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).