Blame it on the Sleeves: A Commercial Pattern Adventure M7627!

Happy New Month!

Thank you guys for stopping by this week as I take you on another sewing adventure.

This week I take you through my sewing of a commercial pattern. First off, let me start by saying why I sew with commercial patterns from time to time. At least what my goal is of even trying them even though I prefer my own patterns for Amshina pieces.

Why commercial patterns?

I started sewing freehand. The instructor that walked me through sewing formally did it without a pattern. Through her classes I was able to draft a pencil skirt, circle skirt, shirt and shirt dress from scratch. I know – pretty amazing. I mean let’s face it – growing up in Guyana, South America, I had never seen my dressmaker use a pattern. So this was new to me when I moved to Canada and discovered commercial patterns. I was intrigued.

My quest, therefore, was to learn the intricacies of pattern making to perfect my own goal of creating my own pieces from patterns I come up with. Sewing with the patterns are therefore my way of getting those skills as well as building my wardrobe with key pieces.

Working with patterns

This didn’t start out as I expected. It was much more complicated. Pattern instructions are in all kinds of speech and they are not always clear. That’s where my awesome virtual friends in the sewing community who create tutorials and sew-alongs come in handy to assist me.

This year I am taking that quest to learn and perfect these pattern skills to the next level by giving them another try. I am determined.

Though the patterns I create are much simpler, these complicated ones challenge me. I like a good challenge.

McCall’s 7627 Laura Ashley Pattern

I bought this pattern because I was first inspired by a fellow sewist, Tabitha Sewer, who made the view B in a gorgeous burnt orange. I thought it was the bomb dot com until I bought the pattern, started tracing the pieces and realized the sleeves had a lot of dimension to them.

View B

The sleeves were huge…the biggest I had ever seen…lol. I also bought this pattern because I wanted a good wrap top pattern that I can hack for future design ideas. A wrap top is very flattering once you get the right fit.

The pattern called for about 4 1/4 Yds of fabric. I have no idea how much I ended up using. This was meant to be a tester since I didn’t trust how well it would turn out. I used thrifted fabric from my local Value Village store. I go there from time to time to scout out unique vintage fabric finds and any materials for cheap that could be used on future tester projects before using the real fabrics.

This mismatch of stripes was perfect. I had different lengths and they all ended up working well to give me all the required pattern pieces for my size.

The bodice and peplum were easy to put together. This went really quickly. The sleeves on the other hand, had a mind of their own. It wasn’t too complicated but I somehow managed to make one longer than the other – don’t ask. I have no idea how that happened. Also the second sleeve completed was waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy more perfect than the first.

I remedied that quickly by adjusting the length on the imperfect sleeve to match the perfect one. 🙂 *cheeky*…lol. It was definitely a ‘make it work’ moment for me. I was determined to finish the look. Tadah!!!

I didn’t try it on until the sleeves were in and all the hand sewing was completed.

I felt such a sense of accomplishment when I finished this piece. The fit was great. I was like…it’s not perfect but I finished it and it looked fabulous. I can actually wear it out even though it’s a tester made of mismatched thrifted fabric. I hope to make another one soon.:)

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you liked this semi-review. I hope to be working with more commercial patterns this year to work on my pattern and sewing skills.

Here’s to wishing you all an amazing month of March! See you again in two weeks for another Wednesday blogging. 🙂

Bless

Uta