Omg, you guys! I’ve been nominated for a Liebster Award! Thank you, Sarah Kate Creations! It’s totally made my day 🙂

In case you’re not familiar with the Liebster Award, it’s to help people discover new blogs with less than 200 followers. There are a couple of rules associated with receiving the award, which are:

So, today (or yesterday if we’re being pedantic) is my 30th birthday, and I wanted to share the birthday love with all of you! Truth be told, I’ve been wanting to do a giveaway on my blog for a while now, but I kept missing the various milestones that I planned for – 5000 blog views whizzed past, 100 Twitter followers came and went, and so I figure my birthday is as good a reason as any!

Since I’ve been around for three decades now (!) I’m going to give away three different things. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment for me and tell me which item you’d like to win – it’s that simple! I’ll draw the winners in a week from now, which is the 23rd of February. You can enter three separate times if you want to win all three things, that’s totally fine! This giveaway is open to anyone from anywhere in the world, so international bloggers, you’re welcome to enter!

So first up, we have 3 patterns from my collection!

Vogue 8723, McCall’s Vintage 9263 (size 16) and Megan Nielsen’s Banksia Blouse (not pictured because it’s in a box and I have to dig it out, but I promise it’s included!)

Next up there’s 3 yards of a beautiful rayon challis fabric from FabricMart – it would make a lovely dress or blouse, I think!

And last but not least, we have one of the Japanese Stylish Dress Books by Yoshiko Tsukiori – this one is the Wear With Freedom book, and the dresses in it are so pretty and summery!

I also have some other little goodies I’ll be tucking into the giveaway packages 🙂 Good luck, everyone!

Like the rest of the blogging world, I jumped on the new Deer&Doe Plantain t-shirt pattern the moment it was released! Not only is it FREE, but it’s also a great, simple pattern that takes almost no time to make! Win-win, yes? (I know I don’t look too thrilled in the above photo, but the early morning sun was very, very bright).

So the pattern itself is very easy to make – I probably took longer taping the pattern together than I did actually sewing it! I used some fawn fabric I got from Girl Charlee a while back – I’m actually pretty disappointed in it, since it’s not very soft (despite being described as such on their website) and also, not very stretchy! In fact, I spent a good ten minutes crouched over the fabric, pulling it this way and that to try and work out which way had the most stretch – I honestly couldn’t tell, since neither direction seemed to stretch much at all! I even got Luke involved, but he was just as clueless as I was. As a result of this, my Plantain is a little more snug than I would like, especially around my upper arms. I cut out a 46, which is the largest size the pattern offers, and I’m happy with the fit everywhere except the bust and upper arms. I do need to do a small narrow shoulder adjustment for the next one, and I have a couple more stretchier fabrics I plan to make this up in next, and I expect the fit then will be just perfect!

I was worried this top wouldn’t be flattering on me, given the flared design, but actually, I really like it! You may notice I omitted the elbow patches – they’re just not my style, I don’t think, and I really want to focus on making things I’ll actually wear this year. I don’t have a serger, so I sewed this up with a narrow zig zag, and used a twin needle to hem the bottom and sleeves. I’m super happy with how my neckband turned out – this fabric curled like a bitch when I tried to stretch it out to sew it, and I thought it was going to be a disaster, but I went slowly and thankfully the end result looks pretty sweet.

So in short, love this pattern, love Deer&Doe (as always) and I’ve got some fabric sitting in the laundry basket ready to be prewashed for another Plantain this weekend!

This is actually a make from the end of 2013 – I made it up quickly just in time for the Bay Area sewcialist meetup! And I’ll make another admission while I’m at it…this isn’t even my first Lady Skater. I never blogged about the first one because I made a poor fabric choice, it stretched so much it wasn’t funny and didn’t stretch back, and consequently is now in the bin. C’est la vie.

So, the pattern is the ever popular Lady Skater by Kitschy Coo, in a straight size 14. I shortened the bodice by 2″, and I still think it could stand to be shortened a tiny bit more – the weight of the skirt pulls the waist to just below my natural waist (in this fabric, anyway). The sleeves are too long (a recurring problem of mine), but if I fold the cuffs back, they work. I’ll definitely shorten them next time.

The fabric is a nautical-themed knit from Girl Charlee that they don’t seem to stock any more – the anchors are silver and red dots are actually little boat tillers. It’s one of the better quality knits I’ve bought from Girl Charlee, in that it’s quite soft but not too thin and curly when I stretch it. On the whole, though, I’m generally disappointed by my purchases there, and probably won’t be making any more in the future.

Construction was fairly simple – I used knit stay tape instead of clear elastic to stabilise the shoulder and waist. I used clear elastic from Joann’s the first time round, and that stuff is god awful. It stretched while I sewed it no matter how hard I tried, my needle didn’t like puncturing it, and it felt horrible and scratchy against my tummy when I wore the dress. Ugh. I can highly recommend the knit tape, it was super easy to use and made sewing the seams a dream. I hemmed the skirt with my twin needle and two different coloured threads, because I’m classy like that.

In case you were wondering, these photos were taken at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day. A bit of a change from my usual roof backdrop! It was quite nerve-wracking taking outfit photos in a public place, but I tried my best not to let it bother me. I wear this dress ALL the time – it’s so comfortable, and looks good, too! I have some more knit fabric with fawns on it (FAWNS!) that I’m planning to make another with. Please look forward to it!

So, December was Archer Appreciation Month in the sewing world (Archer being the wonderful shirt pattern by Grainline Studio), and while I did buy the shirt pattern in the month of December, it seems like I appreciated it a bit longer than everyone else! Oops.

This is my Archer muslin, view A. I cut out a straight 16, and made no changes to the pattern (other than to leave off the pocket, because I’ve never used a pocket on a shirt, ever). I didn’t make any changes because even though I thought it might be too long/too big, I needed to see what I was working with first. I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised at the fit!

The Archer is supposed to be a “boyfriend” shirt, so not too fitted and kind of slouchy. I’m happy with the length of the shirt, I think it hits right about where I want it to. Apart from that, I think I could probably afford to go down one size all over and still have it be comfortable – it’s just a smidge too loose for my liking. I also want to do a narrow shoulder adjustment of about 1″, since I don’t like the look of stuff hanging down past my shoulders. There is, however, one rather large problem I am cleverly concealing in this photo…

The sleeves are a good few inches too long for me. They are, in fact, ridiculous. I expected them to be a little long, because I am shorter than average, but this shirt makes me feel like a hobbit. I will definitely be shortening them considerably in my final make.

Sewing the shirt up was not without its trials and tribulations – this fabric (a cotton gauze I picked up super cheap from somewhere ages ago) had no discernible right and wrong side, and this led to numerous issues with the construction. Having said that, it pressed like a dream and was very easy to sew and manipulate.

I sewed the sleeve plackets on the wrong side of the sleeves, so they sit on top of my hands, rather than behind. Given I’ll only be wearing this shirt with them rolled up, it’s not a huge issue, but one I will be very careful not to repeat in the final version. I also managed to do what I always do and stuff up which side the buttons go on for a woman’s shirt. I don’t know how I always do it, but I do. It doesn’t really matter, except it feels very wrong when I go to button it up. Given how large the shirt is, though, I can just pop it over my head so again, not a big problem in the grand scheme of things.

I went with the bias-cut yoke on the back, and messed up which way the pleat goes – I couldn’t be bothered going back to my laptop again to check, so I just did it the way that made sense to me. Oh well. I know for next time, now!

On the advice from other fellow sewers, I used the collar tutorial from Four Square Walls and it went in like a dream. I can’t really say whether it’s better than Jen’s method, though, because I’ve only used this one. I’m super proud of it, though!

So in conclusion, I love the Archer. Love love love! I can’t wait to make another, proper version – I have a blue and black plaid flannel ready, washed and waiting!

I’m going to combine these two into one post, because I’m lazy and want to get back to actual sewing!

Let’s start with the inspirations first!

1. Pinterest! Whenever I want to be inspired, I just load it up and have a browse. Of course, this leads to me pinning many, many things that never get done, but it’s nice to just scroll through and see what other people have made or check out new styles. I’ll admit, though, I use it a lot more for baking than I do for sewing!

2. Kollabora! I loved Kollabora when I first discovered it, and for a while, it seemed like everything I saw on there was amazing. As with anything, though, as it got popular, the quality of the posts seemed to get a bit lower, and combined with their crappy TOS, I’m starting to go off them a bit. But there are still lots of lovely things on there, and it’s still miles better than Craftster.

3. Reddit! I’m an avid Redditor and one of the main subreddits I hang out at is r/sewing. I love helping people who have questions, seeing the amazing things people make and just discussing sewing stuff with likeminded people.

4. Going shopping! Both online and in the real world, looking at RTW clothes is always inspiring for me. Being able to examine items of clothing in stores helps me envision how they were constructed, and I can keep somewhat abreast of fashion trends, even if I’m not really interested in following them. Modcloth is perhaps my best source of inspiration – the clothes they sell almost always match my style, and I must have about 50 of their dresses pinned to my Inspiration board on Pinterest by now.

5. My fellow bloggers, of course! I follow about 150 sewing blogs (I’m not even kidding) and settling down with a coffee to check my RSS feeds in the morning is one of my favourite parts of the day. I wanted to pick 5 bloggers I find the most inspiring, but picking 5 from 150 was extremely difficult, so I actually ended up with more!

• paunnet – her style is so cute and adorable, and through her I first found out about Deer&Doe patterns, when they were still only in French!
• peneloping – another adorable seamstress with amazing style, her ability to make “copycat” versions of RTW clothing is nothing short of incredible to me. 
• tilly and the buttons – her patterns are lovely, and I’m so inspired by the way she’s making her hobby into her career! I can’t wait for her book, and I love reading her tips and tricks on sewing. I’ve learned a lot from her!
• lladybird – Lauren is hilarious, and she is probably the most prolific seamstress I follow! She made, I believe, 86 garments this year, which is amazing – and they all look fantastic. 
• making it well – she has wonderful style and really knows what suits her – and I love how down-to-earth and honest she is about her sewing adventures. 
• dolly clackett – she makes the best dresses, end of story. She inspired me to try the By Hand London patterns, and I love reading her blog posts and seeing her cute little face in all her lovely makes. That’s not creepy, right?
• three dresses project – I had the honor of meeting Leila in person recently at the SF sewcialist meetup, and she was so kind and lovely! I wish I had half her energy and determination – she knows what she likes to wear and just goes for it! Plus she hosts the weekly Fabric Chat forum on Twitter!

Now, let’s move into the goals for 2014. I hadn’t really given them much thought prior to this entry, to be honest, but let’s give it a go:

1. Make pants! I’ve had the Thurlow pants pattern for forever, and I really need to stop being scared of them and just make them already. How bad can it be?

2. Find a good undies pattern and proceed to make all my underwear. I did have a go at this in 2013, but the pattern I chose was just too low-rise for me, and they’re not comfy.

3. Make more clothes for Luke! He says he would like to have a wardrobe made by me, and I’m excited by that prospect. Especially now that Thread Theory have released such nice patterns for men, I look forward to making him stylish clothes that fit.

4. Blog more often. It’s a difficult balance, for me – I don’t want to make stuff just for the sake of blogging about it, but I also know I could blog more often than I did this year. Hopefully I can get into a more regular schedule with my blogging and also tidy it up a bit – I’d like to learn more about prettying up my blog and making it a bit more pleasant to look at.

5. Draft my own patterns! This is something I’ve only really considered doing this year, and it’s something I’d really love to do. I have lots of ideas, and I’m hoping to learn more about using software to draft patterns and grading and all that stuff so I can put my designs out there. I’m inspired by Rachel from House of Pinheiro who just released her first pattern this year!

I’ve loved reading everyone else’s Top 5 lists, and I’ve come across so many new and wonderful blogs to follow because of it! Happy New Year to everyone who reads my blog, and I hope 2014 is an amazing year for all of us!

1. Buying clothes is ok sometimes. This year I took the Seamless Pledge, which involved not buying any new clothes and instead making everything I needed or buying secondhand. I mostly stuck to it, and I greatly reduced the number of clothes I bought this year! But, I discovered that sometimes, you don’t have the time to make everything you need. And sometimes, even if I *could* make what I want, I simply don’t have access to all the adorable fabrics that retailers seem to. For instance, I bought a knit circle skirt from H&M with cats on it – yes, I could have made it myself (and I already plan on copying it to do so) but I know I couldn’t have found that fabric, or even anything similar. Trust me, I google “cat fabric” about once a week.

2. I buy WAY too much fabric. I’m leaving the US in less than 3 months, and my stash is frighteningly large. I also buy fabric without much of a plan, or if I do have a vague project in mind, I’ve forgotten what it was by the time I actually get around to using it.

3. Cheap knit fabric isn’t worth my time. It stretches out of shape way too easily, is thin, and just generally looks like crap. Much better to spend a few extra $ and end up with a much higher quality that will last a long time.

4.  I like challenging myself. This year I drafted several patterns from scratch, sewed a zip fly, made a swimsuit, and managed to successfully perform a sleeve adjustment. I love learning new things and new techniques, and I still feel like I learn something new every time I sew something.

5. I thought I was a slow sewer, but actually, I’m just a master procrastinator. If I have a deadline, I can go from pattern drafting to finished garment in a weekend. If I don’t have a deadline, I can be sitting on a gathered skirt for almost a month. It’s something I need to work on in most areas of my life, really, but I feel it most keenly when I see how many finished objects my fellow sewing bloggers have churned out this year!

Now that I celebrated my successes of 2013, it’s time to move on to the not-so-perfect makes. I know, we’re moving fast here, but the end of the year is almost upon us, so I have to hurry this shit along. So, without further ado, here they are!

This dress never got worn after this photo shoot. The waist was too low to begin with, and only got worse as the rayon fabric sagged over time. Plus it’s too long (I like my dresses to sit above my knees, not below them) and the whole dress was slightly too big. Bleh.

 

I’ve had this blog for almost a whole year already, can you believe it?! Crazy. Anyhow, the lovely Gillian over at Crafting A Rainbow annually invites everyone to join her in posting about their hits, misses, reflections, inspirations and goals over the past year. I feel like I haven’t made that much stuff over the past year, but I’m going to give it a go anyway! And why not start with the good stuff – here are my top 5 makes for 2013!

It may have been a Halloween costume, but this is the make I’m most proud of this year. I drafted it myself, and it’s just so damn cute. Plus it came in handy as pajamas during the (unseasonally) cold Berkeley winter!

I love this dress! I wear it quite a lot, over tights in the winter, bare legs in the summer. It’s so comfortable, and it was so easy to make, too.

This dress is super flattering, and is probably the garment I’ve gotten the most compliments on. I admit, I don’t wear it as often as I should – every time I wear it I feel very self-conscious about my shoddy buttonholes, but it’s still a hit for me because it’s so cute.

This blouse is comfy and loose, and so soft. Sometimes it’s nice to wear something not quite so fitted, and this blouse makes me feel pretty and free to eat a big lunch!

This dress was perfect for summer – cute and flirty and comfortable! Plus I love the colour. This one also got a lot of compliments, and it held up to a full day at the San Diego Zoo, so it’s a winner in my book for sure.

Stay tuned for the next post on the top 5 misses of 2013 – not every garment can be a winner, after all!

PS: Merry Christmas to everyone! Today I’ll eat the last chocolate in my Advent calendar and have a nice quiet dinner with my husband, and tomorrow we’ll go to the zoo! I hope wherever you are, your Christmas is safe, enjoyable and filled with happiness ❤

This project has been a long time in the making. It was actually meant to be an entry for the Sewcialist “Red October” challenge, but then life got busy and I got distracted making Kapibarasan, and it fell to the wayside. Luckily, though, I just scraped it in for Grunge November! Plaid is grunge, yes? Yes.

This dress is the ever-popular Elisalex dress by the girls at By Hand London. I’d heard so many good things about it, particularly the bodice, so I finally decided to give it a try. After carefully consulting the advice given in their sewalong, I cut out a size 14, which matched my waist measurement, and did a 2″ FBA so it would fit my bust. I also did a 1/2″ narrow shoulder adjustment, which is becoming the norm for me these days. It worked beautifully, I must say – I’m delighted with the fit of the bodice! If everything had continued as smoothly for the rest of the dress, then I probably would have had this dress done ages ago. Unfortunately, though, the Elisalex dress is drafted for individuals with tiny, slender arms, which I do not possess. Thus, I ended up having to do some pretty severe sleeve adjustments, which was an extremely frustrating and head-scratching experience.

This is how my poor sleeve pattern piece looked by the time I was done. None of the original traced pattern remains (which was done in Swedish tracing paper) – I had to switch to freezer paper halfway through! I quickly discovered there were not many helpful articles online about sleeve adjustments, and despite owning three very good sewing textbooks, none of them yielded anything terribly useful. In the end, the best resource I found was this article by Threads, which I ended up using. I honestly forget how many inches I needed to adjust the sleeve head by – I have a slightly unusual problem in that my biceps are very large, but my armpit area is not, and so I had to try and find a balance between not having huge folds of fabric hanging around my armpit, and not having a skintight upper sleeve. And then, of course, I had to adjust the sleeve length, because I’m 5’1″ and don’t have Amazonian arms – I think I took about 4″ off the length? Plus I had to significantly narrow the wrist width, since it got widened a lot more than necessary with all the other adjustments. In the end, I was mostly satisfied with the fit, but I think the wrists and forearms could still be more fitted.

I already knew from the outset I wasn’t going to use the tulip skirt from the original pattern – I mean absolutely no disrespect to the girls of By Hand London, or anyone who has made the dress with that skirt, but I find it’s rarely flattering, and certainly not on me. Initially I added the gathered skirt from the Cambie dress in the same plaid fabric as the bodice, but when I tried it on, it looked terrible. It added way too much bulk around my waist, and it was way too much plaid. So I scrapped that, and tried the other skirt from the Cambie, in a black cotton sateen from my stash. Much better! And pockets, too!

This was my first time working with plaid, and I found plaid-matching to be a horrible, horrible experience. I got this plaid fabric from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, and so I don’t know what kind of fabric it is. All I can tell you is that it shifted dreadfully every time I tried to cut it, and even when I tried my hardest to match the plaid, it always seemed slightly off. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t heavy enough to work with the Elisalex, but lining it seemed to help a little. I lined the bodice in a black cotton voile from my stash, and I followed the wonderful instructions provided in the booklet for a neat finish.

 

Of course, I paired my dress with my delightful kitty shoes. Any excuse will do to wear these babies!

I thought I’d start doing a little bit of a break-down of my projects, as I’ve seen some other bloggers do – it seems like a good idea to keep track of cost, modifications and so on! As you can see, I was a good girl for this one and only used fabric from my stash! I really need to start whittling it down, because I’m only in the US for 3 more months, and I have quite the embarrassing tower of fabric waiting to be used…

Pattern: Elisalex Dress by By Hand London
Size: 14
Adjustments: 4″ FBA, 1/2″ narrow shoulder, shortened sleeves by 4″, adjusted sleeve head by many, many inches
Modifications: Substituted skirt for Cambie dress skirt, view A, size 14. Shortened skirt by 6″.
Supplies: Plaid fabric of unknown type (possibly rayon) – from stash
                Black cotton sateen fabric – from stash
                Black cotton voile for lining – from stash
                18″ black invisible zipper, shortened to 16″ – $2.50
                Black & red thread – from stash
                1 hook & eye pair – from stash

I think this is the perfect holiday dress! Unfortunately, the one holiday party I was invited to got cancelled, so I’ll have to find somewhere else to wear it. Anniversary dinner, perhaps?