Tried and True

I found a solution to my little wadder depression.

That's right, I'm cutting out my FOURTH version of McCall's 5591.  Second time making Version A.  The fabric is a poly poplin from fabric.com in gray.  Knock on wood, but this should be fairly straight forward.  I feel like I could follow this pattern in my sleep at this point.  The fabric is a nice medium weight, not too heavy, and not too light.  It's a nice solid, will match a lot of things, and it hardly wrinkles so it'll be nice for job interviews.  Hopefully this will go smoothly and I'll be out of the wadder dumps. :)

Wadder

I loved that word.  Wadder.  I just found that in blog world this week.  I can't remember where I first saw it used, but I swear I've never seen it before and now I see it all over the place.  From what I can deduce, a wadder is a failed garment that you toss into the corner in a wad.  Unfortunately, the discovery of this word coincides with my own wadder.

Remember how excited I was to make this skirt?  Didn't work out so well.

I have no pictures, but trust me on this one.  It came out HUGE.  I used my body measurements, and I even went down a size in the waist because I knew I wanted it snug, and I still had to take 2 inches off the waist.  Then, as I tried to cut out 2 inches, I think my back seamline got all off and my zipper ended up crooked.  I redid the zipper like 3 times, but it was still all off.

So what are your options when you have a wadder?  This is what I'm dealing with...
1.  Let it sit in a wad in the corner until I'm calm enough to tackle it again (this is where I currently stand)
2.  Scrap it and use the fabric for something else- this fabric happens to match my bedroom decor.  If step 1 above doesn't work out, I might put it in a frame and hang it on the wall.  Or I could make a decorative pillow.

While my wadder wastes away in a corner, I'm in need of some instant gratification.  I'm not sure exactly what to sew next, nothing in my queue is super easy.  Although not quite instant, I picked up my knitting needles after a long hiatus for some distraction.

I chose a nice, simple little cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn's free patterns:

This can be found on Ravelry here.

I'm using a red cotton yarn that I bought for another project.  Although knitting is always slow going (I'm still on the raglan increases after a week of working on this), I'm very happy with how nice it looks. Check out how even these stitches are!

Busted!

My knees, that is.

Turns out I have chondromalacia patella, a minor form of arthritis.  I've worn down the cartilage in my joints from going up and down the stairs so much at work.

What does this have to do with my blog?

I'll probably be on a sewing hiatus.  I cut and pin my fabric on the floor, and at this point I just can't get up and down like that, too hard on my knees.  Gosh I'm old!  And I'm also bummed, cuz I was hoping to sew a LOT once school was out.  Oh well.

Polo Ponies!

Now presenting one of my favorite outfits...

I made both of these pieces 2 or 3 months ago, but just never got a chance to photograph it.  I love this outfit; from afar it looks professional, retro, and a little secretarial.

But when you look up close...

Polo Ponies!!!

The top is Simplicity 2501 in version B.  I saw this cotton shirting on fabric.com in the $1.95 section and knew I had to have it.  Not much to say about the pattern, easy, straight forward, and of course too big in the back!  If I were to make it again, I'd go down a size, maybe 2 sizes in the back.

The skirt is my third make of McCalls 5591, version B.  I've already made a purple and a denim skirt from this pattern.  This one is a cotton sateen, which looks nice and crisp, but is very wrinkly.  I ironed it this morning, but that proved to be a pointless endeavor an hour later.  Anyways, not much to say about this pattern, I obviously love this pattern and I'm sure I'll continue to use it.

I think it's one of those outfits that radiates how good I feel.  One of my favorite parents in my class had me twirl and told me how nice I looked.  What a nice way to start the day!

Extra credit to anyone who noticed my hair.  I got it cut this weekend (which I LOVE) and changed the color (which I feel ambivalent about).  I tried to go back to my natural, light brown.  So I chose a box of dark blonde and gave it a go.  It came out medium brown.  In what galaxy is this dark blonde?!?!  

Pendrell 2 and understanding your body

Hello all! I'm still alive!

Where have I been?

Central Coastal California, where else?!  That's a winery first, and some random, cute house in Carmel by the Sea underneath.

Anyways, right before I left for my trip I finished my second Pendrell bouse, this time in view A.

First, you may have noticed that I've gotten better at modeling! Gary coached me a bit this time, and I'm glad he did, because I actually look decent and my eyes are open.

As this was my second time making this pattern, I found it really easy and straightforward.  But since I wasn't concentrating so much on construction, I had more brain cells to spare for thoughts on sizing.  I'm infamous for buying the wrong size.  I've been buying shoes too big for years, I finally (mostly) figured out what size I am.  I have no idea what size I am in retail clothing.  Clothes in my closet range from extra-small cardigans and size 4 dresses to size 9 jeans.  This no longer makes me feel bad, it just is what it is, size is just a number.  But since I don't know what size I am, I just grab whatever, and sometimes I think it fits but it's actually too big.  Which leads me into Pendrell...

I know this design is meant to be loose fitting.  So the first time through I thought it was just the way it was meant to be.  But on round two, I had a few epiphanies about my body:

1.  I am more pear shaped than a pattern line designed for pear shaped women.  How sad.  This fits great around the hips, but even taking in the positive ease in the design, I need to go down a size or two on top.

2.  I have a small back.  How does one have a small back?  I can't really figure out how this works, but I do. I've mused about this before in other patterns, but I think I need to automatically cut the back (in tops) a size smaller than I cut the front.

Anyways, my adventures in figuring out my bizarre body type was a good thing, no complaints! I'm very happy with how the blouse turned out, even if it is a little roomy.  I had a lot of extra fabric (got this fabric $1/yard) so I made a little sash.  I find that I only like my first Pendrell tucked into a skirt as this gives some waist definition, and this way I have the option of also wearing it with jeans and the sash, like I did in these photos.

I'm going to try to get some sewing done on Sunday, but if anything there are only 14 (!!!!!) more days of school left, so pretty soon I'll be able to crank out a whole new wardrobe and write a book of blog posts!