It’s RECAP time! I sewed up SIX stash fabrics over the last two months, which I’m super happy about! My July sewing seemed a little slow, as I started my first ever pair of jeans about halfway through, but once I powered through that awesome project I was very productive throughout August! I had the luxury of taking some time off around my birthday, and just sit in my sewing room for an entire day and make stuff, which I haven’t done in many many months. It felt so great, and was the perfect birthday gift to myself. I also brought you guys in on the birthday fun by hosting a pretty awesome giveaway!! It was a super great couple of months, and here’s the outcome:
The Ultimate Trousers
When I fell in love with the oversized floral print on this awesome stretch cotton twill, all I could think of was a great pair of skinny pants. As I’ve mentioned, this has really been the year of sewing pants for me, so a pair of trousers seemed like the next obvious iteration to try out. I love the outcome – I have a couple tweaks I’ll make to the pattern next time around, but these are filling a gap in my wardrobe as they are!
The Calvin Wrap Top
I had the pleasure of pattern testing the Calvin early in the month of July. I’m super in love with this design, and I wouldn’t be upset to have twenty Calvin tops and dresses in my closet. I had not made my own bias tape before, and was truly worried that it would drive me nuts. I found it super relaxing and cathartic, though – time consuming but straightforward, and absolutely worth the time. I love this top, and I look forward to trying out the dress version, as well. PS – wouldn’t this be super cute with a matching pencil skirt in that same awesome chambray linen?
The Wrap Skirt
I’d say this was my biggest sewing fail of the past two months. I wish that I had sized down by one size and added some interfacing to my waistband – the weight of those ruffles is a bit much for this soft, drapey rayon spandex knit to handle. The skirt is so soft, and I love that it can be dressed up or dressed down, but after more than 30 minutes of wear, I find myself readjusting the waistband to pull it up higher regularly!
The Ash Jeans
The pièce de résistance of these two months, if not the entire year or potentially even the entirety sewing journey! I am so incredibly proud of these jeans. I MADE JEANS! Unfortunately… They’ve spent some time in my drawer since being completed because it is still in the mid-90s on a daily basis here. Although I am happy for summer to last forever and ever, the transition to sweaters and jeans will be welcomed by me if only for the opportunity to wear my Ash Jeans!
The Lisa Dress
Athina Kakou of AK Patterns hosted a Lisa and Kimberly month, promoting two of her beautiful patterns and all of the great things you can do to hack them into exactly what you are looking for in a dress. I tried this pattern right off of the printer, no adjustments, and I love it. It is such a lovely silhouette, with the great V-Neck line and the simple and stylish silhouette. I was so happy to find a pattern worthy of this beautiful cotton lawn I’ve been admiring on my fabric shelves for so long!
The Pencil Skirt
Another scuba pencil skirt, this time in the shortened, above-the-knee length. This skirt was a total happy accident – I had one yard of this fabric, but only really intended to make a Jordy Bralette with it. Obviously, I had quite a bit leftover, so I figured why not make a super cute skirt that will match my bra? Always a good decision. So here it is!
The Jordy Bralette
My first ever piece of me-made lingerie – and I hacked it!! 🙂 I had been looking for a better alternative to my current nursing bras, which are a more full coverage option than I usually prefer and make me feel a little more frumpy than I envision myself to be in my head! When the Sew My Style crew included the Jordy Bralette in their makes for August, I originally wrote it off thinking that it wasn’t something that made sense in my wardrobe right now… Until I remembered that I am a sewist and I can do what I want. So I hacked it, and I wrote a tutorial on how you could do it too!
The Floral Dreams Tank
Another unplanned make that turned out to be pretty fun! I signed up to sew up this pattern for a Wacky Wednesday promotion, thinking that if I liked it, it would be a great basic tank pattern for summertime. I’d had 3 yards of this awesome Harry Potter knit on the shelf for a while, and it felt great to make it into something that didn’t feel too childish, but still definitely showed off the Harry Potter-ness of the fabric. I love the colors in this, and I think that the burgundy details will make it something I can layer under a cardigan and carry into autumn.
The Striped Jarrah
My husband has told me that this is his favorite thing that I have made recently! This Jarrah was made using a slightly thin French Terry that has made it bearable to wear with shorts over the summer, but it will still be cozy as it begins to cool off. The colors were so perfectly cheery and summery that I felt like I had to sew it up early enough to get a little bit of summertime wear out of it. It ended up also being a great low-key, almost red white and blue option to wear for Labor Day!!.
The Hummingbird Kyoto
Another sweatshirt sewn while it was well over 100F outside? Yep. That’s right. This fabric was lower down in my stack of fabrics to sew, but I ran out of the thread I needed for the next project I wanted to work on and ultimately decided to pull out the things that worked well with the serger thread I already had in place, and prioritize those instead. I shortened the bodice by 1”, which I will continue to do with this pattern in the future. My husband and I both have special memories of our grandmothers that involve hummingbirds, so I love that this fabric reminds me of that.
(ahhhhh I haven’t taken photos of this yet!)
The True Beauty Dress
The colors on this textured knit fabric are out of this world. I couldn’t get over how beautiful they are! I wanted to sew this up into something that felt a bit special, so I decided to make another version of the True Beauty dress that made me feel so lovely last summer. I did a ¾ sleeve this time, paired with a midi length, and hoped this would pair well for a nice, demure silhouette. Originally, I used a ¼” elastic through the top neckline elastic tunnel, and it really affected the look – the elastic was just too thin and flimsy. I swapped this out for a ½” elastic just yesterday, and I am so much happier with the overall look of the dress now.
(or this one! photos this week… I’m slacking!)
The Faux Jumpsuit Ogden
I made these Marigold Trousers last year, and always intended to sew the scraps into an Ogden Cami to get that faux jumpsuit look. This was not a priority when I was pregnant, because I knew I wouldn’t be so fond of how a jumpsuit (faux or otherwise) would look on my big old pregnant belly last year. I am so happy I finally got it sewn up, though – I think these comfy, crazy pants will actually get a little more wear now that I have this option, though I will definitely wear the top without the pants on a super regular basis!
And now for the July / August rundown…
Garments Sewn: 12
Planned Garments: 5
Unplanned Garments: 7
Sewn from Stash Fabrics: 6
Sewn from Collaboration Fabrics: 6
Sewn from New Fabrics: 0
I conquered two major sewing mountains over the last two months – my first pair of jeans, and my first piece of lingerie (and hacked to be nursing friendly, at that!). Nothing has become a fast favorite in the way that my Mandy Boat Tee and Lander Shorts did in May / June, but I am hoping that when the weather is right, my Ash Jeans are going to become a true me-made wardrobe workhorse. The next two months are going to be collaboration heavy again, but I am really looking forward to conquering another two sewing bucket list items – SEQUINS and FUR! I’m going to be very stylish this holiday season!
I’d love to hear from you guys – what are some of your sewing bucket list items?? Have you tried your hand at any yet, or are you anticipating giving them a go in the future? (PS – just do it. You won’t regret it!)
- XX Elizabeth
