Save the Cat

I thought I'd take a break from sewing buttoned shirts and sew a quick woven pullover shirt.  I cut the tissue for Simplicity 2211, the Lisette Market pattern

 The pattern cutting layout showed size 12 of the blouse folding the selvedges to the center and cutting the front and back on the fold that way.  Since I cut as much as I can on a large narrow piece of cardboard on top of my ironing board (yes, the narrow area can be irritating, but it's better than floundering around on the floor), I decided I'd fold the selvedges to the center and cut the pieces one at a time.

I cut the front first and transferred all the marks for the darts, then folded the other selvedge to the center and placed the back pattern piece and 

oh

it didn't fit?

After a few minutes of wondering if I had somehow folded things incorrectly, I thought to measure the fabric width.

It's a yard of very nice, surprisingly shirt weight Halloween print I got from JoAnn in 2017

so I was shocked to discover it was only 40" wide.

Did it shrink that much when I washed it? In only one direction?

Did it matter at that point?

So I considered my options.  The obvious was to add a contrast strip of fabric in the center back and proceed from there.  I can't explain why, but I absolutely did not want to do that.

I thought of cutting a new back from the already-cut front, and creating a button front with contrast areas, eventually remembering good ol' New Look 6217.  I made so many shirts from that pattern in the early 2000s--even though it was cut in a now-too-small size, I kept it when I purged patterns when I gained weight.  Now, I have lost weight, but not enough to put me in my early 2000s size, so I decided to combine the two-part front aspect of New Look 6217 with my current basic shirt pattern, the modified Burda 7831

I settled on adding a contrast asymmetrically, and making the collar and (hidden) front bands from the contrast print.  I poked through my stash and settled on a tiny floral stretch poplin, then started cutting quickly before I could second guess myself and here we are

Distraction Project: Not so well planned

 I had an idea to make another patchwork bomber jacket, this time from knits, and largely inspired by the way a lot of the left-overs from recent projects looked good together.  I didn't honestly, though, think I'd wear such a thing, so I put the idea aside.  Then the unexpected vet fees happened, and I revisited the idea with the possibility of auctioning the jacket toward that.

With that idea in mind, I started cutting squares.  Knowing I would use a different pattern than I used for the last patchwork jacket--a different pattern with a much larger size range--I knew I'd need more patches than before.  I cut up all the left over pieces from the previous projects, scrounged through the doll knits drawer for more, and still came up a bit short.  From the larger yardage knits, I chose a velour that I had no ideas for...then realized that it was a cotton velour.  (It was part of the friend's generous sharing of a relative's fabric stash, thanks again!)  As soon as I realized it was cotton (or at least cotton-inclusive), I wanted to make it into something for me.  Something...long-sleeved.

So I started by cutting the sleeves (from the "no longer anywhere near the correct size but I keep it anyway because sewing shirts from it 15 years ago really changed--for the better--something in my relationship with sewing" New Look 6217) and then very quickly realized there really wasn't enough of the cloth left to make an entire bodice.

I was still determined to make something from this.

I laid out the front side of New Look 6217 to use the armscye, then used New Look 6068 in the correct size to fill out the rest of the front...then arbitrarily cut a dramatically curving "empire" height bottom edge for that piece.  I repeated the combination of patterns for the back, using the edge of the front piece to determine where to cut the relatively straight lower back edge.  "Empire" is in quotes because it ended p way too high--like, above the fullest part of the bust high.

So.  Having realized that I had cut what was, essentially, a yoke...from a slightly heavy purple velour...I had to pause to figure out what to use for the rest that wouldn't result in looking like a background character from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

After toying with using a woven, digging through my fabric to find something suitable, and failing, I remembered an extremely synthetic knit I've had a lot of for a long time.  I made an effort to stop second-guessing myself and used that

I'm not saying it doesn't look like something from ST:TNG...

Floral Knit Again

Sooo, when I finally got around to making the sweatshirt in the last post, I had the sudden idea that I'd like to also have a little cardigan made from the same floral knit.  I had more than enough of the knit left, especially since I wanted the cardigan to be cropped and ¾ sleeve, and with lots of edge bands in a solid black.

I have two cardigans that are the same style that I thrifted on separate occasions, and they served as the template for the idea of this cardigan--I considered using one of those existing cardigans to make a new pattern, but I wanted this project to be fast.  All the cardigan patterns I had, though, were roomier, and I wanted this to be very slim.  So...maybe use a shirt pattern?  I'd want straight sleeves, though, and not something with the room associated with buttoned cuffs --and also, slim fit, so none of the patterns I have for "shirts that fit me now."

But!

I still had my much altered, good ol' TNT-twenty-five-pounds-ago New Look 6217

and I already knew exactly how much too-small it was, so I knew it was just what I wanted.

More cat sewing

Although, this time, it's not sewing a cat as much as it's sewing with cat print cloth.

This cloth, from Seikodo's Barcode Cats range (which I figured out by searching on the selvedge information) (And, yes, that cat has a flip phone--there's a 2006 copyright date on that selvedge, too.)

I thrifted it in December, cut it out about a month ago (when everybody in the house was sick, yay) and sewed it today--which is a pretty fast purchase-to-finished-item turnaround for me...

Pastel Dots & Neutral Bats

Spring and Fall, Together

*tumbleweeds*

Yes, I know, no-one reads this, so no-one noticed that I haven't posted for a long time.  Not to sound whiny, but I've been low-grade sick since December, which might be the reason I've put on juuuuust enough weight that none of my tried'n'true patterns fit properly, which can kinda destroy the desire to sew things with those patterns. (We have acquired a second-hand Xbox 360 and Kinect, so I've started using those for exercise and dance games, when I don't feel too icky.)    A thing that also happened and is probably related to other aspects of feeling no motivation:  My Dad died just before Thanksgiving.  So.

I've only sewn three clothing things in that time (I did sew a few teacher gifts--but no photos--and surprisingly few doll items.)

This simple shell is made from two cotton prints sent to me by a doll friend, using vintage Simplicity 3263

This is made with my heavily altered New Look 6217 (I fused the front pieces into one, with a really deep dart.)  I bought the cloth in a thrift store, but I think it's currently available in JoAnn Fabric.

I still can't decide if it's ~cupcake cute~ or ~aggressively quirky middle age woman~  Go Me on the pattern matching, though.

The last thing I sewed was an experimental mash-up of a couple patterns...which didn't end up the way I envisioned...which is only a technicality, since I can barely get the thing zipped right now.

It was eked out of right around 2 yards of a (thrifted) border print.  I do think there's still potential to the idea, although who knows if I'll ever try it again.

And I cut out pieces for a wearable muslin of a skirt idea I've had for a while--a bias swirl skirt, but compensating for the fact that the 'real' pattern I have is way too small (I wanna lose weight, yes, but not that much weight), and I wanted a more extreme angle to the swirls.  I might be able to convince myself to start sewing it together today...

Mixin' stuff up

So, combining these

and these

results in...