Break's over

Well, that was an unplanned sewing break. I blame summer - even with air conditioning, I find it hard to have enthusiasm for anything in the summer. Even reading! But we're having a few cooler days (bliss), and suddenly things seem interesting again.

Which means I finally managed to finish my skirt. HOORAY.

I blend into my living room. I'll have to remember this outfit if I ever need to hide in plain sight.

The skirt didn't turn out quite like I expected - based on pattern art I thought it was going to sit at the waist, but it sits quite a bit lower. The yoke is kind of oddly curved, too, and I'm pretty sure that's the pattern, not me (see how it comes up again at the side seam?).

I do like how swishy it is, though. The cotton voile I used for the lining is very soft, so it's quite comfortable to wear. I think the white kind of wiped out the funkiness of the pattern in the fabric, sadly - you can kind of see it in the picture below, but mostly it just looks lime green. And it's longer than I had planned, so I might re-hem it. Maybe. If I ever get the energy.

So, what did I learn? I figured out how to add a lining when there isn't one in the pattern - very useful! I also learned not to sew the lining too far into the zipper tape, or else the zipper will be hard to close. Oops.

All in all, a very useful summer skirt, even it's not exactly what I thought I was making. And it perfectly matches the awesome Miz Mooz shoes I just bought (which many people pointed out today, hee).

Sewing beeeeeeeees

Have you heard about the Super Online Sewing Bee? I suppose first I should ask if you've heard about the Great British Sewing Bee, aka look! there are people sewing on tv! Best thing I saw all year. And now there's an online version - 10 sewers, 5 challenges, lots of prizes. I can't wait to see it all play out.

There's also a "play along at home" component. I wonder if I could manage to do any of the challenges? There are prizes involved! And more time than the official competitors get, heh. I'll have to see. The first challenge has been posted, but I STILL haven't finished my supposedly easy skirt. :)

Summer skirt

After all the fitting and finishing of May, I wanted to do something simple for Jume. Okay, really I was secretly hoping to do two quick projects in June, since I'm one project behind for the year. In any case, "simple" means a skirt, since I don't have to make a toile or any alterations. Therefore:

 

Front, back, waistband, zipper. Done! HAHAHA. First, I realized that the fabric was really light and a little see-through. Whoops. So I decided to add a lining. And then I saw a cute version on Pattern Review and decided to add the pockets. This, as it turns out, was a terrible idea. Not only is the pocket pattern badly made, with markings that don't line up, but they looked horrible once they were on. Like some sort of pocket-y jodphur. 

I'm currently in the middle of picking the pockets off. I think it'll be okay - because the fabric is so thin, it got a couple of small holes just from the stitches, but they're not very visible. And then I think I have to attach the lining - I'm kind of making it up as I go along! Thank pete for the internet.

MMM '13: the final countdown

Yay, it's the end of May! Here's the last of MMM '13.

 

May 23: I think I wore this entire outfit already this month.

May 29: New dress! I'm so happy I managed to finish something else during May.

May 30: I really can't wait to wear something else.

May 31: Last outfit!

(The missing days were when I was in New York - I didn't include those days in my Me Made May pledge. Although I did wear the new dress one night.)

PHEW. I did it! It was hard - not the pieces, but repeating them so frequently. I like to spread out wearings a little more. If I do this again I'm going to need more me-made clothes!

Least worn: the pink and green skirt. I'm passing it on.
Most worn: the blue skirt, surprisingly. Probably because it was so cold at the beginning of May!
Hardest to style: the flowered shirt - I discovered that it doesn't go with any of my more summery clothes. I mostly only managed to wear it on the colder days when I could pair it with pants.

The Sewaholic Cambie

This dress! THIS DRESS. I may never make anything again, other than this dress over and over again, I love it that much. I can't wait to try it again with the full skirt (although I'm totally thrilled with how the a-line fits).

It's the Cambie dress from Sewaholic. I did have to make a ton of adjustments to the top (full bust adjustment, add side darts, shorten front and back, take a tuck out of the back for my swayback), but I think it's a very well crafted pattern, and the dress itself was very easy to sew (even with a full lining!).

Of course, by the time I sewed the real thing I'd already made 3 muslins, so that might be why it was so quick...

The perks of custom fit: I think this is the first dress I've owned since I was 13 where the front waistband didn't end up sitting higher than the back. In fact, it's actually lower, because that's how my natural waistband is due to my terrible posture (aka sway back).

Also, I'm in love with the fabric.

So there you have it - it took 2 months, but it was totally worth it. I even got it finished in time to wear in New York for my parents' choir concert. And one day I'm going to have a closet full of Cambies.

MMM '13 Week 3

 May 15: Apparently I forgot to turn on the lights!

 May 16: Tired of this skirt. I'm sure I'll get over it once I've had a few weeks away. :)

 May 17: I got a lot of compliments on this outfit - mostly on the pants and shoes combination!

 

May 18 (okay, and May 20): New shirt! Just in time.

May 21: I got the orange shoes back from the repair guy just in time - they go with almost everything I've made. You'll see them again.

May 22: In reality I wore the little white cardigan with this all day.

Shirt: complete!

Hello! I have, amazingly enough, actually finished the shirt I started back in March. I KNOW.

(Nice pyjama pants, right?) To catch you up on all the delays, there was the FBA I had to make that was far too roomy in the centre, requiring me to unpick the sash and figure out a workaround. There was the fact that this material is a complete pain to work with - the needle kept getting stuck in the embroidery. And then, right at the end, when I finally figured out how to the binding in the arm and neckhole (terrible instructions), my machine was too wimpy to sew through all the layers. I think it might be time to upgrade my machine.

I'm very happy with how the shirt turned out, but I'm unconvinced that it's really for me. I think if I'd tried it on in a store I might have put it back. It could use a little more width around the hips. But we'll see! I'm sure I'll wear it a bunch before the end of Me Made May, just so I have another shirt.

And now, I'm hurrying through my dress, which I desperately want to finish before I head to New York (next Friday).  I think it's possible, but there's always the zipper to throw me off.