So Much Sewing Going On

Sorry, this post got rather long. It’s also a bit heavy on nerdy sewing concepts.

I spent Tuesday afternoon working on the Tim Holtz Correspondence quilt. This project jumped the line, in a sense, but I’m not going to chastise myself over it. I am working on what seems right to me in the moment. As much as I enjoy the challenge of a project like the Place for Everything Tote, sometimes I just want mindless sewing. Balance is key.

I chain pieced units on my beloved Necchi BF:

I haven’t sewn on this machine for a while and I didn’t want it to get lonely.

These are some of the partial blocks:

I still have to sew rectangle units onto the ends of these partial blocks. I like how this is coming together, though. The gray works better as a background than white or cream.

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Hobby Lobby has not yet stocked the Spring pattern releases from McCall’s. I happened to stop in at Joanns while the manager was stocking patterns there, so I asked her if she had any new ones. The store had received a stock of KnowMe and Simplicity patterns but only a few McCall’s patterns. She said that she doesn’t think they will be getting any more pattern shipments until this bankruptcy issue is resolved.

This analysis of the entire Joanns debacle popped up on the Craft Industry Alliance website yesterday. I think it is spot on, particularly this assessment of the overall poor customer experience:

Imagine how different the experience at Joann would be as a customer if from the top-down the company was oriented to make the shopping experience pleasant instead of the “bad garage sale-like environment” of a Joann store.

That sums it up perfectly.

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The quilt store in Missoula wants a woven top class. (Quilt stores are making an effort to fill the gap in apparel classes, at least locally.) I chose the Cadence Top from Love Notions for them. Love Notions has a teaching license system, which simplifies things for everyone. I spent yesterday sewing a Cadence for myself to make sure it will work for the class.

Personally, I’ve stayed away from Love Notions patterns only because they don’t seem to fit me well. I got out the Scout Tee pattern from a few weeks ago—the one I lengthened to fit me properly—and compared it to the Cadence pattern. I was surprised to see that my altered Scout Tee pattern pieces were very similar to the Cadence top pattern pieces. I took a leap of faith and traced the Cadence Top in my size, using the full bust option, with no alterations. I used some of the Fableism fabric I got at Pacific Fabrics last spring to make my version.

I am not unhappy with the way it turned out. I love the way the shoulders and upper bodice fit. I have broad shoulders, so that’s often a sticking point for me. The Scout Tee fits more tightly in the shoulder and underarm area. I also watched the TomKat Stitchery video about making the Cadence Top, and Whitney mentioned that she put the sleeves in flat on her version. How interesting. I always put my sleeves in flat in knit garments, but never in wovens. I decided to try that on this top. They went in without a hitch. That reinforces my belief that most sleeve caps are drafted with way too much ease. I’m not alone: Sleeve Cap Ease is Bogus.

The Cadence Top has a horizontal bust dart. It fits me well in that area, but I went down a rabbit hole and pulled out a top I made last year from New Look 6543. That top—also for wovens—has what is basically a French dart, which is a dart coming up from the side near the waist rather than a dart at the side of the bodice. I think I prefer the fit of the French dart. The waist area seems to be where I have problems with Love Notions patterns. Their block is drafted for someone who is 5'5", so even though the top might be long enough, the waist is in the wrong place for me.

I got the brilliant idea to frankenpattern the upper bodice of the Cadence Top with the French dart and lower half of New Look 6543. (It may not be so brilliant, but we won’t know until I try.) I think what I may end up with is basically the French Dart Shift in top form, but at least I know it will fit me well in all the important places. I’m going to test the pattern today, and you’ll get photos of both tops in a future blog post.