Sewversary: Goals

How did I do on last year's goals?

Quality over quantity

This one is basically ongoing. I struggled with it, because I'm impatient and like to see results. However, I did spend three months making one coat, so I give myself a pat on the back for that. I've also chosen to hand-sew in a lot of situations where something else would have been faster.

Sew something with a lining

Woohoo, I can check this one of the list! I made this lined flower girl dress for AB, and a lined coat. I definitely still need to work on linings, I'm not overly confident with them and they still intimidate me.

"Master" my serger

I think I can say I accomplished this one. I used my serger a lot for construction and finishing. I played with tensions, stitches, and fancy threads.

Learn special occasion sewing

Ehhhhh I made one flower girl dress and hemmed a bridesmaid's dress, so...success?

Get better with fit

Another ongoing one. I've identified some issues with my narrow shoulders and have strategies for dealing with them. Still tweaking. I also suspect I have a long torso, but haven't done much research besides "hey, this seems short". It might be a personal preference instead of an actual issue.

Make my sewing useful for my husband

YAY a big fat success! A coat, a shirt, hemmed pants...okay, that's only three things, but for this predominately selfish seamstress that's a lot.

I didn't note this, but I was sure I'd resolved to sew a vintage pattern (done!). I see that I had planned on a swimsuit and jeans. I still plan on a swimsuit (I have the fabric!). Jeans? Well read on...

Goals for the next year:

1. Sew a pair of jeans. No more excuses! 

2. Sew fabrics that aren't knits.

3. Do the right thing. Not the fast thing.

4. Sew more pants.

5. Learn my coverstitch.
6. Do some charity sewing.

These aren't insurmountable goals, although sewing jeans feels that way sometimes. I feel like I'm in a good place right now with many skills, but I could use more experience with complicated projects. I need to be confident enough to challenge myself and patient enough to learn even when I'm frustrated. 

Sewversary Superlatives

The Sewversary celebration continues, today with a look back at the projects from the last year (this is why I didn't do this kind of post in January!). To keep things consistent, I'll use the same categories I did on my last Sewversary round-up post.

Biggest Success:

No surprise, but it's another coat! The highly modified Albion coat that I made for my husband took so. long. to make, but I learned a lot. Like coating-making sucks. Just kidding! It's kind of a love-hate thing. I loved spending so much time carefully crafting something useful for my husband, but the end result has a few flaws that bug me. I'm listing it as my biggest success because it took some guts on my part to even try it, and dangit all I finished it, so BOOM. Success.

Biggest Fail:

Waaaaaaah I'm still upset over this one. This knit blazer wearable muslin was going just fine until the collar/front facing. There was weird clipping (in my opinion) and bad directions and meh.

Oldest stashed fabric:

This is embarrassing, because it's the same fabric as last year. Fail. But but but lately I've been using a lot of stash fabrics soooooo...yeah that doesn't make it any better. This is a home-dec weight fabric that I bought to make a poof for AB's room. I should just give it away because I'm never going to use it.

Newest fabric:

via Instagram

I got a fantastic order from Mood a few weeks ago. SO MUCH PINK! You're looking at mostly knits (of course) and the deep fuschia is stretch SILK charmeuse. And it wasn't all pink, there's some blue/white striped twill peeking out behind it all.

UFO count:

This is actually the same as last year, plus two (the failed blazer and this Burda top). I'm not into UFOs. I finish things.

Most worn item:

I know this summer I'm going to wear the crap out of my three Perfect Slouchy Tanks, but over the last year this feather print knit tunic is one that I reached for a lot. I've worn it over long leggings, capri leggings, jeans, with a sweater...I only wish I had had enough yardage for more than a tunic.


So that's that! Tomorrow I'll be looking back at my goals from last year, and making new goals. More lists!

It's my Sewversary! And my Brother 1034d review

Two years ago, my husband surprised me with my first sewing machine. I never took home ec, had no idea how a sewing machine worked, but was thrilled to be able to try. I was quickly addicted and the rest is history. Join me this week as I celebrate my sewing!

Last year on my Sewversary, I reviewed my Brother CS-6000i sewing machine. It's now been a year since I received my Brother 1034d serger (another Mother's Day gift!) and I figured it would be a good chance to offer a formal review of the machine. One of my goals in the last year was to learn as much as I could about my serger. I'm fairly certain I've used all of the common stitches (3-thread overlock, 4-thread overlock, rolled hem, flatlock) and even explored more of the uncommon uses (hellllllo easy gathering!). So I hope I'm qualified to give a proper review!

What it does:

Sergers use a combination of multiple threads (mine uses a max of 4) and needles (max of 2) to create loops and stitches along a fabric edge. A knife is installed within the machine, which cuts the seam allowance off as you sew. The tension on each thread can be manipulated (as well as the length and width), which results in different kinds of stitches being possible.

The Brother 1034d is probably the most popular/common serger out there. It's inexpensive (as sergers go) but has a lot of functionality. Is it intimidating at first? Yes. It is. Not gonna lie. But take a deep breath, block out distractions, and you'll be threading and serging in no time. And once you serge, you'll never go back!

What it doesn't do:

This particular machine has some limitations. It doesn't do the following:

Two-thread stitching.
Five-thread stitching.
Coverstitching.

There are other models that offer these features, but I haven't "needed" the 2 and 5 thread stitching thus far. I have a separate machine for coverstitching.

Pros:

• Sews knits like it's its job (it is).
• Finishes woven seam allowances quickly and neatly.
• Personally, I've had zero mechanical issues in a year of decently heavy use. Any time something wasn't working properly, it was usually my fault (threads tangled while threading, bad tension settings, dull needle).
• Uses the same Schmetz needles as my Brother CS-6000i. Some sergers need special needles.
• It's FAAAAAAAAAST.
• Did I mention the knits thing?

Cons:

• It's loud. Having no experience with any other sergers, maybe they're all loud, but somehow I doubt it.
• There is a learning curve with threading, however remember that two of the four threads are NEEDLE threads. No different than your sewing machine. In reality, you're only learning how to thread two new things (an upper looper and lower looper) and they aren't that bad.
• It's heavy. This is kind of a pro, because a serger sews very quickly and you don't want the machine vibrating itself off the table. But if you don't have a dedicated sewing room and will be packing/moving/unpacking it all the time, you'll want to consider the weight.
• This is nit-picking, but both needles are tightened/loosened with the same set screw. It can be a bit tricky to get two needles in without dropping one into the guts of the machine. There is a special tool for holding needles that can make this easier (I do NOT have it but still manage).

Bottom line:

Would I recommend this serger? Hands down, yes. If it got hit by lightning and I needed to buy another? I'd buy this one again (and hey, it could happen...our house was hit last year).

My suspicion about sergers is that most people will probably be brand-loyal when it comes time to buy one. The biggest question is not WHICH serger, but do I NEED one in the first place. Once you decide your use will justify the cost, you'll probably be happy with a serger from your favorite brand. Personally, I enjoy having 3 Brother machines. Owning the 1034d made learning about my coverstitch machine MUCH easier.

So, do you need a serger? If you sew knits, yes. It's not a popular thing to say, but all the "tricks" to using a regular machine are just that, tricks. You CAN paint a house with a brush, but wouldn't a roller be easier? The right tool for the job DOES make a difference. There, I said it. I understand that everyone has their own limitations with funds and space, but I'm not going to pretend that sergers aren't awesome.

Once you have a serger, a little education can go a long way towards making you feel comfortable. My machine came with an instructional DVD in addition to a manual, and I did watch the DVD. It helped. I highly recommend the Beginner Serging class on Craftsy. I bought the class myself and still access it now and again. It was worth taking just for the opportunity to see other sergers and how they work. I also had trouble one time and posted a picture to the class, and received a reply from the instructor. You can also read about the three serging books I recommend, here.

This post contains affiliate links. The thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Me Made May '14: Week Two

Are your eyes glazing over yet from all this me-made goodness? This is the time when it starts to get harder and less exciting. But keep it up me-made-Mayers (Mayors?)!

voile Sorbetto, refashioned sweater (unblogged) // self-draped maxi skirt (unblogged)

Perfect Slouchy tank // linen jumpsuit // self-drafted knit culottes

Coastal Breeze dress, refashioned slip // self-drafted kimono tee

Looking over my progress so far, I'm definitely wearing newer makes the most. We'll see how it goes this next week as I run out of the new stuff! Also, when did I start self-draping and self-drafting everything?!

Day 3: holey jeans from the Gap, holes made by me (not on purpose!)
Day 4: black tank from Target and black cardigan from J. Crew
Day 5: black eyelet shorts, thrifted (but originally from Old Navy)
Day 7: black tank from Target
Day 9: shorts for bumming around the house, from Kohl's

Vintage Jumpsuit Butterick 5471

A month or so ago, I was contacted by my sweet reader Candace, who had a vintage jumpsuit pattern that she thought would be right up my alley. As soon as I saw it, I knew she was right, and today I'm crazy excited to finally show it off!

The pattern is Butterick 5471. I decided to make the short version. Since I wasn't sure whether or not a jumpsuit would "work" for me, I wanted to make it in all black. Black covers all wardrobe sins right?! I happened to have a yard of black "amaretto linen" in my stash (that's Jo-Ann's code for "fake linen") and went back to JA to buy some more. On my way in, I was mulling over the options for buttons and BOOM it hit me--pearl snaps! They would dress up the outfit a bit and also be more functional than buttons.

But you don't care about any of that right this second, you want to see the garment, right?

Oh yeah, and there are pockets!

I'm completely in love with this jumpsuit! More exclamation points!

It's comfortable, fun, and fits great. I did make a muslin since fit could have been totally off here (torso length is pivotal) but the only change I made was a longer hem. The pattern called for a 2 inch hem allowance, but I found that to be creep-up-into-your-butt short, so I went with 1 inch. The inseam is now just right.

The elastic waist casing even hits me in the right spot without changes! I did opt to leave off the drawstring and just used elastic.

This was my first time working with a vintage pattern. I probably got lucky with how well it went, but I'm definitely not scared of them anymore! No way out but through.

On these detail shots, I overexposed the pictures so you could see a bit better. Black is so tricky to photograph!

It took me a good week to sew the jumpsuit, not even counting cutting and muslin time. I sewed on the collar maybe 4 or 5 times? Collars have always been hard for me, but after all that work this one is perfect, which is immensely satisfying.

Inside view

The armholes and neckline are finished with facings, and the front placket is a cut-on facing (something I love!). The waist casing is made by stitching down bias tape. I actually had some vintage bias tape that I got at a garage sale last year (the grey) so that was fun to use on this project. I tried to keep my finishes vintage-inspired and used my pinking shears on my seams. The serger never touched this garment!

The hem was finished by hand using lace hem tape (also vintage, same garage sale!). Part of why the project took so long was because of the hand-finished hem, and the hand sewing needed to tack down the facings.

There is one wonky bit at the bottom of the placket. I don't know if I cut wrong or sewed wrong, but you can see a bit of the white interfacing peeking out. I use hand stitches and zig-zag machine stitches to cover it up and reinforce the area. I don't think you can see it from far away (thank you black!) and if you're this close to me, well, then I probably don't care what you think about some wonky stitching ;)

And the pearl snaps? Absolutely perfect. Kind of a PITA to put in (I don't have the little tool thingy, so I used a hammer). Snaps are so much better for quick bathroom trips, and c'mon, don't you feel like the Hulk anytime you get to rip something open like that? Also, they're pretty!

I wore this outfit to the park with AB and it was perfect for climbing, sliding, swinging, and carrying my keys and phone, all without worrying whether my clothes were staying put. Consider me sold on the jumpsuit bandwagon! I'm not sure what anyone else thinks of this look on me (except my husband, who said it reminded him of a Steak-N-Shake uniform) but I think I pull it off well! A super huge shout-out THANK YOU to Candace for sending me this pattern, it's exactly what I wanted and I'm thrilled with the results! The only downside? That it's Me-Made-May and I resolved to wear something different every day! I seriously will be wearing this once a week this entire summer.

New blog design!

Hi all! Just a quick post to point out my new blog design! I worked on it most of the day yesterday, but I can't promise I'm done fiddling. If you notice anything seems off, please let me know! And if you're wondering who did the fantastic design in my header, that would be my friend Janelle from re:find joy. She's a talented artist, graphic designer, stylist...you name it, if it's creative she's amazing at it! Just check out these awesome business cards she designed for me:

via Instagram

Also, I finally realized that my blog is entered twice on Bloglovin (once with its old blogspot URL and once without) and I'm "claiming" both. Nothing new for you to do, following either one works!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Vote for me in the Terrific Tanks contest!

Remember my two Perfect Slouchy tanks? Someone on Pattern Review very kindly commented and told me I should enter them into the Terrific Tanks contest. Unobservant me didn't even realize such a contest was running!

The two tanks I'd already finished weren't eligible, so I whipped up another that met the contest guidelines. The focus of the contest is to use embellishment to make a simple look interesting and fabulous. I decided to go back to my original inspiration and cut my applied bindings, as well as to use a flatlock stitch again on the seams.

If you're a member of Pattern Review, please consider voting for me! Only if you think mine is the best, of course. And if you don't...then remember that a vote for someone else is a vote against me ;)

Flatlocked side seam.

The flatlock worked a LOT better on this version, so I've concluded that a beefier fabric is needed for that kind of stitch. I love how the ladders look like an imitation of the pattern on the fabric.

Cut neck binding.

This was a fun make, and unless the contest required embellishment I'm sure I would have chickened out on cutting the bindings (again). So thank you, Pattern Review, for pushing me!