August round-up, and a stashbusting update

How is it September already? This summer's been kind of a sleep-deprived blur for me, I guess for obvious reasons. But it's still weird to think that soon I'm going to be having to start layering up for colder weather.

Before I get into this post, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who commented on my last post! It was really interesting and encouraging to hear your thoughts on creativity when interpreting vs. designing/composing.

So, all factors considered, this was actually a pretty productive month for me as far as sewing goes! And I do have a couple of projects that I haven't shown on here yet. I did finish up a second Rae skirt yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to photograph it yet, so I'll save that for a later post. But aside from that, and the first Rae skirt and the flamingo skirt, here's what I've been up to:

My in-laws have been bringing a lot of stuff over lately. They recently came for lunch with three boxes of kids' books and a few toys that they picked up at a yard sale for $1/box. I didn't keep everything--there were a lot of things like coloring books that were already colored, and they ended up taking the girlier stuff for when our niece is over there. But there were some excellent book finds, too. Somehow, several puzzles ended up in the bottom of the basket of things I kept. Since Hobbit is still a few years too young for even these simple ones, I made a bag to keep everything together until he's old enough. It only took one naptime, I recycled a zipper and effectively used up the largest piece left over from the diaper bag, and my label worked. So I'm happy with this spontaneous project.



The other thing I spent a good chunk of the month on was a costume for my best friend, who is going to DragonCon again this year. She gave me permission to post this photo. She wanted to do a Disney princess this year, and chose Merida. We actually started this back in the winter, with a plan that I'd work through it with her so she could learn a little sewing along the way. But life and mostly my pregnancy meant that there was still a good chunk to do with the deadline approaching, so I finished it. The pattern is McCall  , and while she bought the main green fabric and trims, I happily donated part of my stash to the cause--the sleeve lining bits and the white brocade was my contribution. (Now if I could just figure out what to do with the other polyester brocades that have been hanging around!) I'm happy that, although I can't go with her this time, and I'm ok with that because the baby needs me here, some of my sewing will still be there.

Stash used: Not counting the skirt I finished yesterday, mostly because it was half a refashion and I have no idea how much I used on top of that, this leaves me with a total of 8 yards used up, and 6 that were straight out of the stash. I counted the flamingos, even though I broke habit and used it almost immediately.

Stash added: I bought 2 1/2 yards of chambray with a gift card that had been sitting around, because I felt that I needed a denim skirt for the fall. Then I made the happy discovery that my TARDIS skirt really is bigger on the inside, and I can squeeze myself into it again! So now I need to figure out what to use it for, since there's a LOT of options. A shirt? A dress? A shirtdress? Augh! And then remember what I said about my in-laws? Someone they knew, I think one of Doug's aunts, was getting rid of fabric, so they brought it here. Again, I didn't keep everything, because I don't have much use for upholstery fabric. But the potentially useable stuff still totaled 18 1/2 yards! Yikes!

The best find in there, hands-down, was this. It's large scale and crazy bright and I must use it. But not until I start next summer's clothes, I'm sure. I have more pressing wardrobe needs. And Sarah is hosting my favorite annual sewalong again, so of course I want in!

Since we're starting the last third of the year, I thought this would be a good time to give an overall stashbusting update. I started off the year with about 375 yards of fabric, and according to my records, I've used close to 79! (Thank you, diapers.) The best news to me, though, is that even with the additions, my current tally runs around 351 yards.  So as of now, I have about 24 yards less than I started with. I still feel like I have a ridiculous amount of fabric, especially now that I just ended up with over 20 extra yards in a month. But every project gets me one piece closer to my goal of a manageable-to-store, better-curated stash.

(Quick question-- is anyone else having trouble with Blogger's layout of photos lately? I really hate that it keeps separating the text and photos like this, but I've triple-checked that photo alignment option, so I don't know what else to do!)

not in love, but...

Wow, how has it already been a month since Hobbit was born? It's been both rewarding and challenging. On the one hand, aside from some occasional crankiness, I'm surprised at how well I've been able to function while averaging 4-5 hours of often-interrupted sleep every night. And Hobbit does nap well...the challenge is more that it's mostly while he's being held, and it was just last week that I managed to successfully get him to take some naps while I wasn't holding him and could actually get some stuff done--namely, making the project that is the subject of this post! (Also, he eats SO much. Hobbit was a very appropriate nickname!)

(And thanks for all of the kind comments! We think he's pretty adorable, but we may be a little biased.)

The other challenge has been getting dressed. I knew that my figure wasn't going to immediately go back to what it was pre-pregnancy, but I was honestly surprised at how very, very few of my clothes actually do fit right now! Including some things that I thought would fit decently enough, like my Tiramisu dresses. It's been very strange for me, since I was fortunate enough to have a pretty steady weight/measurements for most of my adult life, and now all of my shirts are extra-tight and I literally only have about 5 things that I can get over my hips, all elastic-waist. Needless to say, I'm having a bit of a wardrobe crisis. (I'm especially a little freaked out at the thought of cooler weather hitting and having literally no pants or jeans.) So as soon as I could find some spare time without a napping baby on my lap, I made a thing!

This is the Adelaide dress from Seamwork magazine, chosen both for its supposedly fast sewing time and for how forgiving it looked like it would be for my post-partum figure. That, and it looked very nursing-friendly, which is going to have to be the theme of everything I make for my upper half for awhile, I think.  I wasn't 100% sure about the fit, since I was never completely satisfied with the Sorbetto on me, so I opted for the wearable muslin route. The fabric is a mystery woven, probably a poly-cotton blend, that was given to me for free when someone else destashed it to my mom--when this happens, she passes on whatever isn't good for quilts to me.

While I like the color well enough, I thought I'd get bored with a solid dress. Also, I don't have the right kind of set-in snaps on hand. So in the interest of stashbusting, I decided to swap those out for these sparkly red buttons that I originally got with a Beignet skirt in mind, before deciding that a red skirt wasn't something that my closet needed after all and giving away the fabric in a swap. I kept the buttons, though, because sparkly, so I'm glad I finally found something to do with them! To tie those in better, I topstitched the placket, neckline and armholes in red. But I stuck with the blue for the belt and belt loops, because I don't want to draw that much attention to my waist while I'm (hopefully) losing the extra weight.

I'll be honest--I don't love this dress. It does serve its intended purpose, and it did knock an entire piece of yardage out of my stash--2 3/5 yards, for the record. I guess I just don't feel like it's entirely me. I'm not sure how much of that feeling is a commentary on the solids, or that my body is a stranger that I'm having to get to know all over again.  It might be worth giving the pattern another shot sometime, because I do feel that it's more of a fabric issue than a stylistic one. I wonder if I'd feel better about it if it was in a print, or a fabric that draped a little better so I wouldn't have that bit of gaping in the neckline. Or maybe just a different shade of blue?

But at this point, I'm also feeling like this beggar can't be too choosy. And there are plusses to the utilitarian stashbusting--I don't really have to iron this one after washing, and I don't particularly care if he spits up on it.

 I do have a couple of other projects in mind that will hopefully carry me through the warmer portion of the fall. And once I get cleared to be more active again, hopefully in 2 weeks, I figure I can start taking Hobbit for walks. Maybe, if all goes well, I'll at least be able to fit into my collection of Thurlow pants again by the time it gets cold. After all, they worked until the end of my first trimester, where all of my other pants failed, so a girl can hope. Right?

Have you ever had to rebuild your wardrobe almost from scratch? How did you deal with it? Or, for those of you who have had kids, how long did you hold on to your old clothes (especially me-mades) to see if they would fit again or not?

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?

April month-in-review

This really does look like a super-productive month, since I tend to count stash on the months I finish the project vs. when I cut it! So let's just jump right to the fun stuff, shall we?

Projects Finished This Month: 
8 total. Unless I count the diapers individually. Then it's closer to 80. But that's cheating, isn't it? First up, the unblogged things.
As seen on Instagram: I did take another cute-but-stained PJ set that I was given for free, plus a boring snap-front newborn tee, and did this. The applique was hand-stitched on, just like the frog one I did last month, and as a bonus, this reads completely gender-neutral to me. Which means it's definitely something I can recycle for any future siblings. I also had a decent-sized piece of unstained fabric, so I used this tutorial/pattern to whip out a quick hat. I did have to cut one piece with a seam in the back,  but it still worked up really fast. (The snail was the other part of the original applique. It was there, so why not use it?)

Next up: Several weeks back, I was looking for maternity/baby clothes at the thrift store, and stumbled across a bin of K'Nex for a really great price. Since then, Doug and I have gotten in the habit of checking every few weekends for any more good toy finds. One week, I found a bag of wooden blocks, which just seems like one of those staple toys that every kid should have. But they needed containment. So I took a piece of stash cotton and made a bag for them. I think this was one of my mom's dyeing-for-quilts experiments that she wasn't totally happy with, and I just wanted to use a piece that I didn't really care what I used it for. Honestly, I made this more complicated than I needed to--I realized about halfway through inserting the drawstring that oh, wait, I have to think about choking hazards now! So then I had to completely wing it with a zipper in my stash that wasn't quite the right color, but oh well. I know this bag is kind of huge for the amount of blocks that we have, but I figured that it would make it easy to add any more that we might acquire. (I mean, I don't even have the whole alphabet here!)

My most recent sewing project was a nursing cover. Not to say that women shouldn't have the right to breastfeed when and where they need to or anything--I just know that I'll personally be more comfortable if I'm able to stay covered up when I have to feed him outside of the house. Besides, I've had this particular quilt cotton for years, and I'm happy that I finally found a way to use some of it. I actually had this in the stash and wanted to use it for the leaf quilt I made several years ago, but it was just a little too busy of a print to really work. I still have about half of the piece left, so I'll just need to figure out what to do with it. But this was a really fast/easy project to make-- just a rectangle with a casing for a piece of boning, another two rectangles for the strap, a couple d-rings, hemming, and done. Ideally, I would have used d-rings that were a little thinner/lighter, but this is what I had in the stash, so I went with it. If it really bugs me in the long run, I can always perform a little seam ripper magic later and replace them.

I also finished off a stack of cloth wipes to use with the diapers. But I can't really count that as stashbusting, since my mom cut up a bunch of flannel that she had and all I had to do was serge the edges. Honestly, this isn't even exciting enough to take a picture of, but at least it's done.

Stashbusting totals for the month:

Stash out, not counting the 3 reconstructed projects:

• For the diapers: 31.25 yards total of PUL, athletic mesh, and cotton fleece (!)
• Maternity/nursing maxi-dress: 3 yards of knit
• Storage bag for blocks: .5 yard of hand-dyed cotton
• Nursing cover: 1 yard of quilt cotton

Total:  35.75 yards out, plus a few scraps for the Star Wars shirt. Woohoo!

Stash in:

• 2 yards of an Aztec-print knit. I was out running errands with Doug one day, we stumbled across a sewing machine store, and he suggested we head in and see if we could find me some new fabric. Who am I to say no? The selection was pretty small, but since I've been burning through all of my print knits in making maternity clothes, I figured I could allow myself this little splurge.  
• My parents moved into a new house this month, and my mom handed off a couple of pieces of fabric that she thought might be more useful for me in making future boy clothes than her for quilting. So I got a little over 1 yard of a reversible blue fleece (brighter blue on one side, more royal on the other), and 8 yards of a plain black twill (but only 19.5" wide!) that she had left over from a couple of non-quilt projects.  The twill will probably have to get used up for pants and shorts, but at least kid clothes are small and skinny. At least at first.

Total: 11.25(ish) yards in, but that's still a total of 24.5 yards less than I started the month with.  For the year so far, my spreadsheet is saying that I have just over 336 yards, but I've used about 63 1/2 up. Which is really good for the first third of the year, especially since 3 yards is the most I can usually burn on one project!

May Goals:
I did touch on this in last month's review.  At this point, I've reviewed the list, and pared it down based on what I didn't get done this month and think is most important. So here's what I'm hoping to do:

• I'd still like to make that changing mat. I think that will be the next project.
• I found instructions for how to make a baby gym on Pinterest. This wasn't something I was originally planning on for baby gear, because those things are ridiculously expensive and bulky. But since this one snaps apart and would be really easy to set up/store, I have a large piece of a certain quilt cotton that would be perfect for this, and I have a ready supply of adorable felt things that would be perfect to hang from it (extras from some shower favors that my mom made--all animals to go along with various books), I'd like to give this one a shot.
• I have curtains for the nursery, but I need to sew the blackout layer into the colored layer, because they're way too sheer to keep light out for when he's napping. The curtains need to be shortened anyway. So this should be a quick project, it's just a case of doing it.
• And I still need to do a lot more cooking. Though I've actually made a pretty good dent on recipes I'd planned for dinners--I think I have 3 more recipes to make for that, and then what I'd planned for lunches. And breakfast, if there's still room in the freezer.

Finally, a quick little update on how those sewing lessons are going! The girl is doing very well. We took a little bit of a break around Easter due to her family going on vacation, but since then, she's finished up the Delphine skirt from Love at First Stitch. We spent most of that day's lesson working on invisible zipper insertion, and she did a very nice job for her first try! (Not perfect, and I did have to do a little unpicking for her at the bottom to fix where something got caught, but the end result doesn't have that annoying bubble that invisible zippers sometimes get at the bottom.) She finished the skirt on her own after her last lesson, and I'm not sure what she wants to work on next--I'm letting her pick the projects after the bag we made first, because of course it's more fun if you sew things you want to make. Guess I'll find out on Monday, so here's hoping I'm sufficiently prepared!

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!

it's the time of the season

Happy spring, right? Here in the good old Mid-Atlantic, ours started with winter trying to get in one last sucker punch! I think it's time for a breakup with cold weather, because I am OVER winter clothes. I know I say that every single year, but with my currently limited wardrobe choices, it's even worse. I've been wearing the same 2 pairs of pants (with the jeans mixed in as I can) and the same 3 cardigans almost every single day. And my one purchased winter maternity top is looking rather dingy and sad. I guess that's what I get for buying a cream sweatery-looking top.

That being said, with the limited window I have remaining in which making clothes for myself to wear throughout the rest of this pregnancy still has a point, I'm trying to focus on things that will carry me through the spring and into the summer. And, hopefully, still be wearable afterwards.

Enter my new maxi-skirt! The fabric is a luscious-feeling bamboo-rayon jersey blend, part of the mini-stash of knits that my parents gave me for Christmas. It took me a lot of thinking initially about whether this fabric wanted to be a skirt or a top, but once I realized that I only have 2 pairs of non-jeans maternity pants left that still fit (I've outgrown the third, which were a little small on me when I first chopped them into maternity pants), and they're both reconstructed corduroy pants, a warmer-weather friendly piece of bottomwear won out.

This month's Stashbusting Sewalong theme is sewing with patterns that you already have. So I based this skirt rather loosely on Simplicity 7229, which I've used a few times before for skirts and capri pants. (I'm having to link this to my Pinterest since it's out of print, so hopefully it'll work!) The original skirt is pretty basic-- the two pieces for the front and back are the same, and it has a wide yoke with a drawstring top. I'd always made it in wovens before, but here's the changes (aside from knit fabric) that I made to make it more maternity-friendly:

• Added several inches to the length of the front/back pieces. Which I actually did the last time I made this pattern, because the original pattern was this awkward mid-calf length, and I ended up hating that and chopping off the previously made skirts to a shorter length.
• I did also have to narrow that at the bottom a bit, because my fabric wasn't quite wide enough to accommodate the extra width. But since it's stretchy, that's ok. Especially since I'm starting to get into the waddle phase and my steps aren't quite as big as they used to be.
• While I used the yoke/drawstring waistband pieces to get a general idea of how wide to cut it, I replaced that with a slightly skinnier but much longer rectangular piece. The idea is that I can use it to cover up the baby bump for now--the over-bump stuff sits on me way better than under-bump stuff, which just feels awkward and like it's constantly on the verge of falling down. It's a little loose at the very top of the band, around the rib area. But I'm not too worried about it.

It folds down into a yoga-style waistband, so I'm hoping that it'll be snug enough that I can wear this skirt once I'm a little smaller around the waist again, too! It's obviously hard to tell how that will work right now, but a girl can dream, right? 

Overall, I'm really pleased with how this adaptation worked out, and how fast it was to sew together! I did all of it, including cutting out, in 2 sewing sessions. Which is pretty speedy for me. Depending on how this works out to wear afterwards, this just may be how this skirt pattern ends up getting used from now on. It's so tempting to find more of this type of knit and whip out a few more! But I have several pieces of knit that I still want to make other clothes out of to wear in the meantime, so I shall try to restrain myself.

I used up pretty close to a full 2 yards on this. As an added bonus, I had just enough fabric left to make a little something for the Hobbit! We're actually doing pretty well with collecting baby clothes so far, largely thanks to my mother-in-law, who's brought over multiple bags of things that neighbors and acquaintances were getting rid of.  At least, we're doing pretty well with onesies and pajamas. What seems to be largely lacking is pants. Given his nickname, all I can think of is that old Lord of the Rings movie meme where certain words get substituted with "pants". The most famous being...

Which never fails to crack me up, but Hobbit is going to need some pants eventually. So I made some.

The pattern was a freebie that I found on Craftsy, the Go To Baby Leggings. I wasn't entirely sure about tie-dyed pants for a boy, but a few kind sewcialists on Instagram talked me into it, and I hope these actually end up fitting him because I think they turned out pretty cute! I made these in the 3-6 month size--partially because lightweight jersey pants going into the fall make sense, and partly because I literally did not have enough fabric left to make them any bigger. Doug was pretty impressed, I think--I cut and sewed these in their entirety on Thursday, along with finishing the skirt, and his instant reaction was that they were adorable and I should post them on Facebook. Always a good sign. I wish I knew how they were actually going to fit him, because I had these cut out and sewn together entirely in basically no time! But at least I have the pattern tested, so if it works out, I can always fall back on this as a quick project while he naps or something.

maternity wardrobe building, part 2: what I still need

I apologize in advance, because this will probably be a long post. Last time, I showed what I'd managed to assemble for my wardrobe so far. And like I said, I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly a palette started emerging!

Most of what I already had or was easily able to acquire was black, grey, cream, or teal. I threw in navy as a neutral as well, mostly because of denim. And with a few additions from thrift stores, clearance racks, and the knits in my own stash, royal blue, a brighter leafy green, and coral also showed up. I think this looks like a really good balance between neutrals and statement colors, actually!

Here's what I know I still need:

• Several tops, in both long-sleeved and shorter lengths. I know I'm going to need a few shorter sleeved things for May going into June, so I'm trying to keep that in mind and plan for layering in the colder months. I've already got one top done and a coordinating layering piece in the works for this, though I'll wait to photograph until they're both done.
• A couple more skirts. I've seen a tutorial for a maternity version of the Sewaholic Crescent skirt, which is a pattern I do already have. I'm also thinking that the Colette Monetta might be a good one to try, if I add some ruching or a panel or something. Color might be nice. And I do think a nice maxi-skirt could go a long way.
• Another pair or two of leggings. I've been wearing my black pair in place of tights under my shorter skirts, but I really could use another option. I have some denim-looking knit that might be perfect for this, if I can adapt a pattern sufficiently. There's also some black knit that I'd specifically bought for trying out the Cake Espresso leggings anyway, but I can buy black maternity leggings easily enough. So I'm debating whether to hold off and make those later for more regular wear--I'm actually kind of liking the warmth of the leggings in place of tights, since I'm usually wearing boots with that sort of look anyway!
• Dresses! I'll probably be mostly living in these once the weather warms up some more. I have two that I've found so far, and I have a pattern for a top/dress that works for nursing as well. For those, I'm going to try to plan the style so that they work for the end of my pregnancy and the remainder of the summer, if I can, since I know I'll need to be careful of necklines while I'm nursing and my stomach likely won't go back to what it was that quickly.
• One more pair of jeans. I have two, and I could have sworn I bought a third, but I can't find it anywhere! But now that I'm only working a few hours a week for my teaching, and I tend to wear jeans on weekends/days at home, I know that only two pairs of jeans will not be enough to get me through any given week. I'm just going to buy that, since it would be the most time-consuming thing on this list to sew and I have way too many other holes that I can fill quicker.
• Not to go TMI, but I think I'm going to have to suck it up and buy a couple of bras, because mine are all too small in the cups now! NOT flattering. I've heard you're supposed to put off buying actual nursing bras as long into the pregnancy as possible, so I'll probably just buy a couple of cheap ones a size or two up, and hope it gets me through the next few months. 
• Warmer weather PJs. I think I can get through the winter with what I have, but all of my summer stuff is mostly little nighties and such that I was given right before the wedding. So I'm pretty sure none of those will fit this year. I guess if all else fails, I can steal one of Doug's oversized t-shirts, right? But again, I think it might be nice to come up with something that will work for both the end of the pregnancy and nighttime nursing, if that's at all possible.
• Possibly a new pair of sandals. Pretty much all of them tend to buckle around the back of my heel, and I'm honestly not sure I'll be able to get those on by the time it gets warm enough for sandals! I do have one pair of black flat strappy sandals that I can pretty much slip on over my heel, so maybe I can figure out how to maneuver those on with my toes, or get Doug to put those on for me, or something. But if that doesn't work, I'll probably need to buy something to get me through the last 6ish weeks of the pregnancy/the first couple of weeks post-partum. Which hopefully would also be comfortable enough that I won't spend that whole time fighting blisters on my overly-sensitive extra-wide feet. (Dear God, please don't let those get bigger!!) Ugh. I hate shoe shopping so much.

On a happier note, I'm trying as much as is possible to use patterns and fabrics that I already have stashed. So here's what I've come up with that could work.

Patterns! Not pictured here are the aforementioned Sewaholic Crescent skirt, the Deer & Doe Plantain top, the Colette Moneta/Mabel (pdfs in manilla envelopes are boring to show in pictures), or any leggings, though I have two patterns I could potentially experiment with. (The Cake Espressos and the Manila leggings from the current issue of Seamwork.) I've already been experimenting with maternifying the Renfrew, as you know. Actually, the two on the far right are the only two patterns that are actually maternity! They're both Megan Nielsens, even though one is distributed through Simplicity.

Fabrics! All of these are knits--nearly all of the ones I own, save a couple in colors that don't quite fit the palette. If I do try the Crescent, maybe I can work in a woven, too? The top three on the left side of the pile are ones my mom gave me for Christmas, and I'm hoping to come up with something especially fun for that ITY print on top! And I know the two solids on the bottom of the right don't quite fit the palette, but I figured they're close enough.

So far, I've tagged the black for a maxi sleeveless version of that Simplicity Threads dress on the bottom (the one with the crossover v-neck), the denim-looking stuff (that looks charcoal but is really navy) for leggings, and that dark turquoise closer to the bottom, (which is darker and a little closer to teal than the picture), for a potential maternified Mabel skirt. It's the heaviest knit in this pile. That black and blue print, which I got at Mood last year, is also screaming maxi-dress at me, so I just need to figure out what pattern I might want to use--I'm considering maybe trying to adapt the Tiramisu for that, since it also has a crossover neckline and I know it works as a maxi. Maybe if I mash it up with the Red Velvet skirt? Or just add some gathering to the front after I narrow the waistband? Aside from those and the sparkly royal blue, which is already cut up into a layering cardigan and ready to sew, any suggestions of what I should do with all these solids that won't bore me to tears when I wear them? What would be the best pairing for that ITY? (2 yards, for the record.) Any other advice/pattern suggestions for making maternity and/or nursing clothes?

The last little unblogged bits of 2014

The good news is, I think I'm finally starting to get better. The constant nausea is going away, at least, but it's kind of hard to tell--just when that started letting up, I got slammed with a virus 2 days before Christmas! The doctor at the clinic called it "flu-like", and while I wasn't actually having stomach issues from it, I did have to spend the next 3 or so days fighting off fevers. Since then, it's just felt like a nasty cold. And hopefully without going TMI, when I'm really stuffed up, I easily get nauseous anyway. So I still haven't had a nausea-free day, but I'm hopeful that it's coming soon. At least I'm slowly able to start expanding my diet again--I can actually drink water and a little tea now, and I've been eating fruit in the form of smoothies. I may even be able to start cooking dinner again soon, and while I know that takes up time, when you've been living off of chicken noodle soup and cheerios for a few months, that's pretty exciting!

All that to say, I wasn't able to do much sewing for those first couple of days after I finished up at my retail job. Because that ended the day before I got sick, and I was feeling so progressively lousy that day that I couldn't even finish cutting out one of the projects I do have to show. But I did get that done on Monday, and then sewn up yesterday.

I'm going to start with some knitting today, since I recently finished this fairly quick project. The pattern is called "Magic Hat", and it's supposed to be so stretchy that it can fit a variety of sizes. I used some leftover bamboo-blend yarn that I already had, and knit this up in the 4-12 month size, since Hobbit will probably be about 5-6 months old when he or she will need a winter hat. I also didn't quite use up all of the yarn, and I'm rather tempted to see if I have enough left to add some Yoda ears! But the yarn is so drapey, I'm kind of afraid it wouldn't work.

The hat looks a little cone-head on the table, so I had to improvise on a model. My parents gave us a few Christmas presents for the baby, including this little stuffed German shepherd. So its ears seemed to be enough to make the approximate shape. Cute, right?







I do have a little sewing to show. I stitched up this first one back at Thanksgiving, but never posted it here. Just a quick refashion--my mom was getting rid of some unwanted pants, so I picked the zipper out of these corduroys, scooped out the front and stitched up what was left of the fly, and then added this stretchy panel. I know it looks kind of distressed brown in the picture, but these pants are actually black. I have another pair all cut up and ready to sew, save the panel, in navy blue. Hopefully I can knock that out soon, because I literally have two pairs of "work" pants (both black), and two pairs of jeans right now. And that's it. I swear I bought 3 pairs of jeans, but the one pair seems to have vanished without a trace!

And then yesterday's sewing project was these burp cloths. I promised Doug I'd make some hockey-related things, so I found this flannel print that has the logo and colors of one of his two favorite teams. I managed to use up about 2 yards of flannel on this, between the one yard of Penguins fabric I bought, and the solid black that I partially got for this and partially to back one of the geeky bibs I made earlier in the month. There's a total of 9 burp cloths here, and I know my mom has a stack of others for us, too.

I do have one more bib to sew up, since Doug also really wanted to help make one! So he cut one out yesterday and I'll be sewing it. I also need to fix a pair of pants for him ASAP, but then I'm hoping I can start sewing some clothes again! 

I did some quick looking over my spreadsheet to see what my final tally was for stashbusting this year! It looks like I started 2014 with about 340 yards in...and ended with 375. Oops. Granted, I did just buy about 20 yards of stuff to make diapers with, which will get used up in the next several months and accounts for the bulk of the overage. On the plus side, it looks like I sewed up close to 72 yards this year. And I did manage to use up about 27 pieces of fabric altogether. I think that's pretty good, considering that I spent the entire last third of the year unable to do much at all, between traveling and pregnancy sickness!

the coat that stubbornness built

The coat is finally done! It took a lot longer than I'd planned, mostly due to my sewing mojo being the lowest it's been since I was in grad school and trying to juggle that, my TA duties, getting a teaching career going outside of the university's music school, and actually seeing my friends on occasion. But I did the last bit of hand-stitching and sewed on the buttons last night, finishing it just in time for the cold to come. Literally. Yesterday it was in the 60s, and today we might scrape the upper end of the 40s if we're lucky. Brr.

Since I've used this pattern before, there isn't really a ton to say about it. I did do several things differently this time, mostly involving hand-stitching all of the internal seams down because they weren't pressing flat enough, and underlining. I used up that silk organza I'd mentioned in a previous post to underline almost everything (I didn't have quite enough for the sleeves, so I left it out of there), and I also underlined (interlined?) the lining with Thinsulate. Which was way less time-consuming in the long run than my last coat, where I quilted two layers of quilt batting into the lining. This coat is still heavy, though! I think it's mostly due to the outer fabric, which is pretty thick and heavy compared to the suedecloth I used for the last coat. Oh, and I had to draft the pattern piece for the collar stand, because apparently I also failed to return that to the envelope the last time, along with the first page of directions. Organization fail. Maybe next time I need a coat, I should just get a new pattern!

Oh, and I did bound buttonholes! This was my first attempt at doing it, and they are a little wonky in spots (also probably due to the thickness), but they blend in well enough with the fabric that it isn't blatantly obvious unless you're looking up close. I did cheat a little bit--the original coat pattern calls for an additional buttonhole on the part that goes underneath the main buttoned-up part, to attach to a button on the lining. But honestly, I rarely, if ever, buttoned it there when I was wearing the other coat. So I figured I'd save myself some time and skip it! I also stole the buttons from the old coat, since they were still perfectly good.

I cheated on the lining a bit, and just shoved the raw edge of the lining underneath the serged edge of the coat and hemmed it on machine. At that point, I just wanted it DONE. But honestly, I think it will hold better in the long run than hand-stitching on this particular fabric, and since the lining pleats over top of the hem, you can't even really see that serged edge.

This project may have taken forever, and it was honestly sheer stubbornness combined with my fear of cold that pushed me to finish it. But it was great for stashbusting! All together, I completely used up 3 yards of that tweedy stuff on the outside, 2 yards of Bemberg lining, and about 3 1/3 yards of the organza--it wasn't full width everywhere since it was leftover from a previous project, so I had to do some creative pattern work. I do have a decent-sized piece of leftover Thinsulate, so I'll need to figure out what to do with that at some point.

So, one project of my FESA plan down, finally.  I'm hoping I can still squeeze in my SewDisney project before the end of November, but I'm starting off with a Renfrew hack, so this should theoretically go much faster! And at least I'll manage to stay warm in the meantime. I hope. Since this is me we're talking about, after all.

a little owl cape

The nice thing about sewing on Saturdays is that I can instantly post! I literally just finished this project about 10 minutes ago, minus photography/writing time.

Anyway, as I mentioned in the last post, a friend of mine emailed me while I was on the Paris trip to ask if I'd be willing to help her out with a Halloween costume for her foster son. I've made some capes for her before, for her own boys and her nieces/nephews, and the idea was pretty cute, so it was hard to say no! The boy loves owls, and really wanted to dress up as one. This was the inspiration link she sent me. And she bought the owl mask herself, so my only responsibility was the cape.

And this is what I came up with. I made this one a little differently than the others, mostly in that it involved a half-circle rather than a rectangle. The bottom-most level of feathers is the cut edge of the cape, but all of the others were cut and sewn on. I was also able to use all stash fabrics! The boy's favorite color is green, so I was glad to find a piece of cotton that didn't have a girly-looking print on it.


And here's a view of the back, as best as Donna could model it. I'm sure her shoulders are wider than a little boy's! I left all the edges of the feathers raw, because it would have taken forever to make this otherwise, though I stitched the edges about 1/4" away from the edge to prevent too much fraying as it gets washed and worn. I figured a little fraying would actually be ok for this one, to soften the feather edges! The rows of feathers are just zigzagged on, so I did add the lining that you can see above in order to hide that. The rows got pretty crooked in some spots! I know there's this huge span of tan at the top, but honestly, I ran out of the green so I had to improvise!
One more detail my friend requested was some "handles" so he could use that to spread his wings. I made them pretty wide in order to accommodate growth, but it's just two pieces of ribbon stitched on so that the feathers above it were left free (minus the hem feathers, of course.)

I sent her some pictures in progress and she was excited about how it was turning out, so I'm hoping the boy loves it! This was more of a fabric hog than I thought, too-- I only have scraps left of the tan leaf print and the darker brown. So all in all, about 3.75 yards of fabric. I've been remiss in keeping track of the numbers on my spreadsheet lately--I still have some subtracting to do for the DragonCon projects and my TARDIS bag. So I'll have to catch up on that soon so I can at least see how I'm doing on my Stash Diet at the end of the month!

Are you doing any Halloween costumes this year? Or are you all too busy sewing your fall and winter stuff, like I need to start doing?

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.

March Stash Diet Update

It was a slow month for me, mostly due to going back to my second job/agreeing to hem that prom dress. Which is now DONE, aside from pressing the hem. (Which I'm honestly considering skipping, since the fabric is cheap poly jersey and I'm afraid of melting it!) But I still made some progress.

Sewing totals:
Total projects completed: 3 (the Robson coat, the bibs, and one more last-minute project that I'll show below), though I at least started my Shieldmaiden March costume. Even if I didn't get past the cutting stage.
Total fabric out: 17 yards (including 5 given away for Sew Grateful week)
Total fabric in: 2.5 yards. I went to Joann's the other day to get some notions, and ended up buying some stretch denim-- I had a credit for number of pieces used up, it was on sale, and I do legitimately need some jeans. Also, the only denim I had that isn't the metallic leftovers from the TARDIS skirt was non-stretch, and I think I'm going to need a little more give in my jeans.
Difference: -15.5 yards. It's going down!!
Total stash left: approximately 322 yards. Which is a lot closer than you'd think to what I said the February totals were, but I had that Excel issue to blame for that.
Pieces of fabric completely used up: 4, plus 2 given away. That makes 11 for the year so far, and 2 more before I have another fabric credit.
Patterns used: 2, since I'm not counting in-progress stuff until the month it's done.

Knitting totals:
Total projects completed: 1 (a scarf)
Total yarn out: 100 yards, plus whatever I've done on WIPs.
Total yarn in: None this month... I probably should have done this in February, since I did buy several then for the next Craftsy class.
Difference: I can't really accurately assess this, since I didn't do the math...
Skeins of yarn completely used up: None, though I am SO, SO close with the yarn from that scarf.
Total stash left: I added it up again, since I'd never added in the February purchases, and I'm now at approximately 21,859 yards. Yiiiiikes.

So, this last-minute project... I already mentioned that Doug and I were spring cleaning our house this weekend. We made a Target run after we finished up so we could get a few new things for the house--he hated the shoe rack I brought with me and wanted a more stable one, I needed to get some mailing envelopes so I can send out swap patterns, etc. One of the things we agreed on was to get some new living room curtains--there's 2 layers there, and our dogs have this habit of looking out the window and jumping up to hit the windowsill anytime people pass out front. So the sheer ones got torn. I've hated the outer layer from day 1--it was this ugly colonial-type blue that didn't really go with the pale green wall color, but the thing that really bugged me is that the tops had horizontal pleats, one was pleated further down than the other, and one curtain was shorter than the other! (#sewcialistproblems, am I right?) I had the thought that morning, and mentioned it to him, that I should just make new curtains for the kitchen sliding glass doors and move the kitchen curtains to the living room, since I'd bought the fabric to do so before we got married and it would save us some money. He agreed, so after we got home, I knocked out a new pair of curtains in about 3 1/2 hours.

The top is the curtains that have been there since I met him, the bottom is the new set.

I'm not a fancy curtain person--I'd rather let the fabric print do the talking than deal with pleats and gathers and whatnot. So I kept these super-simple. They're unlined, folded over at the top to make a casing for the curtain rod, and the other 3 edges hemmed. Literally all I did for cutting was fold the piece of fabric in half length-wise, cut it, and then finish the edges. So not the most exciting project from a sewing standpoint, but my kitchen looks so much happier now, and the living room looks warmer, and it was a really satisfying project to finish for something so simple. Plus it knocked 5 yards out of my stash just like that, even though I'm not counting home dec fabrics towards my new fabric allowances, and cleared a nice chunk of space off of my shelf.

February Stash Diet update

Here's my totals for the month!

For sewing, I finished a whopping 6 projects! Three pairs of Thurlows, a Plantain tee, plus an infinity scarf and a tablet case. I love the months off from my retail job. I only used up two pieces of fabric completely, though I made nice dents in the fabrics I used for the pants. I did also buy several pieces of fabric this month--there was my travel exception that I made for Mood, plus I used my regular allowance to buy a piece of faux leather for my March of the Shieldmaidens project. I also bought two half yards of fabric to make a baby gift for a friend, since I needed a little more to get free shipping anyway and I really don't have baby-friendly stuff on hand.

Total fabric out: 7 1/2 yards
Total fabric in: 10 yards
Difference: + 2.5 yards
Total stash left: approximately 327 1/4 yards
Pieces of fabric completely used up: 2 (the cherry print cotton for the charcoal Thurlow pockets, and the paisley knit for the Plantain/scarf)
Patterns used: 2. I believe I have one more to go for my pattern buying allowance.


For knitting, I finally managed to start the sleeves on my cardigan! I also finished up a scarf for the Craftsy class that my mom and I have been working through together, aside from sewing the two halves together and weaving in the ends.. I am so, so close to finishing up that skein of yarn-- if the method for figuring out yardage from weight that I found is correct, I only have about 20 yards of this particular yarn left. Seriously, what do you do with 20 yards of yarn?

I didn't do so well on the yarn in vs out this time. Since I was sharing my beginner knitting Craftsy class with my mom, she decided to buy another one for us to work through together--the "Improve Your Knitting" one, which is probably what I would have gone for in the first case if it had been available at the time. I did check my stash, but unfortunately didn't have anything on hand in the right weights and amounts for the three projects that we'll be making for this class. So I ended up buying another 8 skeins of yarn! Hopefully these will get entirely used up during the course of this class, but I will not be counting these towards my yarn purchase allowance when I do use them up.

On the plus side, aside from my cardigan, I can make my totals a little more accurate now. I was finally able to give one secret project to its recipient--I made these dishcloths for my bestie, who recently bought her first place! So this was part of her housewarming gift, which had a geeky-but-practical theme going. So these have the Earth symbol from Stargate, a TARDIS, the Golden Snitch from Harry Potter, and the Starfleet Academy symbol from Star Trek. (I also bought her this apron--it references both Lord of the Rings and the Big Bang Theory, and is a favorite quote to throw at each other on a regular basis--a cookbook, and a cast-iron skillet--also known as Samwise Gamgee's/Rapunzel's security system!) I basically used up both skeins of yarn on these dishcloths.

I didn't quite finish my Robson coat in time for the end of #bluefebruary, so I'm going to count that yardage total towards March. I also did some dyeing to prepare for my costume yesterday--I'm trying to do my costume on a pretty tight budget, so I dyed some bedsheets that my parents were getting rid of. They did get darker, though not quite dark enough for my intended costume. So I think I might sew the main part of the costume up anyway, and then try the one dye I know works for polyester. (You have to boil it on a stovetop, so I need a smaller quantity than queen-sized bedsheets!)

Knitting away

Since I'm extending my stashbusting pledge to my yarn, I thought I'd give an update on what's going on there!

Unfortunately, I haven't managed to use anything up. But I did finish a couple of projects.

First up: The Chunky Irish Hiking Hat. I used the same yarn that I used for those handwarmers back in the fall, and still didn't use the stuff up! I'm honestly a little less-than-thrilled with this one. For one thing, the top cable got crossed the wrong way, though I was too lazy to rip back since I was knitting this at my mom's house and using a pencil as a cable needle. For another thing, it's too small and/or too short for my head. I wore this for the first time on Friday night, and it barely skims the tops of my ears, which makes it virtually useless for keeping one's head warm while sitting in a college ice rink to watch a hockey game! (I went with several of my cousins, because the colleges we went to were playing each other. Doug was more than happy to play interpreter.) It also kept riding up to stick up funny, so I had to keep pulling it down. I'm not entirely sure whether I should just rip the whole thing out and make something else with it, or send it to the thrift store and cut my knitting time losses.

I was much happier with the Whittier hat. It's surprisingly warm for a mesh hat, and once you get past the edge, the mesh pattern is pretty easy. The most challenging part of this one was the cast-on. I'd never done a tubular cast-on before, and was pleasantly surprised when I took the waste yarn away and the whole thing didn't fall apart! The yarn is Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends. I'm still surprised I can use this stuff, since I can't even touch wool without reacting. And though it worked fine for my Cadence sweater, I wasn't sure how it would be wearing it on my head. It gets a little itchy on occasion, but if I shift the position on my forehead every so often, I'm fine. So, at least to 30%, alpaca is a go! The buttons were already in my stash, from a thrifted jacket that I replaced the buttons on, and I think they look much better here than on the jacket!

I still have quite a bit of this left (I had two skeins and didn't even use half of one), so I think my yarn usage total for January, not counting in-progress things, was about 101 yards. According to my initial estimate, that leaves me with 19,827 yards...but hey, it's still progress!

While I'm at it, here's my fabric totals for January:
Yards in: 2 (from Stash Diet Swap)
Yards given away: 1 (gave a piece to my mom, since they didn't send enough for my project and I had no use for it otherwise)
Yards sewed up: 4.25. Though I actually used significantly more than that, since I cut up several more yards for more Thurlow pants. But I'll get to those later--I'm quite close to finishing 2 of the 3 pairs.
Net total loss for January: 3.25 yards/3 pieces, plus some scraps for Itty Bits projects. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

(Of course, I'm going to NYC this weekend, so it's a good thing I gave myself that travel allowance! Mood, here I come!)

I do have a few more knitting projects in progress. One will not be pictured here, since it's a gift and also a project I've been keeping at my parents', but here's the others:

I made visible progress on the Roheline cardigan! I finally reached the point where I can divide for the sleeves. I just haven't gotten any further than that, because I need to actually sit down and watch a few videos--ideally, I'd like to do both of these sleeves at once, and I found instructions for how to do that with two circular needles. Way better than wrangling double-points.




I've also started a very basic project--awhile ago, I bought the Knit Lab class from Craftsy, thinking it would be good to help me make sure I've mastered the basics. Of course, since then, they added another class that would probably have been more along the lines of what I wanted. But my mom had mentioned that she was thinking about doing this same class, so rather than both of us buy it, I've been going over there a little early on days I teach at her house and we've been watching through it together. So this is the start of the Lacy Keyhole Scarf project from this class. I like the texture of this yarn! It makes it look way more interesting than just basic garter stitch. I'm also taking this opportunity to try to get the hang of continental-style knitting, since that's what she demonstrates in the video, to see if it really is better for my wrists. We shall see. I haven't had any luck ever with purling continental, so that may be a big determining factor.