Really, it's going to be pretty someday

This is my flat pattern design class project. It will be a fitted shirt dress made of this yellow and white seersucker (or perhaps the wanna-be plisse. I haven't done the secret test I learned in textile science to see if it's genuine):


But for now, it's made of muslin and it's actually coming along well. I know that may be hard to see, but trust me. There are some complicated concepts to a button up shirt that I am not completely ready for. This dress is just pinned together in front, and one sleeve is more finished than the other. Also, the sleeves are poofing up quite strangely the way I'm holding my arms. Remind me not to stand that way when I wear it!


In the picture below, my arms look deformed. But they are quite normal in real life, I promise. You can see that along the shoulder blade region I have a bit of fabric pinned up. I don't know where that excess came from, or how to get rid of it, but that's what my instructor is for. I also have some weird pointy butt seam going on, which is also pinned.



Overall, here's what needs to be fixed (I'll come back to this post when I lose my notes):
1. Armholes are a bit too tight
2. Need elastic around sleeve bottoms.
3. Back bodice is shorter than front bodice.
4. Back bodice has weird excess along shoulder blades.
5. Butt has weird pointiness in seam.
6. Skirt front has extra 1/2" along open seam -- take off.
7. I don't like what the button stand does from bustline to collar.
8. Add 1" to hem.
9. How to sew on collar so there's not an ugly seam?
10. How to sew on a cap sleeve so there's not a seam allowance showing under arm?
11. Hips fit perfectly, but I doubt I can sit. I need to add a bit of ease.

I guess there's more work than I thought! But if you compare it to the outcome in this blog post, you'll see a bit of progress!

Just let me go home

(That title is to be sung to the tune of Sloop John B by The Beach Boys...Lyrics here if you want to sing along.

I spend all day in Santa Fe for school on Thursdays. No, the classes I take aren't offered in ABQ. The more time I spend up here, the more I can't stand this town. Everything is old and run down. All the buildings look the same (brown adobe--even Micky-Ds) and the streets wind to and fro and take you in directions you didn't mean to go. Traffic was awful all the way to SF, in SF and home from SF.

I decided to kill some time and see a movie, but the close theater has crappy movies. The good ones are across town. So I got directions and naturally ended up LEAVING town accidentally. Twice. Uh-oh. Mrs. Cranky Pants is back.

Then there's the weird people. Like the lady at JoAnn Fabrics who was in her 50s and wearing a glittery pink eye mask like it's Mardi Gras or something. Only it's not. It's JoAnn Fabrics and she's walking around like it's totally normal. I won't even discuss her hat.

School was rough. The beginnings of these classes are tough and technical. Everything has to be so precise, and since you build off of it, you can't half-ass it and move on.

My first class is Flat Pattern II. This is a method of constructing garments from paper. It's all about measurements -- and precise ones at that. Think 1/16 of an inch is negligible? Well, it's not. It's a big deal if you're off by that. Say you're off by 1/8" somewhere. Well, since you're working off half a pattern, multiply that by 4 and you can be off by 1/2" all the way around, and that will mess everything up.

This is from flat pattern so far. My "sloper" (I know some patternmakers hate that term) came out way too big. I'm making adjustments. All the rough edges must be trued eventually:



This is my draping class, so far. It differs from flat pattern in that we start with this block of muslin:


And pin and mark and end up with this:


I know it's hard to see. Anyway, I'm just worn out and need to go relax. Santa Fe, I apologize. Better luck next week.