the edge-finishing experiment (a poll)

I know, two posts in one day, right? But I did some playing around with options on how to finish the back bodice/sleeve edges this afternoon, and I really need some feedback! If you could take just a moment to look this over and vote in the poll below, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I've come to the conclusion that there's really no way to finish this invisibly. Except for adding a second layer of organza to enclose the seams, and that would make the color difference between that and my skin way too obvious, and therefore defeat the purpose of using that nude organza in the first place. But here's what I've tried:

 

Option 1: A hairline seam finish (a very narrow hem-type thing, turned under twice to enclose the raw edges. The first two lines of stitching were done by machine, but I sewed the third by hand.

Pro: This was the easiest/least fiddly option, as I didn't have to deal with narrow strips of anything and the stitching did most of the work for me. And if I do the stitching with a thread other than white, this could be fairly invisible.

Cons: There's still that darker finishing edge where the organza is tripled up. And matching the thread could be problematic.

Option 2: A bias (more or less) binding, overlaid with the lace. Again, interior finishing was done by hand.

Pros: This looked like the cleanest finish at the end around the curved area, and was also the easiest to hand-sew the inside.

Cons: The edge is really peachy looking, because it has the most layers of the organza. It was also kind of stiff, and the binding was pretty tough to work with at that width.

Option 3: Just a strip of the lace.

Pros: The whiter parts where the sunflowers were looked pretty good.

Cons: The netting parts look kind of sloppy, and I'm concerned about the organza edge fraying within that. Also, again, the strips were fiddly and hard to work with. It's also going to be virtually impossible to avoid some kind of thread line, because that row of machine stitching was pretty much necessary to give me something more stable to anchor the netting parts of the lace to.

So what do you think?

Aside from that, I did get to do a bit of actual construction work today. I spent some time constructing the top and bottom of the front sleeve bits, and sewed those on this morning. I did end up using a French seam for this part, so hopefully the color difference won't be terribly obvious when I'm wearing it instead of Donna. I'm a bit more pale than her! (I guess most people won't be looking down at my shoulders anyway, right?) I'm also hoping that it fit ok, because dummy me, I didn't realize until AFTER I trimmed the seam down that I should have sewn it a little away from the stitching line rather than right on it! But I don't think it was so skintight of a fit that it'll be a huge issue, losing that little bit in the shoulders. And anyway, I haven't secured the straps in the front yet, and probably won't until I have the zipper in and know the fit once and for all, so I can always compensate by adding a little length there if needed.

Minus the really wide seam allowances/inside-out seam in the middle/sagginess from no securing at the top, this is essentially what the back looks like. I did try to match the pattern in the back, but I think I'm going to have to take some extra out of the top of the main part, so we'll see how I did. For the record, I didn't even try to match the seams at the shoulders, because I was able to make the placement work out so I had a sunflower cutting through both the top and bottom sleeves, and I kind of needed that for gathering purposes. (Sort of gathering, that is. I ended up having to pin and tack it all down by hand, because the net was just a total lost cause for the basting stitches!)

I'm going to hold off on those edges for now-- on to the waistband!

(Edit: Rats, how did my blog suddenly get all ugly?! Not that I have time to mess with it now...)

Good news, bad news (and a random question)

The good news: The test shorts are basically done. I finished sewing in the waistband facing today, did the button and buttonhole, and hemmed them.

I like the way the facing turned out--I was able to use up a nice chunk of a "fat quarter" piece in my scrap bin. I think I got these Celtic knot pieces in my Christmas stocking several years ago, and I'm finally finding ways to use them! I decided to hand-stitch it in, because I figured it would look nicer than topstitching it from the other side.

The fit is pretty good. Not too many wrinkles in the front...

...and though this picture is terribly blurry because the lighting in here kind of sucks for photos and I was holding the camera behind my back and taking the picture in the mirror, hardly any wrinkles at all in the back. And no gapping at the waistband! This is huge for me!

But the reason these aren't the final photos yet is this:

I had an unforeseen problem with the welt pockets: I underestimated my hips. :-P I wasn't expecting them to pull apart quite this much, and frankly, the inside of the pockets just looks bad. To the point where, as it stands now, this is only wearable with the longest shirts I own, and I don't think that would necessarily look good with such a long pair of shorts. I think I can salvage these so I can actually wear them (I mean, shorts that fit!)-- I have fabric left, and I'm going to try hand-stitching a patch into each of the pocket linings so that the outer fabric is showing instead of the wrong side of the pocket lining fabric. But this also means I have to rethink my pockets a bit before I can do the pants. So here's what options I'm looking at:

• I can change the placement of the pockets, perhaps moving them a bit more off my hips and more onto my thighs. (But then, my upper thighs do tend to protrude a bit too, as I learned from the many, many jeans muslin fitting issues I had. So this may just move the problem elsewhere, rather than fix it.)
• Theoretically, I could change the pockets to horizontal welts. Except that would pretty much kill both the lacing and the pleat, which is what makes these pants awesome.
• I could eliminate the welt altogether, at least for side pockets, and instead just do regular side-seam pockets. Right now, this is looking like the safest, and therefore the most likely, option. And if I really want to do the welts, I could add a back horizontal welt pocket or two.
• Theoretically, I could also eliminate the pockets altogether. But pants without pockets are dumb, IMO.
• I could leave the pockets as is, and cut the back side of the pocket out of the linen so that all you see But I don't think that will eliminate the gapping problem (unless adding the pleat adds enough fullness back in that it closes it up.) Part of whether I consider this is going to depend on how my patch job looks, I think.
• I'm not sure that widening the welts themselves will help. That might just make it harder to sew in.

So perhaps the lesson here is that curvy girls shouldn't have vertical welts on their pants?  I'm sure there's got to be a way to make this work...

Ok, random question time. I'm thinking it's about time that I did another blog giveaway. So I'm wondering, what sort of thing would you all like to see? Something handmade by me? A book? A gift certificate? Some kind of craft supply? I know the focus has changed a bit this year--still primarily a sewing blog, but I seem to have picked up some knitting bloggy friends since I picked that up. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Merry Christmas to me?

I'm taking an unofficial poll. I got one of my Christmas presents early this year (my car needed new tires, and the local body shop was having a "buy 3 get the 4th free after rebate" sale. So my mom, who took me to get the tires, told me to get the rebate made out to myself and then use it to buy myself something fun and splurgy. So, should I....

A) get some really quality fabric, like something organic or silk or something else along those lines, since I'm often deterred by the price-per-yard, and make myself a really spectacular outfit or two,

OR,

B) get myself a Burda World of Fashion subscription?

Decisions, decisions....