This 'n' That

First of all I'll get this nasty business out of the way. The spambots have found me. Well... it's only been about one a day and I haven't had one for several days but this common problem angers me way more than it should. To me it feels exactly like someone came to my actual, physical house and put a giant poster on my front porch advertising a used car dealer or something else especially sleazy. Spam in the comments feels the same - exactly! It angers and offends me. I could do things like use a CAPTCHA and ban anonymous comments but I get so few comments I hate to discourage commenters in any way so as long as it doesn't get any worse I won't do that but I really really really really hate spambots to the point that I fantasize about committing acts of physical violence against the their human owners.

And now to the sewing...

I bought some 60 inch wide cotton fabric for Vogue 9106 and I was so excited about trying it out for the first time but then I discovered that I do not have a zipper the right color and they are sold out everywhere! I put my email in at one online store to be notified when they are in stock again but who knows how long that will be. Now that I've seen the actual pieces of this pattern I kind of think I could make it out of 44 inch wide fabric. I just need to figure out how much I would need. A lot.

So I'm in between projects and I don't know what I want to make next. I like Tasha's tradition of birthday dresses and mine is just a little over a week away but I don't know. I think the smart thing to do would be to continue making stuff for the granddaughter and to "fix" some of the things I've been putting off fixing because making new things is more fun. My closet is full. I mean FULL! Overstuffed! I really don't think I could stuff a single thing more in it. Time to make a few more sacrifices I suppose but it's so hard when you honestly love everything. The old "if you haven't worn it in a year" rule doesn't work for me. What an evil, mean-spirited rule!

I still don't have any takers on my swap offer. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about those. I have never sold anything on eBay before and I'm hugely cowardly about it. I don't know. Maybe I'll just keep it all, make a dress for myself (V9106 maybe?) and use the rest to make gifts. (tote bags? throw pillows?) That's IF I don't get any swap offers. That's still open for now.

For a Small Person and What's Next

UPDATED

For the past two weeks I have been sewing for my granddaughter. Pictures of clothes laid out on the floor are not the best so you'll have to use a little imagination but my model is an hour away and I wanted to show that I have been sewing. These are both McCall's 9227.

I have also been using up small pieces of leftover fabric to make shorts and these capri pants.

I'm probably going to take these to her later today.

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Now I'm really wanting to sew something for myself but I really don't need any more clothes and I'm getting to the point where I can't stuff one more thing into my tiny, overstuffed closet. But, on the other hand, I have all this fabric. I do have three more pieces for the granddaughter and lots more leftovers that might also be enough to make little clothes so maybe I should keep working on that.

I "decided" that I would spend some time altering and fixing some things that I love but that are not quite right one way or another and I actually did one of those. I'm pretty sure something new is coming soon though because the urge is irresistible. I have two new Vintage Vogue patterns that I am excited about: 9106 and 2960. I'm excited about these but also anxious because I'm pretty sure I'm going to have some fitting issues with both. And 9106 is crazy. Those skirt pieces are huge and it requires 60 inch wide fabric. There is not a lot of 60 inch cotton available but I do have some on order. It's a solid color! Can you believe it?

UPDATE: I just got done cutting out the pattern pieces of Vogue 9106 and I have figured out two things. 1. I think the designer might have been high. 2. Although the pattern only gives yardage and cutting layouts for 60 inch wide fabric I'm pretty sure I can make it out of 44 inch fabric. I just need to figure out how much I will need. Probably a lot.

Two New Patterns

Bought these today.

I will almost certainly never make 8244 as shown. Narrow skirts are not my style at all. I bought it for that asymmetrical top detail. The other one, 8166... I'm thinking about fall tunics. I'll probably make changes to that one too. The collar looks uncomfortable. But anyway, there's a good chance I might be trying that one out soon.

Brand New Sloppy Old T-Shirt

Fair warning: this post contains the worst photos of me you will ever see. I'm talking driver's license photo bad. In fact, I've had better driver's license photos. But for this garment that seems sort of appropriate somehow. So anyway...

First, about the fabric - I went looking for some hemp fabric to make my oldest son a shirt for his birthday because I knew he would get a kick out of having a shirt made of hemp. (One thing we have in common is that we are both easily amused.) I found Hemp Traders. This jersey is 55% hemp and 45% organic cotton. It is wonderful! It's soft and drapey but really well behaved and a dream to sew. The cut edges don't even curl up like most knits do. You've gotta get some of this stuff. It comes in more that 20 colors.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that t-shirt to show you. As I said last week, when the kids get to be six feet tall it's just about impossible to dress them up and force them to pose for pictures. But it really turned out great. I'm tempted to say perfect. And he liked it so, yeah, perfect.

I bought almost twice as much fabric as I needed (It's 64 inches wide) so I had enough left over for another shirt. I thought about making one for my other son but I decided he would probably like a different color better so I made one for myself. I used this really old pattern, upsized and lengthened it just a bit.

I will never wear this in public but that's exactly what I intended - a comfortable shirt for housework and just lounging around. So we'll start with an "action shot".

Yikes! I don't look like that. No, seriously, I don't, not even when I'm zombied out in front of the TV. I refuse to believe it. Anyway, you probably want a better look at the shirt. Here ya go.

The hem is straight; it just looks that way because of the slouchy style and the way I'm standing, I think. Anyway, it feels great and I love it and I'm definitely buying more of this fabric, and making some things that can be worn in public.

By the way, the pants I'm wearing are a very old pair of L.L. Bean Perfect Fit(tm) Pants. I highly recommend them if you want some nice, practically indestructible RTW knit pants. Sadly, the color selection is very limited - what I like to call six shades of dull - but, to be fair, they are all useful "go with everything" colors.

And Another New Look 6963

I don't have much to say about this one other than... I love it. I love the colors, I love the lightweight, yarn dyed cotton fabric, and I love the pattern, obviously since I can't stop making it over and over again. I started out to make it exactly like view C, the one with the short turned up sleeves, but when I tried it on before hemming them I liked the sleeve length so I just gave them a standard shirt sleeve hem.

Inspirations and Temptations (or the lack of)

Well, you see what happens when I decide to do a "weekly feature"? Nothing last week and almost nothing this week. As well as being relatively uninspired right now I'm also unmotiviated so I'm not even going to bother with pictures, just a couple of links. (As usual I have another finished thing to show off and will try to photograph it sometime within the next couple of days.)

Roisin has made the retro Butterick pattern that I just recently purchased. I don't know if I can really claim this as inspiration but maybe a little nudge to go ahead and make one myself?

At any given time there are always at least three dozen fabrics at eQuilter that are tempting me but I'm really not going to buy any more fabric for a while. (except that I really do need something for some new summer pajamas and I might have to buy a couple of fabrics to start another quilt but other than that... really, no more fabric until I've sewed at least half of what I already have.) But anyway, isn't this the most fascinating and exotic print? There was also a gorgeous floral that I fell in love with but I can't find it now. Sold out already?

It has been five whole days since I sewed anything and I'm trying to decide what to sew next. The weather is really screwing with my motivation. Sometimes I really think Mother Nature is menopausal.

(I really think I probably use the word "really" way to much.)

Inspirations and Temptations

For a long time I've been thinking I need a weekly feature and even knew what I wanted it to be but I've been hesitant to start. In "real life" I am exceptionally good at keeping to schedules and commitments (you might even say obsessive) but online it's a different story. So, instead of a "weekly feature" I'm just going to call this a "randomly recurring feature". Here we go...

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First, from Advanced Style (I'm going to only post smaller versions of other people's photos. Follow the link to see it full size.)

Overall, this is not my style at all. I like the look on other people but for me the long, loose, flowy business doesn't seem practical for my life. Also, nobody around here dresses like that. Not that that would bother me, especially; I probably dress weird anyway, but this just seems totally alien to our region.

What I can take from this is the colors. Orange, red, rust, turquoise, and a bit of green. The leggings and a more me-styled tunic? (whatever that is) I don't know when I'll get around to it but I'm definitely keeping this combination in mind and I will be looking for these colors and similar prints.

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And landscape print dresses!

You know that thing they do on TV with the ray of light from heaven and angels singing, "Aaaahhhhhhh..."? Well, when I saw Roisin's blog post it was kind of like that. I have been seeing and loving and being tempted by big landscape prints but I always think, "What can I do with that?" and since all I can think of is a quilt that I would get around to finishing in maybe 15 years I, sadly, move on. So why didn't I ever realize how perfect and lovely a landscape dress would be?

Roisin always inspires me with her use of wild and crazy prints. I'm always attracted to novelty prints but sometimes timid about using them, especially larger prints. I love that there are people out there to inspire me to do what I always wanted to do anyway.

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And here is temptation to which I have already given in:

If you have decided that you are absolutely not going to buy any more fabric for a while DO NOT go to Fabric.com (or any other fabric retailer) "just to look". How could I possibly resist fish paisley? Fish paisley! How awesome is that? I already have a black and white paisley dress. Just normal paisley, of course, but still, I thought I should do something different with this one so I bought the black on white polka dot to go with it. I'm thinking that will be the bodice but I haven't decided on all the details yet.

I love colors; I've never seen a color that I thought was too bright but there's something very appealing about black and white too. I've seen it recently here and here but I can't honestly say those inspired me this time. It was definitely the fish paisley.

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And this pattern:

This one has been tempting me for a while. I already have at least a dozen patterns that I haven't used yet. But I finally decided to get it. I'll make this one soon. Really.

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And a couple more: Anna has found a blouse pattern with hem facings. I'm generally not a fan of facings but that seems like a really good idea for curved hems.

And a temptation I will definitely not give in to: Oonaballoona's bright floral print trousers. She's got the booty to rock those things; I do not. But, for me, maybe some print leggings with a modest tunic? I don't know. I'll let that one simmer for a while.

Fall Leaves and Critters

I don't have much to say about this other than, "I love it!"

I used the body of New Look 6078 and the sleeves, collar and front band of McCall's 4922. I have done this before and I think it might be my favorite frankenpattern. The sleeves are a little bit too long. I knew I needed to shorten them but I forgot to do it.

(By the way, I made the jeans too.)

Here is a closeup of the adorable fabric.

Summer to Fall

At first I was thinking of this as "one last summer top" but this would be great with a cardigan or light jacket, which makes it perfect for the kind of weather we are having right now: 50° (F) in the morning and 80° in the afternoon.

This is New Look 6963 and one of the 2-yard pieces that I bought back in July. (Which seems much more recent than it is) I don't have much more to say about this other than, I love it. The color, the really cute sewing notions print, and my current favorite shirt pattern. This one's a win. (The print being almost perfectly matched in front is a complete accident.)

From Old Disappointment to New Favorite

This dress is old - at least 15 years, maybe more - but I have not worn it more than three or four times. I found the paisley stripe fabric at Hancock Fabrics but there was only a little more than a yard of it so I picked out a solid fabric to go with it, not sure at the time what I would do but knowing I would come up with something. The "something" turned out to be Simplicity 5558.

(I was trying to look grumpy for the "before" picture but I just look like my grandmother.)

There was so little of the print, it had to be the bodice but there was enough left over that I could get creative with pockets and patches. Overall, I liked it but I had just a couple of problems with it. First of all the neckline looks nothing like the pattern illustration. I don't like a high, wide neckline and although this one wasn't extremely high and wide it was enough to bother me. The biggest problem, though, was the sleeves. They were not really too small but small enough to feel restricting when I raise my arms. Besides that, I just don't wear this length of sleeve very often. Around here if it's warm enough for short sleeves it's usually too hot for any sleeves. So the sleeves had to go and I lowered the neckline about an inch, maybe a little more.

And now, I love it! The neckline looks a little off in the picture but it actually is symmetrical. I could have gone a bit lower but I was being cautious and now it's fine. It feels much more natural to me. The pockets are a little smaller than I like; my phone just barely fits in one of them - not a consideration when I made this - but there's nothing I can do about that now. The length is below mid-calf, about 4 or 5 inches above my ankles. Sort of an odd length I guess but it's the length I really like for summer dresses.

Simplicity 5558 was always a problem pattern for me. I wanted to like it and used it several times before I finally gave up on it. I don't know why I kept trying. Besides the neckline being wrong I really don't much like the high-waisted look and the skirt doesn't seem quite full enough. But now that I've fixed the two biggest problems on this one and I'm really loving it I'm feeling some temptation to try it again. But I'm going to resist. I have other patterns that I haven't even used yet. Time to move on.

Just Slippers

Well, here they are, as promised. My first attempt at making shoes using the pattern from LivingDIYStyle. Trying to be positive, I'm going to say, not bad for a first try. At least you can sort of tell they're supposed to be shoes? They have a soft sole so just house slippers actually.

They do look a bit better with feet in them, I think.

The big disappointment is the serious lack of toe room. I made my usual size, 8, but I think next time I will make 8 1/2 or even 9. And I want to change the shape of the toe a bit. Another small problem: as you can see, the lining shows when they are on. (It's cotton flannel, BTW.) This isn't really a big problem with the slippers. It actually would be kind of cute if it showed evenly all the way around, but I will want to fix this on future shoes.

I made these entirely from scraps that I had on hand, except for the soles which are Shoeology soling fabric. This is very nice stuff - exactly what I've been looking for for ages for making slippers. I didn't bother with interfacing since this was just a test. I added little pieces of batting in the insole for a tiny bit of cushioning. I don't know that I would do that again, even for slippers. They need real insoles. As they are though, only a very thin insole would fit. I like my shoes nice and cushy.

I did walk around the house in them for a little while but, with the lack of toe room, I can't really call these wearable. Obviously more pattern testing and tweaking is needed. Here's one more pic.