Fall Sewing With Knits, Leather and Leggings

I'm pretty sure I resolved some time last winter to sew more garments that I would wear every day, rather than these cute dresses we all love but are useless to a work-at-home mom such as myself. If you saw my closet, you'd have no sympathy when I whine, "I have nothing to wear!" But I can't kick it at the playground in a dress. (You're thinking, "Yes, you can! They do it all the time on TV!" But real life goes something like this: stubborn kid refuses to go down slide unless you accompany her + gust of wind =  all the Russian and Dominican moms get a good laugh at the lack of elasticity in my underpants. Now they're really never going to talk to me.)

I've said too much already, haven't I? Anyway, I have a few patterns on deck, but little in the way of fabric (I should start accepting donations). 

First up, these leggings — McCall's 6404, View C. I have a black double-knit and faux leather for the knee patches. They're very similar to a pair I Macgeyvered last winter, using some old Mountain Equipment Co-op longjohns. I loved those to death. (Truly: they're in a landfill somewhere now). Hopefully this pair will be sturdier:

I also like View A, though minus the welt pockets. I think those make these leggings look too much like ski pants:

Of course, I'll need something to wear on top of my new leggings, and I still love me a Dolman sleeve, so: Vogue 8771. 

I like how a cowl neck balances out my pear-shaped figure, so Vogue 8831 is another knit option with a myriad of possibilities.

I've done so well at sewing out of my stash this past year that (other than the aforementioned pleather) all I am left with is odd yards of chiffon for kid craft projects and quilting-weight cottons. So get to the Garment District I must, so I can find some good knits for all of these. Anybody have a favorite source for knits in NYC?

Finished Project (Ruby shorts) and Sway Back Silliness

If you haven't already seen it, there's a lovely video of Amy Poehler giving advice to a teen girl about how to love her body. In the video, which is making the rounds on the Internet, she suggests considering the parts of your body that are awesome (like 20-20 eyesight, for example), and giving thanks for those, rather than fixating on all the things you dislike. She also wisely suggests to compare your inner dialogue to what you might say to a future daughter or younger sister. "You would tell her she was beautiful — and you would not be lying. Because she is. And so are you," she says. Try not to tear up. Just try.

Meanwhile, in sewing, the adjustments we need to make for fit can go a long way to highlighting those things about ourselves we feel most crappy about — AND even give a bad name to the things we thought were pretty awesome.

For example, I previously would have called myself long-legged. But now I know I am just short-waisted. I was also pretty happy with what I'd call my skinny-back/round butt combo. But unfortunately in the sewing world, this is known as "swayback" — a term that sounds a little close to "hunchback" for my liking — and requires constant vigilance when it comes to adjusting patterns to prevent against fabric "pooling" on the lower back. It's enough to make you want to wear lycra every day.   

Amy's Bombshell Dress (My First Dress Commission!)

This August I sewed a very special dress for my husband's friend who will be taking part in a  wedding-like event in Scotland this fall (Ryan keeps asking me: is Amy getting married? There's no ceremony but people are traveling from continents far and wide for the event, so let's just call this a non-traditional wedding dress).

Anyway, Amy liked the Peacock Print Bombshell Dress I made, and wanted something similar. And, an artistic person, she wanted the fabric to be special. So she made her own print, using Photoshop and a photograph she took while vacationing with her boyfriend/fiance/husband in Prague, and had it printed by Spoonflower.com. If you look closely in the print below, you can see clocks. And the repeating pattern nearly looks like plaid, appropriate considering the wedding-like event is at a castle in Scotland. I love it:

The challenge with this dress was the fact that Amy is living in London right now, so there was no opportunity to fit a muslin on her in person. So she bravely commissioned me to make it, and we agreed to fittings via Skype. She gave me her measurements and I made a draft bodice (using the Burdastyle Bustier Dress pattern), which I mailed to her. Then she tried it on and I studied the fit while we had a video chat. 

Back With a Finished Project! Spoonflower Print Simplicity 1872

Ladies (and gentleman), I've been regretting every day how little I have contributed to the online sewing community in recent months. As Peter so aptly noted in his post yesterday about Lost Bloggers, sometimes life just gets in the way, and we have to juggle our priorities. My little community of three needed me these past few months, and though I have been sewing, I haven't had the time to document, discuss, or leave doting comments on those of you whose blogs I also adore. But my husband has almost certainly found himself a job (knock on virtual wood that he won't be gone 16 hours a day throughout the fall like he had been during the summer months), and my kid is in daily pre-Kindergarten now, which leaves me a little more time. I'm working from home, but only am taking on enough assignments to leave me mildly concerned for my deadlines and not thoroughly consumed with anxiety. 

I do miss blogging — and reading others' blogs (which I find to be an important part of blogging). I don't have any close friends who sew, and though I've met a few New Yorkers who make their own clothes (thanks to Peter, again, with his meet-ups!), I don't see them regularly. So when I drop off the virtual map, I can feel like I am sewing in a vacuum. 

Anyway, on to the sewing projects! 

Cardboard Skeeball!

I've been on a blog hiatus (reading them as well as posting; I miss you guys!) due to an extended vacation to my home on the West Coast of Canada followed by a summer of single-parenting due to the fact my husband comes home only to sleep these days, he's so busy with work and school.

Neither am I sewing, which pains me greatly. (I did manage to successfully alter my best friend's wedding dress on a borrowed machine back at home though!)

The one creative thing I have managed time for these past few weeks is this skeeball game I crafted from cardboard and hot glue for my kid's fourth birthday party. It's nearly life-size, and features faux lights made from water balloons. I studied photos of skeeball games to get the bump just right (without it, the ball won't bounce up into the hole). It worked perfectly. I wish we got some video of the kids playing with it before it was destroyed (inevitable considering it was made from cardboard and four-year-olds hopped up on birthday cake are as good as your worst drunken party guest. They took particular delight in pulling out all the balloons and stomping on them until they popped. I hope none of our neighbors have PTSD; it sounded like a shooting range in there for a while).

I believe there was some interference going on there. Note all the "lights" were smashed by the time the parents got to play

I know. How could I have "no time to blog" if I had the hours to make a cardboard skeeball game? It didn't take me that long, and I loved it. If only "making shit with cardboard" was a viable career option.