May was quite busy for me because of all your support ordering fabric. Thank you guys! That also meant less sewing. This is not a complaint of course :) Beside your orders, the prep for the sew-alongs also took up some of my time. I also discovered that a lot of my fabrics are very autumn & winter colours, which of course makes sense since I am a soft autumn :D So I decided to order some fabrics too. I'll share those with you this month too, and what plans I have.
During one the Zoom Sewcials, yes I virtually met with some sewing friends and we sewed together online. This might sounds crazy to some but we enjoyed ourselves, shared a glass of wine or gin tonic, asked questions and shared our projects. It felt really good 'socializing' with like-minded folks.
So during one of the Sewcials, I made two Lark Tees. One in black jersey which was from the shop, and currently out of stock but soon coming more, and one in a striped jersey. Latter unfortunately, the black colour has already started to fade (only one wash so far), although I used a new needle, it punched small holes into the fabric. The black and stripes are only printed on white jersey, so where the stitching lines are you can see a faint white colour. It has also started to 'peal' in the underarm. So unfortunately, this is only a lounge wear t-shirt now. Little upsetting since it wasn't cheap.
During the sew-alongs, I made 2 off the shoulder tops. We refashioned an old man's shirt into a summery off the shoulder top. We also sewed beach/pool cover ups in the last session.
I am also a proud owner of some red linen pair of pants. Still unsure what to wear with it but they are very comfortable.
I used the Arden pants pattern by Helen's Closet. Her instructions are so thorough and makes it perfect for beginners. I particularly like the constructions being very similar to making jeans which is great since this is one of my goals this year. I cut straight size 16 and shorted the pants by 1 1/2" as suggested by Helen (see, great instructions!). I think next time, I could even sew a size 14 and have enough space.
Just on the night before June started, I finished one of the unfinished projects from May: another Paola dress. I made one last month, it's the dress with the shirred waist and pouffed sleeve-heads. I removed the pouffiness and lengthened the ruffle so it is below the knee length but also reduce the ruffle hem by half. To keep bodice-skirt-ruffle-ratio, I shortened the ruffle hem by 10cm. The fabric is a medium scale floral print. While last time the shirred sleeves looks nice, this time I think it looked 'too much'. I guess last time the print was ditsy and now it is medium-sized, so I removed the shirring and shortened the sleeves too.
I have one unfinished projects and one ready to cut out. Did you see my sewing plans about the ruffle & flounce dress at the beginning of lockdown? No? Well let me tell you ... I had this lovely light weight red rayon crepe fabric with tiny white polka dots. I had about 2.5 to 3m and planned to make a wrap dress with added flounce around the neckline and added ruffles at the hem. I prepare all my adjustments to the pattern pieces and was ready to cut ... I was a bit surprised that my pattern pieces didn't fit, considering I made a toile previously until I realized that the fabric was only 120cm wide, instead of 140cm what I thought it was. And that's why the pattern pieces didn't fit anymore. I had to change my plans ... I then wanted to make my 'usual' faux wrap dress with tiered ruffled skirt. I went on doing that only to find out that the fabric although light, the fabric gathers (ruffles) differently than Rayon Challis. It just didn't look right. A little discouraged from
what happened, I stepped away from it for a few days. During an inspirational burst (no idea where they sometimes come from), I decided to turn the faux wrap dress into a blouse. So current stage: i chopped off the skirt which I want to turn into ties. I still need to unpick the side seams a little to feed the ties through for the faux wrap look.
I am also in the process of making 4 new pillows for our new outdoor area. So, if you follow me on Instagram, I will share them there soon so keep an eye out for polka dots & flamingos!
I bought a few fabrics as mentioned above, a lot of my fabrics are quite dark. So I wanted to explore some spring and summer colours (hence the red pants!). Here are some of my new fabrics and plans:
This gorgeous rayon I would like to use for another Myosotis Dress.
More red polka dot fabrics to actually sew the wrap dress with ruffles & flounce. This time I got myself 8m to be sure I have enough fabric. I am sure it will be enough for multiple projects but I just wanted to be sure I had enough fabric this time to create all the flounce and ruffles I want!
Not bright colours, but do like to use the Rayon Wild Flowers Black from the shop and try myself at the Lois Dress from Tessuti.
Some more fabrics arrived today, so make sure you keep an eye on my stories (hopefully tomorrow) and I'll share some of my private fabrics & plans.
What have you been sewing this month? Do you have any plans for some summer sewing? Comment below.
Thanks for hanging out with me.
Happy Sewing,
Maria