Why the Rubys never were

Maybe it was the fabric, maybe it was the pattern, or maybe I was just way too optimistic, but regardless my Rubies were not mean to be. The Ruby Short Sew-Along was hosted by Lisette of What Would Nancy Drew Wear? (formerly Vintage or Bust!).

Let me start by saying that I wanted these shorts to be fabulous, I really did. So much so that I actually made a muslin, from a 100% cotton print. I think that is where the trouble began.

I cut and stitched up a straight 38 based on my measurements. The muslin let me know to take in the waist at the top a bit more, so I made the back darts a tad more severe and folded over a little bit of ease at the top. This should have made the shorts perfect.

Perfect, ha.

My fashion fabric was probably the cause of everything.

This is how the fabric looked once the grain was lined up. The entire cut was crooked and somehow the grainline was screwy. This fabric, though a medium weight, was also quite slippery. I took extreme precaution when cutting it for this exact reason, to no avail.

None of the pieces matched up properly, the markings were off, and each piece's fabric was a different length. I have no idea when this all happened, because I was ridiculously careful cutting this from-hell fabric. 

These photos are as far as the Rubys got before I gave up. The fit was terrible. I had to take larger and larger seam allowances for them to fit, and then the legs suddenly gained volume and started to flare in a really unflattering way. 

I think the major issue was the fabric I choose. The pattern is very good, and lots of BurdaStyle members have had success with it. So far as the other sew-alongers...

Ali's turned out gorgeous

Nancy apparently has hers finished and is apparently withholding photos 

I'm not sure about Eleanor's Ruby-status 

Lisette is near-finishing and hers are looking cute and crabby

I hope that the other stitchers will end up with great shorts from this pattern. I can't see myself trying them again, however, simply because of the trauma of this experience. 

On the bright side, the Trench Coat Sew-Along round 2 is alive and pattern discussion is well underway. I've chosen Vogue 8623 - a peacoat-length style with a huge collar and back pleats. I also succumbed to fabric-sale pressure and ordered (among other things) Tropical Worsted Wool Suiting in ivory and grey from fabric.com's recent deal-of-the-day special.

I'm happily trotting around Switzerland, still. I leave for Germany early Monday Morning and will be in Spain the following week. Tough life :)

Update; Me-Made-May-Lite, Ruby Shorts & Trench coats

Me-Made-May is ending soon, thank goodness. I have been keeping up with the Lite pledge, even after my slip up last week. My outfits are dreadfully the same, so I'm not even going to bother posting about them anymore. Suffice it to say that the McCall's striped tank and my pillowcase skirt get the most wear, by far.

My Ruby Shorts are suppose to be done today, it I don't think I'm going to make that deadline. I spent a day making a muslin and fitting them. Nothing too bad, I just took in a tad at the waist and made the booty-darts more severe to fit my rear. My polysomething is slowing the process down, too, as it does NOT press and is impossible to pin accurately. If I get my way, I'll have the back pockets sewn on and all of the machine-sewing done by tonight. Hopefully I can do some of the hand sewing (buttonholes & buttons) while I babysit tomorrow morning. Thats the plan, at least.

I joined another sew-along! The Trench Sew-Along is hosted by Elizabeth of Sew A Beginner. We are not limited to trenches - she has opened up the blogroll for anyone who wants to sew a jacket/coat/outerwear type of garment. I'm thinking Vogue 8623 for my peacoat, but I will of course look at other patterns and read some reviews before I decide.

After my ruby shorts I'll finish McCall's 6121. I cut it out earlier this week and it's really only a few stitches, a nice evening project. I purchased a "few" patterns today at JoAnn's memorial day sale (Simplicity patterns 5 for $5 - uh, yeah, I was so there!) and have fabric for most of them, so I'll post about those later and let you guys pick my next project!

Cheater!

Me-Made-May-Lite update: I'm a cheater! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I'm going to come clean. I had to take advantage of my cheater backup plan from this post that said if I wore 2 Me-Made accessories it would count as 1 me-made garment.

Vanity came crawling in and I got tired of wearing the same 3 or 4 outfits. Plus, this is the last week of school and I didn't want people remembering me as boring when in fact I usually have a very diverse range of outfits. I'm not proud of it, but I did resort to my backup plan.

May 21st - The McCall's 6070 top with jeans and a cropped, lightweight black jacket over it

May 22nd - McCall's 5853 striped tank with a gray denim miniskirt and red converse

May 23rd - Sunday Sweats! McCall's 6070 dress. The fabric has faded really quickly with only a few washings, and in addition to being all crazy baggy after an hour or two of wear, I'm really just not in love with this dress anymore. I really wanted to be because the fabric is organic cotton, a little pricey too, but this fabric and I just weren't meant to be friends.

May 24th - McCall's 5853 striped tank again. Originally I tried tucking it into a black high waisted skirt, but it looked a little awkward, so I wore it with jeans and red pumps instead.

May 25th - I cheated. I'm bad. My outfit was entirely RTW. The only me-made items were my purple hair scarf and me-made undies...

The pattern is free "Cheeky Panties" by ParaNoire/Emily Kate on BurdaStyle. The original size 38 pattern was by Emily Kate, but I downloaded the graded version by ParaNoire, even though I ended up making a 38 anyway.

I actually took the time to trace the pattern in my size onto new paper, to preserve the other sizes. I figure cute booty short underwear is an easy, silly gift for friends and whatnot and I'll probably want a nice version of this pattern.

The underroos are really only one main pattern piece with 2 seams, then a gusset for comfort/cleanliness and a waistband that I left off. The waistband is suppose to be stretched into the top part to keep them up, but I didn't need this because my fabric was very stretchy. It's a cheapy polyester from the red-tag area at Joanns that I bought for muslining. These were intended to be a muslin, hence why the legholes aren't finished, but I put them on the next morning in attempt to salvage my Me-Made pledge. 

They were super easy and I'm totally going to buy some lingerie elastic and keep this pattern ready for any leftover knit fabrics I have. They are a nice, classic booty short shape and perfect to wear under skirts and dresses for a little bit more modesty than briefs or thongs. 

...And if you're wondering about the photo from the top of this post, that is Auggie (named after Augusten Burroughs) and the as of yet unnamed Singer Genie that arrived late last week. The genie got a thorough cleaning this weekend. For some strange reason, Auggie really likes the Genie. He's been napping next to it ever since I set it up. Weird, right? I just thought that picture was kinda funny. 

Ruby shorts pattern is printed and still needs to be assembled, which I guess means I'm a day behind, but I don't have the kahones to attempt a welt pocket, so I have a free day there to make up for it, yay!

A tour of SAS Fabrics & Saturday Haul

Zipper bin, assorted styles, colors and sizes. All 25 cents or less each. It takes some digging, but they have good metal zippers in there.

This is just one of at least seven or eight rows of trim. Factor in that every outside wall of the building is covered in trims, too, before you wow. Prices range from 5-99 cents per yard. Most are about 10 cents per yard. They have a lot of off-brand trims. For example, I saw rack of "Guess" trim, but the font was just the slightest bit different from the real brand's logo. 

This is the Cotton/Poly knit table, all $1.99/yard. There are rarely bolts in this store. Instead, the fabrics are found in various states of bunches and balls of mess. They measure them at the front counter. The rule is, you may cut as much as you want from it but you have to be able to leave 2 yards on the cut, otherwise you have to buy it all. More often than not, you just buy it all. 

Notice the white and blue stripes towards the bottom left? Wallah.

I have a feeling that SAS gets some of fabric.com's remnants. Familiar? I've even seen fabric.com tags on some cuts. 

This is the "Fancy Button" bin. 25 cents each or $2.99 a bag. The bag is a better value by a huge margin.  I had a lot of fun digging through this bin and deciding on buttons for the Ruby Shorts Sew along. 

SAS is a great store for trims, buttons, embellishments and knits; especially for dancewear and costuming. However, they severely lack anything else. Their selection of wovens is scarce and almost exclusively synthetic. 

I had a lot of luck with knits today. The white cotton knit on the left is striped transparency. I bought it for the Peachy Beachy Coverup from fabric.com & hotpatterns, but not I'm thinking McCall's 6121 might also be a good use of it.

The greyish blob, center, is a polyester-something knit with a snake skin print. This will likely become a tank top for my friend Payton, and then maybe myself. I have over 3 yards of it. 

The light blue floral chiffon in the top right corner is actually from my last trip to SAS, but I haven't shown it too you yet. I really love this fabric and have a very specific RTW top I'm going to recreate with it. 

The turquoise scaley print on the bottom is mostly cotton, next to two of my zipper conquests. I don't have a specific project in mind for it either, but I really like the colors. They're fun and kind of girly. 

You're wondering how I could have forgotten about fabric for my Ruby shorts. I got it!

I settled for choose a navy polyester with a loose weave. it's drapey but thick enough to have some stability. I'm hoping these won't be too much of a pain to iron, but thats what I'm seeing. 

The buttons are from the Fancy Button bun and I adore them. I couldn't get a decent photo of them, but they are a cool guilded design. Not quite nautical yet very retro. 

Ops, I may have grabbed these too. The large nautical buttons are all the same color, I just have terrible photography skills. I love the painted ones, too. The metal ones in the top left corner are for my Ruby Shorts.

MMML Days 18, 19 & 20 AND a sew-along!

No photos for the past few days. My outfits have just been repeats.

May 18th - White tank, New Look 6178 border print wrap skirt, gross hair and stinky old flip flops

May 19th - Plain black T shirt, pillow case skirt, gross hair and fancy earrings. Gotta try to compensate, you know?

May 20th - Ok, I was out of clean clothes. After some quick dryer-fluffing and an iron, I threw on McCall's 5853 tank and some jeans...

Unfortunately, I had to break my Me-Made pledge for about 2 hours this afternoon. The Scottsdale Sister Cities Jr. Board's last meeting of the year was this afternoon and it didn't occur to me to sew something specifically for it. I couldn't find anything that would fit into business attire. I'm so sorry, I had to do it, but I wore a RTW blue collared button up and black slacks.

This slip up is going to be referred to as a "learning experience" because I've come to realize that I need to sew a more diverse range of garments, and/or more versatile ones. Then again, I haven't been sewing long so maybe it's just natural that I haven't made my way to more structured garments yet.

In other news, I'm participating in a Sew-Along! Lisette of Vintage or Bust! is hosting a sew-along of the BurdaStyle Ruby shorts. We're to cut Tuesday and start sewing Wednesday. I haven't even decided on fabric!

BurdaStyle member nuiwida23's recycled version. So retro and cute!

I have an orange corduroy that would be really cool with colorful buttons, but I'm thinking the fabric is too heavy for shorts.  Maybe I'll use some lightweight quilting cotton a friend's mom gave me, in tannish tones? I want to sew shorts I'll wear. I absolutely hate shorts as is and basically never wear or buy them, mostly because I think they're unflattering on my legs. That is a huge reason why I'm participating, however, because hopefully I'll be able to alter them to fit in whatever ways I need and end up with shorts that I'm more comfortable in than RTW.

Earlier today I printed, cut and tapped the new fabric.com free pattern - Hot Patterns Peachy Beachy Coverup. I went to cut into a lightweight purple cotton, and discovered that I had significantly less of the fabric than I thought.

I really need to develop a bit of a stash. I'm reluctant to buy much online though, because I'm sure I'll come home from Europe with some treasures. I mean, there is bound to be a fabric store somewhere in London, right?