern alterations. I am apparently too bootylicious for Vogue 7544. I am not going to make another test run though after these alterations, I am just going to go for it. (Pictured is a sample booty. Actual booty may differ.)

Here is the pattern and the fabric. I am making a muslin of it first out of some ugly fabric (the same stuff I made the cat bed out of) to check the fit first. I am very skeptical of the pattern and don’t want to spend a lot of time on it if the fit can’t be made to be decent.

Update: Made the first muslin and realized that I totally forgot this pattern was at least three sizes too small, and I needed to resize it. So obviously muslin was way too small. Made first re-draft of the pattern and need to sew the second muslin. I have a feeling I didn’t add enough to the size and will be on yet another redraft. We shall see.

I finished the dress (picture at right) and the belt! I had never made a “real” belt before, only sashes, so this is something new. The thing is a butt-ugly sack. So ugly it is cute. Since I am so chagrined at how “thick” it is with the two layers of quilting fabric, I immediately used the pattern again to make a pillowcase style shirt out of a couple yards of cute ducky fabric I have. It will let me see how this pattern handles when with thinner layers and gets rids of a small yardage amount in my stash. I really need to reduce my stash.

Here is the quick top I did from the same pattern:

And here are he pics with explanations of how I did the faux hong kong seam finish by using an underlining:

I decided that the skirt that was in the primary pattern I am using for the costume will not work with the incredible ruching that needs to be done on the skirt. I needed a much simpler pattern. Enter McCall’s 3830 (below) in the knee-length version. I bought some fuchsia silk thread and some fuscia elastic as well to experiment with in the rushing. I spent $7.28 for a new project total of $49.78. I am really concerned about the timing of getting this made as I am presently on Weight Watchers, and if I make it too soon, it might the too big. I think I will finish up a few other simply projects in the meantime (including the potato sack muumuu I am presently working on).

This is a nifty little gadget that so far has worked like a charm.

Basically it is a magnetic guide that attaches to your scissors so you can automatically add seam allowances when cutting out patterns that do not include them, or, as I use them, to widen standard seam allowances. They really cut down on time and tedium of having to measure and trace around numerous pattern pieces. Yes, the price is a bit much IMHO for such a small little thing, but hey, it works, and anything that lets me enjoy my sewing more is worth it.

Disclosure: I bought this item myself, and this review was not solicited by the vendor. I read about this item in Threads Magazine and decided to try it out.

I would like to get a few projects in before I start Project: Effie Trinket. So here is the next one.

This a simple potato-sack muumuu. I am not sure why I like it so much, but I do.

Here is the fabric:

Yes, I commit the sin of using quilting fabric for sewing. I love to underline nearly everything so one of the colours will be the top and the other will be underlining. I don’t know which one yet. At first I thought the blue would be on top, but now I am favouring the green.

It is finished! Well almost, just some tiny finishing touches to do that don’t show up on picture, with the exception of the belt which I haven’t made yet. I can’t model it because I am too fat to fit into it at my present weight. If I am diligent on my diet, perhaps I will post a pic of me in it if I lose the weight I hope to. It is finally done though after much work. I learned a lot of tailoring techniques, but was somewhat “doomed” from the beginning in that the initial muslin I made obviously was not fitted well, so there are some fitting issues. I needed to plan different for these thick seam allowances… I don’t know how, but something needed to be different. One of the after-touches I need to do is to hand under stitch around the whole front to get the seams to lay flat and not roll to the wrong side.

Here it is showing the lining.

With the collar standing up, the wide collar is one of the neatest features of the coat.

From the back, which I think is the best view, if you don’t mind the very flared peplum that “accentuates” the hippage and bootyliciousness.

I did some searching and found a suitable fabric. It is not the exact fabric from the film which appears to me to be some sort of taffetta-ish textile… I don’t know how to sew on that very well, and the taffeta I found felt really cheap. Plus the movie fabric has some kind of embossed design and a nice sheen.

So I decided on a heartier fabric, but chose one with some glitter on it for sheen. It isn’t identical, but I think it will work well.

Next was to find a pattern. I have hundreds of vintage patterns so I was quite surprised to discover out of all of them I had not one 1940′s/Dior New Look-style peplum jacket. What are the odds! Well, I found on Etsy this reproduction Butterick pattern that will do nicely. The peplum will obviously have to be shortened, but the neckline style is perfect! So far the total cost of the project is $30 in fabric, and $12.50 for the pattern, for a total thus far of $42.50

I will have to craft the poofy sleeves myself, but I expected that.

Come along and join me for the ride! And may the odds be ever in my favor as I undertake this project.