I'm here. I'm here!

It's always weird (to me) when so many days go by between blogging. Eek.

Work has been super busy. One of my coworkers is out on extended leave and I'm doing both of our jobs. 

I is tired. 

Yesterday I realized I hadn't sewn in days and started having twitches. But, my hand and wrist hurts so badly I knew I couldn't do much cutting. So starting DDs jacket was out. 

I went down, rifled through like 6 different patterns that were already cut out, and put them back and came upstairs. 

Ok, what do I *need*? I need short sleeve tops and pants. Ok, pants are out. Too much hand work. 

I had McCalls 6702 on the table for awhile. 

Then Erica B posted hers again yesterday. 

http://www.ericabunker.com/2014/06/what-im-wearing-weekend-wear-open-back.html?m=1

I pulled THAT out like, YESSSS. 

Wait. No. 

I need shirts for work. 

So I pulled out Simpliciy 2594 which I'd made sometime last year and this pretty (poly? Rayon?) that I got from Hancock fabrics. In the summer orange and yellow are MY colors! I get all tan and goldeny brown and they just pop. (Yes, goldeny is a word! Haha!). 

On Lily (hanging til it can be hemmed. It's a bias cut top) 

Super yummy fabric!

Them I cut a Maria Denmark kimono tee. Which is a 13 second project. I used a jersey from FabricMart

I added bands to the sleeve to have just a little more arm coverage

I just measured the circumference and matched it. I didn't want to lose any width. 

Last Monday when I was doing unselfish sewing, I had also cut another New Look 6150 out of ITY. The color looks great on me but it fits a litttttttle closer than I'd like. I decided to get it finished too...but then I did this:

AND it's in the front :( 

I have to unpick it, which serger stitches aren't that bad now, and redo it. 

I also went to see a band Friday night with my husband, went to see X-Men Saturday night with hubby and went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier with the kids yesterday. 

And probably won't get back in the sewing room til Friday. :tears:

Did you have a sewing weekend?

May Wrap-Up and the end of MMM'14!

Last 3 days of Me Made May 2014! Eeeeeek!

Day 29: Simplicity 2700 pants (the too high at the waist pair)

Day 30: Simplicity 2594 top (again)

Day 31: McCall's 6744 dress

I am very glad that I participated this year. Not only was it incredibly fun to see everyone's handmade goodies on display, it was very useful too!

This month, I aimed for zero weekend repeats and I achieved that. I did have repeats during the week, which I knew I didn't have enough stuff to really, truly go 30 days.

What I did observe was:

1. I need more pants. I have made 5 pair of S2700 pants and one pair of B5908. I ruined one pair but slicing them open. A 2nd pair was made with sad fabric that grows by the minute. A 3rd pair  (which was technically the 1st pair) was made before I knew just how much needed to be removed from CF. A 4th pair is STILL awaiting new hems. So I really only have the plaid pair of S2700s and the B5908 pants. I have to change that!
2. I wore ALL 3 of my M6844 cardigans. I reached for the white one multiple times, mostly because it's much lighter than the ponte versions. I need another in a lightweight knit.
3. I wore both of my: S2255 tops, Sew Simple A1523 tops, S2061 pants and KS3115 yoga pants.
4. I have well over 300 patterns now and 100 of them are McCall's (to be fair, some are craft, mens, kids...) and 80 are Simplicity. But I noticed a lot of Simplicity TNT patterns here!
5. I want additional versions of several of these garments (not just the pants!)
6. I have some things that need handling. If it looks decent and is finished, I will donate or give away (my mom LOVED the M6886 and M6844 dress and cardi I sent her!). If they are in UFO jail; they need to be finished or tossed. If they need to be tossed...save the notions! I have three(!) zippers cut out of failed pants. I need to just unpick the stitches and boom, zippers!

 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

I didn't mind the daily pics but knew I'd never post daily to the blog; and Instagram was the perfect medium for that. Also, next time I'll do calendar weeks like normal humans. :) 

Until next year!!

************************************

My May wrap up:

• Lady Skater - 2 yards. (eggplant knit--I made this for DD. Plus the yard I ruined by mis-cutting)
• S1699 dress - 2 yards (mint cotton/poly woven--also for DD)
• BSM 06/2014 #121 tunic - 2 yards (windowpane cotton/poly shirting--also for DD)
• M6844 cardi - 2 yards (white knit)
• S1430 shorts - 1 yard (denim)
• S2153 jacket - 2.75 yards (black waterproof fabric--still in progress, but cut in May)
• M6519 top - 1 yard (teal challis--still in progress, but cut in May)

then...I had wadder after wadder after wadder this month

• NL 6110 top - 1.5 yards (white cotton w/circles--not fully a wadder but won't make it into the wardrobe)
• Lekala top - 1 .25 yards (white knit)
• M6744 dress - 1.5 yards (multi colored print ITY--I think the skirt can be salvaged and used for something else!)
• M6866 top - 1.25 yards (bright yellow knit :sadface: )

And in limbo:

• M6961 top - 1.5 yards (floral chiffon--not sure yet if my FBA worked. I need to find a lining fabric to finish sewing it up)

20.75 yards out this month, 6.5 yards as wadders and 6.5 yards for DD; plus 5.25 yards as in progress. Sooooo 3 yards worth of wearable items for me!?!? LOL!!!!

Fabric purchases were also quite rough.

26.75 yards purchased but 6.25 was NOT quite what I was expecting. So I'm pretty much at parity again. Yay! Of the 6.25; 1 will become pj shorts (too thin for 'real' shorts which is what I bought it for), 3 will become 'muslin' for knits (if I decide to muslin a knit. If it sits too long, I will give it away). We'll see if the others become more worthy as they age in the stash :)

Let's show off the good stuff...

Wovens

Coating

Knits

I'm going to go out on a limb and say my favorite May make will be my black jacket when it's finished. It is coming along REALLY nicely and I am super proud of my work.

Me Made Monday(s)!

I intended to do this and have worn a 'me-made' item the past three weeks. The first two weeks, I didn't take pictures because I'd worn them pretty much as pictured for my reviews -- with jeans. Today I wore Butterick 5678 under my argyle sweater. I've always thought I was too chunky and top heavy to layer my tops. But I really liked it!

I did not like wearing my too big grey slacks. I've lost almost 10 lbs and they are saggy baggy. I'm too scared to try to make an alteration to them and really should sew up a grey version of NL 6189. Meh.

Here are my last few 'me-made Monday' looks.

Monday, March 25: Simplicity 2594, Old Navy jeans

Monday, April 1: New Look 6104 with trousers

Monday, April 8: Butterick 5678. Argyl sweater-Target, Grey slacks

I have one more blouse I'm hoping to get sewn up for Faye's Essential Sew Along, which ends Wednesday. Check out the fabulous blouses HERE!

Finished Item - Simplicity 2594

I work as a chemist. I love my career and I love my job. However, I have a thing for clothes and shoes. I like having pretty things even though I am not a girly-girl. Now, working as a chemist means that I have to be covered at work. My current job is at a forensic engineering firm. THIS means that each day is different. I have found myself at my desk doing paperwork all day and I have found myself donning hard hat, Carhartt's, and steel toed boots while standing in a ditch, in the rain.

In other words, dressing pretty isn't that much of an option. My work "uniform" includes one of my three pair of pants in black, grey and tan. I have sweaters and cardigans that I wear most days. So part of my excitement to learn to sew was to make blouses and shirts that I could wear. This way I could branch out while still being comfortable and ready for anything at work.

Simplicity 2594 has been cut already in view C...but in a charmeuse. Oy vey! I'm going to save that for a day when I'm fresh and ready to sew. I had a hard time with the fabric and couldn't get the freezer paper to help.

I bought this gingham fabric on my last trip to SR Harris and I thought that, with it being 60" fabric that I could easily make a shirt with 1 1/4 yard. I couldn't find anything in my stash that worked besides view B of this pattern.

I. LOVE. THIS.

The yoke instructions were confusing. But there are a ton of pattern reviews on it and of course, some helpful hints. I'll use them next time. I winged it and it worked out fine. The shoulder pleat detail is really cute.

I was DETERMINED to wear this shirt today as I saw it coming together last night :)

My goofy kid in the background

The back. You can't even tell that I did something weird to the yoke. It looks fine.

A close up of the fabric. I think the pics make it hard to see that it's a lovely little gingham.


Pattern Sizing:
8-14. I cut view B in a 14

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes except for the yoke 

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I love this top. If you're tall, you'll probably need to lengthen it

Fabric Used:
a woven that I assume is a cotton or poly blend 

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I had to wing the yoke. And it was a little too boxy so I took in the side seams a bit more. Also, I used heat n bond strips on the sleeves then top stitched. 


Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes and yes!

Conclusion: 
Super cute. I finished it this morning and am wearing it today!

HOW Can I Have a Pile of UFO's Already?!

The first thing I cut was Butterick 5610 in a banana yellow broadcloth. Figured it was a nice, firm fabric that I could cut my teeth with. The pattern looked innocuous enough...no sleeves, sure, pleats and facings but I charged ahead.

It's almost done. I got hung up on the facings (which I *think* I understand now). And I didn't make my casing for the elastic wide enough. I don't know if I should redo it or use thinner elastic. Right now, there's a piece of elastic trapped in my shirt with safety pins still attached. LOL!

So she got tossed aside for now. (also, I followed the pattern explicitly on sizing and realized there's 5" of ease in the bust. FIVE INCHES. So it's probably going to be too big. But that's okay).

Next up, I cut out Butterick 5566, view C, in a brown woven fabric. I'm having some fit issues :(

Again, I think I cut it too big, and ended up using 1" seam allowances. But, I think the waist is now too small, the hips are puckering and the back, below the butt is just sad. Hopefully the kind folks at PR will give me some tips.

Next I cut NewLook 6150 in black. I used a knit from Hancock's that is somewhat shiny and that I don't love. The sleeve of the black shirt were a tad too tight. And I see NOW that I did a somewhat sucky job on setting it. I think I'm going to remove the sleeve, face the openings, and use this as a black shell. Can't have too many of those.

Next up was NewLook 6150 again - in a grey interlock (HERE). I love, love, love this fabric. I want to make like 10 tees/shirts with this stuff. I only needed to hem the sleeves and do the facing...and then I realized the seams on the black shirt were coming apart. I'm going to wait until I get my walking foot in the mail (hopefully this week) and now that I have stretch AND ball point needles, see which works best. Then I plan on redoing the seams on both these shirts.

Then I cut Simplicity 2594, view C and intended to use a poly charmeuse. OY VEY! I couldn't cut the stuff! I've done some research and will attempt to use freezer paper to stabilize the fabric. I have to figure it out because I have some other pretty printed charmeuse; 4.5 yards to be exact, and it will get sewn!

The coup de grace to my beginning sewing adventures...Butterick 5678. I need button down shirts. I need shirts that won't gape at the bust without being huge through the waist. I started with some $2 broadcloth - fine shirt muslin'ing material...I cut a 14 in a C cup. I probably should have cut a 16. So it'll be too small for me but there were a few mistakes and I'll be glad to move on to my shirting material after giving this one more try with a muslin.

There are some issues...I wasn't 100% on the collar and realized I sewed the raw edge outside - oops. My princess seams could use some tweaking and I don't like interfacing the cuff as a whole. I'd rather leave the "middle" un-interfaced so topstitching doesn't get wonky. I did okay on sleeve #1 but sleeve #2 is kicking my butt.

I ripped the second sleeve for the third time this morning. I'm hoping to finish it up tonight.