#charm patterns

I made another mock-up for the picnic top and all my alterations turned out to be spot on:

I was very happy with the fit and went on to the real deal.

All went well until...

I magically went up an entire cup size? Or just size in general?! What the...?!

Also the skirt is STILL too big:

Like most of my projects these days this project started with some fabric I got on clearance. Get this! 1,8m for 6,99€!

I started working on the skirt first, since it doesn't require a pattern and is generally quick and easy to make. Et voilà!

The skirt came together in a couple of hours! It's only lacking buttons and buttonholes. Unfortunately I'm still waiting for my buttons to arrive.

Overall I'm quite happy with the skirt so far, my only quarrel with it is that the ease you're supposed to add to the waistband made my waistband turn out much too wide for me.

SO MUCH FOR FAILSAFE HUH?!

I really couldn't bring myself to redo the entire gathering and the waistband, so I simply sewed a little wedge at the center back:

This isn't very professional but it does the job and it's barely noticable from farther away:

You may notice that my skirt has a seam at center back, whereas the original skirt is sewn as one continuous piece, my skirt is also much shorter. That's simply because of how little fabric I had.

After the skirt was done I had very little fabric left for the top:

Which means I'll have to do the cropped version (right hand side of first photo) as opposed to the waist length version. That's okay though, we deal.

Starting on the top however was slightly frightening for me, because it's shaped entirely through darts -my age-old nemesis- and I learned the hard way that Charm Patterns' bust darts NEVER work for me. So I definitely had to make a muslin and some alterations:

Right off the bat, I feel like the neckline scoops way lower than it does on the models?! -Do not like that! And of course the darts don't work for me but otherwise it fit really well!

The blue dot is where my bust apex is (please tumblr there is no female presenting nipple here!) I hope you can see that the side dart is way too low (all bust darts should point towards the bust apex) Also the front dart needs to be ever so slightly bigger and longer.

Here are the rough first alterations, fine tuning still to be done:

My bf -the absolute darling- gifted me one month of Gertie’s Patreon, with access to all her patreon exclusive patterns. I am overjoyed because I’ve been eyeing them for a while (but I’m not a fan of subscription-based websites).

I knew that this cute bolero would be the first pattern I wanted to try. I plan to make this one in black:

I just think the fake fur collar and pom poms are so cute!

And I just so happened to have leftover black fake fur! I also got a black quilted knit (sorry for dog hair... it’s everywhere):

I’ve never worked with quilted knits or fake fur before, so I’m not sure what to expect but the pattern itself is not too difficult.

Here are the collar and pom pom pieces cut out: the Peter Pan collar consists of two pieces, an upper and an under collar. Usually the upper collar would be interfaced but for the faux fur I skipped this step. The under collar is made of some -sturdy- satin -not the really thin slippery ones.

The pom poms are simple circles that I cut out using a small bowl as guide. They will be stuffed with fiber fill stuffing. I had a little too much fun stuffing these and kept OVER-stuffing them, which caused my thread to break, when trying to close them, whoops. For the pom pom cords I repurposed shoelaces because that’s what I had on hand.

I only made one alteration to the pattern- or rather an addition. They suggest hand hemming the sleeve. But I have to admit that my handstitches are neither as neat nor as sturdy as I like them to be. I also wanted this garment to be machine-washable, so I opted for adding facings to the sleeves:

I did so using a piece of paper that I laid on top of my finished sleeve and then folded it to match the sleeve opening. I left out one seam allowance as I’ll be cutting the facing on the fold.

I skipped interfacing the sleeve facing since this really doesn’t need to be that sturdy. As the facings of the bolero bodice will be top-stitched down, I decided to do the same with the sleeve facings to keep things consistent. I actually tried the top stitching on the sleeves first to see how it works and if I like it.

And here’s what it looks like:

And here’s what it looks like from the inside :

Nice and neat! Will survive the washing machine for sure!

*I unfortunately didn’t take more pictures during construction as the faux fur scared me a bit and I just wanted to get it over with...