summer sewing daydreams

Well, here we are...about 2 1/2 weeks before my due date. Sadly, I've reached the point where it's just too physically difficult for me to start any new sewing projects, other than the hand-stitching I've been doing on a second quiet book. (Thanks for all the kind words on the last one, by the way! It was fun.) Between my back refusing to let me sit comfortably anywhere for longer than 5 minutes, and my belly getting in the way of both the sewing machine table and my ability to get the leverage needed to work the foot pedal, I've just had to accept that I'm just going to have to wait and see what sort of time I can carve out to delve back into this with a newborn. I have managed to finish a couple of things this month, which I'll show soon. But I'm coping in the meantime by playing around with pairing patterns and fabrics in my stash to figure out some potential projects that will be forgiving of the changes in my figure that will still be happening/easy to adapt to my new lifestyle of mostly stay-at-home mom. I do plan on picking up the music/sewing lessons I teach again, hopefully around mid-to-late August. So teaching-friendly clothes are ok, and I don't have to do all yoga pants. I don't even own a pattern for yoga pants, anyway. So there's good incentive to not even go there!

(Honestly, I've managed to stay within the recommended range for pregnancy weight gain, even though it sounds like Hobbit is going to be a bigger baby than I'd expected--not a 9-10 pounder, thank God, but still bigger than either of us or our siblings. I guess all that nausea has been good for something after all! So I'm hoping that means that maybe all of those Thurlow pants will fit again this fall, since I didn't have to give them up until almost the second trimester. That would help sooo much.)

Anyway, here's some of the potential ideas I've been bouncing around:

1. Megan Nielsen Darling Ranges dress. This one is at the top of the list, honestly. I've had this pattern/fabric combo bagged up with notions for about 2 years now, with the intention of sewing it for the summer-to-fall transition. But other projects kept getting in the way. I still really like this rayon challis print, though, and I'd like to see it become something. The bonus is that there's so many colors to pick from in the print that it'll be easy to adapt to fall layering with boots and leggings. Plus, it'll go great with the next cardigan I plan to make for myself, whenever I finish the quiet book and can get back to knitting instead of hand-stitching! The gathered/tie back waist should make it forgiving for whatever's going on with my waistline, and the button front means it'll be great for nursing.  I am thinking that maybe I should wearable-muslin this first, since I do have some bedsheets in the muslin bin with a similar drape to this fabric, and my bust measurement is already a whopping 5" bigger than it used to be! (Good thing I hadn't traced this one out yet, right?)

2. Sewaholic Rae skirt. I bought this one kind of on a whim during one of her past sales, since it looked like it would be a more flattering fast skirt to sew than some of the older patterns that I had. I've never made it, but elastic waists are sounding pretty good right now, since they'll be a little more adjustable as I lose some of these pounds I've put on. Also, I could use some bottomwear, since I have basically zero shorts that will fit me this summer, other than a couple of elastic-waisted pairs I picked up at the thrift store recently that I'm just hoping will fit--not like I could try them on to see. I'm also not sure how many of my skirts I'll be able to squeeze into, or how quickly. That's what I get for generally preferring the fitted waist aesthetic, right? I probably won't do quite this many, but here's a couple of things I found in the stash that might work. (If I combine the black linen-looking stuff and the camel linen, at least-- I don't really have enough of either to make anything, since they're both leftover pieces, but have been thinking for awhile that they might pair nicely.)

3. Seamwork Adelaide dress. I was really excited to see this one in the current issue, because it looks like it'll be a really forgiving make as far as sizing goes, though still a little more flattering because of the belt. And, again, it's a really nursing-friendly option. I do have a pattern subscription at the moment, so the pattern is safely downloaded and awaiting printing. I'm thinking maybe this twill for it--it was given to me for free and I have quite a bit of it, so it's not a huge loss if the pattern doesn't work for me. My one debate is whether to hunt down those snaps, or to just use buttons, since I do have a lot of buttons. Particularly, I have these sparkly red ones that I got to make a Beignet skirt that never happened--I later ended up deciding that a red skirt isn't really something I'd use much, and swapped the fabric--and I think that and maybe some red topstitching could provide some much-needed interest to this otherwise rather boring fabric. Thoughts?

4. Grainline Archer blouse. I've had this pattern, and this Japanese linen fabric that I specifically bought for it, for about a year and a half now. And since this is a looser shirt by nature, I probably won't have to size it up quite as much as I would other patterns. Which will make it more forgiving for (hopeful) weight loss, too! The pattern is printed, but I do need to assemble it.



5. Colette Mabel skirt. Another pattern I own/have printed, but haven't tried yet. It's not like I haven't gotten plenty of practice sewing knits lately, but I do have a couple of interlock jerseys from Joann's that are a little on the thick side for tops (I know, because I've used them for a couple of tops), so this could be a good candidate for fast, easy bottomwear. This color is the only one I have that's large enough by itself, but I do have some brown as well that might work if I pair it with something else. Or just buy a little more fabric. I bet Joann's still has it.

6. A nursing top or two. I think I could make one pretty quickly from Simplicity 1469, since I've already used that one and I have some knits that would work well together for a sleeveless version. (I just might want to reduce the width of the back a little, since I won't have to make it quite so maternity.) I've been advised by a couple of helpful sewcialists that the smaller nursing openings will probably work better than I thought, so thank you for that tip! Another option is to play around with altering one of my more basic knit top patterns. I'm thinking maybe the Deer & Doe Plantain to start, since I won't have to worry about the waist sizing, given that it fit me as it was until probably month 6! Also, Heather was kind enough to pull out some of her old nursing tops awhile back and Instagram a few pictures for me so I could get some ideas, and the Plantain looked like a very good candidate for some similar hacking. (Thanks, Heather!)

Other possibilities already in my stash for maybe a little more down the road, when I have a better idea of sizing...Some, but not all, pictured here: a nursing-hacked Renfrew, the Granville blouse, the Yaletown blouse, the Maria Denmark Edith dress/blouse, the Espresso leggings (because I've decided I like leggings for layering under skirts, and definitely not because I've decided I like leggings as pants!), this random Simplicity shirtdress that I forgot I had, Butterick 5084 looks like it would be fairly easy to hack for nursing based on tutorials I've seen, and I could possibly adapt Butterick 5206 to be a real wrap top instead of a faux wrap top. I've been wanting to revisit that pattern for awhile anyway, and I think one of my Paris fabrics could be perfect for it!

I'm trying to look at this as more of a list of ideas, and not an actual project list. After all, I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to sew anything, especially if I can only grab 10-15 minutes here and there. It's hard to predict, without knowing how well this baby will nap and things like that. I know I'm prone to overly ambitious lists of what I think I can get done in any given season, and I don't want to put myself in a position where I'm frustrated about how little I'm finishing when I'm already going to be sleep-deprived and trying to learn a whole new skill set to enable tiny human survival. At the same time, Future Zombie Me will probably benefit from having a more narrowed-down list of possibilities for when I do have some time here and there to work on something. It's going to be hard for me to not have a concrete list of plans, but hopefully I'll be able to adapt and go with the flow a little more for now.

Have you ever had a season where you knew sewing time was going to be a rare commodity, or you were going to have some serious measurement changes? How did you deal?

the March round-up, and April/May plans!

I'm really liking these monthly round-ups. Since I've been mostly doing finished project posts lately, it's a good way to keep tabs both on my stashbusting attempts and the longer-term projects/quickies that don't necessarily need individual posts.

Projects finished this month: 6 total. There was the diaper bag, the skirt and matching baby pants, the top I blogged the other day, and 2 more baby projects.

Project #1, with backstory: The bulk of the clothes I've gotten for Hobbit so far have been courtesy of my mother-in-law, who keeps finding people who are getting rid of baby boy stuff and snagging it for us. For the most part, it's been like-new or very gently worn, so I think we'll be able to use most of it--though I did send a stack of newborn onesies to the thrift store, because they were specifically labeled 5-8 pounds. Given the weight updates I've been getting at my ultrasounds, and the weights that both Doug and I were at when we were born, he'd probably fit those for a week, tops. And I also passed a few things on to one of my best friends, because neither Doug nor I cared about keeping the sports-themed clothes (they never have hockey anything on them and he doesn't care about any other sport), she and her husband actually like football and stuff, and she's due to have a boy about a month and a half after me--instant friend for Hobbit! Yay! She had a girl for her first baby, so all she really needs for this one is clothes, and I don't mind sharing. Anyway. There were also a few things that I thought were generally cute, and mostly in good condition, except for some obvious staining around the necklines. I had a little mental battle between my cheapness thriftiness and not wanting to dress my kid in clothes with mystery stains that he didn't make. Then I remembered that I can sew, and therefore I can still get some use out of this stuff!

So I took these cute-but-stained pajamas, and this organic cotton onesie that was in excellent condition, but a little boring. And I cut the frog applique off and hand-stitched it onto the onesie--I wasn't sure how well my machine would navigate those little tiny openings, since the side seams were already closed up! (The only before picture I have was on my phone. Yes, that's Doug playing with toys in the background--if you follow me on Instagram, you know all about my excellent thrift score on a box of K'Nex over the weekend!)

Ta-da! Much cuter onesie, in about 20 minutes. And I still have other unstained parts of the original pajamas left--maybe I can hack the legs and sleeves into a little hat or something?

Project #2: Since hockey apparently doesn't count as a sport in the minds of people who design fabric for baby clothes, I'm having to get creative. After all, if I can make geeky stuff for the baby, I should accommodate Doug's interests too, right? So I used some fabric left over from the one hockey bib that I made a few months ago to make a project that I promised I'd do.

He mostly gets flak for being a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, since we live in Flyers country, but his other favorite team is the Colorado Avalanche, and it's a lot harder to find pre-made anything for that team for some reason. Even on the internet. But I did find some quilt cotton. So now our kid has Avalanche pants. The pattern is Simplicity 1330, slightly adapted because I didn't have the right size elastic and partially because I didn't want to bother putting the elastic in the bottom of the legs. The waistband came out huge with the length they said to cut, too, and the casings weren't cooperating well with my wider elastic, so I also cut a few inches off. Hopefully they'll fit him ok--these are supposed to be 6-12 month. Otherwise, super-easy--I had these cut and completely sewn in an afternoon.

Stashbusting totals for the month: About 6 1/2 yards used up. I still need to figure out what to do with the rest of that Avalanche fabric, since I have maybe 1/4 yard left. I also bought 1 yard of quilt cotton from Jo-Ann's, because it was another hockey-themed print, and I don't see those often. Still, used more than I bought. So yay! Total for the year so far: 27.75 yards down, just under 360 still here.

The in-progress stuff: The good news is that the newborn and small-sized diapers are completely done! I just need to finish up with the mediums, and my mom got a good chunk of that done. So I just need to finish with leg elastic and snaps. It's definitely easier (and less boring) doing that sort of assembly-line sewing with someone else. As for my Lord of the Rings-themed quiet book, I haven't made as much progress on that, since a nice chunk of the time I'd normally be spending on that was spent on diaper snap installation. But I have finished up to page 5 of (I think) 11, aside from machine-sewing the backing page on two of them, and am working on the 6th. So I'm about halfway there.

How I did with March's goals: Well, the diaper bag is done, and I managed to make 2 pieces of clothing for myself instead of one, so I did well! I haven't actually started that massive cooking project yet, save making a massive grocery list and at least figuring out which recipes to start with. But that is definitely on the agenda for this month, since I decided that it would be better to wait until closer to the time that we would actually be eating this food. Less freezer burn that way.

April's plans (and beyond): 
 

I mentioned this sewalong in my last post, and since everything I'm sewing right now fits one of the three categories, the timing is perfect! I'm not entirely certain what order I'll end up making things in, so I'm just going to list all of the sewing that I'm hoping to get done before June by category, and see what actually happens.

1) Baby Clothing
Not 100% sure of my plans here yet, though I do have some things set aside and some ideas.

• I have a few knit scraps pulled out that should be just enough to make a baby t-shirt. I'm also planning on freezer paper stenciling it since both fabrics are plain--with a geeky reference, of course! 
• I do have two more partially useable free baby clothes that could also get the refashion treatment. 
• I also have a couple of patterns lying around that would be fun to try out. Including one for adorable soft-sole baby shoes, and a button-down shirt one that I recently acquired. I even have an old work shirt of Doug's hiding in my refashion bin that I can use for fabric, and I think it would be cute (and free!) to cut down Daddy's old shirts for little boy clothes!
• And I guess finishing up those diapers can count as clothes, right? I mean, he has to wear them...

 
 2) Baby Accessories and Other Items, such as quilts, toys, burp cloths, bibs, etc.
I should be solid on bibs and burp cloths, mostly thanks to my mom!

• But I do want to make a portable changing mat to go in the diaper bag, since I have fabric left over from that. 
• I have a scrap quilt in-progress, which I'm planning on just using as a throw-on-the-floor play mat, but that's probably lowest on my priority list right now. (A, he won't be able to sit up for awhile, and B, that might be an ideal project to work in 5 minutes of sewing here and there shortly after he's born, since it's all stitching strips onto blocks.) 
• The quiet book definitely counts as a toy, and I did get some suggestions about maybe turning the rest of that Avalanche fabric into a stuffed toy, via the Stashbusting Sewalong group on Facebook.
• I also have leftover towel fabric from when I made a baby gift (for the same friend mentioned earlier) a couple of years ago, so I'd like to see if I can squeeze a hooded towel out of it. 

3) For Parents

• I have one more nursing/maternity maxi I want to make, as mentioned in my last post. I think that, for ease/speed of assembly, I'm going to just mash up the Tiramisu bodice, which I've already made twice and I know has some room for expansion, and the already-altered Simplicity skirt pattern from the black dress.  Which means that I'll probably do the invisible zipper nursing alteration trick again, so maybe a tutorial post will happen?
• As mentioned in my last post, I may give that Megan Nielsen pattern another go, with a few tweaks, since I'll need something sleeveless for the hot days too. 
• Given the colors of either project, I can also use the scraps to alter a not-quite-nursing bra that I picked up recently. The straps are the type that can snap closed in the front, so it just needs a little tweaking. 
• I also need to make myself a nursing cover. I'm pretty sure I know which stashed quilting cotton will be sacrificed for this cause, I just need to do it. 

Hopefully this isn't too overly ambitious. But I'm determined to cram in as much time with my sewing machine as I can now, because I suspect it'll be hard to do for awhile!

Wardrobe Architect, weeks 9-11: The Capsule Wardrobe

I'm combining the last few weeks, since it makes sense to put them all together anyway. Plus I got kind of stuck on the silhouette thing for a bit. I came to the definite conclusion to not worry about spring in my wardrobe plan. Honestly, I'm still wearing a lot of my winter clothes, and it's April! What's up with that?! Plus I know I have limited sewing time for awhile, so I'd rather work with what I have now and sew for the next season. I also thought it best to try to work with fabrics and patterns that I have as much as possible. Because, you know, stashbusting.

So with a focus of summer into early fall, here's what I have in mind for my capsule wardrobe:
Silhouettes:
1. Fitted to semi-fitted top, knee-length flared/A-line skirt. I figure this can be either dresses or separates, and I'm thinking along the lines of this, minus the seasonal transition half on the right side:


2. Maxi-dress! This one shows with a denim jacket, which is probably good for summer layering as needed. Alternately, a maxi-skirt with a fitted top would work well. I do love me a flowy skirt in the summer.



3. Fitted top with fitted to semi-fitted pants/jeans. I may have to throw shorts into this category-- I avoid wearing them when I can, but sometimes you really do need a pair or two for situations where a skirt is overdoing it. Like hanging out at the park. Or my retail job where I'm sitting outside in 90-100+ degree temperatures for hours. Ugh. And I really don't have many shorts at all by this point.




Color palette: 
Like I said, I wanted to go with things that are in my stash as much as possible. And I already had several projects in mind. Mainly involving these 3 fabrics:

Fun, right?















So this is the palette that I pulled from here:

The yellow is mostly going to come through in the prints, but I do need some warm colors in my wardrobe! And no green this time (aside from what's in that one print), surprisingly, but I do have quite a few green things by now, and I've been feeling a need to have more purple in my closet for awhile now. And royal blue, because I don't have a ton of that at the moment either.

The pieces:
Sarai suggested going through your closet and seeing what you already have that fits the palette and silhouettes first, so I'm going to start with that, and then make my sewing wishlist.

What I have:
Tops: my purple Sadie tank, my French Vanilla knit top, black and ivory camisoles, a basic black v-neck tee and tank, a longer/flowier black tank with ivory trim, a drapier cowl-neck ivory tank, a black semi-fitted pullover blouse, my knitted Odyssey tank, a thrifted plum-colored short-sleeve knit top, a couple of graphic t-shirts
Bottoms: A basic black a-line skirt, a shorter dark denim skirt, my TARDIS skirt, my charcoal and navy Thurlows. (Charcoal's close enough to black for this purpose.) Also a couple pairs of jeans. I'll throw my sunflower skirt into this as well, because it does have the blue and purple.
Dresses:  None that fit the palette. Honestly, I had to recently get rid of the majority of my dresses due to some weight gain/fitting issues. (No, I'm not pregnant, I just gained a little weight after the wedding, probably from basically eating out at fancy restaurants for every meal during our resort honeymoon--and maybe a few too many strawberry daquiris--and I'm having trouble getting it to go away again.) So this is an area of my wardrobe that could use a few things for sure.
Layering pieces: a plum 3/4 sleeve jacket, my reconstructed black short-sleeved cardigan

What I hope/plan to make: (all from stash unless otherwise noted)

Pile o' stash!!

Tops:

1. A navy daisy-print tank, most likely a slightly modified Sorbetto.
2. A royal blue button-down blouse, from a Burda mag. I've had the idea for awhile now, but I'm too lazy to look up the pattern.
3. A navy Archer blouse, which will probably be closer to the fall.
4. A striped ivory knit tee--hoping to use the Plantain but we'll see if I have enough fabric. Done, cardigan-style.

Bottoms:

1. Fitted/skinny-ish jeans. I think I'm going to attempt to use up the denim from the TARDIS skirt to figure this out, because I have an idea for how I can make it a design feature if I need to make them a bit roomier, thanks to the shiny side.
2. Thurlow shorts. I think I might have just enough of the navy and charcoal denims from the pants to squeeze some out. And it's not like I don't know how to fit this pattern by now, am I right?
3. Solid black Thurlow pants, which I do not currently have fabric for.
4. Possibly some black Clover pants-- I have fabric that will work, but have not tested this pattern yet. So we'll see if I get to it.
5. If I have time, a Pavlova skirt. The fabric I have is currently white with black polka dots, but I'm planning to dye it. 
6. I also have a plum skirt that I can do a quick refashion of to make it a better skirt.

Dresses:

1. A navy/ivory Cambie (which is actually going to be one of my next projects) Done!
2.  A plum/yellow/royal/white Darling Ranges. This may be closer to fall, it depends on whether I decide to stick with the elbow-length sleeves or make them shorter.
3. A yellow/white/turquoise Reglisse dress. I'm planning on fully underlining this in gold Bemberg, both for opacity and in hopes that it gives the white a little more of an ivory tone.
4. A plum/green/white/ knit Tiramisu maxi-dress Done!
5. A black tank knit maxidress, from McCall's 6559. (I know, it looks a lot like the Mission Maxi, and normally I'd be all about supporting the indie designers, but I got the pattern from less than $1.)

Layering pieces:

1. a 3/4 sleeve jacket, from the ivory/black embroidered twill I got at Mood and Simplicity 4491 (which I'll modify to shorten and cuff the sleeves.)
2. An ivory Carmine shrug. I wanted to make the jacket, but I only have a yard of the knit. Oh well.
3.  a yellow knitted cardigan, which I already have yarn and a pattern for, but starting it will have to wait until I finish my grey cardigan.

I'm hoping this isn't horribly over-ambitious of me. Especially since I still have some costume sewing to do (or start-- I just finished cutting the one part of my Tauriel costume out on Tuesday), some refashion projects I'd love to get to on the side, I do need some summer pajamas, and I also would love to get a Cooper bag made up before the end of the summer. And I do have a winter coat that will need replacing, which I really should try to start by the beginning of September. I figure the knits will go fast, especially since they're mostly patterns I've used before. So we'll see how this goes.

More thoughts on stashbusting

I just found out that the Stashbusting Sewalong that Cation Designs and EmSewCrazy hosted last year is still going on! Which is exciting, since I'm doing the Stash Diet anyway. So I'm definitely jumping in on this one, too, in hopes that I can actually participate in more of the challenges this time around.



This year, they've also added in a "Curating Challenge", so here's my answers for January's questions.

Why do you sew?

I sew because making things is what keeps me sane. No, really. You don't want to be around me when I haven't had time to do any crafty stuff in awhile. I also like having clothes that fit me better/are different than what you find in stores--even when I was a kid, I liked wearing the clothes that my mom, and later me, made, because no one else in my school had the same stuff.

What's on your list?

This will probably get altered depending on how many Saturdays get stolen from me I have to work in the spring/what sewcial challenges come up, but my current mental list for this year, in no particular order, is the following:

• 4 more Thurlows (first one is in progress currently)
• A Robson coat (hopefully before spring, I'm thinking for #bluefebruary)
•  The new winter coat (I'd like to finish this one before October, since that's when I may start needing it. I do need underlining and lining for this.)
• A Project Runway pattern that I've had bagged with pattern/fabric/notions for about 2 years now that I haven't gotten to yet
• The Reglisse and Darling Ranges dresses that I didn't get to last summer
• A black knit maxi-dress
• Espresso leggings. Especially since I figured out that the brown knit I've had for years that I was planning on testing this pattern out with will work for the costume I have in mind for Shieldmaiden March! 
• Also, Shieldmaiden March. More on my costume choice and research to come. Hint: it's not a traditional Viking. But you probably figured that out from the leggings (or if you follow me on Twitter).
• A couple more (less involved) costumes, which need to get done before Labor Day weekend, since there's plans in the works for a girls' weekend at DragonCon! (This will probably involve tweaking things from the thrift store for the most part, and shouldn't be too terribly hard to put together--for instance, one of my must-haves is an Amy Pond costume (from Doctor Who, for the uninitiated) and her clothes are pretty everyday wearable. I just need to decide which episode I'm coordinating with, since I have one friend who already has a particular River Song dress and another friend who wants to do Clara as "Souffle Girl".)
• A Cooper bag, which I should also try to get done before Labor Day, because I want to use it as a carry-on/day trip bag.
• I do need to make 1 set of curtains for the kitchen at some point this year, particularly so I can shuffle things around to look better if we do put our townhouse on the market.
• Other things bouncing around my head: I'd also like to make at least one more pair of jeans, a "real" Cambie dress, an Archer blouse, some pajamas (which I do legitimately need some warm-weather ones), and a Red Velvet dress.

Did I mention I have a problem with the ambition vs. time ratio?

Why are you stash busting?

Because my stash, as previously mentioned, is at ridiculous proportions. I want to downsize to a manageable level, so I can put more thought into my fabric purchases, create more cohesion in my wardrobe, and not feel guilty about buying fabric because I already have so much. I also want to make it easier to pack and move to a new space, since even if we don't manage to move this year, moving a little closer to our families and to a larger space is something that we would prefer to do before any kids come into the picture. (And if we do that, I very well might have to work with a smaller craft space, since bedrooms would be a higher priority.)


This month's theme for the Stashbusting Sewalong is "Itty Bits". The good news is, I already did this without realizing it, thanks to my Kindle case! I can probably also count the pockets for my pants, or is that pushing it?

Stash confessional: Cyber Monday edition

Actually, I think I showed very good restraint! I'm trying to be sensible as I'm considering purchases for next year's projects (since there's absolutely no way I'll get to any of these things this year!), and do a little wardrobe planning. I've been eyeing a few things on Fabric.com in particular, and have been checking quite often over this past weekend in hopes that some of these things would go on sale. I didn't have any luck on Black Friday, but I did have a couple things on my list go on sale for today. For the others, I'm still in the waiting game of holding out for sales vs. jumping on it when quantities get dangerously low.

So here's the latest acquisitions:

Black organic cotton knit. I bought 2 yards to make the long, non-pieced version of McCall's 6559. I'd figured a black maxi-dress would be a good basic for my wardrobe, since I can even wear that for summer performances. And I'm also planning ahead for a travel wardrobe for a trip that my husband and I are hoping to take next year, and this would also fit nicely into that! (I know it looks a lot like the Mission Maxi, and I'm usually quite happy to support the independent designers, but this pattern was on sale for something like $.70 when Joann's was celebrating it's 70th anniversary.)



2 yards of black Bemberg lining. Because when Bemberg is on sale, you jump on it. I strongly debated between 2 and 3 yards, but since I don't have a specific plan for this yet, I decided to be conservative.








1 1/2 yards of this cute floral cotton print. It was on clearance, and I bought this to make bias tape for the Sewaholic Robson coat. My lightweight long denim jacket is starting to look quite battered, which is no surprise since I think it predates this blog. So this one is definitely on the radar for next year's sewing. I have my main fabric picked out, but that one wasn't on sale, so I'll say more about that in a minute.





My splurge item was this stretch teal denim, which I'm planning on making into jeans. I know I've said before that I thought I preferred non-stretch denim for making jeans, since it will hold its shape better. But I think I'd like to try a pair of two in stretch denim for ease of wearing, now that I have my pattern more or less figured out. I haven't done colored jeans since I was in high school and the dress code said that any color but regular blue denim was ok. But teal is a color I wear a lot. And Heather totally enabled me to go for it on Twitter, so that makes it ok, right? I got 2 1/2 yards, and it's wide enough that I think it will be plenty.



Still on my watch list:

More black jersey! This one is a rayon/spandex blend, and I'm eyeing it for two of the more recent Cake patterns. Specifically half of a Red Velvet (to pair with something already in my stash), and the Espresso leggings, assuming I can get that pattern to work for me. (I do have a stash fabric to test it with, but black is always useful. Also, the black leggings I desperately bought at Kohl's to wear under my work jeans when I was on outside register don't like to stay over some of my curvier bits. Ahem.)




The aforementioned main fabric for that Robson coat. This one is a non-stretch cotton twill. Have I mentioned my love for teal lately? Plus this one also fits into my potential travel wardrobe quite nicely.







This is the one I'm most looking for a price drop on, because it's coat fabric that has absolutely no wool in it! It's listed as a "very heavyweight" 100% polyester. I'll still need to underline it with something for warmth, I think, but I like the look of it. Especially since it's plaid-like, but not so much that I have to go through all the hassle of actually matching things. It's also nearly $17 a yard, which puts it right up there with the most expensive of my wedding dress fabrics! I only need 3 yards, since I'm just going to use the same peacoat pattern that I used for my current winter coat, but I still wouldn't mind a lower price, since I'm still going to have to buy underlining and lining. (I'm looking at Thinsulate, and that seems to average about $7/yard.)

Annoyingly, I could get that fabric on sale now, if I wanted royal blue or red. But I'd prefer to stick with the black, since that will go with all of my scarves already! After all, I'm even slower at knitting than I am at sewing!

Speaking of lining, I'm tentatively eyeing this. But I'm not 100% sold on it. I just want some color inside. But if it doesn't go on sale, I can always get some poly charmeuse with a coupon at Joann's or something.

Look at me, being all coordinated! You'd think I'd been reading Gillian's blog or something.

Of winter wardrobe planning and wool allergies (and a giveaway winner!)

Now that it's getting to the end of the year, my mind is already turning towards my goals for next year's sewing. I usually do a post about this closer to the end of December, and I'm sure I still will, but one thing I've already realized/decided is that I really need to focus on beefing up my cold-weather wardrobe. This isn't to say that I won't sew anything for the summer months, particularly since I have quite a bit in my stash that's better for that and I still want to stashbust. But I had the very sobering realization recently that I'm already bored with my clothing options for the colder weather. And it's only November. I may have to do some thrift shopping soon to give myself a few new things to mix in, but of course I want to make some new things too! Though much of this may have to be for next winter. Look at me, planning ahead.
The other complication to my plans, which you know if you've been reading this for awhile, is that I get cold ridiculously easily. And I also can't wear wool. Honestly, I can hardly even touch the stuff, because my fingers start prickling and itching almost instantly when I do. (Ironically, there's now "wool" in my new last name. Go figure.) So my constant challenge is to try to put together outfits that keep me warm, are still at least somewhat stylish, and won't make me break out in hives if I leave it on too long.

My big challenge for next year is that my peacoat that I made back in the early days of this blog is getting rather worn out. I can make it through this winter, but I'll have to make a new one before the next cold season. (Still, 7 years, not bad for my first me-made coat!) To get that coat warm enough, I had to basically make a quilt for the lining with a double layer of batting, under polyester suedecloth. It's warm, but it's also very bulky and started off so stiff that it could literally stand on its own. It's softened since, but I don't really want to do that again. So I need to figure out a good option for the outer layer especially, and then any underlinings that I choose to do. I actually am seriously considering sucking it up and underlining my outer fabric with wool, in hopes that I might not feel it once it's completely enclosed by other fabrics. It would be awful to sew, though. My hands are itching just thinking about it. I suppose fleece could be an underlining option too, but wind just cuts right through fleece for me when I'm wearing that as an outer layer.


I'll probably just go with the same pattern again (view A, in lavender here), since I've already gone through making and fitting it once, and it's a classic style. I'm probably also going to stick with mostly black, since that means I can mix and match colorful knitted scarves on a whim. I think Mood Fabrics is out for me this time, since I haven't found a coating on their website yet that isn't at least blended with wool. I have found a few options elsewhere:

Polyester/Acrylic boucle coating from Fabric.com. I like the texture, though it would be quite prone to raveling and would certainly have to be underlined for warmth.

Black Heavyweight Rainwear from Denver Fabrics. On the plus side, it would keep me dry. Though I already have a cold-weather raincoat.

"Poodle Fur" Knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. Though, honestly, I'm not really seeing this as an option. The thought of a fur-looking winter coat just isn't working for me.

So, yeah, I guess that boucle is the best option so far. Any thoughts about other fabric options/what I should underline and/or line with? I will gladly take any and all help I can get, because my only other somewhat fashionable option is something like this.

And the last thing I want to look like in the winter is this.

On a cheerier note, I did find a solution to another planned wardrobe addition recently. I've been thinking that once I finish the cardigan I'm currently working on, I'd like to make a mustardy yellow one next. It would go with this, the two fabrics I bought for Darling Ranges and Reglisse dresses, and my totally wear-again bridesmaid dress from the most recent wedding. (Mine is a charcoal grey.) I'm pretty proud of myself, because even though it took quite a bit of scouring through a closeout section, I found a fully cotton yarn in just the right color, and for half price! I got the "Impala" color. The plan is to make this cardigan, from my Coastal Knits book. I know I won't have it for this year, but hopefully I can manage to knock this out before next fall, because a cheery yellow cardigan sounds just perfect for combating the winter blahs.

Edit: I ended up having to switch yarns, due to the supplier not having enough. I guess someone else ordered some around the same time I did. So now I'll be using this, in yellow. The person from Webs who helped me out was great, though--she even offered wool-free alternative suggestions to me! Thanks, Jackie!

Speaking of knitting, I do need to draw a name for that KnitScene giveaway!  I'm a couple of days late. My excuse is that my grandfather passed away on Monday, so it's been a bit of a rough week so far. Since I'm home alone right now, and dogs aren't the most helpful name drawers, I'm resorting to the random number generator as usual.

That makes the winner Laura, who said she liked the Rosemary cardigan best. (I don't blame you. That was a very strong contender for that yellow cardigan! I just loved the Rocky Coast one first. It'll get made eventually.) So congratulations, and I'll be in touch with you soon.

I need a distraction

First off, the good news: While by no means perfect, my welt pocket is looking much, much better than yesterday. (Though is the dart supposed to go crooked like that where it splits?)









The bad news: After struggling with it for a solid half hour, at least, plus at least another 15 minutes of staring vainly at Lauren's tutorial post, this is what my pocket lining is doing. I just can't make heads or tails of it, and this is the only way I could figure to get the brown showing through the welt, rather than the print. I don't think I sewed it backwards or upside down, based on the illustrations, but I'm obviously missing something here and I'll feel really dumb when I figure out what it is. (Well, more dumb, because I am honestly rather discouraged with this entire thing right now.)

So, to distract myself, here's my tentative plan for the rest of the FESA sewalong.

Fashionable Foundations for Frosty Weather
Trousers, skirts, legwarmers and more! Anything that keeps your lower portion fashionably cozy fits perfectly here! The chilly weather necessitates the donning of bifurcated bottoms and sassy skirts!

Obviously, I've got this one covered by Pantsapalooza, assuming I can make it past this first pair of pants and actually start working on the other 4!

Chic Chemises for Cool Climates
Blouses, tops, vests, cardigans, and sweaters! These wardrobe essentials can carry you from day to night, not to mention provide necessary layering to keep out the chill.  

I've got a couple of things planned here:

These two knit prints are tagged for long-sleeved Renfrew tops. The black striped one, which was part of a Christmas haul from my parents a few years ago, will have to be a layering piece out of necessity. It's pretty thin. The green is a little thicker, with a crinkled texture, and has been in the stash for several years. The nice thing is that I can use black thread for both, so I can assembly-line construct these as well! I'm thinking maybe a scoop-neck for the black and a v-neck for the green, since I've only made the cowl neck variation so far.


I also have a new knitting project! Would you believe this one has been in progress for a few weeks now? This cardigan pattern is called Roheline, and it's proved rather difficult to get going, though it's completely not the design's fault. The first time I cast it on, one of the dogs somehow got the yarn out of my nightstand drawer early one morning, and in the ensuing tug-of-war between him and my husband, the yarn broke. So I had to start again. Then I had a couple instances of misreading the chart pattern and having to rip it out. And at least once or twice casting on where I just didn't have enough of a tail to finish. All together, I think I started this sweater about 7 times! But I've made it up through row 7 or 8 as of tonight, so I think I'm good now. I hope.

Fabulous Frocks
Dresses of all styles; mini, short, or long! Keep yourself warm in your modish designs, layering with tights and boots!

I meant to get this one done near the end of the summer, so hopefully putting it on my fall list means that I'll get it done sometime before the end of next summer, right? Anyway, this is the Darling Ranges dress. And of course I plan to overcomplicate things for myself by attempting to fully line it. That blue bemberg rayon was the closest match I could get without actually using white (which, actually, Mood didn't have at the time). And it's a pretty lightweight rayon print, so those white streaks are just a liiiiiittle too transparent for my comfort. The fact that it will add some extra warmth doesn't hurt either, since elbow-length sleeves in the middle of the summer around here just aren't happening. Which makes this obviously a fall dress.

Underneath It All
When you're spending months covered from the neck down, a glamorous underpinning of your choice adds a secret, luxurious touch that chases the cold away!

Tender Tootsies
Let's not forget your frosty feet! Socks, slippers and the like are the order of the day. Keep those tootsies warm and dry!

Those Cozy Nights
Is there anything better than snuggling up in a cozy pair of pajamas with a hot drink and a book whilst Jack Frost works his magic outside? I think not! Sleepwear of all types are the way to go here!

I don't currently have any plans for these few categories, but we'll see if I change my mind. After all, despite my long-term anti-leggings stance, the upcoming Espresso leggings are tempting me to give them a shot.

Baby It's Cold Outside
Coats, hats, and mittens donned to keep the cold at bay, especially when out enjoying the spectacular fall colours!

I don't think I care enough to bother matching stripes. It's just to keep me warm at the retail job. #knitting pic.twitter.com/m3Zpi475AH
— Becky (@sew_and_so) September 17, 2013

I do have a pair of handwarmers in progress that I'm frantically knitting for work, but I keep that at my parents' house as a project to do while I wait for flute students. So this Twitter shot is the only pic I have of them for now. A matching hat may follow. And I do hope to knit the beginner scarf for my Craftsy class soon, too.

So, I know this is a hugely ambitious list, and last year I was crafting for FESA well into the winter. But that's ok. Especially because there is one more pile...


Just as a sneak preview, these are the three things I have tagged for the Doctor Who sewalong. But I'm not going to tell yet what I have in mind, or what categories they fall into. Because, as River Song would say, spoilers!

so much to sew, so little time

First off, I want to thank everyone who voted/retweeted about the Craftsy wedding craft contest! I don't know the results yet, tbh--I've been stalking their blog and Twitter at every opportunity and haven't seen anything about it. Last I checked yesterday, I was tied with a cake, but definitely one of the higher-hearted projects. I'm not sure what that means, but I'll keep you posted.

It's been quiet here, and that's because I've been sewing curtains. Very basic, tab-topped rectangles. And they're taking forever. I did get a nice chunk of sewing time in last Friday, enough to finish the outside of the curtains, but haven't been able to touch the machine since. I'm complicating things for myself, as usual, by making the curtains with a detachable lining. Blackout curtains are a necessity for me to be able to sleep (I haven't been able to sleep past 5:30 or so since I got back from the honeymoon, which is tragic when you're not a morning person!), and with two golden retrievers in the house, washing curtains is probably also a necessity! So I'm making the lining attach to the top with velcro. Which basically means I'm sewing 8 curtains. I do have other curtains to make for a few other rooms in the house, but since they're not absolutely crucial to my mental state, I've decided those will wait until the winter, when I'm not at my one part-time job and therefore have more sewing time. (Confession: I'm writing this from said part-time job, because I literally have nothing else to do right now.)

Despite that, I have a rather extensive list of things that I need/want to sew during the remainder of the summer and into the early fall, once my curtains are done! I sat down the other night to make a list with what notions I still need, since I'm now further away from even Joann's, and last-minute trips to get that one thing I forgot are a little more difficult to coordinate. So here's what I'll be having going on:

• Thurlow shorts! I'm planning on using the leftover yard-ish of denim from my jeans, and basically making them as a wearable muslin. Gotta make sure the hips fit and all. Plus then I can save myself some time by doing regular jeans-style pockets, rather than wrestling with welt pockets in a medium-weight denim.
• Wedding-related stuff! Not for mine this time, obviously...I agreed to hem a bridesmaid dress for my bestie/former maid of honor for a second wedding that she's in, and am also going to be doing a few alterations on a second friend's wedding dress. I'm in this particular wedding myself, so I'm considering it part of my bridesmaidly duties. Aside from that, I'm also making her a little something for a gift, and it looks like I'll be helping to sew some table runners for the shower, which is at the end of August. We'll see if said gift ends up being for the shower (ideally, if I finish in time), or the wedding.
• I'm also really hoping I get that Reglisse dress done in time for said shower, because it would be so cute, but that may be pushing it. Either way, I would like to get it done before it gets too cold.
• Thurlow trousers! Assuming the shorts work out. I'll be going assembly-line for these (5 pairs total, I think), because I literally need to replace basically every pair of pants I use for teaching, except for my black ones. They're all too short and look stupid when I wear my boots, and are also getting rather worn for a few pairs in particular. So this is a necessity. My fall/winter wardrobe needs work, anyway.
• Darling Ranges dress. In the rayon, not that paisley stuff I originally bought for it. I still need to figure out what to do with that. (Still pondering an autumn Cambie. Which may not happen this year.)
• I also have fabric pulled for two long-sleeved Renfrew tops, and since I can use black serger thread for them both, I think these will also be assembly-line style. 

All in all, once this is done, I should have 10 pieces out of my stash. Woohoo!

Aside from that, I'm plotting for the Doctor Who sewalong this fall, and already have the fabric/pattern/design alterations figured out for one of my projects! I have 3 in mind, and fabric for two of them already in my stash. I just need to figure out a pattern for the second, and find the right fabric for the third. 

It's amazing how much sewing I can get figured out in my head, during all of this mental down time. If only I had time to make that a reality!

So what's next?

Now that the One Dress To Rule Them All is finished (yay!) and awaiting the big reveal in June, and it turns out I do have a little bit of time left before the wedding, it's time to figure out what to do with whatever sewing time I have left between now and then! Well, I've been thinking about this quite a bit, especially recently as I've been back at my retail job and have had more mental time to kill. I'm trying not to be overly ambitious because, you know, 2 months to W-day and that might take up some time. But here's what I'm thinking...

• Doug's tie, of course. Which will be much easier and quicker to finish, because I can totally sew that while he's around.
• Honeymoon clothes! I've been plotting my wardrobe for that out in my head, and I'm sure that will get a post at some point. But I do have a few holes that need filling. Particularly, I'd like to make one or two pairs of shorts, and for the sake of time, I'm going to do a total cheater refashion and cut off/hem a couple of pairs of jeans. They're thrifted jeans that I've pretty much only been wearing to the garden shop--one is a little too short for my legs anyway, and the other was a victim of the dryer ink disaster last fall. The obvious damage looks like it's mostly lower down on the leg than I would need anyway. I do need to cut them long enough that I can also wear them to work in the summer, which means no shorter than mid-thigh, but I think I'd be more comfortable with that length anyway. And both of these pairs fit pretty decently at my waist, so it should do. I still totally want to test out my Thurlows on another pair of shorts, but that can wait until after the wedding.
• Also for the honeymoon, I'd love to do a trial run of the Tiramisu dress! I don't have too much in the stash that would have the necessary yardage, but I do have some plain navy blue jersey bedsheets that I inherited when my brother got married. They're too big for my bed, so I've been hoarding them for the last few years purely for muslin purposes, and navy blue should fit wonderfully into the color scheme that's shaping up in my head. I'd also like to knock out a quick tank top as a palate-cleanser, and I have a potential idea for a layering piece. Because you know I will be the one who will get cold on a tropical island!
• One little secret I've been keeping--I did buy three patterns off of Etsy around Christmas, for some lingerie. (Which is strange for me to type, knowing that my mom might be reading this...) But if I have time, I'd like to test out at least one of them. (My fiance would probably say that I should make this first priority, but I don't know how badly my friends will try to embarrass me what I'm getting for the bridal shower yet. I'll find out on Saturday.)

There, that doesn't seem terribly unreasonable, does it? I have a few things lined up in my head for after the wedding as well, including a whole lot of Thurlow work so I can try to have some actual pants that fit before the fall rolls around, and a couple of self-challenges that I'm setting for myself. One will be an ongoing project, one will have a deadline, but more on that later. The one thing I will reveal is that I'd asked Gillian for a sewing dare that actually involved, you know, sewing.   The dare she gave me:

@sew_and_so OK, #sewingdare: Treat yourself to a cute new pattern and lovely fabric to make it! You deserve a treat!
— Gillian(@GillianCrafts) March 26, 2013

I polled the quite biased sewcialists on Twitter, and the consensus was that rewarding oneself for accomplishing a huge and very time-consuming couture sewing project trumped stashbusting pledges. (But I promise that this will be my only cheat, since technically, the lime green silk was bought with the wedding in mind, and therefore falls under the parameters that I'd set!)

I'd considered buying something for the Pavlova, since I did already treat myself to this new pattern, I'm just not sure I have things in the stash to make both pieces.  I'd also thought that I could use it as part of the honeymoon wardrobe. But hours of scouring my favorite fabric websites turned up nothing that's jumping out at me for it at this point. And, as Gillian put it in a later tweet, "go big or go home. right?"

So, for my sewing dare, I treated myself to the Darling Ranges dress by Megan Nielsen, and some fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics. I haven't tried a Megan Nielsen pattern yet, but I've heard good things about them. It was a tough call between this one and the Reglisse dress from Deer & Doe, because that one is just too cute and it reminds me of something that Jane Bennet would have worn in the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. But in the end, the Darling Ranges won out, because...

1. I've been wanting a more autumn-friendly dress for awhile now--most of my dresses have no sleeves and are in summery colors.
2. I have two weddings to attend this fall, and will need something to wear. I'm a bridesmaid in one of them, so that's covered, but I still will probably need something cute to wear for rehearsal dinners and such, right?
3. Even though it's a longer-sleeved dress, it doesn't look frumpy. Those are hard to find. 
4. As it turns out, it's a good thing the Darling Ranges won out, because apparently I just won the Reglisse pattern from a giveaway at Paunnet! Thanks, Anna! 

But.... I'm sorry to say that I think I've failed this dare.  I bought this fabric for it:

I tried to be smart about the fabric choice, and choose a print that--guess what--already went with a bunch of things in my wardrobe! So I was thinking that I could layer this with my  brown jacket, or my brown hoodie cardigan sweater, or the thrifted tan jacket that I picked up recently,  or throw a coordinating knit top over it and wear it as a skirt, and so on. (My other choice was this adorable dragonfly print, but I realized that would require a lot more effort to work as a layering piece. I also managed to resist the temptation to further break the pledge and buy both pieces.) Also, as far as fabric choice goes, I do have a serious weakness for paisley!

But--and I am not blaming Gorgeous Fabrics for this, because I know the problem had to be my color perception--now that I'm seeing the fabric in person, I'm not so convinced that this is a good match for this pattern. The blue looked way more teal instead of this colonial blue, and the fabric looked brighter in general on my computer monitor. If I were to be perfectly honest, if I saw what I got in a brick-and-mortar store, I wouldn't have bought it. And my gut tells me that if I make this dress out of this fabric, I'm going to think it looks totally granny (and not in the chic way) and I'm going to hate it. So that leaves me with two questions--what can I do with 3 yards of dull-colored paisley fabric, and do I have anything in my stash that I can actually use to make this pattern? A serious question, given that most, if not all, of my fabrics are more separates-length yardages...

Maybe this would work better as the Reglisse. What do you think?

The problem with winter clothes...

Happy February, everyone! First of all, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to vote on my little poll in the last post! There's been 19 answers so far, with the hairline seam taking the clear lead. Brooke suggested some nifty thread that vanishes with an iron steaming, so I think I'm going to get some of that and run with it. I probably need another spool of white anyway, considering that I'll have to start busting into that for basting and such. I've been using my one spool of ecru for that and the inside seam finishing, in order to save the white for where it shows, and reached the point where I'm about half a skirt's basting away from running out.  In other exciting dress news, I'm at the point where I can start basting the skirt together! The waistband is on the bodice as of yesterday, and the seam between them is all stitched down nicely.  Out of necessity, I'm waiting to do the center back edge finishing (and therefore the neckline's too) until I get the zipper in. The last time I checked it, the placement of the side seams were great but there was too much room at the upper back of the dupioni part, so I'd like to have the skirt on so I can check the fit all at once.

From my Fashion Inspiration Pinterest page

But back to the subject at hand. I was thinking about this last night, as I was browsing the women's fashion section of Pinterest while half-watching a hockey game with Doug. I should probably say problems in the plural, because as far as I go, there's quite a few:

1. I have basically no internal temperature regulation this time of year, no matter how unseasonably warm it gets. For example; on Wednesday, it got up to 66 degrees. Practically balmy, right? While I did manage to brave 3/4 sleeves, I ended up keeping my favorite bulky brown hoodie cardigan on all day, too. And I was STILL cold enough to drink several mugs' worth of tea.

2. The obvious answer would be to wear wool. But I can't touch it without my hands prickling uncomfortably within seconds, and the one wool hat I've owned made my forehead break out in a line of hives. (Ironically, my soon-to-be last name contains this very fiber name! I'm going to be allergic to myself!)

3. If the Polyvore-type sets that abound on Pinterest, such as the one above, are any indication, winter clothes are just boooooring. Everything is solid and neutral, mostly grey, black and taupe. I can appreciate a good piece in the first two colors, but isn't winter in the northern hemisphere dull and neutral enough?
Where's the color? Where are the prints? Incidentally, I'm pretty bored with everything in my closet too, and kind of resent that it'll be at least another 2 months before I can consider diving back into my shorter-sleeved things without potentially freezing.

4. I'm just more inspired by warm-weather clothes. I always have been. If you look at the aforementioned Pinterest board, sleeveless tops abound. The only winter outfits I can find that I like to pin on there generally have slouchy sweaters and tailored jackets. I have sewn a few jackets, so that wouldn't be an issue, except...

5. I don't necessarily have things to go with those jackets, and my fabric stash also has a VERY heavy bias towards fashion for the warmer months. Remember this jacket? Or this one? I still like them both, and so I'm not going to purge them from my closet, but I've hardly worn either because I just don't really have much to go with them. Topwise, it's not so much of an issue with the BurdaStyle book jacket because it doesn't look right if I leave it open at the front, but as I've complained on here multiple times, I am in dire need of pants that fit well and aren't too short or worn out. Thus the desire for that Thurlow-fest I keep saying that I'm going to do after the dress.

I know I can't do much about it now, obviously, since I still only have about half of an unlined wedding dress, and there are a few summer things I need. Plus there's that stashbusting pledge. Not to mention that February means that I have anywhere between less than 4 to 6 weeks before I'll get called back into my retail job. Two years ago, it was mid-March, but last year, I got "promoted" to head cashier/office assistant out of necessity, and got called back before February was up. (I'm selfishly hoping for more of the former, so I have more dress-sewing time before I'm balancing my part-time teaching plus a part-time job masquerading as almost a full-time job plus finishing up the wedding planning and moving process.) But I figured that if I write this down now while I'm thinking about it, and I can make a decent dent in my stash, maybe I can make this better for me in future winter seasons. I need to:

1. Evaluate my winter wardrobe/dressing habits. This isn't too hard, because I know that once the temperatures drop below 45F, I never, ever want to wear skirts or dresses, because there are no tights in the world that can keep my legs warm. Making those pants will help a lot, so at least that's the one thing I can do this year and still keep to my stashbusting pledge.

2. Improve my knitting. Because so often, I just want to wear sweaters. And Goodwill's been letting me down lately.

3. Buy fabric/yarn based on what's actually in my wardrobe, instead of just buying because I like it. For instance, I know I need tops to go with that blue jacket, so I should look for some knit prints that will coordinate. Or I recently splurged on some slouchy grey boots, since I'd been wanting something like this for months, only to realize that most of the things I have to go with them are more geared towards the fall and spring and I don't have the layers to winterize them yet. (Off-topic--I'd definitely recommend their shoes. It's the second pair that I've bought from this particular company, and even though they're pricey, they're well-made and super-comfortable. And they fit me. This is huge.)

4. Find some alternatives to wool that will keep me warm. For instance, I can wear that 30% alpaca/70% acrylic stuff that I made my Cadence sweater out of with no difficulty. So it might be worth finding some yarn and knitting up accessories in higher percentages of alpaca to figure out what my tolerance is. I also know that this suedecloth top keeps me warm. (This will be especially important, as my peacoat is starting to look a little worn in spots. I think I can squeeze one more winter out of it, and I'm impressed with how well it's held up. But the embroidery is pulling out in multiple spots, and I'm developing a tear by the pocket, and the satin inside is getting all pilly. And, well, this brings me back to the debate that led me to make a coat with a quilted lining that's so thick it practically stands up on its own to begin with....what can I make a coat of that will keep me warm without making me break out in hives? It's at the point where I'm seriously considering attempting to use wool as an underlining for something else, even though my hands will hate me for it during the entire sewing process.)

5. Color, color, color. I need it this time of year.

Post-wedding dress wish list(s)

The other sewing dare I received from Gillian was to make a list of things I'd like to sew after the dress. As it turns out, I have a bunch of different pieces of fabric bagged up with patterns and ready to cut and sew....and absolutely none of those are things I want to make right away! (I'll get to them sometime. Really.)

I actually have two entirely separate lists, because there's things I'd like to make for the honeymoon if I have time before the wedding, and a different set of priorities I need to think about if I don't. So here's the lists!

If I have a couple of months after the dress:
I am going to need some new things for the honeymoon/summer, I think. I don't think I can realistically expect that I'll be able to sew everything. But ideally, I would at least like to sew something new for it. (Is it weird that the thought of retail shopping feels like such a drag now? Hopefully I can at least thrift a few things, because that's more fun!) I've been plotting out possibilities in my head from my current wardrobe, and I think I can put together a decent travel wardrobe for a Caribbean getaway, but here's a few additions I'd love to have:

• After such a time-consuming, fitting-intensive, couture EVERYTHING project, I think I'm really going to need a palate-cleanser. Since I already have the fit tweaked and I know it's a quick one, I'm thinking another Renfrew will be just the ticket. I'm thinking the short-sleeved, scoop-neck version, so I don't have to mess with altering the v-neck front just yet. The only catch--I'd want to make this something I could wear for the honeymoon, and would you believe that I don't think I actually have any knits that would work for that purpose? They're all either cool rayon prints that have way too much yardage for me to "waste" on a top that will only use about half of it at the most, or the cotton/poly blend solids that I picked up at Joann's. Which I think would be too hot for summer in the tropics, you know? If I'm going to stick to my stashbusting pledge, I need to think of a way around this.
• I have about a yard of denim leftover from the jeans, and since I am desperately in need of shorts that fit--most of mine are WAY too big around my waist because it was the only way I could find any that fit my hips at the time--a wearable muslin of the Thurlow shorts would be great. The fabric is wide enough that I think I could just manage to squeeze them out. To save fabric/speed up the process/make sure it fits first, I'd probably leave the welt pockets off, and then just go jeans-style with patch pockets if I had enough fabric left.
• Another wish-list item would be a wearable muslin of the Tiramisu dress. I have quite a bit of navy jersey, from bedsheets of all things. (When my brother got married, he gave me the now-too-small jersey sheets that he'd been using so I could use them for fabric purposes.) I think a basic navy dress could be great for things like the "resort formal" dress code at some of the ritzier restaurants at the resort we're going to.
• I may actually do some sleepwear/lingerie. (Gasp! At my fiance's request, of course.) I do actually need some summer sleepwear, since I had about 2 things I rotated between all last summer and just never had the time to make anything else. And I do have a few patterns I've collected recently to make some appropriate things.

If I don't have much time before the wedding...
Then I'll probably have to just suck it up and take a break from sewing. (Nooo!) And then keep a knitting project around so I don't go crazy from complete lack of craftiness. But there's definitely a few things I'd like to do once I get settled in after all of this:

• I need to make some curtains for his townhouse. I've figured out that I can recycle my bedroom curtains for the office, because the beachy stripes are masculine enough for his taste and the color just happens to go very well with the walls in there. But I also need to make a new curtain for the sliding glass door, one for the kitchen window, one for my sewing room and two sets of curtains for the bedroom. The bedroom would be the highest priority, since I need the light blockage. I do have fabric for all of these, and I'll probably keep them very simple in style, because fancy-schmancy draperies aren't really my thing. Also, rectangles are faster to sew, and that means I'll be able to get back to clothes sooner!
• Pants, pants, and more pants. I easily have materials for about 5 or 6 Thurlows, and once I get the fit figured out, I think I'm just going to assembly-line sew all of them at once. I'm so sick of wearing pants that are too short for me, and I rarely am able to find RTW pants that fit me well enough to justify buying them. Since she specifically designed the pattern for the larger hips/smaller waist types, I'm hopeful that this is going to be THE pants pattern I've been looking for! Also, more jeans, because I've been wearing my one me-made pair pretty much every time it's clean, and therefore I need more.
• A knit dress for the fall would be good. Perhaps the Tira if I can figure out how to lengthen the sleeves, or perhaps revisiting Butterick 5206. I do have a couple of fabrics in the stash that I think could be good options. If I can figure out how to get around the fact that both prints are fairly thin knits with white backgrounds, and therefore I may have to be concerned with opacity. (Has anyone had luck with lining knits?)
• Yeah, I'll probably still end up doing that sleepwear/lingerie at some point. He's been asking so nicely.

Closet Challenge Update, weeks 4+

What I've learned so far: It is very difficult for me to motivate myself to take outfit pictures of myself. Probably largely due to not really having a good place to do so/lack of time until after dark. Plus I've honestly felt that I need a me-made garment to make the photos interesting, since this IS primarily a sewing blog....and I honestly don't have as many me-mades for the fall/winter so I do rely more heavily on thrifted clothes than I would have to in the spring and summer. And so I'm just combining the last couple of weeks (thus the 4+), with the really crappy self-timer photos that I did manage to get while crammed up in the corner of my horribly messy bedroom. (And putting them in collage form to minimize the crappiness. Half the time, I can't even get both my head AND my feet entirely in, because of lack of space to set the camera up in.)


So, in no particular order of days:
1. My convertible dress, which I attempted to fall-ify on a still warmish day with a brown cardigan. It works for mint chocolate chip stuff, right?
2. (Can you tell this is the one shot I had a photographer for?) A pre-blog leaf-embroidered me-made skirt and a thrifted top. And, of course, the boots!
3. I've been having trouble fitting in my 3/4-sleeved stuff lately, because it went straight from too hot to too cold (for me). So this is me warm-ifying my Chevron Blouse with the Junior Mints jacket.
4. Another fall-ifying attempt, this time with my sleeveless ModCloth dress refashion, worn over a black knit top and somewhat-refashioned thrifted grey pants.
5. This one is basically just to show off how well my latest knitting project goes with my vintage leather jacket!
6. I've mostly worn this outfit before-- my Painter Blouse with my trouser jeans, since it's pretty much the only pants I own that will go with that aren't way too monochromatic for my taste (i.e. grey or brown). I prefer this top with regular jeans, but that doesn't quite work for teaching purposes, since I do try to maintain an artsy-professional image for that. The belt, which I thrifted awhile ago, is a new addition, and I think it's a huge improvement, because that one change makes it look so much more pulled-together! It's amazing the difference that accessories can make, isn't it?

Also, can you tell I'm trying to offset the too-shortness of all of my pants by wearing more flats? :P

In order to better inform my AD sewing (After Dress!), I realized that I should probably also be tracking things that I wished I had in my outfits from week to week/things that would make some of my pieces less orphany. So I'm going to be making an ongoing list that I'll add to as needed.

1. Royal blue Clovers (or a similar style, if that particular pattern doesn't work for me), as stated here.
2. A cropped fitted black vest (while wearing some black purchased pinstriped pants and a gifted plain coral blouse. I wanted something bright because it was a dreary day, but the outfit was just a bit boring and it was too warm for jacket layers. Incidentally, that loop scarf I finished recently probably would have looked great, but it was too warm for a scarf too.)
3. Pants, in general. I've noticed that the outfits I've been liking from week to week tend to be based either on skirts or jeans. Now, the jeans I'm ok with, because that's totally my weekend wear. And the skirts were ok for most of this month so far--except for last week, it was pretty warm still. As it gets colder, I know I'm going to want to wear pants. And, well, I only own about two pairs of pants that I really like, and once it gets colder, I think that loose-fitting linen pants will be out. I don't like the way most of my store-bought pants look or fit on me, so I think I tend to find those outfits boring. I predict a Thurlow binge in my (somewhat distant) future. Especially given that I have fabric for at least 5 pairs of pants!
4. Not so much a "want" as a "need", but I could probably use another cold-weather solid-colored top or two that coordinates with black, due to the usual dress code of sorts for worship team at church. I have about two, and have been relying very heavily on my little collection of corduroy jackets (and the limited acceptable options that I have to wear underneath them) to make it work. Now for this, I might have to suck it up and go to the thrift store. 
5. I can't make this, but I find myself wanting a pair of grey boots. Something kind of like this (though I wish it was a lighter grey!) But that's going to have to wait, since finding shoes that fit is no small investment for me, and therefore I have to consider shoe purchases very carefully. 

I guess the other question is, aside from the pants, what I actually have fabric for....I still have a lot of stash to bust!