New clothes!

I've been doing some sewing lately.

This shirt was completed back at the start of September, but I wasn't able to get a picture until last weekend:

It is New Look 6407. I made a number of changes to this one, most of which I think worked really well. I used the short sleeves from view E combined with the collar from view A. I did my usual full-bust adjustment (FBA). I also added a couple more vertical darts. A ready-to-wear shirt from JCPenny that I really like has three, so I was trying to emulate that. I also did French seams on the horizontal darts (which worked beautifully). And I used 8 instead of just 5 buttons.

Overall, I'm really happy with the result. I'm still learning about fit, and this shirt was a great skill-builder for me. You can read more about it in my review at PatternReview.com.

This skirt, however, was not as successful:

It is McCall's 5431. I'm teaching my sister-in-law how to sew, and this is the pattern she chose. I figured I ought to make one up so I knew exactly what we were getting into (since I've never tried to teach anyone how to sew before). I made view D. On the bright side, it is a "Quick & Easy" pattern that actually lives up to its name. On the downside, I just don't like how it looks on me. A big part of that, I think, is the fabric I used: a polyester-rayon gabardine. It looked all happy on the bolt, but in the garment it is just heavy and has that icky polyester shine to it.

I think it might work better for me in a different fabric. One of the comments made on my pattern review also suggested that maybe losing the pockets would help too. I suspect she's right. But I'm just not sure I want to make the investment to find out (though, there is a lovely cotton/linen blend I saw at Pacific Fabrics this week that would look so spiffy...). Hopefully, it will work out better for my sister-in-law.