Make a Garment a Month!

Now this sounds interesting... SarahLizSewStyle is hosting:

It starts October 2013... now! And will be on-going...

Although I have just noticed this with a week left in October, and a booked up weekend ahead, I am going to join in on this fun challenge! It sounds like just the thing to keep me on track with some of my projects. I do have a dress (Butterick 5923) cut out and waiting for my attention to get it sewn up -- so maybe I can do that by the end of this month! That will be my aim, anyhow. Such fun!

Through the Wardrobe, Part 2

And now for the third & fourth items I made for Sewing Pattern Review's Mini-Wardrobe Challenge...

Along with making the dress and cardigan I decided to make a skirt and a blouse. The skirt was intended to challenge my very basic skills -- I would have to insert a zipper and I also determined that I was going to add a lining. Somehow I've avoided these procedures for oh so many years ;)

I used New Look 8643, another pattern that I've owned for ages, for the skirt. Plus a brown floral print microfibre that I've had in my stash for ages and ages. You can't really see the floral here but it's a great embossed effect. I also, as usual, added side seam pockets. I love this skirt, even if there are a few flaws -- the first zipper I ever did worked out pretty well! Except there is a small gap where I mismatched the top of the zipper & the waistband, sigh. Not too noticeable though.

Love my brown skirt

A closer look at the full Sorbetto

Then I used my first ever downloadable pattern, the infamous Sorbetto tank top from Collette Patterns. I added sleeves though, thanks to this downloadable addition from Sew Incidentally, as I do prefer a bit of sleeve. I had to make a muslin first to adjust the fit, as I've noticed a few reviewers mentioning that the fit can be a bit wonky, depending on your own shape. I know I have to alter shoulders, neckline & length often, so I tested this one and found that I did indeed have to alter. I took up 3/4" between the shoulder and bust, and 1/2" in the underarm seam. I also added 1.5 inch to the overall length, but may shorten it by a touch. This was fun to try, but I really can't imagine making a complicated design via print-out-and-tape-together patterns. I don't know how people do it!

In any case, this project was really engaging and a lot of fun. Here is the final snapshot of everything all together. I like how each piece turned out, and the colour pallette too. Glad that I decided to give it a go and challenge myself as I get back into the sewing groove. 

Through the Wardrobe, Part 1

In August I joined Sewing Pattern Review -- it's a great website for anyone who sews. Really helpful and inspiring!

In September I participated in their monthly sewing challenge, the Mini-Wardrobe contest. The challenge was to sew 4 items that could combine to make 4 different looks. I'm a basic level sewist, but I thought it would be great to challenge myself and see if I could make 4 pieces of clothing in one month.

The contest is now closed, and my entry is posted there -- I actually finished!! I had a lot of fun doing this, and learned quite a lot. It was also great to get into the habit of doing some sewing regularly. Here are the first two of four pieces I chose -- part 3 & 4 coming up tomorrow:

Simplicity 2474

I have owned this pattern for a long time, and decided to make the dress and knit cardigan from this wardrobe. I had a lovely turquoise-y knit in my stash so used that for the cardi, which I love -- I think it's my favourite piece. The problem however, was that I had already cut a long slash in the knit in preparation for making a wrap, which looked horrible, so I wanted to repurpose the fabric. Fortunately when I laid it out, I just missed the slash!

Doh! Big hole in the fabric!

Finished deal, with dress
Soooo soft :)

And then I made the dress from the same pattern, using this shiny print that has just the same tone of blue as an accent. I added side seam pockets and cut the front on the fold, taking in an inch at the neckline, but otherwise didn't make any alterations.

Straight up

With a belt

This was a great challenge, and I love these new pieces. These two were the "easy" ones for me, very few alterations and they sewed up pretty quickly with no major problems ( if you don't count the sewing on of sleeve bands inside out and the resultant unpicking and resewing as very major...)

Tomorrow: pieces three and four...

Pretty in Purple

Lately I have been doing some quick refashioning of a few old dresses I've had for years, to see if I can salvage them and get some more wear out of them. Here's a 2 for 1 on purple fashion!

I love this dress colour & the supersoft fabric, but the shape! the size! SO 90s!

To fix this dress I planned simply to do a quick chop & that's all. BUT when I chopped then washed (for the billioneth time) it shrank! Just a touch but still, it looked tight in the arm area. So I used the  8 inches that I lopped off the bottom, opened the armhole a bit, and set in some sleeves. I always prefer sleeves for work clothes anyhow, just a personal preference. Not sure if the redo actually updates this one or not, though.

Not sure about this one. Certainly fits in with the

garden theme! But perhaps a bit small? Too dated?

Dress #2: The original sack o' fabric

Shorten by 7 inches

Trim the sleeve



Tie the little self-tie in front to add some
shape. Now I love it as a garden
 party dress :) This one I really love.
 It feels new and yet vintage-y.

6095 Stripes!

This is the latest dress I made, from one of the new patterns I picked up in The Great Pattern Haul that occurred recently...

At the same time that I bought a handful (or two) of new patterns, I found a lovely grey & multicolour striped linen-viscose blend on the sale table. It was cheap because there were a few random & unattractive slubs* in the fabric that would need to be avoided -- but I thought I could make it work, and I really liked the muted tones and soft feel of the fabric. It kind of reminds me of those Guatemalan pullovers that everyone wore when I was in university, but I wasn't going for that kind of hippie student vibe, so picked the clean lines of New Look 6095 to counteract any similarity.

This pattern gave me some difficulties. The aforementioned slubs were a bit of a problem, but I was able to either avoid them or get them into the seam allowances, except for one right on the hemline! Argh. And although I forgot to take any construction pics, I laid this one out pretty carefully to keep the stripes straight, which seemed to work, thank goodness! I also tried setting the sleeves in flat, which worked really well -- love the technique when possible.

Excuse the wrinkles, I took this picture
upon coming home from work

But, I seem to always have problems with sizing -- I chose size 16 according to my measurements, but the bodice is just way too big. Even the skirt feels slightly large. In fact, it was so roomy that I didn't even have to put in the zipper! (thus avoiding one of those Basic Skills Of Which I Am Afraid)

Still, it's not too big to wear, but again, I must belt it. Perhaps straight/a-line shifts just don't work for me, but I keep making them... In any case, I love the feel of this one on, even if it would be a bit more comfortable to have the bodice a little less shifty and slidey as I move. But if I toss on grey tights and a grey cardie, or my deep pink blazer which catches the tone of pink in the centre stripe (which I did this week), or my dusty blue corduroy jacket which is the exact tone of the grey-blue stripe, the wide neckline is both hidden and anchored, and this will work great as a multiseasonal dress.

One element that I am particularly proud of is the addition of in-seam pockets. I love a dress with pockets so added some cheery ones here. I repurposed most of an old linen blouse that I loved but that was worse for wear -- saved the buttons and used the brilliant blue for pockets, which worked wonderfully especially as they are the same weight as the dress fabric. I do love them. This was a pretty easy pattern overall, though, and now that I can see (and hopefully fix) some of the sizing issues, maybe I'll try again.

*Slub: A characteristic often associated with contemporary linen yarn is the presence of “slubs”, or small knots which occur randomly along its length. In the past, these slubs were considered defects associated with low quality. The finest linen had very consistent diameter threads, with no slubs.  Today, however, the presence of slubs is considered appealing, and fashion dictates that even the finest linens have these slubs (via http://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/linen/ )

Seems Suitable

Today's look features Butterick 5217, Misses Tops, view C.

I don't make a lot of tops, generally sewing dresses as my first choice. But I had a really nice scrap of lightweight men's suiting that I wanted to use and thought it would make a great shirt. The fabric is soft and light, a mix of dark and light brown with black and even a smidge of navy blue in there.

I decided I had just enough for this top -- but actually there was not quite enough, as I ended up making the inside back yoke of plain black cotton and having to bias bind the underarm with black bias tape rather than self bias...but since I mostly wear it with this sweater that doesn't matter too much.

Excuse the wrist brace, all that sewing you know!
 At least it matches...

You can notice the black bias
tape on the underarm area here

I like it a lot -- it's comfy and the fabric has a nice shimmer to it. This pattern, however, fits very large. The yoke and bust fit correctly, as I cut it to size at that point, but it really poofs out, thanks to all those square pleats, front and back. Perhaps it was because of my heavier fabric, but I find the back to be quite "sticky-outie" and if I make this again I'll likely reduce the fullness to only one centre pleat. But I like wearing this and always get a comment or two about the fabric when I do :) The yoke actually fits me, it is just pulling oddly in the picture below because of the weird way I am standing...

Here I am auditioning for the
front of a pattern envelope

So, overall a top that I like, but to make again I would choose a much drapier fabric and take in the fullness a bit. Don't really need a maternity top to add to my wardrobe!

Black Out!

I made this dress (McCalls 3926-- now out of print) quite a long time ago, using a length of cotton that was gifted to me. I never really wore it much.

I see now that it's because with its black colorway and cotton fabric, it looks like a Mennonite dress (especially when I had long hair which I wore in a braid...).

Plus I never really liked how the neckline sat on me originally. But, in re-evaluating some of my dresses, I wondered if I could fuss with this one a little to make it more wearable.

I just needed a quick hem -- taking off just over 7 inches -- and lo and behold, it is wearable, and I think quite cute now! I'm still not sure about the neckline though. I like it except when I try to carry my purse or anything else, then it all goes wonky. But perhaps that is because it's made of a fairly stiff cotton rather than something a little more flexible. If I decide to keep it I think I might open up a side seam and insert a pocket -- always useful.

PS - Excuse my crazy look in the photo: my husband was getting rather tired of taking multiple pictures of me in different dresses and was starting to pretend he was a fashion photographer, yelling "work it!" at me as people walked by. I had to laugh...