The perfect storm?

I’ll admit that after my big slew of projects I’m going through a little bit of withdrawl.  I’m at Nathan’s parents’ and I specifically brought zero projects for me to work on.  I did this partly to gear up for my next project and partly because I feel a little lost .  The problem is threefold:

1. I have enough maternity clothes at the moment after my recent flurry of activity–or at least enough until I outgrow them.
2. I’m (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) actually kind of tired of sewing knits…perhaps it’s because I feel if I sew for myself at the moment I am obligated because of my state of pregnancy to be sewing things with s-t-r-e-t-c-h.
3. We don’t know what we’re having (and I really am more than fine with this), so any baby sewing I could be doing to occupy my mind could potentially be not terribly useful.

But I know myself far too well to imagine that I will just sit around for the next 14 weeks thinking of something to do.  Actually, this time away from Gnomey and the other trappings of my sewing practice have left me wanting to attack this next project with more vim and enthusiasm than I ever thought I’d be able to muster.  Ready for it?

Pants!!!!!!!

I pledge that I, Elizabeth will buy not another pair of pants until I can learn how to fit and sew my own (and perhaps never).  I know everyone has issues with pants that have or currently produce various levels of trauma.  I signed up for a pants fitting class the first week of February and a partner and I have already measured each other.  She’s had a lot of experience sewing and fitting pants and has generously offered her help to me along the way and after the class.  Has it occurred to me that I’ll be 31 weeks pregnant at the time–yes, but I figure that this being my first foray into pants fitting, I have a lot of issues to tackle anyhow.  My lower half changes little during pregnancy–I go up 2 sizes in my hips, but that’s it.  So my usual 11″ difference between waist and hips isn’t there.  I know it will be and you bet I’ll be asking about how to deal with that.  Besides everything, if it’s impossible to find a decent pair of petite pants not pregnant, a decent pair of petite maternity pants is like the Holy grail itself.  So perhaps this whole project is presenting itself at the perfect time.

I’m starting with this Burda petite pattern from the 8-2008 issue.  I figure a petite pattern will get me closer to the ballpark of my proportions, and I love me Burda drafting lots, so I know out of the gate I’ll be crying less because their patterns fit me better even when they’re terrible.  I know I’m not going to be excited to face what number I’ll have to trace off, but hey, it’s lines on paper, and I know I won’t be this size forever.  If I get good pants that fit, it’ll be worth it.  I can honestly and truly say that I have NEVER owned a pair of pants that fit even remotely well.  Exhibit A (which is a good example of what happens when I’m in pants):

Wrinklepalooza!  Wish me luck.  The game is on come Sunday.

Because I don’t wear red and green

Maybe I’m a rebel, maybe I just hate primary red and kelly green, but this year I decided I’d forego even trying to deck myself out in Christmas colors and wear something to play at church for Christmas Eve that is more me (because I’d rather think about the birth of my Lord than how much I hate wearing red and green).  Out of the fog of this chest cold I’ve had all week, my favorite palette of aquas seemed just perfect.

My hair’s still a little damp, so you can see a lot more of the red and less of the blonde.  The dress is version #2 of Burdastyle 06-2010-132 in a fun ITY from Denver Fabrics.  Something is up with the way the skirt drapes around my knees…I think it’s a compounded issue that starts at the ruching at the side seams.  I’ve been thinking it’s just static, which is never in short supply here in CO.  A few sprays of Static Guard revealed otherwise.  Next time I’ll make the skirt a little more A-line to compensate for that.

The cardigan is version #2 of Simplicity 2560.  I folded out ALL of the gathers on the lower sections of the cardigan and I made a different view (A) than I did before.  I really really like the streamlined look much better than the original.  It makes it easier to belt and takes away from the bulk that is already present due to le baby.

Noah’s sporting his sleeper I made for him from the leftover double knit I had from my skirt and some great baseball interlock I found.  I made a fast applique from some white interlock, backed with Heat ‘n Bond Lite and embellished with a tiny bit of hand embroidery.  The pattern (Butterick 5585) is just so-so. 

The leg and neck finishes are iffy at best, and the legs are really long (as you can see).  If I had been thinking, I would have traced off the sleeper that was in the December issue of Burdastyle as it looks like a much better pattern.  Oh well.  It’s baseball-y (which makes Nathan really happy) and the extra length means this one will last us until it gets warmer at night.

I will update my reviews when we get to Nathan’s parents and put up a new one for Noah’s sleeper.  Beyond that, I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas and a good start to the new year!

Ironing notions organizer

I’ve had this project done for a while but haven’t gotten around to posting about it.  I think that’s mostly because it’s one of those not-terribly-interesting-but-wholly-useful projects that we all find necessary from time to time. 

I got to a point where I just needed to do something about my migrating ironing notions.  They were always all on the ironing board, all on my sewing table, all in the drawer of my random notions organizer, or occasionally, all on the sink in the bathroom where my iron is.  I’ve  spenta lot of time looking for the one I need or playing keep away from Noah with the ones that end up by the sink.

For a while now I’ve contemplated the usefulness of having some sort of organizer to hang up on the shower bar in the bathtub where my ironing board is.  In July, in keeping with my love of using fabric for the tasks that are printed on them, I found some rather appropriate fabric for such an ironing organizer.  In an attempt to rid myself of cotton quilting fabrics, I found another bit of nice Alexander Henry fabric that I backed with muslin to beef up my pockets.  With a few fast seams, some iron work, some backing fabric (some stretch cotton twill leftover from a skirt), a couple of buttonholes and some ribbon, and I found myself with a lovely pocket-filled hangy thing that makes all of those random glue sticks, seam tapes, iron cleaner, press cloths, and pressing templates in handy reach of my iron.  Plus it’s nicer to look at than the back of the shower. 

If you’re looking for directions, I browsed the directions from Simple Sewing with a French Twist, but I changed the dimensions to fit what I had in fabric and the towel bar I was fitting the organizer too.  You could make up your own pattern anyhow–it’s just simple rectangles.  It’d be a good project to work on with kids for that reason.

I’m STILL sewing garments.  Cow.  I made 2 more Thursday and Friday, and I just cut out a sleeper I’m making for Noah for Christmas.  I would think I’d be stressed by this sudden flurry of activity, but I really am having a blast and am more than ready for Christmas.  I would’ve put on my 2 latest garments for pictures this morning, but as I’m battling a nasty bit of chest cold, pajamas and one of Nathan’s old hoodies was about as glamorous as it was going to get today.  Never fear–you’ll see them all.

No orphan garments here

I’ve been busy.  Or rather my serger has been extremely busy.  Having wanted to sew a bunch of maternity clothes for myself, and having the fabric to do so, Patternreview’s Endless Combinations contest came at a perfect time.  I love the idea behind this contest: each garment has to combine with at least one of the others in your collection.  What a smart thing, eh?  I feel like when you first start sewing garments you end up with all these little orphan projects (i.e. lots of skirts for instance with no tops that match etc.) for no other reason than you haven’t acquired enough skillage to make a wardrobe out of anything.  It felt good to be able to do just that.  And beyond that, I’m pretty excited to have some garments for my last trimester here that feel a great deal more like me and a lot less like souless, life-sucking maternity clothes.

I made a small collection of knit garments.  Can I say that knits are more the pregnant lady’s friend beyond the obvious reason that they s-t-r-e-t-c-h?  I mean really, knit garments sew up like lightning which is so swell when you’re tired and sore and just need a mental pick-me-up.  A week’s worth of cutting out at naptimes and sewing after dinner and maybe hemming at breakfast produced 5 seperate garments.  That’s a ton for me.  And while that will never be my normal pace for sewing, I felt a lot of motivation to get this project done before Christmas.  Here’s the rundown:

Simplicity 2560–a little knit cardigan:  I made this in cotton spandex and pleated instead of gathered the lower sections because I’m more of a pleat kind of girl.  I like this pattern, but I’ll make it in another view because the gappy thing at CF is kind of weird (it’s how the pattern works, not just a fit issue–but it looks like it should be a fit issue which is awkward).

Simplicity 4704–OOP general maternity pattern with a totally brainless skirt:  This skirt is so comfortable.  I made it in a double knit for the actual skirt part and the belly band out of a 4 way stretch nylon.  It goes with everything.  If I had a stash of heavier knits handy, I’d be tempted to sew them all up into this.  It took 1 yd for the skirt, 1/2 for the belly band and it’s literally 5 seams (serged no less) and a hem. 

Jalie Scarf Collar top: I’ve made this before and loved it, so I knew that making it into a maternity top was a hop, skip, and a jump away.  I love the construction of this top.  It’s just plum clever.  See how clean the collar is on the inside?  It halfway makes me want to wear it inside-out because it turned out so nicely.

Burdastyle 06-2010-132–a simple empire seamed dress: or it would have been a dress if I could have figured out that this rayon was way to flimsy to hold up as a dress.  Oops.  Well, I needed a nightgown anyhow.  Hey–you could nurse in this no problem.  Score!  I’ll make this again in a much more appropriate ITY. 

Jalie Empire Crossover Top:  This one took a little more effort.  There’s a lot of basting going on in this top, and it took a couple of times playing with the height of the empire seam to get to this version.  I STILL think I could lower the seam 1/2″, but it is better.  I guess if I outgrow this top, I’ll have to do that.

As for combinations, here you go:

If you’re a PR member and haven’t voted yet, consider voting for me when the voting starts!

Versatility

When I went to go find something to wear for church this morning, I thought I’d pop on version 2 of my Vogue 1027 that I made in the spring.  Guess what people–it not only still fits, it’s way comfy, and now that I think about it, it’s a perfect maternity dress (no, I still haven’t hemmed it)!

The skirt is basically a circle skirt, so there’s plenty of extra room in front.  The waist seam really is an empire seam, but it’s not as apparent as the typical underbust empire seam because the ties are cleverly sewn into the waist seam.  The bonus of that for the pregnant lady is that while the waist seam is way above the tummy, that little tie gives some waist definition, so you get to look like a lady, not just a lumpy barrel that it feels like you become whilst pregnant!  I was just thinking yesterday how I’m so over gathers and voluminous maternity everything and I just want to look like my normal self.  I guess I found a good solution smiling at me in my closet this morning!