Little bits of nothing...

I'm in the middle of a major sewing stop. All I've done in the month of July is unpack boxes in my new apartment. Yet, as I type this, I'm still surrounded by chaos, so I'm not convinced I'm doing anything... I've invited people over on Thursday, thereby setting myself a deadline. Nothing like people coming over to force you to clean your house.

I had a little shock when I unpacked my fabric boxes and found tons of fabric! Ok, I'm now officially drowning in fabric, and I will make the big resolution. NO FABRIC (NEW, THRIFT, ANYTHING) UNTIL NOVEMBER. Three months is a good first step, I think.

Sigh. I really want to sew! Cleaning sucks.

June BWOF of the month - BWOF 06-2008-103

Copying Christina - I've decided I need to sew up at least one project from BWOF each month. Else, I refuse to allow myself to buy it. At $10+ a pop, its pretty expensive eye-candy.



Which brings me to this month's project - BWOF 06-2008-103. The instant I saw these shorts, I knew I wanted to make them. The project was marked 2 dots - so, theoretically, I could sew it, and the shorts just looked so summery, I was sold.



There's a lot of pattern pieces to this one - 7, to be exact. Also, some details that are, in my opinion, definitely not 2-dot - for example, the zippered welt pockets, which I decided I would not freak out about, and simply try (worked well, I highly recommend diving in, what's the worst that could happen, anyway?). My pockets aren't perfect, but they look ok, and are functional. (Kathleen Fasanella's zippered welt pocket tutorial is pretty useful reading - I recommend it highly.)



I made my usual BWOF size - 40, taking a few inches off around mid-thigh for the petite-length adjustment. The shorts fit well, but are a tiny, tiny bit loose. I think I'm probably a 39 in BWOF, but am FAR too lazy to bother tracing both the 38 and the 40, and adjusting.



Other things? I ignored the fly front instructions totally, and used Sandra Betzina's tutorial instead. That probably saved me a few moments of swearing. Also, I had a RTW pair of cuffed pants as a reference in front of me when I was doing the cuffs. I'm sure BWOF's instructions were fine for the cuff, I just didn't look.

Finally, the original shorts come with a tie around the cuffs that you thread through eyelets. I was dubious about both eyelet as well as the tie, so left them out totally.

But apart from all of that, I found BWOF's instructions fairly clear and logical. Hmmm. I'm not sure if they are getting better, or I'm learning technique that I can apply to my sewing.

Twin disasters!

I went out last night to listen to a Cajun band. Wore my red dress - and promptly proceeded to spill a glass of red wine over it. Sigh. This is why I drink beer.

So, dress is in sink right now, with milk poured over the stain. (Internet advice for how to get out a red wine stain yielded a ton of suggestions - I'm working my way through them sequentially.)

Sigh. I loved this dress so much!

Other disaster - I've been sewing McCall 4826 in a pink striped seersucker that's been lying around in my stash for a few months. Like a complete idiot, I forgot to adjust for my short torso. I attached the painstakingly ruffled skirt yesterday afternoon, and UGGGHHHH!!!! I haven't had a sewing yuck moment in a while, but this one was it. The ruffles started at my hip, leading to an overwhelming resemblance to a whale!

So now, I have to rip out the skirt stitching, cut an inch or two of the front center waistband, and reattach. I might also have to take out 4-5 inches of fullness on the back skirt - its huge! I don't need 7 feet of fabric bunched up at my waist. Insane!

Bah. Not fun. I'm cranky.

Waiting to get sewing... wanting to get sewing...

I've no time though! A 2.5 hour commute is taking up every available hour, and when I return home, I'm just too exhausted to sew. (July 1st - hopefully, new apartment - will solve this.)

As a result, all I've managed to do in two weeks is make one dress. I used my yellow, grey and white knit to make Simplicity 4074. I was going to make a BWOF, but got too lazy to trace. Plus, I'd made Simplicity 4074 before, and it was all cut out and ready to go.

Again, I like but don't love this dress, and since I've felt like this twice, its the pattern. It might look better with a belt, though.



Question - can I wear this to work? I work in a business casual office. Could I get away with this on a Friday? Please weigh in... (Also, if it doesn't fit, looks strange, etc, please weigh in...)

Getting to know me better...

So, I started a new job Friday. Which means dramatic lowering of sewing output. (Otherwise a good thing, though, I'm really enjoying myself.)

Since I haven't been sewing, I'll do my meme instead. Lilia and Christina both tagged me - so here goes!

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
Working as a software engineer, living in Cleveland, getting over a boy...

2.) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
I had a lot of work related things, which aren't interesting, and are probably fairly confidential. Other than that...
- I cut out Simplicity 4074 last night, and I'd like to start sewing it.
- Go to sleep early tonight, I'd like to actually catch the train on time tomorrow morning.

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Hmm. I actually don't like a lot of packaged snacks. However, I can eat my body weight in cheese, most veggie appetizers, bread. I love chocolate, though! No chocolate is safe from me.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
- Buy a house. I'd buy an old house - I love old houses.
- Buy a vacation house. Somewhere on a beach.
- Oh, since I'm dreaming, I'd like a plane to fly me to my vacation house.
- I'd do nice stuff for my parents and siblings, of course - house, vacation house, plane, that kind of stuff.
- Have I burned through a billion yet? No? Well, I'd invest in companies that promote alternative sources of energy, organizations that promote education in the Third World, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.

Although all of these sound pretty fun, and its great to dream, I have to provide context here. I'm mostly truly contented with my life. I have a pretty good life.

5) Places I have lived:
In chronological order - Madras (Chennai), India; Cleveland, OH; Boston, MA (actually, Cambridge); Ann Arbor, MI and now, Mississauga (Toronto), ON.

6) Jobs I have had:
In chronological order - Software intern, Coffee shop girl, software engineer, technology consultant, museum gift shop attendant, management consultant and now, manager (I work in the corporate office of a retailer.)

I'm going to do my usual thing on tagging - if you want to play, please do. I'd love to know more about all of you!

Now, off to tackle the to-do list. Sewing, yay!

And, I give up!

In case anyone's wondering what happened to my mini-wardrobe for the mini-wardrobe contest, this photo was taken 3 minutes ago.



And a close-up of the raw edge.



I suck at finishing armholes, so I want to take my time and not rush it. Plus, finish armhole - write 4 reviews - take photos - enter contest - I couldn't do all of that in 20 minutes. Even I knew that. (I inherit a streak of craziness from BOTH my parents that often makes me think I can do way more than I actually can. Then, I'll run around like a chicken with its head cut off.)

So, I give up. This is shaping up to be a super-nice top, and I'll finish it tomorrow.

My entry for the Vintage Pattern Contest

I *LIKED* my muslin - but I *LOVE* this dress in the red eyelet so much!



The dress (Advance, 6922) came together a lot easier this time. I think I got a much better fit on the bodice, and I definitely got a better fit in the back.

(Better fitting back. I especially like the way the zipper ends right at the V. It didn't, in my muslin.)


This dress reminds me of stuff you find in the J. Crew catalog or something. And I think, despite being a vintage pattern, this dress doesn't feel a tiny little bit costumey. It just feels like a nice, pretty, summer dress.

The eyelet holes made me wonder if I wanted to line this dress, but I held off, and I'm glad. Right now, it feels light and airy, and lining might have killed that feeling.

My take on a trend - T-shirt dresses

T-shirt dresses are in, according to Lucky. Well, ok, I got to work over the weekend.



This was a super-easy t-shirt dress. I pulled out Simplicity 4076, and lengthened it appropriately. One tiny hiccup - I forgot to add some inches for my hip, I forgot that the t-shirt hits me above my hip. So, its a little snug around my hips, but perhaps impetus to lose some weight. (Or, invest in control-top underwear?)

In any case, easy knit dress, in a few hours. Perfect for running errands around town.

Parting shot:

Ok, I don't often rant about the price of some RTW. It is what it is, there are clearly some people willing to pay for it, etc, etc. But seriously, this dress, by Coven, costs $434. Mine costs $3.

Bad, bad, out-of-control Reethi

I confess - I can't walk past fabric without buying it. Every time I sew one thing from the stash (e.g. - the McCalls 5621) I seem to add 5 things to it.

Case in point, the last 3 days. (In my defense, I've been stressed about something, and I think I was stress-shopping). In the last 3 days, I've bought:

On Saturday:

1. A yellow, white and grey knit - 2 meters at Fabricland. I think I'm making BWOF 04-2008-116 with it. There are some great examples of this dress sewn up - Adrienne's, and Tany's come to mind immediately. Though my version will not be as long - since I'm too short to wear long dresses.
2. A grey stretch twill-type fabric (I think it is cotton). Bought to make BWOF 04-2008-113 This is a 2.5 dot pattern, and I'm definitely sewing above my sewing ability. But that's sort of the point, I think, if I don't stretch myself, I won't learn.
3. A blue knit, bought solely because it was $1.77 a yard. In my defense, I've already sewed this up - I made a t-shirt dress. I'll do a post on that when I take a photo.

On Sunday:
Nothing, I was good.

On Monday:

I was stressing extra-hard, but I only bought one piece of fabric. A white and red print, at Value Village - $1.50. Its some kind of polyester, I think, but it doesn't feel icky against my skin. Its the leftmost fabric in the picture, and was $1.50 for 2+ yards (half off day at Value Village.)

On Tuesday:

I'd gone to a sari store near home called Lishkara. They have a lot of fabric there, mostly ethnic Indian, and a few that aren't. They also have a remnant section, and in there, I found the rightmost 3 pieces of fabric - all for $1 each. (Come on! At that price, how could I not?) There's a meter of one of the blues and the yellow, and two meters of the other blue.

The yellow is the same as my Versace knock-off dress. I bought it because I haven't been wearing the dress, and I think its because its backless. I had no fabric left, so I bought some fabric to add a back panel. I think I'll have to take apart the top completely to do that, I'm hoping it won't be too big an undertaking.

So, sigh. I'm out of control. (Notice, I'm not actually promising to stop.)

If you read my blog...

Would you add me to your blog roll? I'm always shy about asking someone to add me. In fact, I think I've asked once (I asked Erica)

But I love comments, its nice to feel like there's a community of people cheering on your sewing.

It goes without saying, I think, that I'm always happy to add people to my blog list. In fact, I'm off to update it now.

Thanks!

I feel dorky even writing this post.

Unscheduled sewing detour - McCalls 5621

Although I had a detailed sewing plan for May, last night I ignored it completely and pulled out McCalls 5621 to sew. I've had an Indonesian batik in my stash (found in Salvation Army, with Indonesian Batik label still intact! - $1.99) for about 6 weeks now, and I've been itching to use it.


(Ignore the super-dorky look, the sun was in my eyes, I think.)

This dress came together so easily. The only slightly complicated part was the yoke - and it really wasn't - just required some careful pinning.




Can I bitch a little about the Big 4 pattern sizing? (See Christina's commentary here.) Begin rant. I'm a 10-12, according to my measurements. So, I bought a pattern that had 10-12-14-etc sizing. Yeah. Right. This dress is ridiculously loose in the bodice. I need a 6 or an 8 at the top, at least. So, its one thing if the sizing is just off. Its another thing completely if the sizing is SO OFF THAT I BUY THE WRONG SIZE PATTERN! End rant.

That being said, I like the dress, resemblance to maternity gown notwithstanding. And I love the fabric! I'm heading out for dinner - my family's waiting with thinly disguised impatience - so the dress gets an outing tonight! Yay for sewing skill improvement that actually lets me wear what I make outside the house.

The Mini-Wardrobe Swap

Of course I'm playing! I'm addicted to this wardrobe thing.

After the whirlwind of April though, it took a while to get back in the sewing groove. I'm still sort of out of it, but I've slowly sewn up my two skirts for this wardrobe.

My theme is called Adding In Ethnic.

Ethnic - inspired by Cidell's dress , Cidell's other dress and Christina's dress, as well as all the ethnic trends in Spring/Summer 2008.

Adding in - because I want the pieces to work with my Mellow Yellow wardrobe.

I'm making the 4 piece option - 2 skirts and 2 tops. (I should get a storyboard going.)

ETA - here's the storyboard.


Skirt 1 - McCalls 5474



I was really looking for a skirt with box pleats, otherwise I'd have scrolled right past this picture. The picture is, how should I put it? a little young. I'm too old to wear a mini-skirt. However, I own a skirt with box pleats, a skirt that really works well for me, and the lines on this McCall skirt were right.

My fabric was an ikkat-style cotton from my stash. My mom bought me this the last time she was in India. She paid the equivalent of $1 for it, I think. (What can I say? cotton is ridiculously cheap in India.) Unfortunately, she bought this before I was garment sewing - so I had a scant meter of this. Ah well. I made do. (Just about.)

This pattern is EASY!!!! There's two pattern pieces - a skirt and a waistband. That's it. If you know how to set in a zipper, you can make this skirt. I love easy! (Also, for some reason, places like Ann Taylor charge $40+ for a skirt like this. Bah. My version was $2. ($1 - fabric, $1, zipper.)

The not-enough fabric modifications? Not a fan of the waistband, which I didn't have enough cloth to cut with the stripes vertical.

(Bad waistband.)


However, I never tuck in - ever. (I have a tummy.) So, skirt works fine.

(And the inside facing is a solid red, since by now, I'd TOTALLY run out of fabric.)

Skirt 2 - Simplicity 4036.



I think I could make this skirt in my sleep, I've made it so many times. (The first pattern I ever made, too.)

Repeat from above - EASY!!! I LOVE easy.

My fabric was a batik wall hanging that I found this in my local Salvation Army/Goodwill. It was $1.99? $2.99? Something like that. I knew I wanted to make it a skirt, but was on the fence about it a little, since that was a little weird. But the cashier had already rung it up, so I think it was meant to be.

(Back of skirt.)



Vintage Advance Dress Muslin - I had 11 comments on the dress!!!!! Wow. How cool! Thank you everyone who weighed in - the consensus was OVERWHELMINGLY, no belt/skinny belt. I don't own a skinny belt, and I'll earmark some time over the weekend to look for one. In the meanwhile, however, I'm going out tomorrow night, and its supposed to be super-warm. So, perhaps, the dress will get a preview, without belt.

Vintage Advance Dress - the muslin, finally!

Finally! Its not that this was a complicated dress, because it wasn't. The instructions were clear, there weren't too many fitting issues, but somehow, I just couldn't find time to sew. Ah, the perils of a social life.

Anyway, I had a few hours yesterday, and a few hours today (watching the Cavs Celtics game and slip-stitching - so much slip-stitching on this dress!), so I finally got it done.

I had to do a bit of fitting for the bodice. It was hard to figure out where to do a petite alteration on the bodice, because of the princess seams. I sewed up the bodice, and then took off an inch of the bottom. I should have taken off two. To compensate (I'd already basted the zipper) I took an inch off the shoulder. In the red version, I'll do this right.

Otherwise, I think this is pretty wearable. I don't love the fabric on me (why? I love orange so much, it just doesn't look that good on me though), but its a nice, summer dress that I'll get a lot of use out of.




What do you think? Belt? No belt? Different belt?

Life's little detours...

I was about half done with my Advance muslin last weekend, and then I realized I didn't own an orange invisible zipper. I do a TERRIBLE job with lapped zippers, and my local Fabricland didn't have an orange zipper, even though I was willing to pay their RIP-OFF price of $3.50 for it.

And so this project was on hold until zipper was purchased. (Which I did, yesterday.)

In the meanwhile, I tackled one of my MUST-DO projects. The daughter of my oldest friend Anu turns one on Sunday, and I decided my gift was going to be a party dress. (Note to self - purchased gifts are so much easier.)



Fabric - Less than a half meter of a deep blue satin, found in the remnant bin in Fabricland. I also used a half meter of blue lining. Total cost of fabric? About $5. (Remnant bins rock.)

Notions - One invisible zipper and a purchased rose. Less than $4 in notions, bringing the grand total up to under $10. (The ten hours of labor on this dress - ah, priceless. Part of gift.)

Close-up of flower & trim:


The foundation of this dress is BWOF 11-2007-136. I omitted the collar and the sleeves, and made this dress up in a synthetic satin (which frayed like the devil!). Its fully lined, the sash is two layers of ribbon, a more translucent white/silver set over a plain white satin ribbon. I added a purchased ribbon rose - and attached it with a pin, so the dress would be washable. God, this dress took HOURS! (I'm not exactly sure why, either.) I changed up this dress so much I'm not going to bother with a review, besides, I didn't really even read the instructions, I just sort of muddled through.

Along the way, I got to use my ruffler foot, my edge-stitch foot and my zipper foot, of course. All fun.

Nice things about this dress - the only exposed seams are the center back, below the zipper. Its fully lined, and really, the color of this fabric just doesn't show well in the pictures. This is really gorgeous fabric.

Not so-nice things - My zipper is a tiny bit wonky - see below picture. Honestly, though, this is just a nitpick. I'm happy with this dress, I think it makes a nice present.



And now, back to the orange dress.

Lots of procrastination

Nothing much is getting done chez Reethi. I'd originally had a LONG (think 10+ projects) sewing list for May, and a third of the month has gone by, and I've done 1. The simplest one - an A-line skirt.

Right now, on the sewing table is this vintage Advance pattern.



I want to make it in this gorgeous red eyelet (from India.)



But, since I've never made a vintage pattern before, I'm going to actually make a muslin. (Yeah, I know. Its pretty strange behavior for me.)

My muslin, which I'm hoping will be wearable, is going to be this cheerful orange print. I found it at Fabricland, it was 100% cotton (made in India, of course! aarrgh!) and I paid $10 for 3 meters. Cool!



This vintage pattern sewing was totally inspired by Kristy, who actually USES her vintage patterns. Also providing motivation was the Vintage Pattern sewing contest at PatternReview.

Perhaps I'll get the muslin made this weekend? I'm going out tonight and tomorrow afternoon, and Sunday is Mother's Day (with attendant festivities) so there isn't much sewing time. However, this pattern seems simple enough, so perhaps.

And some more pics of detailed outfits

Mostly because Pattern Review mandates they already be on the web... I'll add details tomorrow?

Outfit 8



Outfit 9


The simplified bag...

Wardrobe 2008!

Real life - yikes!

Real life bit me, big-time. Mostly good stuff, but of course, when on such a super-tight sewing deadline, its hard not to look at being busy and social and going - BUT I NEED TO SEW!

So, yesterday, some reassessment happened. I still had two pieces to sew - the grey BWOF skirt and the bag. I was also going out in the evening. More of that social life! (Side note - Harold and Kumar Go to Guantanamo Bay - very, very funny!)

And I decided the plan needed to change, and I needed to swap my bag plan. I've never sewn with vinyl - there was a lot of little pieces, it hadn't been cut, I thought it would take two days to sew, time I just didn't have.

I went with Plan B. Simple, simple tote. It coordinates, its useful, and it sewed up super quick.

Long story short, I'm done. The camera is charging, I won't be able to take photos till 9pm, but I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!



I want to thank everyone who left a comment during this insanity, both here and on Pattern Review. Thank you!!!!! Your encouragement meant so much, and was so incredibly motivating!

Photos to follow in a few hours!

BWOF 03-2008-117A (aka, marathon sewing project)

I fell in love with this blouse jacket the INSTANT I saw it in the March BWOF. The instant. And when I found a cheerful yellow fabric at Value Village, it was fate. It re-sparked the whole Wardrobe Contest idea.

Ah, but the pain this fabric put me through. The problem - it was just transparent enough that you could visibly see when I was wearing something dark underneath. As much of my wardrobe is dark shirts, I figured I needed to fix it.

I've bitched about lining issues in my last post. So, enough said on that.

I learned so much on this project. Its the first time I've ever lined a jacket. I'm sure the way I did it was unorthodox, but since this jacket didn't come with lining instructions, any way I got it in would work, as far as I was concerned.

I also did one nicer-sewing thing. I usually don't bother with nice details - I'm all about instant gratification - but this time, I used a yellow bias binding to finish the facing edges, and slip stitched the lining to the binding. Like so...



(Unfortunately, I occasionally caught some actual fabric in my needle. Oops. Ah well. I'll still wear the jacket.)

Looking at the picture, its clear the jacket needs pressing. It is completely time for me to stop being an ass and buy a pressing ham already! This project proved my ironing board is just not enough.

One more picture? This would be:

Outfit 7



Now, for those pesky pants...

ETA: I'm so pleased - I've made 2 projects from the March BWOF. Its almost like they aren't just eye-candy! Grin.

Penny-wise, pound-foolish...

Here's a confession - I do stupid sewing things.

Like - using the color of thread that's already in the sewing machine, rather than matching my thread. (I've been slowly weaning myself away from this doozy of a bad habit.)

Like - buying thin knit fabric instead of knit underlining (because the former was less than $2, and the latter was $7). Then realizing that above-mentioned knit fabric stretches ridiculously due to gravity, and is completely useless as underlining. (Thankfully for my white pants, I realized this before using the damn thing as underlining.)

Like using the above-mentioned knit fabric as lining for my yellow jacket. Oh, why oh why am I such an idiot? Let me see why I reached for it - oh, yeah. Because it was already there. And it was the only light color lining-like thing I had lying around.

Hmm - contrasting with that, let me list the reasons why I should not have used the damn thing.

1. It curls like the devil. (If the devil curled?) I've had to pin the fabric practically every inch to stitch a straight seam.
2. Like I mentioned before, it stretches. Ridiculously. My knit fabric, though cut the exact same size as my jacket, has already stretched 1.5 inches longer. (And this is the less-stretchier grain.)
3. And in order to compensate for 2, I just finished pinning all my princess seams together, lining & fabric, in order to stitch in the ditch on the fashion side to stabilize the lining somewhat.

I am such an idiot. My mom looked at me the other day (after hearing about my skirt saga, where, again, I used some white cloth as lining because it was there, which I now have to rip out) and said she thought I was penny-wise, pound-foolish. I think she might have a point.

And while I'm about it, a wardrobe update...



Yup, from the last update, a week ago, I've managed to finish one piece. Yeah. Life intervened, in the form of my birthday, much drinking (because of the birthday), nursing hangovers (also, birthday), window shopping and general goofing around. I'll still finish, I think, but I'm getting pretty close to the last minute here.

Finished:

Top - McCall 4923
Top - Simplicity 4076
Skirt - Simplicity 3962
Top - BWOF 03-2008-110
Skirt - Simplicity 3631 (ok, bit optimistic to put it here, but anyway.)
Top - Butterick 4985

In varying stages of construction:

Jacket - BWOF 03-2008-117
Pants - Simplicity 4135
The bag - I've sort of made a pattern which will hopefully do.

Worrying me, since they are completely uncut:

Skirt - BWOF 03-2008-114 (untraced too, eek!)