Another Perhapd Ill-advised Diversion

I have cut pieces for another (simple) dress, but recently saw a post on the blog So, Zo covering the free Hyacinth bralette pattern from Ohhh Lulu.

Now, I am not, generally, looking for a...ah...soft bra. But.  I do have many odds and ends of knit fabrics, and, more pertinently, a small assortment of random bits of decorative elastics, which I very rarely use, and this seemed like a good opportunity to draw from that stash.

Also, sometimes, I get nasty headaches that make me think maybe I would be better off with everything being as soft as possible.  To date, worn out bras have served for that, but this will, perhaps, offer another option.

This pattern is very straightforward, with detailed instructions.   It probably took me longer to figure out which of my odd elastics to use for the pattern (and to pick some of them back off when I decided something else would work better) than it did to cut and assemble everything. 

 

The leopard print knit is from the same person who sent what I used for the seven slapdash sleep shirts, and the fold-over elastic is from a doll acquaintance. The white lace was salvaged from...something, and the black lace is from Deb's Lace (ordered for doll use; Deb's vast assortment of stretch laces have not interested me before...)  The white elastic is from Wawak, and the bra hardware was scavenged off of bras long-gone. 

The construction on this is rather slapdash, and I haven't even tried it on yet (it's cold!), but it was an interesting project to see if I could scrounge out of the stash.

Miss, Corrected

In late October, I made this dress and was very unhappy with it.  I removed the velvet and lace and still didn't like it, so folded it and put it aside in here.  I didn't plan to do anything with it but donate, but I didn't have anything else to donate, so I ignored it.

This morning, however, I decided that No!  I would try to save it!  So I carefully picked out the waist stitching, cut a wide band of ribbing, and got a spool of elastic and made it into a shirt

 

 and a skirt

 

 They're still not great, but they are significantly better.

Dark Librarian

I decided to make another layer cake dress, this time using an assortment of fabrics I'd gathered from my stash with the idea of using them for patchwork.  I then hesitated to do anything with them, because the color palette is on the darker and more muted end of my preferences

  

(Photo taken 11 days ago--I was just recovering from being sick when helloooo PMS, so I didn't work as fast as usual)

Turned out that that lack of jumping straight into patchwork gave me enough time to realize they'd work well for this kind of dress. 

As with the previous dress of this kind, it is absolutely ridiculously fun to wear.

Renovating an Old Work

I didn't photograph it when I made it, but photo evidence points to this bedspread having been made around 2014.  This photo was taken in 2019, when I was preparing to make a replacement because one of the fabrics--visible just behind Chip--was falling apart.

 

I then put the blanket and matching pillowcases in the linen closet, to be ignored.

I had the thought the other day that I could cut up the intact parts of the blanket to use to make another pullover dress...but...that didn't quite feel right.

So!

I ended up picking apart the damaged squares (a second one had started falling apart while in storage), removing the borders, and re-assembling everything into a new configuration.

It might go back into the linen closet, but at least it'll go in in better shape than it came out.

The Return of the Plaid

So!

I was extremely unhappy with the last two projects, and I think a lot of it had to do with the desire to go outside my usual fabric choices.

I still didn't want to default back to printed cottons, though, and decided to use some fabric I'd thrifted ages ago: a wool twill plaid in purples, with gray and white, bafflingly block fused with some super slippery synthetic tricot.

I knew I wanted to make a coat from it, and I knew the fact that the plaid was large meant I'd have to be cautious with fabric use, so none of my preferred princess seam, flared coat patterns would work.  I'd ordered a bunch of clearance patterns from the Simplicity site a while ago, including McCall's 7847 (image from the Simplicity site, where it's still available as a PDF as of this post)

It's a Learn to Sew pattern, meant for faux fur, but it had the simple construction I wanted, and I was confident it would work with this wool instead of faux fur. Even with the pattern matching (horizontal only), and adding way more interfacing than the pattern wanted, and adding welt pockets, it seemed like it should go together quickly.  And it did!  It's just that the work ended up being spread over nearly three weeks, because first there was PMS, which made me question the previous things I'd sewn and my ability to ever make anything good again, then there was my period, which destroyed motivation, and then I got sick (all in my tonsils), which also didn't do much for motivation.

Then I finally finished it and it was super disappointing as a coat

 but fantastic as a jacket. 

Another Miss

After the disappointment of the previous project, I wanted to try playing around with texture and knits again, but not as another jacket.

I am, once again, disappointed.

 

 

Incorrect Haphazard

So, a few months ago, I stumbled upon the random remnant patchwork creations of Get Crooked, and took special note of the patchwork bomber jacket.  Now, you know I like a patchwork bomber, but this kind, with a mix of textures, is something I hadn't done before--I had cut out a lot of knit squares with the intention of making one that would have had a little bit of texture variation, years ago, but I never did, and eventually donated the bag full of little squares.

I'm also not a particular fan of synthetic fleeces and fake furs and similar, but the use of those is a big part of the charm of the Get Crooked patchwork jackets, so I was determined to include at least a few of them, especially after acquiring the blanket that would provide fabric for the controller cardigan.  That's also why I thrifted some cheap (both in price-I-paid and construction) sweaters, parts of which I used for the recent quick hats.  I thought maybe mixing some nice textured sweater knits in with the synthetic fleeces, plus of course adding sequins, and making the color range more coordinated, might make for something in line with my general aesthetic.

It did not.  

 

 I'm not saying it's bad, just that it's bad for me.