Pattern Hacking

Hacking is the only way I shall ever get a jacket to suit me and fit properly. 

Much as I love this gorgeous jacket in my Lutterloh book, which is where I found the pattern for my 1940s blouse, I know it isn't quite what I'm looking for...

...even if the fur trim is the stuff of tweedy fantasies.

Somehow my brain wasn't sufficiently in gear last week to tackle the pattern drafting required for Lutterloh creations...

...so I delved into the pattern box and pulled out this not quite so retro number.  The pattern had never been used, and I had enough calico to run up a toile.  Then the fun really started.  The amendments so far are as follows:-


The armholes are too shallow, so the sleeves cut into the armpits.  I have dropped the bottom of the armhole about an inch and a half down the side seam.

The back is too narrow, so I have added an inch down the centre back.

The upper sleeves needed more width, so I have added an extra inch at the top, tapering down to nothing at the elbow.

The little stand up collar doesn't suit me, so I have had a very educational time roaming around YouTube learning how to draft a pattern with a shawl collar. 


Even though the second toile I have run up still isn't quite right, I think I have managed to keep frustration at bay and let fascination take its place.  Strangest of all, once I had made all the changes, somehow the mock up jacket sat on me differently and magically transformed itself into a rather natty double-breasted number.  I must get my husband to take some pictures of me modelling it, if not for the blog at least for family entertainment. 

1949 Lutterloh Blouse for Spring For Cotton 2015

Finished today, just within the deadline for the Spring for Cotton 2015 Sew-Along, first announced on Rochelle's blog Lucky Lucille, and now showing lots of fabulous finishes on Flickr.

The rules were straightforward - use only cotton fabric to make a garment using a vintage pattern.

It was the perfect opportunity to try out a pattern from a 1949 book of Lutterloh patterns. This is the blouse that caught my eye...

... and this is the one and a half inch high pattern that I had to enlarge.  There were a few minor problems with the pattern, but today I was able to try on the finished blouse and pass the camera to my daughter for a photo session.

Not totally identical to the illustration, but most definitely 1940s!  I didn't put so many buttons on the front...

... but I added one to the centre back of the collar.

I stuck to the rules and used only cotton fabric and thread.  For the interfacing in the collar and down the centre front I used calico. 

The bias binding on the armhole seams is also cotton - a sure sign that I have had it stashed for ages, because I can only find cotton and polyester mixes these days.

The machines behaved themselves impeccably.  Most of the work was done on my 1937 Frister and Rossmann transverse shuttle, except for the buttonholes, which were done on the 1936 Singer 201K treadle.

The buttonholer probably gave the me the greatest fun of the whole project.  Excuse the grubby fingernails.  I've been planting spuds.

The greatest setback was working out how to give the fullness for the bust.  Just one look at the immense dart on the pattern once I enlarged it and I knew that if I made the blouse as drafted I would end up looking like a failed Nurse Diesel.

I bashed ahead with what I thought was the easy option and did tucks on the shoulders, and they looked pretty shocking.

So yesterday, when the blouse was all but finished, I put in darts.  Not the best time to do it, when the armhole seams are bound and the collar is on.  I had to unpick about a two and a half inch section of the shoulder seams  - French seams, so I had two lines of stitching to contend with.

Anyway, I managed it.  Don't ask how long it took.  Here is one of the shoulder seams showing the head of the dart.

Here is the same seam again once I had folded in the raw edges and hand stitched the top edge together again. 

And this is how the dart looks on the front.  It is only now, looking at the photos together with the line drawing and the pattern that I realise that my darts run at a slightly different angle. Not that it matters.  It fits. 

On the inside of the collar seam I used a bias strip cut from the fabric to enclose the raw edges.

This means that I ended up with a line of machine stitching visible on the right side.  To make sure that the edge of the collar conceals this stitching I added a button and buttonhole at the centre back. 

It was a good excuse to use another of those gorgeous buttons.

The line drawing shows three buttons on the collar.  They must be tiny, because I only had room for one.  The buttons are five eighths of an inch, and spaced three inches apart down the front.

On the opposite side I have an uncut buttonhole.  The thread is a variegated cotton, which I also used for the edge stitching.

If it hadn't been for the Spring for Cotton challenge I am not sure when I would have got round to trying out a Lutterloh pattern.  Thank you Rochelle!  I am ridiculously chuffed with the result.  The fit is incredibly comfortable, it has a lovely tailored look so it can do for smart or casual outfits, and I am already thinking of making another.

Now I'm off to Flickr to see what everybody else has been up to - the finishes are coming in fast...

Linking up with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday
and Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and AmandaJean's blog CrazyMom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday

1949 Lutterloh Blouse Nearly Finished...

Yesterday was buttons and buttonholes day.

These buttons were irresistible - exactly the right colour, and with a glittery centre.

I raided my box of variegated threads and found one that went perfectly with the print.

It was a case of extreme pattern matching.  Here is the front of the blouse all buttoned up. Spot the overlap.

Today's job has been rather more irksome.  Once the buttons were done and I was trying on the blouse it was glaringly obvious that the shoulder tucks, which seemed a great idea at the time, just had to go.  They looked pretty awful in the last pictures I posted, when I had just put on the collar. By the time I went to bed last night I had resigned myself to the inevitable... unpick a section of the shoulder seam and replace the tucks with a dart.  Today I tackled it, the greater part of my day got sucked into a black hole, but I've done it.

Only the hem is left to be done...

The 1949 Lutterloh Blouse Has a Collar

After spending ages today sewing on the collar on the Lutterloh blouse, I can schedule Monday as buttons and buttonholes day.  Then I shall have to get my skates on and do the hem and sleeves hems because the deadline for Spring for Cotton is next Thursday.  

I shall have to do something creative with those shoulder tucks.  They make the front of the blouse hang like a little girl's bedroom curtain.

I shall make sure that my final photos are better than this.  Bathroom mirror selfies aren't my forte. I'm the wrong generation.

1949 Lutterloh Blouse - Halfway There...

This is the pattern for the blouse that I am making for Spring for Cotton.  It is printed in the back of the Lutterloh book on a minute scale.  These are the outlines for the back, front and sleeves.  The images for the back and front are only one and five eighths of an inch from top to bottom.  I thought that so long as I didn't read a 1 as a 7 everything would work out perfectly.  It didn't.  The measurement of 33.5 cm at the bottom left of the picture threw the whole pattern piece out of shape, so I ended up redrafting the front.  It is a bit late to dash off a cross letter to Lutterloh about it.

The pattern has an enormous dart down to the bust from the shoulder.  Regrettably, I haven't got the figure for it, so I have done tucks instead.  Also, the pattern as drafted came out too narrow in the back, so I had to add to the width of both the back and the front.  No need for drastic measures this time.

Today I have done a bit of sewing and have finished the binding inside the armhole seams.

  
The process I followed was much the same as for Meg's dress, with tucks at the top of the sleeves.

The blouse is now beginning to take shape.  The collar needs to go on next, then I can do the buttons and buttonholes, hem the sleeves and hem round the bottom.  I'm not sure yet whether I will put in waist darts, I shall have to see how it fits once it fastens up.  I know for sure that I shan't be bothering with a pocket...

... after all the serious effort I put in with the pattern matching.  Manically meticulous, but worth it.

1949 Lutterloh Blouse Pattern - Spring for Cotton

After enjoying myself so much last year making a 1940s blouse for the Sew for Victory Sew Along, I am now jumping into another vintage sewing challenge, Spring for Cotton.  The rules are fairly simple - use a vintage pattern to make a garment in cotton, share photos on Flickr, and have the finished garment ready by 30th April.

I have had a 1949 Lutterloh pattern book on my shelf for a couple of years now, and this challenge has galvanised me into action.  It didn't take me long to decide on this blouse, then I watched this video.   

Mr. Lutterloh makes it all look so easy.  He also gives a couple of fleeting moments of comedy, which my husband and brother in law have enjoyed with me.

After three evenings of work and running up a muslin, I now have my own pattern to make the blouse.

This cotton poplin print was stashed away in the cupboard.  Today I have been Mrs. Mega-Meticulous and cut out the blouse, making sure the lines of tiny roses match for symmetry across both front and back.  It took rather longer than ten minutes.

To stay with the German theme, the plan is to make it on my 1937 Frister and Rossman transverse shuttle.  It is a beautiful brute of a machine, weighing three quarters of a ton, so I have yet to haul it out of its cupboard.  Sewing starts tomorrow.

Linking up to Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday