A few more projects to share - slowly catching up.

Once again, it has been too long in between blog posts. I have returned to full-time work - but it is a little less crazy than at the start of the year so I think I am keeping my sanity. Sewing helps with this, but I am not the type of person to sew when I am busy.

This dress is my latest version of the Skater style dress (but using a pattern that I had in the stash). The pattern is Kwik Sew 3472. I ended up tracing a new pattern after sewing my last dress because the last dress was basically hacked there were many adjustments I needed to make. I traced a smaller sized bodice, reduced the length of the bodice and lower hem by 5cm each and my my regular sloping shoulders adjustment.

The fabric is a crinkle knit that I bought at a designer fabric sale last year. The neckline looks crooked because the crinkle unfolds after you cut it and the hem in raw because I needed to cut it straight. When I took pictures, the hemline is not so bad after all, the neckline I can live with. I had to make a knit slip to wear under this as it is a little on the sheer side. I used the pattern pieces as a guide and kind of winged it and it worked out. The edges are finished with picot elastic.

Next up are black wool pants. A bought this great herringbone weave black wool at my local Bargain Box store for a song. The pattern is from a Burda Easy Fashion magazine. I made adjustments years ago before having a pants block done and made some in a navy/black wool. They are always so comfortable and hang nice so I thought I would make it up again, even though I have the same pattern traced up and adjusted with the pants block. Somehow my adjustments work better.

I know skinny pants are the thing, but I just love the cut of bootleg pants.

Just chucking this picture in here, because I use this blog and refer to previous makes when I am sewing new things. I bought this sweater knit fabric at the designer fabric sale last year and it is lovely. However, it is very much like a hand knit and just horrible to cut up and sew. I had to overlock all the edges before I sewed them together. There was distortion and the whole thing just annoyed me. On top of it, the neckline became super stretchy and the cuffs where lumpy. 

I made this months ago and the other week I decided to give it a shot and wear it to work. It is actually quite snuggly and the neckline eventually stretches out at the back as well as the front so it doesn't look as bad as when you first put it on. There is no way I am refashioning it due to its unstableness, but I will be worn at least around the house. The patterns is Kwik Sew 2874 version A with version C neckline.

Lastly we have the outfit I entered in the local show in May. There was a casual wear category this year, right up my ally, so I made a tee and some jeans.

The t-shirt is Burda's gathered sleeve raglan from issue 2/13 (# 127), which I have made before. The jeans are Jalie of course, I think this is my fifth version of the pattern. Like last year's pair, I straightened the leg seam.

I really like the cut of the Burda shirt. I did have another top that I planned to enter in with the jeans which had seam details the went with the semi-circle topstitching, but it did not sit well on my body.

I spent ages topstiching with my old Princess machine, which inspired my Mother's Day gift of a Singer 99 with hand crank.

I still have a pair of pants, a dress and three tops to photograph at least. No doubt they will make it onto the blog at some stage in the future. Thanks for reading.

Catching up on a few projects - pride comes before a fall.

School holidays are nearly over - I am so pleased I found my sewjo again! I went away to Melbourne to see Les Miserables (amazing BTW) and when I got back  I was keen to sew. I was sewn most days since then and rediscovered how much I just love to sew. When my life is busy, I don't dream of sewing. I am lazy and dream of sleep or vegging out. If I do sew, I make something really quick to get that wonderful feeling that I have accomplished something (a garment) rather than just collected something (more fabric).

First up is a denim pinafore for my daughter. I used Ottobre 6/2009 #32. It has princess seams, a curved waistband and the skirt is pleated.

For like the first time ever, Jalisa's measurements are pretty much spot on with her height measurements! So easy to trace one sized pattern for one.

Everything came together nicely. I used my "new" Singer 99 (with added hand crank) to get perfect topstitching. I love how older machines got through anything.

I used some Japanese cotton for the facing and some sunsilky for the lining.

I actually made this skirt a while back. I took some more pictures but I must have deleted them from the memory card. My old computer used to save stuff from my memory card automatically, but apparently not my new one. I bought this wool blend fabric as a remnant in a designer sale last year. It is a fabulous piece of fabric, nice and  hefty but it has a large pattern woven into it. I thought a simple A-line skirt would work with the pattern, so chose Burdastyle magazine 03-2010-105.

It has two darts front and back, a facing and invisible zipper in the side. The type of pattern I would normally overlook/avoid. Perfect for this fabric though. I added lining as well. I used the same sunsilky lining as in my daughter's dress. When it was finished and I tried it on, I was quite distressed. This was the first time that I had tried sunsilky lining (a polyester which is apparently anti-static) but it rustled. The skirt was loud! I ended up wearing it the next day and with tights, it is not so bad. I have actually worn this skirt a surprising amount.

I have also sewn this skirt. I had some stretch denim left over from jeans that I made last year. I had a flip through all my Burda magazines but the only skirt that seemed suitable for a denim skirt was a pattern I had made before, Burda 03-2005-126. I could have purchased another pattern (like the Grainline Moss skirt) but I have more than enough patterns and besides, my printer needs ink.

I changed the Burda pattern slightly. There is an inverted pleat at the centre front that I eliminated. I changed the invisible zipper to a fly front and I ended up leaving the patch pockets off. They looked weird because they were close to the topstitching for the zipper and it looked really uneven.

There is plenty of walking ease in the back pieces, so I don't have to worry that I can only shuffle along.

As I was sewing this, I was having smug, gloating thoughts about how amazing my Singer 99 is with topstitching - how it sews through anything. Yes, it really does sew through anything. Fingernails included. Have no idea how this really happened. I was using a hand crank for goodness sakes. I have never, ever sewn through my finger and I have sewn since I was a teenager.

Next up is some wool pants for me.

Discos and sequins

My daughter had an invitation to a party and she needed an outfit with sequins. It was a disco party after all. We found the perfect fabric at Spotlight, a navy mesh covered in silver and navy sequins.

How hard could it be, I thought. It should take 30 minutes, maybe a little longer if I include cutting. I wanted a simple tank style dress, fully lined to hide all the threads. I used an Ottobre t-shirt pattern as the basis, lengthened and flared, added a back seam, omitted the sleeves. This is the dress I ended up with, but more than 4 hours later.

Apparently sewing over sequins is a big no no for my overlocker. It chucked a nana after 2cm of sewing, snapping the needle several times and letting it fly towards my eye. Only at that time did I recall thinking I had seen people unpicking sequins in the seam allowance. It took FOREVER to unpick all those suckers but my princess needed to wear something.

Fabric sale haul

Summer Flies recently posted of another designer fabric sale. This is the third time I have gone and I wasn't disappointed. (2013 sale, 2012 sale)

2m of the pink to make a skater style dress.

I  bought the lace for a special occasion dress. I am thinking of dyeing it first. I bought 2m.

2m of this for a jacket.

I intend to use this for pants. 2m again.

 

There was only 1m left of the bolt. I think it may be enough for a cardigan.

This was a remnant, so I wasn't able to tell how much there was before buying. There is at least 65cm plus a little extra not the full width.

There was 1m here. I think I will make shorts.

This remnant was 1.8m. I think I have enough for a sheath dress.

This year I am making no promise to use up the fabric before the next sale, like I did last year. The sale was on in August last year, and so far I have managed to sew up 8.05m of the 14.55m purchased (mostly unblogged)

Two simple tops

I was able to cut out this Sorbetto tank top (sans the front pleat) when I was cutting out this skirt. It sat around for weeks because I did not have any fabric suitable for using as bias binding. The sateen is very lightweight and I did not have any black voile or similar lying around. The fabric that I found I also used to make the next top.

I made my first  (unblogged) version of Burdastyle magazine #103 from 5/2011 last year. I am always on the look out for pull on woven tops as I seem to wear these a lot for work. It has raglan sleeves and 4 small pleats at the centre front.

When I made it last year, I actually made it in a length between #102 and #103 (which are essentially the same pattern, as well as #104 the dress - no idea why these are deemed three separate patterns). Version 1 had the split sleeves but for this version I just sewed the seam shut.

The top can be worn belted or not. You can see how it blouses over the belt in the photo above. It does look a little maternity when not belted but I like how cool and comfortable it is this way.

These were very quick makes. I made both of them in a couple of hours. I found the world's easiest way of getting the perfect length of bias tape - I just sewed on most of the way around and then followed the directions here - just without the glue. No idea how I was doing it previously - just bumbling along until it looked right

Cherry blouse of doom

This shirt started off as Burda #119 from Burda magazine 7/2007. I was looking for something to use up a cherry print cotton voile that had sat in my stash for years and was crying out to be made into a shirt.

This was one of those tops. It was extra time consuming because I decided to underline each piece (the fabric was too sheer and I don't really want to wear a singlet in summer). As I was pressing out a stubborn crease mark (years of sitting folded in the stash) , the dye from the cherries bled in some places. This was after a rigorous pre-wash. The placket band turned out looking rubbish so I changed the front to have the placket running all the way and recut the band.

 I originally made this top to wear to work. However, it has been sitting in my wardrobe for weeks. The blouse is also a little short because I made adjustments to the length above the waist and did not think to add some length back in. There is a gap between the bottom of my blouse and the shorts. Ain't nobody got time for that. These pants are a slightly different coloured red but there is not gap so I may still be able to make it work.

 

There are two things I don't like about the pattern. Firstly is the weird pleats on the back neckline - I did not pay much attention when I traced the pattern. I really think some darts would look better. It looks like an error in sewing rather than a design element. The other is a felt like the gathers ended too low. I really don't need gathering over my stomach. It needs to start and finish at least 5cm higher up.

My solution for the not enough button problem was to not make buttonholes in the collar. I never button this bit up anyway. I am sure you could understand I did not want to waste more time running to the shops to buy a couple of buttons for a top that was taking much more time than it should have.

Shorts and skirts

My blog is really limping along at the moment. I seem to have no desire to take the time to photograph my sewing but at the same time I want to keep a visual record of what I have created. I expect to blog in dribs and drabs again this year and I will be happy if I can photograph most of my sewn items.

 

First up is this striped ponte skirt. I have always followed the rule of no vertical stripes on my lower half because of my pear shape. However, I just want to get on with sewing this year without overthinking and I thought this fabric (and the amount I had) would make a great skirt.

 I wore it to work and received tons of compliments so I think I did okay with my choice. This is such an easy make but it is so comfortable being a knit. I bought this fabric last year and my aim was to use all of pieces before their next sale. The pattern is an adapted Kwik Sew 3032.

Next up is some shorts for my daughter. I made a huge error when tracing and used my son's pattern size. This is the first time I have ever done that and was not fun to realise when I had spent hours on the topstitching! Ooops. They do still fit her - the funny thing is I traced the exact same size as her other ones from 2011 that I was trying to replace. I am still debating whether I pass these on to a friend's daughter or not. I  had already cut out the cord version so made those a little bigger with a smaller seam allowance.

This yellow linen was another designer sale item. I used my tried and true woven shorts pattern based on an 2005 Burda magazine pattern. The linen was too see through for my liking so I underlined it with a cotton fabric.

 The underlining helped with wrinkling although these photos were taken before I sat down at home.

I made this skirt spur of the moment when my plans for the day fell through. I had bought the fabric online intending it to be a dress but it was more lightweight than I expected and was not really suitable for a sheath dress. I thought it would make a good skirt or tank top. When I was laying out my skirt pattern, I realised a could cut out both, so I did. The pattern is one I drafted myself, with 6 flared panels and a yoke style waistband.

 I have made a couple of other garments, including a blouse that caused me so much grief, but I will need to take those photos again. I forgot to put the memory card in my camera.

Hits and misses of 2013

I am finally getting around joining Gillian in reflecting on my Top 5 of 2013. A little late but our annual beach holiday began earlier than normal and went for longer and I ran out of time to post before we left.

 

2013 was a challenging year for me sewing wise. Returning to work full-time after only working part-time since having kids was sure to cut in on my sewing time. I did manage to sew 51 garments, only 10 less than 2012.  Surprisingly, I did sew more garments for me (and way less for the kids!).

 

Here is a breakdown of garments:

Sewing for kids - 13

Dresses - 9

Skirts -2

Pants and shorts - 5

Tops, tees and jumpers - 8

PJs - 4

Undies -10

Hits

1. Black sheath dress - I finally had an occasion to wear this. It fits perfectly.

 

2. Black white and yellow dress - I received so many compliments when I wore this to the awards ceremony at work, it was wonderful.

 

3. Ponte dress - While not the best quality in fabric, this was my first taste at ponte and I was impressed.

 

4. Green knit dress - love the colour and a step out of my comfort zone style wise.

 

5. Blue knit skorts for my daughter -  it feels good to draft a pattern again.

 

Misses

Oops, there are a number of projects I never got around to blogging about, and some of them belong here!

1. Grey linen shorts - Really fabulous apart from the waistband stretching out during the day.

2. Purple printed tee - this worked out okay, but after a year of not that much use, the fabric is becoming limp.

3. Blue and white PJ top - this is a little too big, the straps fall down constantly and it reveals way too much. It would be relegated to sleepwear if it wasn't already a PJ top. I have realised how much I like knit PJs now.

4. Grainline Tiny Pocket tank - I really like the look of this but it just isn't right for me. The dart was way too low and even after raising it for a second go, the bust area just sits funny on me. Kind of pointy-outy. Besides, it is very low cut and I felt exposed when I trialled it at work. I prefer my Sorbetto pattern for my body. I where this tanks to bed now.

5. Grey wool pants - another photo-less garment. The pattern I used was quite loose. I had to take the side seams in a heap and then the pockets were no longer functional. I wore them once and then gained some weight and they were too tight. Blah.

 

One of my on going goals each year is to use more fabric than I acquire. This year I bought 68.45m, with 68.25m sewn. After cleaning my sewing room, I donated a further 8m of fabric, not including remnants. I sewed 13.5m of fabric from stash, and added back 13.7m. This equates to using approximately 80% of fabric bought being sewn. Last year I converted 47% to completed garments, so maybe I was considering my purchases more carefully in 2013.

 

In 2014 I will be challenging myself to be more organised with my sewing. I made way too many trips to the fabric store to pick up zippers, thread etc mid way through a project. Not only is it a time waste, it gives me an opportunity to procrastinate (of which I am fabulous at) and also tempts me to buy more fabric while at the store.

 

I also find that I can over analyse exactly what pattern I want to use with what fabric. This makes me overwhelmed and again wastes time. While I don't want to end up with lots of duds, I generally go with my first idea anyway, so this year I want to just get on and sew rather than over think the planning process.