September sewing

Why hello there! Yes, I am still sewing, and no, you haven't missed a post. Since January, I have:

1) Sewed a shirt for my dad, which I forgot to take pictures of. The same Hawaiian-style shirt, in a nice olive green striped fabric he picked out. My first time sewing with stripes! I forgot to pay attention to the stripes for the most part, but I did perfectly match the pocket.

2) Tried once again to fit the dress that I've being trying to fit for a couple of years now. That's what took up most of the year (that, and abandoning sewing for a bit after that). I have finally given up. I'm not going to try again. I'm not even convinced the dress would have looked any good on me, I just wanted to sew everything in the Colette Sewing Handbook. But not that, apparently.

3) Sewed seasonally-inappropriate flannel pjs for my friend K.

She didn't say they were terrible, so I'm going to assume they fit. I have a sneaking suspicion they might be too short, but that's what fuzzy socks are for, right?

Elephants!

This is the Sewaholic Tofino pattern. I used flat piping, because I couldn't really find nice piping anywhere. Maybe I didn't know where to look. I think my pattern tracing is really going to pay off here, because I can re-use this pattern for myself or others, since I didn't cut the pattern at all.

4) Made my first repeat (for myself)!

This is another Colette Sorbetto, the freebie pattern on their website. Based on the last time I made it, I lowered the dart 1" and did a sway back adjustment that didn't seem to make a difference. But the dart placement is so much better.

The fabric has cat faces on it. Adorable, right? It's an oddly shaped remnant I bought in London. I took the decorative pleat out of the front, because I didn't think the fabric would hold that shape, and then had to add a seam in the back in order to fit the pattern on the fabric I had. I used pre-made bias tape at the neckline and armholes.

I love the shirt, and it's filling a navy-shaped hole I didn't realize I had.

5) Made another a-line cotton twill skirt. I now understand the allure of the tried-and-true pattern. 

Although I did have to make some edits - this was one of the first patterns I used, and I'd cut the tissue along with the pattern. Sadly, I have gained some weight since then (very few of my me-made clothes fit right now, which is devastating) and need the next size up, which...wasn't there. So I had to add some on to all the seams. It worked just fine, except with the waistband, where I messed up somehow. There's a little fudging. If you look at the right side, I ran out of fabric for the seam allowance so I had to just finish it with an overcast stitch. Luckily I don't really ever tuck shirts in, so no-one will see it.

Funny story: I had been planning on making another Sewaholic Cambie (and I still will! I have ridiculous fabric that is calling out to be used), but I would have had to re-fit it, and I thought by the time I finished it, it would be winter. So instead I started this fairly heavy-weight skirt...and finished it while it's still summer temperatures out there. I haven't worn it yet, but I'm sure I'll wear it as much as the previous version.

Pretty topstitching.

Next on deck: another Colette Moneta in a heavy mustard yellow. Except today I felt the urge to make a shirt, so I started making the required edits to the Sewaholic Alma (FBA and swayback, for sure, and possibly a narrow shoulder? Sloped shoulder? If I can get the bust right, I'll look at the rest.) I haven't decided what fabric, but I'm going to pull something out of the stash.

Skirt 1; Rachel 0

Okay, the title is an exaggeration. But this skirt didn't turn out quite as nicely as the other stuff I've sewn.

On the plus side, it's finished! Yes, despite dealing with buying a condo, prepping to move, planning a vacation, and organizing the spring concert for my choir, I decided it was Very Important that I finish the skirt before I move at the end of June. Which really translated into "finish the skirt before my parents come to visit next week" since I need to put the sewing machine and ironing board away so that the room is available for eating, games, and my air mattress so I have somewhere to sleep.

(Yes, I know, it's a blue skirt. It's actually quite a dark navy. Still. More on that later.)

On the minus side, I don't really love it.

• I think the pattern is okay - the pockets are awesome - but the zipper installation instructions were weird and it doesn't look the best (my fault more than the pattern, I'm sure, but still). 
• Also, after buying all these patterns with yoke waists (those wide non-waistbands), I've since realized that they're not the best fit for me, what with my high waist-hip ratio. These hips need a real waistband! So technically it fits perfectly, but it doesn't really contour to my hips. I'm sure a better sewer could fix that, but I think it's really a style thing.
• And finally, the colour. Here's the thing: I never wear blue of any sort. But I kept seeing people wearing navy and orange together (and I do wear orange) and looking fantastic. So I decided to make a navy skirt with orange topstitching. The thing is, from a distance it mostly just looks like a fake denim skirt. Not what I was going for.

 (Wow, it looks even lighter blue here. My photo skills are awesome, clearly.)

So there you have it. I'm going to wear it - like I said, it *fits* - I just don't know how long I'll keep it. We'll see! Maybe it'll grow on me.

Oh, and after all my complaining about having to go buy another zipper because I used the first and then bought one that's too long as the replacement, I ended up using the longer zipper because the shorter one didn't seem to fit. Like I said, weird zipper instructions.

Next up: I have the muslin for the shirt cut out, so after I move I'm going to zip that up and see if it fits. If it doesn't I'm going to attempt a full bust adjustment for the first time! And then, I am ambitiously going to attempt to make a dress for a friend's wedding this summer (for me to wear, not for her!). The pattern is even named after a street not that far from where the party is happening. Clearly it's fate.