Quixotic Pixels

I was tired of looking at pictures of my backside, so I decided it was high time to add something new here on my blog. Unfortunately, all I have for you is a picture of me on a bad hair day. My brand new t-shirt is pretty snazzy, so hopefully we can all focus on that instead of the Medusa head.

I’m really excited about this Ottobre t-shirt pattern. The fit is almost perfect, in my opinion. The only thing that bugs me is the small fold of fabric at my underarm. I’m going to attempt a square shoulder adjustment to see if that will reduce the problem without restricting my range of motion. I don’t think I have particularly “square shoulders;” rather, the pattern seems more sloped there than usual.

I also might shorten the next version a little bit and try to create cap sleeves.

To make this t-shirt, I cut apart an old turtleneck of my husband’s. It had shrunk too much in the wash and he no longer wore it. His loss; my gain!

Cutting apart garments is an excellent and cheap way to test out a pattern. If you don’t have a much larger relative with a closet full of unworn clothes, then the thrift store is a great place to find usable items. You certainly don’t have to worry about shrinkage when using a much washed garment as your source of fabric.

A nice, basic pattern like this provides a fantastic canvas for creative embellishment too. I stencilled the dragonfly to the front of the shirt using a freezer paper stencil. Lots of info on this technique can be found in this Flickr group.

This was not my best attempt at it (here are some others)–I got a little impatient and removed the paper before the paint was completely dry, so the edges aren’t as clean as they could be. Nevertheless, I like the way the motif turned out. It’s a free download from the Ottobre site.

Here’s my review on Pattern Review.

I’m knocking off projects left and right here. This stage is almost as much fun as the starting new projects phase–at least when things go right. I’m happy to report that my jeans are a success (with one or two little problem spots over which I refuse to obsess).

As is the case with anything that takes a long time, there were good times and bad with these. I really loved stitching the birds on the back pockets. It was like drawing with thread. I did not like it one bit when the machine protested my use of thick thread in thick fabric and choked and died. I didn’t like how much seam ripping I had to do to clean up after my vengeful machine. I do like the final product though…I like it a lot!

Next time, I’ll nip in the waist about an inch (the pants keep falling down…perhaps a belt will help) and I’ll add a little extra ease to the thigh area. Easy fixes! Not bad for a first pair of jeans

The pattern is Jalie 2908, which I reviewed on PR. Lots of information about constructing jeans can be found on this PR Forum Thread.

It was a near thing. I almost gave up on finishing this dress. The last few days before my brother’s wedding just flew by. In between end-of-the-year school activities, visits from out-of-towners, shopping, wrapping presents, and packing, there just wasn’t much time for sewing.

Next time I’m in a rush, I now know better than to sew chiffon. It’s utterly gorgeous, but needs to be handled with a gentle and confident touch. Chiffon frays; it morphs into strange shapes that resist matching pattern pieces; it runs like nylons if you snag it; and worst of all, if you have an unreliable iron, it can MELT. Guess what I managed to do? Yes, I melted the fabric and had to redo the bodice, when there were only a few hours left before my scheduled departure.

I finshed sewing in the lining by hand while we drove to Montana. That part went pretty smoothly and it was a great way to pass the time.

Unfortunately, just after I put the last stitch in, I attempted to zip up the back of the dress and the lining got caught in the zipper. Robert helped extract the fabric from the metal teeth, but couldn’t avoid creating a little hole in it. I cried. Robert apologized, even though it wasn’t his fault, and reminded me that the hole was on the inside of the dress, not the outside. I fixed that with a little bit of Fray-Check, and wore the dress with pride.

My review of the pattern can be found here.