Update

I haven't had much time to sew the past few days - life is busy! But I did manage to sew the trim on my skirt! I found some more lime green rickrack during my last fabric store trip, much to my delight. I mean, I think the skirt looks fine without it, but it feels more *finished* with it.

Lulu agrees.

Skirt Progress

I made it a little further on my skirt during sewing class this week:

It almost looks like a skirt! All that's left is the zipper, waistband, and hem. I'm especially proud of all the topstitching, which hopefully you can see a bit better in the pic below.

(I'm still trying to figure out pictures in Blogger - at first all my pictures automatically went to the top of the post, and now I don't seem to have any justifying options. One day I'll figure it out!)

After I'd stitched it all together, I tried it on. It *just* fits. Or maybe it fits fine, but it's a closer fitting pattern than I thought. In any case, I'm relieved, because with all the seams being topstitched, it would be a pain to let out. Maybe next time I should baste it all first to try on? Or perhaps I should start making muslins for proper fitting.

...and once again I think I'm getting ahead of myself. Learn to sew first, perfect fitting after.

Onward and Upward

I have patterns! And also fabric and contrasting fabric for another skirt, notions for the shirt pattern I got, and a Fabricland membership. Also, much less money. I think it was the patterns. I should really start looking for sale fabrics, though, to keep the costs down.

So, if you're keeping count, that's seven fabrics I now have in the house that I intend to make things with. Luckily, I actually have patterns/plans for six of them. I also have three more patterns here and two on the way. Surely this will keep me entertained for a while?

Pin me baby one more time

I skimmed through a couple of pattern alteration/perfect fit books from the library last night. Eep. They seem really complicated! Of course, I've only finished one skirt so far, so maybe I was being a tad precipitous in reading the books.

It's a bit of a pattern with me. [Pun not intended.] When I get interested in something I tend to read a lot, and in detail, before I actually *do* much. Because reading is easier than doing, right? So I tend to know a lot about things (yoga, bellydance, running) that I'm still very much a beginner at. This time, however, I'm going to just make a few more things, without muslins, before I try to make them all fit perfectly.

Tale of two fabrics

This is the fabric I bought with no real project in mind. It's hard to tell (because I'm a terrible photographer), but it's yellow, and there's an embroidered pattern as well. Super cute. I'm thinking I want to make a summer shirt. I actually went to buy the pattern on line, thinking to save myself the trip north, but the shipping to Canada was as much as the pattern. Ridiculous.


The second fabric I bought while checking out a fabric store not that far from my place (verdict: pretty good! Nice fabrics, well labelled, seemed cheap enough, plus they had notions, which was exciting. No patterns, though.) I believe it's a crepe - I've only sewn with cottons before, so that should be fun. The funny thing is that I bought it with the memory of having ordered a Colette shirt pattern online, but when I got home I remembered that I'd bought a dress pattern, but the shirt was out of stock. So now I have 2 fabrics and no patterns! Oops.

Cut once, measure...4 times?

Last time I was at Fabricland I bought some fabric that was on sale without having a project in mind. I've decided to make a shirt, which has brought up 2 issues: 1) shipping on patterns (specifically Simplicity patterns) to Canada is ridiculous! I was trying to avoid making the loooong trek up to Fabricland again, but I'm not paying as much for shipping as for the patterns. So I have to make another trip north.

Also, 2) measuring. I fit perfectly into one size on the bottom. When I measured my bust, it seemed to be a size smaller; no problem. And then I started reading about Full Bust Adjustment, based on the fact that patterns are supposedly all built around a B cup. Which I am not. According to my reading, if there is a difference of more than 2 1/2" between the bust and the high bust, you should do a FBA. But when I made those two measurements, there was only 1" difference. Which, visually, seems suspect, if you know what I mean. So I measured again...and got completely different numbers. Third time, third set of numbers. So clearly I don't know where I should actually be measuring, which is frustrating. I guess I should take the highest numbers for each? In which case my bust is right in the same size as my hips (lookit me, a perfect pattern fit), and I *do* need to do the FBA.

Whew. Just wait until I get to fitted shirts and dresses, when I have to shorten the back by 2 inches.

Ta-da: it's a skirt

Look, I made a skirt! My sewing destiny has been fulfilled.

Here's the story of the skirt: What I didn't mention in the story of why I started sewing is that I bought the sewing machine 3 1/2 years ago. I bought the machine, and this excellent book Sew What Skirts, that shows you how to make skirts without official patterns. And I started making a drawstring skirt.

When I was about halfway done I moved into a new place with a roommate, and there was no place for a kitchen-type table, and definitely no space in my room for a sewing table. So the sewing machine sat in its box for 2 years. Eventually, after my various roommates left, I bought a table and chairs, and entertained thoughts of sewing again, but I was scared that I wouldn't remember how. So I decided to sign up for a beginning sewing class, to push me into sewing again. Once I'd been to the first class and had figured out once again how to thread a machine, I pulled this skirt out and attempted to finish it off.

So, the skirt didn't turn out like the picture - it's much more volumnous. I don't even remotely remember when I first cut the fabric, but my theory is that I used a 60" when it was designed for 45" fabric, or something like that. Supporting this theory is the fact that the bottom is supposed to have the green rickrack as well, but I didn't have enough, so clearly it's not supposed to be so wide and gathered. But it's done, and I wore it to work and it didn't fall apart, so I'm thrilled.