23 december 2013

Tis the season for Self-Loathing, Fa La La La La, I hate myself

Don't worry about my mental health readers, I stumbled across this a few days ago and can't stop snorting. Any suggestions on how to continue this song?

Last year I did a little post at the beginning of the year, talking about my sewing plans and resolutions for the upcoming twelve months. These twelve months are almost over, and since I now spent over a year blogging I thought I'd reflect on what I made, and the things I managed to cross off my list!


First: coats! I didn't get around to making the red tailored coat, but I'm still planning to. I've made another wool coat (for my trip in Iceland) with a lot less tailoring on and this definitely eased my mind about the process, but the red wool is very smooth and will show any mistake, so I might make another coat (I'm thinking a female version of the coat Sherlock wears) in a more textured wool from my stash.


I did manage to make my blue raincoat! At first I was planning to adapt an existing Burda pattern, but then Sewaholic came out with the Robson coat and I went for it. It was a verysatisfying project, documented here!


I can proudly say that I've made both these dresses and they get tons of wear. They fit me pretty well and are comfortable, so that's two plusses. The bird dress was blogged about here, the forest/bear/moose (!) here.


Now these two... I never got around to them. I changed my mind on the leaf print and will probably make it into a Bleuet, since I love the pattern but the velvet version I made isn't exactly daily wear.

I still have the chambray around and am still sold on the shirtwaist dress idea, but I'll pobably add an embroidered yoke!

As for the rest of my resolutions: I definitely slowed down some of my sewing this year and paid more attention to details and finishing... Resulting in clothes that I like and get lots of wear!I had planned to tackle knits but only made one project so far, a very dramatic Mission Maxi. It wasn't so bad, but I have so many wovens in my stash I want to use first!


I've made plenty of things that weren't on the list, and have loads of plans for more. Some of my favourites from the past year:


This Cambie dress in a floral Liberty lawn is incredibly comfortable and quite flattering in my opinion! I even wore it in the fall with tights and boots.


I love my Space Oddity dress for many reasons. One being SPACE PRINT, the others being that I got this fabric with help from the awesome Roisin, wore this to a great exhibition, and have worn it loads of times since then, especially on days when I felt like I needed some extra confidence. A definite winner.


I was really happy with the outcome of the Confetti Factory dress, since it was a bit of a personal milestone when it came to pattern hacking. I took something that didn't work for me and changed it for the better, and this got me excited about personalising things more often!


This Sewaholic Saltspring was one of the surprises of the year: it was meant as a wearable muslin but I ended up really liking it and practically lived in it during the end of the summer. I still wear it (when it's not raining) with tights, boots and a jacket, and it works just as well!

I'm really looking forward to the new year. 2013 was a year full of changes: I graduated school, moved out of my parents' house, met loads of new people through this blog and started learning a completely new skill (shoemaking! Expect a post on that soon!). Here's to another year of exciting new things, and I'll see you all in January, unless I turned into a popsicle whilst celebrating New Year's Eve (in ICELAND)!

08 december 2013

The Winchesters Called, They Want Their Plaid Back

I like to watch Supernatural while I'm working. It's not my favourite show ever, but the stories have a nice balance between being scary and funny (or just plain heartbreaking) and some of the storylines are quite interesting. SO when I decided I'd make a shirt, I picked a plaid flannel, as a tribute to the Winchester brothers and their sense of style. They do own quite a lot of shirts for being on the road all the time, no?


So here we are! I'm pretending to be a hunter. With a crossbow. I've wanted to make a shirt for a while now but I honestly don't wear them that much, being a true dresses girl... However, the Archer pattern by Grainline kept calling my name and in a lightbulb moment I just shouted 'I know! I'll lengthen it and wear it as a dress! This way I'll learn all these neat techniques and still end up with something I like!'

So that's what happened. No trickery, I just slashed all the necessary pattern pieces and added some length. Can I applaud my timing as well? December just happens to be Archer appreciation month, woohoo!

Yes, you sure frighten monsters.
Another reason for this make is that I'm in high need of warm clothes right now: the boyfriend and I will be celebrating New Year's Eve in Iceland with a few other friends (one of them is doing an internship in Reykjavik and we are visiting her), so I need to have clothes that will help me survive. And be comfortable.


I'm wearing this shirt with a tank top underneath, and this was pretty toasty already. I think I'll be fine if I add some thermals (sexy!) and wool socks in my boots.

I made a straight size 12 and it fits perfectly in the bust area, but I think I'll size down everywhere else if I make another one. The shoulders are a bit wide on me (which is a common problem) and the sleeves are a bit too long. All the rest is perfectly ok!


Sewing this was surprisingly easy. There is some wonky topstitching here and there, but Jen's excellent sewalong posts and this collar tutorial made for a sewing session with very little glitches. I'm quite proud of the finish as well: all seams are concealed or flat-felled, not a raw edge in sight!

Wait, what's that?


Aw hell no!


"Look scared!"

"Like this?"

"No... Not the chin thing..."


"Better?"

"Better."

I made a few small changes so I didn't have to match too much plaid the shirt would get more interesting. The cuffs, button band, yoke and pocket were all cut on the bias. Matching the plaid itself was pretty tricky since this (cheap) flannel was incredibly shifty and pulled off-grain like there was no tomorrow. But hey, it looks fine in the end!

Now, what else? Oh, yes, the ghost. Better do something about that.

fuck no!

I'd be a terrible hunter.

(And someone should probably take Photoshop away from me)