2010: The year in sewing projects

Whether in baseball, science, or even sewing, statistics can be a bit of an eye-opener. While I've been sick and not motivated to work on many other things over the past few days, I tallied up my sewing project output over the past year. Here's the breakdown of what I made:

Breakdown by garment type

For me:
Knit dresses - 5
Knit tops - 5
Jackets - 2
Woven blouses - 4
Sleepwear - 3
Pants - 0 (1 UFO is a pair of pants)
Skirts - 0
UFOs - 2

For my husband:
Casual shirts - 5
Boxers - 1
Lined raincoat - 1

For my niece:
Dresses - 2
Sun hats - 2

Total garments completed: 30


Number of garments completed by pattern company (includes multiples)

HotPatterns - 11
Simplicity - 6* (*Includes 5 versions of the same shirt for David)
La Mia Boutique magazine - 4
SewBaby - 2
Kwik Sew - 1
Butterick - 1
Vogue - 1
Colette Patterns - 1
KnipMode magazine - 1



The garment type numbers surprised me. It seems like I'm always sewing knit tops. Granted, they were my most frequently sewn garment type, but I would have thought that the numbers would have been a lot more skewed once I counted them.

The pattern company breakdown did not surprise me, although I would have guessed that I'd sewed more than one Vogue pattern last year. I do know that I sew from HotPatterns a lot--many of the designs are perfect for my age/lifestyle, and their pattern draft usually fits my figure well with minimal alterations.

I expect the project type numbers to change quite a bit in 2011. For one thing, I need pants and jackets. My first project, which is already in progress, for this year is a lined raincoat, so that's more complex than anything that I sewed for myself all of last year. After I finish that, I may go with a knit top or dress as a bit of a palate cleanser, and then it's going to be on to updating my pants and jeans wardrobes.

Happy 2011! / Blog reboot

Is anyone still out there?

I'm not surprised, but my last post on this blog was in November 2008. At the time, I was engaged, and my life was crazy-busy with wedding planning, honeymoon planning, and the crazy hours that I work at my startup software company. I still needed to sew, if only for stress-release, so blogging dropped far, far down on my priority list.

One of my goals for this coming year is to start blogging regularly. I'm going to try to post something new at least once a week. I'll likely continue to post about sewing a lot, but to cut myself from slack, I might post about other topics (such as beer) if that's what I'm really in the mood to write about.

Over two years later, I'm now happily married to the love of my life, but still work crazy hours for the same startup software company. I still need to sew for stress relief (and have found that I actually get grouchy if I go more than a week or two without working on one of my projects), but have also really gotten into craft beer. The craft beer scene in San Diego has completely exploded over the past 2+ years, and I've been absorbing as much about it as I can--both in learning about styles and sampling as much as I can (in a responsible manner, of course). During this time, David (my husband) has become an avid homebrewer, so his homebrewing equipment now competes for space with my sewing equipment/fabric in our tiny condo.

Thanks for reading, and happy 2011!

Premio al esfuerzo personal blog award

I'm terrible at keeping up with this blog (if you hadn't noticed), so it's wound up taking me way too long to acknowledge Melody (aka "crazed sewer") of my favorite online fabric store, Fashionista Fabrics for awarding me the Premio al esfuerzo personal blog award last month. I'm really touched by this, but have had practically no free time to sew, let alone blog, lately, so I'm really behind here.

Here are the rules for the award:

1. Select 6 bloggers to whom you would like to give this award- prize
2. Put the award - prize on your blog and indicate who gave it to you by identifying her/his blog;
3. Paste these rules on your blog;
4. Write 6 of your most important values and 6 negative points you condemn,
5. Inform the 6 recipients by leaving a comment on their blog.

So...I'm giving this award to the following inspirational bloggers:

1. Sherril Miller of Sherril's Sewing Saga - Sherril has been like a personal tutor to me on the Pattern Review message boards and can find ways around any fitting/design problem. For one of my upcoming projects in the new year (after I establish a TNT t-shirt pattern), I'm planning to knock off a great looking designer t-shirt that she knocked off.

2. Lynelle of Sewl II Sewl. Lynelle has some similar fitting issues to mine, and observing as she perseveres through them on Pattern Review has provided me with a lot of inspiration and encouragement when I feel like throwing in the towel.

3. Belle Noelle of Sewing in the City. Her lovely creations in her Etsy shop were part of what inspired me to dig out my grandmother's old sewing machine and sign up for a sewing class almost two years ago now.

4. Keely of Keely Sews. Always funny, always upbeat, Keely's blog is a joy to read.

5. Melissa (aka "squirrelypoo") at Fehr Trade. An amazing seamstress, and funny as heck, Melissa takes patterns and completely remakes them into something her own and something much more interesting than what they start out as. I drool over her wardrobe. (Like me, she's also getting married next year, too!)

6. Leora of Journey to Couture. We always seem to zero in on the same patterns, and I know that we have some of the same fabric in our stashes. Her posts and reviews on Pattern Review are always a joy to read.


My six personally important values:

1. Integrity
2. Compassion
3. Open-mindedness
4. A sense of humor
5. Accountability
6. Balance

Six things that I condemn

1. Being judgemental
2. Self-centeredness
3. Ignorance
4. Pettiness
5. Lack of sensitivity
6. Greed

The Hoodie Experiment

I fell in love with the menswear collection in the October 2008 issue of Burda World of Fashion as soon as I saw it. I showed it to David, who while not particularly into fashion, seemed excited that there was actually something in BWOF that I could make for him.

Unfortunately, the BWOF men's sizes go only up to a 42.5" chest--about the equivalent of a men's Large in RTW. David's extremely broad shoulders alone usually call for an XXL, so I knew that actually sewing one of these garments would present a bit of a challenge. I'd have to grade up at least two sizes to get a decent fit with any of these patterns.

I chose the hoodie pattern as my first experiment in pattern grading. For the most part, I followed the method recommended by Threads magazine. I traced all of the pattern pieces (all 13 of them), and held them up to David to figure out how much I'd need to add where. I then split the main body pieces along the lines shown in the article (neck, shoulder, side seam, etc) and added the appropriate amount at each slash line.

Once I felt that I was going to get a decent fit through the shoulders and back, I used the alteration method described in Off the Cuff for a prominent abdomen to get enough ease through the abdomen area.

On top of some of the fitting challenges that this project provided, it also required that I tackle welt pockets for the first time. I'm not particularly happy with how these turned out in the final hoodie, so I won't show a closeup of them, but each practice try turned out a little better, so I'm pretty confident that after a few garments with these, I'll get them looking decent.

Of course, the big thing with this hoodie that I'm proud of is the fit. It's not tight or pulling anywhere...and it's not baggy (and therefore pound adding), which is more than I can say of most things in David's closet.

The top-stitching on this took forever. Or maybe after recently finishing a pair of jeans, I'm just really burned out on top-stitching. I think it adds a really great detail, though, and really elevates this from your standard hoodie. I think I need to add a snap or two to keep the top pocket flaps from flying up, but it's not an urgent alteration.

Overall, I think the pattern grading experiment was a success. There's another sweatshirt/jacket (a non-hoodie) in the same issue that uses the same body pattern pieces, so after all of the fitting work that I did on this, you can bet that I'll be making up that view, too.

Pants!!!

I just completed my first pair of "real" (i.e. fly front) pants recently, and I could not be more excited. After going through such an ordeal to fit my upper body (lessons learned: stick with princess seams and use patterns with different cup sizes, if possible), sewing pants (even with the fly) was a piece of cake. Given that I've barely bought any pants or jeans over the past two years, I'm pretty bored with every pair that I own, so I think that I'm going to go on a pants sewing kick.

My next project (I already have these cut out) are these linen pants from the July 2008 issue of Burda World of Fashion:

I'm not sure how those pleats will work on my body, but they are stitched down to reduce bulk, and I love the wide waistband. Given that my fabric was about $3/yard, they're a pretty low-risk experiment.

If those go well, I'm contemplating to sewing my first pair of jeans, using this jeans pattern from the August 2007 issue of BWOF:

This is only, of course, if I don't get sucked into sewing other things, first. I'm loving the idea of sewing up some of the new menswear patterns from the upcoming October issue of BWOF for my fiance. Finally--some fashion-forward patterns for men!

And I also love this faux Persian lamb coat from the September issue (love the wrap dress that it's over, too):



This would be a bit of a splurge for me, fabric-wise, but I'd really love to make this up in a similar faux Persian lamb fabric. I do have a birthday coming up...so maybe this could be a birthday present to myself. ;)

Here come the sundresses!

I haven't had much time to sew these past few weeks, but I've working on additional versions of New Look 6457 when I've had the chance. Except for my lovely linen jacket (which, of course, the weather has been to warm for me to get much use of), this dress is pretty much the only thing that I've sewn in recent months that I've been happy with. Feeling very much like I needed (okay, wanted) some new clothes this summer, I lined up an assembly line of three different versions of this dress. Amazingly enough, I'm really happy with how all three of these new dresses turned out.

First up are two different embroidered cotton versions (one is an eyelet, one is a batiste) made with fabrics that I purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics. I left the piping detail off of the first one, and I think it looks fine that way.


The next version is very similar to the envelope picture. I think that this one might be my favorite in that it's the first one that I've been pulling out of the closet when they're all clean.

And finally, this last one was my attempt to make something flattering/wearable with the navy blue and white fabric that I bought from Yardage Town last year. I made a top with this last summer (one of my very first garments), and although it looked cute as heck on the hanger, it was NOT a good style for someone who was full-busted. Throw in that I needed to do an FBA on it (and didn't know what that was at the time), and you get a top that's hanging in my closet waiting for me to lose a significant amount of weight. I do still like this fabric and think that it made a very cute dress.


I'm currently working on a couple of shirts (McCall's 4399) for my fiance. I'm just doing a few fairly boring versions of this for him to have a few new shirts to wear to work and probably won't bother photographing them or updating my reviews for this pattern. Between that and us going on vacation next week, it'll probably be a little while before I sew anything interesting and/or post anything here. :)

Taking a step back

I'm sick of fitting. I've said it.

It took me 3.5 muslins (including one wearable muslin...that wasn't supposed to be a muslin because I loved the fabric) to get a passable version of the Emily blouse. I'm still not thrilled with this one. In the photo, it looks like it's pulling across the bust, but I think it's the way that I'm standing because I don't see the pulling when I'm standing in front of a mirror. I guess it's okay, but I'm pretty "meh" about this, especially after all of the work that went into this. Obviously, this is a lot better looking than that first muslin that I posted a picture of, but I can't say that I'm particularly excited about it.

And with that thinking in mind, I decided about a month ago that I'd stick to sewing princess seamed tops/dresses for a while. I know that I have a higher chance of success with princess seams than darts (especially with having to cut chunks out of bust darts and rotate them elsewhere and all of that other fun stuff).

So...as part of my contribution to stash reduction, I recently sewed up New Look 6457. This was the opposite of frustrating. For pretty much the first time ever, I was able to simply follow the fitting instructions in FFRP and lower the bust fullness, do an FBA, and I wound up with a really cute sundress.

I LOVE how this turned out. It fits me like a glove, and I don't think the picture does justice to how waist-defining and flattering this dress is. As soon as I tried on the finished version, I decided that I wanted to make up several more of these. It's the perfect dress to throw on after work when the condo is still friggin' warm or to wear around town on the weekend. It's ridiculously comfortable, and I don't feel like a shlump in it.

Still riding the high of NL 6457, I decided to tackle the very similar (from the picture) New Look 6805. It's got a similar princess seamed bodice and a pleated skirt...and without all of the piping, it should go even faster, and therefore be a recipe for success, right?

Wrong. Of course, this couldn't actually be easy for me. Given the similarities of the bodices, I used NL 6547 as a sloper, thinking that I could just transfer the changes. Well, I transfered the changes, but apparently not the fit. And because I'm a masochist and enjoy suffering, I didn't make a muslin of this one because I was so sure that it would fit. Ugh. Bad idea.

Really bad idea.

At least the skirt in NL 6805 turned out cute, but the bodice is wonky in a ridiculous number of ways. I futzed and futzed and couldn't get the straps to lay at the same angle (I suppose this is because these are true "straps", whereas NL 6457 was more of a tank style.) The back on this thing gaped initially, and I had to add a center back seam to fix that. The princess seams themselves needed to be taken in on this (I guess it runs large in the bust and my transferred FBA from NL 6457 was overkill), and I'm still not happy with how those look.

So, in the past two months, I've had one raging success, one meh (after way too much work and fitting work), and one I-can-wear-it-around-the-house result. I really feel like I need to take a break from fitting for a while. My confidence is shot. I recently got engaged and had hopes of sewing my own dress, but I'm really not feeling that at the moment. Granted, I have just over a year until our wedding (during which time I'm going to try to lose weight, also, but that's another story), but I really don't think I could pull off the dress that I want at this point.

I've decided that I'm going to take a step back and just concentrate on things that I know that I'll enjoy SEWING for a while...things that don't require much fitting work. Next up in the queue is a pair of Simplicity drawstring cargo shorts for my fiance. After that, I'll work on a few more cotton versions of NL 6457.

If I'm feeling up to it, after that, I've got a few versions of Simplicity 2930 that I'd like to make. I'm thinking that this will be a good one for me because it has both princess seams and separate pattern pieces for different cup sizes. I should be able to get away with using a 16-D-cup, doing a narrow shoulder alteration, and a normal-sized FBA (instead of a huge one) and should be able to get a couple of nice, flattering tops out of this. Famous last words, right?