Completed: Scalloped and sleeved sorbetto!

Hark!  A pretty pastel modified Sorbetto in time for Easter Sunday.  The scallops remind me of chocolate eggs.  It goes nicely with my enormous pantalones.  Could things be any better?

Well, chocolate.  Mr Pix and I headed out for crepes today, goodness golly me they were amazing.  Happy holidays, kids, and even if you don't do the jesus thing, I hope you ate chocolate today.  Praise chocolate.

Mr Pix to me:  "If you get chocolate sauce on your new top before we've got photos of it, it will be all your fault and I will have zero sympathy".  Me:  "WHATEVER I MUST WEAR IT TODAY I CANNOT WAIT".  Clearly he had a very good point, the crepes were saucy and the stakes were high.  But I am just too pleased with this top.  Look at it!  Pastel!  Purple!  Scallops!

So much of this little project fell into realm of "Pix, you ought to know better".  I should know better than to do terrible things like not mark my pattern pieces at all, but kill them with insane-crazy-scissor-lady notches that exceed the seam allowance.  I should know better than to cut the sleeves AND the body a full two inches shorter than required.  I should definitely know better than make two left sleeves - and I could go on!  I thought this thing was a wadder every second I worked on it.

It worked out though, I think!  I learned a few things, too - facing sleeves is GREAT.  I love the finish.  I love the weight it gives them.  I don't have to worry about my armpits eating them.  Awesome.

I went ahead and faced the neck, too, because I was loving the clean edges.  I always thought it was more difficult to draft your own facings, because people used the word "draft"!  I realised that it's not really like drafting at all!  It's just cutting out only a fragment of the pattern piece!  So that was a bit of a "duh" moment.

It was also my first time "cheating" on setting in sleeves - sewing them to the armholes flat, before sewing up the garment sides.  I can't believe this works?  Can someone tell me why all directions don't tell you to do this?  Oh, and first time for scallops and my first time making a Sorbetto!

In other awesome news, I finally have my sewing machine!  YES.  It's taking me awhile to get used to it again, actually!  A few times I felt like the project was racing away from me, and I longed for the hand-sewing pace back.  Of course, the ability to make a top in two nights as opposed to two weeks is the payoff, but I do think I will sew garments by hand again in the future.  It's strange how relaxing I find it!

One more thing to show you - I actually wrote out my modified instructions for myself!  I gleaned this idea from someone's blog lately, I wish I could remember whose, so I might give appropriate props.  It really made me feel like I had a lifeline when everything was going wrong, so I think I will do this again.

Enough about me, sewists, what about you?  Have you had any seemingly disastrous projects become awesome garments?  Do you "cheat" on sleeves?  Do you love making facings?  And most importantly, HOW MUCH chocolate did you eat today?

ETA:  I totally forgot to give props to Sew, incidentally and The Sew Weekly for their joint work on the ole' sorbetto sleeve pattern!  Couldn't have done it without you, you sewing heroes.

Finished: An enormous pair of pantalones.

Hello blog, did you miss me?  I was off wrestling with a time consuming and frustrating hand sewn project.  It was a lot less fun than the last one, but in the end I may even like it better!  

Remember I posted this pattern and this sketch with my orange top?  Well, these are the shorts that I envisaged!  They're pretty much exactly like I had planned, so I'm pretty pleased.  

 

And did I mention they were the pain in the ass?  The pattern suggested a whole bunch of different woven fabrics, as well as 'stable knits'.  I really felt that a dark knit was the only way to avoid these looking like boxer shorts, so I spent awhile looking for a knit that I figured was 'stable' enough.  After a bit of guesswork I found a huge bundle of this stuff at a thrift store.  It seemed 'stable' and had a nice weight and minimal stretch, so I didn't look too closely.  

It's so weird!  It's definitely mostly synthetic but somehow pleasant to the touch, makes me think at least somewhat cotton blend.  It only stretches crosswise.  It's pretty thick.  There is like 5.5 yards of it.  I'm pretty sure someone bought it to make a ladies suit out of, but it has a sheen to it that would make it very much like a Target suit if used for this purpose.  I say no.  Casual shorts are about as high as I would take this baby.  

Anyway, it sucked to sew because a) it was impossible to see my thread or what I was doing on it b) it would not hold an ironed crease c) it totally creases up anyway on its own terms d) i convinced myself I had to do zig zag seams by hand because it was stretch fabric.  TOOK SO LONG.  Here are some construction shots.  

On a happier, note, this was my first time using tailors tacks, and first time using binding to finish a hem.  I also really wanted a visible hem seam like in the pattern envelope pic, so I tried hand sewing it as straight as humanly possible.  It's definitely not all straight but I think it's acceptable!  Embiggen that pic above if you're at all interested to see!  

That's all I really have to say about construction, because everything else on them is unfinished or dubious. Hah!  Anyway, I like how they look, I think, but I'm still a little dubious about how HUGE they are. 

I dunno.  Too huge?  I can't decide.  I wanted them to be oversize but these may be...  OVERSIZE.  Ugh, also, wrinkly.  Must press next time take photos >.<  They look good from the back, though:  

Yeah, that's my butt.  Whatever, I really like these from the back.  I think I like them overall!  What do you think?  Do you think there's room in one's wardrobe for an enormous pair of shorts?

Vintage finds are the BEST.

Since I got into this hobby, I've found that I'm starting to develop a super sleuth sense for finding vintage patterns and fabric. Whenever I walk past an op shop my internal sleuth says "probably no sewing stuff" or "I bet they have patterns and fabric!". More and more often, I find I'm right!

Sadly though, much of what I find in op shops turns out to be the worst kind of 80s patterns, and garish, slippery, nightmare-to-sew manmade fabrics. Sometimes I'm tempted to buy it just because, yay, I found something! But if it's so objectionable that the first owner never wound up using it, why would I?

All this led me to pay a visit to the North Melbourne Market a few weeks ago. It's run by Thread Den, a local business who run sewing classes and such. My sleuth voice told me that, given its sewing connection, this market MUST be the place to find vintage yardage!!

Most of the stalls were showcasing finished clothes and accessories - all cute, for sure, but I needed the pure, unadulterated goods. Then, tucked upstairs in the furthest corner of the labyrinthine venue, I found these babies:

AHHH PRETTIES. Check out how much length there is:

The floral is, I think, 100 per cent cotton with a fairly robust hand - like shirting weight. I took one look at it and thought, "shirtdress". There is 5.5 yards of it - more than enough for the pattern I chose:

I must have looked at hundreds of shirtdress patterns! I tend to obsess over details, and what sold me on this one was the yoke and pleat at the back. I think they'll add a touch of boyishness to counter the all-over floral!

The wool is ... Wool? I don't know any more than that, haha! It's quite a bit lighter in colour than the picture suggests.  It's soft and makes me feel nice when I handle it - which I do a lot, lol. When I bought it I knew already what pattern it would be used to make:

I've had this one in mind since Claire from Errant Pear posted her version at We Sew Retro. I feel like the poncho shape and underarm buttons make this one slightly more casual and contemporary - just a little toned down compared to a full on 60s circular cape! I'm going to make the view with the hood, with a flannel lining for coziness! So. Bloomin'. Excited!

I currently have all these bits and pieces perched at the bottom of my bed, so I can look at them all the time.  Do you ever have that, where you enjoy looking at something new so much, that you can't bring yourself to put it away?  They're going to start fading there though, so I'm going to start work on these real soon!

Finished: Style 4092, zooming out of 1985!

Having managed to combine daylight hours with the presence of my dear friend, the Pixographer, I present to you photos of the humble, mustard coloured, handsewn top!

I am super pleased with how this turned out! This project was born when an old faithful set of sheets I had wore out. The fitted sheet tore right down the middle! I was going to salvage that fabric, when I realised it was super faded from being on the (usually unmade) bed right beside sunny windows. The flat sheet, on the other hand, was in pristine condition, having spent most of its life balled up on the floor. The collar fabric is from a curtain found at my local savers. I was careful to choose something that was unbleached, rather than bright white, as I thought it would sit nicely against the sort of dirty mustard colour of the main fabric.

The shorts pattern on the left is my next project. I picked it up on an earlier Savers shopping trip, and my first thought was "Boo, I wish that top on the left was also included in the pattern". When I got home I went trawling though a bag of tragic 80s patterns I have, and found a near match!  It's nearly identical, except not a midriff.  No complaints there! Honestly, I would never have looked twice at this pattern otherwise. I mean, horrors, the styling!  I literally look at this envelope and can see nothing but the hair... the eyes... the makeup... even the earrings have an unsettling effect on me. So, I did what I usually do in such a situation:

Ahh, that's better. Now I actually wanted to make this top! As it came together I almost regretted the decision to visit the often dodgy land of the 80s. Readers, before the collar went on this top totally. Looked like. Hospital scrubs. All came out in the end though, thankfully, because.. I don't want no scrubs x.x

Hmmm... Nice and smooth in front, wrinkly mess in the back. Note to Pixie: learn the sway-back adjustment, STAT.  On alterations, what I did do was to slash and add inches widthways to get to my bust measurement. Because the sleeves are in one with the front, this actually makes them longer.  Bonus!  I then added more inches at the sides to get to my hip measurement, tapering from the waistline. I actually went back and added another half inch there after tissue-fitting, because it still looked like it was going to be tight across the front hem.  On the hanger, you can see how dramatically the bottom flares out, but I don't think it's terribly obvious when worn.  Despite the fitting issues in back, I think I will still wear this a lot.  It's no worse than the RTW garments I already own. 

Now, I hope y'all don't mind if I get spammy with some construction pics! My hand sewing is by no means perfect, but this all wound up looking neater than I expected, and I'm quite proud!

You can see the flared-ness on the left;  on the right, hand overcasting on the shoulder seams. 

Left, side seams, overcast as one because I say noooo to doing that twice;  right, sleeve hem :)

Left, back facing.  I had to mark it - you can see it faintly - because the pattern is so similar in front and back!  I must find something to make tags with.  Right:  underneath the neck facing!  After I graded my seam allowances under the facing, I decided to turn the top one under before understitching.  I don't know if it makes it sit any better, but it did save me having to overcast another raw edge, hah.  New rule though:  no more cutting notches into seam allowances.  Look how messy those nicks look! 

So, that's it!  The shorts to go with these are coming along nicely - soon I will be in summer separate heaven!

Sew grateful for new reading and bloggers!

So the gorgeous and talented Debi is hosting Sew Grateful week!  I think it's a seriously lovely idea, and it seems I'm not the only one - my google reader has exploded with giveaways, tutorials and some very thoughtful and genuine reflections.  I can't wait to see everyone's completed projects later in the week!

One thing I'm particularly loving about this week is the link round-ups people have done, and the shout-outs to their favourite blog buddies.  For someone like me, who has only been blogging for a fraction of a second, it's given me a stellar opportunity to discover new content - great posts that I might have missed the first time, tutorials on things I didn't even realise I wasn't doing, and amazing sewers and crafters whose blogs I hadn't discovered yet!  Oh, the link-hopping!  I can't tear myself away from y'all!  My laptop has become grafted to my lap!

So I thought I would post about the things I'm grateful for... that I've discovered through other people's sew grateful posts.  Wow, it's like a sew grateful vortex!

- Beata of Tatulinka's Tales posted an awesome list of things I can't wait to explore further!  I had never come across A Frock by Friday, and I had totally forgotten I wanted to try Casey's Sundress Tutorial this summer!  Thanks, Beata!

- I love Sunni's Stitching Spotlight posts a whole heap - talk about pretty overload! This one is what alerted me to Sew Grateful week in the first place!  Hooray!  I also discovered these tips for outdoor photography which will be coming in handy very soon!

- I've just discovered the adorable Marie through her Sew Grateful Week giveaway!  She linked back to one of her own posts from last month that lists FIVE awesome online tutorials.  Like I needed more projects - aww who am I kidding, I always WANT more projects!!

So there - pretty much anything I read on any blog about sewing I am grateful for, because I always learn something.  It's dizzying - in fact, I have literally exhausted myself with this, so to bed with me!  Oh, and here's the button back to Debi's:

I made a top! I drew a picture! I have no bloomin' sewing machine!

Well, the wait for my poor, sequestered sewing stash finally proved too much. What wait, you say? Pixie, we know nothing of your circumstances!

Okay, backstory! I made the leap last year to move to Melbourne, more excited then anything to jump into the city of beautiful artsy greatness and famously unpredictable weather. Sadly, the plans made for the moving of my stuff were less than sound, and it all wound up in storage... Back in Brisbane! That, my future friends, left me with no machine, no fabric stash, no patterns - not even a decent pair of scissors. I've been here about four months now, four months in which I was just dying to make pretty things, and share them with everyone!

So, what happens when such a case of stitching withdrawal reaches its natural crescendo? Handsewing, dear reader. Hand-bloomin' sewing, the cutting up of innocent sheets, and the top below!

I'm going to do a full post on this one, with better pics of course, and some shots of my hokey hand sewing. I just couldn't wait to show you, though!

My next project is a pair of shorts to go with these. Pattern pics also forthcoming, but in the meantime, I attempted a sketch with an iPhone app I just downloaded:

Woeful, no? Another of my long term goals is to embrace the arcane and black art known as "drawing". I might concentrate in the future on using those "pencil" and "paper" things, because once you take away the need for anti-alias-whatsits and layery-bobs, my scratchings can pass as endearingly imperfect, rather than objectively incompetent.  I really want to show you some sketches like this with my ideas for accessorising drawn in, but just wrangling that picture out of my phone left me totally fatigued, haha!  Think a boater hat and scrunchy socks, though.  Not necessarily in the same outfit.

Anyway, back on the topic of things I CAN do - today I have daylight and a willing friend ready to take photos, and THAT means I can soon introduce some of my completed pretties! Yay, I'm excited!

Beginnings!

Well, saying goodbye is meant to be the hardest part, but my poor blog has been lying in wait for some time now, while I tried to figure out how to say hello!

Hello! See, that wasn't so hard after all!

Now, some dot points by way of introduction!

- You can call me Pixie, and if you've made it to this blog, I'm eager to make your acquaintance!

- I'm a 20-something year old lady living in Melbourne. I recently moved to this most European of Australian cities, and I'm exploring madly, settling in and finding it all very delightful.

- I am addicted to making things, and at the moment, garments are my drug. Specifically, retro-licious garments! I've crafted things for as long as I can remember, but rarely have I made things that I can actually use and enjoy. My goal is to produce a functioning wardrobe of handmade, vintage inspired delights! Looking around the internet, it's obvious that a lot of you out there share the same goal, and surfing all the amazing vintage and sewing blogs is one of my favourite things to do - so fun and inspiring :D

- The thing that started this whole project, for me, would have to be patterns. There's just something about them - the old paper, the beautiful (and completely fantastical!) drawings, even the written garment descriptions, which introduce all sorts of words to me that I wouldn't have dreamed existed (really, it's called a dickie?!). I also love love love looking at other bloggers' completed projects. So patterns and projects are the things I can't wait to start sharing!

- As far as my sewing skills go, I'm still very much a novice, but I do have some ideas floating around for posts on tips, tricks and techniques! I figure it doesn't matter how new you are, there is always someone newer, right?

Phew. Enough rambling, time to go do things!