Herstory

I'm Catholic, and one of the distinguishing characteristics of my church is liturgy. We are liturgical in our worship. This means that we incorporate signs and symbols of God and his story in our encounters with Him.

What's really cool about that is the history of how we have done that. Every age has represented their knowledge of God's story using what they had. I like that.

Irene and I took this picture, and I thought it would just be a documentation of some sewing, but I see so much more. Check out what's in the background.

There are two of the stations from the Stations of the Cross and one stained glass window. The Stations of the Cross evolved from people being unable to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, so they made representations and walked from one to another, remembering the events of Christ's passion and death. They can be quite ornate or quite plain. Stained glass windows were used as teaching devices, giving the important parts of stories for people to remember and retell.

And on the column, you see Irene holding up our idea for our symbolic representation. It's a swag and jabot, modified from OOP McCall's 8078.


I've made it as curtains numerous times, so when Irene talked about fabric for the columns, I pictured this right away. The white one is made from cotton and is stapled to a square dowel.

The real ones will be made of silk, so I made a silk one with Julie's idea of a sleeve to simplify the hardware. We use colors to signify the changing of the liturgical time, so we will make red ones for Advent, violet for Lent, white for Easter, and green for ordinary time.

If someone doesn't know the liturgical calendar well, as soon as they see that the colors have changed, they know something's up. It creates an awareness that the year has a pattern that repeats each year. I remember when my knowledge of the liturgical year was weak, and the different colors always caught my attention. It's just one more way to engage ourselves in the events of Christ's life.

When I look at that picture and see the carvings, stained glass, and the fabric, I know I am in there. I'm not a sculptor; I'm not a stained glass maker; I don't build cathedrals, paint masterpieces on ceilings, or see visions. But fabric? That I do.

I took the swag pattern and drew my best guess for a small swag. I have lots of cottons scraps, so I cut it out and tried the pleats on top. It took about 7 tries to get it right, but each one took about ten minutes, so it wasn't so hard. I was aiming for a smaller swag, but each fix made it bigger, so bigger it got!

Then I made a jabot to match the width I'd ended up with. Now I just need to make a sample for the two large ones that will go on the front columns, then order the fabric. We will get a team of sewers, pressers and hangers to help us, so I think this will take only one day to make and hang.

And I vowed I'd never sew for church. I guess that if the project's right, I will!

Look Away. I'm Hideous.

This is what I see as the problems:
My upper torso seems to be behind the center line of my hips and ears. I think my hip, shoulder, and ear are supposed to line up. The long vertical line on the right bisects my shoulder point. It does not bisect my hips or ear. The long vertical line on the left bisects my hip but is way in front of my shoulder point.

I seem to have a lot of depth between my front and back. I think my posture creates that. I need more length up and over my shoulder. Plus, I think I have a broad back.

1.) The back is tight under the arms in back. I'm considering adding a back seam allowance and adding some fabric in the center back area. The neck gaps a bit in back, so I could tuck out a teeny bit from the neck edge.

2.) There's a green arrow pointing to the lower front hem. It's higher than the back. I think the front needs a bit of length in the upper chest, where that short angled line is. That would level the front hem.

One and two together should fix the drag lines.

3.) I think I'll need to raise the bust dart a bit and I'll shortened it a bit more.

4.) That just leaves the shoulder. Sigh. That's a lot of space between the sleeve edge and my actual shoulder. Should I cut it off the bodice, tapering to the under arm seam, then add the same amount to the sleeve? I'm starting to envision a sasquach sleeve.

I'm pretty sure I'll make another muslin. It's a basic pattern, so if I get it right, it would be a good TNT to compare other patterns to.

Muslin Number Three

Here's what I did to the original size 22:

• added 5/8" to the front shoulder seam
• added 5/8" to the back shoulder seam at neck edge
• added 1 1/8" to the back shoulder seam at arm edge, tapered from neck edge
• added 1 1/8" to sleeve width behind the center dot
  
• moved the bust dart back 1"
• moved the v-neck up 2"
• shortened hem by 2 1/4"

My conclusions? My posture is ghastly! Mom, I am so sorry. When you kept saying, "Stand up straight. Tuck your bottom under," you were right.

I have analyzed these pictures to death. I will now try to draw some lines on them in my image editor. I'll post the elaborated ones soon, but would love some suggestions.

Saved by the muslin

I couldn't get myself motivated to tackle my pants fitting problems, so I thought I'd whip off a quick and easy project in a fabric I have that coordinates in another fabric I'm saving for pants. I thought that would get me motivated to work on pants. So, I'm working on McCall's 2208, the tunic top shown buttoned in solid blue.

Using the Fit for Real People method of using my high bust measurement and adding inches for my bust and hips, I should use the size 22 because my high bust is 44 and the size 22 bust is 44. To accommodate my bust and hip measurements, I'd have to add 4 inches to the pattern's 44 bust to get my 48. I'd have to add 4 inches to the patterns 46 hip to get my 50.

I measured the pattern and found that the actual hip and bust measurements were close to mine, so it must include a lot of wearing ease. I decided to make a muslin of the 22, but added two inches to the back, one inch on each side, using a dart to keep the shoulder seam the original size. I didn't need to do that, though. I was confused and sewed a seam down the center back when it was supposed to be cut on the fold. I ended up only adding 6/8 inch to the width compared to the pattern because of my mistake.


I was surprised at how well it fit. I did not need to add width to the back, but the armscyes are very tight. I decided to just go up one size. The pattern only has 18, 20, and 22, but I just traced the ungraded half, made dotted lines along the 22 on the graded side and slide it over one size and traced new lines along the 22. That left me with a 24.

I couldn't stop myself. I also shortened it 2 1/4 inches, lowered the bust point and the entire dart, lowered the underarm seam a half inch, and took off about 1/2 inch of the sleeve cap. I almost made it up in my fabric. Am I glad I forced myself to make another muslin.

UGH!
Mostly, though it's too big now and the sleeves are still tight. The shoulder point is way past my shoulder point now. I think I need to make a wider armscye, which is so unusual! Maybe that's because this is a "Woman Style" so it's not just graded up and up with enormous armscyes? I don't know.

So I went back to my muslin in the 22 and cut the shoulder seam, to estimate how much width I'd need to add. I also cut the sleeve to see how much. I was looking at The Singer Reference Library book "The Perfect Fit," and it looks like the broad back alteration is what I need. It adds fabric to the armscye only at the side, not the top or the underarm. I think I need that in the back and the front.