Betsy and Ava

I told JB these pictures were important and he need to make me look like a super model.  Not sure he did his job - but here you go, non-the-less.

These two pieces are the Betsy pencil skirt and Ava jacket both by Blue Ginger Doll patterns. 

I will be honest and tell you that I basically begged Abby to let me test.  And she agreed as she was just expanding her pattern line into bigger sizing.  Blue Ginger Doll patterns now go to size 24. 

I will also tell you that any issues I had with the pattern were of my own causing and I stupidly didn't sign up for the blog tour.

I made view A of the pencil skirt and started with a size 24.  My waist measurement is a size 20 and my hips come in right at the 24.  My first mistake is that I muslined this puppy in true muslin.  This skirt is designed with negative ease and needs a fabric with some stretch.  The 24 muslin fit - but had wrinkles across the thighs and pulls from the hips.

So I added some more to the skirt and made muslin #2.  At this point - I had a complete meltdown - over everything.  My size and shape, my complete inability to alter a pattern.  I was ready to list my machines on craigslist and put the fabric on the curb for the first taker.  I emailed Abby - who patiently put up with me and said basically, hang in there, this will work.    On May 17th, I had a sewing day with a friend where we worked on her Mother of the Groom dress and she made some slight tweaks to my 2nd muslin - she's Abby and sewing friend were right - it wasn't too bad. 

So - I dug around in the fabric cupboards looking for something with stretch.  This brown is a stretch suiting of questionable fibers.  I took some of the extra width out of the final version  (ending up with about a size 24.5 [1/2 of the way to a 26]).  I will say - the waist is still too big. 

I then grabbed this lovely wool blend plaid from the fabric cupboard to make Ava.  I have never made a true lined jacket before.  I will again.  Based on the finished garment measurements I made a straight size 14 with no alterations.  I cut the cuffs and the lapel facing on the bias and added an extra layer of interfacing.

I think this jacket is cute and wearable.  It was easy to wear and the construction was easy to.  I did not apply the lapels following Abby's instructions - and I'm not sure why I went my own way.  I have a piece of black and white houndstooth and some faux black piping to make another and will do it properly next time.  I think I'll also cut the back to a longer length - but not much longer - I think it's pretty close to working quite well for me at the length it is.

All in all - I'm very happy with these two makes.  I really want to thank Abby for letting me test and putting up with my pity party.  I'm still not over it - but I'm doing better. 

Even though I didn't play along - please check out the others on the blog tour, they can be found here:


29th May – Tanya at MrsHughes - ( Betsy) 
1st June – Liz at Sewn by Elizabeth - ( Betsy & Ava as well as a little interview with me.)
2nd June  – T at uandmii ( Betsy)
3rd June  – Mary at YoungBroke&Fabulous
4th June – Mary at Idle Fancy
5th June – Andrea at foursquarewalls
6th June– Tanya at MrsHughes - (Ava) 
7th June - Melissa at Scavenger hunt 
8th June -  T at uandmii ( Ava)