Progress.

[pimpinett]

The green shirt, so far:



Made pattern, cut out the pieces, zig-zagged edges, sewed the darts and then I decided that I wanted to flat-line it after all, so unpicked darts, cut out cotton twill lining pieces,  zig-zagged them too and re-did the darts. Great planning! Resulted in some stitch marks in the fabric, of course, but I will have to live with them. This is one of the reasons I think I'm a pretty bad seamstress. At least I am pleased with the cuffs and collar, for a change.

This is one of the sleeves, obviously, and one of the shoulder straps. There's another photo showing the rest of it so far 



Shown on my very vintage 1890's mannequin, who is a size or two smaller than me - she has a 55 cm waist, if I remember correctly. Suffice to say that I do not. Anyway, neither sleeve, the shoulder strap nor the collar are attached yet, just pinned to the mannequin to give an idea. Next up is either making another strap for the center back or starting to mark and sew buttonholes. I'm running out of thread, though, and I just winged it when I bought the buttons, so I'm going to need two more of those as well - I will use nine for center front, two for shoulder straps, two for the center back strap* and four for the cuffs, since I'm making double cuffs that require two-button cuff links. Getting a spare certainly wouldn't hurt, either.

*Seriously, is strap really the right word for it? You know, a strap attached horizontally with two buttons at the waist on the back of a garment? Swedish has a wonderfully precise little word for this detail, slejf, which looks and sounds deceptively like a loan from English, but apparently isn't, since no such word exists that I can find - bizarre. There have been attempts to Swedify the spelling of loan words after a pattern that looks similar but probably isn't, like rave = rejv, live = lajv etc.

Comments

[anyana13x5.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, that is SO gorgeous! It's going to look so hot when it's worn.

My use of google tells me that it is, in fact, a strap. I could be wrong though.

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) Yes, that seems to be it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hellexa_/]

That is incredibly beautiful! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished piece =D

Thanks for your comment the other day, by the way. It was hugely appreciated xxx

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad. :)

[pinkkoi.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what you said in the above paragraph ;D but, your shrt is beautiful. Oh Talented One!!! Beautiful material, can't wait to see what it looks like on.

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

May be an idea to keep the inner monologues about translation issues out of the journal, perhaps. :D Yes, the fabric is really lovely, isn't it?

[pinkkoi.livejournal.com]

lol...No, keep doing the inner monologues. I think it's great, I'm just a bit simple :D That color Green is my favorite color in the world. The walls in my room are a similar color.

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're simple, that bit is bound to be a bit obscure for anyone who doesn't speak Swedish as their first language, basically. :)

Yes, I really like it too - I think I would be less attracted to it if it wasn't for the iridiscent effect in this fabric, but it is very pretty.

[volksjager.livejournal.com]

Freakin' sweet.

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

Hope so. :)

[kvlt-kitty.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh that's gorgeous!

I can't really think of a specific English term for the strap at the back, but I shall give it a think!

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

Great, thanks!

[-consume-.livejournal.com]

It seems like women's clothing these days come in one of two basic styles: either formless and floppy like a tent, or skintight everywhere leaving nothing to the imagination. That is such a classic, wonderful cut.

According to my WW2 British Army uniform reference, the buttoned strap at the back of greatcoats is called a "half-belt". Can't imagine it would be something different on any other item of clothing. Makes sense, as it does the same thing as a regular belt, adjusting the tension and fit of the garment.

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

This kind of fit takes much more work and will fit a smaller percentage of the possible customer base than the other two alternatives. Both tent-like garments and very stretchy garments will "fit" (bit of a travesty of what fit should mean, but still) a lot of different body types, this kind of cut looks obviously ill-fitting and might be uncomfortable on a body that is only slightly different from the one it's intended for, so the crass reality is that many people can't afford clothes that fit like this one hopefully will. I couldn't if I didn't make it myself.

That's great to know, it's so frustrating to feel that there should be a more specific term, and not finding it. Thank you!

[tsores.livejournal.com]

Ohh! K! It's beautiful!