Standards, And How They Set Goals

I come from a larger family (four children), which meant that there was a lot more conforming to house standards and a lot less doing whatever the heck I felt like. One standard that was set was for cleanliness, and to a lesser degree, neatness. I bet you think those two are the same! But they're not. Cleanliness requires that you scrub ... and wash ... and wash, and scrub. Neatness requires that you put things away.

After many decades of fighting the yoke of cleanliness, I've finally succumbed to it -- after all, there's something to be said about living free of dust, mold, bugs, and sticky filth. But neatness? Well, that was never drummed into me. But I did have a special appreciation for arranging things nicely, and having a place for everything (and everything in a place).

Lately, life got me down and I let my room go to the wrong side of the neatness barometer. But somehow, today, I can see more of my floor than I have in a long time. And I feel inspired! Inspired to ... sew. Yep. See, most of the crap that's turned my room into a hoarder's fantasy is sewing stuff. Patterns, patterns, and more patterns; clothes waiting to be re-styled; sewing projects in progress; and new cuts of fabric. Oh, and shoes. Because I'm a woman and I can do that. But anyway!

The point is that I've somehow cleared a little space on my floor, and I want more. So I need to sew -- sew through each pattern to see how it fits, sew through the piles of fabric so that they are clothes and not piles. I can already foresee the strain this is going to put on my meager closet, but hey! I'm all about making sacrifices. If that means having more to wear than I ever have in my life, well -- what's a woman to do?

Giving Up On Catching Up

Confession time: I’m not a very trendy person. Or rather, I’m not trendy in a timely fashion. It takes me two to four years before I finally hop on the bandwagon, by which time the trends have begun to shift ever so slightly. The other day I realized that my mistimed wardrobe changes are part of the reason I am often unhappy with my appearance, and I decided that I need to more strongly develop my own personal style, so that I am less upset by fashion changes in the world around me. That, and I need to be more adventurous about jumping on things while they’re hot! Part of the fun of fashion is the play aspect of engaging fully with whatever the fashion gods deem ‘hot’. Right?

Wrap This One and Tie It With a Bow

I’m sure you’ll recognize the Hounds scarf I am wearing from a previous post, and you got a sneak preview of this skirt in the video I made for Hounds – so now, here is the skirt in all its glory!

This project was satisfying because I finally did a waistband up to my standards. (Like most sewers, everything must be *perfect* or it Doesn’t Count.) I am already looking for more projects with waistbands, so I can keep hitting sewing home runs!

The other reason this project was satisfying was how pretty the end result is! My store bought wardrobe is fairly drab, and completely lacking in purely pretty pieces. So it’s a great joy to have such a lovely skirt in my collection, and that I made it myself makes it that much sweeter.

I used McCall’s pattern 5430 for this project. I added several inches of width along the center front and center back lines to accommodate my hips. I also combined the pockets from view C with the flounce-front in view A. I followed the pattern instructions pretty closely, and I am quite happy with their clarity and sequencing. I definitely recommend this pattern.

On to more sewing! I wonder what is next …

Release the Hounds

Fun factoid about me: I am horribly, intensely allergic to dogs. I’m so sensitive it’s embarrassing! So this houndstooth check scarf is as close to man’s best friend as I can safely get. (“Hounds” tooth … get it?)

I absolutely love this scarf, and look forward to wearing the heck out of it! I’m also proud of it because it is my first attempt at doing a two-pass baby (rolled) hem on the sewing machine. I do have a rolled hem foot, but it frankly never occurred to me to use it! I’m a bit analog, what can I say.

If you want to make a scarf like this, all you need is 3/4 to 1 yard of fabric that is at least 50 inches wide, and some thread. You can use a rolled hem foot, or do a two-pass rolled hem (i.e., stitched, trimmed, and stitched again), or even do a rolled hem by hand, to neaten up the four sides of your rectangle. Et voila, you’ll have a scarf!

I am the world’s slowest sewer *and* I used two colors of thread for the hemming because I thought it would look cool (and it does, thank you very much), and the whole project took me less than two hours. So if you want a cheap, instant gratification project, definitely give a scarf a try!

Silversand Cardi

You saw me cut it out, now you get to see the finished product: the Silversand Cardigan! I named it Silversand because of the color of the fabric and the metallic threads running through it.

This was a really fast project and I’m quite happy with the way it turned out – I wouldn’t change a thing! Also, this cardi is quite warm, despite being sleeveless; definitely good for those early spring or late summer nights with a bit of bite in the air.

The pattern I made is a good one for chunky knits with good drape, because it minimizes the amount of bulk covering the front of the body, so I may make a tutorial on how to draft this pattern using your own measurements (or tried-and-true pattern, or favorite shirt). We’ll see!

In the meantime, though, if I decide to make a light weight drape cardigan, I will probably follow the Light Drape Cardigan tutorial by Bored and Crafty. It’s perfect! (And an instant gratification project, too!)

The Look and a Grain of Salt

Today’s book is The Look: A Guide to Dressing from the Inside Out, by Randolph Duke. (See if your local library has this book on WorldCat, or buy it on Amazon.)

In my quest to read everything on personal style, dressing, and fashion, I rather dubiously checked out a slick-looking book called “The Look” from the library. It wasn’t a waste of time, but watch the video for the inside scoop on this effort.

On Deck

Remember this?

Even though it’s the middle of winter, this is the perfect time to begin thinking about warm weather wardrobes. (Ooh, alliteration!) For sewers and non-sewers alike, it takes time to pull out and review last year’s summer clothes, and decide what needs to be added to the collection for this year.

And that’s where the similarity ends, because sewers can do something non-sewers cannot: make our own clothes! Once we decide what we need and want, we can make it happen.

I am a little embarrassed to admit that I have never owned summer clothes. I’ve had t-shirts, of course, but they are the kind you get from volunteering, or the merch table at concerts, or the men’s section of your local discount clothing store. I’ve never had shorts, skirts, tanks, or anything that said ‘summer’. Or ‘spring’. Or even ‘cute’. So this year, I’ve got a lot of sewing to do.

Me, every summer ... minus the hat.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a frilly tank top and a simple t-shirt in the works, as well as a maxi dress. I also whipped up a pair of shorts. But what I don’t have is a vision … yet. For that, I’m going to look both to high end designers and the world around me. In a series of posts, I’ll share my finds with you, and maybe we'll both find some inspiration for our wardrobes this year!

The Other Half

A growing trend in womenswear lately has been the masculine look – borrowing garments, lines, and styles from traditional menswear, especially their cold weather offerings. I’m not sure how the gents feel about this borrowing, but that does make menswear fashion shows that much more important to us ladies!

And conveniently, menswear designers just wrapped up their Paris shows, premiering their Fall/Winter 2013/2014 looks. Check out the new looks for next season, courtesy of FashionTV’s Menswear channel on Youtube.

Purple and Flyyy

My shorts are done! I love them!

 

 

I may go back and tweak the hem and slim some fullness out of the leg … or I may not.

 

 

They are fabulous and feel awesome! I love the cool, textured fabric and I love the little details I put into this project, like the front button fly with loops instead of button holes:

 

I also made two openings, the above pictured button fly and a side zip:

 

These shorts are definitely a success and a major plus for my wardrobe! And I think I finally cracked the crotch-curve code, so look out for a video on drafting your own pants patterns some time in the future.