Lesson one: More solids and neutral

I found that while I’m drawn to prints in the fabric store, they are hard to match when it comes to wearing them. By making garments in neutral colours and solids they are easier to match and I get more use out of them. To make neutrals more interesting I must go for intersting cuts and lines.

Lesson two: More everyday clothes. Lesson three: Sew with a plan

An A-line skirt in a “simple” fabric is a perfect everyday skirt. It can be dressed up or dressed down. It’s a perfect basic in a sewing plan since it can go with prints and neutrals depending on my mood.

Lesson four: More separates. Lesson five: Use good quality fabrics.

Dresses become one outfit. Skirts and tops can become several outfits (back to lesson 3 about matching). This fabric is not a very hich quality, but I had the garment in mind when selecting it and thought about how it would look, how it would fall etc. The final result looks nice and clean and the fabric was a perfect match for an A-line skirt.

Lesson six: Pockets

I found that I often lacked pockets so I picked a model with pockets. The two pockets are sewn on, which made them easy.

My last lesson was “dare”. This does not come into play with this particular project, but it does for some of the things lined up in my future.

Project summary:
Pattern: Burdastyle 10-2011-119
Difficulty:2/5, Burdastyle’s rating  – I agree. It was very simple sewing with no hard techniques.
Alterations: None

Fabric: Cotton.
Notions: Thread, zipper, interfacing.
Price: Fabric 69  SEK (€7.84), thread + interfacing  SEK (€0.11).
Total: 97 SEK (€11.03).

Project Summary: A skirt which is easy to wear and easy to match. It will have to wait for warmer weather, but I have a feeling that this will be yet another wardrobe staple for me.

I have now cut all of the pieces (almost I have one pattern piece to transfer to the lining fabric) and now the last remaining step of preparation will begin; overlocking the edges.

So many pieces to cut…The fabric I’m using is a stretch twill, although the lining, the yellow pieces is a woven, so I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of the stretch. I want to challenge myself more and it seems like a fitted, fully lined jacket could do just that for me.

This is the Blueberry Sorbetto Blouse made with the ever so popular Sorbetto pattern from Colette. I’ve added sleeves to my version, but what I need to finish is a belt I’m planning to add to make the shape more flattering for me.

This is my Lessons Learnt Skirt. The name will be fully explored in the regular post for this skirt. The skirt is Burdastyle 10-2011-119 and all I have left is hemming, althought first I need to decide how long I want the skirt. I think it’s a little too long now, but I can’t figure out how short I want to go.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

January

The year started with a UFO, The Three Year Blouse. I also made a new creation, with stash fabric, The 50s Sunhat.

February

I finished one creation the “Not a Maddy”-blouse. Can I blame February for being the shortest month of the year?

March

Here’s where I got much work done. The Indian Shirt was my first successful pattern alteration followed by The Orangery Skirt, a skirt I love wearing. The Sucker for Sand-top was a definite stash bustin’ project as I only found one pattern to use for my seersucker and the top has never been worn. The Just Floral Top on the other hand is a great stash bustin’ project as it looks good and has gotten some wear. I ended the month with my Midnight Sun Top.

April

I continued with the theme and finished the Midnight Sun Skirt after really adjusting the fabric to fit one more skirt. I also finished the long awaited Elusive Plaid Dress.

May

For May I was away on vacation and planning my return to work, so not much time was spent sewing. On one of the very last days of May I sewed the, unblogged, Mother’s Day sweater.

June

In June I participated in my very first me-made challenge, Me-Made-June. It was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I finished two garment during this month, the National Day Shorts and the Exclusive Skirt. The last garment was the first of the year with newly bought fabric.

July

Balancing work, the kiddo, vacation get-togethers and planning a wedding left no time for sewing.

August

During August I had my long vacation and the weather was not vacation-worthy, it was however very sewing-worthy. Plus I had signed up for Self-Stitched September and I needed clothes to wear. I made my Chocolate Pants, Librarian Skirt, Skirt without Bow and My namesake skirt. I was ready for September. I also sewed two Toddler Skirts for my nieces.

September

I participated in Self-Stitched September and had a little more trouble than during June. I finished my Denim Pencil Skirt before realizing that tops were lacking in my wardrobe, so I sewed myself an October Top and a New Vintage Shrug.

October

In October I made two dresses which both have become favourites. The Oasis Dress gets a lot of everyday wear. The Little Purple Dress got many compliments at Christmas and I can’t wait for another occasion to wear it.

November

I finished one blouse (as I need more tops), the Blouse with a Bow. After that I made the kiddo some Toddler Pants and began the Christmas sewing with a Groovy Grocery Bag.

December

This month was dedicated to Christmas sewing. I made the kiddo and his cousins Matching Jackets, his last cousin got a Mushroom Tunic as well as a Toddler Apron for the kiddo and one final Grocery bag.

All in all I made myself 24 garments, most of which have seen the light of day. This year I’ve focused on what I actually wear and to make matching clothes. I made 10 projects for others. So a very productive year. I hope to keep up productivity and creativity for 2012 even if I don’t expect to pull the same numbers next year.

The “big” gift for the kiddo from us was a kitchen. So, it only made sense that he would get an apron too, he loves helping us out when we cook or do the dishes. I used the same fabric as I did for his cousins last year, but only the animal print, there was not enough giraffe print fabric left. I used this tutorial, with the suggested changes.

In stead of tying the bands around the neck, I added a snap for closure. I topstiched all around the edge to get some more stability. Before Christmas the kiddo liked it, now he has otitis, so he hasn’t really payed much attention to his Christmas gift. But they can wait while he heals.

My final gift was yet another grocery bag. Charlie, again. This one is in a cotton jacquard, courtesy of the scrap bin. It was for my aunt and uncle, who really liked it, especially the pouch feature.

She’s getting a tunic in this adorable mushroom fabric (the next time I’m in the fabric I must see if they still have the blue/turquoise/green jersey mushroom fabric, I hope so!). This is a woven. The pattern is from Allt om Handarbete (Ingeliese) 05-2008-7.

The neckline is a keyhole neckline finished with a drawstring. I imagine that it can be used even in the wintertime with a long sleeved shirt underneath and then later with a t-shirt. Bright and happy colours are needed in the darkness of winter!

There are pleats along the front, held in place by a panel. I really like pleating on children’s clothes.

g cousin who didn’t get a jacket.

Project summary:
Pattern: Allt om handarbete/Ingeliese 05-2008-7
Difficulty:2/5, AoHS’ rating  – I agree. It was very simple sewing with no hard techniques.
Alterations: None

Fabric: Printed cotton.
Notions: Thread.
Price: Fabric 40  SEK (€4.42), thread 1 SEK (€0.11).
Total: 41SEK (€4.53).

Project Summary: The fabric is really cute, and I like the style. I can see why people like sewing children’s clothes since it’s so fast. What I don’t like about it is sewing the small bits. Plus I don’t get anything from it. Anyway, I like the fabric and the style and I hope that the kiddo’s cousin (‘s parents) will like it too.

The kiddo and his two older cousins will get matching jackets. Almost, the kiddo’s has a blue zipper. Plus he has matching pants. The pattern is from Allt om handarbete (aka Ingeliese) 08-2008-106. It only goes to a size 90 cm (the kiddo’s size) so I scaled it up to 100 cm for his cousins who are nine and ten months older than he is. This is why they have different zippers, so that I easily can separate them from each other.

It’s a raglan style jacket, the sleeves is in two parts and go all the way up in the neckline. It closes with a zip and and edges have wristlet fabrics (ah, the pulling!). I love how they turned out and I hope the kids like them too. yesterday I put them on the floor to measure sizes, the kiddo took them and ran away with them. I think he likes them, but he has to wait for Christmas.

It was a fairly easy pattern, the only difficult thing was all the pulling. But I like the result!

Up next on my Christmas sewing list is another Charlie and a tunic for the remaining cousin who didn’t get a jacket.

Project summary:
Pattern: Allt om handarbete/Ingeliese 08-2008-106
Difficulty:3/5, AoHS’ rating (the pattern also included pants with pocket) – I agree somewhat. The sewing was very easy, as I mentioned above the hardest part for me was the wristlets, especially the wrists. To think I sewed 6 of them!
Alterations: None (if you don’t count that I didn’ sew the pants).

Fabric: Sweatshirt fabric (so soft!), wristlet fabric
Notions: Thread, zipper, interfacing
Price: Fabric 29  SEK (€3.19), thread 1 SEK (€0.11), zipper 22 SEK (€2.42) Wristlet fabric comes from an old project which I don’t know the price of.
Total: 52 SEK (€5.71) + whatever the wristlet fabric cost.

Project Summary: I just love the purple colour. I had planned to make myself something of the fabric, but this idea was so much better. I know the kiddo likes his, let’s just hope that the two cousins do too.

This is how I will present the gift as it shows off the feature off putting the bag into its own pouch. It also shows the error I made in that the pouch is inside out. Ah well, it fulfills its purpose.

As you may have guessed my gift is the popular Charlie bag from Burdastyle. I had this leftover fabric and used it to make a bag. I had hoped it would be enough for two bags, but I only managed to squeeze in one. This will be a gift for either my grandparents or my aunt and uncle. I will go to the fabric store tomorrow and see if I can find some more cheap fabric in the scrap bin and make some more. The bag was so quick to sew up and easy that they’ll be the perfect gifts!

Project summary:
Pattern: Burdastyle Downloadable #017, Charlie.
Difficulty:Novice, BS’ rating – I agree somewhat. The sewing itself was easy, but the instructions were a bit hard to understand. I don’t think I’ve sewn the handles correctly, so I hope they’ll hold up anyway.
Alterations: None

Fabric: Printed cotton, a curtain fabric.
Notions: Thread
Price: Fabric 27 SEK (€2.91), thread 1 SEK (€0.11).
Total: 28 SEK (€3.02)

Project Summary: A simple project, I finished the bag in a little over an hour. The instructions left much to be desired though. I think it’ll make a great gift for some people, though.

This top was finished and also worn during Self-Stitched September. I needed more tops. It has its wonks, but I still like it, I particularly like the fabric. The fabric is a knit viscose which is soft and nice to wear.

The pattern is Burdastyle 04-2009-112, which is a pretty basic raglan sleeve t-shirt. It was also for this pattern I learnt how to self make Vlieseline bias tape. It was pretty easy to stitch up, the hardest part was keeping track of front and back pieces of the sleeves and body. Also my mind must not have been working right, because I could not figure out how to do the cuffs. They became my own version.

I don’t really know what I did, but they add a little extra touch to the top. They are a bit annoying, I will admit that, but for most part, I like them.

Project summary:
Pattern: Burdastyle 04-2009-112.
Difficulty:2/5, BS’ rating – I agree
Alterations: Different cuffs. I didn’t fold the facing inwards after attaching it to the neckline.

Fabric: Viscose knit
Notions: Self-made Vieline bias tape, thread
Price: Fabric 120 SEK (€13), interfacing + thread 5 SEK (€0.54).
Total: 125 SEK (€13.54)

Project Summary: A basic, easy t-shirt pattern. I fell in love with the fabric from the catalogue, the colour was great for a basic. The shirt is comfortable, it was easy to sew and if I ever feel like making another t-shirt this pattern is a great candidate. The neckline is perfect.
As for the name of the project. The week I finished this October began and the Sew Weekly theme was Think Pink in honour of breast cancer awareness, so my top became the October top.