Tuesday, March 3, 2009

BWOF muslin and PR contest

I had the hardest time getting all the pictures and text aligned in this post (and the preview is so not accurate!), so please bear with me if you have to SCROLL DOWN alot!





































After making my first Burda World of Fashion garment (which I'm yet to review on patternreview - oops!), I decided I would move on try another from one of the magazines I got off ebay. I settled on this jacket from the 02-2008 issue - jacket 104 and made a muslin in size 46 with my only change being using inseam instead of patch pockets ...





You'll have to pardon the angle on these pictures. I had to use the tripod and didn't have many options for placement. I know I need to lengthen the jacket. However, I can't figure out if I need to make a sway back adjustment or add darts to the back. It looks pretty bad from the side and simply awful from the back.





Granted, my actual fabric will be thicker, so it won't look exactly the same, but still...
I don't know exactly what the tightness/discomfort is that I feel when I raise my arms. I tried to show what I mean in my last two pictures. I see this a lot in women wearing jackets, but since I only became a jacket-wearer recently, I don't know if that's normal. Help? Are the lines that show up when my arms are on my hips indicate anything wrong? Is it possible that the jacket is too wide at the bust? How about the way the shoulder pops up? Any and all suggestions are welcome!





And as a segue into my other topic - here are some of the surprise lovelies sprouting up in our yard!



I joined my first patternreview contest - "One pattern, many looks". I'm planning to use Simplicity 3628 again for this. The one problem I still have with the pattern though is inadequate ease across my shoulder blades. You can see here how my lining is fraying at the seams because of this. Three of my sewing books said to add to that section by using an L-shaped wedge like the one to the right - which didn't seem quite right for a princess seam garment.



Fortunately, I was able to tape it back together after my mistake (hurrah for wax paper!)
And after FINALLY finding a broad back alteration in my "Fit for Real People" book, realized that I can manipulate the fullness in the princess seam. I did so but didn't take another picture. Hopefully this works.





I'll post more hopefully tomorrow on my ideas and fabric for my next renditions of the Simplicity jacket.

4 comments:

  1. I have the same problem with BWOF as I am a size 44, tall and have broad shoulders and a broad back. I generally lower the sleeve cap height about 1/2" and make the curves on the sleeve cap (about where the nick for the front armhole is) more shallow which adds about 1/4" each side. Have you checked your upper arm measurement to the Burda size chart? Perhaps you need to do a large upperarm adjustment? I sometimes do this adjustment which simultaneously lowers the sleeve cap height. There are good instructions for this on the burdaenglish site, under files - alteration techniques. Regarding the back, it looks to me as if you need a little more width in the back hem and definitely back waist darts. Perhaps you could do a centre back seam which would make the fitting of the back much easier and would not detract from the style of the garment. Good luck!

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  2. I have used the simplicity pattern twice, when I did the view C (red jacket)it was a bit tight around my shoulder blade as well, but if you look at the model you will notice the red jacket is tight around that area on her too. So I did a FBA on the view B when I made it, and that solves the problem . I used Debbie's method on FBA on princess cut pattern you can google it or check the link on my blog. I have not tried BWOF before but I can see the fabric is pulling towards your bust from the side, may be if you do the FBA and lenghthen the jacket it might help. Also what might be causing the pull at the back is your left sleeve, it doesn't seem as good and as aligned as the right one (Looking from the back), and for sure you need a swayback adjustment. These are just my suggestions as a beginner , but I bet there are lots of gurus in blogland that will give you a better and more accurate suggestion. Have fun and can't ait to see the final project

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  3. Liz has some good ideas. I would first do a sloping shoulder alteration. Then add back darts. I think if you shorten the upper bust, some of the front tightness might go away. You also need to put in back darts to take out the fullness.

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  4. The jacket look great on u. And good luck with the contest. I want to check it out too :)

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