Sewaholic Fraser Sweatshirt

While I'm sitting in the lab on this Saturday evening, watching a screen to make sure my analysis continues to run correctly, I thought I would take a few minutes to post about one of my finished garments.

I made a Sewaholic Fraser sweatshirt for my sister-in-law-to-be (in 2 more weeks!!!) and sent it to her as a very belated birthday gift.

I made view A and cut a size small with no alterations. I haven't seen the garment on her body yet, but my sister-in-law said it fits well.

The main fabric is mustard french terry from Hell Gate Fabrics. I love the drape, color and feel of it. I have a little bit of yardage left, but I may have to order a bit more to make something for myself. I wish I could afford to buy fabric right now; I would go on a shopping spree in Hell Gate Fabrics' online store. I'm glad I found the perfect fabric for this project there and I hope to shop there more in the future. If you want to learn about Sonja's mission to source more ethical fabrics for home sewers, you should listen to this episode of Thread Cult!

The yoke and sleeve patches are made from ivory stretch faux leather from Mood Fabrics. It's sold out now, but you can still view it on Mood's website.

This was my first Sewaholic Pattern (though I have several waiting their turn in my stash). It was a great pattern to make and the directions were really easy to follow. I look forward to making this for myself someday. I'll be curious to see how their sizing works for me.

I'm so happy with how this came out, and I really enjoyed the whole process of making it...even though I had some mishaps with the vinyl that had to be ripped out and started over again (thus, the belatedness of the gift).

Fitting M7154

I'm finally sewing again after not really having much time to during the "regular academic year." Several of my projects have been gifts and that's why I haven't written them up yet (or at all, in one case).

I finished the bodice muslin for my bridesmaid dress for my brother and sister-in-law-to-be's June 18th wedding (yes, I'm feeling the time pressure a little bit).

I'm sewing McCall's 7154.

https://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m7154

I had a bit of trouble following the directions, and sewed a few parts incorrectly several times before getting it right, so I think I will try to take detailed photos and notes during construction of the actual dress.

I sewed a size 14, and it was so small that I had to cut seams open to even try it on! I'm not sure if I gained weight since I traced the pattern (months ago) or if I just made a bad call when choosing the size. Perhaps a bit of both. Here's the thing, though...in order to size up, I need a different version of the pattern! Rats!

I spent a little time tonight reading about pattern grading, but I think this is too complicated a pattern for my first attempt. I'll be heading to JoAnn Fabrics as soon as I get paid on Thursday. Hopefully they have the pattern there. If not, I'll have to mail-order it.

Silver lining: I guess I get to work on fitting some other WIPs over the next few days. I have a lot of WIPs.

So, I suppose I don't need the A5 size range (6-8-10-12-14) of McCall's 7154 anymore. I hardly ever get comments on my blog, but if you happen to see this post and want my pattern, leave me a comment with some encouragement and/or what you would use the pattern for. If I get more than one comment, I'll select a winner randomly.

Beulah Birtley made an awesome top out of this pattern. What a genius idea! I'll be doing that in the future (waaaaay post-bridesmaid dress). I think it would be fun to hack it into a cocktail length dress, too.

Summer Sewing 2015

Summer is long gone.

I really like sharing my sewing projects.

I really hate playing catch-up.

In other words, this will be brief.

I used to love this dress, but I mended it quite a few times over the years and it started to feel old and tired, and I didn't really feel good in it anymore. I think I actually had it in my closet for several years without wearing it.

It's made of two layers of sheer nylon mesh. The prints are not matched and so they interrupt each other in such a way that the dress isn't supposed to be see-through. It kinda works.

I actually have two dresses made by this company. I bought them on the same day, spent too much money on them, and loved them well. I'll eventually refashion the other one, but the material was so difficult to sew that I need a nice long break. I used satin ribbon to stabilize my seams, which worked, but the end result looks pretty tortured.

The fabric falls off my shoulders easily and exposes my bra straps, so I wear a strapless bra and color coordinated bandeau underneath. This top is quite imperfect but overall I like it and I'm glad I turned my old dress into something I actually want to wear. The skirt is one of two Colette Mabel skirts that I made this summer. It really is as easy as everyone says. I raised the hemline two inches for this version.

Thanks to my friend Jess for the photos and helping me be silly. I'm still really uncomfortable posing for photos.

I can't find a photo of my other Colette Mabel skirt, so it'll probably show up here during Me Made May. 

I also made my third Lady Skater dress. That's right, I have made three Lady Skater dresses, love them all, and haven't photographed a single one. I'm sure I'll be making more, so I'll try to report those then.

Per usual, I did some rather boring mending and started some projects that I never finished. I plan on finishing them eventually, but they will sit until spring. What fun is it to make something I can't wear for another four months? 

Needs

I need to sew something.

This has been an emotional roller coaster of a week. 

I took on more responsibilities in my professional society. 

I ran a successful workshop.

I canceled a presentation at the last minute because I was too emotionally exhausted to get the work done. 

I got a couple of reasonable nights’ sleep instead of finding the will to work on my presentation. 

I missed out on opportunities to spend fun times with my friends and colleagues. 

After pulling myself together post-presentation-cancellation, my wheels started turning and I had some inspiring ideas about my research, something that hasn’t happened recently. 

An end-of-the-conference party and a canceled flight led to several days of sleep deprivation. 

A canceled flight led to an evening of hilarious jokes and strange experiences with a new friend. 

A friend rented a car and took me to beautiful Lake Tahoe for a couple of hours before we had to go to the airport.   

I found out that my ex is moving to a new state, a new job; moving on to a new life without me. Nine months after the breakup, this kind of information still wrecks me. I am so angry that he stopped loving me and at how he handled certain things, and I am so so sad that I can’t have him in my life anymore. I let a significant loss in my life completely shatter my self-confidence and screw up my brain chemistry. I need to love and be loved and that means looking for someone else, and that means letting go, and that is terrifying. I can’t sleep or stop crying through my last flight of this trip, I have a three hour drive ahead of me, 

and I am so ready to be home.

And I really need to sew something. Something pretty, that will make me feel good and talented and special.

Me-Made-May '15 Recap

My first Me-Made-May ended yesterday. How did I fare?

Well, I didn't stay up to date here on the blog or on Instagram, but I never pledged to do that anyway.

I pledged to wear at least one Me-Made garment per week, and I did:

• I wore my Sew Much Ado Seafarer top at least three times. It's so comfortable. Need to  make more.
• I wore my Gray Day Patterns Sandpoint Top once, to a family reunion. Photographs exist, but I haven't gotten hold of them yet.
• I wore my Cake Hummingbird top and skirt once each.
• I also wore a By Hand London Polly top once. It's not blogged yet, and has proven to be a little bit of a fit saga. I'll save that story for a later iteration. I haven't given up on it yet, but I'm taking a little break from it. 

I pledged to mend one item from my mending and alteration pile per week, but I didn't quite make it happen:

• I did mend one item and posted about it here.
• One of the sewing projects I've been working on for the whole month is a refashion of an old dress. That has to count for something!
• I also altered a pair of pants for a friend. They fit her everywhere but the waistband, so I took the waistband in and took the corresponding amount out of the center back seam. They look pretty good and she is happy, but I think I could do a better job on the center back seam. She bought three of the same pair of pants, so I have two more chances for perfection.

What did I learn?

• I like wearing what I make, and I want to finish more projects so I can have more garments in my rotation. 
•  Mending one item from the mending/alteration pile is not a reasonable goal. Maybe I should strive to mend one garment in between each of my bigger sewing projects.

Did I just hear someone say this is a boring post with no pictures?

Here's a nice little great hammerhead that we caught while doing our research last week. It was a lovely day.

Sorry these bullets are so ugly. Someday I  should take some time to make my blog more aesthetically-pleasing.

Me-Made-May '15 Week 1

At the end of week 1 (which I'm counting as Saturday night), I am on track with my Me-Made-May pledge. (Yes, it was kind of a light pledge, but whatever.)

I wore my Cake Hummingbird top to dinner for a friend's birthday last week. Every time I look in the mirror I simultaneously feel awesome and roll my eyes at that crazy wonky peplum. I really need to make a new top with that pattern (more carefully this time), but somehow I still think I'm going to keep reaching for this one for a while.

Me-Made-May Week 1. Wore my Cake Patterns Hummingbird top out to dinner for Liz's birthday. #mmmay15 #cakepatterns

A photo posted by Johanna Leigh (@johannaimhoff) on May 3, 2015 at 5:25pm PDT

Last night I finally mended something from my mending and alteration pile, too. At least two years ago, the drawstring from my Be Present yoga pants got twisted around some other laundry in the washing machine and ripped in half. All I needed to do was press it flat again, sew it back together, and thread it through the waist again. Why did that take me so long?

FYI, my Be Present pants were a really worthwhile purchase. High quality, made in the USA, and who doesn't want to wear a lotus on their butt?

Me-Made-May '15

I'm planning to participate in Me-Made-May for the first time ever this year!

Here is my pledge:

 'I, (Johanna Imhoff of omsharky.blogspot.com), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear one me-made/refashioned garment per week for the duration of May 2015, and also to mend one item from my mending pile per week.'

I don't have a very extensive me-made wardrobe at this point, especially for one season. However, I am certain that I can manage to wear at least one me-made garment per week. I also have a silly pile of garments that need mending or altering. Most of the changes need are so simple that it's just stupid that I haven't done it yet. Making new clothes is just more fun! But if I replace a couple of drawstrings, mend a torn seam or two, and take in some shoulder seams, it will be almost like having a bunch of new clothes.

Here is the link to the signup. I tried to add the gadget, but blogger keeps telling me it has illegal characters (I don't know what I'm doing).