Bits and Pieces #2

I've been away for a few days (mainly, boringly, at hospital appointments, although the upshot of those are that I am definitely better, hurrah).

It's a plus sized sweatersack. Yay.

I just got the new BurdaStyle magazine (10/2012) and my overall reaction is: meh. Of things in my skill range, very little grabs me. The plus sizes are all (again) sack-like in the extreme except for that one dress I posted previously. In the main section there were one or two other items that I liked but nothing that amazed me. The bizarre semi-furry coats, however, should go away and never return. D:

Semi-furry coat, as suggested by Burda

I quite like some of the jersey tops though, and a blouse, and the both of the dresses I linked previously look like they might be within my skill range, with some effort. I also liked a couple of the other tops, but they are not in my (current) size, so they can go on hold until some possible future date. I am possibly more excited by next month's preview and the potential patterns in the Burda Style Special: Classic magazine due at the end of the month, which seems to have some good patterns. I've ordered both for now.

Simplicity 5351

Meanwhile, I made some progress this evening on my next skirt, Simplicity 5351. I'm making view C, unhelpfully unlabelled in this picture, but it's the one on the top row on the right in pink. It's knee length, and it's actually extremely simple, just three pattern pieces (yoke, middle, sides). Tonight I got my pattern traced and the skirt and interlining cut out. My plan is to do the sewing for the interlining tomorrow evening and then assemble it over Saturday/Sunday/Monday as time around my thesis permits.

I also realized, belatedly, that nowhere in my wardrobe planning had I included a simple black skirt, so I've added skirt #5 to my list of things to do. I've got my eye on some black wool, since it's a late autumn/winter skirt I'm aiming for, but now I have to match it to a pattern. I am quite tempted to make another pencil skirt as I already have a few different patterns.

And finally, I made a decision on what to do when all these skirts are done, and that is to get started with learn to sew knits. In the first instance, I'm going to make some PJs with some unfortunately floral cotton jersey that I acquired but was not very excited about. I have a raglan t-shirt pattern I'm going to use for that, although the pattern number escapes me at present. I think it's for the best if the first thing I make with a knit is something that isn't for public viewing!

Once I've got the hang of knits a bit, I'm also going to contemplate the HotPatterns Sunshine Top in more detail. I am not sure it's the perfect top to start with, if only because HotPatterns instructions seem to err towards the terse and unillustrated, but there's 30+ reviews of this top so I feel confident any problems I encounter will already have been explained by someone. I did trace it ages ago, but I'm not sure I got the right size, and I don't know where I put my tracing.

First though, I need ball point needles, overlocker thread, and sundry other minor items. I might take a small break and make some bags instead while I work up the energy to acquire all of those things!