Good news, friends–I figured out what to do with one of the fabrics I bought in August: A TIGER TRENCH!
I’ve noticed The Youth wearing kimonos as coats and I like that look…but I know that I would just feel like I was wearing a robe all day, since I am not A Youth. So I made a drapey trench coat to give that kimono feel but, you know, look like real clothes.
I used Simplicity 8554, which I’d already made so I knew it fit. This is a wonderful rayon crepe from Fabric Godmother and it was really effortless to work with (I’ve had bad experiences with crepes before). The pattern is straightforward and fits well–all I did differently from the instructions was to blind stitch the facings down, since they wanted to flap around in the lighter weight fabric.
Now I’m one step closer to my ultimate goal of only feline-print clothing!
Work gave us the official green light to work from home until the end of the year. If the uniform of Home Office Summer was “jumpsuits,” I think fall’s theme will be “jackets”: I’ve finished three lightweight ones that I need to get pictures of (hopefully I can post one tomorrow) and am considering something a little heavier for winter.
Teen Me never felt cool enough to wear a giant plaid flannel shirt but now that the 90s are back, Middle Age Me finally wants in on the trend. I picked up this (surprisingly nice) coating at JoAnn over the weekend and am going to turn it into the Fibremood “Rya” jacket, probably shortened:
The overall lewk I’m going for: no makeup, t-shirts, and cozy layers–but make it FASHUN. (via)
This wasn’t entirely a present, since my brother bought the fabric a year ago, but I guess I gave him the gift of finally sewing it up. It’s quilting cotton, so it’s a little rough, but the print is pretty great. (And seasonal!)
Here’s a closeup, along with the snazzy black pearl snaps from SnapSource: (It’s not my most perfect pattern matching but it’s pretty good.)
This is Simplicity 3852 again, really straightforward and fast to sew up. I have a new interfacing hack, which I used here: take non-fusible intergfacing or just regular muslin and spray baste it to the fabric with Odif 505 (discovered thanks to lingerie sewing blogs). It works wonderfully and I will never fuse with an iron again, only to have it fail in the first wash.
Obviously no sewing happened while the power was out, but I did start my next knitting project: the Aquamarline Sweater from Park&Knit. It’s everything I ask for in a sweater (seamless, bulky weight, colorful) PLUS it uses up odds and ends from the stash.
The pattern is written to allow you to do whatever you want with the colors, but I’m thinking a rainbow ombre would be nice, like these two finished projects:
When I ordered that tiger/volcano fabric from Fabric Godmother, I threw in half a meter of viscose knit from Celine for underwear (now sold out). I thought the print would be very Marie-Antoinette, but…I think my pattern choices made it turn out more Anne of Green Gables:
These were both free patterns and they’re really comfortable to wear, so I’m ok with the Anne aesthetic. The top is the Barrett Bralette and the undies are the Noelle Underwear, both from Madalynne Intimates. I’ve found I need to size down a LOT in her patterns and the instructions are a little wacky, but the finished product is great: The Noelles are currently the winner in my ongoing Trial of Giant Underwear Patterns and the Barrett has the best support of any pullover bra I’ve tried to date.
As for my fall sewing plans, they’re are all for underwear right now. It’s looking more and more likely that I’ll be working from home for the rest of the year l and I just don’t need any more clothes to wear at home. (You could argue I also don’t need any more underwear, but at least they don’t use a lot of fabric or time.) I want to turn this pile of fabric and lace into a set of mix-and-match (or matchy-clashy) bras and undies, so stay tuned.
(Yes that is hot orange stretch velvet in the upper left.)
Please allow me to share many photos from a shoot Doc indulged me with for an Instagram challenge, because they are some of my favorite photos of myself EVER:
Skates! Pink and orange! Ombre! Pegasus earrings! Magic light! SHINY!!
The Instagram challenge was to sew something to skate in and use the hashtag #sewandroll. I dithered for a long time about participating, but about two days before the challenge I was at JoAnn and saw their dance spandex and realized I had the ideal pattern:
This is the pattern I added pants to for that dino print jumpsuit, but for this I made view B as drafted. I cut the fabric crosswise to preserve the ombre fade, which meant I had to add a seam to the center back, but that was the only “tricky” part.
I had a great time making this and modeling it–many thanks to Doc, who is truly a talented photographer and made the shoot really fun and relaxed. We’ll see if I wear it again. Maybe disco night at the roller rink? (Assuming we can ever do things in a crowd again, of course.)
I’ve had to go into the office a couple times for client meetings, all masked up and spread out, but, you know, meetings mean talking. The Craft Passion pattern I was using before tended to slide down my nose when you moved your jaw (a requirement of talking) and that wasn’t going to work.
So when I saw pattern designer Marilla Walker talking about a “boat mask” on Instagram and how comfortable it was, I thought I’d try it out. Her post I linked has a pattern you can draft but I found one ready to go at Aplat and tried that–it fit perfectly and was indeed amazingly comfortable.
The flaps at the top and bottom give it a 3D effect, which keeps it tight at the edges but leaves a lot of room in front of your mouth. I wore one Sunday for family visits and it stayed in place perfectly, even with lots of talking.
Since mask wearing looks like it’s going to stay around for the foreseeable future, I made these versions more FASHUN than neutral. The ties are bias binding for some color (I’m a big fan of a mask that ties around your head vs. ear elastic). No reason we can’t be stylish while we stay safe, right?
Is this pretty much a romper I would have worn when I was 8, down to the pink and purple? Yes. Do I love it? Yes.
This is another Project Work From Home jumpsuit, out of leftover Spoonflower poly jersey I had bought back when I was launching an undie business. (Yes, the fabric says CLEVER GIRL and HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS.)
One-piece dressing has proven to be so much easier in this WFH life, and knits are always comfier, so I went looking for a good knit jumpsuit pattern. I had seen this vintage Kwik Sew pattern but didn’t want to pay $18 for it:
I saw this similar pattern for $7 and decided to just trace off the Greenstyle Brassie Joggers on the bottom half (matching the waist and crotch curves to the original) to get the pants I wanted.
I liked the pattern for the vintage 80s style and for the back detail, which has PERFECTLY placed straps to cover bra straps. Overall I’m really impressed with the drafting on these vintage Kwik Sew patterns–the hype is real (and I guess they’re worth $18).
I actually made another version of this pattern with the ankle cuffs first out of different fabric, but the dino print jumped the line for the blog (understandably). Regardless, I’m set for the end of summer at the home office.
I came of age in the late 90s, when the two mainstream approaches to women’s lingerie were either Calvin Klein (aesthetic: sleek, plain, androgynous) or Victoria’s Secret (aesthetic: feminine, lacy, pink, smelled like fruit or candy). Guess which approach I decided to embrace?
For 25 years I was happy in my plain undies, maybe branching out into Natori (aesthetic: a single piece of lace trim) if I was feeling wild. But in the two months since I realized I could make bras, I’ve gone from this:
Suddenly I am all about pink! and lace! and unnecessary bows!
It started with another Watson Bra and some matching undies. I made the Trixie Briefs on the bottom with mesh paneling and then I made the Rosy Ladyshorts on top that required lace trim.
Shopping for lace for the Rosys led me into the world of stretch galloon lace and all the patterns that were made to take advantage of it, and before I knew it I’d made the Studio Costura Mara Bralette and Stella Panties:
I’m lace-obsessed now. I can’t believe I made something so pretty! The bra is a beautiful fit but the panties turned out too small (and even if they fit, they’d be too low rise for me now). But the rise of the pattern was limited by the width of the lace, so there wasn’t an easy fix. What to do? Combine that full-coverage Calvin Klein aesthetic with a lace overlay and make a high-waisted Watson Bikini for some ENORMOUS Marie-Antoinette underwear:
Sure, they’re big, but they’re big and pretty. And I finally can have matching sets of lingerie that fit the way I want them to, not how the lingerie-industrial complex thinks they should. Hooray for sewing!
I finished this blouse back in May, I think, when going back to the office in June or July seemed like a possibility. (To be clear, I am extremely grateful we are NOT back in the office; I just made this before I pivoted my sewing plans to be more applicable to that WFH lyfe.)
I still haven’t worn it except to make Doc take pictures of it, but I was really happy with how it turned out:
It’s Cynthia Rowley for Simplicity 8636 (again), in a Kokka quilting cotton in a traditional Japanese print. (I’m powerless in the face of a traditional Japanese print.)
This time I sewed the pattern as drafted with the bottom ruffle. I did lengthen the sleeves by 2 inches but that was the only mod. This is a really fun and easy pattern–highly recommend for when we can all leave the house again (or you just want to be fancy at home).