Do you have a uniform?

As I just completed my ... er, sixth seventh version of what is basically the same skirt, I don't think I need to answer the question that is this post's title.   I wear a broad range of colors, but I tend to return to the same basic shapes that work for me:  a-line to fuller skirts that hit just above or below the knee, boot-cut to wide-leg jeans with a middling rise, fitted tank tops to layer with classic cardigans and/or hoodies, and the occasional scoop or boatneck top.  I like blouses, but finding ones that me well is not easy ... this might be a sewing challenge for me someday.  Though alas, even if I come up with a tried-and-true blouse pattern, it's still not gonna iron itself.

Here's what I avoid:  skinny jeans:  I just look ... weird in them.  Like I need to go put on some pants.  Long-sleeve knit tops with tight sleeves do me no favors.   Overly blouse-y tops often look poorly fitted on me, and tunic lengths  usually don't work either, though I'm less sure of the reason there.  Straight skirts have historically been passed over for the ease of fuller shapes, but for my birthday I acquired this one from Anthropologie so we'll see if that changes things.  I was going to just try it on to see if I should give the much-loved Beignet from Colette patterns a whirl.  However it was more comfortable than expected, and the husband gave it a thumbs up, so home it came!

Sooooo .... I'm wondering whether there's the makings of a uniform in your closet?  Or do you sew to try new things, to reinvent your personal style?   Sewing has certainly tweaked my personal style:  my wardrobe was very low on prints pre-sewing, and I had far fewer skirts, and even fewer dresses.  (I still haven't figured out what kind of dress I want to wear to work, but that's another subject.)   I have learned that sewing's not the place to try totally new looks ... what a lot of work to end up with something it would have taken two seconds to reject in a department store dressing room.  Your mileage may differ:  it does seem to me that some sewists let their imaginations run free and come up with all kinds of unexpected but flattering looks.  Is that you?

Anyhow, here's the latest skirt for my uniform collection. (And yes, a few co-workers have picked up on my tendency to have a new-but-somehow-eerily-familiar skirt more Mondays than not of late.)  I'm calling this one the "Moroccan Meadow" skirt.   For some reason I did a terrible job getting the waistband seam aligned with the skirt side seam ... it's shifted fully a half-inch.  Actually, I know what the reason is:  I lined things up with the lining seam when pinning, instead of the outside seam.  I hate sewing gathers so I didn't re-do it!   I don't think it'll be so noticeable anyhow.  I added navy piping and trim because I thought it looked nice with the light yellow-green, and I have plenty of navy options to wear on top. And navy shoes.  Matchy-matchy-matchy-matchy.

As for the main fabric, it's quilting fabric from Quilthome ... I can look up the name if you are interested.  The facing fabric was a JoAnn's fat quarter purchased a million years ago, and the lining's poly-cotton batiste from High Fashion, as I recall.

Now I think it's time to return to the Colette Peony!

The slower sewer

Another skirt came down the assembly line last weekend ... I am not tired of making them or wearing them yet!   Once again, I piped the pockets ... not tired of that either!  Here it is:

The images are a tad blurry because it was pretty dark and rainy when I took them, and because I was using my new Holga lens for my digital camera (Olympus Pen E-P2) -- just like the Holga, it performs a little better in brighter lighting conditions.

The fabric is quilting cotton -- a cute bird print by Carina Gardner.  Strangely, this fabric ends up crazy wrinkled by the end of the day, whereas my Birds of Norway skirt barely wrinkles at all.  Clearly not all quilting cotton is created equal, not even designer quilting cotton.    But the reason I'm sewing with it in the first place is because all the best prints are on quilting cotton, so if I want them in my life I have to make it work.   :)   Anyhow, here's a better look at the print:

I also tracked my sewing time.  I did this a while back while I was making a shirtwaist dress ... then it took about 14 hours, and the skirt took me almost seven, which makes sense I guess since a skirt is half a dress!

Now, I do line pretty much everything I make, and do serged French seams, and hand-sew the lining to the zipper, but still ... that's pretty slow, isn't it?  I only ran the timer while I was actually working ... okay maybe there was a few minutes of dog-petting or enjoying the (very rare!) rainy weather, but really, it was mostly sewing.  If I left the sewing room, I stopped the timer.  

While it would be nice to be able to sew faster (since I could make more stuff!)  I don't really want to rush the process, so if I am slow, so be it.   But I am curious:  have you tracked how long it takes you to complete your sewing projects?   I imagine lots of things -- skill level, but also attention to detail, and degree of prefectionism impact how long sewing takes us.    It's a bit like cooking, I suppose:  some people follow recipes to the letter, while others just throw stuff in the pot  based on instinct.  You can end up with a lovely result either way.

Birthday awesomeness

Last weekend I celebrated my 39th birthday by doing all the stuff I love to do ... spending time with my husband, photography, sewing, and a little shopping for fun stuff!    My husband and I both took a day off from work so that I could do even more of what I like to do.

The shopping part of the weekend included a trip to High Fashion fabrics, where I bought five pieces of cotton to make into yet more "new moon" skirts.  I, uh, also ordered a few additional pieces from Quilthome.  (Hey, it's my birthday!)  I'm definitely set for fabric for a while.  Maybe until the apocalypse.

My iPhone was challenged by he harsh sunlight.  But you get the idea.

One of my birthday gifts was made possible by the kindness of another sewing blogger!  Back in the Spring, Liberty of London collaborated with Nike to produce a run of sneakers in Liberty prints.  I really wanted some!  But my size was long gone by the time I discovered them.  Later, I saw that  CarmencitaB had been lucky enough to get a pair, and I mentioned that I'd missed out because I'd heard about them too late.  Lo and behold, Nike and Liberty came up with another collection for Fall, and Carmencita forwarded me the announcement!   Thanks to her kindness, I was able to snap up a pair this time!  They were pricey at 70 pounds plus 30 for shipping, but they are so cool.  And you do get your money's worth on the international shipping -- I had them within 48 hours of placing my order.  Then my husband hid them away until my birthday.  :)

My birthday weekend also included sewing -- I got the bodice of the Colette Peony dress done.  It's going to require some redrafting to get the fit right.   The neckline's quite wide on me, and I need to figure out how to adjust the bodice.  Not only do I have a smaller bust than Peony is drafted for, I have a smaller rib cage:  I could almost fill out the upper bodice with a padded bra, but then I had a lot of bagginess right underneath the boobs.  I suspect there will be a few other minor adjustments, but I need to attach the skirt and baste in the zip to be sure. I think I'll be able to figure it all out, and I have plenty of fabric to re-cut the bodice.

Looks a little sinister, doesn't it?

However, just now I have more than enough challenges to deal with at work: thus I want fewer of them in my sewing room, if that makes any sense.  So I'm going to do something I've never done before:  put away a dress mid-make simply because I'd rather be working on something else.  I will return to it, but I don't have much sewing time right now, and the thought of spending the rest of the month trying to get one dress right doesn't appeal to me.  So back to making more of my favorite skirts!  

Birds of Norway

Can you stand one more New Moon?  I hope so -- this is my favorite one yet!

The fabric is quilting cotton -- Michael Miller "Birds of Norway".   I love prints with birds in them, and this one is so cheerful and full of great colors!   The background is dark brown:  to the extent that I have a Fall wardrobe wish list, adding more brown items to my wardrobe is on it.  (I may share a little more about my Fall yens before too long.)

I made the waist a little smaller than I have on previous skirts, so it sits a tad higher.  Turns out I really liked the fit, so this is something to repeat.  I also added a total of four inches to the skirt width,  which seems just right for this fabric.  I have so many things in my closet that will pair with this too!  No surprise, I guess, given how many colors there are in the print.

Apologies for the morning face (and canine back-end) -- I did a quickie photo session before heading to work in my new skirt Monday morning.  At least the skirt looks great!   The light olive top is from Target a few years back, and the cardigan is a super-ancient Gap item that I'm not sure whether I thrifted or bought new back when I was in grad school.  It was actually lost in my closet for a while, but I hunted it down just for this outfit.  The shoes are Dansko, from last year.  They are awesome.

Here's the inside.  The blue voile is just something I had on hand, and I used a scrap of vaguely-coordinating yellow quilting cotton to face the waistband.  (The same yellow fabric is used for the fronts of the pockets in schmeebot's latest skirt, not that it matters, but it did a nice job keeping the bright flowers from showing through the white.)  The zipper is green, because for all the colors in the skirt, that was the closest I had in my zipper-wad.    The pockets are piped perfectly -- I am so very proud.   When it comes to the sewing on the bias tape bands, maybe not so much: turns out that stitching wobbles there are kinda noticeable.   But not enough to motivate me to pick it off and re-sew.

I did not bother at all with pattern-matching, one because it never quite works out for me, and two because I decided to be a fabric miser instead.  I could just cut the front and back lying side by side, and now I have a yard plus of this fabric left for something else.

Though I am EAGER to make yet more of these simple-yet-addictive skirts, I am taking a break to try something new:

Colette Peony!   It has a slimmer skirt than my usual, so we'll see how I like it.  I have it traced off already, and will try making a test run of the short-sleeved version, probably with the blue splotted Tencel twill  (which I have used before) on the right.  If I get it fitting well, then I may try a three-quarter sleeve version outta that aubergine suiting material, assuming there's enough of it there.  (The green and white quilting cotton lost out this time around -- probably not the right fabric for this fit.)  Hopefully Peony will come out more flattering than my only other attempt at a three-quarter sleeve dress.

The "moon" kick continues

I fear that this blog may be getting boring.  I own many hundreds of patterns ... why is it that I've spent this year mostly making the same two over and over?  Eh, rhetorical question.  Anyhow, long story short ... here's another New Moon.  Boring?  Maybe, but this sucker is gonna get worn.

Front

Back (and inside-out)

Piping on le pockets!

I used some lovely voile I got from http://www.fabric.com a while back.  (It's gone from there now, but I see it at http://quilthome.com.)  I actually have a lot left over from the 3-yard piece I bought, so I can probably make another top or skirt from it sometime in the future.   I lined with pink batiste, and faced the waistband/yoke with some almost-matching quilting cotton found in ye olde scrap box from the attic.  

I bought some navy piping to use on this project, but once I got it home, it seemed too bright compared to the blackish-navy in the print.  Fortunately, I had some of this cranberry color on hand, so I used that instead.   It doesn't match, but I declare, it "goes", as they say. And I should do more piping.  I heart it.

At some point during the construction, I became convinced that the skirt (which I have sewn several times already, so WTF???) was going to be too short.  So I added a three-inch strip of navy voile to the bottom.   Then, guess what -- it was too long.  Duuuuuh.  But I thought the navy at the bottom added something, so I reduced it to about 3/4 inch.  The lining would have been the perfect length if I had not already added some navy voile to it too.  Usually I like my lining to be an inch shorter than the skirt: this is barely 1/4 inch shorter, but it beat picking out the seam!

I've already worn it to work, but failed to even get a camera phone shot of it.  It may not be exciting, but I do so love having dependable favorites to reach for in my closet, and that it will most certainly be!   And I have another already cut out, plus I think I'll make a basic black one as well -- that'll be my fall New Moon lineup, and then for God's sake someone take this pattern away from me!  (No, please, don't really -- I promise I'll put it away and make something else ... really soon ... )

Pacific moon rises again

The next skirt for schmeebot is done.  I showed you the fabric (from Ikea) in the last post.  The pattern is the same one I made for her twice before:  an adaptation of the Sewaholic Crescent skirt, which I'm calling "Pacific moon".  Here's the finished product:

... and here's the back.  Look, I almost got the print matched up, both on the back and the pockets!   The circular elements of the pattern are actually slightly egg-shaped, so it was hard to line things up.   That, and I may not be all that good at it.  I know schmeebot likes pink, and orange, so I focused on those parts of the print as I was laying out the pattern, and tried to get a good overall balance of shapes.

I added a candy-striped facing:  I just happened to have gotten this scrap out of the attic the week before, when I was thinking about camera cases.  I think it's a nice complement to the the happy floral.

I didn't add a lining, as the fabric's a home decor fabric and fairly heavy weight.   Because schmeebot uses these skirts for hiking, they go through the wash a lot, and she's had some problems with areas coming unsewed on the previous ones.  This time I did a lot more serging of seams:  the inner parts of the French seams on the sides are serged, as are the yoke seams.  There's no serging in the hem or where I turned under the facing, but maybe I should have done it there too!  We'll see how this one holds up as compared to the others.

After a delightful week of slightly cooler weather,  temperatures will be back up near the century mark again in Houston.   However, I am still determined to ease into the Fall spirit.  I got out a few fabrics to ponder this afternoon:

I'm thinking the chevron patterned fabric (it looks 1930s-ish to me) is destined to be skirt in the very near future.   I'll probably be boring and just do another variation of the same skirt I've been making all summer, but I haven't made myself a version of it with a print, or in voile, so it will be different!    The rusty burgundy rayon may become a skirt too.   The center fabric, with the giant rust-colored poppies, simply has to be some sort of 1950s dress, don't you think?   The print was a bit larger than I was expecting when I ordered it online, but I am determined not to let that put me off of it.    I think the top fabric, with the Norwegian bird design, would make a great shirtdress.   I want to try out a new pattern, with a longer sleeve than the ones I've used previously.   And finally, the fabric on the far left ... no hints yet as to its destiny, but it looks like Fall for sure!

Playing dress-up with my cameras

I finally found a pattern drafting project I could handle: making cases for my cameras.  I now have three Lomo LC-As (an original LC-A from 1988, an LC-A+, and an LC-Wide) and it would be nice to have a case for each!   Pictured above is my first attempt, which didn't reach completion because it was clearly way too big.  (I guess cameras don't require all that much ease!)  The next one came out better, and I've been test-driving it for the past week.

It's a bit too big, but the biggest problem with this version (besides the wonky sewing!) is that the zipper didn't go far enough around.  That meant it was hard to get the camera in and out quickly, plus, the wrist strap had to curl up inside.   It'd be nice to be able to use it even when the camera's in the case.  With those things in mind, I tackled the next version yesterday.  Here it is:

Better!  It could be a little closer-fitting, but I can live with this.  It's much easier to to get the camera in and out, and as you can see, the wrist strap can hang out the side.   On this one, I used a nine-inch zipper, whereas the previous version only required a seven-incher.   Other details of the design:  I interfaced the outer fabric, but there's no padding or anything in there.  Sandwiching some felt or something like that between the layers might be worth a try, for a little added protection.   I found it was worth it to mark all the sewing lines on the pattern, and to use a contrasting thread, because there are lots of fiddly stops and starts and tight corners, and I am not used to that kind of sewing.

From doing my pattern re-draft to the hand-sewing of the lining to the zipper tape, this took me close to four hours to make:  slow by many of your standards, I suspect.   But I think I will get better with practice, and I do plan to make a few more.  

This morning, I accomplished a sixty-second refashion project.  The sad thing is, it took me two months to get around to it!  Here's the result:

Lovely, no?  But since I didn't think to take a "before" photo, you have no idea what the hell I did.   My contribution was replacing the sad gray tie the skirt originally had with black 3/4 inch twill tape straight outta the package.  Who thought a gray tie would be just the thing for a tan skirt?  Maybe that's why large numbers of these skirts were on the clearance rack at Anthropologie for 60 percent off.  Anyhow, I just tied this black twill tape to the end of the gray one and pulled it through.    Easy.  So easy, in fact, that I might make some other ties to swap in, too.  Yellow floral on white?  Pale pink?  Royal blue?  Heck, anything but gray would work!

My next project will be ... another skirt for schmeebot!   She sent me the fabric:

It's a floral kaleidoscope, hailing from Ikea.  It's a home decor fabric, which has a nice weight to it.   Happily I found the missing pattern pieces for the "pacific moon" skirt version, so I am ready to get started on this.

One final note ... we finally got some cooler weather here!  By cooler, I mean the high today will be in the low 90s.  But we haven't seen that since May, so it's pretty amazing.  And they're forecasting a few nights in the 60s -- wahoo!   Suddenly I'm ready to think about Fall!    And maybe do some wardrobe planning, even.   More on that soon.