Projects in progress (September 2014)

Well, I was hoping to have a new "finished project" to blog about in my first "real content" post of the week. However, while I do have a new finished project (as of last Friday), I do not have photographs of the recipient (my daughter) wearing said project yet, thanks to the brief preview of fall weather we've had this week in Seattle. Instead, I'll give a quick update on what I've been working on and hope to have finished pretty soon.

Finished

To start, last week, I sewed up this adorable romper, which I made using the Green Bee Patterns Sally Romper and Dress pattern:

Green Bee Patterns Sally Romper

I wasn't at all familiar with the Green Bee pattern company, but I fell in love with the envelope picture for this when I was browsing Drygood Design last month. I love how this turned out, but I'll talk more about the pattern when I have photos of Eva actually modeling it and do my full write-up. (She's only gotten to wear it for about 2 hours so far, due to our cool weather streak.)

In-progress

I feel like I'm in limbo, weather-wise right now. One day, we'll have a high of 60 degrees F. Four days later, we'll have a high of 85 F. My sewjo for making more summer dresses is pretty much gone at the moment, but on the other hand, we're having too much warm weather for me to really want to commit to fall sewing with, say, a jacket project. What's a sewist to do?

How about sew a casual-but-funky knit top with elbow-length sleeves, which can either be worn alone or layered under something when the weather cools? I dug out my several-years-old-but-never-sewn HotPatterns Triple Torque Top pattern. The pattern actually contains three different top patterns with different draping details in front. I chose this particular view because it reminded me of that BurdaStyle pattern with the asymmetrical drape that everyone was sewing last winter. I liked everyone else's versions of that top, but it only went up to a Burda size 44, and I was intimidated by the thought of grading up/adjusting those odd shaped pattern pieces. While the HotPatterns version as a few notable differences from the Burda version, the spirit of the two tops is similar. I hope to finish mine up in the next couple of days:

HP Torque Top (in progress)

Just Started

As I think I've posted before, I sew for 30 minutes before everyone else gets up every weekday morning. On weekends, I grab what sewing time I can, sometimes accompanied by my 2-year-old "helper", depending on what my husband needs to get done around the house/yard. What that means is that I can't count on any "floor time" to tape together PDF patterns or cut fabric on weekends, since both of those activities attract my daughter far worse than all four of our cats combined. I have learned that in order to be most efficient with the sewing time that I have, I need to do any pattern taping/tracing and fabric cutting during my weekday morning sessions. Even though I am loathe to leave something as a UFO (other than garments that are pretty much destined to be wadders), this means that sometimes I have to start on the prep stage of a pattern before my last project is finished.

With that in mind, I have taped together the PDF pattern and prewashed fabric for my next project--the Peek-a-Boo Patterns Poppy Polo Dress:

Peek-a-Boo Patterns Poppy Dress

Over the summer, Eva grew. She was on the border of a size 18M/2T at the beginning of the summer, and now her RTW 2T clothes are too short. Until I get her fall wardrobe (size 3T!) built up a bit, I will be alternating selfish sewing projects with selfless sewing for her. Expect to see many toddler projects from me over the next few months.

After finishing these projects, I'm not sure what I'll tackle. HotPatterns released a "mini-me" version of their essential shift dress pattern, so at the moment, I'm leaning towards making mommy-and-me versions of that dress. Because I'm a dork. But if you read my blog, you already knew that.