Merry Christmas, and Some Sewing

Chances are by the time you're reading this, Alex and I will be in line at Universal, waiting to ride a rollercoaster. I'm hoping this will be as cool a Christmas as I'm thinking, as I type this on Christmas Eve. At the very least, it will be different.

Today was a ME day. I had nothing to do but sew and watch football all day. You couldn't pay me to go near a store on December 24. And the day was a great present to myself! It's been busy at work this week (although the non-traffic driving in/out of the city has been a dream!), so I haven't felt much like sewing or computering in the evenings. I thought about it and that's just as far as I went. Instead, I curled up with my Kindle and read or played some word games. Sometimes you just have to decompress.

But this morning I slept in, then took the dogs out (and for those who asked, yes, we still have 3), and then planted myself in my sewing room and was productive. I cut and finished both the Butterick top and another Magic Pencil Skirt, and here they are:

And with a cardi that also is in this same color family of weird greenish gold:

Pretty great match, right? I love it when fabrics spontaneously match themselves from different orders and different times. This one took a while, though. The print is a buttermilk knit (remember those?) from Emma One Sock and has been waiting in the stash for years. The skirt is a Silhouette doubleknit very recently purchased from Fabric.com. It's perfect for a skirt or pants, but Silhouette is not interchangeable with Sophia. It's more synthetic feeling/looking, but I can tell it will wear like iron. With the polyester content of these pieces, this outfit ought to outlive me by 300 or 400 years. ;-) I still have a couple buttermilk tops which look as vivid as when the fabric first arrived, even after many, many wearings/washings.

Here's a shot of the top from the inside, since the seaming and twist are lost in the photos of the print.

I did add to the neckline at the shoulder seams and just turned under the hem and didn't bind it as I thought I might. I used Wonder Tape to hold it down while stitching, and once that is washed out, the neckline will have its stretch/recovery back. As you can see, I didn't finish every seam, mostly to reduce bulk and partly because these seams lay best when open flat. I also changed the construction order a bit so I could turn under the neckline edge and loop/hole (where the twist happens) while they were still relatively flat. Like Barbara of Sewing on the Edge, I'm in line to be hired by a pattern company to write better instructions. Also like Barbara, I'm not holding my breath.

I added a CB seam and kick pleat to the Magic Pencil Skirt, which is just barely discernible in any of these photos, including this one below which was taken specifically to show the detail. Oh well. I also made the higher-waisted version of this skirt this time, because I wanted to use the elastic at full-width. I'm not wearing my gut-sucking-in pantyhose in these pics, or else I might have tucked in my top to show you. You'll just have to take my word that the waist is indeed higher on this one than the last.

I'm also modeling my new shoes. It's been a month or so, so it was time for another pair, right? Plus, I don't want to wear out my current favorites so I needed to expand the repertoire.

You can't really see them in my pic, so here's the Zappos shot.

I also ordered these for kicks. I wanted to see how they looked and felt, not really intending to keep them. They are actually surprisingly comfortable, but alas a little too tight on my pinky toe. Since I've vowed to not keep shoes that aren't comfortable from the instant I first put them on, these will indeed be going back. But I'm definitely open to try a similar style now. Or am I too old for another round of platforms?

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Rebecca Grace asked, "since knits are all different in the stretch, how can you test fit a pattern using one knit from the Sorry Sale Bin and know whether the Good Knit that you really like is going to make up with the same fit as your "muslin?""

I wish I had a scientific, proven method for you but I don't. The honest truth is I just wing it. But I've been sewing knits for a long time now and wearing them even longer, so I'm reasonably experienced and, yes, good, at knowing how different knits will behave and what adjustments I'll have to make between Sorry Sale Tester and Good Don't Want To Ruin It fabrics. So I guess my best advice is to just try, knowing you will fail sometimes but from that failure will come experience and knowledge. It's only fabric. ;-)

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Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! I hope Santa brings you everything you've wished for. Happy Holidays to those otherwise celebrating, and Have a Great Sunday to those who aren't. (Did I cover everything/everyone?)