I'm still here!

Hello there, it's been a while!  I feel the poor blog is being slightly neglected, though I have an excuse, having been sick.  (Boo!)
I should hopefully have some things to show you soon... *mysterious wink*

Anyway, now I'm better I met up with the ladies of The Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network again, which seems to be constantly growing!  They are such a fun group, and I always look forward to it.

Some sneaky shots:

Intensely studying fabric swatches.

Mel with her awesome Spoonflower fabric!

I didn't sign up for Me-Made-May (no chance of that working for me yet!), but I thought I'd take the chance to grab an outfit shot.  So I can prove that yes, I do wear things I've made.  :)
I wore my Milena cardigan and one of my first projects, and the first project I ever blogged! 

Funny story though- a bird decided to add some extra pizazz to my skirt just before getting the photo taken!  Lucky there were baby wipes on hand.  Thanks Nicola!

Note the wet patch on skirt.... lol.

Here I craftily covered up the patch.  I just had to mention it though, didn't I?

I haven't worn this cardigan much, since I feel it's quite dressy.  I have decided to put a snap at the top of the buttonband though, since it flops open.  The original design didn't put a buttonhole there, but I was too lazy to figure out how to add one in.  That'll show me for next time!  Don't cut corners guys!

Overall though, I felt really good wearing this outfit and can't wait to have a bit more of a wardrobe built up so I can wear more me-mades!

I love the Bloggers Network girls- they are so inspiring and fun.  The way blogging brings people together is great isn't it? :)

Oh Yeah, And I Made Socks

So, I made socks.

These were quite fun to make. I'd wanted to learn to make socks for a while and thought using this Very Pink Knits video course would be a good idea. I mean, there are loads of free sock patterns out there, but I wanted to support her because her knitting tutorials have been helpful to me.  They're very nicely put together. Actually I had these on my Ravelry wishlist and Gail (who has been my trusty knitting guide) gifted them to me, isn't she lovely?

I knitted these a wee while back when I was recovering from being ill with a very nasty cold, and what do you know, I'm been struck down again. Luckily I'm feeling well enough now to be back on the computer. Quite fitting that the making and posting of these socks coincide with illness, as they are the perfect big fat warm socks to wear when I have my feet up on the couch! 

They're knit in 10ply wool so they are definitely chunky home socks. They only come in one size and they have room to spare. Again I don't mind since they won't be going anywhere special, lol.  In fact I think I could knit the same size if I wanted to inflict a pair on my husband.  I mean gift them to him.

I learned a new technique while knitting them- the crochet chain provisional cast-on. I wonder what else I can use it on? These are knit from the toe up with short rows for shaping at the toe and heel. I did find a hole developed at the corner of the heel short rows though:

I did a little research and found a few people discussing methods of fixing that. More details on my Ravelry page. I'll have to try it next time!

So that's my kinda un-glamorous socks. Maybe the next socks I make will be as cool as Tasia's!

p.s Did you notice? After the great spacing debate, I am trying out using one space after my full stops... exciting times, lol.

Fitting AKA Why I Have No Completed Garment.

So, this is the project that's sucking away my sewing mojo (aka sewjo) at the moment.  New Look 6808, my old nemesis.

Yes, I first starting trying to fit this over a year ago.  I did make a finished garment out of it, but it definitely wasn't fitted to perfection.  lol.  However, it was leagues better than my first toile:

I must never forget this picture.  lol.

There's something you should know about me, and that is that I'm determined to a fault.  This pattern has made the mistake of challenging me, and now I can't rest until I've conquered it.

Of course that's easier said than done, given that my knowledge of fitting is little.  Quite honestly, I've tortured myself with it, and I know that's not good.
I went to a dark despondent place while working on it, but dare I say, it is looking a bit better now.  I think the light may be shining through, after having serious trouble figuring out what to do.
So here's some stuff I did on it.

On the front, I feel I've improved the bust fit a little.  I grabbed a dart of excess fabric from the armhole pointing to the bust, and rotated it into the bust dart.  You can see the excess in this picture (on the right).
So this is my current toile:

I reckon the front ain't bad.  Shorten the bust darts slightly and I'm happy.

I added a centre back seam in an effort to accomodate my curves better.  This is the biggest thing that was driving me crazy- a clumsy, wrinkled back.  I really struggled with this all throughout! 

So many wrinkles.  So many.

At this point, I didn't know what to do.  I let out the centre back seam at the waist a bit which helped, since there were wrinkles pointing to it.


Then I ignored the lower back for a bit and slashed the shoulders to accommodate my shoulder blades, which will also add a shoulder dart like I showed in this post.  It was gratifying to see that tension relax:

I hope you can see the difference in the before and after in the strain on the shoulder blades.  Although I admit the lighting is different.  Oops.

So, progress had been made.  But.... THAT.  BACK!  The fit on the back has tortured me since the start.

First of all, my apparently giant butt seems like it can never have enough fabric.  The garment constantly rides up on my butt!  Yet my back curves in a lot.  Without sufficient darts, I look "back-pregnant" as Andrea would say.  But I just didn't know how to get it to sit nicely. My frustration reached critical levels.

I then thought maybe I'd gone overboard with the shaping so tried reducing the darts slightly, but honestly, I couldn't tell if it made it any better.

Anyway, a few days later, as I'd had time to stew, I got the idea to slit the seams, and I think they have revealed the answer.  So here is the before and after:

Better right?  Please tell me you agree.  By the way, seeing pictures, I'm amazed at the size of my caboose.

 Anway, getting that back transformation was as simple as doing this:

Update for clarity- I don't plan to have a split on the final garment- I will add the size of the split to the centre back in my pattern work :)

So that's the progress.  Oh and I didn't even mention the sleeve malarkey.  I'm over it.

What do you think?  I know it's not perfect, but I've looked at it so long that I can't see it objectively any more.  It's a bit better right?  Would you say... ready for a real garment? 

I wonder how many hours I've spent wandering the house in my toile, poking at its wrinkles in the mirror and hoping for some magical answer to shine down on me.  For now it's just good enough to know that if I bash at it for long enough, something will improve.

But seriously, guys, do you have any advice?  I know I'm being my perfectionist self (umm whoops, didn't I have a goal about that?), but I just gotta beat this thing.
What would you do? :)

Small Victories

Okay, I admit it, I've been in a sewing slump lately.  I'm still looking for that confidence- the motivation to sew is low if I don't feel that I can rely on a good end result.
Hopefully I'll have a post for you soon featuring that bugbear of mine- fitting.  I bet you're excited to see a boring old toile, right?? :P

On the positive side though, I finally figured out how to do buttonholes on my old (oh, I mean vintage, sounds much fancier) Bernina.
It wasn't easy, figuring out the cryptic instructions from the old manual.  It was oddly filled with typos and kept changing what it called certain parts of the machine!

See the evolution of my buttonholes:

I finally got 'em figured out (I think), and tried out reinforcing my Miette buttonband with ribbon like I've seen fancy people do.

Honestly though, I don't think it made that much difference, lol.  Such a lot of work for not much result.  Well, it's all about the learning I suppose!

Before I added the ribbon, I also took apart the top of the neckline ribbing (eep, I know!), because I felt it was too low in the back neckline (see here).  I added a few rows to make it higher.  I wish I'd thought to make the top buttonhole higher though since it gapes a little at the top now.  Whoops!

Isn't it kind of funny that the thing that pushed me to learn another sewing skill was knitting?

In more knitting news, I am working away on my Agatha cardigan, but I'm far too coy to show you an in-progress shot.  I wanted to be all like "Oh, by the way, SURPRISE, I finished this whole cardigan without you even knowing!".  But I can't resist tiny bit of show and tell.
Here's the swatch- I love that lace pattern!

Hope you all doing better with your sew-jo than me- any inspiration welcome of course, haha!

Oh!  P.S.  My husband just informed me that double spacing after full stops is wrong??  The internet seems to back this up.  Disturbing indeed...It seems I was taught wrong.  Any punctuation nerds out there- weigh in, lol :)

Finished Knit: The Mary Jane Top

I've actually been finished on this one for a while now, but hadn't gotten any decent photos!  Thanks to my sweet husband and some kind weather, I finally got some!  Hooray!

My last progress post was in January, remember that post?

The pattern is Mary Jane, and my notes are here on Ravelry.  (As usual, there are loads.)

I started this over Christmas time.  I think the knitting took me about 2 months, which really isn't bad for me!  I consider myself a slow knitter.  And boy, those puff sleeves are a lot of fabric to knit!
 
 The pattern is a basic pattern, with a cute stitch pattern laid out in stripes, alternating with stocking stitch.  It actually had no waist shaping at all, but I added loads!  I had to fudge the stitch pattern on the sides where the decreases/increases were, but it looks fine to my eye.

There's a slight distortion in the stitch pattern, but it's worth it for the sweet, sweet waist shaping.  Also, no I'm not pregnant, just posing oddly, haha!

 

Despite it being a basic pattern, I still learned quite a lot.

I'm still learning about ease with knits.  I tried to maintain a consistent 1" of negative ease- the pattern was designed for 0-3" of positive ease, so I thought I was being a bit of a rebel for going with less than that.  But honestly, it doesn't feel clingy and so I'm sure I could have gone with more negative ease.  I don't know if that only applies to this type of yarn though.  This was a merino/cotton blend yarn, and I understand that both of these are supposed to "grow".  I hope this garment doesn't end up baggy and out of shape!  I will update if it does!

Speaking of growing, I added a few rows of length to the armholes, and I ended up overdoing it.  I will have to remember for next time (it's so obvious now):  Once you've knitted the garment longer, that will pull the armholes down with the weight of the body.  Oh well, I'm not too bothered.

Ooh, I did one fancy thing- I added short rows!  I decided the neckline wasn't high enough in the back, but fine in the front so I added more rows to the back of the ribbing:

See how the ribbing is longer in the back?

That wasn't the only neckline mod I made- I added double decreases in the corners of the neckline to emphasise the square shape.  I can't take credit for it though, I got the idea off someone on Ravelry :)

Basically, I've found myself to be an incorrigible pattern tweaker.  I can't just leave it the way it is!  I also reduced the length of the top a lot.  I feel this is the perfect length for wearing on top of pretty skirts, sitting just on my hip bone.  Speaking of skirts, I'm wearing one I made, and it goes with everything it seems!

Wind playing havoc with me as usual... keep that hair in place!

I also found a new stretchy bind off which is my new fav!  It's the K2tog bind off, and it's very easy, while producing (what I feel is) a less conspicuous edge than the other stretchy bind offs I've tried.  I used it on the sleeve cuffs and hem.

Oh, and in case you think I knitted this perfectly, just be aware that I'm still ending up doing janky fixes.  Ya know, like how my stitch marker left slight laddering down the front, or how I messed up a short row and made a hole, lol.  Know what I do?  Shh, don't tell anyone, but I stitch it up on the wrong side with a tapestry needle and yarn.  Heh heh.  Hopefully as I improve I won't have to resort to that anymore.. :P

Also, in case you also thought I was glamourous, just be aware that after these photos were taken, I went inside and changed into more casual clothing.  That's right, I only put this on for photos, lol!  What a fraud :D

All in all, I'm very happy with this knit!  I think it's less practical than a cardigan though, which I think will be my knitting focus for the next while.  I want one in every shade of the rainbow, hee!

I feel the square neckline is perfect to show off a delicate piece of jewellery, which I don't get the chance to wear often, so that's nice!  And I hope I wear it out more, not just for photos.  (I'm still getting used to the idea that I can wear my knits, haha.)

I always say this, but... I'm so loving knitting right now :)

Completed: New Look 6799

This dress has been a long time in the making.  I bought this fabric and New Look 6799 ages ago while I still had CFS, and dreamed of making a dress one day.  Well, me-of-the-past, we finally did it!
Also, me-of-the-past, can you not buy any more nasty polyester from Spotlight?  It was a nightmare to work with.

This fabric frayed like hell!  Urgh!  Also I feel it probably has a bit more drape than ideal for this style, what with the structured bodice and full skirt.  It would be a good candidate for underlining I suppose, but no way was I putting all that extra effort and cost into this crummy polyester.  lol :)

It feels good to get it out of my stash and into a garment.  And it turned out better than I expected!

I don't have many pairs of nice shoes, so I had to pair it with black.  Not my favourite combination, but it'll do.  I tried pulling it together with a black cardigan which worked alright.  Kinda reminds me of a licorice allsort :)  Getting cute new shoes is definitely on the agenda.  In fact, more cute accessories all around, please!

I made two toiles for this.  And though I know some sewers baulk at ONE, I felt I actually made progress on my goal of curbing my perfectionism.  I was considering making a third, but I went ahead with the garment.  It doesn't fit perfectly, but the most important parts fit.  I got the bust darts working for me, hooray!
I made adjustments for sloping shoulders, small bust, (very) short waist, sway back, and prominent shoulder blades.  Phew!  It took me a long time to figure everything out.
Observe though how the waistband tilts towards the back.  I tried to correct for this during fitting by taking length out of the back but clearly it needed more!  I'm thinking next time I'll add some length to the front bodice.  Does anyone have any thoughts on why this is happening?  Maybe my body is just crazy tilted.  Stop being so weird, body.

Other than the fitting stuff, I altered the bodice to meet the neck yoke at more of an angle, curving in towards the centre more.  You can see on the pattern photo it looks quite straight up and down.  But what's the point of having a pretty yoke if you don't show it off?  (Although now I have to wear a strapless or crossover straps.)

I also used the largest size skirt to add a bit more fullness to the skirt.  This would look great with in a fabric with more body.  I like my skirts full!

The angle of the bodice at the yoke is pretty, yes?  Also the wind ruined so many photos, as usual :)

There were a few things I had to leave out.  There is a pretty detail at the back neckline with covered buttons and loops, but I found them IMPOSSIBLE due to this stupid fraying fabric, lol.  It just fell apart when I tried.  So I just put three hooks and eyes there instead. 

I also wanted to make the bow from View A, but it was huge, like a weird bow tie.  Next time maybe I'll bother altering it down to size, but the fraying was an issue again so I left it.

Why would I want a monstrosity like this on my cute dress??  Cameo from my dress form and 2nd toile :)

I also did my first invisible zip.  I did it with a regular zipper foot and found it very hard, lol.  I think I want one of them fancy invisible zipper foots.  But it turned out pretty well I think, albeit after hours of work.  Heh.

Oh and I added lining to the skirt.  I'm pleased to report that this dress was a lot easier than my first lined dress.  For example, I didn't constantly make mistakes and have to resew the seams over and over!  Ooh, maybe I'm improving?  I still haven't figured out the perfect lining technique, but what I've done is passable.  Again, I let myself off the perfectionism hook and it felt good :)

All in all, I feel good about this dress.. If only I'd finished it in time for the bloggers' meet-up, and not gotten sick.  Next time right?

After sewing a hot pink dress, I'm feeling the urge for something more practical.  I think I'll try some separates next.
But seriously, doesn't it feel great to get rid of ancient stash and ancient plans? :)

What have I been up to, you ask?

Well firstly, since Google Reader is shutting down, everyone's jumping ship, so I thought it was a good time to jump on Bloglovin'.
You can follow me here.  Follow my Blog with Bloglovin'

Weird bit of code from bloglovin' I need to claim my blog- ignore this.  It's supposed to be a link but it's all broken. lol. <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3496625/?claim=ttxf7q93wak">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

And no, I don't fully comprehend Bloglovin' yet but rest assured I won't be using that creepy topless lady icon.  Bleck!

 In other news, I've been hideously ill with a cold for a while, which has prevented me from making cool stuff, AND made me miss a bloggers' meet-up.  How annoying is that??

About the only new thing I've managed to do is attempt to start a new knitting pattern and get caught in yet another gauge/size quandary.  Hmmph!  That'll teach me to cheat on my Peabody.  For which I still don't have the needles I need.  Double Hmmph.

Agatha, the new knitting pattern to drive myself unnecessarily nuts over. 

So all-in-all, a very unproductive period for me, but hopefully I'll be back on that horse soon.  And I have a few finished things to blog, if ya know, I can get those darned photos.  I promise to have something worthwhile to show you soon!  :)