Bias-bound keyhole

Turns out I have a giant head. I started sewing up my Pendrell blouse and discovered once I sewed the shoulder seams for the center front and back, my head didn't fit through the opening. Now, I did try out Kenneth King's technique for staying the neckline, so there won't be much give in the neckline, but I don't think it's supposed to give. I think I just have a big head.

So what to do? Finishing the neckline with the bias facing helped a little, getting rid of the seam allowances from within the neckline, but it's still a struggle to get it on. The solution? A keyhole opening in the back.

The keyhole is basically just a slit at the center back of the neckline. I decided to use French bias bound keyhole like Claire Shaeffer describes in High Fashion Sewing Secrets. Here's the process:

1. Find the center back at the neckline (you can just fold and match the shoulder seams) and mark it with a pin. Decide how long you want the opening to be (I chose 2 1/2 inches, but seeing the end result I wish it'd been a bit longer) and mark the center back below that. Use a pin to mark both spots.

   

   Mark the center back.
2. Draw a line where you want the slit to be.



Mark the cutting line.

3. Make a bias strip to bind the keyhole with. I cut a bunch of extra 2" bias strips when I was cutting the fabric, so I used one of these. I'm leaving it extra long so I can use the ends as ties to close the keyhole. If you want to close the keyhole with a button, you can just cut it somewhat larger than twice the length of the opening.
4. Fold the strip in half and press.
5. I used the bias strips that I happened to have to determine how wide my binding would be. Stretch the strip and measure how wide it ends up being. 



Determine how much width you have to work with on your bias strip.

Mine is 3/4". You want your finished binding to be just under 1/3 as wide as the folded, stretch strip, so I'm making mine a scant 1/4".
6. Stay-stitch around the opening, just inside where the seam line will be. 



Sloppy sewing on my part, it should theoretically be a bit cleaner and more trapezoidal at the bottom than this. I stitched at 3/16" to accommodate my scant 1/4" finished width. At the bottom, end it with a bit of a rounded point to smooth the bottom of the keyhole.

7. Cut open along the mark, stopping just short of the stay-stitching at the bottom.



Snip!



8. Align the middle of the bias strip with the bottom of the opening to figure out where to start the strip. Match the raw edges of the strip with the raw edges of the opening, with the strip on the right side of the back, and stitch just outside the stay-stitching. 



View from the wrong side



View from the right side.





I found it easier not to pin the whole strip in place before I started, because the curve at the bottom is difficult. Start at the top and just keep the raw edges aligned as you sew, stretching the bias strip slightly. Keep it stretched and stitch slowly at the bottom. You'll get some extra folds at the raw edges, I'm not sure this can be avoided. If the folded edge curves up a bit, that's fine, it doesn't need to be able to lay flat here since it will be turned to the inside.
9. Fold the bias strip towards the back and then fold it once more, so it's wrapped around the raw edges.
10. Hand-baste to hold the strip folded around properly. I know hand-basting is a pain, but this is such a short distance to baste that it's really not so bad, and it's worth it. 
11. Stitch-in-the-ditch on the right side, catching the folded edge of the bias strip underneath. A zipper foot is helpful to line your needle up so you're right at the edge. This is why you hand-basted - it will ensure that the folded edge gets caught in your stitching when you can't see it. Remember how you made your binding width a bit less than 1/3 the width of the stretched strip? You have one piece caught inside (with the raw edges), one piece is the binding on the right side of the blouse, and one piece is the binding on the wrong side of the blouse. The little bit extra is to ensure that the fold goes past your binding seam, and to allow for cloth allowance. 
12. Press the finished binding. This may take some work to push your fabric into shape. The hole in the blouse is a straight slit, but the bias binding makes it want to form more of a circle. Most of this should be resolvable with the iron. But depending on your fabric, if that's not enough...
13. Add a dart in the binding at the bottom of the keyhole: fold the keyhole in half, and sew from the very bottom point to a point about 1/4" or so in from the fold. This will help the binding achieve the sharper corner we're looking for.
14. If you're not using the ends of the bias strip as ties, skip ahead a couple steps.
15. To use the long ends of the bias strip as ties, you need to finish the raw edges. Fold along the length of the strip (both ends) so it's folded the same way as the binding is around the slit, only without the blouse inside it. Basically, fold in the raw edges, slightly less than a third of the total width, and then fold that over the raw edges. If you look at the bias strip where it comes off the keyhole opening, it will show you the pattern to follow. Press to help hold the shape when you sew. This is probably a good time to cut them to the proper length, too.
16. Sew the length of the bias strips. You can use a straight stitch, but I like a zig-zag with one end catching all the layers and one end catching only the central fold. The zig-zag will allow the bias binding to keep some of its intrinsic stretch. 
17. Fold under the ends of the ties (or the ends of the bias strips at the end of the keyhole if you're using a button closure) and stitch them in place. Alternatively, you can just zig-zag the raw edge to prevent raveling.
18. Depending how the final result turns out, depending on how your fabric behaves, etc, you may want to add a dart to make the strips come off the keyhole opening at an angle, so they go horizontal instead of vertical, the easier to tie them.
19. And voila! Extra space to fit a giant head through, without sacrificing the cut of the neckline.

One bonus tip too: I tie my bow just like tying sneakers. If you have issues with the loops of the bow going up and down instead of staying horizontal, switch which way you tie the knot underneath the bow. If you go right over left, try left over right, then tie the bow as usual. The way the bow lines up with that knot determines which way the bow tends to flop.

Fly fly away

When I looked at patternreview.com for the pants I'm making (Simplicity 2700), some of the reviews warned me about the bad instructions for the fly. I figured, since I'm making a muslin, I may as well muslin up the fly so I can figure it out. Boy am I glad I did! Some issues were just unclear instructions, but there are a couple subtleties/changes I want to make. Picture heavy post, so everything else is after the break...

Pullover Dresses

I'm a little over zippers in dresses right now. It's not about the pain of putting them in. Pants, after all, need a zip to feel finished and not like sweats. But for a dress, you either have a zip up the side, which isn't so comfy, or you need a zip up the back. There's something romantic about having the beau zip me into a fancy dress for a night out, but for a casual, every day dress? How am I supposed to be a lazy student and sleep in if I need him to help me into my clothes? Never mind the lack of independence that just grates.

S0, I'm looking for pullover dress patterns. I don't mind sewing knits, but the local Joann, sadly my only local fabric shopping choice w/o driving up to SF, has no selection. A few solids that are a bit too sheer, so knits are out.

Perusing the big 4, I've found a few options to add to the stash:

The easiest is the shirt-dress: avoid the zip with buttons. Buttons in the front I can do myself, so this will work. Planning on this in a cotton broadcloth in this gorgeous dark turquoise.

Then there's the theme of creating shape with a tie at the waist: Slip-like dress with tied shoulders. I've been eyeing this dress for a while, but couldn't justify theVogue pattern* for the stash. Knowing it's a pullover, I think I'm sold. And it has pockets!

*Since, you know, Vogue is $3.99 on sale, and the others go on sale for $.99 often enough. I'm spoiled by pattern sales, I admit, but I can't justify buying a pattern for more than that unless I actually have a plan to make it.

Another tie at the waist, but now it's a poufed top over a tie waist. I've seen a lot of these recently, which may mean they're in style, but I just don't see it being flattering on me.

Then there's shaping with princess seams, a la the Pendrell. I think this will work a lot better in a blouse than a dress, but I want to see it in person first. Probably requires a very drapey fabric.

And finally, the bias cut. Theoretically, bias cut is really hard to work with. The one time I tried, before I knew it was supposed to be hard, it worked out just fine, so I may try it again. I wouldn't start with a silk or anything like that, but maybe a somewhat stable polyester? It does have its uses...

New patterns!

Woot! The new Simplicity and McCall's patterns are finally posted online. Every time Joann has a pattern sale, I look though the pattern catalogues again and again, so a little newness is much appreciated.

I thought about going through and listing all the patterns that I have no idea why they were even made, but that's just mean spirited and, honestly, would take way too long. So between the two companies, here are the patterns I may just pick up at the next sale...

Starting with McCall's. Something about their aesthetic just does not appeal to me, but I did find a couple maybes at least:

Knit tops with a shrug-style neckline

I do love the gather in the center of the bust, but the issue is I have no idea how to fit a knit, and RTW tops like that always ride up on me. A maybe, but not super excited.

Dress with flutter seams from the princess seam

It's like the Pendrell blouse on crack. But I do think the Pendrell blouse is much prettier, so I don't think I'll even bother buying this one.

Now onto Simplicity. More luck here, with a couple maybes and a definite winner. Side note: no pictures here because Simplicity feels the need to hide their images behind flash, and I'm much too lazy to try to work around it.

Dress with pleated skirt and waist detail

I find the Project Runway line has a lot of interesting patterns. I like how the princess seams turn into pleats on the skirt.

Dress with shear overlay

Clearly from the prom dress collection, but could be cute with a longer skirt and a tone-on-tone sheer over opaque. I'm currently infatuated with the idea of a darker sheer over a lighter base, where the sheer gets darker in spots because of gathers or pleats. Not sure if this dress is exactly what I'm looking for though, seeing as I'm older than 16.

And finally, the winner:

Dress with woven-style bodice

I lovelovelove the woven detail (obviously, since that's the plan for the wedding dress). I'm a touch nervous about the fit on the model in the picture, there's a bulge under her armpit, but I'm hoping that's just because she lacks curves and the dress wasn't exactly fit for her. And of course, I'll leave out the little pile of fabric on the shoulder. I get ruffles or flowers, but when did a folded strip of fabric become a popular embellishment?

Now to wait for a pattern sale...

"Amazing" fit for who?

I'm definitely going to try to attempt pants with the Cupcake Goddess's sewalong, but I figured that since I have a couple of "Amazing Fit" Simplicity patterns, I'd just use one of them instead of the Burda pattern.

I like the idea of including a "slim," "normal," and "curvy" pattern piece, but their method for choosing which to use isn't exactly working for me. The directions tell you to pick your pattern size from your waist and hip measurements as usual, then to use your total crotch length and your back crotch length to determine curviness. OK, measurements taken, and the problem is my total crotch length measurement is 29 1/2". The longest crotch length measurement included is 28 1/2", for a size 22 curvy. My measurements are for a size 14, and I tend to make a size 12 because a 14 has way too much ease for me. A size 14 curvy is supposed to have a 26" crotch length, and the slim is 25". The one inch difference between slim and curvy just isn't cutting it for me, when I'm 3 and a half inches longer than the curvy. Now, I'll readily believe that I should make the curvy pattern, but there's no way I'm super excessively curvy.

The issue, I'm sure, is how high my waist is. If I have to cover an extra inch or two in length to get up to my waist, double that for front and back and there's the difference. So how to determine which pattern piece? I'm pretty sure I'll end up making the curvy one, but I'd like to be right, you know?

I've got two ways to attack this. One is using crotch depth - sit down on a chair and measure from waist to the chair seat. That should tell me how high my waist is. The problem is, how do I translate that to the default they're using?

So I'm going to look at total crotch length and back crotch length. They each vary by a half inch per slim/normal/curvy step, so all the curviness is taking place in the back crotch. So, to account for extra waist height decrease my total crotch length by 2x, decrease the back crotch length by x, and find where they'll match with the listed dimensions. I'll try a size 14 since that is what my measurements indicate, and we're theoretically just dealing with body measurements and not and ease just yet.

My measurements: TCL_mine=29.5, BCL_mine=16.75.

So match TCL_curvy=26 for the 14, subtract 3.5 from TCL_mine. So that means I should subtract 1.75 from BCL_mine and I get 15. Their listing for a 14 BCL_curvy is 14.75, so this may work.

Just for kicks, try the size 12: TCL_curvy=25.5, so I'm subtracting 4 inches. Take 2 inches from BCL_mine and get 14.75. BCL_curvy=14.5 for a 12.

Side note: is my waist really (almost) two inches higher than normal? I know I have a long torso, but is it really that much? I wish wish wish that the pattern companies would list all the default measurements that they use, so I could compare mine to theirs and see what I should have to adjust that way. Maybe it's time to try out one of those fitting patterns... Except that the Vogue pants fitting pattern I have says that the normal crotch depth for a 12 is 11 5/8" and for a 14 it's 11 7/8", while mine is 11", so I actually have a short waist-crotch length? I'm so confused. I'm just going to make the curvy, since I know at least my thighs are wide, and we'll see how it fits in the muslin.

Inspiration: sweater peplum

Now here's an idea: Add a peplum to a sweater that's just a touch too short, a la the tutorial by Jessi over at Adventures in Dressmaking. I'm thinking of one purple sweater in particular, which is really nice and fits great except for being just a touch to short, so if I take a deep breath you can see the tummy. I'm a touch nervous about mixing a woven with a knit, but if done right, I think the gathering should create enough give in the peplum.

I'm still not sure I can get on the embellished knit bandwagon, but if I can salvage a nice sweater... it may just be worth a try.

What's in a name?

So I'm thinking it may be time to switch up the ole blog name. When I started/named this blog years ago, my main hobbies were (watching) sports and gardening. So, Garden of Fenway seemed appropriate. Then of course I posted about three times and stopped.* Now, I've actually managed to keep up with a pseudo sewing blog, which is progress, but the name is too unrelated.

* As I did with my attempt at a wedding blog and a conversion blog. See a pattern?

So the new plan is to come up with an entirely unrelated-to-anything name, so I can just write about whatever I happen to be interested in. Ideally, said name will come along with a handle I can use in various online communities, so I don't have to worry about hatsforbats** being taken. Also, if I ever do start an etsy store,*** it can serve as the store name.

** The problem with a clever movie quote is that you aren't the only one who thinks it's clever.

*** The current plan is to (someday) sell shibori silk scarves, since they're so fun to make but I have no justification to spend the money on supplies.

So, what name to pick? I'm thinking something related to electromagnetics or MRI, since that's what my thesis is about and what my academic interest is in general, but certainly not something I'll blog about. A way to tie together my work and my hobbies, if you will. So for now, a brain dump of words/phrases that interest me:

Induction

Refraction/refracted

Ultraviolet/infrared

Precession

Polarization

Circularly polarized

Waves

Radiation

Left-handed precession

Coils

Tesla, Gauss/Gaussian