Well, I told you guys that the Ice Cream Dress would be my last blog post of the year… But I lied a little bit. I decided to do one last post to re-cap my #2017MakeNine projects, and to go a little more in depth about what I’ve got planned for 2018!
My #2017MakeNine goals included the following patterns:
– By Hand London Kim Dress
– Christine Haynes Rumi Dress
– By Hand London Elisalex Dress
– Closet Case Nettie Bodysuit
– Colette Rue Dress
– So Over It Betty Dress
– By Hand London Alix Dress
– So Over It Silk Cami Top
– By Hand London Flora Dress
Mostly party dresses, mostly By Hand London. I’ll be honest, by tastes haven’t changed much this year! Beautiful dresses and BHL patterns are still a few of my favorite things.
Here’s how things played out. I made 6 of the 9 intended patterns. However, I made 13 garments using these 6 patterns. So, I still made nine – though I’m not sure that quite counts!! Here’s a look back on the things I made.
By Hand London Kim Dress – This was by far my favorite pattern this year. I found myself buying fabric after fabric with this particular style in mind. So it isn’t any huge surprise that I made so many versions. These are some of my most loved dresses, and I don’t regret even a little bit that I made so many!
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: By Hand London – Kim Dress
fabric: Novelty Cotton Fabric – Cactus from JoAnn (out of stock in this colorway, but similar linked)
This was my first version of this dress. I’m not much for a muslin, so if I make one it is typically a wearable version made out of fabric I really like but won’t be heartbroken about if it doesn’t quite turn out. This cactus Kim was about a size too big, so I was glad that I found that out before making the “real thing” – but it is totally still wearable and cute!
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: By Hand London – Kim Dress
you’ve seen this one here before! this dress has it’s own blog post – check it out here!
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: By Hand London – Kim Dress
fabric: Alexander Henry – Folklorico – Las Golondrinas
Have you ever fallen in love with a fabric? I saw this long ago, before I was sewing much, and fell in love with it. I pined over it for months, and when I had actually started sewing a bit in mid-2016, I decided to go ahead and buy it… And it was all sold out. Everywhere. I finally tracked a few yards down on Etsy, and maybe spent more than necessary, but it was totally worth it. I held onto it for about a year, and finally made myself this dress for my birthday this past August. It couldn’t be more perfect!
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: By Hand London – Kim Dress
fabric: Art Gallery – Sage Yuma Lemons Glare – by Bari J.
I made this dress for the Sewcialists Tribute Month back in August. You’ve seen me mention Gina over at StitchyMavenSews before, and this dress was a tribute to her style! I love the contrast of the dark buttons to mellow out the sweet pastel fabric and girly cut of the dress.
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: By Hand London – Kim Dress
this was the last Kim of the year, a midi Halloween ghost version. for a little more detail, you can check out my Halloween blog post here!
Christine Haynes Rumi Dress – I made both the tank and dress version of this pattern. The tank is my most casual lounge piece that I’ve made, and I’ve found it to be great for layering, the gym, and simply being comfy at home. The dress was perfect for feeling cute, stylish, and comfortable at some football game day events this year!
DETAILS:
tank: handmade by me
pattern: Christine Haynes – Rumi Dress and Tank
fabric: Telio Stretch Bamboo Jersey (similar here)
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: Christine Haynes – Rumi Dress and Tank
fabric: Wine Baby Suede from Fabric.com
By Hand London Elisalex Dress – I didn’t make the version I set out to make, and in all honesty, I didn’t ever actually make the pattern as intended. I modified it each time by extended one skirt to a maxi, and throwing a gathered skirt on the other. I actually still plan to make the original long-sleeved version I had in my head sometime this year – the timing just didn’t work out for the event I had it planned for, while waiting for the re-release of the pattern!
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: By Hand London – Elisalex Dress
fabric: Amy Butler – Bright Heart – Tropi Canna in Coral (<– linked there for $5/yd!)
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: By Hand London – Elisalex Dress
This short-sleeved version was another “wearable muslin,” much like the cactus Kim up above. Because the sleeveless and sleeved bodice pieces vary slightly, I wanted to test out the fit of the sleeved version before making the long-sleeve version I’ve been thinking of later on! for a little more detail on this silly Scaredy Cat version, you can check out my Halloween blog post here!
Closet Case Patterns Nettie Bodysuit – I won’t go too in depth on this piece, since I’ve just recently published a post about it, but man. This thing is awesome! I can’t wait to make a couple more, but this one has served me so well this holiday season! I have been debating making the dress version sometime soon, as well!
DETAILS:
bodysuit: handmade by me
pattern: Closet Case Patterns – Nettie Bodysuit
for the full blog post, check here!
So Over It Silk Cami – It’s really a shame I only made one of these this year. To be quite honest, I am not entirely sure what prompted me to make this one of my make nine items last year. I’m glad I did, though – the finished product turned out so cute, and was a basic I could wear out as a breezy summer top, and under a cardigan for more business casual occasions. This would be a great pattern for me to make a few more of to build out the basics in my handmade wardrobe. And in case you are curious – the silk cami does not need to be silk. Mine isn’t! 🙂
DETAILS:
top: handmade by me
pattern: So Over It – Silk Cami
fabric: Art Gallery – Sage – Painted Desert Night (Cotton Voile)
By Hand London Flora Dress: Another great BHL pattern (they really can’t go wrong, in my book!). I made a couple of these, and surprise, surprise, have fabric in my stash that is destined to be a couple of more! This is a really great pattern that has the potential to be a more casual or dressy garment, depending on your fabric choice.
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: By Hand London – Flora Dress
fabric: Lemon Quilting Cotton from the JoAnn clearance rack!
This was my wearable muslin, and it turned out so well. Lemon print fabrics really had my eye this spring! The secret to this dress? The circle-esque skirt shape is not made for a 44″ inch fabric, which is what I was working with here. I ended up doing an interesting little bit of tetris, and tacked on some triangular bits of fabric where the skirt front and back meet at the side seams to complete the skirt shape! Luckily, this fabric hides my extra seams quite well!
DETAILS:
dress: handmade by me
pattern: By Hand London – Flora Dress
fabric: HGTV Home Dec fabric from the JoAnn clearance rack!
I don’t really know what fabric this dress is made of. It is almost like a lightweight canvas, which admittedly sounds like a terrible idea for a dress. But when I saw it, the Flora immediately came to mind. The structure of the dress seemed perfect for this home dec fabric – AND IT WAS! It lays beautifully, and lined in a soft, light lining fabric, it isn’t uncomfortable on my skin.
So that is it for the makes! Now on to the things I did not get to…
Colette Rue Dress – I purchased the Rue when it came out, with plans to sew it up for a fall 2016 wedding. However, after the fit issues reported by many after it’s release, I decided that I would wait for Colette to send out the new pattern pieces before I made it. It got moved from Autumn 2016, to the 2017 make nine list… And there is still sits. I have a great fabric that I know will make a really pretty dress. For whatever reason, it just hasn’t been inspiring me this year. I do still plan to make it, but it is not high ton my priority list right now.
So Over It Betty Dress – I purchased this dress for the V-Neck add on! I am constantly on the search for a great V-Neck dress, and I still have not found one. As with the Rue, I have a beautiful cut of fabric on my shelf for this dress. It will be AWESOME! What stopped me from making this dress this year was my fear of PDF patterns. I loved the idea, but was intimidated by the taping and piecing together. I preferred to get PDF patterns with a copyshop option, which this dress did not have. I finally broke into the print at home PDF world with the SOI Silk Cami above, and have since worked through a couple more. It still isn’t my favorite thing, but it is not as intimidating as I imagined. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get to this sometime in 2018 now that I know I can handle a print at home pattern.
By Hand London Alix Dress – I truly can’t believe I didn’t make this. I think my problem here is that I think this is the most beautiful pattern, and I have purchased the most beautiful fabric to make it out of. Therefore, I need somewhere fabulous to wear it!… Right? I’m thinking maybe not. Rather that waiting for another friend to get married in a month appropriate for the dress I have planned, I’ve decided that I just need to go ahead and make this lovely dress and wear it to dinner and the grocery store and everywhere. Why wait?!
So there begins my 2018 sewing plans… I’m still debating whether or not I want to create a #2018MakeNine grid, and here’s my reasoning. As I mentioned previously, I’m on the #SewMyStyle2018 leadership team – this alone means I have 12 awesome garments on my plate. (By the way, if you are interested but haven’t signed up yet, check it out HERE!!!) I’ve also joined the IndieSew Blogger Team, which will entail a quarterly post – so there are 4 more. That’s a total of 16 pieces. I’m super excited about these two new things happening in my little sewing world! I do have a little bit of concern, though, that if I add in a make nine to bring my total to 25 items pre-planned, I may start to feel guilty about making things that just come to mind as the year comes along! It may sound silly, but that is totally how my brain works. I love checking off boxes, and last year I seriously struggled with whether to make something that I’d gotten very excited about, or to make something I was less excited about simply because I’d put it in my Make Nine grid.
I will say though that I do have plans to work with a few new substrates – 2017 was all about the quilting cottons for me, and I LOVE everything that I made, but I’m excited to explore some things that are more intended for apparel. I also plan to fill out my wardrobe a bit more. I’ve focused quite a bit on party dresses, but find it harder to pull from my handmade wardrobe for more casual, everyday dressing needs.
So there you have it, folks. What do you have planned this coming year?
- XX Elizabeth
