Baby's First Wadder

First, the good: I finished the February skirt! I actually finished about a week ago, so not quite so far into March. :)

It's okay. It's a very cute pattern - I really like the scallops on the botttom. The darts don't fit entirely, but I'm sure that's easily fixed. I'm just not convinced it's the best style for me and my sizeable waist-hip ratio. I think things with actual waists look better on me. It's funny - this is the kind of thing I always buy: not fitted in the waist, sitting on the hips. Comfortable, but not actually flattering.

Look at that gap! Since I've started sewing, I'm so much more aware of fit. In fact, I think I'm too aware of fit, to the point where I often can't figure out what proper fit is. I need the pattern designer there with me, to tell me how tight or loose it's supposed to be. I looked at this skirt, and I think it's fitting the way it's intended to fit, but that fit is just not the best style for me. But maybe it just needs to be adjusted? Maybe if I make the waist smaller? There's no actual waistband, though.

In any case, the skirt is fine, if not awesome. I wore it to work, and with a shirt over instead of tucked in, it's not noticeable, although the waist ends up rolling oddly through the day. Super comfortable, though, since it doesn't come anywhere near my waist. :)

And now the bad. The March shirt, which was going swimmingly and was totally going to get finished before April (the power of long weekends and the end of the month being on a weekend!), is a wee bit disasterous. I hit a point where it was basically sewn together, so I was able to try it on properly. My bust adjustment worked perfectly to put the band where it's supposed to be - except that it's now giant and gapey in the middle of the bust. I guess this is what 3 extra inches of fabric does! So I'm thinking maybe if I take it back to the original length in the centre, give it more of a W shape. I'm frankly just making things up here. Because otherwise this is a dead shirt, and I'd be sad to lose the fabric.

In any case, to make that change I have to basically unpick the entire thing. So I think it's going to go onto the back burner for a little while, and I'll unpick it slowly and see what I can do.

Instead, I'm going to move on, start something new. April's project is calling!

February update

Well, I didn't get my February project done on time. One month this year I will, I promise! I blame February for ending on a Thursday - I need that last weekend.

Although actually what slowed me down was the zipper foot I needed for the invisible zipper. I thought the machine came with one, so I didn't think about it until I sat down to sew the zipper in. Sadly, no zipper. So eventually I found somewhere to buy one...and promptly lost in on the way home. In my defense, they're tiny!

I did buy another one. So annoying. Even more annoying when I tried to use it this weekend and it didn't fit on my machine. AUGH. I faked it with a regular zipper foot, but the results weren't spectacular.

Not exactly invisible! Also there's that bump at the bottom, but I'm pretty sure I know how to make that not happen next time. I'm going to attempt to find the correct foot for future projects.

Onward! There are technically only 2 steps left, but, as always, tons of tiny steps contained within those.

When is a pattern not a pattern?

I've hit a small bump in February's project: I just discovered that I don't have an invisible zipper foot. Not that I mind getting one - I'm sure I'll use it lots, especially since it seems to be the preferred zipper for Colette and Sewaholic patterns - but I'm not totally sure where to buy one. I'll have to look into that this weekend - this is my last weekend to get this skirt done and keep on track!

Meanwhile, a peek at what I've done so far.

In my sewing classes, and what I remember from watching my mom sew, cutting a pattern is pretty simple. You pin the pattern to the fabric, and then cut it out with scissors. Which is what I did for my first few projects. But then I started reading (there it is again, reading above my level), and there was a lot of "no! don't cut the TISSUE! what if you want to make a different size? and think of the future!" Instead there was talk of pattern weights, and rotary cutters, and tracing, and templates. Too much.

But, I thought, if all the cool kids are doing it, I should see what it's all about. So I bought some "pattern weights" (washers, because there's a Home Depot right near me) and some posterboard (because there's a Staples right near me) and got to tracing.

The tracing was easy, if time consuming. I simply put the tissue pattern on the posterboard, held it in place with the washers, and drew over my size with a thin felt, which bled through to the posterboard. As a bonus, I didn't have to do this part on the floor! Score.

See the pink line?

And here it is after the tissue is gone

Then once I'd traced out all the patterns and copied all the markings, I cut out the posterboard and ended up with a bunch of templates.

Sadly, then I had to get back down on the floor, to lay out my fabric and the pattern pieces.

Look Ma, no pins! This part makes me really happy - I always find it kind of painful, getting the pins in. I have delicate princess hands, clearly. And an amazing ability to instinctively avoid using whichever finger has the thimble. It's uncanny.

Finally, I traced my template pattern pieces with tailor's chalk, and cut the fabric. It occured to me after that if I were very careful, I might be able to moved the chalked fabric onto the table to cut it out. My knees would certainly thank me for that.

So, was it worth it? I guess that depends on whether I end up liking the pattern. If I do, I've got this great, sturdy set of pattern pieces that can be used over and over again. The tissue patterns are definitely not long-lasting - I've used the men's shirt pattern twice and it's looking a little ragged. But it's a process and it takes time away from actually sewing, which is the part I like. So I guess we'll see!