Insert Witty Title Here: Vogue Summer 2015 Release

Co-authored with Andrea and LadyxBec

Ahh, summer: hot days, cool fabrics, bright colors.

Well, Vogue got…some of that right with the Summer 2015 pattern release.

Overall, we here at SSSF have the following to say about this collection:

1. We are confused. (This seems to be a natural state of affairs with Vogue releases, though.)
2. We enjoy the ethnic diversity of the models featured.
3. A greater variety of Designer patterns.
4. This collection shows great promise for the scrapbusting enthusiast.
5. What is with styling these outfits with Converse wedge heels?!

Let’s start with the accessories: is this a purse, or a bellows?

V9120

For the “Mommy and Me” sewists, we have V9114, the skirt that defies gravity, and the child-sized, full dress version by Mizono, V1455.

V9114

V1455

Maybe once you get past the poor fabric choice (which could be never) of V1452, it’s not such a bad pattern?

V1452 – Believe it or not, this is actually separates.

V1452 – Without the awful fabric distraction

For the ardent scrapbusters, consider these patterns at your own peril:

V9108 by Marcy Tilton – 3 different fabrics to scrapbust with!

V9107 also has the added benefit of doubling as maternity wear, should you desire:

V9107 – More scrapbusting!

V9110, another scrapbusting entry:

V9110

V1444 is quite the bang-for-buck pattern! Sew it up if you want to:

1 – Look like you’re wearing separates when you’re not

2 – Scrapbust Color-block

3 – Look like you have a flat chest

V1444

The V1450 skirt: scrapbusting meets peplum.

V1450

And the final entry in the Vogue Scrapbusting Summer 2015 Collection:

V1451 – The line drawings show the back bodice as the same fabric as the straps…which they clearly aren’t in the sample.

“five easy pieces”? More like “Vogue for N00bz.” Perfect for lovers of elastic-waist pants and skirts!

V9117, part of the “five easy pieces” sub-line

Aaaaand another romper, V9116, but ladies of the Gifted Sisters Tribe, consider the amount of support you need against the (nonexistent) support provided by a halter neck or an elastic tube top. Maybe that’s why the model is crossing her arms?

V9116

This is a “jacket”? This “jacket” is perfect for beginners, as it is composed of three rectangles sewn together, with a tie in front.

This looks like the robe from the V8888 lingerie set. Vogue, I’ve got a gif for you:

V9115 “Jacket”

It’s cheating when the model’s hand provides all the shaping in a designer shapeless yellow sack dress. Not to be confused with a banana–though to be fair a banana at this stage of ripeness would already have some spots on it.

V1445

If you don’t want to channel Marilyn Monroe, make good use of the lengthen/shorten lines on V1449 by Rebecca Taylor, and if you’re into the interesting bust dart positioning trend, it might be up your alley, too:

V1449

V1449 – line drawings

The obligatory Lagenlook entry, V9112 by Marcy Tilton. You can’t see them with this fabric, but there are multiple panels and mini-ruffles sewn into the hem. Why? … Because. #artteacherchic #idon’tevenknowwhattocallthis

V9112

For the vintage enthusiasts we have V9105 for when you want to look classy, but still have easy access for those wandering hands.

V9105

There’s more easy access buttons in V9106, plus what can only be described as an explosion of gathering, which Vogue has cleverly disguised with an actually very pretty floral fabric:

V9106

Nice try, but we can see the ruffles of doom:

V9106

Indie4Less: Icon Coat by See Kate Sew and Jackie Coat by Iconic Patterns

This…pattern, the Icon Coat by See Kate Sew, is a crime against sewing humanity, but more importantly, its obvious original inspiration.

And then to rub more salt in the wound, there’s a child-sized version of the pattern, dubbed the Kennedy Coat (just in case you weren’t clear on the inspo).

There’s also another less wtf-inducing indie iteration, the Jackie Coat by Iconic Patterns, spotted by feverish.

Fortunately, Nurse Ratchet suggested Butterick 6141 (sorry, adult-sized alternatives only) as a better-conceived pattern to get the look.

Icon Coat by See Kate Sew, $16 for PDF, $20 for paper

Jackie Coat by Iconic Patterns, $20 for PDF, $26 for paper

Butterick 6141, $1.99 (Jo-Ann’s sale) or $11.95 (Butterick.com), paper

And the original inspiration for juxtaposition:

Jackie O’s Actual Coat, designed by Oleg Cassini

That F*@#ing “Designer” Purple Circles Knit

In general, I, Ruthlessly Practical, hate printed fabrics.

And yet I bought 1.5 yards of this Valori Wells for Robert Kaufman printed interlock knit when it was on sale at Fabric.com for US$12.73/yd. Without swatching it first. Or rigorously testing the yardage when it did arrive, while the order was still within the returns window.

Because I figured, “Oh, Kaufman, should be good stuff since I’ve swatched other fabrics by them before, and it’s a knit, so it’s forgiving anyway, how bad can it be?”

Famous last words.

Indie4Less: Sutton Blouse by True Bias

When the Sutton Blouse by True Bias was released back in October 2014, it was a very exciting and groundbreaking day in indie pattern design. (Sarcasm intended.)

mork from ork suggested Simplicity 2594, and to be perfectly honest, it’s almost a line-for-line, suggested fabric for suggested fabric, exact match. Even if you pay full price for the Simplicity pattern, it’s still a better value to the True Bias because of the 6 different views vs. 1.

(all amounts in USD)

Sutton Blouse by True Bias, $10 for PDF

Simplicity 2594, $1.99 (Jo-Ann’s sale) or $9.55 (Simplicity.com), paper

Presenting the SSSF Tailored Shirt Fail Bingo

Welcome to Fail Bingo with SSSF!

(Because we don’t host project sewalongs at SSSF; we host sewing project fail-a-longs.)

In honor of the Sewaholic Granville and Oakridge releases currently taking the SBC by storm, our inaugural Fail Bingo will be the Tailored Shirt Fail-A-Long. Not interested in buying the Sewaholic patterns and/or need to exercise restraint? We’ve got you covered with Big 4 and Burda pattern alternatives.

From now until April 30, join your fellow hamcats in the joyful process of saving money by sewing yourself a tailored shirt. With every stumbling block encountered and swear uttered, mark off a square on your very own Tailored Shirt Fail Bingo card!* The first person to get Bingo, let us know about it, and provide photographic evidence of your 5-in-a-row gets…bragging rights that they are the Failingest Failure to Ever Fail.

1. Rip out same seam > 3x
2. Need to recut a piece
3. Cutting out 2 rights or 2 lefts, like sleeves
4. Forgetting to cut a piece entirely
5. Sew a piece on backwards
6. Cut a piece off-grain
7. Buttonhole too small for button
8. 3+ muslins and still not right
9. Unpressed seams
10. Serged/cut an unintentional hole in the fabric
11. Broke a needle
12. Ran out of thread
13. Uneven topstitching
14. Battle wounds (iron burns, needle pokes, cuts on hands)
15. Not enough fabric
16. Finished the shirt and it’s a wadder
17. Didn’t finish the shirt
18. Cut the wrong size
19. SSSF for tower plackets, short sleeves instead
20. Pattern match/print placement fail
21. Forgot to staystitch, stretched out neckline
22. Interfacing fail
23. General button fail (ran out of buttons, mismatched buttons, clashing buttons)
24. Poor fabric choice (outside your skillset, i.e., silk chiffon)
25. Free space! Drinking Franzia/Eating Cheetos

Share your fails on the social media platform of your choice with the hashtag #failbingoSSSF. If you don’t want to out yourself, email us the pic at gomisewingblog@gmail.com, and we’ll post the picture as sent, no edits, on the SSSF Instagram (@sssfblog).

For those of you interested in constructive toile/muslin critiques, we’ve got you covered via the Flickr group for SSSF Fitting. Regular rules apply, except there will be no individual, introductory blog posts (but telling your critics what you want out of the shirt and areas of help would be greatly appreciated).

~~~~~

* Making Your Own Bingo Card

We did all the hard work so you wouldn’t have to. Copy this entire link (ends at “#results”) to generate your bingo card, then print out your card (a different card will generate every time you visit the link).

http://osric.com/bingo-card-generator/?title=Tailored+Shirt+Fail+Bingo&words=Seam+rip+%3E3x%2CRecut+piece%2CCut+2+rights+or+2+lefts%2CForget+a+piece%2CSew+piece+backwards%2COff-grain+piece%2CButtonhole+too+small%2C%3E3+muslins%2CUnpressed+seams%2CSerged+or+cut+a+hole%2CBroke+needle%2CRan+out+of+thread%2CUneven+topstitching%2CBattle+wounds%2CNot+enough+fabric%2CWadder%2CDidn%27t+finish%2CWrong+size%2CSSSF+for+tower+plackets%2CPattern+or+print+placement+fail%2CForgot+staystitching%2CInterfacing+fail%2CButton+fail%2CPoor+fabric+choice&freespace=true&freespaceValue=Franzia+and+Cheetos&freespaceRandom=false&width=5&height=5&number=1#results

Indie4Less: Carolyn Pajamas by Closet Case Files

You knew this post was going to happen. Yeah, we were [insert adjective here], too, that PJs were the newest pattern from Closet Case Files. The claims of slimmer fit were investigated by your diligent SSSF editors, and the ease was noted as follows:

• bust: 6″ (umm, ok)
• waist: 10.5″ (head scratch?)
• hip – top: 5.5″
• hip – pants: 2.5″ (well, there’s your slimmer fit)

The Big 4 have been releasing pajama patterns f.o.r.e.v.e.r. Herbert Herbert and TOLWLIAS were kind enough to find all the current patterns with notched collars and tops and bottoms, discussed below:

1. McCall 5992 – Something like 11.5-12.5″ of ease on the top? Sized for knits. Bonus, includes a sweatsuit pattern…for your dog.
2. Butterick 6145 – Not unisex, but lol the frills. No, literally, the frills. 8.5-9.5″ of bust ease and 4-5″ of hip ease for pants. Sized for wovens.
3. Butterick 6837 – Beware the unisex pattern – the horror, the horror! Sized for wovens.
4. Kwik Sew 3553 – Not unisex. No shorts view, but an extra couple minutes with tape measure and flat pattern, and you’re good to hack go. Sized for wovens.
5. Kwik Sew 2811 – If hacking a pants pattern into shorts is not your thing, this one’s for you. Sized for wovens.
6. Simplicity 3971 – Hooray for plus sizes! Beware of the 12.5-14.5″ of bust ease and 5-7″ of hip ease. Unisex. PJs are sized for wovens; other view is sized for knits.
7. Simplicity 2317 – If “slim fit” ease is what you’re looking for and you don’t want to cut a smaller size, this one’s for you: 4-6″ of bust ease and 2-4″ of hip ease. PJs are sized for wovens.
8. McCall 6659 – Another close runner-up to S2317 with 4.5″ of bust ease and 6″ of hip ease in case Simplicity’s not on sale. Has the most number of views that closely resemble the indie contender. Sized for wovens.

Some other PJ-themed editor suggestions for entertainment and practical value:

• Kwik Sew 3712 – Adult onesie. With footies. Not even kidding. THEY EXIST, PEOPLE.
• Burda’s Breakfast in Bed Collection from 12/2014 – In case you want PJs but with a different aesthetic, 8 patterns for the bargain price of $24.99 (PDF).

(line drawings after the jump to keep the main page clutter down)

A Light in the Snark: Vogue Spring 2015 Collection

Co-authored with Andrea

Hamcats, it is with sorrowful hearts and lowered heads that we acknowledge the passing of one of the SBC’s most celebrated institutions: Lladybird’s new Vogue release snark posts. Please join us for a moment of silence as we mourn its untimely sellout demise.

Fortunately, SSSF is equipped to take on the future care and feeding of such an important project–and other pattern company releases. But let’s begin by tackling a truly challenging project: the Vogue Spring 2015 pattern release, which Lladybird deems unsnarkable.

Overall, SSSF highly recommends this pattern release to sewers with a pressing need to be perceived as aesexual in public spaces.

Weekend Update: Call for Pattern Testers!

It’s been a lot of radio silence here at SSSF headquarters over the past few months (blogging is omg such hard work, guys, and we have all these obligations to people in real life and things to do, holidays to observe…oh wait, that’s called Life).

But fear not! What’s been keeping us busy is of course the next logical step in the evolution of our blog: releasing a sewing pattern!

PDF print-at-home pattern, natch.

And, naturally, we need testers for our omg-best-thing-since-sliced-bread pattern! Tester qualifications include:

• a 2-day turnaround
• buttloads of time and materials supplied by you, the tester
• killing a tree (or 3) to print and assemble the PDF pattern

Pattern testers will be compensated with an imperfect but free pattern and blog fame (because of course you’re going to want to be part of the pattern testing blog tour! and the real pattern blog tour!).

Let us know in the comments if you’re interested!*

~~~~~~~~~~

*Sarcasm.

Indie4Less: Rae Skirt by Sewaholic and Everyday Skirt by Liesl + Co.

Gathered skirts, or “my first sewing project”: the indie way or the Big 4 way?

In this corner, we have the indie contenders: Rae Skirt by Sewaholic and the Everyday Skirt by Liesl + Co.

In the other corner, we have the long-tested challenger, Simplicity 2226 from the Learn to Sew line.

Thanks to TOLWLIAS and brickhaus for the tip!

(all amounts in USD)

Simplicity 2226, $1.99 (Jo-Ann’s sale) or $9.55 (Simplicity.com), paper

 

Rae by Sewaholic, $11.98 for PDF, $15.98 for paper

Everyday Skirt by Liesl + Co., $12.95 for PDF

Indie4Less: Dahlia Dress by Colette

The Dahlia dress had a mixed reception on GOMI: praise for (relatively) more advanced lines; dubious about the execution on various body types.

If underboob gathers, raglan sleeves, and waist yokes are your thing, So It Goes suggested Vogue 8685, which is designed as “close fit” – the least ease of all Big 4 ease categories and comes closest to the 1″ bust and waist ease built into the Dahlia.

The first blogger that GOMI found who made up the Dahlia, Sophie-Lee of the Curvy Sewing Collective suggested Vogue 8469 in her review. While retaining the gathers above and below the waistband, this pattern trades raglan sleeves for regular armholes and additional ease in its “semi-fitted” silhouette.

(all amounts in USD)

Dahlia by Colette, $14 for PDF, $18 for paper

Vogue 8685, $4.99 (Jo-Ann’s sale) or $15.95 (VoguePatterns.com), paper

 

Vogue 8469, $20 (VoguePatterns.com, out of print), paper