I know I haven't posed much here, but believe me, it isn't because I'm not sewing! It's because nearly everything I work on ends up a wadder. Wasted time and unwearable garments.
Case in point McCalls 6752. I spent a long time working on several trials of the top for version C, but was never happy with some detail. Wonky stitching on the knit, gaping V neck, struggles with inserting clear elastic on my serger to rusch the sides. So I took a rayon knit that I loved and made the kimono sleeve dress instead. What I got was a dress that made me feel so awful about my body that I was depressed for a week. I put it away for a month, then decided to chop the skirt off into a peplum and reshape the sides and sleeves using an existing shirt I like. It still doesn't work, but none of that matters now. The peplum looks all crooked and too short. I don't have the fabric or the interest to re-cut or fix it. I had pictures of it to insert here, but I've deleted them. They still make me sick.
Next up for evidence is Victory Pattern's Nicola Dress. I first sewed this up in an ITY even though its not a knit pattern. However, then I cut too much off the skirt, and reshaped it funny. While the top fits OK, I feel positively indecent with a skirt that blows open with a mere breeze.
Then I worked the blouse version up in a woven, making some changes to the bodice to increase the length hoping to make it hit lower. Now, the neck gapes terribly. The picture here is actually my third attempt. The front is a mess. Gaping, not covering enough, weird blousing above the waist, front corners that want to dip way too low... It's been percolating in the back of my head for a week, and it's becoming clear that there's too much length, and I wonder if a proper FBA would help.
And finally (for this post, anyway) is New Look 6196. Cute, right? I had thought it would be nice with my black denim pencil skirt for a dinner out. My creation is more like old lady, ice skater monstrosity. I can tell you this will be worn nowhere. I'm so very close to having the right fit. I think if I just scoop out about 3 inches at the back of the neck (it comes up weirdly high) and insert the zipper properly, I'd be set. As well I should be.
Version 1: I spent the better part of the last 2 days fitting it. I did a 2 inch Y-style FBA, rotated the resulting side dart to the gathers at the bottom. The extra fluff there gave me a puffy uniboob. Uniboob looks good on no one. Version 2: I pulled 2 inches of length out of the center front and tapered to nothing at the sides. It was the right puff-reduction, but I still had uniboob. Version 3: turn the gathers to pleats. Much better, but the pleats need to be less centered an moved outward to be under each breast. I did that in version 4. Its still a lot of volume. More that I need, and more than the pattern looks like it should have. I wonder if I should have just kept the side dart and not messed with the gather volume.
I already know that this isn't going to be finished, but do I give up on the pattern? The fabric, an Impulse Purchase Don't, is awful. In the store, I loved the water color appearance of the print. Now that I've worked it into not one, but two pieces, I realize it's not pretty, it's pretty granny. (A granny polyester crepe). If I make this up in the right fabric, will it work? I don't know.
I love my sewing but I'm frustrated with all these failures. True, I learn something from each one, but when will it result in some success? I feel like I'm redrafting every damn pattern I try--but they still don't fit or feel right. The successes are so few and far between.
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