Monthly Roundup: January 2013

January was such a fun month! I got to participate in Jungle January, and I joined Twitter and got started sewing coats with my #sewcoatbuddy pals.

I made;
1) Simplicity 6276 jumper dress for me
2) Jalie 2794 x2 for me and Myra
3) Butterick 4222 nightgown for Myra
4) Ottobre 06/2012-13 pants for Logan
5) Butterick 4910 nightgown for Myra
6) Vogue 8330 jeans for me
7) Ottobre 06/2012-4 shirt for Duncan
8) Ottobre 06/2012-5 pants for Duncan
9) Jalie 2794 leotard for Myra
10) McCalls 6604 blouse for me
11) Kitschy Coo Skater dress x2 for Myra
12) Burda magazine 01/2011-120 leggings for me

That is a total of 14 projects sewn, some of which I still need to blog. I sewed up 20 yards of fabric, and only added 11.5 yards, 4 yards of which have ALREADY BEEN SEWN!! That's sort of epic for me, since I so often buy fabric just for the stash. The remaining yardage is intended for coats, of which one I have already muslined, so we are in good shape there.

As for the Stashbusting Challenge, I think the above speaks to how well that is going. Yay!  Of the 14 projects I sewed, 12 of them were from stash fabrics, so that's good there. I also managed to use both a vintage pattern and a Burda magazine pattern this month, which was my secondary pattern stash goal. I'm pretty happy with that, too.There's more Burda to come as well. Both planned coats are to be sewn from Burda magazine patterns.

Next month, my main focus will be my #sewcoatbuddy coat. I've already made the first muslin, and I have some ideas about what I need to fix to make it fit. My Twitter buddies have been really helpful helping tweak the fit. It's so awesome having such great support. I don't have the stamina to do such a big project all in one haul, so I'll definitely be doing some quick palate cleansing projects throughout the month as well.

Burda mag 01/2011-120 leggings

There's been a lot of chatter lately on Twitter about #oonapants, inspired by the lovely Kalkatroonan, of course.

I had to make some. Leggings are such a great instant gratification project. And I'm letting my coat muslin stew while I think over the alterations I need to make.

Since I don't have a well fitting pair of leggings to trace, I went with the leggings pattern from the 01/2011 issue of Burda magazine. I made the adjustments I commonly make for pants - lengthening the rise and scooping the rear crotch curve. The extra length was totally not needed, as these are drafted with a fairly high waistline. I ended up removing the extra I added and then some.

I added a fold over waistband, like Oona's. I had 'drafted' one previously for this skirt, and just used that. It's very simple to do this - you just need a band that is your waist measurement minus 2 inches for the width and twice your desired finished height. Add seam allowances and away you go.

I was worried that this crazy print would make my butt look huge, but I actually think it has more of a camouflage effect. Win! I'm not sure altering the crotch curve was necessary in a fabric with this much stretch, but the fit is good, so I'm keeping it. I'm also pretty darn pleased with my print matching back there. Can't even see the seam!

The inseam turned out really well, too. The upper part of the back inseam is a bit longer than the front, which makes for a good fit, but makes stripe matching impossible up there. Hopefully, no one is looking there, anyway!

You got a problem with my oonapants, yo?

When I finished these I thought to myself, "What have I done??" but I actually think I really like them. They are crazy comfortable and I actually think they are pretty fun. Maybe not typical for my wardrobe, but maybe, just maybe, I'll wear them out of the house after all. What do you think?

Burda 08/2007-112 coat muslin

I'll admit, I'm not the best at making muslins. I know, I'd probably have better final outcomes if I did, but it is easily my least favorite part of sewing. Still, when one making a coat, even I think a muslin (test garment) is in order.

Here is the line drawing for Burda 08/2007-112.  As you can see, it is a fairly straight cut coat, shaped pretty much just with the belt, although there is a small dart that is hidden under the lapel that provides a small amount of shaping in the chest.

Here is an old sheet, cobbled loosely into the form of the coat, and tied with a random sash. Looks a bit like a bathrobe at the moment. My fit concerns here are all in the shoulder and sleeve. The shoulder seems to be slightly dropped, and I'm not sure if that is style or size. I do have narrow shoulders in front. The fold falling from the shoulder line is suggesting too much fabric there, so I need to consider that. The sleeves also seem to be twisting. I have no idea what that is about.

From the side, the sleeve looks great, and the hemline and side seams fall straight and even.I'm wondering if the collar is falling too far back, though.

In back, it looks OK, although there are a few wrinkles in the armpit in this pic. I'm not sure if those are real or just posture related.

With my arms forward, it looks OK, but feels a little snug across my back and rear. I think I will release the center back seam from about mid back all the way down and add some width there for movement ease.

What do you think?

Twitter enabling

I've only been tweeting a short while, but the sewing community there is awesome! And terribly enabling. But I like that in my friends.
So, while chatting about Sewing Dares, this came up...

And so we are sewing coats! I'm excited to be working with all of these amazing ladies. I know we'll be excellent support for each other. Now, for my coat...

It all started with this amazing stretch poplin from Mood. As you can see, the scale of the print is quite large, so it needs a simple style to really show it off.

I found this very simple belted coat in the 08/2007 issue of Burda magazine. You can't tell anything from the fashion image, but it is a straight cut coat with very little shaping. There is a single dart that shapes the front, hidden under the lapel. The collar has a half stand, just across the back to give it lift  and shaping there. Otherwise, it is very, very simple. I'm planning to underline with wool jersey and do very minimal tailoring just in the collar and lapels. I'll probably also add some support to the armholes and upper chest - probably just cross-grain fusible, but we'll see.

I had hoped to get this finished in time for Jungle January, but the lining has still not arrived, so I don't think that will happen. I'm so glad that I got a chance to participate in this party though, especially when a sweet little package arrived in the mail yesterday!!

How fun is this?! Thank you so much, Anne!! Mlle. Hello Kitty brightens my day and those buttons... I have no words. They are beyond amazing. I'm going to have to find the perfect project to feature them. Mitch suggested a jacket, but there are enough for a shirtdress... What would you do?

My new sewing buddy!

Several weeks ago, one of the young ladies that I had the pleasure to teach at church mentioned that she was interested in sewing. Naturally, that sparked a conversation and I discovered that she has taken several sewing classes and in fact, her parents were planning to purchase her a sewing machine. Very little makes me happier than encouraging the next generation of sewist, so I invited her over to sew with me. We've been meeting together every weekend we can, and it has been so much fun!

The first time we got together, we made her a skirt! It's a basic dirndl skirt gathered into 2 inch wide elastic. Super simple, but fun to sew. Anna did all of the seaming and hemming, and I did the patternwork (such as it was) and the gathering.

After we made her skirt, she brought over her sewing machine, and we figured out all of its bells and whistles, then I taught her basic machine maintenance - cleaning and oiling. After we got her machine spic and span, she cleaned up mine for me. Janome hasn't been that spotless in years!

This last time we got together, Anna wanted to make a fleece hat. I found this tutorial and we went to town. She cut out the fleece she chose.

And she did all the sewing herself.

How cute is her new hat!! It only took us thirty minutes, so there was also plenty of time to pick out some fabric and a pattern for a tee shirt. We even got the pattern traced, then we spent some time talking about different fibers and how they are different from different fabrics. We compared silk jersey to cotton jersey, and silk organza to silk crepe. It was really fun showing her how the same fiber or the same weave can result in such different fabrics. My giant stash was definitely beneficial here!
I'm really having a ton of fun hanging out with Anna and sharing my passion with her. I'm so glad her parents are willing to share her with me. She's awesome!!