I may have just ruined my pants.

This is my rather sad attempt at a welt pocket. Which, frankly, looks awful and won't lie flat at all. Especially in the corners. Since I already cut the slash, I'm not sure how to salvage this. I could maybe widen the seam allowance and make the welts more narrow, but it may be too late.

Needless to say, this is why welt pockets are on my check the technique list. I've never managed a good one yet.

Summer Spark Sew-along, finished!

I finished sewing together my Lonsdale dress on Friday, but haven't had time to blog about it until now. I've also been a little quieter than usual with the in-progress stuff, because my carpal tunnel has been acting up for the last couple of weeks--the worst flare-up I've had in years. So I've been having to be a lot more careful about time spent on the computer, as well as more or less completely taking a break from certain activities. Sadly, knitting is one of those, but they're starting to feel a little better. So I'm hoping that as long as I don't overdo it in the next few days, I can start doing that again soon. Anyway, here's the finished dress.

The front. I probably could have done a better job of matching the prints, had I had more fabric. As it was, I could barely squeeze all of the pieces onto what I had.















And the back, with its halter ties that I made in place of the bow in the back.

(p.s. dear boyfriend that I know likes to stalk this blog to see pictures of me....you should probably stop reading here, ok?)

Aside from the fitting, the most time-consuming part of this for me was putting the lining together, since I basically built a corset-of-sorts into it. So I thought I'd show some of that process, too. Rather than try to come up with the padding and shaping myself, I decided to cannibalize a bra that I already had. The underwires were still good, and the cups were in fairly decent shape, but it was just getting a little worn and to the point where it would be hard to wear under knit shirts without the edges showing some. This was about halfway through the process of sewing this in--I hand-stitched the facing seams over the cups to help hold them in place.

Once that was done and all of the boning was in, this is what it looked like. I basically tried the lining on while wearing the bra and pinned it into place to figure out where that should go, and also to mark where under the cups the boning should go. Aside from that bit, adding the boning in was pretty easy.

And this is what it looks like on the inside of the dress. I know it could probably lay flatter on the center front, but this was honestly the best I could work it with the underwires, after some time spent fiddling with it. I do think I did a pretty good job of re-lining the cups with the cotton sateen that I was using for the lining, though. (Incidentally, the same cotton sateen that I used to line the "In the Jungle" dress, which my mom gave me for free, and I still have some of it left! 

In retrospect, I probably should have allowed a little more ease in fitting to make up for the extra layer with the boning. Though it was better once I trimmed down the seam allowances in the waistband. The boning does seem to make the fabric protrude a bit funny right above the waistband, and I'm not sure why yet or how to fix it. But I think I can at least check this technique off. I did also attempt to do a blind hem on my machine, but it was NOT cooperating. The tension was all wonky on the hem stitches, and the thread marks were way too obvious. Which may have something to do with it being a print, but I'm not sure. And since this was June 29 and I wanted to get it done by the end of the month, I finally decided to just do a regular machine-stitched hem.

Overall, I liked the pace of this sewalong! And I feel good about actually meeting the objective, rather than scrambling to get 3 things done when I really only had time for one, like with the Colette Palette challenge. So now it's on to the next thing--more jeans-fitting, once I actually order that waxed tracing paper, and I'm starting to cut out a knit top. There may be a Thurlow trouser (or shorts) in my near future, too....

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

That's what this dress makes me think of, anyway. After a couple of months of not getting much done, and just wanting a project I could sit down and sew while hanging out with my boyfriend (i.e. not the jeans muslin, with all of the fitting involved), I knocked this one out in about 3 days-- I cut it out on Wednesday, assembled most of the bodice on Thursday, and sewed like a crazy woman until about 11:30 on Friday night to get this one done. I was originally thinking of wearing this for my Saturday day trip to Washington, D.C, which is why I rushed through the end just a bit (don't look too closely at the lining hem, k?). But then I ended up not wearing it. Which is probably good, because I would have blended in too much with the bamboo and such that was scattered around the National Zoo (where we spent most of the day). So here's the review...

Pattern: Butterick 5642

Pattern Description: Lined to edge A-line dress has fitted bodice, empire waistline and double fold bias tape finish.
 
Pattern Sizing: 8-14. I made the 10.

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

Were the instructions easy to follow? I thought they were pretty simple. It probably helps that, for once in my life, I didn't overly complicate things by deviating from the pattern and think I could construct it better.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked the style of it--the slimmer-cut skirt meant that I was able to (barely) squeeze a maxi-dress out of limited fabric. I had just under 3 yards of the batik, and all that was left was a few scraps large enough to cut some quilt blocks out of. (So I gave those to my mom, since she'll have a better chance of actually being able to use those.) And though it has a deep v, the inset is a good length and kept it from being too low-cut for my comfort. I do personally wish that the skirt was just a teensy bit fuller around the hem, but I take big steps when I walk so this probably wouldn't be an issue for most women. I do also wish it had pockets, and I probably could have added them if I'd wanted to take the time to do so, but I didn't.

Fabric Used: A cotton batik that's been in my stash for a long time--I think my mom passed it to me as a possibility for this quilt, since I'd been planning that for years before I actually made it, but it didn't quite work with the colors I was planning my room around. I lined it with a cotton sateen.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Rather than take the time to make a muslin--I wanted a quick project, remember?--I fit as I went. I cut the size 10 because the finished measurements indicated that there was a lot of ease in the bust, and I didn't want this hanging off of me. I'm glad I did, because if I'd cut even one size larger, I would not have had enough fabric to do this! But I did make some tweaks:

1. I sewed the bodice to the skirt in a 1/4" seam instead of the called-for 5/8" as a cheater FBA, which worked beautifully. I also didn't gather that bit quite as much as it called for.
2. Since I therefore needed a little more room in the front, I sewed the side seams in a 1/4" seam, and let 1/4" out of the inner pleats in the front.
3. After that, I had a little too much fabric in the back, so I added a second dart, about 3/4" away from the first one and towards the center.
4. I also sewed the zipper in a 1/2" seam, I probably should have curved it in just a bit at the top, because it does gap away a little, but it's not terrible.

So that pretty much covers that. I still might go back sometime and add a slit to the back or a side for ease of movement, but aside from that, it's very comfortable and I think I did pretty well with the fit! 




Also, check out the bottom of that zipper in the back seam. See a bump? Yeah, me either. So I think I can say I've finally gotten the invisible zipper down--check!

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? If I do sew it again, it won't be for a long time. I did a quick check in my closet this morning, and seeing as how I have about a full week's worth of dresses that I didn't get to during MMM, plus a couple that were thrifted or otherwise purchased, I don't really need more dresses at this time. Truth be told, I have very few pieces of fabric left in the stash that have the yardage to make a dress, anyway. But this fulfilled my long-standing goal to make myself a maxi-dress. So I think I'm going to allow myself 2 or 3 more dresses to stay in the queue (the Butterick pattern I want to revisit from MMM, my SSS project for this year, and perhaps one more), and otherwise focus on sewing up jeans and pants and knit tops and layering pieces, since that's what I actually need. 

That being said, I would recommend this pattern. It was just the thing to make me feel better about sewing again!

And now, for the next thing...

 

Thank you Ali, Alessa and Sarah for rethinking this in such a way that I can actually participate without feeling too overwhelmed!  One project sounds totally doable. As I mentioned above, I am going to allow myself to make one more dress for this sew-along, and the winner is the Lonsdale dress. I've had the fabric paired with this pattern ever since it came out last year, and I think this one would be a great opportunity to try one of the techniques on my list that might otherwise not get tackled--I'd like to try adding some boning (and other support) to the bodice and turn it into a regular halter top dress. I saw a nice version of that here, so I know it's doable. I cut out a muslin of the bodice this afternoon, just to check the fit there, and then we'll see how this goes!

another finished jacket

This is the jacket #120 from the 3/11 issue of BurdaStyle (one of the last magazines I got from them.)I finished this up on Thursday night, and I've worn it twice already! This pic was from yesterday afternoon, courtesy of my boyfriend--we went to his place to hang out and watch a movie after a late lunch (or early dinner) with his family. The furball is one of his two dogs--this one has absolutely loved me from day 1, and likes to hang out close by whenever I'm around!

I'm happy with the fit, and since the color is pretty close to a dark denim, I think it will be fairly versatile in my wardrobe! Here's some more detail shots:

My one detail that I'm not entirely sure I like is the collar. I think that it pressed out fairly well for corduroy that I was afraid of crushing, and I like the shape of the upper collar and the lapel width. I guess I just wish it didn't have that huge gap where the collar stand is...the brown cord jacket had that same feature, and I'm undecided about whether it just looks weird or not.

I am very satisfied with the interior finishing job! I went ahead and serged all of the lining insides to keep it from fraying and weakening the seams. This is done with a modified bagged lining--I didn't want to leave the seam between the jacket and the peplum just kind of billowing out, so I used that seam as my handstitching one instead of leaving a gap in a side seam. I used some instructions from a Sew Stylish magazine I had lying around, and they worked brilliantly! So consider that technique checked.

Look how nice and clean that machine-finished sleeve hem looks. (And in this case, I an all in favor of as little hand-sewing as possible!)

Incidentally, I have about a yard of this floral fabric left, so I need to figure out what to do with it. I'm thinking maybe a simple sleeveless top, but I'll have to figure out what pattern since the Sorbetto doesn't really suit me, and I'm a little afraid to use the Pendrell again after what happened with the leftover raincoat lining!

On a more positive note, I think the buttons may be one of my favorite things about this jacket. I cannot believe how absolutely perfectly they go with the lining! And though I had to unpick one that got crazy long, I did get some good practice on all-manual all-the-time buttonholes on my machine.

I've sort of started my knit dress, though that's really a technicality. So far, all of my sewing time on it has been spent wasting using the scraps to try and get my serger to make a nice seam. The front looks basically perfect, but the back side isn't quite working and the seam does tend to pull apart and show the stitches when any pressure is put on a seam. So I basically have to go over it a second time with the regular sewing machine. According to the book I was looking at, I need to tighten the tension on the left-hand needle, because the stitches are pulled too much in the back. But if I do even a little, those stitches just don't catch at all and it looks worse on both sides. I know it's not the needle, because I changed it to a fresh one, and I'm pretty sure it's not the thread this time, since I've got my nice sewing machine thread in the needles right now. The other thing is that part of the threading for that particular needle just won't stay in place, so I'm not sure that doesn't have something to do with it. I guess my plan of action is to next call the repair/retail shop where I got the darned thing from in the first place, and see what they suggest. (And if I have to get it fixed AGAIN, ugh.)

a case of the blues

 First of all, thanks for all of the lovely, encouraging comments on the shrug! The latest update there is that the sleeves are sewed together and it's back on the needles to knit the last bit of ribbing.

And thanks also for the feedback on the word verification. I did get a gentle reminder from a blog-less friend of mine who regularly comments that not all anonymous commenters are bad (at least the ones who leave a name and a real comment), and have since switched it to no word verification but full comment moderation so I could allow for that sort of anonymous commenting. I'm still a bit concerned that I've been getting extra pop-up windows since I initially turned the verification off, and I am still averaging about one spammy comment a day, but at least I can easily mark them as spam and delete them. (Carolyn, to answer your question, what I meant by the pop-up windows is that I'm getting additional open windows when I did not click on anything to bring them up. Usually it's more annoying, for things like Amazon.com (except I'm not sure it was legitimate, because I certainly did not open a page for baby clothes!), or for a "click here to claim your prize" type thing. I did get a pretty nasty one the other day, though, and so far my virus scans have turned up nothing other than tracking cookies. Gtt.)

Computer issues aside...Now that the shrug is almost complete, my attention is drifting to other knitting projects. Namely this sweater that one of my online friends and I are making as a mini-knitalong. And, as it turns out, I have a lot of new techniques to learn here. So far, it's been invisible cast-on, and short rows, and that's just on the first page! (And here I thought this would be easy because basically everything is in knit stitch with no purling!  And, of course, I've already had to start this one over once. We're taking this at a snail's pace since we both have real life stuff and other projects going on, so even though it represents about 60 rows, and a lot of them are short, it's a month's worth of work that I'm trying to redo here. The problem came with said invisible cast-on. When I joined it together and got to the end of the second section we'd decided on, I looked back and realized that oh, wait, this looks wrong. Instead of that nubby garter stitch look, suddenly it had a smooth stockinette look for about 3 rows right around where I did that invisible cast-on. So obviously, I did something wrong.  I attempted to stick the needle in right before that section started and rip back to there, but that didn't work so well. So I just decided to rip the whole thing out and start over, since those two sections didn't take me very long in actual knitting time.

And wouldn't you know, even that part didn't go well!  I kept ending up with these weird loopy knots like this, where I was having to shove the entire ball of yarn through there just to rip out the next part.

And then I realized that I was supposed to rip it out in the opposite direction that I'd been knitting it in, I was doing it backwards, and that was why it was being so uncooperative. Palm, meet face.

So I've got it re-knit up to about 6ish rows before I'm supposed to switch back for knitting from the opposite side of the invisible cast-on. Hopefully it will go better this time, since I tried a different technique for the cast-on in the first place.

I'm having better luck with my blue corduroy jacket, which, oddly enough, is pretty much the exact same color as my yarn. This picture is a little outdated-- I meant to write this post a couple of days ago. Since then, I've added the sleeves, and stitched the two layers of the peplum together. I took a chance on just going ahead and sewing it together as is, with just a bit of a smaller seam to attach the sleeves to the body, since the brown jacket was so easy to fit and it was also a Burda pattern. My gamble is paying off so far, since it looks like it will work just fine from my couple of times I've tried on. A rather fitted jacket, to be sure, but I think it has to be with the peplum. And since this is a rather lightweight corduroy, I'm thinking of this more in terms of a spring/fall layer than winter warmth. (Besides, apparently I'll have a sweater in exactly the same color, so I can just wear that when I want blue then!) So this is moving along nicely, and I think I'll quite easily make my goal of finishing it before the end of the month.

The one thing I need to figure out: In the interest of new techniques, I'd like to try bagging the lining somewhat. I think it will be easier than usual, since I had to cut the inner peplum from the lining fabric and therefore I'm planning on just hand-stitching the lining down at that lower seam. So all I'll have to sort out is the sleeves and sewing the lining to the inner facings. I know I have some resources to figure out how to do that lying around here, so I'll just have to look into it. I was thinking about trying a bound buttonhole as well, but I think I already screwed up my chances on that by sewing the facing in. Oh well.... I wanted to work on my machine buttonholes more anyway. (The jacket is actually supposed to have snaps to close, but I've decided to go with the buttons being functional instead of purely decorative so I can leave the jacket open when I want to. The snaps look kind of funny when I do that, IMO.)

I do have a blog award I recently got that I need to share, but I'll do that on the next post, since I'd like to actually have some time to sew this afternoon! (There's also going to be a low-key giveaway, so stay tuned!)

A 2-for-1 quickie post

Answering a few questions via the comments on my last post::

Christina-- I used this tutorial to make the outlines for the croquis, though with Oona's modifications of using Photoshop instead since that's what I had. (I found the tutorial via her blog.) Hope that helps!

Hana-- my bust is pretty full. I think it's more that my waist is kind of surprisingly small in comparison to my hips, and I've learned over the years that if I wear things that aren't fitted or cinched in one way or the other, it just gets completely lost. Thus the reason that most empire-waist stuff just doesn't seem to do it for me, unless it does the fit-and-flare thing underneath.

Thanks for the other comments, ladies!

After spending basically 2 months sewing nothing but complicated, fully-lined jackets, not to mention the shrug that I'm still knitting, I just wanted to make something simple and fast. So I've actually managed to knock out two projects over the course of two days, which is what I'm sharing today.
The first project wasn't one that I found on my Pinterest, but I did have it saved there, so that counts as Pinterest being useful, right? Anyway, I found this tutorial for a simple roll-up knitting needle case on Design*Sponge, and figured it would be perfect for my small collection of non-circular needles. I slightly adapted it a bit-- instead of canvas, I used this thick textured cotton stuff that my mom had leftover from some project of hers, and instead of the twill tape, I made double-fold bias tape from a fat quarter I'd had sitting in my scrap bin from ages.

Making bias tape is a pain, even with that little tool thingy. It wouldn't be, except that anywhere I'd seamed it together, it wouldn't go through. But I'm seriously considering taking some more of those scraps and turning it into bias tape, just to give me a way to use some of it up. It's so handy. And I can't close the lid on my scrap bin. But I digress.

When I said small collection, I wasn't joking. I did leave one pack of my double-pointed out, but that's because I accidentally bought a second pack of size 11s after I forgot that I already had one. Thus the need to see what I have. You can tell that I prefer to use the circulars whenever possible, can't you?

I actually did something smart, and decided to stitch the bias tape on with one of the machine's decorative stitches. Bias tape is really a pain to line up, and I figured that this particular stitch would catch the edge on both sides, no problem. It worked like a charm, and I didn't mind this particular project having more of that "homemade" look, since the channels for the needles weren't exactly going to be in matching thread, either. I knocked this one out in its entirety on Friday night, including making the bias tape (aside from pre-cutting the strips during my cutout binge day I had last week), while helping my friend Nicole figure out the best way to take in a vintage dress that she was working on, and introducing her to Downton Abbey.  And I'm quite happy with the results, especially since I tend to procrastinate a lot on that more utilitarian sewing!

The second project, which I cut out later last week, was the newest Sewaholic pattern--the Renfrew top! I decided to go for the 3/4 cowlneck, with this knit print that I was given for Christmas about 2 years ago. (Please ignore the sideways picture-- apparently I forgot to save it after turning it in Picasa, and I didn't want to bother with uploading it again.)

This fabric print is kind of interesting-- when I look at it close-up, the somewhat Celtic knot-like is what stands out to me more. When I look at it from further away, the X's stand out more. And closeup, the X's look more like V's. It's like an optical illusion!

And here's my finished top! As seen with my corset-laced pants, because it's always fun to find something new to wear with those, and the weather is warm enough today that I'm feeling good about breaking out the linen pants after their winter hiatus. I think the stripe-ish bits lined up pretty well, overall. And this pattern sewed together like a dream-- I got it stitched together in its entirety within the few hours I had to sew on Monday, and that was with going back over nearly every seam with my sewing machine after serging it. (As per my Check The Technique, I did work on playing with the tension on here. It looks great on one side, but not so much on the other side, and everything I've done to fix it so far looks terrible on both sides. So I didn't trust it to not pull apart. I did learn, however, that if I serge it first, machine-sewing it doesn't make the fabric ripple. So I guess that's something.

Anyway, back to the pattern. As I said, it was super-quick to sew together, and I'm really happy with the fit. On a hunch, I actually did some grading before I cut it, from the size 8 for the chest and hips down to the size 4 for the waist, and it worked great! I didn't have to take it in at all. The length is perfect to be able to raise my arms without my stomach showing, which is a must when you play an instrument that pretty much requires that movement at all times. And I wasn't sure how the neckline would cut, thus the cowl neck for this version, but it seems like it wouldn't be too low-cut at all. So I'm absolutely certain that I'll be going back to this pattern again--it's pretty much the perfect basic knit top! Thanks, Tasia!

The one thing I would have changed was the cowl-- I love the look of it, but I had to piece one side of it together due to the way I had to lay it out with the stripes. Before I sewed it on, I went back and forth multiple times as to which way I should flip it in hopes that the un-seamed side would end up on the outside. And I guessed wrong. So there is a seam running down the front of the cowl, though I don't think it's very visible unless you're really close-up. I didn't want to re-do it and risk stretching the neckline out irreparably (ah, the joys of ripping out serger thread), and think this particular print needed the cowl to balance out the grid-like nature of it. So I just left it.

2 more things:
1. With this top, and factoring in those couple of fabrics that I got for my birthday, that takes my stash down to about 216 yards. This is down 57 yards from where I started at the beginning of last year, which I don't think is bad at all! The count will be even lower soon, since I already have 3 pieces chopped up for the next couple of projects, but I have that information written down elsewhere so I'm not counting it yet.

2. Sarah at Rhinestones and Telephones did an interesting post yesterday where she did more of a monthly roundup/goals for her sewing, and kindly said that I could borrow the concept. I'm definitely one who gets too many ideas for things I want to make, and therefore I stress myself out. So I'm hoping to use this as a way to focus a little more, and maybe even work in some of those mending and utilitarian projects that I've been meaning to do for ages. I can pretty much sum up February and January with the browncoat-fest post that I already did, so instead, I'm just going to share my goals for the rest of March. (Since the top I'm wearing today was goal #1.)

#2: Finish knitting that shrug, since I need it by the 31st. I'm getting close-- about 30ish rows left on the sleeve, then blocking, then seaming and adding the final ribbing around the back and neck. I can do this!

#3: Reconstruct a skirt that I took apart late last week. That will be this afternoon's project, at least in part.

#4: Get the next step of my mini-knitalong going. It's only about 30 rows, I can do this too!

#4: Sew that blue corduroy jacket that I cut out last week. I may be able to start this later this week, depending on how said reconstruction goes.

#5: If I get 2 and 4 done and still have some time left, I have a short-sleeved top in my Ravelry queue that I'd like to get the swatching done up for. I'm hoping this one will be fairly simple, since for once in my life, the yarn was one that was both wool-free and still affordable, and therefore I'm actually using what the pattern calls for. So I guess this will be the big test to see just how ridiculously tight my knitting tension is...

I'm trying not to go too overboard and stress myself out, since I'll be getting back to a more normal work schedule probably next week, and will have less time. So hopefully this is a realistic list!

The one productive thing I've done all day....

Apparently my motivation to do anything productive decided to take a leap out the window in honor of February 29. But I can halfway check one thing off the list from the last post-- I made a croquis! (Yay, I can delete those swimsuit pics off of my computer now!)

So here's me, in sketchy form. And here's what I've noticed from looking at this so far:

1. I guess I'm a little more pear-shaped than I thought, at least it looks that way from the front view. Though my shoulders balance it to an hourglass pretty well. But this explains why empire waist stuff always makes me look pregnant.
2. I'm not dreaming it... I do have proportionally extra-long arms!
3. Helloooooo, reason why I always have so much trouble fitting pants--my stomach is pretty flat, but look how far my thighs stick out in comparison!
4. I think I need to add "swayback" to that list of alterations I need to learn to do and use on a regular basis. I didn't realize my back curved quite that much.

Yeah, I should go cut something out now.

Chop shops and awards and sewalongs, oh my!

Monster post alert!

First up: I got sewing goodies for my birthday!  A rotary cutter, a mat, this pattern to make my own ironing aids, a straight edge for cutting and grainline measuring (all things I tend to borrow from my mom on a regular basis)...and of course, those two pieces of fabric. They're both knits--the green is a rayon jersey, and the blue is made from hemp! They were given to me to make with this one Butterick pattern I recently picked up for a convertible jersey dress you're supposed to be able to make 6 ways. All of the solid knits in my stash were a quarter-yard short of the necessary yardage, and I looked at the layout and there was no way around it. (Of course, now that I have fabric, I cannot find the pattern anywhere. How annoying is that?)

In preparation for my impending return to a more regular work schedule, I spent about 5 hours cutting things out in the basement yesterday, and only got through 2 things in my bagged-up pile (plus a super-quickie project to work on while sewing with a friend on Friday). It was just a day where there were lots of delays. Like the first knit top I cut out, I didn't have quite enough fabric in the piece I'd originally pulled from the stash for it to work with the layout, so I had to swap it out for an entirely different one. And then I had to trace a pattern out of BurdaStyle. Which happened to be for a fully lined jacket. And then I discovered this....

Look at the flaws on this corduroy! I didn't see it in the store because the piece was pre-cut and folded, and it was only along one selvedge. But there were quite a few of those worn, bleached-looking spots, and that definitely made my layout more complex. I ended up cutting the interior peplum out of the lining instead of the corduroy like it called for (which I'd imagine would probably work better anyway, given the weight difference in the fabrics with pleats, I'll have to piece together the inside facing, and on the inside collar facing bit, I had to allow one of those spots inside the piece anyway.)

I'm hoping to maybe get one more thing cut out today, possibly 2, so I have a good base for starting back at work and still fitting sewing in. But in the meantime, I have some bloggy business to take care of, so here we go...

First off, I got an award from the lovely Hana at Marmota's Dress Diaries!

 The award is for blogs that you enjoy that have less than 200 followers (and actually, I was surprised to read on hers how many I do have! I never pay attention to my own stats, truthfully.) So since I'm supposed to pass this on to 5 people, here are my picks (based on what Google sidebars told me about follower numbers):

1. Alessa at Farbenfreude. She always makes such lovely, well-constructed things, and it's interesting to read the tidbits about her life in Germany. I'm also still completely in awe (and slightly jealous) of her "My Handmade Closet" page, since all of my attempts to construct something similar here have been an epic formatting fail so far.

2. Gail at My Fabrication. She's one of the most frequent commenters here, which I so appreciate! She's also great at finding wonderful fabric prints, and putting together a wardrobe that works with her "boho to the boardroom" aesthetic. (Also, her top banner picture of the moment just makes me laugh so much!)

3. Helena at Crafting My Own Style. She puts a lot of thought into making things that will fit and flatter and fill the gaps in her wardrobe, while balancing a life that includes a young kid. (Having lots of friends who have young kids makes me really impressed with anyone who can keep the creativity going while having one of those to take care of!)

4. Juliette at Sewing and Style Den. Her clothes are always so fashion-forward, and she does some great posts about fashion in general, as well as some good reviews of things like Burda magazine patterns.

5. Ginger at Ginger Makes. She's newer to sewing, but puts together some great stuff! And since she's also a knitter (as many of my sewing blogger friends seem to be) and has more experience with that, I enjoy seeing what she makes there. Gives newer-knitter me some inspiration!


Second order of business: I've decided to take on a new project. I actually found out about this loosely-organized "Check The Technique" sewalong through Alessa and Ginger awhile back, and was definitely pondering it. My recent adventures in jacket tailoring convinced me that I need to sign up for this one, because even though I think I can do a fairly good job on a lot of things, there's always room for improvement. And with no deadlines or specific projects in mind, I can focus on the sewing techniques that I want to learn. I borrowed the list from Alessa, with a few modifications--vintage sewing isn't really my thing, so there are a few things on the original list that I don't really feel a need to learn, like "grading a vintage pattern". I'd much rather focus on some fitting techniques for modern stuff. Also, there's several things on here that I've played around with before, but I don't feel like I really know how to do them yet, or it's been awhile and I'd like a refresher course. So, without further ado, here's my version of Check That Technique!

Things I just don't know how to do that I want to learn:

• Bound Buttonhole (attempted once, but with epic fail results)
• Facing a shirt or dress (amending this to drafting a facing for that, as I've sewn facings quite often!)   
• Faced hem
• Scalloped Edge
• Shirring 
• Waist stay
• Making and using a croquis (my addition, and this project is in the works atm....)
• Making and using a pattern sloper (my addition)
• Fitting adjustments: FBA (attempted here, but if my last attempt on that pattern was an indication, I failed....and then there was this, so clearly I don't get it yet), that hip-to-waist thing (my addition)
• Tailoring stuff: pad-stitching, hair canvas (my addition)
• Bag-lining a jacket (my addition)

Things I've tried before that I want to improve on:  (with links to relevant projects)

• Boning (haven't done this one since, oh, before I started my blog)
• Front Fly (my nemesis!)
• Blind hem (it just always seems to show, dangit!)
• Pintucks  (done here, but that was on a knit and I've never done it on a woven)
• Inter-/Underlining a garment (done here, here and here, but I still feel like I need work here)
• Making bias binding 
• Welt pockets (because, you know, that)
• Zipper: hand picked, lapped, invisible (I've done all 3 multiple times, but being comfortable with sewing zippers just seems to be that thing that eludes me! I still have to read the directions every time I sew an invisible one, and I've done it at least 20 times now!)
• Getting the tension right on my serger (my addition)
• Altering a pattern for design details (my addition, and one I've done a couple of times, but it only works out about half the time--I'm thinking of this one, which was less than stellar)
• Regular stitched buttonholes (my addition-- the automatic buttonhole sizer on my machine hasn't worked since I had to replace the buttonhole foot that I broke, and I've been having trouble getting them consistent since.)
• Seam Finishes: Bound, Faced (not even sure what this is!), Flat-felled
• Sew Leather (or faux leather) (since the last time I tried was a disaster)
• Sew Jeans (which I'm hoping the Craftsy class I got for my birthday will help with)
• Ruching (because I kind of feel like I should get it looking better in the front than this or this)
• Installing eyelets and rivets (my addition, because of this headache)
• hemming sheer fabrics (my addition, and one example)
• Adding a lining when it doesn't call for one (my addition, since it always seems to complicate things. Like here. And here. And especially here.)
• Sleeve vents (hopefully easier than this, the next time)
• Fabric Dyeing, since it seems to be a hit-or-miss thing for me so far.

Been there, done that, got the shirt. (Or dress. Or skirt. Or whatever.)
(Note: I'm not saying there isn't room to improve, just that I'm fairly confident in my ability to execute these well!)

• Lining a dress (check, check and check)
• Making a belt (check)
• Making a fabric covered button (check)
• Pockets: patch pockets (check), inset pockets (check)
• Piping (check and check)
• Finishes: Hong-Kong (check and check), Mock Flat-felled (check with waterproofing!), Serged (check on lots of things, but let's use this as an example)
• Sew pants (after last summer, I'm feeling much better about these!)
• Sewing a shirt: collar & collar stand, (check) cuffs (check), placket (also check, though this technique does need some work)
• Rolled hem (check)
• Raglan Sleeve (check and check), kimono sleeve (check, even though I altered it later for practicality reasons)
• Collar: mandarin collar (check and check), notched collar (check)
• Matching fabric (stripes, or more stripes, or plaids-check)

Thank you for bearing with me during this super-long post, and have a lovely, creativity-filled day!