Baby elephants, Simplicity 2921

It's been stressful at work with a high maintenance client.  So much so that one of my colleagues jokes, "Melissa, I'm not going to have a cow, I'm going to have an elephant!"  Hence, the idea for baby elephants.  I figured this would be an easy gag gift, as Simplicity patterns were on sale last weekend for $0.99, and I had the gray flannel left over from pajama pants I made for Lee (sorry, I've been terrible at blogging, even something as easy as pajama pants.)

I chose this pattern because it had more than two pattern pieces.  McCall has a toy elephant pattern, and there's another Simplicity elephant pattern as well, but when I looked at them, I figured they would be hard to shape because they only have two pieces. 

When I made the first elephant, Lee said immediately snatched him away and named him Elvis.  He's on the left.  So I had to make another one for my colleague.  He's on the right.  Lee's calling him Chunk because he's so plump. 

Elvis was going to be completely scrap (he was stuffed with Thinsulate batting left over from making a winter coat for another friend a few years ago) but I had to buy new polyfill stuffing for the new elephant.  Now I have half a bag of stuffing leftover, and no one else to make elephants for!

Surprisingly, the polyfill was harder to stuff with than the batting.  The newer elephant ended up plumper than Elvis, and Lee insists I must open Elvis up to stuff him more.

L-R: Elvis, Chunk.  Note I did not fold Elvis' ears over.  This means that you can flop his ears towards his face, which Lee likes doing.  Not an intentional design decision, but one that turned out well.

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Awww.

In all, this is a pretty easy pattern to make up.  Most of the work is stuffing the darned thing, and if you don't go gangbusters like I did on Chunk it shouldn't take the better part of an hour to stuff and suture one up.  Cutting and sewing took only an hour and a half, some of the seams are fiddly because the pieces are so small, but this is a satisfying thing to sew up.  I'm impressed with this design - I did not expect their little faces to fill out so cutely!

Panel print statement shirt

I've been sewing, but not blogging about it.  I'm mixing it up by sewing basics and fun stuff by trying things that I've wanted to sew for a while.  Here is one of them, Burda 03-2006-106, a blouse with knife pleats.  I wondered what the fit would be like, and as I sewed it found myself wishing the peplum were a little more pronounced.  I used a panel print from Fabric Mart (sorry, all gone!) that I bought last year when feeling DVF inspired (who uses an abstract print better than the Furstenburg?) and decided to try it out with this pattern.  About half way through I wasn't so sure I liked the result, as it seemed a little too symmetric for what I was going for, but I think I will still wear this. 

There's a lot happening here.  Pleats!  Front band!  Arm band! Buttons! Abstract print!

Burda 03-2006-106 in an abstract panel print.  The sleeves are just the right size, not too big and not too tight.

A front view, with a new pair of pants.  I sewed up Vogue 1051 again, in doubleknit from Gorgeous Fabrics (again, sold out, and rightly so... it is awesome.)

Side view Burda 03-2006-106 and Vogue 1051.

Back view, not sure what the pulling at the collar is.  There are no crimps in real life.

And, I finally figured out how to keep the hook and eyes in place.  Instead of completely trimming off the right waistband, I kept it so that I could add an internal button.  Very comfortable!

Burda 03-2006-106 line drawing.  I have been puzzling over that front piece (#1) for years!

The sincerest form of flattery

A few weeks ago a coworker said about this dress, "Great color!"  Today, I saw her wearing this dress.  You can also get one, it's on sale for 30% off full price at J. Crew.  No, I did not gloat!  I praised her on her good taste.  After all, I was wearing my dress too today.  We were dress twins.

A little retrospective

All the sewing recaps that I've seen in blogland have made me think a little bit about my sewing (and blogging.)  My blogging has really dropped off in the last year or two, as has my sewing.  I don't feel that same desperate, "I need this right now" that I used to feel when I first started sewing. I don't have a lot of clothes, but am pretty happy with what I have.  I am OK with a project taking a few weeks, and (shockingly) have picked up a bit of a muslin habit.  Almost everything I've sewn, I've worn regularly.  I've worn this pair of wool doubleknit pants to death.  I mean, it would be obscene if I didn't wear black underwear when I wear these pants.  That's what I mean when I've Worn Them To Death.

Black skinnies in doubleknit wool.  They go with everything.

There are several things I've sewn that I have never worn or only worn once or twice.  Some have not made it to this blog (and I want to get better at recording what I sew, but time is always escaping me!)  I think that sewing is now more about the process, and I've really slowed down for quality rather than rushing through.

I really enjoyed making this Vivienne Westwood inspired vest, but never wore it aside from the blog post.  I have, however, worn the jeans in the photo so much that I didn't realize that they had once been so dark.  It may be time to make a new pair!

Not sure why I am making this face.  I really like this top and wish I could find a reason to wear it!

On the flip side, I hated sewing this and I hate wearing it.  Why did it have to photograph so well?  It looks great, but is so uncomfortable to wear because there is no stretch and I cut it slightly off grain.  So it doesn't move at all with you, and kind of twists around you as you're wearing it.  Double negative, as far as I'm concerned.  After one wear, the seams are ripping the fabric apart and I just admire it hanging in my closet.  I can't tell whether I admire the fabric, my stubborn will to finish such a fussy project, or the want for this to have worked out.

These top tops may have been flops for me.  But while I've learned that it's fun to sew unique items, I get the most wear out of serial projects.  Over the last year I've finessed my button down shirt pattern until it fits just as I want it to, and am on the lookout for a new pant pattern that will work.  While I thought that the skinnies (see the black pair above) would be my forever go-to, I've learned that it requires a very stretchy fabric to work.   I made this pair of turquoise pants from the same pattern and only wore them a handful of times because the fabric was too unforgiving to wear in such a narrow cut.

Right now I am working on another pair of black doubleknit pants (this pair is bootcut, but I am thinking to make another skinny pair before my favorites completely die), and after that will be a robe (by request) for Lee.  I'm not sure what else is on my docket for the year, sewingwise.  I probably need to sew some new basics, but who really wants to do that?  I bought a lot of dress weight cottons last summer, with the idea of making lots of sundresses (I think you know how that worked ou!) so maybe I will get on it this year...

Vogue 1194: a bright pink dress

Are you blinded by the snow outside the window in my photos?  I've actually been sewing a bit last month and this month, but haven't taken any photos because the days are so short I'm not home to enjoy any sunlight.  Today Lee snow widowed me (it's our first major snow) to ski in New Hampshire and I got to finish this dress while sipping tea and running a period romance in the background.  I love Helena Bonham Carter movies, and now recommend Wings of the Dove.  It's a little more twisted than you would expect, certainly not a Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice!

And well, here is my new dress.  It's made from a pink rayon doubleknit from Gorgeous Fabrics.  It pressed wonderfully, but if you look closely you will see some kind of salt residue from my iron on the front.  I need to figure out how to get rid of that.  The doubleknit is wonderful to wear, but I think I would make this dress again in a lighter knit.  There are several points where you are sewing through 6 layers of fabric and I really had to wrestle with my machine to make it work.

Vogue 1194 side.  Isn't the perspective a little quirky?  It looks like the chair is twice my size!

Vogue 1194 back

Vogue 1194 front.  I've never realized this before but I think I have a slight forward right shoulder.

This is another pattern that I've graded down to a size 6, and I made a muslin of the bodice only.  From there I figured it would fit and am pretty happy with the result.  The dress is a very easy one to wear with a full skirt -- I left out the pockets but if you added them this would be a nice casual dress to wear with heavy tights or leggings and flat boots (and I am on the lookout for some cute flat boots!)

And if you'd like to watch a preview for Wings of the Dove...

This is probably my last post of the year.  I've enjoyed the sewing recaps that I've seen many of you, my sewing friends, post on your blogs in the last few days.  I look forward to seeing more of your projects in 2013!

Boatneck dress, revisited

I never wore the first version of this dress, made up in glen plaid, because although I fixed the hem I realized that the problem with the skirt was that the front and back pieces were not to match.  I shortened the skirt by 2" but the tapering in the pattern meant that I needed to pay attention to whether the front piece length matched the back piece length.  If you look at the photos, you'll see there's rippling because I cut the front piece longer than the back.  I never wore the dress because I hated how the skirt draped.

Here's my new version of Burda 08-2009-128, in an electric blue wool crepe from Gorgeous Fabrics.  I bought the fabric about 3 years ago, intending to make a Roland Mouret galaxy dress knockoff but time passed and here we are.  I've never sewn with wool crepe before, and really liked the spongy softness and how easy it was to work with.  It's very easy to wear, and this dress is super comfortable.

The dress has a little more ease in it than I'm used to wearing, but I think it works for a winter dress.  I'll be able to layer a dress shirt underneath when it's really cold.

Burda 08-2009-128, front

Burda 08-2009-128, side

Burda 08-2009-128, back.  I forgot how much I like using an invisible zipper, insertion and lining is a cinch!

Cuffed capris and a new take on a favorite

Before you tell me that it's absolute folly to make capri pants during a New England fall, I'll tell you this: I hemmed and hawed over 3 (!!) muslins for skinny pants and finally just bit the bullet and made these without a muslin.  I was sold on the diagonal front pockets.  What an interesting design element.  I made these in a very soft charcoal gray doubleknit so it's like wearing sweat pants.  I should have interfaced the front pocket more than I did, the upper corners pucker (so no closeups, sorry.)  They are actually the perfect length for wearing with snow boots to commute to work, as I learned a few weeks ago when we had early season snow.

You've also seen this shirt before, in parts.  The body is Burda 10-2009-105, and the collar stand and upper collar are Burda 09-2009-105.  Does Burda have some rule that pattern #105 be a standard button down shirt?

Pant: Burda 02-2009-117.  Shirt: Burda 10-2009-105 and Burda 09-2009-105. Lee is in the window to my left, trying to photo bomb me.

You can see some of the pocket pucker going on here, but I'm not too bothered by it.

Can you see where I cut my shirt yoke off grain (secret talent of mine)?  I didn't think so.  Speaking of yokes, I'm pretty happy with how the bake yoke on the pant aligned.

I love these round buttons and think they make the shirt.

Some sewing details:
I learned in sewing the three pant muslins before jumping into this pair that a curved waistband makes all the difference.  I liked the pant legs of one muslin but hated how it fitted in the waist -- it has a straight waistband gapped and pulled.  This pant has a default straight waistband but I figured out how to draft my own curved waistband!  Magic!

Along the same tune, I swapped out the straight collar stand on Burda 10-2009-105 (see my first take in striped shirting) for the curved collar stand and the smaller upper collar from Burda 09-2009-105 (made up twice before in cotton paisley) and am happy with the result.  I have the close fit of 10-2009-105 but the more flattering collar from 09-2009-105.  I also did not shorten the sleeves like I did no my first version of 10-2009-105, and it's a much more comfortable shirt to wear.  Lesson in over-fitting learned.