Ahh well. It will be good for me. I hope.

Today I’m making a Renaissance shirt – very generic, out of white linen, to wear with those navy plus fours (thank goodness they still fit perfectly!), some white socks, and boots. My BFF and I are going to an event this weekend, and since my boobs are too big for most of my old dresses (it’s been a while since I’ve made anything!), the shirt-with-existing-pants seems like a good, swift option for a costume. No, not really accurate, but -ish enough, and comfortable.

I found this how-to at the Renaissance Tailor. It’s a little confusing, so I will include the measurements, what you should add for ease, my sketch, and what I think of the final product. I wish I had time to fuss with a shaped collar, but I don’t really so a straight one will do. I think I might also do a ruffle at the wrist, with ties and elastic, instead of pleating into a buttoned cuff. I hope to be able to wear this under my Italian Ren dresses once I get new ones made.

Now to iron the linen. Linen that’s been sitting in a bin on my shelving unit for years and years. Wish me luck!

(PS. Still sorbetto-ing. On muslin #2. Need to transfer front markings to pattern and re-cut that again. Then I need someone to pin out the back for me, which will happen on June 15.)

Uhh, no. The back fits fine (surprise!), but the front is significantly small. I don’t get it! I’ve even triple checked that it printed at the right size!

Time to go back to the drawing board, do a slight FBA on that front pattern piece, then make it up again to see what to do about those bust darts. They end right on my bust point, which is hilarious. I need to move them back at least an inch, but maybe 1.5″.

Oh, and I need to do a petite back length adjustment (Above the armscye! ACK!), and a full bottom/sway back adjustment. But I think those can wait till I have the front fitting in a non-squishing manner.

I’m currently looking for work, as well as working 2 part time jobs, and finishing a paper for a class. So. Busy. So little money. And what do I need? Professional clothing. Hrm.

I had purchased some fabrics with the intent of making more things. Two more Tiramisu dresses, a couple t-shirts, more underwear, and activewear tanks. Sadly, it’s been a no-go. Especially since I was unable to sit for about 3 weeks there, due to damage to a disc in my neck. Oh yeah. Don’t do it, people. I’m doing physio and stuff now to help fix it, and it must be working as the level of pain has reduced dramatically. But unfortunately it’s left me struggling to catch up with my school work.

Anyways. Activewear. There is hiking happening this summer, no matter what’s up with my neck or work or anything. I need hiking pants, some comfortable knit tank tops, leggings (easy) or yoga pants (not so easy), and a long sleeved over blouse thing. Oh, and underwear! Everyone in my family swears by Icebreaker wool undies, but they do not fit me! So IDK what to do about undies. Obviously I can make my own, but what style? What fabric? I should probably cover the elastic as well so it doesn’t chafe. I also have a couple metres of nice Malden fleece that I was thinking of making a quarter zip top with pockets out of. I’ll trace a pattern off of something I already have for that, though.

Hiking pants should be good due to the amazing pants block that I did with Steph at 3 Hours Past. I just need to decide on a style and get some decent quickdry fabric for them. I’m hoping for a nylon with some stretch. I also want pockets that zip, a super stable waistband (possibly with some elastic), and a front fly. No belts, since they tend to bother me under the pack.

Knit tank tops should be loose and comfortable, with nice wide straps that cover my bra. A higher neck is also good, as my favourite sports bra is ridiculously high on my short torso. I was looking at McCall’s 6359, but would need to make modifications to the racerback. Mostly I don’t want anything clingy, but it has to work in a knit. I have so many amazing wicking knits available to me here for super cheap, and I want to play with them all! This pattern by Tanit-Isis could work really well, too. I wonder if I have enough of that lightweight knit to make one up. My bust is bigger than the biggest size, but with a bit of a FBA, I think it’d work really well.

Leggings are simple. I’m drafting my own based on my leg measurements. I’m using some info from Pattern School, and some from this Etsy Blog on how to sew leggings. I need a couple short pairs, and maybe a couple long pairs. I have the fabric picked out, and it’s amazing. Hopefully I can get my serger to cooperate and do flat seams.

Blouse: Possibly the most difficult thing to make, wow. It needs to be loose and have some mesh inserts for air flow. It needs to protect me from the sun. It needs to actually mostly fit me, unlike 99% of the sports blouses available. Why, Columbia, do you not ship your plus sizes into Canada? That would make this SO much easier! This one is also good, with the vents in the back. YES. (I fib a bit. I can get last season’s Silver Ridge long sleeve plaid shirt in Canada. Online only.)

Undies: I have a feeling I’ll be perfecting my old skool high waisted undies pattern for wicking knits. I’ll need to bind the legs or somehow hide the elastic, so it doesn’t chafe. I had hopes for the Fehr Trade thong pattern, but I’d have to make a lot of alterations to make it Hiking Safe. I might see if I can mush it together with my other undies pattern though, to get something that works well for me. A thong with coverage from the hips to the waist? Maybe. Maybe not.

Plans, I have them. Now to see if there’s any follow-through left in my school-weary self.

• Even though I cut the neckline binding quite a bit shorter than the actual neck opening, it’s just not doing its job. I need to undo the underbust seam where the binding attaches and slide some flat elastic in there to help hold everything together. This is due to the fabric. This won’t happen if I make the dress again in a real French terry, as the ones I have available have a little lycra in them.
• The sleeves need a wide sleeve binding, as the narrow just doesn’t work in this fabric.
• I will probably have to hem it. Sigh.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the dress is quite low-cut on me. Low-cut to the point where most of my bras show (I wear everything except plunges, so this is irritating). I had moved the CF seam 1 cm to get more of an overlap, to hopefully raise the neckline, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I’m getting those drag lines that move diagonally down and out from the binding. I also think I need more width above the bust, so I might slash-and-spread along the FBA line and ease the front shoulder into the back. This is pretty typical for me as my front ribs are much broader than my back, and then on top of that I have a very full bust.

Tiramisu, Magenta fabric, no skirt

I’d really really prefer the mole to be covered, or at least my cleavage not be quite so exposed, but I’m not sure what to do as I get more drag lines if I add more overlap. Maybe I should just add to the overlap seam on the dress, instead of overlapping more. Hmm.

I did a muslin the other day, and then decided (upon viewing Steph’s underbust fitting tutorial) to just go for it in my French terry. I’ll put a couple pleats into the underbust, then pin the seam and try on the dress. If the seam needs any finessing in the heavy fabric, then I’ll take extra length out, etc. But if it doesn’t, then I’ll just sew things up.

The dress takes me about 3 hours to sew, from getting out the fabric and pattern, to hemming.. although I must admit that my hem is a quick run through the serger, as I’m not worried about the finish on a knit dress for casual wear. The full turned up hem only takes me about 15 minutes, though, so it’s not an entirely daunting task should I decide the dress needs it.

I have 2 metres of the French Terry, and with some futzing and the elimination of the CF seam, I am able to cut every part of the dress out of this 2 metres. I’ll be cutting the pockets out of a cotton quilting fabric to reduce bulk, as this fabric is ridiculously thick. I think I have something in a similar colourway, but I can always use my Blue Clouds fabric should I not be able to find anything.

Magenta Tiramisu, cut out

I think what I need to do is pinch out from the arm to the neckline (1″ at the neckline, reducing to nothing at the arm) just like I did for my last Blank Canvas Tee. I did stretch the binding slightly as I placed it, so this really shouldn’t be happening. I think it’s an artifact of having rather large breasts on a small rib cage.

There’s also a little pooling under the bust that I’ve already snipped off the pattern. And I have to do a better job of the flipping gathers next time! Yeesh! Gathers belong under the bosom, not in the centre front!

I also hope for a little more overlap on the next one. This is one of my lower bras. You can sort of see my mole if you click on the top picture… that’s where the crossover needs to happen!

Front view of Tiramisu, it looks OK but it could be better.

Tiramisu pulled down, to simulate a skirt.

Where the underbust seam should actually go.

Weird angle view of front.

IDK. Another weird angle.

So there you go. Tiramisu 1. I have a couple changes to make (I think it’s too long all over, looking at my horrible mirror pictures.), but so far, so good.

So I put the zip in and the waistband on last night, only to discover it’s still too big in the waist. It’s going back on the sewing machine, and next week my job will be to remove the waistband and zipper and take it in another inch or two in the waist. And this time I need to measure the waistband instead of trusting that the pattern measurement will be correct. Hmph.

(The skirt is really comfy, and I put a quarter circle gore panel thinger in the back, so there’s lots of room for dancing and climbing ladders. I definitely like it, but if I wore it now it would annoy me by sliding down and giving me muffin top.)

I’ll post pictures of what I mean next week, too. I love this shape of skirt, as it’s a pencil skirt from the front with a subtle party in the back.

So excited. Steph posted a guide to choosing pattern pieces that could actually be my measurements, so I’m going to try it with my magenta coloured French terry, and make a shirt (hopefully) this week. I’m still trying to finish a course (yay for extensions?) so I don’t have a lot of sewing time yet, but I’d really like a couple new tops and a dress for Christmas.

Ooo. Maybe even something for my mom. I’ll have to get her to send me her measurements. Although really, my dad is the one I always have problems finding things for. Sadly, I don’t think a Tiramisu would suit his everyday life.

I am going to turn the blue pants into shorts, because I don’t like the slim leg on my body shape. I have a linen tank top that needs to be finished, skirts that need the waistbands and zippers replaced, things that need patching, a pair of shorts that need a button… that sort of thing.

I also have a lovely 1980s kelly/emerald green ponte dress that I was going to turn into a skirt. But really, when will I ever wear a bright green skirt? At Christmas, with a red top? I think it would look great if I could figure out how to style the darn thing (midi length almost-circle skirt), but I’m totally stumped. (Maybe a navy top? IDK.)

After I’ve gotten through that mess, I need to work on my bodice block some more, and also make more pants and a couple every day skirts. I want a denim-look a-line out of the fabric I made the cloud shorts out of (Which fit their new owner so well she’s getting a tracing of the pattern! The difference is that she has an average crotch depth while I have a super long one.), and a colour blocked pencil skirt, with curved CF and CB panels to, I suppose, draw more attention to my shape. Considering I’d only wear it with untucked tops, I’m not too worried about extra attention.

Another thing I need to consider is the fact that my BFF is getting back into historical recreation stuff, and we’re going to an event in September. I need to pull out all my costumes, and wash and repair them. They should all still fit, because I did Italian Renn and my rib cage hasn’t gotten any bigger. But one of the dresses pinches my shoulders, so I should re-shape the armholes, and another has faded terribly (Orange dress, hunter green overdress. WOO! Pumpkin!) so I should probably pick up some idye and try dying it in the washer. I need to take my blackwork collar off my muslin blouse as well, since that fabric was getting super worn. The last time I wore anything was for Halloween a while back – I dressed as a zombie victim of the Bubonic plague, with buboes drawn on with makeup, and a plastic pet rat.

So yeah. I’ve laid out an action plan. Now I need to get into action and actually do the stuff I want and need to do. Classes start again on Monday, and it feels like I’ve wasted most of the last month. If only I could have ‘wasted’ it while laying on a beach in the tropics, sipping on fruity drinks and reading novels!

I adore this style of dress, and I’m thinking about how I could make it work for me. I’d need to shorten it so it hit the knees. A full bust adjustment for sure, and probably a centre back seam so I could do a dress-style full bottom adjustment.

But… would it be worth it?