My first pleating experience (Vogue V2975)

Based on feedback from my previous blog post (OK just the one - thanks RavenRant) and also non-blog feedback from others, I decided I would try my hand at the top from the Vogue V2975 pattern.

I've been keen to try my hand at pleats for quite awhile now so I was pretty excited to get started. Notes from the process:

Material
100% quilting cotton purchased in a sale. I liked the colours and patterns of the fabric and so did mum so we ended up buying 6 metres of it to share. Quilting cotton is great to work with - strong and soft.

Pattern (Vogue V2975 : View B)
Pattern was straightforward and ended up looking exactly like as shown in the technical drawing. There was a note stating that the zip for the back may need to be shortened - I glanced at it briefly, but decided that I'd forgo the zip entirely and put in a button or clasp instead as the top looked quite roomy. Turns out none of the fasteners were necessary at all so I was pleased about that.

Beginners take note that there aren't explicit instructions to clip and notch the fabric seams when you turn the facings outward, so as a novice myself, I was a little concerned at what seemed to be a lot of ugly pulling that ironing couldn't fix. I finally worked it out when I read the notes that preceded the step-by-step instructions. I'm still learning so doing this hasn't become second nature for me yet.
(Apologies about the quality of the 'back' picture. Also note that the top hasn't been hemmed yet.)

As you can see, the back fits well. I am not very happy with the front unfortunately. As I mentioned earlier, the top looks exactly like the pattern, but is meant to fit someone with a wider body perhaps? The pleated area sags as there is just too much material there. I think if there was one pleat panel left, it would look perfect, however that messes up the symmetry of the pleating.

Would I do it again?
Yes, once I work out the best (and preferably easiest) way to alter the pattern so that it sits well.

As the top is overall very wearable, I'm keen to try to alter the front somehow. Does anyone have any tips to share? I had a couple of options in mind but I don't know how well they will work out - the pics are a rough indication of what they could look like courtesy of my hands and a couple of bobby pins:

I'm going to take my first poll on this - please vote on which option you think I should attempt!

poll by twiigs.com

Piggy Bank

Apparently 'suboo' means “piggybank” in Myanmar!

Amusing.

Fabric covered buttons

I recently bought a great trench coat from Jigsaw at a bargain price - I got around 90% off due to faulty buttons! The original buttons were covered with thick threads that were fraying and looking all sorts of ugly, so I decided to replace the buttons with brand new ones. Unfortunately I couldn't find any nice replacements that were the right size, so I decided to cover the buttons with some black fabric following this great tutorial from CraftPudding.

The pictures aren't too clear but I think they serve the purpose. I blame the bad lighting, and crazy flash on my camera in combination with the black material has made the black fabric blend with itself so it looks a little... black.


As you can see, the result of this little project are buttons that look fine from the front, so I am quite happy with the result. The only part I'm not too keen on is the red stitching you can see around when you lift the buttons up. This is due to the fact that I used some red embroidery thread to secure the fabric to the button around the shank - I didn't realise it would be quite as visible as it is.


I am pretty sure I can live with it - especially since it would mean that I would have to re-stitch the buttons to the coat again, and I really don't enjoy hand sewing anything!

More and more

I can't stop buying fabric!


24 metres all up. Waiting for the sun to shine so I can give them all a wash.

Twitter Box

I just added a widget to my blog showing my Tweets on Twitter at the bottom of the page. I took the lazy way out and automatically added one without customisation courtesy of Blogger Buster. I'm not too fussed about that right now seeing as it's just a trial - it may disappear later on if I decide I don't like it.

Feel free to Tweet Me anytime.