Wardrobe Planning

Further to my recent post about wardrobe planning, and remembering posts where other sewists actually plan what they are going to wear each day, I thought that I would put some planning into action.  My new resolution is organize my clothes for work for a week, including jewelry and accessories, in an attempt to vary my wardrobe (no duplicates within a two week period), reduce the amount of clothes in my wardrobe that I just don't wear and identify gaps in clothing that I can then make (the really fun part!).

This week seemed a good week to start - it is a short week due to Good Friday and I am off work on Tuesday - so I only need to plan for three days (I like to ease myself slowly into new challenges!).  So here we go:

Lilac cotton/lycra cardi, grey linen Sorbetto, black linen TNT trousers.
 

Green Ponte cardi (McCalls 6168), black TNT vest top, cotton 'target' skirt.

Lipstick red cotton long-line cardi, white linen Sorbetto top, black pinstripe TNT trousers.  Although I am wearing the same style cardi for two days running, I will be out of the office on the second day so my colleagues that see me one day will not see me the next!

I have also set up some partitions in a drawer with my jewelry, so that I can mix that up as well, as I find that I tend to wear the same items all the time, and I have rather a lot that just never gets to see the light of day.

So, what have I learned from this so far?  I need to replace the green ponte cardi as the fabric is pilling.  I have purchased some lovely cotton/lycra so will get that made up quite soon,  I also need a a plain black jacket cardi as the one I made recently was rather a failure, although I am wondering about putting a band around the waist to make it look as though I am wearing a belt - that might draw in the excess fabric.  Also, vest tops.  I love my Sorbetto's to bits, but I do need some jersey/knit vest tops - time to pleay with my new machine!!

How about you?  Do you plan ahead, or run round in a panic deciding what to wear as the time ticks down in the morning . . . . ?

A Hit and a Miss . . . . .

Wow, a bit of a roller coaster weekend this week.  I spent quite a bit of time this weekend playing around with a couple of patterns that have been popular with others, to make my own versions.  First of all, I have to admit to being a bit of a stalker as far as Miss Carolyn is concerned, and a number of items that I have made have been inspired by her fabulous blog.  One of her favourite TNT patterns is Burda 8869, a twinset pattern.

After many months scouring Ebay, I finally snagged a copy from a seller in France.  Delivery was super quick and I was ready to go.  I used a lovely rayon blend jersey knit from Fabric.com in a deep, deep purple.  And I love it:

I probably should have checked to make sure that my fronts were level . . .

It looks a bit 'blocky' on some of these photos, but as the fabric is so fluid and light, it actually hangs and moves very well.

This collar band is one of main reasons that I wanted this pattern.  I love a well fitting collar band, and this one is just perfect.  I also top-stitch like crazy on my knit cardigans - it keeps the seams in check and I think it elevates the finish of the garment.  The button band has a 1" finished width - I mistakenly added seam allowances to the band . . . . I couldn't find any English instructions, and didn't read the writing on the front of the pattern envelope that stated that seam allowances were added . . . .so my band is a little wider than the pattern design.

That is the centre back - honest!!  To help reduce bulk, I machine stitched the centre back collar band seam, press the seam open and then top-stitch the seam allowances down either side of the seam.  And I am not sure where that grey wig came from . . . . . !!

And do you like my fancy smancy earrings?  Would you believe that they were bought with Air Miles.  Love them!  Very sparkly, and although not what I would usually go out and buy, I am very pleased with them.

So, Burda 8869 - a definate hit.  I plan on making a lot of these - and I may well add buttons/buttonholes to this one.  We will see.  I should mention that I used the shoulder, armhole and sleeves from my favorite pattern ever - McCalls 6168.  I narrowed the shoulder seam by 1" and the fit is great.

Next up was McCalls 6844 - a gorgeous casual jacket that has been made up by many fashionistas and is almost too cute for words.  I love frills and peplums, and got to work on this jacket.  I used some super soft cotton lycra fabric - a little bit pricey but great quality.  I chose black - a great workhorse colour for my wardrobe.  And it all went downhill from there.  To be fair, the jacket made up a dream - I compared the pieces to some of my other cardis and knew that I would not have an issue with the sleeves as other sewists had commented on.  Only 2m of fabric - which I thought was pretty good as the peplum was likely to take up quite a bit of fabric.

The front view was ok

I know, it is a little hard to see due to the colour of the fabric.

Maybe a little bulky around the hip area - and I am NOT bulky in that area.  I bypassed the traditional English pear shape quite skillfully. (And I totally lifted that phrase from Philippa.  She put it so eloquently!)  I am more of a apple, 

But whoa!  Look at all that extra fabric in the back, and it is not just peplum.

Sheesh - a very unflattering side silhouette if ever I saw one.  Straight off to wadderville for this garment.  I was particularly disappointed as I had a great idea for taming the front lapels - maybe I will try one of the other views that does not have the peplum  . . . . . we will see.  McCalls 6844 - not for me.

I have to say that I was rather underwhelmed by this, and sat down to knit some socks instead - more on that during the week.

How about you?  Did you have a good weekend sewing?  And how have you fared with patterns that others have had a lot of success with?

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?

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.