The Coolest Ensemble I Messed Up

This was going to be a post about adding pockets to the Turner, and how shifting the side seams forward shows how brilliant I am. And that was a good idea and worked out well. The pocket shift worked at least.

December 2019 Popular Mechanics, page 8

This sums the rest of last year, maybe the entire life of this blog.
I made a thing.
It was okay enough.
But THIS is what I learned from that, and will do that better the next time I make one.
See, I love this magazine.

So,

When I make something that I've made successfully before, changed one thing and BOOM it's a fright show.

I really wanted a stretch velvet leopard print dress. And I had made the Cashmeretter Turner to great success, except the neckline was too wide and deep for my comfort.
So, armed with that data, I hunted down the fabric.
This was a several year process.
I wasn't having any luck, until a clerk at Joann's suggested I look at online sites that specialized in gymnastic wear.
Spandex World came through.

I bought a swatch. I never buy a swatch.
I was doing this right.

Hmmm, lots of tum exposed there.

The Cashmerette Turner in stretch leopard print velvet

Original dress, traced off pattern (too lazy to reprint pdf)

The fail here is that I cut the pieces just right,  but out of the wrong material.

The first version of this Turner dress is made of 4 way stretch, so the bodice lengthens with the skirt weight.

(see, the piece matches the original dress. No I am not going to model it today, you will trust me when I say that the Spoonflower modern jersey will stretch that much to hit my high waist, vs my almost covers the rib cage)

This stretch velvet doesn't really stretch lengthwise, and the tricot lining I used (the pattern calls for a double layer in the bodice pieces) has absolutely no longitudinal stretch.

Thus adding the waist piece. Which bags. 

Yes, I wore it out, but only as a part of the Super Over The Top Ensemble for the Nutcracker ballet. Love that WilliWear leopard chubby! Also love those pony fur leopard print creepers.  This is as much of this as you are going to see.

But! you wail! That bag does not match.
Oh, but just you wait!
We have a leopard bag with a failed clasp to match.

 Spoonflower minky fat quarter

And the clasp broke before it left the workroom

It's just not meant to be.

Storage Or Where To Put It

Expanding on today's topic on the Instagram #sewphotohop of storage tips,

I try to do right by the patterns, first of all.

I put all the patterns in acid-free magazine and comic book bags

The envelopes don't get caught on each other this way, and since I already buy them for my comix, I get them in bulk dirt cheap.

It's also easier to fold patterns to that size and put them in with the cover, rather than try to stuff them all back in together again.

Also helps hold the traced pieces.

and I store the best ones waaaay up off the floor

They come in different sizes

Golden age size comics are the biggest  7 1/2 X 10 1/2

Silver Age  7 x 10 

Current Size  6.75 X 10.5

Or you can get magazine sized bags.

They don't have a zipper edge that might rub on the envelope when you pull them out and put them back in, they are cheaper in bulk and the current sized bags fit most patterns (the larger Vogues fit in the Golden age bags).

You can also get appropriately sized storage boxes at the same place.

Don't get the long boxes- they bend and buckle and when full, weigh too much. 

They do fit under a Twin sized bed.....right next to the Captain America collection.

(and don't buy this stuff online. You live near a comic book shop whether you know it or not. The shipping on the boxes will kill you, and that local shop would love your local love).  It also amuses them to talk to folks who are not... their usual clientele. Go ruin their expectations!

Fabric gets folded to the size of the cupboard space. You know how to do that.

I do try to break it up with cardboard 'boxes'

trays (only Costco calls these boxes, thank you) between groups.

There is an organizational theory here, a new one every month, right after the avalanche...

However, where I think I have forged ahead in storage tech is in storing the unfoldables.

The vinyl. 

The pleather.

The nylon.

AKA: the unironables.

Tucked away in the back of the basement, across from the  deep storage for books, they hang on the wall.

They are draped over a long heavy cardboard tube that I ran a cord through, and screwed to the wall on both ends. I can unhook the loop and take it down if I need to. The tube is from Pacific Fabrics upholstery section. Thanks Leah!

Far enough off the floor to be single layers and out of the way.

Yes, they'll need dusting.

I can do that.