I’d forgotten how much fun it can be to really knock out a project quickly! At least, quickly for me. The last several months had been rather sewing-light for me, aside from those two pretty simple kids’ projects from my last post. I’ve also been running into the problem lately of staring at my closet and feeling like I have nothing to wear, a lot. And especially when dressing for things like church. So I decided to challenge myself to see if I could put together a new outfit for Easter this year, entirely from things that I already had on hand.
The difficulty of Easter in March is that I always want to dress in something that screams spring, but it’s often quite chilly! So I decided to take a different approach this year from the dresses I’ve done before, and do some separates. After choosing some fabrics that may be the accidental start of a new chain, I started with the shirt. I thought the Jalie Dolman top that had been sitting unused for several years would be a good starting point, but I didn’t want to make it the 3/4 sleeve length. It’s seriously no good for my regional climate — there’s only about 3 days in a year where that’s comfortable. So I turned them into statement sleeves instead. I took the original sleeve pattern, flipped it so that the underarm seam was on top, hemmed both raw edges, and then added a cuff to the bottom so the sleeves would have this slit in it. Since we’re in the season where it’s impossible to dress for a whole day because you freeze in the morning and sweat by the afternoon, I thought that long sleeves with ventilation, especially in this synthetic ITY, would work well. I did end up getting to test that out, as we started the day in the 30s, going to church during a power outage that left us with just one space heater in the sanctuary, and then it was nicely in the 60s by the afternoon. I did stay comfortable all day, more or less, so I’ll call that a win.
Best shot of both the sleeves and the curved hem, though I didn’t style it this way while wearing it this time.
Overall, the shirt came together quickly, and my coverstitch machine was generally cooperative. I’ve seriously struggled with that. There was still some tunneling, so obviously I still have some tension issues to work out, but it also didn’t immediately start unraveling like it often does. So maybe I’m finally getting the hang of it, after several years of attempts?
Best shot of the skirt, even though I’m headless.
For the skirt, I chose the Salida by True Bias, which had also been sitting unused for years. I found a mid-weight denim with minimal stretch, and decided to do the classic gold topstitching on it. I do love a good denim topstitching! And I’m thankful to have the luxury of having two machines in the house so I can set one up for construction and one for topstitching, because otherwise I never would have finished it by my self-imposed deadline. I decided to make view B, mostly size 14 but graded down to 12 for the waist. After that initial grading, I did very few alterations, aside from needing to take the waist in a bit further. The one major thing was that I ended up chopping the skirt nearly 6″ shorter.
Here’s the original length. There’s nothing really wrong with it, except that since I made it in denim, it kept making me think of the 90s homeschool mom denim jumper stereotype. And since I am a homeschool mom, well… not exactly the vibe I wanted to channel. The other issue was my shoes. My cooler weather “dressier” shoes are mostly falling apart by now, and I really hate shoe shopping for my extra-wide bone structure/constantly feel that mom guilt of prioritizing buying shoes for the kids who are outgrowing theirs, so I more or less exclusively wear my skirts with my 2 pairs of everyday taller boots until it’s warm enough for sandals. And I just didn’t think this mid-calf skirt would look right with that style of shoe. After some Instagram polling and getting my husband’s opinion, I decided to go with the shorter length, and I’m glad. Now it’s giving me those retro 70s vibes that I always had a weakness for (since the 90s when my style was heavily influenced by 60s fashion and my mom’s authentic 70s sewing patterns, haha). And I think that, with this shorter length, it’ll be a more versatile addition to my wardrobe. I’ve been lacking in basic-ish solid skirts that I can pair with printed tops, so this is a big wardrobe hole filler for me.
All in all, I’m very pleased with how this outfit turned out. And I’m hoping to play with the styling a bit more soon, since I can think of a few more pieces in my closet that these two pieces might mix well with. For it to be a real chain, I think I’ll need to come up with at least one more top, so I’ve been wracking my brains and combing through my stash to see what might work. It would be nice to get one more thing in before I have to dive back into plotting the much needed swimsuit that I never got to last year.
Finally, it’s spring! So it’s probably time for me to summarize my sewing from the remainder of the winter.
I didn’t sew anything for myself, other than a new patch job on my sashiko-inspired ongoing jeans mending project. The second knee blew out around Christmas, and I had to re-stitch a good portion of the first knee because the embroidery floss I’d used broke in several spots after several washing. I got “real” sashiko thread for this job, so we’ll see how it holds up in comparison.
Aside from that, I did finish two projects. First up, a shirt for my daughter. I ended up scrapping my thought of reworking the neckline on my velvet Busan top, because she loved the texture of it so much that I decided to use the remainder for her. (Like she’d spend a huge chunk of time when I wore it, sitting in my lap and petting my shirt.) I used a peplum shirt pattern from one of my Ottobre Kids magazines. It came together pretty quickly, and she was happy with the result. And twinning with Mommy.
Side note, I realized in the process of making this that I really only have one thing to pair with my shirt from this fabric (my black Jade skirt, which is honestly a bit big on me now but I still have it anyway), so I may have to revisit this for future wardrobe building projects.
For the second project, I felt bad that I’d ended up making nothing for my oldest last year, when I made projects for both of his siblings. So I asked him if there was something he wanted— a bit nervously, I’ll admit, because the only sewing success I’ve had for him since toddlerhood was his Legolas costume a few years ago. He requested pajama pants, with pockets. I had him pick out some fabric, since I had nothing appropriate on hand, and he chose a camouflage-color dinosaur print from Joann’s. The pattern is the free kids pajama pants from Five Out Of Four Patterns.
He’s since told me that these are his favorite pj pants, and has worn them multiple times. Including out in public, since my niece recently had a pajama/brunch themed birthday party and those were the pants he chose to wear. So absolutely a win. I had to cuff them up quite a bit, because they were pretty long on him, but I tried to do it in a way that they’ll be easy to let down as he gets taller.
Another unintentional long silence, but here I am again! It’s been a rather crazy busy several months, with my first school year of trying to homeschool all 3 of my kids. Technically, I don’t legally have to teach my daughter until next year, but since I have a preschool program I like and she’s old enough for our co-op, we’re doing this. I’ve also been taking a larger role in said co-op, leading my younger son’s class. So much of my time to write is currently dedicated to preparing for those.
That being said, I do have a few finished projects that I wanted to share before the year ends. My sewing is still slower than ever, but I’m working it in when I can.
First up, I made a second pair of the Jalie Vanessa pants. Since the denim Tencel pair I had from before is still a good fit, I went ahead and made them in the same size. That may have been a mistake, since I forgot to account for the higher amount of drape in this olive rayon twill. The result is that they’re a bit baggy for my taste. I’ll need to think through options for what to wear on top, aside from this perfectly-matching Anthropologie sweater that I bought way back for some engagement photos, but I at least got a few wears out of them in the fall, before it got cold enough that I’ve been pretty much in my boots all the time.
The second is a refashion that I made on a whim for my daughter. She’s rather obsessed with the Frozen movies, and when I was meeting with some of the other moms in our co-op, the one who was hosting offered us first pick on some clothes that her daughter had outgrown. When I saw these two pairs of Frozen-themed pajama pants that had no matching tops, I instantly got inspired to turn them into a dress. The waffle-knit blue top was in there too. So I cut the pants into rectangles, inserted some triangles from some stashed white knit to give it maximum twirl — a very important factor for my daughter, along with the mandatory pockets– resized the top a bit, and added Elsa and Anna as appliques. She was thrilled with it, and has worn it several times since.
The last one is the Busan top, by Itch to Stitch. I’ve had a regular jersey knit that was gifted to me along with the pattern, when my mom gave it to me a few Christmases ago, and I’ll still make that up at some point, I’m sure. But I’ve also been wanting to make a new holiday party top, since the sequined one I made a few years ago lost a lot of sequins and really looks terrible now. I had this teal crushed velvet, and while it was a risk using it on an untested pattern, I figured taking the time to test it would mean I wouldn’t get it done until February. As it was, I still didn’t manage to get it done in time for either of the two annual parties I go to, or Christmas Eve, but I did get it done in time for New Year’s Eve! I’m considering reworking the neckline to a more open one, because this reads kind of 1980s to me and I’m not a fan of that fashion era. We’ll see what happens.
So, to revisit my Make Nine goal for 2023, I managed 4-5 of the nine. I’m counting the Busan as frivolous, and the pants as something for fall — I’m not sure it quite hits the wardrobe gap. As for the quilt, I did start it, and got as far as cutting all the blocks and figuring out the design. But then I set it aside. For one thing, my husband spontaneously repainted the room over this past year, and since I pulled fabrics from my stash with the old wall in mind, the colors don’t quite go anymore. Also, she told me she wants a Frozen bedspread instead. Lately she’s been asking about the quilt again, so maybe it’ll happen?
This did end up being a bigger quilting year than I anticipated, either way. My church started a quilt ministry to make blankets for local foster children, so I’ve been helping out with that around once a month. I did finish one lap-sized quilt top, and have a second started. And I did start a quilt top for myself with some panels I bought last year, though I don’t really have the design entirely worked out yet.
This is usually the part of the year where I post all my grand goals for the next, but this year, I’m keeping it simple. After all, this is likely the smallest amount of sewing I have to show for any year since I started this blog, except for maybe the baby years. So, while I have things I’d like to accomplish in 2024 (I’m looking at you, swimsuit fabric), the only goal I’m setting is to sew for at least one hour every week. There were big chunks of the year where I didn’t make a stitch for weeks at a time, and I’m feeling a need for more consistency again. Whether this makes a good dent in my ongoing stashbusting, or I do manage to get back to the wardrobe building outfit chains I’ve done in years past, or whether I only manage a few garments all year, it’s fine. At this stage of my life, I just don’t want to lose touch with a hobby I’ve loved for so long, and integrate that into the stress relief practices that I need to build for my health.
Anyone else remember several years ago, when one of the big discussions in the online sewing community was creating personal color palettes for our sewing? I came up with this palette during that time, and have been basing most of my personal sewing and fabric purchases off of it since.
Oh, hi, circa 2001 Photoshop! As you can see, the palette mostly consists of my favorite oceany tones, a few warmer colors that I’ve been making an effort to pull in (a sunflower-ish yellow, coral, and orange), a nice plummy purple, and a few neutrals. The navy is mostly in terms of denim in my real life, I don’t really wear tan these days because it makes me feel kind of naked, and though it’s hard to see, the white is really more of an ivory tone. I’ve also been leaning more towards seafoam/minty than that nice kelly green, just because of the fabrics I’ve been finding.
Fast forward to this year. I occasionally listen in on those online summits where they have 2-3 days of recorded sessions on a various topic, and you can either try to cram in as many in a 24 hour period as possible, or pay for lifetime access and some extras. There’s a page on Facebook called HobbyScool (no, that’s not a misspelling) where I’d listened through a summit previously, and a recent one they had was called “Chic and Confident”, and all about personal styling and fashion and such. A lot of the speakers focused more on working women and style as it relates to personal branding, so not exactly relevant for my stay at home/schooling mom, very non-entrepreneurial lifestyle, but I still thought it might be interesting to listen to some of the other sessions from the perspective of someone who’s trying to build a wardrobe through sewing instead of shopping. I did hear some interesting things, and in the process, I won a bingo prize for a professional color analysis and a “style audit” call. So I thought it might be fun to share the experience. This is probably going to be a longer post, so I’ll stick with just the color analysis for this one.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect. We did it over Zoom, after I’d submitted some photos and other basic information. and we chatted about my current wardrobe, my lifestyle, and my goals for my wardrobe. She thought the sewing angle was really interesting, and complimented me on the dress I was wearing when I was showing her some of the pieces I have in the closet, even though apparently it was completely the wrong color scheme for me. She told me that rather than the old color “season” system that I remember from when I was a kid, she looks at the contrast between eyes and hair and skin. I always thought that was a pretty high contrast thing for me, since my eyes are a rather dark brown, but she pegged me more as a medium contrast to go with my hair. Apparently this translates to soft, which instantly had me worried that what I look best in is pastels. I am not a fan of that color scheme. Thankfully, when she showed me the color palette, there were still a lot of brighter shades on there, including some lovely tealish-turquoise swatches, which is absolutely my #1 go to. But there were still quite a few surprises, which I’ll get to in a moment.
So how did I do with my original palette? I went ahead and made a version to compare, with my old color picks on the squares and the colors she sent me on the diamonds. Overall, it looks like what she sent me is just cooler or lighter versions of the colors that I already picked. Though I’ll admit that there are some disappointments. For one, my #1 color to avoid is black, which features heavily in a lot of the prints I already have sewn or have in my stash. My best neutral is apparently that tan, which as I said, makes me feel naked. I’m much more comfortable with brown and dark denim navy. And though I do have some grey things that I wear, namely the one sweater I managed to successfully knit, it’s not really a color I prefer. To me, it’s a color that speaks of winter and rainy days that set off my mold allergy and sadness, and that’s not really the feeling that I want to have when I get dressed in the morning.
I’ve also come to really enjoy certain warmer colors, like a bolder mustardy yellow and orange, and those apparently look better on me as a more muted shade. Or, in the case of orange, not really at all. And the plum that I’ve been using as my go-to purple isn’t even on the chart. Also, most of the brighter colors are pinks. Soooo much pink. I can’t share the full palette on here, since it’s a private link, but there’s something like 8 of them. Also, apparently my best prints are “low to medium contrast”, which leaves me a little sad. Basically, one of the key words she used was “subdued”, and that is definitely not what I’m naturally drawn to when it comes to prints. (Also, apparently one of my best eye makeup colors is taupe. TAUPE. UGH. I refuse.)
I did seem to hit some things right, though. Like that last coral that got layered with the orange is almost identical to the coral on my 2014 palette. Some of these were limited by my old Photoshop and my ability to use it at the time, and I’ve learned a lot since then thanks to digital scrapbooking. With the neutrals, especially, it looks like they’re mostly just slightly cooler shades of what I’d originally put on there, and I naturally gravitate towards cooler colors anyway. And my instinct that ivory is better on me than white seems to have been spot-on. She did say that I can pull off both gold and silver jewelry, which is good. (And more muted animal prints as a neutral, which is really not my thing.)
I don’t want to sound ungracious towards the consultant, as she was very encouraging and understanding of the fact that I’m probably not going to want to throw out a bunch of clothes that I made just because they’re not necessarily the best colors on me. She gave me some good tips about how to mitigate that with accessories. Overall, I want to look at this as a positive step in my ongoing quest to have an amazing, mostly me-made wardrobe. And since I thought it might be fun to see what in my current me-made wardrobe does fit that palette and has survived the last decade of sizing changes and motherhood, I made a collage.
From top to bottom, left to right:
My ivory Helen’s Closet Blackwood, paired with a predominiately navy Itch to Stitch Mountain View jean.
Navy/ivory True Bias Lander shorts. (I thought these were out, but I was recently able to pull these out of my refashion bin, thanks to the weight loss. I no longer have that tank top.)
Colette/Seamwork Moneta dress, that I modified the style of to match Belle for a DragonCon costume. I don’t wear this much since I don’t know what to pair it with, but this is pretty much a perfect match for a “denim” on the extended palette.
Deer and Doe Reglisse Dress. The one thing I own that has that lighter purple, the teal is pretty close, and the overall print is more muted than what I often go for.
The oldest surviving wardrobe piece is this Butterick dress, which is pretty much all the “denim gray” from the extended palette, ivory, and the green from what I showed.
Surprisingly, this flamingo shirt, which has more pink and lighter blues than I usually wear. Even the hot pink binding looks like it’s on the palette. I’m sure flamingos aren’t subdued, but they’re fun.
The color analyst would probably not count this ice-dyed skirt, but it’s got so many shades of blue and green and even those purples that I think it has to count. It’s not right next to my face anyway. Row 2:
Though this one is getting pilled enough that it’s on its last legs, this green/teal/brown Seamwork Mesa dress.
Also, my Sewaholic Cambie teacup dress, which I’m quite happy that it fits again.
McCall’s button-down tunic, which is mostly navy with speckles that fit the other colors (seafoam, turquoise, even some pink)
Deer & Doe Plantain, which is predominiately ivory and seafoam.
Grainline Archer shirt, in navy with ivory stitching. (Wow, I was so pregnant in this pic.)
Paprika Patterns Jasper sweatshirt, in this happy “pool” blue.
Itch to Stitch Mila shirt. Plaid would probably be labeled as too high contrast, but it’s one of the few things I have that leans on grey rather than black to go with that teal. Plus I like plaid. Row 3:
McCall’s Mimi G dress-hacked-to-shacket, in navy.
Seamwork Bristol skirt and Astoria sweater, in seafoam and brown. One of the few things I have that are brown, honestly, though it’s still a color I like.
This hacked Simplicity tie-dye skirt, in navy/grey. I’m wearing it as a maternity skirt in this shot, but I still pull it out thanks to the yoga-style waistband. Though I’ve been lacking in things to wear on top with it recently.
The Blackwood cardigan, this time with my other Mountain View jeans. They’ve gotten a bit faded since this picture, but still fit the blues.
My Roheline knitted cardigan, and one of our dogs that has sadly passed since then.
Sew Liberated Stasia tee, in coral.
I’m realizing, now that I’m looking at this collage again, that there’s a few things I overlooked. Like this Renfrew tee, and this flamingo skirt. Apparently, pink is a much easier pill to swallow when it comes in the form of tropical birds.
So, basically, I have a bunch of stuff I could build off of, but not necessarily a lot of things that work together. And what does this mean for the rest of my wardrobe and fabric stash? Well, I’m not going to ditch it. To be perfectly blunt, even if it is my worst color, I wouldn’t ditch my black clothes anyway. Besides being required for my orchestra concerts, I know that my black Appleton dress is one of my husband’s favorites. And some of my favorite me mades that I still have don’t fall into this palette at all. Like this dress. Or the refashioned top from this dress, which I don’t have a dedicated post to link to. I just like brighter colors and bold prints. They make me happy. And I do think that happiness and fun with my wardrobe is just as important of a factor as what colors would look best on me.
I may be willing to consider this palette in future fabric purchases, though, especially in adding things like that darker brown and those brighter blues and greens. Or maybe I’ll just grab some henna and start dyeing my hair red again. And work in the colors that I’ve loved and feel good wearing anyway, like plum and especially ALL the teals.
One important takeaway that I did have from this whole conversation, too, is that I do need to focus on some well-fitting basics to pull all of these together. Aside from the turquoise Mountain View jeans, I have one pair of jeans left that is not literally falling apart. Two, if you count the one I’m visibly mending every time a new hole pops up. And I don’t even know what tops to wear with my skirts half the time. I do have a lot of navy-toned denim in my stash, so that could be a good place to focus on. But I think I’m going to alternate that with some fun prints that may or may not be the best colors for me, because all solids and no prints makes me a cranky sewist.
This summer is just flying by! Now that the year is basically halfway done, I think it’s a good time to revisit and reevaluate my Make Nine goal for the year.
I’ve managed a third of the grid so far, which is less than I’d hoped for. And only one of these projects was actually for me. So to recap: the “Something for winter” was my Malala sweater, and the “pattern stashed awhile” was a 2017 Ottobre shirt for my younger son.
The “Little girl skorts” were for my family’s annual tie dye day, and a commission from my mom. She’s not sewing these days, since she’s my niece’s full time daycare. It ended up turning into a skort and a dress each for my daughter and my niece, who are currently wearing the same size. For the skort, I used a pattern I’ve made multiple times before, the Chicka Chicka Bum Bums by Peekaboo Patterns. Since the girls are older than last time, I was able to use the shorts view underneath without the diaper cut. And I added patch pockets, since both girls (rightfully) appreciate having those. This is the best picture I’ve been able to get of my girl wearing them, along with a purchased tee she also dyed that day.
Silly girl.
The dress was from the March 2017 issue of Ottobre, called “California Surf” (or something very similar.) It’s really more of a beach coverup style than anything else, with a hood and a kangaroo pocket. My daughter was quite excited about both. This was mostly straightforward to sew, though a little fiddly with the binding at times. I ended up sewing it on my regular machine, rather than my coverstitch, because it was so narrow and the needle width isn’t adjustable on my coverstitch machine.
I did dye some things for myself as well, but since I haven’t had a chance to photograph them all yet, I’ll do that in a separate post.
Some updates about the other squares: I’ve made some progress on the quilt. No sewing yet, but all of the colorful squares are cut, and I’m about halfway through cutting out the solid rectangles. I’m at the point now where the kids occasionally let me do cutting work in the kitchen while they’re awake, though my daughter will occasionally try to “help”. So hopefully I’ll get some time to finish that part of the process too.
I’ve been making an attempt at the swimsuit. Though I already knew that I want to use the Jalie shorts and swim shirt patterns that I used the last time I did swimwear, I’ve been getting stuck on a third piece. It’s necessary, since the swim shirt has zero bust support, but I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the tankini attempt that I did last time. And since I basically never use the suit without that swim shirt, I figured that maybe I can get away with more of a bikini type top this time. In the interest of using what I have, I decided to test out one of the older Seamwork patterns, the Florence bra, to see if it might make a decent swim top.
To be blunt, it was kind of a flop. Part of it could be my materials, since I was just using jersey scraps and leftover elastics from the nursing bras I made around 6 years ago. I didn’t have enough for the bottom, so I had to use fold over elastic for that, and it’s not exactly snug on me. Either way, it’s supportive enough to use for sleeping, but not for actually walking around in, since it doesn’t exactly hold anything necessary in place. And that was after taking the back in a full 2.5”! I also wasn’t thrilled with the construction, since I had to fiddle a lot to get the non-lace upper cup to lie flat. I ended up adding elastic, but felt that wouldn’t translate well to my swim fabric. To be perfectly blunt, I just don’t think I have the mental bandwidth to figure out all the changes I’d need to make, between getting the straps to work and lining it.
At this point, since it’s almost July and our summer hasn’t been as water intensive as usual — we haven’t even been to the beach yet— I’m honestly thinking I’m just going to shelve this project for now and give myself some more time to consider it. Feeling like I’m working past a deadline is leaving me uninspired and a little stressed, which is not what I need from what’s supposed to be my relaxing, self care hobby. I think I’m going to swap out that “something for summer”, too. As scattered as my sewing time is lately, I think it might be best for me to just start sewing for the next season. So here’s my slightly altered Make Nine grid:
I’m changing summer to fall, and the other to a wild card. We’ll see if I have to apply this retroactively to mending my boys’ pants or something!
I didn’t mean to wait until April to update this! I honestly meant to do the usual goals roundup post back in December, but it’s just hard to find time to sit down and write posts like that these days. I honestly don’t think I met most of last year’s goals anyway. So here’s to fresh starts, since that fits with spring anyway, and I’ll just jump back in with sharing what I’ve been sewing so far this year.
First up is the Fumuterre skirt, by Deer & Doe. I’ve had this one queued for so long that my printed pattern was from before they increased their size range! So I had to make the largest size. It may be for the best that I waited so long to get to it — at least five years — because I don’t think it would have fit me if I’d made it sooner. The elastic in the back doesn’t have a whole lot of stretch room. As it turns out, though, I’ve had some significant weight loss over the past several months, so it works. (Not the best way of that happening, as I’ve been having some digestive system issues that I’ve been working with a dietician to heal up. I’ve had to go gluten-free on what I’m hoping is a temporary basis — it’s a little frustrating that I’d just been getting the hang of making sourdough bread when this happened, and I’d like to at least get back to that at some point, But the plus side is that I’m back to my pre-baby weight and I can actually fit into the few clothes that I’d kept from before I had my youngest. Most significantly, I could never bear to get rid of this dress, and it zips up again, so this is my “new” Easter dress for tomorrow!)
Back to the skirt. It’s become clear to me that I’m a bit rusty on techniques involving wovens, after nearly a decade of sewing mostly knits and things with elastic. I could not make sense of the directions for the fly zipper at all! After a little help from a friend (thanks, Brooke!) and a lot of time poring over my library of sewing books, I finally managed to get something passable. I didn’t make many changes to the pattern otherwise. Mostly just chopping several inches off of the bottom, and having to alter the hem facing pieces accordingly. This skirt was surprisingly long, especially considering that I’m on the slightly taller side of average!
I am pleased with the result, though it took longer than I anticipated. And I can see this one becoming a four season staple, since it’s got a good range of colors in the print. I can also see me making it again sometime. I think it would be lovely in a linen, if I can find a color or print I like.
Next up, I finally had a good not -Halloween experience in sewing for one of the boys! It’s been hard to get a decent picture, since my middle child doesn’t like to sit still!
None of the attempts at a posed photo worked out, so this is the clearest photo I have. Also, spoiler alert for why I haven’t gotten any sewing in for the last 2 weeks — we got a puppy! The kids named him Max. He looks kind of miserable in this photo, from the day we brought him home and he was missing his litter mates, but he’s definitely warmed up to us since then (and has been causing destruction, chaos, and lots of laughs from the kids.)
The shirt was my son’s idea, which I think is why it worked out this time. I was retrieving some of my fabric from my mom’s sewing room, from the early days of motherhood when I would go to her house and cut out projects because it was the only way I could get anything done. He spotted the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles print, and immediately claimed it as his own and said he wanted a long sleeved shirt. After checking my patterns and showing him some options, he chose one from the Autumn 2015 issue of Ottobre, “Tiger Spotting”. I only had a yard of the fabric, so even though I cut the smallest size, it wasn’t quite enough to get the front, back, and full sleeve. I took some inspiration from one of his RTW tops and color blocked the sleeve to get the remaining length. The solid black bits were leftovers from the Visby shirt I made a few years ago. Even with the added sleeve details, it was a quick sew. And well worth it, since he’s happily worn it multiple times since.
I’d mentioned earlier that I’d intended to make a goals related post. Since that never happened, I will mention that I decided to have another go at the Make Nine for this year, since it relates to the next project. (And probably my son’s shirt, since a 8-ish year old magazine certainly counts as a pattern that’s been stashed for awhile!) One of my hopeful projects for this year is a new swimsuit, since after several summers of beach trips and water parks, my one and only swimsuit is starting to look a little worse for wear. While searching for fabric options near the end of the summer, I stumbled on some great bundle options at a new-to-me shop, Boho Fabrics, and purchased one. I also found an orange chenille sweater knit that looked like it could be a good potential wardrobe chain with the Fumuterre Skirt, so that leads to my “something for winter”.
It’s rare these days that I use a fabric within a year of purchasing, which is why I have been keeping my fabric shopping rather minimal for awhile. Part of the ongoing stashbusting efforts, you know? But I did manage it this time. After some thought, I decided to pair it with the Malala Sweater by DIBY Club.
I’d never used any patterns from this company before, but so far, I’m inclined to like it. For one thing, the PDF pattern assembly was the most pleasant one I’ve ever done, thanks to their no -trim assembly system. I wish all the digital pattern companies did that, because it saved so much time and paper waste! The instructions were also very clear — a little more hand-holding than I need at this stage, for the most part, but it made the unfamiliar collar assembly a breeze. After consulting my friends on The Sewing Sphere with a few different button stash options, I chose the nautical-looking brass buttons that I used a lifetime ago when I had the leisure to do things like sew pirate coats for the Renaissance Faire. I’m hoping this wasn’t a mistake, because the first time I washed it, one of the buttons cut through the thread and came off! So I may be hand-washing this one from now on, especially if I can find a way to use that to minimize the static cling that also seemed to kick in after that first washing.
So, aside from some mending for the kids, and one likely ongoing mending project for myself (one of the two pairs of jeans that still fits me okay has been developing holes, and is now getting the shibori patching treatment), that is my entire year in sewing so far! Hopefully things with Max and kids’ bedtimes being thrown for a loop by Daylight Savings time will level out soon (seriously, why is changing the clock still a thing?!) And then I can get to the next project, which is already cut out and waiting.
It’s been an exceptionally slow several months of sewing for me, as evidenced by the fact that I haven’t updated this since July. A lot of my time over the second half of the year has been spent on things like homeschooling my kids, since my middle child is in kindergarten this year and the demands are higher with two kids that are at the state-required age for “real” school. (Not that it’s hard in my state, since I’m only required to submit attendance, but I’m still trying to give them a quality education!) And I’ve been spending a good bit of time dealing with some health issues that have cropped up suddenly since the fall. So between that and my husband working a hybrid schedule that leaves me with less computer access, I’ve been struggling with less energy and needing to balance the things I need to use the computer for, namely school prep and the digital scrapbooking, since I’m still doing a creative team and trying to keep up with current family pictures while they’re still fresh in my mind. All that to say, my sewing time has suffered.
I do have two finished projects to show from the past season. The first is a Plitvice tee, from Itch to Stitch. This was filling a major hole in my wardrobe — there were so many times over the summer where I wished I had just a plain black tee to wear with skirts! So I finally got to it in the fall. I’ve learned over the years that solids don’t often excite me to sew, unless the pattern has some textural or seam interest. So the draped front of this tee was a good element for me. The pattern wasn’t a difficult one, though it still took me well over a month to construct just because of the lack of time. I’m pleased with the results, though, and would definitely like to revisit this at some point. The drape didn’t really photograph well here, so here’s a smaller shot of that.
The second is a simple refashion of the chambray shirtdress that I made largely during the 2020 lockdown. I finally had an opportunity to wear it in the fall of that year, to a cousin’s bridal shower. When I saw pictures from the event, though, I realized that I hated the way it looked on me, especially from the side. And just because I’m officially middle-aged now doesn’t mean that I want my clothes, especially the handmade stuff, to make me feel frumpy! So I took off the epaulettes, which looked too forward on my shoulders, and the belt. Those have been really hard to place for me since the pregnancies altered my waistline anyway. Then it sat in my closet for nearly two years while I tried to figure out what to do with it. I considered trying to turn it into a skirt, but in the end I kept it simple and just shortened it into a shacket. A good move, I think, since I got to keep all four pockets and I’ve already worn it more than when it was a dress.
I’d still like to go back and make a chambray shirtdress to be a wardrobe staple at some point, but I think I’ll need to choose a pattern that has a different style of waist definition. Belting just doesn’t work for me right now.
Since I’m using this as a year end wrap up, I do also have two other projects in progress. The first is a quilt that I need to finish cutting out pieces for the top. We ended up moving my daughter out of her converted crib toddler bed into a twin size bed this year. My mom made twin size quilts for both boys, and my girl has a crib-sized quilt from her, but my mom has even less sewing time than I do since she watches my niece full time and can’t do later evening sewing anymore. It’s going to be a more basic block top instead of the fancier appliquéd quilts that my boys have, but hopefully she’ll like it, when I can get it assembled.
I’m also making a Deer and Doe Fumenterre skirt that’s been in my queue for years. I’d originally had a whole autumn wardrobe chain planned around this skirt, but the time just got away from me this fall. I’m thinking maybe I’ll just make one coordinating top and then revisit this later next year. I recently managed the main obstacle (remembering how to do a fly zipper after nearly a decade, with sketchy instructions), so I’m hoping I can finish that before the end of the year. We’ll see how it goes.
When I haven’t been busy with homeschooling/mom life this year, one of my big projects this year has been following along with a vintage skill-building challenge of sorts. So I’ve been learning how to do things like canning and making sourdough bread. In addition, my husband and I have been getting into gardening over the past two years, which has been a great mutual hobby for us. And it’s been an interesting challenge to see how much food we can cram into a townhouse yard.
It’s still TBD how much we’ll actually harvest. But since it looks like we might get a decent number of tomatoes, and I’ve been scrambling for bowls when needing to pick from our blueberry bushes, I needed something to use for harvesting. So I found a tutorial of sorts for a WWII- era “basket apron”. The idea is that it uses drawstrings to turn it into a giant hands-free pouch. I figured that Doug would like that it folds up smaller than a basket, too!
This ended up being a good stashbusting project for me. The main part of it is a green denim left over from some chair cushions that my mom had made years ago. She gave the rest to me with the thought of little boy pants, but my boys really only like to wear knit pants. The lining was a gift from one of my church/book club friends, who gave me a bag of quilt cotton pieces that she’d had sitting around for years. The greens matched perfectly! And the drawstrings were part of a pack that I bought when making Hudson pants a few years ago. Not the best match since they’re white. I thought about tea staining them, but I figure the odds of them getting naturally dirt-stained are good.
Aside from the drawstrings, it looks like a normal apron. The pocket was my addition. I figure it’ll give me a place to put the blueberries next year. (We only have two bushes, so it was really a handful at a time.)
And here it is, all tied up into its “basket” form. A second addition here was making some belt loops from the print to anchor the ties. I probably should have interfaced them, but they are quadruple topstitched, so that’s something.
And then the fruits and veggies just sit in here.
Overall, I found this to be a satisfying project. The most time consuming part was that I ended up hand-reinforcing the eyelets. So now it’s just waiting for green tomatoes to ripen so I can really test it out!
Just for fun, one of my very few successful sunflowers. I planted a whole pack, but only 2 came up because it’s a terrible spot for weeding and they choked my flowers out.
So it’s been a hot minute. (Or several, as we’re in our typical hot and oh-so-humid part of the summer. But I’ve got several things to show, so it’s catch up time. I’ve been putting this off because of the struggle of getting good photos, but let’s face it, I’m not in a life stage where I can prioritize that. Here goes with the very imperfect ones I’ve gotten.
The first, finished back in March, is a return of an old favorite TNT pattern, the Sewaholic Renfrew tee. I used an Art Gallery knit that’s been in my stash for some time, and it doesn’t have quite the recovery that I’d wish for the bands. But it does go well with the colored denim jeans in my wardrobe. It also took a lot less fabric than I thought, so I still have about half a yard of fabric left to use!
My most involved project lately was this dress for my daughter. I used McCall’s 8267, with a few modifications. I made the 4T size, so it’ll fit her for awhile, but it ended up being extremely long on her. So I shortened the sleeves and hand-stitched two tucks into the skirt. The theory is that I can take them out as she gets taller.
The second modification was to add pockets! I put them in the side seams, just free-handing a pattern piece. And I think that just might be her favorite feature, because she calls it “my oonicorn dess wif the pockets.”
The construction wasn’t difficult, just a little time consuming with the appliqué and making sure the mane pieces for the skirt lined up with it. I wasn’t sure at first if it was worth the effort, since she seemed happy to look at it but completely uninterested in wearing it. But once I finally did convince her to try it on, about a week or so after finishing the tucks— and after she discovered the pockets— she really did end up liking it! She frequently grabs it out of her closet when it’s clean, so I’m feeling much better about taking another attempt at kids’ clothes.
After that, I made three different views of the Santa Fe top by Hey June Handmade. The first was using most of the leftover blue fabric, and some of the white, from the unicorn dress.
The second was from a flamingo print and coordinating solid that my mom recently passed on to me. She’s been babysitting my niece full time, and so she’s been getting even less sewing time than me. I wasn’t sure how this one would turn out, since the knit was heavier and less drapey than the other two pieces, but it seems to sit fine. My husband has commented a few times that he particularly likes this one.
It’s all about the bathroom selfies with this pattern, apparently.
The final is a second tie-dye print. I bought this one last year as part of the big 40th birthday haul, intending to sew it up. But then Halloween costumes took longer than I thought and I didn’t get to it. So I’m glad to have it done this year.
Except for the shot with my oldest’s tinkering supplies in the background. This is as good as it gets here.
I’ll do the final project for now as a separate post, because it needs a little more explanation. And this post is already pretty long.
My one-garment-a-month streak continues. I did finish this one in January, but it took a little longer to get the photos. Anyway, here it is!
With my toddler helper, of course.
This is the Jasper sweatshirt by Paprika Patterns. It was hugely popular when it came out several years back, but if you’ve been here for awhile, you know that I very rarely get to a pattern until the train has been gone for some time! I’ve actually had the fabric (a rayon sweatshirting that is so soft) and pattern for around five years, as I’d seen it as a pattern that was hackable for nursing. I just didn’t manage to get to it until well after that baby (and the next) was born. I think it worked out for the best, though, as then I’d feel like I’d have to alter it to remove the zippers and this way has more longevity.
I made a size 7 for the top, graded up in the hips. I don’t know exactly how far, as the 7 was the largest size in my printed pattern and I just used the measurements between that and the next size down as a guideline for how much to add, but it worked out mostly well. I forgot to factor that in to the wedge between the welt pocket opening and the side panel, so it’s got a bit of a strange shape there, but let’s just say that’s a design detail. The fit is good, and that’s the most important thing here.
I’m trying to get my stash down to a more manageable level, which is likely going to take a long time if I keep averaging one garment a month. (It’ll be easier when the kids are older, right?) So I pulled out some leftovers to finish this. The pocket lining is from a Plantain tee that I made several years ago, and the button was salvaged from one of my old jackets that I outgrew. I still have two or three of those left, I think, so hopefully I can come up with a worthy jacket at some point!
Overall, the instructions were easy to follow. I’ll admit that I was skeptical of how the pocket would work out, likely since all of my sewing time doesn’t happen until at least 8:30 after a long day of homeschooling and everything else. My brain is kind of fried by then. But it came together nicely, and I’m happy to have a bright, cozy new thing to wear during the rest of the winter.
I haven’t forgotten about the wardrobe chains, and I’m hoping that my next project will be a good start to the next one. I just need to get it traced and cut so I can start! Which is the part that always delays me.
sew adagio 
