[Alternate titles: “When You Gamble And Lose,” “After This Long You’d Think I’d Know Better,” and “Internet, Look At Me Point To My Chest.”]

This is the Grainline Studio Willow Tank I put on my 2018 Make Nine List to fill the hole of “easy summer tops that aren’t boring t-shirts or overly-revealing tanks.” It looked perfect on paper, clean-lined and high-necked, and because I’ve had such success with Grainline patterns in the past I broke right into the good fabric (some heavy linen I indigo dyed last year).

You know what’s coming….

In this case, it’s bust darts that are nearly two inches too low for my actual bust, leading to gaping armholes and overall bad fit.

“WTF, Grainline?” I muttered, more than once. How have I made several perfectly fitting Archer shirts, Linden sweatshirts, and a Tamarack jacket from the same company and had no issues? Turns out, none of those had bust darts. Before I broke into the good fabric, I did look for reviews online that mentioned any red flags–but everything I saw raved about the pattern so I thought I was ok. It wasn’t until it was done that I found this review from IndieSew, who mentions casually that she raised the darts by 1 3/8″ and, “This is a normal adjustment for me on all Grainline patterns.” SIGH.

I guess when I’m wearing it it’s not really obvious there are fit issues–the low darts just add a weird “bubble” element to the A-line shape. But it could be so much better. 

Like performing Mozart, sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to get right.

I credit Karen Templer’s first “Summer of Basics” makealong last year to really give me that final push into making most of my clothes (and buying a serger). So I have to join in again this year and make three “basic” things my closet is lacking–even if I already have my 2018 Make Nine list going.

This year’s three pieces are meant to fill in some holes: hiking pants, comfy-but-not-pajama pants for working at home, and a chambray-ish shirt to replace a too-small one from J. Crew (l-r).

I’ll use the Hudson pattern and some stretch nylon and ribbing for the hiking pants (because look at these for $80–they’re pretty much exactly the same!); the Arenite pattern and some brown linen for the casual pants; and the trusty Archer pattern for the shirt (which I cut out last year and then abandoned…to make pants for the first summer of basics).

I actually want to get these all done by mid-August, when we have some travel planned, so I’ll probably put the Make Nine projects on hold and focus on these.

Sewing and lists: some of my favorite things!

Sure, I sewed the fronts on backwards, but I didn’t let that stop me from finishing my second Wiksten Kimono Jacket. I wanted this fabric on my body!

“Help I can’t lower my arms!”

This is a magical cuddly cotton jacquard from Stonemountain. I wanted a blanket-y summer weight jacket, one to take to overly air conditioned movie theaters or scrunch up on a plane, so I didn’t line it. (The jacquard would probably have been happier to have a lining to stabilize it a little but I can throw it in the dryer if it sags out of shape too much.) I did tape all the seams, sew them on the regular machine, and then finish with the serger, just to reinforce it where I could.

I lined the undercollar with plain navy sateen, since I didn’t want to deal with getting interfacing to stick to jacquard and I didn’t want a quadruple thickness of an already-thick fabric up around my neck.

The fabric and the shape are so forgiving you can’t tell I sewed part of it backwards–I love it when sewing has a happy ending. It’s slouchy and soft and makes me feel like I’m wearing one of those woven couch throws from the late 80s.

Back when I was making underwear at the beginning of the year, I ordered some of Spoonflower’s stretch polyester without getting a swatch (you know where this is going…). Turns out it’s not stretchy enough for undies (sad trombone!) but I used it to test out the Fancy Tiger Adventure Tank pattern on my Make Nine list.

I cut a straight medium; next time I will go down to a small since the body is just a hair too wide, especially in a drapey fabric. But this is a seriously great pattern–only uses a yard of fabric, goes together in under an hour, has a high neck, and covers the tops of your shoulders so they don’t get fried out in the sun. I’m wearing this poly one for running/gym times and finished another test one in bamboo jersey that I wore hiking Sunday.

I am also trying to blend into this honeysuckle vine here? Is this how running and muscles work? Don’t mind me.

I was so proud I was going to have Doc’s anniversary shirt done within two months of our anniversary, not six. I found some beautiful, light, textured Japanese plaid from Miss Matatabi. I cut the pockets twice so they’d be a perfect match. I sewed in a “Handmade” tag at the neck I got from Kylie & The Machine. I was going to review the pattern (Fairfield Button Up by Thread Theory) and compare it to the normal McCalls I normally use for him (in short: more beginner friendly but unnecessarily fiddly in spots).

Well, I need to add “runs really small” to that review because it’s done and it’s TOO DAMN SMALL FOR HIM:

With his arms at his side you can’t really tell how “painted-on” it looks, but it’s too tight for comfort and the buttons are straining across the chest.

I don’t know what happened–I took his measurements, looked at the finished garment measurements, WROTE THEM ON THE PATTERN, and I guess decided he needed zero ease when I picked a size? (I cut a Large for him in this pattern. He wears a large in the McCalls. IT MADE SENSE AT THE TIME.)

***

So that was a big fail. And the whole time I was sewing Doc’s shirt, I was dreaming of when I could sew up another Wiksten Oversized Kimono Jacket for myself.  I had some beautiful jacquard from Stonemountain and I couldn’t wait to work on it.

Well, I dove in Saturday and did pockets and shoulder seams, with tape to stabilize the jacquard and all the edges serged for a clean finish. I got the sleeves and side seams done last night–also taped, also serged–and realized: I SEWED THE FRONTS ON BACKWARDS:

That piece circled in red? Yeah, that should have met up with the sleeve. ASDFjk:#%^@*#

Reader, there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. In both cases. Maybe I should just knit for a while?

I haven’t set a hard-and-fast rule about “no buying factory-made presents,” but I have been making more gifts this year. (I think this is a slippery slope that will end with everyone getting a Little House On the Prairie extra-special Christmas gift of a peppermint stick and a tin cup, but we’ll see.)

For Skyler’s seventh birthday I wanted to make him something I saw when he was just a baby: A DIY fort kit, i.e. some sheets with tabs sewn on to them, rope and clips, a flashlight, and some “mystery” books to read in the fort, all in a storage bag. 

I found some single sheets on Amazon and used some batik fabric from my stash for the bag. (Tag is from here.) I broke out the rainbow thread again because what goes better with tie-dye? The bag drawstring is just a length of the clothesline rope included in the kit.

I knew this could either be incredibly cool or incredibly lame for him (I probably should have done it for his sixth birthday). On the day of the party he was understandably more excited by Legos, but I hear that he broke this out the next day and is “150% thrilled.”

Wait til he gets his tin cup for Christmas.

I sewed up a quick eye mask as part of a birthday gift for my mom, because Mom Law states they have to like something you made:

This is from scraps of peacock Liberty of London dating back to 2009, when I thought it was a good idea to use this lovely fabric to make a sack dress. I used a free pattern from Tilly and the Buttons and I used this tutorial to turn the strap covering the elastic. (Seriously amazing–sign up for Instagram just to see this sorcery.)  For the bag, I kind of winged it but had to review this tutorial from Purl Soho for the casing, since I haven’t made a drawstring bag since about 1990, when I was learning to sew in 4H.

This pattern makes a great gift–I have a box full of Liberty scraps to use up, so there may be more of these coming for Christmas/Doc’s family.

What’s cuter than a baby-sized, prison-striped jumpsuit?

Only a sunny yellow cloud version!

My friend who got married three years ago is expecting a baby boy, so I made the Brindille & Twig Baby Harem Romper for a shower gift and it lives up to all the hype–easy, modern, and really damn cute. (The hat is from this tutorial.)

The stripe fabric is Riley Blake knit from Fabric.com/Amazon; the cloud fabric is German via this Etsy shop. The colored cap snaps are from my new favorite place, Snap Source. (They have the best selection of snaps I’ve seen, ship really fast out of Michigan, and have the most fool-proof setting method I’ve used to date. I’m never getting Dritz snaps again.)

I used a three-thread overlock in my serger to do all the seams and threw some rainbow thread in the upper looper for the black and white version, just to give it a little color:

I wish I’d known about Brindille & Twig patterns seven years ago because there’s so much I could have made for my nephew. In hindsight, he got some really fugly things from bad McCalls patterns–too bad it took me so long to discover indie designers. But now there’s no going back!