2014 Roundup: Hits and Misses

I know, I know...everyone has been posting their "top 5" hits and misses over the past few weeks. I'm sure that you're sick of reading these posts by now, but I also know that there's a certain rubbernecking pleasure to be taken at seeing what didn't work out for someone. I won't try to shoehorn this post into a "Top 5 Hits/Top 5 Misses" format, but for the curious who want to know about the longer term wearability of some of my projects, I'll run down what got worn a lot and what didn't quite work out this past year.

The Hits

Here are my "hits" for the year, in no particular order. No, I didn't whittle it down to 5, but these 6 garments/patterns jumped out at me right away as garments that I still wear a lot (seasonal considerations aside) many months later.

Honorable mention: That pattern that I tested back in November (scheduled to be released later this month) gets worn All. The. Time. lately. According to the designer, many of us had the same fit issues, and she's fixing them for the final release. I'm really looking forward to getting a copy of the final pattern and making that up. I'll do a comparison post when I do, if only because I think it will be interesting to compare the "draft" pattern to the released version.

StyleArc Olive Spliced Tee

Outside of the warmest months of summer, this top has been in regular rotation in my wardrobe ever since I made it. In fact, I'm wearing it right now as I type. It's both a comfortable and stylish top, and I like the turquoise color in the yoke/sleeves.

StyleArc Olive Spliced Tee

McCall's 6966

I love this skirt. The pain of cutting it out quickly faded, and when it's not so cold that I need leggings and boots, I reach for this one on a regular basis.

McCall's 6966 Maxi-skirt

HotPatterns Riviera Cote D'Azur Dress

Here's a dress that I've actually been wearing year-round since I made it. I feel like it "winterizes" better than some of my skirt/dress projects in that it doesn't look "off" when paired with leggings and boots. Sadly, the fabric is starting to pill and fade a bit, so I doubt that I'll have more than a few more months of wearing it, but I'll continue to wear the heck out of it until that time comes.

HotPatterns Cote D'Azur Dress

SBCC Tonic Tee

Remember when everyone was making the SBCC Tonic Tee? I made, like, 4 of them. Of those, this striped version is my favorite and the one that gets worn the most frequently. Unfortunately, the purple/Plantain knockoff suffered some pretty significant progressive shrinkage and is only used as a base layer these days. Even worse, the red version became the Red Shirt of Death (more on that below) and got thrown in the donation pile. So, of the 4 tops that I made, I still regularly wear 2 versions.

SBCC Tonic Tee

Colette Moneta

Like everyone else who sews, I made a couple of Moneta dresses last year. I still wear both, but the version of the polka dots is still my favorite and gets worn a bit more than my turquoise version. I still want to make a long sleeved version of this pattern for cooler weather.

Colette Moneta

HotPatterns Weekender Daytona Hoodie

I live in Seattle, work in tech, and have a 2.5-year-old. Don't tell me that you're shocked that my favorite pattern of the year happened to be a hoodie pattern with roomy pockets.  Counting the wearable muslin that I made for this that I wear far too often (but never blogged), I made this pattern three times. The version with the red print/white contrast sleeves is my favorite.

HotPatterns Weekender Daytona Hoodie

The Misses

Of course, not every project works out, right? Here's what I made and never or rarely got worn.

StyleArc Slip-on Suzie

This was supposed to be my easy faux wrap dress for the Curvy Sewing Collective wrapalong, and I rushed it and completely f'ed it up. This one is all on me. I'm holding onto it because I think I might like it if I lost 10-15 lbs, so this one will stay in the "magic dresser" a little longer.

StyleArc Slip-on Suzie

SBCC Tonic Tee #4 (aka the Red Shirt of Death)

This simple t-shirt was a comedy of errors, especially that I had successfully made this pattern three times before this version. First, the ITY knit was really, really thin. I wanted a red t-shirt, but this particular cheapo cut from FabricMart showed every lump and bump and vividly advertised when I was cold. Then, I managed to get some mystery stain/splotches on it (I blame the toddler), and no matter what sort of stain removing agent I used and how many times I washed it, I couldn't completely get rid of them. I'd resigned myself to using this t-shirt solely as a base layer at that point, when it ended up in the wash and turned my white hoodie pink. At that point, I finally banished it to the donation bin.

SBCC Tonic Tee - red version (*sad trombone sound*)

StyleArc Amber Top

Huh, a second StyleArc on this list. That surprises me a bit, considering that I've generally had good luck with their patterns, but a miss is a miss.

I just never felt like this top was particularly flattering on me. On top of that, the "good" piping that I used as a trim frayed terribly in the wash, even though I had carefully sewed it into the seam and hem allowances. No amount of Fray Check seemed to be able to fix the problem. I wound up wearing this three times before it ended up in the donation bin.

StyleArc Amber top

Lekala 4319

My first attempt at using a Lekala pattern (custom sizing!) produced one of the wadderiest wadders that I've ever created. There was just no saving this one. It looked awful on me, and was beyond salvaging. Interestingly enough, the versions sewn up on the Russian Lekala website, on much slimmer women than me, have a lot of the same issues. I'll chalk this up to being a lemon of a pattern. Unfortunately, it's made me a little hesitant to try other Lekala patterns, even though I know that a lot of people have had really good luck with the.

Lekala 4319

Final Thoughts

Four wadders on the year isn't too bad, although I suspect that if you strive for wadder-free sewing, it also means that you're probably not taking too many risks. In my text non-pattern release post, I'll talk a bit about how I did on my 2014 goals that I set last year and set some new goals for 2015.

BTW--I'm still working on that Simplicity Leanne Marshall coat, which unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish while I had a week and a half off from work. I do have the lining/interlining constructed, and I have the outer coat constructed except for setting in the sleeves. So next up, I set in the sleeves, insert the lining, attach the 2nd zipper half, and then do the collar/hood. The instructions for the lining take nearly an entire page of Simplicity's instructions, so I'm anticipating that process to be one that drags out way longer than it feels like it should.