Still not tired of this

Oh Simplicity 2369, how I love thee.  A t-shirt as comfy as pajamas but with feminine flair.  While not a super fast sew (well, at least this time, being a bit rusty), everything is drafted just lovely and would be very simple for a beginner.  If you’re nursing, this is also a great top. 

Does the fabric look familiar?  I still had plenty of this poly knit leftover from my Burda maternity dress I made several months ago.  I faced the harsh reality of being a full 10 lbs heavier than where I was at the same point with Noah and cut the pattern slightly bigger.  In reality, I probably cut it TOO large, but I just wanted to have a pretty top to wear post partum.  When your body feels out of whack and oddly shaped, it’s reassuring perhaps to know there’s something pretty to cover it up with hanging in your closet. 

Again, I find myself grateful that I can sew.  It’s hard being a weight that you’re physically not comfortable being.  Being able to make clothes that FIT for whatever size you are gives you a lot more freedom.  I bought a lot of poorly made and really not all that cheap clothes post partum with Noah and I spent a lot of time feeling sad about my body instead of accepting where I was at and respecting it for the really cool thing that it had just been through.  Now that I have a set of skills, I feel much more ready to accept where I am this time and make some things to get me through the transition.  I will stop whining about my weight now…I’m working out again–it will come [is coming] off, just not instantly.

I updated my studio post below with actual pictures too if you’re interested.

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.

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!

Planning–the armchair edition

I really do have my little Moleskin filled to the brim right now with cute little drawings of my upcoming projects, but it being 4:40 am and the camera being in the room with the ever so soundly sleeping baby, I will instead venture to overuse the copy and paste function in this post.

There’s this litte jacket which is all muslined, altered, and ready to go.

Burda 2-2007-104

I’m stepping out on a limb here with Simplicity 2554F.  The line drawing of the ruffles looks so great, and of course, The Slapdash Sewists’ excellent styling of this top put me over the edge.  I’m not sure about my full bust and the ruffles, though I love the flutter sleeve.  We’ll see.  It might not make it past the muslin stage.

This one I’m excited about.  This is Vogue 8548.  I need a coat for winter, and I’ve made enough jackets at this point to feel comfortable tackling this big of a project.  This is not a super complicated pattern, so I can focus on making this really really well.  Much study and practice is to come.  In the mean time, I bought 4 yards of this absurdly beautiful double-faced robin’s egg blue wool from a PR’er for the crazy price of $23.  I can’t believe how lovely this stuff is, and the color will motivate me to not put this big of a project off for fear’s sake for another year.

Because I’m a sucka for a cap sleeve, here’s Butterick 5495

And because knit dresses seem to be my preferred drug of choice these days, a couple more:

Burda 8-2008-188 tunic lengthened to dress length (which probably means like 2″ for me tee hee).

My queue is longer than this, but I have to have something to post about another day, right? 

I’m hoping I get through this all too.  I’m pretty tired these days and haven’t felt much like making playdates with Gnomey.  Mayhaps I’ve needed a break from my usual pace though…

Stuck

I’ve been trying to gather the motivation to tackle my next project.  Several weeks ago I traced off and went through muslin #1 of Burda 05-2010-110.  Wouldn’t you know that I can’t find anyone has written about it or made it up yet?  Where are you petite sewers of Burda?  I need your help.

There are two problems–one that I can fix and one that leaves me with my head a scratchin.  #1–CF is way too low for my taste.  There are some pleats that make raising it by the 2.5″ I estimate I need (I usually raise it only by 1″ if that gives you an idea of how low it is) a little tricky, but that I can figure out.

The larger problem #2:  What on earth is this sleeve?

For the life of me, I can’t figure out how it’s supposed to fit into the armscye.  In typical Burda style, the directions are cryptic and somehow semi-clear on the topic of the sleeve too.  I’ll quote: “Trim allowance on outer edge of cap sleeves to 1/4″ wide, press to inside, and stitch.  Press allowance on straight back edge of cap sleeves to inside.  Baste cap sleeves to neck edge, from each front section seam to back abutting line, with wrong side facing right side.”  Looking at these directions and the line drawings and this almost makes sense.  There’s some kind of placement line that I think the straight part of the sleeve is supposed to be attached to.  I need to go back to the pattern sheet and puzzle it out.  I’m convinced I’m making it harder than it really is.

The good news is that there’s nothing I need to change on this pattern other than the height of center front.  The fit is perfect right out of the gate.  Yee haw for petite patterns!

Why I’m thinking more is less

I’ve had very little motivation to make my second skirt in my June plan (Burda 02-2008-111).  I haven’t been able to pin down why until I went outside.

It’s really hot.  Okay, not as hot as you poor dears in TX, and certainly not as humid (I do NOT miss TX summers), but after sweating through my shirt pushing about Noah in the CO sun, I’ve come to some conclusions.

I don’t want to wear close fitting skirts when it’s hot.  I’m looking at that stretch cotton in my stash and thinking I just might suffocate in it.  Give me a nice A-line made out of a breezy linen or something equally cool and I’ll be a much happier camper in the heat.  So I’ll put this skirt on the back burner until fall.  Until then, I will gladly be in my swishy skirt or something else with more fabric that allows the breeze to get to my legs.  And pass the iced tea please!

Batch fitting

Last week I sat down and drew out my goals for sewing for the month.  I am in need of summer clothes fast that aren’t scrubby t-shirts or shorts that I bought 11 pounds ago and are now falling off of me.  For once, I want to have a summer where I can beat the heat with my clothes and look like a lady too.

Here’s what I came up with: 

I’ll out myself and say that I sew knits as often as I do not just because I like them but because they’re a gazillion times easier to fit than wovens.  If you notice, there’s only 1 knit item in this batch.  This will be a great opportunity for me to figure out some fitting with wovens. 

I also decided that fitting takes up a whole lot of mental space.  I measure my patterns, trace them off, cut out a practice, see what I need to change, trace out more if necessary, cut out more practices if necessary, get things nice, cut out real fabric, construct, finish.  To repeat this cycle endlessly can sometimes feel not unlike the plight of poor Sisyphus.  I feel like if I can do one big round of fitting for several garments at a time, maybe I’ll save my brain some strain at the bottom of the hill later. 

I’ve been fitting the patterns, and paperclipping each one together and hanging them on the peg board before going on to fitting the next.  It’s been 3 days and I’ve made 4 seperate muslins for 3 separate patterns.  2 went rather quickly and didn’t need much tweaking–a little shortening here, but nothing dramatic.  The button-down blouse has taken a little more thought process.  I managed to avoid an FBA, which I’m grateful for because I’ve always ended up with so much waist distortion when I’ve done them in the past.  I will say that I’ve felt really relaxed and calm about fitting all of these instead of the usual frenzy/panic I put myself in at the start of a new project.  This seems rather counterintuitive that more causes less stress, and I I can’t say that I’ll batch fit all of the time, but I’ve actually enjoyed it this time.

Here are 3 of the fabrics in this first round of my plan.  The mini black gingham is on my cut table at the moment, but I’m sure you can imagine what that looks like.  I’ve actually fitted the pattern for the mini black gingham and not the red and blue floral fabric, but I forgot that the mini black gingham was on my cut table when I snapped this.

The red and blue floral isn’t actually cotton as I thought when I bought it.  It burns like silk, but usually at Denver Fabrics, they separate their silk flat folds from the rest, so maybe it’s a silk blend.  Who knows?  But a good old bit of mystery fabric never hurt anyone, right?

True Confessions

I’ve been wearing this dress for like 3 days without a hem!  Quelle horreur!  I hung it up and forgot about it for a couple of days, and then I just decided it was too pretty to be hung up, but I didn’t really feel like taking a break from other projects to spend a few minutes hemming it.  It’s not even hemmed now; however, I trust you all can imagine a hem, and I promise I’ll do it this week.  Girl Scout promise promise I will.

It’s another version of Vogue 1027.  This is really what I wanted this dress to be in the first place, but on the day I found the brown fabric, I couldn’t find a nice aqua like this. 

Vogue 1027  version 2.0

What I learned:

Color contrast!!!:  As much as I do love color, I’m just starting to understand it in clothing.  I’ve been starting to get out beyond the same boring shades of blue and find more interesting combinations.  In nature and in art, I’m drawn to very saturated, pure colors.  This aqua for instance just glows.  Though it is my favorite color evvvarr, a dress that was entirely this bright was going to be too much.  I’ve never messed with contrasting colors in clothes I’ve made, but I thought that a belt of a different color would break up the bright quite nicely.  I thought about more neutral colors very briefly, but I quickly was drawn to this magenta.  It’s as deeply saturated as the aqua, but somehow the contrast of the two colors is enough of a change for it not to be overkill.  The lesson is that color contrast is worth exploring (though I can’t see myself doing it all the time).

Patterns in the 2.0:  I don’t really make up patterns multiple times.  For one, there’s too many patterns out there, and not near enough time to do them.  Sometimes I’m trying to avoid going through the pain that the failed ones have given me.  But my biggest reason is that I used to buy all the colors of X garment available.  I was always kind of bored and saddened by this, and I always knew that deep down it didn’t reflect my own creativity, but I didn’t know what to do about that.  Sewing, of course, helps you avoid the humdrum.  This dress makes me want to sew it again though.  It has such great lines, that it’s worth a revisit.  And what with the color contrast, it’s not readily obvious that it’s the same pattern anyhow.  Yay!  Bonus points for not having to fit this pattern again!

My favorite thing about this dress is that it’s the easiest garment to wear.  I mean, literally, pop it on over your head, and you look like a lady.  It’s more complicated to put on a t-shirt and jeans!

In the area of housekeeping, I will be categorizing my garments by type in the category cloud because I realize that almost all of my posts are about sewing, which makes it tough to find things later on (for me too!).  I hope you will find it useful.  It’s going to take me some time to do this, but I’ve done several so far.

Topsy turvy

Thanks for the suggestions on summer tops.  Now that I’ve thought about it, I’ve got some good ideas going.

Momawake suggested that I shorten a dress.  Not a bad thought, I think.  Chopping off the bottom half of a lot of dresses makes them look rather incomplete, but I think this Vogue dress would possibly lend itself well to such an application:

Mikhaela suggested sweetheart neckline knit tops.  Check.  I love this Simplicity pattern.

Mikhaela also got me thinking vintage with all the lovely linking to her own stash of patterns.  I found this pattern on Etsy–Ooh, I’ve got big plans for this one that involve a beloved Britcom.  More on that later.

And this…oops, not a top.  Focus E!

A lovely PR’er was offering her old Burdas for cheap.  I picked up 2/2007 and  found this lovely in it:

 It has gathered sleeve caps, which I hate, but they don’t look too poofy, so maybe I can handle it.

Lots of dresses in this issue too, but I won’t bore you.

My last pick is Burdastyle Ute. 

When this pattern first came out, I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not.  I blame it on styling.  I love the tie-neck and the princess seams.  I think the sleeves have darts in them at the top instead of gathers, which weirds me out less.  I like the shaped sleeve bands–interesting.  The Peter Pan collar variation is fun too.  Burdastyle users’ Utes all look great too, so why not?

Much to think about…