I am not even going to make apologies for my prolonged absence from the blogosphere. Work is brutal, etc. etc. ad nauseam.
I did go on vacation! Our trip to Chile and Argentina had me scrambling last minute to find cute clothes that still fit– oh, did I mention I lost about 20 pounds? It’s nice until you realize none of the clothes you’ve made fit anymore!– so I whipped up this top from some fabric I had lying around.
I’ve been a bad, bad blogger. These pants were done save for the hem back in early December. I don’t want to make excuses for my sewing laziness, but let’s say that moving across state lines, the holidays and work stress got in the way of my sitting down for 30 minutes and hemming a pair of pants. But I did it! And then of course it took me another month to take photos of them. What can I say, it’s been too cold in NYC to wear anything but jeans!
These ones had minor alterations made to the pattern –namely, a flat belly adjustment and a longer hemline to make them more ankle-length than capri. No belt loops (I attached the waistband before I remembered) and no welt pockets, still (because they scare the bejeezus out of me). They fit perfectly about a month ago, but I put myself on a serious diet and now they’re about an inch too big at the waist. They drop a little and honestly, I think I’ll have to recut these in a smaller size in a few months. But that’s not a terrible problem to have!
I’ll cut the yapping short and let you get to the photos…
While making my Minnie clone pants, I couldn’t find many resources online on how to copy a garment you already own and know it fits perfectly. There’s a book by Steffani Lincecum that keeps coming up over and over again, and while it’s gotten much praise (I’m sure it’s every bit as awesome as people say), an online step-by-step how-to is a good idea.
Last weekend I set my sights on copying the pattern for one of my favorite tank tops from Ann Taylor in the hopes of squeezing it out of 3/4 yds. of silk (impossible challenge, let me tell you). This is my first time trying to do a “tutorial” of sorts and I am by no means an expert, but my method has worked for me and I’m quite happy with the results.
Colette Patterns just announced three patterns available in PDF format and I am going nuts trying to keep myself from purchasing the Crepe dress pattern. Isn’t it so adorable?
I generally like Colette’s designs but, realistically, they’re a bit too dainty and girly for me. Too many bows/Peter Pan collars/cutesy details all over the place. But this one has really simple and clean lines, and I can put up with the bow if I want to go dainty for once. This dress materializes in my head made out of a soft-colored silk satin or charmeuse, underlined in the bodice for stability but allowed to drape in the skirt, and maybe the sweetheart neckline with the bodice hacked so I can do some lace paneling. Aaah! Or I can engineer the wrap into something with a belt buckle in the front that I can weave the other end through to hold the dress together. So many possibilities for someone with too many clothes!
Although I’m pretty confident I could hack this pattern together from other stuff I have, I don’t have the space to do it in my current living quarters, and I also want to give Colette Patterns some of my cash. I constantly refer to them for sewing tips and inspiration, and buying a pattern from them is the best way to support their product and content.
But… I can’t bring myself to buy this yet because I have a pair of Minnie clones I’ve been meaning to hem for the last two weeks and haven’t done it. And I also have to go through my fabric stash and see if there’s anything winter-appropriate that I should sew something with soon before I start getting excited over warmer weather clothes.
Take a look at the dress I made last week, which I wore for Thanksgiving with my friend’s family and wore again on Sunday for a lazy day around town:
I am back after a (very long) break! So much happened in the last two months: I got too stressed out from work to sew, I got in a huge car crash and had to deal with buying a new car, I traveled for 3 weeks (Chicago, DC, Portland and Seattle) and I spent plenty of time holed up in my boyfriend’s apartment in Brooklyn away from my sewing machine before coming home to Boston. Faced with the prospect of weathering a hurricane alone in Boston, I packed up my sewing materials and my machine and drove us all back to Brooklyn. And I made a pair of pants. My very first pair of pants! And cloned from a wardrobe favorite, no less!
I went to our local Crate and Barrel for a Marimekko event (which really ended up being a Marimekko fabric remnants giveaway) and thought it’d be fitting to wear my Marimekko shift. (And it was: The girls at the store raved about my dress!) My boyfriend took this photo while we were walking through the Boston Public Garden…
I have loads of free time now and, in addition to sewing again, I’ve taken up learning how to use Photoshop. What better way of practicing than by scanning a sketch and trying to do something with it? (Also, first time I sketch in literally over 7 years…)
Here’s an idea for an outfit I dreamt up:
If you can’t tell from the drawing, it’s a short-sleeved shirt with a Peter Pan collar made in contrasting fabric, and a full gathered skirt. The fabric is this Liberty of London super soft cotton I got for $3.95/yd during a fabric.com sale…
My inspiration was this outfit by J. Crew with a shirt and skirt made from the same fabric. Looks amazing together, sort of monochrome-but-not, and I do get separates out of it that I can mix and match with other things…
What do you guys think? I’m open to suggestions!
I’d like to preface this post by saying that I intended for this blouse to be more of a “wearable muslin” than an actual garment to be super proud of…
In my quest to make more tops that I can wear to work to distract people from the fact that I have maaaaybe 6 different skirts/pants, I made this blouse.
There’s only so many times you can see cute Colette garments all over the Internet before you cave and make your own. I have a few patterns I haven’t used so I can’t quite justify buying a Colette pattern right now, but a free download I can print at work? Sold!
This was the first PDF pattern I have ever used, and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I can have it immediately, there’s plenty of them online for free, and it’s not flimsy tissue paper. On the other… Putting it together is tedious as hell. In the end, this one was a good place to start and I think I’ll use them again. Maybe I’ll try Burda’s?
I ordered some Liberty of London fabrics online during a sale Fabric.com held, so the lawns were $23.95/yd instead of $36/yd and they had plenty of cotton prints for $3.95/yd. I bought a huge loot and they fudged my order and sent me the wrong lawn. A quick call rectified that (the right one is in the mail) and they let me keep the one they had already sent, so I got lucky!
The one issue was that the Sorbetto pattern would not fit in 1/2 yd of fabric. (On that note: Colette recommends 1 1/2 yds. for this pattern, even with 60″ fabric… I think you can squeeze it out of 3/4 yds just fine.) To resolve that, I turned the Sorbetto into a spaghetti strap tank top.
