A Spur of the Moment Small Sewing Spree

Thanks to the holiday I have a three day weekend to enjoy.  I decided that I was going to use some of my time to do some sewing to celebrate the end of the year!  I've had a few projects that I wanted to get done, but before the holidays I was too busy with holiday prep, work and life in general to actually get to it.  Now was the perfect time!

Late yesterday afternoon I got all the fabric cut out for a top, a sweatshirt and a cardi.  Then took my little stack of fabric down to my sewing room and set to work.  The first one I tackled was the Linden Sweatshirt from Grainline Studios.  This one has been on my to do list for approximately forever.  WHY OH WHY have I not made it before?!?!  Oh! Right!  Probably because I waited until November to actually buy it and then had no time for sewing (see above mentioned excuse).  I did add almost three inches to length to accommodate my longer torso and a bit extra out of personal preference.

I picked up the fabric on my way home from work on Friday when I popped into the local Fabricland for something else I needed.  It's ponte de roma and from the clearance bin that I thought was a bargain at regular price for clearance.  I was exceptionally pleased to find it was 50% and my sweatshirt fabric cost me a whopping total of $7.70!

Having finished my Linden (which there will be many more of I'm pretty sure!!!!) I decided to make the top next.  It's a... Molly Top.  Of course it's a Molly!  Do I make any other tops these days?  No.  I didn't think so! Ha ha!  I loved my v-neck version so much that I decided this one should have a vee as well!  This super soft, drapey fabric was from an independent shop out in Western Manitoba, The Fabric Snob.  I don't think she has this particular colour in stock right now - or at least I didn't see it at quick glance - but she's got loads of other gorgeous florals and her 10 oz solids are my go to for solid knits now, I love them so much!

I didn't get this one done last night but had set it at side when I got to the point of needing to do the neckline and the hems, so it didn't take me very long this morning to zip through finishing up this one and moving along to my third make of the weekend, a Blackwood Cardi.  I've been wanting to make another since I made my first Blackwood.  I even have another cardi that I'd sewed up about a month ago from a different pattern that's waiting to be taken apart and fixed up using the Blackwood because it couldn't even come remotely close to comparing with fit of Helen's pattern and I know that until I fix it there is no way it'll ever get worn.  I sewed up a long Blackwood for my daughter for Christmas and had some serious envy.  Good thing she wears a vastly different size than I do or she might not have actually got her Christmas present.  I was going to do a long one for myself, but alas when I bought the lightweight melange knit from Fabricland I was thinking short version and bought fabric accordingly.  Oh well.  Next one!

The other thing I did was to print off some fun labels for my newest makes!  Santa brought me a new toy for Christmas - a Silhouette Cameo 3 and it is SO MUCH FUN!!!!! It's like a label maker on steroids and then some.  I've been walking around speculatively eyeballing everything in sight for potential decals, labels and fancy cut paper.  During the holidays Patterns for Pirates put out a free file for clothing labels and I knew I had to use them.  I'm particularly fond of Size Sassy and Size Unique!  Take that society!  I refuse to conform to your ridiculous notions of sizing.

So not bad for a spur of the moment small sewing spree!  It felt great to be getting sewing done.  It also felt great to reduce the pile of fabric by three - goodness knows I've a long way to go before I make a slight dent in the stash, but it's a start.  (It turns out when I don't have time to sew, I just start amassing fabric at a pre-apocolyptic preparation worthy level instead.)

Well, it smells like my now traditional New Year's Eve roast beef is going to need some attention soon - it's been cooking for two and a half hours now and it's making me sooooo hungry!  Time to get the Yorkshire puddings prepped and start peeling potatoes I think!

I'd like to wish you all a very happy (and safe) New Year's Eve.  I hope that tomorrow's start of 2018 brings with it a year of happiness and peace for you and yours.

Wrapping Up One Week One Pattern

I'm not even going to bother with making excuses for not blogging or pretend that I might get back on some semblance of schedule with it.  But I'm here for the time being and I wanted to do a wrap up of sorts of my first experience participating in the One Week, One Pattern challenge, which is just as it sounds.  You choose one pattern for one week and either wear different versions of it, or style it differently or a mix of both.

The challenge was hosted by Sheona of Sewisfaction this year and if anyone can persuade someone to want to take part in something Sheona, with her bubbly, cheerful personality is just the person to do it.  I love her vlog posts and instagram stories and feeds.  She is down to earth and so easy to relate too.  So when she announced she was hosting this year, I couldn't help but join in.

I had a hard time deciding which pattern I was going to use at first, because there's a few I love.  I thought of making six more Blackwood cardi's, or maybe a few new Idyllwild Tees.  Maybe a couple more Anna dresses (but how would that work with jeans and steel toes five days out of the week?).  Finally I settled on the Sew Over It Molly Top.  I had five of them already, so I figured I could just double up.  Then I ended up making a Molly Dress the week the challenge was starting, and then another Molly top the evening of the second last day.  I already have two more planned.  Molly is definitely proven to be my go to tried and true pattern. It's such a simple make and I can whip one up in a little over an hour from cutting out to hemming.  The fit is spot on with just an inch and a half added for length, so it's a no brainer for me.  It makes me feel great being able to finish something easily these days when sewing time is so limited and I love wearing them.  It's definitely my number one "TNT" pattern.

I've been on the fence about the Molly Dress since the City Break E-book came out to be honest.  I have definitely wanted to make one, but worried that it would look like a nightgown, or just too shapeless on my figure.  I have some gorgeous Ponte that I'd ordered from Stitchy Bee a while back that I wanted to make a dress with, but no way wanted to waste it if the dress was a disaster.  So I bought some fabric from the local Fabricland on my way home from work one day.  Unfortunately I misread the price and it ended up hella expensive, especially for a potential dud.  Ooops!  I decided to forge ahead with it though with the intention that if it was a nightmare I could chop off the bottom and have a really soft and cozy Molly top.  I LOVE the dress.  It gets all the heart eyes from me.  I have no clue what the fabric is - it's soft and feels like a cross between a really fine sweater knit and a brushed poly.

I documented my week on Instagram - most photos taken with my tripod and remote on my phone, and the weekday ones were taken at 5:30 in the morning, so photo quality is a bit dodgy, but hopefully you won't mind my less than glorious photography skills.  Here's how my week went:

Day One - the brand new Molly Dress

 Day Two - a Molly tee - this one is probably my least favourite Molly.  It's a fairly recent make, and it's ok, but there's very little drape to the organic cotton jersey and it turns out it's not as great a colour as I thought it was when I bought the fabric three years ago, but it's great for kicking around in.

Day Three - one of my early Molly's.  I think this was the second one I made last year.  Unfortunately I forgot to add any length and it's shrunk so it's on the verge of too short for me to wear comfortably.  But it has silver threads along the edges of the stripes which makes me ridiculously happy, so I still wear it more often than I should and then spend the day tugging it down.

Day Four - My first Molly.  Oh how I love this top!  It's so cozy and soft.  It's made from a sweater knit and it's only issue is that somehow a mad case of static cling has got it's clutches on it and no matter how I wash or dry it I can not get rid of the cling from hell.  I've tried everything I can think of so if you have any great solutions, please let me know!

Day Five - A recent Molly.  I totally meant to make a cardi with this fabric.  But then I felt like I was in the doldrums with my sewing and had nothing to wear, so it became a Molly instead.  I may or may not live in this top.

Day Six - this was my third Molly.  At first I thought this jersey from Minerva Crafts was way to drapey and that the top looked way too flowy, but it took mere moments of wearing it for it to become one of my favourites.  It's such a great top for work.  Not too heavy, and a great layering piece.  It gets a lot of wear!  (let's just ignore the wrinkles - it probably should have had a date with an iron before I took a photo in it.)

Day Seven - last but not least my newest Molly top.  This is a short sleeved version.  I thought I'd mix things up and make a v-neck on this and now I'm obsessing about a long sleeve v-neck Molly.  I could live in this top every day if it wasn't weird to do so.  

In retrospect, I suppose choosing the Molly Top wasn't the most challenging thing given I really do wear them all the time, especially during the work week.  It felt almost like cheating it was such an easy choice! As I mentioned I'm planning a Molly Dress with the Ponte from Stitchy Bee and I have a great monochromatic grey floral jersey that I just ordered on a black friday sale from The Fabric Snob that is pretty much screaming at me to become a v-neck long sleeve Molly, so clearly I'm not done with the pattern just yet!   

I have some other projects I'd love to tell you about in the near future, but not sure when I'll get the chance to be back to blogging, so who knows when it'll happen or if it'll happen.  I sometimes feel like so much time has past that there's not much point in writing about it anymore.  So I guess I'll just play it by ear and see you when I see you.  In the meantime, I hope this finds you all happy, healthy and enjoying life to it's fullest!

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Brasov Wrap Top

Just stopping in with a quick post tonight!

No school for the boys + no sitter + plus the fact that they need my hubby at work way more than they need me (although it does hurt the ego a bit to admit that! LOL) meant that I had a day off of work today! I had fabric at the ready and the brand new, just released Itch to Stitch pattern, the Brasov Wrap Top* printed off and assembled!

The crossover top pattern features figure flattering pleats and a nice modest neckline. I do prefer v-neck tops, and absolutely love a wrap top, but am always conscious of how my tops fit and making sure the neckline isn't too low or too revealing.   Throughout my day I'm up ladders, or bending down to get things and I also work closely with the maintenance team and often meet with vendors. The last thing I want to be worried about is if I'm at risk for an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction. Brasov is the perfect solution! I was so excited when I saw the first pattern photos for it and snapped up the pattern the minute I got the email from Kennis yesterday morning advertising that it was available!

I'm really happy with how my top turned out! I used 10oz cotton/spandex from The Fabric Snob that I had bought a few weeks ago. It was my first time ordering from there and I'll definitely be making future fabric orders!  Their jersey is top notch - super soft, great weight and fantastic recovery!!  Unfortunately between the fact I started out with less yardage than called for, and that my fabric had  shrunk a bit when I prewashed it meant I had to get a bit fancy in my cutting out the pattern. I ended up having to have a centre back seam and 3/4 sleeves, but that wasn't too big of a deal. Certainly not enough to deter me from using the fabric!  I did add 1 1/2" in length instead of my usual inch I add to Itch to Stitch patterns because I wanted a bit of extra insurance in the event that it shrinks more when I wash it again.

If you act quickly you can grab a copy of the pattern for yourself with a 20% discount! I highly recommend it as a great wardrobe staple for fall and winter! (I'm also dreaming of doing a sleeveless version for spring next year too!)

Leo The Lion, King of the Prairies

I mentioned my other road knitting project in my last post and thought I'd share a bit about it today with you.

Baby Boy - I really should think of a new name for him, he's hardly a baby now that he's in grade two and about to turn seven years old - made the discovery recently that everyone in the world (or at least all his siblings) have a sock monkey and he does not.  He had found my Paton's booklet, "Monkey Business" in the basement a week or so before we were to leave on holidays and he put two and two together and realized all those sock monkeys he's seen in his sibling's possession had to have been mama made.

He desperately wanted me to knit him something.  But not a monkey.  What he wanted was the last pattern in the book.  A cheerful looking lion named Leo.  I told him that as soon as I was finished knitting his sweater I would start Leo.  Every time he saw me knitting on his sweater he make a comment as to the fact that it was good I was knitting his sweater because then I could start his Leo.

He was actually playing with his lion in his head all the time and had so many imaginary adventures with the yet un-knit Leo.  Oh the stories he made up about their adventures.  It was unimaginably sweet.

Before leaving on the trip I let him go through my stash of worsted weight yarns and he picked out the colours he wanted.  I put together a kit of everything I would need to complete Leo from yarn, to needles, to fibrefill and popped it in my bag for in the front of the truck.  As soon as I cast off his sweater I cast on the lion.

I only knit on long driving stretches but slowly and surely all the pieces started coming together.  Lots and lots of pieces.  I am not overly fond of knitting toys.  Especially toys that have a billion fiddly pieces to sew together in the end, but it was a labour of love so I bit the bullet.

I worked on the head between Swift Current, SK and Medicine Hat, AB.  Then continued on two days later from Drumheller, AB to Calgary, AB and bit from Calgary, AB to Jasper, AB.  The muzzle was done while driving to the "Enchanted Forest" outside Revelstoke, BC and back into town again, and the body started somewhere around Rogers Pass, BC and finished somewhere between Calgary, AB and Moosomin, SK.  Seaming, his face, mane and feet (I ran out of yarn for the legs) were finished for the most part between Moosomin, SK and home here in South Eastern MB.  Last Wednesday evening I put the stitches onto the needles and got the four legs done and sewed them on and then added a few more strands in left over orange Berroco Vintage to add a little depth to his mane and fill in the bare spots that were left because I'd run out of the dark brown.  Since most of the knitting was done throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta I've dubbed him "King of the Prairies".

I had Leo already by Baby Boy's bedtime and he was thrilled.  And not just him.  Little Man was equally excited for his little brother to have a "sock toy".  It was such a gratifying moment as a mom and as a crafter.

SSKAL 2017

What a busy summer it's been!  I can't quite fathom how it's already September and the little boys are already back to school!  We finished off summer holidays with a bang and took an amazing ten day trip out West making it as far as Revelstoke, BC.  It was fantastic and we did so many amazing things on our trip!  One of the things that I did on the trip was knit.  Did you know that driving across Manitoba and Saskatchewan leaves a whole lot of time for knitting when you're not actually the driver?  A WHOLE LOT.

Thanks to the trip and hours upon hours of knitting time, I was able to finish my project for the Very Shannon Summer Sweater Knit Along.  The KAL ends today and I think this may be one of the few times I wasn't hoping for a deadline extension.  (Good thing too - Shannon mentioned recently that there wasn't going to be a vote for an extension this time!)

When the SSKAL was announced, since the rules allow for finishing up WIPs, I decided that I was going to take the opportunity of motivation of the KAL to finish up a project that had been languishing in my knitting bag for a few months and hopefully knit another project.  The project in question was Little Man's new Greyson sweater.  I had started it in March when I realized that there was no way he could squeeze himself into his original Greyson anymore.  Of course I shouldn't have been surprised.  He'd been wearing it since he was four years old.  No wonder it was too short and too tight!

I let him pick out yarn from Webs and he'd chose red and black James C. Brett Aztec - an acrylic, alpaca blend that I think will prove to be soft and very cozy.  He also chose how he wanted the stripe pattern to be. The sweater knit up fairly quickly given the very little I worked on it and within a month or so I was done.  Except the neckline was horrendous.  I should have taken a before shot to show how bad it was because it defies description.  I'm not sure what I did, but all my centered double decreases were not centered. Nor were they even in line with each other.  It was a hot mess.  So I was frustrated and left the sweater laying in my knitting bag until about a week into the SSKAL.  Then I ripped that offending neckline out, picked up the stitches and had it done and looking good by the end of the evening.  It was perfect timing, because the next morning Little Man woke up feverish and miserable.  Shivering and cold he curled up in his brand new sweater claiming it made him feel much better.

A few days later I had the chance to wind the wool for Baby Boy's sweater, because his second Greyson had also long since been outgrown.  He had also chose the black Aztec yarn and then had picked out some Estelle Chunky - an acrylic, wool, nylon blend - from the lys in the city and planned his stripe pattern.  I was determined to get his sweater done in time for wearing in the mountains, so knit like the wind, working on it every spare moment I had, which unfortunately with work and other mundane things like taking care of the house and yard wasn't a whole lot.  Thank goodness the sweater is small!  I started it on August 14th and by the time we headed out on the  highway August 26th I had just put the sleeve stitches back on the needle.

By the time I put my knitting down just outside of Moose Jaw, SK. because it was too dark in the truck to see anymore I had one sleeve done and 18 rounds plus a cuff left to do on sleeve two.  That was a LONG drive!   The next morning I picked it up again and had the second sleeve and ends woven in about a half hour or so west of Swift Current, SK.   Good thing too.  The next morning when the boys crawled out of the tent in Drumheller, AB it was quite chilly.  Baby Boy was thrilled to have his new sweater to put on and stay cozy until the sun warmed everything up.

I had high hopes of getting the perfect finished object photo in the mountains, but trying to get photos of these two little goofballs when they're excited proves to be difficult, so I had to settle for this next one atop Whistler's Mountain in the Rockies.  You can sort of see the town of Jasper below through the smokey haze.  (No worries - there was quite a bit of land behind that rock they're standing on, it is just the angle that makes it look like they were perched on the very edge of the mountain!)

Finishing Baby Boy's sweater so quickly gave me loads more road knitting time, but I'll tell you about that project next time!  I've got to catch up on some housework and then get the boys out to their power skate workshop this afternoon, plus I'm sure if you've read this long, you probably have other things you need to be doing too! LOL

Just one other quick "housekeeping" thing before I leave off.  I want to apologize for how some things are looking on the blog lately.  As you may be aware, Photobucket, which is what I used for a few years for photos on the blog, suddenly changed their policies without any warning in the spring.  In order to keep the photos showing up from them on the blog, they want a fee of $399/year.  Not going to happen!  So I need to clean things up and re-upload photos, but unfortunately I've had no time to do so yet, so please bare with me while things are in a bit of a messy state.

Walking on Sunshine

I'm back!

It's been a busy few weeks for me between work, birthday parties and the usual day to day things that keep me hopping.  But I have had some time for craftiness!  Today I'm going to wax poetic about the Patterns for Pirates Sunshine Dress* that I sewed up for this year's Maxi dress sew along.  The Sunshine Dress hadn't even been on my radar at all despite being released a year ago and suddenly I was completely smitten and had to make it.

It has pockets, just as any good dress should have! :)

The reason it suddenly popped onto my radar was that I have a slight obsession with the custom fabric shops that are all over Facebook these days.  I joined one group, Blended Threads, which somehow led me to another group, True North Fabrics, that led me to Kiss My Stash, which led me to Elevated Fashion Fabrics which led me to Sew Sew English.  (I clearly need help.  Send some sort of intervention now!!!!)

The common things I kept noticing throughout all the groups was mention of DBP.  Now what the heck is DBP???  Double Brushed Poly, or as I've seen it referred to as "Unicorn fur" or something along those mythical lines.  I was skeptical.  Polyester?  Brushed?  Twice?  It made me think of the old nighties and pjs from the seventies and early eighties that were definitely polyester - sort of scratchy on the inside, but kind of soft and fuzzy on the outside.  Everyone was raving about it though.  And the prints that I was seeing coming up in the various groups were stunning.  So finally I bit the bullet.  I am so absolutely and easily led.  I bought a couple of yards on a pre-order from Blended Threads.  I'd bought a few different fabrics this spring from her already and been really impressed with the quality and the customer service.  Plus she's practically local being in Saskatchewan, so I felt like she wouldn't lead me astray at all.

(PS: I'm walking here, not practicing standing like a flamingo...)

The fabric came and it is glorious.  Soft and luxurious.  Nothing like those old pjs and nighties at all. But then I wasn't sure what to make with it.  It seemed too special to make just anything.  I was flummoxed as to what would be suitable. Then a sew along showed up for the P4P Sunshine dress in the Sew Sew English Facebook group and I kept looking at all the gorgeous finished dresses.  The cut seemed to flatter so many different figures and everyone seemed to be on the DBP bandwagon, so I hopped on too.   The more the merrier!

And boy am I glad I did.  First off, the pattern is fabulous.  No adjustments nor muslin for that matter were made, I went on blind faith alone.  Oh!  I did cut a smaller skirt size just because of fabric constraints and well, quite frankly I didn't feel my hips needed quite as much width of fabric as the pattern called for.  But that's more a size blending thing than an actual pattern adjustment in my books.  So fit is spot on out of the package (Ok, off the printer, if we're going to quibble), and now lets talk about ease of sewing.  Nothing challenging about it at all.  Instructions were top notch. Everything lined up beautifully.  The end result looks like it is a lot harder to acheive than it actually is.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy as my little boys would say.

And Double Brushed Poly?  Well, it's safe to say I've drunk the Koolaid.  Not only does it feel luxurious, but it sews like a dream.  It doesn't shift or slip and slide while sewing like other drapey knits would!  So I'm in.  I've got a couple more yards headed my way from Sew Sew English and just received a couple from Elevated Fashion Fabrics.

After sewing up my dress I can definitely say I'm thoroughly impressed with Patterns for Pirates and am really looking forward to sewing up the other patterns I have  since bought from them!  But first? I think I might have to make another DBP Sunshine Dress or two...

The Solution to I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!!!

Recently I quickly realized as the temperatures warmed up that I had pretty much nothing to wear that was suitable for work.  In the past in my life as a stay at home come spring it was pretty much the "season of no pants" until the temps dropped again in fall.  So I have a closet that is positively jam packed full of dresses and not much else save for a few blouses that are, ahem, a bit too snug and/or short on me.  Only now that I'm working in an environment that requires pants I noticed a pretty huge deficit in my warm weather wardrobe so over the last several weeks I've been slowly plugging away at filling that hole.  The sewist's solution to "I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!!!!"? Obviously grab some fabric, a pattern and head to the sewing machine!

You'll have seen pictures of these "solutions" on my Instagram already possibly, but I thought I'd share them here too with a bit more detail.

First I made Kymy's Dolman Top from Everything Your Mama Made.  I LIVE in this top.  The jersey was an inexpensive fabric from Fabricland and it's light weight and perfect.  I made the banded version so that it's more tunic length than tee shirt length because there is nothing more annoying than feeling like my shirt is too short when I'm reaching up to put a motor back on a shelf.  Kind of hard to pull a shirt down when your hands are full and you're on a ladder.  LOL!  I think the only change I made to this one from the pattern was the neckline.  I made it a touch narrower and scooped it a touch lower than the pattern (good thing too or it would've been way to high even for a boat neck!).  Then instead of turning and topstitching I cut a strip of fabric and bound the neckline.  I feel it gives it a cleaner, neater finish.

Next up was Sew Over It's Lulu top.  This pattern came out earlier in the spring.  I chose a gauzy cotton for it and then decided I really didn't like the fabric a whole lot and wished I stuck with my initial choice which was a bit more structured lightweight denim-y polka dot print.  I was feeling like I was overheating at the time in the fabric store and after standing at the cutting table for what felt like forever waiting my turn I suddenly changed my mind and grabbed the gauzy fabric that was right beside the table and set my first choice aside.  Buyers remorse set in pretty quickly, but I decided to sew it up anyways.  I need to do a bit of an alteration with the pattern for next time but I'm not sure what.  I think it may need a tiny broad back adjustment.  Also I'm still not sure how I feel about the fabric itself, but it is definitely comfy and cool so that is a big bonus!

Then since two short sleeve shirts don't quite cut it - they have to go in the laundry once in a while - I just made another tee last week.  This one was made using a print jersey I picked up last fall on sale from Craftsy.  It's a really nice quality and so soft.  It's a bit thicker than maybe optimal for summer, but not too bad, plus birdies!!  I love them!  I still have almost three metres of it left to make a shirt of some sort for fall/winter too!  The pattern I used was the Cowl Neck from Patterns by Moo oops! Apparently now called Sewing Geek.  I think I've had this pattern on my computer since the very early days of PDF patterns.  I've had it for several years anyways and just never bothered to do anything with it.  Not sure why because I sewed this one exactly as designed just blending between sizes at the hip and I'm pretty darn pleased with it.

Not sure what's next for me.  As per usual I've got eleventy billion different projects in the wings and just slightly less on the go.  I've got a Corriedale batt I'm in the midst of spinning, I have a stack of patterns and fabric waiting for something to happen to them, I'm partway through my Untangling Knots Anaheim Cardi and need to make my dress for the annual Outfit Along.  So, you know, its pretty much same old, same old here.  LOL

#sewtogetherforsummer

So it's been awhile but I'm back with a new project!  I've actually done some other sewing too, but I'll tell you about that another day.  Today I want to talk about my #sewtogetherforsummer shirtdress!

#sewtogetherforsummer just finished yesterday, but for the past three months sewists around the globe have been sewing up shirtdresses as a part of the Instagram based sew along hosted by Sarah @sewsarahsmith, Susy @sewing_in_spain and Monika @rocco.sienna.  It's been an inspiring and motivating three months of seeing all the different patterns and variations being made up.

For my part I was consumed with indecision on which pattern to choose.  It was a toss up between either Sew Over It's Vintage Shirtdress or Cashmerette's Harrison Shirtdress.  I got as far as printing each pattern off and assembling the PDF sheets together, but that was it.  I just couldn't make up my mind, couldn't find fabric that spoke to me and honestly figured it was going to just be another case of good intentions gone astray for me.

Then the Penny Dress was released to the Sew Over It PDF Pattern Club at the end of the first week of June. I've never bought a pattern, printed it off, assembled it and bought fabric so quickly in my life.  It was THE PERFECT PATTERN.  I love the way it looks on Lisa Comfort in the official photos!

I whipped home from work, fabric in hand, threw it in the washer and dryer then set to work cutting it out.  I started by cutting the bodice, then quickly realized something had gone terribly, terribly wrong and I didn't have enough fabric for the skirt.  I was so incredibly frustrated.  I had no way of getting to the fabric store until Monday at the earliest and there went my weekend plans of making a new dress.  URGH...  whilst I was busy berating myself for obviously not following the lay out plans as carefully as I should have an email came out with the errata for the fabric requirements.  So that Monday I was like a woman possessed.  Zipped over to the fabric store after work, grabbed another 2.5 metres of fabric for the skirt, got home and did the whole pre-wash and dry thing and got the skirt cut out. I wasn't about to be deterred by something like insufficient yardage.  I even made self-covered buttons for it.

Of course life being busy life I didn't get a chance to sew again until Sunday, but I knew it was going to go together easily and be such a great make.  Except it wasn't.  Don't get me wrong.  It sewed together like a dream.   All I had left after a short couple hours of work was hems and buttons. (Remember those buttons?  Turns out they were about twice as big as they needed to be for the button placket.  Arggghhh.) So I tried the dress on and pinned the bodice shut.  OH. MY. EVER-LOVING WORD.  It was possibly the most unflattering make I've ever made.

I looked nothing like I envisioned in it.  I felt miserable and a whole lot of bitter negative self talk was going on in my head for the rest of the day and into the next.  I was so distraught and discouraged. And then at some point I remembered something I'd heard Stasia Savasuk say on a podcast interview a few months back.  It was something a long the lines of "It's not you.  It's the pants.  Change the damn pants."  And that thought kept running through my head, slowly silencing all the negativity.  It isn't me the problem.  Technically it's not even the dress that's the problem.  It's the style of the dress that was the problem for my figure.

I'm not happy about it, but like it or not I no longer have the small waisted hour glass figure I once had.  My hip/waist ratio is pretty indistinguishable and the dress cut right across the widest part of my apple shaped body.  The elasticated waist only served to emphasize it making me look much larger than I am.  I needed to selvage what looked like a frumpy old lady dress and make it into something I'd be happy with.  While I pondered things I made a new set of covered buttons.

Then I continued my mission by taking the elastic out and tried it on again.  It was like a tent, but taking the elastic out brought the waistline down to a much better spot on my body (it's amazing how much a little bit will fix things!).  I could already see there was potential for the dress after all so I went ahead the other morning and before work I took the bodice off the skirt and cut off fabric from the sides of the bodice tapering down from the armhole to waist.  I then took the one piece skirt and carefully cut down the sides of the skirt.  I basted the bodice and tried it on and it was already 100 times better.  I took close to eight inches off the total circumference of the waistline and it made a world of difference.

Yesterday morning I set to work stitching.  Because I had side seams now I figured I might as well add pockets while I was at it!  I only had about fifteen minutes to work on it, so I chose to do button holes first.  After work I attached bodice to skirt and did the hem.  With much trepidation I tried it on again and fell in love.  The fit is now exactly how I like it, it skims over curves instead of cutting across them and I think it's new modified version is the perfect shirt dress for what I wanted!  I'm so happy with it and want to make another of my version right away! I wish I'd taken photos of the initial dress so that I could show you the before and after, but I didn't take them because at the time I felt so awful I didn't want to be seen by anyone in it.

I've seen loads of gorgeous Penny dresses made as designed by loads of different women of different shapes and that's great.  It is a lovely pattern done with the quality that I've come to expect from Sew Over It and I'm still really happy that I bought the pattern and made it.  I can even see the benefit of having made it the way it was designed in the first place.  It may not have been the silhouette for me but it taught me a thing or two about acceptance of my self and as silly as it may sound I feel somewhat empowered by coming out on the other side of it all feeling fantastic about my self and about my skills as a seamstress.  To top it all off I snuck in just under the wire for the #sewtogetherforsummer sew along finishing at 6:20pm of yesterday's deadline!

Continuing on with My #sewoveritsummer

I've checked another project off my list and made myself a summer version of the Heather Dress and I couldn't be happier about it!  I practically lived in my quilted jersey version this past fall and winter so I knew I wanted to make a short sleeve one for warmer weather.  It's the perfect dress for just throwing on.  No fuss, no muss.  Dress it up, dress it down.  It doesn't matter, it just feels great wearing it.  And pockets.  Oh those pockets.  I do love me some big pockets!

There's not too much to say about this one that I didn't already say when I made my winter one.  I sewed it pretty much directly from the envelope (Ok, printer since it was a PDF) and shortened the hemline about 2" before hemming it.  I did add a bit of stabilizing clear elastic along the shoulder seams because I was using a lightweight knit but those are the only changes I did to it from the original design/instructions.

I have my eye on a really pretty grey and yellow print jersey at the local Fabricland that I really want to make another Heather with, but it's going to have to go on sale or they're going to have to put out another 50% off email coupon before I take the plunge on buying it, because I refuse to spend $20/metre for a dress especially given right now I rarely have the opportunity to wear a dress since my weekday wardrobe consists of jeans and steel toes... And yet I keep making dresses and buying fabric for dresses and dreaming of dresses.  Huh.  Logic was possibly never my strong point! LOL

I'm not sure what project to tackle next.  Perhaps I'll grab my list, close my eyes, point and see what I land on!

Combining Two Crafty Loves

I'm back with another Sew Over It garment.  What did I tell you?  It's going to be a #sewoveritsummer LOL

This time it's a Betty and I've combined two of my crafty loves into one dress.  Last summer when I found the Cotton and Steel yarn ball fabric from the Cat Lady collection on Craftsy I had to snap it up.  It was a ridiculous purchase in which although the sale price was great, the shipping was insane.  It was before Craftsy lowered their shipping costs and I paid more in shipping then I did for the fabric.  But hello!  Fabric.  With yarn on it!!!!!!  Sometimes you just need to be a bit frivolous and ridiculous.

I knew the minute I saw the fabric that it was destined to be a Betty dress.  I've never made Betty before so first things first.  I whipped up a muslin.  And then I did nothing.  I needed to do some alterations and I was perplexed how.  I just could not wrap my head around it so there it sat.  Untouched until a few weeks ago when I decided it was silly to just let it languish and come hell or high water I was going to get it figured out.  

Really the biggest problem was gaping in the V at the back.  I knew that if I pinched out the excess into a dart it solved it, but who wants darts there?  So on my pattern I created the dart where the gaping was then rotated it into the back waist darts.  Problem solved.  I also made the neckline a little deeper and a little less wide, widened the shoulders a smidge, did a sloped shoulder adjustment and finally added a bit of length to the bottom of the bodice.  Sewed up another muslin and was quite pleased with the fit, so cut out and sewed up the dress.  Of course my muslin was playing tricks on me and once the dress was finished I tried it on and gaping was happening everywhere.  Damn it.

I ended up fudging things a bit rather than go back to the drawing board and cut a new bodice because I was pretty tight on fabric at this point as is.  I took up almost an inch in the shoulders and shaved a little off the side seams and that has solved the problems for the most part, except I now have bust darts pointing way off course and some weird bunching at the lower armscye.  I am not going to quibble though.  I'm willing to bet only a seamstress would even look at the darts at all and if they're rude enough to point out that they are looking at my bust that closely then I'm really not interested in talking to them anyways! Ha ha!  In retrospect it occurs to me that perhaps a lot of my problems would have been solved if I'd gone down a size... sadly that didn't occur to me until after the fact.  

On the plus side of things, this is number three for my #2017MakeNine!  More bonuses are that I added pockets (used my favourite pockets which are from the Emery Dress pattern), my invisible zip went in without a hitch (thank you double sided tape - where have you been all my life?!?!) and most importantly I LOVE my new dress!  

Spring Sewing Plans or #sewoveritsummer

The other day I as I sat pairing fabrics and patterns in my head I thought it might be better if I actually wrote them down on a list so they wouldn't get lost in my mental filing cabinet.

Of course I'm being unrealistic in my goals here, because goodness knows that a) I rarely sit down to my sewing machine anymore and b) I still have knitting goal lists floating about that I wrote out about ten years ago and never did a single project of because if nothing else I am fickle.  Today's MUST DO project is not necessarily going to still be next week's MUST DO project.

I noticed a few things about this list besides my delusions of productivity.  I have a heck of a lot fabric.  I should not be buying more.  And yet... well.  Don't judge. There are much worse vices I could have.  The next thing I noticed was that out of 18 projects, ten of them involve Sew Over It patterns (actually there's an 11th needs to be added to the list.  I realized just now that I have the perfect fabric for the newly released Eve dress... Eve wasn't out when I wrote the list and I had totally forgotten about the fabric that I have in mind for it.  I definitely need to get my hands on that pattern!)

In light of the patterns, I thought maybe I should just go ahead and declare 2017 a #sewoveritsummer  because my wardrobe is going to be overwhelmingly designed by Sew Over It.

Would you believe that I already have one of my makes done?  Last week I picked up some rayon voile at the fabric store and thought it would be perfect for Susie although the details of the collar do get a little lost in the print.  My two Susie blouses I made last year were so well loved, but the fit needed a bit of tweaking so I knew I had to tackle that before I did anything.  I was pretty sure that I needed to do a broad back adjustment because while my blouses from last year are fine when I'm wearing them and not moving my arms, the minute I move my arms it feels tight across the upper back, and getting out of them just about requires the jaws of life to extricate me.  In my search for information I came across a video that made the adjustment really easy to do.  I extended the back sleeve a bit too to match up with the side seam and it was exactly what I needed.  I did a half inch adjustment on either side, which was a touch on the generous side, but at least I know what I need to do now and my blouse is totally wearable and very comfortable.  I also gently curved the hemline for a shirt tail hem rather than more straight across feeling that is a more flattering look.  (although I realize that I neglected to get any photos of the bottom of the top so you'll just have to imagine it!)

The rayon voile is super comfortable to wear, but was a bit of a beast to cut out and sew.  It was so darn slippery and wanted to slide away at every turn, but I managed to get it on grain with a bit of patience and determination (and more than just a bit of flouncing and bad words).

I was really excited to have a new spring top just in time for some sunshine and warm weather yesterday!

I also finished a Betty dress yesterday, it's been mostly done since Easter weekend, but still needed hemming.  I got put off a bit when it got really cold last weekend and then decided to be full fledged winter, complete with snow again for a few days.  But the sunshine inspired me yesterday and my machine was already threaded with blue from my blouse so I did a quick machine hem on the Betty before turning the machine off for the day.  I'll try and get pictures soon of it!

Killing Two Birds with One Spinning Wheel

When the sewing mojo was failing me (or more aptly sewing success was alluding me), I gave the sewing machine a bit of a break and took out my basket of fibre and sat down at the spinning wheel instead.  After spinning some Doodles In String Merino that I'd bought from Ram Wools Co-op when I took my drop spindle class last spring over the Christmas holidays I hadn't done much of anything at all really with my wheel.

It felt great to get back to my spinning that I'd been ignoring for awhile.  It wasn't being ignored for anything beyond a lack of time and energy, but I was worried that so many weeks away and I'd be back to square one with my very beginner abilities.  In the beginning of January I had started working on a batt from Tog and Thel that I'd bought at the Manitoba Fibre Festival last fall so I figured it would be thick and thin spun anyways with it's four beautiful ounces of Jacob, Icelandic, Merino, Merino Tencel and Mohair blended together.  

It was such a pleasure to spin.  I enjoyed seeing the different fibres and colours as they twisted together.  And while it is thick and thin in spots I'm getting more consistent with how I spin, so it's not as noticeable.   A lot of the thick and thin came from big blobby bits of fluff that didn't get attenuated as much as other bits sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident, but I am pleased with the end result.  It's fluffy and cozy and while I have no idea what I'll make with it, I am very pleased to have it in my yarn stash!

Another bonus to all the spinning was that I realized early into resuming work with my Tog and Thel batt that the motion of treaddling was exactly the same motion as the very boring, but very necessary exercises that my doctor prescribed for my foot injury.  Killing two birds with one spinning wheel. Doing something I love while getting something I loathe out of the way!  Talk about a win-win situation.  

So as soon as I finished plying up the Tog and Thel I took out another squishy gorgeous bit of fibre I'd bought at the fibre festival.  This one was from Manjusha Farms located in southeast Manitoba.  It's a deliciously soft merino/bamboo blend and I spun the four ounce braid up in record short time - it only took a week from start to finish.  Getting up and spinning before work.  Spinning while supper cooked.  Spinning before bed.

I'm beyond thrilled with how the merino/bamboo turned out.  It almost felt like cheating it was so very easy to spin.  Again, it's not perfect - there are some thick and thin bits, but it's the most consistent I've done yet, and the final result makes me so happy!

It still amazes me that I can take a bit of fluff and turn it into yarn that, when I finally decide what to use it for, I'll be able to actually make something with it.  I do have a slight obsession with spinning local fibres.  I find it even more exciting to know exactly where the fibre came from and as a result find myself counting down the months until the fibre festival again (I've got a few to go given it's not until the fall...) Not too mention dreaming of some day owning sheep or mohair goats of my own.  Or maybe an alpaca.  Of course I know absolutely NOTHING about raising sheep, goats or alpaca, but a spinner can dream, right?

In the meantime I think I'll be calling on my neighbour up the way at Prairie's Edge Wool Farm to see if I can go visit her and her sheep and the very adorable Max the Goat.  (If you're at all interested in the Manitoba Fibre Festival you'll no doubt know exactly who Max is.  If you're not up to speed he's the incredibly personable, incredibly sweet angora goat that won all our hearts last year and continues to enjoy fame as he grows up)  Her shetland, and shetland/alpaca blend fibres were some of the first I ever spun and it was glorious. I have a wee bit left from last fall in my spinning basket and I definitely want more!  I have daily exercising to be doing after all!