The Penny Details

As promised yesterday, more pictures and better details of the penny pinafore from kitschycoo.

Many of the pennies I've seen on instagram and all over the internet involved two fabric choices to really highlight the princess seaming.  That's not my style.  Rather than pick two fabrics, I clearly prefer to pick a color that borders on Madame of the Bordello.  I really thought this pink would add some pep into the otherwise sad color scheme that is January in Massachusetts.

Yep, let's stick with "pep".

I wanted to go with a length that was longer than the typical tops I see people wearing with leggings, but not knowing for sure how long the pattern would be, I kept it at the  length of the actual pattern for this first trial run.

The length is fine.  It covers my butt, which is the cardinal rule with leggings and tops.

But I'd like it about 1 inch longer just for a little more security.  With winter comes static and I hate the look of bunched fabric riding one people's butt shelves.

Don't tell me you've never  noticed that before.   Butt shelves totally exist.

A slightly longer length lets me think it would be able to withstand any static that might come its way.

I like the princess seaming and in my opinion, it hits right where it should on the bust.

Or at least, that's where any princess seams I've worn have always hit me.

Want to see it again?

I also really like the neckline.  It's very similar, and might even be the same as the Lady Skater I am so fond of.  It's low but not too low.

As always, I didn't lay the pattern piece out for the neckband properly so there was no stretch and I had to do it twice.  That might be my new signature:  always doing a complete neckband TWICE.  Doing when it's already been serged is even more fun.

Now, as for the fabric, I will never use crushed panne again.  It drove me crazy because as soon as I tugged on it, it curled, so I spent twice as much time uncurling and flattening the the curled edges.

Before you tell me the easy to fix that would be to iron it, for the first time, I IRONED AS I WENT.  And it didn't help with the curling one bit.

The one redeeming feature of the fabric is that it is stretchy.

I really like the cuffs in the long sleeve penny too.  It's the same kind of cuff I raved about with the Lady Skater.  I tried making a narrower version and it was horrid, so I went with this and ended up really liking it.

While some of you are on a quest for the most perfect fit on self made clothing, I am OK with the slight looseness of this pattern.  I don't like anything snug, especially in the middle area because I can only suck it in for so long.  The slight swing to this is something that really pleases me.

The one thing I want to fix is my issue with the tunneling on the hemline.

It lets you see the very specific line of the hem and I want that to disappear.  I've tried the tricks mentioned in the pattern and I've played with the tension but on all but one of my pieces, I haven't managed to escape that look.  It could be the fabrics I keep using but I suspect it's the operator.

I know you come here every day and I have some great stuff to show this week, but you MUST come back Thursday to see what my sister and I area up to.  You can even play with us!

I've also been inspired to join BerryBarnDesigns in her 4x7 Sewing Challenge next month.  While a lot of what I've been doing lately is sewing for me, I like the idea of sewing specifically for myself every day in February.  I have a couple of things I've been wanting to make but I never seem to get there and other projects end up in their place.  30 minutes every day is a big deal in my schedule but let's see what happens! 

I might even use a few of those minutes to organize my sewing room.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. 
Click here and join in the fun!

Linking up here:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/01/clever-chicks-blog-hop-122-with-chicken.html
http://www.sewcando.com/2015/01/share-your-crafts-its-craftastic-monday.html
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2015/01/19/made-monday-10/