a really late winter sewing wrap-up

For obvious reasons my winter plan was a bit of a misfire. My original intention when trying to get my sewjo back was to just cut my losses, forget the whole thing and move on. Then I decided I'd make a few of the projects I wanted the most, but leave it off the blog so I didn't get bogged down in it. I got those things done at the beginning of March and tried to put it to one side, but since then there's been this bizarre creeping dread when I come to post, like I haven't handed in my homework and the teacher's about to find out. Who is the teacher in this scenario? I have no clue. Nevertheless, we must give in to the invisible boogeyman and do a wrap-up post.

Overall I managed seven things from my original list; two during the actual season they were meant for,and another five at the beginning of last month. The rest have been jettisoned for now - I might come back to some of them at a later date, but for now I've given myself permission to ignore them. Results for the five I did make are... mixed, as you're about to find out.

(Also, my dental work has been extended into at least three separate operations, so THAT's a joy.)

Deer & Doe Lupin jacket

This was absolutely a success. I don't have much more to say about the pattern; it's still great, I still love it, I will still probably make it again. This kind of minky-pink suede wouldn't normally be my thing, but it's a perfect colour for a jacket - it goes with almost everything while still looking a bit more imaginative than a true neutral. I lined it with the leftover bird lining from my Rumana coat so it'll be nice and soft to wear over short-sleeved tops and dresses once spring bothers to turn up. It's living in the wardrobe for now because it's too cold to abandon my big coat and too wet to risk going out in suede.

Vogue 8888 dressing gown

This one probably does warrant its own post, but I just feel so uncomfortable in it that I can't bring myself to take a load of photos. I'm not sure my assessment of the pattern would be accurate anyway, because I just hate this. It's too small at the hips so it won't stay closed (as I'm sure you can see), the fabric was a nightmare to sew and press, and even though I spent quite a long time French seaming everything and making it pretty inside, once it was done I said, "oh, thank God for that", threw it on the floor and put my boyfriend's old towelling robe back on. I will have another go at a dressing gown, but not this pattern and not for a while. Turns out I really hate sewing shawl collars, and doing it four times in the last few months has done zero to desensitise me. Shawl collars can bite it, as far as I'm concerned. 

Jersey pyjamas

I LOVE these. They're the trouser part of the Closet Case Patterns Sallie jumpsuit with an added elasticated rectangle for the waistband,and they're the best item of loungewear I've ever made. I wear them constantly at home, and I take them with me whenever I go away, even if it's only for a night. I will definitely make more, and possibly also make a pair I can wear outside. Fabric was an impulse buy from a Sew Over It remnant sale that I really didn't know what to do with once I got it home, but it's perfect for this. (The top here is part of a continued experiment to come up with a knit top sloper -  still a work in progress.)

Simplicity 1370 skirt

I tried this twice and I don't think it's right for me, simply because of the way I'm shaped. This one was way too big and fell down when I walked...

...and this one looked perfect but rode up at the back when I walked, to the point where a stranger had to tell me my ass was hanging out. I think the pattern itself is really nice, but it's not for my small-waisted giant-assed self. I'm currently working on adapting another pattern, which I'll post about when I've finished my second attempt. 

That's everything from my winter plan that I intend to make for now, except the Victory Patterns Esther trousers which I will do a separate post about. I hated them when I put them on, but they somehow look really good in all the photos I've taken, so I'm going to mess about with the pleating and see if I can make myself like them more in person. I'm going to do a quick and dirty planning post on Thursday, which will hopefully lead up to a proper pattern review next week. Fingers crossed.

summer sewing: a denim Lupin

I've been thinking about making another Deer and Doe Lupin jacket since I finished my first one, but for one reason or another - mostly that making a jacket feels like a bigger project than making a dress and it's not quite as easy to find the right fabric - I've never got round to it. I was determined to do it this summer, though, because while my dark green one goes with a lot more than I originally thought it would, it doesn't go with everything.

For this post, we have "randomly wandering around Funchal" photos.

This version is made of dark denim, which I wasn't originally planning to use. The traditional denim jacket has never appealed to me - I've never been into button-up clothes or shirt-type details, and my style isn't really casual enough to pull one off. But I'd decided I wanted a navy jacket and then couldn't find any fabric I liked, which eventually led to me reasoning that a jacket made of denim wasn't the same thing as a denim jacket and it had to be worth a shot.

I made my first Lupin using a heavy crepe, and working with the denim was in some ways easier and in some ways really, really annoying. Gathering denim is not something I'll be doing again in a hurry, and putting the cuffs on was also rather a pain in the bum, but on the plus side there is zero fabric slippage so everything lines up beautifully and nothing odd happens to any of the seams. 

The only difference between this jacket and the previous one is that I decided not to include the shoulder tabs this time. I did cut them out, but when I tried positioning them I realised it looked like an unnecessary trick rather than an interesting design detail, so I left them off. Since it's denim and therefore more casual, I think the simpler lines work better.

I used a viscose lining because I hate acetate. It's fine for a winter coat that will never be touching my skin, but for a lighter jacket that will probably be going over bare arms, I want something soft and breathable which isn't going to cling sweatily to my arm like a drunk guy in a bar.

I'd like to take a moment here to note my welt pocket-making progress. Here are my three attempts in chronological order (first Lupin in August 2016; Thurlows in November 2016; second Lupin in June 2017):

I'm pretty pleased with that, I have to say. I will note, though, that the Deer and Doe instructions leave a couple of things out in the welt pocket-making steps (most notably making diagonal cuts to the corners after you've cut between the welts), so it's not entirely surprising that I didn't get perfect welt pockets using those instructions alone.

This jacket is great and I've been wearing it all the time. The only slight issue I have is that as soon as I put it on to show my boyfriend, he started singing this and now I can't unsee it. It's not going to stop me or anything, but I am going to have it at the back of my mind when deciding what I can and can't wear this with. No double denim, no awkward glitter eyeshadow, no Riverdancing on green-screened grass. Shame.

I don't want to have a shit ton of jackets or anything, but I would like a third Lupin in coloured suede. This won't be any time soon because I have decided that it either needs to be dark berry pink or seagrass, and finding suede in the very specific shades I have in mind probably isn't going to be as easy as wandering in somewhere, proclaiming "Take me to your bright suede" and being led to a roomful of interesting, saturated colours. Which is probably a good thing. Otherwise I'd be even more broke. 

Next up: the last of the Madeira photos and the first step in Mum's various birthday dresses...