Kicking off 2019 with 3 Knit Tops!

To kick off the new year, and my birthday, I decided to do a couple quick projects.
AND in an effort to remedy my lack of blogging in 2018 I am attempting to share more and not worry about being a perfectionist.

All 3 are knit tops and well needed additions to my winter wardrobe.The first of the three is the yellow long sleeve tee. The knit is a cotton knit from EmmaOneSock. It is a nice beefy knit that holds the shape of the fun sleeves quite well. I technically finished this on December 29th to wear for my birthday :) 

On my birthday dinner I paired this relatively simple top with a silk scarf and my wool cashmere skirt. It was quite a fun and happy outfit. The only drawback to those sleeves is that you need to take care when eating to not get them in your plate!

The second long sleeve tee is this red and purple one. Both of the fabrics were leftovers from previous projects. It is the same pattern as the yellow one with a couple small tweaks to the back armsyce and back shoulder. These small tweaks have made for a better fit and less excess fabric. The red is a rayon knit and the purple is a bamboo knit, both so very soft and comfy!

The last of the new tops is a modified Stella from Linda Lee. I have had this in my pattern rotation for many years. The one I currently have in my closet is starting to show some wear so I used a sweater knit from Marcy Tilton to make a new one. This top is a bit oversized with drop shoulders and a comfy V insert in the front that is cut on the bias. 

What’s on my sewing table now? A trio of nice ponte and double knits to try making an outfit from. I have some ideas about making a knit jacket but possibly using my regular jacket pattern since it is a very stable knit. The brain is working away on some fun ideas!

Happy Sewing!

PS- using a new blog app on my iPad to try to make my life easier! Hopefully this goes well.

One of my favorite pics from over the holidays! My sister came and spent the week, it was wonderful :)

Happy 2019!! Successes, Failures and more from 2018

Happy 2019! I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday season. Mine was just simply lovely!

I have been non-stop and on the go since Thanksgiving and am now just getting to process everything :)

I have seen the rounds of bloggers showing the top successful makes and the fails as well and thought it would do my own take on that theme. There have been a plethora of items that I have sewn up this year that just didn't make it to the blog. Still trying to figure out why that is, I have a suspicion that I was just expecting too much from myself and in the process just did not get anything done. Maybe this year I just need to give myself a break and just take advice from Nike and Just Do It!

Lets start with the successes!

I had a couple of these and unfortunately not all of them were even blogged about!

1. My biggest success of the year was this work ensemble that I designed over the spring/early summer. (never blogged about) It worked out so well and I just love it! I feel put together, confident and comfortable when I wear this dress. I just noticed that in these pics I neglected to iron the dress after wearing it all day.

2. Super fun party dress that I made for a cousins wedding. Blogged about here.

3. A fall dress that I made for Haute Couture Club of Chicago Autumn Challenge. I LOVE this dress. The only picture I have of me in it is not the best but it will have to do! I will be doing a real blig post about this one.

Now onto the Failures or maybe they should be called 'Opportunities to Learn!'

1. my Patriotic outfit. Blogged about here- Spent valuable time of this garment and even though it is fine. I have only worn it once and it is just not really my style. The skirt is very big and the jacket is perfectly fine except that I never reach for it. It somehow seems very forced to me. Time to send it on its way and hope that someone else can appreciate it. The positive from this ensemble is that I really like the silhouette!

2. The red Jen Stern Tee I made to go with the 'Patriotic' outfit. I have made this tee so many times! It is my go to for a nice knit tee. However, this time it didn't really work out. The red knit is quite lovely but it is very drapey and a bit too heavy to work in this pattern how I would have liked it. It always feels like it is growing in length and the neckline always needs pressing. Something about it just doesn't work. Haven't decided if it is going in the donation pile or if I may 'play' with it and see if I can make if better.

3. I had a couple other fails that I didn't even complete or take pictures of. One was a pair of pants that I was experimenting with. It was with princess seams front and back and just made me laugh! The other 2 checked off my stupid box! LOL. I had some silk and linen remnants left and decided to make a couple of woven shells and somehow shut off my brain and cut them out wrong. Like literally shut off my brain and did not place the CF on the fold. 

4. failed at blogging on a regular basis. I think at some point I was just trying to do too much and be too perfect and that just backfired, causing me to have blogger paralysis. oops. 

Now onto the topic of Sewing Resolutions

The social media world has been full of all sorts of sewing resolutions! From selecting 9 projects to make over the year to all kinds of fasting challenges no RTW, shopping pattern and fabric stash and monthly and seasonal challenges. Instead of picking an existing challenge I made my own :) Part of my challenge is out of necessity... lack of space! Plus I am saving up for another big trip this year.

My challenge has to do specifically with fabric buying. For every 10 yards of fabric that I use I can only bring in 3 until I go on my Fall 2019 trip. Between now and November I will be keeping track of how many yards of fabric I use and then only allowing myself to bring in a smaller amount. My hope is that I will be able to free up some room in my fabric collection so that things are not so squished!

I was going to try and do a SWAP, Sewing With a Plan, for the year or at least part of the year but decided against that. I like my work to be more dynamic and flexible, it allows me to be more creative.

Do you set sewing resolutions?

PS- I have not forgotten to tell you all about my wonderful trip to Hong Kong!! that is up next!

Happy Sewing!