Thursday, December 17, 2009

Sewing goals for 2010

OK, I've been following the annual sewing goals posts on the Pattern Review website, and I've been stealing inspired by many of my fellow sewists' resolutions for 2010 to come up with my own insanely overreaching list:
  • Organize my sewing space - and keep it that way!
  • Sew every day, even if it's only for a few minutes
  • Make muslins more often
  • Finish at least one garment per month
  • Finish my daughter's Halloween costume by mid-October
  • Spend less time READING/BLOGGING about sewing/knitting, and more time sewing/knitting
  • Figure out some way to make money sewing, or teaching sewing - and DO IT!
  • Sew more clothes for my daughter
  • Stop buying mass-produced crap clothing (including thrift store stuff that doesn't fit well); buy local/handmade products whenever possible
  • Make myself a great fitting:
    • woven blouse
    • winter coat
    • pair of jeans
    • bra
  • Work on improving my skills and learn how to:
    • insert an invisible zipper
    • sew on Slinky knit so it doesn't look like crap
    • use some of the tools/notions I haven't used much (or at all)
    • make great buttonholes
So - stay tuned in 2010 to see how it goes!

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This...

...you know, where I finally sat down to at my Viking to sew after having assembled all my mending projects, cut out the Christmas stockings (and their linings and interlinings), and taking the buckles off my daughter's new Columbia snowpants so I could shorten the straps so they would fit before we leave on our ski vacation after Christmas...

...AND PROCEEDED TO BREAK MY MACHINE'S LOW-SHANK SNAP-ON ANKLE!!!!   (For the second time this year. Gaaaaahhh!!!!)

This time I was able to find the part on eBay (I ordered two, because, well, it's only a matter of time, you know...) for only $11.99 including shipping.  With any luck, I'll be sewing by Monday afternoon.

Good thing I didn't sign up to sew costumes for the Children's Pageant at church this year, huh?

Friday, December 4, 2009

First Up for Unique Patterns: Pants

Since I missed the MOT (Month of Tops) sewalong in November, I thought I might see if I could do the Month of Pants (MOP - ?) in December.  My goal:  one pair of pants.  Now, I know that doesn't sound all that difficult, but my month is already pretty full, what with our big annual holiday party next week, then a week of Hannukah, then a few days before Christmas, then a week-long vacation at Sugarloaf from Christmas to New Year's Eve...well, that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for sewing, now, does it?

But since the pants pattern (Simplicity 3962) couldn't be any easier, I thought I would give it a try.  Really, it's just a front and back with a side zipper.  And, IN THEORY, it should fit me perfectly right out of the envelope.  So I'm going to try and get it cut out tomorrow, and sew it up Sunday night.

Wish me luck.

Back in the saddle again

OK, I kind of fell off the blogwagon for a bit, but I'm back in the saddle once again!

I kinda bailed on the B5300...chalk it up to my Myers-Briggs ESTP type.  (You know, all it takes is for something...Hey, look!  New!  Shiny! Ummm...what was that I was saying? Oh yeah, I have the attention span of a flea.).  In the holy crap has it really been over two months since I last posted, I finished the Kit Kittredge hat for my daughter - in time for Halloween, but then she decided she wanted to be a butterfly princess instead.  (Looks like she has her mama's attention span, too!)



I finally made my way to Unique Boutique in Billerica, MA on my way down to my in-laws for the Thanksgiving holiday and got an updated body scan done.  If you're not familiar with Unique Boutique, it's a fairly new nationwide franchise from Unique Patterns.  For about 15 years now, Unique has been providing custom-fit patterns for women based on their own measurements.  They started out with their own pattern line, then partnered with Butterick (I think, I might be wrong), but then that arrangement didn't work out so now they offer a selection of styles from Simplicity and New Look as well as their own pattern line. In order to receive custom-fit patterns, you need to provide them with a complete set of measurements. You can take your own measurements, or get scanned with the Intellifit® Plus Body Scanner at any Unique Boutique store.  The body scanner uses lasers to accurately (within 1/100th of an inch) measure you from head to toe.

I had my original body scan done about four and a half years ago, just one month after my daughter was born.  What was I thinking?  Not only was my body shape changing on an almost-daily basis, I didn't have the time or energy to sew.  My Unique patterns languished in the closet for months, and when I finally got around to taking them out, I realized that I'd have to alter them as much as I would any other off-the-shelf pattern.  So, back into the closet they went.  Until I finally hauled my butt into the Boston area store the day before Thanksgiving to get lasered once again. 

My new custom patterns (New Look 6952, Simplicity 3962 and Unique 9023 arrived today.  I chose those patterns with the idea of using them as slopers (even though the Unique dress pattern specifically states:  "NOTE:  THIS IS NOT A SLOPER" on the dress that, as far as I can tell, is pretty damn close to a sloper).  The New Look blouse is very similar to the B5300 which was giving me fitting fits.  The Simplicity 3962 is a plain vanilla, dropped-waist fitted straight leg pants pattern that I should be able to modify for jeans, wide leg trousers, etc. If all works out as planned, I should have TNT patterns for shirts, pants and skirts/dresses that I can use for seasons to come.

I'm not sure when I'm going to have time to work on my first Unique pattern, but I'm fairly certain that it won't take me another 4 1/2 years to get around to it.  Oh, BTW, did I mention that I started sewing a Silhouette Patterns blouse?  It's really...Ooooh!  Look!  More SHINY stuff!  I'll tell you more about that soon - I promise!