Macaron Work in Progress

At the last minute I decided to throw my hat into the ring with the Sew Colette 2.0 Sewalong for the Macaron, hosted by Lucky Lucille, Miss Crayola Creepy and Rhinestones and Telephones.  It's one of the first patterns I really wanted to make but I was struggling to decide on fabric.  I wanted to do a winter version and had navy needlecord in mind with an orange contrast, but I couldn't find the right fabric to fit what I had in mind.  I thought I would have to give it a miss until a trip to John Lewis turned up some cute fabrics in the sale (so of course they had to be bought!

 

Although the colour isn't that clear in the photo, it's a dusty purple poplin for the shell and a lightweight cotton floral for the top part.  I love the way they look together and hopefully the dark colour will mean I can wear for winter with a cardigan.

 

 

 

Having decided on this at the last minute, I am a bit behind but have my bodice toile done.  After tissue fitting (as my main adjustment is for length, making a toile before doing this adjustment would be a waste of time) and adding 2" to the bodice length and 1" to the yoke, it looks OK.  I need to shorten the waist darts by about 2" as marked on the toile (I guess I should have left them the original length when I lengthened!), and I think the bust darts will need to be moved down as they definitely fall above the apex even with the extra 1" above - I think I'll have a look at some of the other versions online and see where they fall on other people as they definitely are right at the top of that pattern piece.

In the back view, you can see I have pinned the shoulders - Marjorie has a higher bust point than me - I can lengthen her waist but not above the bust!  It looks kind of baggy at the back but actually fits better on me.  I think I can adjust it fairly easily at the side seams to sort this out.  (And what is going on with my basting?  It went all weird and gathery - not sure if i need to adjust the tension so I'll definitely test of a scrap before starting on the fashion fabric!)

I'm off to work on the sleeves as I need to see the effect of adding that extra inch to the yoke.  I guess I will need to lengthen the sleeve cap.  Back to Fit for Real People!