happy one year, me olde blogge

Can you believe my blog turned one-year-old today? My baby's growing up so fast.

It started out rocky... a lot of late nights, bad template designs and grainy head-cropped photos. I felt like I hadn't done enough research on how to be a good blog mom until it was too late. For example, I started out thinking this would be a DIY decor blog -- ha ha ha. ha. -- but all too suddenly I switched to apparel sewing. That's a bloggy no-no: to begin without a clear focus and to choose a blog name that ends up being unrelated to the content. Ah well. But despite that, I quickly became obsessed with my new role, and I was obsessed with my new hobby, so I coddled this baby until I no longer felt like it was just spitting up all over the Internet.

Of course there's still a lot of whining going on, but my blog is one of my biggest joys and I'm so grateful for all I've learned and everyone I've "met" through it. As you know, the sewing community is top-notch; my fellow bloggers and readers are freakin' ANGELS. I really don't think I would have sewn as many garments, or put as much care and thought into the process, or gained the confidence to keep trying new techniques, if it weren't for this blog, the people who follow and support it, and the other bloggers I follow who share the same passion.

So, thank you for an amazing year! Here's to many more. Or, as many as the world can tolerate.

I know most bloggers do end-of-calendar-year wrap-up posts about their sewing. But I started my blog right around the time I became re-acquainted with my sewing machine, so it's really been a year exactly since I started sewing maniacally regularly. Good enough time for some reflections, right? I wish I could say I've had a wildly successful year in sewing, but that's not exactly true. When I look through my project gallery from top to bottom, I'm pretty appalled that I don't even wear or use half of the stuff I've made. But I guess I'm proud of how far I've come, and I love that there's still so much to learn. Sewing is a hobby that almost has no limits (aside from... budgetary limits), which is one of the best kinds of hobbies.

Let's talk numbers first. Above is a breakdown of the categories of stuff I've sewn. I'm surprised I made so many tops because I feel that's what's lacking in my wardrobe -- but my self-stitched tops are some of my least favorite items. All in all, since October 2011 I've made give-or-take 52 garments for myself, plus some accessories, stuff for other people and for my home. Good job! Oh, but of the things I made for myself, I regularly wear only 10 of them (ahhh!), hardly wear 14 of them (ahhh!), simply never wear 17 of them (ahhh!), and have thrown away, given away or taken apart the rest. Ahhh! But I realize that the items I actually wear are some of the most recent items on my sewing resume, so I feel that I am improving my technical skills and learning more about my style and what I actually enjoy wearing.

SO SAD AND WASTEFUL. Ah well, enough pie charts. Onto the happier superlatives...

Most Worn: Minoru Jacket. It's a jacket; of course it gets worn the most! I was happy to pull it out from storage this past weekend, and I've already worn it three times since then. I want another one with some design tweaks, as I'm not 100% switten with the floppy collar, elastic cuffs and the weirdly-shaped pockets that were an accident on my part. Still, I like it and am proud of it.

Least Worn: Red Leaf Shirt, made from a bedsheet. My first blouse ever! My first buttonholes ever! Aw, sweet little blurry headless girl. I didn't know how to ease in sleeves so I left them gathered/puckered because I thought that's how they were supposed to be. I have not wore this blouse once, as it's an unattractive beige color and I don't know what to wear it with. But it still hangs loyally in my closet waiting for its time to shine when I score some catering gig or something.

Most Complimented: Cambie dress. Hey, don't pretend you don't covet those unsolicited compliments on your handmade items. It kinda helps to validate your hard work. Maybe it's the sweetheart neckline or sleeves, but people are always super surprised/impressed that this dress is handmade. I also think it's one of my best me-makes in terms of fit and finish, so you know, yay me.

Cutest in Photos, but Not in Real Life: Colorblocked dress. It makes me sad to look at this dress here and know that it has since been gutted to death. This thing was even featured on McCalls' Facebook page! How could I kill it? Seriously, I made it out of the cheapest broadcloth and polyester lining in the store, the skirt lining had a huge iron fry-hole that scratched my skin, the top buttonhole was completely crooked (I tried to straighten it for photos), the collar stuck out like bonkers in the back, and the bust had enough room to carry around two Chihahuas. The dress had to die. I saved its zipper and buttons and used the fabric to line some baby dresses.

Favorite Fabric: Chevron Pleated Skirt. I loved the fabric then and I love it now, but unfortunately I don't wear this skirt very much because I simply don't know what to wear it with. A ribbed white tank top doesn't cut it. I've been trying to use this as a starting point  for Sunni's "Everyday Wardobe" challenge -- where you pick something you love but never wear, and find a way to make it more wearable, whether that's altering it or making something that will complement it. It's a great idea, but I don't even know what to make that will "complete" this skirt.  While I love the saturated colors of the skirt, I somehow can't decide what color tights/shoes/belts to wear it with. Black? Brown? Gray?!

Most Visited Blog Post: Round Pintuck Pillow Tutorial. Huh? This is from back in my DIY Decor days that lasted a few...days. I made an Urban Outfitters pillow knock-off, and it's my top-visited post by a long shot (like 7,000 more views than the next most visited). Who woulda thought?

Best Use of an Old Sheet: Blue Check Dress. I made several garments from bedsheets and tablecloths throughout the year, but this dress is the most successful I guess. It has a lot of technical problems, but I wear it sometimes just so I can tell people it's made from a thrifted bedsheet. It provokes a reaction that is equal parts amazement and disgust.

Best Spam Comment: see above. I don't use word verification on my blog comments so sometimes I get robot spam. Google always catches it right as it goes through, though, so it's never published for anyone else to see. I love getting the e-mail notifications that contain the spam comments because they're hilarious. The one above is a personal favorite. There are plenty of other good ones, and I'm considering featuring them in their own blog post just to share the LOLs. 

Best Fit: Plaid Shirt for Corey. I know you must be distracted by the USA-themed tiki torch in the photo, but unfortunately I'm just talking about the boy here. I haven't blogged about this shirt, though I worked really hard on it and he loves it. My boyf has a strange body (sorry babe) and he likes a slim cut, so shirts and pants never fit him right off the rack. I made him a short-sleeve shirt before, but apparently the fit is still too loose and he isn't thrilled with the button placement. Men. SO, I set out to create him a perfect long-sleeve shirt, diligently creating a rub-off pattern from another shirt that fits him well in the body but not in the sleeves. I even made flat-felled seams, which I HATE sewing. He rolled his sleeves up high here in the photo, but believe me that they are actually long enough for his freak wonderful arms. Rad.

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The end. What have I learned in this reflection post on my first blogoversary? Uh, that I shouldn't keep up the pace of sewing 50+ garments a year because I end up with a wardrobe I half-hate? Maybe. But also that I've made some decent stuff and I still love sewing with all my heart. I'm confident that this next year of sewing will be more focused, intentional and informed, which in turn will lead to more focused, intentional and informed blogging. Yaaaay!

Anyway, happy blogoversary to me and it's a happy day indeed. How do you feel at this point of your sewing and/or blogging journey?

la veste pavot

I studied French in school, which seemed cool at the time, but it turns out that's not the language you want to know if you're an American like me working in non-profit social services. "Does anyone here speak Spanish?! There's someone on the phone who..." But hey, it is the language you want to know if you're a home sewer determined to make pretty clothes. "Does anyone here speak French?! I have to attach this peter pan collar..." 

Thanks to Anna of Paunnet, we're all aware by now (right?) of Deer & Doe Patterns, a pattern line recently launched by French designer Eléonore Klein. It's all so frickin' adorable. I recently made a silent oath to never sew a rounded collar again, but then I saw the Veste Pavot (translation: Poppy Jacket) and I was completely taken by it, collar and covered buttons and all. The construction looked simple enough so I thought I'd take the plunge and see if I could do it.

As one of the first technically monolingual Americans (sob) to blog about one of these patterns, I feel like should try to give a decent overview of what these patterns are like, what the sewing experience was like, and whether or not I'm satisfied with the end result.

As with all the independent patterns I've sewn before, the graphic design aesthetics and packaging are lovely. The patterns come in large envelopes and are printed on sturdy paper (which--call me crazy--I actually don't like as much as tissue paper because they don't iron out or lay as flat). The instructions are written in a little booklet with simple drawings, like Megan Nielsen's patterns.

Ignore wrinkles.

Now let's talk about my language skillz and how this affected my ability to sew a French pattern. I may have studied French for a number of years, but every time I graduated to the next phase of schooling (middle school, then high school) I had to start over at French 101. Not a good system. So really the highest I studied was French 4 as a senior in high school. Seven years have passed since then, and in the meantime my brain has been muddled with studying Japanese and drinking beer, so mostly what I remember about French are these three key phrases: zut alors! (darn!), hyper chouette! (super cool!), and discotheque (dance club). Please note that our textbooks were published in the early 1990s.

So, with a very elementary understanding of French sentence structure and words like "right" and "front" and "sleeve," I was able to construct this jacket with some side help from the Internet. If you have made a button-up shirt and understand basic garment construction, you probably don't even need the instructions. The booklet includes technical illustrations, but they are not fully inclusive of every single step (which is of course fine for an intermediate sewer). The instructions tell you when to do things like attach the shoulders and sides, when to hem, and when to finish seams with bias binding, but those steps aren't illustrated. I think you can figure it out, though! Y'all are smart.

Please correct me if I'm wrong on some of these, but here's a little reference guide I created for myself so it was easier to spot what I needed to do during construction of the Veste Pavot:

les marges de couture :: seam allowances 

thermocollant ::  interfacing 

la parementure :: facing 

l'ourlet :: hem 

le bord :: edge 

surpiquez :: topstitch 

le fer :: iron 

epinglez :: pin 

I am pretty satisfied with the end result. I guessed at my size (in centimeters, oy!) and  it seemed to work out okay with zero alterations, except it's a little roomy in the bust area with the princess seams and the sleeves are kind of baggy. Of course, this could be a good thing if I want to wear this over thick sweaters and such. The changes I made were shortening the hem overall, making it a little less flared, not gathering the sleeve caps, and using interfacing on the collar to give it more structure.

The jacket is unlined, so I paid a teeny bit more attention to seam finishing than usual. I did a "clean finish," on all seams, which essentially means to hem the seam allowance 1/8" after stitching. If I make it again, I will want to fully line it, though. Jen of Grainline has a great tutorial on how to draft a lining for an unlined blazer/jacket pattern here.

I'm disappointed that I was too impatient to order/go out and buy matching thread. I settled for dark brown and I think the garment suffers somewhat from it. LIVE AND SEW AND BE BUMMED AND LEARN. As I always say. Here's how I feel about my mismatching thread:

Voila. Hyper chouette. Merci beaucoup. Allons-y. Bibliothèque. Bon Iver.  All in all, I'm happy with my jacket and hope I find ways to wear it regularly. Are you proud, French teachers of my past? Non?

Have you sewn a pattern in a foreign language before? Deer & Doe seems like a good place to start! Her other cutie patterns are here. Bonne chance, mes amis.

another renfrew mod

Think you've sewn (or seen) enough versions of the Sewaholic Renfrew already? Think again! Think the Renfrew pattern is too casual for your glam dress-stuffed wardrobe? Think AGAIN! That's what this blog is all about, after all: thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating content.

rofl.

Well, I hope you didn't think I made this dress from the Renfrew because I did not. Urban Outfitters made it so I could wear it to lure you in. Louisville didn't get an Urban O. until after I left, so it's nice living in a city where their stuff is already heavily circulated in consignment shops. I'm still not ready to commit to a fully self-stitched wardrobe, so I supplement with secondhand items. One day, though, I'll be head-to-toe in Andrea originals... maybe... ehhh.

So what is handmade here? Duh, the boring cardigan. I laughed when I finished it because it's pretty sloppily made and just reminds me of a $14.99 Merona brand cardigan you'd give your mom for Christmas or something. But I still like its practicality and length and have worn it a couple times already. Hopefully this kind of styling helps its cause.

This red ponte knit is the same I used for my stupid Cynthia Rowley dress from a couple posts ago. I bought like 5 yards of it for real cheap from Jomar, the crazy fabric outlet (is it an outlet? What is it?) in south Philly. Their inventory is heavy on the stretchy fabrics right now. What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than digging through tabletop mountains of knit yardage of questionable quality? That was not sarcasm.

Making the cardigan version of the Renfrew was quite simple. I shortened it by 2" first because I like my cardigans to fit at the curve of my back (or be really long) so I don't look like a balloon when I wear them with skirts. The front is normally cut on the fold, so I just added a placket to the front pattern piece at the fold line. Cut two front pieces instead of one. This placket extension had enough width to be folded over and still be able to overlap the placket on the other side (1 1/4" total with the intention of making a 5/8" final placket).

On each end of the neck band and bottom band, I extended it by the width of the finished button placket (5/8"). Instead of connecting the bands end-to-end in a circle like on the original Renfrew, I stitched their edges so it'd form a neat square at the top and bottom of the placket. I can explain this in more detail if you'd like.

Too-big buttons, ha. I need to go button shopping so I'm better prepared for my on-a-whim projects:

I did not think about the necessary ease for a cardigan, so this fits like a t-shirt but open at the front. If I make another Renfrew cardigan, I'll size it up so I can wear it over other clothes more comfortably.

It's hard to stop at one when you're working with this pattern, so I made another in a sweater knit, also from Jomar:

I'm not as crazy about this one because the only thing I can wear it with right now is this granny skirt. Literal granny skirt. It was my grandma's -- I chopped off the hem at some point during my college years. I used to wear these warm brown tones all the time because they go well with my complexion, but I've ventured away to cooler colors. I'm kinda thinking of moving back that way this autumn. In fact, I'm currently working on something else now in this same brown.

So, friends, neighbors, far-away sewsters, how do you feel about a Renfrew cardigan or sweater? Dare to try? I know Tasia's revisiting the pattern over on her blog, so it's as good a time as any to bring back out that little green envelope! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, y'all hear.

tiny

My brother's baby is turning one-year-old next week. One! I was never around babies that much in my life, so I am always overly fascinated whenever I witness this one reach some developmental milestone. Yesterday I was texted a video of her wobbling all the way across the kitchen floor, which is the first time I've seen her walk. Bipedal babe! She's, like, kinda doing something that resembles something that adults do! Weird.

I can't be home in KY for her big birthday party (invitation above), so I thought the least I could do was send her some clothes, handmade with love and a minimal amount of curse words.

The dress is made from the McCalls 6015 pattern. I made some changes, such as shaving off eight whole inches from the front and back skirt pieces so it wouldn't be so dang floofy once gathered. It's girly enough as it is, geez. I also shortened it a few inches, because I didn't think someone who still mostly crawls on her knees would appreciate wearing an Amish-length dress. Let that baby move and groove.

I bought the pattern because they said it was fully lined, which is the only way I was going to make a zipped dress for a baby. BUT, the pattern has you slip-stitch only the bodice lining to the zipper, and leave the rest of the zipper exposed. This is because the skirt lining is attached to the skirt first and then treated as one piece from then on. Yuck. I thus had to change the order of construction to make sure the entire lining could cover the zipper edges. I love my tangrams.

I have no idea if this will fit. They don't tell you corresponding ages/months on the pattern envelope, just height and weight. I made it XL, a size larger than her current weight indicates, but hopefully she'll get it to wear it sometime this autumn. I liked the fall-ish colors of this fabric, which is soft quilting cotton.

The only reason I made a sleeveless dress for a kid with a late September birthday was so I could also make her a cardi. This baby better grow up to share my love of cardigans or else. Or else... I'll be making her pullovers, I guess.

For this, I used the jacket from Butterick 3782, in size L. The fabric is a stable interlock knit in gray-brown with tiny white squares. It was in the "juvenile knits" section of JoAnn, and I was offended because I kinda want it for myself. I did juvie this pattern up with some flower buttons. Why not?

This pattern's pretty good, but since they assume you're using a knit, they don't have you encase or neaten up the raw edges at all when hemming. I followed along and did what they said for the neckline, which was staystitch and clip the curves. Then you're supposed to fold it down once and stitch it in place. Uhhh, you mean, my clipped curves will be exposed at the neckline? Ain't doin' THAT, but it was too late. So I serged the edges to re-attach the clipped fabric, then top-stitched with a double needle. Not ideal but it's the best I could do to make it look gift-worthy.

The twin needle was used for all hemming. Legit, right?

So there's the prezzie. I hope it's enough!

I know these pieces don't go together exceptionally well, but somehow I like the larger-scaled floral print paired with the smaller-scaled geometric print. And I think someone as cute as my niece can get away with pretty much anything.

Sorry, couldn't resist sharing another blurry iPhone pic. Happy birthday, sweet girl. See you soon!

red plaid lumberjane dress

No trees were harmed in the making of this dress. 

Maybe. I do wonder what'd I'd discover if I were to trace the whole life of the fabric I buy, just to see what resources and labor are actually exploited -- er, used -- in the process, and where they come from. Who's up for some documentary film-making and weepy liberal guilt? Oh, don't tempt me.

Anyway. I've been yearning for a plaid shirtdress (shirt dress? shirt-dress?) for awhile now but I wanted to wait until autumn. You know, logging season, when lumberjanes typically stalk the woodlands in their pleated skirts and discount synthetic boots. I was too excited after buying this fabric, though, that I got right to it even though it's early September and not yet chilly. Plaid is so aesthetically pleasing, especially in a vibrant color, don'tcha think? This is some plain ole cotton typically reserved for quilters. Try as you might, adorable red plaid, you can't hide from these grubby apparel-making hands. I shall dart you.

I used the same pattern I used the last time I made myself something plaid: the Lisette Traveler Dress, Simplicity 2246. This time I used mostly View C, but with View A's sleeves and a skirt that is pleated instead of gathered, straightened a bit from the dramatic A-line, and shortened. Shortened by 5+ inches! This sassy lumberjane just wants to flash a lil' bit of her opaque tights, you know?

But don't worry! I realize there are supposed to be two more buttons sewn on at the bottom. I won't wear it in public like this; I'm not that sassy. I only had six of the same black button when I needed eight, but I'm saving my notions trek til next weekend. Driving is boring. Might as well hit a McCall's and Vogue pattern sale while I'm in suburbia.

My inspiration was these two dresses, both from ModCloth (quelle surprise). I liked the idea of a shirtdress that buttons all the way down, with a defined waist and slightly fuller skirt (...quelle surprise). I decided to pleat it like my Kelly skirts because it's familiar.

1 - Rockwell Frock (sold out)

2 - Plaid the Final Touch Dress

One day I would like to try using snaps instead of buttons on a garment, like these. I bet my Masters student homework-swamped boyfriend would love for me to have another loud sewing tool to use while he reads post-colonial literary theory in the next room.

I've reviewed this pattern before (flannel shirt here), and I still stand by it after sewing a different view. It's great! It's quite intuitive and comes together neatly and relatively easily. There's no back yoke/facing or cuffs with plackets. The collar and collar stand are one whole piece instead of separate.

This time I made one size smaller (10 instead of 12) and it fits much nicer, especially with the extra shaping darts in the front and back bodices on View C. I also cut the button placket on the bias so that saved me some time with the whole plaid-matching thing. Speaking of saving time, I used permanent fusible tape to attach the front patch pockets, with some stitching in the top corners to secure them. I did try to topstitch them all the way around, but it's just too severe of a curve for my awkward handling and limited patience. Hey, I'm free to pick my stitchery battles.

Whoa, sunset. I promise this dress is red and black, not neon pink-orange.

So who else is sewing for the new season yet? Oh yeah, did you know that September is National Sewing Month? Whatever that means. I always sew like a maniac, regardless of the month. I only knew about this because the Simplicity website is having a $3.99 pattern sale to celebrate. Maybe you should all buy the Travelers Dress pattern so we can be plaid-clad forest frolickers together this month, eh? Neh?