Ottobre 04/2011-15

For Myra's "Make it in a Metre" astronaut tee, I wanted to make sure that the end result fit her uber girly personality.

I think the fabric is nicely androgynous, so I wanted a pattern that upped the girl factor. I also wanted to play with raglan sleeves again in this fabric. Ottobre 04/2011 had the perfect thing, #15 - the "Dreamland" tunic. It has simple style lines that allow the fabric to be the focus, while the gathered sleeves and neckline with keyhole opening add some girliness.

I used the same three fabrics as I did for Logan's tee. This time, I used my coverstitch binder to bind the neckline and armholes with ribbing. Prior to applying the binding, Ottobre has you gather them with clear elastic cut to the finished measurements. This method worked so well. It was much better than gathering with stitches and then staying the gathers with more stitches. It left a nice stretchy edge. Myra can even get the top over her head without unbuttoning it, and she has a giant melon.

Here is the cute little keyhole. I love it. I used a fun star button to tie in to the theme of the print. This is totally Myra's favorite part of the top. She shows everyone her star button. For the loop, I used a clear hair elastic. Easy peasy and works great. This piece used up the largest pieces of my knit, but I think it was worth it. We both love this cute top!

Ottobre 02/2005-20

The first tee I finished for Kitschy Coo's "Make it in a Metre" series was Logan's pieced tee.

Although there is snow on the ground outside, Logan specifically requested a short sleeve tee, so I went on the hunt through all of my Ottobre magazines. I didn't really have a specific look in mind (other than short sleeves!) but I kind of thought I wanted raglan sleeves, and I sort of wanted to do some piecing for this one. Then I ran across this design in the 02/2005 issue, and I knew it was the one.

How fun is the swoosh across the front? I love that the red panel carries over to the back and that the sleeve matches the front panel it attaches to. I wish I could say I had cut the correct sleeve the first time through. Fortunately, the sleeves are small and my error didn't cost me. This was kind of a pain to trace and sew, since it has to be a single layer layout with each piece cut once, but that also meant I could be very economical in cutting my precious astronaut jersey. The coordinating fabrics are a cotton-lycra jersey from Fabric Mart (the white) and a cotton rib knit from Joann (the red). The curves in the piecing weren't exactly easy to sew, although since the fabrics are nice and stretchy, it wasn't too big a deal. I just had to be careful not to stretch the seams out as I sewed them. In the end, Logan is happy with his new (short sleeve!) shirt, and so am I.

Make it in a Metre: The final tally

Dying to see what I managed to squeeze out of my meter of astronaut jersey? I knew you were!

Click over to Kitschy Coo to see the final tally! I'll also be blogging about the individual pieces here over the next couple of days, with a focus on the patterns I used.

Here are the individual posts for each piece.
My top
Logan's tee
Myra's tunic
Duncan's tee
The underwear

Make it in a Metre

Hey, what do you think you could eke out of just a meter of a fabulous fabric? Can you believe I managed 4 shirts and 2 pairs of underwear? All in the name of a challenge.

Head over to the Kitschy Coo blog to see how far I managed to stretch (hah!) a meter of this amazing jersey knit. In today's installment, I'm talking about mixing different knits to get the most out of a particular precious cut of fabric. Want some for yourself (you know you do)? You can get your own astronauts, as well as a bunch of other adorable high quality jersey prints right here at Kitschy Coo's shop. (Don't forget to look at the patterns while you're there. They're awesome, too!)

The Great White Shirt - Vogue 8747

My next installment in the Wardrobe Basics SAL is the white shirt.

You can't get much more basic than a white shirt. And I really needed one in my wardrobe! This one is great - simple and easy to wear, but with a wonderful shape. The front bust gathers are a nice detail that keeps it from being too boring.

The pattern is Vogue 8747, which I made before here. The previous version was intended as a wearable muslin, although I like it quite a lot and made very few changes for the final version. The two major fit changes I made were to raise the bust gathers 1/4 inch. In the first version, it felt like they were visually pulling down my bust point. I also sewed the side seams at 3/8 inch, giving me an extra inch of ease all around.

On the first version, I avoided topstitching, but for this version I wanted a more casual look, so I topstitched down the collar, bands and cuffs. In fact, I did no hand sewing at all on this version. The Singer loves to sew on buttons. She got to do 10 on this blouse.

The fabric is a somewhat difficult to photograph, bright white stretch poplin from Fabric Mart. It is a really nice weight and has just about the perfect amount of stretch for this. I'm glad I got some in several colors.

I'm wearing my blouse today with New Look 6816 pants in a navy and pink pinstripe, my Simplicity 2149 fur jacket, Steve Madden red patent pumps and pink pearls my sister picked up at the underground market in Shanghai.

This is the 5th garment I've sewn for the wardrobe, so that puts me at halfway. I'm still pretty excited about the SAL, and I plan to finish all of the garments. I really want them in my closet! But you'll have to excuse a little distraction. Something shiny crossed my path - I NEED a red ponte jacket!