End of Year Retrospective

Today I decided that I would take a look back at what I worked on this year, which has been a busy sewing year. I am actually quite surprised at the number of items that I made...especially considering how frustrated I was with fitting pants, and feeling like I made an extraordinary number of UFOs.

Here are the totals:

This year I made 49 items for me. I also sewed 16 projects made with my niece and nephew, Sadie and Darrell. Both are busy learning how to sew, although as much as Darrell likes to wear the clothes I make him, he would rather sew things like bags and puppets. I also made 14 gifts.

This makes for a total of 79 items sewn. Of the 49 items that I made for me, here is how they break down:

A total of 8 shirts. Of those, 1 was made from a vintage pattern, and 1 was unwearable
I also make 4 skirts.
I made a total of 5 jackets, although ended up giving one away because the sleeve bands were too tight on my fat little arms. I gave it to a girl that I work with, who reports that she gets compliments every time she wears it and she happily tells them that I sewed it.
I made a total of 7 dresses. 1 was from a vintage pattern, and 1 was from a shirt pattern that I extended into a dress.
I also made in inordinate number of pants in my quest for a good fit. I made 24 total, of which 4 were unwearable. I also gave all but one of those away.
Finally, I made a cape. That doesn't really fit well into any particular category, does it?

Of the projects with the kids, my niece Sadie made 1 pair of pajamas, 2 skirts, 6 shirts, 1 pair of shorts, and 1 pair of pants. My nephew Darrell made himself 3 puppets.

Of the items that I made for gifts, I made one very nice linen shirt for my husband, a shirt for my brother Ricky, 2 shirts for his son Caiden, and a total of 5 shirts and 2 pair shorts for Little Darrell.
I also finished some UFOs and gave them to my mom. She got a matching skirt and shirt. I also gave her a very well-sewn jeans-style jacket in white linen that I thought looked like a lab coat when I wore it. for mom.
I also made a coat for my grandmother and a dress for my niece Sadie for my wedding.

This came up to a total of about 160 yards of fabric.

I made a couple of "advances" this year, as well:

1. This year I made my first patterns from BWOF magazine. I started with a lined jacket, which probably wasn't the smartest thing that I have ever done, but it got finished all the same. Since then, I have regularly sewn from BWOF.
   
2. I purchased and sewed my first ever vintage patterns. I now have a collection of about 30 vintage patterns, and have sewn two of them.
3. I worked very hard on improving the appearance of the interiors of my garments, and learned how to do hong kong finishes, flat-felled seams, and french seams.
4. I also got a serger, and have been practicing with it.
5. I also made pants for the first time, and while I still have a few kinks to work out, my fit is MUCH improved.
6. For the first time, I drafted my own patterns.
7. I also learned much more about proper fit, and am not afraid to make even major alterations.

Here are some images of some of my favorite projects of the year, starting with a white eyelet shirt with batiste underlining:


Hot Patterns Uptown Downtown Knit Dress:


Short sleeved linen jacket. This is the one I gave away because the sleeve bands were too tight:


Motorcycles and Flames outfit for my nephew, he loves it and even wore it for his school pictures:


Burda Safari dress. One of the most complex dress projects I have ever done:


BWOF Shirt from embroidered lawn:


Sadie's pajamas:



Coat for Grandma:

As for sewing goals for this year, I would like to:

1. Make more garments from vintage patterns.
2. Continue to work on improving fit.
3. Make a pair of PERFECT pants.
4. Finally finish the coat that I started for my husband.
5. Finish the Chanel-style jacket that I bought the fabric for, the lining, the pattern...and then never did anything with.
6. Become more proficient using the serger.
7. Repair and learn to use my treadle.
8. Focus on making better fabric choices for projects, and not be afraid to use expensive fabrics.

I also have the various and sundry other New Year's resolutions...lose weight, get healthier, keep my house cleaner, make a budget and stick to it...but you don't want to hear about that boring old mess!

McCall's 5764: Cape and Belt

Or, yet another installment in "How to Make a Relatively Simple Project Incredibly Involved and Difficult."


Over the Christmas holiday, I took a short hiatus from the cape that I had started using McCall's 5764. I started with a brown, beige, rust, and black plaid from Hancock's that also had a touch of gold thread in it:


Because I wanted this to be warm for winter, I decided to do two things that the pattern did not call for....I both lined and interlined the cape. This meant that what was originally a very simple pattern suddenly became very involved and labor intensive. I started by hand-basting the flannel interlining to the suiting so that it would not shift during construction:


From there, I constructed the cape (for the most part) according to the instructions. Here is the finished product:


And from the back:


I was able to match the plaid across the front and the back, but not on the shoulder seams. I, unfortunately, did not think to buy extra fabric to match the plaid, so only had enough to match the fronts and backs. The fronts matched fairly well, even across the buttons:


The interior was a bit of a chore, I added binding to the edge of the facing and the hem so that I would not have to fold it over and hem that way. The hem is also the LONGEST HEM I have ever sewed, and all by hand. I also treated the holes for the belt like giant button-holes. The belt has to go in the holes on the back, go around the waist, under the arms, and then back out the holes in the front. The instructions have you stitch around the holes for the belt and then cut the center out. That didn't seem like a good solution considering how much the fabric raveled and also the number of layers that I was working with:


I think my method of satin-stitching around the hole looks nicer and will also help prevent the holes from getting ravelly. Had I really been thinking ahead, I would have done them as bound buttonholes. That would have looked nice, and also fit in with the theme...making a simple pattern as complex and labor-intensive as possible.

Overall, I am very happy with the way the cape turned out, although thanks to my delaying working on it, it is now frigidly cold, and much too cold to wear a simple cape rather than a full coat!

A Tiny Detour

I took a small detour in finishing my cape and sewed Simplicity 2603, a pattern for both a Misses knit top and cardi wrap with front variations. The pattern includes a wrap with a long front drape, a wrap with a short front drape, choice of three-quarter or cuffed sleeves. The top is sleeveless with a neck band and gathering at the centre front.


Now, I had every intention of finishing my cape...the reason that I was at the fabric store to begin with was to get another card of buttons, since I had managed to lose half of the original buttons that I purchased for the cape. But of course while I was there I HAD to check the discount tables! I had been looking for a very lightweight knit for MONTHS to make this pattern with, and had been unsuccessful. Everything was t-shirt weight, which was too heavy, I really needed a tissue knit. But I found this heathered grey mystery knit for 1.95 a yard on the bargain table and decided to give it a shot.

Overall I like the pattern, although it is a pain to cut out, since it has to be done flat and the pieces are HUGE. I found while I was cutting out the fabric that my mystery knit was one of those that liked to curl at the edges, so I decided to take advantage of that and just let the edges curl rather than hemming it. Since I don't have a coverstitch machine, the hems wouldn't have been very pretty, and with all the flipping and twisting and tying, there was no way that they wouldn't show. So, I just cut veerry carefully, and the edges curled up like a charm.

I made a large, which is for a 40-42 inch bustline, with no alterations since, well, I had no idea how I would make any alterations to those crazy-shaped fronts. The shawl collar drape is helped along by a strip of elastic sewn to the seam at the back of the neck, but otherwise the construction is very straight-forward, especially when you completely forgo hems. The shoulders are a touch wide, but that is fairly typical for Simplicity patterns for me. However, I am not overly worried about it because that just gives it a bit of extra room should I decide to wear it over something heavier than a t-shirt or cami.

Here is the finished product:


And here are some of the drape variations:




I strongly suspect that this will get worn quite often as a cover-up in the office, where the temperature is highly unpredictable. Plus, the grey is a great neutral color that, let's face it, matches most of my wardrobe.

Happy Holidays, everyone, and I hope you have a great New Year.

Do I Really Need a Cape?

Wow, it's been a long time since I have sewn anything! It seems like there is always something else pulling me away, now that the holiday season is in full swing. But, this weekend I was finally able to carve out a few minutes for myself and work on a project that I have been thinking about for a while.

Over the summer, my friend Laurie picked up this fantastic cape from Anthropologie while I was visiting her in Portland. I happily flounced around the hotel in it, but like fool did not immediately take myself up the street to Anthropologie and purchase one for myself. And now, they do not have this cape available any longer:


Fortunately, McCall's 5764 is a good substitute, and Hancock's had them on sale for $1.99 last weekend:


I also picked up a plaid suiting at 30% off. I decided to not do a coating, because I wanted the cape to have the nice drape of the Anthropologie cape, and all the coating available was very heavy and stiff. But, all the suiting was very thin, and would not be very warm. So, I purchased (also on sale) some nice cotton flannel for interlining. I also decided to line the cape, even though it did not call for it in the instructions. The fabric is a brown, beige, black and rust color with a little bit of gold thread, and the lining matches the rust color:


Today I spent most of the time in the sewing room doing prep-work, and attaching the interlining. I hand-basted the flannel to the fashion fabric, so that I could treat the two pieces as one:

All of the handwork is done, and tomorrow I should be able to finish up the machine sewing. My friend Monica is coming over (who also collects sewing machines...my husband is afraid, very afraid!) and she is bringing HER cape and we are going to work on them together. Hopefully I will have a finished product to show soon!