The "I'm still here!" posts usually happen after a lot more than one week of inactivity, don't they

I am working on a sewing project--I actually thought it was finished several days ago, but I didn't photograph it immediately, and that gave me time to not only acknowledge that I made some Bad Decisions on it, but it also gave me time to decide that it was worth fixing.  So, it's currently in the state of having had many stitches picked out, and only some of them re-sewn.  I'll get there.

Also!  In December, I finally started putting stuff into a print-on-demand shop, which is here: DollsAhoy Shop on FourthWall. So far it's mostly stickers with graphics related to doll customizing, creative positivity, Halloween, and food, but I do have the Unwise Sewing Adventures badge available as 3"/76mm stickers in a range of colors.

I do have at least one more sewing-specific design idea, and I'll probably have more, eventually.  However...the time I'm taking to work on the designs is definitely coming out of the time I would otherwise be sewing.  I am having fun working on the designs--I have loved working with vector graphics for literally decades, but have always had a problem coming up with ideas.  There's a little more motivation now.

FourthWall shops also allow you to sell things you physically possess, so I plan to add doll clothes I've made, eventually, and maybe also some things I've made for me but decided didn't really suit me--and because I photograph everything I make for this blog, that means I wouldn't even need to take new pictures of the stuff.

Another deterrent to sewing: plain ol' winter cold.  It's a lot easier to work on the computer while bundled up in a blanket than it is to work on the sewing machine while bundled up in a blanket.

Finally, there's been an occurrence in my life that I may never go into more detail about on this blog, but it's requiring adaptation that I am absolutely choosing over sewing right now.  Things will smooth out, I'm positive.

I'll probably still end up posting another year of a ridiculous amount of projects, but, if I don't? It's because I'm putting work into other things.  Some of which may be available as stickers.

Fluffy Layer

 Someday I will make McCall's 5675 from 1977 in a way the pattern wants

 

 but this isn't quite it.

Patch Notes

So.  The patches I mentioned in the previous post.  I am very much still working on making them.

I started with three (one of which I had made years before) and have made 17 more.  The photographing thereof is inconsistent (and not great quality), because it didn't occur to me that documenting the progress would be worthwhile, if only to show that I have been sewing.

Roll the Die: Patch Waist B

 

Patch Waist B: Waist once again means a waist cincher-y thing derived from Simplicity 5006.  This time "patch'' means "patchwork" and B means "from the scrap Bag" (yeah I know it's a reach.)

The scrap bag in question is filled with bits of pink, red, turquoise, blue, and green. (I have other scrap bags with other themes, yes.)  A slight issue is that a lot of the scraps were saved with the idea I'd use them for doll patchwork, but I wanted to keep this project from skewing toward pieces that were really small, so it took extra time to tease out larger scraps.

The process of choosing pieces, squaring them up, roughly arranging them against the pattern pieces, and sewing them together into approximate shapes (using an extremely small stitch length so the seams could be cut without unraveling much) took about 4 hours (with breaks.)

The next morning, I pressed everything and cut the panels with the pattern pieces, then constructed the waist cincher/fancy belt as usual.

There were no surprises in making these, especially since the strength layer/underlining worked to make smooth boning channels, no need to fight with the patchwork seam allowances.

I used the same calico for lining as the previous patch waist project--not for any symbolic reasons connecting these two projects, but just because there was enough of it and the faded areas meant I didn't really want to use it for anything visible.  I made the bias tape randomly when I got my first bias tape maker--I really like the color combination in the print, and the drawing style of the graphics, but it's an incredibly dated (and random fabric grab bag thrifted) Eiffel Tower print, so I like how turning it into bias tape obscures that.

This is probably the silliest one of these Roll The Die projects, but I'm glad I tried out the idea, no matter how Unwise it may be

Roll the Die: Nummer

 The die roll:

So!  The project: Use some Ikea "Britten Nummer" fabric to make another Burda 6800

And this time I made it right!

Roll The Die: Patch Waist A

 So.  I had six projects I wanted to sew with equal enthusiasm, and couldn't choose which to do first.

I decided to roll a die.

So there we go: 2!

Super Simple Sparkle Skirt

 I have had this small amount of big confetti dot fabric since the early 2000s 

 And since I finally used the (much newer) zombie knit, I decided why not go ahead and use this, too, and for something fast and easy...and, due to the nature of the fabric, it would also be something Unwise

While the tulle star shirt showed that I am not averse to making more complicated things from novelty fabrics, I also understand that not everything has to showcase my sewing abilities

The Tulle Star Shirt Video

 Soooo, when I was working on the Tulle Star Shirt, I also recorded video of the process.  Since I figured out where to put the camera so it need only be swiveled between the sewing machine, the ironing board, and my desk, without having to move the tripod, that eliminated 90% of the fiddliness of video recording, meaning that it adds very little effort to the process of sewin' stuff.

Editing the recorded video is another matter.  But!  Here we are over a month and a half later (time which was mostly taken by...not at all wanting to work on the editing), and it is finished.

(apparently I also pronounce "tulle" weird, and, thinking about it, I seem to have grown up with a sewing Mom, spent my teen years watching Style with Elsa Klensch regularly, studied textiles and sewing at university level, and worked in a fabric store, without ever once hearing anyone else pronounce the word "tulle.")

Grail, Chosen (un)Wisely

 So.

Making a motorcycle jacket from a sequined fabric is not an original idea. Once I saw a sequined motorcycle jacket, though, I definitely wanted to make one.

I haven't, yet, but I do want to.

A big barrier to this potential project has been that I have a very particular idea of what kind of sequin fabric I want to use

• Sequins that are sewn flat, not flippable or paillette or a shape besides 'round'
  
• Sequins that are 6mm, not 3mm micro sequins
• Sequins arranged in offset rows, not meandering, random, or without the offset
• The base fabric is opaque, not mesh
• The sequins are metallic, not holographic, iridescent, matte, or transparent

And apparently any one of those requirements is unpopular unfashionable, let alone combined.  The few places I did find that offered this specific--and admittedly kinda old fashioned*--format of sequined fabric...tended not to have it in stock. *It's the Seventiesness I want.

Or, well, they might have it in stock in colors that I didn't want.  If I was going to pay [gasp] $30 per yard, I was absolutely going to be picky about colors.  Silver, gunmetal, black, pinks, purples, even blue-greens: all fine.  No. gold.

And I was willing to splurge on this fabric, especially since I could probably get away with 1¾ to 2 yards--since motorcycle jackets are short and made of a lot of pieces, they can be squeezed out of surprisingly small (for jackets) yardages.

But you can't buy something you can't find.

So I checked whenever I'd think about it; watched stuff that was "not close but I might settle for it" get reduced and sell out on FabricMart; cursed JoAnn for only carrying the trendy sequin stuff; tried variations on web search terms that made the search engine tilt its head like dog who might have recognized a word you just said.

Honestly, though, I mostly didn't think about it.

The kiddo needs pants--he's doing virtual school again this year, but we have to go to an in-person orientation soon to pick up the school-issued computer, and Husband thinks the last pair of pants I made for the kid are...kinda weird.  I could make another pair, of course, and in a more neutral fabric, if I had any such fabric.  Husband wanted to look for a pair of ready to wear pants, so we spent a while in Walmart this morning with a tape measure (the kid stayed home.)  Since he's built like a piece of spaghetti, it took a while to find options that were long enough (or nearly so) but with a waist that could be reduced further with elastic without turning into paper bag waists.

We managed to find two pairs!

That particular Walmart tends to have little to no stock of mill end pre-cut fabric, but I decided to go look anyway, just in case they had something suitable for Kid Pants.

They did not, but, given the way this post started, you can probably guess what they did have

I can't say it's exactly what I was looking for, because I didn't have an exact color in mind

but wow.

Spotting it felt a lot like when I spotted the #3-4 transitional 1960 Barbie in beautiful condition in a pile of "everything you can fit in this bag for $3" toys in a thrift store (a feeling heretofore approached only by going to another thrift store the very next day and finding a Sasha baby Sandy.)  I grabbed it in delighted disbelief, then very intentionally went back to regular browsing.

This fabric is a 50" wide synthetic double jersey knit base, with the sequins covering 40" of width (which, in retrospect, is probably common on sequin fabric, and that "I could get by with 1¾ yards" thought was...naive.)  

The overall length is just over 3 yards (I know the label says 3 yards, but I have been lied to by a mill end pre-cut label before), but that part around the three yards point shows its true nature of being a mill end

There should be plenty of sequined area to make another Burda 6800 (more likely than KwikSew 3764, but I do have other moto jacket patterns I haven't tried out yet.)  We'll see how much of this end is left before trying to figure out if I might make something featuring it.

One of my long-ago Wawak orders included a set of brass zippers with light pink tape, in number and sizes for Burda 6880, too, and I also have pale pink fabric, with black pinstripes, suitable for lining.  And light pink Saba C thread!

So, while I don't know when I'm going to make this into the motorcycle jacket I've been imagining for ages, I do have the supplies for it.

and it will definitely be an Unwise Sewing Adventure

Tulle Star

 I am developing a theory of what I'm calling Unwise Sewing Adventures, and this project would definitely be one of those

 

 Yes, it's a long sleeve button up shirt made from a holofoil star spangled tulle.

Nothing about it was a good idea.

It was so much fun to make.