I Just Can't Bring Myself to Do It

I now own 3 issues of BurdaStyle Mag.
03/2013
10/2013-US edition
02/2014


There are tons of things I love and want to make. T.O.N.S. But the tracing. I cannot wrap my ahead around the tracing :(


The US edition included codes to download some of the patterns online - SCORE. So my pattern for the Illusion jacket is a pdf that will be taped and traced:

There are pants and tops and a skirt and a dress and I want to make them...and obviously, people make them!!! But arrggghh! I need to buy a tracing wheel and some transfer paper to make it easiest or I was thinking about doing the whole, tape the stupid pattern map to the window and trace off. I keep telling myself to start with something simple (like the skirt) and go from there but nope.

And then I actually contemplated a 6 month subscription but...I haven't sewn anything from the ones I have and *had* to get! Oy!!!

Do you use Burda mag patterns?? How do you trace?

In other news, I wore my green top (LOVE) and plaid pants yesterday. Comfortable. So comfortable! I did hem the plaid pants a little long and the brown ones a little short. I got lots of compliments after I had to ask a coworker to snip a thread (there's always one more thread than what you snipped!) and she asked if I made it. The ladies were going gaga! One asked if I took orders.
1) No. No I do not.
and
2) My very best girlfriend will track you down and make your life miserable if I sewed for you!

:-D

In other sewing funnies, when I was doing the finishing on my pants, my daughter was sitting there. She gasped in horror and actually grabbed my hand when I went to to take the seam ripper to the buttonhole. "MOM! What are you doing?!?! That's going to cut them!" She's so sweet.

I am starting to notice a pattern of me coming up with plans and then those plans completely and utterly falling by the wayside. I do want to make a jacket, I really do...but I can't choose one. I haven't revisited the S1699 banana plaid jacket but maybe I should. That affected my mojo :/

(I have sworn that I do not want to quilt and then I saw this. "I can make a quilt fast. FAST!!!" Jeez louise. No to quilting. No. No. No.)

Friday is officially my 1 year sewing anniversary!!! Be sure to check back for my "anniversary post"!

The MOST Possible Amount of Finished Items!

uhmm. I have a whole bunch of stuff to show!! Like...5 new things. FIVE! I made 2 pairs of pants and 3 tops.

Now, to be fair, the pants are my S2700 TNT pattern and one pair of pants was technically finished last weekend; well they needed hook & eyes and a button and pics. But you can't take pics during the week because it's dark in the morning and it's dark at night.

One top is Sew Simple 1523 which I'd just made. The other two tops is a new pattern BUT they're the same so...let's go!

Simplicity 2700, reviewed before...

Plaid pair: there was nary a plaid matching attempt. Nary. I was in an uhmm, mood, so I went to the cave and pulled this fabric out and cut. After I'd cut out the front pattern piece I said, Ooops. This is  a plaid. But I only had 2 yards so there was no way I could even try to ensure I matched. I just went for it. It primarily matches (LOL!) across the front and back and the side seams. The waistband? Not. At. All. I never tuck shirts anyway though...

The brown pair: Uneventful. The only mistake I made was in hemming. I might have to undo the hem because I took too deep a hem. I'll have to see how they look with my "work shoes" (which are kept in my office).

Both suiting fabrics came from FabricMart during the $2, $4, $6 suiting sale. neither has any amount of give compared to the last fabrics I made these pants from. Oops!! So they're butt huggy but that's okay. 

I serged everything before sewing, stitched the seams so I could leave them pressed open. Serged the waistband facing, removing 1/4" and then undrestitched and stitched in the ditch (I love the look and the idea of the bias binding on the facing but it's so dang time consuming! Oy!!) . I also placed my hook & eyes too far "in" and there's a weird flap at the end of the tab...again, since I never tuck shirts, this isn't a big deal. I think I'm going to make the next pair a flat front.

Also, NO VISIBLE ZIPPER!!!! Yay! I managed to do it right -and- I did not consult any source to insert my fly this time. It took a little while, but now I think I have "my way" of doing it.

ALSO, perhaps you knew this but I didn't; the zipper package has a template on it for topstitching the fly. I probably didn't know because this is what my zipper packaging always looks like:

But if you don't manhandle the packaging, you have this:

And then this:

Then, I made another Sew Simple 1523 top. You know, I had pegged this knit for a different pattern but seriously, why fuss with another knit top when I loved this one so much!?! I sewed this in 90 minutes from start to finish. I felt like a ninja warrior sewer.

THEN, because I was still amped up, I cut Burda 7866 (which for some reason I can't find on Simplicity's website now). Here's the link to the pattern on PR: 7866. I bought this pattern a long time ago after seeing some REALLY cute versions around the web and never sewed it up. Well, when I picked up that ocean blue knit from SR Harris, I knew it would become this top. How glad am I that I waited!!! I loved the top so much that it wasn't even half finished before pulling out a snake print knit and making another one up! 

So here are gazillion pics of everything! :)

***I was going to be more judicious with the pictures but I inserted them all in this weird "block" and now, if I delete one, Blogger deletes them all so...you're stuck

Simplicity 2700 in plaid  and chocolate brown wool/poly blend suiting from FabricMart 
Burda Style 7866 top in (double? Sweater?) knit from SR Harris
Sew Simple 1523 in chartreuse jersey knit from SR Harris
Burda Style 7866 top in (poly/lycra?) knit from JoAnn

I did such a good job on matching the waistband seams! And look at that blind hem!!!!

The cuteness of those giant sleeves!

"What? Huh? OH!! I'm using a PRINT?!" Uhmm yeah. No matching there.

I was getting bored

My goofball daughter. I told her I was putting this on the blog!!!!

Review for the BurdaStyle top:

Love. I love it! This top went together super fast (SUPER fast). The front and back is one pattern piece (the shoulder is cut on the fold). Then you cut out the neckline area. It looks like no adult head could ever fit through the hole that is created, but it does!! And I have a big head!

You sew the shoulder and side seam in one swoop and then attach the front and back yoke. Boom. Done.

It has very deep hems for the sleeves and top - 1 7/8". I really like the look of it.

Now, the neckband is weird. They instruct you to interface (didn't do that) the neck and then attach the facing strips. I hate facings on knits. It's weird. This has you attach the front and back to each piece and then tack it by hand. I did no such thing. There was no tacking. None. I sewed the dang thing on my machine. 

I think the top is a bit long without modifications (so if you're long waisted, you might not need to add extra length). On the snake print, I shortened the top and the yoke a bit so it wouldn't blouse over as much.

The size 14 took just about 1 1/2 yards of fabric err, more if you need to match prints ;-)

Now, I'm all tuckered out!