A Hit and a Miss . . . . .

Wow, a bit of a roller coaster weekend this week.  I spent quite a bit of time this weekend playing around with a couple of patterns that have been popular with others, to make my own versions.  First of all, I have to admit to being a bit of a stalker as far as Miss Carolyn is concerned, and a number of items that I have made have been inspired by her fabulous blog.  One of her favourite TNT patterns is Burda 8869, a twinset pattern.

After many months scouring Ebay, I finally snagged a copy from a seller in France.  Delivery was super quick and I was ready to go.  I used a lovely rayon blend jersey knit from Fabric.com in a deep, deep purple.  And I love it:

I probably should have checked to make sure that my fronts were level . . .

It looks a bit 'blocky' on some of these photos, but as the fabric is so fluid and light, it actually hangs and moves very well.

This collar band is one of main reasons that I wanted this pattern.  I love a well fitting collar band, and this one is just perfect.  I also top-stitch like crazy on my knit cardigans - it keeps the seams in check and I think it elevates the finish of the garment.  The button band has a 1" finished width - I mistakenly added seam allowances to the band . . . . I couldn't find any English instructions, and didn't read the writing on the front of the pattern envelope that stated that seam allowances were added . . . .so my band is a little wider than the pattern design.

That is the centre back - honest!!  To help reduce bulk, I machine stitched the centre back collar band seam, press the seam open and then top-stitch the seam allowances down either side of the seam.  And I am not sure where that grey wig came from . . . . . !!

And do you like my fancy smancy earrings?  Would you believe that they were bought with Air Miles.  Love them!  Very sparkly, and although not what I would usually go out and buy, I am very pleased with them.

So, Burda 8869 - a definate hit.  I plan on making a lot of these - and I may well add buttons/buttonholes to this one.  We will see.  I should mention that I used the shoulder, armhole and sleeves from my favorite pattern ever - McCalls 6168.  I narrowed the shoulder seam by 1" and the fit is great.

Next up was McCalls 6844 - a gorgeous casual jacket that has been made up by many fashionistas and is almost too cute for words.  I love frills and peplums, and got to work on this jacket.  I used some super soft cotton lycra fabric - a little bit pricey but great quality.  I chose black - a great workhorse colour for my wardrobe.  And it all went downhill from there.  To be fair, the jacket made up a dream - I compared the pieces to some of my other cardis and knew that I would not have an issue with the sleeves as other sewists had commented on.  Only 2m of fabric - which I thought was pretty good as the peplum was likely to take up quite a bit of fabric.

The front view was ok

I know, it is a little hard to see due to the colour of the fabric.

Maybe a little bulky around the hip area - and I am NOT bulky in that area.  I bypassed the traditional English pear shape quite skillfully. (And I totally lifted that phrase from Philippa.  She put it so eloquently!)  I am more of a apple, 

But whoa!  Look at all that extra fabric in the back, and it is not just peplum.

Sheesh - a very unflattering side silhouette if ever I saw one.  Straight off to wadderville for this garment.  I was particularly disappointed as I had a great idea for taming the front lapels - maybe I will try one of the other views that does not have the peplum  . . . . . we will see.  McCalls 6844 - not for me.

I have to say that I was rather underwhelmed by this, and sat down to knit some socks instead - more on that during the week.

How about you?  Did you have a good weekend sewing?  And how have you fared with patterns that others have had a lot of success with?