Hurrah! Vacation has ended! Since I spent the first day of it fabric shopping at the garment district in LA, I spent a lot of the rest of the time hanging off cliffs dreaming about what I would sew when I got home. The result was a fabric mess all over the living room, dining room, etc...and it was hard to pick something and just get started. So I went for something simple! Then I got totally hung up on how to finish the neckline and this has dragged on for days, until I got sick of looking at it. I'm definitely no good at keeping UFOs around.
This is my first finished product by aimecommemarie. When I first saw the patterns I knew I was in love. They are hand drawn and overlap (boo to necessary tracing) but the instructions are also hand written and drawn with illustrations. They are inconveniently in French, but luckily French is pretty easy to figure out. This shirt comes as a pdf and is only three pieces. I traced a M to start, recognising both that I need to start sizing up if I want things to fit (re: my poor Anna), and remembering that euro sizing is much more fitted in general.
Fabric: leftover from Anna. I didn't have enough to fold the back piece, so I sewed two halves together. Possibly made the back a bit wider by doing that, oh well.
The pattern gives you a few options for finishing the hem and neck, but no definitive instructions. This might annoy some people. It left me in limbo for about a week. I finally used black bias tape and sort of tried something new by folding it to the inside. I like the look but it makes the neck droopy. So I just zig zagged the sleeves because I didn't want to change their look at all. What do you do to avoid that droopy neck?? It seems like all non-knits are prone to this problem any time you use bias tape.
Ok...so regarding Los Angeles. Well, I had a backup plan, which was a beautiful selection from Mood fabrics that I ordered ten minutes after that 20% off sale ended. Stupid time difference. I shipped it to my nice friends in Salt Lake City so it was waiting for me when I got there. In LA I wanted to find linings - Bemberg, to try it out, and some silk.. Linings have been the hardest thing to buy online, I've found. Oh and I wanted some leather to make my Victoria Blazer because I'm totally copying Kim. As many before me have noted, the garment district is not a great place to go when you have a flight to catch in 3 hours. I'm also a newbie and still not great at differentiating fabrics. Things like the Michael Levine loft were wasted on me, because too much of the fabric just felt plasticky or yuck, and without knowing what it was, I wasn't interested. I did have some success with silk at a random shop, picking out a few colors for about $12/yard. Compared to New Zealand prices that was total success and now I wish I'd gotten more...Michael Levine stole the rest of my time and money. I may end up making a short-sleeve Victoria though because I'm not sure I can magic two sleeves plus the body out of the three lambskins I found on sale. But either way - leather jacket for $50! I'm excited...and I really hope I can manage to get that to fit!
My new return crazy enthusiasm hasn't quite worn off and I have about ten pieces of fabric in the wash and patterns have taken over the living room. I'm trying for a few simple projects to see if that helps me get focused!
This is my first finished product by aimecommemarie. When I first saw the patterns I knew I was in love. They are hand drawn and overlap (boo to necessary tracing) but the instructions are also hand written and drawn with illustrations. They are inconveniently in French, but luckily French is pretty easy to figure out. This shirt comes as a pdf and is only three pieces. I traced a M to start, recognising both that I need to start sizing up if I want things to fit (re: my poor Anna), and remembering that euro sizing is much more fitted in general.
Fabric: leftover from Anna. I didn't have enough to fold the back piece, so I sewed two halves together. Possibly made the back a bit wider by doing that, oh well.
The pattern gives you a few options for finishing the hem and neck, but no definitive instructions. This might annoy some people. It left me in limbo for about a week. I finally used black bias tape and sort of tried something new by folding it to the inside. I like the look but it makes the neck droopy. So I just zig zagged the sleeves because I didn't want to change their look at all. What do you do to avoid that droopy neck?? It seems like all non-knits are prone to this problem any time you use bias tape.
Ok...so regarding Los Angeles. Well, I had a backup plan, which was a beautiful selection from Mood fabrics that I ordered ten minutes after that 20% off sale ended. Stupid time difference. I shipped it to my nice friends in Salt Lake City so it was waiting for me when I got there. In LA I wanted to find linings - Bemberg, to try it out, and some silk.. Linings have been the hardest thing to buy online, I've found. Oh and I wanted some leather to make my Victoria Blazer because I'm totally copying Kim. As many before me have noted, the garment district is not a great place to go when you have a flight to catch in 3 hours. I'm also a newbie and still not great at differentiating fabrics. Things like the Michael Levine loft were wasted on me, because too much of the fabric just felt plasticky or yuck, and without knowing what it was, I wasn't interested. I did have some success with silk at a random shop, picking out a few colors for about $12/yard. Compared to New Zealand prices that was total success and now I wish I'd gotten more...Michael Levine stole the rest of my time and money. I may end up making a short-sleeve Victoria though because I'm not sure I can magic two sleeves plus the body out of the three lambskins I found on sale. But either way - leather jacket for $50! I'm excited...and I really hope I can manage to get that to fit!
My new return crazy enthusiasm hasn't quite worn off and I have about ten pieces of fabric in the wash and patterns have taken over the living room. I'm trying for a few simple projects to see if that helps me get focused!
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