One More Addiction

Finally I had the opportunity to pass the fabric store since the new catalogue came out. I’ve been there in January, but the catalogue hadn’t come out. Then last week I didn’t have the opportunity.

Yes, I’m excited since it’s usually packed with inspiration.

Home textiles on the left, fashions on the right

The themes for the fashion catalogue this time around are Graphics, Treasures, Summertime, Energy (children’s wear) and Party. I’m excited to see the new patterns and fabrics. I rarely use the patterns from this store. You can only buy them in one size, so you msut choose your size, and I really don’t like that.

But I know what my evening reading will be tonight.

I realise that I might have a “problem”, starting my quest to find my personal style when I’m pregnant and clothes are limited. However, there are ups as well.

I have inherited clothes from my sister, some of them she got from others. It’s actually quite fun to experiment with clothes that I have not picked out myself to see if there’s something I like or something I should stay away from. For example, my pant selection is three jeans (one pair too big at the moment) and one pair of black pants (also too big). I don’t care too much for jeans or black, but right now it’s my everyday staple. So now I know that black and loose-fitting jeans aren’t really my cup of tea, tight-fitting jeans in a dark wash are OK. Well, really I knew that before, but now I have “proof”.

Also, being pregnant means that I won’t buy a whole lot of unnessecary clothes, which I’ve had a habit of doing before. Buying clothes without knowing how they fit in, is not good. Therefore, at the moment, I will only buy clothes if I have a need for them, being pregnant I do need some more clothes that fit, but since most maternity wear is more expensive than regular wear I really think about my purchases.

So besides the things mentioned above, I’m also working on some of the tips from Retrochick. If I’m browsing the web I try to find inspiration pictures for a lookbook and I’m taking pictures of my daily outfits. Even if my daily outfits are of clothing someone else bought (and some of my own) I can still find inspiration in those.

What I’m expecting is that when I’m ready to wear “normal” clothes and get back to sewing and shopping, I will have a distinct idea of what I want. I’m taking this pregnancy as a “style break”, a chance to look at myself from the outside, a chance to start over. Let’s see how I’ll do.

Even though I’m restrictive about shopping, I can’t avoid all shopping. We’ve been having snow here forever (basically since Christmas – not common) and I didn’t have any winter boots. So last week I bought those, but since it was after Christmas the boot were on sale. And I needed them, my feet are so much warmer now!

Comfy, warm...that's what I ask

I walk a lot, and I get problems with my calves if I wear heels so I normally wear flats. That’, my friends, is a challenge in itself.

To get started with creating in 2010, my first project was the Estelle handbag. I went through my stash and used my kitchen curtain fabric for the bag, a light green fabric. For the handles and bands I used a curdouroy, also found in my stash.

Handbag for spring

I haven’t made any conscious modifications, the pleats are reversed to what the pattern says, but that is all due to my ironing them in the wrong way.

The inside is just as green

It is finished with French seams and has two pockets on the inside. It’s a perfect “party sized” bag, when you need some stuff, but a purse still small enough to carry around. Expect to see this on my shoulder this spring.

I decided that this year, to help myself grow as a sewer, I will list the things I take with me from each project. So the things I take with me from my handbag project are:

Read the instructions thoroughly. It could have saved me a lot of time, especially with the seam ripper, had I read the instructions more carefully and paid attention to what I was doing.

French seams. French seams have always scared me, but now that I had instructions to guide me through them they were not complicated at all. Maybe soon I’ll dare do them for clothing as well, even if the instructions don’t call for them. However, if I do do them I must remember to trim the seam allowances.

Be thorough.The pattern called for pleats facing inwards toward the middle box pleat. Mine don’t, which really doesn’t matter, however, it was not as fun when I sewed on the bands and realised that all pleats were facing the same direction. I should pay more attention to what I’m doing at, if I make the pleats wrong, at least I’m going to make all the pleats wrong.

Considering all the mistakes I made (and nature taking away sewing time yesterday by causing a blizzard) I didn’t think I would finish my bag this week, despite it being one of my goals.

A purse to match my curtains

OK, so I haven’t added a button for closure, but I consider this bag finished. I can’t mess up a button, can I? Famous last words? Anyway, this is just a sneak peak, I will post a proper creation post later on, I will add a new element to those namely to list things I take with me from each project, so I can learn from my mistakes and also the new techniques I’ve tried.

I’m just so happy to have my first creation of 2010 finished! A good start of this year, which I hope will be creative and productive.

I had set out to make weekly goals for my sewing and other creativity to help me realise the yearly goals I set for 2010.

My weekly goals for weeks 2 and 3 were originally set on the basis that I would be away on business trips most of these two weeks. However, life seriously got in the way and I’ve been home most of the time, but I’ve had to spend most of the time home addressing other issues. So, the goals I made for myself last week has since been modified so I won’t feel too overwhelmed.

Goals for week 3:

• Research: Personal style, Retrochick
  I was planning on having my research on basic wardrobes, but Retrochick posted this series, so I made it my research of the week. Better get started reading soon.
• Buy an inspiration book and get logging

So, not too many goals for this week, but I don’t need more stress in my life at the moment.

Without going into too much details, isn’t it scary how quickly life returns to normal after a life-altering event? Something has changed on the inside, irrevocably, but then I find myself worrying about what’s for dinner, reading (and finding joy) in the sewing blogs, wondering about my next project. It is scary, but at the same time also a great relief.

I have gotten started on my first project of the year. Since I don’t feel like sewing maternity wear and I don’t know what sizes to sew for myself for when after the baby is born I decided to focus on accessories.

I also want to make use of the stash I have gathered during the years, the fabrics I have never used and the scraps. So I’m working on a purse with some fabric left over from the kitchen curtain, it was just the perfect amount of fabric left.

Purse that will match my curtains

I use the Estelle pattern from Burdastyle. I’m hoping it will be a great purse for spring. For the trimming I will use a courdoroy, brown with orange embroided flowers, also found in my stash. So I feel very effective with this project; I finally got sewing again and I’m using up my stash. The only bad thing about making a bag is that all pieces come in twos, so everything must be done twice. It’s the worst now in the beginning when everything must be overlocked. But I will push through, I want to be creative again.

This next creation is taken out of BWoF 2009-01. It’s a simple top, I think, however the sleeves makes it interesting. It wasn’t very hard to do, which was good, since I’m using these simple tops to get comfortable working with jersey and knits.

I used simple white cotton jersey, interfacing and threads. That’s it. It was quick to cut and sew, once the pattern was cut it took me 2 hours.

OK, I’m starting with the creation I did today, a star t-shirt. I combined to patterns from Burda WoF 01/09 namely this top and this top; the bodice from the first and the sleeves from the second. I have made both of those tops, so today’s adventure was a quickie.

The fabric is a navy (very dark navy) jersey with white stars (further details here). It was a simple top to put together, just side seams, shoulder seams, interfacing and then the sleeves. Although I did mess up with the interfacing, putting it in the wrong direction so it got stuck to the iron in stead of the fabric. And there was an incident when I threaded the machine wrong, but nothing serious. And still I finished the t-shirt in one day and I didn’t even work very hard.

Enough talk, here’s the pictures!

aka. “what happens when you’re not paying attention”.

My top is finally done! Again. After assembling one sleeve upside down I’ve now taken it out and put it back, the right way this time. I hate ripping seams and I hate it even more in fine jerseys, when the seam is overlocked. Ah, an evening spent with my seam ripper.

I plan on wearing the top tomorrow so I will photograph it on then, in the mean time enjoy this sneak peak. Or see the stupidity that was me!

What happens when you're not paying attention