Happy New Year!

Yes, I know it's February.  Today, however, is the Lunar New Year.  I had a friend over on the weekend for a Sewing Day and we got to talking about how we didn't really live up to our expectations for ourselves for this year (aka we totally sucked at some of our plans only one month in).  We decided to use the Lunar New Year as a turning point to reassess and make some adjustments in our plans for the coming year.  We also decided we're going to be accountable to each other for some of our plans.

The past six months or so for me have been somewhat of a blur.  An amazing blur, but a blur nonetheless.  Work has been crazy busy, with a change in positions. It's been an adjustment but it's working out very well.  I enjoyed a vacation that saw my entire family together celebrating the wedding of my brother to my favourite sister-in-law.   My daughter and her spouse announced that they are expecting their second child, and my first grandchild has grown in leaps and bounds (literally and figuratively).  I travelled A LOT. I spent one weekend in September at Disney for a very close friend's birthday.  I spent the following weekend in New Orleans for work. I also travelled a lot for work in my home province, essentially I only spent at most two nights in a row at home through the entire month.   As a result, I was sick as a dog in November with sinusitis, bronchitis and an ear infection that took a lot out of me.  As soon as I recovered, December was in the full Christmas spirit swing, seeing the usual round of social activities, parties and family get-togethers.  I rang in January with what is now happily becoming my traditional Sewing Retreat.  In all honesty, I'm not really sure where January went, but it's been cold and snowy.  And here we are, February and all caught up.

I've been sharing some of my makes on Instagram (I have a private account, but if you've got sewing or knitting or something related in your profile, I will approve your request to follow me), but am very aware of how little I've shared on this blog.  I'm not going to apologize, but I really do miss the accountability factor that sharing my goals and planning blog posts bring to me.  I can't promise how much I'll actually be posting, but I really do enjoy interacting with my sewing friends online.  So...let's get on with the most recent post!

I have been sewing like someone obsessed, because...well...I am! Ringing in the (calendar) New Year with a sewing retreat reset my creativity and made me really want to spend some more dedicated time in my Atelier.  I'm currently working through some planning that I did a few weeks ago and have almost finished the capsule that I planned. 

There are a lot of options for planning a capsule wardrobe.  For this one, I chose the Sewing Sudoku method as the basis for this wardrobe.  You can find a free printable here:  Melly Sews Wardrobe Sudoku Planner. I have a work trip at the mid-to-end of February and thought this would make the perfect opportunity to work a few new things into my wardrobe.  The Sudoku method sees four tops and four bottoms coordinated with four pairs of footwear/shoes and four accessories.  For this plan, I am including all layering pieces rather than accessories as it is COLD in Canada in the winter and I need the extra pieces in my wardrobe to stay warm. I LOVE my accessories and will be adding them in, but not in a formalized plan.

My plan is this:

WARM WINTER SUDOKU WARDROBE

Tops
Top #1 - Butterick 3124, Sandra Betzina Today's Fit with cowl neck (view A), in olive green stretch lace


Top #2 - McCalls 5536 Twist Top (view C & E), in espresso brown rayon/lycra jersey


Top #3 - Butterick 3124, Sandra Betzina Today's Fit shell (view B), in cream stretch lace


Top #4 - Sew Over It Pussy Bow Blouse, in cream lightweight polyester textured crepe


Bottoms
Bottom #1 - Vogue7607 asymmetrical skirt, in olive green textured faux leatherette


Bottom #2 - Vogue 8202 wide-legged jeans, in espresso brown fine wale corduroy


Bottom #3 - Simplicity 4596 pleated skirt (View A), in greige textured faux leatherette


Bottom #4 - Closet Case Ginger Jeans,  in rust orange lightweight stretch denim


Layering Pieces
Layering Piece #1 - Vogue 7764 military style jacket, in olive green cotton velveteen


Layering Piece #2 - New Look 6013 vest, in a heavyweight sueded olive green knit


Layering Piece #3 - Vogue 1517 jacket, in brown wool blend suiting

Layering Piece #4 - McCalls 7257 cardigan jacket in loosely woven fabric in cream, rust orange, khaki, and burgundy


Shoes
Shoes #1 - Brown faux alligator heeled pumps
Shoes #2 - Khaki boots, similar in styling to faux Doc Martin
Shoes #3 - Cognac low heeled riding boots
Shoes #4 - Cognac suede booties

I'll have to buy a few notions but this plan uses mostly items from my stash - even some vintage stash! 

I love planning wardrobe capsules.  I love new clothes and I love being able to have a highly wearable wardrobe when they're completed. 

To Infinity and Beyond!!

There's a lot of buzz about Infinity Dresses on the interwebs these days. (See what I did there?  That's a Toy Story pun for those of you who are uninitiated...)  They make amazing travel pieces.   There are a number of different variations of Infinity Dresses, but I chose Butterick 5606.
B5606 uses a tank style dress as the "base", with an a-line skirt.  This is great for touring Europe as I can cover my shoulders if I'm going into churches or need to be more respectful.  I also can make it a bit less covered up if it is hot outside or if I'm going out for dinner.

This literally took me about an hour to complete the sewing.   I cut the size medium.  I used a lightweight cotton/lycra jersey in an olive green colour.  The ties are left raw (no sewing required!).  Next time, I'm going to use strips of self fabric to finish the neckline and armholes, instead of the turn and stitch method they suggest in the pattern.

You can wrap the ties in many different ways to change up the looks.

You can even turn the dress back-to-front to create even more looks.

I know  there are even more looks I can play with.  I will certainly be making more of these in different colours, as well as mixing up the styles - with a bandeau top, varying the skirt lengths and styles.  The best part is that it can be rolled up into your suitcase to go with you on the road!  I'm off to search my stash for more knits!

It's Not Cake, but I Like It Anyway

I love cake.  With frosting.  The flavour doesn't really matter, but I do have a special place for chocolate cake with mocha buttercream frosting.  But if you eat cake with frosting all the time, you don't feel very well.  I also love sewing "cake."  You know, the pretty cocktail dresses, the gorgeous over-the-top dramatic jumpsuits, the embroidered motorcycle jackets, and the wild sparkly tops.  But if you sew them all the time, your wardrobe won't feel very good either.

In that vein, I've been working on a couple of basics for my travel wardrobe.  My latest make is another Butterick 5678.  I love this shirt pattern! 


I cut size 14 with a bit of extra room at the waist, using the D cup shirt front and side front.  The patterns with the specific cup sizes save me from doing the alteration myself and are a real time saver!

I chose a natural colour medium weight linen, as this will be a multi-purpose shirt jacket on my upcoming trip.  Because it's linen, it wrinkles like nobody's business, but it's linen and it's supposed to.  I'm comfortable with that.

The princess lines are very flattering, and the folded and top-stitched front band makes it super easy to put together.

The back also has princess seams, which makes the fit very flattering.  I did a 1" swayback adjustment to make it fit me better.

It's not cake, but it will work really well within my Spring in Prague SWAP travel wardrobe, and I'm sure I'll wear it a lot!

Cha-cha-cha-changes!

Here's another project that has a bit of a turn from my original plans.  I knew I wanted a fitted shirt/blouse in my SWAP, but I just couldn't find the fabric I wanted to use.  Instead of stressing about it (because really, I sew to try to reduce stress, not create it!), I went on a stash-dive and found some beautiful cupro fabric I had purchased WAY back when Timmel Fabrics was still in business (boy, do I miss Julie and her beautiful fabrics!).  Cupro is super soft.  A quick Google search shows cupro is a cellulose fabric, similar to tencel or modal, and feels very soft like rayon or silk, and is similarly drapy.  My fabric looks like a jacquard or cross woven fabric, with beige and black and has a raised pattern to it.  It has a slight sheen to it, not super shiny but you can see from the photograph that it does have a bit of a "glow."

I chose Butterick 5678 for the pattern.  I've used it before (in a different size than I am currently), and it comes with different cup sizing, which is a huge win in my books.  This semi-fitted shirt has a collar and collar band, with princess seams, and sleeves with cuffs.

I couldn't find this when I did a search on the Butterick website, so maybe it's out of print?  That's too bad, because it's a great pattern.

Details like the collar, collarband, front placket, sleeve vent and cuffs take a bit of time to do, but add such a nice touch.  Originally, I didn't add the stitching line to the button placket, as I was hoping to keep it simple with the busy-ness of the fabric, but ended up going back to add them because the buttonholes just looked...weird, in my mind, like they were too close to the edge.  I also didn't use the bust pockets because I wanted to keep the fabric as the focus. 

I've made this pattern before, but have had to size up, so it was like I started fresh.  I did a 3/4" sway back adjustment and added 1" to the length of the sleeves.  I also used the size 16 D cup.

The final result fits very nicely with my other SWAP garments.  It wasn't what I had originally planned, but I absolutely love the finished item.  It also uses up some really deep stash yardage, which is a big win in my books!

Some Assembly Required

I've had this coat for a long time.  Only, if you really want to belabor the point, it's been in pieces for a long time, not assembled.  I made a version of this coat years ago for my youngest daughter, who was Cruella DeVil for Halloween, out of a faux fur in a dalamation print. (sorry, no photos of that one - I looked, but it was awesome!!  You'll just have to take my word for it!)

I loved this style of coat, and sewing it up was relatively easy.  The reason why it sat in various stages of completion for so long (ahem, I betcha I've had it cut out for at least 9 years) is a bit of a winding story that involves a significant lack of sewing mojo, picking up the pieces, sorting it all out again, noticing that pattern pieces were missing, packing the whole thing up to move to another house, another period of a complete lack of sewing mojo, picking up the pieces again, noticing that pattern pieces were missing, then having the whole mess being completely separated from the envelope, etc., etc., etc...

Anyways, fast forward to two weeks ago.  I needed winter coats.  I found the pieces again as I was looking for something else (yes, organizing L'Atelier is certainly on my list of things to do, but the impending Polar Vortex put making coats up higher on the list!).  Amazingly, I was STILL missing the same pattern pieces as I had been years ago.  I had a light-bulb moment of searching on the internet for the pattern number, and realized that I not only had one copy of this pattern, but two! (FACE-PALM).  And in my recent pattern clean-out, I knew EXACTLY where they were in my newly much smaller but still huge pattern stash.

So, long story short, the stars aligned correctly in my universe, and I found the pattern pieces for the lining and FINALLY cut out the lining.  I found the directions, figured out where I was in the whole process and stitched together the rest of the coat (in very short order, I might add!!).  And I love the results.

Without further ado, I give you my version of Butterick 4619, which I think is now OOP.  Both of the patterns I have are in sizes 8-14, but I think it also came in 16-22. I found a few copies on Etsy and Ebay when I was searching for the pattern images.  I used a large black and white herringbone in a heavy wool coating fabric.  As you can imagine, I have absolutely no idea where I purchased the fabric from.

The coat is has a yoke design that incorporates the front shoulder and the upper back area, which I really like.  It has a centre back seam and vertical darts in the back, as well as vertical darts in the upper front area just below the yoke seam, and vertical darts in the front at the waist area.  The design offers lots of places for easy fitting adjustments. The facings are in one piece with the centre front  pieces so it cuts down on what would have been a bulky seam in this coat, which works really well with the heavy fabric.

There are side seam pockets included in the original pattern, however, I lost the pieces that I had cut out a while back, so I continued on without them.  The coat features a one piece sleeve, but features a dart at the elbow for shaping.  This works very well with the heavy coating fabric I used.

Once I had the directions and figured out where I was in the whole process, the coat was very easy to sew together. I am most certainly making this coat again.  The fit is very flattering despite it being a bulky fabric.

I think I am ready to survive for winter weather with one long and one short coat.  I have plans for a few more because who wants to wear the same thing every day, but for the time being I think I can safely say, "Bring it, Polar Vortex!"

FO and Pattern Review: Butterick 5495

I LOVE this top.  Like I mentioned in my last post, I LOVE animal print.  I made this top from a deep stash animal print slinky that I've been *cherishing* and couldn't figure out what was "worthy" of sewing.  That my friends is a mistake.  There will always be more fabric to sew...the only thing I regret about this top is why I've waited so long to stitch it up.

Photo credit:  butterick.mccall.com

Pattern Review:  Butterick 5495

Pattern Description: According to the Butterick website:  MISSES' TOP: Loose-fitting tops A, B, C, D with front drape gathered into loop, dropped shoulder, seam details and stitched hems. A, B: sleeveless. C, D: short or long kimono type sleeves.  I made view C.

Photo credit:  butterick.mccall.com

Pattern Sizing: 8-14, 16-22

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, I believe it does.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes.  I had to closely pay attention to which way I was pinning the front pieces together, but other than that, it was easy.  I have to give Kudos to Palmer/Pletsch as the instructions are very detailed.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?  This is a very flattering pattern for most figure types.  It didn't take me long to stitch up and I really like the results.

Fabric Used: animal print poly/lycra slinky fabric from deep stash. So deep, I don't even know where I got it or when!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:  I didn't make any pattern alterations.  The amount of gathering at the bust along with my fabric choice accommodates my D cup bust without any difficulty.

I also used Steam-a-Seam to hem the bottom edge, the sleeve area as well as the self-facing at the centre front.  Slinky is notorious for slip-sliding away, and stretching out.  The Steam-a-Seam made hemming a breeze.

I used a very narrow zig-zag stitch (length 3.0, width 1.5) for the seams before finishing them with the serger (differential feed set at 2 for any seams, and 1.5 for any single edges).

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?  I may sew it again, but I'm not sure if I need more than one of these at a time in my wardrobe.  Similarly to the other tops I've recently sewn, it has very distinctive lines.  I may sew one in black, or maybe lengthen it to dress length for a little black dress (LBD).

Conclusion:  This is another great top for my wardrobe.  Being the big fan of animal print that I am, how could I go wrong?  ;)