Simplicity 1539 Pattern Review
***I wrote this on Feb 12th and I just now got around to posting it for some weird reason on November 3rd... go figure
Today's pattern du jour is the Simplicity 1539 pattern.
I got this pattern for $.99 on sale at Hancock Fabrics and I got it mainly for the Bow shirt pictured on the front. I thought it was darling and unique. I liked the other version of top included in this pattern with the looped front thingy, but I really liked the bow.
The pattern itself was very easy, as Simplicity patterns tend to be. I had a couple of mishaps, as per usual, but they were my own fault. Like when I sewed the front to the back at the shoulder seams and sewed them right side to wrong side. After losing my seam ripper (and finding it again the day I opened my new machine, of course) I had let a couple of projects sit and chill for a bit. Once I got my new machine (which included a small seam ripper) I took said projects back up to finish them.
I had also forgotten that it had a peplum part, so I tried it on about midway through to check the fit and was instantly sent back in time to the 90s... I had a belly shirt...
The husband stared at me for a good whole minute and then exclaimed that I must have measured it wrong. Since I had forgotten about the peplum, I was beginning to think I had measured completely wrong. Then I remembered the peplum...
I continued to sew. I had made the stripes horizontal on the shirt and wanted to make the peplum part's stripes match, which was harder than I thought. I tried folding the fabric a certain way, and half of the peplum looked ok-ish. I ended up having to sew 4 individual peplum parts instead of 2 on the fold. I sewed them all together and I attached them to the bottom of the belly shirt.
On a plus note, the new machine is a beast. It does a good job regular sewing-wise, but I haven't tried the embroidery part yet. I got overwhelmed with all the options available. Give a girl time to adjust! Geez!
Everything looked cool, so I went on the attach the sleeves, which are 3/4 length. The first sleeve went on fine and when I turned it right side out, the stripes matched the rest of the shirt! I had completely forgotten about matching them up! I pinned the second sleeve in place and she was a little off, so I readjusted until it was straight. Then I added a little hook closure to the back right above the zipper. The only part I didn't like about this pattern was the weird back facing part. It just seems to stick up oddly in the back, and there was not a front facing. I might fiddle with it a little bit more to get it to look ok.
****So, this was one of the first fabrics I bought, and at the time I was not immediately washing them when I got them home as I do now. I was really not sure how the end results would turn out once I finished it and washed it. It was curling up on the edges when I was trying to sew it, which was a bitch. But I threw it in the washer with a wing and a prayer and unfortunately she shrank... a bit too much. I cannot stress this enough... WASH YOUR FABRICS WHEN YOU GET HOME!!! It will save a whole lot of work for a finished product that is too small. Lucky for someone at Goodwill, they will be getting a handmade new shirt. I'm going to put my stamp in it. I hope they enjoy it as much as I wanted to.
Today's pattern du jour is the Simplicity 1539 pattern.
I got this pattern for $.99 on sale at Hancock Fabrics and I got it mainly for the Bow shirt pictured on the front. I thought it was darling and unique. I liked the other version of top included in this pattern with the looped front thingy, but I really liked the bow.
The pattern itself was very easy, as Simplicity patterns tend to be. I had a couple of mishaps, as per usual, but they were my own fault. Like when I sewed the front to the back at the shoulder seams and sewed them right side to wrong side. After losing my seam ripper (and finding it again the day I opened my new machine, of course) I had let a couple of projects sit and chill for a bit. Once I got my new machine (which included a small seam ripper) I took said projects back up to finish them.
I had also forgotten that it had a peplum part, so I tried it on about midway through to check the fit and was instantly sent back in time to the 90s... I had a belly shirt...
The husband stared at me for a good whole minute and then exclaimed that I must have measured it wrong. Since I had forgotten about the peplum, I was beginning to think I had measured completely wrong. Then I remembered the peplum...
I continued to sew. I had made the stripes horizontal on the shirt and wanted to make the peplum part's stripes match, which was harder than I thought. I tried folding the fabric a certain way, and half of the peplum looked ok-ish. I ended up having to sew 4 individual peplum parts instead of 2 on the fold. I sewed them all together and I attached them to the bottom of the belly shirt.
On a plus note, the new machine is a beast. It does a good job regular sewing-wise, but I haven't tried the embroidery part yet. I got overwhelmed with all the options available. Give a girl time to adjust! Geez!
Everything looked cool, so I went on the attach the sleeves, which are 3/4 length. The first sleeve went on fine and when I turned it right side out, the stripes matched the rest of the shirt! I had completely forgotten about matching them up! I pinned the second sleeve in place and she was a little off, so I readjusted until it was straight. Then I added a little hook closure to the back right above the zipper. The only part I didn't like about this pattern was the weird back facing part. It just seems to stick up oddly in the back, and there was not a front facing. I might fiddle with it a little bit more to get it to look ok.
****So, this was one of the first fabrics I bought, and at the time I was not immediately washing them when I got them home as I do now. I was really not sure how the end results would turn out once I finished it and washed it. It was curling up on the edges when I was trying to sew it, which was a bitch. But I threw it in the washer with a wing and a prayer and unfortunately she shrank... a bit too much. I cannot stress this enough... WASH YOUR FABRICS WHEN YOU GET HOME!!! It will save a whole lot of work for a finished product that is too small. Lucky for someone at Goodwill, they will be getting a handmade new shirt. I'm going to put my stamp in it. I hope they enjoy it as much as I wanted to.
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