The next big thing...

OK, maybe that is not really the best way to describe my clothing!



But, yeah, I am once again working on a GARMENT! Yay!
It has been a while since I worked on any clothing, as my time has been spent on other fiber projects. But my 'challenge' quilt is finished now; I have LOTS of fabric for garments, and my wardrobe is sorely in need!

I drafted my pattern using my PMB software, then decided I would TRY the banner printing feature.

Back when I was using Windows XP and earlier OS, I always printed my patterns 'banner style'...long strips of fan-fold paper than were then taped or glued side-by-side to create a full-size pattern.

But with the acquisition of Vista, my ability to print 'banner style' disappeared, even though I was using the same printer as before.

I have been using Windows7 for a while now and hadn't even thought to look for the banner ability, but recently discovered it WAS once again listed on my printer's settings. So I decided to give it a try.

At first, I was thrilled!!! The pattern was printing just as it should! I was so excited I grabbed the camera! :)

But then it began skipping sections...it would print registration marks and skip 2 inches, then print new registration marks and continue the pattern lines. What the...?

Sometimes it just omitted the vertical lines altogether.
Sometimes it printed the top half of a waist dart, but not the bottom half.

Then I ran out of ink.

Are you believing this? Apparently, my plan to print, cut and sew a blouse to wear the following evening was a pipe dream! sigh.

A new ink cartridge was the easy fix for one issue, but still, the banner-style print option refused to play fair! It printed a column of 3 pages for the right side of a sleeve just fine...but then totally screwed up the column of pages for the left side of the sleeve...printed part of the slleve cap, then skipped a page and a half before making a few diagonal lines!

In the end, I went back to printing individual pages for the sleeve, so I could tape them together and just move on. Eventually I may investigate this further, but my goal was to SEW...not troubleshoot the printer.

That was yesterday.

Today, I have cut-out the fronts and backs and am in the process of sewing the darts.


As you can see here, I hand-basted a dark thread across the waistline, so I can evaluate the F-B balance of the pattern without actually drawing lines on this.

I suspect that the level of the bust will need to be changed, because I made some changes to the neck/shoulder area...I am using V5 now, and this is my first garment with this version.

Previous to this one, I was using V4.

Wild Ginger made a few changes to the draft in this new version, and those changes primarily affect the neck and shoulder area.

In order to draft a pattern where the front and back NECK WIDTHS are equal, one must have nearly identical shoulder angles on the front and back patterns. That has not been the case with former versions, and was not usually the case with my patterns, as I have forward shoulders and erect head carriage...which means my shoulder point is more forward on my body than my neck/shoulder point.

But for V5 to work, I have to move the neck/shoulder point more forward, to keep it in balance with the shoulder point.

The bust level is measured from the neck/shoulder point.

Moving that nk/shp forward on my body means the distance to bust level will be different than it was before, when measured to a more-posteriorly located landmark.

So I am about to BASTE those front darts so I can try this on, and see just how much I will need to move the dart up...(if any).