All Speckled With Stars

 In working on our kitchen, I've learned that there's one rule that applies to any project, remodeling or otherwise (i.e. sewing).  The more times that you have to stop work, put the project away and clean up your work space, the less you want to start up again when it's time.  Our kitchen has been halted no less than three times due to holidays and visitors, and it's gotten harder and harder to resume work each time.  We finally gave up, and our backsplash, bookshelf and trim are being installed for us Wednesday. We have great hopes that we will inspired to complete the detail painting and put the hardware on our cabinets. 

The same goes with sewing.  Because my sewing room doubles as our guest room and because we've had a parade of visitors over the past couple of months and a vacation, it was so hard to get back to work on my denim dress, particularly since I haven't decided if I wanted to topstitch the seams.  In desperation, I pushed everything aside and pulled out something simple and new, in hopes that if I could just finish something quickly, this would jump start my motivation.  Enter Butterick 5562, view A.

Here's my version in a lightweight cotton jersey that I picked up this past spring at the Mill End Store.  Some of the things I wanted to include in my summer and spring sewing were shirts that had a little more interest than your regular pocket-T but that were still comfortable to wear and light enough to layer.  Our nights can still get a little chilly here in Portland, even in July and August.
                                                            

There's a little back wrinkling, but I'm really not sure that I want to bother with a sway-back adjustment on a t-shirt.  Maybe when making these becomes a little more automatic, I'll straighten out that particular fitting issue.

There are two design features that I really love about this shirt.  The first is the bateau neckline.  Other reviews have stated that the neck is too wide, but on my linebacker shoulders, it's just right.  The second is the sleeves.  In my opinion, they make the top.  And while they are pretty and interesting, they're also close enough to the body that you can throw a cardigan on and not look like you're trying to stuff a gigantic puff into the sweater sleeve.

There were two things that I had some difficulty with.  The first is the sizing.  Others have mentioned how big this shirt is, and they're right on.  For anything with stretch, I make a straight 14 (I usually make a 12 or a 14 with a FBA with wovens for reference).  The shoulders and upper front fit fine; however, the body of the shirt is very large.  I ended up taking out six inches total out of the body width starting with the armscye.

The purple broken line towards the top of the picture is where I ended up sewing the actual seam.  I made the same adjustment on the other side.

Here's a slightly different view.  That chunk is 1.5 inches (yes, I measured).  I took that out on each side of the shirt for both the front and back.

So, I've read the reviews of this shirt on pattern review, and I seem to be the only person who had trouble with the sleeves.  You create the gathers by stretching a piece of elastic down the sleeve from the shoulder to the sleeve hem.  Now, I've made gathers this way before, and I get the concept, but I got confused by the instructions.  This was my own fault, and it wouldn't be the first time that a pattern didn't go exactly as planned due to user error.

I got confused when the instructions said to center one piece of elastic over the placement line and dart on each sleeve, matching the large circles.  For the life of me, I could not figure out where the circles were that I was supposed to match.  I mean, I marked the circles on the sleeve pieces themselves, but I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to match them to.  Now I realized that, duh, I should have also marked the circles on the elastic and matched those to circles on the sleeve pieces.  The instructions do say to transfer the markings, but I must have skipped that part.  Like I said, user error.  I was so focused on the circle thing that even though the pattern illustration clearly shows the elastic running to the top of the sleeve, I started the elastic under the dart (somehow, I ended up with a circle there).

You can see here where my elastic ended before the top of the sleeve.

I used clear elastic, and I need to go in on the right sleeve and blunt those corners because it's a little scratchy.  The left sleeve is identical but inexplicably fine.  I don't think that my little detour caused a problem with the end result at all.

For the sleeve and bottom hems, I just folded up the hem twice and did two lines of stitching close together in a very wide zigzag (it looks like a straight stitch but has a little give).  I will have to learn how to use my twin needle soon.  I also strayed from the instructions when setting in the sleeves.  I sewed them in flat and then did the side and sleeve seams all at once.

So, there you have it.  One cute summer shirt that hopefully means that the sewing is back on track.  I'm just finishing the pattern adjusting for Vogue 8631 and hope to have an update in a couple of days.  I need to get a move on because I want it to wear to my friend H's bachelorette party next Saturday.  Wish me luck!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

 I don't actually remember ever having to write about this/  Maybe my teachers were more creative about their writing assignments or maybe my memory is starting to go (which is where I'd place my money).  Since there's been an unbelievable lack of action around here, I thought I'd do a general update with an actual sewing update as soon as I can get pictures.  (Don't get too excited.  It's a t-shirt and a pattern that everyone else seems to have understood but I apparently didn't).

I turned 45.

Please see the comment about the memory above.  I still haven't reached an age that has caused me to panic yet, so I'm just going to keep on taking it one day at a time and see where we end up.  We didn't do anything too exciting, but I took the day off work, and we went out for pizza at Apizza Scholls (which was excellent).  Here's a picture of my birthday flowers. 

Also?  The Kindle has increased my reading speed by the power of 10.  I'm back to where I was in high school when I devoured books.

I got a new camera.

A Nikon D3000.  And, more importantly, I took a class on how to use it.  Nothing advanced.  Just on what the different settings are for and what they do.  I've been experimenting and taking a lot of random pictures, but now that I'm comfortable with the general operation of my camera, I'm ready for something a little more detailed.  Here are a couple of shots.

I went to Lake Tahoe.

Three nights and four days of Mr. flyskim's annual family Tahoe gathering.  The flyskim dad when along, and he wants to go every year now.  Even though the temperature was in the mid-70s for most of the time, there were still huge piles of snow on the ground.

 

The weather here in the Pacific Northwest (can you still consider Tahoe the Pacific Northwest?) has been more than a little strange this year.  I thought last summer was mild, but this one is setting out to prove me wrong.  

We took a couple of great hikes:

The flyskim dad (doing great for a man who had half a lung removed less than a year ago) and Mr. flyskim.)

The view from Eagle Rock.

And walked down by the water. 

There was the dramatic rescue of a hunting knife after a fumble at a twilight fishing session:

Short version?  One of the kids brought a friend.  He dropped his dad's knife in the lake and panicked.  He said it was his dad's favorite knife, but the real story is probably that his dad didn't know he had it with him.  I mean, who sends a 12-year-old to Tahoe with someone else's family and lets him take a knife?

A lot of eating:

And a little recreational welding:

What?  Your family doesn't weld when they get together?

And last but not least, I got my hair cut.

With Mr. flyskim and niece A. 

I'll be back (hopefully later today) with a review of Butterick 5562.  As noted above, I am apparently the only person to have problems understanding this pattern, so please don't judge me. Oh, and the tiler comes next week to install our backsplash, so the kitchen will be finished soon!