Pantone Contest Shift

The Sewing

I finished my Pantone Color Contest entry two days early! Unheard of--just ask my editor. I did that so that I had time to figure out how to review the patterns and make an entry in the contest, which is held at Sewing Pattern Review. I figured it out and this is my entry photo. Upon seeing it, my first thought was Yowza--I have to shorten that coat. It never occurred to me that I might have to shorted a 1966 pattern until I saw it with the shift. So...I'll be shortening the coat before I post its photos.

On to the shift. I decided to use McCalls 5799, the lines of which
complimented the style of the coat. I found a pale yellow crepe at Jo-Ann's to underline the sheer lemon chiffon I bought at Britex. I so love this chiffon. It's not nearly as pretty in the photos as it is in person.




I was afraid that sewing sheer fabric was going to be a nightmare, but it wasn't. I referenced the November 2006 Threads Magazine 127 (on sale here for only $3.50) and followed the techniques for seaming and hemming a sheer fabric.

To cut the fabric I placed a layer of tissue paper on the floor and laid out the fabric as a single layer. The tissue paper kept the fabric from shifting as I cut one pattern piece at a time, matching the design. I like the way the waves match up the back seams.

To make the seams, I sewed once along the seam line and then again 1/8 inch away, trimming close to the second stitching.

To hem, I sewed 1/8 inch from the raw edge, then turned it twice and stitched. Both finishes came out well.

I understitched all the edges to keep the lining from rolling out and showing.

I didn't want to mess with a zipper in chiffon/crepe for fear of waves, so I simply sewed the back center seam up to within 6 5/8 inches of the neckline and then added a button and loop closure. I'm pleased to say that I actually tried on the shift before lining it and yes, I could get into it with only a 6 inch opening. So glad I didn't pull my usual stunt of finishing the garment and then discovering the opening is too small.

And finally, I didn't line the shift in the usual way, with wrong sides of the fabrics together. The seams of the lining would have shown through, so I put the wrong side of the chiffon against the right side of the lining and finished all the lining seams with chiffon fabric to clean up the inside a bit.

And that's the end of this shifty business.