crankypants

Anyone who has made their own clothing before knows that most of the patterns you can purchase require some, if not a lot, of altering to fit your own body shape.

The same goes for the dress dummies/dressforms you can buy.

I have this one:

And of course the measurements for when you buy one of these do not always line up with your actual measurements. Just like patterns. Hooray! /sarcasm

So I went to re-adjust mine today after re-measuring my plumpish body.

And I broke mine.

Apparently when you have the hips on one of the smaller sizes, you cannot put the waist on one of the larger sizes. So apple-shaped sewers - stay away from this dressform.

Quick post

After the craft fair letdown (see last post), I decided to focus on making things for ME (acting very much like The Selfish Seamstress) and not worry about trying to make things to sell/make things that people want to buy.

But then the other day on Twitter, Tia (of http://christopherandtia.blogspot.com/) said she was looking for someone to make some binky (pacifier) leashes for her ADORABLE kids. (Yes, adorable needed to be in caps.) I said I could make them for her and for a low cost (mostly because I need a morale boost over here and because I have a huuuuge fabric stash that I need to start paring down).

She choose 7 different fabrics from my stash and I whipped them up yesterday:

yesterday.

setup:

not too bad, right?

yeah, didn't sell anything.

I'm gonna stop sewing for potential customers and just focus on things that I want to make for myself.

[[ for more pics of what I was attempting to sell, click here ]]

done!

Simplicity 2648

Pattern Description:
Misses dress with individual pattern pieces for slim, average and curvy fit and for A, B, C, or D cup sizes. This pattern has either a round or v-neck, short sleeves, cap sleeves, or no sleeves and princess seams.

Pattern Sizing:
I bought the 16-24 envelope. I cut View C, size 16, but I think a 14 would have been better. I cut the C-cup for the top and definitely used the "curvy" pieces for my curvy bottom.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes. In the picture I show of my finished garment I don't have the little tab at the waist but after wearing it today, I decided it definitely needs an embellishment at the waist.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
I'm a stubborn engineer... I don't follow directions. ;D

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I definitely liked the different sizing options (cup size and hip/butt adjustments). Even though I usually just throw the directions back in the envelope, I kept these out to check every once in a while to make sure I was on track... it's been a while since I've made a dress for myself! I noticed that they wanted you to sew the side seams wrong sides together to help fit the dress better (before sewing the final side seams). This seemed a little weird to me and of course I didn't do that because it wasn't one of the steps in my made-up directions.

Fabric Used:
I used stuff I had in my stash. I honestly don't know what it is... some sort of cotton blend. The lining was cheap stuff from Jo-Anns that I also already had in my stash.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I did the petite alterations (the ones already in the pattern).

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I think I will sew it again if it's not going to be too obvious that it's the same dress - perhaps next time I'll do the other sleeve option. And I think I would bring the front up a bit - it didn't seem to sit as flat against me as I'd like and if I bring the front up into the shoulder seam a little more it would sit better.

Conclusion:
I like it - and it's a great pattern to have for wardrobe building!

More pictures on my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcroteau/sets/72157624843610186

Oh! And I almost forgot! I was in the Etsy Finds email on Tuesday - it was one of my mason jar pincushions. I've sold a few of those since the email, so that was a nice surprise. :)

woo hoo! sewing room has been relocated! :)

Previous sewing room location: basement.

New location: what used to be the office (on the first floor!).

I love the new location. A few more pictures can be found here.

One of the cutting tables had to stay downstairs and as a result, I had to downsize on the size cutting mat I can use (unless I put the ginormous one on the dining room table). But everything else fit rather well into the room. I would have made it work no matter what - I wanted a first floor room!

After the new pictures were taken, we took a trip to Ikea to find some suitable chairs/stools. My desk is bar-height and I wanted something ~18" tall for the sewing table.

Desk chair:

... and stool for the sewing table (before & after):

Ikea really wanted me to buy one of their covers since the stool already came with the foam & interfacing-type covering stapled to it. It also already had the scratchy side of velcro on the undersides... I knew I could pull something out of my stash to make a cover so that's what I did.

The current work-in-progress:

Which will be Simplicity 2648 when it's done.

I have high hopes for this pattern since its got different fits - different bust sizes and different hip shapes (slim, average, curvy). Mine will be black - I had the cloth in my stash for a looong time so I have no idea what it really is or where it came from. It's kind of like a heavyweight linen, if that makes sense.

And one more work-in-progress:

We also picked up one of these benches at Ikea to go at the end of our bed. We know we (and by we, I really mean me) want to cover the top. The Mr. didn't think two layers of quilt batting was enough of a cushion for his cute little bottom, so at some point I have to go to Jo-Anns and get some foam. And figure out what I'm going to cover it with...