A little taste of Pavlova

It took some serious pondering, but I decided to go ahead and post what I could of my ill-fated Pavlova cardi. After all, I did sew it. I did wear it twice before it got destroyed. And it was a stashbusting project, which means it did fit that particular sewalong.
As you can see, this was during the wedding planning stage, since I've got all of those little paper sunflowers there! I took some pics on Donna so that I could capture a few of the details, figuring I could just get a pic of me actually wearing it on the honeymoon when I wasn't so crunched for time. I ended up not actually wearing it at all while I was in Jamaica, because the nights were warm enough that even cold-blooded me didn't need an extra layer! But I did wear it on both the first and last days for the airplane, and was glad for it-- I just didn't get a pic because I was in grungy travel mode (and wearing glasses, and tired).







I was really proud of how nicely the edges of these sleeves were finished! I had to think about it, with the somewhat bias cut to it, and the crinkled, lightweight nature of the fabric. But they were both serged and topstitched a bit so the seam would stay where I wanted it to. This was one of the details that survived, so I guess I did a good job there!



The hem wasn't so lucky. I serged this to keep it from fraying, and then double-rolled it to enclose the serging and stitched it down. I kid you not when I say that the washing maching managed to entirely undo this hem, back down to the serging!

I would have been able to fix that, though it would have been annoying. The real problem is that it also ripped the neck facing apart, leaving a big, gaping, ragged-edged hole. And the fabric is so lightweight to begin with, that I don't think it will hold up.

It's a shame, really, because I'm still adapting to the temperatures that my new husband likes to keep the house at, and a lightweight layer would really come in handy here! But this really was an experimental top, and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Also, the fabric was free, so aside from the time investment, it wasn't much of a loss. I guess I can chalk this one up as a muslin. Of course, this means I'm also afraid to wash my new Hummingbird top until I have a chance to photograph it, just in case!

Culling my closet

I've reached the point of the winter where I have a pretty good idea of what I am and am not going to wear, so I've started the process of weeding things out. I always have a hard time with this process, but I'm trying very hard to be more ruthless than I usually am, since I do have a move to think about. Most of the things I'm ditching are things that were either store-bought or passed along to me, but I do have several  me-mades that are on the chopping block as well. So here's what's going, and here's why:

1. The silver skirt that I'd posted about before. This decision was actually made for me-- I pulled it out around Christmas with the intent to wear it to church one day, and found that the elastic is shot. I wear it so little that it's really not worth it to me to replace it. So I'm sending this one to the refashion pile--it's bias-cut anyway, so maybe I can turn it into some strips for a fancy Hong Kong finish or something. It would be a shame to waste such perfectly good shiny fabric, don't you think?












2. The Kaylee top. This one is more of a durability issue than disliking the top itself--sadly, the fabric is pulling out of the darts, and I've noticed a run in the actual fabric starting to form on one of the back shoulders. Which is really odd, since this is a woven! I'm thinking that this one is a candidate for the refashion bin as well, because it could make a really nice lining for a small bag or pouch.











3. The Lizzie top. I liked the concept, but found the execution to be somewhat lacking--I always had trouble getting the neckline to stay in place, even after hand-sewing it down, and it was always really saggy on that one side that's facing out in the photo from the attempt to pleat it. Refashioning it is probably more trouble than it's worth, given the thinness of the fabric to begin with (I'm not sure it would stand up to being taken apart again to try and tweak those things), so I'm just going to let it go.

4. The jacket portion of the band teacher pantsuit. Because let's be honest, now that I'm not doing that job anymore, I really don't need a pantsuit in my wardrobe. When I do reach for a black layering piece, it's always either my military jacket or a purchased cardigan that I have. I am keeping the pants (for now), because they fit decently enough and black pants are definitely a wardrobe staple for me, to the point where I do need a backup pair when my one purchased pair that actually fits is in the laundry hamper.








5. A white shrug that I made pre-blog. You can tell this is an old picture, since it's on Donna 1.0! I think it's been at least 2 years since I've worn this, and I have a short-sleeved white cardigan that I tend to wear instead. It's warmer in the air conditioning, and I need it because I'm pathetic about being cold like that. Also, the longer length of the sweater makes it more versatile--I think I only had about 2 things that this looked good with. (To be perfectly honest, I've noticed that I'm tending to keep things that are a cream color over things that are white--I think it's a more flattering color on me, and less likely to get ruined if, say, I spill some tea on myself. In fact, the only reason I'm going more white instead of ivory for my wedding dress is my inability to pass up that sunflower lace!)





6. And finally, the pirate t-shirt that I stenciled. It's too short for my comfort, and I have lots of t-shirts that I like better. Too many t-shirts, actually, but I do still regularly wear those!

There's also these three tops--sadly, I started this pile to go to the thrift store back in August, and I haven't gone yet! My "Autumn In Asia" bag, which I've been using for the last 3 fall/winter seasons, has also gotten too worn out to keep using--the strap is totally falling to pieces! But I do have enough usable quilted fabric in there that I think I can recycle it into a new checkbook cover, which I do need. So that one is going to the refashion bin as well.



All in all, I've managed to purge 3 jackety-type things, 3 dresses, 1 skirt, 2 pairs of shoes, 3 sweaters, a bag, and a whopping 17 tops so far. (This does not include the couple of things I'm sending to the refashion bin.) My closet still looks pretty full, but this is actually quite good for me.I still need to go through my refashion bin as well, to see if there's anything there that I just don't want to bother with anymore. I should probably go through my bags and scarves as well....it may be possible that I have too many winter scarves, but the truth is that I do rotate through them (depending on my mood and what colors I'm wearing that day) and wear nearly all of them!

Edit, 1/7: Gail talked me into keeping the pantsuit jacket. But I've also managed to pull out about 5 scarves to get rid of, as well as a few purses and bags. Out of what I've made, I basically salvaged the slide buckles off of the Diana bag and am just tossing that one--I've kept it for the last 4 years thinking that I might be able to go back and reinforce it to the point where it might be usable, but I think it's time to admit that it was a wadder. I still had the Gothic Rose bag and  the Daisy Chain bag-- both are worn out and kind of dingy, but I'm going to try running them through the washer to see if the fabric will clean up enough to recycle some of the fabric, at least. (The Daisy Chain may be a lost cause, but I do think there's still some decent usable fabric on the Gothic Rose, too!) Finally, I also have one pre-blog messenger-style bag that was black denim and a blue gore-tex lining, that I made to carry my supplies, namely some very thick books of music, a cd case, and my lesson plans,  when I was working as an early childhood music educator at a local Montessori school. (I wanted something easy to wipe out, since I was dealing with very young kids.) It's way too open at the top to be very functional for other things, I haven't used it for awhile, and I have other me-made bags that I think would work better for things that I would need messenger-style bags for.

Gotta be going to that thrift store in the sky....

Now that I have "Beauty School Dropout" firmly stuck in my head...

Knowing that I'm going to be moving in less than a year is making me take a good, long look at my possessions. I'm going to have to start being honest with myself about whether I'll really wear this, use up that piece of fabric, ever read that book, etc. I think it will be good for me, because like so many crafty people, I have hoarder tendencies.

So now that it's the end of the summer, I'm in the process of eliminating the things that I ended up not wearing, or that just don't work anymore. And since some of the things I've culled so far are handmade things that predated the blog, I'd like to give them their moment before I say goodbye. If these pictures look a little weird, it's because I was too lazy to scan things on a separate computer and email them to myself/crop/etc, so I've resorted to taking pictures of my previous pictures of these me-mades. How meta. As you can see, my hair hasn't changed much in the last decade.

Item #1: The bamboo dress
This one is a little unusual for me. Despite my teenage wish that my mom had kept more of her things from the 70s, I've kept very few of the things that I wore myself. Since I've been very blessed to not have had much weight fluctuation since then (except for a cup size or 2....) it's probably due to a lifetime of limited closet space and still wanting to sew new things. So this dress is pretty much the last thing I have left from high school. And it's held up surprisingly well, despite the fact that I've worn it at least once or twice every summer since then, and I had no thought at all for things like seam finishes when I was 17ish. I'm going to estimate that I made this one around 1998, and thanks to a little scrapbook project I did right around the end of college, I can confidently say that the pattern was Butterick 5046. It's some kind of linen-looking stuff, but I'm sure it's not linen because it's from Joann's. I tried to wear it this summer, not too long ago. And it just looked uncomfortably short to me--I wonder if it finally shrank some in the wash, since I certainly haven't gotten taller? But considering that I made it nearly half a lifetime ago, I think it's had a good run, and I hope it will make some thrifter very happy.


Item #2: The paisley shirt

This was my one foray into vintage fabric. At least, I'm pretty sure it's vintage. My mom occasionally gets donations of fabric from people cleaning out their stashes, and she passes along what she can't use for quilts to me. This one was a cotton, but it was a little thin for a quilt, so I turned this one into a shirt. It was from summer 2002, and the pattern was New Look 6598. Not the most flattering top on me, since it was kind of shapeless under the badly-placed empire waist, but I liked the fabric so I've worn it on a regular basis for almost every summer anyway. I'd probably keep this one, honestly, except for the fact that the fabric around the elasticised armholes has just gotten too worn out. There's all these little frayed-edge holes. So I can't even really give this one away. I may keep it and try to turn it into the lining for a cute little bag or something, because it would really be a shame to just throw it out.

Item #3: The Hawaiian surplice top

So this is me giving my Singin' in the Rain impression! (Yes, it was raining a bit at the time.) In the couple of years right after finishing college, I rather casually dabbled in the swing-dancing subculture. It was something I'd wanted to learn how to do ever since my early teenage years, thanks to that Gap khakis commercial that was really popular for awhile and the movie Swingkids. And I had a couple of friends who were, and still are to some extent, really into it. So back in 2005, two friends and I took a day trip to Washington, DC for the dual purposes of general sightseeing fun and a swing dance event called the Under The Sea Ball. Since it was supposed to have a beachy/tropical feel to it, and I wanted something that I could also walk around for the day comfortably in (it was hot!), I decided to go for a cotton, somewhat retro-styled top. I already had this Hawaiian print in my stash from...something...I can't remember how I got this piece, to be honest. I was actually really proud of how this top turned out, because I basically drafted the pattern myself. I based it off of this dress-to-top refashion, because I really liked the fit and the v in the back, and used masking take to more or less get the shape of the pieces. Then I altered the top above the empire waist to be a surplice. I added the white in there afterwards--just a scrap of white knit from an old t-shirt that I tacked in to be a fake camisole. I still like the style and the kind of crazy Hawaiian print, actually, so the main reason I'm getting rid of this is that the last couple of times I've tried to wear it this summer, it feels uncomfortably small around the armholes. I don't know if they were cut too high to begin with, or if I gained weight in some really weird place, or if I've just gotten much pickier about the fit of my me-mades in the last year or so and so those armholes just don't feel good. I think I still have my drafted pattern, though, so I would definitely consider lowering the cut of those armholes a bit and sewing something similar to this again. Though I'd probably leave out the fake camisole in favor of a real one, or find a way to build one in better.

I hope you enjoyed this little walk down memory lane! I actually have several more pictures of old makes that predated my digital camera, so I would like to get these up here sometime. Also, I'm getting quite close to wrapping up not one, but two projects! So with any luck, I may have something new to show by the end of the week.

ETA: Looks like I'm going to have to add last summer's Frankenblouse to the list.  Despite my having pre-washed it, the fabric seems to have shrank in the wash, and it's now too short to look decent with any pants that I own, camisole or not. Also, the metallic stripes have gotten pulls all over it, and despite my having done French seams for greater durability, I'm noticing holes all along the bustline where the stitching is. Rats. Oh well... I wasn't totally thrilled with how that one turned out anyway, tbh, so I may have to just try the concept again with a slightly different pattern mix. And more durable fabric. Preferably that isn't so sheer and ivory that the only thing I can wear under it is my off-white camisole that has been washed and worn so many times that it, too, needs replacing. (I haven't been able to find one, or had the time to make one, yet.) This one is also not going to be in decent enough condition to give away, so I think I'll just salvage the buttons and be done with it.