5 for 5 - and Wearing My PJ's to Work!

Here we are on January 5th - back to work tomorrow, and I have now completed five garments!

I thought that I would use some of my time off work over Christmas/New Year to make a few items for work. I work in an office - business casual, but we can actually wear denim if we like as long as we have no meetings with members of the public on that day. However, having attended school where I had to wear uniform, then spending a number of years wearing Police uniform, I like the idea of having clothes in my wardrobe that are effectively a uniform. I really dislike fumbling around in the morning having to choose clothes to wear - I want them to mix and match, I want to be able to walk into my closet, and pick out two or three items that work together fabric/design/color wise. Easy!? Well, it is a work in progress!

To help this along, I have made two pairs of trousers (McCalls 5239, my TNT pants pattern) - fully lined, and two more ponte cardigans from McCalls 6168 . . . . to go with the other 5 that I have made!!  Here are some photos starting with the royal blue cardigan and the houndstooth trousers:

And my Christmas double chin . . . . !  I used silver colored metal buttons from my collection.  Over the last few years I have picked up some jars of buttons at auction and there were lots of buttons in the drawers of my Singer treadle machine when I bought that, so it is great to be able to use them.

 I am thrilled with how well these trousers hang from the back, well, certainly in the picture below!

Now the red cardigan with the same trousers:

It is very 'swishy'!  I love swishy!

I am suprised at how much bunching up of the fabric there is in the legs at the front of these trousers, but I suspect some of that is due to my appalling posture . . . .

And here are the second pair of trousers - a heavy but very drapey tweed fabric.  I love this, and have made a couple of skirts out of it already.  I managed to get another 5 metres in a recent sale.  Love it, love it, love it!  Look how well they hang!

Just love the way they hang!

Looking at the picture above, I wonder if I have one hip lower than the other and that is what causes the bunching on one leg.

And the pants look pretty fine with the blue cardi!

The black top, just peeking through the 'v' neck of the cardis is a a RTW tank that I bought about 3 years ago.  I have noticed that it appears on loads of my photos as a neutral top with various ensembles.  So, guess what I am going to be making next?  Yep, some plain, black tops, probably Sorbettos!  I know that I have some black linen, so that will do for 'starters!

Now, what is all the PJ talk about?  I hear you ask.  Well, would you believe that the pattern I use for the trousers (McCalls 5239), is also the same one that I have used for my PJ bottoms.  The only difference is that I take a 1" side seam to get rid of the bulk around my hips/waist.  I know that a lot of sewists really do not like 'pull on' pants/trousers - but as far as I am concerned, if they fit well, look good - who cares what the waistband treatment looks like! 

This posting is already really photo heavy, so I will show pics of the lining and hem finishes in a later post.  The lining is Bemberg rayon - sooooo silky, and it hangs loose - like a tradition lining rather than the trousers being underlined.  I will be interested to see how the lining wears.

My final garment that makes the 5th garment completed by the 5th of January will be featured during the week - I really don't think that you can take more photos!

So, how is your New Year sewing coming along?

Happy New Year - and my resolutions!

Any sore heads this morning?  I hope that 2014 finds you safe and well and that you managed to have some time over the Christmas/New Year to indulge in some sewing!

As with many others, I have been thinking long and hard about resolutions for this year.  2013 was a great year sewing-wise for me (see my review post) and I really want to capitalise upon the great garments that I now have in my wardrobe and fill in the gaps that I have left.

So these are my sewing plans for 2014:

1.  Sew a Chanel style jacket.  One of my Christmas pressies was Couture Sewing: The Couture Cardigan Jacket- Sewing Secrets from a Chanel Collector by Claire Schaefer.  I have also signed up for the Craftsy Class Sewing an Iconic Tweed Jacket - so I think that I am good to go!  I have some fabric in mind, and I am excited to get started!

2.  Proper, fitted trousers.  Like these ones.

I want to try a front fly, and I like that these have a lowered, quite wide waistband.  I plan to make some work trousers as well as casual ones and a pair or two of jeans.

3.  Wrap dress.  I picked up this pattern in a sale a few weeks ago.

I like that it has a few different sleeve options and is sized for different cup sizes - I am a 'C', so I am interested to see what difference this kind of pattern will make.  It has a centre back seam so I can make adjustments to accommodate my curved upper back, and they seem to be so flattering on ladies of all shapes and sizes.

I will continue my 'RTW Fasting' through Goodbye Valentino  - last year I only purchased one t-shirt that I picked up whilst on vacation in New Zealand.  And I'm good with that!

A couple of other plans I have for this year are to knit more socks.  I love handknitted socks and had to pretty much eliminate knitting last year due to a tendon issue called De Quervains syndrome, however, cortisone injections (and maybe surgery) are my friends, and right now I can knit!

And finally, Mr. SDSC bought me a spinning wheel - a very cute Ladybug.  I went to a summer show in 2013 and tried my hand at spinning - it was great fun.  So, I want to play with more fibre in the future.  And talk Mr. SDSC into buying some sheep and a couple of alpacas!!!

MMM - 2

Day 2 - so far so good!!   There are two items for today.  Firstly, and for me, the most exciting item, are these trousers (or pants, if you prefer.  Me, I'm a trousers girl!)  The pattern is a McCalls 5239 and I picked up this pattern during my most recent fitting class.  I wanted to make a quick pair of trousers using a lightweight pinstripe suiting, so I cheated a little and straightened up the sides, added a bit to the waist for a 'turnover' rather than adding a waistband to make these 'pull on'.  Now that I am happy with the fit, I am going to make a few more pairs with pockets, zips, etc.  This will become my 'go to' pattern, and enters the TNT collection!  I am also thinking that some cropped trousers as well as some linen ones with a drawstring waist will be perfect for the summer.

These two photos show the alterations required for the trousers to fit me - some crotch adjustments and then some rather large tucks (1.5" per side!) to get rid of all the baggyness that I get under my 'oh so flat' butt!  According to my lovely instructor Janice, I have a particularly flat butt, but it hasn't 'dropped' yet.  Thank heavens for small mercys!!!

Today's outfit includes 2 pieces:

3.  Black pinstripe trousers - McCalls 5239
4.  Cardigan - McCalls 4466

And they are worn with a plain black tank bought before I commenced my RTW fast!  Talking of which, I have been 'fasting' for almost 7 months.  And I am not missing clothes shopping at all!

The Good, . . . . . .

Last weekend I attended the 'Creative Stitches' show in Calgary.  I am glad I went as it always fun to see so many creative people together in one place - and of course I love seeing all the new fabrics, patterns and machines.  The really sad part though is that only one, yep, I can repeat that again, only one stand dealt with dressmaking/fashion/apparel fabric.  The majority of the other stands were promoting/selling scrap-booking and quilting supplies.  Thank goodness for Linda MacPhee, a Canadian designer who publishes her own patterns based around a fabric that she heavily promotes called slinky.  It is an acetate knit that comes in a large range of colors and patterns.

This is the second time that I have seen Linda, and she puts on a 'fashion show' of the garments made up from her patterns and slinky.  She is full of ideas to make items 'your own' and suggestions to for embellishments.  And yep, you guessed it, I was hooked!  I bought about 8m of slinky and half a dozen patterns - I was prepared to be wowed by this fabric that did not need ironing or hemming, was crease free and promised to make me look at least 10lbs lighter.  Sign me up, quick!

So here we are, one week down the line, and I have made the culottes (in black):

 the 'salsa skirt' (in black):

 a TNT top based upon Kwik Sew 3752 and Simplicity 3790, (also in black):

 the 'slimming jacket' (solid black and grey print - photos to follow) and finally a cardigan in a fabulous 'cheetah and rose' print.

The fabric is certainly easy to work with - I did not have any of the issues that we were warned about (fabric shifting during cutting out etc) and it certainly sewed up a dream.  For the cuffs on the the jackets, and the hem on the cardigan I used 'Stitch Witchery' - I did not feel comfortable leaving those hems 'raw' but I did not finished off the bottom of the skirt and culottes and they look great.

All in all I am really pleased with these garments, the slinky fabric has 'weight' to it, and it hangs and swings beautifully.  The fit is great due to stretch  The cheetah cardigan feels wonderful - I just love everything about it.  The skirt and culottes are very slimming - particularly around my butt!!  I would like it if the (black solid) fabric did not look so shiny - I think it looks a bit cheap.  But not really.  I don't know if that makes sense, and it may be because I prefer to sew and wear natural fabrics, so maybe it is because this fabric is outside of my comfort zone.  I have received compliments already though, I wore the culottes (- really, they should be re-named gouchos), a red cotton jersey version of view A, Kwik Sew 3752 (cut about 4" shorter), and the leopard cardigan.  And they felt good!  I will certainly be using the patterns again, and if I see Ms. MacPhee at another show, I am sure that I will buy some more of the patterned slinky!

 

RTW Fast

The gauntlet has been thrown down and the challenge accepted . . . . oh yes . . . and it is all because of the lovely Sarah over at Goodbye Valentino.  Her challenge is to forgo buying RTW (ready to wear) clothing for a year . . . and make your own clothes.  What a fabulous idea!  Fortunately we will be able to purchase underwear - but I do plan to sew some as well!

image courtesy of Goodbye Valentino

Sarah has a marvelous sense of style and is a very accomplished dressmaker - I think that with her support and that of my fellow 'fasters' it will be a fun and challenging year!  In reality, I don't think that I spend much on clothes, but I am going to look back over the last year of bank statements and check!  I think it will then be interesting to see how much I spend on fabric, patterns etc.  I do not think that this will save me money - but that is not a bad thing at all.  I think that this challenge will focus my time and skills and at the end I am hoping to have a classy, well fitting wardrobe that makes the most of my body shape.  I dream of choosing a week's worth of garments as per Carolyn - I could probably write a whole blog on how fantastic her sewing/style/skills etc are - so feel free to take a look yourselves!  I love her idea of developing TNT (tried and true or tried and tested) patterns, and then being able to enjoy the process of sewing.

So, where do I go from here?  I am going to record all my sewing related expenses - starting with the lining, zips and seam binding that I bought today.  The lining is Bemberg (a rayon fabric that breathes and can be washed and dried by machine) lining that is three times the price of my usual nylon/polyester.  It does feel very silky though and I am going to use it to make a simple knee-ish length straight skirt out of some red woven poly/lycra fabric that I purchased last week.  The pattern is Simplicity 7740 and I have also cut out the dress - I should have enough red fabric to also make a jacket.

I thought it would be fun to have some labels made up for my new, sooper dooper garments, and so that I know when they were made, I plan to order two lots . . .

 and

Or something similar!

Could you manage a RTW fast?  Tell, me, I'd love to know!