You know how a task can feel big and overwhelming so you avoid it for a long time and then finally force yourself to do it and find out that it wasn't nearly as bad as you thought it was going to be?
I feel like that defines my apparel sewing journey.
I started sewing clothes when I was 12+-. I had grown up with my mom sewing clothes and I'm sure I was already comfortable-ish with a sewing machine, but in about grade 6, we had a sewing class at school. We could pick to make pyjama pants or a skirt, and I chose a skirt. One of the parents came in and taught us how to gather, attach a waistband, and hem; and I was hooked. I think I immediately made 3 or 4 ill-fitting and unevenly hemmed long, flowy skirts (why make sure the hem is an even height above the ground, that's just an unneeded extra step). It was the 90's and I thought I was nailing the dreamy boho look.
In fact, I remember coming out of my room one Sunday morning wearing my latest floor-grazing skirt, and my mom said, "You're wearing that to church?" The look on her face said I shouldn't; but I was convinced she just didn't know fashion like I did, so wear it to church I did!
But handmade clothes got harder to fit when I was no longer a teenager content with ill-fitting clothing, and my attempts at sewing clothes for myself in the last few decades made me feel like I was never going to be able to unlock the code of fitting handmade apparel well to my body type. So I used my love of sewing to work on my quilting skills, and that got me through my 20's and 30's, until I opened a fabric shop when I was 41.
But, like many of you, the last few years have made me increasingly discontent with the fit of ready-to-wear clothing and the way fast fashion is convincing us our clothes aren't made to last. So now, slowly (very slowly), I've been tackling apparel projects again. I have a better sense of what style of clothes I like on my body, and I am more likely to buy good quality fabric; both factors that contribute to better results in the finished product. But also, my years of quilting has honed my sewing skills, making some of the trickier aspects of apparel sewing seem less daunting.
I am not far along yet, I would consider myself a beginner garment sewist with intermediate knowledge (the brain knows more than the hands sense how to do), but this year I hope to conquer jeans and a chore coat; and once I have succeeded with both of those, I will allow myself to be called an intermediate sewist.
In order to meet my goals, I've added many garments to my sewing plans for the year (always over ambitious and rarely fully realized). January started off with a gentle list, and I planned to re-create a ready-to-wear overall dress that I love and make a quilted vest.
The quilted vest didn't happen, but the actual list of items sewn became:
We had a busy January and I am pretty pleased with what I all got done in a busy month! I've been thinking about this as I type this blog post - the fact that this amount of sewing was easy to get done. Yes, I do take a few hours every week to sew for work, and some of these were made during that time. But mostly it was a few hours here and there on a Saturday or random evening. The key is that the amount of sewing that I've done throughout the last few years especially, but really over the course of my lifetime, has helped me become a more efficient sewist, and I am reaping that benefit now.
So, the point of this blog post (I AM getting to it eventually) is to give you a bit more information on the projects I worked on this month; if you have questions about the patterns and fabric, you will hopefully find the answer here. I'll keep going with these monthly round up blog posts until I lose the will to do so (lol, but for real). So here we go!
Canvas Overall Dress x 2
Sometime this year, I purchased this canvas overall style dress (pinafore? jumper?), and it quickly became one of my favourite things to wear. The brand - Sarahwear - has simple, classic shapes to their clothing, and I have several of their items. This dress (they call it the Carpenter Dress), is only available in this light brown colour, and I wanted it in several colours.
I love tracing a favourite article of clothing and then deciphering how to assemble those pieces for a tidy finished item. It feels like a puzzle that I have to work out. Please note, these tracings are only for my personal use, I don't share these patterns.
The middle dress is the original, and the bright blue was the first version I made, and then perfected it in the green-grey version. I didn't add buttons on the pockets in my version, but now that I see them all together, I think I need to go back and do that. These have all gotten good use in January!
Both of my versions are made with a lightweight canvas, a little lighter than the original dress. This was fabric that I had purchased specifically for these dresses, as I've been working on finding a good canvas line for our shop. Stay tuned, I have some on the way now!
Quilted Vest
Yes, well, this didn't get made, nor did it get moved to another month to be made. I still WANT to make it someday, it just wasn't priority anymore, so it got bumped. And that's okay.
Black Linen Pants
I am so incredibly pleased with these:
These are the Bisque Trousers by Vivian Shao Chen, made with our Sahara Linen in Black (there are a bunch of links in that sentence if you want to find any of those products!). High waisted, with an elastic waist, and good sized pockets, these are the easy-wearing pants that I've been wanting for my daily life. I made a size 6, even though my measurements aligned better with the size 10 on the pattern's sizing chart.
This is where social media comes in so handy - I searched the tag #bisquetrousers and read up on what other makers had done to achieve a good fit, especially if it looked like their body type was similar to mine (rectangle, but with hips and a butt, lol). Many of them had made their first version and then sized down a size or two for their second version and were much happier with that one. Sometimes it is hard to be vulnerable about fit issues on social media, but it is so incredibly helpful to the rest of us!
These pants and the next shirt were intended to be wearable muslins for an outfit that I wanted for Valentine's Day - stay tuned!
Black Linen Boxy Shirt
Made to be a set with the Bisque Trousers, I used the same Sahara Linen in Black, and the All Well Box Top Pattern from All Well Workshop. Please excuse the bathroom photo even though it is a cute bathroom.
Once again, I had searched social media for the shape of top that I was looking for, comparing different options, and settled on this one. It really is perfect, and I love how All Well Workshop has put together a whole guide on how to hack this pattern into many different items. I definitely feel like I got my value out of this pattern! This is the sleeveless, cropped version, and I made the size small. My measurements put me at the bottom of the medium size range, and I wanted an oversized, boxy fit; but the finished garment measurement made me think I'd be happiest with the small. I have narrow shoulders, and I am shorter than average (5'4"), so when in doubt, I will often size down as extra fabric can overwhelm my frame. It fits exactly as I hoped it would!
One change I made was to add a little bit of length to the arm openings; it's considered sleeveless as there is no extra piece to add for sleeves, but the shape of the bodice does create a little bit of a sleeve. I extended the sleeve opening to the medium size line and am happy with how it turned out.
Gingham Dress
This was the "work project" of the month - we needed something sewn to show off our Crawford Gingham. A lightweight cotton fabric, this gingham is perfect for breezy and flowy apparel projects. I had already used it to make several pairs of pyjama shorts and found it super easy to work with.
This is the Judy Dress by Fibremood, and this is the third version I've made of this pattern. I'm fairly certain I made the small... once again, my measurements would have put me at the bottom end of medium, but this is made to be oversized, so even in the small, there is lots of room for movement in this dress. The only adjustment I've made to this and the second version I made is narrowing the shoulders by about an inch. I took an inch off the outer edge of the shoulder, and tapered that to the midpoint of the arm opening. If I make another version, I would consider making it a few inches longer so that it grazed the top of my boots. But now I'm worried I just think that would be cool like my skirts when I was a teenager.
The really special thing about this dress is the use of the Crawford Ginghams. This collection of fabric comes in 10 colours, and each colour comes in a 1/16, 1/8, 1/4 gingham AND a matching stripe. I used all FOUR of those patterns in this one dress:
The bodice uses the 1/16 gingham, the sleeves use the stripe, the sleeve band and pockets (in side seam) use the 1/8 gingham, and the skirt uses the 1/4 gingham. Isn't that fun!!?
I love it, but honestly, it feels young.... like, 8 year old me would have loved this. I'm hoping it's just because it feels so springy/summery, and that once the weather warms up, I will feel perfectly appropriate wearing this. Also, it looks like I should be collecting Easter eggs in it with a pretty basket, so I'm calling it my Easter dress.
Valentine's Day Outfit
I don't feel like I'm known for my spectacular photo taking ability, and with this particular photo I've set the bar reeeeeally low. Ugh. Believe me, this is so cute in real life!
This outfit is why I was making wearable muslins for the Bisque Trousers and All Well Box Top - I needed to get the sizing right before I cut into the good fabric (ahem, truth be told, this fabric is cheaper than the Sahara Linen, which I just realized now as I was typing this....).
Using two fabrics from the Fableism Queen of Hearts collection, this red-pink ensemble is going to be so comfortable and look adorable on February 14. Until then, it's hanging in the shop window in our Valentine's Day display.
I just feel like I need to convince you that it is super cute in real life, so please come check social media on Valentine's Day so I can prove that to you, k? And remember, you're not here for the photos, you're here for the lovely fabric and award-winning journalism*.
And that's it!
Notice anything weird about this sewing queue this month? THERE WERE NO QUILTS MADE! And even the apparel project that was supposed to have some quilting in it got struck from the list. Quilting is comfortable to me, and I love the way we build the blocks to build the quilt... so I am looking forward to adding those to my sewing in February.
Okay. This has been a long blog post. In fact, I just googled "how long should an essay be", and apparently this blog post could qualify for an undergraduate college essay, at least in length if not in content. Please don't mark this up in red and send it back to me. Thank you. You're the best. Feel free to randomly mention that you read an essay today on the "struggles of breaking free from the chains that fast fashion attempts to keep us in and the individual impacts it has on our self-worth and well-being".
Okay, now go have a fantastic time doing whatever you do next. :)
- Kendra
Vulnerable time, here's my measurements:
Bust: 36
Waist: 29
Hips: 38
Height 5'4"
Typical adjustments needed:
- Narrow shoulders adjustment
- Small bust adjustment
*This is a joke. There has been no awards given, probably because there is no journalism to be found on this page.