Victory and Defeat

I'm guessing you all think this is about yesterdays Super Boring Bowl. I gave equal time to the Puppy Bowl to be honest and wondered if little Marta needed a home, because we would welcome her cute little self here NP! This is actually about two new patterns. One I wasn't at all sure about and one I was positive was going to be fabulous. How wrong we can be when we judge a pattern by its envelope!

Let's get to the wadder first. Vogue's Sandra Betzina line is small and not too much of it excites me, but one of her newish vest patterns grabbed me.



 I bought fabric and thread and did a pretty good tissue fitting. So what went wrong. Why do I look like a tube of toothpaste in it and what's up with that gaping neck? The pictures make this look far better than it does in person BTW.



 Well, in a word proportion, something can fit and it does, but proportion counts for a lot. The neck is far too big and an adjustment would need to be made to make the distance between shoulder seam and bust point shorter. This in turn would throw off the armhole, which is surprisingly small at the chosen size. The waist is spot on but the hip just doesn't have a pretty curve at all. Part of it may be the fabric. This fabric has a nylon blend right side, thin quilting and then a gauze cotton backing, all channel stitched.



 There is no drape and it likes a very small stitch length. It is not easy to take apart and isn't holding up well. I have to say, even without princess seams the fit and proportion of Connie Crawford's Butterick pattern (5473), is much more flattering. So, this Vogue vest has hit the salvage fabric pile, unfinished. If I look back at all my sewing, vests give me the hardest time in the fit and flatter category

Now onto the winners side.



 Decades of Style 1930's Salon Pant. It uses a seemingly endless amount of fabric and I wasn't convinced this wide leg yoked pant would be good on me. I picked a fabric from stash. A dark Old Gold colored medium weight ponte knit.



 A little give but not much, pretty darn stable. While I love this color it is not one that is particularly flattering up by the face. But for pants, perfect! I did a muslin and knew I would have to make adjustments (and future pairs will get still more tweaking), but I was so surprised and happy when I slipped these on. Again proportion. The yoke is heavily shaped right at the waist and flares out to hug the upper hip before it drops to the floor in the wide leg, the crotch, spot on. It's pretty and comfortable and fits nicely. The pictures do not do it justice.



These are a little weighty in the knit, but for a drapey summer rayon, tencel blend or linen, this may be a go to summer pant pattern. It will be cool and flowing. And who doesn't like snaps at the side?



 I didn't need both side seams open to get on and off, so the left side was sewn up and top stitched, the right got the snaps. The only thing this pattern lacks is pockets, but I have a plan for those too for future pairs. So far each of the Decades of Style patterns I've tried are well drafted, nicely sized with great instructions. A pet peeve with me and independent pattern makers is often the skimpy sizing and lack of consistent proportion up through the sizes. Just because someone gets fluffier around the body it doesn't mean their neck and shoulders grow in the same proportion. There is an art to good drafting and this pattern line seems to have it.

In farm news, it's pretty quiet. The weather has been good. No major storms on the horizon and our snow is melting down. All the beasts outside spend their days as equine solar collectors. I spied the two horses sacked out side by side in a sunny spot on clean snow yesterday. Snoozing away in the warmth, enjoying our little thaw.

Parting shot: Look behind you Stella, the dreaded bone thief Robin is honing his skills!