Year End Round Up

So - how was 2013 for you . . . sewing wise?

January: 3 Sorbettos, and another 3 and the original - I wear most of them quite often, so they were a great make. Grey aztec two piece dress and a grey skirt, the grey skirt was only worn once,   I love a flouncy hem but was not so keen on the proportions, so that was added to the donation pile.  I also made 6 little washbags that were given as presents with little treats in, during the year.  Total:  10 items of clothing and 6 washbags.

February: 2 skirts (1 grey, 1 tartan).  Total: 2 items of clothing.

March & April: Nothing completed as we moved house.  This is how my sewing room looked :(

You can see how it looks now, here.

May: Fushia cardi, 2 pairs of trousers, 2 pairs of pj trousers, 2 skirts, red flinen trousers.  Total: 8 clothing items.  

June: Tote bag, Pointer Sisters dress, 6 x placemats.  Total: 1 clothing items, 7 crafty items.

July: 10 pillowcases, 2 shirts for Mr. SDSC, blue stripe shirt for me, black pants, grey pants and a pair of pj bottoms, Chartreuse dress and another Mr. SDSC shirt.  Total: 7 items of clothing, 10 pillowcases.

August: 3 shirts for me.  Total: 3 items of clothing.

September: 2 linen sorbettos, 2 box bags, 21 pillowcases (wow!!), linen skirt.  OK, ok, so I am cheating a little here.  I was actually in Australia and New Zealand for the month of September, so these items would have been completed in August - I just had the posts scheduled for September!  Total: 3 clothing items, 23 crafty items.

October: 4 washbags, brown skirt and 2 tops, houndstooth skirt, and my Roksanda Dress. Total: 5 clothing items, 4 crafty items. 

November: 6 pillowcases and earbud pouch & tater sacks.  Total: 9 crafty items.

December: 5 ponte cardigans, lined wool trousers, houndstooth sorbetto and 7 short skirts.  Total:
14 clothing items.

Total for the year: 53 clothing items, 59 crafty items (of which 39 were pillowcases).  Wow.  No wonder my wardrobe looks a bit full - and I am sure that there are a few pieces missing!

There are only a few items that I have not worn/have no intention of wearing - the chartreuse dress is one.  I loved the idea of this, but I wasn't too enthralled with the finished item.  I'll probably turn it into a skirt.  What do I wear a lot? Well, all the trousers, the ponte cardigans from this month, most of the sorbettos, and a good number of the skirts.  I have noticed that my skirt lengths have shortened, and my clothes are more fitted that those of last year and the year before.

All in all I am pleased with my sewing this year.  I hope to continue in the same vein next year - so watch this space!  How about you?  How has your sewing been this year?

Want to see a compilation of ALL the photos that I took for my blog this year?  Can you see your favorite?!

And Three Makes Five!

When I like a pattern, I like to make multiple garments out if it. Cases in point?

1. Sorbetto
2. Butterick 4877
3. Kwik Sew 3752

etc., etc., etc.,

When I mentioned in the last couple of posts about McCalls 6168, and showed you a magenta one and a winter white one - I knew that there would be some more.  So without further ado - please welcome black, chartreuse and brick red versions.

Cough, cough.  Headless shot due to face expression that does not need to be shared with the world!

I put some buttons on this cardigan, and they were an absolute pain.  I used my Singer Featherweight, and the fabric kept wanting to move and stretch.  Grrr.  I needed more stabilizer (didn't have any) so used the paper I have for pattern making.  It is a roll of medical examination paper and it worked a treat!  This fabric is ponte knit (same as the magenta and winter white versions).  I can pick it up quite cheaply in my Canadian big box fabric store, and it feels very soft and lovely.

Next up is the chartreuse one - it is a bit of a dirty green, but the color is surprisingly flattering (not too sure what that says about my coloring!)  This is also a ponte, exactly the same as above.

You may have noticed that the photos are clearer.  I took your advice - and am now standing in direct light.  I'm actually in the en-suite, so had to move towels and in some of the photos you can see the thermostat for the underfloor heating.  Sigh.  I will work on a better locations!  But the most important step was to select a higher resolution picture - turns out I was using a really low resolution for the other photos.  Oh well, you live and learn!

And finally - the brick red version.  This is made from a 100% cotton jersey fabric that has a thick/thin ribbed pattern.  As it does not have any spandex/lycra, it is not super-stretchy, but more stable, like the ponte knits.

You can just see the ribbing in this last picture.  The trousers (pants) are my first pair of lined wool, and they are heavenly to wear!  I will have a post on these during the week.

Want to see the five cardigans together?

And how about a few ensemble ideas?

Brick red cardigan, houndstooth Sorbetto, white corduroy skirt.

Black cardigan, white corduroy skirt.

Black cardigan, target skirt.

Chartreuse cardigan, target skirt.

I love this cardigan pattern (McCalls 6168) and although I will probably not need another one in my wardrobe - never say never.  Oh, who am I kidding, they are great and I will be making more!!!!!

My review of McCalls 6168 can be found here.

More, More, More and a Target?!

Whilst I was hunting through my closet for the clothes for the last two posts, I came across a skirt that I hadn't blogged about as well as my houndstooth skirt and matching Sorbetto that I had not photographed together.  In fact, I don't think I blogged about the Sorbetto.  So, I have now :)
 

The next skirt I would like to show you is from a metre cut that I bought from the craft section in Wal Mart.  It is duck cotton, so a slightly heavier fabric, and the colors are just fabulous:

The centre of the flowers is a lovely chartreuse colour - the colour of another McCalls 6168, - it is cut out and just needs sewing.  But what is that I see on the rear view?

Yep, target practice :)  Oh well, I can live with this, but I will crtainly be a bit more careful with pattern placement in the future!

Ooh.  I think I have resolved the photo clarity issue - I think that my new camera has the resolution set pretty low.  I'll take some more with a higher resolution, as well as looking for better lighting, and we should be good to go!

McCalls 6168 - Oh How I Love Thee!

These cardigans are from McCalls 6168 and I used view B, a straight size 24 with no alterations.  I probably could use a centre back seam and make an adjustment for my rounded upper back, but hey, sometimes you can get lazy and it pays off!  Both the cream and magenta fabric are rayon mix Ponte de Roma from Fabricland.  The fabric has a great drape, is lovely and soft, but does tend to pill a little after (ok, ok, quite a few wears!), so I will need to watch out for this.  I have purchased the buttons for these two and will get the buttonholes put on in the next few days.

Firstly, here is a 'winter white' version:

I also made a magenta pink version, same fabric:

It looks a little tight across my shoulders here, but it really is a pretty good fit.  I think it looks stretched as I had me arms forward, fiddling with the remote for the camera!

The skirts are all from my previous post.

The trousers are McCalls 5239, and look a little baggy here - I'll have to take the legs in a bit on the next version.  I plan making some up in wool as winter is about to descend upon us in Southern Alberta!

I am particularly pleased with the pink cardigan - I think the color suits me rather well, and it goes with an awful lot of other garments in my wardrobe - probably because I have many black and grey separates!

How much do I love these cardis?  Well, I have another three cut out, a black Ponte, a dirty green Ponte (the colour looks surprisingly good against my face) and some brick-red, rib-pattern, cotton jersey.  Photos coming soon!  And of course . . . .they all work well with my Birch Tree Collection!