Lower your expectations?

Do your hopes and dreams for your own creations (and their failure to meet them) blind you to what they DO have to offer?

You know what it's like before you begin a new project. In your mind's eye it's perfect - whether it's a simple T, or a pretty dress or killer trousers. You also know how it's going to make you feel - polished, sexy, comfortable, whatever.

Unfortunately though sometimes they don't quite turn out that way.

Don't get me wrong, they aren't complete fails - they just aren't quite what you had hoped for. And so you don't reach for them and they hang - neglected.

But maybe you just need to let go of your hopes for them so that you can appreciate them for what they are.

For example, here's V8805 that I made a couple (a few) months ago.

V8805

I had hoped that this would be a 'goodish' dress. Obviously it is casual (as is my life) but I had hoped for 'better than everyday'.

And you know what? It just isn't.... 'better than everyday' that is.

So I'd put it on, be disappointed that it wasn't a 'good' dress, take it off again and wear something else.

But last week I put it on and realised that it is a great everyday dress. I work from home and so can literally wear shorts and a T-shirt if I wish. And often (too often) I do. But then if I have to pop out to the post office or the market or the local fabric shop (more likely), I need (want?) to get changed and then a quick trip to the shops turns into something slightly more complicated and time consuming. This dress is also cooler and more comfortable than shorts and I certainly feel more 'dressed' in it and so I'm ready to go and can be out the door in minutes.

Now I love it.

And the only thing that changed were my expectations.

What about you? Are your hopes blinding you to what your makes DO have to offer?

I've been a little distracted

by this little one

I didn't realise just how much time could be spent playing with a kitten. And when she's not playing, she's sleeping....

Make a Garment a Month March Complete

I've made another shift dress. To be honest I'm on the fence about this one but only because of the colour.

I popped it on quickly and am not sure about so much grey, especially close to my face. But we'll see. It is delightfully cool and since we are forecast for an 'unseasonably warm' 43 degrees celcius next week that might be all that matters.

So this is KS2627 again. I made a couple of changes and probably should have tried them one at a time. So first I rotated the bust dart to the shoulder. There is lots of info on this but I found this one to be fairly informative about darts in general. It does warn that this may result in a little more room in the bodice and I'd certainly agree with that.

In this pic you can (just) see the shoulder dart (yellow) and because it does add extra room in the bodice the extra tuck I had to add at the neckline. (also yellow). Both of these are just stitched down about 4 cms (including seam allowance) to prevent them popping out too much. So I guess they are more pleats or tucks than darts.

I think the extra in the neckline was exacerbated by the square neckline. Again there is lots of info out there on how to draft this. I didn't use any one in particular (and largely just looked at google images). It turned out wider than I had expected but I suspect that there was probably some extra fabric in the original round neckline anyway that is just made more obvious when it is square.

Overall I was happy with how the neckline turned out. I drafted a facing, understitched it and also stitched over the front tucks and shoulder seams through the facing to be sure it stays put. I also think that a crisper fabric would have suited the square neck better. This cotton (available here) is very soft and almost a crinkle cotton - which looks like meaning it won't need ironing, so that's a win.

I'll get some better pictures (hopefully with me wearing it) soon and we'll see how it goes. If I really don't like it, I'll probably cut an upper bodice from V8805 in navy to add a better colour closer to my face.

But I will definitely use this pattern again and with shoulder darts and a square neckline but maybe not both of them together. I'm also going to try gathering or easing the bust darts sometime soon as well.

Do you have any tips re bust darts and their manipulation? Good tutorials or experiences to share?

Make a Garment a Month February Complete

This was finished well in time but as usual it was the photos that held up the blogging. And looked like holding it up for a lot longer so I'm afraid you get morning after slightly hungover photos, without make up, so not the most flattering photos. But it was that or nothing.

So as some of you may know I made KS2627 in navy cotton which has a textured self-stripe and a white textured geometric border. And this is how it turned out.

I really, really like it. I wore it out for beers at the local last night and got loads of compliments. Mind you some of those were probably shock at seeing me in a dress.

It is starting to heat up here and this is so cool and comfortable. Although seeing these photos I am a bit disappointed but as discussed recently on www.madalynne.com, one thing photos can't do is capture how a garment or outfit makes you feel. And this dress makes me feel really good.

Must find a new photo place. We've just had a tree severely cut back which is why the house next door is now so visible. Luckily no one lives there.

This certainly won't be the last shift dress to be sewn this summer. In fact this may be "The summer of the shift dress". I have habitually worn separates but now that I work from home I no longer need a work wardrobe and so the mix and match flexibility of separates is no longer such an issue. I have always felt that shift dresses would just look tent-like (mind you having seen these pics maybe they do a bit) but I am definitely going to be exploring the options.

Are you ever disappointed to see photos of an outfit that made you feel really good?