Last Week in Patterns (21-June-2015)

We had more pattern release activity this week than we've had in a while, with a new BurdaStyle collection and Jalie announcing their 2015 patterns. This week's releases:

• BurdaStyle (Plus)
• Jalie
• StyleArc

BurdaStyle (Plus): July 2015 collection

BurdaStyle posted their Plus collection for their July 2015 issue earlier this week. There was one piece I loved, one piece I kinda liked (in one sample) and a lot of meh.

07-2015 #134: Short sleeved maxi dress

First up is a peasant-style maxi-dress. It's okay, but it doesn't really thrill me. I can't tell if those are raglan sleeves, or if they're some sort of weird flutter sleeve that's just attached at the neckline.

BurdaStyle July 2015 #134

07-2015 #131 & 07-2015 #133: Peplum blouse and scarf print dress

So these are clearly the same pattern, although with Burda giving them separate pattern numbers, I'm not sure if you'd get both views as part of the same download. Both are pretty "meh" to me, but I actually really like the eyelet version of the blouse that they paired with the flared jeans (below).

BurdaStyle July 2015 #131

BurdaStyle July 2015 #133

07-2015 #130A: Denim pants

I love this outfit. The flared pants/jeans are fun, and they actually have seaming on the legs--a feature that I can't recall having seen recently in a plus sized pattern, which is funny to me, because the seams can help with fitting. And the blouse is the same as pattern #131. I like it MUCH better in the eyelet shown here than in the fabrics that they chose for the actual pattern photos.

BurdaStyle July 2015 #130A (paired with #131)

07-2015 #129A: Midi Flutter Dress & 07-2015 #129B: Gown

Patterns #129A & B are a perfectly serviceable dress and gown. Neither is really my own style, but they're inoffensive in that they aren't horribly shapeless or anything.

BurdaStyle July 2015 #129A

BurdaStyle July 2015 #129A

07-2015 #128: Crochet Tunic

A BurdaStyle release wouldn't be complete without a shapeless rectangle, so here's this month's shapeless rectangle, which really is a rectangle with a neck hole cut out:

BurdaStyle July 2015 #129A

Jalie: 2015 Release

Long-time indie pattern fav Jalie announced their 2015 patterns for release this week. Disappointingly, to some of us, there weren't many "everyday" patterns in this release, but there definitely were some very useful patterns for a lot of us. If you're unfamiliar with Jalie, they tend to release a lot of well-drafted everyday basics, activewear, and niche sports (e.g. skating) patterns with all sizes from 18M all the way up to plus sizes with a 53" hip.

In the niche pattern category, we had the following:

• Anne cheerleading uniform
• Carmen skating dress
• Lillie gymnastics leotards

In the patterns with a bit wider audience, we have the following options:

Anne-marie tank and dress

Anne-marie is a racerback tennis dress or tank top, with a useful pocket in the back. I don't play tennis or cycle (the two intended uses for the dress view), but I could see this just being a cute summer dress for Eva or a useful exercise top for myself.

Jalie - Anne-Marie tennis top or dress

Cora Running tights and shorts

The Cora running tights and shorts are an inseamless exercise tight. If I still jogged like I did in my younger, slimmer days, I'd be all over this pattern. I'd be curious to hear from others how these compare to Melissa Fehr's inseamless running pants.

Jalie - Cora running tights

Elenore pull-on jeans

Yup, pull-on jeans. And they will be perfect for my daughter, who currently sticks with leggings, as far as pants go. I'll probably sew up a pair or two for myself as well. This is one of those patterns where the utilitarian aspect makes it a total no-brainer that I'd purchase this one.

Jalie - Eleonore pull-on pants

Bella Dress

The Bella dress is designed for twirling. Really. It started off life as a ballroom dancing pattern (see the built-in leotard option) but Jalie decided to add options for making it an everyday dress. Given that I sew for a little girl who loves to twirl, this one is also a no-brainer for me to purchase. And yeah, I could definitely find a use for a fit-and-flare princess seamed knit dress for myself, too. ;)

Jalie - Bella dress

ETA: Someone on PatternReview just pointed out that this dress only goes up to an adult size AA--a 42" bust instead of Jalie's usual 50" bust. WTH? That's kind of lame, given that one of the usually great things about Jalie is the size range. I could still use this dress for Eva, but I guess I won't be making one for myself, then.

StyleArc: June 2015 designer release

*sigh* As much as I've loved StyleArc in the past, based on recent releases, I really feel like their aesthetic is starting to move away from my own.  We got another "designer" release for our mid-June release earlier this week, and this time around it's a boxy top and a gaucho-esque pair of pull-on pants. These aren't bad or boring patterns--they're just not my own style.

Ethel Designer Pant

The Ethel pants are a pull-on cropped-leg pant with a tucked elastic waist and a full leg that narrows at the hem. Basically, to me, these seem kind of like this season's culottes, but without the typical volume that we've been seeing at the hem. But I kinda like that volume--in my fantasy of my yet-to-be-sewn culottes, the legs are flowy and swishy. I do think that the the Ethels could be a very comfortable pant for summer, though.

StyleArc - Ethel pants

Ethel Designer Top

I was completely "meh" on this, until I scrolled down past the line drawing and saw the sewn up sample. It's another boxy, woven t-shirt style top.

StyleArc - Ethel top

I still don't think that this shape will work on my uber busty figure, but I will admit that it looks awfully nice on the model, especially in that crisp white fabric that shows off the seamlines:

StyleArc Ethel sample

Ricki Top

The email announcing the Ricki top went out a few days after the two Ethel pieces. The Ricki top is interesting to me for two reasons:

• StyleArc says that the back wrap gives full coverage, while retaining the look of the current crossover trend.
• The top is designed for scuba fabric.

StyleArc - Ricki top

I'm not going to rush out and buy this one right away, but I'm intrigued. This is a simple enough style that I could see myself seeing a made up version that I like on someone's blog, buying the PDF, and having a finished top a few days later.

Final Thoughts

Well, it looks like I'll be adding a few Jalies and those Burda plus pants to my pattern collection. And I'll want to find an appropriate blouse pattern (I'm sure I have one somewhere in my stash) to make in a white eyelet to duplicate the styling of that Burda picture. And I'll be keeping my eye out to see how the StyleArc Ricki looks when made up. That's about all that excited me this week, though. How about you? Are you planning to purchase any of the new Jalies? Also, does anyone know the scoop on the Bella dress only going up to size AA (42" bust)?

Coming soon, there should be a new Simplicity release (some of the patterns have been showing up in JoAnns), but those patterns aren't available on the Simplicity website yet.

2014 Sewing Goals: Pattern Stash

I am going to blatantly rip off an idea from Lynn over at You sew, girl! and write my own post about my goals for pattern stash busting in 2014. She set stashbusting goals for herself by identifying a goal of sewing at least 10 stashed patterns and 30 pieces of stashed fabric in 2014.

I am going to do a similar thing with the following pledge:

"I, Michelle of happilycaffeinated, commit to using at least 15 patterns from the candidate pattern stash and using at least 20 pieces of stash fabric in 2014. Stash includes any fabric or patterns on hand/purchased prior to the date of this pledge, 8 Jan 2013."

If you'll recall, I wrote a post a few months ago where I was debating how best to add some focus and order to my sewing projects for 2014:

Thinking ahead to 2014: Seeking Balance

In particular, I was interested in finding a way to prioritize sewing up some of my stashed patterns that I truly wanted to sew but hadn't done so because I kept getting distracted by other projects. By using Lynn's challenge as an inspiration, I think that I should be able to accomplish my pattern stashbusting goals for the year but not feel like I'm locked into sewing only one company's patterns.

Here's how I'm planning to accomplish these goals:

• The fabric stash part is easy. I'm planning to try to shop my stash for most of my projects this year unless there's a pattern that I have in mind where I really don't have an appropriate fabric (Believe it or not, I do have a small handful of projects in mind where I don't have the right fabric. Probably not surprisingly, these projects are all either fleece pajamas or outerwear.)
• For the pattern stash part, I wanted to focus on patterns that have either been in my "to sew" queue for a while or have been and out of my queue several times. These patterns are the ones that I really want to sew but haven't gotten around to for whatever reasons. To create this focus, I created a spreadsheet of "candidate" patterns:
  

  
  

  

  2014 Pattern Stash candidates

  I won't be restricted to sewing from this list, but I will try to sew 15 of the 39 patterns on here this year. Given my sewing pace under normal circumstances, I think this is a reasonable goal that will leave me with some flexibility for new patterns and new project ideas.
  
  Also, lest you think that I have some sort of ungodly self control, note that my pattern stash is much, much larger than this list. In my early years of sewing, I hit nearly every cheapo pattern sale at JoAnn's and accumulated hundreds of Big 4 patterns, most of which will probably never be sewn, but that I can't bring myself to part with. (For some reason, I have a much easier time donating "what was I thinking" fabric than patterns.)
• My weight has fluctuated a lot over the past few years (getting pregnant, having a baby, taking off a chunk of weight, putting a little bit of that weight back on), so I've been really feeling like I need a wardrobe revamp, especially taking into account Seattle's cooler climate. I tried to put together a list of where I see the "holes" being in my current wardrobe and mapped that to the pattern stash candidates:

Stash chart 2014

 
I think that my goals/wardrobe holes line up pretty well together. This chart and my overall thought process does assume that some patterns will be made multiple times (I'm pretty good about making multiples of many of my knit top and knit dress patterns) and that there will likely be a few wadders in the group. However, I am hoping that by the end of 2014, I won't feel like I'm wearing the same 4-5 outfits all the time and will be able to mix and match things up a bit more.

You might also notice that the "stash plan" doesn't have many entries for Eva or David. The reason for this is that I'm pretty good about sewing things for Eva fairly soon within buying the pattern, so outside of a few Oliver + S patterns that were bought on sale, I don't really have a pattern stash for her yet. And I don't have much of a pattern stash for David because there aren't a whole lot of men's patterns out there, let alone patterns for larger men that don't require a ridiculous amount of grading. The first thing that I'll sew for him this will likely be the new HP men's t-shirt pattern, which I don't have in hand yet but ordered the day that it was released.

I have a few other sewing-related goals for the year, mostly related to refining certain skills and trying a few new things to step out of my comfort zone, but I'll save those for another post.

2013: Year in review in (not) sewing

Happy New Year!

I managed to sew so little last year that I wasn't planning to do a "year in review" style post, but upon reading everyone else's in the sewing blogophere, I thought that it might be worthwhile to write one of my own for personal use/reflection. Our family moved three times in four months last year, and my machines spent most of that time in storage. Given that and the fact that I have a now-highly-mobile toddler, I guess I should be happy that I got any sewing at all done!

So, without any further delay, here is what I sewed in 2013:

Breakdown by recipient

• Me - 11 projects
• My daughter - 4 projects
• My husband - 1 project

 Total number of projects: 16

I do promise to sew more for my husband this coming year! In fact, HotPatterns just released a new Men's t-shirt that will jump to the top of my sewing queue when it arrives in the mail:

Mr. HP Nice-and-easy T's

DH desperately needs some new t-shirts preferably (to me), ones that don't have sports team logos on them. I've had the Jalie men's tee pattern for a little while, but have had concerns that the Jalie men's body type is completely different from my husband's and was dreading re-drafting the pattern significantly. If the HP men's draft is similar to the women's, it will be a little more forgiving to those of us who have some extra pounds. I am really looking forward to trying this one out.

Breakdown by project type

• Knit tops -  7
• Knit dresses -3
• Leggings - 2
• Pajama sets - 2
• Handbag - 1
• Halloween costume - 1

I stuck almost entire with knits last year, which makes sense given that I focused mainly on easy, instant gratification projects with my lack of time and scattered attention.

Breakdown by pattern company

• Cake patterns - 4 patterns tried, 7 projects completed
• HotPatterns - 2 patterns tried, 3 projects completed
• McCall's - 2 patterns tried, 2 projects completed
• Jalie - 1 pattern tried, 2 projects completed
• Simplicity - 1 pattern tried, 1 project completed
• Blank Slate - 1 pattern tried, 1 project completed

Personal trends of 2013

I didn't make this decision consciously, but looking back over the past year's projects I see that I got multiple uses out of a pattern a lot more often than I used to. I'm really happy about that, given that I'm drawn to indie patterns that run a bit more expensive than the $0.99/$1.99 patterns that you pick up on sale at Hancock's and JoAnn's. I'd like to stick with this. Also, as I noted above, I stuck almost exclusively with sewing knits last year. I expect both of these trends to continue into 2014.

Highlights of 2014

Favorite project

Honestly, I think that my favorite thing that I sewed last year was my daughter's Halloween costume, which I made from a McCall's pattern. This project took forever, but I'm really happy with how it turned out:

World's cutest skunk

Most-used project

Hands-down, my most used project would be my HotPattern's "Mommy tote". This is a really great, versatile bag that can hold an awful lot of stuff:

HotPatterns Mommy Tote

Most interesting pattern tried

I loved, loved, loved the draft-your-own pattern concept that went along with the Espresso leggings, and I loved how fast and easy these were to sew. I've made two pairs so far and expect to make many more next year:

Espresso leggings + cat

New-to-me pattern company

I tried a Blank Slate download PDF pattern a few months ago and loved how the top that I made for my daughter turned out. I really like a lot of this company's designs; they're a lot more practical for an active young child than some of the other kid-oriented indie companies. I mean, ruffled sundresses and ruffled pants are cute and all, but my daughter wants to play in the mud and splash in puddles. Sundresses also just aren't practical most of the year now that we live in Seattle. In any case, the one pattern that I tried from Blank Slate was encouraging and I expect to make more from them:

Blank Slate Beachy Boatneck Tee

No wadders!

I have no idea how this happened, but I somehow avoided having a wadder all year last year. I think that this was due mainly to luck and sticking with easy knit projects, but it was still nice to not "waste" any precious sewing time or fabric. Obviously, I don't expect a repeat of this in 2014.