Laughing At Myself

Oh the irony. After coming up with a list of what to sew for the next year, I got inspired by the blazing, damn-near 100-degree temps in Chicago last week. I came home from church determined to make a maxi dress! It’s now 64 degrees. Good thing I didn’t finish the dress.


I seriously thought I could finish a 1-hour dress in a day, but I never properly account for my neophyte sewing skills. Knits are tricky! Ya’ll just don’t know how much I struggled with the neckline and then armhole hemming. (I won’t even talk about my cutting frustrations.) Could I have used a plain straight stitch to topstitch? I tested the the stretch straight stitch, but it wasn’t pretty. I ended up going with this decorative cross stitch. I couldn’t figure out how to make it catch the edge of the fold (which I know is the point of hemming). Oh well.

The day was a long one. There was the hemming of the bodice front only to realize 3/4 of the way through the stitching that I was supposed to be hemming the armholes! When I got up to press the hem, I knew I was supposed to be doing the armholes. I chose the wrong unfinished edge when I made it to the ironing board. The trials of a novice!

Back to the point of the post. There’s a jacket contest on PatternReview.com Looks like Simplicity 4509 is moving on up the list.


Gotta get back to the house cleaning. I should finish up the dress tonight. Picture coming soon.

Sew On & Sew On

I have an ambitious To Sew List through next year! What brought on the need for a list was yesterday’s pattern purchases. I picked up all but one of the Simplicity patterns on my wish list. I got all of the McCall’s. (Of course I added a new one to the list when I got home.) I will be so glad when the wish list is empty – only 46 to go. My prayer is that I clear it out before the winter collections are out(if only Burda, Hot Patterns and Kwik Sew would have really good sales.)


I got a late start on sewing summer stuff and I really want to switch to fall, but I have four summer pieces already cut. (Nothing dampens my enthusiasm when starting a project more than cutting, so I cut all of these on the same day.)

I’m pretty excited about the list, with one exception, Simplicity 4509. A jacket, for a true beginner? We’ll see … Well, here’s the list:

Summer
This is the period of tops. My theme for these is Baby Steps :-)

• Burda 8050 (just gotta hem it and complete the side seams)
• Burda 8269 (This goes with Simplicity 4509. I’ve been making the same three tops for a couple of months and I need a change of pace.)
• Burda 7912
• Kwik Sew 3221
• McCall 5639

Fall
Conquering my fears and the quest for pants that fit. My seam ripper will be nearby at all times. I wonder how much muslin I’ll go through. I should discover which pattern brand fits me best. My guess is Kwik Sew followed by Burda.

• Burda 8444
• New Look 6434
• Kwik Sew 3385
• Vogue 8605
• Simplicity 2860
• Kwik Sew 3363
• Simplicity 4509 (wanna wear this one for Christmas with Burda 8269)

Winter
The season of the wardrobe … all Simplicity? I might throw in Butterick 5399.

• Simplicity 4503
• Simplicity 2552
• Simplicity 4014 (I’ll be rocking this for Easter, assuming I can get the rest of the fabric.)

Spring

Tops and dresses … apparently I like McCall and Simplicity for these.

• McCall 5522
• McCall 5661
• McCall 5752
• Simplicity 2601
• Simplicity 3877 A
• Simplicity 2888

Summer

It’s time for dresses …

• McCall 5893
• Vogue 8575
• Simplicity 3877 C
• Vogue 8240
• Simplicity 3503

Let’s go!

Kwik Sew 3221

My first completed project.

I really am supposed to be figuring out how to make pants for my beautiful pear shape, but one can’t just jump to a pair of Vogue jeans. I’m easing into things by starting with some simple tops. Although Kwik Sew 3221 is my third top pattern, this is the first one I’ve been able to wear, the rest turned into muslins for various reasons.

I got smart with this one and made a real muslin first. I know the pattern is really simple (a rectangle with side seams). However, how do you accommodate XL hips and M bust in a rectangle? Tapering would’ve destroyed the shape. Thank goodness KS has helpful customer service because I was truly perplexed. The solution? Cut a medium and use XL stitching lines. After making the muslin, I decided to use the XL length.

This was my first neckline and I did okay. In the future, I’ll be a lot more careful when making the facing. I got fancy and used French seams for the shoulders. I tried to make a machine-rolled narrow hem. It was my first and I could use a ton more practice. I figured out through trial and error that the walking foot was a necessitiy for the sheer fabric.

Not bad for a first attempt. I wore it to work and it didn’t fall apart!