The T-shirt Project #9: Onion 5032, post #400, and a giveaway

Well readers, I must admit something.  Kind Maria of Maria Denmark fame sent me some Onion patterns to test, write about, and giveaway a long time ago–like at the beginning of this whole T-shirt project thing, and I’ve totally been holding out on you.  I kind of planned to get going on them at the start of fall because all 3 patterns really read fall/winter to me, but the summer heat was unrelenting and longer than average and this wacky thing called pregnancy really zapped my energy, so I have not got around to testing out the patterns until the past couple of weeks.  Mea culpa.  I’ll be making up for it in the next couple of months.

Pattern #1 is Onion 5032, a wrap or faux wrap top with an empire seam with gathered cap sleeve, 3/4 or plain, long sleeve flared slightly then gathered at the hem.

I really appreciate that the empire line on this top is lower than average (it’s almost low enough to look more like a peplum seam, and it certainly could be flared a little more to make it into a peplum top)…it makes altering for a full bust so much easier because you don’t have to first adjust the height of the empire seam.  Jalie 2804, for instance made me crazy because the bust line was so high, I had to adjust it 3 times before I could even bother with doing something about my full bust.  The fact that I could just do the FBA out of the gate and not worry was fantastic.

The crossover also extends all the way to the side seam.  I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that before on this kind of top, and it’s kind of interesting.  I have no idea what that does from a fit or drafting perspective, but it is nice to know that you won’t have the crossover cutting across your bust diagonally when you’re already cutting your top in half with the empire line.

As much as I am not a fan of empire lines in general, the addition of one makes it so easy to alter for maternity.

I also appreciate that the gathered sleeve cap is pretty minimal.  I’m not a poofy sleeve kind of girl, but the amount that’s added in the cap is just enough to add a little interest and femininity.  I used clear elastic to gather it which was really easy to do.

This fuchsia fabric was a score from the $3/lb table at Denver Fabrics.  I love pound fabric–it’s like treasure hunting, and if you’re willing to look, occasionally you come up with something really lovely like this dense (probably) rayon/lycra.  I initially thought it’d be a muslin, but it was so lovely to sew, I decided to finish it properly if it turned out even remotely decently.  This version, I used the plain back, the gathered 3/4 sleeve, and the empire faux wrap.  Though the pattern has different versions, they’re all drafted to fit into each other, so you really can pick and choose what details you like not unlike a Project Runway pattern.

 

I picked up this fine strawberry peach sherbet rayon jersey at Stone Mountain & Daughter on my 30 minute shopping spree there before we went to the Giants’ game (Yay–go Giants!) this summer.  For it, I chose the long sleeve (but kept the 3/4 length) instead of the gathered cap.  I don’t like elastic in sleeve hems–it always feels restrictive and binding to me, and ultimately leaves marks on me.  Instead, I cut a strip of fabric 1.5″ wide to face the sleeve hems.  Towards the front of the sleeve, I made 2 small buttonholes (which I had to do manually because my attachment was not working on this fine fabric).  I stitched the facings into place on the wrong sides of the sleeves, and threaded through strings I made from 1.25″X15″ strips of fabric, serged, turned, pressed, and knotted.  The strings are the mechanism for gathering the hem–I like that this adds a little decorative element, and it’s a lot more comfortable on my arms.

Overall, this is a great pattern with a lot of room for modification and variation.  My only beef about it is that the neckline is low.  I traced off the highest line, did a 1/2″ petite adjustment, and it’s still too low to wear without a cami.  Not a big deal–this is rather a common problem on this type of pattern.

My full review of the pattern is here.

As for the giveaway,  I have a fresh, sealed copy of this pattern ready to go into your own stash.  I’ll ship internationally, so all you lovely ladies reading in Oz and elsewhere can participate.

To enter, I want to know about your Onion patterns experience.  Have you sewn any Onion patterns before?  If you haven’t, take a browse around Maria’s website ShopOnion, and dream a little–what looks fun, how would you make it up? Please comment on this post so I can stay unconfused and fair.  Comments will be open until 7 pm mountain time on Sunday, November 11th. 

Wovens and pregnancy, broken mirrors, and being easier on myself

It’s been wadder city around here (and crazy face making I guess–I blame my lack of sleep and very funny kids).  Well, not exactly wadder…more like really beautifully finished complete garments that biff it because my changing body changes faster than I can crank stuff out of my sewing room.

Exhibits A and B:  Burda 7198, theoretically a great top for maternity–built in A-line shape with sweet little godets in the side seams.  Problem: my cup size grew between my muslin and getting both versions sewn, so I need more width in my upper chest that I usually don’t.  The stress point being the placket, split on the stronger cotton chambray in the wash and shredded in the wearing (yay for having an undershirt on that day) on the poly-masquerading-as-silk-and-I’m-so-sad-that-it-did-because-it’s-such-a-pretty-print.  

Solution:  as dull as it is at times to stick to knit tops during pregnancy, that give inherent in the fabric prevents tragic breakdowns like these plackets that result in wasted time and energy.  If you really want a woven maternity top, just buy it; if it’s ultra boring (because you know it will be), buy a white one and dye it.

Exhibit C: The Saggy Bottom Girl and Burdastyle 6-2010-129 (Saints alive!  Have I learned nothing about fitting pants?!)

Problem: I only pinched out 1/2″ in the back crotch and didn’t do my usual part 2 alteration to fix the same issue (cut the inseam a size smaller).  This coupled with overestimating how big my hips really are (I cut a 40–should have gone for the 38, possibly a 36 with some added room for my hips–Burda maternity sizes are larger), and picking a thin but sturdy denim, I have cones off my back end.  Cones, people.  I have only 8 more weeks, and I was very conservative in fitting my flat backside because I was afraid that I’d overfit and then not have anything in the last couple weeks.  I also couldn’t see too well to really get an idea of what I needed to do because several weeks ago #1 broke my small full-length mirror I use for fitting (he was walking on it–thankfully, on the backside and it was covered with fabric on the wrong side because I used to use it as art in our apartment and took it down when I needed to fit–so no bleeding child, just a broken mirror).  He’s been paying me back a quarter at a time (thankfully, it was a $10 purchase–easily the cheapest thing he could have wrecked in my sewing room), and he finally finished yesterday.  Bright side: my topstitching is great on these jeans, and I really like the color of this denim, so saggy bottom or not, I’m going to enjoy these.  

Solution: Don’t fit pants without the aid of at least 2 mirrors that give you a proper view of your tushy.

It’s really hard for me not to take all of this personally.  I’m the type that likes to do everything excellently, and I generally stink at realizing that there are times that my ability to do just that is limited and that that in and of itself is not some sort of moral failing.  The thing is I can’t control everything that happens anywhere–I can let it get me down, or I can wear my saggy bottom but smashingly pink topstitched jeans with pride, knowing that someday–soon, likely, I’ll get back to where I want to be.  Failure is part of the creative process.  Failure is part of the creative process.  Blech…I could use less failure.

The T-shirt Project #8: Isabella Oliver wrap around top

 

I don’t know what pushed me over the edge on trying to replicate IO’s wrap around top:

Is it the ease of wearing or the certainty of being able to wear it pretty much through the entirety of your largest months?  Who knows, but I saw it and had a thought and decided to set about it.

Megan Nielsen has a great hack of this top in her Wrapped Maternity Top.  I decided against it (though it looks to be an excellent pattern) because I probably won’t get a lot of use out of it–I’d make it once or maybe twice, and learning another company’s block/making a muslin is time-consuming.  I’ve struggled enough to make changes to my Burdas the past month and I know their draft.  So I went to see what I had available in the stash and discovered that Vogue 8463 really was the perfect choice with a hair of modification.  Bonus?: I’d already made it (and done a little FBA), and as I’ve said before previously made garments count as muslins.

I needed to narrow the shoulders.  This pattern is meant to sit pretty wide on your shoulders if you look at the modeled photo, but it’s not helpful if you have narrow shoulders or are trying to wear it as the wrapped version.  I had originally cut a medium (this amused me briefly to think about how much I struggled with my shoulder measurements before–no wonder I had a 5″ deep un-intentional back cowl).  The nice thing about cutting too large to start with is that smaller sizes are already there.  I cut an XS in the neck and shoulders, keeping the M at the side seams only to give myself a little more room and because the M in my original version fits fine in the sides.  I also cut down the SAs to 1/4″ because that’s what I like and what I’m accurate with when I’m serging.

The biggest change I made was to lengthen the ties considerably.  Longer ties mean more wrap around which I need for my belly and because both Megan’s and the IO wrap look cool with the extra drape.  How much I thought?  Well, basically I extended the original fronts almost until I could extend them no more–18″, though I could have lengthened them maybe up to 21″.  One reason I really like this pattern is that despite having enormously long cut-on ties, it doesn’t take up much fabric.  The original calls for 1 5/8 yds which is really spare when you compare it to the 3 1/2 yds called for in Megan’s design with the cut-on ties.  With my extended ties, I only needed 2 1/8 yds (I bought 2 1/4 just in case but I did in fact not need the extra 1/8).

I found this nylon spandex at Denver Fabrics and thought it was festive and I’m a fan of nylon spandex in the fall for it’s warmth and softness.  Plus it’s ultra stretchy and I could only find rayon spandex in bad-for-me colors with the exception of a pale brown.

This top is really made at the ironing board.  There’s 7 seams which take no time to make, but there is a whole lotta hemming.  In general I’m a fan of Steam-a-Seam with nylon spandex, but I tried pressing without it so I could get a little more stretch first.  I couldn’t get any kind of a good press without something in the hem, so I opted for the knit stay tape from Emma Seabrooke.  If you’ve never tried her tapes before, go get some.  They give such a beautiful body to hems and make for a stable hem with good give–a perfect base for topstitching.  Steam a seam is great, but it makes for a crunchy hem, and it cuts down the stretch ability just a hair–not a good choice for a top like this.

Sadly, the nylon doesn’t have quite the body or drape or the stick-to-itself factor that rayon knits have.  I might try and find another knit in a yellow or coral, but we’ll see.  Also, when I made this top the first time, I was living under the illusion that I needed to shorten everything by 3″, so I don’t have near the vertical coverage on this top that I need or want, but it’s fine as a layering piece.  Also the sleeves are kind of baggy–I will chalk that up to this pattern being labeled a “jacket” instead of just a knit top.  If I make it again, I’ll chuck Vogue’s armscye entirely, trace off my TNT Jalie and use Jalie’s sleeve.

Next up are some jeans and after that some (more) knit tops and a giveaway!

My full review is here.

The T-Shirt Project #7: Sweatshirt blazer

 

t-shirt, blazer–wha?  Okay, it’s a stretch to equate a blazer with a t-shirt, but I offer the following arguments:  I set out on this project to expand my own knit fabric experiences in terms of drafting, looking at RTW, and just generally thinking differently about them (check).  Plus I wanted to look at cold weather knits beyond just wool jersey (lovely) and see what all they could do.  Good quality sweatshirting is fantastic–dense, smooth, and cozily napped on the wrong side.  Could it be tailored?  Probably more successfully than I did, but it certainly has a precedent in RTW:

Also, work in the sewing room is slow-going these days between #1 not napping anymore and me being at that point with 11 weeks to go of fatigue and discomfort.  With both the boys, I countered this general ick in my body by draping myself in the most non-feminine garment in my closet–my Met Opera hoodie that I bought on a trip with my good friend and travel buddy T.  How such a shapeless garment (one that can easily go through all of pregnancy and back again with nary a suggestion of bulk) can come to be produced by an opera company creating such clear genius as their latest Ring cycle is a mystery.  I for one welcome the irony.  But this time around I wanted to explore having a more structured garment to combat that feeling of general roundness you are inundated with in the last couple of months.  Snappy lapels would do it, so there you go, t-shirt blazer (why does this feel like I’ve just explained the Greek root of  a Japanese word?).

I started with the Everyday Blazer from Isabella Oliver as inspiration:

I really liked how the center is cut away.  It’s not just to expose your growing belly, if you think about it from a fit perspective, it’s smart design.  You don’t need to add tons of fabric to cover something that’s growing exponentially when you can just take it out of the equation to begin with.  But available in dark horrible colors and at $269, I knew I could do better at least on price and color.  From the fabric content, it looks like it IO blazer is some sort of ponte–great choice for a jacket–not a lot of stretch with a nice smooth hand.  From experience I know that the high rayon content of ponte makes me very cold in cool months, so I opted for the cozier sweatshirt fleece.  Total cost for this project is around $10.  The IO blazer is better constructed–with a lining and nicer hardware, but for $259 in savings, I’m not complaining.  I will toot my own horn by adding that MY jacket is more shapely with the princess seams (rather functional for adding without distortion).

To emulate the cut-away, I made a muslin, drew a curve on it with my French curve up towards the navel and cut it away (, transferring the curve to my pattern.     Simpler pattern work has not been done.

I chose to keep the jacket unlined and to give myself extra-wide seam allowances  to give myself the option of letting it out as I grow these last couple of months.  In reality, I probably will just wear it open, so I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t line it because catchstitching all of the hems and seam allowances down was a lot of work.  There’s nothing more satisfying in jacket making than bagging a lining.  Another day…

I fused the whole jacket minus the sleeves to give it more shape and structure and to stabilize the fleece which does have enough stretch to be problematic otherwise.  I do have to iron the lapel line before I wear it because the fabric doesn’t have as much memory as say wool, but that’s easily done since I did tape the line on the interior.  The fusible adds extra warmth too, which I won’t say no to.  Jackets are infinitely more comfortable than sweaters–sweaters feel always so heavy and lumpen–that I can get snap, lightness, and warmth in the same garment is a coup for me.  The pocket flaps are a nod–totally non-functional.  I’m always in favor of pockets, but I didn’t want to deal with welts in a knit and since I wasn’t lining this jacket, I kept it simple.  The only thing I wish is that this was a bright sunny yellow instead of the royal blue.  I’m beginning to think that royal blue is too intense and too cool for my coloring.  Live and learn–it’s still a good neutral, and good neutrals are lifelines in pregnancy wardrobes.

So often in life fitting square pegs into round holes doesn’t end well, but as it turns out, sweatshirting molds quite well into awkward places.  Give it a chance!

My full review of the blazer is here.

Houndstooth dress!

Noah: Is that your new dress, Mommy?

Me: yes (grateful that I’m wearing a real garment instead of whatever summer heat has driven me to of late)

Noah: You look like the marshmallow.

Me: What? (plumbing the depths of 3 year old logic)….oh, right, the marshmallow.

My child, with his crazy memory for patterns of all sorts makes the connection to the beloved stuffed footstool that I silkscreened and sewed that we roll all over the basement.  I do not indeed look like an actual marshmallow.  Glad that he/I clarified that for me.

I’ve had this ITY in my stash for some time.  I bought it on a whim at fabric.com (when do you not buy on a whim at fabric.com?), happy to see one of my favorite patterns rendered in knit fabric.  When I got it, I was disappointed how thin it was and that it had almost a slinky texture to it.  I wanted to send it back but didn’t want to deal with it.  Instead I just put it off to the side somewhere.  When I came back to it, I concluded that I still love the pattern, and the blue is really lovely, so why not let it be a maternity dress?  It will get heavy use for the 1 or 2 seasons that I will use it for, and then I can pass it along.  Yes, my general preference is to make garments from nicer fabrics that will look nice for a long time, but periodically you just make a bad purchase, and it’s good to do make some quality lemonade out of it.

I pulled out Burda 6-2010-132 again because I had already made it and knew (in principle) that it worked for me.  The problem was I was never particularly thrilled with the fit of it…it seemed to pull away from my body along the sides.  I think my maternity strategy in the past has not been to sew for where you’re at but just to make everything enormous and hope for the best.  Ah, live and learn.

When I pulled out the tissue, I saw that I had traced a 34 in the neck and shoulders and a 38 below the armscye….no wonder.  32 is my magic Burda shoulder size, and after trying on the brown and aqua dress and confirming that it was indeed falling off my shoulders, I graded it down again to a 32 and came into a 36 on the sides through my torso and I kept the 38 in the hips.  I also did a small dartless FBA ala Louise Cutting (if you’re a Threads Insider, there’s a fantastic video for doing this–it allows you to add for the bust without adding to the waist or hips–awesome) to take care of the pregnancy crazy.

I just so happened to have the right color of blue to use as contrast (now I remember why I stocked up on solid knits).

My construction tip is to use quality clear elastic for the ruching in the side seams.  Shoot, use quality clear elastic whenever there’s gathered bits.  Monkeying around with it is worth the momentary frustration–it’s simpler, more even, stronger, and much better looking than anything you do with multiple rows of gathered stitches.

That silly empire line definitely makes me feel pregnant, but I’m nearly 26 weeks, so maybe it’s time, and maybe it’s okay.  At least I don’t look like an actual marshmallow.  As for the fabric–it sewed up really just fine, and once I put a slip under the dress, it’s quite lovely and feels as nice as any other ITY.

My full review of the dress is here.

The T-shirt Project #6: Jalie wins every time

Whew, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted.  We had a good time at my in-laws in super ultra northern CA after the massive road trip that it requires to get to them which included a stop in the Bay area for a Giants’ game (so fun) and some good fabric shopping at Stone Mountain and Daughter and Eureka Fabrics.  I won’t take the time to sort out my purchases–you’ll see them as I sew them up I’m sure.

Back at home, it’s taken me a couple of weeks to get back in the swing of things, but yesterday I was able to crank out a badly needed tee.  To boot, I’m back on track for the t-shirt project!

I’ve been eyeing Jalie’s Criss Cross top pattern for a long time.  Years probably.  I love anything mock wraplike in nature, and the x design is really flattering.  I loved it so much that cheap me decided to “replicate” it in New Look 6729

It has a similar look–the x design across the front, but it’s a cut-on sleeve, and as I found out when I made this version, the smallest size is too wide for me across the shoulder, and the side seams have an absurd amount of ease.  The criss cross was all droopy, it didn’t cover the gap in the underlayer, and I had to put in a little triangle because it crossed too low.  I remember taking the side seams in about 4″ to help the drooping issue and even then, they flare out at the hips considerably.  I didn’t even write about this top when I made it about a year ago it was so weird.  I first considered it a wadder, but it’s worked out well for me as a maternity top.  In fact, the silly side seams have so much ease that I’m comfortably wearing this at nearly 24 weeks pregnant no problem even after my 4″ seam monkeying, and I could still pinch out about 4″ of flare from the hips.  And the X still sits funny.

What did we learn here, people?  Jalie makes better t-shirt patterns.  Period.  Is it annoying that I have to order them and pay like $12/each one instead of making a quick stop to JoAnn’s and getting a pattern for 99 cents?  You bet, but in the end, I use my Jalies so much and the fit is so great that I’m starting to think that all of those “cheap” patterns are not that great of a value.

So in thinking about PR’s Mini-Wardrobe Contest (my favorite contest!), I decided to invest in another Jalie.  I had this cool lightweight cotton crepe blend knit stripe in this pebbled peachy strawberry sherbet color in the stash.  I wanted to make a longer sleeve out of it (not the bell in the pattern but the straight 3/4 from Jalie 2921 as bell sleeves are not my thang), but I was short on fabric.  After some fussy laying out, I did have enough for the flutter sleeve that’s included in the pattern.  Sadly, I should have cut the sleeve in a single layer because I tried to do so in a double layer, I got about 80% through before I realized that one sleeve would have a massive hole in the middle of it.  I had just enough to eek out a cap sleeve from my scraps.  I borrowed the sleeve from Jalie 2921 after a quick comparison of the armscye (it’s the same, so mix and match away).

The lower front piece is not seamed to the top but simply tacked to the bottom cross piece.  Elastic holds it tight against your middle and the crossover more than covers everything.  I stayed true to my Q (32) size in the shoulders and neck and went up to an S (36) below the armscye typical.  Over my pregnancies, I’ve come to understand that the 32 never ever moves and that my starting point needs to be just one size up below the armscye.  I will need to add to the lower front obviously and maybe the bust as I progress, but for now, my sizing is pretty right on.

I changed up my maternity altering on the lower front.  I’ve always used this tutorial from Rostitchery for altering for the bump.  This tutorial is absolutely fine as long as you don’t need to add all that much.  When you start needing to add say over 1″ in the method she describes, what happens is that the side seams can kind of just tent out.  Yes, you have enough to cover your middle, but the fabric just isn’t distributed all that well.

Sandra Betzina had an alternative method on Episode 108 of Power Sewing (do you all know that you can buy individual episodes now?  Wish that was an option when I subscribed–maybe it was and I didn’t realize it…).  Instead of just adding near the side seam as in the Rostitchery alteration, she has you distribute what you need in several different slices across the front.  If I stop to think about it, this makes a lot more sense…the bump is not happening at the side seams, it’s really all in front, so why am I adding inches upon inches at the side seams?  No wonder I look back at my later maternity tops from #2 and think, man that looks kind of schmoopy.

So this time, I sliced up my lower front pattern in 3 different places parallel to CF and added 1/2″ in each section at the hem (looking like little triangular wedges).  The bonus of doing it this way is that you have not much distortion when you go to true up the bottom.  At the end of the day, I’m loving this top and it is definitely going to pop up in other flavors in the next couple of months.

My full review is here.

Worth the hoopla

As I posted earlier, I dove into the Burda turtleneck from the September 2010 issue.  People on Patternreview have made I think hundreds of these things at this point–and it’s only January 2011. 

Well throw my hat in the ring for admirers of this pattern.

Burdastyle 09-2010-121: mock turtleneck–what I learned

1.  Basic doesn’t necessarily mean boring:  As I said, I totally missed this (and every other pattern) pattern in the September issue.  When I first started seeing reviews of it pop up on PR, I ignored it.  Snore, I thought–I hate turtlenecks as a general rule.  I should know Burda better by this point.  This pattern is well drafted, 3 pieces, and it looks sleek looking without being constricting or tackily tight.  I see why people have made up a gazillion of these things.  It takes little fabric, is fun to sew and can be accessorized until the cows come home.  It’s MAYBE a little short, but at 7 months pregnant, my opinion on this point can’t be trusted.  I’m wearing a cami underneath for my own comfort, not because it’s too short.  I did add 2″ at CF and 1.5″ in a wedge at the side seam, which was more than enough room for baby, and my hem is nice and level.

2.  In seam buttonholes:  This was my big learning on this top.  Trena’s reviews almost always send me over the edge if I’m so-so on a pattern, and this one was no exception.  She added a thumbhole for extra warmth in the underarm seam.  Being shorter like she is, I knew that I’d have to shorten the sleeves by quite a bit (2.25″)–enough that I’d have plenty of extra length to have a fingerless glove setup if I added a thumbhole.  I elected to do in-seam buttonholes for this feature.

I serged the raw edge of the arms, sewing a piece of twill tape to the thumbhole area in the serged allowance. 

After I sewed in the armscye seam, I sewed the underarm seam just outside my serging, stopping and restarting on either side of the twill tape. 

I pressed this seam really well on my seam roll and did some decorative stitching with hot pink embroidery thread to keep the twill tape tacked down (and because I figured if I was fussing this much over a seam, it might as well be purty).

I’m pretty surprised at HOW much warmer the thumbholes make this top.  Thank you Trena for the inspiration!  Though they were more work than just sewing an underarm seam, the functionality trumps it.  My hands get so cold in winter, particularly when I’m playing violin and wearing even fingerless gloves impairs my movement. 

So I’ll echo words of others–why haven’t you sewn this top yet?

My full review is here on PR.

Pattern mania

I haven’t left the pants.  I spent a good deal of time this weekend making up muslin #1, and I’m pretty excited how well it went (no pictures but they’re coming).  I have some more changes, some I can figure out, and some I need help for.  The tough mental work it’s taking to do all of this on top called for an easy project from Burdastyle’s September issue.  At first I thought there was nothing worthwhile in this issue because–oh, right, I was super morning sick and couldn’t process much of anything that month.

 

The Burdastyle turtleneck  09-2010-121

But seeing people go literally dotty over this pattern on PR (note 25 reviews since the mag came out in September and how many of those people have made this pattern 3 or 4 times) , I decided it deserved a second look.  Flipping back through my issue, I discovered that this and many other patterns in September are kind of great, but I’ll have to wait to touch any more of them until after baby.

Back to this pattern.  What’s not to love?  It’s crazy simple–3 pattern pieces and it sews up in maybe 10 minutes if you’re slow.  The turtleneck is not restrictive like turtlenecks tend to be.  There’s plenty of room across the bust, so you avoid the horrid uni-boob look [insert involuntary shudder here] that I always get in turtlenecks.  Add Trena’s genius thumbhole variation (which works for me perfectly with my short little arms), and this is going to be a cold weather staple pattern.

I picked up this mystery knit (poly?–but it didn’t smell horrid when I burn-tested it) on a trip last week to Denver Fabrics to get some pantsy kind of fabric for my class.  There was just enough in the flat fold for this project, and all told it cost about $5 even.  Though I said I was done sewing maternity tops, $5 seemed a worthwhile investment, especially since things are starting to get a little tightish and I still have 11 weeks left.

I’ll give you a preview of the fabric since I won’t be able to work on the top itself until tomorrow.

It’s like little baskets!

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!

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!