Messed it up... again.

Remember my floral Crescent Skirt? The one I forgot to make the adjustment the muslin had told me to do? Well, I “fixed” it. Meaning I tried to, messed it up, kind of…. I had trouble taking in the sides with all the twill tape and stuff that’s there. The lower ends of the waistband do stick out a bit now.

The only way to wear it now is to wear a T-shirt over the waist-band (which effectively hides everything interesting about the skirt). Oh well… I am just at the beginning of all this and I suppose it is kind of normal to more or less mess up 2 garments out of 3. It’s bound to get better once I’ve actually made more than 5 or 6, right?

It’s not that bad, I used the print upside down anyway….

A huge sunhat

Well, another one of those “beginner” mistakes. Who does her muslin in Liberty fabric? I do. I used this pattern once before for a little boy’s hat. It’s Ottobre kids 3/2011, no 27. This time I traced the 56 cm size, added 1 cm seam allowance and then sewed at 0,7 cm to make it bigger. Turns out I made it a bit too big actually. At the brim I used the full 1 cm seam allowance.

Anyway, it’s been years (decades actually) since I owned a sunhat. My head is kind of big (I don’t know if 57 cm is that big, but store-bought hats are always too small). And I got sunburned on the head just last week-end, so…. It was time to do something about it, even if it’s not “the” hat and even if I’ll be able to only wear it on my terrace. At least it’s definitely big enough.

I wish I had done proper changes to my paper pattern, as opposed to “oh, just sew with a little less seam allowance here, and just add a little there…”. I could make a better hat right away.  Or maybe a bucket hat work better on me anyway? I don’t know…

Costume quarrels

I actually made this in November 2009, but it has been a lot in use recently. I actually prefer the look of of it now it's a little on the short side. There was a lot of drama in this house because the little sister (which is only "little" in age, not in stature) wants to wear this costume, too. For the sake of domestic peace I had to promise to make her something, too. And it had to be "now"! Unfortunately I didn't have any of the same fabric left. So I came up with this, the pattern is Donald from Citronille in a size 6, lenghened into a dress. I used an old cotton bedsheet. I am still working on a belt/bag thingy to go with it.

52 in 52

It’s July already, that also means that half the year is over. As you may not know I decided to sew 52 “things” this year, basically one per week. I managed to do this last year and found it a good motivator to keep going. I tend to daydream about what I could make one day, to read blogs and imagine myself sewing the same things (one day), to make lots of lists etc. In short, if I don’t force myself, I do plan but I don’t do.

Those 52 can be of any size or difficulty, the important thing is to actually sew. You can read as much as you want about sewing, but if you want to get better at it, you just have to sew.

So, where am I in this challenge? I have so far completed 35 items which means I am quite ahead of the game. Most of them were easy and fast to sew, some took a little more time (Pendrell Blouse, Crescent Skirt…). Many didn't quite turn out how they should have. I still haven’t undertaken a big project, like a dress or trousers. I hope to do this before the year ends, though.

Coming up next, number 36 and 37, a costume and a ridiculously big hat.

Refashioned Maxiskirt

This was Me-Made-June Day 2. While this skirt is nice when it’s hot, I had to face the fact that it doesn’t suit me at all. Also, the waist band was really uncomfortable. I don’t know if it’s the bizarre length or what, but it just looked odd, see?

Before:

So I decided to recycle it into something else before I was tempted to wear it again. And this is what I came up with. I kept the bottom seam and only used the front (or back) of the skirt to make it into a maxi skirt for my daughter. I think she rocks this style way better than I did.

After:

Me Made June 26-30

Day 26: Floral A-line skirt again.

Day 27: Floral A-line skirt again.

Day 28: No picture taken today. Can you guess what I was wearing? Floral A-line skirt? No! Polka dot Pendrell blouse (again!).

Day 29: Jeans Crescent skirt again.

Day 30: Brand-new Sorbetto top.

Sorbetto

Just in time for the last day of Me-Made-June I finished my Sorbetto Top, yay.

This is a pretty easy design, although obviously I found a way of messing it totally up the first time I tried it. This is already the second version. I used a fine embroidered cotton voile. I think this is the first fabric I ever bought (about 3 years ago, even before I bought my sewing machine). It was a bit tricky to sew because of the thick and thin (no embroidery versus embroidered parts).

I found 1” biais tape to be too narrow, the neckline binding was a real pain. So I cut it a bit wider for the armholes.

This blouse is really short, I cut a size 6 in width and a size 18 in length, which lengthened it by about 5 cm, and it’s still pretty short on me.

There could be a little more room under the arms to my taste. And the bust darts are too high. Those are my first ever bust darts but I am assuming they should end at the tip of the bust, no?

If I make this again, I might just add a bit to the top of the shoulders. That would make more room under the arms and lower the bust darts at the same time (tell me if you think I am all wrong).

Me Made June 21-25

Day 21: Hand-knit cardigan, Sunrise Circle Jacket (Ravelry Link).

Day 22: Pendrell Blouse, the “muslin”, too long and too wide, so I tried it belted.

Day 23: Pendrell Blouse and hand-knit cardigan: Peasy by Heidi Kirrmaier (Ravelry Link).

Day 24: Hand-crocheted cardigan. Way too much pink for one day! I felt like a giant candy, not good.

Day 25: Pendrell Blouse, again. I would never have thought this would become such a favourite of mine.

Me Made June 16-20

It’s getting harder to get motivated these days. It’s always the same couple of items. I have identified the gaps in my wardrobe, but haven’t had the time to sew any of them.

Day 16: It’s that shapeless T-shirt again. I really need to sew myself a couple of tops.

Day 17: Hand-knit yellow cardi, already seen a bunch of times.

Day 18: We were away for the week-end and it was super cold. Hand-knit yellow sweater (again) and hand-knit shawl (Damson by Ysolda Teague).

Day 19: Didn’t take the picture until it was getting dark outside. Hand-knit cardigan and same shawl as yesterday.

Day 20: Me-Made Lydia T-shirt and Jeans Crescent Skirt.

Pants for the knight

Now the knight has some pants, hooray! It’s a very simple pattern, 2 pieces, an elastic waistband. I added the elastic at the bottom of the legs.  It’s from the book “Contes de fées intemporels”, the “pantalon du prince”. I cut a size 6 out of some medium weight black cotton.

Me Made June 11-15

Day 11: 6^th day straight in jeans (I’ll just have to accept that this is my “style”). The weather has cooled off considerably and I can’t wear skirts without tights, but it’s still “summery” and I would feel strange wearing them. Also, my skirts are all lined with cotton and ride up with tights (sigh, need to sew a slip and see if that helps). Anyway, today I am wearing the Burda T-shirt already seen on day 4 and a hand-knit cardigan from Rowan Magazine 35.

Day 12: Today I went all out there and wore three (!) me-made items: Jeans Crescent Skirt, Burda T-shirt already seen a couple of times and a crocheted cardigan (from Interweave Crochet, Summer 2008).

Day 13: I just love the print on this skirt.

Day 14: Not even half way through the month and it's getting dangerously repetitive over here. At least I know what I need to sew to fill the gaps. So, once again, my Pendrell Blouse, plus some hand-knit ankle socks.

Day 15: Clothkits skirt again.

Me Made June 6-10

Day 6: My stripy Lydia T-shirt. I love this one despite its flaws. Everyone is always complementing on the contrasting cuffs and hem, but the thing is, I only did those because the whole thing was too short otherwise.

Day 7: My second Lydia T-shirt which I lengthened considerably. What do we learn from this and yesterday? It looks actually a lot better when it ends right at my hips, don’t you agree?

Day 8: I started this cardigan at the end of Me-Made-March because I was really craving some more colour. For some reason, I was particularly drawn to Yellow, I absolutely needed a yellow cardigan! And I think it was a good idea. The pattern is Minimalist Cardigan by Ruthie Nussbaum from Interweave Knits, Fall 2007, modified for a bigger gauge. Underneath I am wearing my polka dot Pendrell Blouse. This is the first outfit (apart maybe from day 6) that really screams *me* (if you know what I mean).

Day 9: Same blouse as yesterday, nothing new about it. I had to get up really early and could not be bothered to search for something else.

Day 10: It was gloomy and rainy and cold this morning, I felt like having a hot cup of tea and knitting something in my first Pendrell Blouse. This was kind of my muslin, I didn’t make any changes to the pattern. That means it only fits well in the shoulders, all the rest is too wide and too long.

A Jeans Crescent Skirt

This is my third Crescent Skirt. I made a size 10 and took in the side seams by 1 cm on each side by sewing with a 2 cm seam allowance. I wish I had made it longer, but I had already cut it out when I experienced my first Crescent skirt in action. On the other hand, I only had a very small piece of this Jeans fabric and I probably couldn’t even have lengthened it. So for the hem, I folded over as little as possible and sewed bias binding on the inside. The facing is made with polka dot cotton, left-over from my Pendrell Blouse (which I am wearing with it in the pictures).

My machines are still in time-out (or is it me?). I finished this skirt just before the drama. I am not ready yet to face them, especially the serger. Next, I should get working on taking in my 2^nd Crescent Skirt. And the knight is asking about his pants.

Sewing Desaster

Sewing disasters, do you have those? One never reads about them on the blogs, or did I just miss it?

Let me tell what just happened here. I thought I would make a quick last-minute birthday gift for a 7 year old girl. I traced an Ottobre T-shirt pattern, cut out the pieces, and applied myself to get the appliqué just right despite not having any double sided fusible stuff anymore. And then…  I rethreaded my serger and… it wouldn’t work, it makes knots and things. So I rethreaded it (about a million times), oiled it, cleaned it, changed the needles, tried out different threads, let it rest etc etc etc and…. It would not work.

The birthday is in 2 days, so…. I tell myself let’s use the elastic stitch on my sewing machine, I make a test on some scrap fabric, it looks ok, I start sewing the T-shirt and the machine eats it! This is what it looked like after this stage:

Then I went back to the serger thinking the 3-stitch overlock works (which it did just before) and… well… guess what, it didn’t and the mess is even bigger now. For now, I’ll slowly step backwards from my sewing machines and hope they’ll recover if I let them alone for a while.

Please tell me I am not the only one this is happening to.

Me Made June 1-5

Day 1:

I made sure to go to bed in me-made pajamas; the pattern is from the book Weekend Sewing.

I then changed into a me-made A-line skirt (I used the Clothkits skirts I’ve made as a template). The skirt is ok, but I made it too big and then messed it up a bit when taking it in. One thing that became pretty obvious since the first day is that I lack tops to match my skirts. This was the best I could find.

Day 2:

My second Pendrell Blouse, I only made the seam ruffle on this one, shortened it and took it in a bit over the bust and hips. The skirt is store-bought and I had already put it in my refashion drawer, but then I took it out again, only because it’s nice to wear when it’s hot, but I really don’t like the look on me.

Day 3:

Crescent Skirt, this was the first time I really wore it out and about. I liked the length when standing upright, but now I think it’s too short. It was a windy day, and bending or kneeling down to attend to little ones did feel a little too revealing. I will see if I can let the hem out a bit.

Day 4:

Burda-Top, the details can be found on this Flickr picture. I was glad to be back in pants for a day. J

Day 5:

Same old T-shirt I already wanted to get rid of during the last challenge. But as long as I haven’t made more (and better) T-shirts it’ll stay, it’s roomy and comfy, just not very well made.