ATATAC Pod Jacket Resizing potential post four

I get a better idea of the actual construction from the faux 3D image

The measurements for this pattern printed at 100% are these:

back width 16.5"

front width with plackets: 

sleeve at bicep 14"

neckline to back hem 29"

neckline 

A lanky man's jacket.

I could widen the front piece by extending the top and the bottom right flaps. By extending the bottom one, it makes it taller, and the upper flap gets shorter (leaving the same front flap height altogether).

The whole body gets wider if you slash the piece from the neckhole to the back hem, and just redraw the neckhole over the final piece.

The whole piece can be slashed and widened at that green line to make the arms wider.

You would have to carve more armsceye out for that extra circumference, but when you take this all into your brain, that would be the easy part.

widen front flap

widen back and front flap

And of course, if you need it to be longer, you can just drop the hem. Or drop the cuff for longer sleeves.

The only hitch in this is keeping the seam around the sleeve at the elbow. That sucker is going to hurt in the wrong place. And making the whole jacket shorter may involve just scaling down the whole jacket (printing at a smaller percentage than 100%) and going back to widen parts.

Such as: how? Huh? 
Okay. The back length is 29, I only need it to be 21.
21 / by 21 = .724
73%

No. I've done this before and it really does not work; remember that spiral jacket? It's dimensions are fixed because geometry. And my puffy lady arms are just not ....never mind. I have other things going.
Speaking of upper arm bicep adjustments......

At this point, I gotta be honest. I have a costume job I'm working on, it's a hoot and a half and full of sequins, I want to write about it, my phone is full of photos about it. It will be done and ready next weekend. 
And I still haven't finished my raincoat.
I really don't want to work on this. 
You don't want to read about it anymore.
I don't need a jacket right now.
Bring on the glitterbug fabrics!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Atatac Pod Racer Jacket PDF Friday Night PARTY post one

L'Etoffe Fabrics put this link on their spring email.

https://shop.atacac.com/collections/sharewear

And as always, clicking on the photos makes 'em bigger.

And so I clicked and there goes housekeeping this week.

And now I'm sharing. 

Interesting shop and design company.

http://atacac.com/company/

Trying to make wearable digital design, with some visual wit and maybe toss some TR flavor on the mix. 

Even if you have no interest in their product or the rabbit hole you KNOW i'm wandering into, that description of their business and their model is worth five minutes of your time.

Where they are doing with this technology

https://www.clo3d.com/

There are no instructions. 

There are some clues, and a digital book of inspiration

http://atacac.com/book/

It's free. I have some free time. I love an adventure! Let's jam!

The pattern sheet is one big picture. I will need to print it out in tiles/pieces 

Eighty pages. 

Next time, I'd do a screen capture of this small gridded image for reference.

Eighty pages can go wrong so fast....

Don't judge me on my printer. It still gets the job done.

You want the cut marks. If the paper misfeeds (and it will), you'll need the marks to line stuff up.

Eighty pages. 

And I have to stand there and catch them, because the catching box is AWOL.

Who recycled my box?

I use paper from work and home that was just printed on one side. Most of it is dead stuff from the fax machine, some of it is stuff that my boss just is too thrifty to recycle. I used to get this from a pal in a real estate office. Nothing sensitive. Lots of boilerplate. And I thank them all from the bottom of my PDF printing heart.

I did a print of the whole pattern layout for reference.

and then I marked it up when I went through the printed pages, to give myself a sense of how pages will relate to each other.

That previous screen capture shot would have been a good idea......

I taped this in strips, starting with the bottom row and working up.

Those cutmarks are tiny but clear.

overlapping action shots

and laid them out on the floor

while watching superhero tv.

Okay, back to the floor show.

You don't want to tape them down tightly - you will have to wiggle them to fit to each other. And a ten page strip has room for a lot of error.

This is only half of the pages.

The floor is disappearing. I will have to cut this up into sections.

The big piece in the middle needs to stay together, but everything above that are smaller and can be assembled on the table. and my back is killing me.

Cat in upper right for scale 

Ant for scale. That was the rest of the day. 

That's the big piece. If I try to fold it up, it will rip.

I get these big upholstery tubes at Pacific Fabrics by crying.

After the big piece was assembled, the smaller bits can be cut out and taped together individually.

Doesn't it look like it fell apart on the floor below?

Now I need to know more about what and how this goes together

https://shop.atacac.com/collections/outerwear/products/pod-driver-jacket-1

the 3D viewer is at the bottom of the page and rotates

Clicking makes this readable. European Tuc tuc drivers?

The pockets are on the side that is not under the safety belt. There's a safety belt in a tuc tuc?

DAMN. I like this thinking!

But what are all these parts I've been cutting out? How many welts does a pocket need? Couldn't they be one piece, repeated?

After staring at the 3D model in rotation, and looking at the way the lines on the body reveal the grainline, I think I have it. And I will have to put it on the form to see how those sleeves work. 

And those u-shapes? They are the bellows for the cargo pockets. 
We have to stop here. Yes, this is a series. Yes, it will continue this week.

McCalls 8062 Vintage 50s Blouse

It's that time of year!

I put up a string of photos on Instagram of different vintage patterns that are pretty much the same pattern. Partly because I had bought all of them with the same intent of a low yardage blouse, and partly because I really would like to come up with a new blouse, and early 50s vintage is where my mind travels.

click on the photos to make them bigger.

It says novelty cotton right in that list! (it also says corduroy)

Have you ever had a corduroy blouse? 

I'm not saying it doesn't work, but it has to be a really nice corduroy.

for those who like a side zipper, this will squeak out under a yard with facings.

mail order blouse, no number. These instructions and the Japanese pattern books are going to get a post of their own soon

I don't have a waist anymore though. That will be apparent shortly.

April 2016

I traced the vintage McCalls features onto the newer McCall's to speed up the resizing process. I decided to go with the sleeveless version because I really liked the squared off armsceye shape.

It has no bust darts. Since I have no bust, this usually works for me. It seems to be that it should be cut on the bias to get away with that dart free effect, but it's not.

Square!

And of course, I decided to go plaid.

I did not write on the original: this is a copy of the cover.

One way to guarantee the plaid matches all the way around it to cut out the pattern as one piece from front edge to front edge, make long darts resembling the side seams and wherever you take darts. 

I went downstairs before work to take this photo, and while it lacks much information as a photo, I can assure you that the pattern piece lacks just as much. I cannot photograph pencil lines that are not there: I winged it. That it would be wrong to leave out this information as a full report of this make, that is certain. And that the visible back dart (right corner) is in a better place than the one I put in.

This technique allows me to use the selvage and these markings and tags from this Javanese sarong yardage (from Value Village - someone had dumped piles of these great plaids). This 'unbroken' section of plaid weave is a feature of many of these sarong; it's woven that way, not tucked or stitched. It just fits with open sections to spare before the shoulders. 

In my next life, I will get the plaid to match on the shoulder seams as well!

Getting to this took about a week.

And I did the 'fat thread in the bobbin' bottom up topstitching

and the facing folds over so it all matches all the way around

And this is where it stopped. I did the buttonholes and sewed the first button, and then, before I could get to the body fisheye darts, I stopped.

And this is how it hung on the rack since June 2016.

Sewed the first button and then hung the rest on a safety pin.

I had made the damn buttonholes!

I think I ran out of Vintage Pattern month and Summer.

So, in honor of July as Vintage Pattern Pledge Month, I put the darts in and here we are.

Uh oh. Clipped the dart before I tried it on.

Took all of two minutes.

Should have taken longer.

You know, I've posted less flattering photos of myself on this site. So the part where I'm pointing out how those darts in the back are too low and too deep and I cut INTO THEM so I'm stuck with the shirt pooching up on my backside?

Yeah, that.

We really do not have many neutral backgrounds in this house.

But still. I like it. The fabric is crisp and lightweight, but not transparent.

I like it as a plaid as well. I'll open up the darts and mend the slashes.  

Wonky topstitching a speciality!

I am getting bagging in the high chest/armpit. This may be a feature more than a bug, as the rest of it fits as well as a box shaped woman can expect. The armscye fit the chubsters just fine, and I don't want to open them up any deeper as exposure is not something I'm hoping for.

But check this out

I bought this solely for the instructions

Shoulder pleats! This might help deal with the bagging.

And I have a lot more plaid!

And one more week of the month!

And a night free without family obligations!

Words to live by