Thursday 21 December 2017

2017 reviews: resolutions

Final review post ahoy! We're back from Belgium now, full of hot chocolate and croquettes. Bruges is super expensive but also absolutely beautiful, and we had a lovely time. We even did the horse-and-trap city tour, which I know is a stupid overpriced tourist thing, but apparently under certain circumstances two people who aren't even remotely horsey can enter this strange place of "omg it's a HORSE! And it's pulling us along the street! And it's wearing a special horse Santa hat!" Once we got out I spent five full minutes trying to get a selfie with the horse, then immediately ceased to give a shit about horses again.



This is literally my best attempt. It was a really uncooperative horse.

Anyway, resolutions! Last year's were kind of a mixed bag in terms of results; I was certainly better at sewing more varied and complicated things and at trusting my own experience with the patterns I use, I entirely failed to sew fewer things or work from sources of inspiration, and fitting and finishing are very much still works in progress. I'm quite happy with that - demanding perfect results from my resolutions is never going to get me anywhere.

Here's what I'm thinking for the coming year:

1. I will plan and make two time-consuming projects. The idea of this one is to learn a bunch of new skills and produce some professional-ish grade work that I can be proud of. Currently I have a shortlist of four pieces - trench coat (techniques), black skinny jeans (fitting), leather jacket (materials), insane ostentatious ballgown (because) - and I'll pick two nearer the time. I'll put the first one on my spring plan.

2. I will work out a better way to organise my patterns. I currently have them all in plastic wallets in a stack of plastic drawers and it just isn't working. It's really hard to find what I want, I keep losing and/or ripping random pattern pieces and I'm sure I'm hoarding things I don't need.

3. I will find at least three new go-to patterns. It's great having TNTs, but a bit more variety in my TNTs wouldn't go amiss at all. I want to have at least one new bodice I can whack onto dresses so that everything isn't an Anna, and at least one skirt pattern I'm totally comfortable with. (Also trousers, but that's a bit more complicated since I don't know what I'm looking for and don't know how big a role I want trousers to play in my wardrobe. I'll experiment with it, though.)

4. I will learn at least three new techniques to make my projects look more professional. I would like to feel better about the overall quality of my work and I'm sure there must be numerous ways of going about this. The only thing I already know I want to learn is how to install hardware into clothes because I haaaaate sew-on press studs (it literally only occurred to me this weekend that there must be another way to go about it).

5. I will make some more fun things. I think I can get overly bogged in a level of practicality which doesn't actually benefit me - "well, I should make this knee-length with a sensible neckline so I can wear it to the office job I do not currently have", sort of thing, and then I end up dressed over-formally for running errands and not quite feeling like myself.

6. I will make some more aspirational things. Aspirational in the style sense rather than the complicated-sewing-beyond-my-level sense. I lurk a couple of style communities and often see things I LOVE but convince myself I can't pull off. (Note to self: you thought the Kielo was something you couldn't pull off.)

7. I will use all three pieces of expensive fabric that are currently sitting in my stash. From left to right in the below picture, I have: a light, floaty, semi-sheer silk which will definitely need lining (three metres narrow width), a medium weight barkcloth (two metres wide width, in two lengths of 1.5m and 0.5m) and a completely beautiful silk double crepe that is the one I'm most terrified of messing up or doing the wrong thing with (three metres narrow width, in two lengths of 1.5m each). As it currently stands I have no ideas for any of them, but I want them all to become dresses this year. I feel like if I sit on them for another complete year the occasion of cutting into them will have become too momentous and I'll never persuade myself to do it.



Now it's time to get ready for Christmas, and I'll be back next year with some Christmas presents. a set of vague plans for next year, and whatever I've managed to make for myself while everyone else is napping. Happy general celebration time to you all!

Monday 18 December 2017

2017 reviews: my least favourites

Alright, here comes the fun bit. I actually didn't have too many unmitigated disasters this year, especially compared to last time, but that doesn't mean I don't have stuff to complain about. Most (though not all) of the below fall into one of two categories: "the pattern's alright but this garment sucks" or "this garment's alright but the pattern sucks". Ready? Let's go!

McCalls 6442 coat


This one is very definitely a case of "the pattern sucks". The coat is cute and I've worn it a lot, but now that it's been my main winter coat (for "winter" read "three out of four seasons") for almost a full year I've found numerous problems with it. Even if we leave aside the fact that the pattern instructs you to piece the lining together, it's riddled with issues: there are no closures and the flouncy skirt just doesn't lend itself to being wrapped, it doesn't come with belt loops (I added my own), hand sewing huge chunks of the lining just doesn't work for something as hard-wearing as a coat, and all in all I wouldn't recommend the pattern to anyone. It's a shame, because it does look good (people still compliment it), but from a wearer's perspective it's really annoying and I'm looking forward to making a less troublesome winter coat. 

Papercut Patterns Yoyo dress


This, on the other hand, is very much "the dress sucks". I made the Yoyo skirt and I wear it all the time, but this just does not work. At the time I was just thrilled that the shape worked on me and didn't make me look deformed, but this fabric is irredeemable. It wrinkles like crazy if you so much as breathe in its general direction. I didn't realise quite how bad it was until I saw a photo of it after I'd been out and sat down for half an hour, and I've never worn the dress since. I'm considering having another go next year, though.

Sew Over It Eve dress


I just plain don't like this. It doesn't look too bad in photos, but I haaaaate how it looks in real life. I wore it to take these pictures and then never again. The bodice gapes, the length is weird, I don't like these sleeves, and overall there's something really matronly and unattractive about the way it looks to me in the mirror (not in photos. This photo is fine and I don't think I look matronly here, but in real life something about the proportion of neckline and sleeves is upsetting to me). I don't think I can give you a fair assessment of how good this pattern is, because I can't see past OH GOD I HATE IT. I'm holding onto it until I can think of a way to reuse this amazing fabric. 

Named Anneli dress


This dress looks nice but the pattern is stupid. There, I said it. My stance on the whole thing has hardened considerably since June and whatever lovely movement you get from wearing this dress does not make up for the fact that it is just not functional. It's a cape, and will billow out embarrassingly behind you given the slightest opportunity to do so. Named patterns aren't cheap and I would not recommend anybody pay £16 for a pattern you'll have to logic-puzzle into keeping you covered to the acceptable societal standard. 

Papercut Patterns Kobe dress


This one falls into the third category of "everything sucks" (despite the back looking nice here). The dress does not suit me and the pattern is photographed and marketed in a really misleading way. In order to get the aforementioned nice-looking back view, you have to make the pattern in a sheer fabric, and the slip dress pictured on the packaging is an entirely different pattern you have to pay for separately, meaning the pictured dress is £30 worth of pattern AND you still have to draft yourself a belt and belt loops. I'm still pretty cross about this, in case you couldn't tell. 

Also, while I'm here, I'd like to mention McCalls 7591, which I made several months ago and looks SO bad on me I couldn't bring myself to put the photos on the internet. I made the version with the keyhole and it is not designed for anyone with even a suggestion of bust. The crossover flops open every which way and the bust as a whole has exactly the wrong amount of ease, so the overall effect is that I have replaced my boobs with two halves of a beach ball placed somewhere on my rib cage. It was bad enough that even Patrick told me it looked awful. Because I am a committed blogger, here is a small piece of photographic evidence:


NEVER DO THIS TO YOURSELVES. I'm sorry I couldn't muster a full review, but there was no way I was putting half a dozen pictures of this monstrosity anywhere they could be seen by humans. 

So that's my worst of the year, and there's not much here I've changed my mind about, which I think is a good sign. The odd disaster is inevitable, at least if you're trying new things and buying fabric from different sources, so none of this really feels like failure to me. I've learned something from every one of these unfavourites, even if that thing was "trust your instincts in future". 

Next up: resolutions! 

Thursday 14 December 2017

2017 reviews: my favourites

So it's December, the tree is up (and covered in gin baubles), homemade advent calendars are underway (and largely filled with booze), we've been for our annual Muppet Christmas Carol singalong (accompanied with booze), and I am working my way through a shit-ton of homemade Christmas presents (and no booze, because that's a bad idea). Since I can't really post any of that yet, it's end-of-year review posts ahoy! I'm going to follow the same format as last year, because that seemed to work. First up, my favourites! 

Named Olivia dress


Pattern of the year, to the surprise of literally nobody. This is my perfect wrap dress. High wrap so I don't have constant Excess Cleavage Paranoia, tulip shape to the skirt to give my hips some space, pockets, and zero wardrobe malfunctions in nearly a full year. This first one is still my favourite, but I've made five other versions this year and they're all fabulous. Favourite pattern.

Named Kielo dress


...but this is also kind of my favourite. I was so sceptical about this dress, right up until I first saw myself in the mirror and went "...oh." I made two of these for me (and one as a present) and they were the centrepiece for my whole summer wardrobe. The dress is simple and interesting, chic and comfortable, and manages to disguise my least favourite body parts while looking like an effortless drapey goddess dress. This pattern is absolutely worth the hype it gets. 

Deer & Doe Lupin jacket


I wore the shit out of this. I think I wore it nearly every day until mid-November, when I finally had to admit it was too cold. It looks great with almost everything and the pattern is still absolutely fantastic. I've never owned a denim jacket before in my life, but making it up a less traditional style made all the difference for me. 

Vogue 9199 dress


While I admit my two subsequent versions haven't quite lived up to this one, this one still makes me so happy. My busty, giant-hipped self gets to be the chill girl strolling along in the T-shirt dress and it looks like neither a box nor a nightie! Score. 

Deer&Doe Givre dress


So I feel a bit weaselly about putting this on here because I got it for free, but it's the truth. I would never, ever have bought this pattern, but a) look at me actually looking good in a bodycon dress and b) by some small miracle, this is my perfect shoulder fit. Once I'd made this I realised why I didn't like most of my tops. I'm planning to make myself a knit top block next year, and I'm just going to steal the neck and shoulder from this one wholesale because I cannot improve upon it. I'm not saying I would recommend buying this pattern unless you're specifically looking for a knit bodycon dress with some actual shaping in it, but I am thrilled that I have it. 

Sewaholic Minoru


Biggest accomplishment of the year. I MADE this. I still can't quite believe it. This is gorgeous, practical, unique, and beyond the occasional wonky stitch I cannot find ANY part of the construction I'm displeased with. This is still a huge rarity for me because I tend to rush my finishing, but not here. This is as close to perfect as I'm likely to get any time soon, and I'm over the moon with it. Also this is one of the most thoughtful patterns I've ever had the pleasure of working with and it's almost a shame I don't need another three of four anoraks. 

By Hand London Anna


I mean, I've not had the opportunity to wear this once yet, but look at it! 

Kommatia Patterns J005 bomber jacket


So this is an odd one, because it's basically the least popular thing I've posted either here or on Instagram since I started getting more than seven hits per post, but I love both my versions, and in real life everyone else does too. They're some of my best work and have prompted several "you made that? No way" conversations, including with my own actual live-in boyfriend. I love the hell out of them even if the internet doesn't.

Up on Monday: failures and bitching! Everyone's favourite!

Monday 11 December 2017

Mild Experimentation Series: revisiting the fuller skirt

Back in my first few months of sewing, I made two versions of the Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt. I was thrilled with both of them until I realised I'd made one way too heavy and one way too light, and they both went the way of the recycling bag some time ago. The pattern has sat untouched since then, as I decided I didn't actually like full skirts anyway.

In August I did a mini-project where I took a selfie in the mirror by the front door on my way out every day to get a sense of what I was actually wearing and what I felt good in, which was fairly successful (I'd like to do it again, but now there's a lime tree in front of the mirror because my boyfriend is obsessed with plants), and it included one day where I wore my cherry print circle skirt, the oldest handmade in my wardrobe and the one I choose to keep for sentimental value as it's much better constructed than my actual first skirt was. It's not so much my style these days, but I do make a point of wearing it at least once every summer. Looking back on the picture I took that day, I found myself thinking "OK, that actually looks great," and then everything I thought I knew was called into question. Yes, I'm being dramatic. It's allowed.

This thought combined with my desire to find a cute skater dress to wear to dance events made me reconsider my anti-full skirt stance, and I decided to experiment with my Hollyburn pattern again.


This burgundy cord is the final part of my Goldhawk Road corduroy spree. I had two metres, so I knew I'd be able to squeeze a miniskirt out of the remnants and therefore if I ended up not liking the skirt I'd still be able to have something wearable in this fabric.


Construction was incredibly simple. It's quite funny coming back to a pattern I'd only ever used as a rank beginner and had thought of as quite an involved project because it had proper pockets, and realising just how simple it is. Except for the hemming. I still hate that. I'm having a bit of an argument with myself at the moment because on the one hand I think this would be a great skirt to use for a party dress, but on the other hand that hem is a pain in the backside. One day I will find a hemming method that looks good and I don't hate, I'm sure. 



The top is another Papercut Coppelia, which I've been planning since about five minutes after I published my autumn plans post. I ordered this jersey online and wasn't sure about the colour at first, but it's actually great - it's muted enough that it looks more autumnal than Christmassy when worn with reds and greens, but I'm also pretty sure I can get mileage out of it as a festive top. It does feel slightly weird, though, and I don't think it photographs very well.


Overall, I think this was a successful experiment. I've been wearing this skirt - and this outfit - pretty regularly since I made it,and the fact that the skirt is fuller than I'm used to hasn't made me feel any less like myself. I don't expect this to start a revolution in my wardrobe, but I have been craving a few more frivolous dresses lately (ridiculous emerald maxi dress aside, my projects tend to be really quite sensible and practical, and I'm feeling in the mood for a bit of nonsense) and this would be a really great skirt to add to my favourite bodices. If nothing else, a dance dress where I could securely keep my phone with me all night wouldn't go amiss. 


What am I giving the side-eye to? I've no idea. But I'm sure one of you must have done something. 

This is going to be my last completed project post of the year. Starting this Thursday I'm going to be putting up my 2017 review posts, and once those are done I'm going on hiatus until the new year. Patrick and I are going to the Christmas markets in Bruges for a few days and then we'll be hosting Christmas here for the first time. It'll actually be the first time we've spent the 25th together because we've been putting off the "who gets who for Christmas" negotiations as long as possible. But no more! We are adults, and we can handle this shit.

Up on Thursday: my favourites from 2017!

Monday 4 December 2017

autumn sewing: my very unseasonal Shakespeare dress

So this took me quite a long time.


There are several reasons this fairly simple dress took me three months to make. First, I didn't want to cut the fabric. This is a bit of a recurring theme for me, and I'm currently holding onto three lengths of slightly higher-end fabric that I'm reluctant to take the plunge on. Up until this dress, I thought I was just being a giant fraidy-cat. I kept looking at the fabric and the Cambie pattern I planned to use, feeling slightly dizzy and promising myself I'd cut into it next week, honest. It took two months of this before I realised the reason I was putting it off: this wasn't the right pattern and I didn't want that dress.

I still like the Cambie pattern and want to make another one. But it is a bit, well, sweet. Since "sweet" is not in any way part of my personal style, I made my first version in a dark green crepe which took the edge off the cutesiness a bit. I don't wear it that much because it is very much an office dress, but it's also an office dress that got an unprompted compliment from a billionaire, so it's earned its place in my wardrobe. I kept picturing the same style in this whimsical cotton, and it just wasn't working for me


What I ended up with is my old faithful combination of Anna bodice and Butterick 4443 skirt. Yes, I know, I make too many Anna bodices and I should branch out a bit. I do try. But it's so simple to make, and it actually fits me well because of the waist pleats. I have never been able to work out how to get a proper fit in the bust without them. Next year I will find at least one more go-to, I promise. For now, it's the one bodice I know fits very well, so I was less terrified about messing up expensive fabric.



I got the main dress all French-seamed up and looking fairly nice when I ran into problem number two. I'd always planned to fully line the dress for a neater appearance at the neckline and safeguard against how thin the fabric is, and I'd bought some white cotton for the lining ages ago. However, when it came to actually cutting it out, I realised it was about three times as thick as my main fabric and would probably do weird things to the hang of the dress (and look strange and be uncomfortable). The dress then hung on a hook waiting patiently for several weeks while I procrastinated over going lining shopping. I hate lining shopping; I find it to be such a crapshoot. Needs to not be too annoying to sew, needs to feel nice against the skin, needs to be synthetic so it doesn't stick to tights but also needs to not be incredibly static. I found what I thought was a decent fabric but sadly it turns out not to be. It is extra static and was a complete bitch to sew with. The dress feels much tighter than it did before lining it, so I think I lost a bit of ease while I was wrangling with it. Ugh.  For now it'll do, but going back and doing the lining again is not out of the question.


The truth is that I'm not as happy with this dress as I could be. It's slightly too tight (though I don't want to alter it yet as I've put on a fair bit of weight this past year due to a birth control I've just come off; I want to see where my weight is when my body gets used to itself again), the lining is terrible and because it's so cold in London right now I don't know when I'm going to wear it. And also the fabric still has text from the wrong play printed on it. I do think it's pretty though, so I'm going to put it away for a month or so, get all my Christmas sewing done (ever tried to make a Pokémon hat? Me neither, but I'm about to), and re-evaluate it in 2018.


Next week: a different skirt shape? Surely not. 

Thursday 30 November 2017

sewing plans: winter 17/18

My autumn sewing plan worked out really well. Excluding the "maybe" list, only the fancy purple dress went unmade - you haven't seen my Shakespeare dress or Patrick's dressing gown yet, but they have been made and will be posted next week and after Christmas respectively. Working to a longer and more ambitious plan was actually way more helpful than my usual five vague things, as was having almost all the fabric and patterns ready and waiting in my stash. Initially I said that if this worked out I might move to twice-a-year planning, but I'm not going to do that. For a start, the dozen things on my autumn list took me almost exactly three months to make and I might as well as accept that as long as I'm ill and have a lot of spare time, I will be sewing a lot of things. So my new approach is going to be to start writing my three-month plans much further in advance to allow me to collect up at least 90% of what I need before the season starts.

This winter plan has more or less written itself, and it's very different from the autumn one. I have a decent selection of easily-paired, richly-coloured pieces and I've got no interest in reworking it all for the next three months. I'm quite happy looking like a peacock. So for this season, rather than coming up with outfits and concepts, I'm focusing on a few specific categories that need beefing up a bit. I will almost certainly make a few simple tops/skirts/dresses over the next few months when fabric leaps out at me, but in terms of planning, I'm looking at three areas: outerwear, loungewear, and toiles.

For visual reference, here is the world's quickest composite of the patterns I already know I'm using:


(given that they're all completely different types of garment, I'm assuming you can tell which is which)

Outerwear

- A vaguely MaxMara-type winter coat. I've wanted something like this ever since I first saw a MaxMara coat, and I've never been able to find the right pattern. For the first time I've seen a couple of things that might be close; I'm waiting to get a proper look at By Hand London's new coat pattern, and I've also seen a Burda I like (though that would require grading and I don't know if I can be arsed). The lack of a longer coat has been the one thing I'm most aware of missing in my wardrobe, so this is my number one priority.

- A cropped jacket made of pale pink suede. I bought the suede ages ago when I realised that some of my outfits really need a lighter-coloured jacket to go with them, but I've been putting off making it because I can't decide what pattern to use. I'm not totally sure the Lupin will look right in this fabric, but also I can find literally no alternatives. I want to get the jacket made, though, so if I'm not struck by inspiration in the next couple of months, a Lupin it will be. I'm open to suggestions, though!

- A ridiculous Vogue cape. I'm not sure that this one will get made because I don't actually know if I'd wear it, but as soon as I saw it in Vogue's new releases, I shouted "Oh my God I want it" at the screen. I think it will depend largely on being able to find the right fabric and buttons (especially buttons, because I am NOT a button person and they'll have to be very specific for me to think about wearing them). I am definitely in the market for some sort of unnecessary flamboyant outerwear, mind you, so if this doesn't happen then something else will.

Loungewear

- A dressing gown for myself. I've made two toiles of a Butterick pattern for Patrick's Christmas present robe so far, and I made the second one using a cheap fabric I really liked so that I could use it as my dressing gown. Except that hasn't worked, because it looks terrible on me. I'm going to have a go at Vogue 8888 and see if a womenswear-specific robe is any better. (It might just be the pattern. I have THOUGHTS about that Butterick pattern, and you're going to hear ALL of them after Christmas.)

- A nightie that matches the dressing gown. This is lower priority, but I quite like the idea of a matching set so I'm planning to get extra fabric for the purpose. I'll probably have a go at one of the two included with Vogue 8888, though I haven't decided which yet.

- A sweater knit cardigan for chilling in. I want to try the Papercut Circle top, which intrigues me; I bought it from Sewbox on the strength of the photos, but it looks very much like Papercut has erased its existence from their actual website, so I'm now wondering what's wrong with it. I'm going to give it a go anyway, but definitely not with anything more expensive than £2 per metre Walthamstow sweater knit.

- Some more pyjamas. I'd like a few pairs of jersey pyjama bottoms, and a couple of tops with different sleeve lengths that I can mix and match with them. I want colourful prints for the bottoms (most of which I have) and solid neutrals for the tops.

Toiles

- Vogue 8814. I think this is an absolutely beautiful evening dress, and ideally it's what I'd like my expensive silk crepe to be, but there is so much potential for a pattern like this to go wrong. I've basically already decided that it's going to be a disaster, but I own the pattern so I'm going to try it, goddammit. I found some very cheap but very pretty green satin-type stuff so it can be a wearable toile if it works but I won't cry if (when?) it doesn't.

 - Victory Patterns Esther trousers. Similar to above, I think the pattern is stunning but I'm not sure if it'll suit me. I so want it to, though. I want to be that cool.

- A shorter Named Kielo with sleeves. I downloaded the free sleeve add-on ages ago but never got around to trying it out. It would be nice to have a version of this pattern I can wear for more than a few weeks a year.

- Simplicity 1370 skirt. I really need a wider range of skirt patterns I like, and step one is to try out a simple mini. If it works, it'll probably be a good pattern for using up leftover fabric, and if not, I'll try something else. My plan for the next year or so is to find at least three other skirt patterns that work for me.

- A woven T-shirt from a personal block. I have a metre of black silk hanging around and I'd like it to become a super-basic, fairly loose-fitting top, so I'm going to have another go at drafting one myself.

- Pants! I've bought a Jalie PDF of men's and women's underwear, and I'm going to have a go at both. I don't expect to start making all my underwear, but it seems like a reasonable way to use up jersey scraps and I'd like to see if I can do it.

Again, this is about a dozen things, which seems to be a good number. I still need fabric for most of the things in the loungewear section, which I think ought not to be too difficult to find (I also don't have cape fabric, but that's going to be a buttons-first shopping job anyway). I've not had a great week for various reasons up to and including credit card fraud (YAY) so I'm hoping to be able to channel all my feelings of YARGH into some early productiveness.


Monday 27 November 2017

McCalls 7538, or making dresses because you really need tops

I don't have the best luck when it comes to tops. It's hard to find patterns that fit what I'm looking for - most of the big 4 offerings are loose-fitting hip-length things with ridiculous sleeves, and most indie patterns are super-basic or super-twee. I want mostly knit tops, fairly fitted, with interesting details but not crazy sleeves, that I can cut shorter without losing most of the design of the top. It's tough to find. So when I do see an interesting top pattern, I snap it up.

(Neither of the things I am about to show you are tops. Bear with me.)



This is my first attempt at McCalls 7358, using the same sweater knit I used for my Wanted top. I fully intended to just make the top, but missed the "Cut here for view A" line on the bottom piece and ended up making view C, a bodycon dress. This is not great and I have several problems with it. One, the sleeves are falling off, which I must attribute to the fabric given that my Wanted top did the same thing but subsequent versions of both that top and this one did not. Two, it didn't occur to me to work out how to FBA this one and so the front crossover panels are cutting across my boobs, which looks really weird. Three, I am really into this jersey LBD as a concept, but in practice it just doesn't work for me.

However, the back is gorgeous and I love it. It's cute, interesting, and is exactly the right height to dispense with weird fabric folds in the upper back without straying into complicated underwear territory. I wasn't sure I was up for trying to do a proper FBA on those front pieces, so I decided to have a go at view D, with a round neck at the front and crossover at the back, and a full skirt. I've avoided full skirts for the last couple of years, but I've been experimenting lately.


I went on a bit of a journey with this dress. When I first tried it on I was absolutely convinced I didn't like it, and actually wrote a whole pre-emptive blog post about why it was terrible. After I hemmed it my opinion of it started to improve, and after a week or so I decided that I loved it. 


This jersey is from Fabric Store in Walthamstow, and it's one of the best things I've ever bought there. It's hard to describe it; it's a very soft and stretchy jersey that's very comfortable to wear, and yet I keep forgetting that it's stretchy because it displays zero sign of being stretched when I'm wearing it. This cost me £2 per metre, and if one of the more expensive shops had tried to charge me £12-15 I wouldn't have blinked. It's great stuff. 


Now that we're looking at slightly better photos I'll attempt to explain the pattern a bit more; I don't know how visible the seam lines are in this fabric. Between the bust and hips there's a panel of fabric stretching diagonally one way, and two smaller panels at the opposite corners to create the impression of an X across the body. The pattern comes with round neck and crossover options for both front and back, and you can mix and match them however you choose. 


Look at the back of that! I love it so much.


In terms of alterations, I lengthened the upper front panel by a couple of inches to prevent the whole bisected boob thing, and that seems to have worked well enough, though some of the panels now don't match up at the side seams. In this fabric I don't really care, but if I try making a version in stripes (which I'd like to) I'd need to either change the alteration or work out how to make the back longer too. I also found the shoulders were protruding off my actual shoulders by about an inch, so I took that in. I also cut the long sleeves down to elbow length because the sheer amount of grey was a bit overwhelming. 


I will definitely be making this as a dress again. I made this version because I loved the back neckline, but it turns out this front neckline is a really great one for me as well. It's super comfy and will be a great dance dress, and I'd like another one or two. What I'm not sure is whether I'm going to make this as a top. The fit is great and it would be interesting and different, but also it really does have to end at the hip because of the pattern pieces. I never wear hip length tops and I think this design might look weird if I wore it tucked in to something. I might give it a go, when I'm feeling experimental, but I'm not counting on it. Sigh. Still looking for you, interesting knit tops of the sewing pattern world.


Up next: (hopefully) something I actually planned!

Monday 20 November 2017

Ghosts of Zombie Hoodie past (Kommatia Patterns J005 bomber jacket)

Hey, remember two years ago when I was desperately trying to replace my Zombie Hoodie?



This may not have been on my autumn list, but this is one of the most peacock things I've ever seen.

I'd never heard of Kommatia Patterns until a few weeks ago. I followed a link to a pattern which on closer inspection wasn't for me, but while I was there I had a bit of a browse and saw the pattern that Jen from two years ago was searching for in vain: a cropped, hooded zip-up jacket. I waited a couple of days to buy it because I've instituted a new rule about not buying sewing shit at 12.30am when I'm delaying going to bed for unknown reasons, but after some reflection I decided this was a sensible purchase. I have nothing like it, it cost about £6, and teenage me was quietly squeeing.



(I've just noticed this dress is covered in fluff. I bought some VERY ill-advised fabric and clearly didn't throw it away fast enough.)

This fabric is from a stall in Walthamstow Market. I'm not exactly sure what it is; the guy said "woollen fabric" but I would say it most resembles a super-light twill. I'd gone out with the intention of buying something black - a black floral, ideally - since I already had some black rib knit and was completely uninterested in complicated colour-matching, but this fabric was an unignorably beautiful colour and also had enough black in it to work quite nicely with black ribbing.


The whole thing took me a couple of hours to make up. I left off the zipped pocket on the arm for many reasons, not least of which my lack of desire to search for a 4-inch zip. I flat-felled all of the main seams since the jacket is unlined.


The jacket is described as "very loose-fitting" but I did not find this to be the case. Sure, it's not tailored or anything, but my understanding of loose-fitting in home sewing terms is that it will have a decent amount of ease in it. My bust is about an inch larger than the Kommatia size L, so I made that assuming it would be fine for a loose-fitting garment. In practice, while it's not uncomfortable to wear or anything it's certainly not what I would describe as "loose". There's also a slight range of motion issue when it comes to folding my arms.


Overall I love this thing. I love the way the black rib and black zip look (and I'm also impressed I managed to identify the correct length of zip on sight from a market stall basket full of unlabelled haberdashery), I think the fabric is great, and it looks like a professional piece of work. My boyfriend, who lives with me and my constant attachment to the sewing machine, saw me in this and actually thought I'd gone clothes shopping. Something this super-casual is going to be really useful, I think, since I tend to make things slightly more formal-looking than my life requires at the moment. This will be great for flinging over jersey dresses when I'm going to dance events, and is a great piece of loungewear too.

I was so pleased with this one that it was mere days before I started thinking about the black floral bomber I originally had in mind. "That'll be great for my winter plan," I thought. "I'll start looking for the fabric now so that it's all ready for December."


I bought the fabric on a Saturday and was wearing the finished jacket by the following Wednesday. Sure, it would have been much more sensible to hold off and make the things that were actually on my autumn plan, but who do you think you're talking to here? Unless the garment in question is super complicated or takes a ton of fabric, my immediate reaction to liking a new pattern is almost always to make a second one RIGHT NOW.


I popped into my local Sew Over It for their monthly remnant sale, where I got quite a lot of nice bits of jersey that are mostly destined to become pyjamas, and they had a huge roll of this floral twill sitting by the door. I decided it was perfect and impulse-bought a metre, assuming that would be enough. It was not. They didn't have any more left (apparently it got promoted on their vlog and EVERYONE ordered it), so I spent a bit of time debating how to work around it. I know that a bomber with contrast sleeves is a classic and I almost cut it out that way, but kept stopping as my scissors were about to cut into the fabric because I didn't really want that. Eventually I decided to make a plain hood using the fabric left over from my Flint trousers, and I'm glad I did because I actually think it works better. The main fabric is kind of burlap-ish on the wrong side, and since the hood is unlined I think it might have looked a bit odd. Yay accidentally improving things! 



I sized up for this one and it's definitely more of a standard bomber jacket fit now. I left off the arm pocket again (I'm never going to use an arm pocket), and flat-felled all the seams. I love a good flat fell, even if it does get really awkward when you get to the wrist or ankle. 


I really like this version. Winter florals are much more my thing than spring/summer florals, with the dark backgrounds and deeper colours, and I like the contrast of the fabric with the style of the jacket. It's super autumnal, but it'll also work for most of the rest of the year if I wear it with different things. I've been getting tons of wear out of both of these, and I'm surprised at how much difference a range of outerwear and layering options makes to getting dressed. Two bombers is quite enough for now, but I think there will be many more jacket-type things in my future. 


Next up: I needed a top, but I made two dresses instead because why wouldn't I