Another Ute

I've been pretty unproductive with my sewing over the last two weeks, due in part welcome visits from family--my father and mother-in-law, on consecutive weekends--and in part to insanely hot weather, which has left me sweating so profusely that I hesitate to touch anything in our apartment, let alone fabric.

Today promises a break in the weather, and a long, lonely evening of uninterupted sewing time, so hopefully I'll be getting my mojo back soon.  But in the meantime, I wanted to write up an older project, a paisley version of the BurdaStyle Ute blouse.

I got off to a rough start with my first Ute when I cut and sewed the wrong size, but now that I've got the sizing issue figured out, I'm loving the pattern, which is actually really versatile.

For this version, I used paisley cotton voile left over from my brunch dress.  Unlined, the blouse is semi-sheer, so I need to wear it over a camisole, but I actually like that look for summer quite a bit.

For this second Ute, I once again shortened the hem and the sleeves, and omitted the cuffs.  I also re-drafted the peter-pan collar, making the shape less extreme in the front.  I like the original collar, but I also the more subtle version I drafted, which I think works better with the busy fabric on this project.

I love the collar and placket construction on this blouse, which I think yield a nicely finished result.  But on this one, I made a bit of a goof: despite my careful measuring and marking, I managed to space my buttons and buttonholes unevenly.  If you look carefully, the top two buttons are closer together than the others!  By the time I realized my mistake, I had already cut the buttonholes, so I had no choice but to wear it the way it was.  Because of the location of the mistake (at the top of the placket) and the pattern of the fabric, I think it's hardly noticeable, and it's not stopped me from wearing the blouse a bunch over the last few weeks.

I've also incorporated this blouse into my Up North Mini-Wardrobe plan.  I love how it looks paired with my denim pencil skirt, as pictured here.  And I think it will also work well with the ivory Beignet-inspired skirt I'm currently working on--more about that project soon!

Drafting: A Convertible Collar

Here are some instructions for drafting a convertible collar--I made this one to complete the pattern for my Friday Frock, a shirt-dress from Bernina that's missing the collar piece.

Just a quick reminder, for anyone who isn't a regular reader of this blog.  I use Norma Hollen's book Pattern Making by the Flat Pattern Method as a reference for all of my drafting, and I want to credit her appropriately.  If you're interested in drafting, her book is an excellent resource.

Here's the definition of a "convertible collar": Unlike a regular, or "full-roll" collar, a convertible collar is designed to lie nicely if the collar is left open, and not buttoned all the way to the top.  To accommodate this, the neckline edge of the convertible collar is angled slightly, so it matches the curve of the shirt's neckline edge.  Since women's collared shirts are rarely buttoned to the top, when we think about a "shirt collar," what we usually have in mind is a convertible collar.

To begin, we'll draft a full-roll collar, which is ridiculously easy.  Then we'll modify it to create the convertible collar.

First, measure the neckline edge of your garment.  (I'm holding my tape measure on it's side so it will go around the curve better and give me a more accurate measurement.)  Here, I just used the Bernina pattern before I added the seam allowances.  My neckline edge measured 7.5 inches.  Really that's only half of the length, since the yoke piece is cut on the fold.  But since the collar will also be cut on the fold, that's exactly what I want. 

Then, draw a rectangle that is the length of your neckline edge measurement (here 7.5 inches) and 3 inches wide.  Measure the distance between the Center Back and your shoulder seam, and mark it on your collar.  To create the point of your collar, extend one of the long edges of that rectangle by about an inch (more or less, depending on the pointiness of your desired collar), and draw a diagonal line connecting it to the corner of the shorter edge.  That's it!  That's your full-roll collar.  In this picture, the lower (shorter) edge is the neckline edge, where you attach the collar to the shirt, and the left side is the center back, cut on the fold.

Now, to make the convertible collar, we want to create a slight angle in the neckline edge of our collar.  To do this, measure 3/4 inches up from the lower right-hand corner, along the diagonal edge of the collar.  Then draw a line from this point to your shoulder seam mark.  The lower edge of your collar should now be angled slightly upward.  As a consequence, it will also be slightly longer, so you'll need to adjust it.  To do so, measure your new, angled neckline edge, and mark your desired length (in this case, remember, it was 7.5 inches).  Shorten your collar by re-drawing the diagonal edge, beginning from the point you just marked and running parallel to the original line.

So, here's what your finished convertible collar should look like:

Of course, you still need to add seam allowances.  And remember, the collar piece we've drafted gets cut on the fold, and you need to cut two of them: an upper collar and an under-collar.

Post-script: Even less original than I thought!

Ok, so I knew it was unlikely that I'd actually had an original design idea, but here's proof that I'm a shameless (if unknowning) rip-off artist!

Not only is my Mad Men dress very similar to a dress featured on the show, but it's also shockingly similar to this dress.

And the lovely lady wearing it? The Selfish Seamstress, of course!

And my post about drafting the collar? Again, I thought, very original, right? Would you believe that the Selfish Seamstress has shared her collar design too, in the form of a super-slick free pdf download?

Would you believe that I've certainly seen this dress on her blog, and her design must have seeped into my unconscious? That I had forgotten ever seeing it before? And that I randomly stumbled across it again immediately after publishing my now super-lame rip-off post?

So, to my (likely non-existant) blog readers, I'm sorry for being so lame. And Elaine, please believe that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

Drafting: A flat-fall collar

I realize that part of the fun of reading sewing blogs is getting information about a pattern you might be inspired to sew. Does a certain pattern run big? Does it flatter? Is it easy to sew? Since I'm drafting most of my own patterns right now, I thought I'd post from time to time about how to draft some of the design features I'm using in my projects. Hopefully, that way I can still share my learning experiences and occasional insights with you all.

First, a quick caveat. I've learned everything I know about pattern drafting (more or less) from two sources: Gwen Powel, the instructor of my pattern-drafting class, a woman who's got the skills to to pay the bills; and Norma Hollen's classic textbook Pattern Making by the Flat Pattern Method. I'll occasionally quote from Hollen's book, as I do in this post, and when I do so, I'll attribute it. And, if you're at all interested in learning pattern-making, Hollen's book is available on Amazon, and it's a comprehensive and invaluable resource.

Drafting a flat-fall collar, like the one I used on my Mad Men dress, is incredibly simple. First, you need to establish your neckline in the front and in the back. If you're using a sheath dress pattern (either commercial or your own) as the basis for your design, you might not need to make any changes to the neckline at all. If you're working with a personal sloper or "basic pattern," however, you'll probably need to lower it. There are no hard-and-fast rules for this--you can use a RTW dress as a model, or as Hollen suggests, mark your intended neckline on a muslin with pins or chalk, and check to see if it is "becoming" on you. If you adjust your neckline, use a curved ruler (or rounded household object) to create a smooth curve, and make sure that your new neckline is perpendicular to the Center Back, Center Front, and shoulder seam lines, otherwise, you'll create funny protrusions in those places when your pattern is assembled.

Next, decide on the width of your collar, and trace a second line the appropriate distance below your neckline. For this dress, I made my collar 2 inches wide. As with the neckline, though, you probably want to consider both the scale of the print on your fabric (if any) and your own proportions, in deciding on this measurement. As they say on What Not To Wear (not that I watch it, or anything), clothes and accessories flatter best when they are "to scale" with the person wearing them.

Trace the collar onto a separate piece of paper, add seam allowances, and transfer the grainline from the bodice of your dress. Then you're good to go!

To make the button detail on my collar, I decided on the location of the overlap, then added an extension for the tab and button, again, just drafting "by eye." (Once you've drafted the collar overlap, remember to mark its location on your bodice neckline with a notch, so you can line your pieces up correctly when you sew.) I also drew a new grainline, at a 45-degree angle from the original grainline, so that my collar would be cut on the bias. I did this for style reasons--I wanted the plaid to be on an angle for visual interest--but since fabric drapes differently on the bias, it probably has other consequences for my design that I haven't really considered.

Here are my final pattern pieces. (Ignore the grain line markings on the front collar pieces, which clearly don't match up. I did cut the pieces correctly, using a modified version of the Selfish Seamstress's plaid matching technique.)


Usually, on a dress like this, the collar would separate in the back, on either side of the back zip. So you would cut the front collar on the fold, and for the back you would cut the collar in two pieces. But since I wanted to add the button detail in the front, I decided to have the collar run all the way around the back uninterrupted. That means I cut the back collar on the fold, and I cut two, asymmetrical front collar pieces. It also means my zipper stops just below the neck, and the dress doesn't open all the way. How you choose to style a collar like this is entirely up to you, but you do need to think ahead about the implications of choices like these for the rest of your design and its construction.

You could use this basic method to draft other styles of flat collars, too. For instance, change the shape, and you get a sailor or sailor-inspired collar, like the one on this sassy vintage dress.

(image courtesy of BillyGoatVintage's Etsy store)

Or make a peter-pan collar on a blouse or dress with a front button closure, like this one:

(image courtesy of Modcloth)

I hope this post was helpful--please let me know if there are things I should clarify on this post, or that I should do differently in the future.