It's been quite awhile.

I decided, at the end of 2013, that one of my resolutions was to make more - to schedule time to sew and knit and to learn to weave. I bought a new work dress on one of the last days of the year, but my next new dress will be one I make.

My options, based on patterns I already own, are as follows:

A Kay Unger pattern for another work dress.

A Rachel Comey pattern for a non-work dress.

A Lisette pattern for a non-work dress (view B).

Another of my resolutions was to train for another marathon, so I may find myself in the same spot at the beginning of January 2015 that I find myself in today...

A year ago my sister gave me some fabrics and asked me to make her pillows. The fabric didn't all match, so it took some time to find pieces for the backs. A year on, I've managed to sew a single pillow and two pair (the sumo print pillow has a match, too).

I have no idea where the print fabrics came from, but when I went to find a match for it (chocolate linen), the ladies at the fabric store went crazy for the sumo wrestlers.

I used Kwiksew 3844 (a pattern meant for knits), and the Grainline tutorial for flat bias necklines, to make, not one, but three tank tops.

The fabrics I used were a left-over purple silk, a funny stretch satin print, and an orange chiffon.

tie-dye and batik cottons

(I happened across the end of summer sale at a local fabric store.)

Unwearable Muslin

I sewed a pair of shorts:

I seem to have cut the pattern for Simplicity 1887 View C,too small, as I cannot get them over my butt. Disappointing, but I suppose my sewing strategy is to make wearable muslins. As such, I shall take this to be the risk that comes with sewing that we mitigate by making a muslin first (which I generally think is wasteful, which is why I make wearable muslins). Thankfully I tested this pattern with inexpensive fabric first, as opposed to the $19/m fabric I'd wanted to buy.

I suspect they would fit someone with 34 inch hips, which mine decidedly aren't, and I am shipping them to someone they may fit.

I Made a Skirt

I sewed a skirt this past weekend:

The shape is based on Badgley Mischka pattern from Vogue, V1127, but I added an extra inch at the waist, and a waistband.

And I wore it to the Smut Soiree:

{Because I love Hollywood gossip.}

A Functional Muslin

I sewed myself a dress this weekend:

It is incredibly disappointing to spend several (20) hours sewing something, only to find it doesn't fit or it fits strangely. And if you have used $30/metre fabric? Oh la; that disappointment is then also compounded by frustration. I don't like to make muslins, though, and when I do, I like to at least chance making something I can wear in public. I use the pattern-ease measurements as a guide and I test it out with some $5/metre fabric as a muslin-making compromise. As I did here.

(B5316: an out-of-print Butterick pattern).

This Thing I Have I for Purple

I have a thing for purple, as evidenced by fabrics I chose for the Rachel Comey shirt, the Cynthia Rowley dress, and this current Vena Cava dress I made myself.

The pattern was very simple, with an invisible zipper that, to be honest, never needs to be used, french seams, and two pleats.

Were I to offer any useful suggestion to would-be sewers of V1228, it would be to choose your fabric carefully, because as much as I dig this print, the fabric itself has a serious static problem and I almost have to walk around with a spray can of static guard to have any hope of winning the battle against a dress that rides up.

Finger Painting

Cloth napkins are due for a comeback.

I made a set as a Christmas gift for my friend Claire. She told me her colour preferences. When it came time to buy fabric, pink was the only colour on her list that I could remember. I know when people say they like pink, they're particular about the shade, but this finger paint print was too interesting to pass up.

Easy Little Dress

Right after graduating, with time on my hands and no idea what was in store for me, I had this crazy idea that I would make myself some clothes for work. I had some wool left over from a bowtie project I undertook two years ago, which turned out to be enough for a little shift. The local pattern/fabric store had a sale on Vogue patterns, and I bought several work dress patterns. This was the first of those that I made, last June, in between studying for an exam and moving.

The neckline and torso were a little fussy:

V1156, an Anne Klein New York pattern (So many darts. So much pressing. So much topstitching.).

It gets worn at least every other week, so, for as much frustration as it caused me in the making, I would make it again.

On the Top

My life is a lot about work these days. It's easily what I spend 85% of my waking hours doing and thinking about. And I try to keep that other 15% saved for interesting things. I haven't been sewing much lately, and when I had some spare time Saturday, Greg and I went for a walk to a coffee shop a few blocks from here and then to find a 2012 day planner. But, before we left, I had him take some photos of a shirt I made a couple of months ago, back when I was better at work-life balance:

A Rachel Comey for Vogue pattern.

And, I am truly digging espresso these days. Easily, when it happens, the best part of my morning.

Needle Roll Redux

Kate is a good friend, who happens to be a fellow knitter. She visited me while I was living in Toronto this summer and, among other things, we went to Lettuce Knit. She picked up a needle roll and might have bought it, but I offered to make her one for her birthday if she a) promised not to buy herself one and b) forgot that I offered. She turned 25 last week. So, using bespoke uprising fat quarters, I made one for her this afternoon. Thankfully we're celebrating her birthday tomorrow. Otherwise, I'd be late.

the same dress worn three times in two weeks

Some school friends were getting married and invited the bf and I to their wedding. Greg was in the wedding party and was wearing a tux. I wanted to make a dress. After surveying my sister and two friends, I decided on a Cynthia Rowley pattern from Simplicity. I didn't like the trendy sleeve, so I made a proper short sleeve. I spent four hours trying to sew in pockets, eventually deciding to abandon them. I spent the better part of a day fussing about with the facing, eventually ripping it all out and trusting my instincts instead of the pattern instructions.



I wore it to the wedding and received a compliment from a wedding guest I didn't know. I wore it out to my goodbye roommate dinner. I plan to wear it again to a party later this week.



A good choice, I'd say.

Things you tend to forget about yourself

I don't like wearing prints, but find I keep buying them when I'm at the fabric store. I suppose it's because fabric is displayed on bolts and prints jump out at you, while solids really kinda don't. Anyhow, I bought a pattern and made myself a dress. I'm feeling sort of meh about it, but I had an award to present yesterday and it was an award presentation appropriate dress (worn with jacket). It has also been a theatre-going appropriate dress, and it will be, I suppose, a brunch-appropriate dress at some point, too.



I made view A:

Needle Roll

I love the needle roll my sister made for me, and Aurelie was in need of one for her expanding knitting needle collection, so, I made her one as a birthday gift. I used a Repeat fat quarter, a Ro Fagan print, and some blue cotton.

Happy birthday Aurelie!

Repeat

Recently bought Repeat fabrics:

Plan to come.

A Dress of Average Difficulty (and a Matching Bowtie)

The Dalhousie Legal Aid Clinic hosted a Mad Men-themed fundraiser this past Saturday night. I had a retro Butterick pattern that I hadn't used yet, which was a 1960's style, and so, perfect. I also had a pair of green suede shoes. I brought the shoes to the fabric store, found some silk in the same shade of green, and made myself a dress.



I also made a matching bowtie for Greg.

Bowtie: or, how to throw your boyfriend off the scent of a handknit sweater

One weekend last spring, my roommate came home from her family's farmhouse with an armload of old knitting magazines. We spent Sunday afternoon looking at the patterns, but then stacked them under the coffee table and spent the rest of the semester focused on studying. At some point during the summer, I started thinking about the patterns in the books. And I formed the bold and ridiculous idea to risk the knitters superstition and knit my boyfriend a sweater for Christmas.
Because I needed to know what size would fit, I first tried tracing out a sweater he owned. I eventually thought better of relying on my quick highlighter-on-newspaper job and asked if I could take his measurements. I told him it was for a bowtie and vest combo I was going to make him. I have no idea if he believed me, but he didn't ask any questions. And I did end up making him a bowtie for his birthday, to match a shirt I bought to match the sweater.

Bowtie-making is seriously quick and easy work.

Bowtie pattern: http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/david
Bowtie tying instructions: http://josephhall.org/nqb2/media/bow_tie.jpg

Reckless, or, This Could Have Gone Horribly Wrong

Despite many weeks spent thinking about the dress in advance of the event:
2 Days before - couldn't decide on a pattern. Bought two, picked one and cut it out.
Night before (and until 4am) - made bodice sans muslin.
Day of - drafted new skirt pattern, abandonned it. Added pockets to the original pattern, ripped them out. Sewed skirt, sans muslin.
8 pm that night - realised the bodice was far far too big and so made a last minute and temporary alteration.
9:30pm - made it to pre-party.