Source: McCall's 5781Materials: about 2 3/4 yard fabric
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All hail Elias Howe, without whom women would still be bending over fabric for work instead of for fun. Someday I'd like to sew all my own clothes, but to do that I'd need access to the same great fabric that Land's End uses in their knit stuff! In the meantime, I have a lot of fun with cottons, and perhaps someday I'll try some silks.
Source: Butterick 3262
Materials: about two years navy twill
A plain skirt, adjusted to have a broadfall waist opening. Eminently successful, except for one thing: the waist is huge, and because it's a full skirt, it doesn't look good sitting on my hips. I've set it aside until I either get the oomph to rip the waistband and make some tucks or find a larger friend who'd wear it.
Started June 2006
Finished, sort of, July 2006
Source: McCall's 5781
Materials: about 2 3/4 yard fabric
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I've had this fabric for about five years now, so it's high time I made this shirt. When I last made this pattern, the sleeves turned out far too long; this time I shortened them, although I still left the cuffs off, taking a tuck in the bottom of the sleeves instead. I'll see if the one-piece collar works better this time.
Started February 2006
Finished March 2006
Source: Simplicity 7434
Materials: about three or four yards of cotton/lurex fabric
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I finally made this one; the fabric's been sitting around for a couple years, but once I got around to it, I cut it out in one afternoon and sewed it up in a day. This time I cut the bodice out a size smaller than I did on the previous jumpers, and lo and behold! it fits! it doesn't slide off my shoulders!
Started and finished December 2005
Source: Butterick 3214
Materials: two yards turquoise knit fabric (more than enough!)
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This is the quick shirt that I've made two of before; once I cut it out, I can finish it in a couple sewing sessions.
Started August 2005
Finished September 2005
Source: probably a McCalls pattern
Materials: A rayon blend, about four yards or so.
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Very loud. Five-miles-visibility loud. And it has pockets. And the neckline actually covers straps. I like it.
(Okay, I do need to tweak the upper sleeves; they're too snug when I flex my arms.)
Started and finished July 2004
Source: Simplicity 5344
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This was made from a fabric I fell in love with that finally went on clearance. Turns out that the fabric, a polyester, frays massively; if I ever use that brand again, I'll use a different kind of seam. But it looks nice and floats well.
Started August 2003
Finished September 2003
Source: a preprinted vest-pattern fabric
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My mom picked up this fabric, and I made us matching vests.
Started August 2003
Finished September 2003
Source: Simplicity 5344
Materials: 2 3/4 yards fabric, plus interfacing
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Having made a gazillion short vests, I wanted to try something a little longer and more dramatic. I like this pattern a lot, though I still have to figure out how to keep the facings from rolling outside (yes, I followed the tips on the pattern).
Started and finished August 2003
Source: Simplicity 8878
This is my alltime favorite pattern. It's not actually designed as a reversible pattern,but if you sew up the lining holes carefully enough, it's sufficiently reversible. So far, I've made the following versions:
Source: Simplicity 7434
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This was one of these fabrics that I fell in love with, bought a lot of, and took forever to figure out what to make with.
I like this pattern, but I need to fix something about the bodice, as the shoulder strap keeps slipping off -- perhaps I should make the bodice as a smaller size.
Started and finished August 2003
Source: Butterick 3214
Materials: about 2 yards knit fabric
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When I was going to a meeting in New York City and planning to meet with my brother there, he suggested that we go to the Metropolitan Opera one evening. I enthusiastically agreed, and then wondered what to wear -- I don't have squat in the way of evening clothes.
Well, there was this blue metallic knit that I'd picked up, and a simple-looking pattern, so I decided to see whether I could make that up in time. In a fit of common sense, I made the pattern first in a cheaper knit I had on hand (see below), determined that it was fine except that it needed longer sleeves, and then made up this shirt. All in the course of two evenings -- when I'm sufficiently motivated and the kid gets to bed early enough, I can work fast.
Started and finished February 2003
Source: Butterick 3214
Materials: about 2 yards knit fabric
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The test pattern before I made the sparkly shirt. Turned out well, and in fact I wear this shirt much more often!
Started and finished February 2003
Source: McCalls 5781
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It doesn't really take this long to make a shirt. But you do have to actually sit down and work on it once in a while.... The fabric is a fairly thin cotton seersucker-like weave. Barely opaque enough to be decent, but I have no shortage of vests!
The biggest problem with this pattern, actually, turned out to be the sleeves. WITHOUT the cuffs, they came down over my hands! I ended up just cutting off the excess and hemming the ends; it's rather open and airy, but since it's intended as a summer shirt, that's okay.
Started August 1999
Finished January 2003
Source: McCalls 2256, a pattern that I'm not likely to make again
It's plaid. It's a jumper. And it's made of flannel. (Well, what else am I supposed to say about it?) And once I actually started working on it, it took me maybe three days to finish.
Unfortunately, it looks really, really, REALLY bad on me. The waist is in the wrong place, the side opening starts in the wrong place, it's baggy, the darts make unfortunate points in unfortunate places....I think this one's going to get recycled. I love the theory behind the pattern, but I'm going to have to adjust it big-time to make it look good on me.
Started August 2001
Finished December 2002
Source: my design
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This fleece pattern repeatedly jumped out at me, so when JoAnn's Fabrics had their big fleece sale, I bought four yards. I'd originally intended to make more of a cloak, but it ended up being a coat. (Big enough to wear over another coat, though.) Eyeballed the shoulders (which in retrospect I should've made wider, but hey), measured sleeve lengths against my arm, improvised the hood from a big scrap....Not bad for a first design.
I don't need a fleece coat, of course. This is Texas. I rarely get to wear stuff like this. But it's loud and pretty, and very comfortable. It makes a great winter bathrobe too. And who knows; I might actually live in a cold climate again someday....
Started and finished December 2002
Source: Simplicity pattern
Third time around for this pattern. This time I'm using a blue and purpleish mosaic-look print, with these occasional starbursts. I've put a tuck in on the sides to narrow the waist a bit; it still looks vaguely like a maternity dress, but it's not as bad.
It's an easy pattern, but I think I need to look for another one, or perhaps I should just try this pattern again with a drapier fabric. It's not a great pattern for cotton prints.
Started August 2001
Finished November 2002
Source: Simplicity 7434
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It's plaid. And it's a jumper. (For the non-Murrikan-English speakers out there, that's a sleeveless dress usually worn over a shirt or another dress.) I like the style, and I love the pockets, but I think I need one size smaller, and I may figure out how to make it with solid rather than buttoned shoulder straps.
The time spent on this is a little misleading -- I cut it out in 2001, let it sit for most of a year, and finally started sewing at the end of July and finished it within a week.
Started August 2001
Finished July 2002
Source: McCalls 2256
Materials: a linen-rayon blend
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A new dress pattern, with long sleeves and a zippered back. The fabric looks coarse but feels pleasant, and seems to wrinkle a lot less than I'd expected.
It turns out that this is YET ANOTHER PATTERN WITH SUCH A HUGE NECK OPENING THAT THERE IS NO WAY TO AVOID SHOWING BRA STRAPS. And what's infuriating is that this is a pattern with a zipper that goes up to the neck, so there is NO reason for the opening to be that wide. After some debate, I've decided to leave it as-is and wear vests with it for now. Maybe I'll crochet a collar or something eventually. For future renditions of this pattern, I'll tweak the neck opening. (And add pockets.)
Started August 2001
Finished July 2002
Source: McCalls pattern, I think
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Okay, it's a silly thing for me to call it, but having read Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic duology earlier this year, the mosaic-print fabric just makes me think of those books.
The fit is generally great. Only problem is my usual problem with all patterns that don't have a neck fastening: the neck opening is so darn wide that the display of bra straps is inevitable. Maybe when it's cold out I can wear a t-shirt or something underneath, or get myself some sleeveless turtlenecks....
Started August 2001
Finished October 2001
my design
Made in the same way as the below cat skirt, and matching the above paisley vest (well, they matched five years ago before the vest faded, but a few washings will change that). I actually made the elastic too big (!), so I have to open the waistband and trim it down a bit. And it'd probably look better if I actually shaped it instead of just gathering rectangles. But hey.
[2005 addendum: I've since disassembled the thing, because I'm plump enough now that I really look bad in it. Eventually I may reshape it a bit so it looks better, or I may just give up and cut it up for something else.]
Started August 2001
Finished October 2001
Simplicity 7181
Materials: 3 1/2 yards fabric, some interfacing, elastic
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Same pattern as below; I added more elastic in the waist. I do have to admit that this dress pattern really doesn't work that well with quilting cotton, or rather, that quilting cotton doesn't make for good dresses -- it's a little too stiff. (Vests, on the other hand....)
Started and finished May 2001
Source: Simplicity 7181
Materials: 3 1/2 yards cotton flannel, some interfacing and elastic
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Well, I need to adapt it a bit for my shape -- the bodice and armholes are exactly wide enough, but the waist is too big even for my fat stomach, and the neckline's larger than I like. Still, comfortable, and the pockets I added work well, and I like the plaid flannel.
Started and finished April 2001
Source: McCalls pattern
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When I became pregnant, I had this idea of making myself lots of maternity clothes. As it turned out, I had no time, and anyway I was able to make do on one loaned jumper and some shirts and pants borrowed from my husband. But I did make this jumper, which was tremendously useful. The pocket in particular came in quite handy. The bodice does tend to slide down in front, probably because I made it too large for my frame, but otherwise it worked well.
Started and finished October 1998
Source: Simplicity 7588
When I was in high school, my mom cut out a blazer and skirt set for me out of navy blue wool. The skirt she finished, and I wore it several times, but she never got around to sewing the blazer. Eventually she gave me the pieces, and finally I sewed it together.
It's a little untailored looking (due to my sewing skills, not Mom's cutting skills), but it's classy, and the pockets are wonderful. Alas, the first time I really wore it was on a business trip where I lost all my house and work keys the day I was supposed to leave, so I've always had bad associations with it and rarely wear it; I'll probably give it away eventually. (And the skirt doesn't fit me anymore either, which is too bad; it was a wonderful pocketed skirt. And the pattern's out of print, so I can't buy it in a larger size. Alas, woe.)
Started 1987
Finished January 1996
Source: a kit I bought through Keepsake Quilting
An interesting and easy pattern for slippers with non-skid soles, but I found that the foam in the base was so thick that I wasn't comfortable walking in them, and my arch is so high that I really would need to redesign the things somewhat.
Started and finished April 1995
Source: probably a Simplicity pattern
A cool fabric, and a good article of clothing in theory, but the arms are too tight for my tastes -- I ended up giving this one away. If I make this pattern again, I'll enlarge the sleeves and the armhole opening, and I'll probably make the version with front pockets.
Started and finished February 1995
Source: my design
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Same fabric as the rainbow cat vest above. An extremely simple skirt -- two rectangles with an elastic casing and inseam pockets. (I require pockets. I hate wearing clothes without pockets. I don't carry a purse.)
[Eventually the skirt didn't fit well, so I cut it up and made two aprons for a church bazaar. They sold immediately.]
Started March 1994
Finished June 1994
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Source: September/October issue of Needlecraft for Today
I've made two of these, one in blue/purple/black and one in blues.
Blue/purple: Started January 1989, finished August 1989
Blues: Started 1990, finished June 1994
Source: shirt my design from an existing shirt, skirt probably a Simplicity pattern
For college choir, I made myself a matching shirt and skirt to wear for concerts; it worked well.
Started and finished February 1991
Source: have to look at the pattern
Materials: leftover scraps of fleece (probably 1/3 yard or less), plus interfacing and lining
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I've long planned to make a hat to go with the fleece coat I made a few years back; it's finally time. It didn't take long to sew, but I could've done a better job; ah, well; it's my first time with the pattern.
Started September 2005
Finished November 2005
Source: Simplicity 5189
Materials: about four yards denim
This is a dress I made for a church acquaintance. Fairly easy, but the denim's challenging to work with in this pattern -- small tubes of denim do not turn inside-out at all well.
Started December 2004
Finished early 2005
Source: McCalls 2250
Materials: about six yards fabric A and two of fabric B (in this case, two shades of orange)
This is a dress for my ex-husband. (Can you tell that I live in a good-sized and tolerant city?) There will probably be enough leftovers to make a matching shirt and shorts for our son.
Started August 2004
Finished January 2005
Source: Butterick 3217
Four more shirts for my ex:
Started August 2003
Finished July 2004
Source: McCall's 2146
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This shirt uses fabric from two of the above shirts for my ex -- another father-son outfit.
Started August 2003
Finished December 2003
Source: Butterick 3217 and McCall's 2146
I'm very proud of these shirts, mainly for my cutting job. The man's shirt takes 3.5 yards of fabric; the boy's takes 1.25. I got both out of four yards.
Started January 2003
Finished February 2003
Source: Butterick 3217
A red shirt for my ex. (No, I didn't have Star Trek in mind when I started working on it....) Hey, it was part of our agreement -- we'd bought all this fabric for me to make shirts for him, so that's what it's getting used for. It went much faster than the green shirt I made him; I know better now what I'm doing, so it's a lot easier to keep moving on the thing.
Started and finished December 2002
Source: Butterick 3217
Jan likes shirts with button-flap pockets, and most shirts aren't long enough to cover his stomach, so I made this one for him. This particular fabric washed badly, so it's got a lot of wear lines already -- the perfect candidate for the sample shirt. Turned out quite well, actually, other than the fact that I made the buttonholes too small. The fit is just about perfect.
It doesn't really take this long to make a shirt; it's just that I didn't get to it very often.
Started December 1998
Finished August 2002
Source: some McCalls pattern
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Terminally easy. Cut out, sew the seams, hem, thread some elastic through, and your kid has a pair of shorts. Original toddler clothes for two hours' work and three bucks worth of fabric.
Source: McCall's pattern
A basic bathrobe in red flannel, because my ex wanted a bathrobe that wasn't too heavy.
Started July 1999
Finished September 1999
Source: pattern from Ginger's Needlearts
Materials: about a yard and a half of fabric A, 2/3 yard fabric B, and 1/4 yard fabric C
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A quick and easy project, and the results look quite nice. I probably wouldn't do this for pillows I was going to sleep on -- my storebought pillowcases feel nicer than most of the cotton fabrics in the local fabric stores -- but for the pillows on the living room couch, they'll work well.
Started and finished January 2006
Source: no pattern; just cut out rectangles and hemmed
Materials: about three yards fabric
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Simple curtains for the lower halves of my office windows. (One blind is a tad too short to cover the whole thing; the other's lower half was destroyed by my autistic son when this was his room.)
Started and finished October 2005
Source: my design
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The nice thing about sewing is that you can make something genuinely useful with a minimum of skill/effort. Pillowcases are one example -- take about a yard of 45 inch wide fabric, fold it in half so the selvedges are together, sew two sides and hem the third. Same principle for a laundry bag, except that you run a cord through the hem as a drawstring; making the twisted cord for the drawstring probably takes longer than the sewing itself.
I've made three of these: one from red gingham with scrap Lily Sugar & Cream yarn for the cord, one from a planet/nebula print with a no-name floss cord, and finally one from a purple moon and stars print with no-name floss cord.
Red bag c. 1988
Nebula bag 1998
Moon bag October 2002
Source: my design
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A quickie eyeballed project, with the remains after I'd made the moon laundry bag. I've had this fabric around forever, so it's nice to finally do a couple things with it.
Finished around October 2002
I love making pillows, except for hand sewing up the fourth side (which takes twice as long as machine sewing the rest). Maybe I should make some versions with zippers, so I can take the covers off for cleaning AND machine sew the whole thing. At any rate, this is my favorite way to use cool fabrics that I can't think of another use for.
Source: my design
I just eyeballed these, and they worked out okay, except that when I threw one in the wash the bolster form shredded. Obviously I need to just make them as fixed covers, since I'm likely to throw the whole thing in the wash anyway. One's a pansy print, and the other a butterfly print.
Started and inished March 2001
Source: my design
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A useful item for my ex's apartment -- it's a fabric tube, with elastic on either end, that you hang up and store plastic grocery bags in.
Finished around May 2002
Source: someone else's design
The craft group at my church was making aprons for a bazaar, and I volunteered to sew a few. I made six blue ones from fabric they provided and two cat ones from an old skirt of mine that no longer fit. Naturally the cat skirts sold immediately and the blue check ones didn't sell at all....
Started and finished November 2003
Source: Butterick 6678
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A pouch with two zippers, done in a fabric with doggie bones and hearts. For my sister, the dog freak. It took me about three readings and two incorrect attempts to figure out the corners.
Started October 2000
Finished February 2001
Source: eyeballed off one my mom made
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Some people get fancy storebought stockings, or make cross-stitched or needlepoint heirlooms. My family, however, uses simple fabric stockings hung on the doorknob; it's a beloved tradition. This is the one I made for my son.
Started and finished December 1999
Source: my design
A tote bag for me; I used it for a few years until it wore out.
Started February 1999
Finished June 1999
Source: my design
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My husband's old bag was wearing out, and we couldn't find bags with sufficient pockets in the stores, so I made my own. No pattern; just rectangles and eyeballing. The next time I make one, I'll make the shoulder strap shorter and put fasteners on the flap.
Started and finished December 1998
Source: Come on, he's just a tube of striped fabric; you don't need no steenkin' pattern!
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My St. Patrick's Day decoration. It's a little hard to see in the picture, but he's wearing a "No Shamrocks" logo. Later I made him a little sign saying "Repatriate the Herpeto-Hibernians!"
Made on 17 March 1995
This was made for my mom but ended up being used by my sister. I tried the iron-on vinyl to line it, so it'd be waterproof. Unfortunately, the vinyl doesn't hold up well over time.
Started and finished January 1995
Source: Needle & Thread
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I made this for my sister's graduation; she was a fan of pigs at the time.
Started and finished May 1995
My sister had a story character called Bob the Flying Pig, so a flying pig seemed a natural gift for her. Pig from IKEA, wings by me.
Finished around 1991-92
Source: my design
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A project I did while playing with the fancy stitches on my mom's sewing machine, back when I was in high school. Something about the black-on-red just felt decadent to my teenaged mind. These days I use it to hold some of my bobbin lace supplies.
Finished around 1985
Last updated 3 September 2006
