End of the Year Wrap-Up

I enjoy graphs (I’m a nerd like that). I made 78 garments this year and used a variety of pattern companies. No surprise to me is that I used Jalie and Burda magazine more than any other company. I used zero McButtKwikOgues and instead tried a few new (to me) companies. I did branch out this year and make a lot more kid’s clothing. I tallied up 11 Jalie leotards. Eleven. That’s a lot of leotards. I have several stand out garments that I love and a few that I don’t. Overall, I think it’s been a good sewing year. Some highlights: I won the Pattern Review Sewing Bee contest (sqqqquuueeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!), I successfully completed my Burda Challenge, I made a lot more clothes for my runner-girls, and I have come a long way in construction (in my opinion). Good sewing year indeed.  

Burda Challenge (each picture is linked to the blog post about the garment):

Overall, I’m really happy with my garments this year. I plan to continue on with the Burda Challenge and make at least one thing out of the current Burda magazine.

Burda 04-2013 #121 Halter Top Dress

This halter-top dress has been calling to me for a while. It’s kind of a standard halter top with a midriff panel and then a fuller skirt on the bottom. Their version included a ruffle on the bottom and lace decorations around the midriff panel. I left those elements off of mine. On theirs, the back panel is half zipper and half buttons. I changed mine so it was zipper from top to bottom.

 

I’ve had this Fabric.com batiste hanging around for a bit and wanted to do something fun with it. It’s obviously a striped fabric and what I like about it is the stripes are all kind of random sizes. There is no repeating pattern running through it.
 

 

I was very careful when I cut it* so the panels would be mirror images of each other. I didn’t have enough fabric to make the stripes on the skirt go straight horizontally. My original thought was to cut a long rectangle and take darts out of the top until I changed the shape to be like the actual pattern piece. I didn’t have enough fabric but I’m glad I didn’t because I really like how the back turned out.

 

How fun are the chevrons in the back? I wish the front had a bit more pizazz like the back but more on that in a minute.

 

The one thing I had to be careful of is the placement of fabric on the bodice. What I didn’t want was the teal and red parentheses on my girl-goodnesses. When you look at the back, you’ll see the large bulls-eye circles I didn’t want on the bodice. I wish I could have had more color on the halter part but it seems like every way I moved it, I would have big bulls-eyes. Sigggghhhhhh, like look at the ties! I love all that color! It just wouldn’t work with my limited fabric.

 

Do you see the giant red parentheses? Those are the ones I worried about. Yikes! I love the back though, love it!

 

Look at how they match up! Go me! Plus there is an invisible zipper back there too.

 

I lined the bodice with this blue shirting. I knew I would need two layers as this batiste is thin and delicate. This is the left-overs from this dress.

 

I used a butter yellow invisible zipper I’ve had in my stash for years. Here’s the inside finish with the lining and everything.

 

I really like this dress. I’m headed for warmer climates to run some races and I’m sure I’ll wear it then.

I leave tomorrow so I’m probably not going to post for a few weeks. Have fun yawls!

 

 

*This is a tangent but I always cut out fabric in the morning. Is anyone else like that? I’m an early-bird, awake at 5am and that’s My Time to conquer the world. I have made too many mistakes over the years cutting at night. Now, it’s like a superstition thing for me. If I have time to sew at night, and the task is cutting, I won’t do it. How lame-sauce is that? Often, I’ll just flip through magazines to “spend time with the fabric” but I won’t cut it. I’ll tidy up, I’ll pet the fabric, but I won’t cut it. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

What I Didn’t Wear - Knock-off Dud

Remember when I said I’d like to make that CAbi knock-off skirt? Yea, well, maybe not. I had the perfect border print for it (it’s the top swatch) and everything?? Yea, well, it’s just not me. Although in the pictures, it doesn’t look as bad as I thought in the mirror. But I still don’t like it. This is a simple elastic waist skirt from Burda 05-2010. I modified it slightly and I think that is where it went wrong. I am using a border print and I wanted it to be straight along the bottom. “Wait, I know! I’ll just make it more of a rectangle and gather it at the waist more!” Yea, well, that put more material at the waist which made it too full and too gathered. Here it doesn’t look too bad.

 

Tucked in is just a disaster. Maybe with a belt? The second big problem was I didn’t have enough fabric to do a better waistband. I usually make elastic waists like this a big thicker so they don’t look like, well, this . . .

 

Here you can see the bad waistband. I put pockets in it which I do think are cute. Not cute enough to cancel out the badness, mind you. I do love the fabric so I’ll save this wadder and do something else with the fabric.

 

This is the “Momma don’t like that” face. See what I mean about all that fabric around the waist??

 

And here I thought I could whip into the sewing room in between paint coats and whip up a cute skirt. Wrong!

 

I’m still working on painting the bathroom. For those of you who asked, I’m still pondering the weird ass kitchen window. That’s a bigger job.

CAbi Spring 2012 Part I

I have a friend that has one of those parties so I always go. It’s fun to try on clothing and fun to experiment with new silhouettes. I chose my favorites and thought I’d take a stab at knocking them off. I’m cheap, I’ll admit that and spending $70 on a simple elastic-waist skirt makes me cringe.

I took the CAbi pictures straight from their website.

#1 Bella Skirt $69

I really liked this skirt. Their version is a rayon challis border print. It has really large slash pockets across the hips that you can’t see in the picture. It’s really close to this Burda 05-2010-122 pattern below. The Burda one uses a woven and a side zipper where the CAbi one just uses an elastic waist treatment. Same pockets and everything. I would pair it with a rayon challis like the one below from GorgeousFabrics.com. You cost would be much cheaper than $69!!

 

#2 Dreamy Draper $98

Is this not Simplicity 2603?? The only difference is that this one has thumbholes and the Simplicity one doesn’t. Would this be great in a drapey fabric like these rayon slub knits? I’ve made a black one out of this same fabric and wear it all the time. I like all three of the colors below although the cream color isn’t a great one for my skin tone.

 

 

#3 Epic Tunic $89

This Epic Tunic is very much like this Burda 03-2012-122. There are some major differences though. The CAbi tunic is a dolman sleeve and the Burda pattern is set-in. The Burda pattern is longer, obviously.

I found some gorgeous silk chiffons too! I super-ty, duper-ty love that last black swirl chiffon.

 

I have a few more to show you but that’s a lot of searching and linking for one night! I do have a bit of sewing to show you as well. I made something from the May Burda. I think the Burdas from May are my favorites every year.

More Turtlenecks

I realized the other day that I wear my Cotton Baby Jersey Knit Orange turtleneck all the time. I love the looooong slouchy sleeves and the warm and cozy (but not constrictive) turtleneck. I decided to use my two other colors of this same knit and make two more. The only change this time is that I marked the CB well and I added about two inches to the length. I found that it’s not quite long enough to be tucked in.

I constructed these with my serger and from cutting to hemming (I had already traced it) it only took about 45 minutes to make both of these.  Talk about instant gratification. This is a great basic pattern and one that I really appreciate in the cold North.

Whoops. I just realized that my picture didn’t load yesterday so I’m re-posting this.

Hmmmm, fail or not?

What do guys think of this? I’m kind of liking bubble skirts right now but I’m not sure if they are for me. I love, love, love Cidell’s versions here and here. I chose to just make a skirt instead of the whole dress but I think I might try that dress next. This 08-2010-132 skirt was originally made from woven but I made a knit rib waistband that was a little bit smaller than the pattern and now it’s just a pull-on skirt. I made a long tube of fabric (the blue stuff) and folded it in half. Then I turned the inside layer so it matched up with a different seam. For example, the CF inside layer matched up with the right side and the right side seam matched up with CB. Clear as mud? Then I gathered the skirt and attached it to the waistband. I’m not sure I like it. What do you guys think? I would probably style it like this for winter use. It’s much fuller than I thought it would be. Can you tell it’s cold out?
 

I know that I will for sure not be spilling in this dress. I didn’t realize it but it’s just like a circle skirt and it really flies right up there when you spin. Yikes!

My Sewing Plan for Fall

Uck. I removed this ugly post and replaced it with a better one. :) Thanks for your tips and ideas for overcoming Blogger.

Burda 06-2010-108 Saggy Boob Fail

I really liked this top in the magazine. I really liked Karen's version though she does mention how the under-bust gathers might be an issue for those who are "gravitationally challenged." I guess I need to add "bust challenged" to the list of people who might not like this top. I don't think it's all the tops fault, however. I didn't line the points up perfectly and I could have focused more of the gathers on the bust region versus the waist region.

When it's pulled down at the waist, it looks okay.

When I move my fingers I get large boob-esque pockets under my bust. I think those with a bust will pull up some of the extra fabric. On me, it just pools and looks like an extremely long and floppy boob. Not so spicy.

It's okay, I'm not heart-broken. I liked the style but wanted to muslin in first because I wasn't sure of the gathers. I love this Gorgeous Fabrics knit but didn't have too much left so I used it as my muslin fabric. On an interesting note. I usually do a petite adjustment on Burda patterns. I didn't this time and the armhole is perfect. I think during the summer I run more and stand up straighter. I need to remember to do that all winter.