Back Again...

Well, it's past 4:00 in the morning, so needless to say I haven't been able to sew for over 5 hours. I have been working though; so don't worry. Although I'm still not sure if I'll have time tomorrow to make my Red Jersey A-line Dress, I just spent the last 4 hours working on the pattern for it (okay, okay, I was mostly distracted on the Internet, but I worked on the pattern, too!). I have to make it anyways, so it only made sense to work on it while I was focused.

Honestly, I had forgotten just how much I love working with patterns and altering them to what I see in my head. I'm not sure what it is, but there's something about the measuring, tracing, and calculating that really makes me happy. That's definitely one of the reasons I love graphic design so much. Page layouts, image compositions--they're all mathematical, and it feels really good to know for a fact that you're doing it right (in math, there's only one right answer).

It's just great to know that I'm definitely in the right field.

So, I took a basic shirt pattern (that I had previously altered the sleeve for so that it perfectly fits me) and first made it into a deep V-neck on the front and back. I questioned the V back, but when I had the pattern with just a flat back and a V front, it didn't feel young enough. My line is meant for someone just exiting college, so a low V back just felt right. I'm using the same pattern for most of the V-neck shirts (with adjustments, obviously), and I haven't decided if I want the V back on them or not. I'll see how this one turns out. After adding the Vs and extending the bottom an extra 20 inches or so in an A-line, I altered the pattern so that it has raglan sleeves instead of set-in sleeves. Again, the raglan sleeves feel younger, plus when I designed this dress (and several of the shirts) I was envisioning raglan sleeves.

Before I cut into my lovely red jersey, I wanted to make a test dress. This is my first self-made pattern in a while, so I'm a little wary. Luckily, I still have 6 yards of a cotton rib knit which I decided to scrap from the line. It was fabric I'd purchased before designing anything, so I was mainly just trying to fit it in where it didn't fit. Ever since scrapping it, I've been wondering what I'll ever do with it (I was thinking several pairs of workout pants/shorts). Good thing I needed it for this test dress. Actually, I think it's more of a good thing that I forgot to take it out of the box of fabric, or else I wouldn't have anything other than my line fabric.

Anyways, I've cut out the pattern (only 3 pieces!) in the rib knit and now must wait until tomorrow to sew it together. I wish these dorm walls weren't approximately the thickness of cardboard...

I'll post a picture when I can!