Dragon print shirt

This month I got a bit bogged down. I had wanted to work on my Lekala 4183 blazer, but got a bit side-tracked by the Pattern Review Bargainista Fashionista contest. Which is kind of stupid, since I don't follow fashion, I don't have instagram, and so I was low on inspiration! I wanted to use the dragon cotton fabric (from the Japan travel haul), and looked around. I stumbled upon a shirt dress in a large print in a navy blue - similar vibe. And I liked it. It would have been more fun to find some high end luxury item in the 1000s of dollars, but this worked for me. I found a suitable pattern (McCall's 7351) and went out and bought it.

Antrhopologie

Then realized that I did not have enough of the fabric to actually do the whole thing. That's okay, I thought, I will 'make it work'. First step a muslin to see about fit. I also thought I can shorten the skirt and call it a peplum. I can use a contrast solid for facings, the under collar, etc.

(Can I just take a moment to ask why all the items I saw while hunting are so open cleavage?)

The muslin started out tight and not especially well fitting. 

First step: lower the bust dart. This is an AMAZING fix, friends! I need to remember to do this as a first step all the time. Then the front above the bust felt a bit baggy, and the back felt tight.

So I recut the back one size bigger. This kind of worked, but still seemed tight, and had limited mobility.

Next I raised the armhole, and did a full bicep adjustment. Now we were getting somewhere. 

 

But still a bit tight.

So local frock-friend DB offered to come and take a look and suggested adding a bit at the side seams at the back only.

Need to stop overthinking this, so went with that, then laid out the pieces to see if it fit.

Well.... kind of!

With some juggling (pattern tetris as some call it!) I got all the main pieces to fit, if only half the belt. I used contrast (plain black) for one front band (the hidden one), the yoke facing, and the collar and collar band facing. As well as the centre half of the belt.

 

Even as I was cutting, I was a bit anxious. What if I didn't like the look, in the end? I wanted to sew up the dragon fabric in year of the dragon, had no other solid ideas, so went ahead.

I like the end result - the fit is good, and the sewing is good. French seams for all the unenclosed seams. I am not convinced it is super flattering, but it is certainly wearable. It looks better on the dress form, which tells me the dress form no longer reflects me!

without the belt

I have also been overthinking my Lekala 4183 blazer. This is the problem with consulting couture how-to books! I have made blazers in the past, and they are pretty good. If I just adpot a few new tricks, without going all couture, this one should be nice. 

Like, I am not going to use the iron to shape the pieces. That is just asking for trouble!  Will I do pad-stitching? Maybe! But I won't be ironing my waxed thread!!!

What I have done (on the two smallest pieces) is used the techniques to attach the 'canvas' (the interfacing/silk organza combo) without fusing it to the jacket (the interfacing is fused to the organza though). You use a special stitch to stitch into the seam allowance, and into the canvas itself.