On the move

My sewing room is all packed up and half of it is already over at the house we're officially moving into tomorrow. Big "mahalo!" to the owner for letting us have the keys a week before we start paying rent. Professional heavy-lifters are hauling the furniture on Tuesday, and by then we should be done with almost everything else. All we'll have to do is "out-clean" this place (I so wish I had the budget to pay someone to do that!), unpack at the new place, and settle in. That shouldn't take more than, oh, most of the rest of the summer.

Early last week, when I should have been packing, I was grabbed by the "use it up" bug and whipped up a bunch of quickie skirts from large scraps and some fat quarters. I don't have photos of any of them yet (and am not sure where the digital camera is... it's either hidden in the not-yet-packed debris that litters this place, or went into a box days ago), but they were so quick and easy to make, and are so comfortable to wear, I'm hooked. Best part is each one combines at least two gorgeous fabrics, which is so much more interesting than just one. Drafted the pattern on freezer paper from "Sew What: Skirts!" basic A-line instructions and added a drawstring waist. Just pull on, tie, throw on a T for the top half, and go.

The first skirt was so successful I couldn't help making a few more. I've been wearing them all week as I pack and haul (and sweat). I may never bother to make anything else ever again except for more of these quickie skirts. Okay, I admit, that's not likely to happen, but it's how I'm feeling today.

I'll post further details on super-easy skirt construction whenever we get around to unpacking the camera. The new house will, I think, offer much better fashion-photo opportunities than this one does, so perhaps I'll do better about having pics of what I've sewn to show here.

Other Indulgences
In the midst of packing up all my fabric I also ordered more (gak!): Hancock's had an Amy B. print I've had my eye on for a while on sale ("trailing cherry" in the new colorway):


...so I picked up a few yards of that plus a yard of what I hope will be a good a coordinating print:


If the two don't play well together I'll just play with them separately. Parcel is still in transit, but confronting the fact that I'd succumed to yet another fabric-shopping indulgence prompted me to update my 2009 yardage spreadsheet to see how far I've fallen behind in my "sew" vs. "buy" stats.

Turns out, I'm doing better than I thought: so far this year I've purchased 59.5 yards, and have used 42.5. So, I'm only 17 yards behind.

Which got me thinking. The new house only has blinds on some of the windows; I'll need to make curtains for the bedroom and my office, and probably will do a cafe-curtain treatment for the kitchen window. And although the guest room/sewing room does have blinds, I want to make the curtains to coordinate with daybed cover/bedspread that I never got to while in this house. And our two shabby-looking papasan chairs, as well as two large floor cushions, are all in desperate need of fresh covers.

A lot of that can be done from stash: I've got fabric on hand for the papasan chairs and the guest room curtains, and if there's any guest-room fabric left over I'd love to use it for the kitchen, too, because last year I recovered the kitchen chair cushions with some large scraps of the black colorway.

And surely I can find fabric in the stash to cover two floor pillows. Quickie guesstimate of yardage requirements for those three projects: oh, probably around 17 yards. So if I can channel my creative energies into home decor projects, and resist more skirt temptations, it looks like I can close up that buy-sew gap.

The truly clever thing to do would be to approach this on the incentive plan. How 'bout I'm not allowed to buy fabric for my office curtains until I've "made up" that 17-yard short-fall? That would put a bit of a fire under my butt.

The downside of all these plans is that I've been telling myself (and my husband) that once we're moved in at the new place the sewing machine is going to stay in the closet for a while so I can catch up on the 1001 other things that need my attention...

Japanese dress #1

I knew it would be a bear, going in: I'm tall, barrel-chested, and increasingly chunky as I move into middle age. In other words, shaped not even remotely like the typical figure for which these Japanese patterns are drafted (ISBN 978-4579111497):


Given all that, I did reasonably well adapting (with much measuring, head-scratching, and hoping for the best) a sleeveless version of dress #23 to my shape and size. Here's the cheap cotton "wearable muslin" for what I'd hoped would be a repeatable "ATR" (around the house) dress:



The skirt, back and midriff came out fine, but I flubbed the bodice front. I sized it up and made it longer (even American patterns are 1-2" too short in the front torso for me) which turned out to be too big. Then I butchered trimming it down again, which is totally because I was tired and impatient and I should have known better than to keep going at that point. The funny pleats at the shoulder are because at try-on stage I discovered the shoulders were much wider than I wanted and I was too lazy/slapdashy to recut them, and just took a quickie pleat in the middle of each instead.

Even with such a flawed, ill-fitting bodice it's a serviceable garment, which is what I was aiming for. I'm wearing it right now and it's comfy enough that I probably will attempt it again someday. The challenge of getting the bodice to fit is far from solved, though, and some time needs to go by before I'll feel up for round two of redrafting.

I am pleased that I (deliberately) cut the midriff a bit loose, because, combined with the deep V neck, it means this can be a pull-on: no zipper required! The loose cut was planned with steamy weather in mind, the zipper-omission a happy coincidence. Of course, I discovered that after I'd done an astonishly good job installing the invisible zip. But if I don't need the zip, why waste it, so I ripped that all out and stitched up the center back seam.

You may be thinking, as I am, that for all that work it's a remarkably unflattering garment (I may not be slim, but I'm really not as chunky as I look in this dress). The thing is, I desperately need more lightweight, "breathable" (in both fabric and cut) dresses to wear around the house all summer. So I'm aiming for steamy-day comfort here, with no intention of ever appearing in public in it. That's what ATR dresses are for. I've got some more in the works, as I slog ever-onward in my quest for a truly great "TNT" (tried and true) ATR dress pattern. This isn't it, but at least I've got one more thing to wear on a warm day.

New Look 6682 - photo

Here's New Look 6682 in action.
It would hang better if I'd ironed the closet-wrinkles out of it, but I didn't:

I've ranted about the short-comings of this pattern here. And I stand by my gripes, but guess what: I've worn this skirt several times now, and am feeling more favorably toward it.

Anyone's guess, really, whether the compliments I've received are for the skirt or just 'cause Amy B's fabric is so yummy. I'm maybe just the teensiest bit peeved that I get more compliments on this skirt than on other ones I've made recently that I like better, but that's a minor issue.

So, much to my own surprise, I'm considering making it again... with the necessary hip/waist cut modifications, and the length issue remains unresolved. I stood in front of the mirror and hiked it up and down for a bit and didn't come to any firm conclusion about whether it would be best longer or shorter or just where it is. Shorter would be a more useful addition to my wardrobe, so I might see how this turns out at just-below-the-knee length...

Burda 8280 - photos at last

Yes, it took forever and a day, but I finally got hubbie to snap some shots of the pile-up of un-photographed garments. Here are two of the short versions of Burda 8280 (officially my favorite skirt pattern of the moment, so nice to have found a "TNT"), both Amy Butler fabrics. I've worn these both a bunch of times, so comfy (very important) and pretty (can't go wrong with Amy B.) and (glorious additional benefit) flattering to a middle-aged figure. The "mod" one has a bias-tape finished waist, which I prefer to the facing the pattern calls for.


I also converted the pattern's single darts (one on each of four skirt sections) to smaller double darts, a bit more work, but a better fit for my shape. Plus, confession time: I no longer mark, measure, or pin skirt darts, just eyeball 'em and hope for the best. Slapdashery in this area has turned darts from a groan-inducing dreaded chore to a breeze. Probably not the best way to do them on every garment, but at the top of a skirt like this, works just fine for me.


Here's the long one, from Kaffe Fassett fabric. I used purchased bias tape for the hem finish, on a whim, but love how it turned out.



I've got another short version in the UFO pile... that's the first one I cut, where the subtle tulip shaping on the original pattern gets into trouble with the (can I call it "subtle"?) saddle-bagging on my outer thighs. I got as far as restitching with a narrower side seam in that area, but haven't done any ripping out. Partly due to pure laziness, and partly because I don't have a matching zip for that fabric yet. I'll get back to it eventually. And I have a red KF print that for some reason I bought 2 yards of; may do another short one out of that, which will leave plenty left over for the quilting scraps bin.

McCall's 4826

I went to the fabric store Friday to pick up something inexpensive to make a wearable muslin of this halter-top dress, and couldn't resist the navy-white gingham. Now I don't know which to do first in this dress: bake a pie or go milk a cow?

Yeah, it's totally farm-girly, but I'm kinda tickled with it, in spite of the fact that I'm 25 years too old and 25 pounds too heavy to wear anything like this in public. Which is fine, as it's intended for around-the-house wear only. I took a little bit of fullness out of the skirt, made pleats instead of gathers at the skirt top, left out the pockets, and made the halter-top fronts about an inch wider and overlapped more to reduce the extreme decolletage, which you can see in the pattern envelope here:

That skinny model can get away with a deep V neck, but I've got too much boobage for that. I went too far, though. If I make this again (which I might; I've got three yards in the stash of a gorgeous green and brown big fern print that cries out for a full-skirt treatment like this) I'll overlap a bit less. I briefly considered resewing that part of this one, but just couldn't be bothered.

I'm amazed, given the minimal attention I gave to pattern placement on the checks, that the gingham lines up so well. The sewing gods must have smiled on me as I threw this together, because the length turned out well, and it actually fits. All of which is amazing considering my utterly slapdash approach to this project: sew first, press later, didn't even press or pin the hem, just eyeballed it with a lickety-split, get-it-done-quick attitude.

The only downside to this is the gingham -- a poly-cotton blend -- is so lightweight I lined the entire thing with some white cotton lawn from the stash. So it was not only a lot more work, but is no longer the super-cool hot-day wear I was aiming for. If I do make this again I will use a more opaque cotton and only line the bodice (with the lightest, most breathable fabric I can find).

Challenging Myself

Somewhere around the beginning of the year I decided that 2009 would be the year I learned to sew knits/stretch fabrics. I've got a good machine now (still no serger), and the two of us should be able to handle the learning curve.

It was with this goal in mind that I just spent $100 (not in the budget this month!) on rayon/lycra fabrics at EmmaOneSock.com: 2 gorgeous prints in sufficient yardage to make a dress of each (or skirt + top, which will not be worn together), plus a coordinating solid for trim and/or a top:


This mini-splurge was inspired by today's Vogue pattern sale. I seem to be in dress mode, plus I can't resist the interesting skirt:


There's only one problem. I can't possibly stitch on, or even cut, this (indulgent) fabric without a couple of practice runs. So now I have to go find some super cheapo but reasonably similar fabrics to mess up and make muslins from. Which I really don't have time to do. Have I mentioned we're probably moving soon (late May, early June)?

Why am I increasing the stash BEFORE the move? Duh!

Plus, I just spent a horrific amount of the morning on this... must go get some real work done!

I know, I know...

... I said I'd post photos of all those new skirts I made. It hasn't happened yet. I haven't even taken any pictures yet. We're having such dreary, drippy, gloomy weather, not to mention some horrific computer problems this past week (virus, hacked websites, lots of time offline while it all gets cleaned up and put right). It's nice to have a bunch of new skirts in the closet, but it hasn't been warm enough to wear them. I've been living in yoga pants, fuzzy slippers, and my polarfleece pullover. Seriously. 10:30am and it's still only 64 degrees in Hilo. It's supposed to be spring already, when's the sun gonna come out?