2008 in Graphs

I love graphing so when Lindsey T showed her progress in graphs I just had to copy borrow her idea and do it too. I found some interesting results especially after I filtered out my earlier attempts at sewing. I started garment sewing shortly after I signed up for PatternReview on 4/8/07. So, it's been 20 months since I started garment sewing. In that time, I think I've come far with my skills. I have sewn 77 garments thus far this year and feel like most of them are wearable and look mostly RTW. I have also figured out which pattern companies work with my body type. Here is a graph showing all the patterns I used for 2008. There are 12 different companies with BWOF, Jalie, and KwikSew being my favorites.



If I just graph the time since I tried BWOF , you see much different results. Once I tried BWOF, I didn't buy or try any more of the Big 4. The Vogue pattern was one that I sewed earlier but then finished much later because I hated it. The Green Pepper patterns are the ones I use for my kids outerwear. When you factor those in, I use basically five companies.



This shows all the different types of garments. Surprisingly, I made as many dresses as I did coats and casual tops. I did quite a bit if kid sewing which surprised me. I always feel guiltly because I'm not sewing for my kids. It's very interesting to view things this way.


I'll have another entry for my goals and reflections on specific garments later on. Dinner calls.

Kid Sewing -- Jalie and KwikSew

My kids have grown a lot this winter and it's time for the annual (monthly?) hand-me-down-fest. My son used to have a slew of blue "cozy clothes" but now he'll pass those down to his sisters and he'll get a pile of green "cozy clothes" for Christmas. I know it looks like a pile of green vomit but it is two long-sleeve tops and four pairs of pants. Two of them are cuffed for going under snowpants and into boots and two of them are just straight legged.


Another Jalie top for the second girl. I used a gray knit with lavender stretch velvet for the crosses.


Two pairs of pants for the girls. I am missing elastic so all the pants are still unfinished. A lot of things still need the coverstitching for the hems too. Everything here with the exception of the Jalie top are that same KS 3234 Kid's Pajamas pattern.

Burda 11-2008-126 Cozy Pants

Here are the matching pants to my BWOF sweatshirt. It is dang hard to take a picture of them because it is so dark. We are currently getting about six hours of daylight right now and all of that happens while I'm working. But, as I was explaining to another person recently, it is never dark in Alaska. In the winter we have a full-time on-duty moon and lots of snow to reflect the light. In the summer, it's just never dark. When I was 12 I went down to visit my father who lived in South Carolina. I remember stepping out on their deck at 8pm and it was inky black (weird) and hot (very weird for an Alaskan).

Anyway, here are the pants. I added about four inches to the hem at the bottom so they kind of flare at the hem.


These are my studded running shoes for those of you non-snow runners. They are four-wheeler studs that I screw into the bottom of my shoes. I used to use hex head screws from the hardware store but they round off after about 20 miles.


The pockets are nice and deep but a bit low to be totally comfortable.


The flared cuff again.

The back. You have to make sure these are snugged up with the tie or they slide really far down.

And . . . you really need the tie because they are pretty loose in the waist.

I'm work on my review and post a link once it's done.

Orange is my Favorite Color . . .

I have been working away on Christmas presents. I decided to use up the rest of the orange knit I received last Wednesday. I made a Jalie 2787. This is probably my favorite top pattern of all time. I haven't ever made it in kid size but I think it's a winner. I made it extra big and you can see that the sleeves are long and length is really long too. I may just make a very wide sleeve hem and then let it down next summer when they grow. This twin, by the way, is the one that never naps. See the other one in the background? She falls asleep all the time all over the house.


Ever since I read the KwikSew newsletter (sign-up for it) last week I wanted to try this pebble edging (here's a link to all their technical articles). It is super easy and cute. I used it to do all the edges of the cross-top part.

You use this stitch. I never use it on my machine because it is backwards for the blind hem stitch. I use another stitch for that. I don't really know what this stitch is for but it works great for this. You make sure the zig-zag thread goes off the fabric and you tighten up your tension just a titch. I used an orange rayon thread on the front so that it's pretty and shiny. The back, shown here, just got plain ol' orange thread.

I finished off the orange by making my son an orange (his FAVORITE color) shirt. I haven't coverstitched any of the edges, I like to do that in one big batch.


Now, I'm going to work on green things.

Consumer Protection Safety Act

Well, this puts me outta business come February 13th, 2009. If any of you sell clothing/toys/accessories for kids (they define it as 12 and under) you may want to take a peek at this legislation. Basically, ANYONE who sells children's items (bye-bye kidgear on Etsy!) has to submit their product for testing and it includes each component separately. I sew baby slings so I would have to submitted a completed babysling (a unit) for testing for each variation that I do (ETA some changes via the comments). Let's say I sell 10 different fabrics in 10 different sizes. Each SKU number has to be tested so each color in each size have to be tested. That's 100 products that have to be submitted for testing. According to the Fashion-Incubator website tests are $450-$982 for each colorway. Talk about cost prohibitive. Non-compliance with the law can ding you with a 5,000 fine for each offense or jail time if you knowingly sell an item not tested. There is a lot of hubbub about this on another forum and they are all scared crapless that their businesses are going under. There is a lot about this on the Fashion-Incubator website.

Here's the legislation: http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/legislation.html

This does not exclude people who make only one or two items. This does not exclude cloth diaper makers. This does not exclude exporters or importers. It's all of us. Here is a comment from the Fashion-Incubator website that I copied because it really drives the point home. Here's a link to the comment.

Maura said December 5th, 20084:59 pm
I want to add, as an artist and craftsperson who makes one of a kind items (they may be similar in design or use the same pattern, but no two use identical materials). If I were to be able to comply with the requirements, I would have to make two identical items, let’s say dolls, which individually take 5-6 hours to produce, then submit one for destruction in the process of testing. I would then have to work the testing fee into the price of the doll.
That would cause the dolls to cost well over (many times over) what I would charge for them, and would place them outside the reach of most people for a child’s cloth doll.
I think that artisans have simply been forgotten in the process of writing the law.

Honey, Don't Read This.

First off, thank you (Thank YOU!!) for all the kind LBD comments. I do feel great in it and that's 3/4 of the whole 'looking good' thing isn't it? I decided a week ago or so that that dress would be the last me thing I made in a while. With Christmas around the corner, I have to crank out kid and family things. I made myself a schedule and I promised myself if I finished each weekly agenda before Sunday, I could make myself something. Isn't funny how we play tricks with ourselves? Anyway, all I have left for this week is to trace out three different things but I ran out of tracing paper today! So I couldn't just be idle when all this great fabric arrived on my doorstep. Yes, my coop fabric has arrived! I'll show you my loot and you can drool on it too.

First up. Three wool-blend jerseys. It is reversible and beautiful. There are tiny stripes on it that look like they are cream/grey. They have great recovery and are a mid-weight. My favorite is the far right one. Surprised? One day, I'll decide I can't stand purple and then I'll have to re-do my entire wardrobe.


Next up, a selection of stretch velours. I love the far left one. It is a blue/green paisley.


The wools! I scored some burgundy wool crepe, black wool jersey, and this great grey suiting. I plan on making a suit out of the grey wool and I'll make it my Serious Suit for parent-teacher conferences.


It's hard to see but the overall coloring is grey but there are tiny flecks of all different colors in it.

Since I couldn't be idle and I've noticed a dearth of basic layering t-shirts, I decided to cut into wool jersey with great results. I used the wrong side for the cuffs and neckband. My son took the pictures. He's four. 'Nuff said.

This is Jalie 2005. Again. I used the regular length arms and then added cuffs. I love extra long arms. That's my jeans waistband poking out of my stomach. Ahem.

LBD

I've been searching for a good pattern for a Little Black Dress for a while now. I just finished this one up and I love it. Because it is black it is incredibly hard to photograph. Here is the line drawing. It is from the 11/2008 BWOF. (And I don't know why Blogger is making all my photos so big! I have clicked on the small button for the last few blogposts but it isn't changing the size anymore. Sorry!)

I drew the pleats on because they are hard to see. Well, in fact, impossible to see.



Sort of a view of the pleats. Of course, my arms are out at weird angles trying to take this picture so the pleats don't look even.


With a belt. And my hair kind of looks like that one politician doesn't it? That was not intentional. I don't want to look like our governor.


The back that you can't see.


Belt-less front that you can't really see. sigh.

Here's the full review over at PatternReview.com.