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.
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.
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.
Winter is a fashion struggle for me. It seems like every year, I think that I should make some warm things. And then every year, I get sidetracked by something, and I finish maybe one or two things. And then I’m still cold and bored of the dark clothes that I seem to end up with. As the weather has been cooling down this fall, I’ve realized that I’m even more lacking than usual in warm things to wear both around my house, and specifically to church. So I’m attempting to do something about that to wrap up 2021.
This sweater dress is made from New Look 6298, and a teal hatchi knit that I was gifted a couple of years ago at Christmas. So it’s a pretty lightweight knit, but I figure I’ll be wearing it over leggings anyway. I started off with a size 18 on top and graded it to a 20 for my hips, since I didn’t want it to be tight around my midsection or hips. But I guess I forgot about Big 4 sizing, because it was essentially a sack!
After some consulting with my Sewing Sphere friends, I ended up taking it in about 1.5” at the underarms and the bust, grading that down to around 6” from the raw edge of the sleeves and to the hip pockets. And that ended up working out much better. The other change that I made was adding my usual inch of sleeve length, but that wasn’t necessary this time because the sleeves ended up being on the long side. But my wrists won’t be cold, so I’ll take it!
I’m still a bit on the fence with this one, and am feeling like I’m really struggling to make dresses that aren’t frumpy anymore, since my last attempt was a complete flop. I hope this isn’t going to be a long trend, since I’m officially a middle aged mom now and was hoping to avoid looking like one for a bit longer. But I think adding the scarf helps, and it’s nice to have something to wear this one with! My mom made it for me a year or so back, and it’s this cozy flannel with a zipper pocket so I can keep my phone in it. I just honestly haven’t had the basic color tops to pair with it. So while I’m taking a break from the official wardrobe chains for a bit while I knock out a few things, this dress does work nicely to link that and my old Espresso leggings that match the brown in the plaid. I have a couple of other scarves that I think will also pair well with this — teal is my jam, after all, so it shows up a lot!
I had grander plans for summer sewing and my Chain Reaction project. But in the end, I only finished three projects over the entire summer. The third, the Itch to Stitch Fortuna shorts, was mentioned in my last post. Today, to catch up, I’ll share the other two. (With some help from the toddler who refuses to let me get any project photos on my own.)
My first project, and the first one that I made for this intended chain, was the Shenanigans Skort from 5 Out of 4 Patterns. I ended up making this as part of her Facebook group’s sewalong. Since I already made this once before, last summer, it was a fairly quick project to knock out. The two changes that I made were adding some rise to the back, which worked well, and attempting to add in seam pockets. My thought was that it might give the overskirt more of a polished look than the patch pockets on last year’s black ponte version. That didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. I ended up having to go back after about two washes and understitching them by hand, because they were bagging out so badly. Also, the stress points were already developing holes. So I won’t be doing that again, but I am happy with the changes to the fit.
The second project was another from the Itch To Stitch Sew Beautiful book, the Prague top. This is me being very late to the cold shoulder trend, and I’m still not entirely convinced about how I feel about the look on me. That being said, it was a pretty easy sew, and the shirt is comfortable to wear.
How fun is this print? I picked it up in the juvenile section at Joann’s, actually, because I really wanted a great novelty print and couldn’t find anything in the boring adult fabrics. (I guess this was my midlife crisis shopping trip?) Truth be told, a big part of what drew me to it was that I knew my sons would love it if Mommy has a dinosaur shirt. And they do.
I made a size 12, graded to 14 in the hips. I also shortened the sleeves just a bit. Will I make it again? I’m not sure. But it was worth trying.
I had other plans — a second Santa Fe top, and a seafoam colored skirt to pair with the Prague tee. I had hopes of sewing a dress and jacket combo that I’ve been plotting for several years, too, with a small chain built off of that. But we ended up having an extremely busy summer with plans nearly every weekend, and lots of late weekday bedtimes with my kids struggling to go to bed before the sun. I don’t regret losing the weekend time to making memories during our “Summer of Fun”, as my husband dubbed it, especially after last year. Lots of beach time, water park time, getting to see extended family and friends that I hadn’t gotten to see in over a year was worth it. I could have stood to have more of my weeknight time back, but it’s just a season of life. I can revisit those next year, right?
Now I’m trying to shift gears into Halloween costume mode. It’s been a slow start, since we’re also getting our homeschool year going, and trying to juggle two students plus a toddler there. But I did pick up a couple of patterns to use as starting points, and some curtains from the thrift shop to use for materials. So hopefully I’ll have that rolling soon.
Oh, hi, September. I didn’t mean to take so much time off of here. Honestly, I realized about 2/3 of the way through the summer that I never hit publish on this post, as I’d meant to go back and try to get better pictures. Obviously, my life is not conducive to better pictures, so here I am just playing catch up with what I have.
I had decided to take a break from the chain reaction sewing in order to fill a badly needed wardrobe gap. During the temperature ping-pong match that is Mid-Atlantic spring and fall, I can sometimes get away with my flannel pants and sometimes get away with my shorts. But more often than not, I really just need some lighter weight pants! And all I had left in this category, after three pregnancies’ worth of stretching killed my RTW set, was a pair of falling-apart Sewaholic Tofino pants that I made during my newlywed year.
I had been intrigued by the Fortuna Pants in the Itch to Stitch Sew Beautiful book since I first saw them, because—confession time— even though I wear them pretty regularly around the house, I’m not a huge fan of the jogger style pants. Especially the ones with the cuff on the bottom, because they remind me of 1980s sweatpants. These, however, have a wide leg option, and that is what I decided to try out.
My fabric was a soft, stretchy jersey that I hacked in half lengthwise and made a wrap baby carrier out of for my firstborn. It didn’t get used much, because it was very cumbersome to tie up out of the house (like dragging on the parking lot), and I got a Moby wrap at a swap before my middle child came along. So I’ve had it stashed for close to 5 years. I made the size 12, with a few modifications. First, I added about an inch to the back crotch curve. The finished pants ended up rather high rise, so this probably wasn’t necessary, but it’s an adjustment that I often need. I also graded it in to a size 10 at the waist, which worked great. Finally, I modified the front to have the angled pockets of the jogger version, because I got spoiled by having pockets in the multiple Carolyn pants and shorts that I’ve made, and can’t go back to pocketless pjs.
Let me just say, these pj pants are super comfortable. I’m sure a lot of that is due to the fabric, but I’m really loving the wide leg. When I wear them, I can’t help feeling like I’m wearing glamorous 1930s loungewear instead of pandemic world stretchy pants. I also feel like, with the right fabric, these could be easily dressed up or down. Maybe some future orchestra pants, if I can find the right black knit? The one thing that I wasn’t entirely satisfied with were the pockets, since they bag out very easily when I put my phone in my pocket. But more on that later.
I had some of the baby wrap left over, so the next pattern I tried was Hey June Handmade’s Santa Fe top. I didn’t realize when I printed it that I was essentially assembling 6 complete patterns, so the prep took the last several nights of my 100 Days Project. But it was a quick sew! I knew I wanted sleeves on my pj top, so I only had enough of the jersey left for the contrast and piecing together the neckband. I paired it with a lightweight black jersey that I’d ordered in hopes of making a good basic black tee, but it’s not great in the opacity and recovery departments. Good enough for sleepwear, though!
I made a straight size L for this one, and believe I’ll be sticking with it for now. I did find the neckband a little unwieldy, mostly due to needing a lot more practice to do a decently straight edge stitch on my coverstitch machine. I’m guessing the sleeve bands were supposed to have similar construction and be half the width , but oh well.
Overall, I think both patterns are keepers, and have definite TNT potential. In fact, I’ve already made the Fortuna again, but as the shorts!
I did make a few little tweaks the second time. I wanted to give my pockets a little more stability, so I drafted a self-facing, and used that as a sort of lining/interfacing when I sewed them on. It’s not a perfect fix, but my phone does pull the pocket far less out of shape than in my pj pants. The binding was a little different as well, but that was more me accidentally sewing it on the incorrect side and then just rolling with it.
Finally, I made a faux cuff by basically flipping the hem to the outside. The fabric, a very soft French terry, is excellent for comfort, but the color combined with the style was giving me serious gym shorts vibes. So this was me attempting to be marginally more stylish than I’ve become. That being said, I’ve been wearing these quite often since I finished them. So, since I don’t have many shorts anyway, I think more will be in order when I have time and comfy fabric in more interesting colors and prints.
It’s been a slow start since the 100 Day Project ended. Admittedly, I needed to ease off the pedal some, as we were wrapping up our first year of official homeschool. (Official in that I had a state sanctioned attendance requirement to meet, since we did preschool at home last year too.) I did have time to pull out stash and patterns for a tentative 6-piece summer chain, though, so here’s the first piece!
Wardrobe styling courtesy of my 4 year old, who insisted that I wear my “superhero shirt”. And I forgot to take off the house sandals, oops.
Last summer, I was hopeful that I can turn the 5 Out of 4 Patterns’ Shenanigans Skort into a TNT pattern, as knit skorts have proven to be extremely practical for summer wear with little kids. I made some tweaks from the last pair, adding a little length to the skirt and increasing the back crotch length. Though I think the back skirt could use just a smidgen more length, the shorts fit is perfect now.
A little lo-hi, but still wearable.
I wanted to fiddle with the pockets this time, since I don’t necessarily want to do patch pockets on everything. So I added in-seam pockets to the overskirt. And, well, this may not have been the fabric to try it with. It’s a thicker jersey type, as opposed to the ponte that I used in my original version, and the edges seriously like to roll toward the right side of the fabric. That made pressing the hems a challenge, and also made the pockets not lay very well.
I probably should have understitched the pockets when I initially made them, but I was doing it in a 4 day rush job to keep up with a sewalong that the pattern company was running. I did finish in time (though I didn’t win the drawing, oh well), but after about two wears, I could see that the pockets kept rolling toward the outside of the seam, and there was danger of a hole developing at the stress point already. So I had to go back and understitch by hand, and reinforce that lower corner. Proof that, to quote a chapter that I recently reread in Lord of the Rings, “short cuts make long delays”.
Keeping it real with my clingy toddler co-model
All that to say, I don’t quite have the pockets down for the skort TNT of my dreams. I don’t think I’ll do the inseam again. But otherwise, this was a promising step forward, and a solid foundation to build this next wardrobe chain on. Every other piece I picked is also a knit, so I’m hoping that I can knock the rest of this out a little more quickly. To be perfectly honest, I’m hoping to save some time to knock out some Halloween sewing before we start school again, just to save me the stress of deadline sewing in the fall!
Since I didn’t manage to get pictures of my fourth finished piece before I finished my most recent project, I have two things to share today.
The first is a pattern that I’ve made before, the Stasia Tee by Sew Liberated. Since I’ve already talked about this pattern, I made it basically the exact same way as before, except I did add a little extra width to the lower section to compensate for the mom tummy that I’ve gained since the ivory version. I made a coral tee years ago, and it ended up being a surprisingly versatile piece in my wardrobe. But given that it was two kids and a quarantine ago, it isn’t fitting that well these days. So this one was to function as both a replacement for that, and a much needed pop of color in this particular chain.
I had quite a bit of this coral left over, so I did make a second little side project, which I’ll put in a different post soon.
The second project, and what I believe will be the last piece in this particular chain for now, was the Carlsbad Vest from the recently released Itch to Stitch book. As you know, I’ve become quite a fan of her patterns in recent years, and I can honestly say that I want to make every single pattern in this book! Which I haven’t been able to say about other pattern books that I’ve acquired in the past. To be honest, this vest wasn’t on my immediate radar, but I found a fabric during my birthday mini-shopping spree that I thought would be perfect for it. And since it happened to work with the pieces in this chain, I just went for it!
The fabric is a double-sided knit from Joann’s — black and white stripes on one side, and white dots on black for the reverse. Initially, I was wondering if I could make this fully reversible, but that’s a lot of flat-felling on a stretchy knit. So in the end, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk of rippling all the seams. I did think that the reversible quality would make for a fun contrast with the waterfall effect of the front, and I do believe it worked out well. I also ended up using the dotted side for the arm bindings — partially for the style, but also because this knit was surprisingly hard to cut straight and all of my stripes for those pieces ended up slanted!
I made the size 14– I probably could have done the 12, but I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t pulling over my hips. The instructions were really nicely done for the mitered corners and the collar, so I had no trouble sewing this together. Honestly, the part that took the longest was the hemming, since it’s on all four sides and the way the corners are constructed made me think that my coverstitch machine wouldn’t be the best finishing choice. I ended up doing a folded hem (as per the instructions), with a narrow zigzag and tear-away stabilizer. It worked like a dream, with nary a ripple in sight, except the ones that are supposed to be in the front from that long rectangular piece. I could see myself making this again as an alternate silhouette to the Blackwood Cardigan, with a nice drapey knit.
So, six looks from five pieces, which I can likely mix up more with different shoes (though my choices are admittedly limited there), or jewelry. Especially once I get to the point where Miss Grabby Toddler lets me start using my necklaces and dangly earrings again!
Overall, I’m quite pleased with how this chain-style sewing experiment worked out! My plan is to take a brief break from that for another project (I very badly need some pajamas that are between flannel pants and summer shorts), but plans for the next chain are definitely in the works. And, of course, I’m fully planning on mixing these pieces in with other things in my closet/future sewing projects as much as possible!
Not that you can see any details here, because black fabric.
My third piece in this first chain is the Jade Skirt, by Paprika Patterns. I’ve had this pattern/fabric pairing in my stash for a few years now, along with fabric for a second version, so it was time! And a basic black skirt is something that I’ve been lacking for awhile anyway.
The chair models it better than I do for details.
This was definitely a pattern that needed some brainpower on my part, more so than the pants (a pattern repeat) and the jacket (other than the welt pockets.) The front of this skirt is basically fabric origami, and I’m very glad that I took my sewing time one night to watch the video tutorial on her website! The folding process really wasn’t bad after that, though I think it would have helped if I had any quantity of more than two pin colors. I did find it a little tricky to wear for its first outing today, because even though it’s stitched under the folds to secure them, things tend to shift around when I’m in the process of sitting down. The other knit that I have for this one is a spongier, textured one. So I’m seriously debating topstitching the folds in place for that one, whenever I get to it. We’ll see how I feel after a couple of wears.
Pattern alterations!
The fitting was a more challenging process than I anticipated. I started out with a size 8, and the longer length. I’m not sure if I ended up making this higher waisted than it was supposed to be. The way that the skirt is constructed means that the bottom is finished off by the lining before the waistband is attached, and putting the finished edge at my preferred knee-area skirt length does make it high waisted on me. So then I ended up having to take quite a bit out of the back darts and side seams— I think I ended up grading it in about 6”-7” all around from my hips! And if I do succeed in flattening out my third baby tummy any, I may need to take it in even more. In anticipation of that, and also because me and stitching in the ditch with stretch stitches don’t get along, I hand sewed the waistband lining in so I can more easily access those side seams again.
I still love these crazy statement sleeves.
Just for fun, I paired this newest addition to my wardrobe with the oldest surviving member of my handmade wardrobe. I made this shirt back when Lord of the Rings was still in theaters, and I was trying to incorporate as much Middle-earth style into my wardrobe as a broke student could manage. (Side note, how am I looking at 20 year anniversaries of these movies now? I guess I’m old or something.) Anyway, this shirt alone has managed to survive the wardrobe purges since. And while I hadn’t really been able to wear this one in awhile, between babies/nursing and just lacking basics to pair with it, I think it works well with my accidental high waisted skirt. So I’m happy to have a way to get this back into a more regular rotation.
For my 100 Days Project update, I’m at the halfway mark today! And I haven’t missed any days yet, though I had to get creative with things like a recent late night at book club. I’ve used a few here and there for things like rethreading machines and washing fabric, which still counts for me because they’re parts of the process. I’ll admit that I’m starting to get some evenings here and there where I just want to take a night off and do something else, but knowing that I only need 15 minutes has helped a lot with keeping me motivated.
I’m actually already mostly done with my next project in the chain! So I’m thinking that one more project after this will probably be good for this set. I’m strongly considering knocking out a quick filler project or two before starting the next one, as I’m still plotting it out. Summer clothes will likely be involved!
sew adagio 
