So me-made January...

I was doing so well. First run enthusiasm I guess, but January definitely slowed down the making department around here. I feel like I thought I needed a break from everything in December, and as a result the pull of youtube and the internet called me in the evenings after work rather than the sewing machine. Alright, I think that's all the excuses.

I did get a *little bit of sewing done. I had seen many a tutorial for a gathered skirt, and this tutorial for a circle skirt dress by Annika Victoria had been bugging me for a while to be made, I just needed the right fabric. As is the way lately, this gorgeous, fall scene cotton fabric happened to wander past the cutting table back in November. It was also in clearance, and half off, so several yards came home with me with this project in mind. I started to make a gathered skirt and that's where it started to go funky.

First off, I stupidly did not put pockets in it like I should have, because pockets are awesome. I also decided that now was the perfect time to try self-drafting, even though I probably should have realized that my massive rack wasn't going to play nice with Annika's tutorial (this is not a slight to her, her dart instructions were actually super helpful with this one, I just need 18 of them). I also got ahead of myself and started doing top stitching before actually finishing all the adjustments that are needed for the top, because that was a good idea. Now, I have an unfinished skirt, a mostly sewn top that still needs several adjustments, and three pieces of waistband fabric to sew together. I'm at a crossroads now since I'm uninspired to finish the top to be presentable/actually get it fit nicely, but want to do more than just a skirt that I didn't put pockets in. It doesn't help that I'm stubborn and don't like to give up on things too easily when I've payed for them, cheap or not.

I will admit that I'm really pleased with the top stitching, and my actually smart idea to use an old, very thin t-shirt as lining fabric for the top of the dress (woot woot stash raiding!). The pile of pieces has been sitting on the dining room table for a week or two now, so perhaps February will be its month.

Totally unrelated and hopefully on a more positive note, this awesome, purple, stretch lace was in the remnant bin at the store, and became mine for a whopping $1.50. Lace underwear making time! I have actually made a pair of underwear before, which I may work out a way of creatively photographing for the next post, using the self drafted tutorial from Annika Victoria and an old t-shirt that no longer fit. I was really pleased with my final result, but my God are they funky looking. I need to work on sewing with elastic!

Onwards.