First Project of 2011, Vest and Pants

Carolyn (sewingfantaticdiary.blogspot.com) and some others are participating in a jacket a month sew-a-long. For a second, I started to join-in as motivation to sew. However, since I don't do much sewing, I decided not to join. Instead, I have set a personal goal for myself, that's to sew an item a month. This way, I can throw in some simple pieces so that I wouldn't get overwhelmed by a long project.

I love sewing and reading about others sharing their talent so that I decided that 2011 will be a more productivity year for myself.

So, My first to two items are a vest and pants. The fabric I purchased last year from Joanns.

Sorry for the wrinkles, I wore it all day before having my DD take the pictures.

Vest, Butterick 5534 View B
Pant, McCall’s 5239 View B




Fabrics: 100% polyester

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

When I applied the fusible interfacing to the vest, it shrunk the pattern piece. So, the side with the interfacing didn’t match the other piece. It didn’t occur to me to cut the other piece, until now , to match the piece with the applied interfacing. However, the pants were my biggest challenge, especially the inter thighs. I will explain later

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:

PANTS:

Using FFRP, I started with the size 22 for the pants but with additional alterations.
I added the following:


¾ to the top of back waist area



Also, in the above picture, I straighten out the back seam. However, after the pants were sewed, I realized that the change wasn't needed.


1 ½ wedge to back of pants



I added the 1 ½ wedge to back of the pants for additional length to cover my buttock, I sewed the side seams at the recommended 1 inch. However, after sewing the inner seam at 1” inch, I later decided to let the pants out at the inter thigh in the attempt to remove the wrinkles in the back just below my buttock. It removed some of the wrinkles but not all of them.

Additional changes:
1/2 to waist
3/4 to hip and things area


On the pattern front, I decreased the crotch length on the pants by approx. 2 inches (the green line I'm pointing to and the blue line right below the pattern number). When I tried the pants on, I need to remove about an inch to the top of the front pant because the waist line was to high, work in progress.



The inner thigh alteration, in the above picture right below where I'm pointing, was removed because I didn't like the way the pants looked at the thigh area. It was originally added to add room for my thighs because when I moved the pants felt snug across my thighs.

Finally, I sewed the crotch at 3/8 so that the pants would curve around my figure better and trimmed about ¼ off the seat of the pant where the stitching lines meet.



VEST:

I grated the pattern up to a size 22 instead of doing a full bust adjustment. I just followed the spacing under the arms and side seam. Next, starting at the underarm, I added 1/2 inches and increased out 3/4 inches at the hip line. I added approx. 1 1/4 swayback adjustment. After sewing, I realized that I didn't need to entire 1/2 inch at the undearm. This is required when sewing sleeves.





Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I like the style of the vest but I need to find a better way of doing the interfacing with the lining because I didn’t like the way it look on the inside.


Conclusion: