Long Cleansing Breath

After yesterday, I needed some easy, fun sewing. I decided I needed a pouch for all my writing supplies. I love to sketch and doodle. Don’t think like good sketching. I mostly make glorified stick people. Regardless, I always have random pencils, pens, and markers rattling around. I made a pencil pouch for them.

 

I used this Sweet Verbena tutorial to get sizes. It’s really easy, not even lined, gasp!

 

Mine is a little larger than theirs. I may have a lot pens.

 

The fabric is what’s left from this disaster yesterday. It’s cozy wool and double-layered.

 

I used Urban Threads embroidery all over this thing. I quilted it when I was done with the embroidery.

 

About those sketches . . . see? Nothing special. This is me with my pencil pouch.

 

 

I made this for my daughter. She’s the grumpy one.

 

This is typically what I draw. The little girls go wild with coloring these. I make a LOT of princesses too.

 

I made a whole series for my girlfriend of her being naked in Alaska. These crack me up.

 

The whole fam-damn-ily.

 

Hee hee!

 

Me, with the stupid gray skirt.

 

 

No artist here but it makes me happy. I’ve always been a doodler. Papermate should give me a cut of all their sales. I go through a lot of ink.

November Burda Challenge 11/2013 #105 Skirt

Dud.

 

I’ve had so many of these lately that I’m starting to get discouraged. Is it me? Is it the pattern? Is it my ability to pair the fabric and pattern? Am I distracted? Gah. Whatever. Here’s the nitty gritty.

 

Love the skirt pattern in the magazine.

It’s the one on the right. Yada yada.

 

It looks okay, right?

 

The back looks okay too. It has some weird butt stuff going on, maybe, but not bad.

 

Nice topstitching? Check.

 

Skirt in action? Blech. The skirt is on the bias. I interfaced the back zipper portion. The more I messed with it, the more wonky it got. See the butt-bump? This is the best I could get it. Trust me, I put the zipper in a few times, I added space and took away space, I interfaced more of the back. These pictures are all lighten so you all can see the hideous wrinkles and lumps.

 

This is the best I could get. This is probably tighter than it needs to be at this point. It was, at one point looser, but then my butt just looked saggy. This is like the 5th version of this skirt. Let it out, take it in, let it out a little, take it in a titch. I think the seams that point away from the butt make it look wider too. That’s not where I want visual widening. Of course, I decided to emphasize it with bright white topstitching. Go, me!

 

I don’t know what happened. I’m an experienced sew-ist. I interface things. I staystitch when needed so things don’t stretch out. I am gentle. I know how to put in zippers. Sigh. Again, whatever.

 

Thoughts:
1) The front darts are widely spaced and are almost at my hips means the dart end pops out a little strangely.

2) I think I should have made the back piece on grain here. I think I would have avoided the stretching out and the pulls. I think that’s the main issue with the back. That, and me playing with it (hours of unpicking black thread on dark gray wool, fun!).

3) I started by interfacing just the zipper area plus a few inches. When the area below the zipper was sewn, the entire seam looks wavy like this. By the time it was done, the whole top to bottom was interfaced about 3” in. This helped the bottom immensely but not the area around the zipper.

 

 

 

Water off a duck’s back, right? Fucking ducks.

Jalie 3245–Raglan Tee Again

I had to make it again.

 

I made this one with a super cozy, lightweight wool blend sweater knit and dark grey ribbed knit sleeves. I cut it about two inches shorter this time.

 

I still have the same swayback “problem” and I’m still not going to fix it.

 

Hello, matching side seams. Woot!

 

I like the open neck on this pattern. I think adding length and a cowl to this pattern would make a great sweater dress. Like awesome.

 

This coral neck scarf I made a while ago. It’s a large rectangle and I just sewed one end shut with a french seam. Voila, a bright scarf to pep up any outfit. I made this scarf several weeks ago and strangely, it matches the orange color in this top.

 

 

Next up: I’m really not sure. The kids are begging for jammies so that might be next on my list. All three of my girls want more pajamas like these ones with the lace arms. The Boy wants more funny pants. Hmmmmmm.

Jalie 3245 - Raglan Tunic

You know how sometimes, you just need a big deep breath of cold air before you can move on? That was me last week. Between Halloween, legal crap, two frustrating sewing duds, work, kid homework, and costumes, I was toast. Like T to the oast. I got back into the sewing studio (it sounds more impressive than my sewing room) and whipped this out. If you remember, I’ve made this pattern multiple times for my three girls. I made them dresses and pajamas from this pattern before. I had never made it for myself! I decided that this would be the cold breath of air I needed to cast away the demons of last week. As usual, Jalie does not disappoint. I made the longer tunic version. I used a sweatshirt knit that’s been in my stash. It doesn’t have great stretch but it has enough to make this deliciously cozy and comfortable.

 

I probably could have done a swayback adjustment. Meh, who wants to do that on a knit?It’s the most comfortable thing ever. I will make this pattern over and over again. I think I could have made it a few inches shorter. I think if I made this a few inches longer, it would make the best dress-with-tights dress ever. I think I’ll make that and even leave the curved hem. The shoulders fit really well. This is a size R. I also think the shorter version will be great.

 

Here’s a lighter version so you can see the pockets. I used Jalie’s pockets and placement lines. I used a contrasting orange thread on the hems and pockets. It’s not that noticeable. I debated whether to add same-color embroidery to the pockets. I think it would have been a nice detail. Next time!

 

I think I could have take an inch or two our the side seams and it would look slimmer. I will do that next time too.

 

 

This is what happens when I do my photo sessions in the house. They are all so helpful.

 

A little slice of my life so you can see how I suffer.

 

I have about 13 of these photo bombing photos.

 

Feel. My. Pain.

October Burda Challenge - Burda 10-2013 #111

 

I want so much to like this dress. It’s better but it’s not great. I will wear it because it’s cozy, and great for work, but I do not love you dress.

 

So, what did I do? What was my great fix? I opened the lower side seams on the skirt, pulled the front panels in until the folded section went into the side seam. Before I did this, the folds ended about an inch or two before the side seam. Really, there’s no way, it couldn’t have puckered. I’m not sure this is that much better. Sigh. So much time was wasted on this dress. Opening serging seams in not fun. And in a sweater knit? Blech. No more butt wings though.

 

It’s better, really it is. But great? No. I may still sew down the folds to “help” them stay flat. Although I’m not sure that will help them all that much. And really? Truth be told? I’m done with this dress.

 

You can still see here that the folds are a problem but not nearly as much as before.

Some things I noticed with this pattern:

• It seems to run large. I’ve never had this problem with Burda. The smallest size is a 36 and I did my typical sizing down to a 34. After it was done, I took this in about 4” total in the side seams. Yikes! The shoulders were way too far out so I also took a tuck out of the neck/upper back of about 3” to suck in the shoulders and back.
• The neckband pattern piece seems too long for the bodice. I took out about an inch before I sewed it to the bodice.
• There are inset pieces below the waist on the back. They add seams and bulk to your butt.
• The overlapping pieces on the front add a lot of seam bulk to the waist seam.

I won’t be making this dress again. For those of you who want to still make it, I would suggest doing a little flat pattern measuring of the bodice. Also, I would change the pattern a bit to get rid of those folds across the front. I would just make it a regular ol’ rectangular skirt front. If you really want the folds on the front, I would certainly sew the folds down!

Oh well, the final dress turned out okay, just not great like I was hoping.

Burda 10-2013 #111 - Can it be saved?

Here’s the newest dud. I’m really having a great run, eh? I really like this dress. Here’s the line drawing.

 

Here it is on the dress form. Notice that the sides do not lay flat.

 

Here it is on the model. See how far her legs are apart? I think as long as it’s like this, there are no weird hip puckers. Good lord this woman is thin.

 

Here is my version with puffy sides. Not hemmed, of course. This reminds me of Melissa’s post from long ago regarding a tulip skirt where she couldn’t move.

 

See the poofy sides? Uck. That’s not exactly where you want extra poofs.

 

I have Butt Wings.

 

Here it is flat.

 

I was thinking of folding out a section of the fold-over pleat and sewing down.

 

It would look like this close-up but it might just look like a design feature in the fabric. Of course, I don’t want poof there either. I think if I sew it down well, it will be okay. Maybe. It’s depressing to have two not-good things come out of my sewing room in a row.

 

The other option, of course, is to rip the serger seams and sew on a new front skirt. I’m not sure this knit can handle it though. Pondering . . .

Also, this dress is a size 36 which I sized down to a 34 and it’s really big on me. Hoping I can finish this dress by the weekend. I’m still pondering the fate of the yellow, green wrap dress.

KS 3408 - Wrap Dress Dud

You guys know I’m a wrap dress addict. Or, if you don’t, you haven’t been reading my blog long enough. I saw this KwikSew pattern on sale at my favorite sewing store and thought I would buy it. I really like the older KwikSew patterns (not the tissue paper ones that are all crafty from the present time). I think it’s an okay pattern with good lines (good-ish, there were bust issues) but I don’t like this fabric with it. At first, I was all like, “Oh, THIS will be an awesome dress. Border print with a wrap dress! Sqqqquuuueeeeeeeeeeee.” Even as I was cutting and assembling, I was sqqquuueeeee-like. When I put the sleeves in and looked at it as a unit, I was like sqqquuuuueeeeeeeeeeeee-NOT.

There are 13 positive reviews on PatternReview.com so maybe it’s just me.

Why do I dislike it so much? I’m not sure. The sleeves are too loose. I could make them tighter. I like the slightly flared skirt. Mostly. The bodice fits okay but not great. I used a small which is my usual size in KwikSew. It’s not hemmed.

 

The back of the bodice fits great. I think I have the right size. The more I worked with the fabric, the more I disliked the yellow and green on it.

 

Here are the bust wrinkles. Maybe I had the ties pulled too tight so it pulled the entire bodice over? I really don’t like how the paisley fabric met in the middle and made me paisley-boob-woman. I really don’t like the sleeves.

 

This is sort of my overall feeling about it. I’m not loving the fabric and/or the pattern. Look! Boob-paisley-woman!

 

I have another dress that is an almost-dud. I think I need to work some issues out with it. I’ll post about that tomorrow or the next day. I’ve been a busy monkey with work stuff, legal stuff, and home stuff.