Heatwave sewing

Since I last posted I've been, well, (a) ill, just for a change, but more interestingly also (b) enjoying MANY consecutive days of sunshine and warmth in the UK, which is a vanishingly rare occurrence.Yay, sunshine!

I did think (and write) that I really wanted to make some shorts for myself for this summer, but let's be honest, sewing trousers when you still haven't got fit sorted out is traumatic and exhausting at the best of times, let alone in unusually hot weather while feeling under par. So instead, just before the heatwave hit, I dug out three pairs of last year's RTW summer trousers to cut down into shorts. They are notionally one size too big due to intervening weight change, but I decided I could live with them being a bit baggy. Hey presto: wardrobe gap filled. And not before time, since I've more or less lived in my "new" shorts ever since. I still plan to do Yet Another Great Big Trouser Fitting Bonanza at some point this year but for sure not until the weather cools down and I feel better.

In the meantime, aside from the times when I could not face having a hot steam iron anywhere near me and abandoned all thoughts of sewing, I moved on to other, non-trouser related, summer plans. Alas, mostly what I accomplished was a wealth of mediocrity.

1: Dress #1 (Ottobre 02-2016-9/10/11)

I plan to make a few dresses this summer. Dress #1 is simplest item on the list, a shift dress. I wanted a really basic, uncomplicated pattern because I had picked out a busy print from my stash for it. In the end, I went with a pattern from the ever-reliable Ottobre, an A-line knee length dress from the 02-2016 issue.

Ottobre 02-2016 patterns 9.10 and 11

These three patterns (numbers 9, 10 and 11) are basically all the same dress with minor variations in fastening and sleeve length (and 10 obviously is also colour blocked). I didn't want have to pattern match my fabric across a centre back zip so I went with the keyhole back that you can just make out in patterns 9 and 11, with the short sleeve from pattern 10.

I originally bought 3m of the cotton-with-a-bit-of-lycra fabric I used for this dress and I had exactly enough left after using some of it already to make pyjamas last year. Having already made something with it, I already know it doesn't have the best longevity. My PJs faded badly after only a few washes and it really doesn't recover well when stretched. However, I figured it would make for a good wearable muslin: I made this dress fully intending to wear it, but also aware that it might not last very long.

Ottobre 02-2016-11 (but with short sleeves) in a navy/blue/white print

I made a size 44 with my usual fit adjustments (lowered the bust dart, rounded back, square shoulder) but NOT a narrow shoulder adjustment. When I looked at the pattern, it seemed like on this occasion the 44 was a good width at the shoulder for me, and indeed it did turn out that way. As this dress is unfitted below the bust, I didn't bother to blend to a smaller size for my lower body.

Design-wise, I made two small changes: I found the short sleeve to be an unflattering length and ended up sewing a deep hem and turning it up with a little cuff, which I like. I also lowered the neckline by about 3cm. If I were making it again, I would lower the neckline even more to a deeper scoop. I just don't like jewel/high necklines on me at all. Unfortunately, the neckline change meant having to completely re-draw the one-piece facing that goes around the front neckline and the teardrop shaped opening at the back.

Back view: tear drop opening fastened with a single button (looks OK at this distance! Up close, not so much.)

Overall, my finished dress feels very mediocre. If I were making it again, I would not make the keyhole back, partly because the dress functions perfectly well as a pullover with the deeper neckline I drew in, but partly because it looks awful and I hate facings. It looks all right from a distance in this photo, I guess, but up close: ugh, the facings and also, ugh, the way the little crossover at the top came out. Despite my very best efforts, that pointy overlap bit ended up looking really rough and amateur. Also, I need to re-do the rounded back adjustment if I make it again. I merged the dart from the adjustment into the existing back neckline dart, but the outcome of this was entirely too Quasimodo-esque and doesn't look good at all.

In conclusion: as a wearable muslin it is indeed perfectly wearable, but there is plenty of room for improvement. Luckily, all my major problems with the dress are at the back where I can't see them to be annoyed by them, so I'll probably carry on wearing it quite happily.

2: A Wacky Burda Top (Burda 07-2014-112)

Burda 07-2014-112 (images from Burdastyle.ru)

Next up was a ridiculous top from Burda. I hardly ever make things from the July issues of Burda because I think the editors get into the swing of summer by drinking gallons of sangria before they pick the patterns for these issues. Nevertheless, this pattern has been on my Wacky Tops list since the issue came out, and, perhaps addled by the heat, I decided to make it last week. Again, this version is kind of a throwaway attempt at the pattern. I had the idea I might make it up with another, much more precious fabric, but I decided to try it out with this very inexpensive patterned viscose first.

Finished Burda 07-2014-112 on Flossie -- looks like a big square of fabric in this view

I made one intentional change to the pattern: I sewed the shoulders a little bit wider than the pattern indicated for bra strap coverage. However, I also, accidentally, omitted to sew the back neck correctly. I actually woke myself up the day after I finished it going OH NO! I DIDN'T GATHER THE BACK NECK! which makes me wonder what on earth I was dreaming about that that was uppermost in my mind when I surfaced from sleep. It means the back doesn't lie as it should, probably, but I'm not really sure it makes a huge amount of difference to the finished product.

But it's actually this shape! See how wide the lower hem is though?

As weird as it is, I actually like this top! I like the way it's sleeveless without actually being the sort of strappy top that has your entire shoulders and arms on show. I like the weird drapery at the sides. I like how floaty and loose it is. I feel vaguely like I should have an urn or a lute to hold, as it feels slightly Ancient Greek in style. On the other hand, I'll probably always have to wear something under it because if you hold your arms up at all you can see clear daylight through from one armhole to the other. Also, the back keyhole is VERY low. If I made it again, I'd cut the keyhole shorter or maybe just omit it altogether and deepen the scoop at the front to make it a pullover. I also think there's too much volume at the lower hem. I think it could do with being a closer fit through the hip.

The (oops) ungathered back neckline and tie and the REALLY LOW keyhole

There is, however, a real sewing flaw in this: the ultra skinny bias binding on the neckline. This is a sewing problem I've had before, especially with Burda who tend to give you tiny seam allowances to work with at the neckline. However, because in this case the binding extends into a tie at the back I couldn't really change it to something easier to sew. I am actually relieved I didn't remember to do the gathering on the back because I can't imagine how I would have squeezed gathers into the tiny binding. I guess the binding looks OK from a distance, but it's dreadful up close.

Close up of the skinny (messy) binding.

Overall: Wacky but fun! However, I wish I hadn't struggled so much with the binding and I'll probably keep looking for a pattern for my more precious fabric as I don't think this is quite right for it.

On me. Observe the massive volume in the side view!

3: A popped balloon (top) (Burda 04-2013-112)

Burda call this top a Balloon Top -- it's basically a simple sleeveless top with wide straps with a second, pleated and twisted layer over the top. I thought this was really pretty in the checked fabric Burda showed it in, and again, it's been on my list a while.

Burda 04-2013-112 Balloon Top (images from Burda)

Alas, my version was a wadder. I got 90% of the way through sewing it, then, as instructed, pinned together the top edges/straps in order to figure out exactly how long they needed to be. At that point I discovered:

Burda 04-2013-112: My wadder version in purple checked seersucker -- front view and side view showing the problem with the back -- straps are only pinned in place but it obviously wasn't working.

(a) I REALLY don't like how high square necklines look on me. Maybe it's because I have fairly square shoulders, but, wow, it was just DEEPLY unflattering. Now, ordinarily if I don't like a neckline I'll hack at it a bit until I do, but it was hard to see how I could fix this one. I tried to pin it in a better shape and NOPE, it wasn't working.

(b) The upper part of the bodice was the wrong size. I've been doing a LOT of narrow shoulder adjustments over the last 6-9 months, one way or another, but somehow I didn't realize that my problems with Burda's shoulder width would also impact this top (which was pretty dumb of me, I admit). It was way too wide at the level of my underarm, if that makes sense, and this of course meant the straps ended up too wide-set as well, even though I cut a 42 through the armhole. I knew from the modelled photos in the magazine that the front might drop into a little bit of a cowl, but I wasn't prepared for the mess at the back. It had just way too much width between the shoulder blades and it therefore stood away from my body and drooped unattractively (much like it does on Flossie in the photo).

(c) My fabric was a poor choice for the pattern. The pattern says poplin as one of the the options (the other being crepe de chine) but I don't think it worked at all well in a crisp fabric. I chose to use a very lightweight seersucker check. I really like the effect of the twisted check, but the fabric made for very bulky seams at the upper neckline edge that couldn't be pressed into submission, and it doesn't have the sort of drape that would have made this look pretty.

(d) My fabric was a poor choice in life. I've said this before but apparently can't learn from my mistakes: CRINKLED FABRICS ARE THE DEVIL. They're awful to cut, they press poorly, they're hard to interface, and just, ugh, no, bad idea. I bought this seersucker earlier this year, sucked in by how pretty the purple/blue/white/silver combination was, but NEVER AGAIN. I spent ages trying to find a pattern I didn't have to interface and, well, see how well THAT turned out. So no: no more crinkled fabrics.

In conclusion: Wadder! I am trying to embrace the learning experience, but I have to admit my internal constructive critique was interspersed on this occasion with me asking myself why exactly I choose to pursue such a terrible hobby.

Rescued fabric made into Ottobre 05-2011-02 PJ shorts

I disassembled the top and this morning recut the fabric and sewed up a pair of PJ shorts from the remnants. It makes for stupidly expensive PJs because I used 2m of expensive fabric and ended up with something I usually only use 70cm of fabric to make, but whatever, at least I was able to salvage something useful from the wadder, right? And my PJs turned out great (as they should do, as they are made with a super easy pattern I've used a dozen times). The other good thing to come from this is that at least I know now that I really don't like that shape of neckline and I'll know to avoid making anything similar! This is relevant because I have two separate dress patterns on my "Burda Favourites" list that have a very similar shape to them -- wide, high, square necklines. I've always been dubious about them, and now I know for sure: NOPE, not for me!

Up next: I have a few more summer things on my list that I want to make soon so that I get plenty of use out of them this year, but I'm not quite sure exactly what I want to make next. I've got three more dresses planned and I'm probably most excited about those, but two of them need muslins and the other involves lots and lots of fiddly sewing. I've also got a pair of hilarious StyleArc trousers that I may just make and see how they turn out, a button-fronted vintage style blouse, and a jacket in my queue. :D

And moving swiftly on...

My last post was full of ambitious plans for spring/March and here we are on the 19th April and, as the recent radio silence might suggest, I have to tell you that I accomplished pretty much none of them. The last six or seven weeks have gone something like this:

- Minor illness (just a cold, but ugh, it seemed to go on forever)
- Apathy about sewing anything for warmer weather because it was so. damn. cold. and wintery for most of March, which turned into:
- Apathy about sewing anything at all for any reason, or really doing anything other than sitting around in a miserable heap. (I don't know why, I just had a serious case of the Idon'twannas for a couple of weeks about literally everything that wasn't essential to survival.)
- The Return Of The Major Withdrawal Symptoms, and all the fun times that go with them, which I am just now bouncing back from.

In the midst of all that, I feel like I've pretty much missed the window for sewing for Spring! Over the last couple of weeks, I have managed a few easy, essential projects for my wardrobe:

PJs in pink gingham

I made a couple of pairs of PJs (one capri length pair for spring/autumn, one pair of shorts for summer) in pink gingham using my trusty PJ TNTs (capris: Burda 8721, shorts: Ottobre 05-2011-02).

Navy cardigan and curved hem jumper

I also made two quick and easy repeats from a 3m piece of textured navy knit, using Simplicity 1733 to make a cardigan and Ottobre 02-2016-05 to make a lightweight sweater with a curved/hi-lo hem. I've made exactly this combination of patterns from a single piece of fabric before, and it worked out so well and I've worn those garments so often that I barely even thought about it before I slapped the patterns down on my fabric. The more I sew, the more I love having a library of reliable, repeatable patterns as well as having the constant novelty from my pattern magazines etc.

Although it barely merits a mention on the creativity scale, in the midst of all my misery I did also manage to work through a basketful of tiny, annoying sewing jobs: hemming trousers that I bought unhemmed, fixing seams and hems in garments that had come apart in the wash (and, I must tell you, of the half a dozen things that needed repair, only one of them was hand-made -- it's the RTW stuff that falls apart!) and cutting down/hemming a pair of RTW trousers into shorts.


Even though I didn't get around to the larger, more ambitious projects on my sewing plan, wardrobe-wise I do have almost everything I need for Spring. Everything else -- and in particular my plans for a raincoat -- will just have to wait until I start thinking about cooler weather sewing again after the summer.

For now though, I'm starting to think ahead to summer sewing. I've only two absolute essential garments that I absolutely must make this year: a lightweight cardigan, which should be straightforward and quick, and a pair of shorts, which requires me to re-open the whole question of making trousers that fit and is therefore not straightforward at all. D:

My list of wants (rather than needs), is much longer and potentially more interesting, and covers a little bit of everything from outerwear (I have a slightly odd cotton fabric to turn into a lightweight blazer), to summer skirts and dresses, to woven tops. First up, though, I still need to choose and make a project for my April magazine challenge, and most likely that is what I'll be back with next. :D

The perils of an ill-timed sneeze and other stories

A few things to share from this month so far:

First, a Wishlist Challenge entry! Back in April 2013, I made a top with a printed viscose fabric that I loved. It was a simple New Look woven tee pattern with a dolman sleeve and a scooped neckline. I decided to french seam it but, as this was right back near the start of my garment sewing adventures, did so sufficiently ineptly that sections of the seams shredded after about the third wash.

The original top that I made in 2013

This would not have been a total disaster, except past!me decided that the thing to do would be to disassemble the top by violently unpicking the side seams so that they ended up badly shredded but then cutting through the bias binding at the neckline, etc. rather than unpicking it. Er. What? Why?! At any rate, I squirreled the remnants away in the hope that I would find a way to make use of it at some point in the future, and put "find a way to use that pink floral viscose!" on my Wishlist.

Plan A: something like this Burda pattern (06-2017-123A)

I was inspired to get on with this item on the list by one of the Plus patterns in the 06/2017 issue of Burda. I couldn't actually cut the pattern out of the fabric that I had, but I decided I could definitely make something similar with the pieces I had plus some plain ivory viscose. This had the advantage also of allowing me to cut off the raggedy remains of the previous seams. So, that was Plan A, with a mental note to possibly come back to this pattern and make it up properly in the future.

Alas, Plan A was not successful, for the most ridiculous of reasons. I was nearly finished, and it actually looked great, but then disaster struck. As I was overlocking a shoulder seam, I suddenly sneezed violently and I guess in the process pressed hard on the foot pedal of my overlocker. The whole overlocking situation suddenly got out of hand and I ended up cutting a MASSIVE hole in the fabric near the shoulder. Let this be a lesson to all of us: if about to sneeze, remove your foot from the foot pedal!

Plan B: Burda 05-2015-124

After sneezing some more and then nearly committing violence because after all that work I couldn't believe I'd done something so comically stupid (because no, seriously, who creates wadders by SNEEZING?) I moved fairly swiftly on to Plan B. Plan B involved a pattern I'd previously earmarked as a possibility for this project, Burda 05-2015-124. This is a regular sized pattern, and I made my usual size 44.

This is one of those patterns that it would be really easily to just completely ignore in Burda. The styling of the modelled version is really not to my taste, and the line drawing kind of looks like nothing -- a box with sleeves. But, as is often the case with Burda, it has some great little details. The seamline at the bust creates a nicely shaped dart. The hemline shape is also really pretty. In a drapey viscose fabric, it doesn't look nearly as boxy on as the line drawing.

Burda 05-2015-124 made with remnants of the pink top + contrast ivory

Sorry the photo is so dark! As you can probably JUST ABOUT see, I had to retain the stripe in the lower body section down the side seam from the Plan A version of this top, which is not part of this pattern. I don't think it's too intrusive, but I really had no choice. I also managed to squeeze out enough bias tape to do a contrast binding at the neckline. The only thing I don't really like about the finished top is the neckline. I just omitted the keyhole neckline because I dislike them, but I thought the width of the neckline would fit easily over my head anyway. However, I forgot that I find Burda necklines are often too wide and/or too low, and this neckline is just a LITTLE too wide. If I cut this again, I will have to alter that.

Despite sneezing fits, this was eventually a success, and I am really pleased to have this fabric somehow back in my wardrobe!

Burda 06-2017-126 (images from Burdastyle)

Next, I was idly flipping through my copy of Burda 06/2017 I'd left out from when I was formulating Plan A, and decided to move right on to a Magazine Challenge and make up 06-2017-126. I know, it's yet another wacky top from Burda, but look how adorable the model looks in her top! And I rather like the weird little back drape! 

My sad attempt at Burda 06-2017-126

 However, did mine turn out that cute? No. No it did not. I had every possible problem with it. The fabric fought me every step of the way and point blank refused to go through my overlocker (why, I don't know, I tried for a solid HOUR to get it to work, but the thread snapped after 2-3 stitches no matter what settings I tried). I moved to my regular sewing machine and a stretch stitch, which was better, but then I discovered, 75% of the way through construction, that I had attached the upper and lower back pieces incorrectly, and much unpicking, recutting and redoing followed. Then I screwed up the neckband had to unpick it. I was just thinking about how to rescue the neckband when little seeds of doubt about that back drape feature and the knit fabric I had used made me decide to try the top on, neckband problems and all and... no. A WORLD OF NO, in fact. It didn't drape nicely as in the image, it just sort of sat there and looked like a misplaced lump of fabric in my centre back. Ugh. Sad to say, this went straight in the recycling bin.

To be fair to Burda, most of these were problems of my own making, but if you happened to want to make this top, I STRONGLY recommend a VERY slinky, drapey knit. Mine seemed drapey enough when I picked it out for this pattern, but it really wasn't. Also, this is again what I would call a typical Burda neckline, which is to say: very deep and very wide. If I had finished it, I would have had to wear something under it.

Summer PJs

In desperate need of a unicorn chaser, the next time I went into my sewing room I decided to make something VERY EASY. Thus: summer PJs. The bottoms are my TNT Ottobre sleep shorts (Ottobre 05-2011-02), and the top is a men's tee pattern, Knipmode 07-2017-22. I like my sleep tees large and baggy, and women's patterns are always too fitted for me to be comfortable in to sleep. I tried a simple pattern off the internet previously without much success, but since I had this Knipmode pattern available I decided to use it. I really like it and will use it again, although I need to bring the neckline in a little (again!) It's a very dull entry in my Magazine Challenge for this month, but hey, it's a pattern from this year's magazines! Good enough for me!


The last piece of July's news is that, after a couple of little windfalls, I decided to go mad and replace my overlocker. My old one was second-hand from eBay. I bought it in 2012 for £50, and I've used it a LOT, so it didn't really owe me anything. Recently, I've been getting a bit frustrated with it for various reasons. I was idly looking to see what there was in my price range on my preferred vendor site for sewing machines, spotted a discounted ex-display model and, well, you can guess the rest of the story!

New overlocker!! And my first project with it, a StyleArc Estelle cardigan in a reversible black/grey knit

Once I learned how to thread the machine and practiced a bit to get a feel for it, I wanted to actually make something. I have next to nothing left in my summer sewing queue and no knits at all, so I dragged this unseasonal project forward from my autumn sewing queue: yet another StyleArc Estelle cardigan, this time in a two-sided knit, dark grey on one side and black on the other. Having made four of these previously, I could really focus on getting to know the overlocker while I sewed. It came out really well, and was definitely a good pattern to pick to practice with the new machine, because it has a bit of everything -- long straight seams, curves, a couple of little fiddly bits. I probably won't wear it until autumn, but it won't come to any harm hanging in my wardrobe for few weeks extra.

Overall, I am SO PLEASED that I upgraded my overlocker. The stitch quality is MUCH better, it's a LOT quieter and it's easier to use than my old machine. It isn't particularly easier or faster to thread, but there's nothing particularly complicated in the threading either. It's a little different than my old one, but not so much that it wasn't fairly obvious what I had to do. I did have a couple of false starts with the threading, but honestly, if you can thread a new-to-you overlocker right the first time then I am just going to start shouting WITCHCRAFT! WITCHCRAFT! at you anyway.

And.. that brings me up to date! :D This week I am working on bags, and cutting out a pattern for my August Wishlist item because I want to put some serious thought into pattern placement on my fabric. That wishlist entry and finishing up a jacket are all I have left in my summer queue, which is timely since I plan to start sewing for autumn in mid-August. More about all of that in due course!

Little repeats for the end of summer

My sewing time for the last week or so has been dedicated to tidying up the loose ends of my summer sewing queue. A few things never made it out of the planning stage, but it was actually a pretty successful season of sewing for me overall. I did have three little easy projects that I wanted to finish up before I officially called time on summer sewing for 2016.

Very easy repeats: Liberty print PJ shorts and a white tee

The first two are multiple repeats and very dull. I made a pair of Liberty cotton print PJ shorts using my TNT (tried 'n true) pattern Ottobre 05-2011-02. Using Liberty cotton for PJs probably seems decadent, but I actually bought the fabric for £5/m at the factory shop in Lancaster.

I also had already cut out a plain white tee (using my basic tee pattern based on New Look 6150) but I was being lazy about re-threading my overlocker & coverstitch machines. Since I happened to have re-threaded for the white blouse I made last week, I got my t-shirt pieces out and ran it up quickly. I don't know why I always act like re-threading my machines is this terrible onerous chore that takes hours of my sewing time. I've timed myself before and it rarely takes more than five minutes.

Some pins from my Pinterest board that inspired my last project

The last thing on my list is one of those "inspired by my Pinterest board" projects. I like to scroll through some of my boards sometimes and see if I can spot any trends or patterns in what I'm pinning. I noticed I'd pinned a lot of lightweight woven or woven/knit mix raglan tops with patterned or textured body pieces and plain sleeves (or occasionally vice versa). It struck me that it would be useful to figure out a nice TNT pattern for that kind of top because it could potentially be a good way to use a small piece of fabric and/or tone down a really dramatic print.

I picked out a plain white and a white/green patterned viscose from my fabric stash to try this out and then I went pattern hunting in my stash. Can I just say again how much I love my magazine collection? If I'm looking for a straightforward pattern I'll always find one somewhere in my magazines.

Burda Plus S/S 2013 #433 Raglan sleeve tunic -- images from Burdastyle.de

As it turned out, I had actually totally forgotten about this pattern, from Burda Plus S/S 2013, that I tried out once waaaaay back at the beginning of my garment sewing adventures. I think it might have been the first thing I ever actually finished from Burda. At the time I did all sorts of wacky adjustments, about which the less said the better, and I think I only wore the top about twice.

Burda Plus S/S 2013 433 in green and white viscose with white viscose sleeves

On this occasion I made more or less a straight size 44, as is my current wont with tops in Burda. It's a long top as written -- 76cm at the centre back. I cut the length much shorter and also drew in a shirt-tail hem, very slightly longer at the back than the front, which I stole from a shirt pattern I made some ago, the Pauline Alice Carme. I almost never tuck any of my tops in so my hems are always visible. I've taken to using shaped hem patterns or drawing my own in almost every time because I think it looks more interesting (and probably more flattering) than a straight horizontal hem. I'm pleased with my fabric combination and I do think the top as a whole is quite pretty.

However, overall I don't think the shape of the neckline is particularly flattering to my shoulders -- too wide and shallow -- and I don't especially like how the fabric drapes around my bust. A lot of the alternative woven raglans in my stash have a ton of gathering and are very voluminous, in the peasant-blouse style, and I liked that this particular pattern is more streamlined. However, I've found a sort of middle ground pattern that I might try next, Burda 10-2014-135. The neckline is more of a scoop and has a couple of small pleats at centre front. I really like the way the sample blouses (there are a couple of variations in the magazine) drape at the bust on the models, and while I do know that relying on the modelled images is a fool's game, I think I might give it a go anyway.

If I do, I'll be making my top long-sleeved, as I am now going to embark on my autumn sewing. My sewing queue for this autumn is heavy on outerwear because I still don't have much and I am determined to fill that gap with sewing rather than RTW. I'll also be going back to work on trousers imminently, this time armed with the world's largest supply of gingham fabric and hopefully some new ideas on how to approach my fitting problems.

Small things

Sometimes it's really satisfying to just whip up a pile of easy little things. In the last few days I've made:

1. PJ shorts (using larger scraps)

Ottobre 05-2011-02 'Sweet Dreams' PJ shorts made with remnants

These pyjama shorts are repeats of an easy-peasy pattern (Ottobre 05-2011-02 'Sweet Dreams') that I've now made 8 times including these versions. Rather boring, but necessary as I just got rid of a couple of pairs and I operate on a one-out-one-in rule with PJs. I'm always happy too to use up some of the bigger scraps lurking in my basket.


2. Simple woven slips

I made some half slips to go under skirts/dresses I have either already made or that I'm planning to make in the next few weeks. To make these I more or less followed Gertie's half-slip tutorial, without the lace or the bow. They're just single seam rectangles with a hem and a lingerie elastic waist -- dead simple stuff. I did add a side vent on the green one for extra movement ease. I didn't think of this in time to do so on the navy one, but it's short enough (due to fabric constraints) that my stride isn't restricted. This was also partly a scrap busting exercise as the navy viscose slip was made with the remnants of the (difficult to sew) fabric I used very recently to make a shirt.

I don't know why, but my camera REFUSED to take a decent photo of either of these, maybe in protest over how boring it was?

The green cotton one came out all right but the navy one is definitely not the prettiest or best made thing ever. My experience with the shifty, shreddy viscose was not particularly any easier this time around for all that I was just sewing it into a tube. On the plus side, that particular fabric is now all gone and I never have to sew with it again. I really don't care overly about the flaws given the function of a slip precludes it being seen by anyone but me!


3. Another Jasmin tee

Cozy Little World Jasmin tee in white

I could tell you a long boring version of why I needed to make a white t-shirt this week, but suffice to say: my decision to buy an inexpensive white tee in order to "free up time to sew more interesting things" turned out to be nothing like a good plan. Anyway, I've been wearing both of my two previous Jasmin tees in the recent spell of hot weather (!!) we've been having in England and I really love them. I didn't even hesitate to pull this pattern out again for another version this week. For a knit, this fabric is awfully prone to crease! You'd never know I pressed this specially to take the photo!

4. Wanderling progress

Another thing I've been doing is forcing myself to really just get on with finishing my Wanderling jumper. It's been lurking around in my knitting bag for months sans sleeves and I was almost entirely sans enthusiasm for finishing it. I'd pick it up every few weeks and knit a centimetre or two and then grind to a halt again. It wasn't that I don't like the jumper, I was just being bored/lazy/unmotivated/all of the above about it.

Wanderling jumper progress as of this morning (11th May): body and one sleeve done, just about 5cm into the second sleeve

Even though it's now totally unseasonal, I've decided this is going to be the month when I just hammer my way through the tedious stocking stitch that I have left to do and finish it already. I am thus happy to report that the Wanderling current status is: one sleeve done, second sleeve underway! I can't see any reason why I won't finish this month provided I keep plugging way.

Next up: I'm mired in pattern indecision on my summer outerwear project (a linen jacket). I keep thinking I've made a decision and then backtracking. In the meantime, I've got some other less paralyzing projects to start on, including a couple of summer skirts.

Nothing But Repeats (Kwik Sew 3555 and Ottobre 05-2011-02)

This was my week last week in drastically summarized format: endless nausea, crisis, flailing, bad news, panic, really really bad news, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Vile.

On Friday night, I decided that such an appalling week merited a whole weekend of sewing for as much time as I felt well. I also decided that life is too short and uncertain to mess around hoarding fabric until some ~~magical moment arrives when I am definitely good enough at sewing to cut into it. Happily, I then felt well almost all weekend, and as a consequence I got THREE separate things finished, and used some of my favourite stashed fabric. I know there are people who can't bear to make the same pattern twice, but when I just want to SEW and not faff about with tracing/fitting/etc, repeats, and especially EASY repeats, always seem like an excellent idea to me.

Kwik Sew 3555: The short-sleeved linen plaid edition

I have used this pattern once before, back in March, when I made a stripy blue shirt with long sleeves. At the time I made it, I was not entirely excited about the pattern or the outcome -- I liked it, sure, but I wasn't sure I'd use the pattern again -- but it's actually turned out to be something I really enjoy wearing. When I decided to cut into my gorgeous shirt-weight linen I have been hoarding since November 2013, this pattern instantly came to mind to use again since I knew it worked for me.

KS 3555

I made several changes. On the fitting front, when I made it in March I accidentally omitted a small square shoulder adjustment, which I fixed this time around.

Other than that, the changes are all cosmetic. I decided I wanted a short, sqaure-ish shirt this time, to match some the boxy shirts I've seen in shops. I therefore cut 11cm of the length at the hem compared to the previous version. This was maybe a little too much -- maybe 9cm would have been better. I decided to fold the facing back the other way from the instructions and top stitch near the edge, so it looks like a fake button band (which you can see in the detail shot below). I cut the short-sleeve option and folded back the sleeve hems to the front to make a fake cuff. I also used poppers with pearl tops rather than buttons. On the plus side: no button-holing drama! On the minus side: popper installation drama! I have 4 poppers on my shirt but I used 7 in total because of testing/screw-ups.

KS 3555 close-up

The shirt went together really well -- I got a nice finish on most of the details, and was particularly happy with the collar, though it's not perfect. I doubt I will ever get a perfect collar/collar band. It always seems like just when I think it is going absolutely smoothly and have just started to pat my own back and imagine myself writing a very smug "this collar is SO PERFECT" blog post, something immediately goes wrong and screws up all my hard work. I am also annoyed that the hem went very wavy when I was pressing/sewing it. I tried to steam it back into shape, but it's still a bit stretched out. I had the same problem with my chambray shirt though, and it seemed to sort itself out when it went through the wash, so I will keep my fingers crossed this does the same.

For the rest of the construction, it was just the usual shirt stuff i.e. flat felling everywhere. The inside of this shirt is actually gorgeous -- the only way you can really tell inside from outside is the dart and the hem at the bottom. I haven't 100% got the hang of flat felling the tight curve at the top of the sleeve head -- it looks OK, but it's not as nice as the rest of my flat-felling by any means. However, overall I'm pretty happy with the finish!

KS3555

The big problem with making this shirt, of course, was pattern matching. The fabric is 100% linen and it is HORRIBLY prone to stretching as you sew, even with my walking foot. I managed to get the front and side seams to match really well, but the yoke! D: Nightmare. In the end, I had a choice between two yoke pieces, one of which didn't match at all (see above) and one of which ALMOST matched, but was always just a BIT off. I ended up using the totally non-matchy version because somehow I found that less annoying, but I have been second guessing that decision ever since. I saw somebody once who said the best thing to do is cut the yoke in two and put it on the bias (an example), so you just don't even have to deal with the match/no match problem, but that occurred to me too late to do anything. I may try that next time I have a stripe or plaid. I also really need to look up how to get sleeve seams to match with checks. I managed to get the major stripe element to match horizontally on the sleeves, but the top of the sleeve head is otherwise a total hodge-podge of a non-matching mess.

However, I'm not really sure how much I really TRULY care about the inadequacies of my plaid matching. There's nothing eye-searingly wrong (other than the yoke, potentially) like the sides or centre front not matching up, which always drives me mad in cheap RTW. I guess the yoke might make some people twitch, but as it's on my back I won't see it to be bothered by it!

Other than the matching problem, this was a LOVELY fabric. I sort of worried that I actually wouldn't like it after I'd built it up into The Perfect Fabric in my head, but no such thing! I bought it at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Dublin in November 2013 from a little company called Fabric Affair, who weave it in Northern Ireland. They seem to want to sell to quilters, but I bought 2m of this fabric and 2.5m of blue and white stripe for €10/m (actually, I bought 2m of the blue stripe as well, but they threw in 0.5m because it was the end of the bolt!). At the moment it's still feeling quite buoyant and crisp, but I suspect that after more washing it will become more limp and drapey.

PJ Shorts -- Ottobre 05-2011-02

As my shirt only required 1.4m of fabric and I had 2m, I had a 60cm piece left, which is not a very useful length in my experience. Rather than put it back in stash I decided to use it immediately to make some linen PJs shorts. The pattern was already out because I previously I had a brainwave and decided to make up my elephant fabric, which I mentioned last week, into PJ shorts as well.

I really appreciated people's suggestions in my blog comments for how to use my 1m of elephants as a top, but I kept finding myself wondering when exactly I would wear an elephant top. The truth is, I think I like novelty prints more on the bolt than on my person. The only time I whole-heartedly embrace wacky prints is in my nightwear. Thus whereas I might only have worn an elephant top a couple of times this summer, these will probably be in the washing basket every week between now and the autumn. I have a bit left over too that I plan to use for pockets bags and facings for something else later in the year. The pattern is just my usual: Ottobre 05-2011-02, "Sweet Dreams" shorts, for the umpteenth time. Also as usual, in an attempt to pre-empt the over-laundered disintegration of my PJs, I french seamed everything in sight.

Ottobre 05-2011-02 in blue elephants and plaid linen

Next up: I am going to see if I can finish my New Look 6407 blouse. It's about half done, but ugh, very problematic on the fitting side of things. I may have figured out a way to rescue this particular version, but if I make it again it's going to need a LOT of work on fitting at the bust. Also, some boring but necessary t-shirts, assuming that the boring but necessary fabric I ordered arrives!

This indecision's buggin' me

I would like to report to you all that I have made substantial coat progress, but in fact I've made none whatsoever. In fact, I have been in a glump, and have neither sewn nor knitted anything in over a week while I waited out my glumpishness. 

Really, the problem was that I just couldn't decide whether I really WANTED the coat I would be making with the Ottobre pattern I chose, or if I would just find it to be wardrobe deadweight. This was not helped by my recent wardrobe spring cleaning efforts, when I hit upon a method to clean my old raincoat. It came up beautifully and doesn't therefore need to be replaced, and, as is well established, I am not generally in favour of making things I don't need. Moreover, there's a large part of me that thinks that fabric would make a much better trenchcoat type coat, rather than a casual coat. However, I really don't feel like I want to sew a trenchcoat right now.

Yesterday, though, I decided life is WAY too short for all this wibbling, and since I am mostly just not feeling the coat project at all in any way, I folded everything up and put it away again. That fabric will get made up into something eventually, I am sure, but today is not that day.

In order to kickstart myself back into actually doing something, I decided to spend my sewing time yesterday and today on a couple of little easy projects, plus some fabric re-organization. I spent some time hemming some too-long linen trousers I bought a few weeks ago. This isn't a particularly fun job but the trousers were unwearably long without this alteration and it actually doesn't take too long once I get started. So dull though, ugh, so I gave myself a couple of hours to re-organize my fabric as a reward. I am definitely someone who enjoys petting the fabric stash and seeing if I can find interesting matches between fabrics I own for future outfits. I came up with a couple of new ideas while I was folding and sorting my fabric tubs this time, plus everything is now tidy again after the recent influx of fabrics that I bought that probably I shouldn't have bought (do not even think about asking about my fabric fast!)

Obnoxiously floral PJ shorts (Ottobre 05-2011-02)

Finally, in the interests of actually making something, I cut out and sewed some PJ shorts for the summer. I used a fake Liberty print in rather nice pima cotton. I have to admit I wouldn't be seen dead in anything this flowery and bright in public, but I kind of love using it for PJs. I accidentally (well, "accidentally" -- due to stupidity more like) bought only 1m of this fabric towards the end of 2014, having originally intended to buy 2m for long PJ trousers, and it's been lurking in stash waiting for warm weather ever since. The pattern is Ottobre 05-2011-02, a simple elasticated waist PJ short pattern that I have used several times before. It should really only take an hour to make at this point, but I've discovered that I really like my PJs sewn with French seams for both neatness and longevity, which basically doubles the time it takes to make them.

Morris Blazer by Grainline

At the risk of jinxing myself, I think I have dragged myself out of my glump, and I am now contemplating with some considerable interest (a) my existing summer sewing plans; and also (b) the new Morris blazer pattern from Grainline, which I bought when it came out yesterday.  Generally speaking, the Grainline aesthetic and I are not the best match -- so many boxy unfitted things! -- although I have a couple of the patterns and made the Linden sweatshirt twice already. The Morris blazer though really grabbed me -- mainly because I really like the collar -- and I have been looking for a while for a really interesting pattern to make with a particular piece of ponte knit. I'd sort of settled on a Kwik Sew pattern, but this Grainline pattern is a great deal more interesting to me. If I can summon up the enthusiasm to put together the PDF pattern, I might try making a muslin of this quite soon!

In which I am unconvinced by Burda 07-2012-114 (and an Ottobre 05-2011-02 from the scraps)

Quick reminder: if you want to throw your name in the hat for a Patrones magazine, please see my post earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, the last item on my summer sewing list was another loose/unfitted blouse. I picked Burda 07-2012-114 because I had seen several made (mainly on the Burda Russia site) that I thought looked really nice. I am... unconvinced by the outcome, for several reasons. 

Burda 07-2012-114 (from the magazine)

Part of the reason I am so unconvinced is that I made a couple of adjustments and then wished I hadn't. I looked at the length and didn't think it was long enough so I added 5cm, but then when I came to try on realized I didn't like the extra length and ended up whacking off the same 5cm from the hem... except then when I hemmed it properly I'm still not convinced by the length. I also did a 2.5cm FBA with a side dart but I am not sure I needed quite that much or that the outcome is what I wanted. Then, on top of the adjustments I made and didn't like, I DIDN'T make some adjustments that I wish I had, notably the depth of that neckline split and the width of the neckline. It makes for a top that can't possibly be worn without something underneath and falls off my shoulders at the slightest/no provocation.

The bigger problem though is the shape of the pattern in combination with the fabric. I really like the fabric as a fabric: it's a very drapey viscose/cotton mix, a great summer weight and although it's rather outside my normal comfort zone for prints (I usually wear mainly solids and the occasional more sedate print) I really like the colours. However, the print proved very problematic to position on the pattern. It was actually worse when the top was 5cm longer, but I really don't like that white line mid-way down the top. It wasn't avoidable short of cutting on the cross grain, and I don't think there was anything I could have made with this fabric that wouldn't have had the same problem, but I just don't like it.

Burda 07-2012-114 (my version)

Overall, I am not sure how I feel about the top beyond unconvinced. In my head it was going to be a great thing to wear in bright sunshine as a top layer over a white tee and the white shorts I made for my mini-wardrobe but then I've spent most of the last two weeks in jeans and sweaters due to summer apparently abruptly coming to a halt in the British isles. Both sunshine and shorts are a distant memory, alas, so it's not like I was likely to wear it in the next few days, anyway. (Incidentally, amusingly, I came in second to last in the wardrobe competition. Better than last, I guess? I don't really care, I've already worn everything several times before the clouds rolled back in. It does remind me why I don't bother with the PR competitions though! :D )

Mid-way through making this top, when I realized that the print and the length were going to be a problem, I abandoned it for a few hours and cut out a quick second project from the scraps, namely a pair of PJ shorts using Ottobre 05-2011-02, which I have used a couple of times before. The piece I had left over from the 2m cut I bought was a rather strangely shaped 70cm and I had to make something where matching the print at the side seams was not a priority at all (in fact, I cut to the back in the opposite direction to the front) thus: PJs.

Ottobre 05-2011-02 "Sweet Dream" PJ shorts

The pattern is extremely uncomplicated. I last made it a year ago and so I did have to retrace two sizes smaller in a 44 rather than a 48. Other than that, I did french seams because PJs tend to get washed and worn a MILLION times and I think it gives the seams on a lightweight fabric a bit more change of longevity. I missed off the decorative elements of the pique around the leg openings and the button hole/tie at the front. A handy use of a funny shaped scrap and the fabric is very soft and well suited to PJs as well as a blouse. :D

One hundred!

Somehow, this is my hundredth post! I've actually been blogging for just over a year on this platform (but coming up on nine years altogether if you consider my other, non-sewing blog) as well. I'm celebrating these semi-significant numbers by... posting about the most boring finished garment ever! :D? :D? >:(

The reason I was making The Most Boring Finished Garment Ever was that I was doing it on my BRAND NEW MACHINE which turned up right on schedule at lunchtime today. I have to tell you, the afternoon was TORTURE. Every time I took a break from my work I'd sneak downstairs and try to get a little further into unpacking it, and then the whole last hour I was like AM I DONE YET? WHAT ABOUT NOW? OR NOW? CAN IT BE TIME TO SEW YET?

So far, I LOVE IT. LOVE. LOOOOOOOVE. I am not going to take back my statement that the Janome 2200XT I've been sewing on the last 22 months is a great beginner's machine. It absolutely is, and I am glad I bought it and got so much enjoyment out of using it. HOWEVER. I didn't realize how many annoying little things it did until I was using a machine that doesn't do those annoying things. In particular, having a needle up/down means that the thread never slides back out the needle because it's in the 'wrong' place when you finish and there's not enough of a thread tail when you make the first stitch of the next seam. You have no idea how many times in a typical sewing session I'd rethread my needle because of not remembering to pull a longer tail every single time. How many times did I thread my needle today? ONCE. ONE TIME It's a REVELATION to me. Also, the new machine is SO QUIET. I am sure there are things I won't love about it in time, but right now, I am TOTALLY ENAMOURED of this machine.

Ahem. At any rate, I will post a proper review to PR of the machine once I've been using it for a few months -- I don't think my flailing glee is really a helpful state of mind to review in. On with the Most Boring Garments In The World!

(Please forgive my even-worse-than-usual photos: I really haven't worked out a good photo situation yet in this house and to be honest, PJ shorts aren't the easiest to photograph anyway since I absolutely refuse to model them. Not that I really model anything.)

I wanted to make something really quick and easy this evening that would let me try out all the basic stuff I use on the machine, using an easy fabric (100% cotton), so at the weekend I cut out a couple of pairs of PJ shorts and tonight I sewed them up:

Ottobre 05-2011-02: the version with the border print

The pattern is from Ottobre Woman 05-2011-02, the "Sweet Dreams" PJ shorts. I've made this pattern up before, waaaaaaay back at the beginning of my garment sewing adventures and I wear those red and blue plaid PJs regularly. Nothing much has changed since my original review of the pattern itself. This time I didn't even pretend I was going to do the drawstring at the waist, though (my red and blue pair had the buttonholes for the drawstring, but never actually got a drawstring).

Both of the pairs of shorts I made today came from the same small remnant of border printed cotton.  It's another of my early purchases, when I bought quite a few fabrics that I don't precisely regret buying, but that I have been looking at for over a year now wondering what exactly I can do with them. I bought this vaguely thinking "skirt" but the fabric is far too thin for that without a serious lining and also, I don't know what I was thinking because I VERY much doubt I'd wear a skirt with this print on it. Also, I didn't really have enough fabric for anything interesting that you can do with a border print. I had about 1.8m of 110cm wide fabric, with the border running along the selvedge, but unfortunately that length included a repeating flaw (massive great big fraying hole) in the fabric. I considered donating it in my recent mini-purge, but then I had a brain-wave: PJs! Cotton PJ shorts are always useful, and the Ottobre pattern could easily be adapted to the border print. I get obscure satisfaction from the fact that in the end I reduced that 1.8m piece of fabric to a few tiny scraps plus two handkerchief sized pieces that included the major fabric flaw, and two pairs of PJs. Altogether, including thread etc, my PJs cost around £10, or £5 per pair. (I bought everything in sterling, so I am not converting my costs to Euros!)

The first pair is the most interesting, because I cut it from the border. I had to play with my seam allowances a little bit to squeeze all four pieces out of the border area. I absolutely nailed my border print matching horizontally (not that it was really difficult) but there was zero chance I could match properly at the side seams with this amount of fabric so I didn't even try (and also WAY too much like effort for PJs even if I had the fabric).

Ottobre 05-2011-02: The version without the border print

The second pair is from the non-border area. Originally I wasn't going to do this pair, because I couldn't work out a way to cut it out around the flaw in the fabric, but after some pattern tetris, I managed to squeeze out the second pair. They're phenomenally boring to look at, of course, though you can JUST barely see in the photo that even the non-border area has ~~sparkly bits~~. This is cute in theory but I'm wondering whether in practice it means I'm going to be washing sparkles out of my sheets constantly for as long as they are in rotation.

I did miss my overlocker when I was making these. It is with the rest of my sewing stuff waiting to come over in a few weeks. If there's ever a garment where I'd be quite happy to rapidly overlock the seams down to nothing on the machine, like you get in RTW, it's a pair of PJs. As it was I had to faff about top stitching and pinking in order to get a nice seam finish, which was frankly more effort than PJs really merit, in my opinion.

And there you have it: yes, they're very uninteresting garments, but they are the first I've made here in Ireland, and the first with my new machine. I'm pretty happy with the outcome!

Reviewed: Ottobre Sweet Dreams (PJs)

I finished another item of clothing! It's just a pair of PJ shorts. This time I used an Ottobre Woman pattern (specifically 2011-5-2, called the Sweet Dreams pyjama shorts). It made a shorter pair of shorts overall compared to the previous PJ shorts I made (New Look 6321, with hippos on them).

Other than the length, the pattern itself is very similar to the New Look 6321. I used elastic at the waist this time, rather than a drawstring.

The fabric is a blue and red plaid that I picked up on eBay as a remnant. It was 1.25m long and 1.1m wide, and I used about 90cm of the full width for my PJs. I tucked the remainder away for a bag lining as it's more than enough to cover it. The fabric has a nice texture to it, and I think they'll make comfortable PJs.

As far as costs go, the fabric was about £2.50 for the portion I used, and I used just about 50p worth of elastic, for a total cost of about £3. Time-wise, I would estimate under 2 hours after the tracing stage to get everything done, and that was done in four very short sessions: one cutting out, two sewing and one getting the elastic situated. I made a couple of mistakes: the plaid isn't 100% perfectly matched and that's because I screwed up the grainlines when I was cutting out. Also, I didn't finish my seams at the right point in time and that's left a few messy bits in the seam allowances. Nothing that worries me in a pair of PJ shorts, but actually some useful things to learn for the next time I make.

You can also read my actual pattern review on PR.