Butterick 6388...

Generally my experience with Butterick is that it's always too big.  This pattern is multi-sized which is another sewing red flag for me.  Since I've lost a lot of weight this year, I didn't know exactly what my size was before attempting my Halloween costume.  Before I was making 16, 18 and sometimes 20.  Now I'm making 14 and sometimes 12.  This pattern I bought a long time ago so I bought the larger size.  I attempted to cut it down to the M size.  I suppose it worked because it turned out nice.  (I had to hurry to get this done despite cutting it out what seems like a million years ago because my sewing room will be commandeered by my best friend who'll be staying here for Christmas and New Year's.)

Anyway, here's the pattern:

I made D which this time stands for dress.

Here's how it turned out:

It's cute even though the pockets sit a little weird.  I am, however, super in love with the collar:

That's it for this year.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I'll start sewing again next year.

Simplicity 2850...

I made a jumper dress which works pretty good for winter.

For this I used Simplicity 2850 and some fabric that had just been sitting in my to-be-made cabinet.

Here's the pattern:

All in all this was pretty easy to make.  I scrapped the button accents because I'm lazy, and they just seemed annoying.

Here's how it turned out:

Looking at this picture I was reminded that I need a new cinch waist belt (as this one pictured has gotten too big), so I went to eBay to buy one just now.  I did make the pictured belt but I cut it on the wrong grain of the fabric, so it doesn't stretch properly.  Also, I don't think it looks so great and needs a little contrast.

Here's a close up of the fabric:

That's it for today!

The Great Pants Project 2017...

I'm in the midst of making all the pants I made last year fit me now.  First I took on these which were a real pain because the material is a little stretchy and it took forever to get them to fit me properly.

The picture on the left was taken a year and two months ago.

The lighting is different as it's a different room in a different house (in a different city no less), but I guarantee you these are the same pants.  I'm glad they fit now.  You can see the original work here.

Using that same pattern I had cut these pants out around the same time but they didn't fit when I tried them on at that time, but now, of course, they were too big so this is the second pair I took in.

(No before pic of these pants because I never finished them.  Also, I'm pretty sure I have no idea which side the zipper actually goes on.)

Finally, the last ones I fixed for today were these:

I took a picture of me wearing these pants just for fun.  Trust me, they are the same pants.  These weren't so difficult to fix since the zipper was in the middle and I didn't have to mess with it at all.  (Here's the original work.)

Here's a better view:

(Yes, these are the same pants!  Hard to believe I know.)

My back is killing me, so I'm calling it a night.  I now have three pairs of pants that fit me perfectly just in time for colder weather.

Edit: Today I finished the last pair of pants.

Here's the original work.

There's one more pair of pants to fix but they have a double elastic waist, so I probably won't fix them for a while.  Plus, they are not winter wear.

I'm glad to have a nice stock pile of pants now!

Halloween 2017!

A little late on this one.  Sorry about that.  For Halloween this year I went as myself.  Now hold on.  I didn't Heidi Klum anything around here.  I went as myself as a Pokémon Go trainer.

To make this I used the two different trainer patterns available.  For the jacket I used McCall's 7556:

It wasn't very difficult.  Just the zipper was a pain in the butt.

For the sprint suit I used Simplicity 8410:

This was more difficult because the shiny fabric I bought was pretty cheap and ended up running a couple times.  Also, I could never get the zipper the sit straight, but I figured who cares as it's just a costume.

Here's the finished product (in two versions):

I actually ended up wearing this costume 4 times which I think is a record for me.  I just had so many events this year.

Regarding the Mimikyu hat, I made it by hand without a pattern, and I think it turned out pretty good considering it's the first time I've ever made a hat.

Here's a closer look:

I hope you had a happy Halloween!

Halloween preview 2017...

Hello!  It's officially the best month of the year and half way through it at that!  My Halloween costume is about 50% done.

Here's a sneak peek!

By the way if you guess what it is and comment publicly, I'll cut you.  Happy Halloween!

Fixing stuff...

So if you're late to the party I've recently lost 16kg (35 pounds).  A lot of my clothes ended up being donated either to H&M or Goodwill.  However, some were salvageable, so I spent my Sunday morning fixing a bunch of clothes to make them fit better and just like that we have new clothes.

First, this was a maxi dress from Wal-Mart (which wasn't particularly expensive especially since I bought it at Goodwill but I like the colors).  When I lost weight, the top of the dress became too big.  Voilà!  Skirt!

Next, this was another dress (from Gap) that became just a little too big, so I made it into a skirt.

 

Next, this was a skirt I made 100 years ago and I can't remember ever wearing it which is a shame because the print is so cute.  I decided to shorten it in the hopes that I'll wear it.

 

The last of the skirts was formerly a dinosaur dress (from Modcloth) that also became too big in the top.  Not being one to ever part with anything dinosaurs, I made it into a cute skirt.  I love it.

 

Finally, I bought this dress from Uniqlo.  I liked it but thought it was too long.  Well, it turns out I made it too short to wear to work, but I can pair it with leggins and it'll be fine.

That's all.  I haven't sewn anything really because the last thing I made (albeit super cute) was too big.  Once I finish losing weight, I'll measure myself and I can start sewing again.

Simplicity 8124...

I've not posted anything here since February.  I have piles of fabric purchased in Tokyo in January and in March that have been sitting in my sewing room.  I've not sewn anything since my last post in February.  In truth sewing clothes just isn't fun when you're heavier.  (Neither is shopping for clothes for that matter).  Upon my newest milestone (which would be a shit ton of weight lost) I decided I would try something out.

Simplicity 8124:

Originally I had planned to make the mini dress, but I can't say no to an adorable romper.  (No matter how hard I try.)

This was super easy to make and went together in a few hours.  It's multi-sized which I hate and I think I should have sized down as it's a little baggy.  I'm going to try to fix that later.

Pictured without and with belt (personally I like the one with the belt better).

Here's a close up of the fabric:

If you're so inclined you can look back on past blog posts if you want to see the dramatic difference in my weight.  That's not what this blog is about, so I'm not posting any before/after pics.  Anyway if you make this, maybe size down.  I hate multi-sized patterns as they always end up big on me.  That's all for now!

Butterick 6427...

Hi, I'm back at it again with my beloved knits.  This time I took at stab at Butterick 6427.  First, of all, my experience with Butterick patterns is that they never fit right.  Ugh.  This one was no different, and it's mult-sized in one cut which makes it that much more awful.  I opted for the L size but I should have done M.  It was a tent.  I had to take it in many times before I could get a fit that I was happy with.

Here's the pattern:

Here's how it turned out:

Not bad, but it's not flattering (it's not supposed to be though as it's lounge wear/workout gear) so I belted it.

Here's a close up of the fabric:

I like this dress (?).  It was easy to make and comfortable, but if you decide to make this size down!

"She's doing a marvelous impression of a deflating balloon."

Hello!  I'm back!  I'm here with the last of the Holtzmann pieces.  So these pants I found the be the hardest to find via purchasing.

In the film they look shiny but in the above behind the scenes photo, they appear to look just like normal pants (not shiny at all).

Since I couldn't find a pair of pants like that to purchase, I decided to make them.  This also proved to be a challenge as I couldn't find the color or the stripe pattern at Joann's.  However, I did manage to find a interior decor fabric which had stripe variations.  The only problem was it was cream colored.  I decided to buy it and dye it. 

I wish I had a before picture but here's what it looks like after two dye baths using Emerald Green Rit Dye.

That's not the best photo.  It's darker IRL.

To make these pants I used Simplicity 1165:

I made A pants and just cut them shorter than they were meant to be.

Here's how they turned out:

The good news is that they are super comfortable, but I cut a size bigger than I normally wear (because you never know with pants).  It turns out they were way too big, and I had to take them in a bit.  The end result is that they are still baggier than I would like, but since I'm lazy as hell, I'm calling it a day.

I like this pattern.  It's super easy and I'll happily make these again albeit in a smaller size.