12 in 2012 Update and a Revision

 

So, I’m coming up to the half-way mark for my 12 in 2012 challenge (omg, has nearly half the year gone by already??!!) and I thought it was time to reflect on my progress and see what I still needed to focus on. Let’s have a look at how things are looking at the moment:

12 Pieces of Handmade Clothing:
1. Shirt (or shirt dress)
2. Jacket
3. Trousers
4. Some sort of under-garment - Lace Bandeau Knickers (inc. a tutorial)
5. Pencil skirt – I just have to hem this and then can tick this off
6. Summer Dress - A Nautical Knit
7. Bombshell Dress
8.Wildcard! - Pink Curtain Skirt
9. Wildcard! - Primrose Cowl Top - Purple Voile
10.Wildcard! - Primrose Cowl Top - Black polkadot chiffon
11. Wildcard! - Ikat and Lace shift dress
12.Wildcard! - Black and white shift dress

12 New Sewing Techniques:
1. Collar
2. Sleeves
3. Lapped zip
4. Hand-picked zip - Pink Curtain Skirt
5. Mitered corners
6. Baby/rolled hem - Self-drafted Cowl Top
      - Also used on my Lace Bandeau Knickers (with overlocker)
7. Piping
8. Scallops
9. Inset a Godet
10. Make own bias binding
11. Underlining
12. Boning

12 New Sewing Skills:
1. Sew from a vintage pattern - A Nautical Knit
2. Draft a skirt sloper/block
3. Draft a bodice sloper/block
4. Make a self-drafted half-circle skirt
5. Remove and replace a zip from a bought garment
6. Make my own Croquis...in progress
7. Sew with jersey - A Nautical Knit
8. Try patchwork
9. Make a garment from a Burda Magazine pattern (successfully!)
10. Learn to use an overlocker/serger
         - first post
- Rolled hem
11. Learn to crochet
12. Make a Colette Patterns garment

So I am well on target for my 12 pieces of handmade clothing, with only 4 more items to complete the list, but I’m sadly falling behind with my sewing techniques and sewing skills! On reflection I can see that, while I thought I was tying these lists together, I realise that I could have been a lot smarter. For example I have listed that I want to ‘make a self-drafted half-circle skirt’ under my sewing skills list, but I didn’t add it as one of the pieces of handmade clothing list! That was a bit of a slip-up there really. I also gave myself some ‘wildcards’ with the thought that you can’t plan a whole years worth of sewing because you never know what life if going to throw at you (like getting engaged!), but I should have built these into my techniques and skills lists too unfortunately.

With these thoughts in mind, I have decided to revise my 12 in 2012 goals:

12 Pieces of Handmade Clothing:
1. Some sort of under-garment - Lace Bandeau Knickers (inc. a tutorial)
2. Pleated Skirt - Pink Curtain Skirt
3. Cowl Top - Primrose Cowl Top - Purple Voile
                  - Primrose Cowl Top - Black polkadot chiffon
4. Shift Dress - Ikat and Lace shift dress
                     - Black and white shift dress
5. Summer Dress - A Nautical Knit
6. Pencil skirt – I just have to hem this and then can tick this off
7. Bombshell Dress (Craftsy Class)
8. Half-circle skirt
9. Jacket
10. Couture dress (Craftsy Class)
11. Shirt dress
12. Cape – (I have started this, so I’m keen to actually complete it!)

12 New Sewing Techniques:
1. Hand-picked zip - Pink Curtain Skirt
2. Baby/rolled hem - Self-drafted Cowl Top
- Also used on my Lace Bandeau Knickers (with overlocker)
3. Underlining (Bombshell and Couture dress)
4. Boning (Bombshell dress)
5. Carbon paper marking (Bombshell and Couture dress)
6. Thread-traced seams (Bombshell and Couture dress)
7. Setting sleeves (jacket and maybe couture dress)
8. Collar (shirt dress)
9. Buttonholes (shirt dress)
10. Working with silk organza (couture dress)
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?

12 New Sewing Skills:
1. Sew from a vintage pattern - A Nautical Knit
2. Make my own Croquis...in progress
3. Sew with jersey - A Nautical Knit
4. Learn to use an overlocker/serger
- first post
- Rolled hem
5. Make a self-drafted half-circle skirt
6. Remove and replace a zip from a bought garment (I have a charity shop dress that needs this done!)
7. Make a garment from a Burda Magazine pattern (successfully!) (Bombshell dress and jacket)
8. Draft own pattern (Primrose Cowl Top)
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?

 

We shall see how I get on with my revised lists now! I have two MAJOR projects still to complete (the Bombshell and the Couture dresses) so I hope I’m not biting off more than I can chew…

How is everyone else getting on with their own 12 in 2012 lists? And revisions required or are you all sticking to your plans better than me?

A Nautical Knit

Ahoy there! Long-time, no blog! Sorry about the lack of blogging around here recently – I’ve been going through a lot of stressful/emotional/unnecessary-to-blog-about wedding-related crap recently (who knew I would find planning a wedding one of the most un-enjoyable things I’ve ever done!!) and it’s zapped my sewing mo-jo a bit. But I think I’m turning a corner and things could be looking up…after all, I have a lovely new jersey dress to wear!

This is my first proper attempt to sew with jersey (previously I made this skirt…but it was super-duper easy so I wasn’t really counting it!) and I used my lovely overlocker as much as possible. The jersey that I bought was part of a big haul that I picked up during a sale at my local fabric shop. I loved the stripes (I am a sucker for anything striped!), but it’s rather drapey, and while that might be nice for the end result, trying to tame it while sewing was a bit trickier than I thought. I had also planned for this to be a maxi-dress, but unfortunately didn’t have enough fabric for this pattern.

 

The pattern I used was McCall’s 5490, a ‘vintage’ 70’s pattern from an Ebay job-lot I won a few years back. It is specifically for stretch-knits…but requires a zip at the back. I don’t get that! I knew my jersey was stretchy enough to not need a zip, plus I knew a zip would weigh the fabric down, so I omitted it.

You may be able to see that the pattern also comes with your classic 70’s mega-collar. Not normally my style, but I thought I’d give it a go anyway. Turns out, I didn’t have enough fabric to add the collar! I was a bit disappointed about that, but I do like the dress as is nonetheless.

 

I cut the front yolk and the waist tie with the stripes perpendicular to the main body for a nice contrast effect, which I really love. The waist tie (or empire-line tie really!) is a god-send because without it the dress would be a bit sac-like. It does have a bit of shaping, but the tie really pulls it all in and make it a lot more flattering.

It’s not perfectly executed by any means, but as a first attempt at jersey, I’m pretty happy! I can see myself wearing this a LOT over the Summer (Northern Irish weather permitting!!!).

 

12 in 2012 update:

I am please to say that this project ticks off a massive THREE goals from my 12 in 2012 list:

12 Pieces of Handmade Clothing:

• A Summer Dress

12 New Sewing Skills:

• Sew from a vintage pattern
• Sew with jersey

Woo-hoo!!

Right…I’m off now to kick some wedding-planning butt!

 

P.S. For those of you who may be curious the photos were taken on Ballyholme beach, N.I. (where future-hubs and I are hoping to move to soon…if the wedding doesn’t consume all of our savings!!!)

Thai Scalloped Pencil Skirt

 

  Well, my computer decided to die, but fortunately Robin knew a guy who was able to fix it – AND save all our photos (THANK GOD!!!!!), so I’m able to post up my last project. This is the Burda 6889 pencil skirt that I have had highlighted at the side of my blog since I updated the look. I had made up a muslin for this ages ago and decided it was pretty much the perfect basic pencil skirt pattern for me – I didn’t even need to do any alterations at all (yeay!). The fabric is a gorgeous bright pink eyelet that I bought on my trip to Thailand last year. I only had a metre to play with so it’s a lot shorter than the pattern suggests for the length, but I think it’s fine (although, perhaps a little short when I sit down!). The skirt is lined with matching pink lining, which I actually treated as underlining as I thought it would be easier. I hemmed each piece of ‘lining’ before basting with it’s matching eyelet piece and then treated as one. It worked out really well, and together with the lovely serged seams, makes the skirt look really neat and rather professional inside! Still loving my overlocker!

In these photos I’ve paired it with my self-drafted purple cowl top, and I think they work really well together – something I wasn’t planning on, but I’m delighted with the result! Hey guys – I’ve made an outfit! Wooo! lol!

 

I spent a lot of time working out the pattern placement and measuring the scallops to ensure that the hem would match up. I am so delighted with the results:

Even the back seam is a perfect match:

Because the skirt is tapered, the rest of the seam doesn’t match up (plus I discovered that the flipping circle pattern didn’t line up with the grain!!!), but I decided it was more important to make sure the scallop of the hem was perfect.

I really love this skirt, and I’m planning on using the same pattern to make a skirt from the turquoise eyelet fabric that I also bought in Thailand. I’m not, however, 100% about the fit. If you look at the image on the front of the pattern, the waistband doesn’t actually sit right on the waist of the model, and the same goes for my skirt. So for all intents and purposes, it’s correct. But I just have the feeling that this skirt would look better on me if it was sitting at my waist. Which is something I’m really surprised I’m saying, because I have, for most of the fashion-conscious part of my life, always avoided wearing waistbands on my true waist. I have always felt that I have quite a short torso, and thus having the waistbands of things (skirts/trousers) lower, makes it look like my body is more in proportion. However, over the last year or so, I have really felt my opinion of this change and I have found myself reaching for waist-cinching belts, and wearing clothes that really accentuate my waist. Is that down to current fashions trends? Learning to sew and appreciating my body shape? Or perhaps loosing some weight and being happier with my proportions? Probably a bit of all of those options!

Whatever the answer, I think I am going to take in this skirt so that it sits at my waist. It will make it an inch or so shorter, but I think that should be OK. I’ll wear it with a killer pair of shoes for nights out!

I made it…AND I wore it! 9

Just a quick shot of my black and white shift dress in action. This is my family and I on holiday in Spain. My Mum and Dad organised a surprise engagement dinner for my Fiancé and I, including pre-dinner fun on rented bikes (of sorts). Since I didn’t realise I was going to by cycling, I wasn’t really in the right attire!!! It was such a laugh though…and I pretty much just kept my feet up the whole time!

A little bit Shifty

Oh dear, just when I announce that I'm back on the blog, my computer crashes!! Anyway, it's working again and I'm back - again!!

As promised, here is the second shift dress that I completed recently:

This is the same pattern as my Ikat and Lace dress, New Look 6643. Because I made it immediately after it was very quick. I even used my Ikat and Lace dress to get the sizing - laying it onto the pieces and drawing on the seamlines. Not sure quite how accurate that was though because this dress is tighter than the original! Fortunately the fabric has a little bit of stretch in it. Turns out that I really like the fit of this dress, it's a bit more flattering.

The pink flower brooch was made using this tutorial. It is really easy and so much fun to make!! I recommend you give it a go!! I'm actually thinking about incorporating it into my wedding in some shape or form. If I do, I'll let you guys know.

The zip for this version is a regular one, which I handpicked - such a great method! I've definitely jumped on that bandwagon, and I don't regret it one bit!!! Some detail shots of both dresses: